Advocare Herbal Cleanse Day 10

So today is the last day of the cleanse!  Last day to drink those fiber drinks!  Yay!  Yesterday Ella and I cooked up a storm!  Chicken salad, breakfast bars, and kale chips!

First is Eli's version of chicken salad.  I had cooked chicken I shredded up, threw in some chopped celery, cut up red grapes, a tablespoon of relish, a little salt, pepper and sugar, then put some dijon mustard and yellow mustard.

 The next chicken salad was for everyone else.  Same chicken, celery, grapes, salt, pepper and sugar.  Then added a few hard boiled eggs and mayo until it tastes yummy.  It hit the spot.  Serve on bread, tortillas or bed of lettuce.

 Ella's version of breakfast bars.  She got the recipe from her Disney for Kids Cookbook.  It is butter and marshmallows melted in a pan, then added peanut butter.  Then removed from heat and granola added, press into a pan and sprinkle chocolate chips on top.  Let sit for 30 minutes to cool.  These are very sticky and I should have greased the pan or something because they are hard to get out of the pan!

 My breakfast bars is from Pinterest, and it's supposed to be from Dr. Oz.  You mix vanilla, honey, peanut butter and quick oats together with whatever dried fruit you want.  I used cranberries and raisins, but his recipe actually called for tart dried cherries.  Refrigerate for 2 hours.  This is actually advocare friendly, because you can have everything in it.  Just moderation :)

 Kale chips was something different.  I'm not sure I made them right.  I washed and dried the leaves and put olive oil on them like the recipe....but I think too much oil.  It was supposed to bake for 10 minutes at 275, but it was closer to 20 minutes before they started getting crunchy.  Salt after baked.  I think less oil, maybe a little higher temp and waiting for them to get a little crunchier might have been better.  Really they just have no flavor. 

Tonight is leftovers because I don't have time for my other recipes.  Tomorrow I will have weight/measurement results! :)

Advocare Herbal Cleanse Day 9

Hello all!  Day 9 on, the fiber drink isn't as hard to choke down, and it's filling me back up and decreasing my appetite- maybe I won't even cheat today!  :)  We'll see how my results are with my little cheats and hard time motivating for exercise due to extra night shifts tomorrow.  I feel like I've gone down some inches though, so hopefully this can be the restart of a good thing- getting back to exercising daily and only having one "bad food" a day!
So I have reclaimed my camera- my momma brought it back- and here's my latest recipes both from Pinterest.
First was the salmon I told you about a few days back.
Whisk together...
  -1 scallion minced
  - 2 Tbsp reduced sodium soy sauce
  - 1 Tbsp rice vinegar
  - 1 Tbsp honey
  - 1 tsp ginger (I used a ground spice, they say to use fresh)
Put 1 LB center cut salmon fillets that are skinned and portioned in a plastic bag, add 3 Tbsp of sauce and refrigerate for 15 minutes.
Preheat broiler and line a baking pan with foil and coat with cooking spray.
Put salmon in the pan, skin side down and broil 4-6 inches from heat until cooked- about 6-10 minutes.
Drizzle with the reserved sauce and garnish with sesame seeds (I didn't do the seeds because I couldn't find them.)

Honey Soy Broiled Salmon with fresh green beans

This was pretty good- I just am not a huge fish person.  Things I would change and try next time- I would marinate longer- a couple of hours and instead of throwing out the left over sauce in the bag I would drizzle it on top of the fish before broiling it so it'll have a sweet sticky crust on it. 
This is not Eli friendly, but it is Advocare friendly.  I just broiled plain salmon for Eli and he had some garden fresh green beans with us.
Last night's dinner was soooooo good!  Shrimp tacos at restaurants have become one of my favorite things, so I was so happy to find this.  Technically the shell is boarder line Advocare friendly but the recipe was very adaptable for Eli.  Eli didn't eat anything but the shell for some reason- he decided the rest would make him sick.  And Ella went crazy saying it was too spicy, but I think I can make this again in a way everyone will eat it.  Lyle and I loved it!

I technically didn't make this right either- It's supposed to be Honey Lime Tequila Shrimp tacos, but I couldn't find the tequila, so it was just honey lime shrimp tacos.  I also didn't let the shrimp marinade as long as I was supposed to...because I didn't plan my time well.

So first you make marinade and get the shrimp going...

I use frozen shrimp that is already deveined, washed and peeled.- 2 lbs 

In a bowl combine...

- 2 Tbsp honey
- lime juice- 2 limes worth
- 1/2 cup tequila (I did without and it was good)
-1 medium onion, minced

- 1/4 tsp ground cumin

- 1/4 tsp ground chipotle powder( I think this is was made Ella crazy, so I'll half it next time)
Mix well and toss in shrimp, marinade for 4-12 hours.
When getting ready to make dinner, make the slaw
- 1/2 head of thinly slice red cabbage (I chunky sliced it because I didn't want to take the effort of getting it small)
In a bowl, whisk...

