Enjoying Your Body

It's no secret that I've had a love hate relationship with my body. I was a chunky child, a thin teen with unhealthy eating habits,  and since becoming a mother I've found it increasingly harder to love my body. I often roll my eyes when Karl compliments me, he gets so frustrated that I don't see myself the same way he does.

It has been 2 years now since Karl and I transformed our bodies, eating clean for the whole family,  and completely healing my IBS/GERD.

I still struggle loving my body, but I find myself not being scared to try on clothes,  being able to accurately assess my size (at first I would grab a size 12, then a 10, the finally try an 8/6 because I didn't see a reflection that much smaller than the size 16 I was.), and the most impactful change is not having the self loathing after eating a meal.

Don't measure your self worth in your waist size or a scale number,  but please remember that you are worth the extra effort to eat healthy, your future is dependent on what you put in your body, and often times the emotional rollercoaster that you may feel like it will never end can end when you start respecting yourself and loving yourself enough to make a life long change and never turn back. Don't do it for what others see, do it for how you will feel. My quality of life is so much better, my husband's quality of life is so much better and my children now have a mommy and daddy that are teaching healthy body image along with emotional wellness.

I want to say thank you to all of you that are on this journey with us.  To those of you who roll your eyes when I ask if there's gluten in something I hope some day you'll understand that this isn't a fad this has been a life changing experience that has brought so much happiness to our family and no amount of eye rolls or jokes can ever change that.

Wishing you all much love,
More food blog posts to come on my off weekend ;)
-Danielle

What we've been up to

It's been a while since we've done a progress update.  Karl and I officially started our lifestyle change 2 years ago! What?! How has time flown by so fast? A year and a half ago we moved 300 miles away from family and were truly tested on our newly acquired eating and activity lifestyle. I'm pleased to inform you all that even though we have endured a stressful move, deaths in the family,  and a traumatic injury to Danielle's leg we've maintained our slenderiiz results. Admittedly, post injury Danielle is working on building up strength and endurance to be back to a fully active lifestyle but I don't know how many people could go through 3 months of being of their feet and not gain the weight back. We're proud of ourselves for not falling back in to our stress eating habits,  and proud to be a healthy family.  This week Danielle returned back to work after being off for 3 months, feels like a new chapter in our lives so we're taking the opportunity to do an 8 week challenge to get fit. Wish us luck, and pray for our journey as we start a new chapter in this process and get Danielle back to where she can be hiking and active again. We're flushing fat, building muscle and starting the slenderiiz program again to get to our full potential.

Coming soon...daily meals on a budget

Hey guys and gals!
Today my husband really inspired me to share a new strategy with my blogging.  The #1 thing we hear is "it's so expensive to eat clean". Karl and I feed our family of 4 on a $120 a week food budget. Eating healthy and on a budget can be done!

Look for some posts coming very soon on dollar for dollar expense on meals from breakfast to dinner including snacks. I'll also be working on helping put together a weekly meal plan broken down by cost.

Remember folks, keep it simple. Lean protein,  veggies and fruit.

Stay tuned!
Danielle :)

Almond flour pizza crust

The whole family enjoyed the crunch and toasty flavor of this gluten free, dairy free, sugar free pizza crust!

Serving size: 2

What you'll need:
Parchment paper to line your baking sheet or pizza stone.
1 cup almond flour
1 egg
2 tbs melted coconut oil
pinch of sea salt
1/2 tbs garlic powder
1/2 tbs Italian seasoning . 

Pre-heat your oven to 350 degrees.

Whisk your egg,  garlic, italian seasonings and salt. Then add in almond flour and melted coconut oil.

Lightly coat your hands in the coconut oil and roll the mixture in to a round ball.

Line your baking sheet with parchment paper and a little oil on top to help not stick.

Press out your dough until about 8inches in diameter.

Pre-bake at 350 degrees with no toppings until golden brown.
Add a thin layer of sauce (I used Target's Simply balanced marinara because is sf/gf/df) bake until chosen toppings are hot.

