WIAW: Cheesy Buffalo Meatloaf "Muffins" {30 Minute Meal!}

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Hello!  Happy Wednesday, all!

Got some fun eats to share with you today :)

Breakfast: Waffles!

Just some frozen waffles this morning.  But they were oh so good!  I buy these Walmart brand buttermilk waffles for my guy and decided to try some for myself.  For 150 calories for two, they are almost as nutritionally sound as my beloved Eggo Nutrigrain low fat waffles (that I usually eat).  Topped with strawberries and sugar free syrup and paired with some coffee, it was a yummy start to the day!

Morning Snack: Fruit Salad

This fruit salad is leftover from our Sunday brunch, and I'm really glad I packed it for a snack.  I have been feeling very blah about fruit lately, but it is probably because I'm eating the same apple or orange everyday.  This fruit was so tasty and refreshing that it made me crave more!

Lunch: Leftovers

I packed up some leftovers from Monday night's dinner to eat for lunch today.  This is actually a picture of my boyfriend's meal, because my salmon fell apart and looked pitiful in the picture.  Ha!

I just seasoned some thawed frozen salmon with salt and pepper and covered it in honey BBQ sauce.  Then I broiled it for about 4-5 minutes until it flaked apart (I tested the edge of a piece).  The sweet potato and frozen veggies were made in the microwave.  Talk about a quick dinner!

For lunch dessert I had a very deceptive coupon for Starbucks...it was 25% off, and with me not being very math savvy, I thought this was great!  But, it was just a discount of 81 cents- ha ha!  See, it pays to do math!

Oh, well.  Still good!

I got an iced coffee with soy milk and sweetened with a Splenda..and a lovely salted caramel cake pop.

Bizzy fell asleep in the backseat after all the fun times she had on our lunch walk and playing with her best (dog) friend, Reggie.  She's so cute!

"She's taking my picture again, isn't she?" 

My afternoon at work was quite busy, so I held off on a snack until I got home.

I had a piece of 35 calorie bread toasted and smeared with natural crunchy peanut butter.  My favorite pre-workout snack (who are we kidding..it's my favorite snack for any time!)

After boot camp, I headed home to make a 30 minute meal!

Dinner: Cheesy Buffalo Meatloaf "Muffins" & Roasted Vegetables

I wish I had more patience when taking my dinner pictures-lol!  But I am always ravenous by the time everything comes together, I just want to snap a quick pic and be done with it.  Well, hopefully it all translates as super appetizing  because it was!

I was going to make buffalo turkey burgers, but wanted something a little different, so I made some mini meatloaves in a muffin tin.  So much flavor in these little guys!  I actually went back for a third muffin after the pictures!

Here's the recipe:

Cheesy Buffalo Meatloaf "Muffins"
serves 4 (depending on how hungry you are)

1 lb lean ground turkey (or chicken or beef)
1/4 cup diced red onion
1-2 cloves garlic, minced
1 small-medium zucchini, shredded
1/2 cup diced mushrooms
1/3 cup panko breadcrumbs
3 tbsp buffalo wing sauce
1/4 cup crumbled bleu cheese
salt and pepper
3 tbsp grated Parmesan cheese

Preheat the oven to 425F degrees and grease 8 muffin tins with non-stick cooking oil.
Heat a small skillet  to medium heat (on the stove with non-stick spray) and saute the onions and garlic for 3-4 minutes.  Add that and all other ingredients into a bowl and mix until combined.
Evenly divide the meat into 8 muffin tins, top with shredded cheese and extra buffalo sauce before baking, if desired (I used a little Italian blend cheese).
Bake for 25 minutes.  I drained mine on a paper towel after because of the extra moisture from the veggies.

Serve with roasted veggies (mine was cauliflower, broccoli, brussels sprouts and mushrooms tossed in coconut oil and baked for 25 minutes in 425F degree oven).

Seriously.  Try them!

After dinner, I had a lite ice cream sandwich and then Bizzy and I played with her new fox toy (I call it "Foxy Cleopatra.")

picture recycled from here

Have a great rest of the week!!

WIAW: Roasted Veggie, Chicken & Quinoa Casserole

Hello, hello!  Happy Wednesday to you all :)

We've had a break in the cold weather and finally get to walk the dogs again (as you can see above).  Bizzy and Reggie are very happy about it, indeed. (My boyfriend is so nice to pose for a picture with them.  He looks thrilled, no?)

Wanna talk about food?  Ok, let's do it!

