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Busy Mom Nutrition Tip – Healthy Alternatives

I don’t think I’ve ever tried posting a Vlog! But I’m going for it today!

If you’re having trouble convincing your kids to get on-board with healthier eating…I get it! Been there. Done that! My kids did not react well when I told them I would no longer be buying hot dogs or chicken nuggets at the store. That’s not to say that they will never eat them again. I am all for special occasion allowances. However, I just don’t add these items to my grocery list anymore!

I’ve found ways to substitute healthier alternatives, for the foods that they love. And of course, it’s a work in progress! We are always looking for new foods to try! The wonderful thing is that the kids are so much more aware of the foods that they eat. They read labels just like I do! And that makes my heart go pitter-pat!

So here is my vlog! What do you think?

This is one of the examples from the video:yogurt_compare

Which yogurt would you pick? Carrageenan is an ingredient that you will find in some yogurts, soy milk, ice cream, etc. It’s added to make foods thicker, creamier and to create a ‘fuller’ feeling to low-fat foods. The problem is that carrageenan could be causing inflammation, gut irritation and even cancer. Beginning in the 1960s, researchers started linking the ingredient to gastrointestinal disease in lab animals, including ulcerative colitis, intestinal lesions, and colon cancer.

Make sure you scan your labels! If you see the “c” word…RUN!

 

My weekly meal plan is FULL of healthy recipes and family-friendly foods! I’ll send it to you every week for FREE! Sign up below!

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Easiest Peasiest Homemade *Slow Cooker* Chicken Soup

Do you ever get a hankering for some homemade chicken soup, but you just don’t have the time? VOILA! I’ve got the answer, and I found it by accident! That is usually how I get my best ideas…accidentally. 🙂

I started out this recipe as something totally different, and then halfway through decided it would be chicken soup. And it was so easy! The kids and the husband ALL loved it – there was some definite bowl-licking going on!

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And so…here’s what you do.

Ingredients

    • 2 lb. Chicken Thighs OR breasts
    • ½ T. sea salt
    • ÂĽ t. Pepper
    • 1 t. poultry seasoning
    • 2 Garlic Cloves, minced
    • 5 C. Chicken Broth
    • 1 C. chopped carrots
    • 1 C. chopped celery
    • 1 C. chopped onion
    • 2 ½ C. wide egg noodles *optional (to keep the carbs down use kale instead! apx 4 cups, stems removed and chopped)
    • Additional Salt and Pepper, to taste
 

Instructions

    1. Place the chicken in the bottom of a crock pot. Sprinkle the salt and pepper and poultry seasoning over the chicken.
    2. Pour the chicken broth into the crock pot.
    3. Cook the chicken on high for 4 hours.
    4. After 4 hours the chicken should be very tender. Remove the chicken from the crock pot and place in a bowl.
    5. At this point, if you desire, you can strain the broth in the crock pot through a fine mesh sieve(if you want a broth free from any debris left from the chicken). Add the broth back to the crock pot after straining.
    6. Turn heat back to high.
    7. Lightly shred the chicken cover and refrigerate.
    8. Add the carrots, onions, and celery to the broth and cook on high for 2 hours.
    9. In the last 30-40 minutes of cooking, add the noodles OR kale to the soup. *Adjust time as needed to make sure noodles/kale are cooked and tender.
    10. Check the seasonings and add more salt or pepper as necessary.
    11. Add the chicken to the soup and allow to reheat for about 10 minutes.
    12. Enjoy!

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Plans for Weekly Meal Plans

So I’ve heard from enough people that they’d be interested in my weekly meal plans, that I’ve decided to start sharing them again. I’m starting with this one here, but I’ll be sending a weekly newsletter, available for FREE if you’d like to receive it every weekend, in time for shopping and planning for the week ahead. Just provide your information below, and you will receive next week’s meal plan via email.

