Spicy Sweet Potato Crusted Quiche

Ingredients

• 1 package of mild, medium or hot italian sausage or choice of ground meat
• 4 large sweet potatoes 
• 10 eggs
• 2 cups of spinach
• 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
• 1/2 tsp sea salt
• 1/2 tsp black pepper

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2. Cook the italian sausage or chosen meat. Once cooked drain the excess fat and place to the side.
3. Grate the sweet potatoes- I used my food processor for this. Crack and whisk 2 eggs and then add the grated sweet potatoes completely cover them with the mixture. Have fun and get hands on! .
4. Grease a heavy deep dish with your chosen oil-I used a coconut oil spray. Take the sweet potato mixture and coat the bottom as well as the sides of the pan creating your crust. Bake your crust for approx 30-35 minutes or until the edges become slightly brown. Remove and set aside
5. While the crust is baking making the egg mixture. Whisk the remaining eggs (8), add a cup of water and then your spinach and chosen spices. 
6. Layer the egg mixture over the sweet potato crust. Then top with the italian sausage mixture or chosen ground meat. 
7. Place back in the oven for an additional 35-40 minutes. Cooking until the center of the egg mixture is no longer liquid. 
8. Sit and cool for 5-10 minutes before slicing! 

Enjoy! 

For those following the 21 Day Fix Original or 21 Day Fix Extreme = 2 Red, 1 Green and 1 Yellow

**If you would like to find out more involving the 21 Day Fix Original or Extreme or how you can join one of my challenge groups message me at 2eatwellbeactive@gmail.com 

Zucchini Turkey Meatballs

Ingredients

• 1 medium sized zucchini, grated or use your spiralizer then score to shorten the strands 
• 1 lb of ground turkey 
• 1/3 cup red onion, minced
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 1/4 cup bread crumbs or almond flour or grated rolled oats
• 1/4 cup chopped cilantro
• 2 tsp ground cumin
• 1/4 tsp chili powder
• 1/4 tsp ground black pepper
• 1/4 tsp salt

* I used a 1/4 cup of Paris blend from Epicure, with the cumin and chili powder but you can vary it as your tastebuds prefer. 

Directions

First drain the moisture out of the zucchini using a paper towel. If you used your spiralized cut through the zucchini making the strands a bit shorter. Toss all the ingredients into a bowl. Mix well and then create your meatballs. Place them in a frying pan with coconut oil until cooked through. 

I use these as my snack during my low carb/high protein days. You can easily freeze the remaining meatballs for easy snacks on the go. 

For those following the  21 Day Fix Original or 21 Day Fix Extreme  =1 Red, 1 Green, 1/4 Yellow

**If you would like to find out more involving the 21 Day Fix Original or Extreme or how you can join one of my challenge groups message me at 2eatwellbeactive@gmail.com 

Paleo Pumpkin Protein Pancakes

Ingredients

4 eggs, beaten

1/2 cup pumpkin puree
Banana, mashed

½ Scoop of Vanilla Shakeology or your protein powder of choice. No protein powder you could add 1-2 tablespoons of coconut flour

2 Tablespoons of coconut oil, melted

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1-2 tablespoons honey or maple syrup *optional
1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
                         or

      1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

      1/4 teaspoon ground ginger

      1/8 teaspoon cloves

      1/8 teaspoon nutmeg

      1 teaspoon cinnamon

Preparation

       Food Processor! Toss all the ingredients in together minus the coconut oil and then blend.

      No Food Processor! Mash the banana then add all wet ingredients then fold in your                   Shakeology, protein powder or coconut flour

       Melt butter or coconut oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Then, mix the butter into the batter

       Grease the skillet and spoon the batter into the skillet to make pancakes of your desired size. I use a 1/3 measuring cup. When a few bubbles appear, flip the pancakes once to finish cooking.      

                   *I tripled this recipe and make a huge batch for the week. You can save them for up to 3-4 days in the fridge. I am going to be experimenting with freezing them as well! 

*

Creating Your "OWN" nutritional lifestyle choice?!

I jumped into the 21 Day Fix program as an experiment. Wanting to continue my knowledge and experimenting with ways to continue to perfect my own nutrition and food lifestyle choices. Going in I knew I was going to have to make adjustments as I am mainly Paleo So the lovely yellow container affords me sweet potatoes, my treat of almond milk and my 2 pieces of chocolate. At least I still get a few good things. 

When I originally went Paleo I followed the Whole 30 route and truly recommend that to everyone but that's a separate blog. Within a couple weeks of the whole 30 I started experiencing light headnesses, dizziness when standing etc. My response was to just power through as I was near the end of the thirty days (I'm not always super smart) once I began living a dirty paleo lifestyle I was able to get my BP issues in order mainly with yes I'm going to be honest potato chips- salt, salt and more salt! Good quality gluten-free real potato chips! Maybe not my best choice but it worked like a hot damn. 

Now entering into the beginning stages of the 21 Day Fix I was hit with my symptoms in less then 24 hours. Ridiculous amounts of dizziness, feeling like I was in a brain fog and even moments where I was concerned that I was going to black out. So I returned to my tried and true my Potato Chips. In a much smaller controlled quantity and started adding sea salt to my morning water. I saw some improvement but not enough to be safe. 21 Day Fix allows for carbs and although many items on the list are a still a no for me due to how they make me feel I decided to play a little bit. Finally I am out of my brain fog, my issues of light headnesses are less frequent but my stomach isn't happy. I am near the end of my first round and experiment of the 21 Day Fix. I have already started the reflection period and planning how I'm going to continue to play and create that perfect nutritional lifestyle that matches my body! 

My second round is going to consist of putting together what I love best of both lifestyle choices! For me the 21 Day Fix is the ultimate in accountability for me to eat my veggies! I need that accountability! I'm not a huge fruit eater so everyone's favourite purple is a work in progress for me and I will be aiming to hit half of my purple goal daily.  Now the paleo side of life.... I love how my body responds and performs using fat as it's primary fuel source. Unfortunately for me the 21 day Fix is limited on its allowable containers of fat. That is an area that I will be adjusting to fit my own personal nutritional needs. 

In researching other people who have experienced similar issues I have found some additional ideas and one that makes me smile! Carbs are still an important piece of the puzzle so I will be adding more sweet potatoes, pumpkin, using fruit for its carbs qualities and the exciting part I'm going to be including some white rice into my weekly meal planning! Oh yes you read right..... Formally known as white death will be joining my nutritional plan. I have no poor side effects from it and it's a food I love! I will also be making it a focus to complete my daily sea salt added to my morning water ritual. 

My long winded get to the point! Life is an experiment and so is our nutrition. Everyone's body works in a different way and has it's own side effects. No one cookie cutter style of nutrition works for everyone. Take the time to experiment and actually get to know your body! Complete a detox and clean up your system then add one food group at a time seeing how your body responds? Keep a diary if you need too? It's a very empowering process to actually be aware and learn what your body is trying to tell you! Be creative and create "your" own nutritional code that works for YOU! 

UPDATE!

Results from my Round 2 on the 21 Day Fix with Paleo inspiration! 

Down 8 lbs and lost 2" off my waist and an 1" off both my chest and hips! Oh yeah baby!