Day Two-- MAX 30!

Up and at it again today!! 

Tabata Power ✔️
Breakfast ✔️

I made a recipe from the Max 30 book and it was yummy! Plus I snuck in a veggie when I normally don't eat them for breakfast! This will be on my weekly meal plan for sure! 

Spinach and Onion Scramble
1 whole egg
4 egg whites
1/2 cup spinach
1/2 cup chopped onions
Pepper
Salt
1 tsp. Olive oil

-Heat oil in a skillet on medium heat.
-In a bowl scramble the eggs; add a pitch of salt and pepper to taste. Set aside.
-Add onions and spinach to hot skillet and cook until onions are soft and spinach is wilted.
-Add eggs and cook until done.

Enjoy!

Slow Cooker Beef Stew

Its been incredibly freezing around and there is one thing I want when its this cold. Beef Stew! I love a good hearty beef stew but hate when it comes out too heavy. So I decided to give this new recipe a try. I did change a few things up a bit to my liking but over all it came out excellent. Next I think I will try this with chicken and chicken stock and see how it comes out! I love the kale in it. It really brightens the stew up!

Slow Cooker Beef Stew

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon olive oil

1½ pound stew beef

½ teaspoon salt, plus more to season beef

½ teaspoon pepper, plus more to season beef

4 medium/large red potatoes, peeled if desired, cut into bite sized pieces

2 stalks celery, chopped

4 large carrots, peeled, chopped

1 onion coarsely chopped

2 bay leaves

2 cups beef stock

Water

1 bunch kale, stems removed, leaves chopped into small pieces

Directions:

Pre-heat a large pan over medium heat. Season beef with salt and pepper. When pan is ready, add 1 tablespoon oil and in two or more batches to cook the beef. Brown on at least two sides, about 3-5 minutes per batch. You do not want to overcook the beef since you will be cooking it all day. When the first batch is done, add the cooked beef to the slow cooker. Add additional oil to the pan, if needed, and cook the next batch. When the last batch is done, add ¼ cup water to the pan and scrape up the brown bits. Pour the beef and liquid into the slow cooker.

Add potatoes, celery, carrots, onion, bay leaves, teaspoon ½ salt, ½ teaspoon pepper and beef stock. Stir. Fill slow cooker with water until it just reaches the bottom of the top level of vegetables. Don’t completely cover the veggies!!

Cook on low for 8 hours, or until meat is tender to your liking.

Stir in kale, re-cover, and cook for about 15-25 minutes, or until the kale is wilted and tender.

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(I found the original recipe at http://thechiclife.com/2014/01/healthified-slow-cooker-beef-stew-recipe.html -- Feel free to check it out! She has many different recipes on her blog!)

January 12th!!

To join the gym or not to join the gym?

I will admit that gyms are pretty cool. They have all the equipment you could want and great classes.

But what if you could get the same results you would at the gym in the comfort in your own home? Would you be interested?

-No more traveling to workout.
-No wondering around wondering what to do.
-No following someone else's schedule to make it to a class.
-No wading through tons of people to use the machine you want.
-No paying hundreds of dollars for a personal trainer

If you choose to join my challenge group here's what you would get--

-30 minute workouts from a professional trainer
-a 21/30/60 day calendar explaining exactly what you need to do
-a complete nutrition program, created by dietitians, that is proven to boost results
AND
Support, accountability, motivation, recipes and meal plans from ME!

You don't ever have to feel alone or lost on what to do.

I'm here for you-- just fill out this **application** and I will contact you shortly!

Yogurt Bowls

Yogurt can be such a great way to get a quick, on the go, breakfast in. Its incredibly versatile and comes in so many different varieties. I love Stony Fields plain yogurt and Chobani Greek yogurt. Both are great and can be used with these recipes!

Walnut and Honey Yogurt Bowl

1 Cup Nonfat plain organic yogurt

1 apple, diced 4

2 tbsp. walnuts, chopped

1 tsp. agave nectar

-Combine ingredients in bowl. Serve 

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Patriotic Yogurt Bowl

1 cup nonfat plain Greek yogurt

¼ cup fresh strawberry slices

¼ cup fresh blueberries

½ TSP. Raw Honey

 -Layer all ingredients (yogurt, strawberries, blueberries, drizzle honey) and ENJOY!

Focus T25

Focus T25

T25 and I have a very special relationship. This was the program I started and fell in love with. The workouts are simple and incredibly short (25 minutes) which is perfect for busy moms like myself. Shaun T really does his best to keep you motivated and pushing throughout the entire workout. Plus he explains the technique you should be using -- super important if you are new to the workout world. As an added benefit there is a modifier for every move to make it low impact if you need it.

The Program:

T25 is broken down into two rounds. The first round is the Alpha stage. This is your foundation. It builds your endurance so you can graduate onto the next round of the program. Throughout the first round you mainly focus on cardio.

The second round is the Beta stage. This builds on the foundation you achieved in the first round to give you more power and strength to make it through these workouts. This round is no joke. Its much faster paced and you use weights during some of the workouts. Believe me, if you try for 25 minutes and stay on schedule, there is no way you won't see results.

--Most Utilized Exercises Used:

Burpees

Pushups

Jabs

Squats

Lunges

High knees

and many, many more. I promise you will not get bored!

