Vitamins and Suppliments

I recently found out about this AWESOME website that has vitamins, supplements  proteins, pre-workouts & much much more at discounted prices. I will never be going back to GNC again! Here is the link to the website.... http://www.allstarhealth.com/

It is so important to take vitamins daily. Also, if  you are working out regularly, you should be taking protein after your workouts for recovery.

Right now I take:

1. Womens Multivitamin
2. CLA (1500 mg) 4x a day. I take two after my morning workout and the other two with dinner. CLA helps build lean muscle mass and get rid of fat. Do not take before workout, always after.
3. Fish Oil (1360 mg) 2 capsules a day. Fish oil helps protect heart, brain & skin health.
4. Biotin (10,00 mcg) 1x a day. I am currently trying to grow my hair out lol so I have been taking this. It also helps with nail growth too
5. Dymatize Nutrition Whey & Casein Blend Elite Gourmet Protein Powder. I take 1 scoop (21 g protein, 120 cals) once a day after my workout. I usually just mix it with water or almond milk, but sometimes I do blend the chocolate flavor with peanut butter and a banana. I have tried chocolate and cookies and cream flavor of this brand and they are both delicious! Around 20 g of protein is good for any female, but you don't want to go over that. Also watch the calories on the protein you are taking.

Have a great day guys :)

My FAV turkey chili recipe

Clean Eating 2 Bean Turkey Chili

(Makes approximately 20 servings)

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 pound lean, ground turkey
• 5 cloves garlic, chopped fine
• 1 medium yellow onion, chopped
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 (28 ounce) can diced tomatoes (not drained)
• 1 (15 ounce) can black beans, no sugar added, drained and rinsed
• 1 (15 ounce) can kidney or cannellini beans, no sugar added, drained and rinsed
• 1 pound frozen corn (optional)
• 2 teaspoons ground cumin
• 1 tablespoon chili powder
• 1 (12 ounce) jar of your favorite salsa

Directions:

1. In a large pot, saute’ the garlic and onion in the olive oil.
2. Stir in the meat and brown, breaking it up as you stir.
3. Stir in everything else and cook over medium-high heat until the meat is cooked through. Stir frequently to avoid any burning on the bottom of your pot. If you need extra liquid, you can always stir in a little chicken broth to get the consistency you like. But I found that the salsa was enough. Do what suits your tastes.
4. Allow to cool and serve.

Note: If you can manage it, store this overnight and enjoy the next day. The flavor is even better on the second day when the flavors have really melded. Yum!

Nutrition Facts
(data is for 1/2 cup)

Calories: 122
Total Fat: 4 gm
Saturated Fats: 1 gm
Trans Fats: 0 gm
Cholesterol: 27 mg
Sodium: 238 mg (this will vary widely based on salsa used)
Carbohydrates: 13 gm
Dietary fiber: 4 gm
Sugars: 0 gm
Protein: 10 gm
Estimated Glycemic Load: 5

Paleo Chocolate Chip Cookies

Paleo Chocolate Chip Cookies

3 ¼ cup almond meal

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

2 eggs, room temperature

1 teaspoon gluten-free vanilla extract (or regular if you don’t give a damn)

½ cup honey (maple syrup or agave nectar works too)

½ cup coconut oil, melted

1 ½ cups cacao nibs (pure chocolate chips and vegan chocolate chips work too)

1. Preheat your oven to 375 degrees, Grab a cookie sheet and some parchment paper or aluminum foil. I’ve found it easier to use something like that rather than baking directly on the cookie sheet (plus I can get the next sheet in the oven quicker and I want my cookies NOW!)

2. Combine 3 and 1/4 cups of almond flour (Trader Joes almond meal is by far the best, and it’s cheaper than Red Mill or whatever) with a teaspoon of salt and a teaspoon of baking soda.

3. In a large bowl, combine 2 eggs, a teaspoon of vanilla extract, 1/2 cup of coconut oil and 1/2 cup of either honey, pure maple syrup, or agave nectar (I like honey).

4. Combine wet and dry ingredients then add 1 and 1/2 cups chocolate chips. The darker the chips the more paleo friendly they are, but the dairy free ones from Trader Joes taste pretty good. Haha! (The dough will look pretty wet, I placed my dough in the fridge to firm up a bit before rolling them into balls, but you can just pop them into the oven as is)

5. Spoon them onto your parchment and pop them in the oven. This recipe makes about 24 cookies, and i usually do 2 rounds of 12. Bake ‘em for about 8-10 minutes (the tops will start to get golden brown). If they go longer than that the bottoms burn because of the sugar in the honey. No good at all.

6. When I pull them out I let them cool long enough to get them off the parchment and put them in something sealed to go into the fridge. I like them better out of the fridge because there’s no flour and they tend to be a little sticky at room temp.

7. Now it gets a little crazy… Done like this, sometimes they can seem a little under cooked. Just the nature of the recipe. I’ve experimented a little with adding 2 tablespoons of coconut flour and it really changes the texture. Makes them more “cakey” if you will.

