Omelet in a Bag!

Omelet in a Bag!

I know, Omelet in a Bag!?  This is one of the most quick and easy ways to get in a healthy breakfast without a lot of prep time and can be made in bulk and frozen or refrigerated to help you during your week!  This is not my original invention, I believe this is one we found online forever ago when looking for egg recipes. Boiling the eggs in a bag saves time on clean up and you get to enjoy your eggs without any added butter or oils.  This has been one of our family favorites for a while, since you can quickly enjoy these omelets or have them Good To Go in your lunch for the day, my Hubby often brings these to work for his lunch.  I'll be honest, sometimes, I even eat these omelets for a snack! *Gasp* I know, I'm a wild one.

Ingredients:

1 Freezer Bag - Quart sized  (I like Ziploc, but whatever will work, just make sure it is a Freezer bag, they handle extreme temperatures the best.

2 Eggs

3T Cheese (Cheddar or Feta are my favorites)

1/2 - 1C Salsa or chopped veggies - Get some veggies in!

My  Favorite Chopped Veggies:

* Salsa would save you on prep time, but I keep these chopped on hand anyway for salads or recipes like these during my week.  It's a great way to help me squeeze in my veggies for the day! 

Onion

Green Bell Pepper

Tomatoes

Spinach

My Favorite Egg Seasonings:

*Optional (I don't really measure, I just do 1-2 shakes of whatever I'm in the mood for... you really can't mess these up too easily)

Onion Powder

Garlic Powder

Smoked Paprika

Parsley 

Black Pepper

Chili Powder (adds some heat, so, go easy on this one)

Directions:

1. Fill a Sauce Pot full enough to cover your Omelet Bag.  I use a 4 Quart sauce pot and fill it 2/3 full.  Put this pot on Medium High heat to get it boiling, while you are doing your prep work.

2. For the most easy prep, put your Freezer Bag inside a mug and pull the bag open.  I like to fold the opening over the edges of the mug, so the bag doesn't accidentally close while I'm trying to put my eggs in it.

3. Crack your eggs into the mug.  Add Salsa & Seasonings.  I like to add 1/2 of my Cheese and salsa and reserve the rest for the top of my Omelet, if you aren't going to enjoy your omelet right away, go ahead and put all of your cheese in the Omelet. :)

4. Squeeze the air out of the bag and zip the bag closed.  Squeeze the contents until well combined.  Insert bag into your pot of hot water and boil for 13 - 15 minutes.  You will want to boil longer if you are doing multiple Omelets, I would only bump it up to 15 - 20 minutes at the most. 

 

Note: You do not need to fully immerse the bag in the boiling water, but can leave the top of the bag out of the pot so you can easily remove the bag once it is done... Be sure not to let the bag hang over onto your hot burner, as this could start a fire!

5. The omelet should not have liquid running around in the bag, if it does, simply flip the bag around or push it down with a wooden spoon and continue boiling for 1-2 minutes.  The omelet will come out looking fully cooked.

6. The fully cooked omelet will simply slide out of the bag!  Add the rest of your cheese on top while it is hot, so the cheese can melt, you can also add more salsa on top to get more veggies in!  If you are saving an omelet for later, refrigerate for up to 4 days, freeze for 1 month.  You should never eat raw or undercooked eggs.  If your eggs are runny or undercooked, simply microwave them for 30 seconds to 1 minute.

For those doing the 21 Day Fix program: This Omelet counts as 1 Red, 1/2 - 1 Green & 1/2 Blue containers. 

Enjoy!

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Sweet Potato Chips

Sweet Potato Chips

There are foods that are bad for you and there are foods that are not but taste like they should be! These chips are exactly that!  The natural sweetness of the Sweet Potato gives salty sweet lovers everywhere reason to rejoice!  They truly are a life saver to someone like me that is a recovering Bad-For-You Potato Chip Addict. :)

I was introduced to the world of healthy chip baking thanks to the wonderful world of Pinterest.  I saw a few neat recipes on making Apple Chips, but in order to make them I had to purchase a Mandoline.  Not the strange guitar type instrument, but a veggie slicer!  I found mine for $14.99 at Target, if you do a search for "Mandolin" at Target.com you will come up with several purchase prices for this great kitchen helper... just stay away from the one shaped like a guitar, I don't think it will do a great job slicing your veggies. :)

Ingredients:

1 Medium-Small Sweet Potato per person
* Parchment Paper

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 and line your baking sheets with Parchment Paper. 

