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Friday Food Finds {2}

August 30, 2013 by Life is a Run · Leave a Comment

Labor Day weekend is upon us! We are totally bummed that we aren’t yet again make a trek out to Anaheim to race the Disneyland Half that we LOVE like we last year and the year before that!

Anyway for us this weekend makes us think of pool parties, BBQs, college football……so in case you are still searching for your perfect side dish to bring to a Labor Day party look no further. #LiAR has got you covered!

Peas & Crayons – Chipotle Sweet Potato Salad: Why make your normal potato salad when you can put a healthy and spicy spin on it?! Our mouths are watering just looking at this picture!

Happy Healthy Mama – Fruit Salsa and Cinnamon Chips: Down hurre in Texas we pretty much break out the chips and salsa for any and every occasion. This weekend instead we’re sweetening it up with this fruit dish and homemade cinnamon chips! Another mouth watering recipe!

Kate O Lynch – Best Ever Guacamole Recipe: This recipe truly lives up to it’s name! We can both attest to that as we both have made and enjoyed it many a-times when Kate’s brought it over for a celebration of some sort!

Pinch of Yum – Southwestern Quinoa and Black Bean Casserole: If you are a 7 layer dip loving person THIS is the dish you need to try for this weekend! You can thank us later! 🙂

A Hint of Honey – Tomato and Fresh Corn Quiche: Maybe since it’s a long weekend you’re wanting to have brunch at home with your roommate or husband or your neighbor. Here is the breakfast must make dish!

Happy Labor Day {weekend} to you all! Be sure and let us know what you make! 🙂

Filed Under: Food Tagged With: Anaheim, Disneyland Half, food, fruit salsa, guacamole, Labor Day, Labor Day Weekend, LiAR, potato salad, quiche, races, running, sweet potato salad, Texas

Friday Food Finds {1}

June 7, 2013 by Life is a Run · 4 Comments

We are so fortunate these days with how readily available information is to us especially with blogs! From our own blog posts about the times we’ve done the Advocare cleanse to providing you with healthy recipes we think y’all know we are always on the look out for doing what’s best for our bodies. Blogging, twitter and instagram have all played an awesome part in connecting our blog with other bloggers and finding food bloggers that share delicious and healthy recipes. Delicious and healthy recipes that we love! So we wanted to periodically share some of the foods we find elsewhere and are constantly making at home with you! So without further ado let’s really get to what this post is all about:

Fit Foodie Sam – Wonton Tacos: These are delicious and a fun twist to turkey taco meat! This dish has become a regular at our house and they are easy to put together and don’t take long to bake at all. I’ve also heard Sam has done a pizza spin on this recipe as well, which will be tried soon!

Peas & Crayons – Confetti Pasta Salad: If you are look for a dish to bring to your next potluck, to a pool party, to a 4th of July party or if you happen to already be looking for dishes for Labor Day Weekend – look no farther! This is your dish! I have made Jenn’s dish multiple times in the past couple of months and have heard nothing but good things from everyone who has gotten to have a serving!

Happy Friday! And happy cooking! 🙂

Filed Under: Food, Uncategorized Tagged With: advocare, bloggers, blogging, cooking, finding food, food, healthy recipes, healthy-living, instagram, pasta salad, taco meat, turkey taco meat, twitter, wonton tacos

Bulletproof Coffee Review

June 6, 2013 by Life is a Run · 6 Comments

Butter in your coffee huh? Sounds gross, right? That is what we thought and really it just reminds us of that Friend’s episode when Ross was going to drink the fat for Rachel because she was mad at him! Anyone remember that?

source

Basically this idea of “drinking the fat” is up in the fitness world and really big with those who try to intermittently fast. Not sure what that is? Go here.

Although neither of us actually fast, we do understand the need for good fats in your body. Good fat is OK and is nothing to be afraid of and many of us do not get enough good clean fat. Plenty of us get the crappy stuff, especially those that might go through the drive through window, but for those of us that eat clean and eat our veggies it is good to have a wide range of good fats. Just one of the ways you are getting good fat through Bulletproof coffee is by incorporating Kerrygold grass-fed butter.

