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b lately.

Okay so I have more recipes for you from this detox that I am doing.. I only have 3 more days and I'm ready for it to be over. I will definitely take what I've learned into my normal diet but man I miss bread, and cheese, and milk, and any other drink other than water. haha. But it's been good.

But right now here are some photos of my Brooklynn lately from my cellphone. She is getting more and more fun every single day. She is the best!

delicious.

I have officially gone 3 1/2 whole days without drinking diet coke!

Can you believe that?! Honestly, I can't. This is the longest I've gone without drinking diet coke in like 5 years... Day 1 was rough, day 2 was miserable, but yesterday wasn't terrible. I actually felt pretty good. I even went to the gym. Amazing right?! haha

As far as my eating went yesterday I had some amazing food. My friend Heather is also doing this detox with me so she came over and we cooked lunch together. We made a Mexican chicken, lime soup with avocado on top. It was amazing!! Heather isn't too keen on meat so she used half meat half beans. But I used all chicken breast. YUM. 

Then for dinner I made a brown rice, asparagus, tomato, chicken type dish with carrot soup. The main dish is supposed to be made with orzo pasta but since I can't have pasta I made it with brown rice. Turned out to be really good.

This cleanse hasn't been as hard as I thought it would be. The hardest part is no diet coke and no wheat. But I am noticing a change and I feel pretty good. I have gotten a few emails about doing a post on the exact details of the detox so that is coming soon!

Recipes ::

Mexican, chicken, lime soup



Ingredients ::
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 onion finely chopped
6 cloves garlic thinly sliced
3 to 4 skinless boneless chicken breast cut into 1/2 inch pieces
2 canned chipotle chiles in adobo sauce, finely chopped, plus 2 tablespoons adobo sauce
1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro
Juice of 2 limes
Salt & Pepper
1 half avocado, thinly sliced

In a large saucepan, heat the olive oil over medium-high heat. Stir in the onion and garlic, lover the heat to medium and cook until the onion begins to brown, about 7 minutes. Remove onions and garlic and put in a small bowl. Cook chicken in pot on high heat until golden brown. Add the garlic and onion back into pot, add chipotles and adobo sauce, then stir in the chicken broth. Lower the heat and simmer for 15 minutes, skimming any foam. Stir in the cilantro and lime juice: season with salt and pepper.

Pour soup and place avocado slices in individual bowls.
Enjoy!



Carrot Soup ::


simmer on stove 15-20 minutes until flavors blend
4 large carrots cooked, pureed in blender
1 sauteed pureed onion
1 clove chopped finely
1 zucchini cooked, pureed in blender
4 cups low sodium chicken stock
3 tablespoons cinnamon


Brown Rice with Asparagus & Tomatoes


Ingredients::
2 cups of brown rice
1 bunch fresh asparagus, cut into 1-inch pieces
1 pint grape or cherry tomatoes, halved
1 lemon, zested and juiced
4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 clove garlic minced
Salt & pepper

Cook rice according to package.

Bring 1 large pot of water to a boil. Add asparagus and blanch, about 2 to 3 minutes, depending on the thickness of your asparagus. Place blanched asparagus in a bowl of ice water to stop the cooking and keep them green.

Once rice is cooked add asparagus, and tomato halves.

Mix olive oil, lemon zest, lemon juice, garlic, salt and pepper in a small bowl. Stir into rice and vegetables. Stir in parsley.

Can be served warm or cool. Delicious both ways!

Guess What??

Every summer we move somewhere else for my husbands job. It can be hard but it can also be a lot of fun. I always get so nervous when it gets close to the time where we find out where we are going. 

But alas, we found out where we are going and I couldn't be more excited..

This summer we'll be heading too..

Fort Worth, Texas!!

I am seriously so excited. We will be right next to Dallas! I've always wanted to go there. It is going to be so much fun! And on top of that I will finally get to meet Curtis' older brother Josh, and Curtis' grandparents! Long overdue! 

I might just have so much fun there that I don't ever want to come back!
Any blog friends live in that area!? 

detox.

