{Clean} Eating Tacos!

This has been a huge hit in our house! My hubby absolutely loves these.  In fact, he's been bugging me for awhile to get this recipe up on the blog so he can brag about it, haha!

Here goes:

1 lb ground chicken {or turkey/beef - whatever floats your boat!}
1 can 15 oz tomato sauce {no salt added - Hunts makes a yummy one}
1/2 tbs taco seasoning
1 tbs garlic powder
1 tbs onion powder
1 tbs paprika
1/2 tbs chile powder
1 can whole kernel corn {Libby's makes an all natural version w/no added salt}
1 can low sodium black beans

Brown meat in EVOO, sprinkle of taco seasoning, garlic powder, and onion powder.  Using the spices is optional, but we like the extra flavor it adds and it doesn't hurt anything! Drain after cooking.

Mix browned meat, tomato sauce, spices, drained corn and black beans into your pan and let simmer for 15-20 minutes.

Serve with guacamole, salsa, cheese if desired.  Trader Joes has some excellent clean corn tortillas to eat these in! By clean I mean - corn, lime juice, and water.  Literally, those are the only ingredients.  :)

We like to double the recipe and save some for later in the week!

Enjoy y'all!

mnb challenge: week two!

Week two of the of "move.nourish.believe." challenge with Lorna Jane and Fit Approach is over. I'm a little sad that there's only a week left! In case you missed last weeks post, basically you have a daily challenge that meets the weeks theme.  This week was nourish.  Each day you take a picture of that days challenge, and post it on Instagram and Twitter.  Not only have I met some awesome people, but I'm in the running to win a grand prize of $1000 in Lorna Jane active apparel.  This mama could do a lot with that many new workout clothes!! You can check out all the details here!

This week wasn't exactly easy.  We had plans to go grocery shopping on Monday, my hubby was supposed to be off all week, and our plans got flip-turned upside-down.  Like whoa.  Instead of being able to really plan this week out like I fully intended, I had to wing it.  I'm not great at winging it... but somehow, I made it through! :)

Feb 10: Go Meatless 

I'd be lying if I said this was an easy day for me.  I love my meat.  I have nothing against veggies, but I'd prefer them to be a side dish vs the main dish.  But, that's just me! I had a veggie chili with homemade cornbread.  Not too shabby!!

Feb 11: Take Your Lunch to Work 

I'm a stay at home mama, so every day is bring your lunch to work day! Haha! Like I said, I hadn't been grocery shopping so it was literally - eat what's in the fridge and pantry week - so I had an all natural pb&jelly sandwich on organic wheat bread with sweet potato chips, an apple, and kiwi.  As well as coffee {my fuel to get through my day with two babies}and some water!

Feb 12: Write it Down! 

Isn't it funny how writing your food down can sometimes make you cringe? It's not that I ate bad, it's just a visual reminder that I probably don't always eat enough.  I get busy, forget I'm hungry, and find myself missing an entire meal.  It's something I'm trying very hard to work on.  Hopefully the 21 Day Fix will help with that! :)

Feb 13: Smoothie Day! 

I love smoothies.  They're delicious! I won't lie, for years, I was notorious for starting smoothies around this time of year every morning for breakfast as part of my "countdown to spring break.  Since I've been a mama for the past 3 spring breaks, that wasn't really my focus, so it made me laugh when I made this on Thursday. It's funny how things like a smell or an insignificant action can transport you somewhere else immediately.

Anyway, my Shakeology that I've been impatiently waiting for came in, so I got to try my very first one as smoothie day! Woo hoo! I have to use the vegan formula since lil miss can't have milk or soy, but so far I'm pretty impressed with the taste.  This particular smoothie was tropical strawberry Shakeology, half a banada, a Cutie, and ~ a cup of strawberries with coconut milk.  I added some honey to sweeten it up because that orange twang just about did me in...  but then again, I'm not an orange fan.  I've since tried it with pineapple and I'm totally in love!! Yummmm...

Feb 14: Go Raw Friday! 

I was truly out of my comfort zone on this one! I'm not a raw fan, but I decided to broaden my horizons when my hubby took me to dinner for Valentine's Day! Our waitress started talking about the raw bar and I was immediately excited to see what they had to offer - easy check off for the last day of this week's challenge!! My pick was tuna tartare.  It was absolutely delicious.  Really.  I'll definitely be trying that again!

Next week is the last week in our challenge, and it's believe.  Tomorrow, I'm supposed to spoil myself.  Hmmmm, any suggestions??  :)

move. nourish. believe.

Happy Saturday!!

I came across this awesome challenge yesterday on Fit Approach while browsing my twitter feed.  It's called the Move Nourish Challenge or #mnbchallenge.  {{Sidenote: everytime that I hashtag anything I always see the Justin Timberlake/Jimmy Fallon skit about hashtagging in my head.  And then I laugh.  I can't help it.}} Basically, Lorna Jane - who happens to be one of the partners sponsoring this challenge - believes that it is these three principles that enable women to live an active life.

Lorna's philosophy:
MOVE her body every day
NOURISH from the inside out
BELIEVE in herself and that anything is possible 
if you work hard enough

So, each activity you participate in starting Feb 3-Feb 21 involves one of these principles.  You're supposed to follow the schedule {I'll post it below} and post a picture of yourself each day on either twitter or instagram. Sounds interesting right? {you can follow my adventure on instagram: southerncharmfitness or twitter: @southcharmfit} 

Aside from participating in a fun challenge, you also can be entered for a prize of $1000 shopping spree to Lorna Jane! I mean, really, who couldn't use that?! 

If you're interested in participating in this with me, you can find all the info on facebook.  Can't wait to get this fit challenge started!!!   

{Clean} Spaghetti Sauce

I went to make dinner tonight, and realized we badly need to go shopping and restock.  It was kind of ridiculous.

I scrambled and immediately starting searching Pinterest for a recipe I could use that didn't require hours in a crock pot! I was able to find one pretty quick {luckily}, had all the ingredients, and adapted it to fit our particular tastes.  So, without further adieu, my first {featured} recipe!

Ingredients:

• 1 jar {28 oz} diced tomatoes 
• 1 jar {8 oz} tomato paste 
• 1/2 can {15 oz} pumpkin 
• 1 tsp onion powder
• 1 1/2 tsp garlic powder
• 1 tsp oregano 
• 1 tsp basil 
• 1 tsp sea salt {or kosher, that tasted great!} 
• 1/2 tsp ground black pepper
• 3/4 - 1 tsp crushed red peppers {I'm actually guesstimating on this measurement bc I added to taste!}
• 1/2 - 3/4 tsp Italian seasoning {also guesstimating... I tend to add until I like the flavor, haha!}

Puree diced tomatoes and pour into sauce pan.  {I like to do this, because I hate chunky tomatoes in my sauce.  You are welcome to skip this step!} Mix remaining ingredients into sauce pan, and let sit on medium high until it starts to bubble. Stir, and lower to simmer.  Let sit for an additional 10-15 minutes.  

Optional: you can brown ground turkey beforehand and mix with your sauce.  We added Earth's Best Mini Meatballs to ours {since we had no meat}, and it was delish! 

Serve over pasta {we used whole wheat linguine}.  Enjoy! 

Adapted from The Naked Kitchen.