Greek Feta Chicken Bake

Greek Chicken Feta Bake

I love all things greek and this chicken recipe ranks up there as one of my favorites. I absolutely love how easy it is to make and how delicious it is. We served it with brown rice and that was plenty for dinner. No extra sides needed. The toppings are enough. If you're in need of a "fancy" but easy dinner give this a try.

If you cut the chicken breasts you will have six servings. If your family likes one chicken breast per person it will serve three.

Ingredients

3 boneless skinless chicken breasts

1 pint of cherry tomatoes (I cut mine in half)

Feta cheese (to top) amount can vary depending on your preference

1 can of diced artichoke hearts (drained)

15 - 20 kalamata pitted olives (I also diced these)

Salt & pepper to taste

Italian seasoning

Directions

Pre-heat the oven to 375 degrees

Trim fat from chicken breasts and put slits across the chicken. (This will allow the flavor to get into the chicken while it cooks.)

Salt and pepper the chicken to taste. I also sprinkled it with italian seasoning.

Then top with diced tomatoes and artichoke hearts

Next add the diced olives

Lastly top with feta cheese

Bake for an hour and a half on 375 degrees.

Pumpkin Spice Baked Oatmeal

Perfect FALL Breakfast Idea

As you know I am the queen of baked oatmeal. I love trying different combos and I knew this would be perfect for a cool fall morning. Most pumpkin baked oatmeal recipes have pecans in them but I knew I couldn't get my little one to eat it if I included that so I went ahead and did chocolate chips instead. If you were making this one for "grown ups" you may want the pecans instead of the chocolate chips.

Here is what your going to need.
Ingredients

• 3 cups old fashioned oats
• 2 Tablespoons brown sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 3/4 cup pumpkin puree 
• 2 tablespoons coconut oil
• 2 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 2 cups milk 
• 2 tablespoons chocolate chips

Directions 

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 9" square baking pan with cooking spray.
2. In a large bowl combine oats, brown sugar, pumpkin pie spice, salt and baking powder.
3. In a separate bowl whisk together pumpkin puree, oil,eggs and vanilla until well combined. Whisk in milk.
4. Pour pumpkin mixture over oat mixture and stir well to combine. 
5. Pour mixture into prepared pan. Use a spoon or spatula to help spread the oats evenly throughout the pan.
6. Sprinkle the top evenly with chocolate chips and bake for 30-35 minutes.

After every storm comes a rainbow...

For This Child We Prayed... 

I cannot tell you how many years I have been dreaming about the day that we would get to share that our son would no longer be an only child. If I am being honest with you I will say that we finally decided to put that dream aside and move on from all the pain we experienced. 2 1/2 years of infertility and a miscarriage this past spring left us feeling hopeless, sad and ready to move on with our life.

Then God showed us he had a different plan.  We have since learned that we were getting another chance at this and that maybe, just maybe our rainbow baby is coming after all.

If you're not familiar with what a rainbow baby is, it's what they call a baby born after a miscarriage. Because after every storm comes a rainbow of hope and that's just what this baby is for us. It's hope.

While we contemplated not sharing the news with everyone until a few months from now, we have decided it was time to share the hope and excitement with others instead of hiding it.

It's been a long two months not telling any of our family or friends. If you follow me on social media you know that I share ALL of my life, so not sharing this part of our journey felt like I wasn't being me.

We have had two appointments so far and at both appointments everything looked great. Strong heart beat, perfect size and great growth. All very different than the last pregnancy we experienced. It's not to say we are out of the woods. I realize many people wait until after the first trimester to share, but we have decided that we need the prayers and that we are going to celebrate the gift of life we have been given for as long as we are able to enjoy it.

Pregnancy is a journey and a scary one at that. I wish I could go back to being as clueless as I was during my first one. I had no fears. After our first ultrasound we told everyone, started picking names, planning the nursery and picking out clothes. In our minds we were getting a healthy baby in a few months and that's exactly what happened. Now that I am older and wiser I realize that next few months will be scary, but I also realize that motherhood and life is also very scary. I have made a choice to put my fears aside and believe that God has a plan for our family, and maybe just maybe this blessing that's growing inside of me will get to be a part of our plan.

I want to wrap this up with two things that I think are pretty special.

