Foodie Friday!

It's no secret that I LOVE to eat.  When I finally get brave enough to post my "before" photo, you'll be able to see that.  But I have spent most of my life striving to eat good and healthy foods, not the convenience junk food that I have fallen victim to in the past few months.  So I thought, in order to get a collection of good, healthy recipes going, I'd start doing Foodie Fridays and share my favorite breakfast, lunch and dinners from the previous week. 

Breakfast:
Abs Diet Ultimate Power Smoothie
1 cup skim milk
2 TBS low fat vanilla yogurt (my fav is Chobani)
3/4 cup cooked oatmeal
2 TBS peanut butter
2 teaspoons chocolate protein powder
6 ice cubes

Crank everything into the blender and go!  Makes 2 -3  servings. 
Why I love this:  It is super tasty and sooooooooo easy!  The mornings that I have to get up at 4 am, this is a great way to start my day because I can make it ahead (without the ice cubes), stick the blender pitcher in the fridge the night before and pop the ice cubes in and blend up quickly in the morning.   I do make a few changes when I do this though.  Currently, I have a chocolate Peanut Butter protein (Syntha-6), so I skip the peanut butter.  And I add 2 scoops of protein, not 2 tsp.  I also make a TON of oatmeal ahead of time and keep it in the fridge, so it is ready to toss into the blender!


Lunch
Simple Spinach Salad
1 cup spinach
I cup lettuce (I use either iceberg or butter)
1/3 cup cubed cooked chicken
1/4 cup cottage cheese mixed with a tsp of Italian dressing (tossed in as a dressing)
Why I love this:  Honestly, I don't much.  But it is simple and tasty and I have vowed to eat a salad a day for the next 30 days to help shed the lbs.  So keeping it simple is the key.  And this is a good one for taking with me, when I have school or shift at the hospital.  Sometimes I like to get sassy and add some shredded cheese too!  (Ok, I vowed to eat salad for 30 days...but I'm pretty sure that holidays don't count.  So I will be skipping Christmas Day and New Year's eve!)

Dinner:

Chicken Asparagus Roll-ups
4 chicken boneless chicken breasts
1 pound of fresh asparagus
1 cup shredded cheese (cheese of your choice)
sprinkle of parmesean
salt, pepper, garlic & onion powder to taste

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Take chicken breast and pound flat.  I prefer to use my rolling pin, it works really well!  Cut each chicken breast into 3 long strips.  Take one strip of chicken and wrap it around approximately 4 raw asparagus spears.  Continue for the rest of the chicken and asparagus. 

Place in a greased 9 x 13 inch pan.  Sprinkle with seasonings of your choice and a bit of parmesean cheese.  Bake for 20 - 30 minutes or until there is no more pink in the chicken.  After the chicken is cooked through, sprinkle shredded cheese on the chicken and melt.  Serve hot!
Why I love this: This was a really easy and basic recipe to put together.  I loved it and my husband raved about it.  He ate it before hitting the gym and said it was perfect, because it was filling but not too heavy.  It is surprisingly tasty for being so simple!  Plus, it's a main dish and a side combined, so you only need to dirty one dish!   Skip the cheese for a healthier option....but I eat salads for lunch...I'm having cheese at dinner!