It's getting cold outside!

This time of year I really get an itch to hang out in the kitchen. I do enjoy cooking & eating, I just don't enjoy spending countless hours in the kitchen when I could be doing way more awesome things.

I busted out my white binder full of recipes I have collected over time. I am one for finding a recipe & changing it up since I don't really like to follow them either. Ya, I know, seems silly. But really, if I come across a yummy recipe & it's full of ingredients I don't like or eat, then I just start subbing in the items I do like. So therefore I am creating my own recipes. Oh yeah, most of the time I don't really measure either. For example, if a recipe called for 1 cup of chopped carrots & I peeled 2 large carrots & chopped them up & it measured out to 1.5 cups, I don't care, I will use it all. You catch my drift!!

Anyway, it's getting cold outside & I like to eat warm comfy foods when it does. That doesn't always go along with my goals for health & fitness so I compromise. In this last week I have made this recipe twice & it was a hit in my house so I figure I better share!

This recipe started as a recipe from a magazine. I tore the page out & over time have altered it so much, it a whole new recipe.

I call it: Sweet Italian Chicken Sausage Minestrone Soup and it is AH~MAZING!!

Ingredients:
6 C. Organic reduced sodium vegetable stock
1 can (15.5oz) Organic Diced Tomatoes
2 Tbsp Organic, no salt added Tomato Paste
1 Tbsp Organic Olive Oil
4 links, True Story Organic Sweet Italian Chicken Sausage, sliced in rounds
1.5 C. Organic yellow onion, chopped (about 1 small)
2 cloves Organic garlic, minced
1 C. Organic Celery, chopped
1 C. Organic Carrots, chopped
1 C. Dry Quinoa noodles
1 tsp dry oregano
1 can (15.5 oz) Organic Garbanzo beans or Kidney beans, rinsed
2 C. Organic Zucchini, chopped
2 C. Organic baby Spinach, fresh

Directions:

1. Heat olive oil in large skillet on Medium heat. Add sausage & brown.
2. Add tomato paste, cook about 5 minutes until brown.
3. Add onions, celery, garlic, carrots & oregano. Cook about 5 minutes longer.
4. Pour vegetable stock, diced tomatoes & dry noodles into a large pot. About 4 quarts in size.
5. Add skillet contents to pot & turn to med heat. Let simmer for about 20 minutes or until carrots are soft.
6. Add zucchini, beans & spinach. Turn to high heat for about 5 minutes or until spinach is wilted.

Serve with optional items: fresh bread, parmesan cheese, dollop of pesto sauce.

Serving size is 1.5 cups.

21 Day Fix side notes: I measured out the veggies into a Green container, the sausage into a Red & the beans & pasta in half a yellow. You can measure out to your specific needs.

I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as we did!! Leave a comment & let me know. Thanks for stopping by.

Why I believe in Shakeology & why I think EVERYONE NEEDS it in their life!

In today's world there are a ridiculous amount of healthy protein shakes & meal replacements. How do you choose the best one? Well, by doing research & trying them. At least, that is what I did.

*This post is not to bash any other brand nor am I compensated for promoting a specific brand, like a lot of the other "health" bloggers out there!

Let me roll back a few years to when I actually started consuming Protein Shakes daily for weight loss. I was at my then highest pre baby weight of 215 pounds. The job I had at the time exposed me to numerous "high quality" protein foods. I tried every different pre made protein shake that I was exposed to. I based my decisions on calories (was always looking at 150 or less), fat (always looking for 0g), protein (always looking for 15g or higher) & carbs/sugar (always looking for 5g or less). I was never really educate on why. Then I took in the taste factor. I could choke down almost anything if I thought it meant I was going to lose weight. I started buying it in bulk powder & mixing things into my shakes so they would taste better. Veggies, fruits, super foods, sugar free jello packets, sugar free anything! I never REALLY payed attention to the price. Anyway eventually I fell of that wagon after having my first daughter. I gained twice as much weight as I had lost because I thought I could eat whatever I wanted & let me tell you, I COULD EAT!!!

