A fresh new look!

Hey Everyone!
So it has been awhile since I have done a new blog post. And as you can tell, I decided to give my blog a fresh new look! I'm still working out the kinks, so bare with me. However, I am very excited about it...and I hope you like it too. Since I have not posted in awhile, It's time to update you on my happenings for the past month.
Things have been busy with the past Thanksgiving holiday. It was fun, delicious, maybe too delicious and decadent, but well worth it. Unfortunately, with all of the decadent food came a weight loss set back =( I gained 3 pounds during the holiday season. But was able to get it off when I came back home from being at Pompano Beach with my family. So I am on a better track and trying hard!
What else...pretty much just Thanksgiving, working, and baby/mommy stuff. Anyway, have a great night and talk to ya soon!

To Health, Love, and Happiness,

Recipe: French Onion Soup Burger!

Hey everyone!
I fell like it has been awhile since I have posted a recipe. And what's better than a healthy, juice, tasty burger....maybe a fresh batch of cookies! Yum! But back to the burger. I created this recipe because I love French Onion Soup and I wanted to take those flavors and put it into a burger. I made this burger with ground turkey, but you can used whatever ground meat of your choice, chicken or beef would be great here.

French Onion Soup Burger w/ Roasted Sweet Potatoes

It turned out better than I expected! My boyfriend Travis even called it "A Fan Favorite". LOL He's one of my biggest fans. He even suggested that we start doing burger nights, which sounds like fun to me. Next time tho, I will let the onions cook a little bit longer because I wanted them to be more caramelized.  

The Ingredients

Ingredients:

2- large sweet onions (sliced)

2- garlic cloves (chopped)

1- packet of onion soup mix

1-tbsp of dried thyme

1/2- chicken bouillon cube

1-tbsp of organic tomato paste (optional and not pictured)

1-pound of extra lean ground turkey

Non stick cooking spray

2- slices of reduced fat swiss cheese

*2-slices of reduced fat pepper jack cheese (not pictured)

**1- extra large sweet potato

salt and pepper to taste 

This recipe yields 4 servings

* Travis requested to have his burger with pepper jack cheese. It's his favorite. But you can just stick to the Swiss because it is traditional to onion soups. Well Gruyere cheese is a type of Swiss...right?

** I happened to have an extra large sweet potatoes on hand. Use two regular sized potatoes if that is what you have.

Directions/ Step by step photos:

Step One: slice up your onions. Heat a saute pan and spray with cooking spray. Add the onions, the thyme, and some salt and pepper. 

Step Two: Now cut your sweet potato into cubes.Place in a sprayed pyrex pan, add salt and pepper. Bake in a 400 degree oven for 20- 25 minutes.

I did spray the pan with cooking spray, but I suggest also using foil to line the pan also. It was not easy getting these suckers off of the pan!

Step Three: Now prepare your onion soup mix by adding 1/4 cup of water to your packet.

Step Four: Now add the ground turkey into a large mixing bowl. Also add in your onion soup mixture, and the chopped garlic.

Step Five: Now mix that all together, and form into four patties. Cook the burgers on your indoor grill or outdoor grill if you have one.

Just a tip! Make a dimple in the middle of your burger. So that when it cooks and plumps up in the middle, you won't get a bulgy burger. Learned that one from Rachael Ray =)

Remember we are cooking poultry, so no medium rare here. Make sure your meat is well done!

Step Six: By now your onions should have started to get nice and wilted. Now its time to add in the 1/2 chicken bouillon cubed and 1/4 cup of water.

 Step Seven: Now add your cheese, kill the heat to your grill, and let things melt.

Step Eight: At this point I added some organic tomato paste to my onions to add color. You don't have to do this, but I did because I didn't want to wait for the onions to caramelize. I was really hungry by this point.

It should look something like this.

Step Nine: Add your burger patty to the bun of your choice. Whole wheat is best, but whatever you have on hand is fine. Top your burger with your onions and serve roasted sweet potatoes along side of it.

