If Life is Like a Bowl of Cherries...

Then I eat life nearly every day for a snack! :) And it's delish!

I think that cherries are probably my favorite afternoon snack. Good news is B doesn't like them so I get them all to myself as well!

Today was day #10! We're 1/3 of the way through and I don't know how I feel exactly. Today our office was filled with temptation - catered lunch, birthday cake and snacks...whew! I was ready to get out of there! The prep is no longer the hard part - the willpower is! In so many diets you have a point system so you can allow for cheats or you have a cheat day every week or so, but one of the foundations of this date is that for 30 days you are ridiculously strict. ZERO CHEATING! It's a little intense, but we're definitely seeing and feeling the effects/results. I think we both feel and look healthier.

A couple of this week's meals:

ZUCCHINI LASAGNA:

2 large zucchinis
1lb lean ground turkey
Tomato sauce or homemade if you have a good recipe for it (organic/no added sugars)
1/2 head of cauliflower
Grated almonds
Onions, mushrooms & any other veggies you'd like to add.

Slice the zucchini thin, longways.
Ground the cauliflower into a "rice" consistency
Saute all other veggies in EVOO with salt, pepper, garlic and Italian seasoning to taste

Layer zucchini, then veggies, then cauliflower and last a layer of sauce. Repeat until casserole dish is full. Top off with layer of sauce and grated almonds. Bake on 400 for about 20-30ish minutes (honestly...I don't remember and just cooked it until the veggies were tender and it was hot all the way through). It was pretty tasty!

I'm also not a professional food photographer either. Hope it gets the gist of it across. It all wound up coming apart (no cheese to hold it together...sad), so it doesn't really matter how pretty your layers are really.

WHOLE FAJITAS

This was super simple:
2 large boneless, skinless chicken breast
1tbsp ghee or clarified butter
1 onion
1 bell pepper
Leaf lettuce
1 large avocado
1 bag frozen organic zucchini
Homemade salsa (recipe here)

I chopped the chicken into cubes (actually, B did) and then pan grilled it in EVOO with cayenne pepper, cumin, salt and pepper to taste.
Slice the onions and bell peppers into strips and sauté in ghee with seasoning on chicken. Sauteed zucchini separately with same seasoning.

Fresh Guac: Mash 1 avocado with about 4-5 tablespoons of salsa and add salt and/or garlic seasoning if necessary.

Use the leaf lettuce instead of a tortilla and dress as with all the toppings. Now, you may need to just chop up the lettuce and make into more of a fajita salad, but I was determined to make it feel like a real fajita, so I managed...a little messy, but ya know. Add zucchini to the side in place of rice and beans.

Not much else going on this week. Trying to get my runs in - have a 5K on the 8th: Color Me Rad! I am so excited! And another 1/2 coming up in the near future as well!

Looking forward to my best friend's son's first birthday party in 2 weeks in Houston and my Mom-Mom's 90th birthday party at the end of the month in Philly!! She's kind of adorable, don't ya think?

Until then - stay ding-dong-dorable!

Lisa

Whole 30 - Day 1

Well, I'm halfway through day 1 of the Whole 30 food challenge. For those that have asked it is basically a very strict Paleo diet that eliminates all gluten, dairy, processed sugar, alcohol and soy from your diet. Um, that's a lot!

We decided to embark on this journey for a couple of reasons, one being that Brandon is looking at a career change into law enforcement and there are many physical benefits to this type of diet. Also and more importantly, we both want to make a lifestyle change to eat much healthier on an every day basis. We ate generally healthy before this started and I often cooked for us at home, but there are so many things you don't think of regarding how much sugar is added to processed foods and all the chemicals that are used in foods now. We're both very excited to see where this turn takes us!

I also have several friends making the same switch. I think what we all agree on is that this is not a "diet", meaning a weight loss/short-term change in the way we eat, but a diet by definition: a) the food and drink regularly consumed by an individual; b) habitual nourishment. It's great to have people you socialize with on the same path and especially in this case because there basically has to be ZERO eating out for the 30 days.

Today -
Breakfast:
We started off with a Green Monster Smoothie. This has become a bit of a craze and I found my first recipe for it on pinterest. There are literally dozens of versions, but I've tailored this one to be completely Whole 30 compliant.
- 1 banana
- 1 skinned apple (or leave the skin on if you'd like - I just don't like the texture)
- 1 handful/scoop of frozen or fresh pineapple
- 1 handful/scoop of frozen or fresh blueberries
- 1 handful/scoop of frozen or fresh strawberries
- 2 handfuls frozen or fresh spinach (about 1 cup)
- Ice/water as needed to reach desired consistency

Honestly - you can use ANY fruit - if you stick to tropical yellow/orange fruits it yields a bright neon green smoothie. Do not be alarmed! If you add in strawberries, blueberries, etc. you get a little more of an earthy brown/green. Either way it's delicious and nutritious!

Some people even add in carrots and cucumbers, but I like to keep the taste more fruity!

You can also pour smoothies into ice trays for a quick sweet snack or for portion control: http://pinterest.com/pin/5840674487682934/

Snack:
Mini Egg Muffins. These are also great for breakfast!

I quartered organic sliced turkey (check your ingredients!) and put a piece in each tin. I scrambled 10 organic, cage free brown eggs with homemade salsa (recipe below) and poured in each tin - about 3/4 full. Bake on 350 for about 15 minutes. Yup - it's that easy. Feel free to experiment with these - add spinach, onions, broccoli, peppers, etc. Anything you'd like to spruce it up. The salsa in it was the perfect mix! I might have to hide them from Brandon!

