Green Monster Smoothie

I've been seeing Green Monster Smoothies all over Pinterest recently and finally decided to give it a try.  I found this recipe on Iowa Girl Eats used it because I had almost everything it called for already in the house.

Here's my Green Monster

I made this with a couple of variations to the original recipe.  She used frozen bananas, but I didn't have any, so I just used a fresh one.  Also, she used greek vanilla yogurt and I used fat free regular vanilla yogurt.  Other than that everything was the same.
Truthfully I was a little leery.  I mean I combine spinach with apples and carrots all the time and juice it, but I've never just put in a blender with something else.  I really thought it wouldn't taste good, would be gritty, just yucky.  Guess what?  It wasn't.  Actually, it was really good.  Very peanut buttery, which is a plus in my book because I'm not a huge banana fan. 
I'm having a really hard time getting all my fruits and veggies in everyday, so this is a great way to sneak some into my diet.  I'm not sure it will be an everyday thing (it's about 350 calories), but definitely a couple of times a week.
So, if you haven't tried a Green Monster Smoothie, go ahead and try it.  You won't be disappointed.

Vegetarian Taco Soup

Are you ready for one of my most favorite, easy and low calorie recipes ever? One cold nights when you've been rushing around all day and don't have time to get a healthy meal on the table, don't worry. I have just the meal for you! Vegetarian Taco Soup. It's the bomb. Everyone in my family loves it, including my meat loving hubs. This recipe makes 9 servings (1 Cup per serving) and each serving is only 212 calories! I add fat free sour cream, fat free cheddar cheese and a few of my favorite tortilla chips and I'm still only at 377 calories. That's great for a wonderful filling dinner.

So, here's how to make this wonderful soup.  First, grab all your ingredient, meatless crumbles (I usually use the Boca Brand, but the Morning Star brand was on sale so I used that instead and it was great), corn, black beans, ranch style beans, enchilada sauce, chopped diced tomatoes (I use the petite diced tomatoes, but you could also use regular sized), rotel, ranch mix, cumin, chili powder (instead of the chili powder and cumin you could also use a packet of taco seasoning...I was just out of that).   Oh, one other thing, I use all mild options (rotel, enchilada sauce, but you could use any heat you want...I just have to feed four little boys and anything too hot isn't going to work).

Cook the crumbles, add the seasonings, add everything else, heat until it's nice and hot, and then put it in a bowl.

If you're feeling frisky pick up some of your favorite tortilla chips...mine are the Tia Rosa Megathin kind.  YUM.

Then add a dollop of sour cream, a little cheese and a few of the chips and enjoy!

Easy Vegetarian Taco Soup

Meatless Crumbles
Ranch Seasoning Packet
1 tablespoon Ground Cumin
1 tablespoon Chili Powder
1 Can Red Enchilada Sauce
1 Can Diced Tomatoes
1 Can Rotel
1 Can Corn, drained
1 Can Ranch Style Beans
1 Can Black Beans, drained and rinsed

Optional toppings:  tortilla chips, sour cream (fat free or low fat), and shredded cheese (low fat or fat free)

In a large pot cook meatless crumbles per package directions, add seasonings and combine.  Add the rest of the ingredients and heat on medium/high until bubbling and heated through.  Serve in a bowl with toppings.
 Again, 1 serving is 1 cup.  This should make 9 servings at 212 calories a cup.

3 Cheese Chicken Lasagna

Oh friends, do I have a recipe to share with you! My boys love just about anything with pasta and sauce, including lasagna. Now, I've never made lasagna before, but I felt inspired and decided to give it a go. I used a recipe from The Eat Clean Diet 2 as a guide line, but did it a little differently and so I feel like I can call this my own.

First, you take your chicken breast (I used skinless bone-in chicken breast because it had been reduced for quick sale at my grocery store and so it was super cheap, but you could totally use bone-less too) and you throw it in a baking dish.

Salt and pepper those little beauties and cook them in the oven until they're done (mine took about 45 minutes).

