Marinated Chicken & Veggies

Hello friends!! How are you?! I am BEYOND excited, I am one week away from my favorite event of the year, Coach Summit. NashVegas better be ready for us again! 

Anyways, speaking of Coach Summit, I have been TRYING to keep myself in check with my food prior to us leaving but I have also been on the lookout for new ideas for my meal plan. I was very good about my meal plan while I did Hammer & Chisel, I had no issues sticking to pretty much the same foods throughout the entire program but I am ready for a change.

One thing that came to mind yesterday while meal planning was chicken kabobs with veggies over brown rice.  When we BBQ with my parents, we used to always do skewers marinated in Italian dressing with this amazing brown mushroom rice my mom makes (full of BUTTER baby, but oh so good), sooooo, I wanted to make something similar but Fix approved, of course! 

So here it is! My marinated chicken & veggie recipe, I made plenty extra for meals throughout the week too. Keep in mind, I feed Aaron and myself, if you are prepping for just 1, you could cut back on the ingredients.

What you need (makes about 6 servings):
2 Bell Peppers (I did red/ orange), cut  
Small Container of Whole Mushrooms, cleaned
3 small-medium Zucchini (you can do Squash too), sliced
Onion (optional, I don't like onion but many do), sliced
2lb (or a little over) chicken, cut into chunks
1/2-3/4 C Bolthouse Farms Classic Balsamic Vinaigrette Dressing
3 C cooked brown rice (or quinoa, etc.) 

Preparation: 
1. Grab a ziploc bag, open it and pour in about 1/3 cup of the dressing. Place your cut up chicken in the ziploc, seal it and make sure all the chicken is covered before placing back in the fridge to marinate. Leave in there for at least 2 hours.
2. Do the same for the cut up veggies! Place in fridge for at least 2 hours. 
3. Heat up indoor/outdoor grill (if using an outdoor grill, make sure to cook on some type of pan that is grill safe so you don't lose the food in the grill!).  I used an indoor grill. 
4. Place veggies on grill, grill until desired tenderness.  (I also cooked mine separately because I didn't have space to cook both at the same time)
5. While those cook, measure out your cooked brown rice into separate containers. 1/2 cup per container. 
6. Measure veggies out (about 1 cup) and place into containers.
7. Place chicken on the grill, grill until no longer pink and fully cooked. 
8. Measure out chicken (about 3/4 cup) and place on top of veggies in containers.

You can add 1-2 tsp more of the dressing if you want/need when you eat or cook it but I did not need it. I personally had two servings of veggies today with my lunch and it was a TON of food.  

For my Fix Family: 1 green, 1 red, 1 yellow (if you add rice), 1 orange




 

Crockpot Chicken Fajitas

I love Mexican food. Any kind.  I could seriously eat Mexican every day of the week in some form or another...it probably isn't a coincidence that Margaritas are my favorite drink too! Which, by the way, don't forget to check back on Cinco De Mayo for my Skinny Margarita recipe! 

These fajitas were really good and I doubled the amount of chicken from what the original recipe called for so that we could have extra for tonight's dinner! 

Crockpot Chicken Fajitas

Prep Time: 20 min.
Cooking Time: 2-5 hours (just depends)

What you need:

1 (14.5-oz.) can diced tomatoes (or diced tomatoes with green chiles), no salt added
1 medium onion, cut into quarters, sliced
1 medium red bell pepper, cut into strips
1 medium green bell pepper, cut into strips
1 medium orange bell pepper, cut into strips
3 tsp. ground chile powder
2 tsp. ground cumin
½ tsp. ground black pepper
3 Tbsp. fresh lime juice
2 lb. raw chicken breast, boneless, skinless, sliced

Optional: 
8 6-inch whole wheat flour tortillas, warm OR 4 cups romaine or bib lettuce (for salads) 
½ cup fresh tomato salsa
8 tsp. low-fat (1%) plain Greek yogurt
½ medium avocado, sliced
Finely chopped cilantro

Preparation:
1. Place tomatoes, onion, bell peppers, chile powder, cumin, pepper, and lime juice in a 3-quart slow cooker; mix well.
2. Add chicken; cook, covered, on low temperature for 4 to 5 hours (or on high or 2 to 3 hours), stirring once or twice, until chicken is cooked through and vegetables are tender.
3. Evenly divide mixture between tortillas or onto lettuce for salads. Top evenly with salsa, yogurt, avocado, and cilantro.

