Easy Turkey Burgers

I won't lie, I am the queen of bargain hunting. Zach, my dear husband, can definitely attest to this. And one area that my bargain hunting goes into overdrive is during meal planning and grocery shopping. I love a good deal, and I love seeing our money be able to stretch while still providing good, nutritious meals for us.

One fantastic recipe that I experimented with and loved that meets the standard of being nutritious and budget saavy are turkey burgers! I have absolutely nothing against beef, and I will admit I love a good hamburger. But sometimes, beef, especially the beef you want to eat (farm raised and extra lean) is pricier. So most of the time, we stick to options like chicken, turkey and fish. At our local Sam's, we can get a great deal on ground turkey, which is where this recipe starts!

Feel free to use this recipe as a base and build on with what you and your family love, and of course experiment with all those yummy toppings, too!

Easy Turkey Burgers

Ingredients
- 1lb ground turkey
- 1 cup quartered cherry tomatoes
- 1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese
- 1 egg
- 1 Tbsp onion powder
- 2 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp black pepper
-2 tsp paprika
- 1/4 tsp salt

Directions
1. Heat a griddle to 350 degrees, or use a heavy bottomed skillet heated over medium high heat
2. Place all ingredients in a large bowl.
3. Mix gently with hands (don't overwork it), make sure everything is incorporated.
4. Form into 4 to 6 patties, depending on your size preference.
5. Flatten out with your hand into a patty shape, place on griddle or skillet.
6. Cook through, about 6 minutes per side, until juices are clear and it is no longer oink in the middle.
7. Place on a toasted whole wheat bun and top with things like sliced tomato, onion, avocado, crispy bacon, etc!
8. Enjoy!

What is your favorite thing to top a burger with? Do you love something on the inside of your burger too? 

Butternut Squash Lasagna

Y'all. Seriously, this was so good. I tweaked a recipe that I found a bit and made it our own, and absolutely loved it. This recipe is absolutely a keeper and one that we will be having again in the Cason house! Lasagna is such a comfort food, so I love finding ways to clean it up and add some more nutrients in any way that I can. This recipe is dynamite!

Butternut Squash Lasagna

Ingredients
Half of a butternut squash, cubed and COOKED
2 cups ricotta cheese, divided
1/2 cup of milk
1/2 tsp salt, divided into two 1/4 tsp
1/4 tsp nutmeg
10 oz uncooked spinach
2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese, divided
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 tsp cooking oil
10 oz whole wheat lasagna noodles
4 slices of provolone cheese
1 tsp Italian seasoning
2 tsp onion powder
2 tsp basil

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375 F

2. Prepare your lasagna noodles! Bring a large pot of water to a rolling boil and cook noodles until just tender. Drain and run cool water over them, set aside.

3. Prepare your butternut squash filling! Combine your butternut squash, 1 cup ricotta cheese, 1/2 cup of milk, 1/4 tsp salt and 1/4 tsp nutmeg in a food processor, and process until creamy. Set aside.

4. Prepare the spinach filling. Heat cooking oil a medium skillet over medium high, add minced garlic and cook about one minute. Add spinach to skillet and cook until wilted. Remove from heat and add to bowl. Combine with 1 cup of ricotta cheese and 1 cup mozzarella cheese. Add 1/4 tsp salt, 2 tsp onion powder, 1 tsp Italian seasoning, and 2 tsp basil. Mix together and set aside.

5. Grease a 9x13 baking dish lightly. Divide your  butternut squash filling into thirds. Put 1/3 of the mixture on the bottom of the baking dish. Cover with lasagna noodles.

6. Add 1/2 of your spinach mixture on top of the noodles, and follow with another layer of noodles. Add another layer of butternut squash, followed by noodles and then the rest of the spinach filling and noodles.

7. Finish with the last 1/3 of the butternut squash mixture, top with 1 cup of mozzarella. Cut each piece of provolone in half, and layer across the top.

8. Cover with foil, bake for 30 minutes, uncover and cook for another 10 minutes.

9. Serve and enjoy!! 

21 Day Fix Extreme Review

Today is my last day of my first official round of the 21 Day Fix Extreme! So, in celebration of that, I wanted to bring you my official review of the program! This is my fourth Beachbody program, and i must say, they set the bar high, and I love it. My other programs are T25, the original 21 Day Fix, and Les Mills Combat! The 21 Day Fix sets have been fantastic, so let's go ahead and dive into the review!