We opted to top with salad instead of cheese ;) yum!

*Note* if you are topping with meat make sure it is cook all the way to safe temperature before adding to the pizza.

Easy one pot soup

It's finally fall time! Which means hot soup is on the menu.

If you need an easy dinner that makes for great left overs try this one out.

What you need:
2 bags frozen vegetables (I use the California vegetable blend)
2 boxes of chicken broth (read your ingredients to avoid gluten and sugar exposure)
1 lbs ground chicken

1 bag gluten free fusili pasta (I like the simply balanced brand from target)  

Italian seasonings
Sea salt
Pepper
Garlic powder
2 tbs coconut oil

Melt 2 tbs of coconut oil in the bottom of a large soup pot.  Brown the ground chicken in the oil over medium heat with 1 tbs italian seasonings,  1/2 tbs sea salt, 1/4 tbs pepper and 1/2 tbs garlic powder.

Once chicken in browned dump in the 2 bags of frozen veggies.  Stir together. Add the chicken broth and crank the heat up to high.

Once the broth is boiling pour in pasta and stir every couple of minutes until aldente. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Let sit at least 4 minutes before serving. Enjoy!

Whipped Cauliflower (faux potatoes)

My favorite part of any family meal used to be mashed potatoes. The high starch value of potatoes just kills my stomach and isn't Slenderiiz approved. My go to comfort food now is the whipped cauliflower! So good you barely miss the potatoes ;)

Yes that's cauliflower not potato!

Ready to get started?

Ingredients
32 oz frozen cauliflower
1 tsp of salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1 tbs crushed garlic
1/4-1/2 cup unsweetend coconut milk

Instructions
In a stew pot add all the ingredients (yes it's that easy!), cover with a lid and heat up on medium high heat (my stove has this as 6 out of 10). Stir semi frequently and add small splashes of unsweetened coconut milk if the liquid completely evaporates before the cauliflower is mashable with a manual masher/fork. If you like chunky potatoes then mash by hand. If you want light and airy then blend away! I use my Ninja on high and crack the little pour spout cover a little to make sure the seal doesn't pop from pressure. If you have a hand mixer you can use that too but be careful not to burn you self!

I like to top my light and airy cauliflower with a pinch of sea salt and fresh ground pepper. Also super yummy with your favorite gravy recipe!

Chocolate Chunk Cookies (Gluten free, dairy free, sugar free)

Who wants a fiber and protein packed chocolate chunk cookie that could easily pass as breakfast on the go instead of dessert? Um yeah that's right, me!

Ready for some odd sounding ingredients that I promise will rock your world if blended like crazy?

Ingredients:
1 can drained and rinsed Garbanzo beans
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup plus 2 tbs almond butter
1/4 cup agave or 1 tsp vanilla stevia plus 6 tbs of unstweened coconut milk (use stevia for Slenderiiz approved)
1 pinch of salt
1 cup chocolate chunk I use "Coco Polo 70% dark chocolate"  because it's sweetend with stevia, gluten free and dairy free plus no GMO and great taste! We purchase it from Natural Grocers.
1/2 tbs coconut oil

Instructions:
In a high powered blender blend all the indredient except the chocolate until smooth and evenly integrated.
While still packaged smash the chocolate with something heavy (I use a tenderizing hammer or a full can of beans).
remove the blade from your blender or scrape mixture in to a bowl. Stir in the chocolate chunks (I also use the dough "blade" for my Ninja and it works great without over chopping the chocolate).

Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.
Grease your hands with a little coconut oil and roll about 2 tbs of dough in your hands and then flatten and place on the parchment paper. You will probably have to reapply the coconut oil every 2-3 cookies to keep the dough from sticking to your hands.

Note: The cookies do not rise or spread so how you form them is how they will look once baked.

Preheat the oven to 350 deg.
Bake for 15-20 minutes and let set for a couple minutes before eating.

Enjoy!