MealPlan Monday: The best healthy Sweet Potato fries

Hi everyone! Happy Monday!

I plan on sharing more recipes on the blog moving forward and I thought I would start today because, why not?!

For those of you who don’t know, I did the Advocare 24 day JumpStart after Max weaned and I had amazing results. It was definitely really challenging for me from a diet/nutrition standpoint but it opened my eyes to what works for my body now that I'm getting older/being a mom. Its completely changed my nutrition (for the better) over the last 2 years!

Like anyone else I definitely loosened up my nutrition while pregnant. I mean who doesn't, amirite-its the least we can do when we are waddling around and can barely sleep. Postpartum I worked out and eat pretty healthy, but I FOR SURE have a SAVAGE sweet tooth that kills some of my gains ha.

I'm super excited to get back on the wagon now that I'm done nursing and have no more excuses ("I can't lose weight while nursing,..my body holds onto the fat lollll" ) and getting serious with this 'ish!

I'm always trying to find great recipes that still taste good. I love eating clean, feeling good and looking good...but you will not find me eating fish and asparagus every day! I LOVE food! The below recipe has lots of flavor but it is as healthy as can be. I am obsessed with these sweet potato fries...and so is my hubby and youngest son (I just don't put the spice on the boys portion)

Here we go...Recipe of the week: 

Paul Prudhomme's Chicken with Baked zucchini and Sweet Potato fries

Paul Prudhomme's Poultry magic is of my favorite poultry spices- it is fantastic. They don't sell it here in upstate NY anymore but they do in Florida, and I bought mine online at vitacost.com. It is actually a really great meal prep spice to use if you are making chicken in bulk. It definitely has a little bit of a kick to it which I love because well..we eat alllll of the chicken when meal prepping lol! Also it is so EASY and FAST to use with plenty of flavor so I'm all for it! 

Ingredients: 
Chicken as desired
Paul Prudhomme's Poultry Magic spice
2-3 Zucchini
1-2 Sweet Potato
1 egg white
cayenne pepper
Garlic powder
Salt, Pepper, Olive Oil

Heat oven to 450 F. (Keep the pan in the oven while it heats) Wash and Peel sweet potato. Cut lengthwise and then again into quarters so you have "fries". Pour egg white into small bowl. Sprinkle cayenne, garlic, salt and pepper as desired in egg white. Dip fries into the egg white mixture. Place on parchment paper (make sure they do not touch). Drizzle with olive oil if desired. Bake on one half of the baking sheet for 10-15 minutes, then flip. Cut Zucchini in half, then into half moons. Place on other half of baking sheet with olive oil, salt and pepper when you flip the fries (so halfway through). Cook for 10 minutes or until soft.

                                                                     Ingredients

While the sweet potato fries are cooking, Cut the chicken in small pieces (or leave as a breast if desired..I usually find diced is best because you can throw the leftovers really easy in a salad!). Warm oil in pan. Place chicken in oil, and shake desired amount of spice onto chicken. Stir While chicken is cooking. Serve and enjoy :)) 
 

                                                           Spread out on the pan

                                                           The finished product :) 

 For those who are interested in anything Advocare or want to know more about the Jumpstart...just DM me at @alexsahlen2 on instagram, or email me at peanutbutterblondie@gmail.com.

Have a great day everyone and enjoy! 

xo

Alex

5 Tips for for better Fitness/Wellness

Hi everyone! Hope you had an awesome holiday  with family and friends. I am slowly coming out of my candy coma! As most of you know, I weaned Seb a few weeks ago and I thought it would be perfect timing to start the Advocare 24 day Kick start the day after Easter! I knew I was going to splurge a little and it would be ideal to start the day after!

For those of you who don’t know, I did the Advocare 24 day challenge (what it was called back then, it’s since changed) after Max weaned and I had amazing results. It was definitely really challenging for me from a diet standpoint but honestly it was the best thing that happened to me. It showed me how much my body has changed postpartum and what works for me.. and what doesn’t- not only to feel good, but to look good! 

I’ll be sharing a lot of my recipes and what I’m eating over the next 3 weeks but for now I’m going to share 5 tips to getting healthy and fit and that I'll be living by! 

