Hearty & Healthy Beef and Veggie Soup

There's nothing better on a COLD Minnesota winter evening than hot soup.  Bonus if it's healthy and can fit into one of my meal plans!  I love tossing random things into a crock pot, and coming home to a hot dinner and house that smells wonderful.

Last week my soup was beef & veggie.  I've been using tons of veggies in my soups this winter to make it a little more interesting and to bump up our nutrient intake.  There is SO much illness going around that extra nutrients can't hurt. 

Ingredients:
- Stew Beef (1 packet of it, all pre-cut from Hy Vee)
- 1 container low sodium beef broth (not stock)
- 1/4 a container of low sodium chicken broth (if you're not cooking it for longer than 6 hours you probably don't need this.  Mine cooked for 10 hours, and I was afraid of the liquid getting too low and burning)
- 1/2 C barley, dry
- 2 C chopped green beans
- 3 stalks of celery, dimed
- 5 carrots, peeled and dimed
- 1/2 a purple onion, diced
- 1/2 C frozen sweet corn (bonus if you have some that you froze yourself from this summer!)
- seasonings of your choice (I used one that was Maple Bacon, another that was Chipotle Garlic, and then just some extra garlic powder (not salt)).

Directions:
- Add all the ingredients to a large crock pot
- Stir to ensure everything is mixed well
- Cook on high for 4-6 hours or low for 8-10 hours
- Eat and enjoy!!

Note: this heats up well.  We always have enough for 2+ meals, and the "cooked" picture is from our leftovers later in the week. 

80 Day Obsession Meal Planning Made Simple!

Who's excited for the newest Beachbody program from Autumn Calabrese, called 80 Day Obsession?  I'm beyond pumped for a new program from my favorite trainer.  Plus, having a BRAND NEW WORKOUT every day for 80 days guarantees I won't get bored and my body will continue to be challenged.  No plateaus here!

To be honest, I was more than a little intimidated when I heard about this whole timed-eating thing.  The nutrition part of each fitness program is where I struggle, so adding specific blocks of eating time to that?  Add to that timed plans that didn't align with my hectic working-mom life.  Oh man, my heart about stopped.

But I'm a spreadsheets & planning gal, and sat down and broke it out in a way that makes sense for me.  I'm still focused on eating as closely to Autumn's plan as possible, because I want to see those results!  Yet I know that in order to make it work FOR ME I need to adjust it.  My 5 am works still need to happen, since I have to be at work and have kids to get to school in the morning.  And on the days where I have an early meeting?  Well I needed an evening plan too.

I'll be following Eating Plan A for my calorie needs.  This template is built for that eating plan.  It should be pretty easy to update based on YOUR eating plan though too!  It includes plans for an early morning workout, an evening workout, and your rest day.  Note: this does NOT include plans for the Phase 2 Refeed Day.  When we get closer I'll build that out and share it.

Check out the template on my front page, down on the right side or by using this link.  Good luck and reach out if you need equipment, support, or want to join us on the 80 Day Obsession!

Ready to join us now?  Check it out here and save $10 through 1/14/18!! 

Buy & Save

Building Habits

Definition of habit: a settled or regular tendency or practice, especially one that is hard to give up


Habits can be hard to break.  They can also be easy to make.  You may want to begin creating better habits, such as eating healthier, cutting out sugar or alcohol, working out more, or even just being present with your family.  

Building a habit starts with a DECISION.  Make the decision to START somewhere.  Creating habits starts small.  Don't try to shoot for the stars to begin with, because you're more likely to get frustrated by not seeing immediate success and then quit.  Break that big goal into little goals, and then figure out the best starting place. 

Once you get started, you need to COMMIT to the decision and find the DETERMINATION to be repetitive in your actions.  Habits aren't created overnight.  You need to push yourself to take action daily.  Once you've done this regularly for a period of time, you'll begin to realize that you don't have to THINK about it so much.  

At that stage, when it becomes REFLEXIVE then that's when the habit is forming.  Think about routine things in your life, such as brushing your teeth or driving to work.  Those are all habits that you've created by doing the same actions on a repetitive basis.  By following this order: Making a decision, committing to taking action, having determination to follow through repetitively, and then doing the work, you'll create a habit!  

After you've created your habit, evaluate ways you can progress.  That could be tackling a different aspect in your life, or moving onto the next phase of your goal to meet your big long term goal!  Progress is a journey, not an ending point.  Through my journey, I've made progress by making small changes to my diet, swapping out ingredients to improve the nutritional content of my meals, and setting alarms to get out of bed and workout.  over the past 2 years I've seen huge physical progress and that translates into mental and emotional progress as well.  

If you need help, reach out!  I'd love to help you with goal setting and helping you with your commitment to creating those new healthy habits.  

The "So good you won't realize they're healthy" Brownie Bites!

The other day I needed a recipe for a cook-off we had at work.  Since I'm trying to eat better, I figured I needed to find a recipe that was healthy so I wouldn't feel guilty having a treat.  I stumbled across this recipe on Pinterest, and while I thought it sounded kind of disgusting I was intrigued.  Sweet potatoes are NOT on my list of things that I like (even remotely), but I figured heck let's give it a whirl. 

So here's the deal.  These brownie bites are SO good.  They're moist, richly chocolate, and don't have even a hint of veggies or avocado.  I swear that even my husband was munching on them and raving about how good they were (before I told him what was in them), and we're both super picky eaters.  Best thing?  They're gluten free, dairy free, soy free, low sugar, and super healthy for you!

