90 Day Diet Challenge & Supplement Review: The Beginning

My supplements came Friday!  (WOW, that was FAST!!!)

I'm planning to start using the supplements today for the 90 Day Diet Challenge.  I chose the "30 Day Diet" option.  I'm going to "clean" up my diet again, hope the kids have finished off their (far too tempting) Halloween candy, and re-read Timothy Ferris' "Slow Carb" diet book... until my Paleo books show up on the library hold shelf.  It never hurts to refresh your memory... and I know that grains tend to affect me negatively, especially wheat, with bloating, cramps and just overall fatigue... so I'm going to try and keep those out completely, even though they're allowed.  I also absolutely can't handle artificial sweeteners, so I'll stick with Stevia and Xylitol as I have for the past couple of years.  I'm already used to using herbs without MSG or sugar, so that'll be easy enough.

**See my Week One Results Here!

My husband and I are starting to take our energetic 4 year old dog, Diva for walks around our neighborhood in the evenings after dinner.  I'm hoping that this helps get me in at least a little bit better shape... and if nothing else, it will be great for developing a new habit, and getting us both ready to hit the gym again by the end of the month when its probably going to be too cold for outside walks in the evening!

Now... for the before photos.  *gulp*  REEEEEAAAAAALLLY don't want to do this part.  Maybe I'll post before photos when I'm already losing a little bit, so its not quite so depressing.   I'll take the photos and hide them in a vault.  Yeah, that's it.  Then I can post at the end of the month to see how much of a difference I'e made!

At any rate, I can be incredibly sensitive to supplements (which can be a really good thing, or a really bad thing!), so I'm curious to see how this goes.  I'll be seeing my regular doctor on Monday, so I'll hopefully remember to bring up these supplements when I go.

I'll post some of my favorite recipes as I go, including what I find for Thanksgiving!

Here are some of my Top Five favorite past recipes that will fit this protocol 

(*some will need a slight tweak, but its doable!)

Super Easy Chicken w/Onion "Noodles"

Protein Smoothies:  A Quick Tip!*

Super Quick & Easy Mexican Eggs

Cajun Tilapia

Orange Tilapia*

What are your favorite healthy recipes?  Please share!  Include a link to your own blog recipes if you have one, I love finding new blogs!

I believe that planning can take the edge off.  I plan to have figured out serving sizes and plan with a list of available options for my breakfasts, lunches and dinners.  I'll have my grocery list ready to go and some serving size meals ready to heat and eat for those times (you know everyone has them) when I'm going to have a time crunch and need to eat RIGHT NOW.  Mostly, though, I just want to plan to get back to my healthy habits.  The fact that I let the stressful events in life get me down so much that I gave up on my emotional and physical health is very disappointing to me.  I'm going to give up the guilt and let myself move on and have hope that I can make the change a permanent one.

What are your no fail healthy eating tips?

Disclosure: I will be receiving product as a participant in the 90 Day Weight Loss Challenge. All opinions are my own. 

Clean Eating #137: Super Easy Cajun Tilapia w/Rice and Corn

Broiled "Cajun" Tilapia

Okay, so the title says with rice and corn, because I served it with rice and corn... however, my silly old camera died as soon as I took a half was decent photo of the fish.  I actually had my fish with a salad, but my kids love corn, and the rice fills them up enough so that they eat something other than four pounds of fish!  

Rice:

I cook a mixture of brown and wild rice according to directions.

When it is nearly done, I throw in a bag of frozen corn and about a 1/2 a cup of finely chopped red bell peppers that I stuck in my freezer on prep day.

I add a bit of paprika as well as some pepper, and they're good to go.

"Cajun" style Tilapia

This is SO easy:)

Take your Tilpia filets and place them "dull" side up on a baking sheet (one side should appear more shiny than the other, so put the dull side up)

Rub the fish with your preferred oil (I use cocount oil)

Rub with a sprinkle of Paprika and Ground Red Pepper

Broil on the top shelf with the oven door vented open a little for about 7 minutes until the fish flakes apart easily with a fork.