Fast forward to after the birth of my second daughter. I saw my friend, Mindy, post about Shakeology on Facebook. I remembered that I briefly came across Shakeology a few years prior & my first & only thought about it was, it was EXPENSIVE & that I could go buy a tub of whey protein powder for a quarter of the price! Well, I think I even told her that & she said I should at least give it a try as she has felt a huge difference in her health in just the 2 months she had been drinking it, and that Beachbody offered a 30 day Bottom of the Bag guarantee, so if I didn't like it, I could just get my money back. I talked with my hubby & decided to purchase 1 bag to give it a try. I used my almost maxed out credit card to make the purchase & I patiently waited 5 days until it arrive.

I bet the mailman had no idea how that bright green box would forever change the course of my life!!

I excitedly opened up the box, pulled the black bag out read over the recipe calendar that it came with & opened up the bag. The aroma was insanely delicious! It was Chocolate & it smelled like I just stuck my head into a sweetened cocoa powder bag! I was in HEAVEN! But that thought lingered, of how will it taste. So I poured my ingredients into the blender & added a scoop of the aromatic powder, put the lid on & hit blend! In less than one minute I had a silky glass of dense nutrition. Tom & I looked at each other & each took a drink... Oh My Goodness, I was HOOKED!

We each drank a shake a day for about 10 days then I asked my husband how he felt. At first, he said he didn't notice any differences. Then I pointed out the fact that in those 10 days we had not once gotten dessert or even mentioned it. We had not gone out for a burger or Mexican food which was a weekly occurrence. My digestive system had become regular. So at that moment I knew we would continue to drink Shakeology for as long as they made it! I sent Mindy a message informing her that I would be purchasing more & wanted to sign up as a discount coach so we could afford two bags a month. Within 30 days I reevaluated how I felt. At this point I was able to stop drinking the daily fiber laxative I had been taking for 2+ years, I stopped taking a daily multivitamin, sugar cravings we pretty much gone & we had not eaten out as often. I adjusted our monthly food budget to include Shakeology & yes, it was a huge adjustment but so was having another baby & we figured out how to get the money we need for that too!

Here is what a few of my friends have to say about their experience with Shakeology:

Jo, I have been able to cut my blood pressure meds in half! I used to have 3-4 dangerous spikes per week even taking meds twice/day.

Now i only take it in the morning and rarely have any spikes.

Nikki, I went from never having breakfast to having something quick, delicious and super HEALTHY!

Karolee, Dido with Nikki about breakfast but also totally cut my cravings even during PMS and made me feel AMAZING!

Amy, When my daughter and I were sick, it was one of the only things that we could keep down.

Anna, Difference in my skin it feels and looks healthier

Tammie, Its improved my health! I'm no longer sick every other month and not having to go to the doctors all the time now. Its helped reduce my cravings!

Nancy, my blood sugar has gone down and helps with sugar cravings

Jesslyn, My downfall for me is my soy mochas. Shakeo has made it so I feel like it's too sweet now. Not a huge candy or sweets person but now when I try eating candy, it kinda makes me feel nauseated. Also I'm trying to be better about ordering sugar free soy peppermint lattes instead of peppermint mochas. Taste better. Gotta make a doctors appointment to see about blood work to check on blood sugar levels and cholesterol. And my rosacea seems to be better and I gave less flare ups from it and less acne.

Monica, I'm more regular, not so boated and gassy, My hair and nails grow way better, I have more energy - no more dozing off at my desk at 3pm. And I just feel better. I didn't even realize how crappy I felt until I started feeling great!

