A healthy and homemade version of every kid’s favorite protein: Chicken Nuggets! We use storebought shredded chicken from Aldi, beaten egg and shredded mozzarella to form these delicious nugs! I’ve baked and air-fried them and both ways are tasty and moist. These homemade chicken nuggets go great on top of a salad or on the side with veggies too.
Ingredients:
Shredded and chopped chicken breast – 1 beaten egg (may only use half of it depending on your portion of chicken) – 1/4 cup shredded mozzarella
Chop up your shredded chicken then stir in 1/2 – 1 whole beaten egg and the shredded mozzarella. Form into “nugs” on a parchment or tinfoil lined baking sheet. Bake or air-fry on 375 degrees for 10 minutes per side or until desired degree of doneness. You could make in bulk and freeze after they’ve been cooked. Pull out and reheat for a convenient and quick healthy meal!
It can be challenging to get appropriate protein, carbohydrates and fats locked into a single burrito, so why not make it two! The Breakfast Burritos include protein tortillas, white rice, cheesy eggs and hot sauce. They can be premade in bulk then reheated. As always, each person’s individual portions and macronutrients will vary.
Ingredients (per serving):
2 Protein Tortillas – 1 c rice – 1/4 c Egg Whites – 2 Eggs – 1/3 c shredded cheese – hot sauce to taste
Lay out tortillas and fill each with 1/2 cup cooked long grain white rice such as jasmine or basmati. Drizzle the rice with hot sauce. In a frying pan, cook 2 beaten eggs and 1/4 cup egg whites. Add 1/3 cup shredded cheese until melted. Divide the egg patty in half between the two tortillas. Wrap and roll! Store in the fridge until ready to reheat and eat.
Nutrition Facts:
816 calories – 83 g carbs – 31 g fat – 58 g protein
Some breakfasts bring the yummy factor first thing in the morning and set your day off to an amazing start! The Cottage Cheese Breakfast Bake is one such recipe. First let me say you’ll never catch me eating cottage cheese on its own. I have a serious issue with both the texture and the taste of it; however, when it’s baked with other delicious ingredients, it usually takes on the flavor and texture of its pairings.
The Cottage Cheese Breakfast Bake is easy and fast to pull together. Make them in bulk and reheat in the morning to save on time! Here’s the step-by-step guide to make these tasty treats:
Line loaf pans or circular baking dishes with a tortilla of your choice (always taking into consideration your macronutrient numbers). I used a sundried tomato wrap with roughly 200 calories and 35 g of carbs.
Mix your egg whites (1/2 cup) and cottage cheese (1/2 cup) with a 1/4 cup mozzarella cheese (or cheese of your choice).
Pour the mixture into one of your tortilla pans and repeat to make enough for each tortilla.
Bake at 350 degrees for 35-45 minutes depending on your oven. The egg mixture will puff slightly and brown a bit. It should also be set and not jiggly.
Let cool then wrap in plastic wrap or tinfoil until you’re ready to eat on busy mornings ahead. The last picture shows the Cottage Cheese Breakfast Bake after 10 minutes in the air-fryer!
Nutrition facts: (adjust portions of egg whites, cottage cheese, and shredded cheese to meet your macronutrient requirements)
430 calories – 46 g carbs – 38 g protein – 12 g fat
*The exact portions will vary per person. Contact us for more details on your portions and macronutrient breakdown per meal/per day! There is no need to guess at how you should eat – let us help you eat right for your body type and goals!
This marinade became a fast favorite in my home. Apple Cider Dijon Pork Tenderloin is a weekly staple in our healthy repertoire. We’ve expanded the marinade for use with chicken and turkey tenderloins as well. It’s delicious on grilled or baked proteins. It’s also incredibly easy to put together in a time pinch. I usually marinade the pork for about an hour before we cook it.
Ingredients:
2 pork tenderloins trimmed and silver skin removed
2 TBSP apple cider vinegar
2 TBSP sugar free syrup
1 TBSP Dijon mustard
3-5 cloves chopped garlic
2 tsp each fresh or dried herbs – pick 2 each time, I’ve tried all the combos and they are all delish (Thyme, Basil, Rosemary, Oregano)
Combine all ingredients in a large sealable bag. Shake and move around until the pork is well coated with the marinade. Let sit at room temperature for 30 min – 1 hour before grilling or baking to desired degree of doneness.
