Healthy Teriyaki Chicken Kabobs

It's that time again for another quick, easy and healthy recipe! I decided to 
make a dish for my meal prep this week that is not only user friendly for my 
"non-kitchen-friendly-chef" followers, but delicious as well. This is a two-day 
recipe since day one will be for marinating the chicken, day two for prepping 
the veggies and cooking. 

The marinade I went with for these kabobs is Organicville's Island Teriyaki. I 
found this at our local Raley's but have heard Costco carries it as well. I also 
really like Kinders Organic Mild BBQ Sauce. What I look for in sauces or 
marinades are organic options with low sodium content. If I can read and know 
what the ingredients on the label are, it's a great start. 

I started off by cutting up large chunks of chicken from 4 chicken breasts. I 
made 10 kabobs so my husband and I would have them for a few days, so cut up the 
amount of chicken you prefer depending on how many kabobs you want. Once the 
chicken was sliced, I poured the entire bottle of teriyaki over the chicken in a 
bowl, covered the bowl and let sit in the fridge overnight to really soak in the 

flavor. 


The next morning I took the chicken out of the fridge and sliced up a mixture of 
red onion, zucchini, yellow squash and orange sweet peppers. Other options that 
go great on kabobs are: 
-Bell peppers 
-Tofu
-Potatoes 
-Pineapple 
-Mushrooms 
-Cherry tomatoes 

Before slicing, set the oven for 350 degrees so it can start preheating. 

Once everything is sliced and diced, I started putting my veggies and chicken on 
my kabob sticks. I tried to put 4-5 pieces of chicken on each kabob along with 
veggies in between to soak in all the flavors. 

Now that you have your kabobs prepared, line them up on a cookie sheet or a dish 
for baking. I put some some aluminum foil because sometimes the sauces really 
bake into the pan and make it a pain in the neck to wash after (and who has time 
to wash when all you want to do is eat!) Then I used the remainder of the sauce 
from the chicken marinade and poured it over the kabobs. Last but not least, 
sprinkle some Italian parsley for added taste, and a bit of flare. 

Bake these pretty babies at 350 for 40 minutes. Depending on how large your 
chunks of chicken are, cooking times may vary. 

I laid my kabob on top of a 1/2 cup cooked brown rice and it was DELICIOUS! To 
add more veggies to your meal, you can always make a few kabobs of just 
vegetables and cook with the other kabobs. 

With the ingredients I used, I calculated my kabobs to have the following 
nutrition facts per kabob: 
-14 grams of protein 
-3 grams of fat
-150 calories 

This recipe can be as simple or as elaborate as you would like. Homemade 
marinades are also a great option, but since I was prepping a lot of food this 
week, I took the easy route with the Organicville sauce option. 

Have a delicious time cooking up this meal and feel free to tag me if you make 
these and post on social media. 

There you have it. Simple. Delicious. Healthy. My favorite combination for 
meals. 

The Darling heartbeat continues...

Shopping: Deals and Discounts

If you are anything like me, you LOVE a good deal on something. I get excited when I use coupons or even get a percentage off something that I wasn't expecting. It's the rush of it all. Almost like I feel like I am getting away with something I shouldn't be. My mom and I practically feel like we are robbing stores like Kohls half the time because they let you use coupons on top of coupons on top of coupons.

I have become more "spending conscious" lately as I have finally realized that we are a one income family (I am JUST now grasping the concept of this almost two years after I stopped working... at least give me credit for eventually coming to terms with this before we were completely broke). Due to the fact that sometimes its just downright hard to leave the house, I have depended on online shopping for a lot of the things I need (and its even nicer when you can have diapers delivered two days after ordering them in the middle of a snowstorm).

So I thought I would share some of my money saving AND money making (yes, you read that right, you can MAKE money from shopping) tips to help you put a few extra dollars back in your pocket.

My 1st FAVORITE online shopping tool is retailmenot.com! This site is to put it bluntly, AMAZEBALLS! I check this site for any and all online and in-store purchases before I check out. I once got a free calendar, magnet, 12 greeting cards and an 8x10 print from Shutterfly just from the coupon codes provided by retailmenot.com. If you didn't know, now you know.