1. Commit yourself: This is probably the biggest one of all. You really have to be in the right state mentally and physically. For me, I’m always going to be busy so it’s more of a mental commitment and discipline for me that I need to focus on. If you aren't ready or committed for YOURSELF you won’t be successful. 

2. Meal prep: this is almost as important as #1. I usually try to prep all my lunch food at the beginning of the week and it sets me up for success. This includes preparing / having good snacks on hand! Some of my favorites are hard boiled eggs, nuts, protein bars (quest and Rx bars are my favorite) :) If I don't stay on track at lunch, it usually leads me to being overly hungry at nighttime...which is never good. lol. 

3. Drink lots of water: enough said! Water is so important to your health and it honestly can curb hunger too! 

4. Move more: This might seem super obvious....but its not! I know firsthand how hard it can be to get workouts in with commitments like family, kids, work... I honestly just vow to move more - whether that’s a walk with the kids or parking a little farther away in the parking lot, or standing/ moving at work when I’m on conference calls. I only get to the gym 2-3 days a week so the rest of the week it’s on me to try and get my 10,000 steps a day. That makes a huge difference in your overall wellness! You WILL see more of a difference if you can get workouts in, but know that just moving more and being spot on with your diet will still get you great results! 

5. My last piece of advice is one I’ve really lived by when getting my body back after baby #1: you will never remember the moments that you turned down that piece of candy, that piece of pizza, etc.  But if you have goals, you will always regret it! Discipline is choosing between what you want NOW and than what you want MOST!!! I honestly cannot tell you one time that I “missed” out on a moment because I said “no” to a food.

Keep in mind, I definitely splurge and live life.. but there are times where you have to be a little more strict to get what you want! That’s just life! If it were easy everyone would be fit. 

Have a great day everyone! 

Xo 

Alex

Burrito Bowl...made at home!

Happy Weekend Everyone! 

I wanted to share one of my most FAVORITE recipes ever. Please do not think that eating clean means tupperware containers with plain chicken, fish, egg whites, raw veggies and brown rice every day all day. There are so MANY tasty recipes that you can have with tons of flavor. This recipe is on our weekly rotation. When I started the 24 Day Challenge, I asked my coach Ben if I could have burrito bowls from Chipotle. He responded yes ..just of course no cheese or sour cream which is no problem for me. I wasn't super comfortable hitting up Chipotle more than once though as I knew eating out just is not as healthy. I wanted the absolutel best results and in order for that to happen, I had to be making food in my own kitchen. This got me thinking...how can I make these exact burrito bowls at home??

Well, my friends, here is how: 

Ingredients:

 Olive oil
Your choice of 2 peppers-green, yellow, red, etc
White onion cut
Green Leaf Lettuce chopped
Homemade Guacamole or "Wholly Guacamole"
Cooked brown rice (I usually do 1 cup, depends on how many pple you are cooking for)
1 packet of simply organic fajita seasoning ( ** I get this at Wegmans; I do know Whole foods carries it as well as available online from various companies)
2 cloves of garlic (optional)
Chopped Cilantro (optional)
Chopped tomatoes (optional)

Directions: 

Begin process of cooking rice. Dice chicken breasts. Follow instructions of simply organic package. Marinate chicken in seasoning. Next slice onion and pepper. Heat olive oil in pan. Once oil is warm sautee onion and peppers until soft and then add marinated chicken. While meat and rice are finishing cooking, cut up green leaf lettuce, cilantro, and tomato to garnish. 

Once chicken and rice have completed their cooking, place cooked rice in bottom of bowl. Add desired amount of chicken/pepper mixture on top. Place chopped green leaf lettuce on top of chicken. Garnish with cilantro, tomatoes, or guacamole. 

I have never added cheese or sour cream but you definitely can for those looking for a little splurge or who are not on the 24 Day Challenge. We have added corn and black beans to this meal and it has been tasty as well. There are so many different variations that you can add it never gets old!

I will be sure to add our family guacamole recipe in the next few weeks. We absolutely love a "rustic" guac to start our meal off! Hope you guys enjoy your healthy {{24 DC approved}}  home made burrito bowl! 

xo

Alex

The finished product: 

All chopped up and ready to go!

 

Below, rice brewing, chicken marinating and veggies cooking! 
Note: I only placed the rice and chicken on stove for photo purpose

The chicken and veggie mixture completed! Let's dig in!