You may know that good fats can come from multiple sources like cold water fish, plant oils, nuts, seeds and avocados. Bulletproof coffee is another way to get those good fats in your system as well as actually put in good coffee. We have definitely had our fair share of coffee but Bulletproof is different. Bulletproof claims to be the “cleanest” coffee in the world and has been cleared of toxins that often give people the caffeine jitters or the crash later on.

This website has tons of information about the effects of Bulletproof coffee and just exactly how it works. You can even find the recipe here as well as how to make this coffee. You should definitely check it out! We buy the big pack of coffee because it ends up saving tons of money. Plus he usually sends a coupon for a second order!

Also the recipe calls for MCT oil or coconut oil. We have tried both! We really like the pure MCT from the website and will add a dash of their pure vanilla. It’s a dried form of vanilla but mixed with the coffee it is reeally good, very vanilla latte like.

Reading all kinds of iiinteresting things about food and learning more about what we put into our bodies!

or you know if you can’t find Kerrygold butter this was our alternative at Sprouts

Advice: We try not to look at it. It definitely does not look gross but we have all had science class and know that oil and water do not mix. It will start to separate and kind of looks greasy! But have no fear – it’s fine!

Also, if you have a small blender we recommending using that to make the coffee more frothy like. It’s much better that way and allows for everything to mix in perfectly! Additionally you’ll want to use a glass blender to do the blending as you will be blending a very hot liquid.

Ta da!

frothy!

Are you already drinking Bulletproof Coffee? Or do you just think we are crazy for drinking it? 🙂

Note: We are not getting paid to write this review rather we both drink this coffee, dig it and wanted the world to know!

Filed Under: Food Tagged With: blender, bulletproof coffee, butter in your coffee, cleanest coffee, coconut oil, eat clean, food, Friends, good fats, grass fed, grass-fed butter, MCT oil, Ross, sprouts, vanilla latte

Tasty Tuesday: AMAZE-balls a.k.a. Clean Eating Meatballs

March 26, 2013 by Life is a Run · 9 Comments

These things are seriously AMAZING. I don’t know about you but every time I have ever tried to make meatballs on the stove I have ruined them. I typically burn the outside and the inside is raw, or they fall apart or are just gross. PLUS, you really can’t make that many at the same time. It had never occurred to be to bake them. This recipe is a super easy baked meatball recipe that literally might change my eating life! OK, that’s dramatic but…. I figured this would be horrible and it turned out to be the easiest thing ever. Little mess, no half burnt/half raw balls of meat and it makes a ton. I ate these things for a week.

What you need:

2.5 lbs of lean ground turkey, beef or chicken (just use what you like, although the calorie count below would change)

1 (16oz) package frozen spinach (or whatever else you would want you could probably use kale too)

1 cup of onion (I used red)

¾ cup bread crumbs ( I used gluten free)

2 eggs

1 garlic clove

Sea salt and pepper – I used about a tsp. of each

2 tbsp. Worcestershire, or soy sauce, or A1, or BBQ (I used Worcestershire but all will work)

½ tsp. each of thyme, oregano, crushed red pepper

1/3 cup Chicken broth

Olive oil

How to:

1. Preheat the oven to 400.

2. Heat olive oil in the pan and add all spices and the onion. Sautee until the onions are tender

3. Add Worcestershire sauce, chicken broth, and spinach. Cook down until there is very little liquid left in the pan

4. Meanwhile, mix meat, bread crumbs and egg in a bowl

5. Add the spinach mixture to meat mixture and mix together

6. Using a ¼ c measuring cup section out the meat to ball and place on a greased pan. They don’t expand much so they can be pretty close. I had 20 on a pan. Ball out until mixture is gone

7. Place in the oven for 20 minutes

8. Voila! I served mine over quinoa and added marinara

My fitness pal nutrition facts (calories are per ball, based on 38 total made)

Calories: 48.7

Fat: 1.2g

Carbs: 1.1g

Protein 8.1g

For a printable version of this recipe please click HERE.

