Category Archives for "Recipes"

I've been pulling out some blast from the past recipes this week. Favorites that I forgot were favorites. This one is yummy delicious. My whole family loves it. 

Chicken Bacon Alfredo

• 1 spaghetti squash, cut in half lengthwise, seeds removed
• 1 larger delicata squash, cut in half lengthwise, seeds removed
• 1 pound chicken tenders
• 4-6 slices bacon, diced
• ½ cup canned coconut milk
• 1 teaspoon dried basil
• 1 teaspoon dried parsley
• ½ teaspoon garlic powder
• ½ teaspoon dried oregano
• ¼ teaspoon dried thyme
• Salt and pepper, to taste

Preheat your 425 degrees. Cut spaghetti squash and delicata squash in half and use a spoon to scoop out the seeds and excess threads. Don’t be dainty.

Place open side down on a baking sheet (use aluminum foil or parchment paper for easy clean up) and cook for 20-25 minutes. You will know when they are done cooking when you can poke the outside skin and it ‘gives’ a bit.

Now you can either cook your chicken at the same time or after the squash is done cooking. Whatever you’d like. Just place chicken on a foil or parchment paper lined baking sheet, sprinkle some olive oil over the chicken (or other kind of fat), salt and pepper it, and sprinkle just a bit of basil on top.  I cooked my tenders for around 15-20 minutes, or until cooked through.

Once your squash is done cooking, pull it out of the oven; dethread the spaghetti squash into a large bowl with a fork. Go against the grain (if spaghetti squash had grain).

Now throw your diced bacon into a skillet and cook until done. Use a slotted spoon to pull out your cooked bacon, but leave behind the grease.

Take your delicata squash and hollow it out.  Use the insides and dump them into your warm skillet filled with bacon grease. Then add your coconut milk. You may need to add a little bit more coconut milk depending on how runny you like your sauce. Mix thoroughly with a ladle to break up the squash a bit.

Add seasonings to the mix and salt and pepper as needed. Mix thoroughly and cook on low for about 5 minutes to simmer.

Now dice up your cooked chicken.

Pour sauce over spaghetti squash and add your chicken to the mix.

Mix well & top with bacon

Enjoy good food,

Coach Nancy

Salmon is one of the healthiest foods on the planet, loaded with good fats, omega-3 fatty acids, and protein.  Cooking fish can seem intimidating, but it’s not as hard to make at home as you may think. Make it in the oven for easy clean up and save your kitchen from the dreaded “fishy” smell. This is an easy 3 ingredient dish. I've given some options to add variations too.

Lemon Baked Salmon 

• 2 Salmon Filets
• 1 lemon
• olive oil

Take 2 salmon filets and add a small amount of olive oil to both sides. Roll the filets in some almond meal if you want to create a crust/breading-type topping (to create almond meal just take almonds and put them in the blender). Add fresh squeezed lemon juice, salt, and pepper generously. Bake in a 350 degree Fahrenheit oven for about 12 minutes (check at about 10 minutes to see if it's cooked enough for your liking - when poked with a fork the salmon should “flake”). Add some fresh chopped dill and parsley and pair with some vegetables, salad, or a whole grain like quinoa. 

You can't get much easier than that.

Eat Good Food,

Coach Nancy

• 1 cup almond milk
• 1 scoop UMP Chocolate
• 1 Tablespoon sugar free peppermint mocha creamer
• 1/4 teaspoon peppermint extract
• 8-10 ice cubes

Blend all ingredients, Enjoy enjoy.

Want to turn it into a hot drink? Substitute hot coffee for the almond milk and ditch the ice! 

A tip from the head elf: Use a blender for your hot drinks too. It ensures the protein is fully mixed and adds a wonderful froth to the top!

Chocolate Peanut Butter and Banana Smoothie

• 8 ounces water
• 1 scoop chocolate protein
• 1 banana
• 1 Tablespoon milled flax seeds
• 1 Tablespoon cacao nibs
• 1 Tablespoon natural peanut butter
• Ice cubes

Mix all ingredients in blender until smooth and creamy. Pour immediately into a large cup. Eat with a spoon or a large straw.

