Happy Belated Birthday to me.

Last week I turned the big 4-0. Looking back through the last decade, a lot has happened. I bought a house, got married, and had two children. I also embarked on a new fitness journey that I never thought I would do before. I was always active through volleyball or rock climbing, but with two children, it was more difficult to get to those things consistently. I also never thought I'd exercise consistently. I work full-time outside the home, still cook homemade meals about 90% of the time, and I don't outsource anything.   

Think I have it all together? Nah...if you see parts of my house (my office!), you know I don't.

 

I just prioritize what's important to me. I carve out that 30-45 minutes for me at the end of the night on a weekday to get my workout in, to work on ME. Doing that allows me to be more present for the rest of my family. Don't think you have to take care of everything else before you take care of yourself. And definitely don't think that there's something special going on here...if I can do it, you can do it too!

Need help with accountability?  I can help.  Contact me!




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Hate eating veggies? Have you tried Shakeology yet? Click here to nab your six day sample pack and give it a taste test of your own.
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Cheesy Broccoli Rice and Quinoa Casserole

I'm always trying out recipes so that I can get my kids to eat more veggies.  Broccoli is one of the veggies that they DO eat.  I came across this recipe from the cookbook 100 Days of Real Food and thought I'd try it out.  What's not to love about cheese and broccoli?  It's not something my kids have had before, so who knew if they would like it.

I eyeballed a bunch of the ingredients, especially the broccoli.  I wanted to have more broccoli in there than carbs.  I also had a bit of leftover white rice (though the recipe calls for brown rice) and I made some quinoa to supplement the rice to make this more of a full meal rather than a side dish.

Ingredients:

1 Cup uncooked brown rice, cooked according to directions
3/4 pound broccoli, roughly chopped (4-5 cups) and steamed for about 5 minutes
2 TBS butter
1/4 Cup diced onion
2 TBS whole-wheat flour
1.5 Cups milk
1.5 Cups grated sharp cheddar cheese (I used medium, so the flavor wouldn't be too strong for the kids)
3/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp yellow mustard
ground black pepper, to taste
1/2 Cup whole wheat breadcrumbs
Extra virgin olive oil

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
2. Combined cooked rice/quinoa and broccoli in large mixing bowl and set aside.
3. Melt butter in saute pan over medium heat. Add onion and cook, until softened. Sprinkle in flour and cook for 1-2 minutes, until flour begins to brown but doesn't burn, whisking almost continuously.
4. Whisk in milk, watching for lumps. Sprinkle in cheese, salt, mustard, and pepper and stir until combined. Bring to a simmer and cook, stirring until the mixture is like very thick gravy, less than 5 minutes.
5. Pour the cheese sauce over the broccoli and rice. Mix thoroughly and spread evenly in an 8x8 inch baking dish.
6. Sprinkly casserole with breadcrumbs and then drizzle with olive oil to coat the breadcrumbs.
7. Bake for 12-14 minutes, or until breadcrumbs are nicely browned.

I wouldn't say this was a fast dish to prepare.  I already had some cooked broccoli, so that helped.  Again I had some leftover rice, but not enough for what the recipe called for, so I cooked some quinoa.  If you already had some rice to use, that would cut your prep time by quite a bit.

The results?  My kids, especially my older one (he's 5.5 yo), loved it.  He kept saying, "This is sooo yummy" and "Can you pack this for my lunch tomorrow" and "This is so good I want to sleep with it" (Yeah, that last one was strange).  My daughter (3 yo) liked it also, though she was less verbal about it.  Both the adults loved the dish as well, as it's definitely going to be a repeat dish for sure.  Hope you enjoy it!


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Hate eating veggies? Have you tried Shakeology yet? Click here to nab your six day sample pack and give it a taste test of your own.
Want to give 21 Day Fix a try? Click here to buy your challenge pack now and join us for the next  accountability group starting soon!
Not ready to commit to just ONE program yet? Try out Beach Body Streaming and stream a variety of different programs from your computer or mobile device. The first 30 days are free, so what have you got to loose? And at only $2.99 per week after your first 30 days it’s a steal of a deal.
Love Shakeology and want a little something extra? Try out one of the NEW boosts.

