Make Ahead Meal: Turkey Meatballs

The Grocery Outlet typically sells Jennie-O ground turkey meat for a steal so I bought it without really knowing what to make. Then I had the bright idea of making meatballs with them! I like making them in big batches and freeze some so that my family can have a quick, delicious and healthy meal option on weeknights. I love using these turkey meatball for spaghetti or meatball subs. While club stores sells frozen chicken meatballs which are a decent option for meals too, isn't it nice to know what exactly is in the food you're serving? :)

Turkey Meatballs
Makes about 50 meatballs.
Nutritional Value per meatball - Calories: 39 Fiber:0g Protein: 1g Sodium: 100mg Sugar: 0g

1 cup Italian seasoned breadcrumbs 

1/4 cup whole milk, at room temperature

3/4 teaspoon sea salt

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

2 large eggs, at room temperature

2 cloves garlic, minced (alternate: 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder)

1 small onion, finely chopped (alternate 1 tablespoon onion powder)

2.5 pounds ground turkey meat

Extra-virgin olive oil

 

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

In a large bowl, combine all of the ingredients. Using hands, mix all the ingredients until thoroughly combined.

Using a cookie scoop or tablespoons, form the meat mixture into balls (makes approximately 50 meatballs). Grease or use a non-stick cooking spray on a heavy baking sheet or casserole dish. Place the meatballs on the baking sheet or casserole dish about 1" apart. Drizzle with olive oil and bake until cooked through, 20-25 minutes or until golden brown.

Freezing leftovers: Let meatballs cool to room temperature. Store in airtight container and freeze. To reheat, preheat oven to 350 degrees F, bake for 15-20minutes.

My favorite "low cal" way to eat the meatballs is with "squash pasta". I use a mandolin or veggie spiral slicer to julienne Italian Squash, sauté in olive oil, salt and pepper. Enjoy!

Second Shot at "skinny cookies" - Pumpkin Spiced Oatmeal Walnut Cookies

One of my secrets to success to losing over 70 lbs. is tracking foods on myfitnesspal. I absolutely love baking and was very sad to see that when I used the recipe box in myfitnesspal to tally up the calories of my beloved chocolate chip cookies came to a whopping 115 calories each (and we all know you can't just eat one cookie! If you can, please let me know how!?)!

A lot of "skinny" baked recipes calls for applesauce as a sweetener. I was in the mood to bake some oatmeal cookies but alas...my pantry did not have any applesauce. I did however have a can of Pumpkin Puree! This morning I ended up making Skinnytaste's Pumpkin Spiced Oatmeal Cookies.

I used a cookie scoop and was able to make 32 cookies just like the recipe indicated. Because of the low amount of fats in this cookie recipe, the cookies do not spread much if at all. You may need to press down with a fork dipped in water if you want a flatter shape.

The recipe resulted in a delicious crispy on the outside and chewy on the inside cookie. The cookie isn't too sweet and I was very tempted to make a white chocolate drizzle to top them. But I will let them stay "skinny" for now. :P

Nom Nom Nom! :)

 

I enjoyed these cookies very much! Unlike the white bean based cookies that I have baked before, this definitely tastes like a cookie versus a cookie-compromise. A quick comparison of the nutritional values of a chocolate chip with walnut cookies with this cookies (I understand this isn't an apples to apples comparison, but it's all I've tested so far :P).

 

Chocolate Chip and Walnut Cookies:

Calories: 115, Fiber: 0g, Fat: 7g, Protein: 2g Sodium: 78mg Sugar: 8g

 

Pumpkin Spiced Oatmeal and Walnut Cookies:

Calories: 83, Fiber: 1g, Fat: 3g, Protein: 2g Sodium: 90mg Sugar: 6g

 

Skinnytaste is such a great website! I absolutely love that they provide the nutritional information for each recipe. It really helps the health and weight conscious eater to decide on whether something is worth making or not. Can't wait to get some applesauce to try some Oatmeal Raisin Cookies :).

 

Happy Skinny Baking!

New Year's Resolution for 2014

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas! We have a few days left to think up our New Year's resolutions.

I'd say that one of my New Year's Resolution should be Blogging more!

The lack of blogs isn't due to the lack of being Reni-women, but perhaps because we've been too Reni! Lots going on lately and will be sharing lots of new awesomeness soon :)

Skintervention!

Happy New Year! One of my New Year Resolutions is to keep up with writing on the Reni-women blog, so here it is! Let's start off the new year on the right foot!

