Meal

Fajita Bowls + Diet Drama

Ok, it has been a minute since I shared a recipe or meal that I loved but I had an ah-ha moment this evening - part of what I do as an Empowerment Coach for women is help you learn to enjoy food again without diet drama - so why not start to share recipes from time to time.

Clearly, if you have ever been to my blog, you know a huge part of my life USED to be coming up with simple recipes. (If you want to jump to recipe, scroll down.)

I loved to cook and bake but somewhere along the way, I lost that. I stopped enjoying it because it just became something I tied to my weight. If the food I ate wasn’t making the scale go down fast enough, I would suddenly become tired of said food or think I needed to restrict more. It was an unhealthy thought process and you can see how the cycle worked. It’s almost the same way when people tie their workouts to their weight and stop when the scale doesn’t do what they want. The same can happen with cooking or baking.

OR you just get tired of trying to figure out container counts, macros and other BS ways to restrict your food intake unless it was laid out for you so you would go for the same recipes OVER and OVER, eventually getting sick of them.

The hardest steps for rebuilding a relationship with food can be…

  • knowing you don’t have to measure, count calories or macros in order to know when to stop.

  • not restricting the amount of toppings you eat with a meal because someone told you to limit your healthy fat (i.e. “blue container”) intake.

  • finding recipes you want to cook & eat because so many years of dieting can steal the joy of both from you.

You can rebuild your relationship with yourself, relearn to trust your own intuition. Get to know your body without someone else’s rules telling you what to do / not do.

When you do the work to ditch diet drama and do what sounds good & feels right for you when it comes to food there will still be days that are harder than others to turn down the noise on what diet culture has ingrained in your brain but you will have the tools in your back pocket to turn UP the volume on YOU because when it comes down to your bod, you really do know what’s best.


RECIPE:

What You Need:
-Marinated Steak - here is the recipe I used, it was fab. I only marinated it for an hour due to time.
-Fajita Veggie Mix - I buy precut at the store.
-Poblano Pepper - wanted a little extra heat.
-Trader Joe’s Spanish Rice

Toppings (Optional)
Guac
Sour Cream
Salsa
Cheese
Tortilla Chips (I love a good crunch)

Obvi I am not here to give you counts or measurements on how much to eat - you do you, dear.


Side Note: These new Caraway pans are amazing. We got them on Black Friday and they were a steal. Easy to cook in and even easier to clean…although you will have to ask Aaron about the cleaning part, I cook and thankfully he helps clean up.




Taco Stuffed Peppers

I am so sick of ground turkey, not gonna lie. Turkey sometimes tastes way too much, like, well TURKEY. And it gets old....

I will still eat turkey on Thanksgiving....that is a totally different concept. 

I had made taco stuffed peppers before but not with this exact recipe or with beef and if I do say so myself, this one is way tastier! ;) 

What You Need (Serves 2 people): 

1 lb lean ground beef (96/4)
2 red (or green) bell peppers
1 c cooked brown rice
1 can of rotel (not drained) 
1 tbsp southwest seasoning
4 tbsp shredded cheese

Instructions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. 
2. Slice the tops off of the bell peppers, then cut them in 1/2 (see pic) and remove seeds.
3. Place them in a baking dish with a tiny bit of water in the bottom. Cover them with foil and place into the oven for about 15 minutes. 
4. While those are baking, dice up the tops of the peppers.
5. Place diced peppers and ground beef in a skillet until meat is browned. 
6. While meat is cooking, heat up your rice (if you are lazy like me and use the precooked microwaved kind).
7. Once meat is cooked, add in 1 tbsp southwest seasoning and can of rotel. Simmer for 5 minutes. 
8. Combine 1/2 cup rice and 3/4 cup meat mixture, 2 times. I keep the 2 combined mixture in two different bowls because if you do the Fix, those are your portions for each person.  

You will also have extra taco meat, I used that for leftovers for myself or quesadillas for the kids! 

9. Stuff each pepper with the mixture, then set aside the extra for each person.
10. Once peppers are stuffed, cover the dish with foil and place back into oven at 350 degrees for another 15 minutes.
11. Take peppers out, top each 1/2 with 1tbsp cheese and place back into the oven, uncovered until cheese is melted.
12. Serve with extra meat and rice mixture. Enjoy! 
 

For my Fix Family: 1.5 Green, 1 Red, 1 Yellow, 1/2 Blue


Southwest Seasoning
2 tbsp chili powder
4 tsp ground cumin
2 tsp coriander
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp paprika
2 tsp sea salt

Mix all the seasonings together and put in a sealed container, it should make enough to have some left for other recipes! It is really great on anything, I use it in my burgers too! 

Healthier BBQ Chicken Pizza (CPK Style)

One of the amazing things about each new program is that there are new recipes to try out! 