Here are some specifics about the program, in case you were curious.

21 Day Fix Extreme

Length of program: 21 days, but can be repeated as many times as you want.
How many days do you work out: 7 days a week, one of which is yoga (love it!)
How long are the workouts: 30 minutes
How many workouts are included in the program: 8 full 30 minute workouts, and a ten minute ab
Equipment needed: set of light and heavy free weights and a resistance band
Fitness level needed: You need to have a base level of fitness. If you have completed any other Beachbody program you should be good
Nutrition aspect: portion control containers and an extremely doable eating plan
Helps with: losing that last ten pounds, toning up, getting extreme, getting fit for an upcoming event, and getting healthier!

Alright, so now you have some of the bare basics of the 21DFX (21 Day Fix Extreme) program down. Let's get into the nitty gritty.

Pros: 
-I loved this program even more than the original 21 Day Fix. Specifically I loved the challenge that the workouts gave me.
-I really enjoyed using my weights in most every workout. I feel like it really gave me a lot of great strength training.
-I can do more push ups on my toes now than ever before! For reference, before I started my journey last year I couldn't do a single push up on my toes. After this program I got past 15!
-The eating plan is absolutely doable and sustainable. You do not go hungry with this!
-The principles of the eating plan really nourish your body and give you a good balanced diet. You aren't skipping out whole food categories, and you aren't depriving yourself.
-You have the option of doing the "countdown to competition" eating plan, which is a super clean eating plan to help give you maximum results! I didn't do it this round, but plan on it in the future!
- As with the last program, I love the 30 minute workout length, it's perfect for me.
- I like that they have a modifier on the screen and I could easily follow along if I needed to modify a move.
-I feel like I gained a lot of energy and more over all body strength doing this program!
- Planning ahead and using the eating plan really helps you to succeed with this program.
-I love that it is a 21 day program. It helps you establish a good healthy habit, and gives you a quick win, AND because it is NOT a crash diet, you can continue on with it!

Cons:
-You eat a lot of protein, (or red containers), especially if you do the countdown to competition. It's not bad, but I personally struggle with my red containers anyway, there's only so much chicken and fish I want to eat in a day. But, it is healthy!
-It's not so much a con, but a challenge that I worked through. There is a plyo workout that includes a lot of jumping. I definitely grew in strength but boy did it challenge me!
-It was an extremely comical "con" but I definitely had to get used to using a resistance band for the pilates workout. I wouldn't say it's a con, more something you have to get used to and be careful not to snap yourself in the face with the band while changing positions.
- Not personally a con for me, but I know for others it can be a challenge when you start out to meal plan. If it's something you are not used to doing, it can take time, BUT it is absolutely worth it, and I love helping people through that process.

Overall thoughts about my experience with 21DFX
As I stated before, I really enjoyed this program. If you haven't been doing a higher intensity program or working out at all in a while, I would suggest doing the 21 Day Fix as a god start up point. But people who have been working out can absolutely jump in on this. It is a fantastic program and has taught me so much about nutrition and how key and critical it is to overall health.

Nutrition brings about 80% of your results, so it really is that important. With the 21DFX (and the original) you are focusing on eating clean and nourishing your body with foods that fuel you. That in turn helps you gain more momentum on the fitness side of things and helps you just shred out your physique! I have become more and more aware of just how important nutrition is and I want to shout that from the rooftops.

Using the 21DFX helps you learn those principles and gives you a great foundation to continue that on past the 21 days, and also gives you great workouts that are doable and build your energy and strength. This program is a 10++ in my book!

Who wants to join in another round of the 21DFX with me and get some results of your own?? I have several groups starting soon, so if you are curious at all, or want more information, please don't hesitate to ask or reach out for more information! I would love to help any way I can.

Who is ready to get Extreme?? Stay tuned for my results too!

DIY Strawberry Ice Cream

Today is the first day of spring, and what better way to ring that in and the approaching warmer weather than with super easy and delicious strawberry ice cream? This was incredibly easy, and I loved it! I have made ice cream with frozen bananas before, which is also very good, but sometimes I want something with less of a banana-y flavor.

Enter strawberry ice cream.

It's like an ice cream meets a yogurt, meets a sorbet, meet a sherbet. All delicious. So be sure to give this recipe a try!

