Healthy stuffed chicken!

Stuffed chicken is Chris' favorite meal I make with the exception of my Mac and Cheese-and let's face it, we won't be seeing Mac and cheese anytime soon. This is the very first recipe that I didn't use another recipe for the ground work-so its my pride and joy! Chris is equally as good at cooking as I am so I think this was really about one upping him (yea I'm a one upper) and it hit the spot! 

What you'll need:

3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

Fat free mozzarella cheese 

2 Roma Tomatoes 

Roughly 2 handfuls of fresh baby spinach 

Minced garlic

Coconut oil

Low sodium chicken broth 

Toothpicks

Cayenne (optional)

Salt and pepper to taste

Preheat your oven to 375 while you're preparing the rest. The next step you can do hours before or right before. Today, I did my prep work before since Chris doesn't get home until late. 

In a medium sized pan, heat the coconut oil (on medium heat). Dice up the tomatoes and the spinach and set aside in a small bowl. When the coconut oil is melted add in roughly half a spoonful of garlic and brown it lightly in the pan. Add in tomatoes and spinach. This should only take 3-5 minutes to cook. 

Once the tomatoes and spinach are finished, set them aside in the bowl until the chicken is prepared. In preparation to stuff the chicken, I always take a small bowl out to put a few handfuls of the mozzarella cheese that way I'm not wasting cheese or rinsing my hands every time I stick them in the bag. :) 

Rinse and clean your chicken as normal. I'm picky, naturally this takes me 15-20 minutes. I cut off every single bit of fat I see and it takes forever! Anyhow, I find a paring knife works best for this recipe after MANY failed attempts at opening the chicken without poking through the bottom! I start at the top  in the middle and slowly cut it down.

Hard to explain but it's easier than it sounds! 

Now everything is prepped and the chicken is ready to be stuffed! Personally, I put the spinach/tomatoe mixture in first and the mozzarella on top but if you want it extra cheesy I'd put a layer of cheese, the mixture then another top layer of cheese. 

Once the chicken is stuffed I secure the fold using toothpicks-usually 3-4 per breast, and place them in a baking dish. I put just enough low sodium chicken broth in the baking dish so that the entire bottom is covered. -This eliminates dried out chicken that baking so often causes :) Here's where I add all my fun spices!

Like I said,this part is optional however it adds some great flavor! Cayenne is said to help boost your metabolism and well I'll take all the help I can get! I'd use that sparingly though, unless you love spicy food!

This is exactly how mine looks before it goes in the oven. Just a thin layer of the broth on the bottom and it's ready to go in the oven! Set your timer for 35 minutes and all should be great!

And the finished product! 

Low fat, healthy, easy, and incredibly flavorful baked chicken! I promise it'll be a hit! 

Monday, weigh in

I've been dreading stepping on the scale this week since Wednesday. I knew deep down that I went overboard with cravings and closed my eyes to discipline. I gained .8 lbs this week. I deserved what I gained and I can honestly say what I ate wasn't worth the set back. I guess after losing so much in the previous 3 weeks I felt invincible and thought I'd still lose with a few cheat meals.-Well that's what I had convinced myself anyway. I suppose it doesn't help that my boyfriend had 6 days off and we do enjoy going out to eat together. I need to gain some discipline back and make the right choices even if I am in a restaurant.-Trust me, there's almost always healthy choices available in restaurants, it's a matter of asking questions and sometimes substituting. So today, I start over. I don't need someone to motivate me anymore, my body speaks for itself. I CAN get there and I WILL get there. 

I'm headed to the gym in about 20 minutes and Monday is ab day for me usually. It would also be one of my running days but unfortunately my shin splints crept up last week so no running yet. I just placed an order on Amazon for compression socks. I had my old MSgt from the Marine Corps message me and tell me how compression socks changed his running life and he's shin splint free! I'll get back to you all on how they work for me-I should have them by Friday or Saturday.

These are what I'm trying. I read the reviews and I'm on board! I really need these to work because I really can't change the feeling I get after running. I've been running 3 miles 3 times a week for the past 2 weeks and I thought I was going slow enough for my body but hopefully the socks will help me out!

Almost one month down and results to show!

My world has been so insanely busy the last few weeks. Ever have a month fly by and you can't account for the majority of the days? That was January for me. I've been picking up extra shifts at the roadhouse since it's been so slow that I'm sometimes bringing home under $10!

Today, for instance, I brought home a whopping $7 and served 2 tables. Nobody wants a steak on Super Bowl Sunday! So now I'm sitting on the couch, drinking tea while the boys nap. What better time to create a new post?!

I'm rolling into my final week of month 1 of this 12 week "diet". People are really noticing a difference as am I! There's nothing more motivating than a coworker telling you they're watching you shrink before their eyes! I took some pictures to see if I could really spot a difference-it was a HUGE difference! I'll post those in a bit, but wow! I'm so proud of myself. It hasn't been all cake and pie but I've managed to finally gain some control of my weight and do it without starving myself! I will say I'm not perfect, I've had some slip ups. -More than i care to admit, but with the exception of this week I've followed the diet probably 90-10. Here I was thinking I couldn't slip up, not allowing myself anything out side the limits and my TLS coach (Shari) told me that as long as I follow it 80-20 I will be successful. Give an inch, take a mile. This week I was probably 80-20 or 70-30 :( . Lets just say I had more than 1 cheat meal but I'm going to guess that all except one were around or under 500 calories. I weighed myself on Wednesday and I was down 13 lbs. Tomorrow is my weekly weigh in that actually counts so I'll see how that goes. Well, without further adieu, I give to you my results thus far: 

I know, I know...underwear?! How inappropriate! That's what a few of my Facebook followers thought. -So much that someone reported it. Let me clear this all up. Yes, I have a bathing suit I could wear but why?! This actually covers more than my bikini bottom and I honestly wasn't sure I was going to go public with my results but I was just so excited that I had such an amazing improvement in such a short amount of time. So, sue me for my success. I won't apologize for showing off what I've been working to achieve. 

Anyhow! I've created all my own workouts. The internet is an amazing thing. I look up exercises all the time and literally watch YouTube video after video and try to replicate the movement in my living room (weightless) until I'm confident that I've got it down and add it to my workout the following day or week at the gym. I segregate muscles every day, so I only focus on one or two major groups at a time. I typically spend anywhere from 35-60 minutes lifting weights or cross training and then I spend another 30 minutes doing cardio. I have heavier cardio days and lighter-I try to get 3 heavy days and 2 light. Heavy days I'm either running or using the arc trainer and light days I'll either walk at an incline or use a lower resistance on the arc trainer. Here's an example of the shoulder work out I've been doing..never mind the goofy description, that just reminds me what exercise it is and I usually write down thing a to remember to do or not to do during the exercise:

I normally combine shoulders and chest but I don't have much written down for chest exercises (I'm terrible at proper names for equipment and exercises so I just remember what to do for some of it). I'll post workouts as I go, and I'll try my best to start finding proper names for everything I'm doing! All of this is of course assuming February slows down so I can blog!