Eggs Benedict over Portabello (with bacon & hollandaise)

Posted in Food, Meal Planning by

This recipe was fast (30 min tops) and tasted incredible! I grilled some portabellos over the weekend and had one left. The only other things in the fridge were some lemons, bacon, and eggs. Boom, protein-filled dinner! I doubled the recipe for you below:

For the poached egg
4 fresh eggs, large
1 T vinegar (rice or white)

For the Hollandaise
Pinch of salt
1.5 tsp lemon juice
1.5 tsp vinegar
1.5 tsp hot water*
2 egg yolks
5 T butter

To serve
2 large portabello mushrooms
4 long slices bacon

Instructions:

  1. Prepare your mushrooms by removing the stem and scraping out the black gill thingys (don’t know the real name). Spray the mushrooms with oil (or wipe oil on with a paper towel) & sprinkle with salt. Broil bacon & mushrooms, skin side down for 5 min, flip everything, broil for another 4-5 min.
  2. Bring a large saucepan of water to a boil. Add 1 T vinegar to the water & reduce heat. (The vinegar stops the water from boiling a little.)
  3. Crack eggs into a small bowl, then slip the eggs into the water, one at a time. Turn off the heat, cover the pot & let them cook for about 3-5 min. (I did 5 min and the yolks were soft, not runny.) Once they’re cooked, remove them from the water.Picture1
  4. Melt the butter in the microwave until frothy.
  5. In the blender: the 2 egg yolks, 1.5 tsp hot water (*from the saucepan is faster), pinch of salt, & 1.5 tsp vinegar. Put the blender on the lowest setting & let it blend for about 30 seconds until the mixture gets light in color.
  6. Slowly drizzle the melted butter into the blender as it blends, then let it blend for a few seconds longer. Add the lemon juice & let it blend for a few seconds. Shut off the blender.
  7. On your plate, top the mushrooms with bacon, then layer the poached eggs, and drizzle with the hollandaise. Eat!Picture1.png

BeccaSig

Tips for Travels…

Posted in Goals, Meal Planning by

 

Spring has sprung and vacations are about to abound. What do you do when you travel? Are all bets off and the ice cream bar is open? How does that actually help you out and make you feel good while you are trying to relax and enjoy a break?

I have a few simple rules (yeah, you can call them guidelines if you want, but for me, I like the enforcement factor for my life) on how to handle when I am traveling that keep me healthy and not feeling horrible all vacation long because I binged on pizza, pasta and ice cream.

  1. Bring your workout clothes! Pack them and USE them. If the hotel doesn’t have a gym than do the 3-5oo’s workout – 500 squats, 500 sit-ups/crunches, 500 jumping jacks. This is a GOOD workout and will help to set you off right for your day. So, get it done right away when you wake up in the comfort of your own hotel room.
  2. Walk, walk, walk. Take that walk down the beach rather than laying on the beach for 8 hours straight. Walk through the entire tiny town and window shop. Walk the city home after dinner. Walk! You would be surprised, but you can actually get more steps in on your vacations than you do in your normal life.
  3. Enjoy special things, not everything. You’re on vacation, so you are probably going to be eating out a lot. However, you don’t have to get the fried chicken everywhere, along with the pasta salad and the mediocre ice cream that every restaurant will have. Instead, treat yourself once a day to something special and other than that, eat like you normally would – cut out the bread, the pasta, the processed – and enjoy great food that is out there. But, if you happen to be in Belgium, get yourself a waffle for goodness sake when you are out once. If you are in Canada, keep driving, don’t get the poutine. : )

Hope that this helps to give you some ideas. The biggest thing is that you should enjoy your time with your family and friends – not constantly have to excuse yourself because you ate too much or you are feeling horrible after the carb-binge.

Here’s to some awesome vacations for one and all!

photo-1434817247550-689f7c23be58StephSig

Ugh, Accountability

Posted in Goals, Motivation by

You know the saying that you are not an island? As an introvert, I hate that saying. I want to shout out to all of those extroverts, “I would LOVE to be an island! Now stop talking to me!” But alas, the saying is true.

I am not an island. I am not alone, and I was never made to try to do this life alone. You know why weight watchers and programs like it work? Because you have to go in and talk to someone about what you ate and weigh in right there. That’s pretty scary. And it works as long as you keep going and checking in (although, I think that what they eat is still meh and would prefer paleo, but that’s just me).

Accountability – such a loaded word, but it works – even when you mess up.

