Recipe Favorite: Crockpot Salsa Chicken

All you need are 2 ingredients to make this slow cooker shredded chicken -- good salsa and chicken!  Our current salsa favorite is the Simply Balanced Organic Roasted Restaurant Style Salsa from Target.  You can use this chicken for tacos or you can make your own burrito bowls.  Whatever you want!  I've listed a few ideas for things to serve it with below.

Prep: 1 min 
Cook: 4 hours-8 hours (depending on desired setting)

Ingredients:

• 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
• 16 oz. jar favorite salsa

Directions:

Place chicken breasts in a slow cooker and cover with salsa. Toss until the chicken is covered.

Cover and cook on high for 4 hours (or low for 6-8 hours), or until the chicken shreds easily with a fork. Shred the chicken in the slow cooker and toss with the remaining salsa and juices until well-mixed. Serve immediately, or refrigerate in an airtight container for up to 5 days (or freeze!).

Additional Suggested Items for Serving (options are limitless!):

• Flour or Corn Tortilla
• Hard Taco Shells
• Cheese
• Lettuce
• Additional Salsa
• Lime Wedges
• Guacamole
• Mexican Rice
• Quinoa
• Bell peppers (roasted)
• Sour Cream (or substitute greek yogurt) 
• Hot sauce
• Corn
• Pico de Gallo

Recipe Favorite: Crockpot Fajitas

Ingredients:
3-4 chicken breasts (Frozen)
4 cloves of pressed garlic
2 tsp of chili powder
2 tsp cumin
1 Tbsp. cilantro
4 bell peppers, any color (sliced)
1 large onion (sliced)
1 14 oz can of diced tomatoes (Low sodium if you can find them!)

Instructions:
Put all ingredients in the crock pot (chicken down first) and cook on low for 8-10 hours or high for 4-6 hours.  You can slice the chicken or leave them whole and shred the chicken with 2 forks.

If your time will allow it, add the bell peppers to the slow cooker in the last hour so they aren't too soggy. When the cooking time is over, shred chicken with a fork.

To Serve:
Place 1 Red container of the chicken mixed with tomatoes and garlic onto a whole wheat flour tortilla. Top with 1 Green container of sliced peppers and onion. Optionally serve with 1 Tbsp. of Non-fat Greek yogurt, a blue container of shredded cheese or a blue container worth of avocado, i.e. 1/4 avocado (or mix them).

1 fajita is 1 red, 1 Green, 1 Yellow and an optional blue.

Recipe and 21 Day Fix exchanges courtesy of my fellow Beachbody Coach, Carra Theodore!

Weekend in Review - March 20-22

For the first time in ages (or forever if that song is stuck in your head), Mario and I did not have an over-scheduled weekend.  I can't remember the last time we had so much free time!  It was awesome!  So here is a run down of how our weekend went with a few photos along the way and links for more information.

To see photos as I take them, join me on Instagram and if you would like to see my restaurant, hotel, and attraction reviews see me on Trip Advisor

Friday

We did not do anything really special on Friday except I had to do some work for my fathers business which I've been doing every Friday night for over a year now (doing work I've been doing since I was in undergrad) which will be changing soon as I make the transition out of my current job and into his business full time starting next week.  It's going to be an adventure and a challenge, but I'm looking forward to the opportunities that it could create.  More about that later...

Saturday

After relaxing a bit (wait what is this?), we headed to the Chicagoland Family Pet Expo with a friend.  Though we did not find as much as we usually do, we did see a really interesting K9 law enforcement training demonstration.  Usually we unload too many funds finding fun stuff for our furballs, but there wasn't nearly as much this year.  The only real "find" was this amazing clothing company called Peace Love Paws Co.  Not only are their designs lovely, but their mission is truly admirable.  I picked up a signature purple hooded shirt and I have a feeling its going to the first of many pieces that make their way in to my wardrobe!

After the expo, we had a little downtime before we headed to a local restaurant/bar called Spears to see my husband's cousin and his band, Miles Over Mountains.  Mario is related to Steve, the bassist.  MOM has a bluegrass/Americana/jam band type sound and the show was a blast.  There were quite a few of us there to support the band and this was the first time we had seen them play.  Luckily they had their CD release party the night before so we were able to take a recording home.  For the first time in a while, I enjoyed a nice glass of Moscato and we closed out the bar that night talking away with some cousins we hadn't seen in a while.