-1/4 cup lime juice

-1 tsp Dijon mustard
-sea salt to taste
-pepper to taste
-1/2 cup of light oil, I used grapeseed
until emulsified.  Toss in the cabbage and there's your slaw.
Dice up 2 avocados.
To make chipotle creama...
- put 1-2 pieces of chipotle chilis in adobo sauce (comes in a can) in food processor (I used the magic bullet) and get it smooth, stir in 1 cup sour cream until color is even.
Grill shrimp or saute in a pan, about two minutes each side until a nice orange color and heated through.


My delicious tacos!  yum!



Heat up corn or flour tortilla shells, put on avocados, slaw, shrimp and drizzle with chipotle creama and garnish with cilantro.  For the Eli friendly...he just had corn tortillas (Ella and Lyle prefer flour) and no chipotle crema.  That's it :)



Eli friendly tacos- corn tortillas and no sour cream sauce

Tonight I'll be making some sort of chicken salad, since I got a roasted chicken at the store with a coupon and we tore it all off the bone yesterday!  See you tomorrow!

Advocare Herbal Cleanse Day 8

Today is day 8...that means in a few hours I'll be chugging a fiber drink.  Ugg.  Good news is when I do the "pinch test" (trying to determine if my belly fat is more or less based on how much I pinch) it seems to be less!  :)  We'll see in a few days.
Tonight I've been planning meals for the week and the grocery list.  This week we'll be eating...
Chicken Kabobs
Stuffed Cabbage (never had)
Spaghetti Squash with turkey meatballs (never had)
Stuffed peppers
Chicken Salad
Shrimp Tacos

No particular order...just what sounds good. All of these I believe are allergy friendly except chicken salad (the mayo) and the sauce on the shrimp tacos (which he just won't get)  :) 

I also want to try some homemade breakfast bars because both the hubby and the girl have issues with breakfast- eating crap and on the go.  So we'll see what we can do with that and it may be advocare friendly too :)

Advocare Herbal Cleanse Day 7

So today is boring because I worked last night and tonight.  I left my veggie soup at work because I didn't eat much, so I have that tonight to eat.  Will take some fruit too.  So far I've eaten nothing because I've been asleep.  We have left over turkey patties and some salad for dinner.  Boring, I know. But I'm tired and that's the most effort I plan on making :) 
Last night ended up being yummy.  Grilled the shrimp kabobs and had some peppers and zucchini tossed in olive oil and grilled too.  Not exercising today except walking at work, but tomorrow I'll get back with my DVDs again.
Happy Sunday

Advocare Herbal Cleanse Day 5 and 6

So...my camera was hijacked after a trip to the zoo yesterday, so I don't have any pictures I might have taken.  Actually....since I worked last night I'm having a hard time remembering what went on. 
Oh yeah, day 4 I made a salmon off of pinterest. It was okay, but I still think I'm not a huge fan of fish in general.  I will put the recipe up when I have pictures to show.
I did really good that day with exercised and really kicked butt to make up for slacking the day before.  Then there is yesterday....
I went to the zoo with the kids and my mom with the promise of a nap later....
Lunch there wasn't any choices Advocare friendly and ended up with chicken tenders.  Then for dinner my dad made some amazing steaks on the grill, which technically isn't good for the cleanse because it's red meat.  However I did have a big pile of green beans with it which were delicious. Then I screwed up the little bit of good by compensating for not having a good nap with a piece of cheesecake.  I will however say I stopped with one piece instead of the rest of the cake and more than half was left.  Also thanks to how the day worked out I didn't work out.  When I got home I could have....but there's a reason I usually exercise as soon as I wake up.  #1- can't talk myself out of it as easy, #2- cooler in the morning, #3- after a long day of doing whatever, especially chasing three kids around the zoo the last thing I feel like doing is sweating it out.  All of these and more stopped my exercise. 
So I worked last night and made sure to keep on my feet to keep myself awake and move a little extra. Hopefully now that I'm awake I'll make me a spark smoothie, get my DVDs going and maybe watch a movie while walking on the treadmill to make up for sins. :)
Tonight we're doing shrimp kabobs on the grill for dinner, I'll have my smoothie soon and I'll take fruit and my veggie soup for eating at work tonight. 

