Tortellini Chicken Soup

First recipe of 2021! Here we go! 

I’m always game for a good one pot meal, especially with 3 littles running around. I love how this one is only 6 ingredients and virtually no work! If meat isn’t your thing, you can always omit the chicken sausage! Or, if you wanted, you could use Italian sausage. If you want it a little on the creamier side, add more cream cheese than 8 oz! I served mine with some bread on the side! 

Let me know how yours turns out! 

Ingredients:

2 cans diced tomatoes 

6-8 oz Cream cheese 

3-4 cups Spinach 

Chicken sausage (I used 6) 

4 cups Vegetable broth 

Tortellini 

1. Slice sausage, brown for 3-5 mins in saucepan.

2. Cut cream cheese into squares.

3. Pour vegetable broth, diced tomatoes and cream cheese in crockpot. Add browned sausage.

4. Cook on low for 3-4 hours

5. Put tortellini in crockpot. Let cook for 7-10 mins. Add spinach, in batches, if needed. Cook until wilted.

6. Serve & enjoy!

Meal Plan Monday: Stir Fried Pork with Vegetables

Meal Plan Monday

Hi everyone! Happy Monday! Hope you all had a great weekend. I’m here to share a really good recipe that I think you all will enjoy! This is a family friendly recipe that is pretty quick, easy to make and has great flavor. It’s been one of my favorites for years, mostly because its so different. Anyone else feel like they eat chicken every night??!! #ME. This is a one pan meal that encompasses everything: protein, fats, carbs….meat, veggies & starch! Also, you can prep this ahead of time and save about 10 mins. (Marinate the meat in the morning or early afternoon, slice the veggies)!

As you can see below, there are some parts of the recipe that are optional (like sugar), and things that can be substituted to make it easier for you at the grocery store (olive oil vs peanut oil!). I also love that you don’t need a bunch of sauces to make this-its just one kind of sauce and the flavor is so good!

Also…I am not a HUGE pork fan so take my word for it that this is a good meal!!

Hope you all enjoy this meal! xo

Stir fried pork with Vegetables

Cooking time: 35 minutes

Ingredients:
1 pound Pork Tenderloin
3 scallions, thinly sliced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 one inch piece of garlic, peeled and minced
Broccolli, cut
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 teaspoon sugar (optional, I did not use)
2 teaspoons cornstarch
1-2 teaspoon Sherry or Shaohsing wine (optional, I used water today)
1 teaspoon sesame oil
5 tablespoons peanut oil (can be substituted with olive oil)
3/4 pound sugar snap peas
1 green pepper, sliced
Salt & pepper to taste
1.5 tablespoon hoisin sauce
Brown Rice

Directions:

1. Toss the pork with the scallion whites, half the garlic, half the soy sauce, sugar, 1 teaspoon of the cornstarch, the sherry and the sesame wine. Marinate at room temperature for 15 minutes. (You can also marinate early in the morning before you leave for the day). Mix the remaining 2 teaspoon cornstarch with 2 tablespoons water.

2. Start cooking your rice.

3. Heat a skillet or wok over high heat. Add peanut il and heat. Add the green pepper & broccoli, cook for 2-3 minutes. Add sugar snap pas and the remaining garlic, ginger; stir fry until the sugar snaps are bright green & crisp. Cook in batches if needed. Pour into a large bowl.

4. Heat the same wok/saucepan and add 2 tablespoons of the oil. Add the pork mixture (add in batches if necessary). Stir fry until slightly brown, 3-4 minutes. Add the sugar snap peas. Add the hoison sauce and cornstarch mix. Cook until the juice thickens, about one minute.

5. Spread the stir fry over rice on individual plates. Enjoy!

Let me know what you all think!

Happy Cooking!

xo

Alex

Meal Plan Monday: 3/11/19

Happy Monday!

Anyone else super happy about Dayoght savings? I know a lot of people hate it because you “lose” n hour of sleep…but when you’re used to losing sleep it means nothing— ! I know it can cause a lot of havoc on sleep schedules to parents all over the nation but right now I will take that over darkness any day! This winter has honestly lasted 49053 days and I’m ready for SPRING.

