High Protein Sweet and Salty Trail Mix

I am loving this trail mix concoction.  It's a great combination of sweet and salty!  I personally love to pick out the pumpkin seeds and dried cranberries and eat those together.  Great duo.  Then you can never go wrong with nuts and chocolate.  I know dried fruit has a lot of sugar and I know nuts are high in fat, but I think this is a better snack option than eating two or three of our favorite chocolate chip cookies.  But oh how we love those cookies.

High Protein Sweet and Salty Trail Mix

Yield: About 3 cups

Ingredients
1/2 cup almonds
1/2 cup cashews
1/2 cup peanuts
1/4 cup sunflower seeds
1/2 cup pumpkin seeds
1/2 cup dried cranberries
1/2 cup chocolate chips

Directions
Combine all ingredients in a bowl or ziplock bag and stir or shake until combined.  Store sealed in the pantry.

Recipe Source: adapted slightly from Don't Waste the Crumbs

Greek Quesadillas (or Salad if you'd like!)

The combination of these ingredients is so good to me that heck - leave out the tortilla part and just give me a bowl and a fork and I'm good to go!  If you want the salad version of this recipe then do just that... add all the ingredients together in a bowl and you're set!  Making it into a quesadilla is great too and helps with portion control - so I don't eat the entire batch - and makes it feel more like a start to finish meal.

This recipe also makes great for leftovers so when I open the refrigerator and I'm hungry but not in the mood to make anything and don't want to rely on the cookies in the pantry but want something healthy, then having a bowl of this is ta-dah... wonderful!  How'd you like that run-on sentence?

Here's a picture of the salad version...

Here's a picture of the feta and dill Greek yogurt dressing.  I got it at Walmart.  It really is pretty amazingly delicious.

Greek Quesadillas (or Salad)
Yield: 2-4 servings

Ingredients
1 1/2 cups cooked, shredded chicken
2 cups spinach
1/2 cup feta cheese
1 cucumber, peeled and diced into small pieces
1/2 cup cherry tomatoes, diced into small pieces
1/4-1/2 cup olives, diced
1/2 cup feta and dill Greek yogurt dressing
Tortillas
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Combine shredded chicken, spinach, feta cheese, diced cucumbers, diced tomatoes, diced olives, and dressing into a bowl.

Place a tortilla on a baking sheet and sprinkle mozzarella cheese on top.  The add a couple spoonfuls of salad mixture on top of the cheese.  I like my quesadillas pretty stuffed so I add a lot of the salad.  Sprinkle a little more mozzarella cheese on top of the salad mixture and finish by adding a tortilla on top.  Bake in the oven for about 10 minutes, until warm in the middle and slightly crisp on top.  Remove from oven and cut the tortilla into fourths.

Serve with additional Greek yogurt dressing for dipping if desired.

*For the chicken: I always like to add a few chicken breasts to my crockpot, sprinkle with pepper, add some chicken stock, and cook for about 6 hours on low.  Then I shred the chicken and stick it in a tupperware and put it in the refrigerator so I always have some tasty cooked chicken on hand to add to recipes or throw into burritos for the added protein.  Plus it makes making recipes like this one so much faster and easier!

Recipe Source: adapted from www.womanista.com

The source where I found this original recipe from said there were:
Protein: 44g
Carbs: 29g
Fat: 17g
Fiber: 13g
Sugar: 4g

Avocado Egg Salad Sandwich

With Easter just around the corner you might find yourself with a lot of hard boiled eggs.  I've always enjoyed a good egg salad sandwich, but when I recently discovered that you can replace mayonnaise with avocado I became really excited because substitute the bad for the healthy, right?!

This is a very simple, easy, classic recipe so feel free to adjust it to your liking.  I hope it will help you want to not throw away all those hard boiled eggs after your kids have died them.

Avocado Egg Salad Sandwich
Yield: 1 serving

Ingredients
2 large hard boiled eggs, cooled and peeled
1/2 avocado
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1/2 of a small lime or lemon, juiced
Salt and pepper to taste

Directions
Add the hard boiled eggs, avocado, Dijon mustard, lime/lemon juice, and salt and pepper to a small bowl and mash with a fork until fully combined.

Serve on a slice of toasted bread and if you'd like add some tomatoes, lettuce, and additional spices or herbs.

Serve immediately and eat the same day you prepare it.

Recipe Source: myfitnesspal.com