Chocolate Ricotta Cream!

I have been trying to experiment with some new food. I am a self proclaimed CARBOHOLIC! However, due to Doctor's orders I need to start cutting down my carbs and replacing them with protein. I really needed something sweet tonight and I found this recipe from the South Beach Diet book for a Vanilla Ricotta Cream. I decided to try and jazz it up a little bit.

First I took two cups of part skim ricotta cheese.

The recipe calls for part skim ricotta, some vanilla extract, and a sugar substitute. I decided to jazz it up a little bit by replacing the vanilla extract with almond extract and then added some cinnamon, hot cocoa mix, and some dark chocolate chips, and a wee bit of coconut.

First I threw the ricotta cheese, 1/2 tsp almond extract, 1 tbsp cocoa powder, and 1 tbsp trivia into a bowl.

Next I took a spoon and mixed the ingredients. Once the ingredients were blended I added the dark chocolate chips.

Then 1/4 cup almonds

Finally I garnished the cream with a little coconut and threw it in the fridge to sit overnight. You can eat it right away, but I made extra and wanted some for the rest of the week.

Ta Dah!

The recipe took no more than five minutes and was super delicious. The original recipe without the added tid bits was 173 calories, 10 grams of fat, 15 grams of protein and 7 grams of carbs. My version was 247 calories, 13.7 grams of fat, 15.5 carbs, and 15.5 grams of protein. A little heavier in calories, but a delicious treat to enjoy occasionally!

Norfolk, VA and some pizza!

On Sunday I came down to Norfolk, VA to visit my brother Rick, his wife Amanda, and my new beautiful nephew Little Rick. My dad came up from Raleigh for the week so we had a little family reunion. What does the King family do when we get together??? We cook, and cook, and cook! Tonight we did pizza! My brother makes his own dough, which is awesome, so we decided to make a few pizzas!

My Dad and brother in the kitchen!

My brother's dog, Dude, watching all of the cooking.

My brother made me a whole wheat pizza dough (recipe will be posted soon!) I added some peppers, mushrooms, Italian sausage, and turkey pepperoni to my pizza.

Before...

I put a little bit of olive oil on the crust along with lots of seasonings to give it some flavor. I used Italian seasoning, Garlic Salt (only a little), and some crushed red pepper flakes.

Place the pizza in an oven at 425 degrees for 15 minutes and......

VIOLA!

Tasty pizza!

It was sooo good

My brother made himself a traditional white dough pizza with about every type of meat you could think of on top of it. He decided to do a Parmesan Cheese crust.

Zoom in on the crust...

My brother and Dad made up a batch of wings for everyone. They made their own sauce with honey, hot sauce, butter, crushed red pepper flakes and some secret ingredients. They were great (of course I had to try ONE) they were sweet at first then had a great back heat to them.

Everyone in the living room enjoying the pizza. We made enough food for an army, seriously. So many left overs.

Me hanging out with my little nephew, he was showing off his Buddha belly to everyone.

Ricky with little Rick

I am basically in a food coma! Hope you all are enjoying your night :)

Happy Wednesday!

Hello Everyone! I had a long day today! This morning I did a 4 mile bike ride, a half an hour of jump roping, then went to school and swam laps for an hour. Needless to say, I was tired and STARVING!

Therefore I needed something carby and delicious for lunch. I made a chicken wrap with lettuce, tomato, and red onion on a whole wheat wrap :)

Then I added a salad to the mixture. This salad was fantastic! So delicious in fact that I ate only half the wrap and devoured the salad. All it was made of was romaine lettuce, tomato, red onion, bell peppers, blackberries, and walnuts!

I added a little bit of the Newman's Own Lighten Up Sun Dried Tomato to the wrap and the Raspberry Walnut Vinaigrette to the salad!!!

Tah dah!!! Lighting wasn't very good but the food was!!

It was way to nice of a day to spend indoors watching tv. After lunch Stephanie and I decided to go for a walk on this awesome path right near our apartment complex. The weather was fantastic and we ended up walking around 2.5 miles. Below are some pictures from our walk :)

It ran right across a river and it was really nice although the lack of green in the scenery!

Very pretty

For some reason I really liked the look of this bridge

Hope you enjoyed! Stay in tuned for a turkey burger recipe coming soon :)

Italian Chicken Quesadilla

This recipe came from my friend Jim! One night his wife Stephanie (my VA best friend) and I were hungry but weren't sure what we wanted. Therefore, Jim being the super creative man he is made an Italian Quesadilla with proscuitto, artichoke hearts and some mozzarella. I decided to steal his idea tonight for dinner. I didn't have proscuitto but I did have some chicken breast with some veggies!First I diced up some red onion, garlic, green bell pepper, artichoke hearts, mushrooms, and chicken up!

