Taco Zucchini Boats

 Taco zucchini boats are going down in my recipe book as another family favourite in my household for many reasons!  A. The boys thought they were delicious and cleaned their plates and B. it was SO quick an easy that they took no time to make--so that made me happy! I found the recipe while doing meal prep on the road as the hubby was driving and made note.  I have to give credit to the author Gina Homolka of the "skinnytaste" website (www.skinnytaste.com) for this recipe!

Typically I use ground chicken or turkey in any recipe that now calls for ground beef but this night, I did choose to use ground beef.  We typically only eat red meat 2x a week since we have changed our diet so this was a nice treat!  I hope you and your family enjoy!

Ingredients:
4 medium zucchinis, cut in half lengthwise
1/2 cup mild salsa (I used my homemade salsa)
1b lean ground chicken, turkey or beef

Taco Seasoning:
1 tsp or each: garlic powder, chili powder, cumin, paprika and himalayan pink or sea salt ground (or to taste)
1/2 tsp oregano

1/2 small onion, chopped finely
2 tbsp green or red bell pepper, chopped finely
4 oz can of tomato sauce
1/4 cup water
1/2 cup grated cheese of your choice (I used marble)
1/4 cup chopped green onion (or cilantro would be good too!)

OPTIONAL INGREDIENTS for Toppings:
Greek yogurt in place of sour cream
Guacamole
Additional Salsa
Jalapeños

Before you get started:
Preheat oven to 400°F.
Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil.
Place the 1/2 cup of salsa on the bottom of a large glass baking dish.

Directions:
Using a small spoon, hollow out the seedy centre of each of the zucchini halves. Make sure that you still leave a thick skin on each half.  Chop up the scooped flesh of the zucchini in small pieces reserve 3/4 cup of what you have chopped--this will be used to add to the taco filling. Either discard or save the rest of the zucchini flesh for another recipe.  Using a cheese cloth or even a paper towl, squeeze the excess water out of the 3/4 cup of zucchini flesh that you have saved.

Drop zucchini halves in boiling water and cook 1-2 minutes depending how thick they are and then immediately remove them from the water and place them in the baking dish on top of the salsa.

Brown ground chicken, turkey or beef in a large frying pan or skillet making sure to break it up as it cooks.  When the meat is no longer pink, add the spices, onion, bell pepper, reserved zucchini, tomato sauce and water and stir well.  Cover and simmer on low for an additional 20 minutes

Once the taco meat is finished then fill the hollowed zucchini boats with the meat mixture using a spoon and pressing firmly until all the meat has been used up.

Top each boat with 1tbsp of shredded cheese or to your desire.  Cover with foil and bake for approx. 35 minutes until the cheese has melted and the zucchini is cooked through.

Top with scallions and serve with salsa and/or additional toppings!

21 Day Fix equivalents without any additional toppings
2 zucchini boats = 2 green, 1 red, 1 blue, 1 orange, 1/2 purple (if you added extra salsa on the side at your discretion).

Gluten Free Turkey Meatloaf!

One of my favourite cookbooks is called, "Everyday Paleo," by Sarah Fragoso.  I have two of her cookbooks that I found at Costco a while ago and love them! I don't follow a Paleo lifestyle but the recipes are clean, fresh and super easy. This recipe is from the, "Everyday Paleo" cookbook and I changed it up tonight and used turkey instead of beef!  It is family approved!   I hope you enjoy it!

Ingredients:

~2-2.5lbs ground turkey (or lean ground beef)

~1 cup almond meal (*if you have allergies omit almond meal and only use 1 egg instead of 2)

~2 eggs

~small can of tomato paste (6 oz)

~1 small red or white onion, finely diced

~2-3 garlic cloves, minced

~1/2 tbsp pink himalayan salt (or sea salt)

~1/2 c. finely chopped fresh basil (I used 4-6 tbsp of dried basil)
~1 tsp marjoram (*optional. I have never added this ingredient)
~2 tsp finely ground black pepper

Prep Time: 30 mins             Cook Time: 1 hour          

1.  Preheat oven to 350° F.
2.  With your hands, mix all of the ingredients in a large mixing bowl  (TIP: *I like to wear rubber gloves when mixing it!)
3.  Place mixture into a large, glass baking dish.  You can use a loaf pan if you like! I actually placed mine in a 5x9 pyrex container.
4.  Bake for 1 hour (make sure the meatloaf is no longer pink in the middle and cook more if needed).

Roasted Root Vegetables

One of my favourite cookbooks is called, "Everyday Paleo," by Sarah Fragoso.  I have two of her cookbooks that I found at Costco a while ago and love them! I don't follow a Paleo lifestyle but the recipes are clean, fresh and super easy!  This recipe is from the, "Everyday Paleo" cookbook! I hope you enjoy it!

One of the perks of this recipe is you can add in as much or as little of each vegetable as you like! I LOVE beets so this time added in a few more than the recipe called for.  

