The Sugar Detox Diet Rundown

So, remember when I promised I would share the results of my 2 week sugar detox? The time is now!! I had been hearing about this detox from Marta of Four Fit Sisters here and there for a while now. And frankly it didn't sound like something I could do. Cutting out sugar for two weeks is a scary thought. However, the more I thought about it, the more I realized that I needed to do something to force a change in my eating habits. While weight really hasn't been much of an issue for me, thank you good genes, that doesn't mean that I was being healthy. As a stay at home mom, I found that I would often end up eating treats to get me through the slums of the day. Crabby morning? Better have some extra carbs with my coffee. Tired int he afternoon? Better sit down with a bag of sweet treats. Hard day and now the kids are all in bed? Better have some wine and snack. And while these on occasion may not be a big deal, they all add up. So, I did it! I signed up for Marta's 2 week sugar detox. As it turned out, this wasn't just a sugar detox. It was also gluten and dairy. Yikes! But you guys, I did it! I made it the two weeks with only a few slip ups. And you know what? I felt wonderful. Marta likes to say that you wouldn't put sugar into your gas tank on your vehicle and expect it to run, so why do we do it with our bodies?

Marta is offering one last sugar detox for the year starting next week Monday. Here is a link of where you can sign up. Marta offers great support and ideas throughout the detox and participating in a group was very helpful to me. And the support doesn't end with the sugar detox. The Four Fit Sisters website, Instagram feed, and Facebook site offer lots of great health and fitness ideas and support.

I am not still following the detox diet, but I am giving a lot more thought into what I put into my body and what I prepare for my family.

I am not receiving any compensation for this post. Just wanted to share a good thing with you, friends.

Foodie Friday: Stuffed Squash Boats

Have you ever had a zucchini or squash boat? They are soooo good. I made these last week and we all (well, minus our picky eater) loved them. I chose to use summer squash in place of the zucchini because it was a bit bigger than the zucchini at the store. This is a healthy and quick meal that will be added into our summer rotation. I may even have to try them on the grill! Check out the recipe for Zucchini Boats at Parenting.com.

Foodie Friday: Alice Springs Chicken Knockoff Recipe

We used to have an Outback Steak House in town and then one day it just up and closed. Sad, but true. It was a restaurant we liked to go to when we wanted a sit down meal. I loved to order the Alice Springs Chicken and Mr. Cherry liked ordering a steak. When I saw this Alice Springs knockoff at Favorite Family Recipes, I knew I wanted to try it. This last weekend was super nice and Mr. Cherry ended up grilling the chicken breasts. Then we brought them in and topped them to broil a few minutes in the oven. They were really good. Not quite Outback, but still delicious.

Foodie Friday: Grilled Chicken Nachos

Nachos are one of my most favorite foods. I love all of the variations you can make in the name of nachos. When we make nachos at home, we often just use items that we have on hand without a specific recipe in mind. Last weekend we decided to try something new in the nacho world, and I don't know why we haven't done this sooner! We grilled our nachos and they were delicious! I shared a picture on Instagram and lots of people wanted to know what we did and how they turned out. So here you are, our grilled nachos!

Ingredients:
-Cooked, diced chicken (We grilled some chicken breasts in a basic marinade of lime, olive oil, cumin, salt, pepper, and garlic powder.)
-Tortilla chips
-Diced peppers (We used green peppers, but any would do.)
-Diced green chilies
-Chopped tomatoes
-Diced onion
-Salsa
-Chopped cilantro
-Shredded cheese (We used a Mexican cheese blend and sharp cheddar.)
-Sour cream

Directions:
1) Spread even layer of chips into grilling vessel. (We have a large terra cotta saucer that we use exclusively on the grill. Normally we use it for grilling pizza, see recipe here. We did line it with foil for ease in clean up.)
2) Top with desired toppings, finishing with cheese.
3) Place on preheated grill until cheese is melted. (Since we had already grilled the chicken, our grill was a bit cool. If this is the case, Mr. Cherry recommends shutting the vents to trap the heat if you have a charcoal grill.)
4) Once off the grill, top with sour cream and enjoy!

Obviously this is just a starting point. You can use this base to add whatever you desire. I am thinking a barbecue chicken nacho would be awesome!

Foodie Friday: Bacon, Cheddar, and Green Chili Pinwheels

I love a good appetizer. In fact, I would choose appetizers over most gourmet meals. Recently I made a batch of these Bacon, Cheddar, and Green Chili Pinwheels from Yellow Bliss Road and they were delicious. And bonus, they are very easy as well. I substituted diced green chilies for the jalapenos to tame the spice a bit. The smooth cream cheese with the kick of green chilies and the taste of bacon? You can't go wrong! Head over to Yellow Bliss Road for the yummy recipe!

