Crockpot Chicken Tacos

Tacos have always been one of our favorite meals. I've started to use chicken most often though because I really like how it cooks in the crockpot.  Set it, forget it, then shred it when we're ready! Piece of cake ;) The recipe is so simple, too, that Aubrey basically made it this time. 

 She dumped in all of the ingredients (except for the chicken -- I did that part), then she turned it on "low," set the timer and we were done!

Ingredients:

3-4 good sized skinless, boneless chicken breasts

3 tsp homemade taco seasoning

(I have a container ready to go of this. I'll list the details below)

1 tbsp chili powder

1 tbsp garlic

1 sliced red pepper

1 sliced onion

1 cup salsa

That's it! Set on low for 6 hours, shred, stir, and you're all set for some juicy, flavorful tacos!

The girls have recently decided that "they don't like tacos," even though they've never had an issue with tacos before. Perfect. 

So - I thought serving them as create-your-own nachos would be fun... and hopefully they'd eat them. I put 1 serving of corn tortilla chips on each of their plates and set out all of the fixings on the table. They were PUMPED to load it all on their plates. This is the first time I've done this, and of course they thought it was amazing and ate everything. Let's see how it goes when I try next time ;) 

We had chicken, lettuce, cilantro, tomatoes, (homemade) guacamole, & cheese.

Delicious!

Homemade Taco Seasoning

1/4 tsp. Garlic Powder.

1/4 tsp. Onion Powder.

1/4 tsp. Dried Oregano.

1/2 tsp. Paprika.

1 1/2 tsp. Ground Cumin.

1 tsp. Sea Salt.

5 Days of Dinner - 21 Day Fix style

Clean Eating is simple, really. Make meals with real food. If you're like us though, you're kids give a hard time about eating anything...even the things we KNOW they like.

How do we get our kids to eat dinner? Well, sometimes we don't. Here's what we do that has gotten the best results:

1. Plan everything on Sunday and include them in the planning process. This way, if they try saying they don't want (fill in the blank) for dinner, we can say "well, you asked us to cook it!"
2. "Eat or go to bed." It's not that exact... they don't actually get directly in their beds, but they definitely don't get a second choice. We cook one meal, and everyone eats it. There aren't any other choices, so they eat it or they are hungry.

So this is what we'll be eating this week.

MONDAY - Salsa chicken & Brown Rice Stuffed Peppers

**The chicken will cook in the crock pot while we're all at school. When we get home, I'll cook the rice, assemble the peppers, and put in the over by 5:45 so that we can eat as soon as Bob walks in at 6:00. 

***The kids will NOT eat all of the pepper, but we'll convince them to have at least a few bites ;) They'll like what's inside though. 

TUESDAY - Shakeology for the kids, leftovers for Mom, and Dad is on his own. 

**Their favorite is chocolate with banana and peanut butter. 

***We're in the car for over an hour on Tuesdays driving to dance, then they are in class for 3 hours. Tuesday night dinners are always tough. We have to be prepared ahead of time or we end up in a drive-thru which the kids love but I do not! 

WEDNESDAY - Pulled Pork and Broccoli

**The kids have choir and lacrosse, so dinner time is very tricky. We'll probably pack snacks for lacrosse then have a very late dinner after lacrosse. 

THURSDAY - Tacos and Fajitas

*I use the taco and fajita recipes from the Fixate cookbook. 

**It's Cinco de Mayo!!!! Of course we're having Mexican!!!!

FRIDAY - Pizza night

**homemade crust and tomato sauce, regular mozzarella cheese. 

*** I use the 21 Day Fix tomato sauce recipe from the Fixate cookbook you can find here. 

So there you have it. Our week of 21 Day Fix approved meals! 

Piyo - Month 1

I have completed month 1 of Piyo!!! Tricep push-ups are a BIG DEAL in Piyo, and while they are not amazing or perfect, they are definitely getting there!!! The two moves below are from one of the workouts that was in week 4 - different and fun! I'm definitely more flexible because of this program, and my core strength is so much better!!!!

The two additional workouts included in month 4 that I haven't discussed are "Strength Intervals" and "Drench."

STRENGTH INTERVALS; Only 20 minutes but the perfect mix of cardio and strength work will DEFINITELY get you S-W-E-A-T-Y!!!!!!!!!!!!

DRENCH: This one is 50 minutes. This one makes me very much aware of how thankful for my 30 minute workouts! The kids asked 325,439 during this workout "if I was done yet," and I was watching the clock like a hawk. The workout itself was great - challenging the whole time, for sure, but since I've gotten used to 30 minutes, 50 minutes seemed like an eternity! It's okay though - it's only on the schedule a few times.

So overall, I'm definitely happy with my decision to begin this program. I'm excited to begin month 2!!!! I've only lost 1 pound and 2 inches during the first month of Piyo, BUT, my eating has not been wildly impressive..... I'm kicking my planning and effort up a notch, so we'll see what's in store for month two ;)

Clean Eating: Chicken Marsala

I love, love, love chicken marsala. However, the traditional recipe isn't quite clean and is definitely NOT 21 Day Fix approved.

Bummer.

However, I started to think about what it was about the dish that I loved so much.... I'm pretty sure it's the flavor of the marsala wine with the mushrooms and chicken. The good news is - all three of those items ARE clean AND 21 Day Fix approved :-)

So, this recipe is not creamy nor is it loaded with fat, but it was full of flavor! I totally recommend..

