Thursday, December 15, 2016

Slow-Cooker Chicken Cassoulet

My husband says that it tastes like Chicken Noodle Soup without the noodles.
Ingredients:
  • 1x15 oz can navy beans, pinto beans or black-eyed peas, rinsed and well drained.
  • 4 boneless skinless chicken breasts or turkey breast.
  • Sea salt and fresh ground black pepper.
  • 2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
  • 1 2/3 cups low-sodium chicken stock
  • 1 medium onion.
  • 4 celery stalks, trimmed and chopped.
  • 4 garlic cloves passed through a garlic press
  • 1/4 cup sun dried tomatoes, not packed in oil.
  • 3 large carrots, peeled and cut into chunks.
  • 1/4 cup fresh basil, chopped fine.
  • 1 tsp thyme
  • 2 tbsp fresh minced parsley
Preparation:
  • Spread half of the beans in the bottom of your slow cooker pot.
  • Season poultry with pepper and sea salt.  Heat olive oil over medium high heat in a skillet.  Brown the poultry on both sides in the skillet for about 5 minutes each side.  Place the browned chicken on top of the beans in a slow cooker.  Top with remaining beans and the chicken stock.  Use water if you don’t have chicken stock.
  • Saute the onions, celery, garlic, sun dried tomatoes, carrots, and herbs using the same skillet.  Spread this mixture over the ingredients in the crock pot.  Cover and put on slow heat for several hours.
Tip:  Serve with Ezekiel bread and a clean spread.

Mini Pita Pizzas

I love pizza and so does the rest of my family.  This is a healthy and easy way to satisfy those cravings without all the grease and fat.
Every once in a while you have to indulge in the things you like but it is important to have them in moderation.  You can make substitutions that won’t wreck all the hard work that you put into your body. 
Ingredients:
  • 100% Whole Wheat Mini Pitas
  • Olive or Grape seed oil
  • Shredded Part Skim Mozzarella Cheese
  • Natural Pizza Sauce
  • Add veggies that you love, I have used sauteed mushrooms, garlic, red onions, fresh tomatoes and basil.  You can also experiment with sliced chicken, ground turkey ect.
Arrange pitas on a cookie sheet and lightly brush with oil.  Top with pizza sauce, veggies and mozzarella.  Bake until cheese is melted.  Enjoy as an appetizer, snack or meal!
I made this recipe for a jewelry party I had as an appetizer but tomorrow night it will be dinner and a side salad!

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Be at Your Best All Month Long

Is it that time of the month? Do you feel bloated and icky? Well, I found a few tips in Oxygen that I had to share about feeling your best at that time of the month. I found out that boosting your intake of foods rich in thiamin (vitamin B-1) and riboflavin (B2) can reduce the likelihood of developing PMS. In Tosca Reno’s Eat Clean Diet book she talks about women who crave chocolate during their menstrual cycle. This is the body telling you that it needs calcium and magnesium. If you must eat chocolate then eat dark chocolate that is 75% more in cocoa mass. This is the most nutritious kind of chocolate. Just remember that it is still chocolate so eat in moderation if you want to drop those pounds. Here are a list of foods that are high in Thiamin and Riboflavin to help curb those cravings.
Thiamin: Sunflower seeds, legumes, peas, nuts, asparagus.
Riboflavin: Milk, eggs, almonds, low-fat yogurt, and soybeans.
I eat a lot of these things already so we shall see if it keeps my moody self in check!!
Oh and for those pesky little cravings for chocolate and all that bad stuff here are a few tips.
When the urge to splurge gets you, grab a cup of green tea and leave the house. Green tea helps your body burn extra calories during the day. Keep your hands busy, go outside and take a walk, fold laundry or call a friend on the phone. Have a 1/2 cup of greek yogurt with berries if you feel the need for ice cream. Bake some cookies that are made with protein powder or clean ingredients and keep on hand for those attacks. Don’t let them become an everyday occurrence.
Protein Packed Ice Cream
5 egg whites
1 scoop whey protein powder, flavor of your choice
1-2 packets stevia
Peanut Butter Cups
1 scoop chocolate whey protein powder
1 tbsp all natural PB
1 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
1-2 packets stevia
4 oz water
For the ice cream, place egg whites in a mixing bowl. Use a handheld electric mixer to beat them into stiff peaks. Fold in the whey. Add sweetner to taste. Freeze for at least 1 hour (longer if you have time).