The last time I had nice skin was probably when I was pregnant. My skin wasn't that bad shortly afterwards, but definitely after I started working out daily and increased stress has taken a toll on my skin. From little white heads to deep painful mountains, they never seemed to stop coming. I've tried so many different skin care products from expensive products to drugstore products. Each time I tried something new things seemed promising, but after 2 weeks I usually get back into my funk :(
My usual skin care regimen is: mild cleanser in the morning after my shower then moisturize and at night I'd use a makeup remover wipe, then use a mild exfoliating cleanser and the Olay advanced cleansing brush system followed by a moisturizer.
For the past few weeks I had decided to make a few changes. Since I've tried so many different types of Skin care products, I wasn't sure that if the problem was that I just haven't found the right products since I've tried so many. So here are a few changes I've made in hopes to improve my skin:

Clean makeup brushes more often (especially any foundation or powder brushes):
It's recommended to wash your makeup brushes once a week, but seriously...who does that? I'm lucky if I wash my brushes once a month! I did notice that when I started changing my facial towel everyday rather than just when it started to smell funky I had a lot less breakouts (I know that's nasty! I mean I probably used the same facial towel for 3 days in a row at the most) so if I had a clean makeup brush, I should see an improvement in my skin right?

Initially I cleaned my foundation brush everyday, however, washing it everyday could lessen the life of the brush. Per my friend's advice I started using a makeup remover wipe on the brush to remove some of the makeup and then wash weekly, but it seemed costly to use a wipe to clean a brush everyday, so I decided to just suck it up and wash weekly, however I got spoiled with the softness of a nice clean brush everyday. So I went to Sephora and got their daily anti-bacterial cleanser.

Sephora Daily Brush Cleaner 2oz. $6USD, 6.75oz for $14USD

Deep cleansing your brush weekly is still recommended, but this gives your brush a nice clean feeling between weekly washes. I followed the directions the first day (spray 3-4 times and wipe brush with lint free cloth) but foundation on the cloth was nasty, instead I recommend using a paper towel.

Clean your pillow covers weekly:
Awhile ago, I noticed I always had deep pimples on one side of my cheeks. I came to the conclusion that the side I always had pimples on was the side of my face that I slept on. Our heads are on our pillows for approximately 8hrs a night, it's full of oils from our head, bacteria and dead skin cells so it's good to keep them clean. I started cleaning my pillow covers once a week (allure magazine recommends twice a week if possible).

Here's a good article about skin-care, most of it is stuff we already know, but we often need a reminder of what to do to keep skin clear and healthy.

http://www.allure.com/skin-care/2012/10-skin-care-resolutions-to-make-this-year#slide=1

Dry, Oily and Acne - What kind of messed up Skin Type is this? Sensitive!

The Issue
A year ago (almost exactly), my skin went haywire. I had moved from having clear complexion to one with cystic acne. I think at one point, I had 5 of them on my face and those suckers HURT. I could feel them throbbing on my face. The only thing that changed in my routine was that I was working out more. I wasn't about to change my workout schedule for my complexion, especially since working out is supposed to help push toxins out and give nicer skin!

My skin felt dry and oily. I know that must sound crazy. There would be a layer of oil on top of my skin, but my skin felt somewhat tight underneath. It feels this way moreso after a run outdoors.

That's me running. I'm so SLOW!

But I think I've finally pinpointed the issue here. My skin is dehydrated. It wants water. My skin produces more oil because it is dry, to keep whatever moisture it can in the skin. It isn't the oil per se that hydrates the skin. The excess oil breeds acne. Thus, when I go running, I'm losing water to the elements and in sweating, thus my skin is thirsty despite my 8 glasses of h2o a day.


What I did

I stopped taking the product advice from the people at the spa, and at Sephora and ditched the products they recommended. They would look at my oily-on-the-surface acne-ridden face and declare that I had oily, problematic skin. Boy, were they completely wrong.   Thank goodness for good return policies.

I switched to Cetaphil Gentle Skin Cleanser. For the past 2 weeks, I have been acne free, have reduced wrinkles (because skin is hydrated), and my skin is glowing (in the words of my coworker). I've also noticed that my pores aren't clogged, and my skin has stopped overproducing oil.

I've actually used Cetaphil before during this past year without success. However, I'm using it a bit differently now. Why does it work now and not before?

 I stopped using it with water.