Advocare Herbal Cleanse Day 3 and 4

So yesterday was day three and my schedule was messed up again.  I had worked from 11 pm to 3 am, came home and slept for 4 hours, got up, chugged the fiber drink (done until day 8!!), took some Catalyst, took the kids to daycare and slept again until 11 am.  When I got up, I had a smoothie with Spark in it again and some turkey breast left over from dinner.  See....this cleanse works for lazy people too!  Haha!
I wasn't hungry the rest of the day, probably because after the first day with the fiber drink I feel full almost all the time, so as long as I can stay away from foods that sound good I'm golden!
For dinner I cheated.  Kind of (okay really) big time.  But I also figured I haven't eaten very many calories and I spent an hour at a brisk walk on the treadmill reading.  Also, my husband and I don't get many opportunities for a nice dinner without the kids.  So I got dressed up, took the kids to my mom's house and we went off to a nice restaurant.
I had a salad, but also two slices of this AMAZING bread that was still warm in the basket.  Then I had a chicken breast with asparagus....crusted in a great basil Parmesan mixture served over glorious garlic mashed potatoes.   I had a flirtini and a glass of wine...not allowed but went perfect with the meal.  Then our waitress told us about their desert options..........one of which was a bread pudding that was made of glazed doughnuts with ice cream and caramel sauce over it.  I think the first bite I had I passed out on, but then I helped finish it.  It was heavenly!
The moral of the story is...I better work my butt off when working out today to make up for that sinfulness!

Today, I've had my Spark so far.  I might try some oatmeal with fruit in it for breakfast...although I've never been one for oatmeal.  For lunch, I'm going to have some Garden Vegetable Soup (see previous recipe).  One thing I was able to accomplish yesterday was throwing everything in the crockpot to make this soup so I'll have it for lunches.  Lots of healthy veggies and ready to go! :)
For dinner I have some Salmon thawed and a recipe from Pinterest for a Honey Broiled Salmon so we'll try that.  :)
See you tomorrow!

Advocare Herbal Cleanse Day 2

So, day two is here and I choked down a fiber drink again this morning.  I hate those things.  The key to drinking them is orange juice, brisk stirring and chug chug chug! 
Last night for dinner I didn't have anything special since Ella insisted on making a recipe from her cookbook.  Of course it was a cheesy pasta dish I couldn't have, but it's okay.  We tried to make it before and it wasn't very good.  :) 
For dinner Eli and I had turkey patties and steamed broccoli.  To me ground turkey is really good, but gets old after awhile.  Or if you're craving beef it just doesn't do it. 
For a snack last night I got my brand new Magic Bullet out of the box, cleaned it off and made smoothies for all of us!  Yum Yum!  I threw in frozen mixed berries, banana, OJ and ice cubes.  It was great.
This morning, after the yummy fiber drink, I made myself a spark smoothie, which I got the idea off of pinterest.  I didn't use the same recipe, but what I used was....
- frozen strawberries
- baby spinach
- banana
- a cutie (little, seedless orange)
- almond milk
- scoop of Advocare Spark- I used mango strawberry
Blend until smooth and enjoy the deliciousness and still get the morning kick of Spark!

Lunch today was the last of the leftover Garden Vegetable Soup.  Yum.
Snack this afternoon was some nuts and dried fruit and dinner tonight will be turkey breast slices and who knows what vegetable with it.  :)
See you tomorrow!

Advocare Herbal Cleanse Day 1

Today starts a new cleanse and a new determination to get back on my healthy eating and exercise regimen! 
For this cleanse my starting measurements are....
    Wt- 161 lbs
    Waist- 38 inches
    Hips- 40.5 inches
   Bust- 37 inches

Yikes!  That's up 6lbs, and 2 and 1/2 inches in the waist since May!  I told you I've been slacking.  When I was maintaining I was exercising every day.  Since May it's been sporadic at best so I'm getting back into it.

Food today...well I didn't have breakfast since I worked 3rd shift last night and slept through that.  It's about 2 in the afternoon and will be eating some fruit and a boiled egg.  I haven't decided on dinner yet, but will possibly do a pinterest recipe, so stay tuned. :)

Garden Vegetable Soup

Friday I made a delicious, healthy soup for dinner in the crockpot.  Perfect if you'll be gone all day.  Also from Pinterest.  It's 0 points from weight watchers, Eli and Advocare friendly :)  And it tasted great the day of and as leftovers.

10 oz spinach
2 chopped carrots
1 chopped onion
2 celery ribs chopped
1 garlic clove minced
4 cups vegetable broth
1 (28 oz) can of diced tomatos
2 bay leaves
1 Tbsp basil
1 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes

Throw it all in the crock pot on low for 8-10 hours.  Remove bay leaves and serve.  Easy peasy. :)

Crock Pot Sesame Honey Chicken

So earlier this week I made crock pot sesame honey chicken- another recipe I found from pinterest.  It is Advocare friendly, but had soy so it wasn't Eli friendly but may be okay for many others with allergies.  It is gluten free :)
In the crockpot, you put...
   2 lbs boneless skinless chicken breasts
   season with black pepper
In a bowl combine...
  1/3 cup low-sodium soy sauce (or tamari)
  1/4 cup honey
  1/4 cup tomato paste
  3 Tbsp rice wine vinegar
  2 cloves minced garlic
  1 Tbsp water
  1 tsp sesame oil
  1 tsp onion powder
  1 tsp sriracha hot chili sauce
Pour over chicken and cook on low for 3-4 hours.
Remove chicken and shred, sit aside.
In a small bowl combine...
   1/4 cup water
   1 heaping Tbsp cornstarch
Add to the crockpot and stir to combine, turn on high for another 15-20 minutes to slightly thicken.  Return the chicken and mix.
You can serve this over rice and garnish with sesame seed and chopped scallions.

