Fresh Herbs Forever!

Keep your favorite herbs fresh by cutting them, fill an empty ice cube tray with them and fill with extra virgin olive oil and freeze! Whenever you are cooking drop a cube in and voila oil & herbs, I used basil and oregano.

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.

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!

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.