It's Official: I FinallyTried Shakeology

Finally, after YEARS! I have tried Shakeology. 

Let me first start by mentioning that the Beachbody program drove me absolutely nuts from the start. The constant selfies with their "superfood, dense nutrition shake!" along with becoming a nutrition coach from simply paying a fee was not rubbing me the right way. So I stayed away from the whole thing. Far, far away.

Now of course, since it's been years of Beachbody not going anywhere, I have seen people actually benefit from it. My husband is a Chiropractor so we are no strangers to a holistic and nutrition based approach to health. He is required to attend classes and seminars with top nutritionists from all over the world every year, so there is no lack of knowledge in that area in our home. We have both scrutinized the Beachbody programs; the meal plans, the workouts, you name it. While it tends to follow "what sells" as far as the meal plans go and not always super up to date, there is no doubt that it's good for you!

For the past year or so, I have been very happy to recommend Beachbody to people who are looking to lose weight. Why? Because time after time I have watched nearly every person touched by this program become happier and more confident. They have not only lost weight, but managed to keep it off because the program focuses so much on learning to manage lifestyle changes and WHY. 

Would I ever become a coach? Absolutely not. Their compensation and business plan is TERRIBLE in my opinion. I know so many who really love it, though, and actually know a couple who have become VERY successful with it. So, while I personally don't see it as worth joining, I would never tell someone not to do it. We are all different with our own ideas so if this is your thing, I say go for it.

Now, onto the Shakeology portion of the Beachbody program. Number one, it's expensive. Beachbody coaches will kindly remind you that it breaks down to only about $3-$4 a shake. So you can decide if that's a reasonable price for a meal replacement or not! 

For me, that's not too bad actually. However, it better be pretty good for me to commit to that pretty chunk of change. The ONLY flavors I have tried are Strawberry and Chocolate.

Image Source: Shakeology.com

I started with strawberry and got the low down from my experienced shakeo friends. I tried every single thing they recommended. I could not get through more than a few gulps before giving up each time. However, I was not about to go down that easy! 

I researched what flavor is the "best," and it's pretty unanimous that chocolate is the best tasting over all. I got excited and my friend gave me a full bag to have (I mean... that's a big gift). Both my husband and I were almost giddy to try it. I started Pinteresting ways to make it immediately.

My husband tried first and he made one that was actually decent tasting. It wasn't the best, but for the first time I felt like maybe I could get used to it. I got optimistic and saw myself actually becoming a Shakeology person! I WANTED to be a Shakeology person. There is no denying how amazing it is for you and I wanted that for myself.

It was downhill from there. We could never quite find a way that we could get used to and enjoy enough to go for it seriously. I think my biggest issue was texture. No matter what ways we tried it, I just couldn't get past it. I sort of knew that would be my biggest hurdle because here's a secret; I have never liked shakes in the first place! Now my opinion might as well be completely void. My husband, however, loves shakes. He is not as picky as I at all. He gave up days after I did and we both just had to admit to each other that it wasn't going to happen. I feel strange about this, like I'm wrong in this opinion, like we are the only ones who don't like it.

Bottom line. Beachbody itself is an A. Even with Shakeology. Why? Because SO MANY PEOPLE love Shakeology, it can't be some mass club where they all initiate the newcomers by forcing them to lie about how much they love it, right? Okay, I've seen people lie for less. But you know what I'm saying. I know so many people who just drink the mix with water and they are totally fine with it. I have some leftover chocolate Shakeology and I still plan on trying out new recipes to use with it in the form of healthy snacks. I'm still a little in denial here, can you tell? 

I think over all this is definitely something worth TRYING. And I know that you don't need to drop a ton of money to just try it. You can contact a coach and get a sample first if you're skeptical! I am so glad that I gave it an honest go, and to be honest, I'll probably try again when I'm not pregnant and see if anything is different for me!

Egg McMuffin

Welcome to Hot Cookin' Mama, My Kids Favorite Breakfast edition ;). But seriously, this is my kids favorite breakfast. They'd prefer this over the ones from McDonalds or other fast food, and that's saying something because they really love those.

