Homemade Turkey Sloppy Joes

Back when I was a kid and all through college I use to be a Manwich FREAK!  I LOVED the stuff. Until my Aunt gave me a recipe for homemade sloppy joes and now I can't even think about having anything else.  I use to make mine with ground round and you definitely CAN do that, I just choose to make them as healthy as I possibly can and have since given up red meat for the most part, so replace it with ground turkey.  Since it's seasoned with beef seasonings, I really can not tell the difference and even my die hard red meat friends who yell at me for cooking with Turkey can't tell the difference.  SUPER easy to make and the longer you let it simmer, the better it is.  So, I usually throw mine together about 2 hours before we are ready to eat dinner.  That way all the flavors really come to life ;)

Ingredients:
1 lb of lean ground turkey (or hamburger)
Celery Salt to taste (start out with very little and add more as needed) OR 1 cup diced celery
Garlic Powder to taste
1 Cup chopped onion (I get the chive onions from Walmart already chopped) or minced onion
1 beef cube (mash it in hot water) **the past 3 times I have made it I have used beef stock and liked it just them same**
2 TBSP Worcestershire sauce
1 TBSP Lemon Juice
1-2 cups of Ketchup

PREPERATION:
Brown Turkey and once cooked add Beef stock and onions. Simmer until stock is absorbed.

 

 

Add Ketchup and the rest of the ingredients.  Cook until sauce is bubbling and then turn down to low and let simmer for a few hours. Serve on whole wheat buns (I use Sara Lee) and Enjoy!!!  You won't ever want to go back to canned sloppy joes ever again :)

 



***You might need to adjust amount of ingredients based off your liking.  I do everything by taste now that I've made it so many times, so I don't use actual measurements anymore, so once you add everything if you feel like more of something needs to be added, just play around with it.  Remember, the longer it simmers, the more flavor you will get out of it, so before adding more of something let it simmer for an hour or so.  AND any leftovers are even better the next day ;)***

My day while doing the 21 Day Fix

I know when starting the 21 Day Fix I was SO confused. I swear I read over the book 3 times and I still had questions haha. I luckily had friends who had already done it, so I had people to help me out. What I really wanted when I started was an example day from someone who had done the program, so I wanted to share what a day with me is like while doing the fix :) and actually, it's basically always like this now (a few slip ups here and there..shhhh... 🙊🙉😉) because it's just became a habit. It became my way of eating and living. Anywho, I hope this helps!



Breakfast-8:30am
Mixed Fruit (purple)- I fill a purple container with strawberries, blueberries, and raspberries.
Wheat Toast (yellow)-I personally get the Sara Lee Delightful Wheat that is 45 calories a piece
2 Hard Boiled Eggs (red)- sometimes I switch it up and have 4 pieces of Turkey bacon instead
Peanut Butter for the toast (spoon)
1-2 cups of coffee with 2 tbsp of low fat milk. If you're a coffee drinker, having 1-2 cups a day with low fat milk, honey, or stevia is perfectly fine!

Snack-10:30am
1 medium banana (purple)- bananas are a great pre workout snack for energy.
Glass of lemon water

Workout-11am-I normally drink 2 glasses of water while working out, but I sweat a lot out.

Lunch-12-1pm
Shakeology (red)- I drink Greenberry shakeology and I mix it with water and lemon & lime juice. 3 days a week I will replace a yellow container and mix it with OJ. And some days I will have less fruit in the morning and add some to my shake. I always have a protein source within 90 minutes post workout. Protein builds muscle and your muscles are ready to absorb all that good stuff right after your workout.