**Advocare Note: If you make this recipe during your 10 day cleanse you’ll need to count that as your one carb for the day!!**

Filed Under: Advocare, Food Tagged With: baked meatball recipe, clean eating, food, healthy, Meatballs, turkey meatballs

Tasty Tuesday: Clean Eating Balsamic Chicken & Green Beans

March 19, 2013 by Life is a Run · 3 Comments

We have had quite a few people asking us about the clean eating turkey meatloaf recipe we posted back in October and we have totally misplaced it! 🙁 Yes, the title of this post has nothing to do with turkey and/or meatloaf, but we are bringing you another recipe that is Advocare Cleanse approved!

So if you are cleansing right now! Try this for dinner in the next few nights?! If you are not cleansing and just what a tasty and healthy meal then you try this for dinner!

This recipe we found from Clean Eating Magazine which we both love!

Ingredients:

1 lb of fresh green beans, trimmed and rinsed

2 tsp extra virgin olive oil, divided

16 oz button mushrooms, sliced

4 cloves garlic, thinly sliced

1 lemon, zested and juiced

1 yellow onion, cut into 1/4 inch thick rings

1 lb boneless, skinless chicken breast, sliced 1/2 inch thick

2 tbsp balsamic vinegar

2 tsp dried thyme

1/2 tsp sea salt

1. Prep all of your veggies and meat so they are ready to go.

2. Fill a pot halfway up with water and bring the water to boil. Add the green beans, reduce heat and steam until they are crisp (approximately 5 minutes). Set aside.

3. In a large non-stick skillet, heat 1 tsp of olive oil on medium heat. Add mushrooms to saute for approximately 10 minutes, stir occasionally. When the mushrooms are almost done stir in the lemon zest, lemon juice and garlic and saute for three minutes.

Remove the mushrooms from the heat and transfer to a large bowl. Combine the green beans and the mushrooms in the bowl and toss well. Cover the bowl to keep the veggies warm.

4. In a large non-stick skillet, heat the remaining teaspoon of olive oil on medium heat. Add the onion rings and saute for approximately 5 minutes. Add chicken, thyme, vinegar and salt, and cook, stirring often, for 8 minutes or until the thickest part of chicken is cooked through. Remove from heat, serve with green beans and any remaining juice from the skillet can be poured over your chicken and/or veggies.

And voila! Dinner is served. Sorry, we were too hungry to remember to capture a photo of the final product, but it was also husband approved!

Expect to spend about 35 minutes preparing the food and 35 minutes cooking.

For a printable version of the recipe please go HERE.

Filed Under: Food Tagged With: advocare, balsamic chicken, clean eating, clean eating magazine, dinner, food, green beans, healthy recipe, recipe

Tasty Tuesday: Seafood Gumbo

January 15, 2013 by Life is a Run · 2 Comments

Hello, January! And the need to get off some of those holiday pounds! In an effort to do so the other night for dinner I turned to one of my handy dandy Tosca Reno Clean Eating cookbooks to find something I could make for dinner. Tosca’s gumbo completely jumped out at me especially since it’s been cold. It sounded hearty and just what we needed.

First off you’ll need the following ingredients:

3 Tablespoons olive oil

1 onion, chopped

2 stalks celery, chopped

1 large green bell pepper, seeded and chopped

4 large cloves garlic, chopped

1 1/2 teaspoons sea salt

1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1 teaspoon Old Bay seasoning

1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper

2 Tablespoons tomato paste

4 cups low sodium chicken broth

12 oz cut frozen or fresh okra (about 3 cups)

1 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme

2 bay leaves

1 lb 51-60 count shrimp, peeled and deveined

12 oz low fat all natural fully cooked andouille sausage

Steamed long grain brown rice, for serving

Hot sauce, to garnish

This recipe can be made using either a Dutch oven or a large heavy-bottomed pot. I do not own a Dutch oven so large heavy-bottomed pot it was for me!

To start add olive oil and flour in the pot, and cook, stirring occasionally. Cook until the mixture is brown and toasty, so roughly 8 minutes. Add onion, celery, pepper, garlic, salt, pepper, Old Bay seasoning and cayenne. Cook the vegetables until they are tender, roughly 10 minutes.

