Recipe

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.




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

Skinny Margaritas for Cinco De Mayo!

Happy Cinco De Mayo!! (or at least, I hope it is Cinco De Mayo, I wrote this post and scheduled it ahead of time since I am cruising the ocean with my hubs right now) 

If you know me, you know I love tequila...especially in my favorite skinny margaritas, just not the calories!

When we went to Disney this past summer, I found a skinny version at our hotel that I drank....everyday (oops). It was so good that when we got home my husband decided to recreate it so we could enjoy it when we wanted without the guilt! 

What better day to share this recipe than today and if you are going to celebrate, why not celebrate the drink that gives me the giggles...

What you need: 
TEQUILA! Preferably Patron.
Cointreau
Agave Nectar
Fresh Limes

Yes, that is all you need to this fabulousness. 

Recipe (1 skinny margarita): 
Juice of a lime
1 tbsp of Agave Nectar
1 shot Cointreau
2 shots of TEQUILA (yes, I am yelling when I type it)
A ton of ice, put it all together in a cup and shake well!! Enjoy. 

Warning!! You may only need one...just saying. I mean, not that I know that from experience or anything.  

For my Fix family: this is a yellow treat!

Buffalo Chicken Pizza

So last night, I had "Easy Pizzas" from the Fixate cookbook on the menu but for some reason, I wasn't feeling the toppings I had planned (veggies, natural ham, red sauce...the usual) and I was SOOO close to caving and going out and getting pizza from a new place "near" our house. I put "near" in quotes because no place I like to eat or ever want to try is NEAR our house. 

Anyways, I was looking at menus, drooling, then it dawned on me, I had my amazing crockpot buffalo chicken in the fridge AND I had my pizza crusts that we use for our Easy Pizzas, so why not make my own healthier version of a restaurant worthy pizza?!

 

What you need (1 serving):
4oz of Crockpot Buffalo Chicken, get recipe here
1 Whole Grain Ultra Thin Pizza Crust from Golden Home (I find these at my local grocery store) 
Franks Red Hot
3 tbsp reduced fat shredded cheddar
2 tsp yogurt ranch (I use Bolthouse Farms)  

 


1. Make sure you make the chicken first! It takes 3-4 hours on high or 7-8 on low. 
2. Once the chicken is done & you are ready to start getting your pizza together, preheat your oven or your toaster oven (I use my Breville Smart Oven) to 425°. 
3. While that heats up, cover your pan with foil, non stick spray is not needed. 
4. Lay your pizza crust on the foil. You can also use a whole wheat or sprouted grain tortilla, it just does not crisp up as much.  
5. Drizzle Frank's Red Hot over your crust, now this is totally up to you and your taste buds on how much you use. I like mine hot! 
6. Top the pizza with the 4oz of Buffalo Chicken and 3 tbsp of reduced fat shredded cheddar.
7. Place in Oven or Toaster Oven, bake for 10-12 minutes or until crust is golden and cheese is bubbling. 
8. Take out, drizzle with 2 tsp of yogurt ranch.  
9. Let it cool, slice & serve!

Writing out this recipe seriously makes me want to go make one right now! Typically I would eat closer to 6oz of meat (give or take) on my meal plan so I did a little picking at the meat while my pizza cooked to get my portion in...hey, I was hungry. 

This pizza would be great with a side of celery & carrots! 
 

 

Buffalo Chicken Lettuce Wraps

Anyone else a huge fan of buffalo chicken ANYTHING?!  I stumbled across a few recipes for crockpot buffalo chicken but they all called for stock but I wanted to keep it more simple than that! 

Feel free to double the recipe (I would keep the chicken to just a single layer on the bottom of your crockpot though).

What you need:
1 lb chicken breast
Water
Garlic (I used the freeze dried diced garlic)
Onion Powder
Frank's Hot Sauce (original not buffalo)

If you prefer, you can omit the onion powder & garlic, instead throw in a 1/2 onion (just cut in 1/2) & a couple of celery stalks for flavor, both are great options. 

Instructions: 
1. Place chicken in the crock pot. Cover the chicken with water.  
2. Sprinkle in some onion powder and garlic to taste. (I did not measure, just winged it)
3. Cook on high for 3 hours.
4. Remove chicken, shred it.
5. Discard most of the water from the crockpot (and any funk in it). Keep about 1/4 cup water in the crockpot.
6. Add chicken back into the crockpot with the water and 1/3 to 1/2 cup hot sauce (depends on how much you want). Cook for an additional 30 minutes. 
7. Serve over Romaine Lettuce.  Add cheese and ranch. I use Bolthouse Farms Yogurt Ranch

For my Fix family: 1 red, 1 blue & 1 green (I had some pretty big lettuce leafs)