I go to bed excited about the next morning when I know I have a Chocolate Granola Pancake waiting for me! How can something so delicious also be so nutritious? Careful selection of the ingredients and ensuring portions meet your macro meal planning numbers ensures the nutritious efficacy of this TASTY breakfast staple! See original breakfast pancake for base recipe.
Ingredients:
3/4 cup egg whites
1/2 cup Simply Nature Coconut Cacao or Dark Chocolate Sea Salt Granola (found at Aldi) **Note: any other granola may be substituted – aiming for 20 g of carbs per 1/2 cup serving**
1 scoop Super Seed Beyond Fiber
Directions:
Heat a frying pan over medium heat. Meanwhile in a small mixing bowl, whisk together all ingredients. Batter will be lumpy due to the granola. Spray the pan with non-stick cooking spray. Pour in the batter, be careful not to the let the batter sit too long as the fiber powder will cause it to thicken greatly. Cook the Chocolate Granola Pancake until it’s easy to slide a spatula underneath the pancake, usually 4-6 minutes. Flip the pancake and cook another 1-2 minutes.
I like to make a stack of the pancakes on the weekend, wrap each meal in tinfoil, and store in the refrigerator for fast breakfasts on weekday mornings. Pancake as pictured is topped with 1 TBSP natural smooth peanut butter and 2 TBSP sugar free syrup.
Approximate nutrition facts (per pancake with peanut butter topping): 395 calories , 16 g of fat, 33 g of carbs, 33 g of protein
I’ve never been a big fan of pickles (unless they were deep fried ;0), but pickled green beans and red onions have my taste buds singing! I was introduced to pickled green beans by a dear friend of mine who produced the most epic charcuterie board one evening for a get-together. I became obsessed and quickly looked up recipes. After a little trial and error I found an easy, healthy, and quick way to create pickled green beans. Of course, I couldn’t stop there and expanded my recipe to also include red onions. Now, I always have a jar or two in the fridge of both pickled green beans, red onions, cucumbers and asparagus. The recipe works for almost any vegetable. Once pickled, they make amazing toppings on salads, healthy additions to charcuterie boards, or just a quick nibble when you’re between meals and hunger is kicking in.
Ingredients:
A few large handfuls of green beans (ends trimmed or snapped off)
1 medium to large red onion sliced thin and layers separated
3 cups of water
2 cups of apple cider vinegar
3 TBSP salt
2 TBSP Swerve, Stevia, Truvia, etc. (zero calorie sugar substitute)
garlic cloves
peppercorns
dried red pepper flakes
dried dill (fresh is fine too but I find the dried gives better flavor)
Here’s how I set everything up:
Line up three mason jars. Place a few garlic cloves and peppercorns in all three jars. In two of them add red pepper flakes (1 tsp) and dried dill (1 tsp). I just eyeball the measurements, it doesn’t matter if its not exact. The two that have all the goodies get the raw, trimmed green beans placed in them. The jar with just the peppercorns and garlic will be for the red onion. You can also add an additional tsp of sugar substitute to the red onion jar if you like them a little sweeter.
Over medium high heat, bring the water, vinegar, salt and sugar substitute to a boil. Once this mixture boils, remove from heat and place the sliced and separated red onion in the liquid for about one minute. Use tongs to remove and place directly into the remaining third jar. Let the liquid cool for a few minutes then pour over the vegetables in all three jars. This recipe should yield enough to do 3-4 jars total. Make sure the green beans and red onion are completely covered. If you added more sugar to the onions, shake this jar up so the sugar dissolves.
The pickled veggies will taste great by the next day. If you can wait 2-3 days they’ll be even better. So far they’ve not made it in my fridge longer than 1 week because we eat them so fast, but given the other recipes I had explored I believe they should hold up for a couple of weeks.
Cooking is my passion and healthy cooking is my mission, 70-80% of the week anyway! Check out my plethora of ideas to help inspire your healthy eats.
*The exact portions will vary per person. Contact us for more details on your portions and macronutrient breakdown per meal/per day! There is no need to guess at how you should eat – let us help you eat right for your body type and goals!