Add tomato paste, broth, okra, thyme and bay leaves. Bring the mixture to a boil, stir to combine ingredients and then reduce heat to simmer, uncovered, for 20 minutes.

Increase heat to high. Add shrimp and sausage and gently stir to submerge them into the hot liquid. Cook for 3 -4 minutes until the shrimp are cooked through and the sausage is heated through.

Taste and add any additional seasoning if needed. Remove the bay leaves and throw them away. Serve over brown rice.

For a printable version of the recipe please go HERE.

If you are in Texas today and enjoyed some of the snow maybe this is juust the recipe you need for tonight’s dinner! It provides lots of good flavors and just as tasty as leftovers!

Filed Under: Food Tagged With: clean eating, dinner, food, gumbo, healthy, recipe, seafood, Tosca Reno

Advocare Ten Day Cleanse: Our Survival Tips

October 19, 2012 by Life is a Run · Leave a Comment

After completely another cleanse we want to share with you some of our tips to help you get through it. 🙂

– The fiber drink you drink on the mornings of Day 1, 2, 3, 8, 9 and 10 you want to CHUG IT.

– But before you even get to that stage mix the fiber drink packet with COLD water and feel free to add some more water in as you get towards the bottom (it has a weird consistency, not a taste thing, but a consistency thing).

-A newer tip we learned and tried this time around – if you buy Spark in the orange flavor mix your fiber drink packet with one spoonful of Spark and it’ll taste more like you are drinking OJ with pulp.

-Some people might actually find the Peaches n Cream flavored fiber drinks to be way better than the Citrus flavored fiber drink. Look into that!

-Do the cleanse with a buddy to keep yourself accountable!

-Plan all of your meals ahead of time so you are set! Preparation is clutch. We set up on Sunday for the 1st seven days and then Sunday to the end! Plan ahead of time to make sure you will have the least distraction within your 10 day time frame and whatever you do AVOID birthdays, big life events, etc!

There you have it! Remember you can buy the Advocare cleanse or any of their products here through Teal.

Have you done the Advocare 10 day cleanse before, is there any advice you would give that we have left off?

Filed Under: Advocare, Food, Life, Uncategorized Tagged With: advocare, advocare cleanse survival tips, cleanse, fiber drink, fiber drinks, food, health, healthy-living, orange flavor, Spark, survival tips, ten day cleanse

Advocare Ten Day Cleanse: What We’re Eating

October 16, 2012 by Life is a Run · 52 Comments

The cleanse is actually very easy to follow in terms of what you can and cannot eat, and once you have that down, making meals is pretty easy.

These are the bulk of what Teal will eat for the 10 days.

For Breakfast I am drinking Shakeology. Yes I am cheating on Advocare with this one and not using their meal replacement shakes. *gasp* I like Shakeology way more. Shhhh don’t tell them!

Here are the three main meals I made to mix in as either lunch or dinner throughout the time.

1. Southwest Quinoa Salad ( 5 servings)

Approximate Cost per serving: $4.15

Ingredients: 1lb of chicken breast, ½ of a large red onion, one can of organic black beans, 1 cup of organic quinoa (technically this is 2 full servings and will be split over 5 meals), cherry tomatoes, spinach, salt and pepper to taste.

2. Vegetable Tuna Salad (6 servings)

Approximate Cost per serving: $1.68

Ingredients: 3 cans tuna, ¾ cup celery chopped, ¾ cup carrot chopped, ½ of a red onion, 1 English seedless cucumber chopped, 2 tablespoons mayo. ( this is 2 servings spread over 6 meals so this is ok)

Serve over salad or use a cucumber and mini sweet bell peppers instead of crackers to eat! They crunch so you just have to trick yourself!

3. Soup: have no clue what to call this because it’s like 2 recipes combined (6 servings)

Approximate Cost per serving: $3.45

Ingredients: 4-6 cups low sodium organic chicken stock, 1lb chicken breast, 1 can organic gazpacho beans, 1 can organic corn, 2 tomatoes diced, one small white onion, 2 green bell peppers chopped, cilantro, 1 jalapeño chopped, juice of 1 lime, cumin, chili powder, onion powder, salt, pepper, red pepper flakes.

