"Fried" Chicken Dinner

Last Night I made "Fried" Chicken for dinner with sweet potato mashed, roasted broccoli and giblet gravy. Below is the recipe for the chicken it is grain and gluten free. The only dairy is a hard cheese-Parmesan.

"Fried" Chicken 

Ingredients:

2 lbs. Chicken Thighs
Coconut Oil Spray 

Dredge:
2 c. Coconut Flour
1/2 cup Shredded Parmesan Cheese
2T Mrs. Dash-Original 
Black Pepper 

2 Eggs-mixed 

Directions:
Preheat your oven to 350
Make yourself a dredging station, chicken, eggs, flour mixture. Pass the chicken through the egg then the coconut flour mixture. Pressing it into the chicken. Shake off excess flour. Place on sprayed cookie sheet. Repeat process for all chicken and add to sheet pan. Place sheet pan in the oven and bake  35-45 mins. depending on thickness of your chicken. Serve with sweet potato mashed, roasted broccoli and giblet gravy and it will complete this home-style family favorite. 

Food Prep Sunday and what my thinking is when I Prep

I promised to share my Food Prep Sunday for a Family of 4. My thought process is "What make my life easier during the week" I am not a huge fan of reheating food so I try to prep things that I will need and can finish off after work.
1. Set up Your Meals for the Week
2. Make a List of any missing ingredients
3. Go to Store to get your missing items
4. Make a Large Dinner on the days that you have more time. (Sunday) for easy multiple uses of items such as meat. 
5. Check your produce what needs to be used up before it goes bad.
6. Package up lunches and snacks in portions for quick grabbing.

OK So here is what I cooked.
1. Big Dinner: Roast Beef, baked sweet and regular potatoes, corn on the cob.
2. Made lunch meat from the leftover Roast beef plus 2 lunches for Eric.
3. Bananas and apples were turning. Made Apple Cinnamon Fruit Leather. With Bananas made 21 Day Fix Dark Chocolate Cookies and Blueberry Pecan Breakfast Bars.
4. Organ Meat is full of vitamins and antioxidants I made Chicken Liver Pate for snacking with veggies and cooked off livers for giblet gravy for Friday's Chicken Dinner.
5. Cooked of 1 pack of chicken thighs for lunches.
6. Made Dill Sauce for my Salmon Burgers for tomorrows dinner.
7. 24 Meatlover's Egg Cups for Breakfast. Froze half.

A Letter to my Daughter

This post is regarding the most recent events in our lives, specifically my oldest daughter Alicea. She has gone off in to the big world to follow her dreams. She has been accepted and now started the Disney College and Internship Program in Orlando Florida. This is something she has wanted to do since she was a little girl. So this post is for her.......



My Darling Princess,

There are no words to explain how truly proud of you that I am but I will try some how to tell you. 

You start this great journey at such a young age, a journey in which we stated so very long ago and that will continue to grow for years to come. It is not often that a parent can say "my child chose this path when she was little and never wavered." But I can say that. At 3 you decided that you weren't a ballerina your were a gymnast and for 13 yrs. to follow we would train and you would never get the gym bug out of your system. Even the last few years you still keep up your skills to be used by any choreographer or director that needs it. At 4 your first trip to Disneyland I guess I should have realized when we hardly rode a ride and stood in  lines for hours just to meet all the Princesses that your love for them and Disney would never end. Between gymnastics, dance, cheer, art, theater and music you made sure you were more than a triple threat and a force to be reckoned with. Your dreams of being on stage at Disney always in the back of your mind. 

Well now you've done it, fresh out of high school, you've taken your first step. You have done you research, you made sure you were on their radar whether it be as a performer or an artist. You have started you education in Art and used your skills to land a most coveted spot. 

The years of "If you can Dream it you can Do it!" on your bedroom walls has pushed you to this point. We are so proud, all of us, parents, grandparents, teachers, coaches, friends. We can all say we knew you had it in you, the girl who pushed and worked to make her dreams come true. 

Now I know this is just the first step on the road and we all await anxiously to see what is next for you. But one thing we all can agree on is that it will be BIG! 

I want to tell you thank you.....Thank you for always allowing me to be a part of it all. You never asked me to sit in the back row, it was always right beside you. Thank you for letting me be your mom, your coach and never saying "No, I don't want you there." I appreciate that and all the memories we have had together. But now it's time for you to go off on your own and fulfill your destiny. I know you can do it. Remember "A Wish is a Dream your Heart Makes." and Hard Work and Dedication Pay Off. 

God has blessed you with so many amazing talents and a good heart to go out and conquer the world. 

Love, Mom 

Traveling

Last week I wrote down an account of what it's like to go on a business trip, be a mom, a wife and a Beachbody Coach. I wanted to go ahead and share my thoughts even though I am back now as I know so many people can relate to wanting to be a career woman, a great wife and mother and still have a passion for helping others reach their goals. 