Last week, I had an insanely stressful week. It was a huge week for me at my job (probably one of the biggest weeks for me in the year). I was doing good on Monday and Tuesday – I hit up the gym, I ate pretty well, and I was dealing with the stress. But halfway through Wednesday and then Thursday and Friday, I broke down. I mean, my calorie count went from my normal 33-year old self to an elephant basking in the African sun at the water hole.

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What is horrible is that I had to report this to my good friend, who is there for me on the days when I am rocking out my diet and exercise routine and even on the days when I carb-o-load and become an elephant singing Toto, I felt the rain in Africa….

That’s right – I even reported in on the days I messed up, because that’s the point. I’m going to mess up. I’m not perfect. I’m not always going to get it right. And the point of a good friend is that they are there and will encourage you to get back on track. So, here I am today, hitting up the gym for a good workout and eating like my normal self again.

So, my encouragement to you today is to stop being an island when it comes to your goals. Get a friend and begin to check in daily. Here are three tips on how to be awesome at keeping someone  accountable to their goals:

  1. Be positive, even when they mess up. Meaning, encourage them to go get a quick workout in, or to let the crappy lunch go and eat well for their snack and dinner. Don’t harp on the negative, give them something positive to do in return.
  2. Make your check-in happen. Be the one to put it out there at the time you said, and if you are busy or forget, then the other person needs to step up and check in.
  3. Keep it both ways. Nothing like knowing the other person is working their butt off to help you work yours off too.

Now, go be awesome and enjoy some great food.

Food

StephSig

Chocolate Bark Get in my Belly!

Posted in Food, Goals, Meal Planning by

One thing that happened once I went paleo was that my taste buds changed. I never used to have a sweet tooth but once I eliminated refined sugars from my diet, I started craving them like crazy! One quick solution I found was this chocolate bark recipe.

Ingredients:

  • 1/3 lb Chocolate (You can buy raw cacao nibs or 85% + cacao chocolate from a store)
  • 2 T Coconut oil
  • 1/2 cup cranberries
  • 2/3 cup almonds
  • 1/3 cup unsweetened coconut flakes

Variations that I’ve tried: dried apricots, cinnamon dusted on top, small cooked bacon pieces, a sea salt dusting, dried pineapple.

Directions:

  1. If you’re like me and don’t have a double boiler, grab a glass bowl and place the chocolate and coconut oil in it.
  2. Fill a saucepan about 1/2 full with water and place your glass bowl inside, burner on medium-high. The water will boil, causing the contents to melt. Add more coconut oil if the chocolate does not become somewhat runny (you want to be able to pour out the chocolate). Warning: this step can get messy! 12957400_10153991619470792_668599715_n
  3. While the chocolate is melting, assemble your cranberries, almonds, and coconut flakes onto a sheet of foil.12980461_10153991619545792_1967964177_n
  4. Once the chocolate is melted, simply pour it over the mixture on the foil. Some people like to leave it as-is and some blend it up. I blended it this time.12966484_10153991619510792_120040972_n
  5. Toss it into a plastic bag and then into the freezer for about 30 min or until it becomes hardened. Break it apart & store in the freezer for a quick little sweet snack!

The chocolate is so dark that a little goes a long way! I usually make up a big batch like this and I’ve kept it for 5-6 weeks…depending on the need for chocolate!

Enjoy!

BeccaSig

What does a perfectionist look like?

Posted in about me, Goals, Motivation by

What might an overweight person whose weight fluctuates and a fit, exercise queen have in common? Although they may appear to come from opposite mindsets, perfectionism can be at the root of both great struggles and great successes. Often times, perfectionist thinking causes unrealistic expectations that lead to unfulfilled realities, especially in the weight loss world. Here are a few ways to accept progress, not perfection:

Celebrate Small Accomplishments. Perfectionists view themselves as either a success or a failure, nothing in between. Healthy living is a lifelong journey. To keep momentum and hope in the process, we need to be excited about accomplishments and the willingness to keep going, even after setbacks.

Build a Positive Self-Image. While it is important to recognize our accomplishments, our self-image cannot depend solely on achievements. We are valuable! It is my belief that I am valuable to the God who created every living thing and that his love for me isn’t based on my achievements. That helps ground me. Also, if we spend more time doing the activities that we love, learning new skills and being of service to others rather than being self-critical, we will be less likely to beat ourselves up over the little things. Our eyes will be on the big picture!

Learn from Others. Sometimes it is easier to accept other people’s mistakes than our own. If we take a look around to others who have learned from their mistakes and keep moving forward, we can put our own setbacks into perspective and join them in success.

