Are You Ready For Some Football?

It's September, which means it's football season. Tailgating, either at the game or in front of your television, usually means greasy, fatty foods and feeling bad about your weekend eating habits when Monday rolls around.  And then you find yourself just doing the same thing the next Sunday, and again feeling bad on Monday morning. So I decided to use this football season to recreate typical tailgating foods, making them healthier, updated, and a little more fun.  Lets see how the next 16 weeks go!

Lets go Steelers!

Never Stop Cooking ~Melissa

Week One Menu

Buffalo Chicken Nachos

Veggies with Buffalo Ranch Dip

Parmesan Pizza Zucchini Sticks

Buffalo Chicken Nachos

Ingredients

1.5 lbs chicken breast

1/2 cup hot sauce

Ranch seasoning packet 

6 oz (about half a bag) tortilla chips

3/4 cup crumbled blue cheese

3/4 cup shredded cheddar cheese

1.5 cups chopped scallions

1.5 cups chopped celery

6 tbsp buffalo ranch (recipe below)

Directions

Boil the chicken in water for about 15 minutes.  Let the chicken cool, and then shred the chicken using a fork.  Combine the chicken, 1/2 cup hot sauce, ranch seasoning, and 1/4 cup of water.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Spread tortilla chips on a cookie sheet sprayed with cooking spray.  Top with chicken, both cheeses, celery, and scallions.  Bake 15-20 minutes or until cheese has melted.  Top with 6 tbsp of buffalo ranch right before serving.

Nutritional Facts

Servings per tray of nachos: 6

1 Serving: Calories 399 Fat 18.5g Cholesterol 77.2mg Sodium 1333mg Carbohydrates 29g Fiber 3.9g Sugar 3.8g Protein 28.6g

Buffalo Ranch Dip

Ingredients

1.5 cups plain yogurt

1/4 cup mayonnaise

1/4 cup light sour cream

1/4 cup chopped scallions

1/4 cup hot sauce

Directions

Mix all ingredients together and chill for at least an hour.  Serve with vegetables, chips, on top of nachos, or with your favorite dippers.

Nutritional Facts

Servings per container: 36

1 Serving = 1 tbsp : Calories 16 Fat 0.7g Cholesterol 1.3mg Sodium 182mg Carbohydrates 1.5g Fiber 0g Sugar 0.8g Protein 0.7g

Pizza Zucchini Fries

Ingredients

3 small zucchini

1 cup panko bread crumbs (you will probably only use about 1/2 cup, but extra panko makes it easier to bread the zucchini)

1/2 cup egg substitute 

2 tbsp parmesan cheese

1 tsp dried basil

1 tsp dried oregano

1 tsp garlic powder

1 tsp crushed red pepper

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Slice zucchini into about three inch long pieces, about a half an inch thick.  Place zucchini in a colander and sprinkle 1 tbsp of salt on it.  Let zucchini sit for at least an hour to drain out excess water.  Rinse the zucchini and then pat dry with a paper towel.

Combine panko, parmesan cheese, basil, oregano, garlic powder, and crushed red pepper into a shallow bowl.  Place egg substitute in a separate shallow bowl. Dip zucchini in egg and then in bread crumb mixture and place on a cookie sheet sprayed with cooking spray.  

Place cookie sheet in preheated oven and bake zucchini fries for about 25-30 minutes or until golden brown.

Serve zucchini fries with your favorite pizza sauce.

Nutritional Facts

Servings per container: 3

1 Serving: Calories 83 Fat 1.4g Cholesterol 0mg Sodium 117mg Carbohydrates 13.1g Fiber 1.2g Sugar 3g Protein 6g

I love fall, but I'm holding on to summer flavors with this one...

I love the fall, and I can not wait to start cooking with lots of yummy fall flavors.  Yet, I love summer fruit, and I will miss it when its hard to find berries and melons through the fall and winter months.  Using some of the strawberries up in my fridge along with some summer tomatoes to make a salad, I knew I needed a dressing that would give me the flavors of summer.  (I can always bring it back during the colder months since I used jam instead of fresh berries.)

I served this dressing with a spring mix salad, loaded with strawberries and tomatoes, and topped with feta cheese.  Walnuts or Pecans would be a great addition.