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Breakfast: Half PB English Muffin & Fruit Smoothie

I made a quick breakfast this morning of half of a toasted wheat English muffin smeared with natural peanut butter.  I also made a fruit smoothie that I didn't finish (until snack time).  It contained: 1/2 frozen banana, 1/2 cup strawberries, 1/2 cup cherries, 1 tbsp cocoa powder, a sweetener packet and almond milk.  Yum!
Oh, I also had coffee.  It rarely makes it to the breakfast picture...

A.M. Snack: Muffin Top & Shake

I used to buy Vita Tops all the time, but found out Target had their own version of this 100 calorie delight for $2 less!  So, I had a chocolate muffin top with the rest of my shake from earlier.

Lunch: Taco Stuff Sweet Potato & Roasted Veggies

This looks like a mess in a bowl, but it was the most delicious lunch ever!  In the bowl is a medium sweet potato that I baked, topped with taco stuff (93% lean ground turkey cooked with diced chilies, corn and black beans) and cilantro, surrounded by roasted cauliflower and brussels sprouts.  Pure amazingness.
Anyways, I ate this after we took the pups on a great lunch walk!

P.M. Snack: Cheerios!

I had brought an apple to work for afternoon snack but did not get a chance to eat it.  So, I made a snack to eat when I got home of 1/2 cup of Chocolate Crunch Cherrios with almond milk.  Bizzy watched.

Then I went to p.m. boot camp to get my twice weekly butt-kicking.;)

Dinner: Roasted Veggie, Chicken & Quinoa Casserole

Dinner was very tasty and simple to throw together.
I had made roasted cauliflower, brussels and broccoli on Monday, so my veggies were already cooked and ready for a casserole.  In case you are curious on how I roast my veggies, I usually cut them all about the same size, toss them in some sort of oil (here I used 1 1/2 tbsp melted coconut oil), season them with salt and garlic powder and roast them for 25 minutes at 425 degrees.  I heart roasted veggies.  Forever-ever.

Here's how I made it:

Roasted Veggie, Chicken & Quinoa Casserole
serves 4

2 large chicken breasts, diced and cooked
1 cup roasted broccoli
1 cup roasted cauliflower & brussels sprouts
1 recipe of faux-fredo sauce (below)
1 cup quinoa, cooked (I didn't have quite enough quinoa to make this, so I added some whole wheat couscous to make this a full cup)
salt & pepper to taste
1/2 cup of shredded cheese for the topping (I used Muenster)

Combine all except shredded cheese. Grease an 8x8 pan (with non stick cooking spray) and pour it all in.  Top with cheese and bake for 25-30 minutes.

"Faux-fredo" Sauce
makes 1 1/2 cups of sauce

1 1/2 tbsp light butter spread
1/4 cup flour
1 clove garlic, minced
1 cup chicken broth
2 wedges Laughing Cow Swiss Lite cheese
salt & pepper

Heat a small skillet to low-medium and add butter and garlic.  Once the butter has melted, add in flour and whisk.  Pour the chicken broth in and whisk some more.  Let this cook for about 5 minutes on low-medium heat.

If you like this, you should check out my cajun quinoa casserole!

Clearly I have no patience for food photography when I'm hungry-ha!  Oh well...

For dessert I had a 100 calorie ice cream sandwich.  Bizzy watched.

Here's a picture of my little Bizzy girl after our walk yesterday.  Doesn't she look like a sleepy sea lion?

Ok, have a great week!  Thanks for reading :)

WIAW: Healthy Supreme Pizza Spaghetti Pie {Low Calorie, Low Carb}

What if I told you you could have pizza for under 250 calories?  Plus you can have spaghetti on top of all that?  And get a serving or two of vegetables at the same time? Too good to be true?

I think not.

But...you'll have to wait, because I have other eats to discuss today before that recipe.

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It's What I Ate Wednesday time!!!  Yay :)

Breakfast: Egg & Bacon

Oh, how I love over easy eggs!  I had an over easy egg (that my boyfriend cooked for me--best boyfriend ever award!!!) on half of an English muffin with some precooked bacon and grapefruit slices.  Mixing it up for breakfast!  Loved this change from my usual thang.

Morning Snack: Cheerios

I have been loving cereal as a snack lately.  I just measure out a serving of cereal in a Ziploc and have a little tupperware container filled with 1/2 cup of almond milk.  Perfect to take on the go!  These are the new Dark Chocolate Crunch Cheerios.  I like them alot, but I gotta say, the Chocolate Toast Crunch I had last week was 10 times better (although it was like 20 more calories a serving--no big deal).