Kristina, 

Granted we are all different. We all have different goals. We all have different priorities in life. Since having children & getting older (and wiser) I have really changed my views on my life as a wife, mother, friend & individual. Our health has really come into focus & the need to teach our children about being healthy, active & happy. Now, am I saying that you have to feed your kids Shakeology to make all this possible, no, of course not. But if you want to, then I say go for it. My kids like it & I know that I am providing them with optimum nutrition. Especially when they do not get their daily veggies in! Yes, you can go out and buy lots of different ingredients to make your own, but you will spend hundreds of dollars to do so. I did my research on the ingredients in Shakeology & made the decision for myself. Yes, I still do blend other ingredients into it because I like it that way. I use it as a meal replacement OR an added nutritional supplement. Just depends on my needs for the day.

I hear people everyday give excuses as to why they cannot afford it, yet they constantly eat out at restaurants or spend tons of money on material things that only give them instant gratification. I am not judging their spending but instead of saying you cannot afford it, just say that you don't want to try it! Instead they are constantly trying to get free samples. In fact if you want it for as cheap as possible, the answer is to become a Coach! We pay $3.24 per serving!

Shakeology is NOT a protein shake, it is not even classified as a meal replacement. It is a nutrient dense super food supplement. It was created because Carl Diakeler's wife, Isabelle,  told him that he had the diet of a 5th grader! He didn't eat any vegetables but knew that he needed the nutrition that they held, so there began the start of Shakeology.

If you are reading this post & have never tried Shakeology, I challenge you to give it a shot! With a 30 day Bottom of the Bag Guarantee you cannot lose!

Why YOU should give Beachbody Coaching a try!

Why?? Um, WHY NOT?!?!?!

I mean, REALLY, what is the number one reason you don't give it a try??

Fear? Fear of Failure? Fear of Rejection? Fear of Change? Fear of Success?

Is it your fitness level? Not to your GOAL weight or fitness level?

Is it money?

Is it time?

Seriously, it's time to get rid of the EXCUSES, because that is all those are!! You are the one standing in your own way!

A Beachbody Coach does NOT have to be in the best shape of their life. There is NO requirement that says this, anywhere! It is an assumption! All you need to be is committed to YOURself, YOUR health & YOUR fitness. Being able to share with other people about your daily struggles & accomplishments is very therapeutic & rewarding at the same time.

A Beachbody Coach does not need to "have" money & by "have" I mean the definition of when people assume you just have expendable cash to purchase the products & resell, as with most every other Direct Sales Business. That is an uneducated ridiculous assumption. There are a very large percentage of successful coaches who scraped their money together to purchase their challenge pack so they could sign up as a coach for FREE. People who used credit cards when they had no money in the bank. People who literally lived in their cars. People who didn't even have a computer at home & had to go next door to the neighbors house to sign up. These people did NOT let the excuses control their lives any longer. I didn't have the time or the money or the confidence when I signed up. Heck I flat out told my coach that I didn't want to promote anything like she did. And guess what? I didn't have to, when I posted about my first 30 days with P90X, people wanted the same results. This company sells itself! There is a reason that Beachbody has the number 1 rated infomercials on T.V.... because they work! This is not a quick fix for you to sell your friends. This is the opportunity that could CHANGE THEIR LIFE! This is the opportunity that could change YOUR LIFE!
Besides the fact that Beachbody offers a 30 Day Money Back Guarantee, why wouldn't you want to invest in your health. We all know that America is NOT happy with the new Health Insurance situation, so how about some Preventative care to avoid long term care you cannot afford in the future??

A little SHOUT OUT for my recent Focus T25 Graduate!!

When I receive text messages like these:

I jump for freakin JOY!!! Seriously, this mommy of 2 little ones & part time Real Estate agent kicked some serious booty! She told me that she modified a lot of the moves so she wanted to do another ROUND before she moved on. I love that! It will be a whole new experience for her the second time around & I have no doubt that she will ROCK IT!

I love bragging about my challengers because these are people I watch daily with their struggles & victories. We are not perfect every day, NOBODY IS! And being able to share that & learn from it is invaluable. I can relate to these people on so many levels. Another part of this that makes my heart smile is that I did NOT know this woman prior to this. She found me via my Team Beachbody Profile & she reached out to me. Something about me connected with her on an intimate level & I was able to help her reach a goal. We have chatted over the phone several times & I feel as if I saw her on the street we would just pick up like great friends who haven't seen each other in a while. 