Lunch:
I had a fresh green salad with cucumber with tilapia. I used the salsa as dressing.
Fish is an awesome quickie meal. With tilapia filets you can even microwave them, which is what I did because it was late last night and I was tired and over cooking. So, I put the fish in a microwave safe dish, added about 1 Tbsp. of ghee, squeezed half a lemon and seasoned with some sea salt, pepper and garlic. It doesn't get much easier than that!

Dinner:
Almond crusted chicken breast with sweet potatoes and mixed veggies. OMG - delish and easy!! I had NO idea I liked sweet potatoes bc I always HATE the sweet potato casseroles at Thanksgiving. Well, they can be done Whole 30 compliant and oh so deliciously!

Ingredients:
2 organic chicken breasts
1/2 cup raw almonds
1 egg
salt, pepper, garlic to taste

Grate the almonds with a food processor and spread onto a plate. Scramble the egg with the seasoning. Dip the chicken breast in the egg and then dip in grated almonds. We only did one side to save on calories. Repeat with second chicken breast. Bake on 350 15-20 minutes.

2 organic sweet potatoes
1 tbsp. ghee
Italian seasoning (make sure to read labels that nothing extra is added to the spice mix)

Peel and slice sweet potatoes into thin disks. Put potatoes, ghee and seasoning into a glass pyrex or baking dish. Baked on 425 until potatoes were tender.

Veggies were easy - just microwaved them with some ghee and seasoning.

This whole diet can be done pretty easily!

Ok - now for the homemade salsa recipe. This is also ridiculously simple.

In a blender:
6 whole tomatoes
2 jalepenos
1/4 of a white onion
4 garlic cloves
Cilantro (to taste)

Blend it all together...and done! :) I know! So simple

Now, friends - I am no professional cook and I'm AWFUL at keeping measurements, etc. I do a lot of measuring by taste. My theory is that you an always add more, so I keep it pretty light and just add more when necessary.

So - I doubt that I'll blog every recipe throughout this process. That's 90 meals, but today was just such a successful first day that I wanted to share. I do promise to share my favorites that I come across along the way though!

Have a great night folks!

Rainy Weekends

This is one of the first weekends in quite some time where we haven't had a full schedule of events, errands, chores, etc. Today has been a moderately lazy day, which has worked out perfectly, because the majority of the day has been rainy. Thank the heavens because we sure needed the rain and the cool air that comes with it is an added bonus.

B and I were talking today about how much less harsh this summer has been compared to last year's! It's exciting breaking records, but not if the record is how many straight days in a row we break 100 degrees! Ugh! Texas has been my home for several years now - more than half my life, but I will never ever get used to or "accept" the long, scorching summers. And I still dream about when we will eventually pack up and head somewhere with 4 seasons! One day...

My parents are in the process of selling their house. It's bittersweet. It's the home that we lived in the longest and my mom bought the house because she said she could see me walking down the steps in my wedding gown...

CHECK!

I think it took about a week or two after that for them to decide to put it up on the market. So, today we went by and picked up some of my old stuff that my parents had in their attic. Man - we found some gems... A journal about my 4th grade crush, a bunch of notes from junior high still folded in that funky little fold we'd do, a huge megaphone from when I was on pep squad (kept that since my hs reunion is in a couple of months...ha), and of course a whole box of what I call the "ex-files". I went through most of the stuff with my mom...we laughed a lot, teared up a bit. Like I said - bittersweet. I did keep a few items from the "ex-files" - a scrap book, some trinkets & pictures, etc. I wasn't sure but I remember when I was young that my mom showed me notes, drawings, etc. that she had kept from her "first love". I always thought it was so interesting and I debated back and forth on whether to keep any of my stuff to show my kiddos one day. Curious to see if other people have done the same...?

I think the greatest experience about today was that my parents bequeathed the nursery furniture that they used for all 3 of my sisters to us. It's the crib and the changing table and I didn't even know they still had it. It's old and vintage-y looking and I absolutely love it! Made it very real that we're at the age of considering starting our family and it's pretty exciting!

After that we made an afternoon of watching movies and relaxing. Today's laziness will mean tomorrow's productivity! We are embarking on a journey starting Monday - it's called the Whole 30 food challenge - www.whole9life.com. It's structured on a Paleo style of dieting, but stricter and it is more or less a metabolic re-start/jump start into a Paleo lifestyle. Brandon and I have been talking a lot about health and change lately, and when a friend of mine posted about this challenge on facebook, I did some research and am very much looking forward to getting started. We'll be doing our grocery shopping and prep work for the week tomorrow. It will no doubt be a challenge, but we're both looking very forward to it and the benefits of embracing a "clean eating" lifestyle. I'll be sure to post about this journey and any recipes I come up with along the way!

Praying that the rain continues tomorrow along with that cool air!

A New Beginning

Life is indeed full of twists and turns. Some good, some not as much, but each taking us down our own unique path. My latest twist in life was the happiest yet - it was the beginning of my life as a Turner.
Now that the wedding is over and I have a life again (more or less), I really want to get back into blogging.

To catch you up to speed you can check out my old blog: www.lisarosso.blogspot.com.

Although our life has calmed down significantly since the wedding, we already have big plans in store for the rest of this year and especially in 2013. I don't foresee many dull moments and that my friends, is exciting!

Stay tuned!