Chocolate Protein Oatmeal

A Fun Twist On Traditional 

This morning I was craving chocolate for breakfast. Since that's never a good idea, I decided I would get creative and make something healthy but would still satisfy my chocolate craving. I will tell you, you have to be used to the flavor of protein powder to enjoy this. If you have never had protein powder it may taste "funny" to you. Some of my household wasn't so into the taste. I enjoyed it though! Here is what you will need.

Ingredients 

Steel cut oats

1 scoop of chocolate protein powder ( I used vegan chocolate shakeology) 

4 teaspoons of all natural peanut butter

Pink Himalayan salt

Fresh cut strawberries 

1 teaspoon of pure vanilla extract 

A dash of organic ground cinnamon 

Directions 

Cook oats according to package. I used quick cook steel cut oats. I made the servings for 4 on the package. 

Once oats are cooked stir in peanut butter, protein powder, vanilla extract and cinnamon. Mix well.

Garnish with berries. 

Let me know how you like it!!! 

Hammer & Chisel Week 5 Recap

-Getting Closer To Our Goals - 

We are back in action. If you have been following my weekly recaps from Hammer and Chisel you would have read that we lost a little bit of motivation for a few weeks. It wasn't that we were outright not doing it we just were not focused like I knew we should have been. Something clicked last weekend leading into this week and I was back in the game and motivated. I was really proud of myself for not missing a workout this week. We mostly stuck to the meal plan I had created for us and I even tried a few new recipes. We put together a pretty awesome broccoli cheese soup recipe that was really simple and quick. 

My partner in crime was also back in action with me and for a few of the days our little man joined us too. He told us he likes working out with the "sweaty guy" compared to the girl. The sweaty guy is Sagi from Hammer and Chisel and the girl is Autumn both are the trainers we workout with on the program. 

Mid week I celebrated turning the big 2-9! It was an awesome day. My friends and family treated me like a queen. Lots of presents, flowers, cards and love. Excited for this year. I really feel like big things are coming my way. I have been working hard on a lot of personal and business goals to create what I call life by design. I have a feeling my hard work will soon be paying off. On my birthday we went out to dinner. I even had some cake and ice cream this week so there were a few treats. Honestly though, that does not phase me. This has never been about a diet, rather a lifestyle change. I eat clean 90% of the time. A few treats won't kill me. 

One thing that I have found very motivating is the fact that I am starting to see a physical transformation in myself which has not always been common with me. I have not lost weight in awhile and I weigh more than I did when I started my journey because of the muscle I gained. However,  I am currently down 6 lbs since starting the program. Which for me is actually quite a lot! 

Here's to keeping up this motivation in the coming week ahead of me. Getting closer to the end of the program. Going to add in the 10 minute ab additions as often as I can in these next few weeks. You may remember this but my husband and I are competing against one another for the best transformation. I am hoping I win, but he may still beat me. Something about a girl with goals, she's pretty hard to beat if you know what I mean. 

Below you will find what this weeks meal plan looks like! This is my number one tool for being successful with healthy eating. Meal planning is a must for everyone! 

Interested in joining my next challenge group so that you can learn to live a healthier lifestyle? Fill out the application below and I will be in touch. I have a few new groups forming soon that I would love to include you in!

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Build A Business After Bedtime

Teaching Busy Women How To Build A Business 

Today I want to paint a little picture for you. It is a picture of how I got started being a Beachbody coach. I joined as a challenger, like most coaches do. I was a busy mom who wanted to get rid of a little bit of baby weight. Nothing drastic. More than anything I wanted to learn how to take care of me again. To make mom a priority and matter a little more than she had been at that time. I was busy balancing a full time teaching job, I was taking graduate classes for my master degree to be a principal, I had a two year old, a household to take care of and a husband who traveled for work very often. Momma was putting everyone first but herself. I knew it was finally "time." I hit my rock bottom moment the night of my son's second birthday party and I ordered my challenge pack the next morning. I wanted to change more than I wanted to stay the same so I went "all in." I started with the 21 day fix. I got awesome results and begin quickly telling everyone about it. Not because I was a coach at that point, simply because it really did work and really did make me feel better. I guess you could say I wanted to share the love. My coach noticed my sharing and planted the seed about becoming a coach myself. In my head I was laughing at her thinking yeah right, do you know how crazy my life is. I could never have time for something like this. But something inside of me whispered girl don't pass this up. You could be good at this.

So I slept on it for a few nights, did my homework on this "company" and this "business" and started to think it might be something I could do. You see I told you in the paragraph above that I was a teacher but I didn't tell you what kind.... I was a business teacher working towards a masters in leadership. That combo together seemed like a dynamite coaching formula. I loved business and I loved leading and helping others so I finally said WHY NOT. From day one though I decided if I was going to do it, I wanted to do it well. My only issue was, it was not my full time job and I only had "a few hours" a week that I could commit to growing the opportunity. What that meant was that I was going to have to learn to get good at multi-tasking and making lots of things happen in short periods of time. The good news is I was already a busy working mom. I had that mulit-tasking thing down. I just had a lot to learn about the business. I treated year one like an internship and observed as much as I possibly could.

