Calorie Counting vs Meal Planning

Back in the dark ages before cell phones were more powerful than the technology on Apollo 13, I carried in my purse a calculator, a pen, a small notebook, and a pocket-sized Calorie King Calorie, Fat, and Carbohydrate counter book, all bound together with a fat rubber band.  Meals became events:  pull out book, flip through pages, look up numbers, write numbers down in notebook, and calculate remaining calories (remember that as an English teacher, I officially don’t math).  It became even more fun if the book didn’t have the restaurant or the meal listed; then I was stuck looking up individual ingredients and amalgamating meals from separate and obscure counts.

Back then, if you were counting calories, everybody KNEW, because before (or sometimes after) you ate, out came the ubiquitous book and its accouterments, and the laborious process of calorie counting commenced.

No wonder I couldn’t manage to stick to it for more than a few weeks.  It was such an ORDEAL.  The bright side to this is that to this day I have a pretty accurate knowledge of the calories in a breadth of food (off the top of my head, an apple is about 80 calories; a McDonald’s Big Mac is 560).

Fast forward to the invention of the iPhone and the app, and a calorie-counting revolution was born.  Gone was the bundled book-notebook-calculator; they were replaced by helpful apps such as  Myfitnesspal, Fooducate, and Noom, which houses infinite databases of the calorie counts of the world.  No longer is counting calories such an obvious affair; while entering your stats into the app, you look just like any other phone-checking, game-playing, text-messaging person you see.  It’s much less of a production.

Why, then, did I a year ago go from calorie-counting maven to a staunch advocate for meal planning?

Calorie Counting

When I was counting calories, a calorie was a calorie was a calorie.  It didn’t matter to me if those calories were from a grilled chicken salad, a Whopper, or a brownie sundae.  If it fit into my daily calorie allowance, I ate it.  Okay, let’s be honest, here:  I ate it even if it didn’t fit into my calorie allowance.

Calorie counting was good for me because I learned a firm understanding of the energy values of food (which is pretty much the definition of a calorie).  Even though I no longer count calories, I still have that knowledge base, and I feel like that is helpful to me to this day.  I liked the freedom calorie counting afforded me; I knew if I was going to have a decadent meal for dinner that the rest of my day needed to be very light (sometimes TOO light).  Also, I had an accurate record of what I was eating, and if I wasn’t losing or maintaining my weight, I knew why.

The downside of calorie counting was that even if I didn’t have to lug around the book and the calculator anymore, I still had to take the time to log my meals and snacks into the app, which, let’s just be honest here, is a huge pain in the butt.  It takes time, whether you have calorie counts memorized or not.  Sometimes, as you are pulling up to a drive-thru window, your app won’t load and you are starving but you just don’t know what the best choice is, so you order the Super Mumbo Jumbo Burger, fries, and a diet soda.

Well, that was a bad idea.

Not only that, because it is so tedious, calorie counting is difficult to maintain for an extended period of time.  Who wants to count EVERYTHING they eat for the rest of their lives?  Not me.

And be honest, it only partially worked.  Sure, I lost weight because I was restricting my calories, but I paid absolutely no attention to the quality of my food or how what I ate affected my energy, my body, or my moods.  Back then, my answer to a sugar crash was MORE SUGAR.  That is very different from the way I fuel my body now.

Becoming a Convert

In 2014 when I joined a Beachbody Challenge Group, my coach wanted me to make a meal plan.  What?!  You want me to plan out what I am going to eat for every meal and snack for the next week?  That is crazy!  Where is the freedom?  Where is the flexibility?

“Nah,” I thought.  “I’ll just count my calories.”

But then all of the other challengers were posting their meal plans… it seemed like they were getting to eat A LOT of food; nowhere on any meal plan did I see that someone was eating half a serving of cereal for breakfast to conserve calories.  And then there was a cheat meal, where they got to eat anything they wanted, no counting necessary.

Fine.

So I made my meal plan.  I thought that eating the same things over and over would be dumb and boring, so I mixed up the snacks every other day.  I found exciting new recipes to try.  That first meal plan was INCREDIBLY complicated.  It took me nearly TWO HOURS to create it.  Then I went to the grocery store and spent a small fortune on my wide variety of foods and elaborate recipes.  When Sunday came and it was time to prep meals and snacks for the week, I prepped EVERYTHING.  It took HOURS.  I packaged, divvied, dolloped, cut, and sliced.