Snacks if needed: cucumber, carrots, mini sweet bell peppers, raw almonds or cashews, tangerines, apples, almond butter.

And for Beth the bulk of what she will be eating is as follows:

1. Chicken Taco Meat Salad (5 servings)

actually ate it without quinoa most of the week, but that is something you can put in this salad for sure!

The chicken in this form really goes a long way for me and this is usually me getting 2-3 organic chicken breasts. You might remember seeing this meat from a previous Tasty Tuesday post from us.

Ingredients: Organic chicken, 4 cups low sodium chicken broth, and 1 packet of low sodium taco seasoning for just the meat. For the salad I did green bell pepper, cherry tomatoes, and spinach leaves.

Approximate Cost per serving: Yah, Brent and I split the groceries so it made our receipts weird. I’m the slacker here. :-/

2. Turkey Meatloaf (4 servings)

Ingredients: 1.5 pounds of 99% lean turkey breast, 1 cup chopped onion, 1 cup frozen spinach, 3/4 cup of salsa, 1 egg (or two egg whites), 1/3 cup of oats, 1 teaspoon of paprika, 1 teaspoon of ground mustard, 2 tablespoons of dijon mustard, pepper to taste and 2 tablespoons of worchestire sauce.

3. Mexican Chicken Lime Soup (6 servings)

Ingredients: 2 Tablespoons of extra-virgin olive oil, 1 onion (finely chopped), 6 gloves of garlic, 6 skinless, boneless chicken thighs cut into 1/2 inch pieces, 2 canned chipotle chiles in adobo sauce, 6 cups of chicken broth, 1/2 cup of fresh cilantro, juice of 2 limes, salt and pepper and 1 hass avocado.

4. Egg Frittata (6 servings)

Ingredients: a dozen eggs, 1/2 of one roma tomato, one squash, 1/4 of green bell pepper, 1/4 of red bell pepper, garlic and salt & pepper to taste.

There was also turkey taco meat but I figure a lot of people know that one already and overall made about 29 meals to split between myself and Brent.

With some preparation on your part you can make doing this advocare 10 day cleanse easy to follow! We’ll be back with a post on our tips to surviving the cleanse! 🙂

Filed Under: Advocare, Food, Life Tagged With: 10 day cleanse, advocare, chicken taco meat salad, cleanse, dinner, food, frittata, mexican chicken lime soup, quinoa, Shakeology, soup, southwest quinoa salad, sweet bell peppers, Tasty Tuesday, turkey meatloaf, vegetable tuna salad

Advocare Ten Day Cleanse: Dos & Don’ts

October 9, 2012 by Life is a Run · 143 Comments

Maybe you’ve heard of the Advocare 24 Day Challenge? Well, this 10 Day Cleanse is the first part of that 24 Day Challenge and you might have noticed when we have cleansed in the past we have stuck to really just doing the first 10 days of that challenge, so that is an option. Here is a list of what you will actually need for this cleanse –

Box of the Herbal Cleanse

One bottle of Omegaplex
One bottle of Catalyst
Optional: Spark

Now let’s get into more of the nitty gritty of what your food should and should not be for the 10 days that you are on the cleanse –

Don’ts:

Refined sugars, corn or white starches

Wheat products (bread, pasta, muffins, etc.),

Dairy of any kind (milk, cheese, yogurt)

White sauces, dressings such as ranch, blue cheese

Alcohol (you can go without – it’s only 10 days)

Coffee (lattes and coffee full of milk or creamer definitely NO, but if you are a black coffee drinker then in our opinion you don’t have to stop drinking it.)

Soda

Fried foods

Hydrogenated oils, high fructose corn syrup

Fruit juices

Cereal

Bottom feeder seafood (shrimp, lobster)

Extremely small or low doses of butter, margarine, or mayo (ideally these are never used but definitely not on a regular basis)

Do’s:

Vegetables: Fresh or frozen are preferred over canned. Stick with more greens and avoid starchy vegetables like corn.

