RECIPE: Tomato Veggie Stew!

This recipe is my savior during the cleanse, especially because I work such long days figuring out what to eat for lunch is always tough. I made this on a Sunday night and reheated for lunch a few different days throughout the week. My fiance loves to eat this too!

This recipe is from Advocare tumblr:

Tomato Basil Chicken Stew

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Cook Time: 20 minutes

Total Time: 25 minutes

Yield: About 4-6 servings

Ingredients

• 1 Tbsp. olive oil
• 1 small white onion, chopped
• 2 carrots, peeled and diced
• 2 stalks of celery, diced
• 4 cloves garlic
• 2 (28 oz.) cans whole tomatoes (with their juices)
• 1 (14 oz.) can cannelinni beans
• 3 cups shredded cooked chicken
• 2 handfuls baby spinach
• ¼ cup roughly chopped fresh basil
• 1 tsp. salt
• ½ tsp. black pepper
• ¼ tsp. crushed red pepper flakes

Method

Heat oil in a large stockpot over medium-high heat. Add onion, carrots and celery. Saute for 7 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the onion is soft and translucent. Add garlic and sauté for an additional minute or two until fragrant.

Add in remaining ingredients, and stir to combine. Use a long spoon to crush the tomatoes. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to medium-low and simmer partially-covered for 10 minutes. Season with additional salt and pepper if needed.

Serve with freshly-grated Parmesan cheese.

Say Yes to the Dress

Shopping for a wedding dress was SO much fun, but am I happy to say it's over and that I have found the one! Here were some of my other favorites though, finally wedding dress pic to come after June 6th!

fit & flare

bird cage?

this was pink ombre at the bottom

Peplum gown^

didn't like

lace wasn't for me

this was a fan among my friends but I didn't love

LOVED this Hayley Paige gown!!!

 the belt makes such a big difference! loved this Badgley Mischka at Big Rock Little Rooster

RECIPE: Morning Egg & Veggie Muffin!

This recipe is perfect for people doing Advocare who have a busy schedule or aren't big breakfast eaters. Delicious muffin style eggs with veggies, make a batch at the beginning of the week and heat one up every morning with some whole grain granola or oatmeal, my favorite is Kind Bar Peanut butter clusters, so good.

So egg & veggie muffin:
14 egg whites (I just buy a carton of them)
4 whole eggs
4 scallions chopped
2 carrots shredded
1/2 red pepper minced
1/2 zucchini shredded
1/2 tsp. basil
1/4 tsp oregano
Pinch of sea salt and pepper

- Preheat oven to 375 degrees  and spray muffin tin with fat free or vegetable oil spray
- Mix all of the veggies in a large bowl then fill the muffin tins about 2/3 full
- Whisk eggs and seasonings in a large bow and using a 1/3 cup measuring cup, scoop egg mixutre and fill each tin.
- Bake for 30 minutes until they rise and are slightly browned

Will You Be My Bridesmaid?

This was how I asked the most important women in my life to be my bridesmaids! Custom labels with a P-J Peacock logo for the theme of our wedding #PriscillaandJesse! Put on their favorite type of wine (or vodka), I even got sparkling white grape juice for my junior bridesmaid! You can have them save the bottles or bring them to a specific wedding function, open them together and make sure to give the bottles back for them to take home!

Hummus Crusted Chicken on a Bed of Veggies!

Hummus Crusted Chicken & Veggies

This chicken is served on a bed on zucchini, squash and onion. Hindsight I wish I would’ve added peppers or something with a bit more flavor, maybe mushrooms if you like those. I also served it with Uncle Bens Wild Rice and then my fiancé added Siracha to his and loved it.

3-4 Chicken Breasts

1 zucchini diced or shredded

1 butternut squash diced or shredded

¼ cup of diced onion

4 minced garlic cloves

2 tablespoons olive oil

Hummus, I used roasted red pepper

Smoked paprika, salt, pepper, and other seasonings to your liking

2 lemons

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Put all of the veggies in the bottom of greased baking pan. Add oil and toss. Lay the chicken breasts on top, season with salt and pepper and anything else desired. Coat the top of the breasts with hummus. Add paprika. Cut 1 lemon and squeeze the juice out over the dish. Cut the remaining lemon and place throughout the dish. Pop it in the oven for 25-30 minutes (depends on how thick the breasts are).