Lunch: Sweet Potato and Roasted Veggies

For lunch I had prepared these little containers of goodness the night before.  I roasted brussels sprouts, zucchini, squash and red peppers (in 400F degree oven for about 25 minutes) and "baked" sweet potatoes in the microwave.  This lunch was super flavorful and low calorie!  FTW!

Afternoon Snack: Apple

Surprised to see an apple on WIAW?  No?
Yeah, I had another apple today.  It was pretty tough to stay on track having to cut my apple in this kitchenette, surrounded by junk food:

I mean...really?  There are 3 of us in this office and my bosses know that I don't eat that junk.  Why oh why do we need 3 boxes of chocolates, snack cakes, chips, etc.?  It's infuriating, I tell ya.

So, just figured I'd let you know that I am tempted on a daily basis..but luckily most of my snacks stay at my desk with me and I don't go to the kitchen that much (I took this picture when I was heating up my coffee).

Moving on...

I made a winner of a dinner tonight!

Dinner: Pizza Spaghetti Pie

I had 1/4 of the below recipe with a side of roasted broccoli (roasted in the oven at 350F for 30 minutes).  Such a yummy and veggie-fied dinner!

Healthy Supreme Pizza Spaghetti Pie 

serves 4 

Small to medium spaghetti squash

Medium zucchini, shredded

Turkey breakfast sausage (you could also use ground turkey)

2 Eggs, beaten

1 cup pizza sauce (low sugar, preferably)

1/2 onion, diced

1/2 green bell pepper, diced

1 cup chopped mushrooms

1-2 cloves garlic, minced

1-2 tsp pizza seasoning

salt and pepper to taste

*note--black olives would be great in this..but I didn't have any

Cut your spaghetti squash in half, scoop out the seeds and pulp (and discard), lay the halves face down on a plate with a little bit of water in it.  Microwave until done.  My spaghetti squash was on small side and it was done in 8 minutes.  (You can also bake the spaghetti squash in the oven, but it takes a million years.)

While the spaghetti squash is cooking, heat a skillet on medium heat and throw the onions and green peppers in.  Cook for about 2 minutes, then add the sausage.  Season with 1 tsp of pizza seasoning and the garlic.  Break it into pieces and cook until browned.

Scoop out the "noodles" of the spaghetti squash and all the other ingredients in a large bowl and mix until combined.  Taste and season more, if needed.

Spread into a greased 8x8 pan and cook at 350F degrees for an hour.

Add a little extra pizza sauce on the top and a sprinkling of parmesan (optional) before serving.

*note--next time I'll probably try and squeeze as much moisture from my veggies prior to cooking, because it released a little water in the pan.  No biggie, but just thought I'd mention it.

I know...an hour is a long time, but it's totally worth it!  

You get the taste of pizza without the carbs from the crust or the fat from the cheese.  Normally I would weep missing these two ingredients, but this was very good and you should try it!!! 

(mine was 233 calories per serving, but of course that varies by whatever brand of sausage or sauce you use)

recipe adapted from PaleOMG

After a delicious dinner, I had a low sugar ice cream sandwich.  I forgot to take a picture of it before I hoovered it, but here is another one in the package...and a cute dog photo bomb!

Have a super fun day!

Oh, before I go, let me try a new thing:

Question of the day: Do you deal with food temptation at work while trying to eat healthy?  Or even at home?  How do you deal?

It's so much easier for me to control it at home, because I do the grocery shopping.

If you feel like answering the question in the comment, that's cool.  If not, that's cool too!

Ok, peace out!

WIAW: Buffalo Chicken Stuffed Twice Baked Sweet Potatoes

Oh, would you look at that.  It's Wednesday again!

How amazing is that picture above of the sunset from Tuesday afternoon?  It's not even half as pretty as it was in person.  It just makes the day happier to be dumbstruck at how beautiful nature is, am I right?

Anyways, let's talk about food now!  Yay!

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Breakfast: Waffles!

I started the day off in a yummy way by eating some Eggo Nutrigrain low fat waffles, topped with strawberries and sugar free syrup.  I also had some coffee, of course.

A.M. Snack: Grapes

I packed way too many grapes for snack today.  My eyes are always bigger than my stomach, for sure.  I ate about half of these little gems.

Lunch: Soup & Sandwich 

Lunch was kind of haphazardly thrown together, but ended up being quite tasty.  I split a can of Campbell's Homestyle Gouda bisque with chicken with my boyfriend and made us turkey sandwiches with brie wedges I found at the store (not sure of the brand at the moment--they are 70 calories a wedge..we split one).

We started to walk the dogs, but decided it was too dang cold...so, naturally we went to Starbucks instead.

