Healthy Hotel/Dorm Room Meals :-)

Early (EARLY!) Saturday morning  I got this text from my brother-in-law: "I just thought of something!! Why don't you try making some healthy recipes that would be available to students who live in dorms but want to still try to eat healthy and not instant crap. I think it's a good idea, and it'll help me eat healthy in hotels where I only have a microwave and a mini fridge." First of all, he's lucky I was already half- awake, my dogs had woken me up because all 3 of them were apparently dying to go outside. I re-read his text and thought about it for a minute. Just a mini fridge and a microwave? EEK. So I texted him back, "Challenge accepted" and thought about it allllllll weekend.

Not only do I think these ideas would great for a college student living in a tiny dorm room with limited resources or a traveling businessman, I also think they'd be great for all of my military family friends who at any given time could be living in temporary housing! I didn't really think about that until this morning when I was thinking about our upcoming move (In December- January ish we are PCSING). We will definitely be in a temporary housing situation (like a hotel room) for at least a week or so while we are house hunting, and I'm glad I have some ideas to feed us healthily for that time. I tried to keep all the recipes as close to paleo/gluten-free healthy stuff as possible too. NOT AN EASY TASK!

All of these recipes/ ideas are based on the fact that you have access to at least a mini fridge & microwave & also a local grocery store to buy your supplies. This is gonna be a long post (with LOTS 'o information) so Bear with me. Or just scroll down to what you're interested in. And forward it on to anyone you know in college or traveling or who may ever be in a temporary housing situation!

BREAKFAST:
It's the most important meal of the day y'all! But really, it is. Do you know what breakfast means? It's literally "BREAKing the FAST" the fast of course being while you were sleeping. Your body needs fuel, stat! Here's my ideas:
Microwaved scrambled eggs (see recipe below)
Microwaved crispy bacon (see recipe below)
Store-bought hard boiled eggs (I found these at my local grocery store in the refrigerated section w/ the fresh eggs. Would be great for an on-the-go breakfast or crumbled in salads!)
Peel-able fruits (IE: fruit you don't need a knife for. Bananas, oranges, etc. Swipe some almond butter on top for added protein)
Microwaved sweet potato (or regular potato. Wash, poke all over with a fork, put on a paper towel in the microwave, nuke it for 5 minutes or until soft & cooked through, slice open and eat plain or with desired toppings)
Granola with coconut milk or almond milk (like cereal, but better for you)
Microwaved sausage

Scrambled eggs in the microwave:
1. Add 2 eggs, about 1 tbsp. of milk or water, pinch of salt & pepper to a microwave safe bowl.

2. Whisk together with a fork until combined.

3. Microwave 1 1/2- 2 minutes or cooked until desired consistency.

ENJOY! The texture is a little different that skillet cooked eggs, but tastes exactly the same.

Crispy bacon in the microwave: (Seriously.)
1. Line a microwave safe plate with paper towels and top with slices of bacon.

2. Top slices of bacon with another paper towel (to soak up the grease)

3. Microwave for about 1 1/2 min per slice, or until desired crispy-ness. My 4 slices took 6 minutes!

LUNCH: My FAVORITE idea for lunch/ dinner is to use the convenience of a store-bought rotisserie chicken. Buy one at your local grocery store and ask your deli to cut it up for you (they don't mind, I swear!) then shred it with your hands (if you're an animal, like me) or chop it up and use it for salads, wraps, sandwiches, or just eat it straight up.
Jarred Salads (recipes below)
Lettuce wraps (roll up chicken or canned tuna in a piece of lettuce with desired veggies)
BLT wrap (lettuce wrap, microwaved bacon from recipe above ^^, tomato slices)
Canned tuna or chopped rotisserie chicken with microwave steamed veggies
Peel-able fruits
Nuts
Nut butters slathered on fruits/ veggies

Mason Jar Salads: I realize  if you're traveling for business you probably don't have access to mason jars. That portion of the idea is more for college dorm living. You MAY however buy a salad mix that comes in plastic- type container (Like below) and fill it with your veggies, protein, salad toppings (everything BUT the dressing) and dole it out into individual salad servings. No jars necessary. The BEST thing about the jars is that they will keep your salad goodies fresh for up to a week. You can make them all ahead of time and grab and go as needed. Awesome.

