Pumpkin Chai Shakeology

Fall is here! Even if it's still horribly hot here in California, October is almost here and therefore I am in full pumpkin mode!

Today's Shakeology recipe is inspired by a Pumpkin Spice Chai Tea Latte - and I must say I love this addition to my Shakeology rotation!

Ingredients:

1 Scoop Vanilla Shakeology
1/2 Cup Pure Pumpkin Pure
8 oz Brewed Pumpkin Spice Chai Tea - Cooled
1/4 C Cashew Milk
Pumpkin Spice
Ice

Add all ingredients to blender cup and blend until smooth! Super easy and quick and tastes delicious!!

For the rest of the pumpkin I spooned into an ice cube tray and froze to use in future smoothies! Great way to keep pumpkin fresh when you only use a little! And it will make the next smoothies thicker!

Hope you enjoyed this recipe, if you have any variations I'd love to hear about them, leave a comment below!

Want to know more about Shakeology? Check out my website or send me a message and I'd be happy to chat with you about this amazing drink that has changed my life!

21 Day Fix: Taco Salad

I don't know about you but I love mexican food so finding healthy alternatives that fit within this program is a must for me, and this Taco Salad recipe is one of my favorites!

This recipe is awesome because it takes very little cook time - it's great for left overs, and super quick to throw together!

Ingredients:

1 lb Ground Beef or Turkey
1 Packet Taco Seasoning (Read labels! Make sure there isn't added sugar!)
1/2 C Beef Broth (water can be used in place of this if doing Whole 30/Paleo)
Shredded Lettuce
Salsa
Guacamole

The only real part of cooking here is the meat. Brown the meat in a large sauce pan, once done, add beef broth and seasoning and simmer for an additional 1-2 minutes.

Then measure out your ingredients: I used 1 Green Container for the lettuce  (you could add other veggies if desired); 1 Red Container for the beef (and set the rest aside for later in the week); 1 Blue Container for the Guacamole (or you could use for cheese); and 1/4 Purple Container for Salsa.

Mix all ingredients together and your Taco Salad is ready to go!

This is super easy to customize for the whole family which makes it a go to for me when I'm having a large group together you can set up an assembly line and everyone can build their own!

Feel free to share your tips or twists on my recipe above, I'd love to hear them!

Chicken Fried "Rice"

I am currently following the Whole 30 eating plan, along with the 21 Day Fix container guidelines. These two programs work together well because all Whole 30 foods are approved on the 21 Day Fix, it just helps with my portion control - which I struggled my first round of the Whole 30 about six months ago!

Today's recipe is super simple - and delicious! I love Chinese food, so I knew I needed a way to incorporate it into my plan! and I must say it turned out great!

Ingredients:

1 3/4 Green Container of Riced Cauliflower (make your own or buy frozen from Trader Joe's!) 

1/4  Green Container of Chopped Carrots 

2 Eggs Scrambled 

1 Red Container️ of Chicken 

1-2 Tbsp Coconut Aminos (or Liquid Aminos or Soy Sauce) 

1 Tsp Avocado Oil

Start by cooking the chicken ahead of time and chop into bite size pieces (this makes great use of leftover chicken from a previous meal!) 

Next chop carrots and begin cooking in large pan, add "rice" and 1 teaspoon avocado oil, saute until almost done. Now add chicken and egg to the pan and mix well then add coconut aminos to taste! Voila - dinner is served!

The container measurements above were for 2 servings, each serving counts as 1 Red (protein) and 1 Green (vegetables). If you wanted you could sub the Cauliflower rice for brown rice also!

I hope you try this recipe and please let me know your thoughts or how you altered it to fit your family!

Whole 30 - Mashed Cauliflower with Mushroom Chicken

Through my Whole 30 journey I have eaten a lot (and I mean a lot) of salads. And that's fine, I don't mind it but when I find something equally as healthy that tastes like a cheat meal - look out!

This is one of those recipes and I must say, it will likely be a weekly occurrence in my house now!

Mashed Cauliflower with Sauteed Chicken and Mushrooms

Ingredients:

1 Head of Cauliflower
1/4 C Cashew Milk (or other preferred milk/cream)
1 Chicken Breast
3/4 C Diced Mushrooms (Fresh/Frozen/Canned)
2 Tsps Olive Oil (or Avocado Oil)
Garlic Seasoning
Salt (if desired)

Start with cooking the cauliflower. I did this the night before and kept it in the fridge, or you can do this whole process at once. Trim off leaves and steam and steam or boil the whole head, or large chunks, until for tender. I steamed mine and it took about 15 mins.

Add the cooked cauliflower to a food processor along with the cashew milk, granulated garlic, herbs, and salt. Blend until smooth paste. You will need to push sides down a few times and taste once blended to get the ratio of spices to your liking.

If you didn't use hot cauliflower transfer the mixture to a small sauce pan and heat on stove while chicken cooks.

For the chicken, I filleted the breast to be thinner and cook faster, I froze the thinner of the two halves and only used one but you can adjust this recipe to fit your family, or even to have leftovers after. Next, slice into chunks and season to your liking. I added this to a small skillet with only a touch of water in the pan and grilled on both sides while covered until nearly done. Then add the mushrooms - mine were pre cooked so only needed to be reheated, if you're using fresh add them when you filp the chicken the first time. Add the olive oil now and garlic seasoning to taste. Cover and let simmer for another 1-2 minutes so everything soaks up the flavors and juices.

Plate the mushroom chicken mixture over  a green portion of the mashed cauliflower and dinner is served. This is a quick and easy meal that I can assure you the whole family will love - and won't even know its Whole 30 approved!

