21 Day Fix Stuffed Peppers - Revisited

This is probably the fourth or fifth time I've redone my Stuffed Pepper recipe. My version 11 months ago included ground beef and I had estimated the Portion Control. This time I measured every ingredient in order to have the proper container count. I actually double this recipe so I can have 5 sets of 4 peppers - I freeze them in groups of four to defrost and bake later. They are delicious, but a little time consuming to make. If I can make a big batch over a weekend than I have meals ready to go. 

Stuffed Peppers

Ingredients

Note - when making stuffed peppers - you *must* boil the peppers to soften them up. Otherwise the peppers don't cook thoroughly and still have a little crunch to them.

• 10 bell peppers of your color choice
• 20 ounces pound lean ground turkey or beef 
• 1 onion (about a 1 cup diced)
• 1/2 diced pepper
• 1.5 cups of brown rice, cooked just shy of done
• 1 (15 ounce) can of Black Beans, drained/rinsed
• 1-2 cups of Corn, drained/rinsed if canned, I prefer frozen
• 1 (15 ounce) can of petite diced tomatoes 
• 1 (15 ounce) can of tomato sauce 
• 1.5 cups of your favorite shredded cheese
• Spices - Chili Powder, Paprika, Cumin, Garlic, Salt, Pepper, ect.  

Directions

1. Cut the caps of the peppers and clean out. Pre-cook the peppers by placing in boiling water for 5-10 minutes. 
2. Cook brown rice, or quinoa according to directions, just shy of done because the rice will continue cooking when the stuffed pepper is cooked. 
3. Brown ground meat and season with chili powder (1 tbsp), and 1 tsp each: paprika, cumin, and garlic. Set aside to cool.
4. Drain and rinse black beans. If using canned corn, drain and rinse also. Drain the tomatoes. 
5. Combine in large bowl: meat, tomatoes, corn, rice/quinoa, beans, sauce, and cheese. Season as needed. 
6. Stuff peppers with filling. (About 1-cup per pepper). 
7. Bake at 375 Fahrenheit for 40-45 minutes. 
8. If frozen - defrost 24 hours. 

Each Pepper counts as 1.5 Greens, 1/2 Red, 1 Yellow, and 1/2 Blue.

For lunch, this is perfect. For dinner it's a little light. However, we've been eating egg sandwiches before bed in order to get in extra Red & Yellows and fuel our body before sleep.

Crockpot Zucchini Chicken Parmesan

During the Holiday season, I try to cook as little as possible. I want to leave all my kitchen time for making cookies. That I might not make this year. It's hard for me to avoid eating the cookies. And everyone loved the rainbow sprinkle cookie and I need to find like 7 pounds of sprinkles.

So a new crockpot dish I recently discovered is this one. And it's delicious. It came out a little more like a soup, but it works really well in the crockpot, sans the cooking of the noodles in a separate pot. It's also 21 Day Fix Friendly! 

Crockpot Zucchini Chicken Parmesan

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 pounds (about 4) chicken breasts, cut into cubes
• 1 small onion, diced
• 2 large zucchini, diced
• 1 green pepper, diced
• 4 cloves of garlic, pressed
• 1 teaspoon onion powder
• 1 teaspoon salt (or to taste)
• 2 tablespoon Italian seasoning
• 2 tablespoon oregano seasoning
• 15 ounces cups pasta or pizza sauce (or tomato sauce)

For after cooking:

• 24-30 ounces marinara sauce
• 16-ounce box of pasta (I used Mezzi Rigatoni), cooked to al dente
• 1 cup low fat shredded cheese (mozzarella or Parmesan)

Instructions:

1. Spray your slow cooker with non-stick spray. Line your crockpot with a crockpot liner. Combine first 10 ingredients and stir to combine.
2. Cover and cook on high for about 3-4 hours or low for about 6-8 (or until chicken is cooked through). 
3. In the last 30 minutes of cooking, add cooked pasta, marinara sauce, cheese and stir well.
4. Split into 6 servings. I added some extra cheese.

21 Day Fix Count: 1 Red, 2 Green, 1.5 Yellows, and 0.5 Blue

Notes: 

Get crockpot liners. They are lifesavers. They are made with a special heat resistant material that holds in even the heartiest ingredients without breaking or puncturing. -Reynolds. And they aren't kidding. And when you are done, you throw away the liner. And then your crockpot requires a quick scrub, no overnight or two-day soaking. They are perfect for potlucks. Tip - I still spray the inside of my crockpot with non-stick spray before putting down the liner. Just in case. 

Use whole wheat noodles instead of white. Any type of pasta would work. I liked the larger noodles. You won't be able to tell the noodle color once the pasta cooks in. 

Add extra veggies if you want. Mushrooms are great, or another pepper. Adjust the 21DF count accordingly. 

Turkey Meatloaf - 21 Day Fix - Revisited

Updated 11/4 - I first made this in January and it has turned into one of my favorite recipes. I even started making it in the crockpot. I added a few new steps in order to keep it from falling apart. 
This is also one of my most viewed recipes - so welcome to my page! I hope you enjoy this quick healthy recipe as much as I do. 

I originally got this recipe from the Team Beachbody website. Each recipe tells you how they "count" for each program you might be doing. This recipe for Turkey Meatloaf is loaded full of veggies and uses ground turkey instead of ground beef. And it is delicious. Even though it looks suspicious AND the first one fell apart. But, it is good and I would recommend it.

