HUGE HOLIDAY SAVINGS!!!

Beachbody is having a HUGE Black Friday and Cyber Monday sale!  Workout programs and equipment are being super discounted up to 85% off from today (November 25th) through until December 2nd!!  Here are just a few of the DEALS!  AMAZE-BALLS!  

Go here NOW to order - QUANTITIES ARE LIMITED!  These WILL SELL OUT! 

Clean Eating Slow Cooker Turkey Chili

So, I am one of those crazy people that actually LOVE the fall and winter and the cooler temperatures and SNOW!  One of the things that I LOVE about this time of year is all the awesome comfort food that I can enjoy without sweating bullets (seriously, you just can't eat a nice warm bowl of chili in the middle of the summer... even up here in Canada!) 

So, temperatures dropped last week and I was ECSTATIC to whip out the slow cooker and throw together one of my FAVE comfort dishes - Turkey Chili!!  

Now this just ends up with whatever I throw together (I usually use this opportunity to use up veggies in my fridge that may be turning, this is REALLY good with zucchini btw) - but it's generally similar to this :) 

Clean Eating Slow Cooker Turkey Chili

What you need (Makes 4 servings):

• 1 lb lean ground turkey
• 1/2 onion, diced
• 1 can black beans (or you can use a bean medley with black beans, chick peas and kidney beans), drained and rinsed
• 1 can of diced tomatoes
• 1 can of tomato sauce
• Any other vegetables that you want to add (peppers and zucchini work surprisingly well in this!)
• 1 tsp chili powder
• 1/2 tsp cumin
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• Any other spices that you like in chili
• shredded cheese

What you do:

1. In a skillet over medium high heat, start to cook the turkey
2. when the turkey is almost browned, add in the diced onion and cook till the turkey is completely brown and onion is translucent
3. Add turkey and onion to slow cooker
4. Then add the beans, diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, other veggies and spices and mix it all up
5. Put on the lid and cook on low for 6 hours
6. Serve with cheese on top (1 blue container each if using 21 Day Fix)

You could also top off with plain greek yogurt or guacamole - whichever you like best!  

Each serving counts as 1.5 green (depending how many vegetables you add it might be more or less), 1 red, 1 yellow and 1 blue.  If you are calorie counting it is 258 calories including the cheese on top.

Quick & Simple 10 Minute Omelet

Ever have those days where you just have no clue what to have for lunch and you have limited time to prepare anything?  Happens to me like... more often than it should :/ But sometimes, something wonderful comes out of my disorganization! :)  

Ladies and gentlemen - I introduce to you the 

QUICK & SIMPLE 10-MINUTE OMELET

Yep... 10 mins from start to finish is all you need to whip this bad boy up!! 

What you need:

• 2 eggs, scrambled
• 1 cup kale (or spinach), chopped 
• 3/4 cup red peppers, diced
• 1/4 cup diced onions
• no salt added seasoning of your choice (I love the organic no-salt seasoning from costco)
• 2 tbsp shredded light cheese

What you do:

1. Place a pan over medium high heat and spray with non-stick spray
2. add the red peppers, onions and kale (or spinach) and cook for 3-4 mins, until kale (or spinach begins to wilt)
3. remove the veggies from the pan, spray with non stick spray again and add the 2 eggs
4. season the eggs with your no salt seasoning and let cook for a couple minutes until just a bit white underneath
5. add the veggies to the eggs and let cook for 1 minute
6. add the cheese on top of the veggies and let cook until the egg is fully cooked - about 3-4 minutes
7. Serve and enjoy! 

If you are doing the 21 day fix this would count as 2 greens, 1 red and 1 blue!

If you are calorie counting it is 304 calories!

One Pan Turkey Taco Brown Rice Skillet

Wanna know one of my BIGGEST pet peeves??  

Dirty dishes and a kitchen that is a lot of work to clean up after eating a delicious meal.

So, I always appreciate those recipes out there that have you dirtying as FEW dishes as possible!  

One pan?  DONE! 

I came across this delicious One Pot Spicy Taco Rice Skillet recipe and decided it sounded way too good to NOT try!  So I made a few more health conscious adjustments and here's what I came up with! 

One Pan Turkey Taco Brown Rice Skillet

Ingredients:

• 1 lb ground turkey
• 1 large onion, diced
• 2 bell peppers, diced
• 1 can diced tomatoes
• 1 cup of salsa
• 1 cup of brown rice
• 1 cup beef broth
• 1 cup of water (if using "Minute Rice" omit the water) 
• 2 tsp cumin
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1 tsp smoked paprika
• 1 cup light shredded tex mex cheese

Directions:

1. In a large pan, brown turkey.
2. When turkey is lightly browned, add diced onions and peppers.
3. Cook until turkey is fully cooked and the onions and peppers are soft.
4. Add can of tomatoes - no need to drain.
5. Add salsa, rice, water and stock.
6. Stir well to combine.
7. Add in spices and mix, cover.
8. Let simmer on low until rice is soft and liquid has cooked off.
9. Top with cheese, stir in until it melts.
10. Serve!

Super Simple Roasted Brussel Sprouts

This is seriously one of my most fave side dishes to serve with dinner... or lunch... or even to whip up as an afternoon snack!  Super quick and healthy and delicious!!

