Mixed Berry Lemonade....All Natural, No Refined Sugar

This beverage has me dreaming of hot, summer days....It's refreshing, healthy and would be pretty amazing for happy hour with a little citrus vodka. ;)  This is an adaptation of a Vitamix recipe that I received from a Vitamix sales representative.  The only change from the original recipe for Strawberry Lemonade is the addition of raspberries and blackberries (because I love them!)  Enjoy~


Mixed Berry Lemonade

Ingredients:
2 cups of organic red, seedless grapes
2 large organic strawberries, 3 blackberries and 3-4 raspberries (can use frozen)
1 small slice of lemon with rind
1 tsp agave nectar, or 1 packet stevia, or 1 tbsp honey ( I use agave)
1/2 cup ice


In a Vitamix: Blend on high for 1 minute.  In a blender: Blend until smooth.

Fit and Fabulous Fridays #20

It's time for another weekend round-up of amazing healthy recipes! Fit and Fabulous Fridays is a place where amazing foodies share their lightened-up recipes!! I welcome all blogging friends to link up and join the fun. This is a place for you to showcase your amazing creations, encourage a healthy lifestyle for my readers and add to my fit recipe collection. I really appreciate the great recipes that you share. I welcome all healthy lifestyle recipes (vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, paleo diet, etc.). A friendly reminder, PLEASE make sure you are submitting a HEALTHY recipe. Save that death by chocolate torte for the sugar coma linky. Just sayin'....;) Have a fabulous weekend!!!!



Here's how it works:

• Please link up to the URL of your post, not the URL of your main blog. When it asks for "Name", type in the name of your recipe.
• Please leave a link back to this post in your post and grab my button for your blog(please pass the word to your blog friends for more fabulous recipes!)
• Share your delicious and fit recipes from this week (you can share more than one).
• Leave me a comment telling me that you've linked up.
• Please visit at least two others and comment on their wonderful additions to this party.
• "Like" my facebook page for updates and link party reminders

Thank you for being a part of my link party! I love sharing recipes and look forward to trying yours! Have a wonderful weekend!!



Fit Inspiration

Raspberry Ketones.....Gimmick or Worthy of Praise??

     *photo by raspberries.us


This supplement is getting a lot of hype lately.  Dr. Oz did a feature recently on this "miracle fat burner in a bottle."  You can watch his video here.   I found this segment very interesting.  I am not usually a fan of weight loss supplements.  Let's face it, the best way to live a healthy life and acheive a healthy body is through clean eating and exercise.  There's not a pill that you can pop to achieve overall wellness.   Not to mention, a lot of weight loss supplements contain caffeine and dangerous stimulants.  They can give you the shakes and a wicked case of anxiety....not a good feeling!  However, the fact that this supplement is natural and has no (known) side effects intrigues me.  I decided to be a product tester for all of you.  I ordered my Raspberry Ketones from Amazon and started them today.  I'll report back with my results in 30 days and see if there really is physical change from taking these pills.  I will not alter my exercise program or eating habits, to ensure more accurate results.  I'll do measurements today and see if it really is all that it's cracked up to be. You cannot eat enough raspberries in a day to get the same effect as the supplement.  It would take 90lbs!!  Be careful of supplements on the market now.  A lot of the Raspberry Ketone products contain other ingredients like green tea, caffeine, etc.  You want PURE Raspberry Ketones as a supplementation to a healthy and fit lifestyle.  Let's see if they live up to their hype!

My friend Lauren over at Lauren Kelly, Certified Nutritionist shared a great article about the health benefits of Kale.  You can read it here.  Kale is easy to grow yourself, organically.  It will also save you a lot of money.  If you aren't sure how to cook with Kale, I wanted to showcase an article from Cooking Light that contains some great Kale recipes.  Bon Appetit~

My featured recipe this week comes from the uber talented Foodie Physician.  This Tilapia Picatta sounds and looks amazing!  

I love her story.  Sonali is a board certified Emergency Medicine physician and a culinary school graduate!  Her ambition is amazing and she creates wonderful healthy recipes.  She has competed on The Ultimate Recipe Showdown on Food Network and won or placed in quite a few recipe contests.  I hope you'll check out her site and be inspired.  


