Butternut Squash Tomato Soup

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butternut squash tomato soup on overtime cook

Thick, filling and hearty, this Butternut Squash Tomato soup is great winter comfort food.  ***Before we start – have you signed up for my email newsletters? You’ll get new recipes, cooking tips, menu suggestions, kitchen deals  – and more! Click here to signup.*** Looking to start 2015 off with some healthy recipes? Looking for warm, comforting recipes to get you through the cold winter? Looking for easy recipes that taste great? Love soups of any sort? If you answered yes to any of these questions, I'm here with your new favorite recipe: Butternut Squash Tomato Soup. So, we've been through this before: I. Love. Soups. I know it's not a new story, which is why it's … [Read more...]

Air Fried French Fries and an Air Fryer Review and Giveaway

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Air Fryer Review: Air Fried French Fries

Air Fryer Review - can fat free french fries taste as good as the real kind? ***Before we start – have you signed up for my email newsletters? You’ll get new recipes, cooking tips, menu suggestions, kitchen deals  – and more! Click here to signup.*** Scroll to the end of the post for a giveaway! I first heard about the concept of an air fryer a couple of months ago, and was kinda intrigued. But as Hanukkah approached, and frying is weighing (hehe, excuse the pun) on people's minds, loads and loads of my more health conscious readers have been asking what I thought of air fryers. Do they work? Is air-fried food as good as fat-fried food? Well I couldn't answer these questions … [Read more...]

Roasted Butternut Squash Orzo Salad

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roasted butternut squash orzo salad

Roasted Butternut Squash Orzo Salad with pomegranate seeds and a tangy dressing is the perfect seasonal side dish! ***Have you signed up for email newsletters from Overtime Cook? Don't miss out - click here to sign up!*** I think I meant to write an introduction to this Roasted Butternut Squash Orzo Salad - all about how it is seasonal, easy to make, and a perfect side dish for Thanksgiving. But when I sit here trying to think of something to say, the only thing that comes to mind is how this salad is insanely satisfying and filling. Seriously. There's something about the salty, sweet and spicy flavors of this dish that come together to start a party in your mouth that makes this … [Read more...]

Hawaiian Chicken Burgers

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hawaiian chicken burgers3

Flavorful, moist and low fat - three great reasons to enjoy these Hawaiian Chicken Burgers! Ladies and gentlemen! Step right up please and meet your newest favorite supper: The Hawaiian Chicken Burger! I've been dreaming of Hawaiian Chicken Burgers for, oh, about a year now. I've made variations of it before (see my instagram profile from about a year ago!) but finally perfected this recipe. And now I can share it with you. Let me tell you - ground chicken can get pretty dried out in the cooking process, but not when you add all the good stuff that this recipe has. These burgers are moist and full of flavor. Plus they're easy, which I know is so important to all of you. Grill some … [Read more...]

Grilled Chicken and Portobello Wraps with Garlic Mayo

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grilled chicken and portobello wraps on OvertimeCook

Grilled Chicken and Portobello Wraps with Garlic Mayo are a healthy supper that's easy to make and delicious to eat! So you might have guessed, based on the (in)frequency of posts lately that I've been crazy busy. Nothing new for me, you say? Well sadly, I've found myself the kind of busy where I am cooking less frequently than usual. And that means...eating or ordering out. Not the best option when you're dieting, but one of the more diet friendly options you can usually find is a grilled chicken wrap. Problem is, no matter how healthy they say it is, you just know there's gonna be hidden calories all over the place, right? Second problem, it's painful to pay a restaurant to … [Read more...]

My Weight Loss Journey with Start Fresh: Week 6

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-love all,trust a few,do wrong to none.- (5)

My first week of my Weight Loss Journey with Start Fresh - phase 2 - is over. And the result is... Yep, I lost another 2 pounds! I am through the moon with excitement over that. I am down a total of 13 pounds since starting, my clothes are getting too big on me, and I feel GREAT! The second phase of Start Fresh is called Start Fresh Program for Life. It's meant to be a diet program you can follow in the long run...and I totally see it working for me. The program allows for some more choices than it did in the previous weeks, bread, pasta, all in limited amounts. It also gives you daily "StarSaver" points - which you can use to have small amounts of treats, or save up and have one big … [Read more...]

Coffee Crinkle Cookies

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coffee crinkle cookies on OvertimeCook.jpg

These coffee crinkle cookies have no butter or margarine, but they do have an incredible texture and they're packed with flavor! Have we discussed recently just how much I adore coffee? Seriously, I like to say that it's coffee running through my veins - not blood. And while part of what I love about my beloved coffee is the caffeine, the buzz, the liquid energy, I also love the flavor. No, I really do. So much so, in fact, that I've even had decaf coffee a couple of times in my life. I know, crazy, right? But what can I say, coffee is just so awesome. So. Naturally, for a flavor this good, this beloved, I needed to come up with a rocking cookie...because, cookie. And boy did I come up … [Read more...]

My Weight Loss Journey with Start Fresh: Week 5

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-love all,trust a few,do wrong to none.- (4)

So I finished my first month of my Weight Loss Journey with Start Fresh! So my total weight loss for the month... Did you enter my giveaway for a free month on Start Fresh? It ends tonight at midnight - don't miss it! I'll admit, it wasn't the easiest week for me. I had a day off for New Year's, I was out sick one day, and I was snowed in another. Being home and bored doesn't make for easy dieting. I was tempted to cheat a few times, but I had my plan and stuck with it! I started asking myself... "Am I hungry, or am I bored?" As you can imagine, I was bored most of the time. One of my delicious food discoveries of the week was my Skinny Mocha Frappes. I also made a version with just … [Read more...]

Skinny Mocha Frappe

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Skinny Mocha Frappe on OvertimeCook

  Trying to lose weight? This Skinny Mocha Frappe recipe will help you stick to your resolutions! So 2014 is here, and lots of us are probably trying to eat healthy, lose weight, yada yada yada. If you've been reading this blog for a while, you know that I'm in the middle of week 4 of my new diet. It's been great so far, and I am definitely adjusting to the whole "eat healthier" thing, but everyone needs a treat now and then, right? Well, my diet might be structured, but I had to come up with a way to treat myself within my diet plan. So I came up with this drink. You know the one you spend $5.95 on at a cafe or restaurant? Yep, same thing. Except it costs pennies in … [Read more...]

My Weight Loss Journey with Start Fresh: Week 4 and a Giveaway!

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-love all,trust a few,do wrong to none.- (3)

So I've just finished my 3rd full week of my Weight Loss Journey with Start Fresh and I am feeling really good! Scroll to the end of the post for a double giveaway! That's right! I lost another 2 pounds, for a total weight loss of 9 pounds. This isn't about dropping 15 pounds in 15 days, or some other fad-diet, easy-off, easy-on, kind of diet. It's a sustainable, balanced plan that allows me to lose weight in a slow but steady manner. (Winning the race and all that...) On thursday night, I baked a cake. Nothing too extraordinary for me, right? But it was a new recipe (stay tuned!) which means I had to taste it. I can't publish a recipe without knowing if it's good or not. In the past, … [Read more...]