I am a believer in a 5 dinner plan for the week. I have a list of typical breakfasts, lunches and snacks that I almost always eat from, and that just leaves dinners. I have found that we really only need FIVE dinner plans, leaving room for one night of leftovers and one night that is a flex night – either a date night, dinner out, dinner at a friend’s house, etc. There is almost always SOMETHING that comes up like that. So plan for 5 meals, and I think you’ll find that will be enough for the whole week!

Do some weekend meal prepping, for quick and easy breakfast, lunches and snacks that you can grab and GO!

Click HERE for this weeks meal plan.

 

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Take THAT!

I am always SO inspired by the pretty food pictures and delicious sounding recipes on Pinterest. But let’s be real…they NEVER really turn out as pretty as the picture, RIGHT?!

Well…not this time bub! I was so pleased with how pretty this dish was when I made it last week…I had to take a picture of it. In my opinion…it is a work of art! But was it worth ALL of the effort…

take_that

I do believe it WAS!

It really wasn’t ALL that difficult. Just a little time consuming to slice and place all of the veggies just so. So here is what I did for a 9 x 13 inch dish:

Take That Pinterest

  • 1/2 medium sweet onion – diced
  • 3-4 garlic cloves – minced
  • 2-3 zucchinis
  • 2-3 yellow squash
  • 5-6 roma tomatoes (Or adjust depending on the size tomato you want to use.)
  • olive oil
  • 3 T. chopped fresh basil
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • freshly grated parmesan cheese (Or a little sharp cheddar would be good, too.)

Directions: Preheat oven to 400°. Drizzle the bottom of a glass pan with a little olive oil. Saute onions and garlic in a little olive oil for 3-4 minutes. Meanwhile, slice up all of the veggies! I used a knife, I didn’t want them to be paper thin (using a mandolin would be ok…but just don’t use the thinnest setting). Place the slices int the pan in an alternating pattern. Sprinkle the top with sea salt, pepper and the fresh basil. Cover with foil and cook for 30 minutes. Take out, remove foil and sprinkle on a little freshly grated parmesan cheese!

TA Die For!

Take a picture of YOUR masterpiece and share it with me HERE!

Like this recipe? Want MORE?! Join me on Monday, August 18 for my FREE 7 Day Slim Down group on Facebook! Past groups have lost an average of 5-7 pounds…in one week! You won’t be starving either! We’re eating 5-6 meals/day of good, clean foods!

What’s Included?
✔Daily Meal Plan
✔Shopping List
✔Daily Support
✔Accountability (in a private Facebook group)
✔Daily workout suggestions (or just commit to 30 minutes/day!)

DEADLINE TO SIGN UP Friday August 15th!

Click here for more information and get signed up ➡ CLICK HERE

 

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FREE 7-Day Slim Down!

 

BACK BY POPULAR DEMAND! slim_down-pic

If you’ve missed out on previous FREE 7-Day groups, now is your chance! Or…maybe you saw such GREAT results the first time, you want to do it again!? FANTASTIC!

The last time we did this, participants lost an average of 5-7 pounds!

FREE Clean Eating 7 Day Slim down!

What’s Included?
✔Daily Meal Plan w/recipes!
✔Shopping List
✔Daily Support
✔Accountability (in a private Facebook group)
✔Daily workout suggestions (or just commit to 30 minutes/day!)

DEADLINE TO SIGN UP – Saturday July 12th!

Fill out the information below and you will receive an email with additional information and sign up details!

 

*Only non-coaches, and those not already working with a coach.

Challenge Application

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FREE – Five Day – SHAPE-UP!

spring_shape-up

Yep! It’s FREE!

Next week:

March 17-21

Give me 5 days and here’s what I’ll give you!

  • A FREE 5 – day meal plan with recipes AND a shopping list!
  • Daily Support
  • Daily Motivation
  • Daily Tips
  • Daily Accountability

We’ll have a private group on Facebook for daily communications and accountability. You will be amazed what you can accomplish in 5 days! We’ll all commit to exercising a minimum of 30 minutes each day. Combine that with the daily meal plan, support, accountability and your TOTAL dedication and you might just knock your own socks off! The last time I did this plan…I lost 4 pounds, in just 5 days! It’s not uncommon to lose 5-7 pounds! You won’t be starving either. I am not a fan of starving myself! EVER!