Foodie Friday: Overnight Cinnamon French Toast

I came across this recipe shortly after Shortcake was born and have made it no less than four times since then. It is a yummy cooked breakfast with bonus of being able to be prepared the night before. Head on over to The Baker Upstairs for the recipe. The custardy middle is delicious, but the cinnamon crumb top is what does it for me.

Foodie Friday: Quick and Easy Meals

Some days I really enjoy spending time in the kitchen. And other days I would rather just get a meal on the table quickly and be done with it. Today I am sharing some quick and easy meals that we have been enjoying on our table lately.
1) Wraps: (Image and recipe from Exos) Wraps are great for the days when you don't feel like a sandwich, but you don't feel like making anything either. Spread some mayo, mustard, cream cheese, or whatever suits you on a tortilla, throw in what you have on hand as far as meat and cheese, add in a vegetable and roll. If you need a little inspiration, just do a quick search on Pinterest and you will find more than you need.
2) Chicken French Bread Pizza: (Image and recipe from What's Cooking with Ruthie) Here is a great way to use up some left over chicken, or even turkey. Spread on some Alfredo sauce onto a loaf of french bread cut in half and top with chicken, tomato pieces, and mozzarella.
3) Pizza Quesadillas: (Image and recipe from Land O Lakes) We love quesadillas in our house. We love pizza in our house. Why not combine the two? A little mozzarella on a tortilla topped with pepperoni and whatever other pizza toppings you like. After cooking, serve with pizza sauce to dip.
4) Taco Casserole: (Image and recipe from Bombshell Bling) This is a great way to have the taste of tacos or taco salad with an easy to prepare, serve, and eat casserole. When I made mine, I added some green chilies to the meat and you could really add whatever you wanted to the casserole or when serving.

Foodie Friday: Banana Bread Pancakes

I have an entire Pinterest board dedicated to breakfast. I guess it really is the most important meal of the day to me! The other morning seemed like the perfect morning to try out this recipe I had pinned from the blog Food Fanatic for Banana Bread Pancakes. Of course by the time I had the pancakes made I had too girls who were crabby because they were hungry and one child who was crabby because mom hadn't been paying attention to him. However, these pancakes were worth the brief moment of crabbiness! (Oh, and I couldn't leave well enough alone and I added mini chocolate chips and walnuts to a few. And since I don't care for syrup, I topped mine with whipped cream. No wonder I love breakfast!) Go and try the recipe, with or without my additions you will love them.

Homemade (Yummy) Crescent Rolls

There you are, innocently trolling Pinterest, when a pin grabs you and won't let go. That happened to me last weekend. Supper was in the crockpot, I wouldn't have had to do anything but cook the veggies before we ate. Instead, I found myself making crescent rolls from scratch. Why? Because the picture in the pin looked so good. (And the best part is, that I had already pinned the recipe!) Like so good that we wouldn't be able to enjoy supper without them. And the results? They were delicious. You know those crescents you can buy in the can are okay. They serve their purpose of quick and easy, but if you really want a crescent, try this recipe! Head on over to Nome Made Recipes for the details!

Foodie Friday: Eat and Freeze Meals

There are lots of methods for making freezer meals, but I prefer to make extra of what we are already eating and freeze it for later. With another baby joining our family, I started to make extra of our regular meals so that we could eat that day, but also freeze some for those hectic days of when you first bring home the baby.

Here are some of the recipes that we really enjoyed over the last month and will be enjoying again soon!

1) Creamy Beef Enchiladas from Over the Big Moon: These were a huge hit the first time around and we are all looking forward to enjoying them again. I cooked the roast as recommended and added some green salsa, cooked rice, sour cream, and green chilies to the shredded meat. I then assembled the enchiladas as directed, but made double the amount. One batch went in the oven for supper and one went into the freezer for later.

2) Super Food Rotini from Clean Eating Recipes: When making this recipe, I pretty much followed the recipe, except I used ground sausage and regular tomato sauce. It made enough that we could eat it for supper, have a small container of leftovers, and freeze a gallon size Ziplock for later consumption.

3) Stromboli from The Stir: I loosely followed this recipe and was planning on making enough to bake and freeze, however, we all enjoyed it so much, there wasn't enough for freezing, just left overs. I started with two loaves of frozen bread dough and after letting them thaw and rise according to the package directions, rolled them out and assembled the stromboli with ingredients to our liking. If I were to make it again, I would make all four loaves so we could have enough to eat and freeze.