My Results:

During this workout I noticed that my
arms started to become stronger
and some muscle actually started
popping out! My arms have always been
pretty small and weak so to see this
much muscle is pretty awesome!

I never really noticed how little of muscle
my back had until I took a look
at this before and after picture.
Let me tell you, T25 definitely pumped
up my back! I love the recipes I got with
program!

Crock Pot Honey Parmesan Pork Roast

Yesterday we bought a pork loin, cut it into pork chops and 1 roast. Out of the loin we got enough for 5 meals!!! We paid $15 for the loin making each meal $3 for the protein! Not too shabby! Our meal consists of 2 pork chops that are big enough to share with our kids. From that loin we had one large roast which we wanted to slow cook. Unsure of what to do, we took to Google to find a recipe. The hubby found a recipe from Your Home Based Mom and we just happened to have all of the ingredients so we went for it.

Here is the recipe!

Slow Cooker Honey Parmesan Pork Roast

Ingredients:

-1 3-4lb boneless pork loin roast (ours was only about 2 pounds)

- 2/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese

-1/2 cup honey

- 3 Tbsp soy sauce (I used reduced sodium tamari)

- 1 Tbsp dried basil

- 1 Tbsp dried oregano

- 2 Tbsp chopped garlic

- 2 Tbsp olive oil

- 1/2 tsp salt

- 2 Tbsp corn starch

- 1/4 cup chicken broth (we didn't have any so we just used water) 

Directions:

1. Place roast in slow cooker and turn heat on low. 

2. In a bowl combine cheese, honey, soy sauce, basil, oregano, garlic, oil and salt.

3. Pour mixture over the top of the roast.

4. Cover and cook on low for 5-6 hours or until thermometer reads 160 degrees. (We cooked ours for 4 1/2 hours since our roast was smaller) 

For the Glaze:

1. Remove meat and place on a platter.

2. Strain juices in slow cooker and put into a small sauce pan. 

3. In a separate bowl mix the cornstarch and chicken broth together.

4. Add cornstarch mixture into the strained juices and cook on medium heat until thickened. 

Slice roast and serve with glaze! We had green beans and it paired nicely with the pork and glaze! 

In total our meal total cost was about 5 dollars for the entire meal. For a family of 5 that means it cost me ONE DOLLAR to feed my family of 5. Clean eating is doable and not more expensive!

Here is the break down:

Pork- $3

Frozen Green Beans $1

Various other ingredients $1

This came out AMAZING!!! The pork was flavorful and tender and the glaze wasn't super sweet. The entire family loved it! 

To find the original recipe and its creator: http://www.yourhomebasedmom.com/slow-cooker-parmesan-honey-pork-roast/

The New Year

Happy New Year!!! 

I hope you all had a great New Years Eve!! We definitely did :) We stayed home, made some dinner and finished off the night falling asleep before the clock hit 12. Big parties and staying up late just isn't in our plans as a family anymore and I'm perfectly okay with it :) 

When I woke up in the morning I remembered all the resolutions I had made over the years and how many of them actually got accomplished. The truth is, I couldn't remember one single goal that was reached. I had managed to let years and years of resolutions slip through my fingers while I remained comfortably lazy and set in my old ways. How disappointing!!! 

In 2014 I definitely stepped out of my comfort zone and got healthier but that wasn't something I set out to do in the beginning of the year. Over the course of the year I learned about goals and how to set them from many different life coaches. In an instant I knew what my problem had been all this time so this year I am making resolutions and sticking to them. 

Here is how I am doing it:

1. Make Specific Goals

The goals you make are so important but it's so easy to make goals on a whim and never follow through with them. Many times it's because we don't know exactly what our goal entails. Writing down goals like "lose weight" is okay but getting mighty clear about them is even better. A goal like this is best "Lose 10 pounds and keep it off". This gives you a clear mark to hit making it easier to see the light at the end of the tunnel. 

2. Assign dates to each goal.

Resolutions generally go all year but it's important to have dates. Without a deadline you have no idea when exactly you need to complete certain tasks. Take our goal above- " Lose 10 pounds and keep it off"; this goal needs a deadline, a reasonable but challenging deadline. This is how this goal should sound "Lose 10 pounds by March 1st and keep it off ALL year". That goal is easily definable and gives clear markers as to what needs to get done.

3. Write out your goals.

This one is simple but it works. Even though you know your goals it's important to physically write them down AND do it every week. Keeping your goals fresh in your mind is the best way to reach them. Out of sight, out of mind is exactly what happens to all those resolutions. Simply put- write down your goals, read them everyday, rewrite them every week.

4. Make your goals public.

I don't mean go out and tell every single person about your goals. Choose 1 or 2 people, tell them your goals and explain why it's so important to you. By telling someone you are putting some skin in the game. You are giving yourself accountability and motivation to reach those goals. 

5. For each goal have an action step.

It's awesome to have goals, write them down, and tell your significant other but without an action step for how you are going to complete them makes it very hard to move towards them in any real way. 

Those 5 things are crucial to accomplishing your New Year Resolutions. Doing each of these things will help you define and work towards your goals so next year you can be proud of all that you accomplished in 2015. 

What are some of your goals for 2015? Are you ready to make this YOUR year!?