One Pan Shrimp and Rainbow Veggies

This recipe is SO pretty, huh? And it tastes as amazing as it looks! Plus, it has superb macros ;) I also think it is perfect for company too since it feels fancy. Even my kiddos loved it, my kids love shrimp anything.

Last post, I showed you my "Best Marinaded Grilled Chicken" recipe. (Recipe >>> HERE) Using my extra prepped "Best Marinated Grilled Chicken" from the recipe, I made a spinach and pasta salad. The pasta is cooked and then cooled making it a resistant starch. Resistant starches are pretty cool, ya'll. Starches are just long chains of carbs. Resistant starches are processed by your gut, and ultimately your body, differently than normal carbs though.They function in the gut like a soluble fiber, and can have valuable health benefits.  You can do this with pasta, rice, and potatoes by cooking then cooling them. ✔ 

Banded hip rotations - great for the core AND glutes. I did 3 sets of 12 on each side this morning  you can also do these on the cable machine but I prefer the bands!

My two favorite fish oils  Why fish oil? ✔ Helps to combat inflammation, improves brain health, and joint function. What are you looking for? ✔ You want 500 mg each of DHA and EPA per serving. (The bottle on the right needs to be doubled to hit that, which you can do!) This is one supplement pretty much everyone needs unless you eat 3 servings of fatty fish per week.

Fajitas are my go-to meal at any Mexican restaurant. I usually ask for a side of shredded lettuce and throw that on top with the guac. I usually skip the tortillas, beans, and rice. I have a few chips and salsa before my meal instead ;) the macros obviously depend on where you are eating and what you get but in general the fajitas with lettuce and guac are about 500-700 cals and 30-50g of protein.

So onto the recipe...

One Pan Shrimp and Rainbow Veggies

Serves 2

Ingredients:

• 1 cup cherry tomatoes
• 1 cup carrots, chopped
• 1 cup onion, sliced
• 1 cup asparagus, chopped
• 1 pound shrimp
• 1/2 lime or lemon
• Chili powder
• Oregano
• Salt
• Pepper
• 1 tbsp butter

Directions: 

Preheat oven to 400˚F. Add cut vegetables to a baking sheet sprayed with nonstick spray. Lightly spray veggies and sprinkle with seasonings to your preference. Roast for 10 minutes. (Note I made this for four, thus I used two pans!) Move veggies to the side to make space in the center of the baking sheet and add shrimp in a single layer. Sprinkle with seasonings and citrus juice to your preference. Bake for 5-8 minutes, until shrimp is fully cooked. Be careful not to overcook. Cut butter into pieces and allow to melt over shrimp. I served alongside with white rice.

Nutritional Info

(for 8 oz shrimp, 1/2 tbsp butter, 1 cup veggies, and 1 cup cooked white rice as shown)

• 443 cals
• 55 g carbs
• 6 g fat
• 63 g protein

The Best Marinated Grilled Chicken

This recipe was inspired by Chickfila and hibachi restaurants, no lie haha! But it is so dang good and versatile that it has stuck around my house the past few months. What I like about it is that it has flavor but can meld with whatever you want to put it with. Last batch, I made 10 POUNDS of it. Seriously. Made it for company and the week's meal prep! The recipe is easy to scale up or down. And the marinade turns out SUPER juicy chicken, it is basically a brine.

So finally, I decided I needed to share it with you, despite it being stupid easy.

Here is what I have been up to lately...

Just like how I change up my nutrition and experiment, I do the same with my lifting. This month lifting HEAVY stuff is back. I was not feeling sub 5 rep sets for the past few months, so I went with it. I added more 15-21 rep sets than I normally do, and tried to rep out until failure one set per gym session. This month I am focusing on heavy again, I will be attempting a PR on one lift per session in the 1-5 rep range. Today was hip thrusts. I did 225 lbs for 3 reps. Making an ugly face is completely optional  you might catch a glimpse of the elusive hubster too ;)

Just had my 5 year anniversary with #mapmyrun and they sent me this summary. Kind of cool to see how my runs over the years add up! Whoa! I have went through phases of hating running and loving it the whole way. One thing running does for me is keep my asthma down to levels where I do not need medication, or even experience symptoms. I think it has also taught me self-discipline to stay in the "pain box". Runs are usually not comfortable but you know you can do it so you stick to it. That can be applied to lifting, nutrition, relationship stuff, and the list goes on. You are only as strong as your mind believes 

That's what 4 miles of barefoot on sand sprint intervals does to a woman. Hot mess ! To be clear, the last mile was the fastest jog intervals I could muster. I was done. DONE. But, I am pushing hard to chase another May goal. -> Reduce my average pace, and that requires some sprint intervals along with lots of form improvements ✔✔ #goalchaser What do you have cooking for May?

