Day 12 and Day 13! Flourless Peanutbutter Chocolate Chip Blondies!

Yesterday we went to a wedding and I was super nervous about what I would eat for supper there- but more in particular... dessert!! So I took it as a challenge and made my own dessert! It was super tasty!!

Flourless Peanutbutter Chocolate Chip Blondies
Recipe by "Detoxinista"

Ingredients:
- 1 cup natural creamy PB (pref organic)
- 1/3 cup honey
- 1 whole egg
- 1/4 tsp sea salt (if unsalted PB)
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 cup dark choc chips

Instructions:
1. Preheat oven 350, grease 8" pan with butter or coconut oil
2. In bowl mix PB, honey, egg, salt, and baking soda until well combined- then fold in choc chips
3. Pour batter into pan, use spatula to smooth top
4. Bake for 20-25 min until top is light golden brown
5. Let cool then cut and serve!

SERIOUSLY SO GOOD!!!!!

Today I had family over for lunch and I made chicken tacos! I made brown rice and black beans and then had wheat tortillas. Was delicious and filling!

This challenge has had its rough times but I am seriously learning so much. I am learning a lot about foods but also about self control! Which I have lacked!

A very positive and encouraging moment for me today... I tried on a skirt that I havent worn since starting the challenge- and it is definitely way more loose!!!! And it was borderline tight before! Woo hoo!

THANKS FOR READING!

Day 12! Half way there! Hawaiian Chicken Salad and No Bake Energy BiteRecipes!

Today was a great day. I got to meet up with a friend for lunch. She is a great resource for me in healthy eating. Thank you Allison for today and for the energy bites recipe! They turned out great! We got to bounce ideas off each other on different recipes, ingredients, etc. It was great to hear, from her experience, what she likes to use and what works!

 Here is the recipe for the energy bites!

No Bake Energy Bites

1 cup dry oatmeal
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup ground flaxseed (or wheat germ)
1/2 cup chocolate chips
1/3 cup + 1 tsp honey

Stir all ingredients together and roll into balls.
Chill for 30 minutes

OK- so here is a tip. Flaxseed- you can buy it at the store already ground up (which I did not know). So  I just bought the whole seeds... WHICH YOU HAVE TO GROUND. Google says to use a coffee grinder- but I do not have one! So I used my food processor and................. it took forever. But it eventually did work! Make sure you ground it up enough that the shell is broken.

After you roll them into balls- make sure to lick your fingers because you will have lots of gooey mixture on them- and its good :)

These are so good I think I might get addicted. But I will practice self control!! These will be a good alternative to fixing my sweet tooth after supper.

I tried to find some nutritional info on these- here is a "guess" of what the nutrition might be..

Serving size: 1 ball
Calories: 100 Total Fat: 9g Saturated: 3g Cholesterol: 0mg Sodium: 25mg Potassium: 0mg
Total Carbs: 15g Dietary Fiber: 4g Sugars: 9g Protein: 5g

And then for supper I made

Hawaiian BBQ Chicken Salad

Here is the recipe!

-1 lb Chicken breasts/tenders
-BBQ Sauce

Preheat oven to 350. Line pan with tinfoil. Place defrosted chicken on pan. (If using frozen chicken-double cooking time). Drizzle chicken with BBQ sauce.

Place chicken in oven for 30 minutes or until chicken cooked all the way through. Flip chicken over half way through and drizzle other side with BBQ sauce.

Place chicken over salad. Top with tomato, onion, avocado, and pinneaple! YUMMY!

Please share any recipes you have!

Thank you for reading!!!! 

Days 9, 10, and 11: cleanse is done! Max phase has begun! 3 new recipes !!

I am so happy the cleanse phase is now over! I am happy for many reasons but one of the main reason is that the Max phase is when you start really seeing results! I have already noticed my arms are much more toned, my energy level is much higher (and considering I have a 2 month old!), I feel great, and I have already lots poundage! Woo hoo!!

One thing that I am seriously learning and practicing during the challenge is self control. In the Max phase, we have a little bit more freedom on our food. I added some fun to my diet.... "Cocoa". Yes, I know I have an addiction. And cocoa sounds so much more healthy than chocolate. BUT I am learning to take it in moderation and health. 

Last night I made cocoa peanut butter banana ice cream: 

- 2 cups cut and froze bananas

- 2 tbsp peanut butter

- 2 tsp 100% cocoa

Let frozen bananas sit out and defrost for about 10 minutes. Blend in food processor. Put all the ingredients together together in a bowl and mix.