Voila! Looks De-Lish! (Another Rachael Ray reference)

I hope you give this recipe a try! Enjoy!

To Health, Love, and Happiness,

First Post- Baby Workout!

Hey everyone!
So today I received the green light from my doctor to start exercising! YAY! So of course immediately after that I got to work. I have found the most awesome blog that is geared primarily towards Pilates workouts. So I decided on a short 13 min beginner (because my little one does not take long naps) Pilates routine that I saw on there.
If you are at all interested, here is the link to the exact workout that I did.
I don't know if you know this blogger but her name is Casey Ho, and you can check out her blog here. She focuses on POP Pilates and even has a community of POPster's on there. It's a very awesome blog and I am glad I found it. I hope to get my old figure back, and this blogger can help out another, Me!
Since I am just getting back into the swing of working out...I will be taking it slowly. It has been over a year since I've have done any type of exercise. But once I start feeling a little bit stronger, I will be adding extra cardio to these Pilates routine. Anyway, I just thought I'd give you all an update on whats going on. And I hope you join me in my journey...and let me know if any of you mom's out there are just getting back into working out. And what was your weapon of choice?

To Health, Love, and Happiness,

A Quckie Update!

Hey everyone. So I promised you that I would let you know how my new eating habits have worked out for me this past week. Well I didn't lose any weight...but that's alright. I do feel better energy wise now that I have been eating more often. Which is a win in my book. I will be sticking to this method because I know it does work. (I've seen it work for others) Just got to take it one step at a time!
Anyway, sorry for the super short post. But I've got to tend to my mommy duties!

To Health, Love, and Happiness,

New Month and New Eating habits.

It's November!!! My third favorite month of the year. April and January being the first and second favorites, because of some important birthdays. (You know who you are out there <3) November is filled with yummy food, tons of family time, and the weather starts to change here in Florida....all good things. Anyway this is kinda my confession post! I haven't been doing too well with my weight loss. I lost a pound and a half but I've been stuck there for the past two weeks. Which is kinda upsetting. But I'm going to be honest with you all, I haven't been sticking to my plans as well as I should be.
So to get re-motivated and gain a little bit of advice, I talked to my sister Ashley about it. You can check out her blog here...she is my weight loss hero, since she lost over 95 pounds just through diet and exercise. While I was talking to her, she told me that I should be eating a light meal every 3 hours. Ahh! Every 3 hours seems like a ton of food to me. Ashley reassured me that eating this way will kick start my metabolism and make it easier for me too lose weight. She also suggested that I stop eating carbs around bedtime. The reason for this is based off the fact that carbs are used as energy for your body. And if I'm about to go to sleep then the carbs will not be used for energy, instead it will be stored as fat. Yikes! I don't want that.
So I just applied these changes to my diet yesterday, and I hope it helps. I will post about my weight loss progress next week, and we will see if these new eating habits make a difference.

To Health, Love, and Happiness,

A Bear & Chocolate Glazed Pumpkin Cookies!!!

Happy Halloween everyone! Today is my daughter Alana's first ever Halloween. YAY! So instead of just sitting at home all day, I decided to get her dressed up in a bear outfit that I had saved just for this occasion. We went to our local Publix Super Market because they were hosting a SAFE Halloween event for children. I absolutely love this idea because even through trick or treating is fun...us mother's must always keep our children's safety as our first and foremost priority.

My little bear had so much fun! Seeing other people and looking around at her surroundings is her favorite thing to do. Here are some shots I took of her before we went out to Publix.

