Advocare for the New Year {2015}

Advocare for the New Year {2015}

January 5, 2015 by · Leave a Comment

Happy New Year! We know it’s already several days into the new year, but now that everyone is getting back into a schedule we just wanted to put a reminder out there that we do sell Advocare.  If you are looking for a way to jump start your fitness goals this year then why not checkout the Advocare 10 Day Cleanse?

We’ve both done the cleanse several times and have tried to put together as much info as we possibly could to make it easier for you!

If you are looking for some recipes that we have used during the cleanse, well, those can also be found within our Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner posts.

If you’re looking for what days you should drink the fiber drink? When you should take catalyst? Well, those types of questions can also be found throughout the Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner posts.

Survival Tips – are you looking for how to survive those 10 days on the cleanse? Look no further than our survival tips post with tips like – Do the cleanse with a buddy to keep yourself accountable! Don’t worry there are more tips than just that! :)

We have also come up with our own list of Dos and Don’ts while on the cleanse. For instance DO eat all the water and DON’T drink alcohol! So sorry!

To bring this post to an end here are in list form important Advocare posts we have done that might be useful to you:

Advocare 10 Day Cleanse: Breakfast

Advocare 10 Day Cleanse: Lunch

Advocare 10 Day Cleanse: Dinner

Our Survival Tips

Dos and Don’ts on the Advocare Cleanse

Advocare 10 Day Cleanse: What We Are Eating

Please remember that mistakes do happen if you happen to eat something you shouldn’t, well, just don’t keep eating it. Once you realize that you ate something not approved for the cleanse then stop eating it and waiting until the cleanse is over to have it again.

It is hard to be 100% accurate with these types of things so we normally suggest using the 80/20 rule which means you need to make sure your eating is on point 80% of the time and if you mess up well don’t let that percentage be more than 20% of the time.

Now, what questions have we left unanswered?

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All Things Advocare Cleanse

All Things Advocare Cleanse

November 5, 2014 by · Leave a Comment

We get a TON of questions about the 10 day Advocare cleanse and we love it! Hopefully we are being super helpful to you as that is our ultimate goal!

One way we thought we could REALLY help out is by bringing all of our Advocare 10 Day Cleanse posts together into one post as an easier tool for you to utilize as you prepare for the cleanse and/or participate in the cleanse!

Maybe you’re looking for the basics like what your schedule should look like throughout the day and we have that in our Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner posts.

Are you looking for some recipes that we have used during the cleanse? Those can also be found within our Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner posts.

If you’re looking for what days do I drink the fiber drink? When do I take catalyst? Well, those types of questions can also be found throughout the Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner posts.

Survival Tips – are you looking for how to survive those 10 days on the cleanse? Look no further than our survival tips post with tips like – Do the cleanse with a buddy to keep yourself accountable! Don’t worry there are more tips than just that! 🙂

We have also come up with our own list of Dos and Don’ts while on the cleanse. For instance DO eat all the water and DON’T drink alcohol! So sorry!

To bring this post to an end here are in list form important Advocare posts we have done that might be useful to you:

Advocare 10 Day Cleanse: Breakfast

Advocare 10 Day Cleanse: Lunch

Advocare 10 Day Cleanse: Dinner

Our Survival Tips

Dos and Don’ts on the Advocare Cleanse

Advocare 10 Day Cleanse: What We Are Eating

Now, what other questions do you have for us?!

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Advocare Ten Day Cleanse: Dinner

Advocare Ten Day Cleanse: Dinner

November 20, 2013 by · 1 Comment

OK! You have almost made it through your day and just have 2 meals left! Here is how dinner and your late night snack go. Make sure you have been drinking an annoyingly large amount of water! Make sure to drink a glass with each of these following meals and one at the end of the day. Water will help flush your system. We all need a little reminder sometimes.

Also a little word of advice from past experience, don’t drink Spark after about 2:00 p.m. If you are using Spark I would make sure you don’t drink any for dinner or later in the afternoon. We do sometimes workout in the afternoons and we will still take the Catalyst about 15 minutes before a work out, if you are taking that it is still OK to take in the afternoon.

DINNER

Timing: Should be about 3 hours after your afternoon snack to help control hunger.

Advocare products to take: Take 2-4 Omegaplex tablets WITH this meal. Drink lots of water!

What you can eat for Dinner:  This is basically exactly like lunch. If you can make it without the complex carb that is the BEST for weight loss on The Cleanse, but if you need it eat it. You will be fine!