Sunday

We decided that Sunday would be a nice relaxing "date day".  I actually woke up early (my cat needed his insulin shot) and I booked our FP+ reservations for our May trip to Walt Disney World along with rearranging some of the dining reservations that we had already booked.  I couldn't believe it, but we actually got some great plans with only some minor adjustments and reservations for all of the restaurants we wanted to try this time around.  We are Disney Vacation Club Members and have been for a few years now.  Our actual "home resort" (where our timeshare is based) is Animal Kingdom Lodge - Kidani Village, but we are working our way around the resort trying different locations.  So far we've stayed at Saratoga Springs, Animal Kingdom Lodge - Kidani Village, and we stayed a couple of nights at the Grand Californian at Disneyland as well.  This trip, we managed to get reservations at Wilderness Lodge which is perfect for our preferred proximity to Magic Kingdom for this trip.  We were crossing our fingers that there would be another 24 Hour Day this year and we super excited when it was just recently announced.  After our plans were set for May, we were also able change resorts for our September trip for the Epcot Food and Wine Festival to Old Key West also for proximity reasons for the event.  I'll do another post on our Disney Vacation Club membership at a later date to help explain the "ins and outs" of how we plan our WDW time.

Fridge Figment was hanging out right below my reminder to get these planning tasks done for our trip!

In the meantime, here are some photos from our short trip this past November.  We stayed at Animal Kingdom Lodge and attended Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party.  It was a blast and a much needed get away!

Spaceship Earth at Epcot

Tree of Life at Animal Kingdom

Sorcerer's Hat (since been removed) at Hollywood Studios

Cinderella's Castle (frozen over by Elsa) at Magic Kindom

We managed to get a lunch reservation at Be Our Guest for lunch.  We tried the grey stuff.  It was in fact delicious!

Magic Bands and Party passes!

Our last night all decked for the holidays complete with our Santa "ear hats".

We relaxed a bit longer, got a bite of lunch, and headed over to the movie theater to see Insurgent.  Out of all of the dystopian series that are out, my husband actually likes The Divergent Series the best.  It surprises me, but it makes it easier to get him to go!  Since we had a gift card, we splurged and saw it in IMAX 3D.  I'm not normally big on 3D and quite frankly it normally makes me nauseous, but I survived.  I thought it was well directed and it was engaging, but the overuse of CGI was distracting.  I did enjoy it though.  They've done a great job casting for this series and I can't wait to see how they tackle Allegiant (which they are splitting in to two movies like every other final book).  It actually got me motivated to pull out Four: A Divergent Collection again.  It's the only book I hadn't read and I really want to finish it.  I read the Divergent Series over the course of about a week prior to the first movie being released.  If you want to see my ratings for those and other books because I'm a bit of a bookworm as well, connect with me on Good Reads.  

After the movie, we had to go do some major grocery shopping.  Our freezer was already well stocked (even with some dump meals and pre-prepped meals), but we were very low on all of the fresh fruits and vegetables that we needed for some of the recipes we wanted to make this week.  Lately we have been really bad about pre-planning meals and cooking at home.  Since our schedules are changing, we are going to have more time (which should never have been an excuse) and are making meal planning a priority.  

Lots of yummy fresh produce!

So Sunday night, I made the Turkey & Quinoa Taco Bake that I already posted the recipe for.  This time I added a can of Diced Tomatoes (no salt added) and I included extra peppers, onions, and garlic.  I don't typically bake it with the hot sauce, but we add Cholula to our own bowls to taste when serving.  Since the recipe serves 4, this gave me two extra meals pre-made for the week!  As we continue to meal plan, we are planning meals that create extra servings so that we have meals to bring for lunch on the go.

The finished product after baking.

Last Call for April Challenge and Giveaway!

Last Call!   There are only 3 spots left!

You've been following my journey to a healthier lifestyle, and now it's time for YOU to join me! Why? Because you're worth it and there's no better time than now. If you've been wishing and hoping to change your life, this is your sign that the moment is here. Take a chance on your health. Take a chance on your future.