The first is that they say when a loved one passes away God often gives you another one in return. This past August my grandmother passed away. She was what I would like to call the queen of fertility. She had nine children and was literally a saint. I became pregnant shortly after she passed. I would like to think that she's looking out for me up there. I told my husband shes my guardian angel for this pregnancy. It brings me comfort thinking of her this way.

Lastly I talked about how this baby is called a rainbow baby. I want to share something pretty amazing. EVERY SINGLE DAY since the day I found out I was expecting this baby I see a rainbow. Sometimes a real one in the sky, sometimes in a store or on TV or even on an art project in my son's school. It's amazing but it's my daily reminder to take a deep breath and just enjoy this pregnancy and have hope that is will work out. I find so much joy each day when I see those rainbows.

So that's what we are doing. Taking this pregnancy day by day hoping and praying we make it to May. Thanks for all the support you have given us on our journey thru these hard years. Let's hope this year has lots of happiness in store for us.

ALL OUR LOVE

Kevin, Sarah, Carter and BABY GRIFFITH

"I will not cause pain without something new to be born says the Lord." Isaiah 66:9

CORE DE FORCE - COMING SOON

The wait is ALMOST over. In just a few short weeks CORE DE FORCE will officially be launching. This is one of your most anticipated programs yet. Have you heard about it? Curious if it's for you? Check out some of the commonly asked questions below to see if this could be your next program. 


Who is CORE DE FORCE for?
Anyone who wants to tighten up their midsection, carve a stronger core, and sculpt total-body definition. CORE DE FORCE is great for intermediate or advanced exercisers—or graduates of INSANITY MAX:30TM, TurboFire®, or P90X®—but beginners and people who are looking for significant weight loss can follow the modifier and drop serious weight too.

It's also a great choice for people looking to try a workout inspired by mixed martial arts. Trainers Joel Freeman and Jericho McMatthews packed CORE DE FORCE with Boxing, Kickboxing, and Muay Thai moves that are both effective AND empowering. Those who want to see results fast will also love the program. The high-energy mix of combinations, bodyweight training, and cardio is designed to get you into knockout shape in 30 days. 

How easy/hard are the workouts?
These workouts are challenging, but even if you've never thrown a punch or a kick, you can still use CORE DE FORCE to get in shape. Every workout includes a modifier who demonstrates the moves at a lower intensity, so you can go at your pace until you're ready to take things to the next level. Plus, every MMA-inspired workout includes a move-by-move breakdown to help you get familiar with the jabs, uppercuts, kicks, and combinations from the get-go. 

How long are the workouts?

Most workouts are between 27–47 minutes.

What equipment will I need?
Zero! Your body is all the equipment you need for CORE DE FORCE. 

How is CORE DE FORCE different from LES MILLS COMBAT?
CORE DE FORCE is Beachbody's first foray into authentic MMA-inspired fighting. LES MILLS COMBAT was choreographed, meaning the punches and kicks were performed to the beat of the music. While there is music in CORE DE FORCE, the workouts are not choreographed to the beat, so you can work at your pace until you're ready to kick the intensity up a notch.
And, CORE DE FORCE focuses on rotation and core engagement in every move. Joel and Jericho call this 360-Degree Core Training, which helps you carve a tighter midsection and blast belly fat. 

What’s included?
• 8 workouts on 3 DVDS
o 4 MMA-inspired workouts, each with a step-by-step breakdown of all the moves o 2 bodyweight resistance workouts
o 1 CORE DE FORCE Relief workout
o 1 Active Recovery stretch workout
• CORE DE FORCE Eating Plan
• Quick-Start Guide
• 30-Day Calendar
• 2 Bonus Workouts: 5 Min. Core on the Floor and Core Kinetics • MMA Mashup (Team Beachbody® Exclusive) 

Think this could be your next soulmate workout? Fill out the application below to be considered for a spot in my exclusive November Core De Force Test group. I'm excited to help you get some incredible results in a short period of time. I will be in touch within 24 hours. 

Fill out my online form.

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If I Can Do It - So Can You

Getting Healthy - Easier With Help

Sometimes you just need someone to take you by the hand and say look if I can do it so can you.

Here's the thing. I am a smart woman. I graduated with honors from college. I landed a great job right away and I'd like to think that I do a hell of a job running my household. (Sounds too good to be true huh?) But you want to know something, even though I was a smart and successful woman I didn't have a clue where to start when it came to getting healthy.