My 2nd (very close second) FAVORITE online shopping tool is ebates.com. Ebates allows you to shop at many of your favorite online stores AND get a percentage of your purchase back in what they call a "Big Fat Check". I was hesitant to use this site at first but I am proud to say that I have received $136.63 in checks over the past 3 years just by shopping through their site. It's simple! Click on this link to start an account (sometimes they even give you a gift card just for signing up!) ebates.com, enter the name of the store you want to shop from in the search bar (I received $6 back from Nordstrom last time just for buying a pair of shoes! Sweet!), click on the link to the store and start buying! So easy peasy! They have pre-entered coupon codes on the site as well so it makes shopping online at a discount even easier. And you can make money for referrals! Some of my favorite sites to shop through ebates.com are
-VeraBradley.com
-Diapers.com
-BabiesRUs.com
-Nordstrom.com
-Target.com
-Amazon.com

My other love and addiction is zulily.com! I became obsessed with this site when I became pregnant with Mackenzie and haven't looked back. They have everything from baby and children's clothing and toys, household goodies, women's, maternity and mens clothing, shoes, and more! I like to think of Zulily as an online TJMaxx or Marshalls. They usually only post items for 3 days, so if you like something, buy it! Plus when you refer people, you get $15 when their first order ships! Its a win, win and you get great stuff at a discount.

Last but not least, my newest online money saving friend, BradsDeals.com! I just found the perfect piece of furniture for our living room at a major discount AND free shipping. It's name brand stuff at awesome prices. I definitely recommend you check it out :)

I hope all you bargain hunters found this helpful. Why not save a buck or two when you can? Happy Shopping AND saving :)

The Darling heartbeat continues...

A day in the life of my stomach: what I eat to get results!

I have had a lot of questions lately about what I make from my food prep, what products I use and how often I eat. So I thought I would set up my meals with times and pics so everyone could see a visual of what I do (I'm a visual person myself so it was actually fun to see everything all together for the day). 

Meal 1: I always start my day of with a shake and it's usually Pumpkin spice with half chocolate almond milk and half water. I seriously could drink pumpkin spice shakes all day. I'm. Not. Joking. And with chocolate almond milk... It's to die for! 

Meal 2: Todays's second meal is two egg muffins and two pieces of turkey bacon. The egg muffins consist of turkey bacon, green onions, spinach, salsa, eggs, and a light sprinkle of cheese. Bake those babies for 30 min at 350 and you are set for the weeks amount of breakfast. I always have my tea first thing in the morning and I have been really into mixing my pomegranate green tea with lemon. It's heavenly! Anddddd the green tea has less caffeine so I can drink it after I nurse. As a former trenta black iced tea drinker from Starbucks, this definitely hits the spot and burns calories too! Sweet deal! 

Meal 3: This meal will consist of a delicious hummus mix (the three layer spicy one) from Trader Joes (and it's not spicy, just has a great taste) with chopped sweet peppers and two, no nitrite low sodium turkey slices and a glass of mango aloe water (a healthy way to drink "juice" and it aids in digestion). 

Meal 4: Bring on the yumminess of a bell pepper nacho (half bell pepper layered with corn, black beans, tomatoes, ground turkey with a packet of taco seasoning and sprinkle of cheese baked for 30 min at 350 degrees) along with baked zucchini topped with pizza flavored seasoning (FlavorGod seasonings are amazeballs and healthy) and another glass of iced herbalife tea. 

Meal 5: A creamy orange cream shake with half vanilla almond milk and half iced water. Orange dreamcicle in a glass anyone?

Meal 6: A delicious plate of 1/2 cup brown rice, turkey goolash, a scoop of corn and some more baked zucchini and of course more h2o. Hydration is key and water has lots of health and weight loss benefits as well. 

There you have it folks! A delicious and healthy day of precooked and stored meals. All I have to do it take meals out of the fridge, heat them up if needed, add water for my teas and almond mix for shakes, and eat! Easy peasy! I add in a mix of Herbalife vitamins (daily detoxifiers, cellular development and metabolism boosters) throughout the day and try to get in some kind of at home exercise whether it's walking, planking, sit ups, push-ups, or chasing Kenzie up and down the stairs (it counts, right?) to help tone up. 

If you want to know more about meal planning, living a healthier lifestyle, or Herbalife, just send me a message. I help coach people to live a lifestyle based on their goals. Right now I'm working on losing 60 lbs this year but since I'm still nursing I have to make sure I'm getting enough healthy calories so that I produce enough for my baby too. I hope this was helpful and have a lovely night! 

