Chcolate banana pumpkin muffins

This is kid-approved.

Here's the recipe. 

1/2 cup canned pumpkin puree
2 eggs
1 large banana, mashed
1/4 cup PB2 
1/4 cup honey
2 scoops of Vanilla Shakeology OR chocolate Shakeology OR 1 each
1/2 tsp baking soda 
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp sea salt
Chocolate chips (optional) 

Preheat over to 350. Line muffin pan with lining muffin paper and coat with Pam. 

Blend eggs, pumpkin, banana, peanut butter and honey in blender. 

Add Shakeology, baking powder, pumpkin pie spice, sea salt, and chocolate chips (optional). Blend until smooth.

Bake 15 -20 minutes, or until golden brown and tester inserted into the center comes out clean. Let cool.

21 DAY FIX CONTAINERS (FOR 2 MUFFINS) 1/2 Red, 1/3 Purple, 1 tsp Or it can be a yellow treat swap!

InstantPot: Sausage and Cabbage

Ingredients:
1 tsp coconut oil
1 package of nitrate free beef sausage, sliced
1 small head cabbage, cored, chopped
1 cup water or broth (chicken, vegetable, or beef)
Salt and pepper to taste

Instructions:
1. Select Saute on InstantPot. Add 1 tsp of coconut oil.
2. Add sliced sausage into pot when pot is hot. Cook about 2 minutes, stir it around. Cook another 2 to 3 minutes. Remove with slotted spoon.
3. Add chopped cabbage. Stir it around after a minute or so. Add broth. Stir. Add sausage. Add pepper and salt (desired amount, but don't go too crazy). Secure the lid.
4. Select Manual, High Pressure, for 3 minutes.
5. When time is up, select Quick Release. Be careful. Use a wooden spatula for that (I am still nervous), and open the lid toward you so you shield your face and the steam will escape on the other side.

Serve over brown rice.

This yields 4 servings.
2 green, 1 red, 1/4tsp oil.

InstantPot Cinnamon Apple Steel Cut Oats

Ingredients:
1 cup steel cut oats
3 tsp coconut oil
2.5 cups water
3 tsp coconut sugar
1 apple - chopped into small pieces
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt

Select "Saute" on InstantPot.
Add coconut oil and melt it. Add oats and stir for about a few minutes.
Add water, apple, sugar, cinnamon, salt. Stir well.
Put lid on. Select Manual and cook at high pressure for 7 minutes.
Use natural release for 10 minutes. Then release any remaining pressure.
Serve oatmeal topped with more fresh apples and perhaps even a drizzle of honey or more sugar (optional)

Counts as a vegetable, tastes like a carb.

Let's talk food.

Superfood.

That's the buzz word these days, isn't it?

Well, earlier this week, I bought a whole butternut squash. I have been buying the ones already cubed in a bag but this week, I was feeling brave and bought the whole thing. I wasn't sure what to do with it. But nothing Youtube and Pinterest can't fix.
Youtube and Pinterest are my go-to problem-solvers these days. It started with "How to give a newborn a bath" three years ago. And it is has morphed into "How to take apart (car seat model) to wash" and today, "How to prepare butternut squash."

So I cut it apart, scoop the seeds out, quartered it and slice the skin off, then, I cut into cubes.
Toss it in a big pan, drizzle a little olive oil, and bake at 350 until tender (about 30 minutes).

Since I'll have enough to eat for days, I went ahead and had some for breakfast.
I got a serving, threw some peanut butter over it, drizzle some raw honey, and sprinkled some cinnamon. Hello Morning!!


Here is the nutritional comparison between butternut squash and sweet potato I found on Popsugar. I love sweet potato. But since it is considered a carb when I am following my meal plan, I like to find "substitute." Butternut squash tastes almost like sweet potato to me. So, this was a no brainer. Butternut squash counts as a vegetable but it tastes like a carb.

There you go. How do you like your butternut squash? Share any recipes with me. 

Plan For Success

Let's talk meal planning.  
I love Pinterest but a lot of their meal plans are quite elaborate. I am a simple girl. This has worked for me. 

I try to come up with a meal plan every week so I can prep and be successful in the nutrition department. I find that I drift when I don't plan. It doesn't have to be complicated. This took me about 5 minutes. 

First, I checked the weather to make sure that we have a rainy or cool evening because if so, I will have a soup night. 
Secondly, I also look at what engagements I have for the week (think dinners with family members, parties etc). 
Thirdly, I look at what I need to use from my pantry/freezer/fridge. 

Instead of assigning a meal to a day (example: Monday - Grilled salmon, Tuesday - Tacos), I just plan about 3 or 4 meals. I don't commit to a dish to a day, because I can't do commitment like that.  This way, I am free to decide if I am in the mood for salmon, or tacos or chicken on the day.  I make enough for leftovers and sometimes lunches.  

Back-up stash: I usually keep some lunch meat and bread as my emergency stash so I can throw together a sandwich. 

Vanilla Shakeology + spinach + banana
+ almond milk + ice

I plan two snacks a week, usually Greek yogurt or some kind of clean snacks. I also include 2 or 3 fruits (unless I am making a fruit salad ---  Click here for recipe). 

For breakfasts during the week, I usually have my Shakeology because it is quick and I can consume it on the road. My favorite is chocolate, and second favorite is cafe latte. I typically blend it with water, ice, and some natural extract with an immersion blender. 
I usually have it at 7:15 a.m. and it tides me until at least 11 a.m. 
On the weekends, sometimes I am lazy and continue to drink my Shakeology. Other days, I will whip up some eggs and spinach and eat it. I am easy. 

So far, this has helped me immensely in making sure I don't run out of my clean food. It has also helped with the grocery bills too. 
I find that I just go to the grocery store once a week and I am done. If i don't plan like this, I usually run to the grocery store to pick up last-minute thing and you know how it goes, you go in to buy a gallon of milk and you come out of Wal-Mart with a pressure cooker and shoes and that smoked salmon you want to have because you thought it would be so good for tomorrow. BUT wait, since I have a pressure cooker now, let me buy some stuff to cook in it. Yep. You get my drift. :) 

Do you meal plan? Share it with us here. 

Yum!

We are trying to cut down on the "traditional" dessert at our house so we can watch the waistline. 

I love fruit salad at church, but it seems like they are always laden with sugar, 

or some cream or some weird pudding mixes. 

So I whipped up this delicious fruit salad and thought I would share it with y'all. 

You will need the following: 

The lime juice made it quite tart, but I really wanted it to be tart so the fruit won't brown. 

You know, letting the acid do its job. 

If you want, you can do half a lime. 

Use lemon instead of lime. 

Use more strawberries. 

A different apple. But I love a good crunchy juicy apple in it. 

My husband eats his with some whipped cream and a sprinkle of sugar. 

I drizzled ½ teaspoon of raw honey over it. 

It didn't last long. 

Try it and let me know what you think. 

Chocolate Yogurt with Blueberries and Grapes

This was delicious. 

For some reason, my body wanted something decadent and chocolatey. 

And what the body wants, the body gets. 

Enter this concoction. 

Chocolate Yogurt with Blueberries and Grapes 

Plop ¾ cup of plain Greek yogurt into a bowl. 

Sprinkle ½ tsp of unsweetened cocoa over it. 

Throw in 1 cup of grapes and blueberries 

(or whatever fruit that tickles your fancy)

Drizzle about ½ to 1tsp of raw honey. 

Indulge. 

It was tasty and it hit all the right spots.