Clean Frittata

In an effort to find a new lazy Saturday breakfast option, I thought I'd try my hand at a frittata. I've never made a frittata before so I'm not trying to adapt an old recipe - just starting from scratch.

I used this recipe as a base idea for how to make a frittata.

I chopped 1/2 an onion and 6 cloves of garlic and sauteed them in a little olive oil in my iron skillet.
After they started to soften I added 1/2 an orange pepper, 1/2 a red pepper and a green onion with the chives.

While that cooked down, I mixed together 11 eggs and 1/2 cup almond milk (No dairy for me!). I added salt, pepper, 2 tomatoes diced and a handful of cilantro to the mixture.

I poured the egg mixture in the pan and cooked it for a few minutes then put it in the oven at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes.

It was good. It still tasted like egg, which is not my favorite. Next time I plan to add a few drops of green tabasco.

Mexican Pulled Chicken

Ingredients:
       2 lbs. boneless skinless chicken breast
       1 package of chicken thighs
       1.5 cup organic chicken broth
       1 can of diced or crushed tomatoes (I make my own from fresh tomatoes)
       good chicken taco seasoning (I recommend Penzeys)
       olive oil

Directions:
       1. Cover chicken with olive oil and taco seasoning.
       2. Place in a baking dish.
       3. Cover with tomatoes.
       4. Fill bottom of the dish with chicken broth.
       5. Bake at 275 for 3 hours.
       6. Remove chicken from the baking dish and shred.
       7. Place shredded chicken back in baking dish. Mix. Bake at 275 for 30 minutes.

Tips:
       * When placing the chicken in the baking dish, put the thighs on top. This allows the dark meat to help flavor the white meat.
       * Chicken can be shredded most easily using 2 forks.

Mushroom & Spinach Chicken

Ingredients:
       boneless skinless chicken breasts
       4 cloves of garlic
       1 onion
       12 mushrooms
       1 large bag fresh spinach (pre-washed)
       1/4 cup organic chicken broth
       olive oil
       salt/pepper

Directions:
       1. Slice chicken into pieces about the size of a domino. Season with salt and pepper. Begin sauteing them in a large skillet with about 2 T olive oil.
       2. Remove the chicken from the pan and set aside.
       3. Chop garlic and onion finely. Add to the same pan chicken was cooked in. ( A little more olive oil might need to be added) When they begin to be translucent, add chopped mushrooms.
       4. Saute for about 10 minutes then add the chicken back.
       5. Add spinach and chicken broth, lower heat and put the top on the skillet.
       6. Simmer for 30 minutes.
       7. Serve over brown rice.

Tips:
       * Once the spinach and chicken broth are added, don't stir. The spinach will wilt and cover the chicken and mushroom mixture.
       * When cooking the brown rice - replace half the water with chicken broth for better flavor.

Sweet Potato Turkey Burgers

Ingredients:
       2 lbs. ground turkey
       1 small sweet potato
       approx. 4 T Worcheseshire Sauce
       approx. 1 T ground mustard
       approx. 1/4 t cayenne pepper
       salt/pepper

Directions:
       1. Wrap sweet potato in aluminum foil and bake at 350 for 1.5 hours.
       2. Peel and mash potato.
       3. Combine sweet potato, ground turkey and all seasonings.
       4. Create patties and grill.

Tips:
       * If using half of a large sweet potato, bake longer. It is important that the sweet potato be very well baked.
       * The burgers are very soft because of the sweet potato and turkey. Be careful when grilling. It is helpful to brush the grill with olive oil.

Clean Spaghetti Sauce

Ingredients:
       6 cloves of garlic
       1 onion (or green onions)
       1 zucchini
       1 each red, orange & yellow pepper
       12 mushrooms
       6 tomatoes
       oregano
       basil
       olive oil
       ground turkey
       salt/pepper

Directions:
       1. Chop garlic and onion very finely. Begin sauteing them in a large skillet with about 2 T olive oil.
       2. Season with salt and pepper.
       3. When they begin to be translucent, add chopped peppers and zucchini. I chop the zucchini finely - I want to have the added vegetable nutrients and bulk but not taste the zucchini at all.
       4. Saute for about 10 minutes then add chopped mushrooms and ground turkey.
       5. Add chopped tomatoes, fresh chopped oregano and fresh chopped basil.
       6. Saute for 30 minutes.
       7. Serve over organic whole wheat pasta.

