Crock Pot Pasta - Healthy!

My kids love noodles so I knew they'd enjoy this meal. They think they are eating normal noodles, little do they know that its actually rice. :)

I had a busy day - one fitness class, assisting in Colton's classroom, two clients, and t-ball practice. Not much time to prepare a healthy meal. I found this recipe and made a few changes. The whole family LOVED it.

Look at all that is leftover after serving four of us!

Ingredients:

• 1 lb ground turkey
• 1 chopped onion
• 2 chopped peppers
• 2 chopped celery stalks
• 2 cans diced tomatoes, no salt added
• 1 can red kidney beans, drained
• 1.5-2 cups of veggie or chicken broth
• 1.5 Tsp oregano
• 2.5 Tsp parsley
• 1/2 Tsp Red Pepper Flakes
• 1 Tbsp Garlic powder
• 1 cup organic Spaghetti sauce
• 8 oz noodles (I used Hodson Mill Brown Rice Pasta - Gluten free)

Directions:

1. Brown meat with half of the garlic.
2. Put all ingredients, except for the noodles, in the crock pot and stir.
3. Cook on low for 7-8 hours or high for 4 hours.
4. During the last 30 minutes, add the noodles. Or you can cook the noodles separately and add if you want it to be more like a soup. 

Breakfast Muffins

Colton had Muffins for Moms on Wednesday and I am "that Mom" who takes her own muffins. I am happy to know that my child and I had a healthy version of a muffin - and they were delicious! I made the batter the night before and threw the muffins in the oven after my morning run then continued to get ready for work. Made me feel like Super Mom. HA!

Here is the original recipe.

Ingredients

• 2 eggs or flaxseed meal/water
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 cups applesauce, unsweetened
• 1 chopped apple (with or without skin)
• 2 bananas, mashed
• ½ cup honey
• 5 cups quick oats
• 2 tablespoons flaxseed meal
• 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
• 3 teaspoon baking powder
• 2¼ cups unsweetened almond milk
• Optional toppings: raisins, cranberries, walnuts, chocolate chips, coconut, etc. 

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Mix eggs (or egg substitute), vanilla, applesauce, banana and honey together in a bowl.
3. Add in oats, flax, cinnamon, baking powder, salt and mix well with wet ingredients.
4. Finally pour in milk and combine. Mix in chopped apple.
5. Spray a 12 and 6 capacity muffin tin with cooking spray or use cupcake liners. Pour mixture evenly into muffin tin cups.
6. If using toppings add them onto the tops of muffins now. If using fresh or frozen fruit, drop it right into the batter.
7. Bake 35 minutes until a toothpick in center comes out clean.
8. Cool and enjoy or freeze them in gallon freezer bags.

Slow Cooker Pineapple Chicken

I made this recipe a long time ago. I don't know I don't make it more often. It's super simple...and it's in a crock pot!

Clean Eating Slow Cooker Pineapple Chicken

(Makes 4 servings)

Ingredients:

• 2 large chicken breasts, boneless and skinless
• 1 (12 ounce) jar of your favorite clean salsa (See my salsa recipe here)
• 4 small raw zucchini, halved, quartered, then sliced (shredding works too)
• 1/4 medium, fresh pineapple

Directions:

1. Turn on slow cooker to the low setting and put in the chicken and salsa. Cook for about 4-6 hours. Slow cookers vary, so base the time on that. The chicken should fall apart easily when finished.
2. Shred the chicken using two forks and mix in your raw zucchini and fresh pineapple.

Salsa

One of my favorite snacks, and often part of my meal, is salsa. I love it! I haven't made my own salsa but I claim I do. I cheat and use "Simply Salsa" by Tastefully Simple (I know a cool consultant if you need one!).

• 1 cap full of Simply Salsa
• 1 can of no salt added diced tomatoes
• 1 chopped onion
• 1 chopped pepper
• 1 can of low sodium black beans (rinsed)

Let it chill for an hour. It's that easy! It's low in sodium and has just enough kick.