Step 1: Put your dressing in the bottom of the jar (the KEY is for the dressing to not touch the lettuce, that's what keeps the lettuce fresh.)

Step 2: Top dressing with desired protein & salad toppings. For this jar it was a cobb salad with hard-boiled egg pieces, bacon bits, sliced tomatoes, & chicken.

Step 3: Shove as much salad mix as you can into the top of the jar & Seal.

I made 2 varieties when I was making these, the cobb salad as mentioned above, and a cranberry walnut salad that I used dried cranberries, chopped walnuts, hard- boiled egg pieces, tomato slices, chicken, & salad mix. Some other great salads would be a greek salad with olives & onions or a buffalo chicken salad- just toss your chicken into some Frank's Red Hot and build salad as desired.

DINNER: okay so dinner is kind of just a repeat of lunch. The only thing I would really add is maybe a microwaved potato to make your meal heartier. If you have a Whole Foods handy you can always hit up their ready-made foods section, it is STELLAR. I picked up a very paleo friendly curry chicken salad there last week that was to-die-for. I will be trying to replicate it ASAP. Canned soups seem really easy, but read the ingredients list because some of them are really sketchy. 

Do YOU have any other great dorm/hotel living healthy food ideas? Please share below :-D And share this article with anybody you think could use it! Have a great week everyone!

A Day in Paleo-Land {So What CAN You Eat?}

Soooooo since "going paleo" I keep getting the same question again and again. "You don't eat grains, wheat, dairy, legumes, processed foods, or sugars. What DO you eat?" I actually eat a lot of really good stuff so I thought I would go over a typical day of eating for me and add in a couple of ideas if you're considering trying the paleo lifestyle :) If you are even an iota interested (and you really, really should be!) I HIGHLY recommend reading Robb Wolf's "The Paleo Solution" (link at the bottom of this post!). Yeah, I've said this on like every single post for the past 2 weeks and I will continue saying it, it's THE paleo book. Just is. Sure, you can start eating paleo and implementing it into your daily life without reading the book but at some point people are going to start asking you WHY you are doing this. And sure you can say you feel way better yada yada yada, but having the scientific reasons behind it will really make you stick to it (as well as really freak you about bread and gluten in general). So just read the book. You can buy it for like $9 on your kindle (I read it on my kindle app on my iPad and then I went and bought the hard copy so I could pass it along to family members). Okay ONWARD:

Breakfast: This was my actual breakfast from this morning and it's a very typical breakfast for me:
2 Eggs, Scrambled w/ salt & pepper
Sweet Potato Hash Browns! (use raw honey instead of brown sugar, I'm obsessed)
Slices of avocado

Some other great breakfast options:
Frittata w/ chicken sausage
Sweet Potato Hash Browns (again, I eat these almost daily I'm really obsessed)
1 Banana

Don't like eggs? Try:
Fluffy Paleo Pancakes! 
Mango- Banana Smoothie! 
2 Ingredient Banana "Pancakes" 

Lunch: This was my actual lunch last week @ Mellow Mushroom:
Spinach salad greens w/ jerk chicken & tomatoes (IT WAS SO GOOD!)
 & PS: that's my brother's calzone in the background, NOT paleo.

I usually do a salad with grilled chicken for lunch. Or scrambled eggs again. I really like scrambled eggs. Salad is the easiest thing to do when you're eating out, just order it with no croutons and no cheese and you're awesome.

Dinner: This was my mom & I's dinner the other night, this fed us for like 2 days so don't think we ate ALL of this in one sitting :)
Grilled chicken & Grilled zucchini

I usually just try to center my dinners around protein (chicken, beef, pork, seafood, etc.) and veggies. I love grilled veggies and it makes it super easy just to throw everything on the grill. ALSO as a side note we had a curry chicken salad that was 100% paleo from Whole Foods the other night and it was freaking awesome. I will be trying to replicate that on here, ASAP.

SNACKS: I love snacks. Justin's nut butters makes these crazy fabulous little squeezey packets and I like to squeeze them on fruit for a snack, it is SO GOOD.

Maple Almond Butter w/ Apple Slices!

Chocolate Hazelnut Butter w/ Banana Slices!