*This group is for NON-coaches only, and for those who are not currently working with a coach.

Interested?

Fill in the information below to get ready to SHAPE-UP! 🙂

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Better Late than Never!

I did the meal plan! I swear! But I got caught up in all of the Father’s Day festivities yesterday, and just didn’t find a minute to post about it!

I had a couple of splurges over the weekend, just keepin’ it real! We went out for ice cream, and I used to always say, “No thank you”. But my kids began to hate that about me. They wanted to see me enjoying a dish of ice cream as much as they were. And so I decided, that since we go rather infrequently, it’s o.k. to have a scoop or two here and there. And for me I know that it’s not a slippery slope. I like ice cream, don’t get me wrong, but it’s not a ticket to nutrition disaster for me. Now french fries on the other hand…that’s going to be a problem. Therefore, I tend to avoid that temptation all-together!

Anyway…I digress. The point of my splurge admission, is that I’m looking forward to a week of planned meals and staying on track nutritionally. So far, I’m off to a great start! 🙂 And I’m going to need it, because I also just started the second phase of Insanity. Today was the first workout of that madness, and OMG! Have you ever had to crawl to your water bottle?!

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Click here to print and link to recipes.

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Meal Plan and a VLOG!

That’s like a video blog, I think.

So today I wanted to share a video that I made to explain how very EASY it is to do a weekly meal plan! Seriously, anyone who knows me well, knows that I am not a terribly well-organized person. I’m a fly by the seat of my pants, scatter-brained, willy-nilly, chicken with the  head cut-off, kinda gal. So I even surprise myself at my ability to stick with this meal-planning gig of mine, which is a testament to how very EASY it is! A real no-brainer that even the most scattered of brains can manage. 🙂 It’s my kind a gig!

So first, the video:

(The lighting isn’t the greatest, but you’ll get the idea.)

And now the plan:

meal_6-9
Click here to print and link to recipes.

Have a SIMPLE week! 🙂

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Can’t Live Without It!

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Ever since my friend Carin suggested that I share my meal plan with my challenge groups, it’s become something I do that keeps me sane (at least partially). Last week I accidentally took a vacation from my meal plan and felt LOST without it! What’s for dinner? I DON’T KNOW!!! With the meal plan, it just forces me to think and plan ahead. I love that I can hang it on the frig and then everyone knows what’s for dinner, without even asking me. Even better is that I know what’s for dinner, so there’s no need for that 5:00 scramble through the kitchen searching high and low for some ingredients to throw together and call “dinner”. Oye! I hate that! Usually while you’re doing that, you’re starving and searching for things to munch on while you’re searching for dinner ingredients, and it’s all just a big mess!

So I’m happy to report that I’m back in action this week! I’ve got the meals all planned. I’m grocery shopping today to make sure I have everything I’ll need for the week, and life is good. (Deep breath…)

Here is what’s cookin’ this week. 🙂

 

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And Now the Meal Plan

This is a crowd-pleasing meal plan this week! My kids will enjoy dinner every night! I’m going to keep telling myself that until I believe it! LOL! No really…actually…these are a lot of our favorite recipes. Tonight, in celebration of Cinco de Mayo, we’ll have shredded chicken tacos, and the kids really like them! I’ll have to blog about my Spanish quinoa soon. I make this instead of Spanish rice, and nobody even complained about it! I’m going to have a little more time on my hands this week than I did last week, thank goodness! I’ll be able to spend a little more time in the kitchen. Hopefully not TOO much time though. 🙂

I’m starting Insanity this week, which I’ve built up in my head to be this super, crazy, impossible thing that is hard, intense and demoralizing. I am hoping that the more I convince myself of this, the more relieved I will be to learn that it is not the case. I will do the fit test tomorrow, so we’ll see how it goes. I’ll keep you posted!

Have a wonderful week!

meal_5-5
Click here to print and link to recipes.