Protein Packed Breakfast: the Red, White & Green Omelette

Good morning beautiful people! The sun may not be shining, and I may be dragging, but I still can carve out ten minutes to make a quick healthy breakfast for my kids and I. Last night, I ended up staying over late at the hospital to do one-on-one coverage with a patient. What does this mean, you ask? Well, it means being at the hospital several hours longer than planned, coming home to one hour of sleep before my kiddos wake up, and dragging in energy for the day. UNLESS I counteract that in a smart way.

So, first things first- fill up my water bottle and get to drinking! But next, my job is to replace the nutrients my body is depleted of and add a little protein boost to my day. I had my go-to breakfast, a chocolate PB2 Shakeology with a half a banana blended in-- which helps me get going for the day. I am not the best at eating first thing when I wake up, and this has really made a big difference in my ability to get going first thing in the morning. But the next step is, open the fridge and see what I can use to amp up some simple eggs. 

I have a large bin of baby spinach and some mushrooms in there, and also plenty of eggs. So why not do an Omelette? For some reason people get so intimidated by the thought of making an omelette. Its not so scary- I promise! Let me help you get started. First, I turned my stove to medium and threw a tsp. of coconut oil in there to sauté the veggies. When they were warm and the spinach was sufficiently wilted (I used one cup for this as well as 1/2 cup of mushrooms), I moved on to the next step.

I removed the veggies to a bowl on the side and used the same pan to start cooking 4 beaten egg whites. I seasoned it with some fresh cracked pepper and pink Himalayan sea salt. Now, this is where the hard part comes in: You need to WAIT. Literally, don't touch the pan. Let it get heated evenly and spread around the pan, and don't touch it until you start to see the curd-like cooked eggs forming.

Next, you tilt the pan to the side, lifting the edge of the omelette to see if its browning and holding together. You literally tilt the pan around in a circle, letting the egg mixture run off to the sides and spread around, then set it down for another minute. You may need to do this several times so you don't have a glob of raw egg in the middle of your pan. Rotate and rest, rotate and rest.

When you feel like the mixture is sufficiently cooked, you can start placing your fillings in the omelette. I used 1/8 cup of low fat feta cheese, as well as a chopped tomato from my garden. I then added the sautéed veggie mixture I had set off to the side. The final step is tricky, and just gets better and easier with practice. 

Gently lift one side and fold it over your fillings. Then, you can either fold the opposite side in to cover it, or try and roll the entire structure over on top of itself. I usually do the latter, as I feel it holds the omelette together better. Then, simply slide off onto a plate, and enjoy! If you are having guests or simply like beautiful food, you may want to garnish with a piece or two of your fillings, as I did here. After all, we eat with our eyes first!

Hopefully this was a helpful lesson for you today- it really doesn't take long, yet somehow tastes different to eat an omelette over an every-day easy scramble. And this protein packed meal high in vitamins with a little healthy fat will propel me through this difficult morning! Have a gorgeous day!

Spooky Sausage Stuffed Peppers

Looking for a fun, relatively easy dinner idea you can do with your kids? Well, Olivia and I just got done experimenting in the kitchen, and we created these delicious stuffed peppers that hit all my important bases: They are EASY, they are FUN, they are HEALTHY, COLORFUL, and DELICIOUS! And I could talk for hours on the health benefits of peppers, but I'll spare you. :) You can Google it instead. ;)

Here's what you need:
-20 ounces ground turkey sausage
-2 eggs
-4 celery stalks
-1 red onion
-1 tomato
-6 ounces Parmesan cheese
-1 heaping tsp. minced garlic (or 2 cloves)
-1/2 tsp. Himalayan sea salt
-1 T pepper
-2 T Italian seasoning

So, here's the fun part: Get your kids involved! Cooking together can be so much fun- and an added benefit is a kid who helps cook a meal almost ALWAYS wants to eat the meal! They love to try what they have worked so hard to make. It might take an extra ten minutes in the kitchen, but it'll save you that ten minutes of complaining at dinner time.