When I'm in a snacking mood I look for fruit, typically. Because I really like fruit. But nuts are a great choice, avocado (nom nom nom), cucumber slices, sliced marinated tomatoes, etc. 

The point is, really, just to eat real food. No processed, yucky, fake stuff. REAL food, that you can identify it's point of origin. It will blow-yo-mind how much better you will feel. Real food, seems like an easy concept right? Read the book. And have a great weekend! And GO JAGS! (look for me at the game on Sunday!) And GO NOLES! :-D

THE BOOK:

 

Fluffy Paleo Pancakes!

So I spoke to y'all a little bit the other day about my new paleo lifestyle, I'm not going to go back over that but I will tell you that it's gotten really easy for me and I'm loving it. I have more energy, I sleep better, I feel better. I highly recommend you google it a bit, do a little research (just poke around to how your body digests gluten, it'll blow yo- mind!). If you are interested read "The Paleo Solution" by Robb Wolf. Okay now on to these pancakes, yes they are "paleo" pancakes, but they are also the BEST pancakes I've ever made. They tasted almost like cake batter to me! I think that was probably the almond milk. Healthy cake batter flavored pancakes? Yes, please.

Okay so I know I visited the paleo pancake option here: 2 Ingredient Banana "Pancakes"! and those are still a really good option if you don't have coconut flour. Coconut flour is really what makes these so light and fluffy, and pancake-like. Top with some 100% maple syrup (skip that fake stuff loaded with preservatives!) and you're made in the shade. I adapted this recipe from here: http://www.nourishingdays.com/2010/07/fluffy-coconut-flour-pancakes/

Ingredients:
4 eggs
1 C. Almond milk (or coconut milk to keep it paleo or dairy milk if you don't care)
2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 Tbsp. honey
1/2 C. coconut flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt

Step 1: Grease a griddle with coconut oil or olive oil and heat to medium-high heat. Whisk together the 4 eggs until combined and a little frothy.

Step 2: Add milk, vanilla, honey, flour, baking soda, & salt to eggs and whisk together until combined.

Step 3: Pour onto griddle in about 1/4 c. sized cakes. Cook 2-3 minutes or until edges are browned.

Step 4: Flip and cook an additional minute, or until cooked through.

Serve with syrup or favorite pancake toppings (Berries! Bananas! Peanut Butter!) Enjoy!

I was trying to take a picture of me pouring the syrup... didn't really work out.

Which resulted in that giant puddle of syrup. Oh well, I love syrup. :-)

 

Mango-Banana Smoothie!

So sometimes I start making a recipe and I don't make sure I have all the ingredients on hand before I begin. Like today. This was supposed to be a mango-banana-coconut water smoothie, because I was really sure I had half a box of coconut water left in the fridge (spoiler alert: I didn't), so when I went to add it I was a little frustrated with myself. But then I just grabbed the almond milk, used that instead, and what was supposed to be a super light fruity smoothie came out more like a thick, fruity, milkshake. I don't mind that kind of mistake one single bit. I like milkshakes. I'll use the coconut water- smoothie idea and show y'all that one another day but today is still a mango-banana smoothie day. 

Why mangoes? Because I got a really good deal on them. $1 a piece at Winn-Dixie right now. I really like mangoes, but I'm usually too cheap to buy them. But a dollar makes me holler honey boo boo! OMG, I just said that. I apologize. Moving on, the mangoes give this smoothie a tropical feel. Perfect for enjoying on your back porch (or maybe just looking out the window). ENJOY!

Ingredients:
1 Mango, chopped (Don't know how to cut up a mango? Cool, neither did I- look here:  http://www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/how_to_cut_a_mango/)
1 banana, peeled and chopped
3/4 C. almond milk (or choice of milk)

Step 1: Add all your ingredients to the blender.

Step 2: Whirrrrr until smooth and combined!

Step 3: Enjoy with a pretty view!

Ooooh look, Dixie made the bottom of the picture:-)

Almond Milk over Coffee Ice Cubes {AKA Heaven}!