Then eat :) tip: don't blend and mix until you are ready to eat. The ice cream does not freeze over well... It's difficult to eat once the whole thing is frozen!

Honestly, I like banana but not a huge fan of banana mixed in things. Like this recipe. Or the banana pancake recipes, etc. but I am getting use to it! I made this recipe tolerable by adding some unsalted nuts and some 60% dark chocolate chips 😁 just a few....

And then tonight, we made one of the yummiest meals yet that I have had since being on the challenge! 

Turkey Burgers with Veggies and potato fries!

Confession: I might have over ate this meal a little bit.....

Turkey Burger recipe (from scratch) 

1 lb 93% ground turkey

1/2 medium onion finely chopped

A few dashes of garlic 

Some dashes of Cajun, pepper, paprika, and other spices you might want. 

A little bit of BBQ sauce 

1. Wash your hands- you need to use your bare hands for this 😁 

Mush the ground turkey so it is all mixed and sticking together, mix in onion, then the spices and BBQ sauce. 

2. Form turkey into 4 patties. 

3. Grill on each side for a few minutes. 

4. Put on 100% whole wheat thinwhich top with pineapple, avocado, lettuce, tomato and a little bit of BBQ sauce!

Potato Wedge Fries! 

Take 4 medium size potatoes (I used red- next time I think I will try sweet potatoes)

Slice them into wedges

Toss in canola oil or whatever you want to use for cooking. 

Sprinkle with thyme seasoning

Bake in oven at 450 for 20 minutes. Turn half way through. So yummy! 

For dessert I had a small handful of unsalted nuts and some of those chocolate chips!

Good day! Great energy! Feeling awesome! 

Thank you for reading!!

Day 7 and Day 8! Soccer, the BIGGEST temptation day so far, and New Recipe! Hawaiian Turkey Burgers!

DAY 7 was a hard day! Filled with lots of challenges! But I think I did a pretty good job at overcoming. Went over to my parents house for lunch and they had CHICKEN ENCHILADAS. CHEESY chicken enchiladas. Are you kidding me?? I was going to die. Just watching everyone dish up their plate while I waited for my chicken to finish grilling for my salad.... It was so hard. But I kept telling myself-

 I can do it! It is worth it! It will pay off!! It is the little good decisions made that will turn into a great reward!!

Later on we had our soccer game. I do not play soccer. The only time I had ever played soccer before was on River's school soccer team on away games. #1 I didnt even go to the school #2 The only reason I got to play is because they were short players and I knew the coach. YUP. But I tried really hard! And it must have paid off because we won our game last night! WOO HOO!! It was a lot of fun and great exercise!

And then after the game came the most challenging part of the challenge so far. We met up with some friends for dinner and we went to the Green Mill. It was so hard picking something off of the menu that was a good choice over all of the other delicious things I kept seeing on the menu. I went with a salad. It actually was really good and I was feeling satisfied. UNTIL... our friend, who was sitting directly across from me, gets a HUGE piece of strawberry cheesecake placed right in front of him. PRETTY MUCH right in front of me. AAAAAWWWWWWWWWW. Torcher!!! Even though my mouth was watering like non stop, I resisted and stayed content with my salad :).

DAY 8- Today! We went to Perkins with my grandma for lunch. No chicken tender melt, no pancakes, or everything omelet for me. I went with the Spinach and Baby Bella Scramble. Which I thought was really tasty! And I was very polite to the waitress when she asked if we wanted any pie- "no thank you!"

Tonight we are making Hawaiian Turkey Burgers!!
Turkey Burgers topped with fresh pineapple and BBQ sauce! My friend Anna picked me up some Ken Davis 2 Carb, no high-fructose corn syrup, zero sugar, and low sodium BBQ sauce. YUUM!

I am excited for this meal! Any meal ideas that you have for me??

Thank you for reading!! 

P.S. I have been getting a lot of response about people wanting more info about the challenge/wanting to do it. I am thinking that we will be doing another group challenge again this fall. If you are interested/want more info on it- please let me know!

P.S. #2.... WHO PUT THIS IN MY FREEZER?!?!?!?

Day 6!