Now it is your turn, Naughty or Nice,

Coach Nancy

My garden usually doesn't have much success growing carrots. In fact any root vegetable in New England tends to be overshadowed by the rocks that grow in the ground. Since Dean added raised beds this year to our gardening we've been able to see carrots grow much better. In fact after Thanksgiving this year I harvested the last of the carrots. Instead of throwing a bunch of sugar on these carrots for traditional carrot cake, these overnight oats remind me of that wonderful Fall dessert. And I get to eat it at breakfast!

Carrot Cake Overnight Oats

I was in the mood the other day to make some snacks for my kids. Since they are teenagers, I tend to make them fend for themselves. Today was different. I also wanted to give this recipe a try and they were my guinea pigs. 

Here's the recipe I used. I also included some changes or alterations I might make to this recipe next time to change it up a bit. 

Pumpkin No Bake Energy Balls

• 1 cup oatmeal
• 1 scoop UMP vanilla protein powder
• 1/2 cup pumpkin
• 1/2 cup almond butter
• 1/4 cup chia seeds
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

Mix all of this with a spoon in a bowl. It'll be sticky but after being in the fridge they'll become easier to hold onto too without the mess. 

After taste testing these I know Chocolate or Graham Cracker UMP would work great with this recipe in place of vanilla. We added 2 Tablespoon Chocolate chips to 1/2 of them just for variety. You could also use Cocoa nibs. 

Enjoy Good Food and wow your kids at the same time,

Coach Nancy

P.S. - The "Guinea Pigs" Loved Them! 🙂

Recipes are great, but they aren't the law! I use recipes as guidelines. There are times I follow those guidelines strictly and other times when I allow a bit of creativity to enter in. Sometimes my creativity pays off and other times not so much. Today was a payoff day. I wanted a breakfast that had healthy fats, protein, and produce without any starchy foods. Here is what I came up with.

Blueberry Chia Seed Breakfast Pudding

• 1/4 cup coconut milk (healthy fat)
• 1 Tablespoon chia seeds (healthy fat and tons of fiber)
• 1/3 cup blueberries (produce)
• 1 scoop vanilla UMP (protein)
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon (natural sweetener)

Mixed it all together and let it sit for 10 minutes. It was FANTASTIC! 

Happy Halloween Everyone! Yes it is Halloween and today we also had a great Thanksgiving Dinner. In fact it was probably the first and only Thanksgiving dinner where I left the room and went to grab breakfast. The crazy peeps at 6:15 training brought shirts for everyone to wear that signified a piece of Thanksgiving. I think some of us we're destined for the shirt we were given. Its just a crazy bunch of peeps, check us out. 

I know some of you are thinking why don't we get a costume fairy to help us out..... Don't be jealous just enjoy the silliness of one crew wanting to make each other smile and you as well. 

Happy Halloween Everyone!

Coach Nancy

By the way if you are in the mood for a delicious Turkey recipe give this one a try. 

Turkey Pot Pie

          For the filling:

•                1 small onion, chopped
•                1 pat butter or 1tsp. coconut oil
•                1 1/2 cups leftover turkey, cut into chunks
•                2 cloves garlic, minced
•                2 carrots, chopped
•                1/2 cup button mushrooms, sliced
•                1/2 cup chicken stock
•                1 tbs arrowroot (or cornstarch)

           For the topping:

•                2/3 cup almond flour
•                1/8 tsp salt
•                1/4 tsp baking powder
•                1/2 a beaten egg
•                2 tbsp coconut milk

Directions for the filling:

In a large pan with lid, melt the butter and saute the veggies and garlic over medium heat. Add in the turkey chunks and chicken stock. Make slurry with the arrowroot powder and a little bit of cold water. Add the slurry into the stock and turkey mixture. Lower heat and cook until the stock thickens. Remove from heat and distribute evenly to 2 ramekins or small bowls.

For the topping:

Preheat the oven to 350 F Mix all dry ingredients together. Mix the egg and the water in a separate bowl. Combine the dry and the wet ingredients together. Spread the dough evenly on the ramekins filled with the turkey mixture. Bake in the oven for 20-25 minutes until the crust is golden.