It was good...but was missing something.  The recipe said you can add more sriracha to taste and I think we would have liked that.  It also might have been better with some onion and celery chopped in it.  It was good enough we may try  it again with some experimenting. 
There were some comments on this website about using frozen chicken and it will increase the cooking time...the only thing I worry about that is frozen chicken as it cooks gives off juices which may increase the amount of liquid in the pot.  It should be easy to make this on the stove too.

Tortilla Wraps

So a quick and easy lunch or snack that can be advocare or allergy friendly are wraps!  For my lunch the other day, I made a flour wrap that had mayo, honey ham, cheeese, and a pickle in it.  For Eli, he had a corn tortilla with salami (this had beef in it...oops!  I goofed, but he had no problems)  a pickle and ketchup.  Ella had salami with mayo and cheese in a flour tortilla.  You can put whatever you want in a tortilla, roll it up and go with it.  Quick, easy, yummy.  :)

Flour Tortilla

Corn Tortilla

Cheesy Vegetable Chowder

Eli's Allergy Friendly

Non allergy friendly- has milk and wheat, and Advocare recommends no dairy products for cleanse

So this recipe can be made two ways- Advocare and Allergy Friendly, or not! :)  Actually the non allergy friendly isn't too Advocare Friendly, I just wouldn't eat it during a cleanse.  Another recipe from Pinterest and I've made this before but this time we added sausage because it was missing something :) 
So...
2 TBS butter (or olive oil for allergy friendly)
1/2 cup chopped onion
1 cup chopped carrots
1-2 celery stalks chopped
   Saute veggies until tender, then add...
2 TBS minced garlic
   Cook another 1-2 minutes then add...
4 cups chicken broth
2 large baking potatoes chopped.
   Boil until potatos tender.  *AT this point I removed some for Eli to eat- just added a little brocolli and smoked turkey sausage pieced and his was done*  Then...
1 TBS flour
1/2 cup water
   Mix together then add to pot, simmer until thickened.  Add
2/3 cup of milk
2 cups broccolli
  Cook until tender, then add
2 cups cheddar cheese.
*At this time I added chopped up smoked turkey sausages which is where I changed it*
When it's melted through it's done and delicious!
Yummy!

Frito and Corn Salad

So thanks to pinterest, we tried a super yummy side last night!  It’s wasn’t Advocare or Allergy Friendly, but it went super good with our steaks! J  Oh, also quick and easy!

2 cans of drained corn

2 cups grated cheddar cheese

1 cup mayo

1 cup green pepper (I used a mix of green, red and yellow), chopped

½ cup red onion, chopped

1 bag of coarsely crushed Fritos chili cheese corn chips

You combine everything but the chips, and put in the fridge to cool, then just before serving crunch up the chips J

Yummmmy!

(This was actually two nights ago...having some computer issues.)

Getting Organized

So, In my opinion the key to success in anything is motivation and organization.  So, since I'm getting ready to get my butt back on the diet that has been successful in helping me loose over 30 lbs and keep it off I'm getting ready to do another 10 day cleanse from Advocare.
The last two weeks I have done the Advocare Can You 24 DVDs to get back into exercise so now it's time to get back on track eating.  I have spent a few hours on pinterest getting ideas and making grocery lists to help me be successful.  I plan on putting up pictures and explanations and how to make some of these allergy friendly or what is allergy friendly for those reading this blog for that.  Another great thing about grocery lists, meals lists and planning is the ability to find as many coupons as possible for what I'll be buying to make it more affordable.
  The tough part about eating healthy is keeping up flavors and variety for myself and the rest of the family.  That's why I went to pinterest.  Some examples of things to try include: Chicken and Shrimp Kabobbs, Clean and Lean Lettuce Wraps, Crock-pot seasame honey chicken, Honey-soy broiled salmon just to name a few.  This is to supplement what we typically have which is just baked chicken with some spices on it and fresh or steamed veggies.  Just gives a little variety and keeps us from burning out.
So the countdown is on again, on Monday I'll be going to the store and will start the cleanse at the latest a week from Monday, maybe sooner :)
I'll keep you posted.