I quickly began to learn the ropes and started to look forward to my evening hours of my second job. It felt weird to say "my second job" because in reality I didn't need a second job. I had a great one and so did my husband. We were living comfortably in a beautiful town and a brand new house we had just built. We were not struggling to pay bills or put groceries on the table but we were not ROLLING IN IT either. I was a teacher, making teachers pay. I was comfortable but didn't have much room for fun spending. To be honest, it wasn't the money I was chasing. Honestly it was just the new adventure that I seemed to be falling in love with. I suddenly had all of this passion that I never knew I was missing. The excitement of starting and growing something that was "mine" and that something happened to be rewarding me financially very well suddenly lit me up like a fire. 

It did not come without a hell of a lot of hard work.  I have worked to learn to get healthier and more fit and I have worked to learn not just how to run a business, but to lead a team and teach them how to duplicate my success. This business of mine was built around nap times, bedtimes and early dates with my alarm clock before I headed off to my teaching job. It took sacrifice and a love for what I was doing. But I am standing on the other side of success telling you it tastes pretty sweet and was worth all the sleepless nights I put in to get where I am today. 

Some question why I would want to be a coach but the reality is, I am a teacher. I always have been and I always will be no matter where my career takes me. My classroom looks different now, but I am still teaching. I love showing others how to do something. It is an amazing feeling teaching my challengers how to live a different life and make themselves a priority and I love teaching my team of coaches how to build their own little empire. That is what makes my heart full. I believe that life is too short to spend it not doing something you love, so if you have not found what it is that makes you shine then you should keep looking. It's out there and it's worth chasing.

If you are reading this and have been considering becoming one of my challengers or a coach on my team please reach out to me. I am about to begin two new training groups in February and would love to have you in my "class." One  of the groups would be to teach you how to run a business and one to teach you how to get healthy and fit. Pick your pair of shoes you want to wear, I can teach you how to run with this in either pair. 

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Homemade Broccoli Cheese Soup

Clean Broccoli Cheese Soup

Ingredients 

3 cups of organic chicken broth 

8 cups of steamed organic broccoli 

1 tablespoon of organic unsalted butter

1 cup of organic milk or half and half 

1 tablespoon of whole wheat flour ( or white if you prefer) 

3 cups of cheddar cheese 

Black pepper and Himalayan Pink salt to taste 

Directions

Combine chicken broth and milk heat until bubbly 

Add in flour - stir to thicken 

Season with butter, salt and pepper 

Add in broccoli

Using a food processor or emersion blender process broccoli until chopped into very small pieces 

Add in the three cups of cheese - combine into mixture until melted 

Serve and garnish with a sprinkle more of cheese 

Makes about 6 cups of soup. 

21 day fix container breakdown

Serve it in a green - count it as a blue, yellow and green 

Sorry For What I Said When I Was New...

Common Mistakes New Recruits Make

As I near my two year anniversary I look back on some of the mistakes I made as a new coach. I hate to say this but I didn't have a clue what I was doing. Like not one. I am so sorry for all of the awful posts and invites I put out there when I was just learning the ropes. I thought my job was to promote Beachbody and sell products but I quickly learned that is not how you have success in multi- level marketing. This business is about relationships and helping people. Not just selling them something. People don't need you to sell them something, they need you to help them. Truly with all that you have, you need to help them. When someone picks you to be their coach they are putting the future of their health in your hands. They asked for your help because they need you and they need to trust that you have their best interest at heart. They are not just another sale, they are a life that you are going to help change. 

Here are some of my top tips for new coaches: 

1. Use your social media posts to engage your followers. Share different parts of your life with them not just the new product that you are promoting. 

2. Instead of selling the product - SHARE why you love it and what you love about it. The truth is facts tell but stories sell. No selfies of you kissing your Shakeology cups. (Or whatever else you might be marketing.) 

3. Ever notice how stock ads or promos about your product get VERY FEW LIKES but pictures of your family, kids or milestones get tons more. It's because they don't want to see your random advertisements in their newsfeed. They want to see YOU and your life. STOP trying to sell. It's yucky and nobody likes it. 

4. People will be drawn to you and your story. The more you share your story and why are you a coach the more people will be able to relate to you and want to join you. 

5. Offer value to your followers on social media. Give daily motivation, tips, recipes, tricks. Whatever you can but give them a reason to follow you not just to hear random testimonials about your product. If you can do this they are less likely to click unfollow or block you. 

6. Invest in personal development trainings and do it daily. Podcasts, readings, trainings whatever it is. You need to grow to get good at this business and the only way you can do that is to do personal development.

7. Treat this like an internship - assume you have a TON to learn. Look to your upline for advice, support and critical feedback. They went before you and they know what they are doing. Ask for the help. Plan to be here for ONE FULL YEAR before you make any choices if the business is right for you. I told myself from day one, be here in a year, be here in a year, be here in a year. Guess what, if you do things the right way chances are after that first year, you aren't going anywhere.

8. Stop sending people your links to your website before you bother to get to know them. Sorry to burst your bubble but people don't just buy from your link without interaction and engagement. Get rid of it. Don't put it in your posts, don't randomly send the link in your messages. Give it when they ask for it and when they are ready to work with you. Not a minute before then.

