Chicken Enchilada Zucchini Boats

A paleo friendly recipe to slim down a Mexican favorite - enchiladas . . . I think kids would really enjoy these too!

Zucchini Boat Ingredients:

4 medium zucchinis, cut in half lengthwise
1 tablespoon avocado oil
1 small onion, diced
1 green pepper, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon cumin
1 tablespoon chipotle chili powder or regular chili powder
1 cup cooked and shredded chicken
1 teaspoon oregano
1 1/2 cups enchilada sauce (see below)
1 handful cilantro, chopped
1/2 cup cheddar cheese, shredded (optional)

Enchilada Sauce Ingredients:

2 tablespoons avocado oil
2 tablespoons coconut flour
5 teaspoons red chili powder
1 1/2 teaspoons cumin
1 garlic clove, minced
1 6 ounce can of organic tomato paste
2 1/4 cups water
Salt and pepper to taste

Zucchini Boat Directions:

1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2) Heat the oil in a pan over medium heat.
3) Bring a large pot of water to a boil, and add zucchini halves and boil for 1 minute. Remove and let cool. Once cooled hollow out the zucchini halves with a small spoon reserving the flesh.
4) Heat oil in a large pan over medium heat. Add onion and peppers and sauté for 5-7 minutes.
6) Add garlic, cumin, and chili powder and sauté for 1 minute.
7) Add reserved zucchini flesh, chicken, corn, oregano, 1/2 cup of enchilada sauce and cilantro. Cook for a few minutes until heated through and remove from heat.
8) Spread 1/4 cup of enchilada sauce over the bottom of a large baking dish. Place zucchini in the dish and stuff them with the chicken filling and top with the remaining enchilada sauce.
9) Bake in oven for about 30 minutes or until zucchini is tender. Garnish with cilantro. Enjoy!

Enchilada Sauce Directions:

1) Heat oil in a sauce pan.
2) Add flour to pan to make roux.
3) Add spices and tomato paste. Stir until well blended into roux.
4) Add water gradually, stirring constantly. Heat until boiling.
5) Continue simmering and stirring until desired thickened. About 4 minutes.

(This sauce can be made ahead of time and stored in an airtight container in the fridge)

Another reason to be fit!

 Thanks to P90X3, P90X, Insanity, Focus T25, and CrossFit - I can crank out some "BOY" pushups!  Something I used to not be able to do, because I had the upper body strength of a bird, mainly running, spinning, and cycling trying to get "thin" and weigh less.  I've learned that strength is beautiful, not super model "skinny".

Clean Protein Pancakes

So I was CRAVING pancakes and decided to try and wing it to make a healthy version, that is pretty much paleo approved except for the whey protein in vanilla Shakeology.

So these measurements produced about 15 pancakes.  I decided to make a lot so I can freeze the rest and have a quick grab and go breakfast option.  Especially with our baby girl due any day now ;-).

INGREDIENTS:

2 ripe bananas
2 TBSP unsweetened almond milk
4 scoops vanilla Shakeology (or you can substitute a vanilla protein powder)
3 TBSP almond meal
2 tsp cinnamon
2 tsp baking soda
1 cup egg whites

DIRECTIONS:

1. Beat the bananas and almond milk together until the bananas are well mashed/pureed.
2. Add the remaining ingredients and mix for about 1 minute until well blended
3. Heat a skillet with a little coconut oil.  Pour about 1/4 cup of batter for each pancake.  Flip when edges are firm and begins to bubble.
4. Ideas to serve with:  maple syrup, honey, almond butter, or a homemade fruit compote

To make a fresh fruit compote . . . I simmer 1 - 1 1/2  cups berries, 1/4 cup water, and some honey or stevia (about 1 TBSP) until it thickens and the berries are well mashed and soft.  You could do this with a lot of different fruits though.  

I just did a little honey on mine :-) . . .

A Girl and a Camera

So besides fitness and nutrition, another passion of mine is Photography.  I love pictures.  I wanted to try and get my very pregnant silhouette before our baby girl is out.  So I played around with shutter speed, lighting, and a timer (no one was around to take the picture).  I also used an App for some photo editing.  Here is the picture I made, at 38 weeks and some change pregnant:

So if you want to try and do this, here is what I did:

• Wear all black form fitting clothing.  I pulled my hair up because it is long and wanted my body shape to stand out
• Stand in front of a window with a good bit of natural light coming through it.  I pulled up the blinds and closed the very sheer curtains
• Set up a camera with a timer or have someone else take the photo a good distance away and at around belly button to shoulder height on you
• I tried to move my arms around so that you could see the curve of my back and my belly without my arms or hands in the way.  I will post some other versions I tried, but they aren't edited like this one.
• I used the photo editing Apps:  Pic Stitch and A Beautiful Mess to play with the shadows, tone, etc.
• Pic Stitch:  I made it monochrome (black and white filter), decreased the brightness, and increased the contrast
• A Beautiful Mess:  I just used this to add the text

Here are some of the other poses, unedited:

So I may play around with these to get more silhouette shots, but try it out.  I think it will be neat to show to our little girl when she is old enough one day :-).

Exercise to Try

1.  Start in plank position and do a push up.

2.  Rotate to your right side, lifting your left arm and left leg off the ground.  Balance your body in an x-position with your left leg and arm extended straight, hold for 3-5 seconds.

3.  Bring your left elbow to touch your left knee and hold that position for 3-5 seconds.  Exhale as your elbow and knee meet.

4.  Immediately lower back into a push up and repeat on the left side.  That's one rep.  Try to do 3 sets of 10-15 for an effective total body move!  Comment below and let us know how many you did!

April Newsletter

Grilled Salmon with Avocado Salsa

What's Cooking Wednesday: Grilled Salmon with Avocado Salsa . . . Umm, delicious! A great recipe for the warmer weather and firing up those grills!

Ingredients . . .
• 2 lbs salmon, cut into 4 pieces
• 1 tbsp olive oil 
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 1 tsp paprika powder
• 1 tsp onion powder
• ½ tsp ancho chili powder
• 1 tsp black pepper
For the Avocado salsa:
• 1 avocado, sliced
• ½ small red onion, sliced
• 2 limes worth of juice
• 1-2 tbsp finely chopped cilantro, salt to taste

Instructions . . .
1) Mix the salt, chili powder, cumin, paprika, onion and black pepper together, rub the salmon fillets with olive oil and this mix and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.
2) Pre-heat the grill.
3) Combine the avocado salsa ingredients in a bowl and mix well, chill until ready to use.
4) Grill the salmon to desired doneness. Top with salsa. Enjoy!