Tasty Tuesday- Fast Metabolism Diet Fajitas and Coconut Macaroons

Here's a new dinner item to spice up your meals a bit.  Fajitas!

All you will need is:

• Lean Chicken or Beef
• 1/2 onion
• Bell peppers
• Garlic
• Phase 1, 3: Spelt or Sprouted Wheat Tortilla (I like Spelt)
• Phase 2: Large lettuce leaves
• Phase 3: Avocado 

Start with chopping your onion.  Saute in skillet with garlic for 1-2 minutes.  Add in chopped bell peppers and protein.  I like cut up chicken breast or fajita beef strips found in the butcher section of the grocery store.  You can really buy any lean beef you can find and cut it up to your desired size.  Saute all the veggies and protein together until meat is cooked through and veggies are tender.

For Phase 1: Wrap in a spelt or sprouted wheat tortilla with some salsa on top.  Don't forget a serving a fruit to make this dinner complete.

For Phase 2:  Wrap in a large lettuce leaf with some lemon juice or salsa.

For Phase 3: Wrap in a spelt or sprouted wheat tortilla with some avacado (healthy fat) and salsa.

I love making this meal during the diet.  Fajitas are something I usually make anyway for dinner, so it isn't really that big of a change for my family.  It's also quick to throw together and makes for great leftovers.


With Halloween around the corner, it can be hard to stay on track with all the candy and Halloween parties.  I am usually pretty good when it comes to not eating Halloween candy....that is until my eyes set sight on those blue wrappers called Almond Joys.  I could eat my weight in those chocolate covered coconut candy bars.  Mmmmm.  Unfortunately, Almond Joys are not on the diet.  Darn.  After searching online, I finally found a coconut macaroon recipe that works for Phase 3 on the diet and is very very yummy.  Okay, coming off of Phase 2, anything tastes yummy as long as it isn't green or moos, but these macaroons are seriously REALLY good.  And guess what?!  They kind of taste like Almond Joys!  Yay!

Coconut Macaroon Recipe
(Edited recipe from justonecookbook.com)

• 1 egg white
• 4 Tbsp. Xylitol
• 1 cup unsweetened shredded coconut
• ¼ tsp. pure vanilla extract (optional)
• 1/8 tsp. salt (optional) 

1. Preheat oven to 325° F (165° C) degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. 
2. In a medium bowl, lightly beat the egg white with a tea spoon until foamy. Add xylitol, vanilla, and salt and mix everything.  
3. Add coconut and stir until well mixed. You should be able to form balls with two tea spoons. They should be moist and sticky but egg white shouldn’t be too visible because egg whites are runny once they are heated in the oven. Each egg white size is different, so you may need to adjust the consistency with additional xylitol or coconut. 
4. Roughly divide into 8 parts. Form into balls with two teaspoons and place them on prepared baking sheet. Repeat with remaining mixture, placing macaroons about 1 inch apart. Bake them until slightly golden, about 15-20 minutes. 
5. Remove baking sheet from oven to a wire rack, and let macaroons cool on baking sheet. 

If you want to go the extra mile, you can add cacao nibs as a chocolate like garnish.  The ones I made pictured below were made with thick sliced unsweetened coconut.  I would recommend chopping the thicker coconut to make it a bit finer, because the thicker consistency of the coconut made it harder for the macaroons to stick together.

Confession....the ones pictured here are made with sugar free dark chocolate chips since I couldn't find cacao nibs anywhere.  In my defense, I made these after I had finished a full round of the diet, so I was in maintenance. It was my guilty little pleasure that was totally worth it.

So far I am 20lbs down and officially at my pre-baby weight.  Yay!  If you are doing the Fast Metabolism Diet, stay strong and stick with it.  It really works and the changes you make are life changes that make such a difference in your body.  I know it can be hard, especially around holidays, but if you mess up don't let it get you down.  Just jump right back up and keep going where you left off.  You can do it!

