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Nov 13 2016 
Kale Me, Maybe? How to Prep Kale and Actually Enjoy It!
How To Prep Kale!
Nom nom! If you have a hard time choking down kale, you have got to test this out. I have tried a ton of different variations when it comes to this leafy goodness. I would recommend this one because my entire family, husband, daughter and son all love it.
We all know in the back of our minds how important these dark leafy greens are for us, yeah? My favorite part is that kale has antioxidants to fight off cancer, tons of minerals and vitamins, and fiber to help aid weight loss!
You ready? Here goes!
De-stem the kale leaves by pulling the leaves off with your hand. Roll the kale leaves into a ball and chop it on up. Then roughly chop pumpkin seeds, almonds, dried cranberries or cherries to throw in.
For the dressing, squeeze two small lemons into a bowl, add 1 Tbsp aged Balsamic vinegar (I buy Safeway brand), 2 Tbsp olive oil, S & P to taste, 1-2 tsp honey and that’s it!
Once you mix it all, throw it in the fridge for a minute and enjoy! I think it tastes even better on day 2 and 3! Please, let me know what you think! Also, I love hearing other people’s ideas! I would love to hear yours! Kale is a staple in our household, my husband has it at least 5 times a week, I have it around 4 and the kids at least 3. It really is amazing to watch my kids actually eat this healthy, I never in a million years thought this would happen. I grew up eating okay, but nothing like we do now. It is amazing to see my kids stay healthy and if they do get sick, get back on track quickly.
Tell me….are you #TeamKale ????
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Oct 21 2016 
Healthy Apple Crisp? Absolutely…..YES!!!!
Healthy Apple Crisp that will blow your Mind!
Just in time for fall!!! A healthy apple crisp!! Are you kidding me?! YUM!
Healthy Apple Crisp Recipe
Ingredients:
4 cups peeled, sliced apples
3 Tbsp. pure maple syrup, divided use
1 tsp. ground cinnamon, divided use
½ cup gluten-free old-fashioned rolled oats
¼ cup finely chopped raw walnutsPreparation
1. Preheat oven to 375° F.
2. Combine apples, 2 Tbsp. maple syrup, and ½ tsp. cinnamon in a medium baking dish; mix well. Set aside.
3. Combine oats, walnuts, remaining 1 Tbsp. maple syrup, and remaining ½ tsp. cinnamon in a medium bowl; mix well.
4. Top apple mixture with oat mixture. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until apples are soft.You will see, on a normal basis, that making sure my family enjoys what they are eating is paramount for me!! 🙂 This healthy apple crisp was an instant hit. We made it gluten-free and it really is delicious. It isn’t super low in calories but all the ingredients are healthy and you can doctor it up if you want it more sweet! Enjoy!
(Courtesy of Beachbody Blog)
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Jul 01 2016 
Roasted Broccoli to Die For!!
? Roasted Broccoli ?
Omg! Why have I not tried this sooner? We all loved it! Did you know roasting veggies brings out the natural sugars? From a former candy addict, this is GOOD news ? !!!
I coated it in avocado oil and sprinkled it with garlic powder, salt, & onion powder. Then baked at 375 for about 30 minutes. The perfect side dish. I added some purple cauliflower we found at Metropolitan Market, making it even more delicious.
Have you tried this before?
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Jun 29 2016 
A Simple, Tasty Cucumber Salad!
? Cucumber Salad ?
Two small cucumbers drizzled with aged balsamic (because it’s sweeter) and topped with two chopped basil leaves. So easy to make and refreshing!!!
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Apr 18 2016 
Avocado Brownie Recipe! – Fudgtastic and Delicious!
Avocado Brownie Recipe
I can successfully say my desserts are all mapped out for the week ? Food prep is vital, right? I have a Paleo strawberry rhubarb crisp I’m making tomorrow and NO I’m not pregnant. Just love playing with desserts that have no harsh sugars in them like this brownie recipe. But for realzies, this brownie dessert is the bomb and way easier on our “gut” than a box. Knowing the exact ingredients in our food is SUPER important!
Check it:
~1 medium ripe avocado
~1/4 cup melted coconut oil
~1 large egg
~1/2 cup maple syrup
~1tsp. vanilla
Blend it all up and then add in the dry ingredients:
~3/4 cup cocoa powder | unsweetened
~1/4 Pamela’s GF Baking mix or GF flour
~1/2 sea salt
~1/3 cup dark choc chipsPreheat oven to 350. Line an 8×8 baking dish with foil. Spray foil with cooking spray. Pour into pan and bake for 33-36 minutes until done. I let the kids decorate their brownie section with tiny marshmallows and it came out yummy. Not only did they like it…but they loved it! So did my hubby. This was his one dessert for the week and he demolished it! I didn’t know if it would be very good, but it was a hit and we will be making it again. Remember, as in all things moderation is the key. I didn’t have 3 servings, I had one. So make sure you protect yourself and only eat smaller portions. This could work for the 21 Day Fix meal plan, but you can only have a small amount because there is a lot of fat.