For mine, I didn't use the greek yogurt or the tortillas (obviously), instead we made ours into big mouth watering salads!

For the salad:
2 cups lettuce & fajita veggies
3/4 chicken
toppings....

That left us enough chicken for salads tonight and just enough to make the kids some quesadillas from it.  I topped my salad with tomatoes, salsa, cheese and avocado. 

If you make yours like mine and are part of my Fix family: 2 greens (mix of fajita veggies & lettuce/tomato), 1 red, 1 blue. 

If you make them according to the recipe and use the tortillas it would be: 2 green, 1 red, 1,5 yellow, .5 blue. 

 

Keys to staying on track!

Some things I do to help me stay on track when I am following a program with specific nutrition requirements are:

1) Meal Plan --> You have to know what you are going to eat and how much, if you don't plan, you are more than likely (like, really likely) not going to eat according to the parameters of your programs meal plan guide which will mess up your results.

2) Make your grocery list and shop --> I usually make my meal plan and grocery list on Thursday evening or Friday morning. I hit up Trader Joe's on my way home from dropping Maren off at daycare to get most of our groceries and then sometime before Sunday (typical prep day) I run to Schnucks to get some items that Trader Joe's doesn't always have....

3) Meal prep --> This is KEY people! If you are prepared it is much harder to fail but if you aren't prepared you are setting yourself up to veer off track. It takes me a couple of hours on a Sunday to get my food ready for the week. I used to just prep lunches but lately I have been prepping our proteins for dinner 95% of the time and it has been even more of a time saver. I loved being able to grab lunch quickly when I am at home with Maren since she is usually keeping me busy but it is even better when I don't have to spend hours in the kitchen each night cooking dinner!

4) Print your meal plan --> If you are like me, you might like to cross things off of your "lists" once you have completed them, well I like to do the same thing with my meal plan. Once I eat a certain meal I cross it off, something about doing that makes me feel more accomplished! Not only do I do that but I also print off a tally sheet so I can keep track of my containers as I eat them and my water, yes...I give myself extra work here but I love seeing it all on paper.

Not only that but if there has been a time I have "cheated" or eaten an extra container that wasn't planned (like all the time on my last round of Hammer & Chisel, ha) I would write it out on my tally sheet so I knew what is going in my mouth and if it is messing with my results! For the record, yes, yes, it did mess with my results last time around!

I can't believe this is my final week making a meal plan for our 2nd round of Hammer & Chisel! Week 8! We did it, we are in the home stretch and it feels good!!  Check back next week for final results! 

Deconstructed Asian Turkey Lettuce Wraps

So, I made this recipe which came from the Team Beachbody blog, however, 1) It wasn't enough protein me for in 1 serving so increased it and 2) It was BLAND, nothing a little Frank's Red Hot Sauce can't fix (or Sriracha if you prefer)....

I also preferred taking it apart and throwing in brown rice, making it into a bowl vs a wrap. This is a recipe I would recommend doubling so you can throw some in the freezer! You know I love to do that.  This is a perfect meal for lunches throughout the week! You can precook it and eat the meat cold in your bowl or warm it up, whichever you prefer! 