Turkey Meatloaf Muffins

Jamie Eason's Turkey Meatloaf Muffins

Minutes to Prepare: 5
Minutes to Cook: 40
Number of Servings: 12

Ingredients
Quaker Oats - Quick 1 Minute - Dry, 1 cup
egg white, fresh, 3 large
Onions, raw, 1 cup, chopped
Celery, raw, 1 cup, diced
Extra Lean Ground Turkey Breast, 2.5 lbs
Ground cumin, 0.5 tsp
Herb - Thyme, Dried Ground (1 tsp), 1 gram
Mustard Yellow, Emirel's Mellow Yellow (1tsp/5g), 2 tsp
Black pepper (spice) 2 tsp
Chipotle pepper, ground, 2 tsp
Salt, 1 tsp
Garlic powder, 2 tbsp (remove)

Directions
combine all dry ingredients and mix up

add chopped veggies and ground turkey and egg whites

mix well

Spray non stick spray on muffin tin

Fill each spot with baseball sized amount of turkey mixture

Bake at 375 degrees for 40 min

Serving Size: makes 12 muffins

Number of Servings: 12

Carrot Fries

Carrot Fries

Ingredients:

Carrots
Olive Oil
Salt + Pepper
Instructions:

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees
Cut carrots into match sticks

Place on baking sheet, drizzle olive oil over them. Sprinkle salt + pepper. Toss them around so it’s even.

Into the oven they go for 20 (ish) minutes, these suckers can go from done to burnt fast so a little after the 15 minute mark watch them. If they’re not done at the 20 minute mark, I’d keep watching them at three minute increments (So I’d set my timer for another 3 minutes, check again, another 3, etc)

When done.. Try to let them cool for a minute before eating them

Grain free pumpkin pancakes

1 banana
2 eggs
3 Tbs oil (melted butter or coconut oil)
1+ tsp. cinnamon
1 tbsp organic raw honey


Mash the banana well, then mix in all the other ingredients.
Fry in coconut oil until brown on the bottom, flipping once.
Really let the pancakes get brown on the bottom before attempting to flip, as they’re very fragile. Serve with raw honey on top!

Should make 1 serving (about 4 pancakes)

What to order at the coffee shop??

Like many people, I love my fancy coffee house drinks. Frappachinos, lattes, mochas... YUM! Have you ever looked at the nutrition facts on these drinks? If you haven't, you might want to take a look. Most of our favorite coffee house drinks are between 400-500 calories for a medium size serving!!! That's more than any meal should be! Luckily I have some suggestions for alternatives if you find yourself craving one of these drinks. Now a days, most coffee shops have a huge selection of sugar free syrups to choose from. Ask for one of these syrups to flavor your latte instead of the regular syrup. For those syrups that don't come in sugar free, you can ask for "1 pump" of the syrup. I do this when ordering pumpkin spice lattes & it tastes just as good with almost half the calories! ALWAYS ask for soy milk (or fat free if you must). Soy is the healthiest option when if comes to milk. Do these things and you will have a much healthier coffee drink! However, these drinks are still high is sugar and processed foods, so I would only drink them occasionally if possible. As for the delicious looking pastries at the coffee shop... I have no suggestions lol just avoid those!!!



http://www.mindywenderfitness.com/lowest-calorie-drinks-at-starbucks/

Tilapia, Green Beans, Mashed Flax-tatoes

I am going nuts! I have had to take the past 2 days off from the gym to let my body recover from the CF competition I competed in on Saturday. You will learn that skipping days at the gym is a very rare occurrence for me... Soooo to keep my mind off my sore body and lack of physical activity today, I decided to make myself a nice dinner. 

Pan-fried Tilapia 

Heat skillet with 2 table spoons of olive oil. While the pan is heating up, season tilapia to your liking (I used lemon pepper seasoning today). Then, place tilapia loins into the heated skillet. Cook on eat side for 3-4 minutes each, then remove from heat. Squeeze some lemon on top & enjoy :)

EVOO Green Beans

Rinse and cut green beans. Steam green beans to desired tenderness. Add some EVOO, salt and pepper to the green beans. Shake pan to make sure seasoning gets evenly distributed.

Mashed Flax-tatoes

Chop 1 head of cauliflower into 2-3 inch pieces. Steam the cauliflower until it is fork-tender and place in food processor (I use my ninja blender and it works the same). Add 4 tablespoons of coconut oil, 1/2 t salt, 1/2 t pepper & 1/2 garlic powder. Blend til you get mixture to desired consistency (should look like mashed potatoes) and enjoy :)

Such an easy, delicious dinner to throw together! Mashed flax-tatoes are one of my favorite side dishes. I eat them multiple times a week mostly because they are delicious, but also because they are so easy to  make! 

Well, time to go watch The Biggest Loser (great show). Good night!

Easy Turkey Wrap Lunch

1 light sundried tomato flat out
1/2 medium avocado
3 oz off the bone turkey
1 cup lettuce

Doesn't get much easier than that!

Grain Free Pumpkin Pancakes

Good morning everyone! I was craving my one of my favorite flavors today... pumpkin! I LOVE this recipe for pumpkin pancakes. It is a great alternative to regular pancakes and tastes delicious. I usually make a side of egg whites (4 egg whites, a little onion powder, sea salt & pepper) to add some protein to this dish. I am sure turkey bacon would also be a great protein source, but I do not like bacon so that doesn't work for me.... I know, I am weird. Enjoy :)

Pumpkin Pancakes

grain-free • gluten-free • dairy-free • sugar-free • nut-free • nightshade-free

PREP TIME: 10 minutes
COOKING TIME: 20 minutes
YIELD: Approximately 8 small pancakes or 2 servings.

ingredients

• 4 eggs, beaten
• 1/2 cup pumpkin puree
• 2 tablespoons coconut oil
• optional: 1-2 tbsp of almond meal
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
  or
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• pinch salt

preparation

• Whisk the eggs, canned pumpkin, pure vanilla extract, and pure maple syrup together. Sift the pumpkin pie spice, cinnamon, and baking soda into the wet ingredients.
• Melt 2 tablespoons of coconut oil in a large skillet over medium heat. 
• Grease the skillet and spoon the batter into the skillet to make pancakes of your desired size. When a few bubbles appear, flip the pancakes once to finish cooking.
• Serve with 1 tbsp of raw honey or top with bananas & enjoy!