Turkey Meatloaf 

Yield: 10 servings
21 Day Fix - 1 Red, 1 Green

Ingredients: 

• 2.5 lbs. raw 93% lean ground turkey breast 
• 3 large eggs, slightly beaten 
• 1 medium onion, chopped in food processor
• 2 medium celery stalks, chopped in food processor
• 1 medium green (or any color) bell pepper, chopped in food processor
• 1 cup old­fashioned rolled oats 
• 1 (14.5­oz.) can petite diced tomatoes (drained)
• ½ tsp. sea salt
• ½ tsp. ground black pepper 
• dashes of other spices - garlic powder, paprika, chili powder, oregeno
• 1 cup all­ natural marinara sauce, no sugar added 

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350° F. (or see Crockpot instructions note below)
2. Chop everything really fine. In the picture above, things are not chopped with a food processor, and the meat loaf fell apart. I now use the food processor in order to chop everything into the smallest pieces possibly. However, this could result in extra "juice", so squeeze out the juice before adding the ingredient to the meatloaf mixture. 
3. Combine turkey, eggs, onion, celery, pepper, oats, tomatoes, salt, pepper, and spices in a large bowl; mix well with clean hands or a rubber spatula. 
4. Line two 9x5 inch loaf pans with parchment paper. Spray the paper lightly with non-stick spray. Divide the meatloaf mixture between the two pans.  Bake for 45 minutes; spread marinara sauce evenly on top of both loaves. Bake an additional 10 to 15 minutes or until cooked through.

Crockpot Directions:

1. Spray a large crockpot with non-stick spray. 
2. Line the crockpot with foil and spray with non-stick spray. 
3. Place the meatloaf mixture inside the foil. 
4. Turn crockpot on. Walk away. 
5. Come back! About 1-hour before done, spread the marinara sauce over the meatloaf. 
6. When done, cooked to an internal appropriate temperature, dish out. I haven't perfected how to *get* the entire meatloaf out of the crockpot. Expect another update when I do! 
7. It turned out super moist and very favorful. 

Leftover meatloaf is even better than the first day! I either heat it in the toaster oven or a skillet in order to give it a little more "crust". Every once in a while, I add an over-medium egg because I need more protein. 

Meatloaf Royale

Healthy Chicken Strips - 21 Day Fix

44 Chicken Strips

Healthy Chicken Strips. That are delicious? It can be done. My favorite part of these is that they are great to pre-make and freeze for the future. And I love the avocado dipping sauce.

This recipe makes 15 servings of 3 chicken strips each. You can halve the recipe to make a smaller amount. The recipe is pretty forgiving and doesn't need to be precise.

Ingredients

• 2 Pounds chicken strips (approximately 45 strips)
• 2-3 cups unsweetened almond milk (I used vanilla, and I like it.)
• 2-3 eggs (Use 1 egg per 1 cup of milk.)
• 1 cup of Parmesan cheese
• 2.5 cups of whole wheat panko, divided into 1 cup and 1.5 cups
• 1 cup of whole wheat flour
• 3 tsp garlic powder
• 2 tsp paprika
• 2 tsp oregano



Breading Station

• salt & pepper

Directions

1. Wisk together the almond milk, eggs, and a few dashes of pepper. Soak chicken strips in mixture. (I used a very large bowl to place all the strips into.)
2. In a food processor, combine the Parmesan cheese, 1 cup of panko bread crumbs, flour, and seasonings. Blend well (up to 1 minute). Add in the remaining 1.5 cups of panko and pulse 2-3 times. (This leaves some of the panko in larger pieces.)
3. Prepare for breading - take one strip from wet mix, place in dry coating, coat, place on parchment lined cookie sheet. 
4. Use parchment paper in between layer of strips - I had three layers. 
5. Place cookie tray in freezer and freeze until solid, approximately 6 or more hours.

To Cook: Cook from frozen. Line a baking sheet with parchment or foil (spray the foil with cooking spray), place strips in a single layer, cook at 425 degrees for 25-30 minutes. (PSA - Don't eat under cooked chicken or you'll get sick.)

A serving size is 3 strips - for 1 Red, 1/2 Blue, and 1/2 Yellow. The 3 strips will fill you up too, if you eat it with veggies or a salad. 

Avocado Sauce

• 1 ripe avocado
• 8 ounces or 1 cup of Greek Yogurt
• 1/2 cup salsa
• 1 tsp Lemon Juice
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1 tsp Salt
• 1 tsp Pepper

Place all ingredients in the food processor and blend until smooth. Makes approximately 2 cups of sauce. Approximately 1/4 cup of sauce counts as 1/2 Blue (the avocado) and 1/2 red (the Greek yogurt.) The salsa is negligible.


Helpful Tips

I recommend using your food processor for both the dry coating and making the avocado dipping sauce. It's my favorite kitchen gadget, next to the Mix n Chop. 

Set up your work space correctly so you make as little mess as possible. Keep one hand wet (or I used tongs) and keep one dry hand. I even wore a glove when touching the chicken so the coating wouldn't stick to my fingers. 

Cost: The chicken strips are the most expensive, I spent $18 on 2.88 pounds at Sam's Club. I set aside 10 strips to grill/cook later and used just over 2 pounds (44 strips) to make the chicken strips. I had a little coating left over that would have given me 2-3 more strips. I estimate buying the almond milk, eggs, cheese, panko, the avocado sauce ingredients, you'll spend less than $25 to make this bulk product. 

Dear #CardinalsNation

What now? What do we do? 

A lot of people are going to bed confused. Lost. Hurt. These feelings of irritability and hopelessness are invading our bodies. Trying to figure out what went wrong. What happened? 

And that's it. Just like that, baseball season is over for St. Louis. At least until next year. Only 129 days until Pitchers and Catchers report. 

I'm not sure it's ever been over this early. Or at least not in the past few years. This year the Cardinals overcame injury after injury and were the NUMBER ONE team of the entire MLB. Number 1 out of 30 teams. After playing 162 games. What an amazing record! 

They can boast 11 World Series Titles. Second only to the Yankees. And the Cardinals have only played in 19 World Series. (The Yankees are 27 for 40.)

So what now? I came up with a list of healhy things to do while we wait for our beloved team to grace the field in 2016. 

1) Watch Hockey. St. Louis still Bleeds Blue. You can check out their schedule here. They have four games this week! I was vaguely aware they started playing last Thursday.  

2) Sleep. Remember when the Cardinals would be playing those post season games and they wouldn't start until 9 freaking PM? No more staying up until midnight trying to catch the 9th inning. Go to bed at a decent time! 