Get yourself a big old pot of water boiling (you want to start this process while the chicken is cooking because it takes forever for that much water to come to a boil).  You'll  cook some healthy whole wheat lasagna noodles in this mammoth amount of water until they're almost done, but not completely (I cooked mine for 6 minutes). 

Once your chicken is done shred or cut it into bite sized pieces and put in a bowl.

Get a jar of yummy marinara sauce (I use Newman's own because it's fairly cheap and there's no crazy stuff in it).

Spread about 1/4 of the marinara on the bottom of your greased 13x9 baking dish.

Oh, at some point you should have cooked up a whole bunch of spinach.  It will start out looking like this...

...by the end it will look like this...realize you have no garlic (how did I not have garlic?  I always have garlic!) and use some garlic powder on the spinach instead.

Once the spinach is cooked (it takes about 3 minutes), remove it from the pan and ring all the water out using a cheese cloth.  Then chop that green goodness up!

Mix the chopped spinach in with the chopped chicken.  You'll have a big bowl of chopped goodness.

Back to the dish with the marinara sitting patiently on the counter....layer some lasagna noodles on top of the marinara.

Then spread some low fat ricotta cheese on the there and sprinkle some low fat mozzarella cheese on top of that.  Mmmm....cheesey!  But wait, I said this was a three cheese lasagna!  Just hold your horses.  It's coming!

After the two cheese sprinkle some chicken/spinach combo on top of the cheese.

Then add some more marinara.

Then more noodles, then more cheese, then more chicken, then more marinara, then more noodles, then more cheese, then more marinara and you have a layered chicken, cheesey, noodley, marinara heaven.

Cover it and cook it in the oven for 60 minutes.  Take it out of the oven and uncover it.  Now you'll add the third cheese!  Sprinkle some grated Parmesan cheese on the top and cook for another 20 minutes.

Remove from the oven and enjoy!  My family devoured this.  It took a while to put together, but it was really very good.  So go ahead and give it a try and let me know what you think.  To be honest I have no idea exactly how healthy, or not, this is.  I used healthy options; whole wheat pasta, chicken breasts, low fat cheeses, spinach, etc, so I feel good about eating a portion of it.

Three Cheese Chicken and Spinach Lasagna

3 Skinless Chicken Breasts (they can also be boneless)
1 Tablespoon Olive Oil
8 ounces Fresh Spinach
1/2 teaspoon Garlic Powder
1 Box Whole Wheat Lasagna Noodles
1 Jar Marinara
16 ounces Low Fat Ricotta Cheese
1 Cup Reduced Fat Shredded Mozzarella Cheese
1/4 Cup Shredded Parmesan Cheese

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Trim fat from chicken and place in a baking dish.  Sprinkle with salt and pepper.  Cook until done, approximately 45 minutes.  Remove from dish and shred chicken.  While chicken is cooking bring a very large pot of water to boil.  Cook lasagna noodles until just under done, approximately 5-6 minutes.  Once noodles are cooked, remove from water and place in a single layer on paper towels to remove excess water.  In a large pan saute spinach and garlic powder in olive oil over medium heat until spinach is wilted, about 3 minutes.  Once spinach is cooked remove from pan and ring in a cheese cloth or paper towels to remove all water.  Chop spinach into small pieces and combine with shredded chicken.  Spray a 13x9 baking dish with non-stick spray.  Spread 1/4 of the marinara sauce all over the bottom of the dish.  Layer 1/3 of the lasagna noodles on the sauce.  Spread 1/3 of the ricotta on the noodles and sprinkle 1/3 of the mozzarella on top of that.  Top the cheese with 1/2 of the chicken/spinach mixture.  Spread 1/4 of the marinara on top of the chicken and repeat the layers, noodles, cheeses, chicken, marinara.  Top the marinara with last 1/3 of the noodles and then the last of the ricotta and mozzarella and then the last of the marinara.  Cover with foil and bake at 350 degrees for an hour.  Remove from oven and uncover.  Sprinkle the top with Parmesan cheese and place back in the oven for 20 more minutes.  Remove from oven and enjoy!