Tasty Tuesday- FMD Lemon Lime Slushy and Strawberry Sorbet

While on the Fast Metabolism Diet, treats and desserts are hard to come by.  It makes sense that a diet isn't going to have a ton of desserts on it since that is probably what made you go on a diet in the first place.  Sometimes though, you just need something sweet to hit the spot after a rough day.  So, for today's Tasty Tuesday I am going to share my yummy recipes for a Fast Metabolism Diet approved Lemon Lime Slushy (Phase 1, 2, 3) and Strawberry Sorbet (Phase 1).


LEMON LIME SLUSHY
This treat is good in all the phases, but I like to use it only for Phase 2 since that is such a rough phase for me to get through.  I honestly don't think I would survive without it.  To start, you want to make sure you have a really good blender.  I use my magic bullet blender or Ninja blender.  Just make sure it is strong enough to blend ice to powder, or you will have crunchy lemon peel ice instead of a fluffy lemon lime slush.

The directions are pretty simple.  All you need is:

• One lemon
• One lime
• xyiltol or stevia
• Ice
• water

I don't usually go by measurements, so I will try my best to estimate how much I put in to make my slushy.  I use different amounts of ice, water, and xylitol every time I make it since every lemon and lime are different sizes and tastes, but it always turns out super yummy. Also, you can use a lemon OR a lime if that is all you have available.

Start by peeling your lemon and lime.  If you're like me and are too lazy to peel them, then just slice the peels off (kind of like how you would cut off the outside of a pineapple).  With the lemon, be sure to cut it open and remove all the seeds.  When you are done peeling/slicing, plop those citrus fruits into your blender.  Yep, the whole thing.  If you don't have a powerful blender, you can just squeeze the juice out of the lemon and lime.  Then add about 1/2 cup ice, 1/4 cup water, and 2 TBS xylitol/stevia (or more as needed).  Blend that sucker up until it is nice and slushy.  I like to make my slush a little on the runny side so I can drink it with a straw, so adjust the amount of ice and water you add until it is the consistency you like.

When you are done, it should look something like this.  As you can see, I missed one or two seeds in my lemon and blended them up with the slush.  Oops.  It still tasted great.

You can enjoy your slush the way it is, or you can freeze it for an hour or two until it is a little more solid.  This will make it more like an icy sorbet if that is more your thing. 

If you happened to make a little too much slush, I like to put the extra into ice cube trays and keep them in the freezer.  This makes it really easy to pop out a few ice cubes and blend them up for a quick treat later on.


STRAWBERRY SORBET

The directions for this are pretty similar to the lemon/lime slushy.  Again, you want to make sure you have a decent blender.  Getting the ice blended as small as possible is the key to this yummy treat.

All you need is:

• About 1-2 cups frozen or fresh strawberries
• xylitol or stevia
• ice
• water
• lemon juice

Add the strawberries, about 2 TBS xylitol or stevia (more to taste if you like it really sweet), about 1/2 cup ice if you used fresh strawberries and 1/4 cup ice if you used frozen strawberries, a dash or two of lemon juice, and about 1/4 cup water to get it all moving in your blender.  Blend, blend, blend until it is smooth.  Just like the lemon lime slushy, you can make this like a slushy too.  I have found the strawberries are smoother and make a better sorbet when they are frozen a little bit, so I like to keep a bowl in the freezer to pull out when I am having a late night sweet craving on phase 1 and need a snack.  I think the trick to making the sorbet the perfect texture is to freeze it for a few hours, and then let it thaw on the counter about 15-30 minutes before you want to eat it.  This ensures it is not solid frozen, and it makes it the perfect texture to spoon out.

My husband LOVED this sorbet, and actually tried stealing it from me when I wasn't looking.  I would make this even if I wasn't on The Fast Metabolism Diet- it is that good.  As I said before with these treats, you kind of have to measure with your eyes and play around with adding ingredients until you get the consistency you like.  These recipes really make it easier to feel like you're getting a special treat and don't taste like diet anything at all.

If you have tried making any FMD treats, I would love to hear about them.  Feel free to comment below, and maybe I will review one of your recipes.