Tips:
       * The amounts of veggies can be changed based on preference and availability.
       * The longer the sauce is cooked the better.
       * After cooking and draining the noodles, drizzle with a small amount of olive oil and toss.

   

What I'm Doing

Over the holidays, I was asked many times, “What are you doing?”. I appreciate that people are noticing the changes I’m working so hard on but I am always a little stumped. I mean, how long do you have???? I’m doing a lot of different things. A lifestyle change reaches into the cracks and crevices of every part of your life.

Since it would take me too long to tell you everything, I’ll tell you what started it all and has given me the most structured change along the way. But I do want to say, we eat real food that tastes great and is super satisfying.– In May, Jason and I started our very first Advocare Cleanse. I will be honest – I didn’t do much research before we stared. For many reasons, we were focused on something that would inspire us to make lifetime changes and that we wouldn’t need any special foods. Living in Poland limits us in that way J The Advocare system had what we were looking for. It didn’t feel like a diet, it felt like something that would help us make permanent changes that we needed to make.

Because so many people asked me about it, I have done a little research on the Advocare Cleanse (they call it a 24 Day Challenge). You can complete a cleanse every 3 months. Jason and I are starting our next cleanse February 1^st. If anyone wants to join us to share ideas and encouragement – let me know. This has been so helpful for us and doing things in a group is always easier.

Here are some of the details about what it is and how it works.

The challenge starts with a 10-day cleanse phase:

·      The Herbal Cleanse consists of a Fiber Drink, Probiotic Restore and Herbal Cleanse Caplets.

·      The Cleanse Phase is about ridding your body of all the toxins that build up from eating what we typically call "normal food" - foods that have a lot of preservatives (fast food, frozen meals, and prepared meals).

·      Dumping the toxins quickly helped to eliminate cravings for unhealthy foods I was accustomed to. I have 0 will power, so it was hugely beneficial for me to not have to fight food cravings.

·      Not only does this help you lose weight, but you also feel better because your body is getting rid of the toxins that are stored in your muscle and fat.

·      Eliminating these toxins help prepare your body to absorb the nutrients from the healthy food you eat.

·      The average person has 7-10lbs of waste in there system.

·      During the both phases, you not only focus on eating lots of healthy fruits, veggies and lean meats; you avoid sugar, processed foods and dairy (for the cleanse phase). Basically you eat as clean as you can.

The next 14 days is the Max Phase:

·      The Max Phase is about rebuilding your body toward a more healthy version by giving it the vitamins and nutrients it needs to be at its best.

·      You continue to take the Probiotic Restore and add lots of vitamins (4 times a day – which is annoying but you get used to it).

·      These vitamins REALLY helped me to control my appetite.

·      During this phase you keep up the nutrition changes but can add back dairy if you want. I found that after I gave up dairy for a while, it made me feel bad when I ate it. So, I kept dairy out of my diet for good. It was just a personal choice for me.

I didn’t use everything in the challenge. 2 main reasons: 1) I don’t like taking a anything – less to take sounded good to me 2) I’m cheap!

I used:

1.    The Spark – I LOVE this. It let me start my day off with some caffeine. It helps with mental focus and gives you a boost of amino acids and vitamins. I drink this every morning, cleanse or no cleanse.

2.    The Herbal Cleanse

3.    MNR3 – they have a few options with this phase. One is to focus on giving extra energy, one focuses on appetite control, the 3 focuses on both.

That’s all. The other products are good. I have experimented with a few additional things since the beginning, but the main 3 are all I needed to do the 24 Day Challenge.

·      The Meal Replacement Shakes are helpful for a convenient breakfast. I just don’t like things like this. I do use them to make awesome banana pancakes!

·      The Omega Plex is for a healthier heart, skin, hair, nails, and nervous system. I’ve never tried it.

Here are a few resources that have more info:

·      http://24daychallengemovie.com/

·      www.choosethechallenge.com

If you want to join us on our next cleanse let me know and I’ll tell you how I order the products. The distributor I was ordering from stopped using the products so I just created my own account. If you know someone that is doing this as a business, I recommend you order from them. I just wanted to have a convenient way to get products not start a business. I am however starting a Facebook group for those of us that are doing the challenge in February, so let me know if you want to join :)

May to November - Same clothes (slightly tailored)