It was exhausting.

If I hadn’t gotten the kind of payoff I did for my efforts, I may have never made a meal plan or prepped food again.  That week, not ever, NOT ONCE, did I have to worry about what I was going to eat.  I already knew.  It was magneted to the fridge.  In the mornings, I didn’t have to wonder what to pack for lunch or snacks, because it was already done.  I threw it in my lunch bag and left.  It literally took all of twenty-five seconds.

And then I started losing weight.

I didn’t feel deprived, because A, I was eating ALL DAY LONG, and B, I was fuelling my body with healthy, satisfying food.  REAL FOOD.  It was a lot of work, but I was hooked.

Over time, I streamlined the process of meal planning and prep.  I started making intentional leftovers at dinner to have for lunch the next day.  I ate the same three snacks, every day, and I limited the items that needed to be chopped to one and the foods that needed to be portioned into containers to one, also; that alone DRASTICALLY cut down on my prep time. I stopped making meals so complicated; if my husband or I couldn’t whip it up on a weeknight in 20-30 minutes, it wasn’t happening.  I found go-to meals that worked for us.  I kept it simple.

Now, I can crank out a meal plan AND a grocery list in 15 minutes.  My husband and I can do the grocery shopping for the week at Aldi for around $75.  Meal planning saves me time AND money.  When I’m starving or in a rush, I don’t have to think about what I’m going to eat because I’m already prepared.  And do you know what else?  I get my cheat meal once a week, where I eat anything my little heart desires.  Most of the time it falls on date night, and it usually involves dessert.

	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday	Sunday
Meal Plan for 2.2
Workout
Breakfast	Shakeology, almond milk, and frozen fruit	Shakeology, almond milk, and frozen fruit	Shakeology, almond milk, and frozen fruit	Shakeology, almond milk, and frozen fruit	Shakeology, almond milk, and frozen fruit	Shakeology, almond milk, and frozen fruit	Shakeology, almond milk, and frozen fruit
Snack	Mini peppers and hummus	Mini peppers and hummus	Mini peppers and hummus	Mini peppers and hummus	Mini peppers and hummus	Mini peppers and hummus	Mini peppers and hummus
Lunch	Leftover minestrone  and salad	Leftover Chicken marsala, pasta, and mixed veggies	Pita Pizzas and salad	Tilapia, baked sweet potato, and broccoli	Turkey Tacos and salad	leftovers	leftovers
Snack	Pineapple and cottage cheese	Pineapple and cottage cheese	Pineapple and cottage cheese	Pineapple and cottage cheese	Pineapple and cottage cheese	Pineapple and cottage cheese	Pineapple and cottage cheese
Dinner	Chicken marsala, pasta, and mixed veggies	Pita Pizzas and salad	Tilapia, baked sweet potato, and broccoli	Turkey Tacos and salad	Lobster tails, roasted potatoes, and salad	leftovers	Clam chowder
Snack	Celery and almonds	Celery and almonds	Celery and almonds	Celery and almonds	Celery and almonds	Celery and almonds	Celery and almonds

Initially, meal planning takes more time.  There is a learning curve, but the return on investment for your time is FAR greater than it is for counting calories.  You feel so much better, because you are taking the time to pre-plan quality food to put into your body BEFORE you are famished or temptation strikes.

If you would like to learn more about meal planning and REAL strategies for losing (and maintaining!) your weight, fill out the application to be considered for a spot in my challenge group.

What are you waiting for?

BE FIERCE!

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Seven to ten pounds in 21 DAYS?!

If I told you that twenty-one days from now, you could be 7-10 lbs lighter, would you think I had lost my mind?

If I told you that  twenty-one days from now, you could be leaner and more defined than you had ever been in your life, would you think that I had fallen off the health-and-fitness wagon and started taking hallucinogens along with my snake-oil herbal weight loss remedies?

No, I haven’t stopped eating clean, drinking my Shakeology, and exercising daily; and I promised that I have not moved on to quick-fix pills or potions that promise miracles and deliver nothing.

