Bacon-Wrapped Chicken

Hello Foodies!

Man, it has been quite some time since I last blogged! A few weeks, actually!

I apologize for being so MIA- I unfortunately had to put my sweet furry baby to sleep 😦 I was an emotional wreck leading up to that and an emotional wreck afterward. Hence my temporary leave of absence from food blogging.

I had to come back with a bang though! And what better way to say ‘I’m back’ than with a recipe that is simple, (somewhat) healthy, and includes one of my favorite foods (bacon)? And so, I bring you… Bacon-Wrapped Chicken!

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Ingredients:
-2 large boneless, skinless chicken breasts with rib meat
-8-10 pieces of bacon

Directions:
-preheat the oven to 350 degrees
-wrap each piece of chicken in 4-5 pieces of bacon (mine were kind of crossed and random)
-bake in the oven for about 55 minutes or until the bacon is brown and the chicken is thoroughly cooked
-serve with some great roasted veggies and enjoy!

This came out SO yummy. Everything I hoped for (and more) from bacon-wrapped chicken 🙂

Try out the recipe and post your photos on Instagram! Tag @laurenslovelyrecipes and #laurenslovelyrecipes.

Enjoy!
xo, Lauren
@laurenslovelyrecipes
#laurenslovelyrecipes

Quinoa Egg Casserole

Hello foodies!

I don’t know about you, but I’m a big fan of quinoa. It’s a great addition to salads, stir fry, or as a side dish all on its own! I decided to mix it into my favorite meal (breakfast) for a delicious egg casserole. (Don’t you worry, there’s bacon in there too…)

It was easy to make and came out really yummy 🙂 The casserole is cooked and prepared the same way I made my Anything and Everything Eggs (which I’ve linked to below). I hope you enjoy it!

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Ingredients:
-2 eggs, whisked
-20 tbs egg whites, mixed in with the eggs
-2 pieces of bacon, cooked over a pan
-1/2 cup quinoa dry (we’ll cook it before it goes into the casserole)
-zucchini, onion, and any other vegetables to your liking

Directions to cook the quinoa:
-add one part quinoa and two parts water to a stovetop pan
-bring it to a boil, and then cover it and let it simmer
-stir sparingly and let it simmer until all the water has been absorbed

Directions for the casserole can be found in my Anything and Everything Eggs post 🙂

Viola! A great breakfast casserole!

I’m telling you guys, baked eggs (when you have a little extra time) are the way to go. They are simply delicious!

Nutritional Information (using 2 pieces of bacon and 1 1/4 cups of zucchini):
serving size is 1/4 of the egg bake, recipe makes 4 servings
-200 calories
-6.25g fat
-17.3g carbs
-17.75g protein

Try it out, and post your photos on Instagram! Tag @laurenslovelyrecipes and #laurenslovelyrecipes.

Enjoy!
xo, Lauren
@laurenslovelyrecipes
#laurenslovelyrecipes

Healthy ‘Buffalo’ Chicken

Hi foodies!

I apologize for being MIA this week- to be honest, this week just kicked my butt all around. But hey, it’s Friday (and guess who is so excited to go to bed early? ME!)

I love making chicken, and I love coming up with new ways to cook it / flavor it, since chicken has the tendency to get a little boring. I decided to make a spicy, buffalo-inspired sauce, and let me tell you, this just might be one of my favorite recipes yet!

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Ingredients:
-1/2 of a snack pack size (so about 1/4 cup, give or take) of Fage Nonfat Greek Yogurt
-paprika
-crushed red peppers
-mosquite seasoning from Costco
**the amounts of the seasonings will vary based off of how spicy you want the sauce

Directions:
-cook the chicken however you’d like (I recommend in the oven with minimal spices for about 35 minutes, but stovetop or crockpot would be fine too)
-place the greek yogurt in a bowl and mix it with the spices

-taste test the yogurt until you get it to your desired spiciness
-dip the chicken into the yogurt until it is fully coated
-enjoy! (I enjoyed mine with some grilled zucchini and corn on the cobb)

So simple and delicious!

The greek yogurt only adds about 40 calories total to your chicken (most of which comes from protein), making this an extremely high protein, low carb main dish! I’m telling you, this chicken was BOMB. The yogurt blends so well with the spices and adds a really great texture to the chicken. I seriously cannot wait to make it again!