3) Enjoy the outdoors. On the opposite note, these 3pm and 5pm games are really cutting into Liam's outdoor time after work. Sorry Liam, you have to watch Elmo in Grouchland, again, instead of playing outside because Mommy is watching baseball. But not tomorrow! Tomorrow after work we can go outside. At least for the next two weeks -- until Daylight Savings Time takes that away from us. (P.S. That's November 1st.) 

4) Work out. I no longer need to juggle a live baseball game with my evening workout schedule. 7:15pm Work Outs, you're back on the schedule! 

5) Concentrate on Work. I lost a good 15 minutes today following the game and trying to bring it up on my iPad via the Uverse app. Since there's nothing left to follow, I don't have to worry about early game times, losing sleeping over late game times, or wasting time during work hours following the game. I will be a much more efficient employee. I'm sure my boss will be happy to see another stack of reports on his desk. 

6) All the St. Louis people studying for the PE and EIT don't have to worry about post season games interfering with their studying time. They will have more time to devote to studying! 

I'm sure are more. But for the rest of October and beginning of November, instead of my blood pressure fluctuating like it has been, I plan to:

• Focus on Work
• Sleep More
• Focus on the work outs
• Enjoy the Fall with my amazing husband and wonderful Son. 

21 Day Fix - Mozzarella Chicken Florentine

This was one of those meals where I realized I had a lot of leftover spinach that I was not going to manage to eat before it went bad. So what do to... what do to... I have some chicken... what else?

So I threw together this concoction. 

• Chicken
• Spinach like Pesto
• Roma Tomatoes
• Mozzarella Cheese
• Garlic/Salt/Pepper/EVOO

Those are your main ingredients. I had chicken tenders, but you can use 4-ounce boneless skinless breasts and cut them in half (so they are thinner) and/or pound it out a little. 

I had 4 cups of spinach and I put it in the food processor with some pressed garlic, a tablespoon of EVOO, and some salt and pepper. I had to get flavor into this dish. 

I sliced my Roma Tomatoes using the Mandolin.

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 F. 
2. Grease two 9x13 pans with spray EVOO
3. In each pan, arrange 9 chicken strips in groups of three. See the picture for the spacing - this will help them quick more evenly. Salt and pepper the chicken! 
4. Spoon the 2 tablespoons of the Spinach "Pesto" over the chicken and spread it out. 
5. Layer 3-4 tomato slices over the Spinach Pesto (half a tomato)
6. Sprinkle mozzarella cheese over the tomatoes. I did 1 full blue container. It was *way* too much, I recommend 1/2 blue container. 
7. Bake in the oven for ~30 minutes. 

This counts as 1 Red, 1 Green, ~2 tsps, and 1/2 Blue (unless you used more.). 

21 Day Fix Turkey Chili

Just in time for fall weather, chili!! I already have a great turkey chili recipe but decided to try the one listed in the FixAte cookbook, which is full of 21 Day Fix approved recipes. I love the recipes, they are all pretty basic and easy to make, and the container values are listed. I added a few extra things and doubled the recipe. This is one of my new favorite chili recipes! 

21 Day Fix Turkey Chili
Ingredients & Directions (because it's Chili, it's *not* that hard)

• 2-3 lb cooked 93% lean ground turkey breast (or lean grass-fed ground beef)
• (I add chili powder, cumin, and paprika to my turkey while it's cooking.) 

Saute the following ingredients ~10 minutes: 

• 2 tsp extra virgin organic coconut oil, melted
• 1 large or 2 small onion, chopped
• 1 medium green bell pepper, chopped
• 1 medium red bell pepper, chopped
• 1 jalapeno pepper, diced (optional)
• 4 cloves garlic, finely chopped or crushed

Then add:

• 4 cans (15 oz each) kidney beans (or pinto beans) drained, rinsed
• 4 can (15 oz) fire roasted tomatoes, no salt added if available
• 2 cups red wine (I choose red cooking wine)
• 1 Tbsp ground chili powder
• 2 tsp ground cumin
• 2 tsp ground paprika
• 1/2 tsp sea salt (or Himalayan salt)
• 2 tsp crushed red pepper
• Cooked ground turkey

Bring it to a boil and let simmer around 30 minutes on low.
2 cups of this chili counts as 1 green, 1 red, and 1 yellow.


It is very filling, and my version is very spicy. If you can't handle the spice, cut out the jalapeno and cut back on the cumin.

My favorite is to serve it over 1/2 a baked potato.
My son loves to eat the pinto beans with cheese and elbow macaroni.

The FixAte cookbook has been one of my favorite new tools to help me sustain the 21 Day Fix lifestyle. Autumn Calabrese has created some amazing recipes that you will actually want to make! Just like the rest of the 21 Day Fix plan, preparation is the number one key to succeeding with this plan. 

Autumn gives us her 4 ingredients to maintaining a healthy lifestyle:

1. Enjoy the foods you eat, 
2. Have a fitness routing you can commit to, 
3. Eat foods that are highly nutritious, and
4. Know how much of it to eat. 

These four easy steps is how I've managed to lose the weight I have. And it's why I keep making some of the same recipes over and over again, I love the foods I love.

Sleeping Baby Beauty - a follow up

So it's been five months since we visited The Sleep Lady of St. Louis. We've even traveled during that time and have had babysitters. So how's it going?

AMAZING

I still can't believe how wonderful it's been these past five months. Liam has a structured bedtime routine and usually goes to bed easily. He has started to sleep with a pillow. And two blankets, and two books, and sometimes a couple animals. And a little car. Or a duck. He's starting to hoard.

When we were in Florida a month ago, we kept his bedtime at 7:15 PM CST. (So 8:15 in Florida.) That made a difference and he slept until 7am most mornings. He took decent naps too - usually from noon to three because we would spend the morning at the beach wearing him out. He got in plenty of pool time too.