Ingredients:
- 1/2 C Sweet Potato puree.  (I got a bag of the pre-cut sweet potatoes from Target, steamed them in the bag, then blasted them in my blender.  It gave me enough for 3 batches of brownie bites, so I froze the extra for later)
- 1 small avocado
- 2 eggs
- 1/3 C raw cocoa powder
- 1/3 C Enjoy Life mini chocolate chips (vegan & soy free, yet so delicious.  I lived on these while nursing my MSPI kiddos)
- 1/3 C honey (no you can't taste it, I don't like honey and this was fine)
- 3 T coconut flour
- 2 T melted coconut oil
- 1 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 tsp sea salt

Directions:
- Pre-heat oven to 350
- Spray a mini-muffin pan with non-stick spray.  My favorite is the olive oil based one.  You can also use muffing liners if you want, but it's not necessary. Make sure EVERY tin is sprayed or you'll struggle to get them out
- Mix all the ingredients, saving about 1/4 C of the chocolate chips to sprinkle on top.  (not required, you can mix them all in if you want).  I'd recommend adding them in the order listed so you don't have to measure dry ingredients after the wet ingredients using the same utensils. 
- Take a tablespoon and spoon batter into the mini-muffin pan.  Fill each tin about 3/4 full
- Bake for 20 minutes, then let cool for 5 minutes.

Enjoy!

Exercise Program Review: Insanity Max 30

If you're looking for a fun yet intense cardio workout, Insanity Max 30 is a great fit!  Each workout is exactly 30 minutes so for those of you crunched on time you'll love knowing that you don't have to schedule extra time.  You know how frustrating it can be when the workout scheduled for that day is 32 minutes, or 47 minutes, etc.

Shaun T leads a high-intensity workout in which you try to "max out" each workout.  There are minimal breaks, so you're really pushing your limits and building cardio endurance.  As always, a modifier is available.  Each time you max out for your workout you mark down the time, and then try to beat that time the next time you do the workout.  The movements vary and it moves so fast that you don't have time to get bored!  You'll noticed that movements are recycled throughout the different workouts so you do have time to master the moves.

This workout will challenge even those in the best of shape.  A schedule combining this with Hammer & Chisel is available, and that's what I'm doing right now.  I love the mix of cardio and weight lifting.  Shoot me a message if you want access to the combined calendar!

Roasted Asparagus and Leeks

Have you ever tried a leek?  It's a milder version of an onion, in the garlic family.  It was part of my Ultimate Reset diet, but I'd never tried them before.  My last week of the Ultimate Reset was a bit odd because I took a break between weeks 1&2, and week 3.  I managed to get food poisoning right as I was starting week 3, and it took me almost 2 months to get my head in gear and clear my schedule again. 

Anyways, on week 3 I accidentally bought leeks instead of fennel.  Whoops.  I had that and asparagus chopped and ready to go, and last minute realized I needed a recipe.  I found a delicious sounding recipe that included both ingredients and sounded super easy!  Here is how I made it my own.

Ingredients:
1 batch of leeks
1 bunch of asparagus
EVOO
sea salt

Directions:
- Heat oven to 425
- Wash leeks thoroughly and cut the roots and the top of the stalk off
- Cut leeks into 1/2" slices, then cut those circles in half
- Wash asparagus and cut bottoms off
- Cut the asparagus into 1" pieces
- Lay the veggies on a roasting pan or a cookie sheet with sides
- Drizzel 2 tsp of EVOO over the veggies, top with some sea salt to taste, and stir until evenly coated
- Put the sheet of veggies in the oven for 5 min
- Remove; stir and bake for another 2 min
*cook less time if you like them to have any crunch.  This makes them a little soft.

I also added a little sprinkling of Wildtree's Scampi Blend seasoning to give it more flavor.  It was good!  This can feed 6 people as a side, or 2 as a main dish. 

Zany for Zoodles!!

I'm a carb lover, and a pasta lover.  As I've been slowly trying to replace "bad" carbs with "good" carbs, my pasta has become an occasional treat vs. a once-a-week meal staple.  A while back I saw a quote from Cindy Crawford about how these days a bowl of pasta is viewed the same as a giant ice cream sundae now!  That helped change my view on the effects of refined pasta on our bodies. 

So a while back I invested (ok, they're actually pretty inexpensive) in a zoodle maker.  It's really simple to use, but I followed a bad Pinterest recipe on how to prepare the zoodles and it was a raging disaster.  As a result it's been MONTHS since I've made them again.  Like, they were so bad I had to choke them down and gave up after a few bites. 

Well I tried a recipe from Fixate for turkey meatballs and wanted to attempt zoodles again.  This time it worked really well!  You've got to try this as an alternative.  Here are a few options!

Making the Zoodle noodles:
- Get one medium sized zucchini per person
- Cut both ends off the zucchini
- Using a spiralizer (similar to this one), attach the holder onto one end of the zucchini and insert the other end into the spiralizer.
- Twist the zucchini stick in the spiralizer, catching the resulting "noodles" in a bowl.

Boiled Zoodles:
- Fill a small sauce pan about half full of cold water.
- Over medium heat, heat the water to a boil
- Once boiling, add the zoodles to the water
- Watch carefully and stir occasionally.  Boil for about 2-4 minutes or until slightly softened.
- Drain the water in a strainer and move the zoodles to a bowl.
- Add your toppings and enjoy!

Sautéed Zoodles:
- Heat 2 tsp of EVOO in a skillet
- Add 1 clove of pressed garlic
- Add the zoodles and stir frequently for 3-4 minutes
- Add salt and seasoning to taste
- Remove from heat; add your toppings and enjoy!