You will want to pick a medium-small Sweet Potato (although this will work with regular potatoes as well). One sliced potato filled one baking sheet, so if you land on larger potatoes you will need to make multiple batches or line multiple baking sheets. You can choose to peel the potato or leave the skin on.  I have very picky eaters in my house, so this first few times I made these chips I thought I would have better luck getting them to eat the chips without the skins, but it turns out there really is no taste or visual difference in the chips, so save yourself some time and don't peel them, unless there is a funky spot.  My picky eater has gobbled these up and has also treated them like poison, but my non-picky eater loves these as much as mommy. :)

 The Mandoline is an amazing kitchen helper.  Depending on the design you choose, you may be able to set the blade to your desired thickness.  Just know, the thicker the slice of potato, the longer it will take to bake and get good and crispy.  I like to make all of my veggie and fruit variations at the thinnest blade thickness.  These chips are at 1/8th thickness.   

CAUTION: The Mandoline is extremely sharp and will not hesitate to slice off every finger you direct towards its hungry blade! I highly recommend taking it nice and slow and running the potato down the blade until your fingers are no less than an inch away from the blade, then either stop or make sure you use the safe guard to finish slicing.

Next, you will want to line a baking sheet with Parchment Paper and place the potato slices on the pan so they are not overlapping. These are a big hit in our house, so I make a lot at a time without leftovers.  It is a bit of a labor of love, but for a potato chip fix they are worth it!

Bake for a total of 20 minutes, flipping them half way through.  My oven bakes quite unevenly, so I take off the ones that are done at the 20 minute mark and put any that need a little extra crisping on Broil for 2-3 minutes. 

These chips keep their sweet potato sweetness and are Very Good coupled with a little Feta Cheese and Balsamic Vinegar. 

1 Potato = 1 Serving or 1 Yellow 21 Day Fix container.

Also, they do crisp up more as they cool, so give them a minute or two before chowing down!

Enjoy!

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Okra the Alien Vegetable

 

Okra - The Alien Vegetable

I remember it like it was yesterday, my family sat down to the meal my mom laid out for us; I made my quick inventory of what was for dinner, deciding what I wanted most... then I saw it. Something green and slimy, with little slimy balls stuck inside.  A quick glance to my mother and the set look on her face let me know she was completely serious about what was on the table, she was determined to make us eat the Alien Food!  Surely Not! My mom, seeing my face, told me it was "Okra."  What kind of name is okra?!  I watched in dread as a heaping spoonful was piled on my plate and my mother, cautious of the potential adolescent outburst, softly said "just try it."  This is when I knew my parents had been replaced by Pod People.  It was the only logical explanation as to why my mother, who said she loved me dearly, would attempt to end me with this slug filled "food"!
Well, I survived and it turned out my parents weren't Pod People.  I don't think Pod People are allowed to show such an intense emotion as rage, like the kind my parents showed when I attempted to get out of eating the okra by putting it on my brother's plate and proclaiming I wasn't eating dinner that night. 

Fast-forward 15ish years and you would find newlywed me freshly settled in Florida to be near my new hubby's family. I was a little lonely for my family (none of which lived in Florida), so when we received a dinner invitation from my grandfather's elderly cousin and his wife, we were quick to accept. My husband and I would joke that our first "couple friends" were in their 80s. They were wonderful people, the conversation was interesting and dinner smelled great!  We sat down for dinner and, gasp, there it was again... after years of avoidance, okra was again on the menu!  I put on my polite-brave face and only wondered for a minute if they would notice if I put it on our host's plate (hey, it was the closest plate to mine), but I was good and, with a deep breath, took my first bite in years.  I was pleasantly surprised!  The once strangely fuzzy texture of the outside of the vegetable was tastily toasted with a simple coating of an egg and Parmesan cheese mix, sauteed up in olive oil.  The previously perceived slimy texture was now a textural compliment to the lightly toasted outside.  I had seconds. 

I recently jumped on the "Clean Eating" train, which includes eating lots of fresh veggies and fruits.  After years of struggling with my weight I finally reached out for help and true guidance on what to eat.  It has made a very big impact on my life and I can't recommend it enough!  Message me if you would like more details. 

I have added Okra into my regular diet.  I enjoy this veggie several times a week and am trying new ways to enjoy this strange food. Here is one of my favorite way to enjoy it:

 

Sauteed Okra with Feta!

Ingredients:

2 1/2C Frozen Okra
1t Garlic Powder
1t Smoked Paprika
1/2t Cayenne Pepper
3T Feta Cheese
2t Olive Oil

Directions:

Mix okra and olive oil in a skillet on medium heat, stirring until okra is thawed.  Once okra is thawed, slightly turn up heat and add Garlic Powder, Smoked Paprika & Cayenne Pepper. Mix well.

