Mishmosh

About a month ago Teri Jo over at Amazing Grass asked me to be a part of their two week challenge. I thought it would be perfect to jumpstart my weightloss.  I've always been a fan of Amazing Grass super foods so I couldn't wait to try this.

What is the challenge? It's a 14 day long program that promotes amazing health and amazing energy.  It guides you in the right direction for two weeks so by that third week you are on the right path.  You purchase a tub of the Amazing Meal and have one serving a day plus focus on eating whole organic foods. Each day Amazing Grass sends you a link to an article that pertains to healthy living.

Today I started day one. Today's topics were:

- Transforming your belief system as it relates to food
- Replacing old habits with new practices
- It takes 21 days to create a new habit

So what I took out of all of that for me is focus. Decide what you want and focus.  The article also mentioned something about always being prepared.  That's my number one advice for anyone trying to eat healthy.  Do I follow it all the time?  No... Sometimes I'm unprepared but normally I'm on top of things.  Have snacks and meals planned and prepped ahead of time.  Easy and it really works to keep you on track!

I started the morning off with a smoothie made with Amazing Meal.  Not sure if I'll share with you every green drink but I'll at least share the key points of the day.

The gym spells it "smoothee"... Should I correct them?

Amazing Meal has 10g of protein plus you get all of the nutrients from the fruits and veggies.


In to the blender went my favorite green smoothee smoothie.

1/2c soymilk
1/2c water
3c spinach (all I had)
1 mushy banana
1 scoop of Amazing Meal
1T almond butter
And a couple ice cubes.

Looking at it now I forgot the chia seeds this morning.  Dang.


I took it to go because I had to take the kids to the doctor.


I had an interesting weekend with sick kids and a sick husband which is why there wasn't a post from yesterday.  Turns out both kids have ear infections.

I forgot a snack (see I'm not always prepared!) so we had lunch a little early.

Lunch was a mishmosh of all sorts.  My favorite kind of thing!  We are runnin' low in the fridge.  Seriously.

Sweet potatoes cooked low and slow- Cut thick (1/2in), 30 mins at 350 and 20 mins at 425.


With left over pasta salad, greens...


a small chunk of leftover cornbread, and a sneaky cinnamon stuffed date (my new favorite thing in the entire world).


I just finished walking outside for an hour.  Sick kids=no gym.  I probably walked slower than I do on the treadmill but I got a lot accomplished.  I got a bunch of meal planning done and thought up some new recipes.

Do you like a mishmosh on your plate?  I think my lunch would drive my husband crazy.  He's pretty particular with his food.

Some Alone Time

Let me tell you something I learned yesterday. I learned how to actually wash broccoli. The other day I quickly rinsed some broccoli and steamed it. It was so gritty and gross I had to throw it out. I figured I didn't wash it well so I googled how to do it.

Almost all the google results said to soak it in salt water. When I did it for last night's dinner it wasn't too bad... Lots of little particles and pieces of broccoli.


But then there was this little guy floating in the bottom.

Thats a bug.... and that is disgusting.

Squeaky clean broccoli for dinner!


Pizza Friday!

Whole wheat pizza crust with olive oil and minced garlic as the sauce.  Plus baked chicken, bug-free-broccoli, part skim mozzarella, and parmesan.  It was SO good!  I'm loving the sauceless pizza.

I was munchy later last night so I raided my tea shelf.  My tea has it's own shelf.


I'll admit it.  I have a tea problem.  I have 27 boxes of tea.  I counted.


If you've been reading awhile you've probably noticed I don't drink tea.  Well not enough to go through 27 boxes.  All of the tea comes from my addiction to coffee.  When I try to give up coffee I buy a box of tea.  Tea isn't as good as coffee.

Out of all the boxes of teas I have I picked a random Tazo Calm that I think we got from our hotel room in Charleston.

1 out of 300+ tea bags gone.

We had a long night with the kids last night.  Well I did.  They both have a cold and were really restless.  Between the two of them they were up every hour.  At 5am I decided to give up.  I put them both in my bed with the husband and snuck downstairs.

I thought of doing something productive but instead I parked myself on the couch with a cup of tea coffee and The Help.  I thought I'd enjoy the alone time since I don't get it very often.

Have you seen The Help?  I loved it.  This is the second time I've seen it.  I read blogs, watched my movie, and drank an obscene amount of coffee.

I also made breakfast.

3 egg whites, spinach, feta, a little minced garlic all on a toasted sandwich thin.

The husband and I did some crossfit workout and then made lunch.  10 sit ups, 10 pushups, 10 squats x 10.  It was boring.  I don't like crossfit for this reason.  

Lunch was something I'm lovin'.

Hummus and 2% cheddar on a wrap grilled . Plus kale chips with ketchup.

I love these things!


What do you do when you have time to yourself?  Watch movies?  Read food blogs?

Recipe: My Favorite Baked Chicken

*This recipe does use 3 kitchen tools you may not have.  They are inexpensive and so useful.

All I do is smash four organic chicken breasts with a meat mallet until they are about 1/2in thick. Really as thin as they'll go.

*I use the meat mallet on chicken breasts all the time because I hate a big chunk of chicken.  The day I bring the chicken home from the store, I smash it, and put it in freezer bags.

Then I let them marinate overnight in 1 cup of light italian dressing.




When I'm ready to make dinner I mix together 1/2c italian seasoned breadcrumbs, 1/2c whole wheat panko breadcrumbs (you can use regular panko), and 1/4c-1/2c parmesan cheese (really how ever much I end up grating).



There isn't any need for liquid because of the italian dressing so I just coat the chicken in the breadcrumbs and put them on cooling racks over a foiled cookie sheet.  Make sure to spray the racks with non-stick spray.

*Those cooling racks were $2 a piece and I use them ALL the time.  For baking purposes- these let everything get crispy all the way around (homemade chicken nuggets, pork, bacon).  For cooling- cookies and cakes.  For icing- these let all the icing drip onto a paper towel underneath.

Bake at 350* for 30 minutes flipping half way...


or until the meat thermometer says 175* or above.

*Every kitchen should have a digital meat thermometer.  I bought this at Walmart for $10.  I follow cooking times in recipes but a lot of times they are off.  I use the meat thermometer and everything is cooked perfectly every time!



We love this chicken over salads, with rice, dipped in ranch, rolled in wraps, on pizza... Anything!