Meanwhile, make the peanut butter cups by blending all the ingredients together in a blender. Divide peanut butter mixtrue into round muffin tins, filling about 3/4 full. Place muffin tin in freezer and let freeze for about an hour or until firm. When ready to eat, scoop ice cream into a bowl and top with 2 peanut butter cups!
This recipe sounds awesome, I can’t wait to try it! This might have to be my pms splurge! They say it tastes just like reeses peanut butter cups and its packed with muscle building protein.

My Keys to Success

“You still look pregnant”
I thought you would lose the weight faster”
These are all things that people actually said to me after I had my baby. Every time I encountered a person who had negative things to say I would go into a dark place. I even had a family member who would touch my belly and call me preggo even after the baby was born. Seriously, don’t people realize what a vulnerable state you are in after you give birth to a baby. I felt disgusting as it was, did you REALLY need to point out the obvious!
Instead of letting all of those negative comments get me down I decided to write them down and post them up on the wall next to my TV where I exercised. Every time I would hit the play button I would read through those comments and I would “Bring IT” even harder in my workouts. I even posted a picture of a celebrity that I wanted to look like on the wall so that I could be motivated to achieve my best body that I could have! I know that my final goal is to be able to wear a bikini again. There were days during the first 30 days of exercising that I cried and thought I was never going to get there. I thought I was going to look pregnant forever. Now, after all of the ups and downs and almost 120 days after I started working out I feel like a totally different person. I can see that my goal is getting closer and I’m reaching my mini goals along the way. I still have a ton of work to do, but I can see the transformation happening before my eyes.
There were a few things that were key to my success:
1. I took before pictures of myself and then took pictures every 30 days to track my progress. I couldn’t believe how much of a change I saw in my body. At 30 days there wasn’t too much of a difference but at 60 days I had a dramatic change. I wouldn’t of noticed the changes unless I took the pictures. I highly recommend taking pictures, even if you never show them to anyone!


2. I limited the amount of times per week that I weigh myself. Your weight fluctuates so much during the week according to water weight and the things you eat. You should try only to weigh yourself once per month. Now that is way to long for me, so I stick to once a week and first thing when I wake up in the morning.
3. Support. I didn’t have the support of everyone that I was close to but my husband was a biggie. I basically sat him down in tears and explained that I needed him to support me in this process. I needed him to watch Veronika on the weekends so I could workout and if she didn’t nap during the day I needed him to watch her in the evening so I could do my video. He never says a thing about me working out and I try to be mindful of his time too. I usually get up early on Saturday mornings and workout before she gets up so that we can get our day started. Most of the time I get my workouts in before he gets home from work. Therefore, there are things in our house that get left undone because of the workouts. My house isn’t always clean and there usually is laundry to be done but at least I feel good about myself and I’m happy when my husband gets home.
4. Diet. The Eat Clean Diet was my saving grace. I was busting my butt working out but I got to a point where I wasn’t losing any weight. I started reading Tosca Reno’s “Eat Clean Recharged” book. She said that your weight loss is 80% diet, 10% exercise and 10% genetics. It was like an ah ha moment for me. The light bulb went on! I fully committed to changing my diet and eating clean. At first my husband thought I was crazy and was little mad that our grocery bill was doubling. But the weight started to fall off and I felt amazing. I had a lot of energy to keep up with my daily activities. My husband even started to ask me to make his lunch and breakfast too. Right now I am working on getting the whole family clean. The diet is what took me to the next level of weight loss. I cut out all the processed foods and white sugars. I am on week 2 of the Stripped plan so I will keep you posted on the results.

