Chicken and Quinoa Noodle Soup

I finally got the chance to break into my new Crock Pot! 

First recipe attempt: Chicken and Quinoa Noodle Soup packed with veggies! 

For this batch I used:

-1 package of all natural white meat chicken breast tenders

-2 cartons of organic chicken broth 

-5 celery stalks

-4 large carrots

-2 bell boppers (one red, one green)

-1 box quinoa pasta 

- chopped cilantro

- diced green chills

-salt and pepper to taste 

First step was prepping and chopping all the veggies!

Then added in some chopped cilantro and diced green chilis (about half a can):

I chose to use chicken breast tenders because they are easy to cut up into nice sized pieces:

Do not fill the crock pot all the way with goodies before adding whatever liquid you are using! 

So, once I had everything prepared I added in the organic chicken broth:

Since one carton wasn't enough to get a good broth going I decided to add my second one, then it was crock time!

All Crock Pots are probably different, but I set mine on high for the entire cook time.

I didn't add the noodles in to the pot till about half way through the cooking time because I didn't want them to get way over done:

You can always add more broth at this time as well, or along the way if it seems to be getting absorbed by all the goods.

The soup cooked for about 4 - 5 hours, and it was so nice to be able to set it and forget it!

This came out great!

Filling and packed with veggies!

Also stays great in the fridge for the week, or frozen to keep for longer! 

This recipe can totally be switched up and tweaked anyway you'd like! Different veggies, you could do a beef stew version, regular noodles, or none at all! Let me know how you make yours!

Today's Workout and Yummy Breakfast!

Hope everyone is having a great day!

Today I started out with a yummy scramble: 

Ingredients: 2 eggs, sliced turkey, fresh spinach, sunkist tomatoes, and cheese!

I cooked up the turkey a little before scrambling everything together along with the spinach so it would wilt nicely :) Once the pan was heated I added the eggs, cheese and tomatoes. It takes about two minutes for everything to cook up, and there you have it!

I even made extra of this so that I could portion it out for the rest of the week! Talk about easy! 

I was a little crunched for time on a workout so I decided to do another stair/bench workout!

Here's the workout:

-20 push ups on bench

-20 calf raises

-20 step ups w/ knee drive (alternating):

Then hit the stairs!

Complete 5 times! No rest in between ;) 

I had a few extra minutes, so I did three more runs on the stairs for a burn out!

I was feeling good!

Here's the workout breakdown:

-20 bench push-ups

-20 calf raises

-20 step up w/ knee drive (alternating)

-stair run (4 levels/2 flights each)

Complete 5x with no rest! 

And of course, you can always add on more stairs for a burn out! 

You can pretty much do this workout anywhere! You don't even need a bench, you can use the stairs for resistance too!

Make sure to hydrate and re-fuel!

My after workout snack today:

 

An apple a day! Right now my favorites are Macintosh! The perfect fall fruit :)

What is your favorite kind of apple!? 

More New Twists on Old Faves!

Once I find a recipe/meal that I really like I tend to make it a lot! Especially if it is simple and fiancé approved! 

The more I make them, the more I tend to tweak and modify ingredients just to play around.

This week I modified my super yummy turkey chili:

Today, I added great beans to the mix! I have always been a fan of green beans and couldn't believe I hadn't added them to this dish yet! 

Look at all those yummy veggie colors! 

The chili came out great too:

The other dish I changed up was my zucchini "pasta" that I made on Tuesday:

This week, instead of ground turkey I used Italian style chicken meat balls from Trader Joe's, and a spicy tomato pesto sauce (it was all I had in the pantry!) and it came out great! 

I love getting lots of veggies in whatever meals possible and as many as possible!

The other great thing about these dishes is that they can be made in large amounts and eaten throughout the week! Any of these types of meals I try to cook extra of so that the next few days are a breeze :) The turkey chili can even be frozen to last longer!

How do you get your veggies in?!

Meal Prep: New Chili Attempt!

I am a huge fan of my turkey chili! I make it for our house almost every other week! 

This week was a little different...

We had so much left over sausage from our 4th of July BBQ I decided to chop it up and use that instead of ground turkey!

Here's what I started with: 

 

-1 can diced tomatoes

-1 can black beans

-1 can kidney beans

-1 can chili peppers

-1/2 can of jalapeños

-2 fresh bell peppers

-2 fresh carrots 

Next, I cut up a package of sausages that had been left over: 

I basically quartered the sausages and then added them to the batch of ingredients:

First I brought everything to a boil, and after that, let it simmer for a few hours ( I don't have a crockpot yet!). 

It got a little more soupy than the traditional ground turkey recipe. I think the sausages sweat out more than the turkey. 

In the end it came out great!

 

Simple and yummy! What more could you ask for!?

What's your favorite chili recipe!? 

Sunday Runday & Scramble

Happy Sunday Runday! And Happy Father's Day to all the dads out there!

It was a beautiful morning for a run, so I got up and headed to The Point!

 

Such a nice spot to get my stretch on! I worked my way down the stairs and got some strides down on the beach as I headed back home!

I got in just under 5 miles ( I was aiming for 5, but I guess I turned around a little too early!)

After I made a yummy veggie scramble for me and the man:

Today's was filled with LOTS of left over broccoli from this week! I also added starburst cherry tomatoes and some Lite Sharp White Cheddar cheese from Trader Joes! I used two full eggs and then the rest was just egg whites. 

I of course added a little Tapatio for some punch!

Hope you can get out there and enjoy this day! 

Spinach and Kale Raviolis!

We had an Italian inspired dinner last night! 

Spinach and Kale Raviolis, with chopped tomatoes and artichoke hearts in garlic and basil tomato sauce:

This was super easy to make! I found these raviolis pre made:

They had kale, spinach and cheese inside, and the dough was also made out of spinach.

While they were cooking I sautéed some cherry tomatoes with artichoke hearts:

Once those were cooking up I added some garlic and basil tomato sauce to the pan to bring it all together:

And that's all it takes to make a quick, filling, and veggie filled meal!

Don't forget the Parmesan!

What do you make for Italian night?!

Fridge Clean Out & Odwalla Bar Review

As the week comes near to a close, I usually try to empty out the fridge and use as many veggies as possible so they don't go bad!

This week I used up some carrots, half a green bell pepper, and some sugar snap peas for a delsih single skillet meal:

I cooked them up with my favorite Parmesan and basil chicken meat balls, sprinkled a little Italian seasoning, and bam! Super quick, healthy lunch! 

This mix of veggies is nice and refreshing on a day like today, and I love sugar snap peas because they bring a little sweetness and crunch to the dish!

What a great way to get in those veggies too :)

This week I also tried a bar by odwalla:

These were on sale for a buck! So I bought a few to keep in my purse for those on-the-go hunger strikes! 

The Blueberry Swirl was only 200 calories, is made with real fruit and oats! It tasted just like yummy oatmeal with blueberries! They are relatively small, but it got the job done when I was in a pinch after my Monday morning Circuit Training class!

I will report back on other flavors :)

Have you tried any new bars recently?