Easiest Vegetarian Tacos Ever!

So, this may be the easiest vegetarian taco recipe ever.  This mom of 4 is always looking for easy and quick recipes AND if I'm correct the taco filling that you're going to make has about 70 calories per serving. So, score!

First you take a bag of frozen meatless crumbles (I use the Boca brand), jar of black beans, and a container of Pico de Gallo (I like the fresh stuff from my local grocery store and you can use any heat you want depending on how hot you want it...my kids like mild  : )

See... here's the awesome Pico!

Toss the meatless crumbles in the pan and cook.  Then toss in the black beans and cook until they're heated through.

Then add the container of Pico and cook again until heated through.

Then if you're truly blessed stick the mixture in a freshly made wheat tortilla (my grocery store makes these in the store and they're fantastic!).

Roll it up with some fat free sour cream, lettuce and extra cilantro.  So stinkin' yummy!

Easiest Vegetarian Tacos Ever

1 Bag Frozen Meatless Crumbles
1 Can Black Beans, drained and rinsed
1 Container fresh Pico de Gallo (choose your spicy level)

Cook meatless crumbles according to package directions, add black beans and cook until heated through (about 2 minutes), add pico de gallo and cook until heated through (about another two minutes).
Serve with warm tortillas, fat free sour cream, lettuce, and chopped cilantro.

Makes 10 servings.

Weekly Weigh in... and Work with What You've got Hummus

Okay, let's just start with the depressing news. I had my weekly weigh in today and it was disappointing. 186.8 lbs. Yep, I was up 4 pounds. That sucks. I knew I'd be up, but I wasn't expecting it to be that much. I had a really inconsistent week, but I'm ready to move on.
Yesterday I wrote that I had learned things from this last week and that is really true. I learned that I definitely need a plan for my food and my workouts. When I don't have plan things just seem to fall apart. I don't have the food I need in the house and I don't make time to get to the gym (honestly, this past week I couldn't have worked out much because of my horrendous sunburn). So, my new goal is to plan a week of meals at a time and get everything I need. I'm also going to start planning out my workouts. For so long my workouts have been sporadic because I never knew when I'd have a car to get to the gym (my hubs and I share a car) or it was really hard to workout at home with the kids running around. Now that school is starting (on Monday) I'll have the car everyday so that I can take the kids to school and pick them up. So, I'll always be able to make it to the gym. And if one of the kids at home gets sick I can still workout when they take a nap. I'm feeling much more confident in my ability to hit the gym.
Today I saw this on Pinterest and it really started my thinking

Source: soon2befit.tumblr.com via Heather on Pinterest

I've had a rough week, but I'm not going to let it define my journey to lose weight and get healthy. I've fallen, but I'm pulling myself back up and getting right back in the game. 



I woke up really hungry this morning.  I made two eggs with a little bit of greek nonfat yogurt thrown in and two pieces of whole wheat toast with simply fruit blackberry jelly.  It was yummy, but honestly not filling.  I don't know why I was so hungry.  Definitely wished I had made my steel cut oats and saved the eggs for something else.

At lunch time I was starving.  I cooked up two veggie patties (they were only 90 cals each so not bad) and had them over spinach and arugula topped with goat cheese.  I had a side of cherries.  I also had some great new chips and my "work with what you've got" hummus.  Those are Doritos that you spy.  They're the new to me Rice Works Chips in Sweet Chili.  Oh my goodness they were so good!  The main ingredient is brown rice so that's pretty fantastic.  I was really wanting some hummus to go with them and I've got a pretty good hummus recipe.  I went to make it and discovered that I didn't have any tahini.  I was super bummed, but decided to see if I could come up with something on my own.  I looked around and saw that I had some Sesame Garlic Sass Dressing and I thought, "hey tahini is made from sesame seeds so maybe this will work!"  So here is my Work With What You've Got Hummus Recipe:  I used a can of chickpeas (drained), about 2 tablespoons liquid from chickpeas, about 3 tablespoons Sass Dressing, about a tablespoon olive oil, juice from a lemon, a minced garlic clove, and some salt.  It was a little thick after I put it through the food processor, so I added a little a little water until I got the consistency that I wanted.  Ummm yeah, I think I might like this hummus more than the other one that I make.  It was sooooo good with the chips.  If you have access to the Sass Dressing then definitely give it a try.

