Simple Chicken Stir-Fry Recipe

I love a good stir-fry! I love how easy and quick it is, as well as how you can pretty much put any meat and vegetable in it and it will probably still end up delicious! As of late, I am partial to using asparagus and mushrooms in my cooking, so I decided to whip up a quick stir-fry with them!

Ingredients:

½ cup quinoa

½ cup brown rice

2 cups water

1lb skinless, boneless chicken breasts, cut into bite sized pieces

1lb asparagus, trimmed and chopped

8 oz sliced mushrooms

1 tbsp honey

1 tsp red pepper flakes

1/4 cup reduced sodium soy sauce

5 garlic cloves, minced

1 lime, juiced

2 tbsp Olive Oil

Directions:
1. In a small bowl, whisk together the soy sauce, garlic, honey, and lime juice. Add the chicken pieces, cover, and marinate at least 3 hours.

2. Put the rice, quinoa, and water together in a pot and bring it to a boil on medium high heat.

3. Once it starts to boil, turn the heat to low and cover, allowing the mixture to simmer until all of the liquid is gone (it usually takes about 20 minutes or so—you may want to start the rice and leave it for about 10 minutes before beginning the other steps).

4. Heat a skillet on medium high heat. Pour 1 tbsp of olive oil in the skillet and allow it to heat through. Add mushrooms and allow them to cook until tender, and then move them to a large bowl or pot (I keep adding to the pot to mix all of the ingredients together).

5. Repeat previous step using asparagus. Heat until they are slightly browned.

6. Pour the chicken and marinade into the skillet. Let the chicken brown evenly on all sides, making sure that the chicken is cooked through.

7. Once the rice and chicken have finished cooking, mix them into the asparagus and mushrooms! J

(Disclaimer: I am a messy cook. Do not judge the state of my kitchen in these pictures please!)

My #1 Tip for Motivating Yourself to Start Working Out

When I was growing up, I was not an active person in the slightest. I didn’t play sports or work out, I just kind of sat around and did my school work and read. While that did contribute to me being a decently smart person, it did not contribute to my health. I knew I probably should exercise and had the typical teenage self consciousness that led to me being concerned about my weight (although I was skinny), but it still wasn’t enough to do anything about it.

Even in college, when I did start to work out a TINY bit (anything was an improvement from high school), I drank and ate like crap because my parents weren’t around to serve me balanced meals. I gained weight and I knew I would feel better about myself if I lost weight, but it still wasn’t enough to get me in gear.

Once I graduated and started teaching, there were a couple of years there where I still didn’t care enough to actually lose weight. I even had a gym membership! But I complained that I didn’t have time to work out and I didn’t have time to cook meals at home or enough money to buy healthy food. All I did was complain and not doing anything about it. I’ve looked back on that time and thought, “Why didn’t I get off my butt and just DO it?” Now I realize why—it just wasn’t a priority. Work and school were my priorities, and my health was quickly degenerating because of it. I had constant stomach problems (I’ve always had stomach problems, but it had gotten out of control), I was so fatigued and on so many antidepressants that I was basically a zombie, and I was too wrapped up in all of this to be affective at the job that I was doing all of this for! After I realized this, it finally clicked for me… getting healthy and taking care of myself HAD to be a priority, or the rest of my life just wasn’t going to be at its best.

I had found my “WHY”—I wanted to lose weight and get healthy so that I could feel good enough on a regular basis to be the great teacher that I wanted to be! Once I had a “why,” it was easy to make working out, cooking healthy meals, and making better choices a priority!

If you keep making excuses about working out and eating right, STOP. You’re not doing yourself (or anyone around you) any favors.

Ask yourself this question—WHY should getting healthy be a priority and what are you going to do to get there?

Caramel deLites (aka Samoas in my day!) Shakeology Recipe

I LOVE Girl Scout cookies! Pretty much ALL of the flavors too! But my favorite is definitely Caramel deLites--that mix of chocolate, caramel, and coconut is just so amazing I can find myself eating an entire box in one sitting. BUT that wouldn't be a healthy choice, would it? So here is what I do to help myself get my fix, without having to eat a box of cookies! Enjoy! :)

A Fit Girl’s Essential Tools

As someone who works out regularly, I have noticed that, in order to be a really efficient “Fit Girl,” there are a few things that I need to be successful. Now, I want you to know that these may not necessarily be the things that YOU need to be successful, but they are what I’ve found to help me get off my butt and get going.