Tried something new last week- paddleboard yoga! I must admit that I have never been much of a yoga fan.  But recently I have just started to understand the benefits of flexibility and mobility, as well as balance. All things that yoga helps with. So, I grabbed an adventurous girlfriend and we bit the bullet today. The extra challenge of the paddleboard and being on the beautiful water made it completely enjoyable! I think I can come to love yoga, as long as I get to be on the water ;) 

 (I am second from right on both pics) First of all, it is always fun and challenging to try new things. It is amazing how we can be proficient in some things and lacking in others. Trying new things brings these areas to light. 

✔ I was strong and capable our core and bodyweight parts of the workout.

✔ My balance rocked, never fell off! ✔I am moderately flexible, I could hang in most parts! But there were a few areas I need to work on, so I have started doing that post-lifting. (You need flexibility for good range of motion in lifting and overall mobility BTW!)

✔ Once we started doing headstands, I was WAY out of my norm. My girlfriend who went with me rocked hers! So I am going to start practicing those too!

Try new things and see how balanced your fitness is. A healthy, strong body is capable of learning lots of things!

So onto the chicken recipe :) we usually eat the grilled chicken the main dish the first night and then I mix it into other recipes the next few days.

The BEST Marinated Grilled Chicken Recipe

Serves 4 but easy to scale up

Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup dill pickle juice (I just pour mine out of the jar!)
• 1/4 cup soy sauce (or Bragg's liquid aminos)
• 1 tbsp meat seasoning (I use Chupacabra, you can also use a blend of salt/pepper/garlic powder/onion powder/parsley/paprika too!)
• 1-2 pounds of chicken (I prefer boneless, skinless breasts but good on thighs too!)

Directions: 

In a bag, place all the ingredients and allow to marinate for 1 hour or up to 8 hours in the refrigerator. Drain chicken and cook until done. I like to grill my chicken over coals, but also good in my George Foreman grill or grill pan. 

First night with quinoa and a fresh salad

Leftovers chopped into a pasta spinach salad

This recipe is a jewel, makes some juicy chicken! Let me know if you try it :)
X-Liss

Sneaking Greens In

I think most mothers worry about their kids' nutrition. Kids getting in enough vegetables and/or protein seems like a universal concern. If you are like me, you are also concerned about your husband's intake of vegetables as well ;) so today I am sharing how I sneak greens into dishes without screaming, "HEY CHECK OUT THESE VEGETABLES!" Yep, you would never even know they are there. And in some cases, I am pretty sure the family likes them better WITH the addition of the vegetables!

Dumbbell snatch - super, duper full-body exercise but love for #bouldershoulders especially! I did 3 sets of 10 snatches per side. Inspired by #crossfit #17point1

28 days in February = 28 different workouts
✔16 strength training days
✔12 runs
 #nodaysoff
Rewards? Are those new lines I see?! (it's better further down but that was just too scandalous lol) Alas, I have vacation coming up next week so I will be breaking my no days off streak. I am fine with that, I cannot keep that kind of schedule indefinitely. Rest is good too!

Chopped turkey patty and quinoa veggie bowl drizzled with Sriracha (really leftovers thrown in a bowl with fresh veggies I had on hand for volume, but the other name sounded better 😂)

So people like you and me WILL EAT the above plate, we actually ENJOY it ;)

My family is not quite the same however. They pick and choose what they like. My kids like Brussels sprouts, everyone likes asparagus, my husband likes onions... you get the picture and I am sure you can relate. Sometimes, I just feel like they can do better!

I sneak greens into my own oatmeal or quinoa at breakfast. I use my sweet friend Anne's Emerald Spoon Garden Greens blend. Buy HERE.  Between a teaspoon to a tablespoon depending on what else is going into my bowl. If you need to cover the slight green tinge to feed your kids or husband, dark cocoa powder and/or chocolate protein powder works marvelous! I like to top that combo with berries and PB myself! I you do not want to invest in a greens powder, you can blend a handful of spinach and/or kale with the amount of water needed to cook your oats or qunioa. You can also do this for protein shakes, I swear you cannot taste it!

The other places I like to sneak greens into are meat and soups. Yep. Ground beef just soaks it up, you cannot tell at ALL. I almost always use greens powder in my taco meat or meatballs. I am almost certain my family prefers it too, I notice when I add it, they eat more. So I want to share my favorite taco meat recipe with you, and how I bulk it up for me, but easily make something for the whole family to enjoy!

Sneaking Greens In Tacos!

Serves 5

Ingredients:
1.25 lbs lean ground beef
4 tbsp Emerald Spoon Mexi Medley Greens  Buy HERE
Tortillas of choice (my family likes regular flour tortillas, I prefer small corn tortillas or Flat Out wraps)
Cabbage, shredded
Salsa
Other toppings as desired: cheese, avocado, sour cream, etc.