We had a few hiccups with sleeping later into the morning. He started waking at 4AM and refused to go back to bed. It took a few weeks of sleep training the mornings and I'm happy to report that he's back to sleeping 7:30PM to 6:00AM+. Sometimes on the weekends we can get him to sleep until 7:30AM!

Lately Liam has been throwing some tantrums. The terrible twos. Being with him 24/7 during vacation for 12 straight days was sometimes difficult on my patience. Even coming back and getting back into our daily routine was rough. I was very happy to be back at work and away from the Little Man. I love him, but he pushed all my buttons. He was not however happy to be back at daycare. There were lots of tears and tantrums at drop off.

My parents took Liam for four days in July. Mom picked him up on Thursday evening, they headed to the Lake for the weekend, and then dropped him off Monday. It was a wonderful quiet weekend without him. I felt a little guilty. I had warned my mom that he'd been a little stinker. When they came to drop him off and visit a little, at one point Liam went to the back door and starting crying about going outside to blow bubbles. Mom shared with me that over the four days he never threw a tantrum like that. Oh, great, it's just me.

I had spent some time over that weekend reading about handling Liam. And how to manage my feelings and his feelings. I know it's a lack of being able to communicate with us. My parents also took Liam a few weekends later. While it sounds like I might be pawning my child off, it's really a timing thing. My mom is a teacher and didn't have classes this summer, and those two weekends were the only ones that worked this summer.

Dealing with Liam - I count to 10. It's more for the comical purpose. He doesn't always like counting to 10 with me. But when I finish counting to 10, he claps and cheers. So even though he's crying (fake tears), he'll turn it off to clap and cheer for me.

We recently had our first "stitches" incident. Liam fell at the zoo and gashed his knee open pretty good. We visited the First Aid station who pointed out the severity of the cut and that it was pretty wide, not so much deep. The First Aid guy recommend we visit the doctor to get some liquid stitches. We spent another hour at the zoo, Liam then took an almost four nap, and we headed to urgent care. They did a great job. Finished cleaning it, put liquid stitch in it, little sticky bandaids and a big bandaid. We kept it covered and dry for a week. He had to take a couple quick showers instead of baths. But it's looking really great. We're on day 12 now. He'll probably have a scar. Probably the first of many.

He has been moved to the 2-year old room at daycare. It's a new room, new toys, new things to learn. And when he actually turns two (one week), we get a discount! Finally! It's $195/week for a 2yo vs $240/week for an Infant/Mobile/Toddler. He officially turns two on September 3rd! I can't believe it's been two years already. 

Are you better off now than you were one year ago?

I've been watching Parks and Recreation with Jason. It's a great show. One of the episodes has the main character asking her town if they are better off now than you were one year ago. I realize this is a campaign question used frequently about the past four years. But thinking about that is as bad as being asked in an interview "Where do you see yourself in five years?"

This episode came up at a perfect time - I'm about to hit my one year anniversary at my job. So my past year has changed a lot. 

A year ago I was on vacation. I'm also currently on vacation. :) 

This is my current view (minus the Liam - he's napping right now.) 

Am I better off now than I was one year ago? Yes. And it's mostly because I am working. This vacation has made me very grateful of being able to send Liam to daycare and my ability to work at a job I love. Mostly love, like 90% of the time I love it. The other 10% is due to Monday mornings and lack of naps. I'm still grateful of the time I was able to be home with Liam, and that I didn't have to rush to get back to work and earn income. This vacation I'm on has me even more grateful that I when I go back home I can return to work. And I know in a year I'll be able to take another vacation. 

This past year has had a lot of changes. Jason and I had to learn how to be working parents. How to juggle Liam and daycare drop off/pick ups when one of us had a longer day, was out of town, or was sick (usually me.) We also had to juggle if Liam was sick. Parenting = juggling. 

Going to Time for Dinner has made a huge difference, along with meal planning, and creating a shopping list every. single. time. I had to adjust how to do meals since I don't get home until 5pm. We had to adjust with Liam and his bedtime and bathtime. We've had to adjust our laundry doing, folding clothes, everything. 

Liam has been sleeping and napping like a champ, even on vacation! I'm very grateful we visited the Sleep Lady. I can't imagine how crazy this vacation would have been without the proper bedtime routine.

I wrote the above a few days ago while on vacation. 

And now I'm back to our normal routine. I'm grateful for daycare and my job. And a freezer full of food. Liam is back in routine and eating normally, including decent food (not just white bread and applesauce pouches.)

I don't know if I'm better off, but I feel like I'm in a better place than I was one year ago. I've excelled at work, I enjoy my work, I wasn't even dreading going back to work. That's a huge difference than most people who return to work after vacation.

Liam has grown so much -- and learned a lot -- I'm always amazed at what Daycare teaches him. He amazes us which what he knows. While we were at Animal Kingdom we learned that he knows what a Gorilla says! And he's repeating any word we ask. He tries at least. He's an amazing little human.

So here's to the next 365 days. Oh, 366! I hope in one year I can say that I am better than I was a year ago. 

Turkey Tacos - 21 Day Fix Approved

This comes a little late for Cinco de Mayo, and we actually had them the week before that. I am pretty apathetic for most "holidays" that revolve around food. We actually had leftover steak & salmon, sweet potatoes, and green veggies on the 5th. We had spent the week before eating tacos, so eh, why again? 

Other holidays I don't care about making it all about the meal - Valentine's Day, Mother's Day, New Year Eve, Memorial/4th of July/Labor Day BBQs, I can take them or leave them. 

Holidays that should be about the meal - Easter, Thanksgiving, Christmas, my Birthday. 

I found this recipe for Turkey Taco's from Skinny Taste. The website has been around for a couple years and she has some amazing recipes. I really like this taco recipe because it calls for tomato sauce to help thicken the meat a little. I edited the recipe a little. I buy ground Turkey in bulk at Sam's Club and it comes in a 2-pack of 2.5 pounds each. 