Today I started an 8 day detox. This is not your normal detox. It is more to curb cravings and restart the way that I eat. The portions I eat are WAY too big and I need to cut it back. I can exercise all day long but if I don't start eating right I'm never going to lose the weight that I want to lose. 

So for 8 days I will cut out of my diet, sugar, dairy, wheat, red meat and diet coke. You eat 3 decent size meals with NO snacking in between. Honestly the hardest part is going to be no diet coke. I'm insanely addicted and I've tried to stop drinking it multiple times and I've failed every time. But I have never been so determined. If I'm ever going to lose this weight I need to do it now. 

Here I am on day one. I haven't had any diet coke.. I've only had to take pain killers once. I'm actually doing pretty good. But I can't get ahead of myself.  

For breakfast I had two hard boiled eggs. For lunch I had this amazing quinoa salad. I will post the recipe at the end of this post because it is seriously amazing. Then for dinner I had a salad with grilled chicken, cucumbers, tomatoes, and peas. It was delicious. 

And we cant forget, LOTS AND LOTS of water!!

Wish me luck!!

Ingredients ::

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 medium onion, chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced

3/4 cup uncooked quinoa

1 1/2 cups chicken or vegetable broth

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1 cup frozen sweet corn

2 (15-ounce) cans black beans, drained and rinsed

1/2 cup cilantro, chopped

Directions ::

In a medium pot, heat the olive oil over medium heat. When shimmering and hot, add the oinions and saute for 4-5 minutes, stirring often. Add the garlick and stir for a minute or two until the garlic is fragrant, being careful not to burn the garlic.

Add the quinoa and cover with broth. Stir in cumin, cayenne pepper, salt and pepper. Bring the muxture to a boil. Cover, reduce heat and let simmer for 20 minutes (or until all the liquid is absorbed).

Stir in the frozen corn and black beans. Cover and let the pot sit off the heat until the corn and beans are heated through, about 5-6 minutes. Stir in the cilantro. Serve warm or chilled.

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zoo.

Today was free entrance day at the Zoo. Now here in Utah you wouldn't think to go to the Zoo very often in the winter because it's so cold. But it is still open. Just for shorter hours and not all of the animals are out. 

My girlfriend Lauren called me up and told me how today was free entrance day and asked me if Brooklynn and I wanted to join her and her daughter who happens to be named Brooklyn. Since today happened to actually be pretty warm (like 45 degrees. ha) we decided to go. 

It was all worth it just because the Tiger was so interactive. Rarely do you get to see any of the animal so close to the fence. It was amazing. Brooklynn loved the monkeys and now knows "what a monkey says". It's pretty cute I need to get it on video. We had a great time and it was nice to be outside.

Did you know that Brooklynn is the queen of dirty looks? She is seriously so sweet but every once in a while she busts out a really dirty look. But it's still so stinkin' cute! 

After Curtis and I were able to go on a date night to the Utah Jazz game. It was a really fun game. They went into double overtime and ended up loosing. Even though they lost it was still really fun!

Thanks Ashley for baby sitting!

Also, you should head over to The Shine Project blog and enter in my giveaway.. it's pretty awesome!

st. george

This past weekend we headed down to St. George. It was my niece's baby blessing so we couldn't miss it. On top of that, my awesome in-laws also came down for it which was such a treat. We do NOT see them enough. (hint hint :: move to Utah! ) 

Anyway, here is what this awesome weekend entailed. 

-Spending much needed time with my mother and father in-law

-Brooklynn getting to play all weekend long with all her Duty cousins

-Lots of games

-Missing the huge snow storm in Salt Lake and having fun rain.

-Curtis running the St. George half marathon because he's seriously awesome like that.

-Brooklynn getting to meet her GREAT GREAT Grandpa (yes TWO greats! pretty neat!)

-Claire's baby blessing

Eating In-n-Out and Paradise. YUM!

-Talking and laughing with family

It was a great weekend and we were sad it had to come to an end.

We miss everyone already!!