9. Believe in yourself before anyone else does. If you want to be successful in this business then you are going to have to believe that you can make a life for yourself out of this. Trust me when I say this, there will be doubters and haters and lots of people telling you this won't work. Prove them wrong. Every last one of them. Realize that you are capable of greatness if you are willing to work for it.

10. Go back to #9 - see my last line. You have to work for this and you have to work harder than everyone else around you. You must be relentless in learning the business and do it well. I didn't get into the top 200 out of 400,000 other Beachbody coaches by sitting back and taking a few selfies each day. I worked my ass of while balancing a full time job, grad school, motherhood, married life and the demands of running a household. If I can do it anybody else can too. But you see I did something different than most, I refused to quit even when it got hard. I focused on learning as much as I could and then once I got that down, I focused on teaching my team everything I learned along the way.

I wish you the best of luck. Get some thick skin. Get ready to have others question what your doing. Get comfortable being uncomfortable. Decide you are willing to work for this.  I am here standing on the other side telling you this business is amazing. It will change every bit of your life for the better. You will not be the same person you were when you began your journey. But it will take hours and hours of hard work. It will require to live your life out loud on social media. It isn't for the weak of heart but it certainly rewards those who are up for the challenge.

If you are interested in joining my team please fill out the application below. Allow me to help you learn from my own mistakes I made as a new coach. Let me train you to run your business the correct way and help you duplicate my success that I have had. After I got the hang of this, I quickly learned that my degree as a business teacher combined with my masters in leadership makes for one hell of a Beachbody coach. I hope you will consider being my next student!

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Cafe Latte Shakeology Review

It's HERE and it's AMAZING!

I waited patiently for the arrival of this yummy flavor for months now. I knew Cafe Latte was going to be my thing because I LOVE coffee. What I typically do some days is mix coffee with my Shakeology instead of using water just for some extra flavor when I make my chocolate Shakeology now I don't have to do that anymore.


Many have asked me what is so special about Cafe Latte and how much more caffeine does it have in it than regular coffee. Well here is the deal,  everyone's heard of the coffee bean, but how many are aware that the red, fleshy fruit that surrounds it is actually a powerful superfood? Café Latte Shakeology now includes Whole Coffee Fruit, an incredible superfood, and has a rich, aromatic café latte flavor. By using the whole fruit, it lowers its carbon footprint while delivering the delightful refreshment found in a cafe cup of joe. It has all the exotic superfood ingredients necessary to deliver a daily dose of dense nutrition. Shakeology is nutrition simplified. It can help to increase healthy energy, reduce cravings, support weight loss, and improve digestion and regularity. 

So far I have tried it two different ways. I mixed it with water and caramel extract the first day and today I mixed it with a banana and some vanilla extra. I like how versatile the flavor is! Another bonus is that after I drank it I didn't have the "coffee" smell in my mouth after like I typically do when I drink regular coffee. 

Anxious to use this to help keep me out of the drive thru at Starbucks. I still tend to love to swing in for a tall pike place with cream. Some habits are hard to get rid of. Hoping this helps! To all of my coffee drinkers be sure to reach out to me if you would like to try this new flavor! 

Good to the last drop!

Click here to order yourself some of this new flavor and stay tuned for more recipes to come!  

Clean Chicken Fried Rice

No Need For Take Out Anymore - Make This One At Home 

We love chicken friend rice but what I don't love is all of the awful chemicals that tend to be used when you buy it from a take out place. This weekend when we were snowed in, I decided to try making it myself instead. Not to brag but I kind of knocked this one out of the park. It was a huge hit!! My only complaint was that the left overs the next day were a tiny bit dry so plan to eat this one all up on the day you make it! 

Ingredients 
1 bag of frozen mixed veggies (I went with organic but you could use either)
Brown Rice
3 organic brown eggs (again any egg would work)
1 onion diced
3 boneless skinless chicken breasts cut up
Olive oil for sautéing the chicken
3 cloves of garlic
Braggs liquid aminos( You can find this in the organic/ health food section of most grocery stores)
Pink Himalayan salt
Black Pepper
Organic raw honey
3 small pads of unsalted organic butter

Directions 
Cut up chicken into bite size pieces. Use about a tablespoon of olive oil to sauté the chicken.
After the chicken is cooked season with the garlic cloves, pink Himalayan salt, pepper and a drizzle of honey
Add in the chopped up onions and allow them to cook until clear
While onions are sautéing cook the mixed veggies according to package
Also cook rice according to package. I used enough rice for 4 servings.
Once you add in the mixed veggies drizzle the Braggs Liquid aminos over the mixture. I didn't really measure exact amount just made sure I was covering everything. I would assume I used 3 - 4 tablespoons
Then move your mixture to one side of the pan. Crack your three eggs into the pan and quickly move them around until they look like scrambled eggs. Combine that with your chicken and veggie mixture.
Lastly add in the cooked rice. Mix well. I then added in a bit more salt, pepper and braggs. Followed by three small pads of organic butter. I let it sit for 5 minutes then served it!

Enjoy!