Serving Size: Makes two generous mini-casseroles 

Tips:  I suggest using homemade chicken stock for this recipe if you have it. You can use canned, but homemade stock is LOADED with gelatin, which gives the pies the richness that you normally get with cream.

Pumpkin Bars

• ½ cup oats
• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• ½ cup brown sugar

• ½ cup butter

• ½ teaspoon cloves

• 1 ½ teaspoon cinnamon

• ½ teaspoon salt

• 2 cups milk

• 3 eggs

• 5 scoops UMP Vanilla

• 2 cups pumpkin

Heat oven to 350. Place butter into a 9×13 pan and let melt in oven while it is preheating. In the meantime mix the oats, flour, and the brown sugar. Pour over the melted butter and press down with a spoon. Bake for 12 minutes. While crust is baking, scald milk and the spices. Stir in the pumpkin and then the eggs followed by the protein powder. Pour this over the crust and bake for another 20 minutes or until the pumpkin filling is firm to the touch.

Pumpkin Pie Smoothie

• 1/3 cup pure pumpkin, canned
• 1 Tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil (or walnuts, almonds, flax, chia, etc)
• 1 scoop vanilla whey protein powder
• 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
• 2/3 cup water
• Ice 

Mix all ingredients in blender until smooth and creamy. Pour immediately into a large cup. Eat with a spoon or a large straw. 

Pumpkin Overnight Oats

• 1 1/2 cups steel cut oats (do not substitute quick cooking, instant, or rolled oats)
• 3 cups water
• 2 cups milk, any kind you like (I use unsweetened vanilla almond milk)
• 1 (15 ounce) can pumpkin puree
• 1/4 cup pure maple syrup
• 1/4 cup ground flaxseed meal (or swap an equal amount of chia seeds, hemp seeds)
• 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
• 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves or allspice
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
  
  

For serving: chopped toasted pecans, dried cranberries, chopped dried apricots, peanut butter, or any other mix-ins you enjoy with pumpkin

Pumpkin Chia Pudding

• 1.5 cups almond milk
• ½ cup pumpkin puree
• 1 scoop UMP Vanilla protein powder
• 2 TB almond butter
• 1 TB raw honey
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1 tsp. cinnamon
• ¼ tsp. nutmeg
• 1/8 tsp. ground ginger
• 1/8 tsp. ground cloves
• ¼ cup chia seeds
• Sea Salt, a pinch

Blend all ingredients, except chia seeds, until smooth. Place the blended mixture into a reseal-able large jar (or 2 smaller jars) then add chia seeds. Seal jar and shake.

Place in refrigerator overnight or for at least 3+ hours. Feel free to shake jars once or twice in between to make sure they didn’t become too gelatinous. Breakfast, snack or post workout recovery is served!

Are you in? Do you have any favorite pumpkin recipes? Please share them!

Enjoy Good Food,

Coach Nancy

I have found that I eat nearly the same thing for breakfast for while and then I change it up and go awhile with another recipe. I'm not sure why but I've been on an oatmeal kick for a while now. Its not quite been cold enough every morning to have hot oatmeal so I opted for the cold overnight recipes. The texture of the oatmeal is chewier rather than a bowl suited for someone who just had dental work. Don't get me wrong I do like hot oatmeal I just haven't been in the mood for it yet. As with hot oatmeal the toppings and creations for overnight oats is endless. 

Simple Blueberry Overnight Oats

• 1/4 cup oatmeal
• 1/4 cup Greek yogurt
• 1/4 cup blueberries
• 1/4 cup water or milk
• 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

Layer all the ingredients in a small mason jar. Tighten the lid on the jar and give it a good shake to stir things up. Put in the fridge for 6 hours or overnight. 

I made Applesauce Overnight Oats the day before. Here's how I did it. 

Applesauce Overnight Oats

• 1/4 cup oatmeal
• 1/2 cup applesauce
• 1/4 cup water or milk
• 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon or Pumpkin Pie spice mix

Layer all the ingredients in a small mason jar. Tighten the lid on the jar and give it a good shake to stir things up. Put in the fridge for 6 hours or overnight. 

I've already got tomorrow's recipe planned. Red Raspberry Overnight Oats. 

Enjoy good food,

Coach Nancy