Tonight we had meet the teacher night at the boys' school.  They were so excited.  I don't really know anything about the teachers that they got, but they were very friendly and I'm looking forward to a great year.  It was late when we were done at the school so we headed to Taco Cabana for dinner.  I got the Chicken Street Tacos.  The nutritional info for these tacos isn't listed on the website, but the nutritional info for the regular chicken tacos is.  It was 210 calories.  I'm guessing it's about the same or maybe a little less because the street tacos are made with small corn tortillas and the regular tacos are made with big flour tortillas.  They only have chicken, lettuce, and tomato on them.  It was a pretty decent dinner.

Today was a little crazy because I was getting all the boys' school supplies together to take for tonight and I had mounds of laundry to catch up on.  So, I didn't get a workout in , but I've got one planned for tomorrow!

I'm really ready for the weekend.  I'm going to a girl's night tomorrow night and we're going to see The Help.  I'm super excited.  The book was fantastic and I've heard the movie is just as good.

Do you have anything fun planned for this weekend?

Back to the Gym! Finally! And a New Recipe!

Ahhhh...I finally made it back to the gym after almost a week of suffering from one of the worsts sunburns I've ever had. But I'll get to more about that in a minute.

Today started off pretty well. I had my steel cut oats with Raw Fiber, Ground Flaxseed, Non Fat Vanilla Yogurt, Unsweetened Vanilla Organic Almond Milk, and a big bunch of blueberries.  I am out of fresh blueberries, so I just tossed in some frozen ones.  Fantastic!

After breakfast I headed out with the kids to run errands.  We went to Sprouts and Costco.  About half way through Costco I started getting really really sleepy (not like me for it just to hit me in the middle of the store), my head started hurting really badly, and I started feeling like I'd be sick if I didn't get something to eat.  I've had migraine issues for a long time, but they've never come on like this so I don't know what it was.  We finished our shopping and headed to an all natural organic local burger place next to Costco.  I got a burger (seriously one the best burgers in town in my opinion), some sweet potato fries, and a large unsweetened green tea.  I ate about half the fries and the rest were eaten by one of my kids.  It wasn't the most healthy lunch, but it was the healthiest of what was around.
I got home still feeling the terrible headache and took some meds.  About 30 minutes later I was feeling much better so we headed to the gym.  I was soooooo glad to be back at the gym.  First I got on the treadmill to work on my Couch to 5k program.  I did the week 2 program again since I didn't really get to much of it last week.

I went a little faster this time and I went a little further (not a lot further .02 miles to be exact), but it's still further than I've ever gone before.  I'm almost at the 2 mile point!  I can't wait to hit that.  Hopefully next time.  There were two times when I had to walk an extra 30 seconds and at one point I kind of felt like I might puke, but it was worth it.  I am so glad I did it.
After the run I wasn't ready to go so I hopped on the bike.  I did a little over 4 miles in a little over 22 minutes.  By the end I was really feeling it in my legs (thanks to my run), so I went ahead and stopped instead of going the full 30 minutes.

After my workout I was really hungry so I grabbed a Lemon Zest Luna Bar.  Yummy and just what I needed.