For the last week my family has been on this roller coaster of emotions as my business trip has be rescheduled, pushed back and up in the air. I guess the looming question of when does mom leave has been on everyone's mind when I thought it had just been plaguing me. To not have an itinerary on Monday morning when the next tentative date was Thursday was definitely almost more than I could bare. Finally Monday late Monday afternoon a late Tuesday flight is booked and the scramble for planning begins. Phone calls to potential babysitters, meals prepped, packing for myself and packing for the kids for a night at Grammys. "Where's my ballet shoes, sign my homework tracker and who's going to pick me up" are just some of the many questions flying. I get the kids situated and off to bed so I can focus and at 10 pm call it a night. 5:00 am comes much to soon, crawling to the coffee pot I give myself 1 hr. to check in with challengers and answer all my messages. I am thankful for already having set up my posts so my group is taken care of and will not be neglected. 6:00 am I am in the kitchen and am excited I have already prepped chicken and meatballs. I know my hubby can make himself a salad with chicken for lunches and I decide to turn the meatballs in to a lasagna he just has to reheat. Next comes the little kids at 6:45 and Emma Grace is fighting me tooth and nail. Alex seems grouchy but pushes on. It takes longer than normal to get out of the house between fights over why am I not picking them up and my cell ringing constantly with work problems......

My hubby gets up and helps to get the kids out and helps load the car for me. Alex makes me a shake for the road almost holding it hostage until I repeat the next 4 days schedule to him. A kiss from the hubby and "I love you", I definitely don't want to leave now. But I have to. So in to the car with the kids and a boost of energy from my shake. Almost to school I look in my rear view mirror to see Alex in tears, "Why do you have to go?" "Please don't" Even now writing this the image breaks my heart. His younger sister so sweet says, "We can lay in bed with dad tonight on Mom's side, it's ok Alex!" At this this time Alex' face is splauchy and we are pulling in to school. I give him a big hug and a tell him he can face time to which he says, "Dad doesn't know how!" I tell him he can teach him and he seems to find that an acceptable answer. With Alex off to school I head out to take Emma who just rambles on about friend's at school, her teacher, all of the above. I have to ask her for a hug goodbye and she's gone in a flash. 

The rest of my day really is a complete blur of meetings and countdowns to when I needed to leave for the airport. I of course left 20 mins. late from the office but luckily didn't need the time. When I got to the airport I noticed how run down I felt and was starving. I saw a Starbucks and a Jack's Grill and debated briefly over the choice. I honestly thought about my groups and what I would tell them and made the choice to go to Jack's for a Make Your Own Salad instead of a Venti Java Chip with Coconut Milk. So happy I made a good decision I snapped a quick pic as an inspiration to my group and to have great accountability. I ate half of the salad and have the rest for later. So now I feel revitalized and am waiting for my flight so I've decided to write this all out to you. I have a minimum of 5-6 hrs. of travel ahead of me and somehow now that I have all my lists completed, a check in with my loves and good food taken in I feel at peace. 

It's 2016, My first Week of the New Year

It's the first Tuesday in 2016 and it's hard to believe that 2015 is over. 2015 was a year of change for our family. The biggest was our daughter graduating from high school and venturing out in to the world. We are so incredibly proud but wow what a change for our family! So as I set up my upcoming week I can't help but think about how different this year will be. It of course makes be ever so conscience of how organized I really need to be. So here it is my first week of 2016. 

This week I need to get up at 5:00 am to get everything set up. My goals of growing my online business are hinged on being able to get an hour a day of work done before getting my littles out of bed and ready for school. By 6;15 I must set aside my business work and get my workout done. I am so thankful in 30 mins. I can get my workout done. This week will be a light work out as I am doing 3 Day Refresh to start my year off right. So I will stick to walking the treadmill and 21 Day Fix Abs. By 6:45 I get the two little kids up and out of bed and the craziness begins getting ready for school and me getting ready for work. I drive an hr. to work a few days a week but because of a business trip later this week I am only going on Monday. Lunches, back packs, laptops and more and by 7:45 we are out! 

The kids of course spend the day at school no activities to be had until Wed., which is nice but oh wait my parents from Texas are visiting and of course we have a Winter Storm Warning. So I am off to work with an overwhelming amount of stuff to do so I lock myself in my office until 5:00. Work is exciting right now as I get to work for a company that is in a growth pattern and I am lucky enough to be a part of it. So although my days are jammed packed it is exciting. 

So Mon. and Tues. are pretty much the same 5:00 am wake up and off to work, home by 6:00 dinner, baths and bed. On Wed. I probably will get up the same, workout and answer my emails but I get the day off!!!! YAY! As I said my parents are in town from Texas so our Christmas Tree is still up and Christmas is on Wed. So lots of cooking and family and fun it will carry over to Thurs. morning but after that my schedule is a complete craziness of what comes with company growth and new store openings. I fly out to Phoenix Arizona for my newest project and meet my new crew. Long days to be had filled with new people and project management. I will stop on my way to my hotel for much needed supplies like fresh fruit, nuts and kind bars so I am not stuck eating the junk that construction teams brings in. My workouts will be at the crack of dawn and online business check ins late at night but that's the beauty of an online business. I can still help people while working my regular job and within the time constraints of my busy lifestyle. At home kids will be with Daddy and help from in laws, big sisters and best friends will make it all happen. In the whirlwind of 3 days I will have opened a new store and still managed everything at home and online. 

Sunday won't come soon enough I will head home and be home in time for my nephews birthday celebration and starting to plan my next week which thankfully will not include travel. So what a whirlwind to start the year but  oh how exciting!