Deliteful Lunch Sandwich--The 300 Calorie Lunch

This is one of my lunch staples.  When I worked in a bigger office often some of us ladies who were watching our girlish figures would do "lunch club."  We'd all bring in different parts of a healthy lunch, and this was one of our go-tos.  Someone would bring the sandwich thins or wraps, someone else would bring the laughing cow cheese, someone would cut up all the veggies, and we'd make ourselves a delicious and healthy lunch during the week.  You can easily throw some pickles and an apple onto your plate and you are still going to be clocking in at under 300 calories.

If you are going to go to the expense of buying the ingredients then it is very important here that you go ahead and do your prep work with the vegetables.  Set yourself up to succeed, so go ahead and take the 5-10 minutes to slice up the cucumber, onion, and tomato.  Not only will it now take you next to no time to make yourself a great lunch or supper, but also, I don't know about you, but I am far more prone to make a salad or even just munch on veggies when they are already washed and cut up.   I'm telling you, stop fighting yourself and cater to yourself instead.  We're all busy, if we can make it easier for us and our families to eat healthier, then that is a win!

Serving 1 Sandwich

1 Sandwich thin or Wrap
2 oz Smoked Turkey (in most cases this is 4-6 Thin Deli Slices, but check your packaging)
1 Wedge Laughing Cow Spreadable Cheese
Sandwich Pickles
Cucumber, Sliced thin
Red Onion Sliced thin
Baby Spinach
Tomato, Sliced thin


Make yourself a sandwich!  Take your bread and spread the laughing cow on the top and bottom pieces.  Add your meat to the bottom slice, and top with as many vegetables and pickles as you like.



Add some strawberries, an apple, or pear, and some mini dill pickles, and you will have a plate full of food for under 300 calories.

Super Easy Chocolate Chip Banana Bread

Sometimes, you just have to make banana bread, and when you do, you should definitely add chocolate chips to it.  I rotate through a couple different versions of banana bread.  There is a regular version, there is a chocolate chocolate chip banana bread, and then there is this super simple can't mess it up version of banana bread that I pull out when I need a baked good in my life, but don't feel like measuring things.  Don't tell me I'm the only one who gets that way sometimes.

You can use whatever kind of cake mix you want here, caramel, chocolate, yellow, butter, you are limited only by your imagination. Also, if you happen to be in the baking aisle at the grocery store and see the bag that is half chocolate, half peanut butter chips that Nestle makes, I would scoop those up too, just sayin'.  I usually assess my banana situation and then buy however many boxes of cake mix that I need, the ratio is roughly 4 bananas to 1 box of cake mix.

• 1 Box Cake Mix of your choice (I used yellow)
• 4 Bananas, peeled 
• 1 Cup Chocolate Chips
• 2 eggs

Preheat your oven to 350, and spray and flour a loaf pan.

In a bowl, mash together the bananas and the eggs until most of the chunkiness from the bananas is gone.

Add the cake mix and stir for about two minutes, or however long the box directions tell you to.

Add the chocolate chips and stir to combine.

Pour into your loaf pan, and gently lift and tap the pan against the countertop to help distribute the batter evenly in the pan.

Bake for 45-60 minutes (start checking around the 45 minute mark depending on your oven), or until a toothpick comes out clean. but hopefully a little chocolaty.

You can either wait 5 minutes and remove the bread from the pan, or you are fine to just leave it in there and serve directly from the pan.

Potluck Spinach & Artichoke Dip

Spinach & Artichoke Dip is the appetizer that heralded my transition from the mozzerella sticks of my youth into the more mature pallet that I have now.  (We'll disregard the amount of posts that I am inevitably going to do on variations of nachos).

As the title of this recipe conveys, this makes a lot.  It is meant for a gathering where you will be feeding lots of people, but you can easily cut it in half to make a more moderate amount. I typically serve this with tortilla chips or Fritos, but you can also use toasted bread or serve alongside a vegetable tray, and it will be tasty and delicious. 

This dish has the distinct advantage of being a one bowl recipe.  If you use the right baking dish, you can just add and mix everything right in there.  I am all for less dishes whenever possible.  

2-8oz Blocks of Cream Cheese softened

2-13.75 oz Cans of Quartered Artichoke Hearts, rinsed and drained well**

2-12 oz Packages of Chopped Spinach, thawed and squeezed and drained as well as you can

3/4 Cup Mayonnaise

2 Cups Mozzerella Cheese (an Italian Blend Cheese works well too)

1/4 Cup Parmesan Cheese 

2 Cloves Garlic, minced

1 tsp. Oregano

1/2 tsp. Chili Powder

1/2 tsp. Garlic Salt

Pepper to taste  

**I don't mind large chunks of artichoke heart in my dip, but I often give these a quick rough chop, or break them up a little more with my hands.  

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.  Grease or Spray at least a 2.5 Quart baking dish. 

To your baking dish, add the softened cream cheese, artichoke hearts, spinach, and mayonnaise.  Stir to combine.

Add in your garlic, 1 cup of mozzarella cheese, oregano, chili powder, garlic salt, and pepper to the dish, and stir again till thoroughly combine.  Smooth out the top.

Sprinkle on the remaining 1 cup of mozzarella cheese and the Parmesan cheese.  Place the dish in the oven and bake for 30 minutes, or until the cheese on top is melted and golden.  Serve and Enjoy!

Getting in Gear--Everyday Strawberry Smoothie

I hate getting bored with my food, and now, having said that, I pretty much eat one of two smoothies for breakfast every day.  I have tons of recipes saved, and I do try them every once in a while to shake (get it?) things up a little.  A smoothie is what I like to consider a foundation meal, I feel like if I start my day out with a healthy breakfast, I am much more likely to continue to eat healthy the rest of the day.  If I start out the day with donuts, I kinda end up wondering "what's the point of even trying" by the time lunch rolls around.

The oddest thing happened to me with smoothies.  I did not like them at first, I added sweetener, pudding mixes, and all kinds of other craziness to them, but every now and then I would just use veggies and fruit.  Eventually, I began to crave the ones without the extra sweeteners and fillers in them.  I still make some different versions and variations, but this is the one that I always come back to.

It can be kind of tedious to drag everything out to make smoothies every day, so I never make just one at a time.  If I am getting all the ingredients out, I make at least two, maybe more, depending on what my schedule will be.  I have a Nutri-Bullet, and I make the smoothies in their cups, if you are going to use a blender, I would just put your ingredients into ziploc bags that you can store in the freezer and just dump into the blender and blitz quick.

The measurements for this are extremely flexible and are really up to your appetite and size of your blender.  I found that I really only have enough stomach room for a smaller 2-3 Cup smoothie.

Small Handful of Kale
1/2 cup sliced, or 5-6 Whole Frozen Strawberries
1/2 cup frozen Mango Cubes
1/4 to 1/2 Peeled Orange
1 tsp. Flax Seed
1 Tbsp. Goji Berries
8-10 Whole Unsalted Almonds

Add all ingredients to your cup, or to your blender, and add enough water to blend smoothly.  For my cup, I would estimate I use about a 1 1/2 Cup water.  Blend until smooth and enjoy.