Snack-2-3pm
Carrots (green)-I'll be honest, SOMETIMES I drizzle a teaspoon (bc I usually only use one in the day and I get two) of ranch over them. 🙈 Don't judge me! Lol
Glass of lemon water

Dinner-5-6pm
Chicken Salad
Lettuce (green)
Tomatoes cucumbers Broccoli peas (green)
Chicken (red)-seasoned with 21 day fix seasonings
2 hard boiled eggs (red)-I'll add these if I don't have them in the morning. If I do have them in the morning then I add a little more chicken to get all my reds in.
Shredded Cheese (blue)
21 day fix dressing (Orange)
Glass of lemon water

Between dinner and bed I will drink 2 more glasses of water and then I have a nighttime tea that I also drink every night.

So, there it is :) I hope this helps!!

Baked Chicken/broccoli/mushroom dinner

 

Ham & Cheese Lettuce Wrap

Fast and simple lunch that's 21 Day Fix approved and you can have two, even 3!!!!

INGREDIENTS (per wrap)
1 leaf of lettuce
2 pieces of ham
2 cherry tomatoes cut in half
Diced cucumber
1 tbsp shredded cheese

I took this picture before putting any dressing on because I didn't know what I wanted just yet. However, you could use mustard, vinager and oil, fat free Italian dressing, etc.

Flourless Banana Protein Pancakes

My daughter wanted breakfast for dinner last night, so I made her some flourless banana pancakes. I have made these one other time before, but only used one banana with two eggs. This time I used 1.5 bananas and added some oats to make them a little thicker and more pancake like, instead of being like a crepe. I also sprinkled a little chocolate shakeology in the batter to give her a little extra nutrients and make them protein pancakes :)





INGREDIENTS:
1.5 bananas
2 eggs
1/4 oats (optional)
2tbsp Chocolate Shakeology (optional)

Mix all ingredients and make a batter with them...pour, cook, and enjoy!!

I also made a fruit topping for her to have, instead of syrup. No real measurements with this. I just used about 4 strawberries and a handful of blueberries. I sprinkled a little stevia on them and smashed them up. Poured it on top the pancakes and cut them up. She LOVED it and said it tasted like strawberry shortcake :) She asked for it again for breakfast this morning, so this was a recipe I just had to share again.

21 Day Fix Breakfast

Today I started my second round with the 21 Day Fix. This is a program that has the nutrition and the workouts packed into one. I do my own workouts, however, I LOVE it for the nutrition part of it. It really takes the guess work out of what to eat.  It's a color coded container system and (based off your goals) you follow a chart of how many of each container you get a day. For example I am allowed the following:

Green (veggies)- 3
Purple (fruit)- 2
Red (protein)- 4
Yellow (grains)- 2
Blue (Fats)- 1
Orange (dressings)- 1
teaspoons (I use it for PB)-2

Now, if you see the containers you might not think it's enough food. It IS enough though. In fact, some people (me included sometimes) think it's too much food lol. The picture below is my breakfast from this morning. I ate within an hour of waking up (HUGE, so PLEASE do this and get your metabolism started) and made sure to have some protein. I'm doing my workout in about an hour and will have my Shakeology within 90 minutes post workout.

Greens with Roast Beef & Cheese Lunch

Ingredients

• 3 cups mixed salad greens
• 1 tomato, medium
• 3 1/4 ounces deli-style roast beef, low-fat, low-sodium
  
• 1 ounce fresh mozzarella
• 1 1/2 tablespoons salad dressing, Italian, fat-free
• 4 Melba toast, plain, rounds

Preparation

• Wash greens and tomato; chop tomato.
• Dice roast beef and cheese, or cut into thin strips.
• Toss together greens, tomato, roast beef, cheese and dressing.
• Serve with melba rounds.
• Enjoy with a calorie free beverages.

Nutrition Facts

Calories	300
Calories from Fat	90
Total Fat	10 g
Saturated Fat	5 g
Cholesterol	75 mg
Sodium	800 mg
Total Carbohydrate	23 g
Dietary Fiber	6 g
Sugars	6 g
Protein	32 g
Calcium	30%
Vitamin A	120%
Vitamin C	70%
Iron	1