Also, we bought the "made from TV" Taco Bowl makers. It seems silly, but it actually works well. It's not the crispy fried ones we get at the Mexican recipe, but it works well and satisfies the craving for Tacos and taco salads and the tortilla. There are other ways to dress these -- using lettuce is a big one to avoid the carb of a shell. You can use corn tortillas too. Or just skip both and make a Taco Salad. 

Turkey Tacos

Ingredients:

• 2.5 lbs 99% lean ground turkey
• 2 tsp garlic powder
• 2 tsp cumin
• 2 tsp salt
• 2 tsp chili powder
• 2 tsp paprika
• 1 tsp oregano
• 1 small onion, minced
• 1 small bell pepper, minced
• 8 oz can tomato sauce
• water - 1/2 cup - optional

Directions:

1. Brown turkey in a large skillet breaking it into smaller pieces as it cooks. When no longer pink, drain, and place back on heat. 
2. Add the minced onion, pepper, and dry seasonings. Cook additional 10 minutes. 
3. Add the tomato sauce and let simmer. If it's too thick, add some water, up to 1/2 cup. 

Measure out a red container to count as 1 protein. We (measured and) added refried beans, shredded lettuce, tomatoes, cheese, and either sour cream or greek yogurt to top them. I can't wait to have these on the menu again! 

How The Sleep Lady of St. Louis saved my life.....

Still fast asleep at 6 AM (April 1)

When Liam stopped sleeping through the night (STTN) near the end of February, my life kinda ended. His lack of sleep, and his middle of the night (MOTN) wakings were affecting my eating habits, work out habits, sleep, my health, my marriage, my sanity, and my job.

We dealt with some horrible nights for about a month. I was very sleep deprived and could barely function. I was a Mombie -- a Zombie Mom. 

Liam's bedtime had shifted to 8pm sometime after his first birthday (it'd been 7 before that.) Probably about the time he weened himself. He'd been STTN for over a month, I'm not sure when he started, but he'd wake by himself around 5:45-6:00am or some mornings we'd have to go wake him. But all of the sudden something shifted. It would only take 5-10 minutes of rocking to go to sleep, but he'd start waking every 2 hours. And he wouldn't want to go back into his crib. He'd want to be held. Or get out of the nursery. Sometimes he needed a drink or a snack. Or we'd watch TV. And he was waking at 5:30 and he'd be up until his first nap. Sleeping in the nursery recliner with a hot potato, or squirmy monkey, was not good for either Mom or Dad. Mostly Dad. Liam didn't want me most of the time and I didn't have the patience to put up with what he wanted to do. I wanted him to go back in his crib and sleep. He wanted to watch TV or look for Monday. Or Dad. 

My friend suggested we go to a Sleep Therapist. The initial thought was what? I've googled it, it's just a sleep regression, probably from a growth spurt. Then I did some more research, and came to the conclusion that "SLEEP REGRESSION" is just a term some parent made up to make themselves feel better about their kid not sleeping. Dad was really skeptical. But if our insurance covered it (sans a $75 Specialist Fee), I was ready to do anything. If it cost us $500 to get the kid sleeping again, I'd pay it. 

So on a Tuesday morning I managed to snag an appointment with Nancy Birkenmeier, BSN, RN for the SAME WEEK! She normally has a one-two month waiting period. And when someone cancels they start calling people to bump them up. No one wanted this Friday 2pm appointment. It was like God really was looking out for me. 

That same week I got ill. A nasty stomach bug infected my body. For four days! I missed three days of work. Including the Friday our appointment fell on. I was very zombie-like Friday for our appointment, and it wasn't sleep deprivation, it was the stomach bug. I have never had the stomach bug that bad. I blame the sleep deprivation for making it worse. 

Friday night, April 3

We met with Nancy on Friday March 27. We were given a Two-Step plan to last approximately 2-weeks. She listens (and probably totally judges you) on your child's bedtime routine, his sleep habits, the amount he's sleeping, how he falls asleep (rocking/car ride), and you decide what you want most. Our main priority was to get Liam STTN. But in order to do that, we had to start with getting him to fall asleep on his own - no more rocking.  

Nancy has different Steps geared to different ages and different sleep problems. She has up to a 12-step program. We were going to do a modified cry it out (CIO) method. She said he'd probably cry for 45-50 minutes the first night, 15 minutes the second night, and be fine after that. 

We started Sleep Training on Sunday night, March 29. I had to leave the house for two hours before bedtime began, and couldn't return until Liam was asleep - or we had reached the maximum CIO time of 90 minutes. Jason started bedtime at 8:19 and by 9:04 Liam was asleep. I stayed at Lola's watching the Walking Dead (my first time) until it was over. Thanks Lola! Hooked on this show now!

Night two - I had to leave the house an hour before bedtime. And Liam only cried for 10 minutes when Jason put him down! The third night I only had to be out of sight for 45 minutes before bedtime. Liam cried for half a second when he was put down. The rest of the week went amazing! And every night Liam STTN! We also were bumping up his bedtime, one of the goals was to move his bedtime up to 7:15.

Tuesday April 7 - Still asleep at 6 AM!

Originally Liam was schedule to spend three nights at Grandma's since my mom had Maundy Thursday and Good Friday off. Nancy said he could only go for one night. She promised it wouldn't mess up the sleep training we had already done. So my mom picked up Liam on Thursday evening and he went to Grandma and Grandpa's. He went willingly to bed at 8:30pm and slept until 8am! He's never done that, usually my mom has to sleep in the same bed with him to get him to sleep and stay asleep. Mom said he woke around 1AM and just needed his blanket. So that was amazing! Mom and dad brought him back over Friday evening and we got Liam to bed a little late, around 8pm. But he went to bed easily and STTN! It was glorious!

We've had so many peaceful nights sleep! He's been STTN except for Sunday night this past week. He woke three times, Dad did a quick 20-second visit to reassure him it was ok, it was still bedtime, and he went back to bed easily. We've mastered naptimes at home too - he cries a few extra seconds, but he goes down easily. He's always been a good napper at daycare. His teachers say he's the leader of the pack with napping. And now that he's well rested, he's napping longer at daycare.