One of my favorite parts about being a Beachbody coach is new product launches, mostly because I know that Beachbody only endorses quality products that work – GUARANTEED.  So TODAY,  Monday, February 2^nd, Beachbody is releasing the all-new 21 Day Fix Extreme!  I’m so excited for this!

Last year, Beachbody introduced the 21 Day Fix.  This was so popular, and people were getting such incredible results that when I first became a coach, I couldn’t even get it!  It was on backorder for 6-8 weeks!  Crazy!

The main premise of the 21 Day Fix is that it really is a holistic approach to weight loss:  there are six different 30-minute workouts; color-coded portion-controlled containers, and a meal planning and nutrition guide that tells you exactly what to eat (the containers tell you how much – if it fits into the container, you can eat it!); and a Shakeology shaker cup.  By joining an online accountability challenge group, this entire program sets you up for success because it is the whole package!  Every aspect of your transformation is covered!

But say you’ve graduated from the 21 Day Fix, or you are already doing extreme workouts like Insanity Max 30, P90X3, or PiYo, and you are ready to take your fitness to the next level.  THIS is super exciting!  Introducing the 21 Day Fix Extreme!  This program is NOT for beginners; it is for people who have graduated from the 21 Day Fix or who already have a baseline of fitness from other programs.  This program is for people looking to take their fitness to the next level and people who are preparing for events and fitness competitions.  It will lean you out, define you, and make your body tighter than it has ever been!

The 21 Day Fix Extreme is based on the same principles as the original, just amped to a whole new level.  There are still six 30-minute workouts (although they are MUCH more challenging than the original), and you still get the color-coded portion-control containers.  This time around there are TWO meals plans, stripped down to get you in prime condition.  As where the original allowed for wine and chocolate, those things are GONE with Extreme (c’mon, it’s only three weeks!  You can do it!).  There is also a Countdown to Competition meal plan to get you ready for that event.  The meal plans are made so that you can alternate between the two.

I am SO EXCITED to try this!  I can tell you that a few weeks ago in Pittsburgh, I did a LIVE 21 Day Fix Extreme workout with the trainer, Autumn Calabrese, and it was NO JOKE!  I cannot wait to see what the other five workouts have in store.

If you are looking to begin your journey with the original 21 Day Fix, or if you are looking to take your fitness to the next level with the 21 Day Fix Extreme, February is YOUR MONTH!  Both programs are the Challenge Pack specials!  This means you get your choice of program, color-coded containers, 30 meals of Shakeology, the meal-planning guides, workout calendars, 30 days FREE of the Team Beachbody Club membership, ME as your FREE coach, and the online support and accountability challenge group for one discounted price.  It really is an amazing value!

Who is with me as I try the EXTREME?

Fill out the application for more information on my 21 Day Fix/Extreme Challenge Group!

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The Perfect Hard Boiled Eggs

Since becoming a clean eater nearly a year ago, hard-boiled eggs have become a staple snack.  Since beginning my dairy-free experiment in an attempt to reduce headaches, they have become almost a required part of my diet.  They are great on their own, with sprinkles of sea salt and black pepper, or with the yolks replaced with a dollop of your preferred hummus.  Eggs are a great source of protein, and the whites have very few calories.

As fabulous as boiled eggs are, they are not without their frustrations.  My aggravation with them comes mostly when it is time to peel them.  There are few things worse than having the majority of a much-anticipated yummy snack stick to its own shell and wind up in the garbage.

I’ve tried lots of ways to make eggs easier to peel: vinegar and/or baking soda added to the cooking water; microwaving for a few seconds before peeling; making sure to use older eggs.  Nothing seems to work CONSISTENTLY well; in the same batch of cooked eggs, some may peel flawlessly, while others look like I peeled them with a cheese grater.

But FINALLY… I have found a method that seems to work about 98% of the time.  I got this method from Serious Eats, but here is my version, in an eggshell (ha!).

11.        Taking into consideration the number of eggs you want to boil, fill a sauce pan ¾ of the way with water.  Heat on the stove top until water reaches a rolling boil.

22.       CAREFULLY, using a spoon, lower the eggs one at a time into the pot of boiling water.  Make sure not to drop them in, or you will have cracked and/or broken eggs!  I’ve had several boiled eggs that were cooked OUTSIDE of the shell!  No good!