Paleo Banana and Blueberry Pancakes

Another pancake recipe, you say?  But of course!  I feel that my kids don't do breakfast well during the weekdays, which is why I have so many different breakfast recipes.  Aside from my green smoothie pancake found here, my kids vary between eating whole wheat bread with jam, or yummy hawaiian rolls.  I wanted to find another go-to meal for them, so I thought I'd try these out.

Scrolling through the web for ideas, I came across a paleo recipe for pancakes.  There aren't that many ingredients either, and I had most of them, so that made trying them out easier.  Blueberries?  Check!  Ripe bananas? Check!  Eggs?  Check!  I did have to purchase shredded coconut though, so I did that on one of my grocery runs anticipating that I would be making these.

Ingredients:

3 ripe bananas
6 organic eggs
1 Cup shredded coconut (I bought organic unsweetened)
1/2 Cup fresh blueberries (or thawed frozen)
1 tsp ground cinnamon
coconut oil for cooking

Directions
Batter: Peel the bananas and mash with a fork. Beat eggs in a bowl and mix it together with the mashed bananas. Add shredded coconut, blueberries, and cinnamon. Stir to combine.

Cook: Heat coconut oil in frying pan on low to medium (NOTE: be careful of the heat of your pan.  I found that the pancakes burned easily if the pan was too hot).  Pour 3 small portions of pancake batter in the pan at a time, and flip after 2-3 minutes (gauge the timing with the heat of your pan). Serve with shredded coconut and blueberries and dust with cinnamon (optional).

Also note that the blueberries can burst as they are being cooked, so be aware of that.  Overall, the taste was good.  Banana with coconut bits, with an eggy flavor.  I only tasted the blueberries when my bite had blueberries in it or had blueberry juice.  Kids approved!

Italian Style Cauliflower

Someone in one of our accountability groups posted this recipe and said that her family loved it.  I figured that since it's already been tried, I might as well try it for my family.  It's actually a recipe from Cooking Light and it's rather easy.  I did have to adapt the recipe to what I had on hand, as well as to my family's taste.  For example, I didn't include the crushed red pepper because I have young children eating the meal, and I used ground turkey instead of ground sirloin.

It didn't take too long to get this meal on the table, but if I were in a rush, I wouldn't make it unless I had prepped the ingredients beforehand.

Ingredients:

1 TBSP olive oil
1 C chopped onion
4 garlie cloves, minced
6 oz ground turkey
1/4 tsp kosher salt
1/4 tsp crushed red pepper (I opted out)
1/4 tsp black pepper (I only did a couple of dashes)
1.5 C spaghetti sauce (the recipe called for lower sodium marinara sauce, but I used what I had on hand)
2 oz pitted kalamata olives, coarsely chopped
1.5 lbs cauliflower, cut into florets
cooking spray
1/4 C mounding breadcrumbs (also what I had on hand.  Original recipe called for you to make your own)
1/4 C grated cheese (original recipe called for fresh pecorino Romano cheese--I had shredded mixed cheese so I used that instead)


Prep

1. Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add oil to pan.  Add onion, cook for 4 minutes.  Add garlic, cook for 30 seconds, stirring constantly.  Stir in meat. Sprinkle with salt and peppers, and cook 3 minutes or until browned, stirring to crumble.  Stir in sauce and olives.

2. Preheat broiler.

3. Steam cauliflower 4 minutes or until crisp-tender.  (I personally did a bit more than a blanch in boiling water).  Place cauliflower in an 11x7 inch broiler-safe baking dish coated with cooking spray; top with sauce mixture.

4.  If you're making your own bread crumbs, do so in this step.  Combine crumbs and cheese; sprinkle over cauliflower mixture.  Broil 4 minutes or until browned.