4) Crockpot Lasagna Soup: While we all enjoyed this soup, I am not sure why it is called lasagna soup. I would more lean toward callings it a minestrone. When I made this, I simply doubled the ingredients and once again froze a gallon sized Ziplock with enough for round two. 

Foodie Friday: Valentine S'more Treat Plate

This treat is the combination of two Pinterest pins. It started with the S'more bars. You can find the recipe at The Happy Baker. I then put some of the bars on a paper plate that I punched holes around and wove a ribbon through. You can see some more ideas at Make and Takes.

I tossed in a Thank You note and brought it to a friend's house who watched the girls for me while I got the important pre-baby task completed of getting a fresh hairdo!

This is a great way to bring a little treat to someone sweet without them needing to worry about returning a container. And if you are like me, you have everything you need on hand.

Foodie Friday: Stuffed Manicotti and Meals for Friends

Do you have a go to dish when you want to bring a meal to a friend? I tend to vary what I bring, but I usually do it in a similar fashion. I have a hard time cooking a meal for someone else and not just cooking one for our family, too. So, I normally just double a recipe to make one to keep and one to share. I also try to include more than just a main course. I figure bringing the side items really can help someone out who needs it. I once read a post where the author would bring EVERYTHING. I don't go as far as bringing milk, but I do try to include a veggie or salad and also some sort of dessert if possible. I also try to bring everything in containers that I don't need returned. I figure it is one less thing for them to have to worry about at a busy or rough time. I also like to make the meal freezable if possible. That way if they have an abundance of food at the time I bring the meal, they can use it at a future date. I also like to include any instructions they may need for reheating and preparation in writing. That way they don't have to remember anything. In addition to directions, I include the recipe. Not so much because I think they are going to want it, hopefully they like it, rather in case they have any allergies or other dietary considerations.

I recently had two families that I wanted to bring a meal to, so I thought I would share the meal and recipe with you for inspiration.

I started with one of our staple recipes, Stuffed Manicotti. I added in one of our new favorite salads, spinach with dried cherries. I also included some homemade buns I had on hand along with some mini muffins I also had.

Stuffed Manicotti
Ingredients:
*8 oz Manicotti
*2 Jars (27 oz) spaghetti sauce
*2 Eggs
*15 oz Ricotta
*4 cups Shredded mozzarella
*1 cup Grated Parmesan
*1 T dried Parsley
*10 oz Frozen chopped spinach (thawed and drained)
Directions:
1) Cook manicotti according to package directions.
2) Preheat oven to 350.
3) In bowl: Beat eggs, stir in ricotta, 3 cups of mozzarella, 3/4 cup Parmesan, parsley, and spinach.
4) Spray 9 by 13 pan.
5) Spread one jar of sauce on bottom.
6) Fill manicotti with ricotta mixture and arrange in pan.
7) Top with second jar of sauce and remaining cheese.
8) Bake covered until bubbling (about 45 minutes.)
9) Uncover and bake five more minutes.

There you have it. Do you have any tips or tricks on sharing a meal? Do you have a go to meal to share?

Foodie Friday: Cinnamon Roll Pretzels

Isn't it funny when you try so hard to be good, but that only ends up getting you into more trouble. Take the other day for example. The girls and I went to Panera for lunch. I opted to have water with my soup and sandwich and not get a bakery item. Well, that completely backfired on me as I only ended up craving some sort of sugary carby treat. And sometimes I strongly dislike the fact that I can bake and usually have the ingredients to do so in my house. But really in the end, the craving and baking are all to your advantage, because that is how this totally delicious, totally not anything you need but you are really going to want it, treat was born. Enjoy!

I started with this awesome quick pretzel recipe from Imperial Sugar. Once you get your pretzels shaped, you will want to continue here:

Cinnamon Roll Pretzels:

Topping:

-2 T cinnamon

-6 T brown sugar

-8 T melted butter, divided

1. Brush tops of pretzels with 4 T melted butter.

2. Mix cinnamon and sugar together and dip each pretzel into the mixture. (I sprinkled it on top, but got some on the pan and it was a bit messy. If you have difficulty with dipping, feel free to sprinkle.)

3. Finish the pretzels off by drizzling the remaining 4 T butter on top of the cinnamon sugar topping.

4. Bake pretzels at 450 for 6 minutes. Change heat to broil and continue baking an additional 2-4 minutes. Keep a close eye as sugar topping can burn easily and quickly.

5. Remove pretzels from oven and allow to cool on a baking rack.

Frosting:

-1 ounce cream cheese

-1/8 c softened butter

-3/4 c powdered sugar

-1/2 T milk

-1/4 t vanilla

1. Mix all ingredients in a bowl.

2. Once pretzels have cooled a bit, drizzle with frosting mixture.

Foodie Friday: Snow Cream

When life hands you lemons, you make lemonade. When life hands you snow and cold, you make snow cream! This is the view from out our patio door on Monday. Don't let the bright day fool you, it was something like -25 degrees that day!

