Ground Turkey Enchilada Stuffed Zucchini

Boy oh boy was last weekend full of so much fun! And also so much eating... After a good week of clean eating, it all went downhill fast. It all started with Friday..getting off early to watch the Giants play in their first NLDS game (they won, yay!) This whole day and night was spent celebrating. Saturday was a little calmer, but more Giants (they won, yay!) Then Sunday football (Raiders didn't lose, yay! but they didn't even play...) is always full of eating and drinking and watching TV. Then we find out Sunday night that we got tickets to the Giants game on Monday, which was amazing! (Giants lost, boo) but we had such a great day in SF with a lot more of eating and drinking. While we did get to the gym 2 of these 4 days, the amount of food and alcohol we consumed totally outweighed it. But instead of giving up, we turned it around. Starting with an hour at the gym Tuesday night, watching the Giants (They won the NLDS, yay! Onto to the NLCS!), and eating a light and delicious dinner.

Another Tuesday went by where we didn't feel like going to our favorite taqueria. We needed something lighter and healthier, but still delicious and easy to make for a work night.

Ingredients:

1 Tbsp Olive oil
1/2  yellow onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 lb ground turkey breast
4 large zucchini's
1 packet taco seasoning
1 10oz can of enchilada sauce
3/4 cup reduced fat Mexican cheese blend

Optional toppings:

Guacamole
Reduced fat sour cream
Salsa
Hot sauce

Directions:

1) Cut zucchini's in half lengthwise, and scoop out the seeds and some flesh leaving room for filling. Microwave the zucchini's for 2 mins in the microwave. Pour enough enchilada sauce to lightly cover the bottom of a 9 x 12 baking dish. Place the zucchini's in the dish.

2) Heat up the oil on medium-high heat. Saute the garlic and onions until they just start to soften. Add in the turkey, breaking it up as it browns. Once browned, follow the instruction on the taco seasoning packet: add 3/4 cup water and seasoning to the pan, bring to a boil then simmer for 4 minutes. Add 2 tablespoons of enchilada sauce to the meat mixture.

3) Pre-heat oven to 375. Ladle the turkey mixture into the zucchini's filling up as much as you can. Sprinkle the top with cheese, then pour the remaining enchilada sauce over the zucchini's. Cover with foil and bake for 30-40 minutes.

4) Take out and plate, top with desired toppings and enjoy!


Serves: 8
Prep time: 20 minutes
Cook time: 30 minutes

Lucky Fried Brown Rice

Day 3 completed! Haven't had any processed foods, no simple carbs or added sugars, and have been feeling great. I roasted up some fresh turkey last night so I'm looking forward to having some more great sandwiches. (And PIG is excited too! He sat in the kitchen and drooled while I was slicing it until I finally gave him some.)

Last night I cooked a recipe from one of my favorite food bloggers, Gina Homolka from Skinnytaste.com  I absolutely love her recipes. Her website helped me lose weight while keeping Stefan happy with the foods I was cooking. She's a major inspiration in how I now cook myself. You can still eat all your favorite foods and still be healthy by cooking things yourself and just making some minor changes here and there.

She just released her first cookbook this week and I was dying to try one of the recipes out. I made Garlic Lemon Shrimp and Broccolini; it was wonderful! I was going to just pair it with plain brown rice on the side, but decided to cook up a simple fried rice. Simple ingredients, not a lot of prep, and very tasty.

I'm calling this fried rice 'lucky' because as soon as we sat down to eat, Brandon Crawford hit a grand slam in the NL Wild Card game vs. the Pirates, which was the spark that led them to a win. Go Giants!

Ingredients:

1 Tbsp olive oil
3 cups cooked brown rice, cooled.
2 eggs
3 garlic cloves, chopped
3/4 cup mixed frozen chopped vegetables; mine had peas, corn, carrots, beans
2 Tbsp reduced sodium soy sauce
1 Tbsp sesame oil

Directions:

1) Heat olive oil in a skillet. Add the frozen veggies. Cook for about 5-10 minutes until heated through.

2) Add the garlic and saute for 1 minute. Scoot all the veggies towards the side of the pan. Scramble the 2 eggs on the other side of the pan. Once the eggs are cooked through, combine the veggies and eggs.

3) Add rice into pan and mix all together, cooking for another minute. Add the soy sauce and sesame oil. Stir, serve and enjoy!

Serves: 4
Prep time: 5 mins
Cooking time: 10 mins

Slow Cooker Salsa Chicken

We survived day 2! It's amazing how when you're cutting out processed foods  and sugars they seem to jump out at you at the grocery store! It doesn't help that it's Halloween season and there's candy in every corner of every isle of every store. But day 2 came and went and we're on a roll.

Tuesday are always dedicated to tacos. We usually go to our favorite taqueria and order dinner to-go there. It's cheap and easy and always delicious; but it's easy to go overboard there. Every meal comes with refried beans and rice, which are both superb. They don't offer black beans, and everything is fried and greasy (and wonderful.) Plus, you have to get their home made chips! Not this week though!

I decided on another slow cooker recipe; salsa chicken: 2 ingredients + spices. Nothing easier than that. Pretty similar to my chile verde. You can use this chicken for tacos, enchiladas, salads, burritos, etc. We made taco salad burrito bowls, kind of like a Chipotle burrito bowl and salad mixed into one.

Ingredients:

Chicken:
2 large chicken breasts
2 cups favorite salsa (I used La Victoria)
1 tsp of each: paprika, cumin, coriander, chili powder, cayenne pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, salt, pepper.

Salad toppings (optional):
Brown rice (cooked in a rice cooker with chicken broth)
Salad greens ( I used butter lettuce and spinach)
Guacamole
Pico de gallo
corn kernels
black beans, rinsed and drained.

Directions:

1) Place chicken breasts in slow cooker. Sprinkle with the spices. Cover with the salsa. Set on LOW for 4-6 hours. If you're using more chicken breasts, the cook time will have to be adjusted.

2) Once the chicken is done, shred the chicken with 2 forks.

3) Serve and enjoy!