DIY Strawberry Ice Cream
(Makes 4 servings)

Ingredients
4 cups frozen strawberries
1/2 cup plain yogurt (I used Greek, you could probably even use a vanilla greek yogurt if you like it a little sweeter!)
3 Tbsp honey
1 Tbsp fresh lemon juice

Directions
1. Place all ingredients in a food processor (or blender), blend until smooth.
2. Divide into 4 servings, or dip out yours and save the rest for later, and ENJOY!

So easy, so refreshing, and best of all, GUILT FREE! Who is going to try this delectable treat? 

Green Machine Pancakes

Pancakes, one of the classic American breakfast options. Unfortunately, I have never been their biggest fan. Mostly because I don't like eating sweet foods for breakfast. But, when I got married, I discovered that my husband loves pancakes.

So I end up making them quite a bit around here for him. I don't usually eat them myself, again, because I don't like sweet foods for breakfast. But when I found a clean recipe of panckes , I had to try them!

I have made several variations of these healthy pancakes for Zach and he definitely approves! The recipe is simple to vary based on your tastes, so I will include the base recipe as well as the green machine version.

Base Recipe - Clean Eating Pancakes (makes about 4-5 pancakes) 
Ingredients
1/3 cup rolled or steel cut oats, uncooked
2 eggs
1 banana

Directions
1. Place all ingredients in a food processor, blend until smooth.
2. Use a 1/4 cup to measure out pancake batter.
3. Cook over medium to medium high heat as regular pancakes

GREEN MACHINE PANCAKES
Ingredients
1/3 cup rolled or steel cut oats, uncooked
3 eggs
1 banana
1 loose scoop of Greenberry Shakeology

Directions
1. Place all ingredients in a food processor, blend until smooth.
2. Use a 1/4 cup to measure out pancake batter.
3. Cook over medium to medium high heat as regular pancakes

And there you have it! Clean eating pancakes that you don't have to feel guilty about eating. They will fill you up and leave you satisfied and nourished! You can also vary the vase recipe to include any fruits or other things you want to put in, or even top them with!  Have fun with the recipe!

What is your favorite pancake combo? 

21 Day Fix Extreme Meal Plan

By now you have probably seen me talk about the new program, the 21 Day Fix Extreme. I have been previewing the workouts and love them, they are challenging me and pushing me to my core mentally and physically, which I love. I have also been getting into the meal plan for the 21 Day Fix as well!

Like it's predecessor, the 21 Day Fix Extreme uses portion control containers to help you maximize your nutrition and get the best results possible. Plus it is an incredibly sustainable and healthy way to eat all around, because you are nourishing your body with what it needs- key nutrients and food groups!

I began my exclusive 21 Day Fix Extreme Test Group this week, and we are all working on preparing our meal plans for these 21 days. I can't even convey just how excited I am to go through this program with this group of incredible ladies. I can't wait to see our results at the end of this 21 days together!

For those of you that are new to the 21 Day Fix and the 21 Day Fix Extreme, or you just want ideas, I wanted to share my own meal plan for these 21 days with you! Your meal plan does not have to look like mine, this is just what I enjoy eating and what works for our family with budget and time!

Take a look and feel free to pull any recipes or ideas you like from it! I have included the container count below each meal for my "fellow fixers" reference as to what the whole day looks like in containers!

And as always, if you have any questions, want ideas, want to know what the 21 Day Fix and Fix Extreme is all about, please do not hesitate to ask! I plan on also leading a second exclusive 21 Day Fix test group in the middle of March, so keep your eyes peeled for more information on that, or contact me to find out the details!

Happy meal planning!

Guilt Free Chocolate Pudding

Generally, I tend to not have a sweet tooth. I would take something salty over sweet most any day. But, there are days where I crave chocolate. That sweet tooth rears its ugly head, and all I want to do is whip up a batch of brownies and devour the whole thing. But that is not really conducive for good health to do that. So, I had to come up with a new solution!

The new solution? Finding healthy sweet replacements, and ways to "healthify" different recipes.

Thankfully, in my new 21 Day Fix Extreme book, they did that for me! There are actually a few recipes that I plan on trying over the course of my 21 day journey to help satisfy my sweet tooth in a healthy way, but I wanted to experiment with a few of the recipes sooner, and I chose chocolate pudding!