We ran a few more errands (getting the boys ready to go back to school) and then came home and made dinner.  At Sprouts today they had Eggplants on sale for 99 cents a piece!  I was so sad that I was buying eggplant instead of pulling it out of my garden (my garden is in state of disaster thanks to the horrible drought we're having...I'm going to try again in the Fall), but at 99 cents I couldn't resist.  I decided to make Grilled Eggplant Parmesan.  Now, I've never actually had this dish, so I just kind of made up the recipe and what I thought should be in it.  It was a success!  Everyone loved it.  It was so easy and I can see this being made a lot in our home.  Here's my super easy recipe.  Enjoy!

Get your self an eggplant!

Slice it up, brush it with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper.

Throw it on the grill and wait 5 minutes.

Turn it over and wait 5 more minutes

Take it off the grill and put it on a baking sheet and top with some awesome tomato sauce

Top it with cheese and put it under a broiler to it's all melty and good.  Take it out and enjoy!

I had mine with a side salad topped with Calamata Feta Sass salad dressing.  It was sooooo yummy.  I love when I'm able to pick something up randomly at the store and come home and make something really good from it.  It does a lot for my wife/mommy ego : )

Grilled Eggplant Parmesan
1 Eggplant (there are two in the picture, but I only ended up using one)
Tomato Sauce (I used Muir Glen Organic Fire Roasted Tomato Sauce....my favorite)
Shredded Parmesan Cheese
Shredded Low Fat Mozzarella Cheese
Olive Oil (enough to brush the eggplant slices)
Salt and Pepper to taste

First get an Eggplant.  Slice it into discs about 1/2 an inch thick.  Brush each piece with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper.  Turn your grill onto medium (my thermometer on the grill read 300 degrees).  Grill each side of the eggplant for about 5 minutes per side.  Remove from grill and set on a baking sheet.  Top with about a tablespoon of Tomato Sauce.  Sprinkle with Parmesan and Mozzarella Cheese.  Place in the oven under the broiler until cheese is melted (it took about 4 minutes).  Remove from oven and enjoy!

On a side note, tomorrow is weigh in day and I'm dreading it.  After the past week of no exercise and awful eating I know it's going to be bad.  The only good part is that it's been a great learning experience for me.  I'll post more about that tomorrow.

Making Up for a Bad Morning

Man, mornings are just crazy around here. Somehow we always oversleep and end up running late. This morning was no different. The hubster woke up and said, "I've got a meeting at work in 23 minutes." Great, how were we going to get six people ready and in the car and get him to work on time? Add to that the hubs was starving and didn't feel like he had time to eat anything at home and you've got a problem on your hands. He headed straight to McDonalds. I should have let him order, watched him eat it, and then come home and eaten a healthy breakfast, but I didn't. I told him I'd take a bacon, egg, and cheese biscuit. And throw in a Dr. Pepper while you're at it. Yeah, not a good start to my day.

However, I realized that I made a mistake and moved on, spending the rest of the making good decisions. After the crappy start I was really feeling the need for some fruits/veggies at lunch. So, I made a juice with a green apple, red apple, spinach, blueberries, and a carrot. I also added Raw Green Super Food Powder and Tri-Cleanse Powder.

I felt much better after I drank this.  Oh, do you like my new nail polish?  I'm digging it, but my husband says it makes my nails look like M&Ms.  Hmmm....not sure what I think about that.

I'm supposed to start the New Rules of Lifting Group over at Prior Fat Girl.  I read the book and I have to say I really like it.  The guy who wrote it doesn't try to sugar coat anything.  He tells the truth and has a good sense of humor.  There are a couple of things in it that are a little difficult to follow (like way he explains the schedule is a little difficult to understand, but I think I've got it).  Overall it's a good book. 

Today I went to the gym with every intention of starting the program.  When I got there and saw the massive crowd of guys in the weight section I chickened out.  We went to the gym a little later than normal and it really busy.  I just wasn't up for attempting a new workout that I'm nervous about trying in front of a bunch of guys.  I was especially nervous about this move:

Yikes!!  I actually came home and practiced on my ball and I think I've got it.  So I should be ready.