5. Beachbody. The support of my coach through Beachbody has been key to my success. When I was down on myself she encouraged me to keep going. When I had a question about my workouts she found the answers. When my weight loss plateaued she gave me suggestions for how to jump start my metabolism. She was a great inspiration with her own transformation. It was nice to know that other mothers were going through the same thing that I was. She introduced me to the facebook support groups and I quickly became an active member. I was spending so much time talking about workouts and beachbody that I decided to become a coach. I had researched and spent so much time changing my life that I want to help others do the same. So I signed up to be an Independent Beachbody coach so that I could share my knowledge and transformation with others in hopes that I can change someone else’s life as well!
I hope that my story helps to inspire others and that I can be a light at the end of the tunnel for those that don’t know where to start. I love how I feel and the energy I have everyday. I wouldn’t think of my life any other way! All you need is a little determination and someone to tell you that you can’t do it for you to push that much harder to prove them wrong!
If you would like to have support in reaching your health and fitness goals please check out my site. www.teambeachbody.com/vvolkmuth. Join my team and I’d be glad to help you in your journey to living a healthy and fit lifestyle!!
If Beachbody has helped you to achieve your weight loss goals and you would like to become a coach please message me for more information!
Don’t let others negativity put you down!

Chicken Fajita Burrito

One of my personal favorites!
Ingredients
18 ounces chicken, cut into small chunks
1/4 packet fajita seasoning mix
1/2 red bell pepper
2 cloves garlic
Mushrooms
Several slices of white onion (you decide how much)
2 whole-wheat tortillas
Guacamole: 1 avocado, 1/2 medium tomato chopped, chopped red onion, a few shakes of sea salt.
Salsa
Preparation:
Sprinkle chicken with salt and some fajita mix and cook in skillet. In a separate skillet, saute garlic, bell peppers, onion and mushrooms (use a small amount of olive oil if necessary). Meanwhile, prepare guacamole (mix all ingredients above). When vegetables are fully cooked, mix a small amount of fajita mix with 1/4 cup water and pour over vegetables. Increase heat and boil off the water. Heat tortillas on a clean skillet over medium-high heat for 15 seconds per side. Add ingredients on top of the tortilla and attempt to form a burrito and enjoy!

Eat Clean Stripped

After not losing any weight for the last 2 weeks I decided to amp things up a bit. Right now I am running an Eat Clean, Stripped book club on Facebook. We are all reading Tosca’s book together and trying to change the way we look at food. I spent the weekend in Baltimore for a bridal shower and had some time to myself to reflect on the book. As I was re-reading Chapter 11 on the meal plan I realized I wasn’t following the Stripped plan as closely as possible. I decided to start tracking everything I ate to see if it fit into the categories outlined. I quickly found out that there is no cheese or dairy in the stripped meal plans. (This is only a temporary thing) Once you reach your goal weight then you can follow cooler plan 2 which allows you dairy and cheese during the day. If you have more than 10lbs to lose then you should also follow cooler plan 2. This meal plan is only for those trying to shed those last 10 lbs. This plan is restrictive but you don’t feel overly hungry because you’ll be eating a combination of foods that fill you up and give you energy to get through the day while blasting fat at the same time. Soooo, I decided to give it a try and really be dedicated to following the Stripped meal plan to see what results I could achieve. I think I might be a little CRAZY!
I decided to share this plan with you and I have outlined some of the key points below! I hope this helps you all in your weight loss journey.
The Stripped Plan is meant for four weeks’ worth of food. You alternate week 1 and week 2. This plan along with cardio and strength training exercises can help you lose those last 10 lbs.
For those of you who know nothing about the Eat Clean lifestyle, here are the basic principles of the diet.
Here are the Eat Clean Principles:
1. Eat more. Eat six small meals each day. Space out two-and-a half to three-hour intervals.
Protein and complex carb at each meal with a big glass of water!
2. Eat breakfast everyday, within an hour of rising.
3. Make your last meal 3 hours before bed.
This one is personally very hard for me, but so far this week I haven’t had my 3rd snack and I’m not starving!
4. Eat a combination of lean protein and complex carbohydrates at each meal.
5. Eat sufficient healthy fats every day.
This is where I was going over board before. I was eating to many nuts and nut butter!
6. Drink two to three liters of water each day.
Spice it up with some lemon, limes, cucumbers or strawberries so you don’t get bored.
7. Carry a cooler packed with Clean foods each day.
8. Depend on fresh fruit and vegetables for fiber, vitamins, nutrients and enzymes.
9. Adhere to proper portion sizes.
10. Eat only foods that have not been overly processed or doused in chemicals, saturated and trans fats and/or toxins.
If you don’t know what the ingredient is, don’t eat it!
Portion Sizes
Protein- a proper portion of meat or any other protein is measured by what can fit into the palm of one hand.
Starchy Complex Carbohydrates- A proper portion of starchy carbs is measured by what can fit into one cupped hand.
Carbs from Fruits and Vegetables- A proper portion of complex carbohydrates from fresh produce is measured by what can fit into two hands cupped together.

