Tasty Tuesday!

Here are a few QUICK dinner ideas. You can serve all these buffet style and everyone can make it how they like. Pictures from google:

Wraps
Fill a whole wheat tortilla with, veggies, Hummus, Beans, turkey, or any other thing you can think of. Some of our favorites are:
Ham, lettuce, ranch, mango salsa, and cheese
Hummus, tomatoes, roasted red pepper, cucumber, purple onion, and sprouts
BBQ or Buffalo Chicken with lettuce, ranch, corn, feta, and ranch
Turkey, guacamole, tamed Jalapenos, bacon bits, and lettuce
Fat Free refried beans, salsa, sour cream, guacamole, lettuce, cheese, and sunflower seeds.

Salad Bar
Lettuce, tomatoes, black olives, carrot shreds, sunflower seeds, cottage cheese, cucumbers.
Different Dressings.

Potato Bar-
Baked potatoes, chili, broccoli, cheese, ranch, bacon bits, BBQ pork, grilled onions, salsa, sour cream and ham.

Rice Bowls-
Rice or Quinoa, Beans, Chicken, BBQ sauce or Salsa, sour cream, cheese, teryaki chicken and veggies.

Turn it around

Pearls are created by irritation and discomfort. An oyster is irritated by a grain of sand. To thrive and survive, the oyster develops a hard shell around the grain of sand and it becomes a pearl. Through the process of discomfort, the oyster grows a beautiful pearl.

What in your life is an irritation? Is it a relationship, a friendship, a task or duty you have, is it a neighbor or relative? How can you make that thing into your own beautiful Pearl?

We have the choice every minute of everyday to choose how we interpret, see, and react to our surroundings. DO NOT WASTE TIME BEING IRRITATED! Turn it into a Pearl instead. Make life wonderful.

Let your light SHINE!

Be who you are! Be it FULL OUT! Be Present, Authentic, and LIVE OUTSIDE YOUR COMFORT ZONE! Had an amazing weekend at the rosperity Summit. LIVE IN THE LIGHT!

Tips on Thursday!

This week I am going to share how I make my Sundays and week in general easier by making Saturday a preparation day. When I take this one day to get the week ready, I am MUCH less stressed the rest of the week. Try it!

1. Meals- I plan all my meals and prep them. I assemble them as much as possible. I marinate and bag my meats, cut veggies, put ingredients all together in containers or Ziplocs. Then I literally pull the stuff out and cook it or make it. SO SIMPLE. It saves me on busy nights during the week. I even make my lunches. I make a few turkey, ham, and pb sands and keep them in the fridge. I add condiments or veggies on the day that I eat it, but that way I am not pulling out a thousand ingredients each meal. Also Packing Rob's Lunches are a breeze! I cook up a whole bunch of eggs to make egg sandwiches or burritos for breakfast. I assemble the portion of cereal or oatmeal in a container then that becomes my bowl to eat from.LESS THINKING, LESS mess, less work, less cleanup!

2. Clothes- I make sure all the laundry is done and I plan out our clothes for the week. I put each outfit in a hanging divider in our laundry room or our closets. I even put workout clothes and Rob's work uniform including socks all together so we aren't in a rush trying to find something. I make sure I look at the weather report and plan accordingly. I make sure that our Sunday Clothes including socks, shoes and accessories are ready, ironed, and all together so we aren't scrambling to get ready before church.

3.Bags- I make sure I have a car bag with snacks ready to go at all times so that when we run errands, we can just grab it and go. I have water, granola bars, nuts, apples, and jerky in there so as we are out and about we aren't tempted to eat out. I make sure our church bag is ready with snacks, coloring books, flip cards, magnetic paper dolls, and magic ink coloring books. I have my bag ready with scriptures, notebook, pen, ensign etc.

4. Schedules- I go over our schedule for the week and plan out our activities. I know what is happening when and have goals for the week. I set goals financially, spiritually, physically, mentally, and socially. I see what bills are due, what events we have, appointments, play dates, workouts, and Rob's School and Work times.

It is not always perfect, but the weeks I don't do this are so CRAZY!!! I want to scream! When I take this one day to plan, it goes so much smoother.

Tasty Tuesday!

Ok So I will Still do my Meal plans, But just the recipes, not the shopping lists...Sorry!