These are really very simple to make, so I've got them on the breakfast menu once a week. You could of course change this to your liking. Using sausage instead of the ham, for one thing, would be a yummy change!

I know this isn't the most amazing picture, but we're entering into daylight savings time where everything is darker all the time so it's a bit of a challenge finding good lighting in the place I live. 

What you will need:

• English muffins (I get "extra crisp")
• 1 slice Canadian Bacon (usually found in a package of about 6 in the refrigerated section by the bacon.)
• 1 Egg
• 1 slice of cheese

Directions:

• Cook your egg all the way through
• While that's cooking, throw your english muffin slices in the toaster
• Heat up your canadian bacon slice. If it's nice and hot and browned it's done
• Butter your slices of english muffin
• Build your breakfast sandwich!

Banana Muffins

So these are preetttyy much exactly like my banana bread recipe. Except I've got this with a little less sugar, no cinnamon flavors and some baking powder thrown into the mix. I of course kept my brown sugar in there because once I started doing it that way I couldn't stop. :)

These are very frickin' delicious. I usually get around 14 muffins using a regular sized muffin tin. I've been reaching for this recipe more often than banana bread once my bananas are ready because they bake up in 15 minutes (13 minutes if it's my oven) instead of nearly an hour with the loaf of banana bread!

What you will need:

• 3 ripe bananas, mashed up
• 1/3 c butter, melted
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 1/2 c sugar
• 1/3 c brown sugar
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 1 1/2 c all purpose flour

Directions:

•  Preheat oven to 350*
• Spray a muffin pan, or place cupcake liners
• Mix all wet ingredients together in a mixing bowl (mashed bananas, melted butter, egg and vanilla)
• Add in the sugars and mix well
• Add in the baking soda and baking powder and mix well
• Add in the flour a little at a time mixing well between each addition
• Scoop batter into each muffin tin about 3/4 of the way full (I use a large cookie scoop which makes it go by really fast and no mess!)

Caramelized Almond French Toast

I had French toast on the dinner menu tonight, but I wasn't feeling very thrilled about it by the time dinner time rolled around. I remembered this caramel sauce I use with my cinnamon rolls and thought it might be yummy to incorporate into the french toast somehow!

I wasn't positive how it was going to turn out with the almond flavoring and the caramel but OOOOO it turned out GOOD! No syrup necessary! It has such an amazing deep flavor. Aah.

What you will need:

French Toast

• 8 slices bread
• 4 eggs
• 1 C milk
• 2 tsp Almond extract

Caramel sauce 

• 1/2 C packed brown sugar
• 5 T butter
• 1 tsp water

Directions:

French toast

• Whisk together eggs, milk and almond extract in a baking dish
• On medium high heat, butter a pan or griddle 
• Dip each side of each slice of bread into the egg mixture
• Cook each side until golden brown and cooked through

Caramel Sauce

• Stir all ingredients together and heat until creamy and smooth
• Dip one side of each bread piece into the caramel sauce
• Place that same side back onto the pan/griddle and cook for about one minute

Fresh Peach Ice Cream

Ice cream for breakfast?! Yes you can!

A little while back we stopped at the local fruit stand and grabbed a bazillion peaches. We went through those peaches SO FAST. Our family can't get enough. My husband and I crave late night bowls of cubed up peaches on the couch while we snuggle up to a movie. We choose it over brownies or other junk food when it's around. Which we find pretty weird.

We had a big bag that we froze also so we could pull some out for smoothies and such. Today we were all sick with the cold and it's been so windy and yucky outside we've all been curled up in blankets all day staying warm.

I opened the freezer to see if I could find a snack. I saw the frozen peaches and remembered the banana ice cream my kids loved a long time ago. I thought I'd give it a try with the peaches! The banana ice cream uses a little peanut butter if you want so it can get a nice creamy texture. I figured I'd just use some yogurt for the peaches.

