Low Carb Your Life

Two of my favorite things about the fall are crockpots and chili! I LOVE chili, especially during football season! This weeks recipe Thursday came from Jessica in the Kitchen  who brought us a delicious black bean and quinoa crockpot chili. Go check out her page, she has a ton of great recipes! This took about 10 minutes to prepare and 3 hours to cook! I give it two BIG thumbs up, and I will definitely be making it again.   Ingredients 2 1/4 cups low sodium vegetable broth  1/2 cup uncooked quinoa  15 oz can black beans, drained and rinsed  14 oz can diced tomatoes  1/4 cup red bell pepper, chopped  1/4 cup green bell pepper, chopped 1 carrot, shredded  1/2 onion, chopped  2 cloves of garlic  1/2 small chili pepper, chopped  2 teaspoons chili powder  1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper  1 1/2 teaspoon Himalayan salt  1 teaspoon ground black pepper  1 teaspoon ground cumin  1 teaspoon oregano  1/2 cup corn kernels  Directions Add the vegetable broth, quin

Last year Beachbody held a reality competition called the 20's which was created as a way to get the audience involved in choosing Beachbody's next super trainer. A house of 20 something's competed with one another for a lucrative contract to create a Beachbody fitness program. Contestants came from all different fitness backgrounds and were chosen to participate based on their unique personalities and potential to motivate others to get healthy and fit. The winner of that challenge and the creator of the new week-long program, Clean Week was, Megan Davies.  What is Clean Week? Clean week is a 7-day program that helps introduce fitness and nutrition to people who are interested in understanding what Beachbody is and our comprehensive solution of fitness + nutrition + support. Clean week will help to kickstart healthy habits in a way that won't feel overwhelming or intense helping to lead to lifestyle changes without taking drastic measures. This prog

I'm just living the shit out of the hand I got dealt!  In your thirties, often times you can feel pressured, or made to feel as if something is wrong with you if you are not settled with a family. I have seen that lead to people forcing relationships and lessening their standards because they cave to the pressure of what is expected by society. I too have felt this immense pressure. For years I would constantly get down on myself for, "not being where I thought I would be by now", but that has recently changed. While focusing on my career as a coach I have had time to grow mentally and spiritually. My job allows me to travel often which I am able to do as a single adult in their 30's. Others my age will often say to me, "Jaime, I love watching your journey. You're always traveling and doing cool things. I wish I could do that but it's really hard with a family."   First, I want to make one thing clear. I want more than anything in

I love Italian cooking but lots of time it calls for parmesan. What's a vegan to do? Well, here you go!! Thanks to the minimalist baker for teaching me how to make this! Check her out!  Ingredients 3/4 cup of raw cashews  3 Tbsp nutritional yeast  1/4 tsp. garlic powder 3/4 tsp. Himalayan salt Directions Add all ingredients to a food processor and mix/pulse until fine. Store in the fridge to keep it fresh. 

Stuffed artichokes bring me back. When I was a little girl my Nana would make the best stuffed artichokes in the world. Because of her, they are my favorite food. When she passed when I was 16 years old I asked my mother over and over again to find my Nana's recipe. The thing is, my Nana didn't use a recipe...that's how Italians roll. Since then I have been on a quest for the perfect stuffed artichoke and since becoming a Vegan this past January, I had to find one that didn't use cheese. Although nothing will ever compare to my Nana's stuffed artichokes, this one came pretty close!  Ingredients 4 whole artichokes 1 Lemon, halved (to rub on cut artichoke) Filling 1/4 cup vegan parmesan  1 cup whole wheat panko breadcrumbs 2 garlic cloves, minced  2 heaping Tablespoons of minced basil salt & pepper to taste Directions Preheat oven to 350 degrees F Trim and prepare the artichokes ( click here to see how )  Rub cut lemon on the b

I was excited when I found a vegan pumpkin spice pancake recipe on the PETA website, but when I saw some of the ingredients I decided to try and make a few tweaks. Long story short, my tweaks did NOT make good pancakes so although the video shows my tweaks, follow the recipe written below. Overall these were pretty good. I gave them a thumb and a half mostly just because it just tasted like a pancake. There was a little bit of a pumpkin kick, but in my opinion, it was just as tasty as a regular pancake. If pumpkin is your thing though, you will like them! INGREDIENTS  1 1/2 cups vanilla almond milk 2 Tablespoons vinegar  1 cup pumpkin puree  2 Tablespoons vegan margarine, melted  2 Tablespoons maple syrup  1 teaspoon vanilla extract  2 Tablespoons coconut oil  3 Tablespoons brown sugar  2 cups whole-wheat pastry flour  1 teaspoon baking soda  2 teaspoons baking powder  1/2 teaspoon salt  2 1/4 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice  DIRECTIONS  Combine the a

A funny thing happens when you start to take care of yourself, you start to feel Bad Ass in all aspects of your life.  5 years ago I joined my first challenge group nervous, with no confidence, and no real expectation that I would complete it. 5 years later here I am living a life that I didn't think was possible for someone like me. Someone like me? Yeah. Someone who their entire life let others go ahead of them, never spoke up for themselves, had no confidence in anything t hat they did, thought that they would always be a failure, always be weak, always be average, shy, anxious, overweight, unathletic, and scared with their head down, their voice quiet, and their dreams deflated. Guess what? I can hardly remember what that person was like anymore and it all started with a decision to start and complete my first challenge group . I showed up every day, I pressed play every day, I sweat every day, and I changed every day. Every day I felt just a little bit be

I am a Boston girl born and raised but honestly I am cold more often than not. For that reason as soon as summer ends I start to get sad and panic about how I am going to keep myself warm all winter. One way that works for me is to make a lot of warm soups so that I can warm myself up from the inside out!  When I posted the choices for this week's Recipe Thursday , the concern over the word "detox" was thoroughly entertaining. Trust me, I get it. In the past, the word detox meant spending an entire day in the....well you get the point. As I came to learn more about nutrition I began to understand that "detox" does not mean that you will not be able to leave your house for days, all it means is that you are cleansing your body of toxins in a healthy way.  I kid, I kid...my point is that the Fall Vegetable Detox Soup was the winner this week and eating it does not mean that you will have to cancel your plans for the day. I found this soup reci