We went to my favorite Starbucks in the city.  They make the best cappuccinos.  I had a tall soy cappuccino with one Splenda and a sprinkle of cinnamon.
Also, I was talked into buying a snowman cookie.  It wasn't a hard sell, people.
I split the cookie with my guy and it was soooo good.  Like 10 times better than the pumpkin cookie from last month.  The snowman cookie is shortbread (instead of a sugar cookie).  It was delectable.  I recommend it if you need a treat...I also recommend splitting it, because it's like 350 calories.

P.M. Snack: PB Toast

From my WIAW posts, I bet you think I eat peanut butter toast everyday, huh?  I usually just have it on Tuesdays and Thursdays when I have boot camp.  It makes me feel like I'm fueling my body for a strength workout.

So, anyways, ate my toast and went to workout.  Then home for a fantastic dinner that I will share with you now.

Dinner: Buffalo Chicken Stuffed Twice Baked Sweet Potatoes & Veggies

I made these for the first time last week and knew I would probably repeat the recipe every week.  

So far, I'm right ;)

My guy loves buffalo chicken and, obviously, so do I.  But I think even if you are not crazy about buffalo chicken flavors, that this would be the recipe to convert you.

Come to the buffalo side with me.

Buffalo Chicken Stuffed Twice Baked Sweet Potatoes An Attack of the Hungry Monster Original Recipe 3 large sweet potatoes 1/4 cup buffalo sauce 1 lb lean ground chicken 2-3 tbsp chopped cilantro (optional) 1 cup frozen spinach, thawed 1/3 cup crumbled bleu cheese 1/2 cup reduced fat sour cream (or plain Greek yogurt) Salt, pepper, garlic salt 3/4 cup shredded mozzarella cheese Bake or microwave your whole sweet potatoes until fork tender. Carefully slice them lengthwise and scoop out flesh, leaving the skin in tact for stuffing. Cook ground chicken with buffalo sauce, salt, pepper and garlic salt until done. Combine sweet potato flesh, cooked chicken and all other ingredients except shredded cheese and mix to combine. Stuff the skins evenly with the mixture. I start by putting 1/2 cup scoops in each, then I divvy out the rest. Top with mozzarella and bake for 25 minutes at 400F degrees.

 I mean, seriously...

If buffalo chicken just isn't your thing, check out these Cheesy Twice Baked Sweet Potatoes with Shrimp & Spinach that I made back in April.  They are amazing!!!


After dinner, it was time to snuggle this little beauty!

I posted a video of Bizzy doing her tricks on Instagram.  I tried to post it here, but apparently I don't have the skill set to do such things.  Watch it here.  Be amazed. 

She's so smart and cute!

Ok, enough about my pup...for now ;)

Happy Wednesday!!

WIAW: Spinach Dip Buffalo Turkey Sliders

So, it's a holiday week and I'm lazy.  In lieu of our normal What I Ate Wednesday shenanigans, I bring you a proposed party food.  You can make it for a party of one or twenty.  That part is up to you.

People loooove spinach dip with sweet Hawaiian bread at a party, no?

Well, this slightly spicy turkey slider topped with creamy spinach dip on a Kings Hawaiian bun will knock your socks off.  You will be barefoot with taste buds that are completely satisfied.

And you know what?  So quick, easy and delicious.  My favorite combo for dinner :)

Do it.

I think turkey burgers get a bad rep for being dry.  This turkey burger is not, by the way.

Spinach Dip Buffalo Turkey Sliders
serves 4 (serving--2 sliders each)

For the sliders:
1 lb ground turkey (I used 85% lean, but up to 93% lean would work beautifully)
2 tbsp buffalo sauce
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp black pepper
grilling rub or spice blend (I used one similar to this)

For the spinach dip (recipe adapted from Skinny Taste):
1 10 oz package of frozen spinach, thawed and drained of excess moisture
1/2 cup reduced fat sour cream
3 tbsp reduced fat mayonnaise
1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese
salt & pepper to taste

For assembly:
Kings Hawaiian sweet rolls (I used honey wheat)
lettuce leaves (optional)

Combine spinach dip ingredients in a bowl and set aside.
Mix all your slider ingredients together, except the rub and divide into 8 equal balls.  Form little patties and sprinkle with rub.  Grill the burgers for about 3-4 minutes per side or until done.
Toast your buns.  I used a grill pan for my sliders, then wiped it down and used it for the buns, as well.
Assemble burgers with lettuce on the bottom, a slider and a large spoonful of spinach dip.

