Lean, Clean and Mean Delicious Chili

When you’re trying to get lean and ripped, making dinner for a family of 5 can be a little tricky since they’re not inclined to eat chicken, brown rice and veggies 5 days a week!  And while I don’t normally solicit ideas from the children (at least not until they’re paying), I do like it when they enjoy the food I put on the table for them.  I am notorious for sneaking stuff into meals for them that I know they wouldn’t eat otherwise. 

As you read in my last post, I have added a bit more carbs to my day now (about 75) since I’m doing P90x.  And I try to eat most of them by 6pm.  It’s essential to have the energy during the day especially because I’ve been adding 2 or 3 mile runs before the resistance workouts.  So, here’s a fantastic recipe that the whole family will love, not to mention, it’s filled with vitamins and nutrients!  Give it a try and I guarantee it will be a staple in your house.  It’s also great because this recipe makes a lot and its very filling so there’s plenty of leftovers for when the kids get home from school the next day!

Mom’s Lean, Clean and Mean (Yummy) Chili

•  1.5 – 2lbs lean ground turkey
•  1 large red pepper diced
•  5-6 jalapeno peppers diced (adjust based on your desired “hotness”)
•  2 onions diced (I usually buy 1 white and 1 yellow)
•  2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
•  1 large can crushed tomatoes and sometimes I’ll add 1/2 of another too 
•  1 can of organic kidney beans and 1 can organic black beans
•  half a bag of frozen chopped spinach (I don’t always do this) 
•  1 or 2 tbsp of chili powder
•  1 or 2 tsp of cumin
•  1 or 2 tbsp of crushed garlic
•  1/2 cup oat bran 
•  fresh chopped cilantro
•  1 ripe avocado (for use as a topping after chili is cooked)
•  shredded cheddar (for topping after cooked)

Use a large pot and brown the turkey.   Then just throw in all the remaining ingredients except the toppings as you get them ready.  Once it’s all together and cooking in the pot, reduce heat to low and simmer for 40-50 minutes. Top each bowl with freshly diced ripe avocado and sprinkle with the cheese.  It doesn’t even need sour cream (plus, you may even choose not to sprinkle the cheese either!)

There’s a lot of ingredients such as the black beans, oat bran, spinach and avocado that add a lot of nutritional value such as protein, fiber, antioxidants and phytonutrients.

Nutritional Breakdown:          35 g. protein, 45 g. carbs, 8 g. fiber, 14 g. fat (all healthy fat), 430 calories

Enjoy!  …. and let me know what you think.  I love the feedback.

P90X Changed My Life Forever

Ok I haven’t blogged in a very long time.   My apologies.  Lots of things happened… some good, some bad.   I’ll save that for another time.

Right now, I am obsessed with P90X and I have to share it with everyone!  No, I didn’t just start the program.  I didn’t want to go crazy talking about it until I finished the 90 days.  I started it in October, you know, after a night that I crashed on the couch and woke up to Comedy Central’s infomercial hour.   I saw this crazy, funny (not to mention very easy on the eyes) guy trying to sell me on becoming lean and tone within 90 days!  I saw the workouts and remember thinking (albeit at 4am) ”I could do that!”

SOLD!

30 days later I gave up my low carb diet that my readers know I religiously swore by.  90 days later I lost 5 pounds, 2 dress sizes and 5% body fat!  Guess what:  I was able to do it!  And even now I’m still doing it.  I’m about to start Round 2 week 5 next week and every day I look forward to it.  Never before in my life have I actually looked forward to my workout. 

Now I talk about it all the time and tell all my friends they should really consider giving it a try!  For those of you who have seen this and are on the fence about whether to order this, consider this:  dig down deep and do something awesome for yourself.  In every video there are modified moves and/or 3 or 4 different versions of the same exercise.  It is an incredibly rewarding experience to push your body to it’s limits and succeed at it.  You walk away wanting more and more. 

For all of you who are already P90x’ers, here’s a laugh for you:

Top 10 Ways You Know You’re Obsessed With P90X
1.   on Thursday your child asks you what day it is and you say “Yoga”
2.   you go to a Mexican restaurant and order a “chaturanga”
3.   you say “BRING IT”  in any motivational setting you find yourself in
4.   you tell yourself to “get sexy with it” when trying to wiggle into the frog
5.   When you put on your resume that you have a degree in “PLYOMETRICS”
6.   after 30 minutes or more of sexual activity you have a recovery drink
7.   before starting anything, you have to do at least 5 min of   static/ ballistic stretching
8.   when Tony says “Superman” your 2 year old replies with … “banana”
9.   you REALLY expect (and anticipate) Tony Horton to come to your house if you do 26 side tri-rises or MORE!
10.   you tell your dog to “Namaste”

P.S.  Here’s me in crane pose.  Couldn’t do this at all in October!

Facebook me here!  I love hearing from fellow P90x’ers!