Shrimp Fettuccini with Vodka Sauce

We are HUGE pasta lovers in my house, as I'm sure most households are. I always look for healthier alternatives to pasta, so it can taste delicious but not leave me feeling guilty. Don't get me wrong, I am ALL about having "treat" days and making sure that you allow yourself indulges every now and then, but with pasta I would FOR SURE go overboard lol So, here is a healthy alternative that I found that was amazing and under 400 calories, PLUS I got to use vodka sooooo, SCORE!!!





Here is what you will need:

The recipe called for 9 ounces of fresh linguine, but I used Butternut Squash Fettuccini

3/4 pound of large shrimp (the store I went to only has small shrimp so I used a pound)

4 cloves of garlic, minced

1/4 cup Vodka

1 1/2 Cups reduced sodium marinara sauce (I spiced mine up a bit with red pepper to give it a little kick)

1/4 cup small fresh basil leaves

 

 

 

 

Preparation:

 

1. Cook pasta as directed

 

2. Heat 1 TBSP extra virgin olive oil in 12 inch skillet over medium heat. Season shrimp with salt and pepper. Add shrimp to skillet on a single layer, undisturbed for 1 minute.  Flip and add garlic and saute one more minute and transfer to plate.

 

3. Carefully add vodka to the pan and cook for 1 minute.  Add marinara sauce and bring to a simmer.  Add drained pasta, reserved shrimp and juices, basil, and 3-4 tbsp of water.  Toss well to combine and heat through.  Divide among 4 serving bowls and garnish with extra basil if desired.

 

4. ENJOY!!!!

 

This is SUPER easy and took me less than 15 minutes to make :)

 

NUTRITION FACTS (estimate):

349 Calories, 26g of protein, 41g Carbs, 7g Fat, 3g Fiber



 

 

 

 

Cheesy Italian Chicken Roll Up

This recipe was incredibly easy and turned out amazing!  I really, really love to be in the kitchen and make meals, but somedays there just isn't enough time.  I want my meals to be as healthy as possible, but tastey as well.  I constantly search recipes to try so I can keep variety in my meals and so I can hopefully help give other ideas to those in my shoes :) 

Like I said, this was SO easy and Adam and I both said that it would easily replace ravs for us.  This would be our healthier alternative to the cheesy pasta goodness that we love so much lol  It's the perfect combination of chesse and tender chicken to make a really good Italian meal and it's healthy with a great source of protein.  Next time though, I would serve with a small side salad instead of veggies.  That just wasn't a combo I was crazy about.

Serves 8

4 Large Skinless Chicken Breasts

1 Cup Part Skim Ricotta Cheese

1 Cup Part Skim Mozzarella

1 pkt Italian Seasoning

1 Large Bottle Tomato Basil Spaghetti Sauce

Preheat oven 400 (I eventually turned mine up to 425 bc I had thicker breasts that were taking longer to cook)

Split chicken breasts and pound to desired thinness. Set Aside.

Mix all Cheeses and Italian Seasoning Packet.

Spoon a couple tablespoons cheese mixture into each breast and roll up.

Place seam side down in 9×13 baking dish.

Cover rolled chicken breasts with spaghetti sauce.

Cook for about 30 minutes or until chicken is cooked all the way through 

 

 

Glute Bridge - Workout Challenge

This is a 5 minute workout challenge that I have for everyone to do.  Bridge up on something and follow me.  Repeat 3 times for a max challenge.  For more online challenges, check out my blog www.FunFreshFitness.com or message me with questions at FB.com/StephyErickson

BBQ Chicken Salad

OMG this salad was AMAZEBALLS!  Everyone knows that you can ruin your healthy salad with the dressing, but this salad is healthy and you get to use ranch dressing lol And a little goes a long way with this salad, especially since you're pairing it with BBQ sauce.  One of my favorite mixtures when I was in high school was Ranch and BBQ sauce, so when I came across this salad recipe on damndelicious.net (love that name lol), I knew I had to try it.  It was another big dinner hit in the Erickson household.  My 5 year old hates lettuce, so I left that out and mixed everything else together for her and she devoured it.


INGREDIENTS

1 tablespoon olive oil

2 boneless, skinless thin-sliced chicken breasts

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

6 cups chopped romaine lettuce

1 Roma tomato, diced

3/4 cup canned corn kernels, drained (I used frozen corn)

3/4 cup canned black beans, drained and rinsed

1/4 cup diced red onion

1/4 cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese

1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese

1/4 cup Ranch dressing

1/4 cup BBQ sauce

1/4 cup tortilla strips

 

 

 

Instructions

• Heat olive oil in a medium skillet over medium high heat.
• Season chicken breasts with salt and pepper, to taste. Add to skillet and cook, flipping once, until cooked through, about 3-4 minutes per side. Let cool before dicing into bite-size pieces.
• To assemble the salad, place romaine lettuce in a large bowl; top with chicken, tomato, corn, beans, onion and cheeses. Pour Ranch dressing and BBQ sauce on top of the salad and gently toss to combine.
• Serve immediately, topped with tortilla strips.

 

Peanut Butter Banana topped with Granola Snack

This is a GREAT pre workout snack.  It's about 200 calories and fills you up just enough to power through a workout, but not make you feel sick.  I'm a person who can not eat right before a workout (I've seen people eat between workouts and that's impossible for me lol), so I like to have this small snack about 90 min pre workout, then I have my Shakeology within 90 min of finishing my workout (I'll be making a different post about the importance of that).  It fuels my body just enough.  If you're like me or if you workout early in the morning and need something small to get you through, try this. 

 

Cut a small-medium size banana in half length way.  Spread 1tbsp all natural PB on to slices. 1/2 on one and 1/2 on the other. Sprinkle with 1 tbsp honey almond granola and 1 tsp chocolate granola. YUM!

 

 

Brown Sugar Pork Chops

Yesterday I had quite the dilemma.  Brown sugar pork chops or parmesan crusted pork chops?  Both sounded amazing and I knew that either way, I was going to try them both.  With that said, due to sheer laziness I went for the brown sugar ones bc they are easier to make and all I had to go to the store for was the pork chops then.  Let me tell you, these things were delish and so juicy. Not to mention, INCREDIBLY easy to make.  Make sure that you cover them when you bake them so they stay moist and I always line the bottom of the pan with water.  It keeps them from drying out and mixed with the sugar to make a nice glaze to bake it in.  I served mine with baby red skin potatoes mixed with broccoli, cauliflower, and green beans.

 

INGREDIENTS: (this is for 2 pork chops.  I doubled the messurements for 4 chops)2 pork chops (I used boneless)
1/3 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon Chili Powder
1/2 teaspoon Garlic Powder
minced/chopped garlic

 

DIRECTIONS: 1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Mix together the brown sugar, chili powder, and garlic powder in a bowl.
3. Rub the mixture onto both sides of the pork chop, coating it really well.
4. Transfer to a shallow oven safe pan. Add a little garlic on top of the pork chop and put into the oven. Let them roast in the oven until the internal temperature registers at 140-145 degrees. Depending on how thick they are will determine the cook time.  Mine tok about 25 min

5. ENJOY

 

 

Yogurt Dipped Blueberries

These are SO easy to make and are nice for kids lunches (since they are kept frozen, they are perfect by lunch time) or just for a nice, quick protein snack.
















All you need is 1 container of greek yogurt (It doesn't have to be blueberry, it just so happens this is the only flavor I had left in my fridge) and 1 container of blueberries.

 
















Then use a toothpick to stab the blueberry and dip in the yogurt

Put tray into the freezer for about an hour.

Remove frozen blueberries and devide into snack bags and return the the freezer.