Surviving the Holidays + Fun Workout Challenge!

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Can you believe we're talking about the holidays? Thanksgiving, Halloween, Christmas and New Years are all going to be here before you know it! Here's my Holiday Survival Guide with lots of ideas for healthier holiday recipes and tips for staying on track and enjoying every minute. I've got you covered this holiday season!

Bonus, I included 8 different workouts to help get you moving, even as the weather gets colder. These are some of our newest programs and they are all so good! If you are looking for a new full program or just a few workouts to try out, press play and try them out. I would love to hear what you think of them, so if you try one out, send me your thoughts!

Autumn Date Night Ideas

Autumn is here (per the calendar, sure doesn't feel that way).  With all the time we've spent at home lately, getting out and having some (safe) fun can be rejuvenating.  Grab your partner, friends, kids, or even pets, and pick an idea from the list I shared.  Let me know what was the most fun and tag me on Insta @eat.sweat.pray! 

We've started doing “day dates” so it isn't just movies and dinner all the time, so corn maze, apple picking, and carving pumpkins look fun to me.  Normally I'd chose baking, but with all the sugar this season, I'm not brave enough to test my willpower!!

Spicy Butternut Squash Soup

I love a good soup for meal prep and this one makes enough for the whole family or a week of lunches! You can whip up a pot of this Spicy Butternut Squash Soup on the weekend and then look forward to eating this flavorful, rich soup all morning 😉 If you don’t love spicy foods, just omit the red pepper flakes, it’s super easy to modify!

Ingredients

• 2 tbsp olive oil

• 3 medium onions, chopped

• 4 garlic cloves, finely chopped

• 1 medium butternut squash, peeled and seeded, cut into 1” pieces

• 5½ cups low-sodium organic vegetable broth

• 1 tsp crushed red pepper flakes

• 3 fresh thyme sprigs, leaves removed and chopped, stem discarded (divided use)

• 6 tsp reduced-fat (2%) plain yogurt 

Instructions

1. Heat oil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat.

2. Add onions; cook, stirring frequently, for 8-10 minutes or until onion is translucent.

3. Add garlic and cook, stirring frequently, for 1 minute.

4. Add squash, broth, and red pepper flakes; bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and gently boil, covered, for 25-30 minutes or until squash is soft. Remove from heat.

5. Place soup in a blender or food processor in 4 or more batches, as necessary; cover with lid and kitchen towel. Blend until smooth.

6. Return soup to saucepan over medium heat. Add 1 tsp thyme and cook, stirring constantly, until soup is hot.

7. Season with salt and pepper if desired.

8. Ladle soup into 6 serving bowls. Garnish each with 1 tsp yogurt and sprinkle all bowls with remaining 2 tsp of thyme.

Yields: 6 servings.

Ultimate Portion Fix Containers: 3 Green, 1 tsp

2B Mindset Plate It: A great FFC as part of lunch

Turkey chili - hello fall!

Turkey chili - the perfect meal to pull together on a cool Sunday in the Fall. 😍 Who is with me?! Maybe you can try this tomorrow! This is also a great recipe to make ahead for a quick, high-protein lunch, or to freeze for a busy weekday dinner when you’re too busy to cook! 

This recipe has 2 cans of kidney beans… but you can use any beans you like, or ne wild and try 2 different types of beans.

Ingredients

• 1 tsp olive oil

• 1 large onion, chopped

• 1 medium red bell pepper, chopped

• 1 medium yellow or orange bell pepper, chopped

• 1 lb raw 93% lean ground turkey

• 1 (28 oz) can chopped tomatoes

• 2 (15 oz) cans kidney beans, rinsed + drained

• 1 tsp chili powder

• ½ tsp sea salt

• Crushed red peppers (to taste, optional)

• 12 sprigs of parsley, chopped

Instructions

1. Heat oil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat.

2. Add the onion and bell peppers. Cook, stirring frequently, for 4-5 minutes, or until the onion is soft.

3. Add the turkey and cook for 4-5 minutes, or until the turkey is browned.

4. Add tomatoes, beans, chili powder, salt, and crushed red peppers. Cook, stirring frequently, for 10-15 minutes.

5. Divide turkey chili into 6 serving bowls and garnish with parsley if desired.

Yield: 6 servings
Ultimate Portion Fix Containers: ½ Green, ½ Red, 1½ Yellow
2B Mindset Plate It: Add a side salad or veggies for a great lunch option.