Alana as a Bear

 And since I was already at the grocery store, I thought I'd pick up a few ingredients that I was missing to make these Chocolate Glazed Pumpkin Cookies. But Chelley, I thought the purpose of this blog was to lose weight...not eat cookies??? No need to fret, I am making them for my neighbor Julissa and her daughter. At the time that I moved into my new place with my boyfriend Travis, I was 9 months pregnant.Yikes, moving around while 9 months pregnant, I do not suggest it. Anyway, Julissa and I meet for a brief minute then, but I haven't seen her much since. Well a few weeks ago Julissa and her mother gave me the most gracious gift for my daughter. A huge bag of diapers (who would ever say no to free diapers when you have a new baby), baby wipes, crib sheets, and a keepsake frame. I thought it was so sweet and very small town neighbor of them. So now it is time to return the favor. And what better way to say Thank You than with a fresh batch of cookies.

 
I got the recipe off of the Martha Stewart website. And it was super simple to make. The recipe yielded 3 1/2 dozen, so I halved all of the quantities in order to make a smaller batch.

Signed, Sealed, and Delivered

To Health, Love, and Happiness,

Recipe: Very Veggie Meatloaf

Since I have a little more time on my hands, I have been trying to experiment with some of my favorite foods. And meatloaf is one of them! Currently, I am a (sometimes) stay at home mom. I say sometimes because last Sunday was my first day back at my part-time job. Work was exactly how I remembered it, the only thing that was different was ME. I missed my daughter Alana the entire time and couldn't stop thinking and worrying about her too.

How could you not love this face?

                                                        
But during my time at home with my lovely little one, I have found creative ways to pass the time. I have recently become obsessed with watching food network clips online. I've always been obsessed with watching food network, but now I can refine my search and watch whatever recipe I want. Sounds awesome to me!!! So I've been doing some research on how to make meatloaf juicier and more wholesome. Since my previous meatloaves have been on the dried side.
So I have a recipe that I really love and I want to share it with you...

The Ingredients 

(sorry I forgot to get the ketchup and hot sauce before I took the picture)

Ingredients:
2- 1 pound packages of extra lean ground beef
1- large yellow onion
1- 8 ounce package of button mushrooms
1- large zucchini
1-green bell pepper
1-large egg
1/2- can of tomato sauce
1- tbsp of tomato paste
2- tbsp of vegetable oil
1-cup of plain breadcrumbs
1 -tsp of dried thyme
1/2- cube of bouillon
1/4-cup of water
3-tbsp of ketchup (not pictured)
1-tbsp of hot sauce (not pictured)

Directions:
Step one: Chop up your onion and green  pepper. Add the oil to a medium high heated saute pan. Add in your veggies. Saute until heated through and beginning to wilt. 
Step two: Now finely chop up you mushrooms and add them to the pan with the onions and bell pepper.
Step three: Allow your veggies to sweat out. Then add in the tomato paste, thyme, bouillon, and 1/4 cup of water.
Step four: Chop up the zucchini and add them to the pot of veggies. Mix in the zucchini, and remove the pot from the heat so that the veggies will cool down to room temp.
Step five: Now in a mixing bowl, beat one egg. Then add in the bread crumbs and the ground meat.
Step six: Once the veggies have cooled, add them to the mixing bowl. Mix everything together.
Step seven: In a Pyrex baking pan form the meat mixture into a loaf.
Step eight: In a separate bowl mix together the tomato sauce, the ketchup, and hot sauce. Pour half of this mixture on top of the meatloaf. (The other half we used as extra sauce on the side) Bake in a 400 degree oven for 1 hour.

Step by step photos

Add the green bell pepper and onion first. I do this because I like for these veggies to be really wilted

Add the mushrooms. Remember to chop them up finely, because we do not want big chunks of mushrooms in our meatloaf.

Get them nice an sweaty.

Add the thyme, tomato paste, and bouillon. And some water. This is the moisture layer in your meatloaf.

Now add in the zucchini. I add them in last so they keep a firm texture.

In a separate bowl add in a beaten egg and bread crumbs

I snapped this pic because I realized the I pick up two different packages of meat. Opps! Next time I will be sure to only get the extra lean beef. As you can tell in the picture, the regular ground beef is fattier.

Add in the cooled veggies and beef to the egg mixture.

Mix it all together.

