Whole Wheat Apple Cinnamon Waffles

These delicious whole wheat apple cinnamon waffles are perfect for a weekend breakfast! They whip up quick, they are filling, and they freeze great!

 

Apple Cinnamon Whole Wheat Waffles

1 1/2 C whole wheat flour 
1/4 C white whole wheat flour (or any other kind)
2 tsp baking powder
2 T honey (or pure maple syrup)
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 C nonfat milk (or almond milk)
1/3 apple sauce (or some kind of healthy oil)
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp cinnamon

Combine dry ingredients and wet ingredients. Combine. Cook until golden brown in waffle iron. Top with apples and pure maple syrup!

Cinnamon Apples (optional)

1-2 apple pealed and chopped
Cinnamon
Coconut oil

Heat about 1-2 T coconut oil in a frying pan, add apples, sprinkle with desired amount of cinnamon, and cook until soft (stirring frequently). These are GREAT on oatmeal too! 

Meal Prep for Busy Moms

Meal prepping is my saving grace to ease my stress as a busy mom during the week!

I always hated when 4 PM rolled around and I had NO clue what to eat and then when I'd figure out something I would be missing an ingredient. It was a bad cycle of unneeded stress on my part!

Meal prepping for me looks a bit different than what you would normally see!

You might be thinking of something like this below:

It looks beautiful and convenient to have on hand, but here are the reasons I have trouble with that:

1. I don't like reheated meat. (ewww)

2. This is honestly MORE work than I am willing to do.

3. My goals are not to compete in a bikini competition.

SOOO for those three reasons I bring you my SUPER easy way to ease stress and make sure you stay on track with healthy choices all week for you AND your family!

Step 1

On Monday morning or Sunday night I will browse through my cookbooks, Pinterest, recipe folder, or anything else I have to figure out what DINNER meals we will be eating for the next week.

Step 2

I will then WRITE out what we are having on my fridge magnet white board (Target dollar section find!) AND I will make a grocery list of everything I DON'T have for those ingredients as well as any staples we need for breakfast, lunch, and snacks.

Step 3

Go shopping on Monday to pick up any needed items! For a family of 4 I try to keep it to $100 per week. Sometimes it's less and sometimes it's more depending on what I need to get.  "You may also notice some "unclean" items on the table, but we live by the 80/20 rule around here! Balancing is what works for us. 

AND that is honestly ALL I do!

Keeping it simple keeps us on track and helps me stay SANE when dinner come everyday.  The trick is to find what works for YOU. 

For a little more info on this topic I also have this YouTube video I made for my Free 7 Day Clean Eating for Families group! 

If you would like me to be your Free Beachbody coach or you would like information about my support groups click  HERE. 

Tomato Soup & Breadsticks

There is nothing better than a bowl of warm soup on a cold and rainy day. 

This delicious tomato soup and breadsticks are ones won't feel guilty about having either!

 

Tomato Soup

1/2 c chopped onion
1 tsp olive oil
2 minced garlic cloves
14.5 oz diced tomatoes
8 oz tomato sauce 
14.5 oz low sodium chicken broth
1 tsp dried basil
1/4 tsp salt

Heat oil in a sauce pan and sauté onions until translucent. Add garlic and sauté for one more minute. Add the rest of the ingredients, bring to a boil, reduce heat, cover, and simmer for 30 minutes.

Remove from heat and purée with an immersion blender in the pot or pour into your blender until desired consistency is reached. Serve with parmesan cheese sprinkled on top!


Breadsticks 

***This makes TWO batches so cut in half for only one ****

Dough:
2 1/2 cups whole wheat or white whole wheat flour

1 TBS instant yeast

1 cup warm water (120 deg)

1 TBS olive oil

1 tsp. honey

1 tsp. salt

Mix together warm water and yeast in a bowl and let sit for a few minutes. Combine the rest of the ingredients and knead for 5 minutes. ( I do this in my KitchenAid )

Let rise for 30 minutes in a warm/draft free spot. 

Topping:

1/4 C italian dressing

1/4 tsp. salt

dash of pepper

1/4 tsp. oregano

1/4 tsp. garlic powder

1/4 tsp. thyme

1 TBS dried chopped onion(optional)

2 T grated parmesan cheese

1/2 C Mozzarelle (or grated mixture)

Stretch out the dough onto a small pizza pan or cookie sheet and spread Italian dressing on top. Mix dry spices in a bowl and sprinkle on top. 

Bake in the oven at 450 for 15 minutes or until golden brown. (Keep an eye on it after 10 minutes)

Cut into strips and enjoy!

Is Shakeology Worth It?

In October 2012 when I joined my first challenge group, Adam did it with me. We got one 30 day supply of Shakeology, but I refused to drink it because "I didn't need to lose weight" and "I didn't want to bulk up". To me it was just an expensive weight loss protein shake. 

Adam, my husband, ended up drinking a third of the bag and the rest went to waste and expired sitting inside the cupboard.