Serve hot and enjoy (with a lot of water!  Its spicy!:)

Verdict:  This was SO easy, so simple and I always have these ingredients on hand.  It was great with a salad and the kids loved it with rice.  I will definitely be making this again.  Especially since I'm really trying to drink more water and the spiciness of this dish forces me to drink a LOT!

Clean Eating #133: Memorial Day Vacation Tilapia and Onion Campfire Bake

Campfire Tilapia & Onion Bake

Scroll down for the recipe if you don't want to see our vacation pictures:)

When we first got there, we got everything out and started putting up tents.

We had an inadvertent 'set up the tent competition' and the little girls pretty much won:)

They haz mad skillz:)

 Actually, I think the fact that the girls ALWAYS play together, and the boys COMPETE with each other, it makes the girls a much more formidable team, even though none of them have ever put a tent together by themselves before.  Actually, I think it was only the second time they'd even helped.  We haven't went camping often:)

All of last weeks flooding (see the tree TOPS just poking out of the water?) and storms resulting in "big waves" for at least the younger kids:)  They had an absolute BLAST "riding the waves" on their swimming noodles:)

Paris and Abyni jumped right in, first thing, even though the water was too cold for the rest of us.  They are like little fish!

Off to find a good place to kick off to ride the waves back to our campsite.  I think this may have been one of their favorite things to do... or at least what they spent the most time doing.

 Tilapia and Onion Campfire Bake

Ingredients (*For one meal/serving)

Foil

EVOO or Coconut Oil

2 Medium White Onions

Tilapia Filet

Tone's Citrus Grill Seasoning

Oil the foil with your choice of oil, all except the edges.

Add your thickly sliced onions

Top with Tilapia Filet

Sprinkle with Tone's seasonings

Wrap the foil tightly sealing the edged thoroughly by folding several times.

In the campfire (or oven set to 400), scrape some hot coals to the side of the fire and place your double wrapped foil packets directly on top of the hot coals.

You can also cover with hot coals to cook faster, but we rarely do.

Cook for about 15-20 minutes on each side.

The finished product?  WONDERFUL!!!

I actually made several different variations of meals this way this weekend and in the past when we lived on the bus.  I posted some of those as a guest blogger... so please go check it out!

See my Guest Post at my fellow blogger Kelsey's blog: ChicnSavvy Reviews "Campfire Potato & Cheese Bake" for some other variations and some vacation Video of the Bean jumping out of a tree into the water!:)

Thanks for stopping by!  What did you do this weekend?

Clean Eating #51: Valentine's Day Raspberry Vinaigrette Marinade for Chicken or Fish

Valentine's Day Raspberry Vinaigrette

Ingredients

3/4th cup frozen mixed berries or raspberries

1/4th cup white wine vinegar

1/4th cup agave nectar or honey

1 to 1 1/2 Tbsp of spicy brown mustard

pepper to taste

Puree all ingredients in a blender.

Pour into a ziplock bag with thawed chicken breasts, white fish or tofu & refrigerate at least 30 minutes (best if you leave it overnight, but I was too hungry for it now!)

Bake at 375 wrapped in foil/in a pan covered with foil.

Individually wrapped 'packets' cooked A LOT faster, and since I put it off so long... well, I needed it done fast.

Make extra 'sauce' for a topping

I sauteed red and orange bell peppers and some onions and added some of the marinade to them and this made an AWESOME topping for the fish and rice.  It cooked down and was nice and thick. YUMMMMY 

**It would make a great dipping sauce for chicken strips, too!

We had ours with steamed brocooli and carrots and long grain brown rice seasoned with a little thyme & sage... topped with out pepper-ed up marinade sauce.

Delicious!  Next time I might add a little bit of orange juice as well... but that would just be for variety.  Paris wanted to use it as a salad dressing, but we were out of salad:(

I know I promised a Valentine's Day story, but instead its been a crazy busy day, and all I want to do right now is curl up with my hubby.  The love of my life that I met over 20 years ago!  We've been married for almost 18 years!!  I can't believe it:)  This guy changed my life and most definitely saved it.

Happy Valentine's Day!