Happy Monday! I am bouncing in my seat as I write this, partly because of the caffeine in aforementioned coffee drink & partly because I have Sugarland on Pandora right now ("I'm stuck on you wah-oh stuck like glue You & me baby we're stuck like glue!"- TRY not to dance to this song). Anyways, this isn't really a recipe so much as a freaking phenomenal idea. I saw it on Pinterest and I knew immediately it would be in my glass, ASAP. I have tried to find the original source of this brilliance, but was lead only to dead ends. This is NOT my original idea- I totally stole it from whoever pinned it originally and I would love to give them credit I just don't know who they are. So if you do, leeme know! 

Basically, as the title suggests, I took the coffee left in the pot at the end of the afternoon, poured it into an ice cube tray, let em freeze, filled a glass with coffee cubes, filled the glass with almond milk, gave it a stir, and I was SO HAPPY. You see, I do love coffee, but I've really been on a tea kick lately. Ummm, not anymore. The coffee cubes melt into the almond milk and make this creamy, delicious, perfect little beverage. I am buying a butt-load of ice cube trays, filling them all with coffee, and drinking iced coffee like this every. single. day. It's better (and WAY cheaper) than the iced coffee drink I typically get at Starbuck's and it's probably wayyyyyyyy lower on the calories/sugar chart. The PERFECT afternoon pick-me-up or early morning treat. You need this. You really do. :-) 

I've spoken before on my choice of almond milk- I don't drink dairy milk and try to avoid the majority of dairy products period. I miss ice cream, but when I had it last week it wreaked havoc on my tummy. So almond milk is my choice, and the vanilla flavor I used here tastes like a milkshake to me :-D A healthy milkshake. Can't beat that. You're welcome to use dairy milk if you so desire, but I do recommend you try almond milk or coconut milk too :) I don't really think I need to spell this "recipe" out in actual step-by-step directions (my readers are SMART yo) so I'll just show you the pictures... 

Coffee in ice cube tray, ready to be tasty cubes!

Frozen coffee cubes!

Thank you sir, may I have another? (Oh and my Jag teal nails:))

 

How To: Motivate Yourself to Cook More!

SO I was thinking this morning about why I started this blog in the first place. The original reason was just to share my recipes with my friends and family who frequently asked for them, but then something unexpected happen and a bunch of NEW friends were reading too. I now realize, the purpose of the blog is to encourage y'all to do what I love- COOK! To get your booties in the kitchen whipping up something fantastic and show you that it's EASY. Really, there's nothing hard about cooking. Whenever someone tells me "I don't cook." Or "I can't cook." I just stare at them. "Um, what do you mean you don't cook? How do you eat?" Eating out every single meal of the day would be SUPER expensive, so your other alternative is pre-packaged frozen-type meals- have you ever read their ingredient list? ICK-- if you can't pronounce it it's probably not good. You have the ability to make something SO MUCH BETTER THAN THAT. Yes, shouty capitals because I've got my serious face on now. You're better than frozen food, your family (or whoever you're cooking for, even if it's just yourself) deserves more than that. Seriously. Nutrition is important, ignorance is NOT bliss in this situation. This is a "knowledge is power" situation and if you have google, you don't have any excuses. So without further ado- here's my list of motivators to get your butt in the kitchen! :)

1. Cook something you LOVE. Nothing will motivate you more than knowing you're about to have your fave food on the table. One of the best things about cooking yourself is that you get to put whatever you like in the meal, not like at a restaurant where they give you the choices. Love chicken? Sit on Pinterest for 30 minutes, pin every chicken recipe you see. Cook one. Love a specific chicken dish? Google "Chicken ______ recipe", you'll get a ton of recipes. Why pay Olive Garden $12 to make you chicken alfredo when you can make it for $5? And that feeds like 4 people. And on that same note, Olive Garden has their actual alfredo sauce and many other recipes on their website. Just google it.

2. Plan ahead. The saying goes "fail to prepare, prepare to fail" and it's true. You're far more likely to hit the drive-thru if you know you don't have anything to cook at home. Plan a trip to the grocery store Sunday afternoon and layout meals for the whole week, make sure you have ALL of the ingredients on hand and then you have no excuses. You'll also be more motivated to cook because you don't want those ingredients you spent good money on going bad on you! No sir. I was going to stop by a local smoothie joint this morning, but I remembered I have 2 bananas that are EXTRA-ripe sitting on the counter. If I don't use them ASAP, they will be rotten, so I came home and made my own dang smoothie. I'm cheap, so that strategy almost always works for me. 

