Birthday Month is COMING!!!!

So since all the drama surrounding birthdays this year, it got me thinking about birthdays in general and I noticed that as people get older (and I don't mean old, I mean 8-9-10 year olds), birthdays seem to be less about excitement, celebration, or even fun and more about it just being another day on the calendar, lackluster and bland. Birthdays slowly stop being a reason to celebrate someone who has survived and thrived through yet another year of a well-lived life and turn into Eh what day is it again. It's less about fun foods like birthday cake and more about depriving yourself by eating salad. You no longer get balloons and cards, but the steady stream of half-assed Facebook wall posts from people you may not even know any longer streams in all day. There isn't any singing, instead it's a whole lot more moping & sighing. And I'm changing that for me this year!

I'm not usually so excited for my birthday to get here, but this year I am super stoked to be entering birthday month. I'm planning celebrations, gifts & funs the whole month long. Oh yeah Baby! You see I've been working really hard and I'm pretty dang proud of my almost 43 year old ass. Here's my current "after" pic. I'm down about 47 pounds since Sept 2015 and a total of 13 inches overall. Now I realize that I am not an after, but I am seriously proud of my current status and the work I've done.

I have been doing a pretty decent job at staying on my 21 Day Fix program Sunday through Thursday and have actually lost about 15 pounds in July. And yes you heard that right, I run 21 Day Fix during my work week (Sunday night through Friday morning), eat my containers & work out when I get up and some days before going to bed again. And then I take a minor break on Fridays and a big break on Saturdays. I don't go full out piggy and eat a whole chocolate cake, but if I have been having a craving for chocolate cake (or any thing else for that matter) I indulge on Saturdays. Now don't get me wrong, I don't eat everything that's not nailed down. But by allowing myself to take Saturdays off and not feel like I'm cheating on myself by eating something off my diet, I am totally able to go back to my new normal eating schedule during my work week.

So this year for my birthday, I'm celebrating the entire month! I'm taking the entire month leading up to my birthday (8-25) to honor the awesome power of me. It’s so easy to get caught up in everyday life and ignore your own needs.

So I am making myself person #1 in my life.

I deserve to treat my self. I deserve a constant practice of self-care. I deserve a renewed sense of self love. I deserve appreciation. So through out the month, I have a plan of things I'm going to do. 

By Me ~ For Me

First up on my birthday month journey, I'm taking a pledge to blog every day for the next 31 days. Because it's something that I have been wanting to do, and this year I'm going it big time! You'll get some general, hey it's me again and some this is what I'm doing, but for the most part it's a celebration of all things ME!

21 Day Fix Chicken Cordon Bleu

Ingredients:
2 lbs B/L S/L Chicken Breast (sliced in half or butterflied depending on your level of commitment to cooking)
5-10 slices of low sodium ham (I use a thin cut natural)
Shredded Provolone
Mustard (I've used regular deli mustard, honey mustard, and spicy mustard)
16 (maybe a few more) Whole wheat crackers - finely crushed

I slice the chicken breast so I end up with thin "layers", and place about half of it in the bottom of a casserole dish. Then I top with mustard. Don't go totally crazy, but it does add flavor. Lay the ham out on top of the mustard, on my half of the dish, I use 3-6 slices of ham, on his half I use between 6-12. Sprinkle shredded cheese next, on my half of the dish, I use the blue container full of cheese, on his half I just sprinkle it over. Place the remain chicken on the top of the casserole dish. Sprinkle the crushed crackers on top. Bake at 350 until chicken is done, depending on your oven 30-45 minutes is usually good.

For measurements I use 1 yellow (cracker topping), 1 blue (cheese), and 2-3 reds depending on how much I eat/have eaten during the day. It's a decent reheatable meal, but may need more mustard if it dries out.

You can totally "spice up" this meal by spicing the chicken up. I tend to cook kind of bland for James' stomach.

Crock Pot Chicken

Ingredients;

5-7 pound Whole chicken (depending on your need/desire for left overs)

1 Pound New Potatoes

3 Whole carrots 

3 stalks of celery

1 onion

spice mixture (I use low sodium garlic garni that I get at the RenFaire)

Directions:

Dump veggies in a crock pot, add chicken, sprinkle spice mixture over entire chicken, make sure the breast side is down. Put the lid on and set the timer for 4-6 hours low or 8-10 hours high. I usually set it for the 10 hour mark, but that's cause of my sleep schedule. LOL. And that is IT!

Okay, so this "recipe" is so simple I shouldn't even call it a recipe lol.

Greek Chicken Pitas

1 medium onion, sliced super thin
1 Tbsp garlic 

2 Pounds boneless, skinless chicken breast
1 Tbsp Greek Seasoning 

1/4 Cup Water

Add all of the above ingredients to crock pot and set for either 4-6 hours on high or my favorite 10 hours low (it cooks while I sleep). Tada!

When done - add 1 Cup plain Greek yogurt to the crock pot and simply stir up. The chicken will break down into smaller shredded pieces.

You also need:

1 package of pita pocket breads, any variety
1 tomato, diced into small chunks
1/2 cup cucumber, diced into small chunks

1 Head Romaine Lettuce, diced
Feta Cheese to taste
Dill Dressing - I use OPA by Litehouse Feta Dill Greek Yogurt Dressing.

And that is it. It literally takes me longer to dice the tomator & cucumber than it does to do the rest of the meal.

Apple Fake Betty

Chicken Fajitas

5 small chicken breast (feeding the BF too ya know)

Homemade fajita seasoning (no salt no sugar)

Fry in the frying pan dry until done

And that is it!

Very yummy meal 

Tropical chicken