Instead of doing the lifting program I did my Couch to 5K program.  I'm on Day 1 of Week 2.  It was tough!  There were two walking segments that I had to extend 30 seconds because I just couldn't start running again.  However, I did it and at the end I did my best distance yet!  A week ago I did 1.76 miles and today I did 1.95.  That's a great improvement.  I can't wait to see where I go from here. 

Because I didn't get the lifting workout in today I am going to go back early tomorrow morning and do it (hopefully it won't be crazy busy...if it is I'm just going to have to do it anyway).

I was still trying to get over the junk I ate for breakfast this morning when we had dinner.  I made a great salad and everyone loved it.  We had a mixture of baby spinach and baby arugula topped with carrots, goat cheese, avocado, sauteed yellow and red peppers and red onion, cooked chicken (I just cooked in a pan on the stove) and drizzled in olive oil and balsamic vinegar.  It was fantastic.

So, despite the awful morning I feel really good about today.  The majority of my food choices were really good and I got in a good run.  Here's to hoping I don't completely chicken out at the gym doing some new moves in the morning.

Celebrating Tuesday with a big taco!

Let's celebrate, it's Tuesday!! What? You don't celebrate Tuesday? C'mon, you've got to celebrate. You've made it to enjoy another day. Okay, I don't really celebrate Tuesday either, but I just thought I'd be funny for a minute. : )
This morning for breakfast I enjoyed some more steel cut oats. I may have found a new breakfast obsession. This time I added the vanilla yogurt, almonds, and some ground flax seed. One of the great things about the vanilla yogurt is that you don't need to add any extra sweetener to the oatmeal if you use it. Yum!

While enjoying my steel cut oats I was browsing Pinterest...

Where I found this....

Source: soon2befit.tumblr.com via Heather on Pinterest

I love it!  I thought about it lots today while I was at the gym running my tail off on the treadmill.  Here's today's workout for the Couch to 5K program.  No, it's still not going to set any records, but it's better than I did yesterday and that's all I can ask of myself.  Oh, and I think I sweated more today than I ever have.  Seriously, it was dripping everywhere.  Disgusting and awesome and beautiful all the same time.  I think I'm going to need to get a Bondi Band.

After running in the gym I went outside to my car and continued sweating my tail off thanks to 105 degree heat.  See, here I am all nice and red faced in the car with the a/c going full blast.  I'm so looking forward to the Fall and winter when I can run outside in the cool weather.

After working out I came home and made a super yummy lunch. Apples, carrots and a Boca Flame Grilled Burger topped with homemade guacamole.  Normally when I make guacamole I use avocado, pico de gallo, lime, and cumin, but I was out of some of that today so I made up a new recipe.  I added about 2 tablespoons of nonfat greek yogurt to one avocado to make it a little more creamy.  I didn't have any pico de gallo on hand, but I did have some red onions and some sweet onions so I chopped a few tablespoons of those up and threw them in the mix as well.  Then I added a pinch of garlic salt and the juice of half a lime.  It was really good (not as good as if I had pico in it), but still really good for working with what I had on hand.
Oh, did you see that I'm reading The Help?  I started it last night and I'm already through Chapter 4.  It is so good!!!!  I hope the movie will live up to the book.

For dinner we met some friends at Chipotle to celebrate Tuesday! Hee hee!  I got a single taco with rice, chicken, pico de gallo (!!), guacamole (because you can never get enough), and lettuce.  It was so good!  One was the perfect amount.  I left completely satisfied, but not stuffed.  I used to order the huge burrito stuffed with all that I had on my taco, plus sour cream and cheese.  You know what?  I didn't even miss the sour cream and cheese on my taco AND it was about 1/3 the size of the burrito.  More little things adding up to make a difference in my weight!

It was still a pretty big taco and I could barely fit it in my mouth! I ended up eating about half of it with a fork.

Here's the hubster scarfing down his mondo carnitas burrito! He enjoyed it immensely : )

So, we celebrated Tuesday this week?  Are you celebrating anything?