Another Day has come and gone. I am kind of feeling like at this point I am getting the hang of this- which is great! But I am anxious to see results the final results. In just 6 days of changing the way I have been eating and taking the advocare products, I have felt so much more energetic. My body is starting to just feel good in general. No sick to my stomach, no feeling of overeating or "aaahh, why did I eat that or have that much...."I love that! It has really encouraged me to seek out a different way of eating and a healthier lifestyle. I loved working out before, and was pretty consistent with it, but never really had the healthy eating habits to go along with it. Working out was my "excuse" to eating junk. NOT ANYMORE! Not going to lie though- I do dream of having some Cold Stone, a Blondie, or even just some ice-cream! But now, knowing what I know and feeling the way that I feel- I can have self control. And still let myself "indulge" every once in a while ;)

SO TODAY-

I went to a bridal shower... Honestly, I was almost not going to go just for the fact I did not want to be tempted with yummy food that I cannot eat. But I convinced myself to go, plus that was a dumb reason not to... and this would give me an opportunity to strengthen my good eating habit skills! So I get to the party, and there was awesome looking pizza, cookies, chips and salsa, fruit and veggies. I went right for the fruit and veggies. I can do this. I then looked at the chips and it looked like there were some blue corn chips- I just grabbed a couple along with the salsa ;). But I was happy and proud that I could resist and withhold from eating all the other things! (Huge accomplishment for me!)

Another thing I realized... I am a snacker. So I always try to have on the grab things to have; just in case. If you have been reading my blog, you have noticed that nuts have been that go-to. So I brought those with me today, along with my other snacks today I had a clementine, 100% whole wheat toast with peanut butter, and I also bought something new... I am not 100% sure if it is "legal" to have or not- but I thought it would be good to try...

Brown Rice Triscuit.... anyone tried these? I had a couple of the Herb Cheese & Roasted Tomato kind- I thought they tasted pretty good! Any feedback on what you think about them? Are they a "good choice"?

But anyway, so for lunch I had leftover bean burrito- again :) It is good, I had leftovers- so why not.

For supper I made shrimp and made some sort of a wrap with lettuce, tomato, avocado, and a little bit of WF honey dijon. It was delish :) aaaaand... then I had a spoonful of peanutbutter for dessert!

Now I am starting to meal plan for next week. Any suggestions for meals???


THANK YOU FOR READING!!!

Day 5! Taco Salad and Zumba Black light Party!

So today was alot of fun. Went to turbo this morning and then got to see some friends I haven't seen in a while! 

Breakfast I had the meal replacement shake

Snack: 2 turkey beef sticks

Lunch: left over bean burrito with strawberries and blueberries 

Snack: nuts

Dinner: I made Taco Salad. It is a different type of taco salad- made with ground turkey. It was delicious! 

There is a picture of a picture :) I did not eat chips with it or the cheese. 

Taco Salad 

1/2 cup salsa

1/4 cup reduced- fat sour cream

1 tsp canola oil

1 medium chopped onion

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 pound 93% lean ground beef (I actually used 99%)

2 diced tomatoes 

1 14ounce can of kidney beans, rinsed

2 tsp cumin

2 tsp chili powder

1/4 cup chopped cilantro

8 cups shredded romaine lettuce

1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese

1. Combine salsa and sour cream in bowl

2. Heat nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add onion and garlic- 2 minutes- until soft. 

3. Add turkey- stir often until cooked

4. Add tomatoes, beans, cumin and chili powder- stir until tomatoes breakdown. Remove from heat 

5. Stir in cilantro and 1/4 cup of salsa mixture

6. Add lettuce to remaining mixture: toss 

AND THEN....

My sister, Jenna, and I got a little adventurous and went to a Zumba black light party. LOL- it was awesome! We had so much fun! Although I can't move my hips or shake my butt very well- we were probably the most comical there :)

Thank you for reading!

Day 4! Black Bean and Rice Burritos

Heyo! Day 4 of the cleanse and still feel like I am doing pretty well with the diet! I took the day off from working out and Jalen and I spent the day at the pool :)

My meals for the day:

Breakfast: meal replacement shake

Snack: turkey beef sticks and a hard boiled egg

Lunch: Turkey on whole wheat tortilla with lettuce, avocado, and tomato with Rice chips

Snack: strawberries with raw nuts

Dinner: Black Bean and Brown Rice Burritos. 
I messed up the rice :(. I didn't cook it long enough or maybe did not add enough water. Anyone have a favorite brand of brown rice and how you cook it? But anyway, the brand were great! 

I sautéed onions in butter, added peppers, cilantro, chili powder, paprika, pepper, and other spices. Then added drained and rinsed black beans along with a can of tomatoes and green chilies. I also added some salsa. 

I put them in a whole wheat tortilla topped with lettuce and avocado. It was delicious!

My cinnamon apple thing from yesterday didn't work as well as I intended... Will be trying to bake it in the oven instead tonight!

Please let me know what "healthy" desserts you make and brown rice ideas!