For some reason it was just calling my name, and I gave it a go. Surprisingly, the recipe is super simple, and takes just a few minutes to make, and then only an hour to chill and BAM! You have your healthy sweet treat ready to go.

Who's ready to get their healthy sweet treat on?

Guilt Free Chocolate Pudding 
(Makes 4 servings, 1/2 cup each)

Ingredients
1 1/2 scoops of Chocolate Shakeology
1 medium ripe avocado
1 medium banana
1 cup unsweetened almond milk (plus more if too thick)
Optional raspberries or sliced strawberries for the top

Directions
1. Place all ingredients in a blender, and blend until smooth. Again, if it's too thick, you can add a little additional almond milk, just go slow!
2. Divide into 4 separate dessert bowls, and set in the fridge to chill for one hour so it can set.
3. Top with a few raspberries or sliced strawberries, if you so desire, and enjoy!

There you have it, a super simple, four ingredient way that you can easily satisfy your sweet tooth in a very healthy way! Finding simple replacements like this can be a key component to staying on track in your health and fitness journey as you find ways to enjoy the foods you love in a healthy way!

What's your favorite healthy sweet treat?

Portioning 21 Day Fix Recipes

For those of you who know about the 21 Day Fix and the 21 Day Fix Extreme programs, you probably know that sometimes meal prep can get tricky if you are making anything that is "mixed." Today I wanted to share some of my tips on how to navigate those tricky waters found in meal preparations and counting your containers!

(My tasty spaghetti squash burrito bowl is a "mixed" recipe with a lot of different containers present!)

Say for example, you want to make soup, or even healthy versions of lasagna, or jambalaya. Trying to portion them out, and make the recipe can be difficult, and you want to make sure that you are still counting your containers correctly so you can stay on track. Let me tell you, it's pretty simple and easy, and you can enjoy an even wider variety of recipes when you learn how to do it!

Let's take a healthy version of jambalaya for example!

To start, you want to first determine how many servings you are going to make for the entire recipe. For this jambalaya, let's say it's four servings.

To review: Step 1, determine how many servings you will have. 

For each recipe that you are looking at, you want to notice the key ingredients and what container they coordinate to in the 21 Day Fix. In our jambalaya (I haven't actually made this, it's just what is in my head, mind you) we will have brown rice (yellow container), onions, red bell peppers and green bell peppers, and tomatoes (green container), turkey sausage (red container), tomato sauce (purple) and your seasonings (no container, free food).

Step 2, figure out from the ingredients what containers are included. 

Next, convert your recipe to fit the containers, or figure out how many containers the recipe calls for. Let's say for this recipe, you are making it on your own, so you will create your own container count. Say we want one yellow container per serving. That means you will need four yellow containers of rice for the whole recipe. Green, because there are a lot of veggies, you could do two green containers per serving, which mean you need eight green containers of veggies total. Continue that with your other ingredients as well.

If you already have a recipe, you can follow that recipe and measure out the portions with your containers and take note of how many there are, and divide it by the total servings you have!

Step 3, Fit your recipe to the containers.

Your last step is to cook, enjoy and mark down your containers! It may seem a bit confusing at first to figure out the containers for "mixed" recipes. Sometimes it seems simpler to just eat a red container of baked chicken, a yellow of mashed sweet potatoes, and a green of broccoli. But then other times, you really crave a good recipe.

And the great thing about the 21 Day Fix and the 21 Day Fix Extreme is you can absolutely do that, and get creative with your cooking and recipes! They can be as simple or as elaborate as you want them. Give yourself time, you will get the hang out it.

Just take these steps and transfer them to any other recipe you want! Just make sure the ingredients you are using are included on your list of foods you can eat. Things like soup are fantastic, you measure out your proteins, veggies, and the like and eat up! Chili is another great recipe you can do with the 21 Day Fix and divide up in portions as well.

If you have any questions about how to divide up certain recipes, or clean them up, please do not hesitate to reach out and ask me! I would love to help you navigate those recipes and come up with a simple and helpful solution for you.

What's your favorite "mixed" 21 Day Fix recipe? Share below!

Here's one of my favorite...ground turkey enchiladas...21 Day Fix approved!

"Healthy Stuff" Bowl

Even after traveling all over the world, and having my fair share of rice and beans in Africa and Asia, I'm not sick of it. In fact, I love to dress it up!Last night I was running low on time to cook, and needed to use up some bell peppers we had left over in the fridge. So I decided to improvise and experiment.