The Darling heartbeat continues... 

Tales of a Tired Mom

You know those moms that attempt to shop with two kids by themselves and they look like they just went to the gym, but you know darn well that didn't happen, they were just too lazy to get dressed in decent clothes? Or they are frantically trying to calm the newborn down with a pacifier while chasing the toddler down yelling "get back here young lady!!!" while pushing a cart full of diapers. Ummm yea, that's me. The last 5 months since welcoming Sydney into our world has been amazing, but I can honestly tell you that I have been in zombie mode for 99% of it. The other 1% is when I get 15 minutes to enjoy a bath every once and a while before my husband comes in and says "she needs the boob!" while he's holding a crying baby, or when my toddler strips herself down so she can join me for a dip in the tub (which of course turns into a bubble and toy filled event). I LOVE being a mom more than anything, but I don't think anything can prepare you for how much your life changes (for the good and interesting). Becoming a mother in 2012 was challenging, but being a mom of a toddler AND an infant has it's new and exciting challenges as well. Balancing making sure both kids are changed, fed, bathed, kept busy (without our toddler drawing all over the couches... Thank goodness for leather and washable markers) is something I tried to mentally prepare myself for, but never realized how fast my toddler could get into things she's not supposed to. It's safe to assume she has used every measuring cup as a boat for her Minnie Mouse figurines, and has managed to waste a whole crap-ton of baby wipes by using them as blankets for her stuffed animals. I find myself sitting on the couch nursing Sydney and watching my toddler terrorize the house and all I can tell myself is "well, at least she's staying busy and not in any danger" or sometimes I sum it up to "she's being creative with her surroundings and using her imagination." 

I have never realized how easy one child was until I had two. Especially when your toddler pees all over your bed RIGHT before bed too. Then refuses to put on a new diaper. I think I have about lost my mind 3 times today with Mackenzie when she wont let me put on a diaper. Can she just be potty trained already?!?!? BALANCE and PATIENCE are my goals for this year. It takes so much to be a good mom, but it all starts with those two things. Making sure I take care of myself so that I have the patience when the wheels fall off the rails with the family dynamics is so important. If I need to put makeup on once and a while to feel good (along with get a shower in daily) then I gotta find a way to make it happen. I can't be running around all ragged and crazy or else my patience as a mom is non existent. I give a major high five/ fist pump/ thumbs up/ to all the single moms who do this tough job every day and do it with such grace and love. Those are some real heros. I realized my hardest days/ nights are when my husband closes at work and doesn't get home until after 11pm. I depend on him so much to provide the balance our family needs and when he isn't there, I feel the gravitational pull going significantly in my direction and it can be extremely challenging sometimes. What I have learned is to stop, take a deep breath (or a few minutes) away from the situation before I become a boiling teapot, and then return to mom duties. I can't always fix everything immediately or in most cases get a diaper on a strong and fast running toddler, but I can control how I react to my toddler. I try to think about how she's only going to be this small and crazy for so long and how I should cherish this special time with her instead of let it frustrate me. 

All in all, being a mommy to these two beautiful, happy and loving girls is all I could ask for. Diaper changes and all 😘.

The darling heartbeat continues...

Negativity is an addiction; so break the habit!

I have learned many important lessons in my life over the past 30 years, but 
nothing has impacted me more than the people I surround myself with every day. 
Whether local or remote, I am learning the importance of true friendship and 
true love and making sure that I give effort to relationships that are 
making the effort for me. 

I used to believe that the larger your inner circle, the happier you will be. For 
some people this is how they measure happiness. For me, I would rather have a 
smaller inner circle that genuinely cares deeply for me, than a larger circle 
that is just "playing the role." 


I have also begun to change my mindset on how I view myself based solely on how 
"I" view myself. While others opinions are important and matter to some extent, 
I create my own destiny, my own thoughts and feelings... About everything. 

Before I started my journey to get healthier and create a better me, I would 
take things personally... And by that I mean ALL THE TIME! I would assume that 
if someone was upset, I had done something to make them upset. If someone was 
talking about me negatively, I would assume that they were doing it because 
there was something wrong with me. Only recently have I really begun to 
understand that what people say and do, is a projection of how they feel about 
themselves. Oftentimes jealousy provokes people to talk poorly about one 
another, and we then get upset and continue the negative talk. I decided that I 
was done with this... Officially done! I was tired of assuming why people were 
so negative. I was tired of letting their negative words and feelings poison me. 
I was tired of contributing to this vicious cycle. I was tired of the 
childishness that gossip feeds. I was tired of being a victim to others 
insecurities. So I made a change in my mindset. And guess what? I have never 
felt better. 