I never thought that I would connect with so many complete strangers that would seek me out & choose me to be their coach. This kind of journey, especially for women, is very deep seeded & most of us do not want to put it all out there for the world to see & I get that because I have been there. I was TERRIFIED when my coach told me to step out of my comfort zone & post my pics on social media. But, I did it. I do not regret it because I have helped so many people since then!

#TeamUnstoppable

This morning I am compelled to talk about my Team! I have been a coach for about 21 months. When I joined (for the discount) I had no intentions on making this a full time income. I sat back, made the time EVERY DAY to get my workout in & made better nutritional choices. I watched all these other coaches work the business side & I thought that I could NEVER do what they do. I don't know why, but I just didn't believe that I could. When I was placed in a private group of coaches on Facebook there were about 200 coaches in there. TODAY there are almost 1200 coaches in there!! Talk about EXPLOSIVE growth. The bug eventually bit me & I started to focus on helping others reach their goals. It didn't take long for me to realize that I could reach any goal I put my mind to & that I could help others do the same. That has brought a greater pleasure into my life on a daily basis.

We have Lawyers, Doctor's, Nurses, Insurance agents, Retailers, Law Enforcement, Military, Bookkeepers, Stay at home Mom's, Stay at home Dad's, single parents, grandma's, Personal Trainers. You name it, we have one on the team. It doesn't matter what your goals are, what matters is that you GO AFTER THEM!
I have seen countless coaches be able to LEAVE CORPORATE AMERICA in as little as 1 year, just by working part-time on their Beachbody business. That is INCREDIBLE! I cannot express how happy it makes me to see my coaches get their Shakeology for FREE every month. They are earning extra income for things they could not afford before. Like putting their kids in sports, going on a family vacation, a car payment or even a house payment. I know for me personally we have paid of THOUSANDS in debt & were still able to live our lives the way we wanted. No more sacrificing so much to get ahead. We took family trips without worry & it will only continue to get better. Oh and the trips, did I mention the trips? The trips that Beachbody sets you up with are just PHENOMENAL. I mean what other employer do you know who takes over the BIGGEST CRUISE SHIP in the WORLD?? Yeah, none other than BEACHBODY! That's right we are taking over Royal Caribbean's Liberty of the Seas! The ENTIRE ship! How bad ass is that??? Oh & I earned that trip for FREE. Next year we get an entire All Inclusive Resort in CABO!


The year is 2014! This is going to be an EPIC year! There is no better time than NOW to join. The investment that you will make into a business & your health will pay you back ten fold! Anyone can earn an extra income, anyone can build their own business, anyone can be a BEACHBODY COACH!

I am starting a New Coach training group on February 1st. If you are interested in getting to know more please do not hesitate to contact me with questions.

How becoming a Beachbody Coach has changed my life!

I became a Beachbody coach on April 20th, 2012. I signed up just for the discount on Shakeology, since my husband & I would both be drinking it. I had purchased one bag to try & within 10 days of drinking it for breakfast everyday, I asked my husband what his take was on it. Of course, like most men, he said he didn't really notice a difference. When I asked him if he was craving a cheeseburger, he said "No". This was very unusual for him, as he could eat a cheeseburger at any given time. They were his favorite food. I instantly noticed my sugar cravings were just about gone. I mean not 100% because I still want & enjoy sweets but prior to trying Shakeology I would just hear someone say chocolate & I would run to the store & get some brownies or chocolate ice cream. I also noticed that my IBS symptoms were reduced. I had been seeing my doctor for about 3 years regarding my IBS issues & she always recommended I go buy expensive OTC Pro-biotics & add in a fiber laxative. Well that didn't help me either & frankly I was really tired of dealing with it. I became "regular" & this helped me tremendously. I also noticed I was starting to have more energy. I don't mean that I spent all day cleaning because I had so much energy, I mean I wasn't dragging ass in the afternoons. I was keeping up with the kiddos all day & sleeping better at night. I am sure that this can also be attributed to my efforts in daily exercise & eating cleaner. It's a combination of efforts that gave me the result.