33.       Let the eggs boil for 30 seconds, then lower the heat to a simmer, cover the pot, and set a timer for 11 minutes.

44.       After the timer goes off, drain the hot water from the pot, fill the pot with ice and cold water and give your eggs an ice bath for 15 minutes.

Yep, see:  That one floating at the top?  I didn't lower it into the pan gently enough, and I broke it.

55.       I have had the best luck with easy peeling by putting the eggs in the fridge over night after their bath.

And this is what you get:  creamy yolk, tender white, easy-to-peel eggs!

The shell comes off in nearly one piece!

EAT YOUR EGGS, WALTER LEE!

(Probably only high school language arts teachers will get that).

BE FIERCE!

Keeping Clean Eating Simple

The idea of changing your current diet to a CLEAN diet can be daunting.  What will you eat?  What will you feed your family? How do you cook “clean”?  What can you have, and what shouldn’t you?  Is it complicated?  Do you have to buy weird or expensive food?  Sometimes the questions that fly around clean eating can prevent people from taking the plunge.  I would like to put some of those doubts and questions to rest!  You can absolutely eat clean IN A SIMPLE WAY.  Your family doesn’t have to hate you, and you shouldn’t have to make two separate meals.  Here, I give you my top tips that I share with my challengers in order to make the shift to clean eating SIMPLY.

11.        Quarter your plate.  In terms of meals, one of the simplest ways is to quarter you plate, and then fill each section with clean, lean food.  One quarter should be lean protein, like, chicken, fish, lean beef, or pork; another quarter can be from a starchy carb (we frequently have brown rice, baked sweet potatoes, or roasted fingerling potatoes at my house).  The other half should be vegetables, and it should always include something GREEN.  For example, dinner might be a grilled pork chop, baked sweet potato, and frozen veggies.

22.    One-cup servings.  For things that are harder to measure because they are an amalgamation of items, such as soups, stews, and casseroles, a good rule of thumb when it comes to a portion size is to keep it to one cup.  That should help to keep you from going overboard.  If it doesn’t seem like it is enough food, add some vegetables or a salad (which you should probably be doing anyway to meet your carbohydrate from veggies requirement).

33.  Minimize preparation.  Some people prep all meals and snacks on Sundays.  Personally, I don’t have time for that.  For me, Sundays should be for reading, naps, and catching up on the DVR, not three hours of elaborate meal preparation.  I am a firm believer in prepping, and I have found that simply prepping my three snacks a day for the week saves me a ton of time on a daily basis, and if done correctly, can be done in 20-30 minutes.  Keep snacks simple!  Foods that can be easily counted out and divvied up into baggies, like nuts, seeds, or berries work well and don’t take long.  Other items that can be grabbed as a whole and thrown in a lunch bag are also ideal (whole fruits like apples, bananas, and oranges, or a single-serving container of plain Greek yogurt, a piece of string cheese, or a boiled egg).  I try to keep the number of items I have to cut or chop to one; same goes for anything I need to spoon into containers like hummus or cottage cheese.

44.    Reinvent the wheel.  When it comes to meals, you don’t have to develop a brand new arsenal of complicated recipes that you are not sure your family will eat.  Take what you typically have for dinner in a week, and figure out how you can clean it up and make it healthier, and then be conscious of your portion sizes.  Turkey tacos, turkey meatloaf muffins, chicken fajitas, soups and stews, all go over well.  Pinterest is a great source for recipes.  Just pick your poison and search “clean (fill in the blank)”.  You’ll get approximately a million options.

55.      Intentional Leftovers.  Let’s face it:  at the beginning meal planning can be overwhelming!  I notice my challengers are always stuck on trying to choose something different every day for every meal and snack.  One of the ways I combat this is to make intentional leftovers at dinner.  So for example, last night, my husband made turkey burgers.  There are two of us, and we eat a burger a piece, but when he made dinner, he made four burgers.  When I made my plate, I also packed up lunch for the next day.  Lunch for tomorrow is DONE.  All I have to do is throw it in my lunch bag on my way out the door in the morning.  I do that every night.  It saves a ton of time, makes meal planning simpler, and even saves money because I don’t have to come up with a unique lunch every day.  And no extra prep on Sunday J.