Our big kids were off at their grandparents this weekend so I actually went grocery shopping on my own #score. I wanted to share my meal plan for the week with you all!

Sunday: I made Arugula Chicken - you can find my recipe linked here. I like this meal because its a two for one- meaning I don’t need to make an extra meal for the kids (HECK YEAH). I just give them the chicken plain and then just steam some veggies and pair it with some noodles. This meal is SO good, fast, and you can make it ahead of time (like I did today-I just put it in the fridge and when it was time to cook, popped it into the oven!!).

Monday- I have two Sunbasket meals arriving this week. The first is a Crispy tofu stir fry with sweet Sichuan sauce. The second we will be having on Tuesday night and its a Chipotle turkey chili with cucumber sumac salad. For those interested you can use my code to save money on your first order with Sunbasket!

Use this code: https://sunbasket.com/invite/Alex398281

Wednesday- I’ll be falling back on the trusty chicken pepperoni meal-the kids love it, and its easy!

Thursday- I’ll be making this cheesy chicken bake . This is another good recipe that can be made ahead of time & thrown into the oven, the kids like, and I substitute plain greek yogurt for mayo to make this pretty healthy. Yes, it has cheese in it, but this meal HAS been part of my rotation when I’ve been in the process of leaning out! Because when I’m leaning out, this works because I tend to focus on high fat/high protein! *Also, I have had this WITH mayo and honestly I don’t even like mayo and it still tastes good. I obviously prefer the greek yogurt because it packs extra protein and is lower fat/cal and just all around healthier!

Friday- Will be your standard Friday fish day! Salmon with good ol Paul Prudhomme’s spices!

I can’t think as far as Saturday so that is it for meal planning! ha! I wanted to share every week a few of my favorites.

This Weeks Faves:

1. Teriyaki Wegmans Chicken: I really like their pre-seasoned chicken. Yeah, its more expensive but for the season I’m in I need something easy, fast, healthy, and convinient that I can just make ahead of time and warm up on the go at home or bring with me to work. TIP: Cut these in half before cooking!! This will help give it an even cook. I always found it hard when leaving it whole to get it cooked just right. Either the outside would get burned, or the inside would be raw! Added bonus: Both of my boys like this chicken and I give it to them for dinner/lunch one or two times a week. I always make these ahead of time and put in the fridge for a fast meal in a pinch!

2. Wegmans Turkey Bacon -This stuff has great flavor, is awesome paired with eggs, or in an omelette!

3. Eggs are a big staple in our house. May-October we get eggs at the farmers market, but in the winter we rely on the grocery store options. Wegman’s came out with these this past year and they are worth the extra money. The flavor of them is AWESOME.

Lastly, I wanted to share these Lara truffles. Only 7 ingredients (and all goodies) make these a great snack.

Have a great day peeps! xo
Alex

Friday Flow: 17 weeks & Our Go-to Recipe

Happy FRIDAY y'all! Hope this week has flown by for you and you have some fun weekend plans! I'm sharing a few random things today...Pregnancy, my thoughts on the post baby #2 photo shoot (and some advice!), and an AWESOME recipe thats been a go-to this summer for us! Let's get to it!  

17 weeks Pregnant

No news is good news, right??! I don't have anything to report over here, except that I've had a great week of working out, moving and being active. I also had pizza twice. lol. hey, its called #balance.

Workouts: I'm still able to hover around 8:30 splits when I run, and am doing very low, low box jumps lifting wise ((those will probs end very very soon)). Everything is pretty much fair game in the weight room except I've started to put some of my upper body lifting exercises (benching, free weights) on an incline.

Sleeping has been hit or miss. Some nights I'm really restless and then I think it catches up to me and I sleep like a log after a few nights of average sleep. It's crazy how much bigger I am with this baby than the first 2, I feel like I was hardly showing with my first at this point in time!! I guess thats called muscle memory ha.  I've had some heartburn and I'm still squeezing into my "postpartum" regular jean shorts (a size or two bigger than I was when I got pregnant).

I am actually really looking forward to some cooler temps in September and LESS humidity. MY RINGS have been a serious issue! Its been so humid I feel like my fingers are already swollen! EEEK! Some days I have been going without which honestly makes me feel naked. Ugh. I'm kind of like..this is happening already? Really? I haven't even hit 20 weeks. ha. 