Never Stop Cooking ~Melissa

Strawberry Balsamic Dressing

Ingredients

3 TBSP Balsamic Vinegar or 3 TBSP Seasoned Rice Vinegar (I like to use the balsamic blend)

1 TBSP Strawberry Jam

1 tsp Dijon mustard

Salt and Pepper to taste

Directions

Combine all ingredients in a bowl and mix, breaking up the jam.  Add salt and pepper to taste.  

Nutritional Facts

Servings per recipe: 4

One Serving: 1 TBSP

Calories 29 Fat 0g Cholesterol 0mg Sodium 210mg Carbohydrates 7g Fiber 0g Protein 0g

Healthier Blueberry Pie

With the summer coming to an end, and blueberries being in abundance, and super cheap, I thought I would come up with an lower calorie blueberry pie recipe.  Using store bought pie crust on the bottom, and a homemade crumble on top, and letting the blueberries take center stage, by keeping the sugar low; this pie is lower in calories (I found some blueberry crumb pies with over 450 calories per slice!), but super yummy.  

Never Stop Cooking ~ Melissa

Blueberry Crumb Pie

Ingredients

Store bought Pie Crust
4 cups fresh blueberries
1/2 cup sugar
3 Tbsp whole wheat flour
1 Tbsp lemon juice
1 tsp lemon zest
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla extract

Crumble
1 cup oats
2 whole graham crackers - crushed up
2 Tbsp country crock or light butter - melted
2 Tbsp brown sugar
1 Tbsp Plain 0% Fat Greek Yogurt
1 tsp cinnamon

Directions

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Spray pie pan with non stick cooking spray. Spread store bought pie crust out onto pie pan. Set to the side.

Combine the sugar, flour, lemon juice, lemon zest, cinnamon, and vanilla extract in a bowl. Add berries and coat them in the mixture. Add the blueberry mixture to the pie crust, spreading out evenly.

Combine the oats with the crushed graham crackers and the cinnamon. Combine the brown sugar, melted butter, and greek yogurt in a separate bowl. Using a fork add the butter mixture to the oat mixture. Spread the crumble evenly on top of the blueberry mixture.

Cover pie crust with foil to prevent crust from burning. Bake the pie at 375 degrees for 30 minutes. Remove the foil and bake for an additional 10 minutes, periodically checking to prevent the crust from burning. Remove pie from oven and let sand for at least 30 minutes before serving.

Nutritional Facts

Servings per pie :8

1 Serving: Calories 293 Fat 10g Cholesterol 40mg Sodium 181mg Carbohydrates 51.4g Fiber 3.6g Sugar 23.4g Protein 2.7g

About Me!

Hi All!

Welcome to PuzioTraining.

My name is Melissa. To sum myself up in just a few words: I am a personal trainer with the heart of a foodie. This is where I want share my love for cooking and working out by inspiring you with new recipes and meal ideas, as well as challenge you with new workouts and exercise ideas, while committing to be the healthiest and happiest version of myself and encouraging you to do the same.

I believe in working hard and eating right, but also enjoying yourself and living your life. There has to be balance for consistency.

About Me

My name is Melissa and I am 29 years old living in Cleveland, Ohio with my boyfriend, Joe, and our chocolate lab, Dasher.

I have my bachelor's degree in Exercise Physiology. I am a certified Personal Trainer, Group Exercise Instructor, and Strength and Conditioning Coach. I love working with individuals, helping set goals, overcoming challenges, and overall reaching them. Not every goal is easy to reach, like every individual is not easy to motivate, yet, that is what makes what I do even more challenging and overall fun and rewarding.

My health and fitness journey is never ending and is part of my everyday life. I run(marathons down to 5Ks), lift weights, do pilates and yoga to name a few. I love cooking and will try a new recipe everyday when I could. I keep track of my macros which allows myself to eat healthy, but enjoy treats as well too. Everything in moderation.

Maybe something I say here can help motivate or challenge you, maybe something I cook can help change your way of looking at food, or maybe I can just help you get off the couch and change one unhealthy habit into a healthy one. As I am always walking or running on my health and fitness journey, maybe I can help direct yours in the right direction.

I hope you enjoy PuzioTraining. If you have any comments or questions feel free to email me at PuzioTraining@gmail.com.

Never Stop Cooking
Never Stop Moving

Melissa