I was alway thin thanks to good genetics but after having my son, I didn't feel so healthy after all anymore. I found myself living off of lattes at Starbucks and binging on junk food and sweets.

I was the queen of SNACKING. I could eat a full bag of chips in one sitting and not even think twice. Portion control did not exist to me. 

To this day I still cannot order any kind of latte from Starbucks because I drank WAY too many of them. My typical morning stop after dropping my little guy off at daycare was a grande white chocolate mocha with some kind of pastry to go along with it. More sugar and carbs than I should have been consuming in an entire day. Sure it got me going for the day but boy did I ever crash come 10:00 am.

I felt awful and I didn't know how to feel better. I knew a lot of it was going to lie in cleaning up my eating habits and it also meant I was somehow going to have to exercise. Trust me I looked up every "clean eating" and "how to lose the mom belly" pin on Pinterest. I bought Insanity from an infomercial on TV. I tried to do it on my own but the thing was I actually didn't know how. I failed. Each week I said I was "starting fresh" and by Wednesday I had usually already thrown in the towel for the week.

As smart as I was I truly didn't know where or how to start. It wasn't until I bit the bullet and decided to stop watching my friend who was a coach and finally join her. I needed her more than I realized. I needed help sticking to the workouts, I needed someone to tell me what to throw away in our pantry, I needed her to teach me how to meal plan and prep and most importantly I needed someone who wouldn't let me quit.

I went all in. I bought the challenge pack (at a desperate hour of the day might I add). I told myself I was doing this. I drank Shakeology even though I was terrified of how it would taste, I showed up for those 30 days. I learned to meal plan and prep and I FINISHED the program I bought and damn it, did it ever feel good not to quit.

One of the things that I am most proud of is how my habits began to wear off on my family. Trust me our cart at the grocery store didn't always look like this. It's taken lots of learning to get to where I am today. 

It took me a few go arounds in the challenge group to truly get it down. I wish I could tell you that this healthy lifestyle was easy and happened overnight. The truth is it didn't but I can tell you that with the right support it's not as far out of reach as you think.

Starting on Monday October 24th I will be opening up spots in my challenge group for women who WANT to be healthier but need a little bit of help getting there. I am looking for people who were in the same boat as I was. I want to show you that it can be different and I want to show you how I did it.

Please fill out the application below if you would like to be considered as one of my challengers for October.

Fill out my online form.

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Need Help Getting Organized? - Allow Me To Help!

Let me paint a picture for you and who knows maybe you can relate to me as you are reading this.

5 years ago we built our house. We kept it spotless. Like you could have dinner off the floors. Nothing was out of place. We had no pets, no children and would spend our Saturday mornings cleaning for six hours.

Looking back, I am not sure what the hell I was cleaning on those Saturday mornings. Maybe it was that I had more energy and ambition or maybe it's because I hadn't learned yet that a lived in house was actually just as beautiful as a spotless one.

5 months after being homeowners our little one arrived and so did the chaos. I returned back to work when he was 3 and half months old and I will never forget when one of my teacher friends told me I needed to get a house keeper. She said it was every working womans best kept secret. I took her up on the advice and for the last five years I have had someone help me every other week. The truth was I couldn't keep up with it all and I wanted to spend my Saturday mornings snuggling my baby rather than scrubbing my hardwood floors. (Which always seemed to be messy somehow). It was worth every penny and these women worked hard to keep my house in tip top share. I am forever grateful for them and would HIGHLY reccommend this to any working woman who needs some extra hands.

While the kept the house in tip top shape they didn't organize closets or junk drawers or deal with the stuff hiding in places where they were not looking.

Since I quit my job I decied it was time to get my act together. Time to declutter. Clean the drawers that barely shut now because they are stuffed with "junk" thin out my wardrobe and organize my spice rack.

Maybe a sign I have more time on my hands but it's something I have been dying to do for a few years now.

I decided I was going to devote the month of October to cleaning up the chaos. Each day I have assigned myself a closet or a drawer or a tiny project that's been on the to-do list for far too long.

If you can relate to this feeling of too many tiny projects and your not really sure where to start I would love it if you could join me in my 5 day clear the chaos group. We will tackle your projects and I will share with you some of my best tips for organization.

Please respond "GOING" to the following event and I will add you into the private group. -
https://www.facebook.com/events/1033573863427286/