Pinch of Yum’s Crockpot Mexican Chicken

Posted in Recipes Reel by meganandeggs

Summer time for me usually means I am staying out of the kitchen as much as possible. I hate being hot while I cook & when it pushing 90 like it is this week in SoCal, the last thing I want to do is turn on the oven or the grill.

When we moved in May, we moved into a big apartment, with a small kitchen, so I am still trying to figure out my flow in the new place with a different stove & oven. Our meals have been leaning toward taking advantage of the food truck at the apartment & grilling as much as possible.

But this crock pot recipe from Pinch of Yum is one of the best recipes I have tried in a long time. Best part, it’s like she knows me! She gave options on how to modify the recipe to your liking, & anyone who knows me knows it’s hard for me to follow a recipe so it was perfect. Instead of using dry beans, I used canned. I added a cup of frozen corn, & used a little less salsa than suggested. It came out amazing. Here is the recipe on Pinch of Yum & below is how I made it.

12May2016

Whole 30 Recap

Posted in Recipes Reel by meganandeggs

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Okay, okay, I know it’s a little late. It’s already Friday & I ended Whole 30 last week & you have no idea my thoughts & opinions!! Well friends, I started a new job this week & my body is getting a little used to normal hours. 9-5, Monday through Friday is just craziness on my body & my sleep pattern. But more about that later, this post is about Whole 30.

4May2016

Homemade Margarita

Posted in Drinks, Recipes Reel by meganandeggs

There are things happening people!! Happy Cinco de Mayo friends! Today we are talking about beverages! The adult kind with a little bit of lime. Yep you got it! Homemade margaritas. So I think many of you are aware that I work in retail… & if we are to be 100% honest… retail hours suck. I love the flexibility of my job but I hate the holiday hours, working on the weekends, & not seeing my family for Christmas for the past 5 years.

So my friend, & fellow retail worker/east coast originator, Bryan & I have been working on a little project help relieve us of our terrible work schedules. Our project is involving some soy wax, a lot of sent testing & mixing, & a lot of market research. Wondering what we’ve been working on? Well if you haven’t put the clues together you are just going to have to wait. We aren’t 100% ready yet to let out our little secret but in the next few weeks I will let you all know.

Today we are here to talk about Bryan & my favorite beverage while we are working on our project. When we worked together a few years back we would spend every other Wednesday after work at happy hour at an amazing Mexican restaurant in Sherman Oaks, CA, Casa Vega. If you are ever in LA take the trip over the hill to try it! It is a Los Angeles landmark & has been around since 1956 bringing in celebrities & locals alike.

When Bryan & I first started talking about our project we began over a few of these beautiful little things & our ideas started sparking to life. We decided we wanted to make our brain storming session it a fun night so we ran to the grocery store, walked pass the margarita mix, & straight to produce section. We were wanted a nice fresh drink instead of a sugar filled syrup. Making the margaritas fresh brings out the flavor of the tequila & makes you sip on it rather than, well pounding it.

Which you will thank me for in the morning.

Try these out & let me know how you think. I for sure know I will be having one tonight.

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In a 6 oz glass

2 oz tequila
½ lime, juiced
1 oz simple syrup
1 oz triple sec
Fill with water and stir

24Apr2016

Halfway Through Whole 30

Posted in Recipes Reel by meganandeggs

Happy Sunday friends! What do I owe you this pleasure of a Sunday posting?? The first 15 days of my Whole 30 stint is just about over. I am halfway there. Last week I told you guys that I was going to start Whole 30. A month full of no carbs, no alcohol, no sugar, no dairy, & no fun. Well now I am going to share my favorite recipes, my cheats, what I miss & what helped me get by.

Besides following Whole 30 I am also using the My Fitness Pal app to track my calories throughout the day. It really holds me accountable and makes sure I don’t go crazy on those spinach salads & grilled chicken.

My Favorites

As most of you know, I love me some pasta, but I also love veggies. So last Thursday I put two & two together & made some amazing meatballs with red sauce to put over spaghetti squash. Super simple & all from the Whole30 book. Well except for my pasta sauce. That’s my mom’s quick sauce recipe. But it is super simple & Chris even liked it. Shocker!!

