Gina Homolka's Blog, page 189

Stuffed Turkey Breasts with Butternut Squash and Figs

Stuffed Turkey Breasts with Butternut Squash and Figs is a wonderful One-Pan Fall dish. This is also Whole30 compliant as well as gluten-free, low-carb, keto and Paleo. Turkey tenderloins are stuffed with sauteed butternut squash, spinach and figs, a meal-in-one with savory and sweet flavors. Figs are seasonal, so if you can’t find them, you could use another fruit such as pears or even apples.

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Chickpea Avocado Salad

This Chickpea and Avocado salad is my go-to lunch when I need something fast and healthy! I load it up with garden vegetables and top it with a little olive oil and lemon, or olive oil and vinegar depending on my mood. Super simple, fresh and fills me up!

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Instant Pot One-Pot Spaghetti with Meat Sauce

This One-Pot Spaghetti with Turkey Meat Sauce is made with whole wheat pasta in the pressure cooker – hands down, the quickest and easiest way to get dinner on the table while making the whole family happy! Your solution to getting dinner on the table FAST on those busy weeknights and having everyone clean their plates!

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Delightfully Baked Apples

Baked apples topped with oats, cinnamon and a touch of brown sugar. Easy to make and a great way to use up those apples this Fall! They are like little individual apple crisps without all the added fuss of cutting and peeling the apples. A simple, light dessert for a cool autumn evening, serve this a la mode for an extra special treat!

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Skinnytaste Dinner Plan (Week 92)

Skinnytaste Dinner Plan (Week 92).  I hope everyone has had a great week! I am in Oregon for the weekend, I’ll post pics when I get back! Enjoy the meal plan!

Pictured below is The Skinnytaste Meal Planner where I plan my dinners for the week (you can of course use any meal planner). Meal planning is a great way to get organized before heading to the supermarket to get ready for the week! My breakfast is usually something quick like eggs with fruit, a smoothie or avocado toast. We’re a family of four, so if a recipe serves more, it’s either packed up for everyone’s lunch or eaten the next day as leftovers. If you would like to see some of the previous week’s dinner plans, click here

Skinnytaste Dinner Plan (Week 92)

Monday: Fettuccini with Winter Greens and Poached Egg

Tuesday: Crock Pot Chicken Enchilada Soup (and Instant Pot)

Wednesday: Leftovers

Thursday: Crock Pot Kid-Friendly Turkey Chili

Friday: Shrimp Cakes with salad

Saturday: Spaghetti Squash with Meat Ragu

Sunday: Tumeric Braised Chicken with Golden Beets and Leeks

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Chicken Parmesan in the Air Fryer

Chicken Parmesan comes out great in the Air Fryer, no need to use so much oil!

I’ve been using my air fryer (affiliate link) all week and having fun! This past weekend we made Chicken Parmesan for dinner, and since it was only three of us eating, I used the air fryer. The results were great, no complaints from my husband so that means he approved!

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Skinnytaste Dinner Plan (Week 91)

Skinnytaste Dinner Plan (Week 91). The weather’s getting cool, crazy how it changes so fast so I am adding some comfort food favorites this week. Also, my thoughts and prayers are with Texas and Florida.

Pictured below is The Skinnytaste Meal Planner where I plan my dinners for the week (you can of course use any meal planner). Meal planning is a great way to get organized before heading to the supermarket to get ready for the week! My breakfast is usually something quick like eggs with fruit, a smoothie or avocado toast. We’re a family of four, so if a recipe serves more, it’s either packed up for everyone’s lunch or eaten the next day as leftovers. If you would like to see some of the previous week’s dinner plans, click here

Skinnytaste Dinner Plan (Week 91)

Monday: Roasted Brussels Sprouts and Cauliflower Soup

Tuesday: Chicken and White Bean Enchiladas With Creamy Salsa Verde with Mexican Cauliflower “Rice”

Wednesday: Leftovers

Thursday: Chicken Soup with Spinach and Whole Wheat Acini di Pepe

Friday: Baked Chicken Parmesan with garden salad

Saturday: Date Night!

Sunday: Crispy Breaded Pork Chops in the Air Fryer with salad

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Crispy Breaded Pork Chops in the Air Fryer

These Crispy Boneless Breaded Pork Chops come out moist on the inside and crispy on the outside! Made in the air fryer so they took just 12 minutes to cook.

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Air Fryer Beef Empanadas

These easy beef empanadas made with my homemade beef picadillo filling and store bought empanada dough are “fried” in the air fryer for empanadas that area ready in minutes (only takes 8 minutes to cook)!

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Skinnytaste Success Story: Katherine Garbarino

I’ve been getting emails for years from people who lost weight with the help of my recipes, and I’m always so inspired to here their stories. How did they lose it, what kept them motivated, what were they doing to keep it off? Everyone’s story is different and I think it’s so inspiring to hear what worked for them. I plan on sharing some of those stories at least once a month to hopefully help you in your weight loss journey! Katherine happens to be one of those people who reached out to me on Instagram. I asked her if she would be willing to share her story with before and after photos and she said yes, so I’m happy share my first Skinnytaste Success story as a way to motivate and inspire, and hope to share more in the future! Please welcome Katherine Garbarino!