Ingredients:
4 chicken breasts
1 tsp garlic powder
salt and pepper to taste
4 tbsp olive oil
1 small package of mushrooms
1/4 cup marsala wine

Instructions:
1. Season the chicken breast with salt and pepper to taste. Brown in the olive oil (about 4 minutes per side.) Chicken will finish cooking later.

2. Remove chicken from pan and set aside. Add marsala wine and mushrooms. Stir to de-glaze pan and cook off alcohol for at least one minute.

3. Add chicken back into pan, cover, and cook for 10-15 minutes, depending on thickness of chicken.

Finish off with some sauteed asparagus (with very little olive oil, salt, & pepper) and brown rice, and you have yourself a clean, FLAVORFUL, balanced meal! 

For 21 Day Fix purposes.... you have 1.5 green, 1 red, 1 yellow, and 1 tsp. 

Enjoy <3 p="">

Piyo - two weeks in....

Piyo is DIFFERENT than most workouts I've done. As soon as I start thinking that the workout is a waste of time and nothing is happening, I realize that my legs or abs or shoulders are on FIRE and I want to collapse to the ground!

So far, my schedule has consisted of the following workouts:

ALIGN: Don't get excited. You'll probably be confused. This is 40 minutes of teaching terms and positions. It's not an actual workout. Consider it an "off day."

DEFINE LOWER BODY & UPPER BODY: 18 minutes long each. You probably won't get sweaty. It's not incredibly difficult. Just go with it. She knows what she's talking about.

SWEAT: Great! It's a little longer than 30 minutes and it involves burpees ;) You'll feel productive and will sweat!

CORE: Hello abs! The side plank sequence and I are not friends yet. We're working on our relationship.

BUNS: More like BUNS and LEGS, LEGS, LEGS!!! Shaking legs and dripping sweat. Yes, you'll feel proud when you're done!

I can't wait to get to the rest of them..... check back in a few weeks for a review of the rest.

PS. Piyo LOVES tricep push-ups!

Review: 21 Day Fix & P90X3

As of Saturday, I will have completed one full round of 21 Day Fix and the entire P90X3 program!

For the visual people..... here's a little Venn Diagram (lol, the teacher in me!) to compare/contrast....

Before these two programs, I had not enjoyed (or even fully completed) a single workout video in my life. I thought they were cheesy.... for people who haven't even walked around the block in year. I didn't like learning from the TV; I enjoyed listening to my music while working out; I never thought they were productive enough; I liked the gym.


Then I had kids. And I felt guilty leaving them to workout at a gym. I jogged with them during the nice weather, but that didn't work out when it was 20 degrees. Eventually, I fell into a habit of only exercising during the summer. YAY! for three months of exercise. BOO! for only exercising for 25% of the year.


I NEEDED a solution. I decided to give these DVD's a chance -------- I'm HOOKED!

I was completely wrong when I thought the workouts would be a waste of my time. They COMPLETELY kicked my butt. Some make me sweat more than others, but ALL make me work in different ways... it is CONCENTRATED effort for CONCENTRATED results!

A photo sneak-peak of 21 Day Fix ;)

Photo sneak-peak of P90X3 ;)

I start two months of Piyo on Monday.... stay tuned for that review... I'm NOT so great with the flexibility :/ But I think it's necessary! We shall see :-)

How to Fit BBQ's into a Healthy Lifestyle

Beginning a new lifestyle is challenging. Finding a routine early on is crucial since we are all creatures of habit. Especially when we are working toward a health/fitness goal, we often tend to do and eat the same things every day. We develop a schedule, and we stick to it. That's why weekends are typically a challenge - there's less of a structured schedule.


Well, My brother and sister-in-law were in town last weekend, so my family had BBQ's planned all weekend. The old me would have tossed up my hands and said let's do this! I would have justified NOT being mindful of my meals or activity level because:

"It's rare that everyone is together."
"It's just this weekend."
"One weekend won't make or break my fitness journey."

While all of those statements are true, something else is true too...

"I love my new life. I can easily fit clean-eating and my workouts into this fun, family-filled weekend. That's what I'm going to do because a BBQ or two isn't going to slow me down!"

So that's what I did. I made a game plan. I started with a list of goals for the weekend. Call me cheesy, but it makes me happy to see it written out:



*I really wanted to finish my book, but I put it twice on the list by accident lol

**I chose not to have carbs with dinner so that I could have some corn tortilla chips with guac and not feel left out of the snack situation ;)

*I enjoy a cold, adult beverage on a warm day at a nice gathering. There, I said it. BUT, I'm not willing to let alcohol get in the way of my goals. SO, I picked a day and that was it!

The rest of our weekend consisted of healthy meals and as much activity as possible!! 

SATURDAY:

We had HOURS of dance class before BBQ #1. I started the morning with a jog with those two, packed our stuff, including my healthy lunch-on-the-go ---> SHAKEOLOGY! ;)

SUNDAY:

BBQ #2.... Filled with as much activity as possible! This was my alcohol day, but I did NOT have any carbs with dinner...lotsa protein and veggies :) Then some corn tortilla chips with guac.

MONDAY;

First, I planted flowers in new hanging baskets on the deck railing and the new veggie garden fence. (There's more to come with that veggie garden fence... it's super cheesy but I'm going to LOVE it!!)

Then....

P90X3 Isometrics followed by Lunch...  Strawberry Shakeology + watermelon + mint = WHAAATTT?!?!? Was that a frozen cocktail I just had?!?! Amazing!!!!

Later...a clean dinner and a family walk.... 

The ending to a perfect weekend full of family, fun, fitness, & clean-eating!

<3 nbsp="" p="">