I saw the post for Snow Ice Cream from Gimme Some Oven on my Pinterest feed, on Monday of this week. Peachy and I promptly set out to make it that cold, wintery afternoon, the perfect day for a fun adventure like eating what we have dubbed snow cream.

I added my milk, vanilla, sugar and salt to a bowl, then I leaned out my backdoor and scooped up some snow from the deck.

Peachy was just as interested in eating the regular old snow that fell off the bottom of the bowl.

We took Ali's advice and added some fun sprinkles, and dove right in.

It was a hit! A cold hit, but a yummy one!
Jump on over to Ali's blog Gimme Some Oven for the complete recipe and directions!
If eating snow scares you, you can always try a ice cream recipe like this and use snow on the outside bag instead of ice.

Foodie Friday: Must Try Dips

I have something to confess to you, I love a good dip. In fact, I would take an appetizer spread over a five course meal any day of the week. I have an entire Pinterest board dedicated to dips and it contains 70 pins! So, in the spirit of ringing in the new year, here are some of my current favorite sip recipes.

1. Pickle Dip from Buns In My Oven: The perfect potato chip dip, especially for all of you pickle lovers out there.
2. Eight-Layer Mediterranean Dip from Whole Foods: This dip is super yummy with pita chips and dare I say, a bit on the healthy side of the dip spectrum?
3. Cranberry Cream Cheese Dip from Jamie Cooks It Up:  A perennial favorite in our family. works well with crackers or tortilla chips. (I usually substitute canned green chilies for the jalapenos.
4. Pizza Dip from Recipes.com:  I just made this for the first time on Christmas Eve and it quickly jumped to the top of my dip list. Perfect with crusty bread.
5. Buffalo Chicken Dip from Franks Red Hot Sauce: I have been making and loving this dip for over five years now. It goes perfectly with corn chips, especially Fritos, as well as carrot sticks and celery sticks.
There you have it. Some dipping yumminess for you to try. What about you, what is your favorite dip? (You know I need to add to my list!)

Foodie Friday: Cranberry Bliss Bars

Yes, these Cranberry Bliss Bars are calling your name! Even though I have never had the Starbucks version, I knew I had to make this recipe when I saw it floating all over the internet. And bonus, these are the "healthy version!" So, head on over to Gina's blog Skinny Taste and try our this recipe today!

Foodie Friday: Spinach and Artichoke Pasta Bake

If you are looking for a healthy past meal, do not click this link!!! If you are looking for a totally delicious pasta bake with cheese, cream cheese, sour cream, and heavy cream, CLICK THE LINK!!! :o)

I recently made this and it was delicious! We all loved it. Like I said, it may not be the healthiest for you, but for a suppertime treat, it is so good. You can find the original recipe here. I followed the directions with the exception of adding heavy cream since I had it on hand, and also adding artichoke hearts that I also had on hand.

Foodie Friday: Bacon Cheeseburger Bombs

I made these Bacon Cheeseburger Bombs a few weeks ago and we all enjoyed them. I did make a couple of minor changes to the original recipe from Spend with Pennies. I started by adding some dill pickle relish to the mix, because what is a cheeseburger doing without any pickles, I tell you? I also didn't have any bacon on hand, so I used bacon bits. (I know this is a bit of a travesty, but it is what it is!) I also just used shredded cheese rather than the cheese cubes the recipe suggests in an effort to get them in the oven so that we could eat. These were a yummy meal for our family and one that we will make again. You can get the recipe here.

Foodie Friday: Sweet and Salty Munch

While Halloween is over, you may still have a Halloween event or two to attend. This Sweet and Salty munch would be an awesome last minute addition to bring. And it isn't just for Halloween, sub in some different holiday candy and sprinkles and you have a whole new way to enjoy this treat.

There really is something about the sweet and salty taste in here that makes it so you just can's stop munching it. So watch out. This can be very dangerous to have around!

Head on over to Bloom Design for the recipe.

Foodie Friday: Pumpkin Pie Crumb Bars

Ah, yes, my friends. We are still on a pumpkin kick here. I promise I won't do it much longer, I think. I found this recipe at Cooking Classy and you can find it here. I brought these to a playgroup, since I needed an excuse to make them. Most friends won't turn down baked goods, I have discovered. The recipe called for topping them with whipped cream, but we enjoyed them straight from the pan, literally. And they really do have that pumpkin pie taste. So if you are looking for a little Thanksgiving preview, pop these in your oven and subsequently in your mouth and belly.