Tasty Tuesday- The Fast Metabolism Diet: Phase 2 Chicken and Veggie Soup

If you are doing the Fast Metabolism Diet program, it is no secret that Phase 2 is KILLER.  Eating nothing but protein and veggies can leave you gagging at the words chicken and broccoli at the end of 4 weeks.  I am kind of picky about the veggies I like, and I am not a fan of sea food.  This leaves me with very little options for what I can make for my Phase 2 meals.  Luckily, the book has a recipe for a chicken and veggie soup that is really good and gives a little diversity to your meals if you're in a chicken and broccoli rut like I was.

Chicken and Veggie Soup (from The Fast Metabolism Diet book)
Phase 2
Serves 6-8 people

• 1 whole chicken or chicken parts, skin removed (I just used 4 big boneless skinless chicken breasts)
• 1 cup chopped onion
• 6-8 garlic cloves, minced
• 8 cups chicken broth
• 8 cups chopped fresh or frozen veggies (Anything can go into this soup. I used kale, spinach, celery, chives, mushrooms, squash, and zucchini.  Broccoli, cabbage, leeks, and asparagus would be good too.) 
• 1 Tbs parsley or cilantro
• 1 tsp rosemary
• 1/2 tsp basil
• 1/2 tsp oregano
• 1/2 tsp thyme
• 1 bay leaf
• sea salt and pepper to taste

Put the chicken in a large soup pot with broth and 8 cups of water.  Add the vegetables and herbs.  Bring to a boil, then lower the heat and simmer for 1 hour.  Let cool, then remove the chicken and debone (I skipped this step since I just cooked boneless skinless chicken breasts and cubed it up before I started making the soup).  Add your chicken meat back to the soup if you deboned the chicken, reheat, season with salt and pepper, and serve.

I ended up making half of this recipe, and it was enough for me to make 2 bags of soup to freeze for future meals.  I used a serving and a half since I have more than 20 lbs I am wanting to lose.  It was a LOT of soup.  Make sure to label your soups with what phase it is for, so you don't get confused if you have multiple soups in your freezer.

This isn't my favorite every day soup, but in the midst of Phase 2, it was amazing.  It tasted like chicken noodle soup, but instead of noodles there were a lot of veggies.  I made sure to chop my veggies very small so it all kind of blended in with the broth. 

Next week I plan to do an overall review of The Fast Metabolism Diet since I will have completed all 28 days.  I will show what worked for me, and what I am going to change for the next time around (that's right, I am going to do another 28 days). 

*If you are doing the FMD and have any tips for Phase 2, I would love to hear them.  Don't be shy and comment below.  I love hearing from my readers.

Friday Favorites-The Fast Metabolism Diet

Let's be honest, losing weight is hard work.  I'm not talking about losing the 5 pounds you gained from eating too many bread rolls after Thanksgiving.  I'm talking about real weight that you put on over the years, only to wake up and look in the mirror 20 plus pounds heavier thinking "How did I become this person?".  It's never a good feeling having extra weight attached to your hips.  A lot of people will argue loosing weight is easy by simply eating healthy and working out.  Sure that works, but "healthy" can be a lot of things to a lot of people.  If it was that easy, millions of Americans would not be obese.  It's not so black and white.

Thanks to a slow metabolism and horrible genes, I have struggled with the scale most of my adult life.  I go up and down and up again, and I have tried almost every weightloss program out there.  Sometimes they work, sometimes they don't. After having 2 kids, my old weight loss methods just have not seemed to be effective.  It's as if every child I have has sucked something out of me, and it is harder and harder to get back to my normal feel good self.  I always thought nursing would magically take the fat away, but I learned that I am one of the lucky few moms that gain weight when nursing since their body hangs on to food to provide for the baby.  Awesome.  So, when I stopped nursing I decided to do a strict no carb, no sugar diet.  I was determined to get back in shape.  For two straight months, I didn't even allow myself one M&M.  I was so excited when I weight myself and saw I was down 8 lbs!  I decided to reward myself by eating like a normal person for one day.  I didn't binge on anything crazy.  I just allowed myself to have some bread with dinner and a cookie for dessert.  What happened next shocked me.  One day, one SINGLE day of eating normal food caused me to gain 9 lbs!  I was speechless.  In that moment, I realized my strict two month no carb, no sugar diet was not helping lose fat.  I had lost water.  A lot of water.  It is physically impossible to gain 9 lbs of fat overnight, but it is easy to gain water, and water weighs a lot.  I was devastated.

