Marinara Sauce

I love making my own spaghetti sauces. I tend to find the jarred sauces to salty and tomato pasty. Plus I love controlling the ingredients I put in my food and then I get to add whatever I feel like on that particular day. Control freak much? Yup I will admit it. But if you have your own favorite jarred sauce by all means save yourself the time when your in a rush, no judgement here!
I make my sauce in a 5 quart sauce pan I got for my birthday (Thanks Dad!).

Start by chopping and sautéing some onion and mushrooms

Then add an entire bag of spinach and give it a minute wilt.

Add in your spices: sugar, pepper, basil, oregano, garlic (or garlic powder), balsamic vinegar. Then add Tomatoes, chicken stock, and 2 shredded chicken breasts if using and simmer away.

Again you can feel free to leave out any ingredients you don't like or add in ingredients you like. I often make it with bell peppers and no spinach, using ground turkey instead of chicken. Go crazy and let me know your favorite way to make it!

Recipe

Marinara Sauce

1-tbls olive oil

1 large onion diced

1 package (8oz) criminal (baby portabella) mushrooms sliced

1-10oz package spinach

1 tbls balsamic vinegar

1 tsp sugar

1/2 tsp pepper (or 1/4 if you are sensitive to spice)

1 tsp dried oregano

1 tsp dried basil

1 tsp garlic powder (if you have fresh garlic you can substitute 2 cloves minced I just didn't have it on hand when I made this particular batch)

1-14.5 oz can diced tomatoes

1-15 oz can tomato sauce

1/2 cup chicken stock

2 chicken breasts boiled and shredded

1. Add olive oil to large sauce pan (you can use a pot if you don't own a sauce pan)

2. Add onion and Sauté for a few minutes

3. Add mushrooms and continue to sauté until most of the moisture has evaporated (you want to really cook the moisture out)

4. Add spinach and cook just until it wilts down

5. Add in balsamic vinegar, sugar and all the spices and continue to sauté for a couple minutes, you want the vinegar to caramelize a little on the vegetables

6. Add in tomatoes and chicken stock and chicken if using

7. Let is simmer. You can use it right away if your pressed for time but if you have the time to let it simmer on low for at least 30 minutes it will just get better.

8. Enjoy! 

Spaghetti Squash Bake

Don't get me wrong this girl LOVES her carbs (as I have said before a time or two or a million times). Some days though just call for a low carb kind of meal. There is no better substitute for me than spaghetti squash. Make no mistake it is NOT the same as eating a huge bowl of homemade pasta, but it is a great way to mix things up and I love how versatile it is. One of my all time favorite ways to eat it is to make it into a layered casserole dish with flavors that are reminiscent of lasagna. I almost called this recipe spaghetti squash lasagna bake, but it wasn't quite close enough for me to call it that. I thought it may be a little misleading. But you will see similar ingredients to a lasagna.

Bake the spaghetti squash (this is my method but you can use any method that works for you)
Micrwave the whole squash for 6 minutes, then cut the ends off and cut in half and scoop out seeds. Bake squash cut sides up.

Make sauce while the squash cooks (or use a jar of your favorite Marinara for a time saver). I did add 2 shredded chicken breasts to my sauce to add a little more protein.

Layer the spaghetti squash bake.

 

Bake in the oven then let it sit for at least 15 minutes prior to serving.

Recipe

Spaghetti Squash Bake

1-Spaqghetti squash

1 recipe Marinara (will be in another post) or 1-24 oz jar of marinara

1-15 oz container part skim ricotta

1 cup Italian shredded cheese blend (divided)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F

1. Microwave spaghetti squash for 6 minutes

2. Cut off the ends and cut down the middle. Scoop out the seeds

3. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with a little salt and pepper

4. Cook squash cut side up for 30 minutes

5. Let cool a little

6. Layer in a 9x13 baking dish

Sauce-->1/2 of the spaghetti squash-->whole tube of ricotta-->1/2 cup cheese blend-->sauce-->1/2 spaghetti squash-->remaining sauce-->1/2 cup cheese

7. Bake uncovered at 350 degrees F for 45 minutes

8. Let it stand for at least 15 minutes

9. Enjoy!

Turkey Oatmeal Meatballs

Spaghetti and meatballs is such a great traditional meal, but it can get really heavy with all the pasta and greasy meatballs and cheese. These turkey/oatmeal meatballs are light and DELICIOUS. They do take sometime to make, but you can make a huge batch and freeze some of it for later and they still taste great.

Place half a large onion in a food processor and pulse until onion is in very small pieces. Then add 1 cup uncooked oats (not instant) and process until you get this kind of pasty mixture.

Next mix in the remaining ingredients. Spices, cheese, egg and ground turkey. Form into balls. I use a 1 tablespoon scoop to get them all the same size. It will make about 50 1 tablespoon size meatballs. Spray baking sheet or foil before placing them on to ensure they don't stick.

Then bake them 400 degrees (F) for 30 minutes, if your baking them from frozen it will take longer. They will be brown and slightly firm. Then enjoy! I added them to the sauce for a couple minutes before I topped off my homemade pasta.