I feel like a new woman! I feel like I have my life back. I'm able to work out and concentrate on the things that matter -- like catching up with the DVR. I hope that it keeps up, the past 10 days have been amazing.

If you're interested in making an appointment with Nancy Birkenmeier, she currently practices out of St. Lukes Sleep Unit. There's a bunch of informative files available on the website. And she offers some free informational classes too! She has one upcoming on April 16.

RockCrok Sausage & Cheese Tortellini

This is quite the indulgence meal on 21-Day Fix. Though I don't think it's any worse then what you might find eating out though. We planned to have this for Valentine's Day dinner this year, but we both weren't feeling well so we had a few days later. Serve it with a nice french loaf bread.

I made it in the RockCrok but you could also alter it to make it in a sauce pan on the stove or maybe the crock pot. 

Sausage & Cheese Tortellini

Ingredients

• 1 package of chicken broth (32 oz)
• 1 package of your favorite tortellini (20 oz, we used three cheese)
• 1 lb spicy italian sausage
• 2 Cans Diced Tomatoes (seasoned with basil, garlic & oregano), not drained
• 8 oz. Cream Cheese (try low fat).
• Grated Parmesan Cheese for toppings

Directions

1. Take your cream cheese out of the fridge, and let it sit while you brown your sausage in your RockCrok.
2. Add tortellini, tomatoes, and broth to the RockCrok and stir. Cook for 12 minutes in the microwave. 
3. Dice the cream cheese into small cubes. 
4. Remove from microwave, add the cream cheese, put lid back on. Let sit 5-minutes. Stir and serve!

If making in a crockpot: 

1. Take your cream cheese out of the fridge, and let it sit while you brown your sausage. 
2. Add the sausage, tortellini, tomatoes, and broth to your crock pot and stir. 
3. Dice the cream cheese into small cubes and place on top. 
4. Cook on LOW for a total of 4 1/2 hours. Stir at 2 hours, and again at 4 hours, removing the lid for the last 30 minutes of cooking. This will give the sauce some time to thicken up.

Banana-Strawberry "Ice Cream" (21 Day Fix Approved)

Have I mentioned yet this week how much I love my food processor? If I had more counter space it would be a permanent fixture. I use it for so much! Everyone should get one. Getting married? Put it on the registry. Having a baby? Put it on the registry (you'll use it to make baby food, so it's a need.) Birthday coming up? Ask for this. I have the 14-cup Cuisinart. My mom and grandma gave it to me at my Bridal Shower. (I remember things like that.) 

4 Ingredient "Ice Cream"

Ingredients

• 2 bananas, cut into 1-inch slices(frozen)
• ½ cup frozen strawberries, sliced
• 2 Tbsp Almond Milk
• ½ tsp vanilla

Instructions

1. Place banana slices on a plate, separating each slice. Place slices in freezer for 2 hours (overnight is best!).

2. Remove strawberries and bananas from freezer and place in food processor, blend until they are the consistency of soft serve ice cream.

3. Add almond milk(more or less for desired texture)and vanilla and blend until smooth and well-mixed.

4. Transfer ice cream to a freezer container and freeze until solid. (You don't have to wait if fruit is frozen, it is like soft serve ice cream)

5. Scoop with ice cream scoop and serve.

One CUP of this counts as a purple container on the 21 Day Fix! 

You can really use any frozen fruit to make this. I might add some cocoa powder next time and peanut butter to make Chocolate PB. And brownie pieces. (Just kidding!) My husband doesn't like bananas, but I bet I could get him to eat some of this ice cream. 

CrockPot (RockCrok) Buffalo Chicken Chili

This is one of my new favorite soups. I shared the recipe with a coworker and he raved about it. Additionally, it was requested at our work potluck. I'm trying to dig up a picture, but it's orange. The wing sauce turns it orange.  

The original recipe can be found here. I've added a few extra things and noted my actual measurements. Additionally, while you can do it in the crock pot, I made it in the RockCrok!! 

Buffalo Chicken Chili

Ingredients

• 1 pound of ground chicken
• 1 can white navy beans, drained and rinsed
• 14.5 oz can fire roasted tomatoes, drained
• 4 cups chicken broth
• ¼ - ½ cup buffalo wing sauce (start with ¼ cup and add more at end if needed)
• 1 package ranch dressing mix
• 1 cup frozen corn kernels
• ½ teaspoon onion powder
• ½ teaspoon garlic powder
• ½ teaspoon celery salt
• ½ teaspoon dried cilantro
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 8 oz cream cheese
• Blue cheese crumbles (optional)

Crockpot Instructions

• Brown ground chicken until fully cooked, place in crockpot (or brown ahead of time and store in fridge until ready to assemble)
• Add remaining ingredients except for cream cheese and blue cheese and stir to combine
• Add block of cream cheese on the top and cover
• Cook on high for 4 hours or low for 8
• Stir to incorporate cream cheese and add additional wing sauce as desired
• Top individual bowls with blue cheese crumbles if desired

RockCrok Instructions

• Brown ground chicken until fully cooked (or brown ahead of time and store in fridge until ready to assemble)
• Add remaining ingredients except for cream cheese and blue cheese and stir to combine
• Cook in the microwave (with LID) for 13 minutes. 
• Add the block of cream cheese on the top and cover
• Stir to incorporate cream cheese and add additional wing sauce as desired
• Top individual bowls with blue cheese crumbles if desired

Greek Turkey Burgers

This is one of my favorite recipes. I haven't made them recently and I plan to make them again soon! I served them up on Pita bread with the homemade Tzatziki sauce. They are delicious!!!