**You can also make full sized turkey burgers using the same ingredients.  You will just portion the lb of ground turkey into 4 or 5 patties and cook a little longer.  Kings Hawaiian also has full sized sandwich buns. 

Holy yum, this is amazing!

I served mine as a quick weeknight meal with my new favorite method of preparing sweet potatoes (alongside some microwave steamed broccoli).
To make grilled sweet potato wedges for 2, clean 2 small to medium sweet potatoes and poke a hole with a knife.  Put them in a Ziploc, but leave a little bit unsealed.  Microwave for 5-6 minutes.  Cut the potatoes lengthwise in half, then in half again to make 4 wedges per potato.  Spray with cooking oil, sprinkle with salt  & garlic powder and grill in grill pan until crispy on the outside.  So much quicker than oven fries!

Ok, I hope everyone has a super fantastic holiday week!  See ya on the flip side!

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Baked Sweet Potato Chips...and Nachos

Have you heard of "First World Problems?"  It's basically complaining about stuff that shouldn't matter in the long run.  Like, people have much bigger worries in the world.

But, I gotta say...I've had a couple first world complaints this week.

My shower curtain rod keeps falling down, so every morning I have to put it back up.

My free Pandora radio station plays a 30 second commercial every two songs.

Someone tagged me in an unflattering Facebook photo.

And, the worst of all...

I love nachos, but they make me chunky...aaaand I can't stop eating them!

As an alternative to nachos, I baked some sweet potato chips.  So now my nacho toppings are on vegetables.  Can't go wrong with that!

Solving my first world problems, one sweet potato chip at a time!

Baked Sweet Potato Chips 
makes an undetermined amount of chips

A bunch of sweet potatoes.  I think I used 7 small ones...they were really small, though.
Cooking spray oil
Salt

Using a mandolin slicer (or some sort of slicer where you get even cuts), slice the sweet potatoes very thinly. Pile all the slices in a bowl of water for about 15-20 minutes.  Pat them dry.
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
Spray some baking sheets with oil and spread the slices in one layer on the pan.  Spray them with oil and salt them.  Bake for 7 minutes, then take them out and flip them and bake for another 3 minutes or so.
This is kind of a trial and error practice.  Not every chip will turn out perfectly crispy and some might get overdone. It's cool.  Just breathe...

Keep Calm & Make Nachos.

To make the nachos, raid your fridge and pile stuff on the sweet potato chips.

I used:

• leftover bbq meat
• black beans
• corn
• salsa
• fresh avocado
• shredded white cheese
• crumbled goat cheese
• sour cream
• cilantro

Pile everything on the nachos, except the sour cream and cilantro and microwave for 30 seconds, or until cheese is melty.

Try to just eat one.  I dare you.

Nacho idea from Kadee-Cat.

Cheesy Twice Baked Sweet Potatoes with Shrimp & Spinach

Do you ever have those times where you have an idea for a yummy meal and you go buy the ingredients.  You spend time developing the recipe.  You might even take a picture.

But then your hungry monster attacks (you see what I did there?) and the whole thing is devoured in what seems like 5 seconds flat...?

Welcome to my life.

Well, at least with this yummy and filling recipe, I was eating (read: hoovering) so many super foods!  Spinach is packed with good stuff...sweet potatoes are too!  And shrimp?  Holy good stuff.  It's vitamins.  It's science.

Get with it.

Cheesy Twice Baked Sweet Potatoes with Shrimp & Spinach

makes 4 potato halves (can serve 2 as main dish or 4 as side dish)

2 big sweet potatoes

1 lb cleaned, cooked shrimp

3-4 cups fresh spinach

1-2 cloves garlic

1/3 of an onion, finely minced

olive oil

2 Laughing Cow Swiss cheese wedges

1/2 cup of shredded mozzarella

sprinkle of Parmesan

salt & pepper

Wash your sweet potatoes and poke 'em with a knife.  Put them in some plastic wrap and microwave for about 10 minutes, or until fork tender.

While the potatoes are cooking, saute your shallot in olive oil until translucent.  Roughly chop your spinach and add the garlic and spinach to the skillet.  Cook until wilted.

Cut the potatoes, lengthwise and carefully scoop out the innards, leaving a skin with a little flesh left behind for your sweet potato "boat."

Now chop your shrimp into bite sized pieces.

In a large bowl, combine the sweet potato flesh, the cooked spinach, shrimp, cheese wedges and mozzarella.  Taste it and add salt and pepper to your liking.

Scoop 1/4 of the mixture into each sweet potato boat and top with a sprinkle of Parmesan cheese.

Bake in a 425 degree oven for about 25 minutes.

Enjoy!