Try out the recipe, and post your photos on Instagram! Tag @laurenslovelyrecipes and #laurenslovelyrecipes.

Enjoy!
xo, Lauren
@laurenslovelyrecipes
#laurenslovelyrecipes

Crock Pot Pulled Pork

Hi foodies, Happy Sunday!

I hope your Sundays have been as relaxing as mine as been. I finally finished the book I was reading, and I got a ton of cooking and cleaning done. Success!

While shopping at Trader Joe’s earlier today, I went to grab my usual meat suspects (chicken with rib meat and Black Forest Bacon) and I spied their pork tenderloins. I love them and hadn’t had them in a little while, so I decided to grab one of those as well for the week.

Check our how I like to cook my pulled pork in the crock pot!

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Ingredients:
-1.5 lbs pork tenderloin
-1.5 tbs olive oil
-spices to taste (I used this awesome Jalapeño salt seasoning that one of my gym friends makes, and mosquite seasoning from Costco)

Directions:
-place the pork tenderloin in the crock pot and turn it to the ‘low’ setting
-drizzle the olive oil over the top
-sprinkle the spices on top
-let it cook for about 6-7 hours or until middle is cooked all the way through
-shred or cut up as you’d like and enjoy for several meals!

Nutritional Information:
the recipe I made is for 1.5 pounds of pork tenderloin, which would be six servings of 4 ounces, information is for 1 serving
-197 calories
-7g fat
-0g carbs
-24g protein

How do you like to cook your pork tenderloin? Try out this recipe, and post your photos on Instagram! Tag @laurenslovelyrecipes and #laurenslovelyrecipes.

Enjoy!
xo, Lauren
@laurenslovelyrecipes
#laurenslovelyrecipes

Crock Pot Chicken

Hi foodies!

When I first started eating meat, I really fell back in love with chicken. It’s a leaner protein source, it’s delicious, and it’s easy to incorporate into tons of recipes.

One of my new favorite ways to prepare chicken is in the crock pot! It’s hands down the easiest way to prepare chicken (you put it in the crock pot and don’t have to worry about it), and the texture and flavor is fantastic!

Here’s how I like to cook my chicken in the crock pot:

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Directions:
-place 12-16 ounces of chicken in the crock pot (I prefer chicken breasts with rib meat)

-drizzle olive oil over the chicken (I use a SMALL amount- about 1 tbs. for the entire batch)
-season with any spices you like (I used basil, a little sea salt, and a jalapeno spice this round)
-let it cook in the crock pot on low for about 4.5 hours
-enjoy throughout the week!

I brought some for lunch today and paired it with zucchini noodles (which I talk about in my review of the veggie spiralizer).

The nutritional information will vary depending on the type of chicken you use, as well as what you decide to put on it (olive oil, BBQ sauce, etc) but this is simple, easy, and makes for a great base for tons of healthy meals!

What do you like to cook in the crock pot? Post some photos of your favorite meals on Instagram, and tag @laurenslovelyrecipes and #laurenslovelyrecipes.

Enjoy!
xo, Lauren
@laurenslovelyrecipes
#laurenslovelyrecipes

Lazy Girl Chili

Hi foodies!

Today is my first official day of my new clean eating / mostly paleo nutrition plan. I’m really excited to start it because 1, it’s something I already follow about 60% of the time, but I wanted to really lay out it and be more serious about it and 2, this weekend while visiting my good friend Ryah, we had ice cream for lunch…. twice. So this is probably a good time to start.

Last night, I made this extremely lazy girl chili, and let me tell you, it was fantastic! The salsa I used ended up not being 100% paleo (it’s not unhealthy by any means, but I’m trying to follow the guidelines I set out), so I’ll have to adjust the next time I make it. Still, totally delicious and really simple!

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Ingredients:
-3 pieces Black Forrest Bacon from Trader Joe’s
-1 package (4 servings) 96%/4% extra lean ground beef from Trader Joe’s
-1.5 containers of ‘Cowboy Caviar’ salsa from Trader Joe’s

Directions:
-chop up the bacon into small pieces, and cook until desired crispiness in a pan over medium heat
-transfer the bacon and most of the bacon grease into a pot and set aside
-with the remaining bacon grease, begin cooking the ground beef in the same pan over medium heat; add desired spices to it as well (I added a mosquite seasoning from Costco)
-once the ground beef is mostly cooked, add the salsa to the pot with the bacon and begin cooking that over medium heat
-transfer the ground beef once it is thoroughly cooked into the pot with the bacon and salsa, and continue mixing until hot
-serve and enjoy!