After consulting with my good friends Ben and Jerry (which is probably the LAST thing I should have been doing), I decided to man up and figure out why my body was not responding like it should to healthy eating and exercise.  I made an appointment at a clinic for women that had really good reviews dealing with hormone issues.  Making that appointment was the best thing I have ever done.  During my one hour consultation, I learned so much about myself.  Basically, my hormones are so jacked up that I could eat lettuce every day and STILL gain weight.  I didn't even know that was possible.  My blood was drawn and sent to a lab to be tested for specific hormone indicator levels, and I get the results back next week.  In the meantime, I was instructed to read a book.  And that's where the Friday Favorites comes in.

The book is called The Fast Metabolism Diet, by Haylie Pomroy (There's an app too!).  Here is a little about the book from the website:


"On The Fast Metabolism Diet you’re going to eat a lot, and still lose weight. What you’re not going to do is count a single calorie or fat gram. Instead, you’re going to rotate what you’re eating throughout each week according to a simple and proven plan carefully designed to induce precise physiological changes that will set your metabolism on fire.

• PHASE ONE (Monday-Tuesday): Lots of carbs and fruits
• PHASE TWO (Wednesday-Thursday): Lots of proteins and veggies
• PHASE THREE (Friday-Saturday-Sunday): All of the above, plus healthy fats and oils
• Repeat for four weeks!

Each Phase focuses on different whole, healthy foods to calm your adrenal glands, reduce stress on your liver, and feed your thyroid so it can produce the hormones T3 and T4, the superstars of a fast metabolism. You’ll reduce stress, too—and as a result, put the damper on the belly-fat hormone, cortisol. By keeping your metabolism guessing, you’ll get it working faster. This isn’t just a theory; it’s the results-based product of Haylie Pomroy’s successful programs. It’s worked for celebrities, for athletes and for people with chronic illnesses who need to lose weight, doctor’s orders. Now it’s going to work for you!"


I hate reading and I will admit, I was a little hesitant to buy the book.  I mean, there are probably a million weight loss books out there, so what makes this one so special?  And if it works, why does the whole world not know about it?  I had so many hesitations in my head, but I decided to take a leap of faith and just read it.  What's the worst that can happen, right?  Well, I am so SO SOOOOO glad I read it.  For the first time ever, I feel like someone gets me.  I have hope and I am excited.  I don't even feel like Haylie's program is a diet.  It's more of a combination of eating certain foods that makes sense and causes your body to react by burning fat.  Just like cross fit exercises confuse your muscles and cause your body to get fit, The Fast Metabolism Diet confuses your metabolism and causes it to speed up and burn, burn, burn away fat.  It's not a fad diet, it is science.

I spent this whole week preparing to start the diet on Monday.  I made a grocery list, shopped for all the things I needed, cooked recipes from the book for 2 straight days, and stocked my freezer full of soups and chili that will help me follow the diet with my busy schedule.

I've never been so excited to start a diet than I am to start The Fast Metabolism Diet.  Today I made chocolate chip cookies to get it out of my system before committing myself to a new lifestyle, but I really don't have a desire to eat them.  Just reading the book has changed my outlook on food completely.  If nothing else, I am so grateful for the knowledge I have gained about the things I put in to my body.  I am excited to find out the results from my hormones, get them fixed, and start my Fast Metabolism Diet journey.  So, for at least the next 28 days I will be posting recipes and results from my Fast Metabolism Diet experience.  If weight is something you are struggling with and have yet to find an answer, I would 100% recommend getting this book.  I have my mom and sister reading it right now, and they are starting the program with me too.  I haven't even started the plan yet, but I am that confident that amazing things are going to happen.  So, stay tuned for my results and as Haylie says, I hope you look forward to seeing less of me.