3. Make a playlist. Put "Beyonce" radio on Pandora and turn it up! Trust me, cooking to 'Bootylicious' is wayyyyyy more fun than cooking to silence. Not a Beyonce fan? Ugh, I feel bad for you- but just put on whatever gets you jazzed :). On the same note, that reality TV show that you just have to watch- blare it in the background. You don't need to see the housewives faces to know what they're arguing about, let's be honest we see that same fight every week! Someone in the house complaining about your choice of tune-age while you're in the kitchen? Tell them to kiss it, or they can cook themselves. 

4. Don't overestimate yourself. I'm so proud of you for getting in the kitchen! But you really need to be realistic with yourself. If you're busy during the week, planning to cook coq au vin is NOT realistic. Stick to something quick & easy that you're really comfortable with during the week, save the harder, newer stuff for the weekend when you have plenty of time to work at it. Nothing is more frustrating than having a burnt meal finished at 8pm when you have to be at work bright n early. Don't be that guy.

5. Buy yourself a new toy. When I was in a cooking rut about a year ago I picked up this fab Kitchenaid knife with a lime green handle. It wasn't expensive, it was around $7 at T.J. Maxx, but it made me so excited to use it because it was so bright and happy! New kitchen gadgets are exciting and fun, and usually pretty inexpensive. Just browse the kitchen aisle in Target- so many cute things! I have a can opener that looks like a toucan, a bottle opener that looks like a shark, a potato peeler that looks like a monkey, and kitchen clips shaped like duck bills. They make me happy. Being happy in the kitchen is important, you want it to be your happy place so that you will be there MORE.

6. Think of all the benefits of cooking. By this I mean both nutritionally, and financially. Nothing drives me crazier than when I see little kids scarfing down Mickey D's chicken nuggets and french fries. Have you seen those pictures of what McDonald's chicken used to look like? That pink sludge? Ick. I understand if you're in a major pinch or you're on a road trip fast food is sometimes necessary. Don't make it a habit! Not only is it a poor choice nutritionally, but it's expensive! A $5 kids meal? If they love chicken nuggets, go home chop up a chicken breast, toss it in some bread crumbs and bake. You'll get like 25 chicken nuggets for around $2-3. And you'll know exactly what's in them. Yes, I know I don't have kids- maybe I don't understand? Maybe I don't. But when I think about having a little mini-me in the future I can't even begin to imagine stuffing them with fake, processed foods. 

7. Just do it. Okay, I'm gonna get a little Nike on you. Just cook. Just do it. Just get in the kitchen and start. Here's some really good, EASY recipes to start with:
Hot {or not} Baked Teriyaki Wings! 
Hot Turkey Sammies! 
Chicken Satay & Spicy Peanut Dipping Sauce 
Spinach- Mozzarella Chicken 
Lasagna Stuffed Pasta Shells! 
Bacon Cheddar Ranch Chicken 
Chicken Enchiladas in Sour Cream Sauce 

There's 7 meals, for 7 nights of the week! No excuses. :-D  

Slow Cooker BBQ Chicken!

So I told y'all the other day how much I adore crock-pot meals. I mean, pouring your ingredients in a slow cooker & letting it simmer all day to come home to a great home cooked meal that needed no supervision? Perfection. Last night was the very first NFL regular season game (Giants vs. Cowboys- I detest them BOTH but I had a player from my fantasy team playing so I was all ears) and I knew some BBQ was in order. I had a bunch of errands to run all day, so I just threw everything in the slow cooker, came home & shredded the chicken, poured a glass of wine, & by kick-off our dinner was ready to go! 

I had the pleasure of serving my baby brother & 2 of his friends who gobbled these up right away. This recipe is ALWAYS a crowd pleaser and super great for game day. They made sandwiches out of their chicken, but if you're like me & you're not eating bread just skip the bun and eat it by itself- still tastes fantastic. I did have an issue finding BBQ sauce at the grocery store that didn't contain any high fructose corn syrup (you don't want that stuff- it's nasty!) but finally found a brand "Stubb's" I believe that was all good ingredients and tasted pretty fantastic!

