Pumpkin Oatmeal Casserole

I love this time of year, the smells of the season, pumpkin and cinnamon are two of my favorites that remind me it is time for the holidays!  I was searching for some clean eating holiday recipes, as I am wanting to change over my "dirty" recipes for Thanksgiving and Christmas to be "clean"!  I came across this recipe and it looks AMAZING!  How can you go wrong…OATMEAL and PUMPKIN!!  I literally could eat oatmeal for every meal of the day, especially steel cut oats!!!

Here it is…I found this recipe from The Gracious Pantry blog and can't wait to make it very soon!!

Pumpkin Oatmeal Casserole

(Makes approximately 12 servings)

Ingredients:

• 4 cups unsweetened vanilla almond milk
• 1 cup canned pumpkin
• 1/2 cup pecan pieces
• 1 cup fresh cranberries
• 2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice, no sugar added
• 1/4 cup raw honey
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 cups steel cut oats
• 1/2 cup golden raisins

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
2. In a casserole dish (9×13), blend together the almond milk, pumpkin, pumpkin spice, honey and vanilla. Stir gently until completely combined.
3. Add the oats, pecans, cranberries and raisins. Stir briefly to combine.
4. Bake for 45 minutes or until the casserole is soft and cooked through.

* Recipe from The Gracious Pantry

Body Beast Meatloaf

I made this meatloaf for the first time and it was SOOO delicious!  My family loves meatloaf and it's always a winner in my house…so new recipe, I took a stab at it, and the kids LOVED it!!  It's a winner!!

Ingredients

• 2 lbs of ground turkey
• 1 cup of clean salsa
• 1 cup of whole wheat bread crumbs
• 2 eggs, lightly beaten
• 3 cloves of garlic
• 1 tsp of sea salt
• Optional - ground pepper, fresh chopped parsley, and ketchup 

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Combine all the ingredients.  Shape and place into baking dish.  Top with ketchup if you'd like.  Bake 60-70 minutes or until no longer pink and fully cooked through.  Let stand for 10 minutes after cooking and then slice into 8 servings.

Serve with brown rice, sweet potato, quinoa, fresh veggies, and my new favorite spaghetti squash!  Yummm!

Day 2- Eat Clean Stripped Challenge

Day 2 of my challenge…

Another part of my challenge is working out, along with the clean eating stripped plan.  While your diet is 70-80% of your results (as they say, abs are made in the kitchen), it is still very important to workout… not only to keep your heart healthy but to tone your muscles and but also because muscle burns more calories than fat!

So, my current workout is Beachbody's Focus T25!  OHHHHhhhhh.  I can NOT say enough about how much I love this workout!  Shaun T has made a brilliant workout, PERFECT for a busy mom who really doesn't have a lot of time to fit in a workout…it's ONLY 25 minutes long!!  Honestly, it is absolutely perfect for me!  I DON'T have a lot of time in the morning, but I wake up and get in my 25 minutes of a fast pace workout and feel great the rest of the day!

If you're looking for a great workout that doesn't take a lot of time out of your day, check out this video below and get in contact with me if you're interested in focusing for just 25 minutes a day!



Alright, so here it is…my day of eating:

Breakfast

Breakfast:  Steel cut oatmeal (I seriously could eat oatmeal for every meal of every day!  I love it so much!), 1/4 cup of blueberries, touch of almond milk.

 Snack:  1 Apple with 1 TBSP Peanut Butter

Lunch:  Spinach Salad, 4 oz. grilled chicken, 1/4 c black beans, tomatoes, red onion, and balsamic vinegar and EVOO for dressing.  It was so yummy and looked so good I forgot to take a before pic!  Then I added 1/2 a cup of spaghetti squash.

Lunch

Snack:  Pumpkin Spice Latte Shakeology!  YUMMM!!  

 3/4 Cup Almond Milk

1/2 cup brewed chilled coffee 

1/2 cup pureed pumpkin

1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice

ice cubes!  

I LOVE Pumpkin Spice Lattes from Starbucks…but I recently looked at the fat, calorie, and sugar contents of it and decided that PSL's for me are not a good choice anymore!  So I decided to do the next best thing and make my own version of a HEALTHY Pumpkin Spice Latte…Shakeology style!  And OHHH was it yummy!!

Dinner:  Body Beast Meatloaf and Spaghetti Squash and 1/2 cup of brown rice.

So there's my day of eating…I give myself a 5 on a scale of 1 to 5 for the day!!  Here's to feeling great and eating great food!

Until next time...

A Weekend Away!

I just realized that this never got posted last week…so here it is!  :)

I'm sitting here on an airplane coming back from Deep Creek, Maryland, with over 4 hours of time to reflect on my weekend away.  It was a time spent with new friends, fellow coaches and just all-around great women!  I am the kind of person who LOVES meeting new people.  I seriously get excited to meet others and learn their stories.  I know there are so many people NOT like that, so sometimes, yes, I know I may seem crazy to people.  But, it really energizes me!

I got in on Friday afternoon into Pittsburg, PA and drove to Maryland with 2 other coaches who also flew into PA.  The evening was spent just getting to know each other, there were about 20 gals who were on this leadership retreat.

