Taco Stuffed Peppers with Quinoa

Hey beautiful peeps!

I am always on the look out for new healthy recipes to try out, especially Gluten Free! So, I stumbled across this recipe and decided to make a few adjustments. Check out the recipe below and give it a try!! Enjoy the rest of your weekend!!

Taco Stuffed Peppers with quinoa

Ingredients:

3 Green or Red Bell Peppers with the tops cut open and seeds removed

1 Pound 90% Lean Ground Beef

1 Packet Low Sodium Gluten Free Taco Seasoning

1 Can Black Beans, Rinsed and Drained

1  Small Package Organic Frozen Corn

Quinoa, made according to package

Cheddar Cheese, Shredded

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 400*. Pour 1/4 cup water into the bottom of a glass casserole dish.

Brown Ground beef in a skillet on medium heat until cooked thoroughly. Add corn, black beans, cooked quinoa, taco seasoning, and 3/4 cups water to the cooked beef.

Stir, heating through until mixture thickens.

Spoon beef mixture into peppers all the way to the top of each.

Bake in oven for 15 minutes.

Sprinkle cheese on top, then return to oven and bake until cheese is thoroughly melted.

Serve.

Can be served with taco sauce and sour cream

 

ENJOY!

 

Breakfast: Is It The Most Important Meal Of The Day?

Good morning beautiful!

We have all heard the saying “Breakfast is the most important meal of the day”, but do we really know why?

Well, in this post I will dive into the pros and cons of skipping the first meal of the day, which will give you a guide to choose which alternative suits you best. So, let’s get started!

When we skip breakfast. there are a number of things that will occur through the course of your day that will negatively effect you, and when you eat breakfast within the hour of waking up, there are some seriously positive things that take place inside of you.

Pro/Con #1:  Reduced risk of heart disease vs. Increased Risk of Heart Disease

When we are sleeping, our body goes through a fasting period. When we wake up in the morning and eat within the first hour, our bodies do not go through an added stress period due to hunger. When we skip breakfast, we increase the stress levels which causes a strain on our bodies that can lead to some serious health issues. These health issues can be, high cholesterol, high blood pressure and insulin resistance to name a few. So, when it comes to heart health, prolonging fasting increases our bodies stress levels, but a healthy balanced breakfast in the morning is good for your heart health!

Pro/Con #2: Healthy Brain Function vs. Starving Your Brain

Studies show that when we forgo breakfast, we are less productive at work/school, have a more difficult time problem solving, and can suffer from brain fog/mental clarity. Did you know the USDA reports that when children eat a balanced breakfast, they are able to retain more information in school which increases their test scores. So simply stated Our bodies are kind of like a car, when we fill it up with good fuel, we run better.

Pro/Con #3: Weight loss vs. Weight Gain

The misconception on weight loss is by restricting calories, we will obtain our weight loss goals. So , people will not cut back on the unhealthy foods, they will just skip a meal, and breakfast tends to be the one they choose. But did you know that by skipping breakfast you are setting yourself up to intake more calories from the wrong foods later in the day? If you eat a balanced breakfast with a good healthy amount of protein, you are jump starting your metabolism as well as setting the day for healthier food choices. This in turn will benefit you on your weight loss journey.

All of this chatter about breakfast is making me hungry! So, now I am off to make my most important meal of the day today which is almost always my super delish, super dense nutritional vegan chocolate Shakeology. I am getting a healthy amount of protein as well as 70 whole foods with 23 vitamins and minerals for breakfast all in one shake a day. It fills me and fuels my body with all of the good stuff. On the days I choose to have my shake later, I opt for eggs with a fruit and veggie.

Be sure to follow my blog to get notifications for my upcoming posts on the breakfast recipes! Have a great Wednesday!

Are You Sabotaging Yourself?

Good morning beautiful!

This topic is a tender subject for many of us. You see, we all want to stay in our comfortable bubbles where we are protected from the harshness of the world. It is comfortable in many ways there. If the bubble is thick enough, then no-one can burst it. Nothing gets in that we didn’t want. But, the reality is, we are not safe in our bubble, there is something/someone in our bubble that is way more harsh then the things on the outside. Do you know what/who that is??? You guessed it! It is ourselves! 
  You see, we can’t escape our own negative thoughts by building a wall or bubble to protect us from the behaviors we attack ourselves with.  It is absolutely impossible! All we do is continue to create negative behaviors which in turn causes negative effects on our bodies and minds. So, what do we do to burst the bubble and heal our toxic selves so we can stop self sabotaging?
First thing  you need to do is take that uncomfortable sometimes even painful walk of self discovery.  You have to dive deep down to discover the root of your self sabotaging behaviors. Speaking to a counselor/therapist even a life coach can help you discover the things you have been burying for years. Once you start working through those buried events that led you to your current mindset of self sabotage,  you will be able to break free of the toxic environment that was once there and conquer all the things you have been only dreaming of doing for so long.  

Let’s look at a struggle that many of us face. Have you been struggling with your weight?? How many diets have you tried that worked for a while and then you stopped? Did you gain all of your weight back? Or did you gain more? Think about how many times you blamed the diet, the exercise,  the food, alcohol etc. on the failure of your weight loss journey. We all know that if the diet plan is working then it isn’t the diet. We all know that exercise isn’t going to cause our weightloss journey to fail since exercise is an important component to healthy weightloss success. We can’t blame the food we put in our bodies, since food doesn’t have a way to force us to eat it, the same with alcohol etc. All of these excuses come from our own mindset.  We convince ourselves that it was everything else that is the problem but our own negative thoughts.

Journeys in life are a process of self discovery. There will be times through your journey that are fun and easy, then there will be times that you fall face first in the mud even scratching your knees along the way. There are ups and downs in life that is a fact that cannot be changed.
The key to it all is to work within yourself to become the best friend you have ever needed instead of the enemies you always dread. Because the sad part is we are always abusive and hurtful towards ourselves more than anyone else could ever be. We are our own worst enemy!

Have a beautiful and self loving weekend. There is no better time to start then the present.

London Broil with Roasted Asparagus and Baked Yams

Our family is not big on eating red meat.  But on an occasion we do enjoy it. So, here is our healthy dinner recipe from tonight.

Ingredients:
Steak of your choice
4 whole yams
2 bunches asparagus
4 cloves garlic, minced
Olive oil
Garlic powder
Onion powder
Pepper
Salt
Worcestershire sauce
Butter
Honey (local organic)
Ground cinnamon

Instructions:
Preheat oven to 425*.
Rinse yams in
place wet yams on tinfoil
Poke yams with a fork on all sides
Wrap in tinfoil,  place on top rack of oven and bake for 30-40 minutes depending on size. Check halfway through baking by squeezing to feel if they are soft. When done, slice down the center like a baked potato,  add a tsp butter, a drizzle of local organic honey and cinnamon,  mix and enjoy!

Meanwhile trim asparagus and place on a foil libed cookie sheet.
Drizzle with olive oil,  sprinkle garlic, garlic powder,  onion powder, salt and pepper all over then toss to coat. Bake at 375* until bright green about 8-10 minutes.

Steak: prep with some Worcestershire sauce garlic powder,  onion powder and pepper. Grill steak to your desired results. 

Enjoy!