About 30 days after I started drinking Shakeology & doing P90X, my coach told me to be sure & take my pics & measurement so I could compare & see my progress. Well, I had a very noticeable change so I posted them on Facebook. I got a lot of responses, praise & questions to what I was doing. I had NO intentions of "Working the Business", mind you. I started just telling people what I was doing & answering questions & it dawned on me that there really was something to be had with this coaching stuff. So I started to ask questions & do my research & learn. Slowly but surely I began Coaching. It started with my friends & some family at first. I got the hang of how to help others just by showing them what I was doing. In all my attempts in life to lose weight, I never had the motivational support as this has provided me. As I carried on & spent all my extra time trying to learn everything I could, I came to realize that I had started to grow as a person myself. I had heard the recommendation of reading Personal Development books a few times & honestly I thought, "I don't need that. That is for people who are not like me". Um, boy was I WRONG!! I started reading & it dawned on me that you are never too old or young or smart or educated to keep learning. I was starting to really get that Beachbody wants people to be successful. They stand true to the motto of helping others live happy & fulfilling lives. No matter if you are a coach or a customer.

To now reflect on what I accomplished as a person & coach in 2013 just blows me away. My marriage has truly become stronger. I feel more confident as a mother & wife & woman. Not just because of my physical transformation, but because I have grown on the inside as well. My husband & I worked very hard to eliminate a hindering credit card debt that had been following us for 6 years. When I signed up to be a coach, we could NOT afford it. We had one income, a brand new baby & a lot of debt. When I made that final payment in October of 2013, I was in tears. It was as if a chapter of our lives was over. The struggles we had that lead us to that point were gone. No longer present in our lives. Just a distant memory. I built a solid foundation to my team. I went to my first Summit & walked on stage in front of 3,000+ coaches as a 1 Start Diamond Coach. That was AMAZING!!! I got to meet other Top Coaches & Beachbody Challenge winners. I got to meet coaches from my team that I had gotten to know over the previous year via Facebook. It was the most surreal feeling. Having my husband by my side topped it off. I have continued on the path of helping people lose weight, get in shape, eliminate debt, earn extra income for many reasons & it has to be the most rewarding thing I have every experienced.

There are days that I wake up so excited & anxious to log into my challenge groups to see what is going on. Who ate what, who needs help, who crushed a goal. I want people to experience the same things that I did when I started. Nobody should have to do it alone. It took me time to really get fitness embedded into my day, my head, my life. I was never athletic so the thought of working out EVERYDAY was not an easy pill for me to swallow. I still get lazy, I still try to get out of a workout but a key factor for me is finding the workouts that I enjoy. Then I look forward to it & I feel on top of the world when I am done. And YES, I still splurge on my eating, I am human & female after all.

At this point in my Coaching career, if that is what you want to call it, which is 21 months, I have created an income that has allowed us to not only pay off debt but it has allowed me to stay home. Although I was a SAHM prior to Beachbody, I was to the point where I was looking for work, just before I had my daughter, to line up for after her birth. I was scouring the want ads & applying for jobs I new I would hate. I even ventured into looking at Direct Sales, but to be completely honest, I did not want to work the hours that were convenient for OTHER people, the people hosting the parties. I did not want to be selling the same make up, jewelry, candles or kitchen ware to my friends & family over & over again. I knew that wasn't a good road for me to go down. So to say that I am now in Direct Sales is funny to me, because it sure as hell doesn't feel like it. Stumbling upon this opportunity has been a complete blessing. It has changed the course of my life in so many ways. I cannot be more thankful for this opportunity. If it's knockin', you should probably open the damn door!