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!!!
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!!
Italian chicken salad
One thing I will tell you about a cruise is that you WILL gain weight. I had so much fun on the cruise, but I gained about 6 lbs. YIKES! I’d already gained about 15 since I moved back to Dallas, so 6 more is totally not acceptable to me!! PLUS, my 30 year reunion is in 2 more weeks. So, what is one to do in this situation? Get back on track. Start eating healthy.
I went to the book store and got a couple of South Beach Diet books. I’m not going to do the full diet. I don’t want anything that is restrictive, but they have some really good recipes in those books. I’ve already done grocery shopping and plan to eat my own cooking for lunch and dinner rather than eat a lean cuisine at lunch and go to a restaurant for dinner.
This one I kind of made up on my own, but it was really good!!
Baked Italian Chicken:
1 chicken breast
1/4 bottle of Zesty Italian Dressing Lite
Lemon pepper to taste
Put the chicken breast in a pan and cover it with the italian dressing, it doesn’t have to be all the way full of the dressing, just enough so there is a little at the bottom. Shake as much lemon pepper on top of the chicken as you like. Put in the oven at 400 degrees for about an hour or until cooked thoroughly.
Salad:
50/50 Spring Mix
Zesty Italian Dressing, Lite
Mozzarella cheese
Baked italian dressing
(you can also add tomatoes, onions, etc on top)
Make a bed of lettuce. Put mozzarella cheese on top of the lettuce. Put chicken strips on top of the cheese. Cover with Italian Dressing.
You now have a healthy salad to eat that will fill you up!!
Low Carb Burger
I’m still attempting to do a low carb diet, although the Labor Day Weekend set me back a little bit. I’m pretty sure Blue Bell ice cream has no carbs these days, so I may be ok! The best thing to do when you get off track, though, is to get right back on track.
The hard part of doing a low carb diet is that you really can’t have any bread. This usually means no comfort food like hamburgers. One of the worst things about eating a hamburger is that after you eat it, you feel all bloated because of all the carbs in the bread. Today was the day I decided to fix that problem. I thought I’d attempt to pair my low carb bread with a burger. I was so excited when it tasted MARVELOUS! I don’t think I’ll ever eat a burger on regular bread again. The low carb bread didn’t get all soggy or anything!!
I might also want to mention that I made the pre-made burgers from Krogers on my George Foreman Grill!! What a winning combination!
Ingredients:
Hamburger
Low Carb Bread
Cheese
Lettuce
Mayonnaise (This probably wasn’t a great choice, but I like mayonnaise)
Broccoli Chicken Casserole
Last weekend I ran in the Rock and Roll Half Marathon. I guess “ran” may be a bit of an exaggeration. I ran part of it. I ran for the first 2 miles and then I hit a real steep hill and had to walk to the top of it. I ran for another 2 miles and then had to take a bathroom break, (which is kind of gross when all you have is a port-o-let). After that I had to alternate walking and running in much shorter increments for the remaining 9 miles. I got a little added motivation to keep going at miles 5, 9, and 13 when I saw a very good friend cheering me on with a poster made especially for me with my favorite colors on it. Every time I thought I couldn’t go another step, I thought about how I would be seeing her standing there in just a little bit. I appreciated her being there more than she will ever know!! I kept all my miles, (except the bathroom break mile), at under 13 minute miles. I finished at 2:43:02. The last time I attempted a half marathon, I finished in 3:07, so I was pretty proud of myself. I love my medal. I want to start doing more races that give medals so I can start a medal collection. I’ve found lots of cool display frames for them, but it would look pretty silly with just one medal hanging there. This weekend I will be riding in the Tour Dallas, but no medals for that!! 
This week’s recipe turned out really good. It is low carb, so I’m hoping by eating it for dinner this week, I will start to lose some weight. I’ve put on a few pounds and I don’t want to let my weight get out of control!! I’m getting back on track with my food and my exercise!
Ingredients:
Rotisserie chicken (I guess you could cook you’re own chicken, but why?)
1 can of cream of mushroom soup
8 oz of cheddar cheese
1 bag of frozen broccoli
Sliced mushrooms (I bought them pre-sliced)
2 tsp of lemon pepper
Get a Rotisserie Chicken from the grocery store.
