Feel Great in 8!

A couple weeks ago, my sister, my husband and I  joined a little health competition to feel great in 8 weeks. We are starting week 3 and I must say, I am loving it! I have never really had any trouble with eating healthy per say. I like wheat, and fruits and veggies and for the most part I try and pick healthy food. But this has really helped me to  improve on it  and really focus on what I am buying and eating.We are also supposed to work out  for an hour each day, which has been good to get me back in to working out. Although this is mostly a fitness challenge, it also includes spiritual things such as saying a personal prayer, reading something spiritual like scriptures, and daily challenges to help better ourselves. I have been much happier over the past couple weeks and I am very glad that I decided to do this.
 
One thing that I have noticed over the past couple weeks is that I am always thinking about food. Not in the "I am in starving, and I am not getting what I want" kind of  thinking. It is more  of the " What different meals can I come up with under these new guidelines?"

It has been actually pretty fun to find new and different recipes to try out on my family. And the best part of all of this... my daughter, the pickiest  eater in the world, (not exaggerating here either, I have her in occupational therapy to get her to start eating food.), has started trying different healthy foods!! This is a huge deal for us. She now has tried (and like!!) green smoothies, brown rice, apples, carrots and stuffed peppers with black beans!

So my sister requested that I post the recipes that I have been making  with this challenge. I am trying to have a different meal every dinner and so far it has been pretty close.

First I will start with my husbands favorite so far. Spinach BBQ Chicken Pizza. Its really very simple, it only has 5 ingredients!  I have tried it with whole wheat pitas, Whole wheat tortillas and the whole wheat premade pizza crusts, but I prefer the pitas, (pictured above). For the BBQ Sauce, you can use either a home made version, you can try this one here at The Gracious Pantry. Or if you are lazy busy like me, there are a few organic versions at the grocery store. The one I have been using is Annie's Naturals Smokey BBQ. My husband LOVES it! Anyways, spread the pita with BBQ sauce, topped with about a half cup of mozzerella cheese, cut up chicken breast, about 4 oz (or you can go with the canned version of this, big time saver!) chopped red onion, chopped spinach, (put as much as you would like, I usually just cover the whole thing with spinach since it shrinks when cooked,) then I put a tiny bit more of mozzerella for good measure, bake at 350 degrees for about 15-20 minutes, and voila! Yummyness. I figure 1 pita is a serving size. They are really good and would also work for lunch, because they are quick.

My next one is my favorite so far, and I am sad I didnt get a picture of it but it was so good we just ate it right up. Sloppy Joes!! This aint no canned junk either. It was so good!! I found it here, but it honestly tastes better than it looks. I did make one modification, (I think). They asked for onions, but make sure it is red onions, it gives a little sweetness to it. I served them on the whole wheat sandwich thins, or you can put them on bread, whatever tickles your fancy. Oh and on the recipe in the directions it asks for brown sugar, but not in the ingredients. I just put about 1-2 tbsp of brown sugar in it.

Next is the one that L decided to try, and again I didnt get a picture of it, but here you can get a pretty good idea of what it looks like.  Santa Fe Stuffed peppers. They were really very tasty and had a lot flavor to them.
I dont want to bombard you with meals, so hopefully I can update as I go. Cant wait to see what I come up with next!!