Getting and staying healthy does not require perfection! We make mistakes, we learn, we make more mistakes, we learn some more. To deny this reality hinders our ability to recover from mistakes and can limit great successes from occurring!

So here is my visual example of accepting progress and not perfection. These are my weigh-ins for my DietBet competitions. It represents a span of 27 pounds with ups and downs, mistakes and achievements. I’m choosing to focus on the big picture!weight.png

BeccaSig

30 Day Results

Posted in Goals, Motivation by

So, we officially completed our Whole 30 journey yesterday and I’ve got to be honest, it was waaaaaay easier this time around. We weighed in this morning, and I’ll share the results in a minute, but I can already see and feel the benefits from eating completely clean the past 30 days – my pants are looser, my skin is clearing and I am sleeping like a baby.  No more late night cravings or indulgences, thicker hair, no shameful binging.  Just really good food, helping me to feel really good about my body.

So, in my last post, I gave you my starting weight. So hard. I’ve never shared that publicly before. It was 159.2. Boo.

Here we are:

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10# lost! 149.8

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13# lost! 178

Bam! It works people. And the victories experienced are so much greater than what the scale says. Your health is one of the most important things you have. You have one body, take care of it.

I’ll be sharing some recipes later this week that we used on our 30 day journey. I plan to continue with a two day break. I’m loving how I feel and look and want to continue this lifestyle for life.

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Crisp Cucumber Slaw

Posted in Food, Meal Planning by

This has to be one of my favorite side dishes to make. It is great if you are making a pulled pork/beef thing for dinner as it becomes a great topping to any lettuce wrap. But, it is also a great little side dish instead of always eating salad. Let’s grab some cucumbers and think of warmer days to come!

Crisp Cucumber Slaw

Ingredients:

  • 2 cucumbers, thinly sliced
  • Cup of shredded carrots
  • Handful of cilantro, chopped
  • 2 green onions, sliced
  • 2 T red wine vinegar
  • 1 T sunflower oil (can use EVOO if you want instead)
  • 1 tsp honey
  • Salt & Pepper
  • Pinch of onion powder
  • Pinch of garlic powder

Mix all of your ingredients from the red wine vinegar down together in a bowl or tupperware to make your dressing. Add in everything else and mix together well. Chill in the fridge and serve with your favorite dish! Yep, that easy!!

Cucumber Slaw

StephSig

Bracket Busted, but Goals Still On Track…

Posted in Goals, Motivation by

Well, March Madness, you did it to me again. You took that rusted, old spork and jammed it into my heart. I can’t even remember the last time my Spartans went out in the first round. C’mon!

I digress though. If I stay on that topic, I will just bring you down into my cavernous wasteland of broken dreams, and this is supposed to be #MotivationMonday, so I guess I will need to let it go and get to motivating.

I put it out there – 9 lbs need to be gone by mid-April. How am I doing? Drum roll, please…..

4 lbs are gone! Poof, away, far, far away!

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I am on track to make my goal as long as I stay consistent in what I have been doing. This is KEY. How many times do you set a goal, you begin to see the results of your efforts, and then because you see those results you think that you can slack “just a little bit.” Like, “Oh, I can have some ice cream tonight, it’s totally fine, I’m already down 4 lbs.” Lies. Lies, I tell you. You can’t have that ice cream (yes, ice cream is my MAJOR vice). Because that will actually stop your metabolism from kicking butt and it will store in you like fat.

If you are where I am, at the halfway point (or thereabouts), here is my March Madness reminder to you – YOU WILL NEVER MAKE IT TO THE CHAMPIONSHIP GAME IF YOU CAN’T GET PAST THE FIRST WEEKEND.

So, remind yourself that it is only halftime, that you still have this game today to play, and that tomorrow there will be another one. Keep eating according to your plan, keep working out and moving according to what you can do, throw in a challenge now and then to keep it spicy and watch yourself not only make that goal, but crush it.

So, how are you doing? What’s your goal for March Madness to set you up for you big goal beyond? Remember, you got this! And just like my dear Spartans, we still love you and root for you (even if you do stumble in the first round).

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StephSig

Are you busy? Like, bizzay??? Here are 4 Tips.

