Suck it up and someday you won’t have to suck it in.

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I am celebrating the twelve days of Christmas with twelve days of healthy recipes! I finally am feeling up to par and am getting my butt into the kitchen tonight. I am so excited to share with you these twelve satisfying dinners that will leave you with some wiggle room on Christmas.

To reduce calories in my meals, I am making some easy substitutes using lighter ingredients. I am also making sure to eat normal portions. It’s not that I eat crappy food all the time; I have an issue with portion control. I am kicking off the celebration with….

Whole Wheat Spinach Gnocchi

Ingredients:

10 ounces frozen spinach thawed or fresh spinach steamed

3/4 cup whole wheat flour sifted

1/2 cup bread crumbs

2 cups part-skim ricotta cheese

3/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

1 cup bottled pasta sauce

Directions:

1. Place spinach in a microwave safe bowl with two tablespoons of water. Microwave for four minutes to steam.

2. Sift 1/2 cup whole wheat flour into a bowl.

3. Put remaining flour into a separate bowl and set aside. Add remaining ingredients to bowl with sifted flour and mix together.

4. Drop a tablespoon of mixture into flour and shape into oval.

5. Bring water to a boil while shaping gnocchi (you should have around 37 pieces).

6. Drop gnocchi into boiling water.

7. Let cook for about two minutes or until gnocchi floats to the top of the water. Use a slotted spoon to remove cooked gnocchi.

8. Place gnocchi in a bowl and cover until you serve.

9. Heat pasta sauce, spoon on plate, and serve gnocchi on top. Garnish with Parmesan cheese.

10. Enjoy!

Whole Wheat Spinach Gnocchi is so full of cheesy deliciousness that you would not think that it qualifies as a healthy meal, but guess what…it does! It is so cheesy that it reminds me of a mozzarella stick with sauce, which is strange since it does not have any mozzarella. Hey, I’ll take it! Yummy! You’ve got to try this easy substitute.

It was fortunate that I saved so many calories at dinner because along with the season, comes many gifts involving a ridiculous amount of sweet treats.

I mean look at this amazing Godiva selection a sweet client brought me today.

It even came with a coffee cake mix….strange, but awesome at the same time. You can count on me making that and blogging all about it!

I decided that I could eat just one bite…okay maybe two. I settled on the milk chocolate caramel.

Yeah…it was good…almost as good as the gnocchi. Stick with me people. Just twelve days of healthy dinners and there is plenty of room for a sweet treat each day.

What Christmas goodie can you just not resist?