Prep Time: 30 minutes

Cook Time: 45-50 minutes

Serves: 5

Ingredients

~4-6 small beets, peeled, and cut into small chunks

~2-3 small parsnips, peeled and chopped

~2 carrots, peeled and chopped

~1 medium red onion, sliced (I chopped it in this recipe)

~1 bulb garlic, cloves removed and peeled

~1/4 cup coconut oil

~1 cup fresh basil, diced (I used a few shakes of dried basil this time- fresh of course is always better)

~1/2 tsp lemon zest (grated lemon peel)

~Himalayan pink salt and black pepper to taste.

1.  Preheat oven to 400° F.

2.  *IMPORTANT!* Make sure to cut all of the veggies so that all of the pieces are approximately the same size!  This ensures even cooking. 

3. In a large mixing bowl, toss all of the vegetables & garlic cloves.

4.  let the coconut oil, pour it over the vegetables and add to the bowl the basil, lemon zest, salt and pepper.  Toss together until the veggies are coated with the oil and spices.

5.  Spread evenly on the bottom of a large baking dish and roast uncovered for 45-50 minutes, stirring once or twice during the cooking process.

I hope you enjoy! :) 

Kale Chips! Easy and SOOO delicious!

Oh my gosh!  As many of you know, I have NOT had good experience with Kale. In fact it was to the point I banned it from my own grocery cart every time "I thought" that I would try it just "one more time...". Yep!  Totally true!  I have tried it steamed, sautéed, in my Shake (that was a HUGE disaster) and yes, even these little beauties I pictured above.

Anyhow a very good friend of mine offered to come to my house and actually make them FOR me to regain my trust in this "supposed" awesome green!  So she did. I ate every last bit and now have a secret addiction!

Here is how to create a delicious snack that adds that crispy crunch that we love from those regular chips we "used" to buy!  ha ha

INGREDIENTS:
*Need 1 bunch of kale
Olive Oil
Sea Salt and/ or seasonings (i.e.: cumin, paprika, garlic powder?)
2 baking trays

How To:

Preheat oven to 300 degrees
Line tinfoil on cookie sheets if you want less mess!
Peel and break apart leaves off the stalk of the kale and rinse in colander. Dry with paper towel and place on cookie sheet. 

Drizzle olive oil over the leaves and then KNEAD all the leaves to ensure that each leaf is coated with oil. (*That my friends was the missing link the first time I tried them! ha ha) 

Sprinkle with a seasoning and/or a dash of sea salt. Some seasoning ideas include: cumin, paprika, garlic powder.  I actually used a rub that I have made that I like on my steak!)

Then line the cookie sheet with ONE LAYER of kale leaves (*also another link missing when I first made them!). If the leaves are all over on top of each other they won't bake well.

Place in oven for 5-10 minutes, take out and FLIP the leaves over and bake for another 5-10 minutes until leaves are crispy! Totally addicting! May you all enjoy and feel better about getting in those greens! xo

Baked Zucchini with Parmesan

This recipe is my new ALL TIME favourite recipe for Zucchini! And it takes 30 mins or less to be ready and on your plate!   I had gotten in the habit of chopping zucchini, tomatoes, red onion and drizzling the veggies with olive oil and sprinkling with Panko crumbs and some Epicure 3 Onion Spices and popping it in the oven.  But lately I just find I need something quick, easy and to the point. I found this recipe online under damdelicious.net (excuse the language!) just before we moved because I was limited to dishes because most of them were packed! I followed the recipe I found and tweaked it to suit my family.  I hope you enjoy it too!  This recipe serves 4, however when I made it, I doubled the recipe and found the left overs just as good!

Ingredients

• 4 zucchini (quarter each zucchini lengthwise)
• 1/2 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese
• 1/2 tsp dried thyme 
• 1/2 tsp dried oregano 
• 1/2 tsp dried basil 
• 1/4-1/2 tsp garlic powder 
• 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil 
• Himalayan Pink Salt or Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper (to taste) 
• Optional:  2 Tbsp chopped fresh parsley leaves for garnish

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. 
• In a small bowl, combine parmesan, thyme, oregano, basil, garlic powder.  Add in some himalayan or sea salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste. 
• Place zucchini onto baking sheet and drizzle with olive oil. Sprinkle the parmesan and spice mixture. Place in the oven and bake until tender (15 minutes depending on the size of your zucchini). Then broil for 2-3 minutes, or until crisp and golden brown. 
• Optional: The website I found the original recipe suggests to coat a cooling rack with nonstick spray and place on a baking sheet and then place zucchini on the rack then sprinkle with toppings bake it that way.  I didn't have a cooling rack to try it, but it would reduce having the zucchini cook in the olive oil that falls to the bottom and create a healthier option. 
• Serve immediately, garnished with parsley, if desired.

Notes

Adapted from www. damdelicious.net  Enjoy!!