Also, last but not least, YES I have felt the baby move :) 

Names- we have no idea. Naming a third baby in the same sex is pretty difficult!!
Any suggestions??! 

Weight wise I'm still hovering around 11 or 12 lb weight gain! 

Photo Shoot

So..truth be told I'm gonna be blitzing your timeline on insta over the next month or so with my shoot that I did when I was about 6 weeks pregnant. Even though I was already pregnant...I am so dang PROUD of the photos (and thanks to my girl Kristy for her awesome work during the shoot). Its funny how in the moment you're always criticizing yourself and thinking "I'm not enough"...but I look back on the photos and I feel this overwhelming sense of pride- for achieving a goal, for getting a piece of me back ((even if it was for only a month or so lol)), for following through with something I wanted to so badly, for the sacrifice and discipline. For fighting through the moments of doubt, moments of hard, hard mommin'. Moments of looking at myself and not even recognizing who that was in the mirror, but believing if I persisted it would lead me to my goal. 

So...this is just a reminder to all of us-its HUMAN NATURE to always want more. Of course I could be more "fit" looking in those photos. And now, My baby bump could be smaller and so could my ass. But its OKAY. I am enough...and so are you. And if you have that yearning for more...go for it. But still respect the hell out of yourself and your body in your current state! 

 

Recipe: Ground Turkey Fajita Bowl

Okay..even though my nutrition has been not quite as disciplined as I normally would be, I am still loving some healthy meals and wanted to share this awesome meal that is not only healthy, but EASY and FAST!! This has been on our weekly meal plan every. single. dang. week. 

Things I love about this recipe- awesome flavor, quick and easy, no cutting of meat (ground turkey #ftw!!), you can buy most of these ingredients pre-cut if you don't have time to prepare (or lets be honest don't feel like it ha) , its lower carb, and you don't need to know how to cook to make this!! 

Ingredients:

Green, Orange, Yellow Pepper Sliced
1 small onion sliced
1 Poblano Pepper sliced
Mushrooms (optional)
Simply Organic Fajita Simmer Sauce
Lettuce (cut)
1 Avocado pitted and sliced
1 lb Ground Turkey
 

Directions: 
1. Slice Onion, Peppers. Cut mushrooms if already not sliced. Heat oil in pan. Warm onion, until starting to brown. Add mushrooms, brown. Add peppers. Sautee for 4-5 minutes until softened. 

2. Remove vegetables from skillet. Add oil if pan is dry. Cook turkey. While turkey is cooking, slice lettuce and prepare avocado as a garnish. 

Ground turkey cooking...above is the boys fajita that we made for them for dinner!

3. When turkey is cooked, add Fajita sauce. Add vegetables. Stir an cook for 3-5 minutes. Let cool. Place in bowl with salad and avocado. Enjoy! 

Hope you guys all give this one a try! Have a great weekend! 

xo

Alex

Family friendly Breakfast & 16 Weeks Bumpdate

Happy Friday! I'm rocking in today at 4 months pregnant...I can't believe it! Hope you all have some fun plans for this summer weekend :) 

Guilt free Family friendly Breakfast:

I wanted to share with all of you an awesome breakfast that is great for the whole family! I know that sometimes it is such a struggle to make only ONE meal for the whole family..especially when you are trying to eat healthy ((hello fellow moms of picky eaters!)).

Introducing...Kodiak Cake Buttermilk Pancakes. The macros (Protein, fat, carbs) on these bad boys are AWESOME, and they taste great. Our boys love them and we usually top them with syrup or honey for the kids. Right now ((because I'm a little bit of IDGAF about nutrition sometimes ha)) I usually top mine with syrup too haha #pregnancyprobs. A healthier more clean option would be to top with either Walden farms sugar free syrup ( I haven't tried, I've seen a lot of people use though) or a nut butter- Peanut butter, almond butter, etc. 

These are literally IDIOT proof to cook (I am a decent cook but for some reason pancakes aren't on the top of my list of great meals I can cook), and you can play up the protein content with adding milk and egg. YES- that means the mixture needs NOTHING else. So, those days that you have nothing left in the house (read: no eggs), you can still make these suckers. 