Look for my Fit and Fabulous link up tomorrow and check out healthy recipes from great foodies around the web.  I will be focusing on my other passion this weekend.  I am attending a conference for children's book writers, illustrators and publishers.  I am working on a children's book to publish this year.  They are critiquing my book on Saturday.  
Wish me luck. :)

Cranberry Orange Chicken

This is a variation of a Cranberry Chicken recipe that turned out scrumptious.  I have to say, it wasn't the prettiest dish to photograph.  It's one of those really tasty, but kinda ugly dishes.  I gave it my best shot, because we all thought is was worthy of the blog.  I love the blend of cranberry and orange flavors.  The tangy flavor of the onion soup mix goes great with the sweet and tart flavors of the marmalade and cranberry sauce.  I recommend serving the chicken over a bed of brown rice.  The rice soaks up all the sauce and tastes amazing.  Enjoy~

Cranberry Orange Chicken

6 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 9oz jar cranberry sauce (such as R.W. Knudsen)
8oz fruit based orange marmalade (such as Simply Fruit)
zest of one orange
2 envelopes dried onion soup mix
1/4 cup dried cranberries (soak in orange juice for about 30 minutes and drain before adding to dish)

Arrange chicken breasts in a 9x13 baking dish.  Mix all ingredients together and pour over chicken.  Cover with foil and bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.  Remove foil and bake for 15 minutes more.

Makes 6 servings.

Fit and Fabulous Fridays #19

It's time for another weekend round-up of amazing healthy recipes! Fit and Fabulous Fridays is a place where amazing foodies share their lightened-up recipes!! I welcome all blogging friends to link up and join the fun. This is a place for you to showcase your amazing creations, encourage a healthy lifestyle for my readers and add to my fit recipe collection. I really appreciate great recipes that you share. I welcome all healthy lifestyle recipes (vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, paleo diet, etc.). A friendly reminder, PLEASE make sure you are submitting a HEALTHY recipe. Save that death by chocolate torte for the sugar coma linky. Just sayin'....;) Have a fabulous weekend!!!!

Here's how it works:

• Please link up to the URL of your post, not the URL of your main blog. When it asks for "Name", type in the name of your recipe.
• Please leave a link back to this post in your post and grab my button for your blog(please pass the word to your blog friends for more fabulous recipes!)
• Share your delicious and fit recipes from this week.
• Leave me a comment telling me that you've linked up.
• Please visit at least two others and comment on their wonderful additions to this party.
• "Like" my facebook page for updates and link party reminders

Thank you for being a part of my link party! I love sharing recipes and look forward to trying yours! Have a wonderful weekend!!

Fit Inspiration

Like you really need another excuse to eat chocolate, right??  Well, here is a great one from Prevention magazine.  I LOVE when people to tell me to indulge in my favorite treat!  Just make sure it's at least 65% cacao to get the most benefits without excessive calories.  I try to keep individually wrapped dark chocolates in the pantry.  When I get a craving for something sweet, I just have a couple and feel satisfied.  It's a great way to get your chocolate fix without tipping the scale. 

    *photo by Godiva

                        
If you love your crockpot as much as I do, you'll appreciate this article from Eating Well.  They give us great tips on how to get better cooking results in this handy appliance.  The convenience of a meal that cooks all day without any labor, helps busy families get healthy meals on the table!  Healthy in a hurry makes a fit lifestyle easy and convenient!


Another great find this week is a pre-breakfast supergreens drink from FitSugar.  It is great for getting a flat tummy!  This debloating chia seed cocktail from celebrity trainer Valerie Waters is full of healthy fiber.  You'll want to add this super fit drink to your morning routine to feel great all day!

Surviving the Stores posted a great deal for us on their site today!  Whole organic chickens are $1.99/lb at Whole Foods this Friday (2/17).  That is a great buy, so stock up if you have a store near you!



My recipe feature this week comes from Naked Moxie.  She has shared a healthier Pasta Fagioli soup that looks amazing!  You can click here for her recipe.  

*photo by NakedMoxie

Enjoy an amazing week friends and stay inspired!

For Your Valentine... Upside Down Cake Pops

I tried out the cake pop pan this weekend (recommended by a friend) and wanted to share my results.  I love traditional cake pops that are prepared by crumbling cake and mixing with a little prepared frosting, however they are a bit time consuming to make (and can be a little too sweet and dense for some folks).  So, I was excited about making the cake balls directly in the baking pan and skipping the extra steps.   Here are my findings....