I slather that stuff on, and use a clean, dry face towel and gently wipe it off. Then I apply moisturizer.

Cetaphil Gentle Cleanser removed all my mineral makeup and mascara. I've even run a toner-soaked cotton pad to test the cleanliness of my face and Cetaphil got it all. It doesn't work as well though if I wet my face first as Cetaphil doesn't seem to have anything to cling to. Wetting my face just meant Cetaphil slipped off my face without taking the makeup with it and it also meant it didn't soak into my skin as easily.

Who did I get addicted to Cetaphil?

My entire department at work. Whether they had dry skin, eczema or normal skin, they all love Cetaphil Gentle Skin Cleanser now. How did I get them addicted? I had them rub the Cetaphil cleanser all over their hands and wipe it off. That feeling of residue-free hydration was enough to get them hooked. One of them commented that their hands looked less wrinkly. Another commented that her hands were no longer so dry that when she closed them, she could feel the skin tighten.  

What have they've got to lose? Cetaphil Gentle Skin Cleanser comes in trial size at many stores (Walmart included), and a 1L bottle of the stuff costs about $20 (Canadian) at Costco.

Did you know that Cetaphil Gentle Skin Cleanser is multi-purpose?

• It can be an exfoliant: I mixed a bit of baking soda with some Cetaphil to exfoliate my face and it did not break me out. It was a bit drying though, so will try it with sugar next time.
• It's gentle enough for babies.
• You can use it on your body.
• Great for camping!

YAY CETAPHIL GENTLE SKIN CLEANSER!

A Healthier Brunch...you win some, you lose some...

The family had been going out for brunch the past two weeks after Church. Each time the bill came to about $40! Although it's very nice to go out to brunch every once in a while, $40 is pretty steep, I mean that is pretty close to our weekly grocery budget (not including costco or sam's club runs). I told the hubby that I'll cook us brunch on weekends.
My husband is prediabetic and has high cholesterol so if it's possible, I opted for healthier options of the brunch menu. Once I said the words, "TURKEY BACON" my husband's face turned pale. I might've had it before but I honestly don't remember it. I bought a small pack of apple wood smoked pork bacon for the hubby just in case he didn't like the turkey bacon. The Turkey bacon tastes pretty good, but the crispiness is nothing like regular bacon which is one of the reasons why I like bacon. I did spray my pan with some non-fat cooking spray before cooking and used Med heat. The turkey bacon burns pretty easily.

my review for Turkey bacon compared to Pork bacon goes as follows:

• Taste: Very close to regular pork bacon.
• Texture: Not as crispy as pork bacon since it lacks the fat. The texture is comparable to pan fried ham more than pork bacon.

All in all it's a pretty good product but I would suggest using this as an ingredient in dishes (i.e. sandwiches, casseroles, etc) rather than eating it as part of brunch (that is if you don't mind the texture) although it is a great alternative for those who really shouldn't be eating regular bacon.

PANCAKES!!! The husband told me to buy the shake bottle Pancake mixes, but it only makes about 12-14 pancakes and costs nearly twice as much as a small box of pancake mix. I noticed there was a Heart healthy pancake mix. Reading the nutrition information online, the calories are about the same, there is just a little bit more dietary fiber. I bought the Krusteaz Heart Healthy Pancake mix.

The Pancakes are very delicious! You really can't tell the difference between this and regular pancakes although, I really don't see that much nutritional value enhancement from this than other pancake mixes. If I went shopping alone (i had my 2 year old son with me) I would've spent a little more time reading labels.

Hair in your face because of your odd shaped head?

I really can't stand the feeling of hair sticking to my sweaty face when I'm working out. I can't exactly throw it into a ponytail as I have short hair and bobby pins don't see to keep that hair out of my face because my hair is thick and stubborn. Not to mention that my odd shaped head tends to pop thicker fabric headbands straight off my head. Oh, and I find that plastic headbands squish my head from behind my ears. Yes, I have a lot to complain about. ;)

However, I did find myself the perfect solution: Lululemon's Mesh Headband

 It is the perfect width for my odd shaped head. Not to mention, the silicone strip down the middle on the inside keeps it from slipping off. It's the perfect tightness as well -- it is adjustable afterall. Most importantly, it stays on.

Wonder how it tested out? It has survived my runs and the ultimate test...my yoga class which included inversions (like handstand, forearm stand, etc.), and a lot of bending at the waist.

Find it at your local lululemon store or at www.lululemon.com