Monday
Cucumber Salad and Grilled Balsamic Chicken

Grilled Balsamic Chicken
Marinate Chicken in balsamic vinagrette dressing and grill

Cucumber Salad
Makes 8 Servings

INGREDIENTS:

• Cucumbers, thinly sliced

• 1 small white onion, thinly sliced

• 1/2 cup white vinegar

• 1/2 cup water

• 2 tbsp Stevia (truvia)

• 1 tablespoon dried dill, or to taste

DIRECTIONS:

Combine cucumbers and onion in a large bowl. Add the vinegar, water and sugar to a bowl and mix and pour over the cucumber and onions. Stir in dill, cover, and chill at least 30 min.

Tuesday
Low-Fat Baked Chicken Casserole and Strawberries

1 1/2 pounds of skinned chicken tenders

1 package of long grain wild rice, cooked (just used brown rice)

1 can of condensed, low-fat cream of celery or mushroom soup

1 small package of frozen mixed vegetables

1/2 cup water

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Fry chicken in a large skilled with water and a dash of

pepper. When fully cooked, cut into small pieces. Prepare rice according to package

direction. Blend rice, chicken, frozen vegetables, soup and water in baking dish. Cover

and bake for about 15 minutes, or until vegetables are done and dish is bubbling. Serves:4

WEdnesday

Stuffed Bell Peppers

What you need:

Bell peppers
Instant Rice (i used leftovers from the night before)
Tomatoes, fresh or canned
Spaghetti sauce
Cheese

First you need to cut your peppers in half (doesn't matter which way) and clean them out. Then steam them in water for about 5 minutes. I made about 1 1/2 cups instant rice in a large bowl.  I added a very large fresh tomato, chopped. Some spaghetti sauce for more flavor and then stuff the peppers. Top with a slice of your favorite cheese - I used Pepper Jack. Then bake for 15-20 mins at 375. Just long enough to warm them through and melt the cheese.

Thursday
Baked ChimiChangas with Green Beans

1 dozen whole wheat tortillas
1 pounds chicken, shredded (If I'm in a hurry, I buy a rotisserie chicken and debone it)
1 cans cream of Chicken Soup (reduced fat)

3 chopped green onions

1 can green chilies
1 cups sour cream (I use the fat free kind)
1/2 small bag frozen corn
1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 cup salsa
1 cups of reduced fat cheese

Mix everything except the tortillas into a large bowl and spoon about 3/4 cup onto the middle of a tortilla. Roll the tortilla and line them up in a 9x13" pan. Smother with more cheese on top. Cover with foil. Bake at 350 for 45 minutes. Serve with salsa, chopped tomatoes and lettuce.

Friday

Zuppa Toscana Soup (Olive Garden Knock-off)

1 lb. Italian sausage (I use ground turkey)

4 russet potatoes, cut into bitesize pieces or thin, thin slices
1 large onion, chopped
1/2 cup cooked bacon, chopped or bacon bites
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 cups kale
2 cans chicken broth
1 quart water
1 cup fat free half and half

Cook sausage and drain. Slice into little bits. Place onions, potatoes, chicken broth, water, garlic in pot, and cook on medium heat until potatoes are done. Add sausage and bacon. Salt and pepper to taste. Simmer for another 10 minutes. Turn to low heat. Add kale and cream. Heat through and serve. (Don't add the kale until you are ready to serve and it will give it that crunch!)

Simplify

My goal for the year has been just this. To simplify my life so I am not so stress and overwhelmed. One great thing I have found is to be happy with what I have and where I am. If something is serving its purpose, lets not make more work and or clutter in our lives for more JUNK. I mean JUNK in both the physical and mental sense.  It's not about having what you want, it's about wanting what you've got.

Fit Fabulous Friday!

Week Three!!! So, this is week three of my intuitive eating guideline. I really suggest reading Naturally Thin by Bethenny Frankel it is SO amazing.

 Anyway here is the week three rule STRAIGHT from Bethenny. It has been the most helpful for me.
#3 Taste Everything, Eat Nothing. ( a little of anything is not fattening)
This means have a few quality bites of REALLY YUMMY food. Usually you only need a few bites if you really are listening. I usually start feeling sick around bite 4 of something. In the past, I would continue eating because of my thinking I would NEVER EAT IT AGAIN. Guess what? I ate it again and enjoyed it more having a few bites that were good.

When Something stops tasting good, STOP EATING! Don't keep eating just because it is there.

Have small Portions like you are sampling. This is super helpful at buffets and parties or BBQ's. Look at your options, choose what you REALLY want to taste, put a small bit on your plate and then enjoy it. If you want more, you can have more, but I bet you'll be full.

Leave some on your plate. Even one or two bites. NEVER FINISH ANYTHING.

Good Luck! Leave a comment if you have been trying intuitive eating.....