The cake pop pan (which I bought at Bed, Bath and Beyond) is overall a great design.  It is well made and has a great non-stick surface.  However, it tends to overflow as the pops are baking.  So you end up with a bunch of cake "cups" on top of the pan.  My kids thought this was great, though, because I just filled them with whipped cream and called them mini cake cup surprises.  I think that they liked them better than the pops.  I could have saved myself a lot of work and just scrapped the balls and served up some cake cup Valentine treats.  A few sprinkles on top and I could have called it a day. 

I made sure to follow the directions with the pan and added a box of pudding, used less water than the cake mix called for and added an extra egg.  This is supposed to made for a more dense cake ball to work with to make sure that they don't fall off the stick.  After they cooled, I added a small amount of melted chocolate to each stick and placed inside each cake ball.  I placed them into the refrigerator to harden until set. 

Dipping the cake pops was a little tricky, because they are larger and more fragile than traditional cake pops.  I used melting chocolate to dip the pops and topped them with various sprinkles.  I found that a lot of my cake pops turned out great, but some of them wanted to fall off the stick.  To keep them all uniform and pretty, I decided to turn them upside down into a cupcake liner and cover them with sprinkles.  This way, they all turned out great and they would be super easy to transport to the kid's parties at school. 

My verdict....I love this pan for making these upside down treats, but they are not easy to work with for traditional pops.  They are larger, more airy and harder to dip. However, the fluffier cake texture is wonderful.   I'll keep practicing with my new pan and see if I can't perfect the dipping technique.  It was a good investment and these upside down treats are a fun twist on the original favorite.  

Happy Valentine's Day!

Shared at:

Best of This Life

Triple Berry Protein Shake

Another delicious way to get your daily protein.  Enjoy~ 

Triple Berry Protein Shake

Ingredients:

1 cup of triple berry blend(strawberries, raspberries and blackberries) frozen berries
1 cup of vanilla (40 cal) almond breeze
1 packet truvia
1 heaping scoop of BSN Lean Dessert protein powder (vanilla or chocolate flavor) or your favorite protein powder
1/2 cup cold water

I love the Cascadian Farms organic mixed berry blend.


Place all ingredients in a blender and enjoy!!  Tastes amazing and great for you!

Fit and Fabulous Fridays #18

It's time for another weekend round-up of amazing healthy recipes! Fit and Fabulous Fridays is a place where amazing foodies share their lightened-up recipes!! I welcome all blogging friends to link up and join the fun. This is a place for you to showcase your amazing creations, encourage a healthy lifestyle for my readers and add to my fit recipe collection. I really appreciate great recipes that you share.   I welcome all healthy lifestyle recipes (vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, paleo diet, etc.).  A friendly reminder, PLEASE make sure you are submitting a HEALTHY recipe.  Save that death by chocolate torte for the sugar coma linky.  Just sayin'....;)   Have a fabulous weekend!!!!



Here's how it works:

• Please link up to the URL of your post, not the URL of your main blog. When it asks for "Name", type in the name of your recipe.
• Please leave a link back to this post in your post and grab my button for your blog(please pass the word to your blog friends for more fabulous recipes!)
• Share your delicious and fit recipes from this week.
• Leave me a comment telling me that you've linked up.
• Please visit at least two others and comment on their wonderful additions to this party.
• "Like" my facebook page for updates and link party reminders

Thank you for being a part of my link party! I love sharing recipes and look forward to trying yours! Have a wonderful weekend!!

Coconut Vanilla Cupcakes-Wheat Free, Dairy Free, Gluten Free

Gluten Free Coconut Vanilla Cupcakes

Ingredients:

1/2 cup plus 2 tbsp coconut flour

4 whole eggs

2 egg whites

1/2 cup organic sugar

1 cup coconut milk

2 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

Preheat oven to 350 and line a dozen cupcake holders.  Mix all ingredients in a large bowl until batter is smooth and even.  Spoon batter into cupcake liners and bake for 25-30 minutes or until tops spring back at the touch.  Cool completely and serve with whipped topping or frosting of your choice.

Buffalo Chicken Sandwiches- Crockpot recipe

 Another crockpot keeper here!  I made these over the weekend and they are so delicious.  If you love spicy, go for the hot sauce!!

