In the kitchen!

I have been intrigued by the green monster smoothie floating around pinterest and this morning I decided I would try it.

I could have made mine actually green but I decided to use chocolate almond milk so it was browny green which doesn't look GREAT but it tasted like AWESOME.

1/2-2/3 cup of Chocolate Almond Milk - 60-80 calories depending on your amount Drizzle of honey - 30 calories 1 1/2 cups of spinach - 8 calories 2 TBS non fat greek yogurt - 18 calories 1 TBS reduced fat peanut butter - 80 calories 1 TBS flax seed - 30 calories 1 Banana - 105 about 5 ice cubes

My smoothie was around 330 calories (there was a minor malfunction on the lid to my blender and so as I poured it into my glass it flew off and a lot of the smoothie went into the sink DANGGGG) Anyway I had it as my breakfast. It was really good and didn't taste like spinach at all! I couldn't find my tumbler so I used my husbands!

For lunch I decided to make my own black bean burger and try it compared to the light life version. The one I made clocked in at more calories but I know what is in it and it doesn't have added things that I don't know what they are. I don't know which is better haha. The patty I made is 300 calories - its huge and I could have probably made four servings instead of 2 but I didn't... My inspiration came from SHAPE magazine and I happened to have leftovers that were in the recipe so I knew it would be easy to make. I changed it up and made it my own but HERE is their recipe if you're interested. Its actually from a blog called down home city sisters which has a lot of healthy recipes. Check out THEIR BLOG. BLACK BEAN QUINOA BURGERS

1 slice of whole wheat toast made into bread crumbs 1 TBS Flax Slice of Onion 1 Cup of black beans 1/2 cup Quinoa 1 TBS roasted red pepper and chipotle spread

Leftover from last nights quinoa recipe and the rest of the can of black beans from last night also.

Blend everything together and them form into patties. The whole batch is 600 calories so You can make it into as many servings as you feel comfortable with. It might be fun to do balls sometime and make pita pockets with black bean balls rather than a patty.

Put onto a baking sheet and spray with olive oil spray. Bake for about 15-20 minutes then FLIP and finish baking. I really want some avocado with it but I don't have any.. DANG! Instead I am making a roasted pepper chipotle aioli. GUESS HOW? ha

YEAH! So 1 TBS of each and stir together. Then add some green onion.

I tried a trick I saw on pinterest and I am keeping my green onion on the kitchen window sill in water. I hope it works!

Here is the patty baked until crispy- I had to add a lot of time to get it crispy so next time I will raise the temp to around 400-425.

Spread both sides of your english muffin with the aioli and then put your GIANT (or not) burger on top. I paired it with 8 baby carrots because the burger itself was probably more than I wanted for calories however I am starting to find that I work out harder, have more energy, and keep my metabolism high if I have more calories at lunch than at dinner. I read that you should eat the most calories at breakfast, less at lunch, and even less at dinner. Next time though a good option for this patty is just to eat it as a patty with an avocado relish on top and skip the calories from the bread!

As long as I make sure I am under 500 calories for Dinner we are good! Now for an added bonus to my post I made a coconut butter today after seeing a recipe for a vegan no bake pumpkin pie filling or pumpkin butter. It called for canned pumpkin and coconut butter. COCONUT BUTTER? I hadn't heard of this before. BUT I researched and now I have a jar because I got brave and made it! Its easy all you do is put in unsweetened coconut and wait 5 hours while the food processor makes it into butter - stopping every 5 seconds to scrape the sides down haha. WOW it took forever I think a nut butter would be SO much easier to make and I want to try that also.

Its coming along - now we have to start scraping the side down every time the blades stop doing anything... which is OFTEN.

I could have processed it longer but I lost patience! Its more of a coconut paste than butter but its a good texture for spreading on toast or pancakes MMM! It would also be good in a sauce, soup, or smoothie. TURKEY AND BROWN RICE STUFFED CABBAGE!

I was tired and just got home from the gym so I did't exactly measure! 1 package of ground turkey 1-2 cups brown rice 1 egg 1 cup of chopped onion 1 tbs roasted chopped garlic 1 can of crushed tomatoes 1 head of cabbage spices water Boil a head of cabbage with the core removed. Once its softened you can easily remove the cabbage leaves.

Mix together the turkey, rice, onion, garlic, egg, 1/4 cup of the crushed tomato, and seasoning to taste.

Stuff each leaf, roll, and secure with a toothpick.

Put the rest of the can of tomatoes in a sauce pan with a cup of water. Place the cabbage rolls in the pan bring to a boil and cover and steam until cooked. It was about 30 minutes.

ENJOY!