66.     Simple additions and substitutions.  What I have noticed with myself and my challengers is trying to make a shift to a healthier lifestyle when your family might not exactly be on board can be tough.  For example, my husband doesn’t eat very many vegetables – at all.  And by at all, I mean his veggie choices are limited to green beans, carrots, and corn, and maybe some lettuce if it is smothered in cheese, bacon, croutons, and lots and lots of ranch dressing.  So I know that when it comes to veggies, I’m pretty much on my own.  Frozen veggies (without sauce or seasoning) are a lifesaver here.  I like the kind that steams in the bag in the microwave, and I will add some Mrs. Dash seasoning to flavor them up.  The hubs just passes on them, for the most part.  Frequently, I have a side salad with grape tomatoes and sliced cucumbers and a little oil and vinegar, and he can have his cheese and dressing bomb.  It is just as easy to throw a white potato in the microwave with my sweet potato, so that we can both have the “baked” starchy carb that we prefer.

Some changes can be much simpler:  whole wheat for white flour bread; whole wheat or corn instead of white flour tortillas; whole wheat spaghetti noodles; brown rice instead of white.  Ground turkey is a natural replacement for ground beef, and if it is seasoned well, your family may not even be able to tell that they are eating something different.

77.        Experiment gradually.  For simplicity’s sake, PLEASE do not pick a week’s worth of new recipes to try all at once.  First, it is so much work!  You need meals that are familiar and uncomplicated, not meals that require seventeen steps and reading a recipe.  That said, I DO encourage you to try ONE new recipe a week.  I LIKE to cook, so I usually choose to try out a new recipe on a Sunday, when I know I will have time to do it justice.  I have found some great go-to weeknight meals to work into our dinner repertoire this way! 

88.    Be progressive.  Consider that clean eating is a spectrum.  Depending upon who you ask, there are different definitions.  There is A LOT of gray area.  But if you are just starting out, and I tell you that you have to make all of your salad dressing from scratch, you can only eat Ezekiel bread, and you have to give up dairy, that is going to be intimidating and overwhelming for you and you are going to give up before you even get started.  Begin simply; plan your meals, avoid fast food, and read the labels on EVERYTHING.  If there are ingredients you can’t pronounce, either look them up to see what they are or don’t eat it.  Eat food that looks as close to its natural source as possible.  After a while, you may feel comfortable with that and decide that as your experiment that week, you WANT to try Ezekiel bread or go dairy-free.  Or maybe not, ever.  I always consider:  am I making progress?  Am I doing better than I was doing last year or last month?

99.       Plan around the sale ads.  So how do you choose what to eat when you are making your meal plan?  Do what I do – plan around the sale ads!  I frequently shop at Aldi, so I will pull up the sale flier on my computer when I am making a meal plan for the week.  I typically look at two things: what kind of meat and what kind of produce is on sale.  I’ll plan dinners (and intentional leftovers for lunch) around the meat on sale and the recipes I know my husband and I can make on a weeknight in 20-30 minutes.  I plan most of my snacks based on the produce on sale.  This helps me not only get ideas for what to plan, but it helps me to save money on the grocery bill, as well.

110.   Have ONE meal per day that you don’t have to think about.  I’m not going to lie; this all takes effort and work, but it does get easier over time.  That’s why I recommend that you have one “duh” meal per day that you don’t have to think about.  For me, that meal is Shakeology.  With my crazy busy life, teaching over 100 teenagers every day, dogs, working out, taking care of my family, etc I need something that I can depend on every single day. Shakeology takes 60 seconds to make and has all the dense nutrition of several servings of salad all in 150 calorie glass. Hello, flat belly foods ;) The energy it provides me is insane and so important since I struggle I have so much on my plate! Trust me - you’re going to LOVE this. And just in case you don’t (but you will!) there’s a 30 day “bottom of the bag” guarantee, so you get to try for yourself and see.

If you would be interested in learning more about clean eating or joining a challenge group, fill out the application!  I promise I will work with you until we can find something that works for you.

In the meantime…

BE FIERCE!

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Ten Reasons I LOVE Being a COACH

This past weekend, I left the bitter, hateful cold of St. Louis for the bitter, hateful cold of Pittsburgh, PA.  Myself and two other St. Louis Dream Team coaches hopped on a plane (okay, two planes; layover and all) to help our team roll out the red carpet for Super Friday, Beachbody CEO Carl Daikeler, and celebrity 21 Day Fix Trainer Autumn Calabrese.