What brought on this sudden change? (You ask intrigued... Or at least I hope you 
do). I read a book that really changed how I view the world. Now I have to tell you, I'm not 

one to read a lot since finishing school, but reading this book was the best 
investment in my time, and it didn't even take long!!! My health coach decided 
to start a personal development series for people interested in investing in 
themselves and I jumped on without hesitation. We began a book called "The Four 
Agreements" by Don Miguel Ruiz and from the moment I started reading, I was 
hooked. Everything he said was so simple, yet so true. 






Out of the four agreements discussed (Be impeccable with your word, Don't take 
anything personally, Don't make assumptions, and Always do your best) I found 
"don't take anything personally" to be the one that hit home with me. They all 
made a huge impact in some way on how I process things now, but I learned 
something very important: “Even when a situation seems so personal, even if 
others insult you directly, it has nothing to do with you.” I had selfishly been 
making everything about me, feeling like I had to stand up for myself, or return 
the favor by talking back, but in reality, it had nothing, absolutely nothing to 
do with me. 

What I take from this is to invest in the people that want healthy relationships 
with others, not take anything personally and to be the best version of myself 
every day. In doing so, I am able to escape from the negativity that often 
clouds our minds and focus on the many blessings of my life. Negativity is an addiction, and I decided to stop feeding it. I am in no way "healed" completely of negative thoughts or 

feelings (see "Tiffany's Road Rage" for my works in progress) but I know I am on the right path, and I FEEL better when I wake up, when I go throughout my daily duties and when I rest my head on my pillow at night. I feel good. 

I recommend "The Four Agreements" to anyone and everyone that wants to improve 
their life. It made a huge difference in my mindset, and I'm actually going to 
be reading it again, to remind myself of the four ideals which set you up for a 
happier, healthier you... Inside and out. I would love to hear your thoughts for those of your who have read it, or plan to :)

The darling heartbeat continues...

-Tiffany 

Prioritizing my life for me :)

Even though I stay home with Kenzie, I still find myself wanting, urning, needing MORE time! I can only imagine what my house would look like if I was still working full time and Ben working as many hours as he does every day. (Maybe I shouldn't... its kind of a nightmare just thinking about it...)

Recently, I have been struggling to get a lot of things done, or I quite frankly have half-assed most of the things around the house, and I have even noticed that when I am playing or hanging out with Kenzie, I am probably only half there mentally. All this frustration got me thinking "can I have my cake and eat it too?" (in this case a cake made of protein powder and applesauce to fit my new lifestyle, but you get the picture). Can I have QUALITY time with Kenzie every day and still run my bow business, while checking in with the important people who have started a nutrition plan, while making sure there is food on the table every night, while making sure the house doesn't look like a bomb exploded in it, etc.? 

I decided to go back to Time Management 101 (oddly something I used to give presentations on when I was working... hmmm) and get down to the nitty gritty. I decided to break down the areas of my life that were important so I knew how to prioritize them:

• Family
• Home 
• Nutrition
• Business 
• Health Coaching
• Personal Development 

Then I took it a step further and made sub-categories of what each group was made up of

• Family
• Mackenzie 
• Ben
• Parents
• Home 
• Laundry 
• House cleaning 
• Nutrition
• Meal prep 
• Following nutrition plan (tabs, shakes, teas, pbs)
• Exercise 
• Business 
• Bows 
• Health Coaching 
• DMO
• Client Follow up 
• Client Resources 
• Personal Development 
• "Tiffy Time"
• Reading 
• Blogging

After breaking those areas down, I identified what each of them would require in order for me to feel successful at each (or things I have neglected and wanted to do a better job at). You could say these are my "goals" because without goals, where are we going, right??? So here we go:

• Family
• Mackenzie 
• Setting uninterrupted time aside to engage in play with Kenzie. Take her to gymnastics at least 3 times a week. Work on speech and language development through games and activities. 
• Ben
• Setting uninterrupted time aside to eat lunch/ dinner together and talk about our day. Taking advantage of days off to go on dates or spend family time together outside of the house. 
• Parents
• Have more family meals together. Create more opportunities for family outings. 
• Home 
• Laundry 
• Doing laundry every other day. Sheets every Saturday. 
• House cleaning 
• Sweep mopping the floor every other day (with animals it gets a little "fuzzy")
• Clean bathrooms, dust, and mop at least once a week.
• Nutrition
• Meal prep 
• Shopping and prepping foods on Sunday afternoon 
• Following nutrition plan (tabs, shakes, teas, bps)
• Setting reminders to take vitamins
• Having my shake first thing in the AM, no excuses. 
• Exercise 
• Taking Kenzie for stroller walks or doing Blogilates videos at least 4 times a week. 
• Business 
• Bows 
• Getting new/ holiday items posted
• Being more consistent with Facebook updates and specials 
• Health Coaching 
• DMO
• Reading my DMO every morning to remind me of how to help inspire and help others be healthier 
• Client Follow up 
• Checking in every Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday 
• Client Resources 
• Begin a Motivational Monday email for all clients with helpful resources to help them stick to their nutrition plan 
• Personal Development 
• "Tiffy Time"
• Take 30 minutes of uninterrupted time to read, take a bubble bath, exercise, catch up with friends, etc. 
• Reading 
• Read books about topics I enjoy: personal development, leadership, health, etc. 
• Blogging
• Ensure that I have a blog post about something each week for all of you to enjoy (or laugh at me... whichever you feel appropriate)

I believe that when your time is properly managed, you have less stress, more freedom, and more structure so that your anxiety levels aren't through the roof! Just by taking the time to write out my "life priorities" I feel more confident about what things need to get done first in order for me to feel like a successful mom. Will all of these things always happen? I can confidently say "no, not always." But will having some sort of direction of what I want and where I am going in life help me? "HECK YES!" 

Now that I have everything mapped out, the tricky part is finding time during the day or week to accomplish them, but we all have to start somewhere, right? I don't expect to transform into super mom/ wife/ bow maker/ health coach/ house cleaner/ awesome person overnight, and neither should you :) Little steps in the direction you desire are what's important :)

The darling heartbeat continues...

Tiffany 

Baked Stuffed Bell Peppers

Stuffed bell peppers are a longtime favorite of mine. I used to make them stuffed full of Spanish rice, hamburger and cheese, but now I have a much healthier version that I wanted to share with everyone looking for a quick, easy and healthy dinner for the family.

I first start off by washing the bell peppers (I use green, but you can use whatever suits your fancy). Once washed, you will cut the tops off and clean out the seeds. Place the peppers top down in a pot with at least an inch of water and cook on high until the peppers are soft (but not mushy). I usually take them out when the face down part of the pepper begins to turn a lighter green.


While the peppers are cooking, you can work on your DELICIOUS stuffing! Basically anything healthy and nutritious can be put into the stuffing mix, but I will show you my latest pepper creation mix.

 First you want to brown the ground turkey. I used Jeannie-O Taco Seasoned flavor (and it was sooooo yummy). After browning the ground turkey, you can add your other fixin's. I added a can of low sodium corn and a can of pinto beans along with some homemade salsa. Once the mixture is warm, you can start stuffing your NUTRITIOUS peppers! This batch made enough to stuff 6 medium size bell peppers, but depending on what you add, it can be made to make more.

Other fixin's to try:
Grilled onions
Grilled zucchini
Broccoli
Tomatoes
Asparagus
Light Mozzarella on the top
Hummus
Brown rice
Quinoa
Edamame
More bell peppers!

Once everything is prepped and stuffed, place the peppers in a glass Pyrex dish and cook on 350 for 30 minutes.

I usually make these ahead of time and then bake fresh before dinner, but you can always bake as soon as you are done prepping and save the rest for later. They make a wonderful leftover meal as well.

Each serving has approximately 20 grams of protein :)

Recipe for homemade salsa:
10 Campari tomatoes
5 stalks of green onions
1 jalapeño pepper (or the pepper of your choice according to your personal "spicy meter."
1 bunch of cilantro

Mix everything in a food processor or finely chop ingredients and BAM! Homemade salsa :) Pretty easy peasy, right? Thank Mom for an AMAZING and DELICIOUS salsa recipe!

Hope you enjoyed this recipe! The Darling heartbeat continues....

Tiffany