The first thing we did was wash and hollow out our peppers by chopping off the tops and using a paring knife to clean the seeds out of the inside. We chose peppers with stems still attached to make them look even more like pumpkins! And don't worry- Olivia did not handle the knife. ;) Next, we cut a few triangles in them to make some cute faces. It only took a minute, and by the giggles I was hearing, I could tell Olivia was excited! The next step is to mix your stuffing!

Take your two beaten eggs and add it to your raw turkey sausage. Never forget that you are dealing with raw meat- it has to be handles carefully and hands must be washed before and after preparing. I had Olivia wear a glove to help me mix everything up. Spices, onion, celery, tomato, cheese and egg all get put in with the meat and hand mixed- she loved the way it was squeezing through her hands! It was fun to talk about the various ingredients and textures while we cooked. The final step is to stuff the peppers full of stuffing, put the lids on,  and place them in a foil lined baking dish for easy cleanup.

Bake them at 350 degrees for one hour, then remember to check the temperature! You want them cooked all the way through to the center and temping at at least 165 degrees. The nutrition for these per serving (one stuffed pepper) is as follows:

- 300 Calories

-10 g. Carbs

-26 g. Protein

-4 g. Sugar

If you are doing the 21 Day Fix, you are looking at about 1-2 red containers and 1 green per serving. What a fun and delicious meal- I hope you enjoy it as much as I did making it, and soon will eating it. Have a gorgeous day!

This week, Beachbody has me up as a finalist for the Beachbody Challenge quarterly vote. And I am absolutely terrified. What is the Beachbody Challenge, you ask? Well, its a contest you can enter by doing any of the Beachbody workout programs, or by drinking your daily dose of dense nutrition, Shakeology. Its simply a way to hold yourself accountable, and maybe, just maybe, get rewarded for your hard work.  Beachbody gives out a daily prize of $500, and if you are one of the lucky monthly winners, you can get $1000. That's right- cold, hard cash. How cool is a company that believes in their products that much, and not only that, but REWARDS YOU for using them? You can read about the other nominees and vote by clicking this link.

For me, it wasn't just about losing 5, 10, or even 20 lbs. It meant committing to making a life change. I logged my progress throughout the last year, at the start and finish of each program. Insanity, T25, P90x3, T25 again, some 21 Day Fix... and then.. I won! I can't explain the elation! It was like someone had noticed all my hard work! Someone had crept up to my house, peeked through the window, and saw all the sweat and tears, burpees and planks that had gotten me to where I was. And it felt amazing. I couldn't believe it. And then, I won July. And this is where the fear crept in.

How could I possibly compete against all these other amazing people? Somehow, someway, I felt as though they were more deserving of the win than I was. They must've worked harder. Maybe it came more naturally to them. Maybe they didn't fall down as much as I did on my journey, even though I kept getting back up. Maybe they lost more, looked better, ran faster, didn't have to modify.

Don't worry- I am working on my negative self talk. Its all a part of the journey. And like I mentioned before, its been quite a trip. New found confidence. A belief in myself. Learning I am not only able to commit to these programs, to pick one and finish it, but I am able to CRUSH IT.  Learning to eat better, shop smarter, cook healthier. Learning to share that story with others. Learning to deal with grief, loss, and depression in a healthier way. Learning to be strong.

In order to vote, you have to have a free online membership, which you can get by clicking right HERE. It will grant you access to the Beachbody website and allow you to vote. It will also make me YOUR coach, should you decide you're ready to work on your own journey. I think by allowing to make people have a free membership first, they are able to prevent robots of some sort from voting. :) Don't worry- I won't spam you. :)

If you haven't taken time to view my transformation video, I hope that you will. It is the best way to learn about my story. You can view the video on my YouTube channel. I hope you have a gorgeous day, and remember- you are WORTH IT.