The experience was amazing.  This was my first “BIG” Beachbody event, and I didn’t really know what to expect.  Would I know anyone other than the two ladies I was traveling with (and even then, I had only met one of them ONE TIME at a St. Louis Super Saturday event)?  Would I feel like an oddball?  How would the other coaches, some considered Beachbody royalty, treat me?  What if I was a billion miles away and miserable?

I should never have worried.  This trip made my passion for this business burn even brighter and hotter.  It confirmed for me that I am exactly where I should be, doing exactly what I should be doing, with exactly the people I should be doing it with.  Here is my list of reasons:

1. Beachbody Coaches are REAL people.  I guess I didn’t really know what to expect; on Facebook and the rest of the Internet, they all look so polished.  What could I possibly have in common with such perfect people?  Certainly none of them crave McDonald’s, drink too much coffee, or curse like sailors – right?  The answer is EVERYTHING.  So many of them are Type-A perfectionists just like me!  And they aren’t perfect; sometimes they want a big fat juicy burger, and many of them told me that they were on VACATION that weekend, and that meant indulging in delicious food and beverages.  Yes, there were tons of amazing female biceps there, but I saw people push themselves to failure during Autumn’s workout; I know I certainly could not do ONE MORE push-up.
2. I already knew most of the people there – and they treated me like we had been friends for years!  Let me just tell you how WEIRD it is to meet people in person for the first time that you have only seen on the Internet before.  Sure, I’d talked with them in trainings, Google Hangouts, and Zoom calls, but they just looked so… REAL!  I cannot even adequately explain it; I was somewhat star-struck.  I felt like I was surrounded by coaches I had admired for so long.  Not only did I recognize them, THEY recognized ME.  It was then that I knew that I REALLY was part of the team.
   
3. The mission of the company is TRULY, HONESTLY, to help people lead healthy and fulfilling lives.  Yes, coaches make money.  Beachbody coaching IS NOT a get-rich-quick scheme.  You put in a lot of hard work before it starts to pay off (and I have learned that with consistency it DOES pay off).  So you have to be willing to help people.  I’ve heard Carl Daikeler say it.  I’ve heard all of the top coaches say it.  If you focus on HELPING people in your business, the rest will come.  Imagine being surrounded by SO MANY people who genuinely want to help others.  It gives me a lot of faith in humanity.
4. The CEO is awesome.  Carl Daikeler?!  Why is he awesome?  Aside from being personable and likable; aside from exuding passion and excitement for what he does; aside from treating coaches like family; aside from creating world-class products that WORK; aside from creating an awesome and rewarding opportunity for people who help others – he just has a wicked sense of humor.
   
5. Working out with celebrity trainers.  So, Beachbody coaches work out at home.  Usually alone.  I don’t really like workout buddies; it ties me to someone else’s schedule, and I just do better on my own.  But once in a while, it’s good to work out with other people who like to do the kind of workouts you like to do.  And when that person just so HAPPENS to be the real-live person you work out with to the TV in your living room, well, that’s just COOL.
6. Happy, positive people.  You know what I noticed this last weekend?  A serious lack of complaining, trash-talking, cattiness, snarkiness, jealousy and back-stabbing.  Why?  Because people who love themselves enough to take care of themselves – and others – the way coaches do DO NOT feel threatened by other people.  They do not need to tear others down to feel better about themselves.  They know that the best way to make themselves feel better is to HELP people and to build them up.  And that, my friends, is the real SECRET SAUCE.
   
7. MY coach is incredible.  Somehow, someway, I ended up with literally THE BEST coach in the business.  She was named the #1 coach in all of Beachbody for 2014.  That makes her team, the Dream Team, the number one team in Beachbody.  Melanie Mitro contributes her success to her team, because Beachbody coaching is a team sport.  Melanie knows what good leaders know – that it is her job to remove the obstacles for her coaches so that they can be successful.  She had done so much for me, from one-on-one calls and mentoring to creating amazing training to help me push my business forward.
8. Training from top leaders on the team.  This weekend, Melanie set up some Dream Team training for us.  It was a three hour session on Saturday morning.  I have a bladder the size of a walnut, and I had two cups of coffee, a Shakeology, and a whole lot of water.  I had to pee REALLY badly for the last hour, but all of the information and speakers were SO GOOD that I didn’t want to miss a single second of it!  I left that session with copious notes and my mind reeling for ways to help people better.
   