Greek Turkey Burgers
Ingredients

• 1 package (.7 oz.) Italian dressing mix
• 1 1/4 pound ground turkey (93% lean)
• 1/2 cup panko bread crumbs
• 1 egg , lightly beaten
• 1 tablespoon milk
• 1/4 cup crumbled Feta cheese

• Pita Bread
• Optional Topping: Dice up 2 Roma Tomatoes and 1/2 a cucumber, more feta cheese

Directions

1. Mix the burger ingredients together. Measure out 1/2 cup portions and form into patties (should form 5 patties.
2. Grill up the hamburgers 
3. Shove in a pita (I had to cut them in half!) with Tzatziki sauce and the tom/cuc mixture. ENJOY!

If you're counting this on the 21 Day Fix, I'd count it as 1 Red, 1/2 Yellow, and 1/2 Blue (if you add more cheese.) 

Zucchini Cakes (21 Day Fix)

Did you ever eat potato pancakes growing up? I sure miss those!! I found a kinda similar, not really at all, recipe in the form of Zucchini Cakes! They were very good and very filling. 

Ingredients

• 3 medium zucchini
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 green onions, finely chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, smushed/pressed
• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup almond flour (or any flour)
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• coconut oil

Directions

1. Grate your zucchini. I used the food processor. EASY. 
2. Place zucchini in a bowl with the 1 tsp salt and allow to sit for 10 minutes. Then, extract all the water from the zucchini. You can place it in a cheese cloth and squeeze. You can also place it in a colander and press the water out. You want to remove as much water as possible so the cakes form and stick together. 
3. In a large bowl, mix together the zucchini and remaining ingredients (except the coconut oil)
4. Melt 2 tablespoons of coconut oil in a large pan.
5. Use a 1/4 cup to scoop out the zucchini mixture. Place in pan and "press" down to form a small cake. 
6. Cook 3-4 minutes, flip over and cook another 3-4 minutes. Cakes should have a golden brown crust. 

You can eat 4 of these to count as 1 Green and 1/4 Yellow (the flour -- if you are being super serious.) You've also got some Teaspoons in there from the Oil. 

Zucchini Cakes & Spaghetti Squash

Grilled London Broil

(This blog post is from April 2014. It's been saved as a draft for a long time. I think I was waiting to post a picture. I want to post it so it's out of my draft file!)

London Broil is a tough cut of meat that requires marinating for more than an hour. So plan ahead! 

Grilled London Broil Marinade

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup soy sauce
• 1/4 cup red wine vinegar
• 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
• 4 garlic cloves, chopped
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1 tablespoon honey
• 8 ounces Apple Juice

Mix the ingredients in a gallon sized ziplock bag. Add 1 or 2 London Broil "steak cuts". Marinate over 4 hours. 12-24 hours is ideal. 

Grill to desired temperature. We use a meat thermometer while grilling in order to make sure my steak is a wonderful medium-rare and the husband's is a medium. 

Beef and Broccoli (21 Day Fix)

How delicious is Chinese food? And how BAD is it? Very. Very very very bad. I found this recipe on Team Beachbody and decided to change it up a little bit. I find the hardest part of making a good beef and broccoli recipe is the chosen beef. I think it's not so much which type of beef you use - but how you marinate it. It's usually recommended to use Flank Steak - and I agree. However, in "Use what you have", I chose a sirloins steak for this dish. I like this recipe because it incorporates peppers, and I added some extra veggies. It is very filling too!

Healthier Beef and Broccoli
Note - You must marinate the steak 4+ hours. Prepare wisely!
Ingredients

• 1 pound flank steak, cut into strips
• 1 tsp. coconut oil
• 4 cups broccoli florets
• 3 medium bell peppers, cut into 1-inch cubes
• 2 cups snap peas (optional)
• 2 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 tsp (dry) Ginger

Marinade Ingredients

• ¼ cup reduced-sodium soy sauce 
• 2 TBSP Rice Vinegar
• 1 tsp Seseme Oil
• 2 TBSP Honey
• 2 Garlic Cloves
• 1/2 tsp (dry) Ginger or 1 tsp Fresh Grated Ginger
• 1/2 tsp Red Pepper Flakes

Sauce Ingredients

• 1/2 cup reduced-sodium soy sauce 
• 8 TBSP Water
• 2 TBSP Corn Starch
• 2 TBSP Honey
• 1 garlic clove

Directions

1. Combine the Marinade Ingredients in a ziplock bag. Add the sliced steak to the marinade and place in fridge for 4+ hours. 
2. Combine the Sauce Ingredients and set aside.
3. Heat oil in large skillet over medium-high heat.
4. Add beef; cook, stirring frequently, for 2 minutes, or until cooked through and no longer pink. Remove from skillet, keep warm.
5. Add broccoli, bell pepper, snap peas, garlic, and ginger to skillet; cook, stirring frequently, for 5 minutes. Remove broccoli mixture from heat. 
6. Add Sauce mixture to skillet; cook, stirring constantly, over medium-high heat for 30 seconds, or until thickened.
7. Return beef and broccoli mixture to skillet; cook, for 1 to 2 minutes, or until well mixed and heated. 

Measure out the meat - 1 red container worth, and two cups of broccoli & peppers, and 1/2 cup of snap peas for 1 yellow. The soy sauce mixture counts as 1/2 yellow. Serve with 1/2 cup of cooked brown rice. 

Total count: 2 Greens, 1 Red, 2.5 Yellows. This dish was VERY filling. I was able to get 4 servings out of it. 

If you need less yellows, leave out the snap peas and reduce the rice. You can throw in some shredded carrots to bulk the dish up a little more. 

Greek Marinated Chicken

We wanted to get back to basics this week.... reboot our diet after a rough weekend with amazing food and the Super Bowl snacking. 

This recipe isn't the *healthiest* because of the yogurt. But by using greek yogurt, it can be healthier. You can use plain yogurt - but I don't know how that will turn out. You can serve it with some Tzatini sauce. Mine didn't turn out like this picture (that I swapped from Pinterest.) 