Place okra in a mixing bowl and add Feta Cheese, mixing well.

(Serves 2 - 1 Serving is 1 Green Container of the 21 Day Fix and 1/2 Blue Container)

I also enjoy the frozen mixed bag of veggies that includes okra, and throwing that together with a little whole grain rice and a tasty pork chop!  Keep an eye out for my Baked Pork Chops!  Until then, give okra a try! :)

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Simple Mashed Sweet Potatoes - Picky Eater Approved!

Simple Mashed Sweet Potatoes - Picky Eater Approved!

There is rarely a dinner time in our house that doesn't turn into some kind of battle zone.  My oldest, almost 3, is the Worlds. Most. Picky. Eater.  Oh, she will eat anything that isn't good for her: Pizza, Pasta with cream sauces, Chicken Nuggets, Fish Sticks, Grilled Cheese Sandwiches; but give her some fresh fruit or, heaven forbid, a vegetable, all chaos commences in our house.  Tears are pouring down faces, and sometimes down Cora's too.  My pediatrician assures me this is just a phase, and she will one day become more open to trying healthier foods, but I'm really not sure I believe her... until I made these Simple Mashed Sweet Potatoes.  Now, I have a confession.  We tricked her by calling it "pudding".  But, as you can see above, the clouds parted and I heard Angels singing as she gobbled it up!  I almost had to wear my jaw in a sling after it hit the table.  So, this is why I am making it my first recipe I will share with you! :)

Simple Healthy Mashed Sweet Potatoes

Ingredients:

2 Sweet Potatoes

1 Banana

Water

2 t Cinnamon (or more, I LOVE cinnamon)

Directions:

 

Peel and dice 2 (or more) Sweet Potatoes

Cover with water and boil 15-20 minutes, or until a fork can easily skewer.  

Dump out the water. (Bonus Tip: Pour the water into a separate container and let cool, once cool, water your house plants with it to give them lots of good nutrients)

Break 1 Banana into small chunks & put in the pan with the diced potatoes.  Add Cinnamon and mash away! 

- Serves 2 Adults, 1 Picky Toddler and 1 Baby. :)

*Note: If you are adding this to your 21 Day Fix meal plan, this is 1 Yellow Container and 1 Purple

 

 Baby Approved Too! ;)

Enjoy!

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Why I Secretly Wish My Lifestyle Change Was Failing.

I love Pizza. Before committing to changing my lifestyle, we had it for dinner every week, without fail.  Jet’s Pizza in Fort Myers knew my husband by name (he always orders the pizza because I’m scared to talk to people, lol).  I love bacon cheese burgers!  “Love” may actually not be a strong enough word for it, if I could eat them for every meal, I would!  Before buckling down to start taking care of myself, I made sure to schedule my morning grocery store run with the girls so that we would be done around lunch time, this way we could get a treat after buying groceries for next few days, I always did this at least once a week.  And any time we are running around on the weekend, buying more groceries or simply running other errands, I tried to make sure we were out and about over the noon hour or close enough to dinner time, so I could justify to myself eating out again… and we are on a tight budget so it was nearly always some kind of fast food, a.k.a. super delicious cheeseburger time! :)  And we all have those things we don’t like to tell everyone because we think they will judgey-mc-judge you, but here it goes… I love beer.  I could down a few good lagers a night, after the kids went to bed, to help unwind. Since I discovered my love for beer, this has become nearly a nightly ritual.  I Love Beer. And you don’t want me to even get started on chocolate!

Now, I have a confession, I’m slightly disappointed that this plan is working so well.  If the results weren’t so immediate and extreme, I could justify going back to how I used to be, 196 lbs and living in my cheeseburger moments.  Here is the thing though, it’s not just working well, it’s blowing my mind!  I was down over 7 pounds in just 10 days doing the new Beachbody 21 Day Fix program.  It’s not only that I’m burning fat like a stick of butter melting in the microwave, I’m building muscles too!  The 30 minute long workouts are long enough to really pack a punch on that paunch, but not so long I can justify not doing it with that excuse of “I don’t have enough time.”  The first week was a bit of a struggle, but by the second week I was actually able to do a pushup for the first time in… I don’t even know when I last did a real pushup!  For a girl that has been (kind of) trying to lose weight off and on for the last 5-10 years as I constantly see the number creep up on the scale, that is amazing.  I knew the food choices I was making were wearing on my figure. I knew every time I ate a cheeseburger and then tried to find something to wear on the weekend before going out, I would regret all the cheeseburgers I had consumed during the week; but at the time I was eating those burgers I couldn’t care less what my future self was going to go through.  Here is the thing, with the 21 Day Fix, it’s designed to help you break those bad eating habits with a very simple color-coded container system.  If what you want to eat fits in the specific container, you get to eat it!  I don’t want to over complicate explaining things so I don’t get to my point… but shoot me a message and I’ll gladly give you more info.