Healthy Fats- A portion of healthy fats is one scant handful of nuts, or one to two tablespoons of healthy oil or nut butter.
Portion Size Guidelines:
For lean protein: you are allowed one palm sized portion at each meal.
Egg whites, lean turkey and chicken breast, lean pork, beans and legumes (in moderation), lean fish (tuna, salmon, trout, cod, halibut), shrimp, clams, mussels, bison and other game meats, hummus, quinoa, spirulina, sea vegetables, protein powder, tofu and tempeth.
Starchy Complex Carbohydrates: one or two cupped handfuls per day, divided between one or two meals.
Sweet potatoes, potatoes, radishes, beans and legumes, oats, brown rice, bananas, carrots, parsnips, bulgar wheat, teff and farro.
Complex Carbohydrates from Fruits and Vegetables: Two cupped handfuls at eat meal.
Apples, plums, berries, pears, tomatoes, cucumber, broccoli, asparagus, beets, leeks, spinach and other leafy greens (the darker the better), brussels sprouts, green beans, onions, sprouts, celery, watermelon, cherries, zucchini, fennel, oranges, limes, lemons and garlic.
Healthy Fats: One to two servings per day, divided between one or two meals.
flaxseed, nuts (almonds, walnuts and pumpkin seeds), natural nut butters, hummus, avocados, oils (sesame, coconut, olive, hazelnut, walnut and fish).
Other Allowable Foods: Coffee (black), caffeine free herbal teas, tamari, unsweetened soy, rice or almond milk, mustard, salsa, herbs and spices.
Sample Day Meal Plan
I ate this meal plan on Monday and Tuesday this week! So far so good and I’m down 2 lbs!
Breakfast: Take me on vacation oatmeal with black coffee and warm water with 1/2 squeezed lemon.
Mid morning snack: Apple with 1 Tbsp almond butter and water.
Lunch: Shakeology chocolate shake with 1 scoop chocolate shakeology powder, 1 cup water, ice, 1 tbsp PB2, and banana. Blended in a blender with a tall glass of water.
Snack: Vanilla protein powder 1 cup water, frozen strawberries and ice.
Dinner: Fajitas and glass of water.
No Evening Snack!
In the evening I did have a need for something so I drank a glass of ginger peach green tea. I went outside and played with my kids and forgot all about being hungry. I still had lots of energy to do my daily activities. I did MMA SHRED on Monday and didn’t feel tired at all. 
Here is the meal plan that Tosca outlines in the book. Your rotate week 1 and week 2 for the four weeks.
FAQ’s
Do I have to work out?
YES! Workouts are a must. The best way to accelerate your weight loss is to include regular workouts as part of your routine. It is important to alternate between strength training and cardio. You will build lean muscle and increase your metabolic rate and your fat-burning speed.
What should I avoid?
All over-processed, chemically charged, toxin laden foods. Sugar in all its disguises and white refined flour products are at the top of the list of no-no foods! Also, alcohol is just another form of sugar so its critical to avoid alcohol during your four-week plan. If you don’t recognize the ingredients, don’t eat it!
What should I eat a lot of?
Egg whites, lean turkey and chicken breast, nuts, berries, beans and legumes, spinach and other leafy greens, green vegetables, asparagus and broccoli, bison, pumpkin and sweet potatoes, oats, quinoa and apples.
How can I speed up my weight loss?
Weight training the largest muscle groups. It will over stimulate your metabolism, pushing it into over drive. This will accelerate your regular rate of fat burning way beyond its normal capacity. Target your glutes and quads frequently.
I will keep you posted on how the weight loss goes! If you would like to be a part of the Eat Clean Book Club please message me for more information! I’d love to help you reach your health and fitness goals too!