Chili Lime Roast

London broil is a fantastic cut of meat.
It's a thick enough to hold a ton of flavor but it's also very lean and easily shredded.

I was first introduced to London broil by my mother-in-law who makes her pepper steak with it.
I love it.

It does have a unique "roast" like flavor that is hard to mask, but I found the key to this dish is the lime. It makes this roast a flavorful mexican fiesta in your mouth.

This dish is simple, high in protein, clean eating, and DELICIOUS!

Ingredients:
2lbs London broil, frozen
1tbs garlic powder
1/2 chili powder
1tbs cumin
2 cups  stalk (chicken, beef, veggie, your choice)
1/2 onion, minced
1 tbs vinegar
1 4oz can of diced green chilies
2 limes, juiced

*optional sweet potato

Directions: 
Place frozen* London broil, stalk, seasonings, vinegar, chilies and onion in the slow cooker.
Set on high for 3-4 hours then turn to low for another 3 hours.
Take two forks and shred the cooked meat.
Squeeze the two limes over the shredded beef and stir.

* If your london broil is thawed cut the the  cooking time down to just 3-4 hours in the crock pot.

* If you don't have a crock pot, cut the London broil into thin strips then place them in a large pot over medium heat. Cook the meat all the way through and then all all the ingredients, except the lime. Bring to a boil for 2 min then let simmer for 20-30 min until everything is mixed in. Squeeze the two limes over the meat and shrewd more as needed.

Use to make delicious tacos or top it on a spicy sweet potato

Spicy Sweet Potato
1 sweet potato
1/16 cayenne pepper
1/4 tsp garlic powder

Poke holes in the sweet potato with a fork and then microwave for 3-5 min.
Carefully cut it open (the steam from the inside can burn) and scrape the insides away from the skin. Place the insides in a small bowl with the cayenne pepper, and garlic powder.
Smash it all together with a fork.

Done.

Enjoy!!!!

Eat More to Weigh Less

"Eat More To Weigh Less!"

I wish I could shout this to the world. 

I wish  I had heard those words 4 years ago

 (but then again I may not have understood them as I do now). 

I wish good and sound nutrition was broadcasted to our ears instead of the junk/fake/made-to-fail stuff we keep trying over and over. 

I started my weight loss journey 4 years ago, reached my goal a year and a half ago, and now I'm just trying to live a healthy and positive life.

It's not a cake walk--although I love that game, walk around in a circle and win a cake, GENIUS--however, it is rewarding knowing and feeling literally more alive.

Food wise, my journey began with cutting and counting those calories. I discovered that 1200 calories a day was the lowest limit prescribed to a female, so that is exactly where I set my daily intake goal. For almost 2 years I only ate 1200 calories a day.

Seriously. I worked out like crazy, mainly hours on the elliptical and running outside,

(Hey, I did run a half marathon in under 2 hours!)

 

and still only ate 1200 calories a day. I mean they said burn more than you eat so I tried, and I was starving myself.

Oh I lost weight, in fact it was on that regiment that I reached my weight loss goal (YEAH), but I didn't feel right. Sure, I looked great, but I felt weak, and ALWAYS hungry.

Now, after I reached my goal I didn't know what to do. I was getting married, moving away from my home, and there was no way I could keep this strict diet for the rest of my life; it wasn't normal or natural.

So I let go. 

I quickly gained back 10lbs which was discouraging. But, this time I had a stepping block because I knew I could reach that goal again. I mean I was just there, but I needed to find a better way to get there; a way that I could maintain for the rest of my life (well the part I can control).

So I said to myself, forget the scale. I just want to be healthy and STRONG.

And thus weight lifting came into my life.

I joined the website bodybuilding.com because first of all have you seen the pictures they post of the people that use and promote their site? Pure awesome.

Secondly, I read a lot of articles they've published about nutrition, especially woman's nutrition (Female's Fitness Bible being my favorite) and was hooked.
From there I found Jamie Eason. A world class female fitness model and trainer whose goal in life is to help educate people about nutrition--my kind of gal.

I signed up to do her 12 Week LiveFit Trainer workout and nutrition plan

 

(Click HERE to see my journey)

and in 12 weeks not only was my body changed, but so was my life.

Within the first month I couldn't believe the transformation my body was going through, best of all I was getting abs by eating more!
You know that saying that is going around "abs are made in the kitchen?" Well after my first month I knew it was true and I couldn't have been more excited.

I made it though the 3 month journey,  no easy feat let me tell you, but I learned so much about nutrition and strength training, and how when combined properly they could produce amazing life-maintaining  results.

So what did I eat?