Directions: 
Brown the ground beef with the Emerald Spoon Mexi Medley Greens powder. Drain fat and keep warm in another bowl. Warm up tortillas and get out salsa.  From there, the kids and husband are ready to eat ;)

Using the same skillet over high heat, saute your cabbage until it is wilted and slightly crunchy (about 3 minutes). I use about 3 cups for myself. Then top with about 4 oz of cooked ground beef, topped with 2 tbsp salsa. This time, I served alongside 3 corn tortillas.

Tortilla options- fam likes the ready to cook flour tortillas, I prefer the nutrition of the corn tortillas or Flat Out wraps

Nutritional info 

(3 cups cabbage, 4 oz lean ground beef with greens powder, 2 tbsp salsa, 3 corn tortillas)

453 cals
28 g protein
44 g carbs
20 g fat

Southern Secret Meatloaf

I saw a recipe in Southern Living magazine that caught my eye, they had used vegetables in the meatloaf recipe to sweeten it up naturally. And so I set out to give it a try and tweak it a little just to make it a littler lighter.  The other side bonus was the whole meal was ready to go in 45 minutes on 2 sheet pans!

The results were super great! The whole family, including the fussy husband, all gave it the gold standard "make again". And sssshhhh pretty sure nobody knew I was sneaking in extra veggies!

Shoulder bombs - great finisher for those delts! Shoulders may be the one other body part I am obsessed with as much as glutes ;) I hit them 3-4 days a week. I try to get a mix of lateral, overhead, and front plane work in over the week. I also try to vary low, moderate, and high reps. Just like glutes (or any other part), variety does the shoulders good! If you don't want to have to think of all these factors, that is when solid programming like the Venus workouts come into play. You can always add extra sets in of something you want to really hit hard too ;)

Meh don't care if my hair is perfect, I mostly notice my good glute days  pump courtesy of glute bridges, barbell hip thrusts, crissover step ups, and banded clamshells!

Hanging to stretch? Yep. Super great for stretching your tight lats, shoulders, spine as well as the rest of your back, core, and chest! I literally just hang for a few seconds before or after my workout. Any grip works too :)

Grabbed these handy probiotic packets at GNC the other day! Gut health is of paramount importance to overall health, weight loss, and weight maintenance. A good probiotic will have a variety of strains with 8 billion or more CFU. Since variety is key, it is best to swap brands/types every purchase. Exercise and diet also play a role in gut health, so ✔ that too ;)

So, onto the recipe!

Southern Secret Meatloaf

Serves 4

Ingredients

20 oz, 85% Ground Beef

1/2 cup chopped, Carrots, raw

1 large, Egg

1 onion (medium), Onion

1/4 cup, dry Oats (I used old fashioned)

1 tbsp garlic powder

1/2 tsp salt

1.2 tsp pepper

2 tbsp Ketchup

1 tbsp Soy Sauce

1 tbsp parsley (optional)

Optional for two pan dinner

Sweet Potatoes (1/2 per person)

Brussels Sprouts (4 oz per person)

Directions

Preheat oven to 400*F. If you are serving the vegetables along side, cut the potatoes in bite size pieces and slice the Brussels in half. Spread them out into a large, greased cookie sheet and place in the oven. In a food processor or Ninja (you know I used my Ninja haha), shred your carrots and onion finely. Pour them into a large mixing bowl along with your ground beef, egg, oats, garlic powder, salt and pepper. Mix with your hands and form into 4 mini loaves onto a greased cookie sheet. Bake for 35 minutes. While the meatloaves are baking, mix together the ketchup and soy sauce. When the loaves and vegetables are done, remove from oven. Top the loaves with the ketchup mixture then the parsley. Serve alongside the vegetables. Enjoy!

Per serving of meatloaf:

Nutrition Facts
Servings 4.0
Amount Per Serving
calories 412
% Daily Value *
Total Fat 23 g	36 %
Saturated Fat 9 g	46 %
Monounsaturated Fat 1 g
Polyunsaturated Fat 1 g
Trans Fat 0 g
Cholesterol 140 mg	47 %
Sodium 354 mg	15 %
Potassium 164 mg	5 %
Total Carbohydrate 11 g	4 %
Dietary Fiber 2 g	8 %
Sugars 2 g
Protein 30 g	61 %
Vitamin A	55 %
Vitamin C	5 %
Calcium	2 %
Iron	22 %
* The Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet, so your values may change depending on your calorie needs. The values here may not be 100% accurate because the recipes have not been professionally evaluated nor have they been evaluated by the U.S. FDA.