Results?  My husband and I loved it.  My son liked it quite a bit, and my 3 year old daughter just liked it.  Haha.  The kalamata olives take some getting use to, so my kids weren't too fond of that (though my son ate them).  This will definitely be a repeat recipe.  Enjoy!

No Flour Peanut Butter Squares

I love me some peanut butter, and peanut butter in a bar?  SCORE!  This recipe came from the Fixate cookbook and it came out soooo good.  Totally kids (and parents) approved AND fix approved too (it counts as one yellow container and 2.5 tsp of oil).  It was super easy to make and there is no flour.


Ingredients:
nonstick cooking spray
1.5 C     all-natural smooth peanut butter
1/2 C     raw honey (or pure maple syrup)
2 tsp      vanilla extract
2            large eggs, at room temp
1/2 tsp   baking soda

Directions:

1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2.  Lightly coat 8x8 inch baking pan with spray.
3.  Combine peanut butter, honey, extract, eggs, and baking soda in a large bowl.  Mix well.
4.  Evenly spread batter into prepared pan.  Smooth top with a spatula.
5.  Bake for 20-23 minutes.  Squares may be a little soft when coming out of the oven, but they will   continue to cook.
6.  Cool.  Cut into squares.

Enjoy!

Coach Sneak Peek!

Ever wonder what it is exactly that coaches do?  Now's your time to find out.  I'm sharing, along with other coaches, what we do starting September 14th.  Interested?  Find me on Facebook (Sabrina Cheng) and message me.  You can also leave a comment below on this post and I'll get back to you.

"Asian" Turkey Lettuce Wraps

The school year starting with a new kindergartner has me scouring the internet for recipes (I adapted this from newleafwellness) that will make my life after work-life easier.  That means trying out recipes that require minimal cooking or cooking that I don't need to watch over.  I decided I needed to try using my crockpot more often, so I happened upon a recipe for chicken lettuce wraps.  I put quotes on the word Asian, because it really doesn't taste anything like the Chinese lettuce wraps I've had in restaurants growing up, but there is an Asian flavor to them.   In any case, I decided to give it a try.  It's a bit sweet and a bit salty, so that worked out.  The original recipe called for ground chicken, but since I didn't have that, I used ground turkey instead.

Ingredients

• 2 pounds of ground turkey
• 1 medium-sized red bell pepper, diced
• 2 large carrots, grated (1 cup)
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/4 cup low-sodium soy sauce
• 1/4 cup ketchup
• 1 tablespoon honey
• 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes (I opted out of using these as I wanted my kids to eat it)

Directions

1.   Add all ingredients to your slow cooker and cook on “low” setting for 4-6 hours or until chicken is tender.
2.   Break apart chicken and serve.

Now my slow cooker has a few settings, and it's no exactly adjustable.  I can cook on high for 4 or 6 hours, or low on 8 or 10 hours.  Hmm...what to do?  Since I'm not home to monitor this, I opted for the low on 8 hours cooking time.  When I got back, parts of the sauce were a bit burnt, which added a slightly smokey flavor my husband liked, but my kids didn't.  I think the next time I might do the 4 hours on high.  Or if I'm home, do the 8 hours on low setting but stop at 4 hours.  Haha.  In any case, the kids really liked it (I just scooped them the parts that didn't have the slightly burnt sauce) and we ate it using romaine lettuce.  It was a hit for my 3 yo too, who didn't want to eat the lettuce part initially.   I think watching her brother eat it and seeing that you can wrap it like a burrito made it more fun for her.

I didn't try to freeze this, but it's probably going to be in my rotation soon with maybe a few tweaks to the recipe.  But here are instructions on how to freeze.

Freezing instructions

Add all ingredients to a gallon-sized plastic freezer bag.  Remove as much air as possible, seal, and freeze for up to three months.  Thaw in refrigerator overnight and then cook in slow cooker for 4-6 hours on “low” setting.  Break apart chicken and spoon onto lettuce.