Before starting on this program, I didn’t really know what advice to listen to.  “Don’t eat Carbs”, “Don’t eat sugar”, “Eat only protein”, “Do Cardio 1 hour a day 5 Days a week”, so I would start one plan that would limit the foods I could eat and take up my entire evening trying to run my chub away, and I would be failing after a short time because I would feel begrudgingly deprived and go gobble up the stuff I truly wanted and give that plan the finger while I kicked it to the curb!  I may see a few pounds lost on those other plans, but one carb loaded hamburger bun later I would be up 2 pounds and seriously discouraged.   The thing is, I can still eat the things I love, I just don’t need to have them so often and maybe in not such a large quantity at a time.  Here is the most important thing I’ve learned, and it may seem so simple, but it’s something I forgot along the way:  It’s okay for me to love cheeseburgers, it’s not okay for me to love them more than myself.

After years of being “too tired” or too ignorant to know how to truly take care of myself, I’m glad I finally reached out to someone who knew what they were doing and gave me the tools to actually accomplish my goals.  The impact Beachbody has made in my life cannot be stressed enough.  It saved me from a future of who knows how many health problems due to obesity and the fact that I can now play on the ground with my children… there is no price you can put on that.

Let me pay it forward! If you just want some information or want to look further into some of the free tools that are available to you, please check out my page at:

www.beachbodycoach.com/BRANDYSURRATT


You can have a Free Beachbody account that has access to loads of information and tools to get you started; I will also be starting my next 21 Day Fix Challenge Group April 7th, 2014.  I would love to help you reach your goals as I continue to pursue mine!

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A New Kind of New Year's Resolution

So, I did not set a New Year's Resolution this year.  I didn't make any plans to lose 50ish pounds or read 24 new books.  At a young adults Bible study, we discussed finding one word to focus on this year, one simple word to help summarize your focus for the New Year.  I chose the word "Trust." Little did I know just how much I would grow this year by learning to focus on that one simple word, and the One I am giving my trust to!

My husband and I had a rocky 2013, and it was full of learning to trust in God’s plan for us, that ultimately we would be okay. We learned quickly how to adjust our family budget to a single income when I left my job of 7 years; we decided it would be in our family’s best interest for me to stay home with our young girls and also decided to sell the house that was a constant vacuum on any attempt at having a Savings for our future.  These things had me questioning God’s plan for our family.  I was upset that we worked so hard only to have to throw so much away, when we had to sell our house at a very great loss.  During this time I was consumed with worry and anxiety about our future.  I knew after we sold our house our future was completely unsettled.  There is no crystal ball to look into the future to tell me how much we needed to be able to budget for me to continue to stay home with our children, or if leaving my old job was truly the best decision for my future career path.  It was through encouragement and a LOT of prayer that I decided to stop focusing on what we didn’t or wouldn’t have and focusing on what was most important… we were still a family, we were still all together, and we had family and friends giving us support and words of encouragement.  When I stopped living with the stress of worry and just gave it all over in prayer, things started coming together for us.  I’m not saying God is a magic genie that was doling out wishes, but when I let go of how I thought things should be and simply trusted things were going to be okay, it turned out that… things were okay!

One of my favorite Bible verses is:

Matthew 6:31-34: “So, do not worry, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear?’. For pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them.  But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.  Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough troubles of its own.”