I get mine at Wegmans but I'm sure you can snag them online. 

BumpDate: 

16 weeks pregnant! Boom! Another month and we will be halfway there. I've had a killer week of workouts and can't wait to have a day off tomorrow and rest my body! Weight gain is staying steady at 9 pounds. I have my anatomy scan scheduled in a few weeks before we go out of town, so fingers crossed everything is okay. I've started to stock up on maternity basics (short sleeve and long sleeve tees, leggings, etc.) for the upcoming months. By mid September I think I'll be hard pressed to find too much of my closet that fits properly! Ha! I'll be doing a post on my maternity must haves and brands I love for fit, comfort, and quality so keep an eye out for that! 

Hope you all have a great weekend! xo

Alex

Meal Plan Monday & snacks I'm loving

Anyone else have a sunshine hangover? Can we all just skip work today and celebrate SPRING and no more snow?! Kidding...{kind of} Hope you all had a great weekend and are ready to get after this week!

Today I'm sharing a unique recipe... Pork is not something I have in my usual meal rotation but this meal is actually super tasty, healthy, and even kids like it because its more sweet than spicy. The Hoisin sauce I use to flavor this meal is pretty low in sugar and carbs which makes me love this recipe even more.

Pork Stir fry with Snow Peas

Pork Tenderloin, cut into cubes
4 cloves garlic
1 1-inch piece fresh ginger, peeled & minced (2 tablespoons)
1 Tablespoon soy sauce
1 teaspoon dark sesame oil
2/3 pound Snow Peas
1/2 Red & Green Pepper, chopped
Mushrooms
3 tablespoons Hoisin sauce
1/4 cup water
Rice

1. Toss the pork with half the garlic, half the ginger, soy sauce, and sesame oil. Marinate at room temperature for 15 minutes. 
2. While pork is marinating, start cooking the rice. Heat a skillet over high heat and add olive oil.  Add the remaining garlic and ginger until fragrant. Add mushrooms and peppers. When mushrooms begin to sautee/peppers soften (3-4 mins), add sugar snap peas. Cook for 2-3 mins. Remove into a separate bowl to cool. 
3. Heat the same skillet used for the vegetables and cook the Pork mixture. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Return the vegetable mixture to the skillet when Pork is nearly cooked through. Add the hoison sauce and soy sauce to taste, cook until juices thicken. I like to add 1/4 cup of water as the juice thickens- I think it makes it perfect to spread over the rice! Totally up to you though. 
4. Serve over rice and enjoy!! 

Snacks I'm loving

Also, I wanted to share a few snacks that I've been loving for me...and a few for the kids. My boys love the Nature's Bakery fig bars. I just saw today that they have an Organic Oat and Honey option so I snagged it and they LOVE them. I like how there is no high fructose corn syrup, that they're organic, and not too messy!

Strangely enough,  Neither of my boys like cow's milk. I don't really force it because I'm not super sold on cow's milk anyway...so we try to get their dairy through almond milk in their oatmeal, yogurt (Seb really isn't feeling it at the moment..hopefully that changes!) and various cheeses. These Horizon cheese stars are Max's favorites. I think he likes the taste as much as the different shapes :) These I have only been able to find at Target. Just what I need, another reason to "force" me to go into target..ha. 

I've completely overhauled my diet the last 3 weeks and cut out all sweets so finding alternatives for my sweet tooth has been a challenge to say the least. I've been loving the thinkthin Cake pops lately though. My favorite flavor definitely has to be the chocolate. Low sugar and it hits the spot after dinner when I crave something sweet!

Last but not least... is this Buff Bake Peanut Butter spread. GUYS. This is so freakin good. Not nearly as good as Nutella, or Peanut Butter Company  {{these are clearly off limits at the moment}},  but it certainly satisfies and packs some extra protein. Beggars can't be choosers at the moment so I'll take what I can get,  I love how these two treats are somewhat guilt free and help me satisfy that sweet tooth that never seems to disappear! 

Have a great week everyone! 

xo

Alex

Meal Plan Monday #2: No Bean Chili

How is it already Monday?! This weekend literally flew by and I think I need an extra day just looking outside! This weather...smh.  I'm looking forward to the temperatures warming up and the ability to get outside later on this week...this never ending winter has been brutal. The recipe on tap today is actually perfect for these RIDIC temps/ice storm we have right now! 

