Crockpot Coconut Curry Chicken

I absolutely LOVE busting out my crockpot. It's nice coming home after a long day and dinner is ready. Not to mention, your house smells amazing!

When Troy and I first tried this recipe we were both like "ehh, nothing special." However, when we ate it alone (without the quinoa), it was amazing!

Ingredients
- 4 lbs chicken breasts, chunked
- 4 tbsp coconut oil
- 5 garlic cloves, minced
- 1.5 medium onions, chopped
- 2 cups whole milk
- 2 (6oz) cans tomato paste
- 4 tsp garam masala
- 2 tsp curry powder
- 2 tsp red pepper flakes
- 3 tbsp cornstarch
- 2 tsp sea salt
- 1/2 tsp black pepper

Directions
- Heat coconut oil over medium-high heat. Add onion and garlic and sauté for 4-5 minutes, until translucent.
- Add garam masala, red pepper flakes, and sauté for 1 minute.
- Stir in milk, tomato paste, salt and pepper. - Reduce to low heat and add cornstarch. Whisk until lumps are gone and turn off heat.
- Grease the inside of crockpot with coconut oil. Add chicken chunks, pour sauce over and stir.
- Cover and cook on low for 5 hours.

See original recipe here - http://www.theironyou.com/2014/09/easy-creamy-crock-pot-coconut-curry.html?m=1

See more Morris favorite recipes here - http://fitandfresh15.blogspot.com/p/recipes.html?m=1

Nut & Berry Breakfast Bars

I was planning on sharing a different recipe this week, but I just couldn't wait to share this one. Autumn, you nailed it with this recipe! 

Nolan has decided that he loves "cooking" with mama. I try and let him help me in the kitchen at least once a day. His favorite recipes are those that he gets to hold the bowl and those that he can lick the spoon. Today, he got to do both. I'll let you be the judge on whether Nolan liked these or not. 😉

Here's the recipe so you can give these a try too! 

http://autumncalabrese.com/blogs/nut-berry-breakfast-bars

My 3-Day Refresh Experience

The holidays are always tough for me, especially Thanksgiving. There are so many yummy options and temptations. If Grandma tells you to try something, you do as you're told. Let's just say that I consumed a lot of treats last Thursday and Friday, including pie, cookies, wine and pizza...Typically, my approach is to workout really hard so I can indulge guilt-free. However, this year I decided to take a slightly different approach. I still worked out, but I decided to enjoy all of the delicious food and follow it up by doing a 3-day cleanse.

Now, this was my first cleanse EVER! I have to admit that I was VERY skeptical going in because as many of you know, I love my food. The 3-Day Refresh seemed like a good fit because I was still able to eat food. SCORE! However, I was going to miss meat, dairy and COFFEE...say what?! I figured it was only 3 days so I went for it.

I lost SIX POUNDS! Not too shabby for only 3 days! I know it's cliche but I really do feel refreshed and lighter. I'm finding that I'm craving fruits and vegetables and not the sweets. SHOCKER!

The HARDEST part of this 3 days was missing my morning COFFEE and smelling yummy CHILI that Troy made on Saturday. Pure torture!

Surprisingly, the cleanse itself was VERY gentle on the digestive track. I was afraid that it would send me running to the bathroom. It didn't, thank goodness! You don't have to fear leaving your house. :)

I promise that I did not starve myself to get these results. See below all of the food I ACTUALLY got to eat!

DAY 1 

BREAKFAST: I started the morning off with my Vegan Chocolate Shakeology, water and 1/2 a frozen banana. I have to admit that I have never made my Shakeology with water before (milk all the way for this girl). However, it did the job.

MID-MORNING - FIBER SWEEP: Disgusting is all I have to say! I did not enjoy this one bit.

Between the fiber sweep and lunch I got an awful headache. I'm not sure if it was the lack of calories or caffeine withdrawal from not having my coffee. Either way, it was no fun. It went away after I had lunch, thank goodness!

LUNCH: Vanilla Fresh shake, 2 stalks of celery, 1/2 an apple, 1.5 tsp almond butter. The vanilla fresh shake was actually pretty good (not as good as Shakeology but WAY better than the fiber sweep).

SNACK: 5 baby carrots and 2 tbsp hummus

AFTERNOON TEA: caffeine-free tea and it was delicious!

DINNER: Vanilla fresh shake with ice and cinnamon and a spinach salad. I devoured every bite. 

Overall thoughts after Day 1 - I survived but I wanted to quit, like seriously! The only reason I continued on Day 2 was because of Troy - THANK YOU!

DAY 2 

BREAKFAST: Chocolate vegan Shakeology with 1/2 frozen banana.

MID-MORNING - FIBER SWEEP: Day 2 and I literally had to choke this down. SICK!

No headache today! YAY!

LUNCH: Vanilla Fresh shake, 2 stalks of celery, 1/2 an apple, 2 tbsp hummus. I added vanilla and cinnamon to my vanilla fresh shake this time around. Tasty!

SNACK: 5 baby carrots and 2 tbsp hummus

AFTERNOON TEA: caffeine-free tea

DINNER: Vanilla fresh shake with ice, cinnamon and pure vanilla extract and a spinach salad. Yes, I know I'm so boring for eating the same thing again. Maybe I'll mix things up tomorrow. 