Enter in the "healthy stuff" bowl. Like several of my other recipes, this can be very early customized to your personal tastes, as well as what you have on hand.

Healthy Stuff Bowl

Ingredients
(Makes 4-6 servings)
1 lb ground turkey
1 1/2 cup cooked brown rice
1 red bell pepper, chopped
1 green bell pepper, chopped
1 onion, chopped
2-3 cups rough chopped kale (just depends on how much green you want!)
2 tsp cooking oil
1 Tbsp garlic powder
1 Tbsp onion powder
2 tsp black pepper
1 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp crushed red pepper
1/2 tsp chili powder
1 1/2 cups tomato sauce

Directions
1. Heat up your cooking oil in a large skillet over medium high heat.
2. Add in your onions and chopped bell peppers, cook until tender.
3. Add in the ground turkey, and brown through, mixing with the vegetables.
4. Season with the garlic powder, onion powder, black pepper, red pepper, cumin and chili powder.
5. Add in kale and 1/3 cup of water, cook and mix until it begins to wilt.
6. Add in the cooked rice and tomato sauce, stir and mix together until incorporated.
7. Cover and cook on medium low for 10 minutes, stir occasionally.
8. Enjoy!

If you wanted, you could add in black or red beans. Or substitute the brown rice for quinoa! The possibilities are truly endless. Experiment and find out what you like, too! But if you are short on time, this is an easy one to throw together and have a balanced meal.

What about you, do you like rice and beans or do you have to spice it up a bit to eat them?

Exclusive 21 Day Fix Extreme Test Group

Extreme. All in. Dedicated. Committed.

All these words come to mind when I think about this new program that I am about to start officially at the end of this month, the 21 Day Fix Extreme. Now I went over a few of the differences between the programs in this blog post, so if you want to know the difference between the 21 Day Fix and the Extreme version, check that out.

I have been previewing and doing the workouts the past few days and all I can say is man, this is about to blow everything out of the water for me, and I can't wait to go all in and get my results. I am all in with this for 21 days, and committed to making it happen.

The workouts are absolutely more intense, but it leaves you with such an incredible sense of accomplishment when you are done. Today I did Plyo, which I already tend to be nervous about any Plyo workout because jumping is a challenge for me still. But I gave it my all, my legs are now rubber, but I feel amazing knowing that I gave it my all and finished it!

So, starting on February 23rd, I am opening up an exclusive 21 Day Fix Extreme test group to a maximum of ten ladies.

What this will look like...
A 30 day challenge and support group to keep you accountable. We will be using a closed online Facebook group as our platform to check in.

Our first week will be preparation for our 21 day journey. Getting our meal plans figured out, shopping, prepping, etc. We will share recipes and ideas for our meal plans and work out schedules. We will also begin drinking Shakeology to make sure our bodies are filled with good nutrition before jumping in!

March 2nd, we will all officially begin our workouts, meal plan, and GO ALL IN.

There will be daily posts made by me to help keep us all motivated, accountable and informed. I post recipes, tips and motivation.

Every night we are all required to check in with the group to share how our day went! This is absolutely key. Account ability has made ALL the difference in my fitness journey, and I fight for my challengers to keep going, because I know there are hard days. But we stay accountable no matter what.

We go all in for 21 days. When you stay consistent and follow the plans you lay, you will see results. That's what I absolutely love about all the Beachbody programs, they give you real results. I have seen that time and time again in my own life, and in others.

It just takes guts and commitment from you to go for it. And that's why I am leading this test group! -To take YOU from start to finish, so it's not just one more DVD on the shelf, but something that gets you results in your life.

What are the requirements?
-You must be a lady! Sorry guys, but this time the group is just for ladies.
-You need to have a base line of fitness (if you have done any of the other Beachbody programs before you should be fine)
-You're ready to shed some layers and tone up!
-Be able to commit to the whole 30 days with us
-Have a willingness to learn
-A strong desire to change and see results
-Commit to the eating plan (correct portion sizes and healthy clean eating, it's NOT a crash diet)
-Commit to the daily 30 minute workouts
-Be committed to checking in with our accountability group

What you get...
-A complete fitness and nutrition package, with a month's supply of Shakeology, your complete set of workouts
-An in depth nutrition guide that lays out the eating plan
-Your set of color coordinated containers for perfect portion sizes and portability.
-A Shakeology shaker cup for your nutrition on the go
-Countdown to Competition specific eating plan guide (for maximum results)
-Access to our exclusive test group
-Daily motivational posts
-Personal accountability check ins with me as your coach
-One on one check ins and access to me for any questions you have
-Group accountability and encouragement as we all daily check in and share
-Support every step of the way
-A chance to win $500 or more with the Beachbody Challenge when you submit your results at the end of our challenge to the Team Beachbody site.
-A FREE T shirt when you complete the program and submit your results to the site.