If you want prepare some type of rice and serve altogether!

RECIPE: Homemade Turkey Burger

I had a few different recipes I was working off of then kind of did my own thing!

Mix the following in a bowl:

1 lb ground turkey

2 eggs

1/3 of a zucchini diced

¼ cup of chopped spinach

1 chopped scallion

½ tablespoon of minced garlic

Salt

Pepper

Italian Seasonings

Soul food seasoning

Garlic powder

Basil

Form into patties, ( I did three and they were huge so I suggest four), they will be pretty mushy but once they start to cook the egg rises and it will solidify. Grill on each side then cover and simmer until cooked through.

Optional topping:

Diced red peppers and onions in a hot sauce or hot dog sauce and ladle over. I just used a little ketchup.

Asparagus:

Clean, cut, dab of oil in the pan, coat the asparagus, salt, pepper, Italian seasonings and crushed red pepper flakes for a small kick. Cook with lemon juice!

The Brain Game

I’ve struggled with weight my whole life, much like most girls. Never been really been fat but never been as skinny as I wanted to be either. I wasn’t raised with the best eating habits, so I when I was old enough to realize I didn’t like my body I freaked out. In middle school my best friend and I (now my Maid of Honor), decided we could only eat a snack size bag of pretzels with either a banana or an apple cinnamon nutrigrain bar every single day for lunch, not quite a balanced meal. In high school I did the crash diets and all of the other lifetime movie shit because I couldn’t find the balance I was looking for and I reaally hated to exercise. 

I basically had to re train myself how to eat on everything from portions to timing to food selection. Kind of like how in high school I had insomnia and would never be able to sleep so then I would just pass out random places like one time on the steps up to my room (what? Yes that happened ask my friends). ANYWAY my doctor said that beds are for sleeping, not texting talking internet browsing eating tv watching etc. So when I would do all of those things in my bedroom on my bed without a night routine, my brain didn’t associate my bed or anything specific really with sleeping. I started doing the same few things every night around 11 and then going to my room, turning everything off and lying in bed. I still struggled and it took a while but things got SO much better. I had to train my brain how to turn off at a certain time of day.

The same is true with eating. Girls who eat one meal a day or skip dinner aren’t really doing themselves any big favor. If you only eat once every day, during the time in between your body freaks out and thinks it’s starving. So, when you finally eat something it IMMEDIATELY sends it to storage in case it’s the only food it will get. But, if you eat small meals all throughout the day, your body trains itself based on that, knows more food is coming and will start to burn and trash way more than it stores. Bonus, you aren’t starving, most of your small meals can be healthy but if you throw in some chocolate or a piece of pizza here or there it’s not as harmful.

What's For Dinner?

I have been engaged since July 2013 and my wedding is June 6th 2014 in Dublin, Ohio. It’s January, so a little over halfway there!!

I am the worst procrastinator and even though I have managed to put that nasty habit away to plan this wedding, it has affected my diet/workout regimen. The thing is I’m a pretty healthy eater unless I’ve been drinking, then all hell breaks loose.

I started having lots of health problems last June and ending up finding that avoiding gluten solved a LOT of my problems. I lost some weight, wasn’t as lethargic all of the time, almost all of my stomach problems went away, it was great. Except for the part where I couldn’t eat so many of my favorite foods. This is where Advocare came into my life!

I realized the diet for Advocare was really similar to what I was trying to eat for my gluten free lifestyle, but there were supplements and recipes and all kinds of things to help me. I did the 24 day cleanse in June and felt so amazing. But then I got engaged and moved, twice, and had so much going on that I completely lost track of the program. 

This is my 4^th day of the 1^st phase of the cleanse and I am feeling so motivated this time around. Part of the reason I’m doing this blog is to share the things I’ve learned, but also to keep myself accountable on here and stay on track not just until my wedding day, but long after! Especially because we are waiting until October for our honeymoon to save $$ so I can’t just balloon up once I’ve locked him in.