Total Time: 19 min.
Prep Time: 10 min.
Cooking Time: 9 min.
Yield: 4 servings, 2 wraps each or 1 bowl

Ingredients:
1 tsp. olive oil
1 lb. raw 93% lean ground turkey breast
½ medium red onion, chopped
½ medium red or green bell pepper, chopped
1/2 clove garlic, finely chopped
1 green onion, chopped
⅔ cup chopped water chestnuts
1 Tbsp. reduced-sodium soy sauce
1 Tbsp. seasoned rice vinegar
2 Tbsp. chopped fresh cilantro
1 large head of lettuce, I use romaine (no iceberg folks, has no nutritional value whatsoever), roughly chopped up
4 cups cooked brown rice (I use Trader Joe's frozen brown rice, precooked, all I do is heat it up) 

Preparation:
1. Heat oil in medium saucepan over medium-high heat.
2. Add turkey, onion, and bell pepper; cook, stirring frequently, for 4 to 6 minutes, or until turkey is cooked through and onion is translucent.
3. Add garlic, green onion, water chestnuts, soy sauce, and vinegar; cook, stirring occasionally, for 2 to 3 minutes, or until most of the liquid has evaporated.
4. Add cilantro; mix well. Remove from heat.
5. Put 2 cups of lettuce, 1/2 cup brown rice and 3/4 cup of the meat mixture together in a bowl, drizzle with the hot sauce of your choice & dig in! 

For my Fix Family: 2 greens, 1 red, 1 yellow

Wraps! This was before I discovered the hot sauce gave it more flavor, I tried extra reduced sodium soy sauce (Trader Joe's brand of course) and it didn't even do the trick! Gotta go w/ the heat! 

Week 7 of Hammer & Chisel

I just realized I haven't really been sharing as much about my Hammer & Chisel journey as I originally planned to do! Maybe because I have been slacking in the nutrition department? I mean, don't get me wrong, I am not off the wagon completely, but I have had found my foot dangling from it a time or two...or three.  What has been hard for me is no wine or treats! One of the many reasons I love the 21 Day Fix is you can have wine and treats, which are staples in my life.  If I was in a different spot in my journey, I would say screw the meal plan from the program and follow my 80/20 rule but the problem is, I am not to my goal yet and I still have work to do which means I need to get my mind in the right spot stat and follow the meal plan because I know that is essential to results! Plus, summer is only 4 months away! 

Phew, now that I got that off my chest, let's talk about the program in general. To say I was afraid to commit to this program is an understatement, the workouts TERRIFIED me! I mean, 60 days of weight training? That was definitely not something I was used to doing. But can I just say, I LOVE LOVE LOVE these workouts.  Today is my rest day and I am actually sad about it! The workouts challenge me, they make me push harder and they make me realize I am capable of more than I was giving myself credit for....

I know as women, we get scared to lift.  We don't want to be "bulky" and believe me, I get it. I ha those same exact thoughts. After all, looking like Sagi is not my goal.  That is the great thing with this program though, you can pick the meal plan that aligns with your health and fitness goals! If you want to tone, slim down, bulk up or even maintain, there are options for you.  I can tell you that I am definitely seeing where I have lost inches on my body or built more muscle, but I am far from bulky.

And ladies, do you want to know something about lifting? Did you know that it helps to:
--> Burn fat faster
--> Burn more calories
--> Feel stronger mentally
--> Increase flexibility
--> Strengthen your bones
--> Ease any joint pain
--> Improve your running (if you run)
--> Improve your heart health
--> And the one to prove all you ladies wrong, you may drop a size or two: Women tend to think they will bulk up but the more your weight comes from muscle, rather than fat, the smaller you'll be. Now, your body weight may go up due to the muscle but your pant size will go down & I can personally attest to that! 

The combination of resistance training and cardio in The Master's Hammer & Chisel will get you summer ready & this is the type of lean, defined muscle every hot mama deserves!  Plus, other than the fact that you are supposed to not have wine or treats, you can eat all the normal foods you love! I mean, we have pizza, taco night, spaghetti on the menu next week! 

I am hosting a second accountability group this month starting on 2/22 and if you are interested in joining, message me, there are 4 spots left and I would love to chat! We can find the right program for you and get you all set up! 

Meal Plan, Week 7 (Second bracket) 

PS - if you are interested in seeing a short peak into any of the workouts, I post them on my YouTube page!