This is the yummy salsa I ended up using.

And here’s the final product!

It was so easy to make, tasted amazing, and provided me with a lot of protein. Success!

Nutritional Information:
serving size is about 1 cup, recipe makes about 5 servings
-229 calories
-6g fat
-20.1g carbs
-24.5g protein

Try this out, and post your photos on Instagram! Tag @laurenslovelyrecipes and #laurenslovelyrecipes in the posts.

Enjoy!
xo, Lauren
@laurenslovelyrecipes
#laurenslovelyrecipes

Raspberry Butter

Hi foodies!

One quick note: since I’m a very type A personality organized person, I’ve decided to really map out the nutrition plan I’d like to follow so that I can start truly eating clean / following a mostly paleo diet. I’ll post the photo up on Instagram of what I’ve laid out, but it has my do’s and don’ts of what to eat, a few quick things I can go for if I’m out and in a pinch for healthy food, and a little wiggle room during the week so I can still enjoy some of my favorite, non-paleo or clean eating treats (pizza and quest bars, mostly). I’m going to follow it as much as I can this weekend, but Monday is my official start date.

I wanted to share that all with you because 1, it ties in nicely to the theme of this blog and 2, it’ll help keep me more accountable now that the whole internet community knows! I ate really clean foods the two weeks before my competition, and I can honestly say I’ve never felt better! Energy levels were up, strength was up, and no tummy aches from too much heavy food.

On an exciting note, this post features a super simple and delicious recipe (it unfortunately isn’t paleo based on the jam I used, but it could easily be made paleo using fresh fruit).

Raspberry Butter

Ingredients:
-1 stick of butter (half cup)
-2 tbs raspberry preservatives jam (I picked mine up from Trader Joe’s, of course)

Directions:
-soften the butter by microwaving it in a bowl for 10-12 seconds at a time
-mix in the raspberry jam (note: you could pick any other jam / preservative of choice)
-serve on waffles, toast, pancakes, etc. and save the rest in the fridge!

Nutritional Information:
information is for 1 tbs. of raspberry butter
-83 calories
-7.7g fat
-3g carbs
-0g protein

 

Really easy and so yummy 🙂

Use this butter the next time you make my homemade English muffin or protein waffle!

Try this out, and post your photos on Instagram! Tag @laurenslovelyrecipes and #laurenslovelyrecipes.

Enjoy!
xo, Lauren
@laurenslovelyrecipes
#laurenslovelyrecipes

Quinoa Energy Bites

Hi Foodies!

Status update: new oven should be arriving anytime now (like, I’m home waiting for them to show up) and I am getting SO nervous and excited for my competition tomorrow!

What makes for great success during sporting / competition events? Something small and simple to give you energy! (i.e. carbs and protein). I crafted these originally to act as granola bars for my dear friend Kristen (remember, she’s the one that has the hiking blog where she’s raising money for a chidlren’s charity- check her out here) in hopes that she could bring them on one of her hikes. Well, the first batch was tasty, but didn’t stick together like I hoped. So I altered the recipe and these turned out better 🙂

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Ingredients:
-1 cup quinoa, dry (you will cook it)
-3 tbs. coconut oil
-1 tbs. honey
-2 scoops Optimum Nutrition Vanilla Ice Cream Protein Powder

Directions:
-cook the quinoa either over the stove or in the microwave (I cooked mine over the stove)
-add the honey, coconut oil, and protein powder to it and mix well

-once mixed together, disperse evenly into mini muffin tins, and place in the fridge overnight to set!

These held together much better and were super yummy! Sweet and delicious and perfect for a much-needed energy boost.

Nutritional Information:
serving size is 1 bite, recipe makes 24 bites
-54 calories
-2.2g fat
-5.9g carbs
-3g protein

Try these out, and post your photos on Instagram! Hashtag #laurenslovelyrecipes and @laurenslovelyrecipes. And consider donating to my friend Kristen, she’s really trying to raise money for a good cause!

Enjoy!
xo, Lauren
@laurenslovelyrecipes
#laurenslovelyrecipes