I have to warm you, you need to be patient with this haha. It took me a good 5 minutes or so to pulse the peaches to the point of an ice cream consistency and about 2 T of yogurt. But let me tell ya, when it was done, my kids when NUTS over it! And hello, it literally is healthy for them. I have zero complaints about this!

What you will need

• Frozen peaches, whatever amount you want. I probably had 2 C of large sliced peaches
• 2 T yogurt or more (be patient with your pulsing and you won't have to add much in)

Directions

• Add your peaches to a food processor or a good blender
• drop 1 T of yogurt in and pulse for a bit
• Scrape the frozen crumbles off the sides and pulse some more
• Repeat a bunch of times
• Add another T of yogurt and pulse until it's done! Just keep scraping the sides and you'll be able to tell if the consistency is getting there!

Sweet Mini Monkey Rolls

So I had been wanting to try this recipe for over a year and just now got around to it. I feel like I didn't coat them in as much of the cinnamon/brown sugar as I wanted AND I overbaked them :(. But they were still good and I will definitely be making them again!

I found a lot of different ways to make these, but ultimately felt that the Rhodes Blog had it best! And their step by step pictures are awesome.

Umm, I couldn't wait for them to cool at all before I glazed them so thus, the pool of glaze at the bottom. I'm not even mad.

 

What you will need:

Mini Monkey Rolls

• 12 Rhodes rolls, thawed but still cold
• 6 T butter, melted
• 2 T corn syrup
• 1/2 Brown sugar
• 2 tsp. cinnamon

Icing

• 1 C powdered sugar
• 1 T butter, melted
• 2 T milk
• 1/2 tsp. vanilla

Directions:

Mini Monkey Rolls

• Follow the directions on the back of the Rhodes rolls package for thawing (you don't want them to be puffy and rising yet when you start to use them. They need to be cold, but still able to press down into them.)
• Once they've reached their thawed state, melt your butter and add the karo syrup to it in a small bowl
• In another shallow dish, mix together the brown sugar and cinnamon
• Take a roll and use a pizza cutter to cut each roll into 6 pieces (I only did 4 pieces, 6 would be better)
• Drop all the pieces into the butter and then plop them into the cinnamon/sugar mixture
• Coat each ball with the cinnamon/sugar (like..a lot)
• Place the balls in a greased muffin tin or greased muffin tin cupcake liner
• Repeat with other balls of dough
• Cover with greased plastic wrap and let them rise until double in size
• Preheat over to 350*
• Bake for 15-20 minutes

Icing

• Combine ingredients and drizzle over monkey rolls

Eggs in a Hash Brown Nest

Goooooood MORNING! Would you like eggs with that?

I made these for Easter morning. Cause eggs in a nest is Eastery and comfortee. 

I'd love to write out the directions and everything for you, but once again this is a Pioneer Woman specialty and she explains it far better than I ever could. 

Just know that it's easier than you think! I was worried I'd have a mess on my hands making those nests. But I just baked the potatoes the night before and they were a great texture to grate and "mold" in the morning. 

Recipe here!

Freezable Breakfast Sandwiches

In my quest to make sure I eat breakfast daily, I thought this would be a great idea! If you've ever made an egg mcmuffin, you'll know why I love this. They are soo good! However, I would only make them every once in a while because if it takes longer than making a bowl of cereal, chances are I won't be bothering with it in the AM!

The solution? Just make a bunch and freeze 'em. Duh. Do a quick zap in the microwave in the morning while you take a shower and it's cooked and cooled a little by the time you're out.

What I really really love about this, is that you can make it so different each time. You can be a health nut and get whole grain english muffins, all natural turkey bacon, cage free eggs and use the egg whites only, low fat organic cheese slices, and add as many vegetables your little heart desires!