Some healthy foods taste healthy. Some healthy foods taste borderline naughty. My Buffalo Chicken Salad is one of the latter. I created it one Sunday late morning while attempting to nurse a hangover without blowing my macro based meal plan. The flavors are bold! If you like buffalo chicken wings, blue cheese, and ranch, you are going to love this Buffalo Chicken Salad. Let’s put it all together.
Buffalo/hot sauce – just plain hot sauce, not the stuff mixed with butter
Here’s how to make the magic happen while following your meal plan:
Measure your chicken and chop or shred it. Place on tinfoil and into air fryer. Crisp for 6-10 minutes on 350. Remove and top with hot sauce. Caution: a little goes a long way – if you like heat, load it up!
Prepare your salad in a large bowl. Add greens/lettuce, chopped tomatoes, peppers, chopped pickled green beans, and pickled red onions.
Measure your dressing to keep the macros in line. Remember you’re adding 1 oz of blue cheese crumbles per serving too so you want to make sure your fat allotment stays in check.
After you’ve dressed your salad, add the measured cheese, and top with your crisped chicken portion.
This Buffalo Chicken Salad is so good, perfect for a week night meal when you need that taste of naughty but it’s not quite time yet, perfect for a hangover cure, really just perfect! I hope you enjoy it as much as I do!
For more recipe ideas that will keep your healthy cooking tasting like so much more than healthy cooking, visit our Healthy Eats index.
*The exact portions will vary per person. Contact us for more details on your portions and macronutrient breakdown per meal/per day! There is no need to guess at how you should eat – let us help you eat right for your body type and goals!
Mmmmm can’t you just taste it? Chicken or fish piccata from your favorite Italian restaurant – that rich lemon, butter and wine flavor with the salty capers and yummy garlic – my mouth waters just thinking about it! Would you believe you can have those tasty flavors and keep your macros in check? It can be done, I’ll show you the way…
For starters, this is just frozen wild caught flounder. After thawing it in the refrigerator, I washed each piece and patted dry with paper towels. Then I placed the fish in a single layer on a tinfoil lined baking sheet. Just a little sprinkle of salt, pepper and garlic powder on each piece and under the broiler it went for about 7-8 minutes.
For the piccata sauce:
1.5-2 TBSP Yogurt Butter (I like Brummel & Brown brand)
3-4 Small cloves of garlic minced
2 TBSP Capers
The juice of two lemons
In a medium saucepan, melt the yogurt butter and garlic together over low to medium heat. Let the garlic cook for a few minutes. When you can really smell the garlic and butter is completely melted, add in the capers and lemon juice. Sauce will thicken up slightly as you let it heat together. After a few minutes remove the piccata sauce from the heat.
Place your fish portion on your plate and generously add some of the healthy Piccata sauce.
*The exact portions will vary per person based on your macronutrient needs. Contact us for more details on your portions and macro breakdown per meal/per day!
There are so many ways to make healthy food taste great. All of our recipes have been created, tweaked, and taste approved by us! Try them here.
We’ve all heard the news or seen the unbelievable info on a menu that discloses nutrition facts: salads can be worse for us than a burger and fries! How is that possible? A salad, full of lettuce and healthy ingredients, can hold more calories, fat & carbs than a decadent burger and fries!?$!. Well it’s all in the salad accoutrements. Yep, those pecans, dried cranberries, blue cheese, and that amazing balsamic vinegar dressing can add up quickly. The trick is to understand which macronutrient each topping is accounting for in your meal. Having nuts, cheese, and dressing is likely giving your salad 3x the desired fat portion. Adding dried fruit seems harmless but did you know in just 1/4 cup of dried cranberries there’s more than 30 grams of carbs? That’s equivalent to 2 slices of bread! So how can we scale a salad back while still keeping the flavor and filling feeling it gives us? Start with the greens, carefully decide what toppings are going on and which of the macronutrients they account for. Let’s look at reconstructing a delicious and popular salad – the Salmon Caesar Salad.