SUPER SIMPLE ROASTED BRUSSEL SPROUTS

What you need:

• Brussel Sprouts
• olive oil
• salt & pepper to taste
• minced garlic and garlic powder

What to do:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees
2. Trim your brussel sprouts and cut them in half - if they are particularly large then cut them into quarters.  You want all the pieces approximately the same size.
3. Place them into a large ziploc freezer bag and drizzle in olive oil (about a tsp depending on how many brussel sprouts you have... You don't want them drenched in oil just a light drizzle to lightly cover them all) 
4. Sprinkle in the bag salt, pepper and garlic powder to taste. 
5. Add minced garlic if you choose.
6. Shake the bag and mix everything up nice and good.
7. Spread the brussel sprouts out on a baking sheet and bake for 10 minutes, stir them around and then another 10 mins until they are crisp but not too burnt! 
8. ENJOY! 

Busy Mom's Turkey Fried Rice

CONFESSION!!!!  I do NOT love to cook! **GASP** shocker, I know! :)  

However, there is ONE dinner dish that I do actually quite enjoy making - maybe it's because it's super simple and fast... maybe it's because it involves bacon.  Not sure why, but I love cooking it and my whole family loves eating it!  This dish is seriously a weekly staple in my household!

Turkey Fried Rice

I call this "Busy Mom's" Turkey Fried Rice cuz it's literally so quick and easy to make!!  

Ingredients
1 lb lean ground turkey
6 slices of bacon, cut into 1/2 inch wide pieces (all natural, nitrate free is best) 
1/2 a medium onion, diced
2 cups cooked brown rice
vegetables of choice (I will use whatever I have in the fridge or a frozen stir fry mix)
frozen green peas
soya sauce

Preparation
- Heat wok on medium heat and add bacon pieces
- cook bacon for about 1-2 mins and then add diced onion
- cook bacon and onion until bacon is brown and crisp and onion is translucent; remove from pan and set aside
- remove excess bacon grease from the pan and then add the ground turkey and cook until turkey is no longer pink; add the bacon and onions back in
- add the vegetables, including peas and cook until vegetables are done
- add your cooked rice to the pan and stir until fully incorporated
- season with soya sauce and serve! 

ENJOY!! 

CONFESSION - I fell off the wagon! How am I gonna get back on??

You hear about it all the time - heck maybe you've even experienced it.

Someone lost a whole bunch of weight - and then started falling back into bad old habits and sslllllooowwwlllyyy started putting weight back on.  

You think - oh that'll NEVER happen to me, I'm different man!  I got this under control! 

At least that's how I thought.

I was interviewed once about my weight loss story and in the interview I was asked if I ever worry about gaining the weight back.

"No, my whole lifestyle has completely changed - I KNOW I will NEVER go back down that road!" I answered with confidence.

Yet, here I am.

I am currently 20 lbs higher than my lightest weight - the weight I had reached at the end of my 21 day Ultimate Reset cleanse last December.

I don't think this qualifies as "water weight" or a "little bit of bloating from a weekend of eating bad"... I've been telling myself this about my growing waist size and as the number goes up and up on the scale - "oh... that's just water weight... I'll lose it in like 2 days once I'm back on track!" 

You know what that's called?

DENIAL! 

I have spent the majority of this year in DENIAL!  Denial about the fact that - no, I do NOT have this "under control" and yes, maybe I do need to get serious about tracking everything I eat again and get back to ONLY one treat a week... My one treat a week has really been 4 treat DAYS each week... Needless to say this isn't getting me very far.

So, you're probably wondering - wow Lara... so what are you going to do?? 

Well, I have figured out a couple things about myself in this last year. 

1)  I NEED to be doing a workout program - complete with a set schedule and I need to follow the schedule that it came with.

2)  I need to get back to doing a workout that I actually love and enjoy.

See, here's the thing - I have consistently kept up working out yes.  But not following an actual program I slacked off during my workouts and there were some weeks that I did only workout 3 or 4 days... This is not acceptable for me... For me I gotta workout at least 5 days... AT LEAST!  This was one of my "rules" that I set in play when I first started on my journey back in 2011.

So... I was gonna jump back in with both feet and go right to the Insanity Asylum workouts - cuz that was gonna get me FAST results!  HARD WORKOUTS = FAST RESULTS! 

Yeah... that lasted a day.  Hard workouts only equal fast results if you actually DO them.  I know, sad :(

I finally realized - Okay... I'm trying to get back into a groove where I LOVE working out, just like I used to at one point... Maybe I should try to get back into this with something I actually enjoy.  

hmm.. weird concept right? 

So I pulled out my FAVE program - Les Mills Combat and OMG SO.MUCH.FUN!!! 

Last week was week 1 - I am going to complete this program again and I will be done it just in time to do the brand new Insanity Max:30 program that is being released at the beginning of December! 

I HAVE TO stick with this so I am ready for Max 30!

I didn't really enjoy Insanity when I did it 2 years ago... But I still did it because I was in the groove where I loved working out - sticking to combat all 60 days will get me back in that groove, I know it will... It already almost has in just a week!

Max:30 is also going to be INTENSE so I wanna be back in tip-top shape to start it! 

Two other things I am doing to get back into my groove of eating right, tracking everything I eat and seeing the number on the scale go back down -

1)  Shaun T's Dietbet!  I bet $30 I would lose 4% of my body weight in 4 weeks... I'm really gonna double that tho - just watch me! 

2)  4 weeks NO JUNK FOOD OR BOOZE challenge!  4 weeks of No chips, no candy, no donuts, no booze, no soda, no cake, no cookies!  I got an accountability group I'm going to be setting up and I will succeed - yep... NO CANDY FOR ME AT HALLOWEEN! 

Wanna join me in any of the above??  Send me an e-mail lara.curry85@gmail.com and... 

LET'S GO!!!!!