Flash forward 18 months and I had been using Turbo Fire to help me lose my baby weight (20 lbs off!), and I had decided I wanted to be a coach! The programs gave me a love for fitness I never had before, I loved the positive community of coaches, and I wanted a way to make money from home.  (My full transformation story HERE )

Shakeology isn't a requirement to be a coach, BUT I knew it was apart of the lifestyle and it was important if I wanted to be successful with my business and helping others on their journey. 

SOO I decided to give coaching and Shakeology a try for a few months to see if it was something I wanted to stick with! 

60 days later: 

- I had dropped the last 10 lbs of my baby weight that I had been stuck with.

 - my diet drastically improved because the nutrients from Shakeology curbed my junk food cravings (unexpected!) 

- I started to see actual muscle tone which hadn't happened since my high school days. 

- my energy levels went UP and in return gave me MORE time in the day to get stuff done (really unexpected!) 

- I stopped going through the drive through at fast food places when I was running errands because I could easily bring it with me! 

- AND my digestive health was awesome #truth

I am not gonna sit here and tell you it's not an investment, because it IS. 

BUT I decided the VALUE the dense nutrition gives me IS WORTH $4 a day. 

My HEALTH is worth $4 a day. 

I AM WORTH IT. 

It was important to me so I found a way to make the cost work.

So take it from a BIG CRITIC who has now been drinking it consistently for 18 months...Shakeology is WORTH every penny!

If you would like more detailed information about Shakeology click HERE.

Pineapple Chicken Skillet

I LOVE pineapple! 

I originally found this Pineapple Chicken Skillet as a kabob recipe (really good that way too!), but I didn't want to go out in the cold to cook it so I adapted it into a skillet recipe!

It's super easy and a family pleaser :)

Pineapple Chicken Skillet

1 lb chicken cut into bite sized pieces
1/4 C low-sodium soy sauce 
2 tsp sesame oil 
1/4 tsp ground dried ginger
1 8 oz can pineapple chunks, drained
1 red bell pepper 
1/2 large onion
1/2 T coconut oil

Cut up chicken and place in a ziploc bag with the soy sauce, sesame oil, and ginger added. Shake to come. Marinate for at least 30 minutes in the fridge. 
Cut up pepper and onion into bite sized pieces. 
Heat skillet to medium high heat and heat oil. Add chicken and cook halfway. Add peppers and onions and cook until chicken and veggies are done. Add in pineapple the last few minutes of cooking to heat through. 
Serve with rice and enjoy!

21 Day Fix: 

You can scoop out the right amount of portions for a green, red, and purple container. If you have it with rice that would be a yellow as well. 

Overcoming the "Mom Guilt"

Mom guilt is usually something EVERY mom deals with at some point. 

I was talking to a new friend about adjusting from one kid to two and it really got me reminiscing about those days. My oldest, Lydia, never took a nap anymore when Claire came into our family so there really wasn’t anyway I could always just sleep when the baby slept as so many people advised. I was exhausted, emotional, and the mom guilt creeped in a lot this time around. Even though this is normal for most mom's, that doesn't mean it's not hard.

I felt guilty for having Lydia watch a movie so I could take a nap while Claire napped, I felt guilty that I couldn’t give my FULL attention to Lydia anymore, and I felt guilty every time I tried to get a full 30 minute workout in. I KNEW that it was just a phase, but I found myself feeling overwhelmed about how I was going to keep this up everyday.

Looking back, I now see that I should not have been feeling guilty for ANY of it. I had a busy husband with no family close by so I just did what I needed to do. The fact is, I NEEDED sleep, I couldn’t give 100% of my attention to Lydia anymore, AND exercise was necessary for me to get on my journey back to feeling good about myself again.

If there are any mom’s out there going through a challenging stage.. just know that you are NOT alone. I know you probably hate to hear this, but it really is just a phase of life. It seems like it will never end, but looking back you'll see how quickly time did actually pass. Don’t let yourself get caught up in thinking how you’re going to keep it up for the next days, weeks, or months to come. Focus on ONE day at a time and search for things to be grateful for everyday.



Do the VERY best you can and know that it IS ENOUGH.

 

Quinoa Ham Fried Rice

Lunch (and dinner sometimes) at my house has to be QUICK and EASY! 

When I have quinoa or brown rice already cooked this recipe is perfect to whip up in just a few minutes and it is also 21 Day Fix approved! #bonus

 

  Quinoa Ham Fried "Rice"

1 Cup frozen peas (or another veggie mixture)
1/4-1/2 Cup cooked diced ham (or chicken)
1/3 Cup cooked quinoa (or cooked brown rice)
1 egg
1 tsp sesame oil 
1-2 tsp low sodium soy sauce (to taste)

Heat oil in pan and toss veggies and ham until veggies are cooked through. Push to the side and scramble egg. Mix together and enjoy!

21 Day Fix measurements: 

1 Red

1 Green

1 Yellow

1 tsp