Posted in Goals, Motivation by

Black hair dye dripping down my forehead, sipping on a smoothie for a hands-free breakfast while designing a flyer for my church ministry with an audio book for my graduate class plays in the background and notifications popping off on my phone. Sometimes life is crazy like this, a compilation of responsibilities and unexpected, critical situations. We all have seasons of busy, so how do we sustain healthy lifestyles and find balance despite non-stop, 20-hour days? Here are 4 tips:

 

  1. Sleep. Back in November my doctor asked me “are you getting enough sleep?” I laughed a nervous laugh as my mind was flooded with images of  20-hour days and the ridiculous list of reminders in my phone. Blah blah blah you do all that you can to make provision for a good amount of sleep. I can’t make hours magically appear, but I can make it restful. No counting and obsessing about how many hours I’m not getting. No to-do lists for tomorrow. Phone off. Mind off. Sleep.
  2. Meal Prep. This keeps me focused throughout the week. Best tip: cut up all veggies at the same time & divide them out. If I don’t prep my meals then subway salads turn into “Yes, cheese. Just today.” That turns into “meh, I’ll grab a schwarma. Just today.” The lack of planning is no good.V
  3. Stretching & Exercise. I’ve moved from comparing my exercise schedule with other people or what I’ve done in the past. I know for certain that I have more energy when I move and stretch. So I fit it in as often as I can. This consists of 15 minutes on my exercise bike while I catch up on emails or sneaking off to do squats and stretches in the kitchen at work. The bottom line is that I know that I need it and that the regimented morning workout schedule will return in a few weeks. For now, I keep doing what I can. The key is to keep doing.
  4. Mindset. This is the most important so of course I left it for last. What kills energy? Comparisons, complaining, and hopelessness. I have important things to do (and so do you)! Many versions of this arrogant [prideful] meme have been floating around:

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I’d like to quote this frequent phrase of my sister (shoutout Nay-Nay) “how is that helpful?” Comparing my life to someone else zaps energy. I’m more busy because of ____. No. Just stop (very counselor of me, I know). And complaining. Yes, I definitely need to talk to others when life gets unbearable but lamenting on social media or whining to every ear that passes my way is not helpful. Also, our hearts and minds scream for hope! “One day it won’t be this busy…My busy season has a purpose…I’m serving others with my busy life.” Whatever the hope, we can remind ourselves of why we are busy.

So, despite this season of loco, I’m working to sustain a healthy lifestyle and find balance. What is working for you? Let us know in the comments!

BeccaSig

Honey Sriracha Chicken & Spinach Sweet Potato Salad

Posted in Food, Meal Planning by

Let me preface this meal by saying that I am not the pairing queen when it comes to meals! I’m learning, but usually, I just put together things that I like (peas & spinach, corn & scrambled eggs, etc.). Pairing colors and flavors is an art; someday I’ll get there! This meal was one where the pair actually turned out well! (FYI, the chicken recipe is usually for wings but it worked well here.)

Honey Sriracha Chicken Ingredients (heads up – need to marinate):

  • 8 chicken legs (skin on)
  • 1/2 cup Sriracha
  • 1/4 cup coconut aminos (or soy sauce)
  • 2 T honey
  • 2 tsp ginger root
  • one pinch of salt
  • 4 T melted butter

Instructions:

  1. Poke holes in the chicken with a fork & place into a plastic bag (or container) to marinate. If you’re nervous about the spicy factor, don’t poke holes!
  2. Mix up the ingredients (except the butter) and add to the bag of chicken for 8+ hours in the refrigerator.
  3. Remove the chicken from the refrigerator and let stand for at least 30 minutes before cooking.
  4. Preheat oven to 375. Bake chicken for about 30-45 minutes until chicken is cooked through.
  5. Turn the oven up to broil. Melt the butter & drizzle over chicken.
  6. Let each side of the chicken broil for about 5-7 minutes, until it has a nice crisp skin.Picture1.png

Spinach Sweet Potato Salad Ingredients:

  • 2 large sweet potatoes
  • 2 medium onions
  • Olive or coconut oil
  • 1 lemon (or lime)
  • 1 – 6 oz. bag of spinach

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Instructions:

  1. Preheat oven to 400-425.
  2. Peel & cut sweet potatoes into cubes. Chunk onions. Place into a dish to roast. Toss with oil.
  3. Roast for 20-30 minutes until sweet potatoes are tender.
  4. While roasting, place spinach into a casserole dish with a lid. Cut lemon in half & set aside.
  5. As soon as the veggies are done roasting, toss them over the spinach. Squeeze your lemon halves over the veggies & spinach & toss quickly. Place the lid on the dish & let sit for 5 minutes so that the spinach softens somewhat.10551989_10153901664610792_1812090317_n

Put these two recipes together or mix and match with your favorites! I will definitely be making these a lot more in the future! Sweet & spicy, just like Midwest Chicks!

BeccaSig