My Cheats

My schedule gets a little crazy sometimes at work. If I close the store a lot of times I don’t go to work until 1:30pm and take my lunch between 4 & 5. So usually I eat a pretty big brunch, usually eggs, an avocado, & some sort of fruit, & then for dinner I can have left over protein & veggies from the night before. But around 8pm, before I am off for the night, I usually end up getting a little hungry. Even though oats, grains, & wheat are all big no-nos on Whole 30, I bought some Kashi bars to tie me over. But don’t worry friends, I found a solution. After looking into Whole 30 a little better, I saw I am able to eat LaraBars. Next week I won’t be cheating.

Okay & truth is, I did have some wine the other night, & let me tell you, 1 glass got me a little tipsy. Two got me drunk. Apparently now I have the tolerance of a 15 year old sneaking wine at the dinner table. I don’t hate it though.

What I Miss

Wine. I miss wine. Currently I am watching Olivia Pope & Abby drink beautiful red wine out of their massively tall wine glasses, the same glasses that I have sitting over on my dry bar, & I want to jump through the TV to take a sip. Uhg, 15 more days.

What Helped Me Get By

One night I wanted something sweet. And bad. So I got a banana & drizzled some almond butter over it for the perfect amount of sweet without the sugar. I use Trader Joe’s Raw Almond Butter because it has the least amount of sugars of all the almond butters I have found. Anyone else have some Whole 30 fixes to sweet cravings?

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11Apr2016

Veggie Chili & Whole 30

Posted in Recipes Reel by meganandeggs

At the beginning of the year my best friend from home asked me to be in her wedding. I was honored, excited, & then totally horrified. I knew right away I would need to drop a few lbs before throwing on a bridesmaid dress & standing beside her. Is it terrible that all I could think about was her photos!!! Yikes!

So I started looking into a few different diets. I knew that I couldn’t just do a quick fad diet, but instead I need to change my lifestyle. The maid of honor, who is actually my oldest friend, gave me some tips that have helped her. She told me about a diet that she stays true to & has had a ton of success on. While researching the Keto diet I stumbled upon The Whole30 & started reading.

I saw that a lot of people had great long term results by using Whole 30. They started looking at labels more, eating fresher, & craving less sugar. My biggest weakness is carbs. Um hello, I’m Italian. So I love me a dinner full of pasta, red sauce, topped with cheese & amazing bread to dip in my sauce. AKA everything I cannot eat on this diet. So here goes nothing!

Yesterday started my month of no carbs, no alcohol, no sugar, no dairy & no fun. This past week I have been doing Whole 30-light. We had a lot of people over this past weekend, which in turn means we had a ton of food. So once those Mexican rice, & Mac and Cheese leftovers were gone, I stopped eating carbs. I still have a few yogurts in the refrigerator that I am finishing up otherwise, it’s been all protein & veggies for me.

I have been researching a ton of Whole 30 recipes, & trying to find some of my own recipes that I could change up to make Whole 30 approved. Chris has been great. He agreed to do it with me, but I am sure he will be sneaking some of the sugars & carbs at work for lunch.

Here is one recipe that I made a few weeks ago as a clean out the refrigerator recipe, but it turns out if you pull out the beans & lay off the cheese topping, it is a great Whole 30 meal. Instead of using chili powder in this I actually used Flavor God’s Everything Spicy seasoning. It was amazing!!! Much lighter than normal chili powders & perk… they are GMO & MSG free… aka great for Whole 30 or even the Paleo diet.

Try my Veggie Chili out & let me know what you think. Also, who else has done Whole 30? What are your favorite recipes?

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4 Tbsp vegetable oil
1 lb carrots, chopped
1 lb celery, chopped
5 garlic cloves, chopped
1 head broccoli
1 pinto beans
1 can red kidney beans
1 can black beans
14.5 oz petite cut tomatoes
2 cups water
½ tsp black pepper
2 Tbsp Flavor God Everything Spicy seasoning or chili powder
1 tsp red pepper flakes

1. In a pot add vegetable oil, carrots and celery and cook on high for about 5 minutes, stirring regularly. Allow vegetables to get tender and add chopped garlic. Allow garlic to brown.
2. Add broccoli, and all three beans to the pot. Cook for 10-15 minutes.
3. Add diced tomatoes, water, and seasonings.
4. Lower heat to medium and cook for 45 minutes covered.
5. Top with cheese if desired.