Put Pam in a 9 X 9 casserole dish and tear up the chicken for the bottom layer.
Put broccoli over the chicken.
Put mushrooms on top of the broccoli and sprinkle lemon pepper over the mixture.
In a bowl, mix cream of mushroom soup, half a can of water and about 6 ounces of cheese.
Layer the cheese/soup mixture over the chicken, broccoli and mushrooms. Put in the oven at 350 for about 45 minutes.
Pull out of the oven and cover the casserole with more cheese and put back in the oven for another 10 – 15 minutes.
Pull out of the oven and eat. This casserole was even better the next day!!
Jalapeño Spinach Cream Cheese Stuffed Chicken
Not only was this a long weekend and Easter Weekend, it was also the first Monday of the month, which means Canton Trade Days was going on this weekend. I was looking on Facebook and saw a notice reminding me about the events in Canton and decided to take an impromptu trip out there to see what they had. I was so excited when I found some fun flip flop sandals for myself. They had a really good deal in one of the booths to buy two and get the third pair for a reduced rate. Since I really only liked two of the pairs they had, I bought the third pair for my sister. I think my favorites were the ones that I got her, but they didn’t have that style in my size. I’ve already worn both pairs I bought two times, and my sister wore hers for Easter brunch, so I’d say the trip to Canton was a success!!
The zebra ones next tot he pink flip flops are the ones I got my sister.
These aren’t the ones I bought my sister, but they are very similar.
I saw a stuffed chicken on pinterest and even though it looked a little fancy for my cooking skills, I decided to give it a try. It really was an easy recipe and I have to say one of the best things I’ve made. I’m pretty sure it’s all the cheese that is in the stuffing that made it taste so good. The only advice I have is to remember to take the toothpick out when it’s done cooking. I learned that one the hard way!!
Ingredients:
Chicken breasts
Block of Cream Cheese
Cheddar Jack Cheese
Spinach
2 Jalapeños
Garlic
Lemon Pepper
Paprika
I didn’t put any amounts because I just put in the amounts I liked. I only used 2 Jalapeños and I just put a spoonful of minced garlic that was already preminced from the grocery store.
Cut the jalapeños in to small pieces. I cut out all the seeds first. You can leave a few in if you like it kind of spicy.
Sautee the jalapeños and garlic in olive oil. This was way too much olive oil and I had to drain it. 
Add Spinach to the sauteed jalapeños and garlic.
Put cream cheese, cheese and sautéed spinach jalapeno mix in a bowl and mix it up.
It will look something like this. This is what you stuff inside the chicken.
Cut the chicken in half like a pocket. Do not cut all the way through.
Stuff the chicken and poke a toothpick through it to cook it through.
Top off the chicken with lemon pepper and paprika
Cook in the oven on 375 for about 45 minutes or until cooked through.
Again, DON’T FORGET to take out the toothpicks!!!!!
Box of Chili
It’s December and the weather has been really warm prior to this week. Since I knew it was supposed to get cold, Sunday I decided to make some chili. I have always been afraid to attempt making chili until I heard that you can buy chili in a box. It’s really a lot better than it sounds. It’s actually just the spices in the box and you add all the good stuff to make the chili your own. Let me tell you, this was REALLY easy to make. I highly recommend making some to keep you warm this winter!
Ingredients:
1 box of Carroll Shelby’s Chili Kit (There are other brands out there that I hear are really good, too)
1 8 oz. can of tomato sauce
1 can of diced tomatoes, (drained)
1 can of rotel
2 8 oz. cans of water
1 lb of browned ground beef, (drain fat)
1 lb of browned stew meat, (drain fat)
Add tomato sauce, diced tomato, rotel, water, spice packet, cayenne pepper, and salt packet in to the crockpot and put on high.
While the sauces are cooking, brown the ground beef, drain the fat.
Brown the stew meat, drain the fat.
Add the meat to the sauce mix and cook on high for three hours.
Add the Masa flour (from the kit) and 1/3 cup of water into the crockpot and cook for another 30 minutes. 
Once it’s cooked, put fritos in a bowl, put the chili on top and then add cheese on top of that. YUMMY Frito Pie!
You can also add additional things if you like to make it your own. I just don’t like all the extras, so this is all I added!