Choose 1 protein from this list: Grilled chicken, salmon, tuna, turkey (not processed), 3 eggs or lean ground beef

Choose 1 complex carb (only if you need it) from this list: ½ cup of brown rice, sweet potato, or brown or whole wheat pasta

Choose as many veggies as you would like: Anything green is your first option and yes avocado is ok. Lettuce, broccoli, zucchini, green beans, asparagus, spinach, cucumber or celery. Also tomatoes and onions are OK.

*If making a salad use salsa or fresh lemon and lime.

 

LATE SNACK

This is only if needed! You do not have to eat this if you are feeling fine! Just listen to your body.

Timing:  varies but hopefully about an hour before bedtime or more.

What you can eat: Fruit. 1 serving

The lower on the glycemic index the better! Think berries, cherries, apples, pears, grapefruit, apricots – these are all lower in sugar.  If you go with melons, mangoes, papayas, pineapples – these are all higher in sugar.  They won’t ruin your cleanse at all and they are obviously healthy, but if you think about it go less sugar for the 10 days.

 

RIGHT BEFORE BED:

Take your Herbal Cleanse Pills on days 1-7 with a HUGE glass of water.

You are done! Sleep tight!

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Tasty Tuesday: Clean Eating Balsamic Chicken & Green Beans

March 19, 2013 by · 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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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Tasty Tuesday: Seafood Gumbo

January 15, 2013 by · 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


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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.

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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.

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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.

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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!

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Advocare Ten Day Cleanse: What We’re Eating

October 16, 2012 by · 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! 🙂

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Tasty Tuesday: Green Chili & Vegetable Soup and Green Juice

September 11, 2012 by · 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

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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!!**

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Tasty Tuesday: Jalapeno Cheese Turkey Burgers

August 21, 2012 by · 3 Comments

Surely, you all remember how Beth read This Is Why You’re Fat and if you recall Jackie Warner includes a section of recipes in her book.  She really sets you up for success with breakfast, lunch, dinner and side recipes all courtesy of Sunfare.  Well, when Beth got to the recipe section sticky tabs were pulled out and put on recipes that especially caught her eye – one being Jalapeno Cheese Turkey Burgers.  Definitely a sucker for any recipe that includes jalapenos!

This recipe is pretty easy to make and shouldn’t take much time at all to prepare!

Ingredients:

5 ounces ground turkey

1 teaspoon chopped parsley

Garlic to taste

Salt and pepper to taste

1/4 jalapeno pepper, seeded and chopped

1 ounce jack cheese, shredded

You might have noticed from the ingredients that you are only using 5 ounces of ground turkey meat and if you are like me and buy the Jenni-O turkey then that’s 20 ounces of turkey meat.  Well, if you’re also like me you’ll just make the whole package of turkey meat instead of simply making one serving.  So plan accordingly to quadruple the rest of the ingredients.

First you will want to combine the ground turkey, chopped parsley and garlic in a mixing bowl.  Salt and pepper to taste.  Then mix your jalapenos and jack cheese together and set aside.

The first time I made this I didn’t fully read the jalapeno and jack cheese part where you set it aside so I mixed it in with the turkey meat.  If you want to do this it’ll turn out great that way too! I think I actually prefer it that way, but from here I’ll carry on with the regular instructions.

See I’d already put in the jalapenos w hen I wasn’t suppose too. Oops?

Portion out two patties (remember this is originally from only 5 ounces of turkey meat so if you are using 20 ounces then you should be portioning out 8 patties total).  In the middle of each patty make an indentation and stuff the cheese/jalapeno mixture in there.  Then grill your turkey burgers!

This was me actually following the instructions 🙂

Maybe you are reading this recipe and it sounds good you definitely want to make it, BUT you don’t have a grill – yah, neither do I!  So what did I do?  Well, just like my mom use to do when she made us meat patties in the oven.  Turned the oven on to 350 degrees and stuck the patties in there.  Sorry, I am not sure how long I left them in there, but I do know I checked on them at least 5 times. 🙂  But the key to a good oven meat patty is for the last 3-5 minutes turn the broiler on, move your oven rack up to the very top and let those patties cook up there.

A fabulous meal and they reheat well too should you make the whole package of turkey meat for meals later in the week!  Also, I might add if you buy a whole thing of parsley to chop up then maybe also plan on making the Mini Ham & Cheese Quinoa Cups since it calls for parsley as well! 🙂

What’s your favorite way to make turkey burgers?  Do you have a special ingredient that you always use?

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Tasty Tuesday: HG Style Chicken Cordon Bleu

July 24, 2012 by · 6 Comments

How many of you have already heard of Hungry Girl?  Well, we have too and have both been HG followers for six-ish years now!