So, without further ado, here is my list of the five things that are essential to my fit life (click on the photos to see where to purchase):

1. Good Shoes and/or Good Yoga Mat:

When I first started working out, I worked out in some old tennis shoes that I hadn’t invested much money or care into. I didn’t know that certain types of workouts needed certain types of shoes or that you needed to buy tennis shoes based on your feet and how you walk, not on how pretty or flashy they are. As I started to work out more, I started to realize that my legs and feet were hurting pretty often, so I talked to a few fit friends and did a bit of googling and figured out that I needed some better shoes! My best tip in this department is to think about how you walk—do your feet bend in any way (inward or outward when you walk), and where is most of your impact occurring on your foot? Look up shoes that help with the problem that you are having or go to a shoe store and the employees there should be knowledgeable (if they’re not, then go to a better store).

Another problem I also had when I started working out, was slipping on my yoga mat. I do a lot of yoga-based workouts because of my need for low impact and my hand sweat was driving me crazy. Not to mention that all that downward dogging can be a pain on the wrists! If you know you’re going to be investing a lot of time in your practice, get a nice yoga mat! I got one that is extra thick, extra long, and extra grippy and it has worked wonders for me!

2. Proper Hair Accessories

I have very long hair and side bangs. I always have to have some method of holding my bangs back and keeping the rest of my hair off of my neck and out of my face. I see girls in workout videos with their hair down or flopping around and I’m like uhhh no. I won’t even cut my hair short because I know I wouldn’t be able to put it up if I did!

I used to just put my hair in a ponytail and bobby pins and call it a day, but now that I’m doing more intense workouts like Insanity Max 30 (which involves a lot of jumping around), my ponytail comes out! I not only have a lot of hair, but I have very smooth hair that doesn’t like to actually stay in my ponytail holder! I have now started to put it in a tight bun on top of my head and it seems to work!

What I also do it use a headband to secure my bangs. Since I’m moving around a lot, NO headband will stay in place (again, smooth hair), so I have started putting a couple bobby pins in my hair to attach the headband too it and it works perfectly!

When I find a better solution to the hair problem, I’ll be sure to let you know! J

3. Cute Fitness Clothes

It’s funny—now that I don’t work out in a gym, I like to wear cuter workout clothes than I did before. I guess when I went to the gym, I thought I would be judged for wearing tank tops with cute little fitness sayings on them, but now that I’m in my living room, I don’t have to worry about that! Having cute fitness clothes on (really, shopping for cute fitness clothes) motivates me because I feel better about myself in them! I also like that I can look in the mirror, see my corny quote on my shirt, and get a quick motivation!

Here are a few of my favorites!

  

4. Dry Shampoo

I HATE washing my hair! There is just so much of it and then I have to dry it and UGH. I just don’t like dealing with it very often! Plus, I’ve been really trying to work on making my hair healthier by not putting it through the stress of washing and drying quite as often and it’s working (with the help of Shakeology). But, I do have a daytime job and can’t be going through life looking like a greasy mess all the time (only some of the time…), so I have started using dry shampoo and it works wonders on me.

Here is my personal favorite:

This particular kind is great because it neutralizes your “hair” smell without it smelling like perfume. It’s also great because it’s a powder (the spray kind makes my hair look greasier) and the way that you put it on is by squeezing the bottle and it kind of PUFFs out. It’s nice! I just “spray” it all over my roots, let it sit for a minute or two, rub it in, then comb and brush it out! It’s great! J

5. Motivational Support

This is the MOST important thing a fit girl can have in her tool belt! There is nothing like people motivating you or complimenting you to help keep you consistent on your path to a healthy lifestyle! That’s what I love about being a Beachbody coach… I have a great opportunity to support someone new every day and their success makes me feel like I am doing something great with my free time!

What are your essentials in your “fit life”? I’d love to know them! Comment below or fill out the contact form at the bottom of the page and email me! J