I used a Flat Out Tortilla for my Quesadilla. They are fantastic for wraps and thin crust pizzas! I like Flat Out brand because their wraps are high in protein and dietary fiber!

Next I sprayed my pan with some Pam cooking spray, placed the tortilla down, and then the added my toppings. I added a little bit of salt, pepper, Italian seasoning, and crushed red pepper. Yummy...

Then I folded the tortilla in half and let it brown on one side. Make sure not to put the heat too high or the outside will burn and nothing will be cooked in the inside.

Then flip..

It took about 7 minutes to cook, all done!!!

Next, I just cut it up into four slices, sprinkled a little bit of Parmesan cheese on top. A side of marinara to dip my delicious quesadilla in!

Tasty...

It was super delicious. I had a lot left over so I decided to pack another one for lunch tomorrow at work. All I have to do is put it on a plate and throw it in the microwave until it's melty and delicious!

All packed and even a side of marinara :)

I hope you all enjoy! I sure did :)

Banana Blueberry Breakfast Bars

Hey Everyone! I got this great recipe from Fannetastic Food! Its a great recipe that I have done before. I decided to try and jazz it up a bit. Instead of muffins I made breakfast bars because I find them more portable!

Ingredients:

• 2 C spelt flour
• 1/2 C brown sugar
• 1/2 C finely ground flaxseed
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp sea salt
• 3 very ripe bananas, mashed
• 3/4 C skim milk
• 1/2 C plain (or vanilla) nonfat Greek yogurt
• 2 tbsp Peanut Butter
• Optional add ins: 1/2 C each of: walnuts, raisins, blueberries, dark chocolate chips, etc.!

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 300 (spelt bakes more quickly than regular flour!).

2. In two large bowls, separately mix dry (flour, sugar, flax, cinnamon, baking powder/soda, salt) and wet (bananas, milk, yogurt, add-ins) ingredients.

Dry..

Wet... I added fresh blueberries and an antioxidant trail mix that had a variety of nuts, dark chocolate chips, and some dried fruit like dried cherries, raisins, etc.

3. Add dry ingredients to wet, stirring until mixed.

4. Spoon into a cooking-sprayed or nonstick baking pan! Sprinkle with raw oats

5. Pop them in the oven! I baked it for about 17 minutes and stuck a knife in the bread to make sure it was finished

All done..

Delicious...

Cross-sectional view... Easy Portable Breakfast Bars!

Egg White Frittata

This breakfast is super easy (no more than 5 minutes), healthy, and tasty! You really only need three things, egg whites, turkey breast deli meat, and asparagus!

First off, I sauted some red onions in a little bit of Olive Oil. Next, I added asparagus and no sodium turkey breast to the pan and let cook for about 2 minutes. Some other substitution for turkey breast could be Canadian bacon, turkey bacon, roast beef, tofu, etc. Next I added some egg whites to the pan.

I let it cook for about 5 minutes added a little bit of Parmesan cheese and seasonings such as Oregano, Rosemary, Salt, and Pepper on top for some zest and flavor! It's huge right??? (that's what she said!!!)

Then I cut the egg in half and had some apple slices with it!

YUMMY!

Hello Ladies and Gentlemen.....I AM BACK!

Why hello everyone!!! I know it has been a long time since I have posted :( but to be quite honest I have been extremely busy!!! A lot has happened in the last six months!!

First and foremost, I left the restaurant industry! I got two jobs, one part time working as a Front Desk Associate at Fitness First in Arlington! I am very excited because I am training to get my Personal Training Certificate through the National Academy of Sports Medicine (www.nasm.org) and should have my certification by June!!!

My other job is working as a Jenny Craig Sales Consultant (JCC)!

But most importantly.....

I got into a Masters Program!!!!!! YAYYYYY! I got into....

I got into their Masters in Public Health Promotion and Management Program. I started in January and I am absolutely in love with the program :) The campus is beautiful....

Overview of the campus....

Isn't it pretty?

It has been a super busy six months, but I am dedicated to get my blog back up and running! I have a lot of great new healthy recipes, great workouts, and (now thanks to school) a lot of knowledge!!! I am so excited to be back