I stole this from the amazing Team Beachbody blog. I also apologize for posting it at 9:30 at night. It’s now time to drink water and go to bed. Please do not get up and make these? but you’ll love them when you do get a chance!!! Did you notice my “corner” piece? Who else loves the corners?
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Jan 27 2016 
Awesome Salmon Gluten-Free Dinner
Salmon Gluten-Free Dinner
I love have a gluten-free dinner that my whole family enjoys. I was the queen of white bread sandwiches with the crust cut off. Doritos. Candy. Fast food. Frozen dinners. All throughout my 20’s. As my husband started his health transformation, after our daughter was born, and I started seeing how much his nutrition made a difference, I really started finding new options. Finding staple gluten-free options is now a priority.
Now at 37, I don’t have time or the freedom to have my energy completely zapped from me with poor nutrition. I have fought the good fight to say bye-bye to fast food and that was a slow process! Our kids don’t even know what McDonald’s is. Extreme? Maybe, but we want them to have proper fuel just like we do. They ate this for dinner last night too! Meals like this used to be boring to me and now they are a blessing.
Salmon Gluten-Free Dinner Recipe
- Broiled wild salmon with Trader Joe’s garlic salt on it (7-10 minutes under a 500 degree broil).
- The topping is a recipe from ohsheglows.com
- One avocado
- 1/2 cup of cilantro
- 1-2 Tbsp lime juice
- 1/2 tsp garlic powder
- 1-2 Tbsp of water
- Food process until smooth!
So very delicious as a dip for anything! We steamed broccoli and there you have it. A wonderful, absolutely balanced gluten-free dinner that really keeps the body happy and healthy. Do not think that you aren’t making a difference when you put the right food in front of your family. Their bodies will love you for it! As the mother of the house, I really take pride in providing the best options possible, especially for my kids. So go make your gluten-free dinner and your family will love you for it!
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Jan 22 2016 
Taco Salad, Keeping it Healthy!
Taco Salad
I’m sure we can agree tacos might be our favorite meal! I used to hit up Taco Bell twice a week! In fact, while I was pregnant with my first child, Matt and I had the tough decision of where to eat on break from our birth training class ? Would it be McDonald’s or Taco Bell? Taco Bell won, but it was a close call.
We haven’t had fast food since Jude was born 3 1/2 years ago. It was a personal decision to just say goodbye forever and never look back. We feel SO much better! Those gut bombs are not worth it!
So now, I make a taco salad and pretend it tastes like a double-decker, lol.
Taco Salad Recipe
✔Swap out the tortilla for a bed of lettuce
✔Swap the sour cream for high protein Greek yogurt
✔Swap the cheese for lots of salsa and jalapeño
✔Swap the fatty beef for turkey (I like to mix one pack of ground turkey breast and one pack of regular turkey)
✔Swap the MSG filed taco seasonings for you own seasoning blend. Mine is from the 21 Day FixThis is a slim tummy recipe as compared to a bloated sad tummy. Tag a friend you wanna eat taco salad with??!!!
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Jan 13 2016 
Clean Eating….Making a Great Transformation Tuesday!
Clean Eating = Transformation Tuesday
Clean eating is all about the discipline of my mind. It is a battle. I fight me every day, all the time. Today’s battle? Kombucha or Wine? I’m going with Kombucha ? I win!!!! I started a clean eating group this last Monday with an amazing group of women. We decided that we would make clean eating a discipline. That we would make it a focus to not allow ourselves to make choices we regret. We would bring in a collective of clean recipes, ideas and accountability.
Last week in our 5 day clean eating group, I had 19 of the women share how much weight they had loss. There was a total of 108.5 lbs lost as a group!!!!!! Are you kidding me?!! That was 5.7 lbs per person. I don’t have enough exclamation points for this post! ? That is why clean eating and watching your sugars and alcohols pays off. If you were one of the girls who joined us, thank you and✋ high five! ??#girlbosses #onamission
We have monthly clean eating groups. They are five days, they are organized and allow you to really get a whole bunch of ideas to learn more about what it is to eat clean. This January we have 201 women participating! It is so amazing! Sharing so much information is just awesome and it allows everyone to get a feel what works for a collaborative of people.