So, if getting extreme, focusing in and taking the step to change your life sounds like something you want to do, please reach out to me. I would love to see if this is a good fit for you and offer you a spot in our exclusive test group!

Since there are only a maximum of 10 spots, be sure to let me know as soon as possible if you want in. You can reach me through my contact info on this blog, or find me on Facebook and message me there!

Let's get extreme, y'all!

Ground Turkey Enchiladas

Living in southwest Arizona for over ten years absolutely made me partial to Mexican food, and real , authentic Mexican food at that. The rest of the country just doesn't know what it's missing! No, Taco Bell and On the Border don't count. Georgia just doesn't have the same Mexican food as Arizona. 

While there's a mix of different dishes panning across the Mexican food genre, some can be healthy, and others not so healthy.This week I definitely had a hankering for enchiladas, so I thought I would try my hand at making a healthier version of enchiladas, and they turned out great! I will be making these again.

Ground Turkey Enchiladas

Ingredients
16 corn tortillas
Red or green enchilada sauce
1 onion, chopped
1/2 red bell pepper, chopped
1/2 green bell pepper, chopped
2 tsp cooking oil
1lb lean ground turkey
2 tbsp chopped fresh cilantro
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1 Tbsp cumin
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp black pepper
Seasoning to taste

Directions
1. Preheat a large skillet with cooking oil over medium high heat
2. Sautee onions and bell peppers until tender (about 5 minutes)
3. Add in your ground turkey, mix and brown through.
4. Add your cumin, garlic powder, paprika and black pepper. Mix to combine, cook over medium for a few more minutes.
5. Grease a large baking dish (enough to fit your enchiladas, or you can use two dishes)
6. Heat up your tortillas for a few seconds so they are easier to work with. Fill each with about 2 heaping Tbsp of filling, then roll and place with the seam on the bottom.
7. Fill all tortillas, then cover with enchiladas sauce, cheese and cilantro.
8. Bake at 350 for about 20 minutes
9. Enjoy!!

What is your favorite Mexican dish? Anyone else love their food nice and spicy besides me? 

Kale and Tomato Salad

Kale was one of those foods that when I started getting healthy and looking to eat better that I really didn't care too much for in the beginning. It tasted bitter and sharp to me, and I wasn't sure what all to do with it.

I ended up using it in smoothies mostly, because you don't taste it as much when it's blended up with some delicious fruit. But the past few months I have been branching out even more and trying new recipes with kale. The conclusion, I love kale now!

This week I experimented and made a sauteed kale salad that I will definitely be doing again! It was a bowl of tasty goodness that is just exploding with nutrients. You could definitely tweak this recipe to fit your own tastes with other spices that you enjoy. This is the base recipe that I used, feel free to experiment!

Kale and Tomato Salad
(two servings)

Ingredients
1 tsp cooking oil
2 cloves of garlic (or more if you love garlic, I know I do!)
3 cups of kale (chopped or torn to medium to smaller sized pieces)
1 cup of cherry tomatoes
1 tsp onion powder
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper (or more if you like it spicy!)
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp black pepper
1 tsp sesame seeds
A few splashes of soy sauce *optional*
Season according to your own tastes!

Directions
1. Heat your cooking oil in a medium skillet over medium high heat
2. Finely mince your 2 cloves of garlic and sautee in the skillet for about one minute
3. Add in your kale and tomatoes and stir around with your garlic. Cook until the kale begins to wilt slightly.
4. Season the kale with all of your seasons, correct to your own tastes.
5. Stir all together, cook until the kale is wilted and the tomatoes are heating through.
6. Top with your sesame seeds and enjoy!

Who's ready to try some kale and tomato salad?? Do you have a killer kale recipe? Please share it with me, I would love to try it!