Ingredients: (Serves about 6)
1 (12 oz.) bottle of BBQ sauce of your choice
1 packet of dry Italian dressing mix
1 C. water
1/4 C. corn starch
2 Tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
2 boneless skinless chicken breasts

Step 1: Pour BBQ sauce, dressing mix, water, corn starch, and Worcestershire sauce into crock and whisk together until combined.

Step 2: Add chicken breasts to crock. Make sure there is enough liquid to cover chicken, you may need to add more water if there isn't enough liquid.

Step 3: Cover and cook on high for 3-3 1/2 hours or low for 6-7 hours.

Step 4: Pull chicken breasts out and shred with 2 forks and return to the crock when shredded, turn heat to low (if you had it on high heat) and cook another 30 minutes.

ENJOY!

 

Crispy Oven Roasted Zucchini!

So today I bring you a super quick and easy (and healthy!) side dish. It took me literally 2 minutes to prep these and stick them in the oven, and it's only a 20 minute bake time. You could use this same method with ANY veggie really, but I used zucchini because (if you're coming late to the program...) I'm obsessed with it. 

This is my favorite combo of spices, you can skip the cayenne if you don't like spicy or add whatever your fave spices are. The recipe is super versatile, and super yummy!

Ingredients: (I used 1 zucchini because it was just for me, if you're cooking for more than one at least double the recipe!)
1 zucchini, rinsed and chopped
1/2 Tbsp. olive oil
1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper
1/2 tsp. paprika
1/2 tsp. chili powder
1/2 tsp. kosher salt
1/4 tsp. cracked black pepper

Step 1: Pre-heat oven to 425 degrees fahrenheit. Toss chopped zucchini with olive oil to coat all the pieces fully.

Step 2: Add cayenne, paprika, chili powder, salt, and pepper to zucchini and toss to coat.

Step 3: Spread on a baking sheet covered in aluminum foil and sprayed with cooking spray in an even layer. Bake for 20 minutes, flipping once at half time.

ENJOY :-D

Linked up @: Weekend Dinner Party Extravaganza!

Slow Cooker Chicken Tortilla Soup!

Happy Labor Day everyone! I hope you had a fabulous weekend! Can you believe it's September already? I can, because obviously with my husband being deployed this summer has felt like FOREVER. Good news? He comes home NEXT MONTH! Wahoo! So I am fall's biggest fan right now! I am ready for hoodies, and pumpkin carving, costume parties, and SOUP! I love soup in the fall/winter. I actually love soup anytime, but I particularly love it in the fall. :-D 

This soup was so GOOD and crazy easy. I just threw all the ingredients in the crock-pot, headed to my labor day BBQ,  came home and had dinner ready to go! I love slow cooker recipes, set it & Forget it and you come home to a delicious meal. Does it get better than that? 

UPDATE: So this kinda makes a TON of soup. Like 6-8 servings. I ate it for 4 days in a row. It got better as the days went on... It is SO GOOD. :-D

Ingredients:
3 C. chicken broth
2 tsp. ground cumin
2 tsp. chili powder
1/2 tsp. cayenne pepper
1 (28 oz.) can diced tomatoes
1 jalapeno, minced
1 green (or whatever color, I just had green!) bell pepper, chopped
2 Tbsp. onion powder (or 1 medium onion, chopped)
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 cups frozen corn
1/2 C. tomato paste
2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 C. shredded colby jack cheese
1/2 C. shredded pepper jack cheese
1 bunch of cilantro
Optional garnishes:
avocado
tortilla chip strips
shredded cheese 

Step 1: Add chicken broth, cumin, chili powder, cayenne pepper, diced tomatoes, jalapeno, bell pepper, onion powder, garlic, corn, and tomato paste to the slow cooker and stir to combine.

Step 2: Place chicken breasts in the slow cooker, making sure there is enough liquid to cover them. Cover and cook on high for 3-3 1/2 hours or low for 6-7 hours.

Step 3: Pull chicken breasts from soup and shred with 2 forks, add shredded chicken back to soup and stir. 

The chicken will be super tender and very easy to shred!

Add cheeses and cilantro and stir. Turn slow cooker down to low (if you had it on high) and cook for 30 more minutes for all the ingredients to marry.

Step 4: Serve, garnish with avocado, tortilla chips, and extra cheese if desired. Enjoy!