Don’t miss out! We love helping each other. Feel free to comment here, or reach out to me on Facebook! Looking forward to connecting and helping you learn more about clean eating and the joy that it can bring into your life and the life of your family!
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Jan 12 2016 
Protein Pancake Recipe! Gluten-Free of Course!
Protein Pancake Recipe
This protein pancake recipe is fantastic. It is absolutely perfect for a yummy weekend breakfast or perhaps a fun breakfast for dinner idea? A great way to get some protein with your carbs. These pancakes are packed with protein and will be perfect for getting the kiddos full with a healthy meal! Matt took the original recipe on the back of the pancake mix package and changed it up. He said it took him about 10 tries before he finally found the right measurements. We will have these any time! When you are gluten-free it is nice having something like this, because literally, they taste better than buttermilk pancakes. A lot of time they come as gluten-free lunch ideas! So don’t just think they are a breakfast specialty…they’re not.
Here’s chef Matt’s signature Protein Pancake Recipe:
- Heat pan to med-high with 1 Tbsp of avocado oil
- 1/4- 1/2 cup Pamela’s gluten-free pancake baking mix
- Match the amount of water to the amount of Pamela’s you used
- Wisk in 6-8 eggs
- Add 1-2 Tbsp of avocado oil.
Makes enough for our family of 4. The kids love them so it fills them up the whole morning. Perfect if you have a busy Saturday!! I love the fluffy egginess (is that a word;)?) Sometimes a protein pancake recipe comes from just experimenting!
Enjoy!
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Jan 10 2016 
Healthy Pesto Recipe – Beyond Delicious!
?Healthy Pesto Recipe?
Our families favorite meal! This healthy pesto recipe is the best meal. If you want something clean and fancy for dinner this weekend, you’ll love this! It is not just any recipe. We have been having this one at least one to two times a month for a few years now. We all love it. My son, my daughter and especially my husband. It also makes pretty good left-overs.
I want to talk about basil. I have included a break down the health benefits from Dr. Mercola.
“Basil also is considered one of the healthiest herbs. It’s best when fresh, exuding a sweet, earthy aroma that indicates not only the promise of pleasantly pungent flavor, but an impressive list of nutrients. Vitamin K, essential for blood clotting, is one of them. Just two tablespoons of basil provides 29 percent of the daily recommended value.
Basil also provides vitamin A, which contains beta-carotenes, powerful antioxidants that protect the cells lining a number of numerous body structures, including the blood vessels, from free radical damage. This helps prevent cholesterol in blood from oxidizing, helping to prevent atherosclerosis, heart attacks, and stroke.
Other vitamins and minerals in basil include iron, calcium, manganese, magnesium, vitamin C and potassium. Not surprisingly, basil also has antibacterial properties and contains DNA-protecting flavonoids. It’s the flavonoids and volatile oils in basil that give it the most health benefits, the former protecting on the cellular level, with antibacterial properties related to its volatile oils. Among these are estragole, linalool, cineole, eugenol, sabinene, myrcene, and limonene, all capable of restricting the growth of numerous harmful bacteria, including listeria, staphylococcus, E. coli, yersinia enterocolitica, and pseudomonas aeruginosa.
Some antibiotic medications which have been found to be resistant to some of these strains have been inhibited by basil extracts. One of those oils – eugenol – can block the activity of the harmful enzyme cyclooxygenase (COX). This same effect puts basil in the “anti-inflammatory” category because it provides relief from related problems, such as rheumatoid arthritis.”
Basil is something that I really think is important to add into our diets on a normal basis. I also use the basil essential oil with an infuser in our house about once a week or every other week.
Healthy Pesto Recipe
- I buy Trader Joe’s live basil plant because it’s the best price in town. Rinse and tear leaves away from the stem. I use the whole plant.
- 2 Tablespoons of pine nuts
- 1/4 cup of shredded Parmesan (or) a vegan option is nutritional yeast. You can find it in the bulk section.
- 1/4 cup of olive oil
- As many garlic gloves as you want. I usually do 3-4
- Salt and pepper
That’s it! The best healthy pesto recipe out there!! Blend everything in a food processor and mix with your favorite brown rice noodle or gluten-free pasta and you have delicious pesto pasta dinner. Oh, zucchini noodles could work for this too! Yum! It’s amazing topped with thinly sliced broiled chicken and a few extra pine nuts sprinkled on top. Let me know what you think of this healthy pesto recipe and leave a comment if you have any suggestions on making it better!
Enjoy!
