FIT FOR THE 4th!

Did you goof up this past weekend with your nutrition and fitness? ✋🏼🙋🏼
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I KNOW I did!
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Do you need a little accountability to get back on track? Do you need help making a healthier meal plan? Do u need easy recipe ideas that your whole family will like? 
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No need to feel guilty!! We all have weekends or even months where we just blow it all!! You aren't a failure unless you quit! So let's change it up and add some accountability and crush our summer goals!!
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Let me share with you my top tips for surviving the summer and staying on track with your health and fitness in my ⭐️21 Day at Home Challenge⭐️
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Hit me up by completing the application here to join. Our first day is June 8th--> we will end BEFORE the 4th of July!!

https://jaclyncrowellfitness.wufoo.com/forms/sg9n1dd1hdmg2o/

Oatmeal Pancakes

Pancakes are a huge hit around this house. My kids loves them, my hubby loves them, heck even I love them. But they aren't exactly the best breakfast food! This morning I was surfing around on MyFitnessPal and spotted an article about 15 different ways to use oatmeal. That's where I found it! Oatmeal pancakes! They sounded awesome so I just had to try them out! Here's the recipe-

Oatmeal Pancakes

Serving size: 4 pancakes (2 1/2 Tbsp of batter per pancake) 

1/4 whole wheat flour 

1 cup quick cooking oats

1 Tbsp sugar (I used a little less!)

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. baking powder

1/4 tsp. cinnamon (I used a little more)

1/8 tsp. salt

1 cup buttermilk (I used 2% regular milk)

2 Tbsp. butter, melted (I used 1 1/2 Tbsp.)

1 large egg

(Milk not pictured!)

1. In a bowl combine the dry ingredients (flour, oats, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon and salt) and stir with a whisk. Set aside.

2. In another bowl add the milk and egg and whisk to combine. While whisking the milk&egg mixture, slowly add the melted butter. You don't want to do this too fast as you will end up with cooked egg in your mixture! 

3. Take the oats mixture and add them into the wet ingredients. Stir just until wet. 

4. Over medium heat, coat pan with cooking spray and cook 2 1/2 Tbsp. of batter until the tops are bubbly and the bottoms are lightly brown. Flip them over and cook through. 

Additional Toppings: Maple Syrup OR 1/2 Tbsp. peanut butter and a drizzle of honey. 

These pancakes were so yummy! We didn't have any maple syrup so we used the peanut butter and honey. It was AWESOME!!! The kiddos gobbled them right up! Seriously one of my favorite pancakes! And the best part is they are a little healthier than the original!! 

Nutrition Info:

Serves 3 / Serving Size: 4 pancakes

Per serving: Calories- 263: Total Fat 12g: Saturated Fat 6g: Cholesterol 85mg: Sodium 492mg: Carbohydrate 30g: Fiber 3G: sugar 5g: Protein 10g

Turkey Meatballs

Who doesn't love spaghetti and meatballs?!?! I know I do, especially with garlic bread...YUM! When I found this recipe in our Body Beast nutrition book I thought I'd give it a try. Using oats seemed a little weird but I promise that you can't even tell! These are so simple and can be frozen to use at a later time too!

Sagi's Signature Meatballs
Serving Size 5 meatballs- 220 calories/ 10g Fat/ 3g Saturated Fat/ 109mg Cholesterol/ 460mg sodium/ 8g Carbs/ 1g Fiber/ 0g Sugar/ 25g Protein/


Ingredients:
- Nonstick cooking stray
- 1 1/2 pounds ground turkey
- 1 tsp. sea salt (I used course kosher salt)
- 1/2 tsp. ground black pepper
-1 large egg, beaten
-3/4 cup quick-cooking oats
-2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
-1 Tbsp. chopped fresh parsley
-2 Tbsp. organic tomato sauce (I used Newman's Own Organic Tomato Basil Sauce)

Directions:
1. Preheat over to 400F; lightly spray a large baking sheet with cooking spray and set aside.

2. Combine all ingredients in large bowl; mix well with clean hands.

3. Roll mixture into 30 1-inch meatballs; place on prepared baking sheet.

4. Bake for 15-20 minutes, or until no longer pink in the center.

ENJOY!!!

I ate these with zucchini noodles and the same sauce I used in the meatballs! It was so delicious and very carb friendly! My husband and kiddos even liked them except they had regular noodles! Perfect dinner for the entire family!

TIP: Meatballs freeze very well! Place 5 in a ziplock bag and freeze for future meals! You can defrost them in the refrigerator and heat them in the toaster over or microwave.


OTHER VARIATIONS!

1. 1Tbsp. chopped fresh basil and 1 tsp. fresh lemon zest.

2. 1 Tbsp. Worcestershire sauce and 2 Tbsp. fresh parsley.

3. 1 tsp. cumin and 1 tsp. chili powder.

4. 2 tsp. hot sauce and 1/2 tsp. curry powder.

Meal Planning Tip #1

One of the best things I've ever learned from meal planning is to buy in bulk and individually package single servings. 

I can't even tell you how often Id go into the pantry and grab a few nuts here or there and before long the entire bag would be GONE! I thought a little snacking wouldn't be a big deal but it is. It adds up- all those little one or two pieces can snowball into huge oversized portions and uncontrollable cravings.

I found a way to eliminate that. 

I buy in bulk. It's so much cheaper than buying packages. You can control how much you want and you don't pay the high prices for the company to package it. 

As soon as you get home package individual servings for each day. I know that I can have 10 almonds or 15 pecan halves so that is what I put into the baggies. (To save money I use little containers OR I reuse the plastic baggies if the contents are dry!)

By doing this I can just quickly grab out a bag and eat it. No thinking or counting out how many. When you are hungry the last thing you want to do is wait any longer than you have to. Right?!? Portion out ahead of time and that will be gone! 

This also helps another issue many people, myself included, struggle with. Cravings and the will to stop eating once you have started. For me I would pick at something every time I opened the pantry door. If a package was open it was fair game. By having individual packages it helped my mind to not have a big bag of open nuts or whatever. It created a mindset where I knew once the bag was empty my eating that food was over for the day. The individual bags totally relieved me of overeating. 

Having the correct portion sizes also helps to speed up the cooking and preparing process. Just grab what you need, throw it in a bowl and you are good to go. No fussing with measuring cups or counting. Just put it together and EAT!!

I hope this little meal planning tip has helped you! If you have a different system feel free to share it below!!