Tag / Healthy cooking

by tessbrennan

What you eat for breakfast shapes your whole day. 1 of 2

Do you eat breakfast? I bet you do.  Whether your first meal of the day is at 5:00 AM or at 1:00 PM, you ARE eating breakfast.  That first meal of the day is breaking the fast.  What you choose to eat for this meal is just as important as when you eat it.

The American diet, and school breakfasts tend to offer many different refined carbohydrates. Muffins, toast, bagels, breakfast cereal, pop tarts…  This source of fuel allows our blood sugar to jump quickly.

Blood Sugar Roller coaster Continue reading →

by tessbrennan

Healthier Chicken Lasagna–Didn’t have Ground Beef

Healthier Chicken Lasagna

I’ve been cutting way back on our beef consumption. In doing so, I haven’t purchased ground beef in a lllllloooonnnnnggggg time.  Therefore, when I began making lasagna for dinner, I discovered I had no ground beef.

ENTER GRILL AND CHICKEN BOOBS!

2 chicken boobs, grilled and cubed small
1 zucchini shredded
1 jar of Ragu Spaghetti sauce (I use mushroom since it’s the only way I get mushrooms in my home)

Mix these 3 things together in a bowl.

In a separate bowl, mix:

1.5 cups of 6 cheese Italian mix
2 cups of small curd cottage cheese
1 egg
1 cup of parmesan cheese

Prepare 1/2 box of high fiber penne pasta (7 g of protein per serving)

Spray a lasagna dish with olive oil
Drop a cup of sauce mix into bottom of dish
Layer penne pasta on top of sauce mix
Smooth 1 cup of cheese mix over penne pasta
Sauce
Pasta
Cheese
Sauce
Cheese & sprinkle with parm.

Cook in 375 oven for 30 minutes – allow to cool for 5-10 minutes & serve!

Awesome, easy switches for improved health!

(Hubby didn’t even realize it wasn’t beef!)  So, in this meal, we have increased fiber and protein content by switching out brands of pasta, reduced fat and red meat by switching out beef for chicken, AND added veggies by adding a shredded zucchini!

Switching brands can save your life!

So can switching little things in our daily life!

by tessbrennan

Healthier Cookies–Works for most Recipes

I prefer to make the cookies my family eats.  As a part of our healthier choices, I make as much of our food as possible so that I know what is in the recipes and so I have some control of the nutrition going into my families bodies.

We’ve found that by simply adding a 1/4 cup of Protein Powder, the cookies have a touch of nutrition and protein to offset the sugars.

Here’s how we “fix” the cookies.

 

  1. Cut the sugar content in half.  This way you actually get the flavor of the cookies &/or chips.
  2. Try mixing flours.  We will substitute 1/2 the flour of the recipe with Oat Flour, Soy Flour, Rice Flour, or whole wheat flour. (no one even notices the difference)
  3. Substitute 1/4 cup of Instant Protein Powder for flour.  This adds protein to the cookie.  We should always be eating a protein with our carbs to help level out the blood sugar and keep it from spiking.

Give it a try and let us know how it goes! We do it with all our cookies, our cakes, & even our bread recipes.

If you’ve got the Drive, we’ve got the Vehicle!

The Healthy Grease Monkey is a project by Tess Brennan dedicated to writing useful blog posts for consumers who are smart about Nutrition & what they put in & surround their body with, passionate about protecting our environment, and are committed to supporting local entrepreneurs. Those who are about healthy weight loss & dynamic living. If you would like to find out what it is like to live a healthy life, we invite you to explore our product line or find out more about our services. 

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