As I mentioned, let’s start with the greens. Here we’re featuring 60% chopped kale and 40% chopped romaine. These percentages are ballpark of course and truly the lettuce you choose doesn’t really matter. All lettuce is healthy for you and has almost no calories so fill that bowl with the green stuff! Then in this particular salad for additional vegetables, I’ve added sliced red onion & halved cherry tomatoes. You could add bell peppers, sliced mushrooms, or any other “approved” vegetables. Here comes the yummiest part…have you tried the “Parmesan Crisps” that carb-free and have nearly equal parts fat and protein? They are beyond tasty and texture is fantastic. In this reconstructed Salmon Caesar Salad, the Parmesan Crisps are serving as the cheese and the crouton because of the awesome crispy, crunchy texture that even holds up to dressing. So let’s talk about the dressing…Caesar dressing is not known for it’s low-cal/low-fat nature. We can fix that. Across this whole bowl of salad, I used just a single serving of the dressing (2 TBSP) then I squeezed in the juice of 1 big juicy lemon. This thins out the dressing and stretches a small amount of dressing through a huge bowl of salad. Without further ado, add your grilled salmon (portion appropriate to your meal plan macro needs), and voila, the most incredible reconstructed, healthy Salmon Caesar Salad! Buon Appetito!
Ingredients & Prep:
4-6 cups leafy greens – featured here is kale and romaine
1/2 red onion thinly sliced
1/2 cup halved cherry tomatoes
1-2 lbs of wild salmon (salt, pepper, rosemary)
24 Parmesan crisps
2 Tbsp Caesar Dressing
1 lemon (juiced)
Wash and dry all greens. Place in a large bowl. Season salmon and prepare on the grill or in the oven. *Don’t add any additional fat such as olive oil* Place tomatoes and onions on the lettuce. Add the Parmesan Crisps, dressing and lemon juice. Toss to coat evenly. Portion 2-3 cups per plate and add salmon portion.
It’s crucial to have a plan for your meals. Decide which macronutrient each part of your meal is fulfilling. Get your portions and macros “in check”. We can help make sure you’re following a plan designed for your optimal results, after-all, abs are made in the kitchen – get in there and cook! Try our other tasty healthy EATS by clicking here.
*The exact portions will vary per person.Contact us for more details on your portions and macronutrient breakdown per meal/per day! There is no need to guess at how you should eat – let us help you eat right for your body type and goals!
So actually I used bison in this Mongolian Beef recipe, but of course beef or elk would be great too. We love the grass-fed quality red meat we get from Northstar Bison. In addition, I used “Zero Pasta”. You can find this scientific gift to pasta lovers in the Vegan cold section of your grocery store – where they also keep the tofu for those of you not familiar with this section of the store! The texture on this pasta is awesome and its a great vessel to soak up some yummy sauces. See also my cold peanut noodle salad recipe featuring this awesome pasta nearly free of carbs and calories!!
Ingredients:
2 packages of “Zero Pasta” found in cold vegan section of your grocery store
1 lb grass-fed beef, bison or elk (I like to slice it really thin when its still frozen)
2 TBSP vegetable stock
2-3 cloves of chopped garlic
2 tsp fresh minced ginger (or ground ginger if you don’t have fresh)
1/3 cup of low-sodium soy sauce
1 TBSP calorie free sweetener (like Stevia or Truvia)
1 TBSP sugar free maple syrup
2 TBSP Hoisin Sauce
1/2 – 1 tsp of chili garlic sauce (depends how spicy you want it)
4 green onions diced
So while your bison is still frozen, slice it really thin with a sharp knife. It should almost look like beef shavings. Let it rest on the cutting board, defrosting as you prepare the other ingredients.
In a bowl, combine the ginger through chili garlic sauce with a whisk. Drain your “Zero Pasta” in a colander over the sink.
In a large saucepan, heat the vegetable stock over high heat with the chopped garlic. When they stock starts to boil, add in the bison (or beef) and cook until nearly done. It will take just a minute or two since it’s sliced so thin. Then add in the prepared sauce and finish cooking the bison. Remove from heat. Use tongs to toss the “Zero Pasta” and diced green onions into the beef.
Based on the amount of ingredients the Mongolian Beef (bison) dish should make 2 portions if divided in half. I’m not usually so lackadaisical about measurements but this is one of those recipes where the sauce is so much better when added to the meat and finished on the stove! So your portion will be a bit eye-balled here but the ingredients are healthy and meal plan approved. You’ll be close!
*The exact portions will vary per person. Contact us for more details on your portions and macronutrient breakdown per meal/per day! There is no need to guess at how you should eat – let us help you eat right for your body type and goals!
