Sunday Brunch! Energizing Turkey Egg Scramble Bites

.:: Gluten Free

I am STILL full from this easy, gluten free recipe. I've been trying to cut carbs lately, because I hate how they make my belly bulge. They also make me feel sleepy, and the cold North Carolina weather we're experiencing is doing that well enough on it's own. For today's healthy brunch, I pulled another fave from Pinterest. They turned out wonderfully! I'll definitely have to make these healthy egg scramble cups more often.


What you need:
4 eggs
Six slices of low fat turkey (the original recipe called for ham, but I felt turkey was a better option for weight loss.)
A Handful of raw spinach
1/2 cup shredded, low-fat mozzarella
Olive olive oil spray
Salt & Pepper to taste
To start, preheat your oven to 400 degrees and spray a muffin tin with olive oil spray. Then combine your eggs, cheese and veggies, scrambling them until the yolks are busted evenly. Once you're mixture is ready, line SIX of the muffin holders with the turkey, using one slice per holder. Last, fill with the egg scramble mixture and bake for 15 minutes!

This recipe was super easy to throw together, and I'm sure it's one kids will enjoy helping with. Keep in kind, you can add and substitute anything you want with these- peppers, mushrooms, tomatoes, etc.
Enjoy!




Halloween Crafting- Our House on Spooky Street.

.::Haunted House


Halloween! I could shout it from the top of my lungs all October long. I love seeing the kiddies dressed up in costume, the flooding of imagination toddling down the street wide-eyed, the spooky Halloween decor, and the crispness of autumn air. It's a night where we all question the mystical and mysterious and free ourselves from the every day norm.

Decorating for Halloween is always a favorite of mine. Being surrounded by haunting images gives me a warm, fuzzy feeling inside. It's a reminder of my youth and  the many hours I spent reading horror novels and watching scary films. I enjoy being scared, even if only for a moment. It's a welcomed emotion, in small doses, that reminds me of how wonderful it is to be alive and have the ability to feel. It's been said that love and fear are two of the strongest emotions- and this was way before Donnie Darko. But don't let that stop you from picturing Jake Gyllenhaal. 

Decorating was extra fun this year because I'm in a new home. I moved in with my boyfriend this past summer, and lucky me! He loves Halloween as much as I do. Together we shopped for Halloween goodies and made some lovely paper bats to put on our front door, (Thanks, Pinterest!). We used a bat silhouette we found via Google and taped a few we'd copied to construction paper. We then cut out our bats and laminated them. 

My boyfriend, being super handy, set up a red light so it would cast a glow over our garden ghosts at night. This photo really doesn't do our hard work any justice, but we live across the street from an Elementary school, and watching the kid's faces when they walk by is a hoot. Halloween is really all about the kids, though, right? Well, I'm still a kid at heart.






Healthy Snack Ideas for the Holiday Season

.:: Healthy Snack Ideas
Oh, the struggle of trying to eat right and stay healthy during the most active season of the year. By active, I don't mean jogging or sweating at Zumba class. It's that time of year where we are all tempted to enjoy cocktails and stuff our faces while enjoying the company of friends and family. It's currently football season, Halloween parties will be popping up everywhere in a matter of days, and do I even need to mention Thanksgiving and Christmas? 'Tis the season of hunger! But don't fret! I have a few healthy party food ideas that are fun, delicious and won't leave you with gut guilt.  




  Salad Sandwich wraps: This is so easy, you can even let the kids help you put these together. Just wrap lettuce, cheese and whatever you wish into a piece of healthy lunch meat. I actually had the ones pictured above for lunch yesterday, so I didn't get super fancy, but you can make many different varieties- roast beef and horseradish, turkey and goat cheese, etc. Let your imagination run wild!  






  Buffalo Ranch Veggie Dip- This is my substitution for hot wings. I LOVE hot wings! But I don't love how they make me feel after I eat them, or what they do to my waist. For the dip, I mixed a ranch dressing packet (I hate the bottled ranch) with Greek yogurt and a little skim milk, then add buffalo sauce to taste. Serve it with your favorite vegetables, and it will curb your cravings for hot wings.  




  Mini Taco Bowls- This is another gem I found on Pinterest! You can either use regular-sized corn or flour tortillas, (I used corn), and simply spray them with olive oil spray and push them into the crevices of an upside down muffin tin. Bake on 350 until the edges look crispy, then let cool. When they are ready, you can fill them with whatever you'd like! I chose seasoned turkey burger and cheese, then served lettuce and Greek yogurt on the side. They were a huge hit with my family!


 Enjoy!    



Hooray for Rainy Day Soups!

.::Soups for the Soul
It's been a hectic couple of weeks packed with appointments, tests and so much nasty rain. Thankfully I'm in North Carolina rather than South, so there was minimal flooding in my small part of the east coast when the tropical storms and hurricane Joaquin hit. When I wasn't studying or plotting to steal my neighbor's canoe, I was filling my home with the savory smells of warm, comforting soups.




  Since I had a left over rotisserie chicken, I whipped up homemade chicken noodle soup by boiling the bones and removing the left over meat. After adding carrots, celery garlic, fresh herbs, pepper and pasta to the saved broth, I tossed in some salt and enjoyed it while watching the rain.





I also tried my hand at my very first bean soup. I can't remember how many bean types were listed on the bag, but there was quite an assortment. I froze a ham bone months ago, (sooooo not healthy), and added it while they simmered. My boyfriend was awesome enough to make some cornbread to go along with it, which made for a perfect North Carolina rainy day combination.





  Last, we made turkey chili, subbing turkey for ground beef and adding fresh spinach for extra nutrients. My Dad, who used to be a Chicago fire fighter, was a huge chili fan. He used to make it every fall when football season started so we could eat chili and watch the Chicago Bears play. It's my most favorite fall and winter meal, and I could probably live off it for the rest of my life if I had to.

 Eat well..... and stay dry!