Fruit: look for fruits lower on the Glycemic Index, but a good rule of thumb is northern fruits: apples and berries. Oranges, grapefruit, pineapple, grapes, kiwi, and bananas are OK but keep to one serving.

Healthy Fats: avocado, nuts, olive oil, almonds, walnuts, hazelnuts

Meats: clean meats are best in the whole form, ground is OK, but not for every meal. Chicken, tuna, salmon, halibut, eggs, beef is OK, but is not the first choice, and turkey.

Clean Carbohydrates: sparingly during the cleanse – Rice, hummus, oatmeal, quinoa, rice cakes.

Also OK: Lentils, legumes, fresh mint, lemon or lime juice, 100% cranberry juice to add flavor, egg beaters, mustards, relish, low mayo, pickles, spaghetti sauce with not added sugars (organic and clean) salsa.

What we both like about this cleanse is that it isn’t an unrealistic cleanse. It is very doable and if you are trying to get rid of processed food from your diet this can very much aid you in that process. To make this a successful cleanse try and do as much food prep early on so you don’t get in a bind later. Advocare recommends doing this cleanse once every 3 months.

Should you want to do the Advocare Ten Day Cleanse then you may go here to find all of your products.

Have you participated in a cleanse before, if so what kind? If not, what’s hold you back from trying one?

*all pictures courtesy of Advocare

**Disclaimer: Teal is an Advocare Distributor and became one because she believes in the product. We are not being paid for writing this blog post, but want to share with you something we believe in ourselves.

Filed Under: Advocare, Food Tagged With: 10 day cleanse, advocare, carbohydrates, Catalyst, cleanse, Do Eat on Advocare Cleanse, Don't Eat on Advocare Cleanse, food, fruit, Glycemic Index, healthy fats, healthy-living, omegaplex, Spark, vegetables

Tasty Tuesday: Green Chili & Vegetable Soup and Green Juice

September 11, 2012 by Life is a Run · 4 Comments

This post is brought to you by the color green!

So the pictures on this recipe are a little weak. Something mysteriously happened to my iphone and in the place of the finished products is a picture of strangers. How it got there is beyond me, but never the less the pictures are gone.

If you follow us on instagram you might remember from a couple of weeks ago, we used diptic to show you what we each had for lunch. This was mine! Green Chili and vegetable soup and green juice (not as scary as it sounds!)

Green Chili Vegetable Soup

Large green chili (whatever heat you like)
8-10 red potatoes (the little ones)
Garlic clove
Fresh green beans
Can of corn
48 oz Can of red diced tomatoes
1 can of peas
1 can of rotel
1 lb of lean ground beef or bison
2 carrots cut into slices

I am not big on listing 8 million spices and their exact quantities; I did put garlic, sea salt, pepper, a little cumin, and chili powder. This is up to you. Really I don’t think it needs much and depends on the person- this is clearly my non-chef talk

To make: This is so easy! Brown the meat in a pan and place in the crockpot after it is finished. Add in remaining ingredients and cook for 6-8 hours depending on what temperature you need to set it at and what time you put it in. The meat is cooked so really all you need to do is make sure the potatoes finish.

I placed mine in mason jars and ate the soup for lunch all week.

Green juice

3oz spinach
3oz kale
½ large cucumber sliced
2 green apples
1 lemon.

To make: Cut apples in to cubes, peel lemon and slice cucumbers (note: you only have to do that part if your juicer is old school like mine and you have to cut and peel) and throw everything in the juicer. If you don’t have a juicer you can blend and then drain out the chunky parts. If I do it this way I usually blend and drain twice and you might have to add a little water. It tastes exactly the same but the texture is different.

**Advocare Note: If you make the Green Chili & Vegetable Soup during your 10 day cleanse either leave the potato out or you’ll need to count that as your one carb for the day!!**

Filed Under: Advocare, Food, Uncategorized Tagged With: chili, cooking, crock pot, dinner, food, garlic clove, green apples, Green Chili and Vegetable soup, green juice, instagram, recipe, soup