Chicken pizza casserole
Trying to find keto friendly recipes. I think my husband found this on a Keto For Dummies page, but we added the Raos and didn’t measure. It called for you to shred your chicken and we just bought ground chicken. It worked out great.
I did not use any measurements, I just threw in a bunch of stuff.
Ingredients:
Ground chicken
Cubed zucchini
Whole-milk Ricotta Cheese
Pepperonis
Minced Garlic
Mozarella Cheese
Grated Parmesan
Half bottle of Raos Marinara sauce
Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Cook chicken in a skillet
Throw in all the ingredients except half the pepperoni and half the mozzarella into a 9X12 pyrex and stir it up real good. Put in the oven for 30 minutes. Take out and add cheese and pepperoni to the top and cook for another 10 minutes.
Turned out delicious! I’ll make this again.
Wedding fun
We went to a beautiful wedding last night at Chandler’s Gardens in McKinney. It is a tree farm, as well as wedding venue. The beautiful trees served as a gorgeous backdrop to get married! I’d never been to a wedding reception in a tent, but it was very beautiful!!
Now that I’ve hit my goal weight, I was worried about fitting into any of my clothes. Luckily, I found this dress in my closet that fit ok and had sleeves. My husband had to keep his pants up with a really tight belt. First world problems, I know! But good ones to have when you’re over fifty!! 
Reunion outfit
I had so much fun at my 35th high school reunion! Everyone looked amazing!!And it was one of the best ones we have had over the years. I found the cutest leopard sweater at Little Tipsy Boutique in Rockwall. It has the cutest back with a strip of material across the back. I wish I would have gotten a photo of it, but they have one in the link. I also got these cute over the knees boots there that I could actually pull up. They didn’t say they were wide calved boots, but they had to have been! I got the jeans at Ross for like $15. I thought it was the perfect comfortable reunion outfit!
I almost made it to my goal weight in time for the reunion. I made it the week after. Now I have to decide whether or not to keep losing or move to the maintenance phase of the program!
Air Fryer
My husband and I are on a new diet that is really working for both of us. So far, after 11 weeks, we are down a total of 68 lbs. I’m down 26 and he’s down 42! We are hoping that the weight loss will lead to less medications. We’ll find out about that on Thursday. One of the things that we are doing is using an air fryer to cook our lean and green meals. I love this air fryer because it’s SOOOO easy to cook great food with it. I cooked this salmon in 10 minutes. All I did was get Salmon, sprinkle some Ms. Dash on it, and turn it on for 10 minutes at 350 degrees. Bam! The Lean part of my meal is complete!! I highly recommend this air fryer. It’s really easy to use and cleans up easily too!
**Average weight loss for Clients on the Optimal Weight 5&1 Plan with support is 20 pounds. Clients are in weight loss, on average, for 12 weeks.**
Cajun Chicken and Sausage
I’m doing the Transformation Challenge at Orange Theory, so currently really pushing myself to eat healthy. I’m tracking what I eat and trying to make good choices. First week down and I did pretty good. The key is all about being prepared. This week, I was prepared for lunch with this delicious meal!
Ingredients:
- 1 container (28 spears ea.), Asparagus Spears
- 1 container (16 oz ea.), Smoked Sausage
- 1 tablespoon, Oil – Olive
- 24 oz, Chicken
- 2 squash, Cooked
- 2 tsp, Cajun Seasoning
I used a wok, since it holds the most food of all my pans. I put a little olive oil, then threw in the squash and zucchini.
Then I threw in the asparagus and sprinkled the cajun seasoning all over it.
Then I added the (precooked frozen) chicken and Ekrich Sausage. 
This is SOOO delicious!!! Definitely going to be a staple for my meal prep.
Low carb steak fried “rice”
As always, I’m trying to figure out what the best diet is for me to help me lose weight. I’ve always had a pretty good work out ethic, until recent years, so my new obsession with Orange Theory Fitness is really going well. I have gone 3 – 6 times a week since I started in late October. I have to do better with food though!! I think a low carb diet is probably going to work the best for me. I’ve been interested in the Keto diet, but I haven’t been able to get low enough in carbs each day. I’ve kind of decided that my diet will be lower in carbs with the majority of the carbs happening with my breakfast shake, (which has a banana in it).
One of my go-to staples in this diet is the cauliflower fried “rice” plate. It’s super easy to make, especially if you buy the cauliflower fried rice package in the vegetable section. Here is my recipe:
2 bags of cauliflower fried rice packages
5 scrambled eggs
1 carton of sliced mushrooms (optional)
1 pound of stew meat or cubed steak (or chicken)
1 tablespoon of sesame oil
soy sauce to taste
1st step: Scramble an egg then put it to the side.