Saturday, we woke up and had breakfast together...I was able try some REALLY good new recipes.  First was a delicious Breakfast Oatmeal Bake, and the other was a Baked French Toast!  The best part about these is that they were HEALTHY and CLEAN recipes!  So, yes...I had a bit of both and they were SO yummy!

     

Clean Eating Breakfast Oatmeal Bake

   

Next it was time for some small breakout sessions and team building activities.  I love learning and developing as a person.  It is so important to continue to learn new things and grow as an individual, no matter what you are doing!  This Saturday morning was perfect for that.  I learned more about blogging, social media, and just more personal development!

As an added bonus, I was blessed to be in the cold crisp fall weather that the East Coast brings with beautifully colored fall leaves and even some snow on the ground!!  We don't get that in Southern California!

What was the last thing you did to recharge yourslef?  It doesn't have to be a trip away to be able to be recharged, it can be as simple as taking a bath, reading for 20 minutes, going for a walk/run by yourself.  Take time out this week to recharge YOU!  As women, we forget to do that.  For me, this was a weekend away that recharged me and I'm ready an refocused on what I need to do for my family, kids, and business.

If you don't recharge, you'll burn-out.  Find some fuel to recharge yourself today!

Healthy Halloween!!

SPOOKTACULAR SALE!! 1 day only!!

Choose any Beachbody challenge pack through ME and get $20 cash back!!

Challenge pack includes workout of your choice (Focust25, insanity, p90x, many more), shakeology home direct, 30 day trial to Team Beachbody Club, free shipping, and free coaching from me which includes nutrition tips, meal planning, guidance and motivation to help you complete the program.  Plus I have an accountability group starting next week that you can be a part of!

Choose Shakeology Home Direct and get $10 cash back!!

I cannot go a day without Shakeology!! It's an easy meal packed with a days worth of vitamins and nutrients my body needs which has helped me get my results faster.

Don't miss out! Let me know if you're interested!

Spooktacular Savings

To order, go to www.teambeachbody.com/JulieLittle, you first must sign up for a FREE Membership, click on "Join Team Beachbody" to get a user name and password and then click on "Beachbody Challenge"  and then "Challenge Pack".  You will then get to choose the workout you would like as well as the flavor of Shakeology.  My favorite workout right now is Focus T25 and I'm loving my Chocolate Shakeology!!

Yes, it's Halloween today...we carved our pumpkin last night and have the costumes all ready to go for tonight!  I know, it's a little late, the day before Halloween, but typically because it's always so warm here at this time of the year the pumpkins always go bad before we get to Halloween.  We cranked out 2 pumpkins and of course toasted the pumpkin seeds to go along with it!

Carved Pumpkins

Happy Halloween 

Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

So, tonight will be filled with tons of candy at everyone's disposal.  What's your game plan?  Are you going to stay strong and stay away from the candy that adds up so quickly in calories?  I love this article that breaks down the calories and fat in each of the popular candy bars...take a look at this before you leave the house.  

http://www.leanitup.com/the-great-big-list-of-halloween-candy-nutrition-calories-sat-fat-trans-fat-sugar/

For me, I'm going to make myself a "candy bar" Shakeology before I leave.  No...not one that has a candy bar in it, but one that tastes like it does!!  It will satisfy my need for something sweet yet provide me with healthy nutrients and keep me from craving all the other junk of the night!!

Butterfinger Shakeology Recipe

1 Scoop of Chocolate Shakeology

1 cup of unsweetened Almond Milk

1 1/2 TBSP of Butterscotch pudding mix

1 1/2 TBSP of PB2 (or peanut butter)

Ice and Blend to Taste

Snickers

4 oz almond milk

2T PB2 (or peanut butter, the more natural the healthier)

1T slivered almonds 

1T Sugar Free Caramel syrup

1 scoop chocolate shakeology.

Choose a healthy alternative this Halloween...don't wake up tomorrow morning wishing you hadn't eaten all that candy!!

Click here for more information on Shakeology.

Breakfast Oatmeal Bake

Over the weekend at the Dream Team retreat we had breakfast together on Saturday morning.  One of the fabulous ladies made the most delicious Blueberry Oatmeal Bake that I am definitely making again...very soon!

I absolutely LOVE, LOVE, LOVE oatmeal...I could eat oatmeal for breakfast, lunch, and dinner...but I try to only enjoy it once a day!  But this day, I ate a little piece of heaven in a bowl!  It was the perfect blend of oatmeal, fruit, and crunch!

Now, I haven't made this myself yet...however, it will be made in the VERY near future!

Clean Eating Breakfast Oatmeal Bake

Breakfast Oatmeal Bake

Ingredients:

• 2 cups old fashioned oats
• 2 cups low-fat or skim milk or almond milk
• 1/2 tsp best-quality vanilla
• 1/2 cup slivered almonds
• 1/2 cup dried cranberries or other dried fruit of your choice
• 1 large unpeeled Pink Lady apple, grated (apple should be firm)
• 4 tbsp maple syrup
• 1 tsp Cinnamon 
• Salt to taste
• Eat Clean Cooking spray

Preparation:

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Coat a 3 quart casserole dish or baking pan with cooking spray.
• Combine all ingredients in a large bowl.  If you are preparing this the night before don't add the liquid ingredients such as milk and grated apple until the morning.
• Place mixture in casserole dish.  Bake uncovered for 45 minutes.

Tip:  If you have more people to feed, simply double the recipe!

ENJOY!!