Tuesday, January 27, 2015

Yumm

Chocolate Peanut Butter Cup

New England snowstorms make me want to eat haha. All cozy and warm in my house so eating comfort food or dessert sounds like a plan to me ... but NOT with my upcoming wedding and my fitness goals on my mind!

No Reese's here...instead I'll have this:

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Skinny Cheese Sticks


There is no need to feel deprived when eating healthy and watching football on the weekends. Make healthy substitutions for your favorite junk food.
Any mozzarella stick lovers out there?! Check out this recipe...



Skinny Baked Mozzarella Sticks

Servings: 12 • Serving Size: 2 pieces • Calories: 86.8 • Fat: 4.8 g 

Ingredients: 
  • 12 sticks part-skim, reduced sodium mozzarella string cheese (Sargento)
  • 1 large egg, beaten
  • 2 tbsp flour
  • 5 tbsp Italian seasoned breadcrumbs
  • 5 tbsp Panko crumbs
  • 2 tsp parmesan cheese
  • 1 tbsp dried parsley
  • olive oil cooking spray 

Directions:

1. Cut cheese in half to give you 24 pieces. Place cheese in the freezer until cheese is frozen.
2. In small bowl, whisk the egg. Place the flour on another small dish. In separate bowl,combine bread crumbs, panko, parmesan cheese and dried parsley.
3. Dip the frozen sticks in flour, shaking off excess, then into the egg, then coat with the crumbs.
4. Repeat this process with the remaining cheese placing them on a tray with wax paper. Place cheese back into the freezer until ready to bake (this is a must or they will melt before the crumbs get golden).
5. When ready to bake preheat oven to 400° F. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil and lightly spray with oil.
6. Place frozen cheese sticks on baking sheet. Spray the tops of the mozzarella sticks with a little more oil and bake in the bottom third of your oven until crisp, about 4 to 5 minutes. Turn and bake an additional 4 - 5 minutes watching them closely so they don't melt.

Makes 24 pieces.

Monday, January 19, 2015

Healthy Baked Chicken Nuggets

Healthy Baked Chicken Nuggets

Enjoy these as you watch the NE Patriots win the Superbowl in a couple of weeks!

Servings: 4 • Serving Size: 1/4th of nuggets • 

Calories: 164.9 • Fat: 4.6 g • Protein: 22.1 g • Carb: 7.7 g • Fiber: 0.9 g  Sugar: 0.1 g




Ingredients: 

  • 16 oz (2 large) skinless boneless chicken breasts, cut into even bit sized pieces
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • 2 tsp olive oil
  • 6 tbsp whole wheat Italian seasoned breadcrumbs
  • 2 tbsp panko
  • 2 tbsp grated parmesan cheese
  • olive oil spray

Directions:

Preheat oven to 425°. Spray a baking sheet with olive oil spray.

Put the olive oil in one bowl and the breadcrumbs, panko and parmesan cheese in another.


Season chicken with salt and pepper, then put in the bowl with the olive oil and mix well so the olive oil evenly coats all of the chicken.

Put a few chunks of chicken at a time into the breadcrumb mixture to coat, then on the baking sheet. Lightly spray the top with olive oil spray then bake 8 - 10 minutes. Turnover then cook another 4 - 5 minutes or until cooked though.

Sunday, January 11, 2015

Kombucha

I need to give Kombucha a shout out for a minute.  I was extremely skeptical when a friend introduced me to it a while ago.  However, I now LOVE LOVE it!!!  Here's why: 

Kombucha has AMAZING health benefits, including probiotics that will help fight off the winter time germs that are around! Plus....

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This is what it looks like and it's only sold at speciality grocery store such as Whole Foods.
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My Favorite? GUAVA GODDESS!!  Amazing! 



Saturday, January 10, 2015

3-Days to a More Energized You

My friend's husband recently did the 3-Day Refresh to KICK SOME BAD HABITS and START HIS HEALTHY EATING & WORKOUT REGIME with a blank slate. 

Here are his results: 


Wow, did it TRULY give him a BLANK SLATE or what?   I'm always jealous of how guys get results quick than us ladies ;) 

So what is the 3-Day Refresh???  It's 3 day plan where you commit to putting the freshest, most nutrient-dense foods in your body.  No animal products!


Here's a quick plan of the 3-Days! 


Thursday, January 1, 2015

Tracking Your 21-Day Fix Containers

The 21-Day Fix is the most practical nutrition program I have ever followed.  And, trust me ... I've done plenty of programs --- LA Weight Loss, Weight Watchers, Slim Fast (although that's really not a program?), Atkins Diets, counting calories.  You get the picture-- I've done a lot and nothing really stuck or helped me like the 21-Day Fix has helped.  Why has the 21-Day Fix helped? Let me share....



Simplicity is the first thing I LOVE about this program.  The color coded containers (see above picture) and nutrition guide make control so easy.  It's not that I was eating bad before the program, I would just eat too much. With the containers and guide, I know exactly HOW much and WHAT to eat.  No calorie counting, no points. Just containers--and lots of them!  No starving on the fix, that's for sure!

I also LOVE that so many people are focusing on their health and adopting this program.  Because of the volume of people following the program there are TONS of recipes out on the internet so you don't feel like you are on a restricted diet.  Check out Pinterest or some recipes that I've collected for my blog.
Another thing I LOVE about the Fix is the support!  I'm in a private Facebook group with about 15 other ladies and we all support each other around following the fix--- workouts AND nutrition.  I have people in my same shoes and we support, motivate, and share our struggles.  Never alone!

I'll be posting more about the FIX this year.  Be on the lookout for recipes and more reasons why I am such a believer.

In the meantime, I hope you can use this tracker to track your containers each day!

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B-2EWj7oicFfVnh4eDRMTUV1Y28&authuser=0

More info on the FIX can be found at http://www.beachbodycoach.com/esuite/home/nrf026?bctid=3124709772001