Form the mixture into a loaf

Mix together the ketchup, hot sauce, and tomato sauce

Put the tomato mixture on to of your loaf

Bake at 400 degrees for an hour. And Enjoy!!!

 I hope you try this recipe! Sorry I do not have a picture of it plated. By the time it was done this mama was really impatient (hungry) and just wanted to eat! I will be making this again, so I will update the picture. Promise!!!

To Health, Love, and Happiness, 

To Workout or Not to Workout? That is the Question.

It's Friday night, and while most young women my age are probably out partying in their local downtown club scene, I'm lying by my sleeping baby girl...thinking about workouts? I know it may seem crazy but I'm actually excited to start working out again. I used to dread the thought of having to go through yet another 30 min or an hour of what I thought was torture. But now I'm more excited then ever about doing my first post baby workout.
I do still need to get the "OK" from my doctor to begin a workout regimen. But once I do I plan on doing tons of cardio, with a few days of light ( I say "light" because I just want to have lean muscles and not bulky ones) weight training as well. I will more than likely do all of my workouts from home, seeing as I don't have a gym membership and I have a 3 month old at home.
Previously when I have tried to lose weight in the past, I found myself trying crazy fad diets but not working out. And what happened with that? You guessed right! I would lose weight but I would never keep it off. I usually gain the weight back and then some. So I will no longer be doing that. I plan on eating right AND exercising too. But remember new moms that you should always get the go ahead from your doctor before jumping back into a workout routine. Once I talk to my doctor, I will start off easy (it's been over a year since I've last worked out), so you won't see me doing any marathons anytime soon.
Workout videos used to be my weapon of choice, but since I've done some research on other blogs, I may go another route. I was on the BodyRock site and the idea of home interval workouts interested me. So I will be doing that instead. I will not be doing the exact workouts that she does, because I do not have the equipment that Zuzana (she is the creator of BodyRock.tv)  uses. So instead I will be doing my own moves that I've seen in magazines or modified version of what Zuzana does.  
Anyway, Its still kind of up in the air since I have to wait on my doctor.  So I guess the question is really to workout or not...but when??? Hopefully soon, I get anxious. But I promise that I will make a post on what my first post baby workout is!!!

To Health, Love, and Happiness,

Recipe: Leftover Chicken Salad

*This receipt was created before going vegan* 

So I promised you all a re-make recipe. And here it is! I used the leftovers from my roasted chicken to make a healthy chicken salad. My boyfriend has been requesting chicken salad for a little while, and this is what I came up with. Its a simple recipe that takes about 10 minutes to prepare...

I usually have it as a healthy snack between meals. I had it with crackers and baby spinach, but you can serve it on top of a salad or as a sandwich.

Ingredients:
2 chicken breasts (shredded)
1 container of plain non-fat Yoplait Greek yogurt
1/4 of a cup of sliced almonds
1 tbs of cumin
1 tsp of salt
1/2 tsp of pepper

Directions:
Placed the almonds on a foil lined baking pan and place in a 350 degree oven for 3-5 mins. In the meantime, shredded your leftover chicken. Put aside. In a separate dish mix together the Greek yogurt, cumin, salt, and pepper. Next add in the almonds and the shredded chicken. Mix together until well combined...and Enjoy!

Here are step by step photos to help guide you!

First, start off by placing the almonds on a foil line baking pan. Make sure the almonds are not piled on top of each other. A thin layer is what we are looking for. This will ensure even toasting of the almonds.

Next shred the two chicken breast and set aside on a separate plate. You could also cube the chicken if you want to go with a more chunky chicken salad. 

Now in a mixing bowl mix together the Greek yogurt, the cumin. salt, and pepper.

Add the shredded chicken and the roasted almonds to the yogurt mixture.

Mix all of the ingredients together! Remember, this is just a recipe suggestion. You can make this your own by adding in dried fruits or different nuts. Whatever you like =)

And Enjoy!!!

To Health, Love, and Happiness,