Of course, I always end up modifying recipes to: 
1) use products I love that can easily replace something I don't want to use, i.e. pita vs my favorite pizza crust
2) make it easier! The original recipe is from Core De Force, it uses whole wheat pita as the crust and they make their own BBQ sauce...ain't nobody got time for that! My Trader Joe's sauce is perfect for a BBQ Chicken Pizza! 

PS - I love when people are all like, "I am on this diet and I am SO HUNGRY all the time! I can't eat anything good! I have to eat some bar for breakfast that doesn't fill me up, then for lunch, I have a shake filled with artificial ingredients and it cost me like $300+"....and I am over here like, oh poor you, this pizza is eff'n amazing, I will eat some for you. ;) 

What You Need (1 Serving):

1 whole grain crust (or whole wheat pita)
2 Tbsp. bbq sauce (try to find one without a bunch of extra "junk" in it)
2 Tbsp. cheddar (recipe calls for mozzarella, but I prefer cheddar) 
1/3 chopped cooked chicken breast
2 Tbsp. chopped red onion (I only use 1 Tbsp...onions aren't my friend)
1 Tbsp. chopped fresh cilantro (or the amazing freeze dried stuff you can find near the veggies/salads in the grocery store, love those)

Preparation: 

1. Preheat oven to 350 (one of these days I will figure out how to do the whole fahrenheit thing on my blog).
2. Place crust on a baking sheet, top with bbq sauce, cheese, chicken & onion.
3. Bake for 10-12 minutes or until the cheese is melted.
4. Sprinkle w/ cilantro, slice & ENJOY! 

 

I could eat this right now...For my Fix family:  2 yellow, 1/2 red 1/2 blue 1/2 purple

I could eat this right now...

For my Fix family:  2 yellow, 1/2 red 1/2 blue 1/2 purple

Crock Pot Flank Steak Fajitas - Fix Approved!

Would you believe I had never cooked flank steak in the crock pot before? I even texted my mom to ask her if that is something people do...then I remembered this little thing called GOOGLE and I ended up finding cooking times online and decided to go for it! It turned out soooo good, way better than the chewy mess it is when I grill it. :)

What You Need (Feeds 2):
1 lb Flank Steak
2 Bell Peppers (1 green and 1 red are my preference), sliced
1/2 Onion, sliced
2 Tomatoes on the Vine, cut into 6 wedges
1 TBSP + 2 tsp Southwest Seasoning (see below) 
 

Mmm...those tomatoes were my fav.

With 4 hours left, I started throwing in my veggies.


 

Preparation: 
1. Rub both sides of the Flank Steak with 1 TBSP Southwest Seasoning.
2. Place in crockpot and set on LOW for 8 hours. (No cooking liquid is needed, it will make its own juices)
3. Mix your veggies with the remaining seasoning, set aside in fridge for later. When there are about 4 hours left, throw in your veggies.  (If you will not be home, it is ok to put them in on step 2.)
4. Shred the steak and serve with your favorite fajita toppings!  
 

 

 

Again, this fed two of us, next time, I will get a larger piece of meat because it shrunk up A LOT in the crock pot. 

I had 3/4 cup steak, 1 cup of fajita veggies on 2 corn tortillas with a tbsp of cheese.  That is 1 red, 1 green, 1 yellow & 1/4 blue for my Fix family.

I had a side salad as well and topped it with my extra meat (that didn't fit on my tortillas), a little cheese, avocado and my favorite Bolthouse Yogurt Ranch. 


Southwest Seasoning

2 tbsp chili powder
4 tsp ground cumin
2 tsp coriander
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp paprika
2 tsp sea salt

Mix all the seasonings together and put in a sealed container, it should make enough to have some left for other recipes! It is really great on anything, I use it in my burgers too! 

Buffalo Turkey Burgers

What you need (4 servings): 

1 pound ground turkey
1/4
 cup hot chili sauce, I used Frank's Red Hot
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
2 tablespoons water
1/2 cups whole wheat panko bread crumbs
2 tablespoon reduced fat shredded cheddar cheese (Additional for topping) 
Head of romaine lettuce (for lettuce wrapped burgers)
Tomato slices (topping) 

Preparation: 

  1. In a large bowl, mix hot sauce, garlic powder, salt and water. Add ground turkey and panko, mix well. Add in cheese. Mix again. 

  2. Divide meat into 4 even patties. 

  3. Heat a skillet or your grill over medium-high heat, and spray with cooking spray. Add patties and cook until done. You can add a another tbsp of shredded cheddar to the top once cooked if you like. 

  4. Top with a tomato slice and wrap in romaine (optional). 

I had mine with a side salad! It was perfect! Actually, I am about to go heat up my leftover burger for dinner...just talking about it on this post makes me excited for dinner! 

For my Fix family: 1 red, 1/2 yellow , 1 blue