I'm also doing this program on the 21 Day Fix, this follows the containers portion to be 1 Green - Mashed Cauliflower, .5 Green - Mushrooms, 1 Red - Chicken, .33 Yellow - cashew milk, 2 Tsps - olive oil - Delicious and so filling!

I hope you try this recipe out yourself and let me know how you liked it or altered it to fit your family!

21 Day Fix: Round 1

I did the 21 Day Fix program for the first time this month, and I absolutely loved it! I have yet to meet anyone who has not had success in some form from this program!

I ordered a challenge pack that came with the 21 Day Fix workout program, portion containers, and a bag of Shakeology. I was introduced to this program buy a friend who is also a Beachbody coach, bought the challenge pack thru her and got involved in a challenge group; which I can honestly say made all the difference!

The program is broken down in the books so it is easy to follow and abide by, but the best assets I found on this program are:

1. 21 Day Fitness Tracker App
2. Joining a Challenge Group on Facebook

The App

This made sticking to the program so much easier! Not only does it allow you to keep notes from each day, it give you place to keep track of your weight if you're weighing yourself daily, advises what workout is coming today and lets you keep track of your container usage throughout the day.

Challenge Groups

My best advice to get the most out of this program is to get a coach and join a challenge group. The support and encouragement from the women in my group gave me so much more than the weight loss I experienced!
Interested in joining a challenge group? Click here and contact me for more information!


The first week of the program I saw the most weight loss (5 lbs) the rest of the program I maintained and lost a couple more the last week. The first week was good, I was motivated and ready to make a change! I can honestly say that it was a toss up to say what was hardest for me between the daily work outs and sticking to the eating plan. I never worked out regularly enough and I discovered that after this program (honestly, after the first day), but I stuck it out and I'm so proud of myself for doing so!

The second week was the hardest for me, I was going through major withdraws from sugars, and my body was sore everyday. It was this week that I began feeling discouraged due to not seeing the scale go down at all (literally at all) and I likely would have caved this week if it had not been for the challenge group I was in. These ladies shared similar struggles, and we encouraged each other and kept each other accountable. That made all the difference!

In the third week I felt my body changing, my clothes are fitting looser, I can see muscle definition, my stomach is flatter and the scale is finally creeping down again (slowly, but I was still thrilled) and it was the home stretch! This was a hard week to get through, I had lots of temptations this week, but the changes I was seeing kept me on track and I made it all 21 days!

These 21 Days gave me 6.5 lbs of weight loss, and lifestyle I can maintain. I am beginning a second round of this program next week and I cannot wait to see what additional progress I can make!

Have you tried the 21 Day Fix program? What did you think of it??

Interested in learning more about the program? Checkout my Beachbody website and contact me for more information!

www.BeachbodyCoach.com/KristenSperry

Healthy Chocolate Chip Cookies

Who doesn't love cookies?? I have a huge sweet tooth, but I'm also always on the look out for a healthy alternatives! I stumbled across many recipes for cookies with chickpeas and patched them together and came up with this one!

Ingredients:

2 Cans Chickpeas (rinsed, drained, patted dry)
1.5 C Peanut Butter
1/2 C Honey
4 Tsp Vanilla
2 Tsp Baking Powder
3/4 C Dark Chocolate Chips (or 1/2 C Mini Chocolate Chips)

Begin by pulsing 2 cans of chick peas in a food processor until it looks like this:

Then add peanut butter, honey, vanilla, and baking powder to the chickpeas and pulse until fully incorporated.

 Transfer mixture into bowl and add chocolate chips (or nuts) and mix evenly, then roll into small balls and flatten with a fork.

Bake at 350 degrees for 15 mins, cookies with be soft to the touch and slightly golden on edges.

And enjoy!

Shredded Beef Tacos

I love Mexican food, all kinds really, tacos, burritos, enchiladas, nachos - I don't discriminate! So while on the 21 Day Fix program I needed to create an approved recipe to add to my meal plan.
This is the recipe I came up with for the beef, it can me used in tacos like I did here, or any other sort of Mexican dish! Feel free to modify to suit your taste, I don't do spicy so this is a mild version.

Ingredients:

2 lb Beef Chuck Roast
1 Can Beef Broth
2 Packets Taco Seasoning (or home made)
1 Tsp Olive Oil
1/4 Chopped Sweet Onion
1 Can Diced Tomatoes & Green Chilies (or hot chilies to your taste)

For me the easiest thing to do is use my Crock Pot and put everything in before I leave for work and come home to a perfectly cooked meal! (who doesn't love that?)

First add the teaspoon of Olive Oil to the bottom of the crock pot, then add a handful of finely chopped onion. Then to the beef! I trimmed the large chunks of fat off and separated the large two pound roast into 4 more manageable chunks. Then rub one packet of taco seasoning on all side of each chunk to fully coat and place all the meat in the crock pot. Cover beef with the can of beef broth and let it go to work! I left mine on low for 10 hours while I was at work.

After the 10 hours remove the beef from Crock Pot and shred with a fork removing any fat chunks that remain. Drain all but approx 3/4 cup of liquid and return the shredded beef to the Crock Pot. Top with the can of diced tomatoes and green chilies along with 1/2 of to the full second taco seasoning packet. Mix thoroughly and continue cooking on low for 30 minutes, and voila!

I then measured out my toppings and assembled my tacos with corn tortillas and topped with lettuce, cheese, and guacamole with a side of fat free re-fried beans.

For the 21 Day Fix I made two tacos, and a yellow container of beans this meal equals:

2 Yellow, 1 Red, 1 Green, and 1 Blue Containers.

I used the left over shredded beef for nachos and taco bowls during the rest of the week, how did you use your left overs?

Want to know more about the 21 Day Fix? Follow the link on my home page to my Beachbody website!