Recipe

1 cup oats (not instant)

1/2 large onion

16-20 oz package lean ground turkey (I don't have exact size as I buy mine in bulk and they don't label the exact weight of the package)

1 egg

1/4 cup shredded Italian blend cheese

1/2 tsp each of salt, pepper, basil and oregano

1 tsp garlic powder (can substitute with a couple cloves of fresh garlic I didn't have any on hand when I made them)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees (F)

1. Add onion to food processor and pulse until you get small pieces

2. Add 1 cup of oats and pulse until you get a nice mixture there should be no large chunks and it will become pasty in texture

3. Add all remaining ingredients and mix together. Do not over mix you just want everything combined and distributed evenly.

4. Spray a baking sheet with nonstick spray. Portion out meatballs into 1 tbls size portions. Here it is super handy to use a 1 tbls spoon size scoop. You should get between 45-50 meatballs. You can really make them any size you want just adjust your bake time accordingly.

5. Bake 400 degrees (F) for 30 minutes.

6. Enjoy!

Crockpot Shredded Beef

One of my favorite things to do is make something in a crockpot. I mean hello "set it and forget it" as a famous infomercial would say. Am I the only one that used to watch them on Saturday mornings as a kid? There is nothing better then getting dinner in the crockpot in the morning then coming home hours later to a house that smells amazing and dinner pretty much ready to go am I right?

Another one of my favorite things is Mexican food: tacos, burritos, chips, salsa, nachos and fajitas oh my! I could eat Mexican food pretty much everyday for at least one meal. Maybe it was the whole living in Mississippi and Cleveland for the past 8 years and not having nearly as much Mexican food choices as I did growing up in Northern California. Whatever the reason is though, we eat Mexican food a lot in our house. One of the best things is making a huge crockpot full of shredded meat (beef, chicken, pork) and then being able to eat it for multiple meals. It is so easy yet so tasty.

Simply start with whatever meat you like (I used beef for this particular batch).
I browned 2.5 lbs of beef stew meat in a large pan with a little oil. Seasoned the beef with salt, pepper, chili powder, cayenne pepper, cumin and garlic powder. Transfer meat to the crockpot leaving the drippings/juice in the pan.

 Next I sautéed one large onion in the pan with the drippings/juice. Sautéed until the onion was soft and started to get a little color. Then transferred it all to the crockpot (juice and all)

 I then added orange juice and chicken broth to the crock pot and cooked on high for about 5 hrs. Shredded the beef and let it sit in the juice for another half hour.

Then I simply made tacos. I added a little Greek yogurt, cheese and fresh cilantro. But this is where you can go crazy with however you like it! Please leave me a comment on your experience with this recipe.

Recipe
Shredded Beef (or pork or chicken)

2.5 lbs beef stew meat (I have used chicken breasts, pork shoulder/butt as well)
Salt
Pepper
Garlic powder
Cumin
Chili powder
Cayenne pepper
1 large onion
1/2 cup Orange juice
1/2 cup chicken broth

1. Heat a little oil in a large pan

2. When oil is very hot dump in meat and sprinkle with all spices. You will end up using between 1/4tsp and 1/2tsp for the spices depending on how spicy you like it. I tend to use closer to 1/4 tsp salt/pepper/chili powder/cayenne pepper and 1/2tsp of cumin and garlic powder.
*I didn't measure the spices exactly for this particular recipe: I will update as I make it again*

3. Brown meat then transfer to crockpot. I leave all the drippings and juice in the pan

4. Cut onion into slices and Sautee in pan until the onion is soft and starts to get some color (take about 5 minutes on medium heat) The onions will absorb a lot of the juice and drippings.

5. Transfer onions to the crockpot

6. Add liquid to the crockpot and mix all together.

7. Set on high and leave for about 5 hrs, until the meat can be shredded with a fork.

8. Shred the meat and leave for about 30 minutes to absorb more liquid.

9. Eat!

The [Re]Launch

I wasn't sure whether or not to call this a Launch or Re-Launch of my blog. Way back when I started this blog it was really just a bunch of jumbled posts here and there. After I had baby boy #1 little R I intended for it to be a way for my family to keep up with my life since we lived thousands of miles away...well we all see how that turned out. It's been almost 3 years since I have posted in here.

Why I am re-launching. So the idea came to me a couple weeks ago. I have been way more active on my social media, as a result of me becoming a Beachbody coach (I will save that story for another day). I started posting photos of my food and was overwhelmed by the response people where giving me. I had numerous requests to write a cookbook which seemed crazy. Me write a cookbook? I could never! But then I began to think maybe not so crazy? That's when the blog idea was born. Instead of writing a cookbook which would take months or years to get polished and ready to publish I can share my recipes via a blog. I can share them slowly over time and see how they go over. I can have others test the recipes and give me feedback...for free! Then if things progress then maybe I can consider putting together a cookbook.

So while my intentions for this blog are generally going to be food/recipe related that won't be the only thing that I post about. I also want to share a glimpse into my crazy life! There will be kid posts, fitness posts and probably some other random posts as well because well that's life. I am so excited to share this all with you. I also ask you please be patient at my blog will be under a constant state of remodel for a little while; while I try and get things the way I like them. You may notice changes day to day as I fuss around with layouts and design. Thank you for joining me on this crazy exciting journey.