First: We'll get registered for the NEW On Demand service where you can select your own workout (you'll have over $1000 worth at your fingertips!!) and have access to all of the program details including the workouts, workout schedules, and nutrition plans! Best of all, you can stream your workouts anytime anyplace and on any internet enabled device!

Second: You'll replace one meal per day with Shakeology that will provide you with amazing superfoods to help fuel your journey. This is how I start my day!

Finally: We'll have a private group on Facebook to hold each other accountable for all 60 days. If you are serious about this, you will be successful.

AND: if a healthy lifestyle wasn't enough to motivate you, you'll also be entered in a giveaway to win a $25 gift card if you join by 11:59pm cst on March 29th!

If you would like more information fill out the application at http://tinyurl.com/April60DayChallenge or leave your email below!

Recipe Favorite: Shakeology No Bake Balls

Looking for a quick snack on the run that satisfies that "dessert like" craving?  Look no further!  These are amazing and tasty!  Just store them in the fridge for snacks throughout the week, but I don't guarantee that they will stick around that long!

Ingredients:
– 1 Scoop of Shakeology
– 1 Cup of all natural peanut butter (or almond butter)
– 1 Cup of old fashioned oats (uncooked)
– 2 Tsp honey (raw honey preferred)

Directions
Mix all ingredients in a large mixing bowl until mixed well.  Roll in to balls (about ping pong ball size) and then flatten (optional).  Place in refrigerator for 30 minutes and serve.

Recipe Favorite: Turkey & Quinoa Taco Bake

Mexican food is a huge hit in our house and especially when it is something that I can use for meal prepping for the week.  This amazing recipe has been passed around the coaching community (it was not created by me) and is beloved by 21 Day Fix participants (and even nonparticipants because my husband LOVES this dish).  You will use a 9"x13" dish and the serving size is a quarter of the pan!  We aren't big veggie eaters so I sometimes add extra green containers adding more jalapeno or bell peppers.

Turkey & Quinoa Taco Bake
Makes 4 servings
21 Day Fix Plan = 1 yellow, 1 green, 1 blue, 1 red

Yellow Container
1 cup uncooked Quinoa 

Red Container
20oz package 93% Lean Ground Turkey 

Green Container
Tomato Sauce (low Sodium) 2 cups
Chopped Red or yellow or green peppers*
Chopped onion & Jalapeno* 

Blue Container
Shredded Cheddar (4 Blue containers worth) 

Free Ingredients
Juice of 1 lime
Garlic 3 cloves minced
Chili Powder 2 Tbsp
Cumin 2 Tsp
Onion Powder 1 Tsp
Chopped Cilantro 1/3 cup
Hot Sauce to taste (optional, but we like to add it)

Directions:

1. Preheat Oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Spray a 9X13 baking dish with cooking spray (I use coconut oil spray) & set aside.
2. Rinse your Quinoa and follow the cooking instructions on the package.  If you buy in bulk, here are some basic instructions: add it to 2 cups water in a saucepan & bring to a boil over medium heat. Boil for 5 minutes. Turn heat to low & simmer for about 15 minutes, or until water is absorbed. Remove from heat & fluff with a fork. Cover quinoa & set aside.
3. Spray frying pan with non-stick cooking spray or add some EVOO (if needed or skip if the pan is nonstick). Add onion, garlic & jalapeno & sauté over medium-high heat for 1 minute. Add the ground turkey, breaking it up as it browns. Cook for about 5 minutes & add the peppers. Cook for 3-4 minutes more, or until meat is no longer pink.
4. Add the juice of 1 lime, cumin, chili powder & cilantro. Stir to combine. Adjust seasonings to taste.
5. Remove from heat & add the quinoa to the meat & veggie mixture. Pour in the tomato sauce & hot sauce (if using or you can add it as a condiment later) & stir. Add 1 blue container of shredded Cheddar Cheese.
6. Pour mixture into prepared baking dish. Top with remaining 3 (blue) containers of Cheddar. Cover with foil & bake for 20 minutes. Remove foil & bake for an additional 10 minutes or until cheese is melted & edges are bubbling. Remove from oven & let cool for 10 minutes.

*These veggies should total 2 Green containers when mixed together.