Name: Katherine Garbarino

Age: 31

Height: 5’’8

Weight Lost: 45 lbs

What motivated you to lose the weight?

I was luckily, always very confident but I knew I had let myself go. My younger sisters (twins) were so much thinner than me and I felt like the “fat” sister. I wasn’t unhappy but I also wasn’t healthy, I avoided weighing myself because I wasn’t ready to deal with it. One day I weighed myself and I was 182 lbs and I said ok thats it! Time to get it together before this gets worse… it was a wake up call. I knew what I was doing wrong I just needed to stick to being “good” and accountable.

Brief summary of how you lost the weight, were you counting calories? Weight Watchers? etc

My weight loss journey has been a process to say the least. When it began I used the “my fitness pal” app and logged all meal and calories. It kept me accountable and made me realize what I was eating and how to “stretch” my calories for the day. Cooking my own dinners and finding lighter and lower calorie versions of desserts and some of my favorite meals was a key to my success. At the time (about 5 years ago) Skinnytaste was really the only blog I used for healthier and lighter recipes. I would literally google the dish I wanted to make and then Skinnytaste (ex. Breaded Chicken Skinnytaste) and sure enough there was always a recipe available to me.

After about a year I had lost 20 lbs and then I started to figure my way out around my calories and stopped counting as I think there has to come a time where we depend on our own intuition and start eating intuitively. My whole life changed and I consistently have kept changing and evolving and learning more and more to better my health and the quality of foods I eat. I eat for benefits and flavor and have found a great balance. Throughout all of this I still go to Skinnytaste for my recipes and for inspiration on what to make. There is always good options and alternative and Gina makes cooking healthy fun and FAR from boring! Thank u for the all the hard work and dedication you put into your blog. It really was life changing and helpful to me throughout my journey. As someone who is new to Video Blogging I can truthfully say it is a lot of work to stay accountable and consistent!

Top three biggest long term changes you made:

Knowing exactly what I am putting into my body and eating for a purpose rather than just to eat.
Dedicating a good hour to preparing homemade, organic meals at least 4 nights a week to help me stay on track.
Using my journey and story as motivation for others to do the same and live their best lives and avoid illness in the future.

Tell me about your morning routine, I know you drink bullet proof coffee every morning, is this a meal replacement?

If you follow me on Instagram or Youtube then you will know I begin every morning with a luke-warm glass of water with half a lemon squeezed in and some sea salt. It kick starts your digestive system, gives you tons of natural energy, wakes up your organs, makes your skin healthier and glow amongst sooo many other things. (You can see my Youtube video about lemon water here).

I wait 20 – 30 mins depending how much time I have and I then make my Bulletproof Coffee… I add a lot of other things to mine because it works well for me and I have tried it many ways. There is a science behind Bulletproof coffee that I explain in detail on my youtube channel, see the video here. Many people are scared to add these kinds of fats to their diet but it has only made me thinner, given me more energy and seriously changed my life for the better. I do a workout after my bulletproof coffee and I do still have breakfast after my workout… I explain in detail in my videos.

What are some of your favorite Skinnytaste recipes.

Seriously everything! I use Yummly to store my recipes in one place and 70% are Skinnytaste so its hard to choose just a few but in the beginning my “go to” recipes I depended on were…

Kung Pao Zoodles

Baked Chicken Milanese with Arugula and Tomatoes

Turkey Picadillo

Seattle Asian Salmon Bowl (personal Fave)

Turkey Stuffed Peppers

3 Ingredient Breakfast Cookies

Please tell everyone where they can follow you!

You can find me on Instagram @kgmtl for daily tips, tricks and advice. Lifestyle, healthy eating, fitness, beauty, skincare and everything else… I really share it all! I also recently started my youtube channel.

I began “vlogging” 5 months ago and in that short time I have helped a lot of people get of track and make better decisions when it comes to food and all around wellness. My passion is to inspire others to make the right choices when it comes to what we eat, the products we use (beauty and home) how to properly fuel our bodies and minds to be the best versions of ourselves. I share all my little secrets I have learnt along the way to help it happen faster. I also have suffered from digestive issues, eczema, and cystic acne and have overcome all of these through proper nutrition, eliminations and supplements!

Thank you for letting me share my story and I hope to inspire and help others to care about eating REAL food for benefits. And thank you to Gina and Skinnytaste for giving us all that good inspiration and making eating healthy delicious and fun!

Before (180 lbs)

After (135 lbs)

Do you have a Skinnytaste Success Story? If so, we want to hear about it! For a chance to get your story published, email me at ginah2design@gmail.com and use Success Story in the subject line.