I wanted to share a meal I made last week that I think some of you will enjoy. To be honest, I've never been a huge chili fan. A couple of years ago I started to make it in the crockpot but I mostly made it because it was easy, convenient, and relatively fast to make. I'm always looking to make meals that are healthy but that there's no drop off in taste and flavor. Ones that I actually look forward to eating lol. Who's with me on that? Nothing better than coming home from a long day at work and having a yummy meal to look forward to!

After making several different chili recipes, I've pieced together my favorite version of this staple! 

Sweet Potato Chili

Prep time: 10 minutes
Cook time 30-40 minutes

Ingredients:
Ground Turkey
Red Pepper
Green Pepper
2 tomatillos or a can of diced tomatillos
1 large sweet potato (or 2 smaller sized ones)
1 tablespoon tomato paste
Diced tomatoes
1 cup vegetable broth
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup onion
Cilantro to taste
Cayenne, paprika, chili powder, cumin, garlic powder

Directions: 
Dice onion, green and red pepper, and tomatillos (if needed).  In a large saucepan, heat oil. Add onion, and sweet potatoes. Cook for 8-10 minutes. Add green and red peppers. Cook until soft. Remove from heat. Use same pan and heat oil (if pan is dry) and cook turkey. Add vegetables to turkey along with the tomatillos, vegetable broth, 1/2 cup of water and tomato paste. Sprinkle with desired amount of spice blend. Let simmer and thicken for 10-15 minutes. Garnish with cilantro and enjoy!

You can honestly use a different pan if you want to cook the turkey at the same time that the veggies are cooking-that saves a little time. I mostly do it in the same pan to get the extra flavoring thats in the pan after the veggies cook. Also, if your chili is "too thick" you can add more water, or more paste if not thick enough. This is all down to what you like. 

This is a great recipe because you can play around with the ingredients- if you want it really spicy or just mild just adjust you spice levels. Keep in mind that spicy food does kick the metabolism up a little! #winning #givemealllllthespice

I LOVE the sweet potatoes as the carb vs the beans personally! Sweet Potatoes are one of the best slow burning carbohydrates and are great fuel for anyone!

In addition if you don't want it as "tomatoey" (if thats a word ha) then you could use 1 cup of water instead of the crushed tomatoes. Also Diced tomatillos are such an awesome way to add flavor and they are super easy to cut up and find in the grocery store! 

I have 3 sunbasket meals on tap for this week which I am SO looking forward to. This past week got a bit monotonous with salmon and chicken! 

Have a great week everyone and enjoy! 

xo

Alex
 

MealPlan Monday: The best healthy Sweet Potato fries

Hi everyone! Happy Monday!

I plan on sharing more recipes on the blog moving forward and I thought I would start today because, why not?!

For those of you who don’t know, I did the Advocare 24 day JumpStart after Max weaned and I had amazing results. It was definitely really challenging for me from a diet/nutrition standpoint but it opened my eyes to what works for my body now that I'm getting older/being a mom. Its completely changed my nutrition (for the better) over the last 2 years!

Like anyone else I definitely loosened up my nutrition while pregnant. I mean who doesn't, amirite-its the least we can do when we are waddling around and can barely sleep. Postpartum I worked out and eat pretty healthy, but I FOR SURE have a SAVAGE sweet tooth that kills some of my gains ha.

I'm super excited to get back on the wagon now that I'm done nursing and have no more excuses ("I can't lose weight while nursing,..my body holds onto the fat lollll" ) and getting serious with this 'ish!

I'm always trying to find great recipes that still taste good. I love eating clean, feeling good and looking good...but you will not find me eating fish and asparagus every day! I LOVE food! The below recipe has lots of flavor but it is as healthy as can be. I am obsessed with these sweet potato fries...and so is my hubby and youngest son (I just don't put the spice on the boys portion)

Here we go...Recipe of the week: 

Paul Prudhomme's Chicken with Baked zucchini and Sweet Potato fries

Paul Prudhomme's Poultry magic is of my favorite poultry spices- it is fantastic. They don't sell it here in upstate NY anymore but they do in Florida, and I bought mine online at vitacost.com. It is actually a really great meal prep spice to use if you are making chicken in bulk. It definitely has a little bit of a kick to it which I love because well..we eat alllll of the chicken when meal prepping lol! Also it is so EASY and FAST to use with plenty of flavor so I'm all for it! 