For my test run, though, I used what I had. That did not include whole grain english muffins, but regular. I also used the whole eggs and although my bacon wasn't all natural, it was turkey bacon at least. :)

What you will need:

• 6 english muffins
• 6 eggs, beaten
• 6 slices of cheese
• 6 slices of bacon
• 1/2 red pepper, minced
• 1/2 green pepper, minced
• 1/2 onion, minced

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 350 degree's
• Spray a baking sheet with non stick spray and line bacon on top (I placed a cooling rack on top of my baking sheet, sprayed that and lined my bacon onto that instead)
• When oven is ready, place bacon in the oven and cook for 5 minutes
• In a medium sized bowl, beat the eggs and add in all your preferred veggies
• Spray a muffin pan with non stick spray
• Pour eggs into 6 of the muffin tins
• Place eggs into oven on the rack above the bacon and cook them all together for an additional 12 minutes (or until bacon and eggs are done)
• Toast the english muffins while everything is cooking
• Place eggs, cheese and bacon onto english muffin and top with other half
• Press down until it's flattened a little
• Wrap muffins up and stash in the freezer

To Re-heat:

• Unwrap the muffins
• Place in the microwave for about 3 minutes

Pioneer Woman's Cinnamon Toast

WHY HAS NO ONE EVER TOLD ME ABOUT THIS?!

Why? Seriously why? I am actually feeling mad about it. It isn't fair.

Call me stupid, but I literally had no idea there was ever any other way to make cinnamon toast aside from putting it in the toaster, spreading butter on it and sprinkling it with cinnamon sugar.

Then I check out Pioneer Woman's recipe (I was like seriously? A recipe for this? How dumb...boy was I wrong) and she's basically begging me to never ever ever do it my way again. 

I get it! I totally get it now, Ree. I promise I will never ever ever make it the toaster way again! EVER. My life has changed because of this. I only made enough for me and possibly for my youngest if she wanted some. I'm not even sure how much time passed by while I ate these. I went into a happy food land where angels from heaven were singing and fluffy bunnies bounced by me in a large sunny meadow. With the most beautiful flowers anyone has ever seen. 

It does not even taste like typical cinnamon toast. It tastes more like a cinnamon roll/cinnamon monkey bread. Probably because she uses VANILLA in this recipe.

Pioneer Woman warns to keep a close eye on it after you've turned the broiler on. She wasn't kidding. I turned for a second and the edges went black! You can imagine how amazing these are if I still ended up in happy food land even with burned edges?

This is the recipe Pioneer Woman has on her site, though I quartered the recipe and still had plenty for about 4 slices.

What you will need:

• 2 sticks butter, softened 
• 1 C sugar
• 2-3 tsp. cinnamon
• 2-3 tsp. vanilla

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 350 degree's
• Smash the butter down with a fork
• Pour sugar, cinnamon and vanilla over butter
• Smash and mix all ingredients together to form a creamy paste-like texture
• Spread a good tablespoon (or more) onto each slice, bringing it all the way to the edges
• Line bread slices up on baking sheet
• Bake for 10 minutes
• Turn on the broiler and broil for a couple minutes (seriously stand by the oven and peak in every 10 seconds!)
• The cinnamon butter will be all bubbly and yummy looking when ya take it out
• EAT IT ALL

Cinnamon Roll Cake

This is very...very....very good. Even if mine ended up a tad overdone (wasn't paying attention..what's new?) I will be making this again. I know it looks like a lot of work, but it's super easy and whips up fast. Also, I highly recommend pouring some glaze onto the cake when it's still really warm and eating it that way. It's basically heaven.

I'm sure it wouldn't look so transparent if I'd waited for it to cool off before glazing it, but I couldn't help myself.

What you will need:

CAKE-

• 3 C Flour
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 C sugar
• 4 tsp. baking powder
• 1 1/2 C milk
• 2 eggs
• 2 tsp. vanilla
• 1/2 C butter, melted

TOPPING-

• 1 C butter, softened
• 1 C brown sugar
• 2 T flour
• 1 T cinnamon (I used 1 1/2 T)

GLAZE-

• 2 C powdered sugar
• 5 T milk
• 1 tsp. vanilla (after using 1 tsp. I tested it and decided it needed more, I think I ended up using more like 1 T!)