We both own multiple HG cookbooks and sometimes when you find one of their recipes that’s de-lish you HAVE to spread the word.  The Hungry Girl created their own version of Chicken Cordon Bleu back in April of 2009 and I’ve made it a number of times it had just been awhile since the last time. 🙂   HG makes a lot of their recipes as a single serving in case you are the the solo healthy eater in your house or just cooking for one regularly, but they are normally quite easy to double, triple, etc.

The ingredients are pretty simple:

1. one 5oz. raw boneless skinless lean chicken breast (I just grabbed a whole package of chicken breasts since I was not eating alone this night)

2. one wedge of The Laughing Cow Light Creamy Swiss cheese and let it get to room temperature (loooove this stuff!)

3. one oz. (about 3 slices) of 97-98% fat-free ham slices (in this case since I was making it for more than just me so I bought a slightly fancier ham instead of just your traditional sandwich meat varieties)

4. salt and pepper to taste

Start by preheating your oven to 350 degrees.

Once you’ve trimmed your chicken of any fat you’ll need to place it in a large sealable plastic bag and get as much of the air out as possible because next you gotta pound that meat to get it flat!  Pound it! Good way to get out some aggression if necessary! 🙂

Try and get the chicken to be about 1/4 of an inch thick.  Pretty positive I am a little too impatient for that, so at least give it some flatness! Then take the chicken out of the bag and beginning seasoning it to taste with your salt and pepper!  Grab your cheese wedge and spread that Laughing Cow Cheese over one side of your chicken like so…

This looks so appetizing right now, doesn’t it??

Please note you’ll want to spray your pan with a nonstick cooking spray or line it with foil before placing the chicken in the dish. 🙂

Next you’ll place your slices of ham on top of the side of the chicken you smeared with cheese, like so…

Roll up the chicken breast as tight as you can with the ham and cheese side on the inside of the roll.  It is probably easiest to then keep your chicken rolled up by securing it with a toothpick or two.

Cover your dish with foil and bake the chicken for 20 minutes.  With a hot pad or something else that will keep you from burning yourself remove the foil and let the chicken cook for another 15 minutes.  Then voila!  We decided to have whole grain couscous and broccoli with our chicken cordon bleu this time around!

Tasty looking, right?

Based upon the ingredients typed out above Hungry Girl has given the following nutritional data for their Chicken Cordon Bleu:

Sorry to our meat-less readers as this recipe is not really for you! :-/

Have you tried any Hungry Girl recipes before? What’s your go to HG recipe?

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Tasty Tuesday: Skinny + Enchilada = Healthy Goodness

May 22, 2012 by · 7 Comments

For a couple of months Beth has had some food goals – one being prepare your meals and the most recent one was try two new recipes for weekly meal prep!  Well she took her search to google and decided to try and find a skinny enchilada recipe which quickly led her to recipe created by She-Fit!  Ruth has some other great recipes listed on her blog that I hope I find time to make as well!

But back to the skinny enchiladas – look through the ingredients and everything sounded very do-able!

To get started you need to pre-heat your oven to 350.  Then lightly spray a 9×13 baking dish.  After you chop up your onion and bell pepper you are going to saute them in a pan.  Once the onions are a lightly brown mix your veggies with the Greek yogurt, chicken and cheese (if you are like me and boiled your chicken in chicken broth to cook it obviously that is going to be your real first item on the list to accomplish).

You’ll want to evenly spread out your mixture into 9 tortillas, roll them up and place them seam down in your baking dish.  Ruth’s recipe calls for wheat tortillas, but where would the fun be if I didn’t try something different??  I used corn tortillas instead! I have actually made this recipe twice now and the first go round I used Tia Rosa brand tortillas which pretty much broke immediately after being set down in the baking dish.  One the second go round I used Mission corn tortillas which had very little if any breakage of the tortilla!

Next you want to evenly coat your tortillas with the salsa and Greek yogurt mix then sprinkle with cheese! Voila! Your enchiladas are ready to bake!  The recipe calls for placing foil over the dish which I didn’t do, but maybe I should one of these days and see if it makes a difference.  Nonetheless, bake those bad boys for 15-20minutes.  Maybe in an effort to give some love to Ruth and her blog you should click here to find out about the nutrition facts!

One other little fun thing about this recipe is you can totally change up the taste of it simply by using a different type of salsa!  My first time making this recipe I decided to use a salsa verde, but the second time after perusing all the salsa choices at my local grocery store I chose to buy a local brand salsa – Hazelwood’s Smoked Chipotle.  The flavor was completely different and just as delicious from that one change up!

Have you tried this version of skinny enchiladas?  What’s your favorite skinny recipe to make?

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