7 ingredients to Yumminess!

This is one of the easiest, tastiest muffins and it’s so dense, you will be full! I love this as a side to breakfast with Ultimate Portion Fix or 2B Mindset!! it’s also a great snack during the day!

Ingredients:
2 ripe bananas, the riper, the sweeter
2 extra-large eggs (large will do, but I like the extra protein)
2 c old-fashioned oats
1 c plain greek yogurt (look at protein and sugar on the side, you want high protein, low sugar)
½ c maple syrup or honey (if you use vanilla yogurt, or extra ripe bananas then cut this to ⅓ c)
1 ½ tsp baking powder
¼ c chai seeds (you do not need to soak these, just dump them in)
** top with nuts, seeds, oats, chocolate chips, or nothing, they’re pretty as is. I chose chocolate chips as my topping, but once I made these, the batter was plenty sweet so I never added them. If you know me, you’re probably questioning my mental health or thinking someone took over my blog. It’s true, I passed on chocolate. Don’t expect me to do it again :)
** I wish I added Vanilla Whey Shakeology, I will in the next batch. It’ll help sweeten it if you’re cutting the sugar (which I always encourage)

Directions:
1) In no particular order, dump everything in the blender! Don’t you love that, easy as can be! Get your kids involved, this is that simple.

The order doesn’t matter, i did bananas, eggs, oats, yogurt, seeds

How beautiful if this? I hate waiting for chai seeds to soak. Glad that’s not involved!

2) Blend 2 minutes or until it looks very well mixed. If you have some on the edges that didn’t get mixed in, you can stir it and blend again, or grab a spoon and eat it. I opted for the second options. YUM!

3) Pour in 12 lined muffin cups, or straight into silicone muffin holders. Anyone ever used these? Thoughts? I’m nervous to try, I don’t have a lot of faith in the sides not to go limp and spill batter.

I could have easily eaten this whole thing and never cooked them. No one would know expect you and I!

But, I poured 12 muffins and opted to pass on chocolate chips since it was plenty sweet. This is why it’s important to taste your batter :)

If your blender looks like this, you know it was DAMN DELICIOUS!!!

My kitchen smells good and before I had a chance to portion out breakfast for tomorrow and freeze the rest, my kids ate 4. Gone in 5 minutes flat. Glad this was simple since I’ll likely be making more in 2 days!

4) Cook at 175 celsius for 20 minutes. Stay near by so you can keep an eye on them and enjoy all the smells!
**Bananas can be replaced with sweet potatoes or pumpkin. Both would be delicious year-around, but especially in the fall.

Chocolate chip pumpkin bread - hubby said it's the best EVER!

You guys, this is the bomb!  I deviated from the recipe below by using self-rushing whole wheat flour because I couldn't find the other two in Australia, but it was a crowd pleaser so I'd say that's an option for you too.  let me know if you wind up making this, I love feedback!  And don't tell anyone it's clean...they'll never know they're missing out on butter, oil, sugar or eggs.  And my kids loved it!  Serving size is 1 slice (1 yellow) and add with ¾ cup plain greek yogurt OR 2 eggs (cooked any style) (1 red) for a delicious breakfast. Otherwise, it's a great snack to have on hand. 

Ingredients:
1 1/2 c spelt flour (or GF oat flour) * I used whole wheat self-rising flour in mine and it was a hit
1 t baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp (heaping) ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp allspice
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1 TBSP ground flax seed
3 TBSP warm water
1 c pumpkin puree
1/2 c applesauce
1 banana, mashed
3 TBSP maple syrup
1/2 c chocolate chips (or more depending on your taste) nuts could be added instead

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350
2. Whisk together the ground flax seed and warm water in a small bowl or mug. Let stand for at least 2 minutes
3. In a medium bowl, combine remaining dry ingredients.
4. In another medium bowl, mix together the wet ingredients, including the flax seed/water mixture. 
5. Combine wet and dry ingredients . Mix until smooth and without lumps.
6. Fold in chocolate chips
7. Pour into a greased loaf pan and bake 30 minutes, or until toothpick comes out clean. 

**I doubled the recipe so I had one for my family and one to give away!  It was the thought that counts because my family ate this whole loaf in 24 hours so we used the second loaf.  That someone else turned into being US :)