Meal Plan Series #4

Vegetables were never my favorite growing up. I didn’t outright hate them; I just never enjoyed eating them. That’s a habit that I took into my later years of life too, unfortunately. I would eat a salad occasionally, and buy a bag of broccoli when it looked good while grocery shopping (only to find it unused and moldy two weeks later).

But for the most part, I never cooked vegetables, and felt pretty lost when it came to adding them into a meal plan without it getting old and repetitive really fast.

So I created a meal plan that focused on a few different recipes that you can try for yourselves that incorporate vegetables in a brand new way! I learned these recipes this year, and I must say that my vegetable intake is much better now, and I actually love eating veggies!

While this meal plan is very veggie-heavy, you can pick out the recipes you like and incorporate them into your own meal plan! Maybe even make it a goal to try a veggie focused dinner one or two times a week to ease yourself into making veggies a more prominent part of your life and nutrition.

Take a look at the meal plan! I have a few of these recipes already in my blog, and will include the rest in the near future, or you can look them up online or Pinterest as well!

Cauliflower Mac and Cheese

Zucchini Burgers

Here’s your grocery shopping list, and as always, make sure to check your fridge and pantry first to utilize what you already have!

So which recipe on here looks the best to you? What veggie focused recipe are you going to try?

Meal Plan Series #3

Life gets busy. We all know that. Especially around the holidays, it can get crazy! That’s where crock-pots can be a saving grace. And even better than just the crock-pot? Crock-pot freezer meals! You can prepare all of these dinner recipes in advance, throw them in the freezer, thaw it the night before and have your dinner for the night and lunch the next day ready to go while you work!

All you have to do is set aside a little bit of time to prepare them, and get your breakfast and snacks squared away for the week, which can be super easy! It's so important to have healthy meals, even if you are busy...in fact, it may be even more important so your body can continue to operate at it's best! So, take some time, get some ideas from this meal plan for easy make ahead meals that are healthy and will keep you going, but not keep you in the kitchen all week! 

Here's a look at the meal plan. All of the recipes for these can be found on Pinterest, and I'll also be posting some with my own twist soon as well! 

This is your grocery shopping list, take a look around your pantry and see what you have there first! A lot of these ingredients like diced tomatoes, canned corn, and the like might be lurking in the back of your pantry begging to be used! And of course, you can add your own favorite vegetables to these recipes, too!

Just because you have a busy schedule doesn't mean you can't have great home cooked meals that are healthy and full of nutrition. It might take a little bit to get used to prepping it all in one go (but even then it doesn't take long), but it's well worth the effort for meals that are ready without a lot of active cooking time for you in the week!

What's your favorite crock-pot recipe? Share below! 

Meal Plan Series #2

Clean eating. What is it? What can you eat? What can’t you eat? There are a ton of different definitions and ideas out there about what exactly clean eating is and how to go about it. For us today, I’m going to take the super simple definition of it and use it to show you a “clean” meal plan!

Our simple definition of clean eating? Cut out processed foods, excess sugar, and focus on eating whole foods as much as possible so your body gets real, dense nutrition that keeps you healthy.

Again, there are many ins and outs of clean eating, and many ideas, but we are not going to get into that today. Clean eating doesn’t have to be some big scary thing, and it definitely does not mean that you can’t enjoy your food!

There may be certain seasons of your life that you want to make sure your body is in peak physical condition. Maybe it’s summer swimsuit season, maybe it’s a wedding or reunion, or that you just want to kick start your body. I’m going to tell you from experience that nutrition can truly make or break your results.

If you put clean, whole, healthy foods in your body, it will thrive. Feed it crap and processed, chemical foods, you’re going to have some problems. So, if you’re looking for a meal plan that will help your body nourish itself and give yourself a little kick start, give this simple meal plan a try!

Of course there are so many other clean eating recipes out there, and they are delicious! I kept this meal plan simple and somewhat repetitive to help with meal preparation. It’s easier to (and cheaper usually) to buy in bulk, and easier to prepare in batches so that you are setting yourself up for success when you want to clean up your diet for a week (or for life!).

Here is the grocery shopping list that you can use to see what you already have in your pantry and fridge, and what you still need!

More specific recipes will be coming soon to go along with this meal plan! Be sure to keep checking back on the blog this week as I release two more meals plans…one “busy and on the go” meal plan, and a special meal plan that features some delicious veggie inspired recipes if you are looking to fill your diet with more vegetables!