Ingredients: 
Chicken as desired
Paul Prudhomme's Poultry Magic spice
2-3 Zucchini
1-2 Sweet Potato
1 egg white
cayenne pepper
Garlic powder
Salt, Pepper, Olive Oil

Heat oven to 450 F. (Keep the pan in the oven while it heats) Wash and Peel sweet potato. Cut lengthwise and then again into quarters so you have "fries". Pour egg white into small bowl. Sprinkle cayenne, garlic, salt and pepper as desired in egg white. Dip fries into the egg white mixture. Place on parchment paper (make sure they do not touch). Drizzle with olive oil if desired. Bake on one half of the baking sheet for 10-15 minutes, then flip. Cut Zucchini in half, then into half moons. Place on other half of baking sheet with olive oil, salt and pepper when you flip the fries (so halfway through). Cook for 10 minutes or until soft.

                                                                     Ingredients

While the sweet potato fries are cooking, Cut the chicken in small pieces (or leave as a breast if desired..I usually find diced is best because you can throw the leftovers really easy in a salad!). Warm oil in pan. Place chicken in oil, and shake desired amount of spice onto chicken. Stir While chicken is cooking. Serve and enjoy :)) 
 

                                                           Spread out on the pan

                                                           The finished product :) 

 For those who are interested in anything Advocare or want to know more about the Jumpstart...just DM me at @alexsahlen2 on instagram, or email me at peanutbutterblondie@gmail.com.

Have a great day everyone and enjoy! 

xo

Alex

Hot Chicken Recipe: The healthy alternative to Chicken Wings

Morning everyone! I thought I would share a super yummy recipe thats been one of my favorites for years {{courtesy of my late aunt Qui...we miss you!}} For lack of a better name we call it "Hot Chicken." 

So Yummy......

When I was a kid I LOVED chicken wings. I mean, ate them by the bucket. literally. When I got older I realized they weren't the healthiest for you so I stopped eating them cold turkey. Haven't had a wing in about 20 years. I haven't stopped my *love* of chicken wing TASTE though. This recipe can fill this void and is a lot healthier {{read: #guiltfree }} Warning: You must like spicy/hot food to like this. I would recommend this dish to anyone who like medium, hot, or extra hot wings! I am so obsessed with hot sauce that I add Franks to my plate as well ha ha! 

What I love most about this recipe is that it is only 4 ingredients! And you can pop it in the oven and is low on prep time which is key when you have kiddies {{or you're just super busy. which is everyone!}} running around. Also, even though you do use flour, there is only 26 Carbs in the entire recipe which is a keeper for me! Divide that up between 3-4 breasts and you're looking at about 10 g carbs per breast of chicken and tons of flavor! 

Hot Chicken

1/4 cup flour (I use Arrowhead Mills enriched unbleached white flour)
3/4 cup Franks Red Hot Sauce
1 lemon, juiced
1 tablespoon butter, melted
3-4 breasts of chicken

Directions: 

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Melt butter in microwave in glass bowl. Mix in hot sauce and juiced lemon to melted butter. Put 1/4 cup of flour in different bowl and place next to hot sauce mixture. Line a pyrex dish with foil. (I find that foil works better than parchment paper). You can cut the chicken breasts into tenders or leave them as breasts-up to you (I do both-below they are in tenders and the above photo is just breasts). Dip chicken in flour, then into hot sauce mixture and place in pyrex dish. Repeat with all breasts of chicken. When complete, if you have extra sauce leftover, you can dish the rest on spots that may have not been covered with the hot sauce mixture.  In this photo I show using parchment paper but like I said I find it works better with foil. 

Bake for 30-40 mins. I like to broil mine the last 3-5 mins to get a little crisp on them. This is served great with mixed veggies & salad! 

Next time you have a hankering for some chicken wings...try this recipe! Have a great day everyone....

xo

Alex