It was hard to get started on the Livefit trainer nutrition plan because the first month called for no calorie counting, just body fueling she called it. (with exercise of course)

So ate I ate everything really, that was whole and natural  (with a few chocolate cakes in between, not going to lie) 6 times a day. 6 full meals. Not 3 meals and 3 snacks--although some meals were bigger than others-- none of them lacked in nutrients.

 Months 2 and 3 calories came back into the picture but at no loss. I would eat high days and low days just to keep my body guessing, but those calorie counts were nowhere near 1200; more like 1450 on low and 1600-1650 on high.

I would say my biggest food/fuel source was protein. I upped my protein intake dramatically, I am talking 6oz of protein 2 times a day plus protein shakes and other rich in protein foods such as greek yogurt, cottage cheese, nuts, etc.

*check out my high protein meal ideas*

I did eat carbs such as brown rice, whole wheat bread, pita,and quinoa, but I learned the power of only eating them when I was also eating high amounts of veggies and/or protein. This stopped my glycemic index from spiking and kept my body's metabolism working harder for longer.

Now pair  this new nutrition with heavy weight lifting routines and minimal but high interval cardio sessions, and I got a  transformed body and a fat burning machine--okay, well that's what she said it was.

BUT
I truly felt that way, and by the end of the 12 weeks, I actually gained weight--of pure muscle of course-- and lost 3% of my body fat! Inches gone all around.

I was over the moon. Muscles are more toned than ever, fat is shrinking, and best of all I am NEVER hungry!

The whole plan is a  little more complicated than this, I mean, it's a life changer. But I encourage you to look into the Livefit trainer challenge and see if it's for you.

12 weeks truly isn't that long and it will honestly change your life.

The biggest thing I want you to take from this article is that food is not the enemy (thank God, says the food addict inside of me), and it can actually help you loose weight if you eat it in the right ways (all good ways in my opinion)  and maintain healthy workout regiments that doesn't only include slaving away on the the elliptical or treadmill.

GO LIFT SOME WEIGHTS!

If you have any questions or comments please do not hesitate to ask!

Many blessing on your journey!

Mini Deep Dish Apple Pie

       We were out to dinner and finishing up our delicious main course when the waiter graciously, but of course conceived well before we even received our drink orders, asked if we would like to try their apple pie or chocolate molten cake for dessert.

            Now my husband and I hardly, and I mean, it better be our wedding anniversary or a new decade birthday do we get dessert at a restaurant, but both of us looked at each other with eyes yearning for some apple pie...but of course we said no thank you.

              But a craving doesn't get away that easy with this foodie, so as soon as the waiter whisked away our dishes in order to bring us our check I said, don't worry honey I'll make some apple pie!

And thus these beauties.

Simple, single serving, deep dish apple pies. Just the right amount smother that craving with sweet, cinnamony apple bliss.

Ingredients
Dough
1 cup-whole wheat pastry flour
1tbs cold butter, diced
1tbs white sugar
1/2 tsp vinegar
1/4 tsp salt
4 tbs cold water

Filling
2 small granny smith apples (mine were really small 1 large will probably work), diced
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1tbs sugar
drop of vanilla

egg white, for wash (or milk)

4 (half cup ramekins)

Directions:
Lightly spray the inside of ramekins with cooking spray, set aside.

Mix together the flour, salt and sugar. Cut in diced butter with a pastry blender or two forks until mixture looks a little crumbly. Add in 1tbs of cold water and a time and fold mixture over itself to form a dough. The dough should be slightly wet, and completely sticking to itself. 

Place dough on a well floured surface and kneed together 10-15 times, then let rest for 5-10 min. 


Meanwhile, dice apple(s) into small bite size pieces and then toss apple pieces, cinnamon, sugar, and vanilla in a bowl, set aside. 
Preheat oven to 350 F.

Now take the rested dough and divided into 8 equal balls. 
(I rolled my dough into a ball, and then cut it in half, and then cut that half in half, and so on so forth).

Gently begin forming the balls of dough into small disks by either gently pressing them down with your  palm or rotating them between your thumb and index finger.

Then gently roll out into a thin, flat disk then place and press them to the inside of prepped ramekin--it's okay if the dough sides spill over the edges.

Repeat with the remaining dough balls, pressing three more into the bottoms of the ramekins and saving the other four to top the mini pies with.

Take your prepped mixture and evenly distribute the mixture into each of the ramekins. 
Then take the rolled out dough and lay them over the top of the ramekins. Gently press and or pinch the sides of the dough to the ramekin to enclose the pie. 

Decorate the tops of the dough with slits to release the steam. Then gently brush the tops with egg whites or milk.

Place mini pies on a baking sheet, and bake for 30 min, until tops have a nice golden color. 

Remove and let cool for 10 min. 

ENJOY!!!

Question: What's your favorite kind of pie?