I am working on seeking His plan first and I know everything else will fall in line.  So, we sold our house and are currently living with family until we are ready to step out on our own again.  We were on the fence between my going back to work, only to earn enough to save a hundred or two after covering the girl’s daycare costs (two children under the age of 3 makes for very expensive daycare bills), or my staying home to make sure our children were getting the attention we value most.  Well, to make a long story short, it seemed every time I made a turn to try to move forward with my plans, I fell on my face.  Then I realized I was going on making my plans again.  Not that there is anything wrong with having goals, but when I think my goals are the only options and I’m not receptive to God’s plan, that is when obstacles seem to hit me the hardest.  I decided to focus on something other than our future and focus on the here and now, focus on my health, which I had been putting on the back burner for quite some time.  That is when an amazing opportunity presented itself, why not get healthy and become a Beachbody Coach?  I could get healthy, help others reach goals just like mine and be able to stay home with our girls!  And there was the added bonus that I can be paid to do something I am doing anyway!  So, I am taking a breath and saying “Lead me Lord!”  I have never been an athlete, barely can say I have been in a public gym, but I am going to get healthy and share what I am learning along the way.  Being a Beachbody Coach is not a Get Rich Quick scheme, I am not expecting to make a large paycheck right away, but I know the potential is there, it just depends on me depending on Him!  I can do this!  He will lead me if I trust in Him and no matter the outcome, we will still be okay!

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End the Trend!

This is my first blog post, ever.  So, I apologize now for the disorganization and any rabbit trails I may go down. Blogging (and pretty much all things that go along with getting healthy) are new to me.... so, why would I qualify to blog about health and healthy living?  No idea. I've never been in sports (I did a VEERRRYY short stint in Track in Jr. high, but it was so short I don't think it counts), I can barely say I've been in a public gym, but getting healthy is my new focus.  Something I do know for sure is the number on that bathroom scale just keeps going up every year and it scares me.  Now, I'm no expert, but I have swallowed my pride and have asked help from some experts, and I want to share some of the things I learn... this seems like an excellent place to do it.

I have always been someone who says "show me proof that it works and then maybe I'll think about doing it too."  TV, magazines, ads... those can all be Photoshopped and the truth can be distorted, but watching a person go from scraggly or obese to fit and glowing with health, that is something that can't be faked.  I can honestly say, I've seen it; I have seen so many people that I know first hand change their lives by following the guides of a Beachbody program, and I want that too!

My Q&A Time:

Getting healthy is great and a fantastic personal goal, but why do I want to become a Beachbody Coach?
I have wanted to make a difference in the world, in my community, and among my loved ones. Being a Coach is an excellent way to make a difference and help supplement my family's income at the same time.  Being a stay-at-home mom, this helps make ends meet and is something I can feel good about doing.
Since you want to make a difference in the world, where do you start?  - I have had so many conversations about Healthcare, the nature of America's food production, political corruption, the state of education, the ridiculous standard of beauty portrayed through so many media sources daily; these conversations can really get your head spinning. Figuring out where to start can be enough to make you want to stop before you even start.

Why should you even care?
I once heard someone say "If you don't vote, you don't get to complain," meaning, if you aren't actively trying to do something to change the way things are, you don't get to complain about it. If everyone who took the time to complain with their friends for 30min about the issues today, took that same 30 minutes to try to do something about the issues today... we would all be better for it.

So, how do we change things?
There are too many things to try to tackle!  Well, I'm a big fan of efficiency, and I see there are many big issues that are interlinked, so let's start there!  Healthcare, Standard of Beauty, Food production, Nutrition Education... These are all linked to each and every individual's personal nutrition choices, and all of those individual choices affect the bigger picture.  If you teach families how to make healthy choices, that changes the need for Healthcare drastically, so many ailments are linked to poor nutrition. If you are proactively attempting to feed yourself and your family healthy foods, those farmers and companies that produce healthy foods benefit, helping the overall affordability of nutrient rich foods to become realistic for every household income.  Lastly, if we teach what truly healthy bodies look like, we greatly change the Standard of Beauty, helping our sons and daughters set more realistic goals for their future selves.

Beachbody has a great slogan, "End the Trend!"  "End the Trend" of obesity and poor nutrition in individuals and families; I know my family has a long history of obesity.  I once thought, "obesity just runs in my family," and then I heard the quote "obesity doesn't run in your family, people in your family are obese because no one RUNS in your family."  It hit me like a ton of bricks, so so so true.  I want to get healthy and I want to help my family get healthy.  I want to set an excellent example for my two young daughters so they too can avoid the self-esteem depraving traps that are set by every other commercial and magazine ad they come across. Finding a company with values parallel to my own, that also helps not only me get healthy and contributes to healing families everywhere that participate in their programs, is something to support.  Their coaches and people in their commercials are real people who committed to getting healthy, they are beautiful because they are living lives committed to being better and set excellent examples and standards that are actually acheiveable. I just don't know why it took me so long to get into it!

I’m honestly not sure how to wrap this up, so I will just say, thanks for reading my first blog post!  I hope you are still awake! :)  If you would like more information on the excellent Beachbody programs available to you, check out my website: www.beachbodycoach.com/BRANDYSURRATT

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