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...