9. Getting dressed up for events.  Pretty much after you become and adult, the last truly fancy outfit you wear is your wedding dress.  Sometimes it is fun to get all dressed up like you are going to the Oscars!  Now I have a reason.
10. Meeting people just like me!  For the longest time, I felt like such a weirdo.  I didn’t know many people who liked to work out and eat healthy.  I didn’t know many people who wanted MORE out of life than just to “get by.”  I didn’t know many people who wanted to keep growing and learning, or people who wanted to attract positive things to their lives.  This weekend, I met hundreds of them.  I realized that there is nothing unusual about those things; I just hadn’t found my people yet.  I’m so excited for what the future holds!
    

If you would like to learn more about being a coach on my team, fill out the application below, and we can chat!  Maybe YOU will find your place, too.

STAY FIERCE!

Clean Salisbury Steak and Gravy

You know how some meals just lend themselves to Sundays?  This is one of them.  When I put this on my meal plan, though, I hadn't really fully thought this out, and I scheduled it for a Monday evening.
I guess it was just Providence, then, that we had some ice that morning, and the superintendent called off school!  Yay!  Snow day!
You know, I feel conflicted about snow days; I'm terrified to drive in winter weather, mostly because of a pretty severe car accident I was in when I was 19.  It works out for me (most of the time) that, being a teacher, "weather" means I don't have to go to work.  However, most of the rest of the world DOES, including my handsome husband, and he DRIVES for a living, which scares the pants off of me!
Anyway, on this particular Monday, he made it home safely, so I made him THIS for dinner:

Clean Salisbury Steak and Gravy.  This is PERFECT for a cold winter day.  It's hearty, flavorful, filling, and good for you!  But it DOES take some time.  I think from beginning to end, it took me about and hour and fifteen minutes.  That's probably why I say it is a better Sunday meal; I just have more time to cook on Sundays!

Here is the recipe.

Ingredients:

Gravy:
2 large yellow onions, thinly sliced into rings
8 ounces sliced mushrooms
2 TBSP olive oil
2 TBSP whole wheat flour (or tapioca starch)
3 cups beef broth
1 TBSP minced garlic
1 tsp dried onions
1/2 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp ground mustard
1/2 tsp Mrs. Dash
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1 TBSP tomato paste
1 tsp apple cider vinegar
Salt and pepper

Steak:
1 lb lean ground turkey
1/2 cup oats
1 egg
1 tsp sea salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1 clove minced garlic
1 TBSP Bragg's liquid aminos
3 TBSP dried parsely
1/2 tsp mustard powder
1/2 tsp onion powder
1 tsp dried thyme
1 TBSP olive oil

Directions:
1) Make gravy FIRST:

• Heat oil in a large pan.  Add onions and cook over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally.
• When onions begin to brown and soften, and 1/4 c. broth.  Reduce heat to medium, cover pan with a lid, and continue cooking, slowly adding in more broth as it cooks down.
• Cook for 25-30 minutes until onions are caramelized, stirring occasionally and adding more broth.
• Stir in flour or tapioca starch and cook for about 2 minutes.
• Add remaining broth, tomato paste, apple cider vinegar, garlic, dried onions, onion powder, garlic powder, ground mustard, Mrs. Dash, cayenne pepper, and salt and pepper.
• Simmer for 10 minutes.

2)  While onions are caramelizing, make the steaks:

• Mix all ingredients except oil in a large bowl with your hands
• Make 4 oval-shaped patties
• In a medium skillet, heat oil over medium heat
• Add patties and cook until browned, about 4-5 minutes per side
• Set aside until gravy is ready

I had to make four patties... and then one little baby patty.  Oops!

3) After gravy has simmered for 10 minutes, add patties to pan and cover, simmering for about ten more minutes.

4) Serve over brown rice, quinoa, or whole wheat egg noodles.  I added steamed veggies, but this would also go well with a salad!

So good!  I hope you enjoy it as much as we did!

Stay FIERCE!