Open Faced Turkey Caprese Sandwich

This is my go-to quick, easy, healthy-ish lunch.  It takes no time at all to put together, but it’s SOOOO tasty!  Plus, there’s no mayo or any other high calorie sauce.  Here’s what you’ll need:

• 1 slice whole wheat bread
• 2-6 slices natural turkey (depending upon slice thickness)
• 2-3 small slices fresh Mozzarella cheese
• 1/2 a Roma Tomato
• A few leaves of Spinach
• 2-3 Basil leaves, chopped
• Balsamic Vinegar (to taste)

Toast your slice of bread (side note: this isn’t necessary, but I love to douse mine in balsamic vinegar, and it doesn’t fall apart as easily when it’s toasted).

Add the rest of the ingredients on top of your bread. I usually put the balsamic vinegar on the bread so that it soaks in (yummm!), and I put the Mozzarella on the top so that it’s less messy, but you can add all of the ingredients on the bread in any order you want.  Of course, you can always use two slices of bread like a normal sandwich, but I only use one to keep the carbs and calories down.

For those doing 21 Day Fix, this would count as 1 yellow, 1 blue, and 1/2 green.  This is the main reason that I only use one slice, I don’t want to give up both of my precious yellows at one time!

No Flour Cookies

I wanted to make cookies a couple of nights ago, but I really didn’t want to deal with the mess of getting flour all over the kitchen or feeling guilty about eating them later.  So, I scoured the internet for options, and I found a few good starter recipe ideas, but they all seemed lacking a little.  After adding a little of this and a little of that, then trying a slightly different second batch, this is what I ended up with, and they were delicious!  The wholebatch didn’t last 24 hours at my house. I also had a hard time not eating all of the dough,because it’s super yummy on it’s own!

• 2 very ripe bananas
• 1 cup Old Fashioned or Quick Cooking oatmeal (dry)
• 2 tablespoons peanut butter
• 1/2 teaspoon honey
• Handful of semi-sweet chocolate chips (optional)
• 1/4 cup shredded coconut (optional)

Yield: 15 cookies

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Mash bananas with a fork until smooth.  Add the remaining ingredients and mix thoroughly.  This will be thinner than most cookie “dough.” Then, try not to eat all of the dough before you get it on the pan.  Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper, and drop heaping tablespoons of the dough onto the paper (you don’t need to leave much room between cookies).

Bake for 15-20 min until lightly browned.  Remove from oven and let cool for 10 minutes, then enjoy your (mostly) guilt-free snack!

For those of you on 21 Day Fix, 1.5 cookies would count as a one yellow treat swap.

Nutritional Info: Serving 1 cookie, Calories 68, Fat 2.5 g, Cholesterol 0 mg, Sodium 5.4 mg, Potassium 79 mg, Carbs 11.1 g, Fiber 1.1 g, Sugars 5.6 g, Protein 1.4 g, Vitamin A 0.3%, Vitamin C 2%, Calcium 0.1%, Iron 1.9%.

Salsa

My husband is a salsa junkie, and we were going through multiple jars per week.  So, of course, I got the crazy idea just to make my own and make a ton at a time.  I tried a recipe or two or three, but they all seemed just ok and were lacking a little.  In the end, I took the parts I liked from each recipe, and I combined them to make my own.  What you’ll need to make Fit Mama’s salsa:

• 6-8 Cayenne peppers
• 8 small Roma tomatoes
• 1 small onion
• 1/8 cup dried Cilantro (or 1/4 cup fresh Cilantro)
• 2 Tblsp lime juice
• 1/2 tsp ground cumin
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp black pepper
• 2 tsp balsamic vinegar
• 1 clove garlic
• 2 drops pure liquid Stevia
• 2 tsp garlic salt (or to taste)

Place the Cayenne peppers in the food processor, and process until the peppers are chopped into small pieces.  This will keep you from getting a large chunk of pepper and setting your mouth on fire.  Yes, I did learn that the hard way.

After the peppers are processed, add all of the remaining ingredients and process until you reach the desired consistency.

Side Note: When my hubby wants this to be super spicy, I replace the cayenne peppers with two habanero peppers. Also, due to the lack of sugar in this recipe, it is 21 Day Fix approved and would count as a green.

Homemade Regular/Honey Peanut Butter

My husband prefers the honey peanut butter, so I used to blindly buy it and he was happy.  Then, I hit that phase when I started looking at labels, and all of the honey peanut butter that I could find had sugar and honey.  Why in the world does my PB need sugar if it already has honey?  So, I decided that was a no-go.  Then, I finally found  honey PB with no added sugar, but you always had to stir it to mix in the oil.  I don’t know about you, but for me, ain’t nobody got time for that. When I finally realized that the product I wanted didn’t exist, I decided I would make my own.  So I did, and it’s the easiest thing ever.  Here’s what you need:

• A food processor
• Roasted Peanuts
  • I use lightly salted, and peanuts and salt are the only ingredients.
  • My can was 1.6 lbs.
• 1 Tablespoon Honey (optional)
  • If you want regular PB, you can leave the honey out.
• 1/2 teaspoon Salt (or to taste)

Pour your peanuts into the food processor and turn it on.  After a short while your peanuts will start looking like ground peanuts.  Keep processing and everything will start to look like big lumps.

Keep processing and the mixture will start to look grainy but shiny.  This is when I stop the food processor and add in my honey and salt.  I use 1/2 tsp salt and 1 tablespoon of honey, but you can add it to taste (especially depending upon whether you buy unsalted, lightly salted, or regularly salted peanuts).  Then, continue to process.

After about a total of 5 minutes, your peanut butter will start to look much more smooth, shiny, and soft.  This is where you want to stop.  The PB will be warm from the processing, so it will be a little bit thinner than most PB.  Place your PB into your storage containers, and once it cools it will thicken up a little more.

Your PB won’t be quite as smooth as store bought (but still plenty smooth), and if you make it that smooth then the oil will separate in the jar.  It will still work just fine, you’ll just have to mix it before each use.  If your PB ends up too dry, then you didn’t process it long enough.  It took a few trial and error sessions for me to figure out the best stopping point.

And so it begins…

Ok, so this is my first blog post…ever.  I am always playing around with food to make it healthier or tastier, different exercises to see what I enjoy, and I’m always talking about healthy eating and exercising to everyone.  Since I have all this randomness in my head, I was searching for a way to organize it and get it out there, so I finally decided a blog would be a great idea (because we all know there aren’t enough of those in the world).  Anyhoo, I’m just now getting starting and dipping my toes in the water, but there should be some awesomeness to come, and I’ll be posting a page for the yumminess that is my Sweet Wheat Cornbread later today.  Thanks for checking out my site, and I hope to see y’all back soon.