Directions:

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees
• Using a mixer/stand mixer, combine cake batter ingredients in order
• Pour cake batter into a greased 13x9 cake pan
• In a separate bowl, mix together the butter, brown sugar, flour and cinnamon until well combined
• Using a cookie scooper, drop the topping onto the cake batter in various places
• Using a butter knife, swirl the topping and cake batter
• Bake at 350 degrees for 35-40 minutes
• While it's baking, mix together the powdered sugar, milk and vanilla to make your glaze
• Once the cake is cooled, pour the glaze over the cake

Fresh Hashbrowns

What you will need-

• 4 leftover baked potatoes
• 1 T olive oil
• Salt and pepper to taste

Directions-

• Heat a large skillet on Medium high heat
• Add in your olive oil
• Peel the leftover baked potatoes
• Shred the potatoes and add them into the skillet
• Let them cook for 7 minutes without stirring or flipping them
• Add salt and pepper
• Once 7 minutes has gone by, flip them over onto the other side
• Cook for another 7 minutes
• Add salt and pepper

Homemade Waffles

You will need-

• 2 eggs
• 2 C flour
• 1 3/4 C milk
• 1/2 C Vegetable oil
• 2 T sugar
• 4 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 tsp vanilla

Directions-

• Preheat waffle iron
• Beat eggs in large bowl until fluffy
• Add in the rest of the ingredients in order, one at a time, mixing well after each addition just until smooth
• Spray waffle iron with non-stick spray
• Pour batter into waffle iron and cook until golden brown3e040

Cinnamon-Swirl Pancakes

This is so flipping easy! You can use your favorite pancake mix for this, or you can find mine right HERE to use.

I've found yet another cute idea from The Idea Room! I just recently got some new squirt bottles so it was fun to use them with this!

What you will need:

• 2 T melted butter (milk works too)
• 1/4 C brown sugar
• 1 tsp. cinnamon
• 1 T flour

Directions:

• Mix the cinnamon swirl ingredients and pour them into a squirt bottle or a zip-loc bag with the corner snipped out
• Once you've poured your pancake batter, immediately squirt your cinnamon mixture onto the pancake in a swirl before continuing on with cooking your pancake
• Done!

From-Scratch Pancake Mix

Why haven't I been making pancakes from scratch my whole life? These were amazing!

What you will need:

• 1 1/2 C flour
• 2 Tbs. Sugar
• 2 tsp. Baking Powder
• 1/2 tsp. Baking Soda
• 1/2 tsp. Salt
• 1 1/4 C Milk
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp. Vanilla*
• 2 Tbs. Vegitable Oil

Directions:

• In medium sized bowl, mix together all dry ingredients.
• Make a well in the center and pour in the milk
• Add milk to the mix
• Add Vanilla, Eggs and Vegitable Oil
• Whisk together until blended but still a bit lumpy
• In a non-stick pan or pan sprayed with oil, pour about 1/2 C of batter onto pan (I use our Black&Decker griddle heated to about 375)
• When bubbles start popping on the top and the edges begin to turn golden, flip pancake over.
• Cook other side
• Voila

*You can use Almond Extract as well, but I have yet to try it! Can't wait! :)

Egg McMuffin

Oh, wow. I crave these all. the. time. They are soooo good and so easy/fast to make it's an amazing breakfast. (Or lunch. Or dinner. Or snack. Or food for when you're not even hungry but you're going to eat anyway. Mmmmm!)

What you will need:

• Hormel or Oscar Meyer brand Canadian Bacon slices (I've tried them both and they're equally delicious.)
• 1 Bag English Muffins
• Eggs
• Cheese
• Butter

Directions:

• Cook Egg to desired done-ness (Even though I think you're crazy if you like it any way other than over-hard.)
• Heat up Canadian Bacon slices
• Toast the Muffins in the toaster
• Lightly butter the bottom side of each English Muffin
• Layer the Egg and Canadian Bacon onto the Muffin
• Top it with a slice of cheese
• Finish it off with the other Muffin on top
• Eat this amazing goodness because that's exactly what it is.