DAY 3

BREAKFAST: Chocolate vegan Shakeology with 1/2 frozen banana.

MID-MORNING - FIBER SWEEP: YUCK - I don't think I will ever learn to love this.

I think I waited a little too long before eating lunch because I was super shaky. Once I got some food in my stomach I felt a lot better.

LUNCH: Vanilla Fresh shake, tomatoes, 1/2 an apple and 2 tbsp hummus.

SNACK: Tomatoes and almond butter.

AFTERNOON TEA: caffeine-free tea

DINNER: Vanilla fresh shake with ice, cinnamon and pure vanilla extract and a Cucumber-Tomato Salad. It wasn't as good as the spinach salad, in my opinion.

  

I have been asked if I would do the 3-day refresh again - ABSOLUTELY! It took discipline and some planning, but it gave me the nutrition jump-start that I needed. Plus, I lost SIX pounds in the process - BONUS!!

Acorn Squash Candy Recipe

Happy Thanksgiving! This would make the perfect side at your feast today! This really did taste like candy, so sweet! It was amazing when paired with Venison Tenderloin, but I'm sure it would taste great with turkey too! Plus, it only has FOUR ingredients!

Ingredients
- 1 acorn squash, cut in half
- 5 strips of bacon, diced
- 2 tsp cinnamon
- pinch of salt

Instructions
- Preheat oven to 415 degrees.
- Place the acorn squash open sides down on a baking sheet.
- Bake for 20-25 minutes until soft.
- While squash is baking, cook bacon until cooked through. Place cooked bacon on paper towel to soak up excess fat. Place 2 tsp of bacon fat in medium bowl.
- Let acorn squash slightly cool and scoop out excess seeds. Then scoop out squash from try skin and place in the bowl with the bacon fat.
- Sprinkle in the cooked bacon, along with cinnamon and salt. Mix everything together.
- Enjoy!

See the original recipe here - http://paleomg.com/4-ingredient-acorn-squash-candy/

For more yummy recipes visit the recipe section of my blog - http://fitandfresh15.blogspot.com/p/recipes.html?m=1

My T25 Alpha Journey

Recovering from having a baby was hard, but recovering from a c-section was even HARDER! I was itching to get back into working out after I had Simon on 8/26/15. I was FINALLY given the green light at 6 week postpartum (within reason). My mind said go hard, but my body wasn't quite ready.

On 10/19/15, I committed to starting and completing a program. I chose T25 because I'm obsessed with Shaun T, his workouts get results AND it was only 25 minutes long - PERFECT for a busy mom of 2! 

I often get asked when I work out with the boys? My answer - in the MORNING before they wake up. I can workout while Simon is awake, but definitely not Nolan. He thinks it's time to wrestle...It's not always easy to get up with my alarm, but it's what I have to do if I want to make progress towards my goals. 

At the beginning, T25 was HARD! I mean like really really hard. I felt like I spent more time taking breaks than actually working out. UHHH Anyone else feel me? I began to think that I had picked the wrong program. I definitely have some Type A tendencies. Once I say I'm going to do something, especially if I tell someone, I have to see it through and finish it. Therefore, I kept going! 

The workouts started to seem easier, or maybe I was just getting stronger? I was able to do more reps, go deeper with squats, last longer, and do REAL push-ups. About a month in I started to notice that a few of my pants seemed looser! YAY! It was working!  

Honestly, during month 2 I started to get a little BORED with the same workouts every week. I felt like I had them memorized. However, I stuck with it. I didn't necessarily see the changes, but I could feel them with how my clothes were fitting.  

There were a couple close calls, but I didn't miss a workout! At the end of T25 Alpha, I am down 5.2 POUNDS and 5.5 INCHES!

Today is very exciting to see and celebrate how far I have come. It may not seem like much to some people, but to me completing these last 5 weeks is encouraging and gives me hope! Be sure to celebrate your successes BIG and SMALL! On Monday, I'm moving onto T25 Beta to keep pushing towards my goals! 

Welcome to my blog!

Hi there! My name is Brittany and I'm a wife, mother, Behavior Specialist and a Beachbody Coach! Thanks for stopping by and checking out my blog. I'm new to this whole blog thing, but I'm excited for the challenge of trying something new!

I wanted to let you guys in on a couple of really cool things that I have coming up. I don't know about you, but the holidays are a HARD time for me to keep working out, stay strong and out of the sweets! I recently read that the average person gains SEVEN pounds during the holiday season! YIKES! Therefore, I'm starting 2 accountability groups to keep me in check:

1) To minimize the Thanksgiving damage, I'm going to be running a 3-DAY CLEANSE on the days leading up to Thanksgiving (11/23-11/25). That way we can get ahead and go into the holiday feeling clean and refreshed.

2) I am also running a HOLIDAY MELTDOWN Challenge that is scheduled to begin on 11/30 and will last FIVE weeks! There will be recipes, encouragement, accountability, lots of fun and the BIGGEST prize that I have given to date!

If you are interested in learning more about one or BOTH of these groups, email me at fitandfresh15@gmail.com and I'll hook you up!