Greek Marinated Chicken  
Ingredients

• 1 cup greek yogurt 
• 2 Tbsp olive oil 
• 4 cloves garlic, minced 
• 1 Tbsp dried oregano 
• 1 Tbsp dried parsley
• 1 medium lemon zest juice from 1/2 lemon 
• 1 tsp salt 
• freshly cracked pepper 
• 3 to 4 lbs chicken pieces (I used boneless skinless, the picture used skinned and boned. Maybe that's where I went wrong?)

Directions

1. Combine marinade. 
2. Place pieces in marinade in gallon ziplock for 3-5 hours. 
3. Bake 375 45-60 minutes or grill.

Hearty Beef Stew - 21 Day Fix

I went searching through the Team Beachbody website and found a recipe for beef stew. I figured I'd give it a try. The only downside to this is the prep + cook time is almost 90 minutes. It takes an hour to cook after you get all your vegetables and meat chopped. Plan accordingly! I prepped it and then worked out while it cooked. 

It's very delicious and feels like a cheat meal! You wouldn't know you are "dieting" when you eat this.

Ingredients:

• 1½ lb. raw lean beef stew meat, boneless
• 2 medium onions, chopped
• 1 (15 oz) can of diced tomatoes
• ¼ cup reduced-sodium soy sauce
• 1 Tbsp. hot pepper sauce (like Tabasco)
• 1 (14 oz) can of low-sodium beef broth (or vegetable broth)
• 14-oz of water (use the beef broth can)
• 1 bay leaf
• ½ medium green bell pepper, chopped
• ½ medium red bell pepper, chopped
• 2 medium carrots, sliced
• 4 large red potatoes, cubed
• Salt and Pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Place beef, onions, tomatoes, soy sauce, hot sauce, 1/2 cup broth, and bay leaf in large stock pot.

2. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Add bell peppers, carrots, and potatoes. Reduce heat to medium-low; cook, covered, for 60 minutes, adding additional broth as needed.

Yield: 6-8 servings

A two-cup serving counts as 1.5 Green, 1 Yellow, and 1 Red. 

You can serve it with quinoa, but take the serving/container into consideration.

Homemade Hummus

I love hummus. I can eat it with a ton of veggies, lots of pita chips, those little bagel chips.... more pita chips. Since it's ok on the 21 Day Fix, I thought I'd make my own. I found a basic hummus recipe and plan to dress it up with either a roasted pepper or avocado. Or extra garlic. 

Tahini is hard to find. My Walmart doesn't carry it, but Schnucks carried *one* brand in the Ethnic aisle. Luckily it's not too expensive and goes a long way. One $7 jar will make 5-7 hummus recipes. You can make your own and I found a recipe here. 

Ingredients:

• 1 (15 oz.) can chickpeas (garbanzo beans), reserve liquid
• ¼ cup fresh lemon juice
• 1 Tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil
• 4 cloves garlic
• ¼ cup tahini (sesame butter)
• Sea salt & Pepper (to taste; optional)

Optional Extras:

• Roasted Red Pepper
• Avocado
• Extra Garlic

Directions:

1. Place chickpeas, lemon juice, oil, and garlic in food processor or blender and pulse until chickpeas are mashed.
2. Optional: Add in the "extra" item you might want to flavor it with. I added one avocado this time. 
3. Add tahini; pulse for 1 minute. If hummus is too thick, add some of the reserved chickpea liquid. Add salt if desired.

Crockpot Chicken Fajitas - 21 Day Fix

I found this recipe somewhere -- and it's not a difficult recipe to follow. Unless you're doubling it. And you double it, and you get to the end of the recipe and it says "Divide among 2 bags.". UGH! I doubled an already doubled recipe? Crud. So lots of leftovers.

Crock Pot Chicken Fajitas
Ingredients

1.5 – 2 lbs. Chicken Breasts, boneless and skinless 

1/2 medium – large white onion, sliced vertically 

3-4 Bell Peppers, any color, sliced into strips 

2 cans (10 oz.) Rotel diced tomatoes, undrained (I used “Mild”) 

2 cloves garlic, diced or pressed

2 tsp. chili powder 

2 tsp. cumin

2 tsp. paprika

*Divide all ingredients into 2 large freezer bags

Directions
Cut things up. Put in crockpot for 8 hours on low or 4 hours on high.

Dish out 1 cup of veggies and 3/4 cup of chicken for 1 green and 1 red.
Add some whole grain torillas (yellow), and lettuce and homemade salsa (green).

Here's what mine looked like. They were SUPER filling. It counted as 1 Red, 2 Green, 2 Yellow, and 1 Blue (Cheese). I can't wait to eat them again!!!

Crockpot Chicken Taco Soup - 21 Day Fix

I made this last week and it doesn't even feel like a "diet". You can add cheese and greek yogurt to it. Eat it with a salad for a very filling dinner or by itself as a nice lunch. If you're not on a diet, indulge with some tortilla chips! 

Chicken Taco Soup

Ingredients

• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 (16 ounce) can chili beans
• 1 (15 ounce) can black beans
• 1 (15 ounce) can whole kernel corn, drained
• 1 (8 ounce) can tomato sauce
• 1 (12 fluid ounce) can or bottle beer (or broth)
• 2 (10 ounce) cans diced tomatoes with green chilies, undrained
• 1 (1.25 ounce) package taco seasoning
• 3 whole skinless, boneless chicken breasts
• shredded Cheddar cheese (optional)
• greek yogurt or sour cream (optional)
• crushed tortilla chips (optional)

Directions

1. Combine all ingredients and cook on low for 8-10 hours or high for 4-6 hours (can we say Super Bowl!).
2. Once it's done cooking, pull out the chicken and shred. I used the Mix 'n Chop to do it. Add the shredded chicken back to the crockpot and let cook another 15-minutes. 
3. Serve topped with shredded Cheddar cheese, a dollop of greek yogurt (or sour cream), and crushed tortilla chips, if desired. 

Approx 6-7 1-cup servings. 

Measure 1.5 cups and count as  1 Green, 1 Red, 1 Yellow 

Make sure if you add greek yogurt and cheese you count those in addition!