No Noodle Lasagna
I had a great weekend this weekend. My aunt came in from Florida, so I went to Dallas to see my family. I had so much fun spending the days shopping with my mom and her sister. My mom and aunt are so cute when they are together. They are three years apart and they share the same birthday. I loved all the reminiscing that I got to do and hear this weekend. On top of all the fun, this was a great shopping weekend. I think we hit every Marshalls and TJ Maxx in the city of Dallas. I got lots of cute clothes to wear to work. I even got a cute pair of earrings. I may have to blog about them later.
When I got home, I needed to cook my meal for the week. That worked out so well last week. I am only trying to maintain my weight, but I ended up losing a couple of pounds, too! (I usually like to plan everything by ear, but I guess planning ahead works out sometimes.) I decided to go for a no noodle lasagna. This is the hardest recipe that I’ve attempted and it really wasn’t so bad. I found the recipe off the Dashing Dish website when looking at Pinterest.
Ingredients:
For Noodles:
5-6 Zucchini
Salt
Pepper
For Meat Mixture:
1.5 lb. Ground Turkey
1 Large Diced Onion
2 Cups Chopped Broccoli
2 Cups Chopped Cauliflower
2 Cups Chopped Spinach
1Cup Chopped Mushrooms
1 Jar of Spaghetti Sauce
1 Clove of Garlic (Minced)
1 Tsp Salt
1 Tsp Pepper
For Cheese Mixture:
16 oz. Cottage Cheese
1/2 Cup Parmesan Cheese (Grated)
3/4 Cup Shredded Mozzarella Cheese
Slice up the zucchini into strips. Spray cookie sheet with cooking oil. Put zucchini on sheet, add salt and pepper. Bake in oven at 425 for 5 – 10 minutes on each side.
Chop all of the vegetables and mix them together.
Brown the ground turkey
Put all of the vegetable ingredients, meat, and the spaghetti sauce together in a really large skillet and cook until the vegetables begin to get soft.
Put a layer of meat sauce on bottom, put a layer of zucchini in a casserole dish.
Add a layer of cheese mixture on top of the zucchini.
Add another layer of zucchini, then another layer of meat.
Top with parmesan cheese, cover with foil, and put in the oven at 450 for an hour.
Take off the foil and put back in the oven to brown the cheese for about 2 – 5 minutes.
I think I let it brown too long, but it still tastes really great!!
Beer Crockpot Chicken
Now that I have gotten in to attempting recipes, I’ve been trying to find things that I would like to cook. I really prefer to make desserts, but I also want to get better at cooking main dishes. I really enjoy cooking with the crockpot because it is so easy to put a bunch of ingredients in a pot and walk away. I got this recipe from My Daily Dish. I figured that I like chicken and I like beer so it HAS to be good!
Ingredients
1 whole chicken (according to the recipe I used, you can also use cut up pieces or 4-6 chicken breasts)
1 can of any kind of beer (I used a bottle of Leinenkugel’s Sunset Wheat because that’s what I had in the fridge)
1/2 tsp Garlic Powder
1/2 tsp Basil
1/2 tsp Paprika
1/2 tsp Kosher Salt
1/2 tsp Black Pepper
I put all the ingredients in first and then added the whole chicken.
Cook in the crockpot on high for 3 – 4 hours or on low for 7 – 8 hours. I cooked it on high.
The recipe said you could also cook a frozen chicken, you just have to cook it longer.
Home again!
I’m back in Austin and everything is starting to get back to normal. The only issue I’m having is with allergies. They are KILLING me. I’m afraid I’m going to OD on zyrtec, because I’m taking as much as I can to keep the allergies to a minimum.
Yesterday I didn’t wake up and walk because the allergies were so bad. I made it a point to exercise in the afternoon. I’m glad I did, because we went to Lady Bird Lake/Town Lake and walked around there. I love walking by the water. Even though there are tons of people there, it is very peaceful. There are small hills there, too, so it’s a little more of a challenge than walking in the neighborhood.
After walking at Lady Bird Lake, we went to Torchy’s for dinner. I’m pretty sure Torchy’s is my favorite place to eat. I got queso and a baja shrimp taco. YUMMY!! It turned out to be a nice evening.
Fabulous after FIFTY 