Step 2: In another pan or wok, put sesame oil then add two packages of Cauliflower Crumbles “Fried Rice” Blend. (If you want to add mushrooms, I’d put the mushrooms in before you put the cauliflower crumbles.)
3rd step: Stir in soy sauce to taste and cook until semi-translucent. 
4th step: Stir in the scrambled eggs and the stew or steak meat. Add more soy sauce if you like it. 
This is seriously the best low carb meal I make. I highly recommend it to everyone doing any kind of diet. You can substitute chicken instead of meat if you like. Or you can add no meat at all and use as a side dish. There are a lot of options with this deliciousness!! This makes anywhere from 6 – 8 servings.
Fabulous at Fifty
I turned Fifty in October. I’ve decided to be Fabulous at Fifty. I began a challenging new workout by starting Orange Theory Fitness. I’m obsessed with this workout. I love being able to monitor my heart rate as I do the hardest workouts I’ve ever done in my life. Since I started at the end of October, I’ve gone 3 – 5 days a week. A lot of people I know have caught the OTF bug, so it’s been fun going with a group and pushing each other.
Unfortunately, though, I haven’t changed any of my bad eating habits, so I may be getting stronger, but I haven’t lost any weight. It’s hard to out-exercise a bad diet, especially at fifty. I seriously think I gained ten pounds the DAY I turned fifty. My metabolism seriously just STOPPED!! I’m just going to have to make some real changes soon.
I’ve been reading about the benefits of Apple Cider Vinegar, Honey and Lemon. So that’s going to be the next thing I add to my lifestyle. Each morning I’m going to drink a little of that on an empty stomach and see if that will help me curb my appetite and bring about some of the other health benefits I’ve been reading about. I’m thinking I’ll commit to it for a month and see how it goes.
Recipe:
Mix together:
1 teaspoon raw honey
1 teaspoon Apple Cider Vinegar
8 oz. warm water (1 glass)
I’m still not sure what diet I’m going to do. I really love how easy 21 Day Fix was, so that may be my next lifestyle change. 
Meal Prep
The key to the 21 Day Fix is meal preparations. I decided I’m only willing to eat food that have been in containers for three days at a time, so here is what my three days looks like!
Breakfast:
Shakeology: Shakeology, 1/2 banana, flax seeds, coffee
Mid-morning snack: 1 egg cup with tortilla
Lunch: Chicken, Veggie Mix
Mid-Afternoon snack: 2nd Egg cup/whole wheat tortilla, Fruit
Dinner: Pork tenderloin, Lettuce w/ Balsamic Vinegar, Veggie Mix
Interested in joining me on this journey, get your 21 Day Fix HERE!!!
What’s your favorite?
I started the 21 Day Fix this week. It’s going to be so easy to stay on track with my diet if I am able to prepare my meals for the week each Sunday. This should eliminate me making those bad food choices when I get hungry. No more binge eating for me!! Meal prepping can be a pain, though, so it’s nice to be able to eliminate the preparation for one meal a day by substituting Shakeology. I drink the Shakeology for breakfast since I’m not always in the mood to eat when I get up! I’m still debating over which one is my favorite. What’s yours?
If you haven’t tried Shakeology yet, you can order it here today!!
Mock Dreamland Chicken
Going out to eat can be a little difficult when you are doing low carb! Luckily, I’ve found a restaurant that seems to “get” that!! We stumbled upon Becks as a low carb option when my dad wanted to go there for his birthday. When we went, we all got burgers, but we noticed someone eating chicken and vegetables. At the time, we weren’t doing low carb, but it stuck in the back of our minds. Fast forward a couple of months and we remembered Becks for a low carb meal. I got the Dreamland, which turned out to be delicious. I thought I would attempt to create the recipe at home:
Ingredients:
1 Sliced onion
Sliced mushrooms (I bought them pre-cut)
Olive Oil
Butter
Chicken
Worcestershire sauce
Lemon Pepper
Swiss Cheese
Hickory BBQ sauce
Directions:
Caramelize the onions and mushrooms in a pan. I put a teaspoon of olive oil and a tiny pat of butter in the pan to help caramelize it.
Cook the chicken any way you want, but I baked mine. I marinated mine with a little bit of lemon pepper and a little bit of Worcestershire sauce. Once the chicken is cooked through, put some swiss cheese on top of it and put it back in the oven for a minute or two or until the cheese starts to melt. 
Put the chicken on a plate and add the mushrooms/onion mix.
Cover the chicken, mushrooms, and onions with hickory BBQ sauce.
I thought my rendition of the Dreamland was just as good, if not better! Yea me!!
Fabulous after FIFTY 