Buffalo Chicken Sandwiches

*Adapted from Allrecipes

Ingredients:

6 boneless, skinless frozen chicken breasts

1 17.5 oz bottle buffalo wing sauce (hot or mild), divided

1/4 to 1/8 cup chicken broth (depending on how large the chicken breasts are-it keeps the meat moist)

1/2 packet spicy ranch dressing mix (such as Hidden Valley Ranch)

2 tbsp smart balance butter

8 rolls for serving

Put frozen chicken breasts, chicken broth, 3/4 wing sauce and ranch dressing mix into the crockpot.  Cook on low 6-7 hours.  When chicken is done, it will shred easily with a fork.  Shred the chicken in the crockpot and add the remaining wing sauce and the butter.  Stir and serve on your favorite rolls.

*Info without bun:

Weight Watchers ++=4

Weight Watchers Points= 4.1

182 calories, 2 g carbs, 5 g fat, 26g protein

Favorite Protein Shake

I love a protein shake after a good workout.  Your body needs the protein to help build lean muscle mass.  I have tried MANY protein powders on the market and the two below are my favorites.  Enjoy~

Chocolate Banana Protein Shake

1 scoop BSN lean dessert chocolate fudge pudding protein powder (or Tera's Whey chocolate protein)
3 ice cubes
1/2 frozen banana(I peel, slice in half and freeze bananas in ziploc bags for my shakes)
8 oz vitacoco coconut water
8oz  45 calorie almond breeze chocolate almond milk
1 packet truvia.
Mix all ingredients in a blender and enjoy!

Fit and Fabulous Fridays #17 Superbowl Edition

In celebration of Superbowl weekend, I invite you to share your lightened-up party favorites!  I welcome all blogging friends to link up and join the fun. This is a place for you to showcase your amazing creations, encourage a healthy lifestyle for my readers and add to my fit recipe collection. I really appreciate all of you and the great recipes that you share.   I welcome all healthy lifestyle recipes (vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, paleo diet, etc.).  Have a fabulous weekend!!!!

Here's how it works:

• Please link up to the URL of your post, not the URL of your main blog. When it asks for "Name", type in the name of your recipe.
• Please leave a link back to this post in your post and grab my button for your blog(please pass the word to your blog friends for more fabulous recipes!)
• Share your delicious and fit recipes from this week.
• Leave me a comment telling me that you've linked up.
• Please visit at least two others and comment on their wonderful additions to this party.
• "Like" my facebook page for updates and link party reminders

Thank you for being a part of my link party! I love sharing recipes and look forward to trying yours! Have a wonderful weekend!!



Fit Inspiration....Healthy tips and recipes from around the web

I came across a great article on Livestrong this week.  The Most Shocking Diet Myths may surprise you!  Check it out here.

*photo by Comstock/Getty Images

Lauren Kelly, Certified Nutritionist has a delicious breakfast for you this week!  Her Blueberry Zucchini Bread sounds amazing!!  Zucchini bread is a favorite of mine and I can't wait to try Lauren's version.  It's healthy too and has only 169 calories a slice! 

Savory Simple has shared a great recipe for Basil Apple Lime Juice.  For those of you that love to juice, this sounds really light and refreshing.  It is also a glass of antioxidants, vitamin C and a lot of other valuable nutrients.  Does the body good with amazing flavors to boot!

For lunch, Healthy Green Kitchen has an amazing Black Bean Chili with Chocolate.  This filling soup is full of great fiber and nutrients!

                       *photo by Healthy Green Kitchen

For your Superbowl party, I recommend Gina's Skinny Baked Mozzarella Sticks over at Skinnytaste.  Wow, these look great!!!  I love when our favorite finger foods get a skinny makeover. :)

You don't think that I'd forget your cocktails, do you???  Kelly over at Eat Yourself Skinny has a great Skinny Beer-garita recipe for us!  If you think beer + margaritas is weird, then you MUST taste them!  The flavors blend beautifully.  They are easy and really yummy, so go ahead and surprise your guests with this lightened-up concoction.  They will love them. :)

          *photo by Eat Yourself Skinny

For dinner, I love these Pizza Stuffed Chicken Breasts from Dashing Dish!  They are only 8 Weight Watchers points per breast.  My kids will love them, too. :)

            

That concludes my inspiring round-up for this week.  I hope you all will check out Fit and Fabulous Fridays this weekend.  Bloggers will be sharing their favorite lightened-up party recipes with us to celebrate the Superbowl.  Don't miss out!  Enjoy~