Crockpot Chicken Fajitas

I use my crockpot way less than I ought to! It really is a great way to make sure you have a whole foods dinner without a lot of fuss. I made this Crockpot Chicken Fajita recipe and it was a hit. I didn't even get a photo because they were gone in a flash. I hope you enjoy it as much as we did!

Ingredients

2 lbs boneless skinless chicken breasts, sliced into 1 1/2" strips

1 (14.5 oz) can diced tomatoes with green chilies

1 each red, orange, and yellow bell pepper, julienne (Aldi sells them in this combo for about $2.50)

1 large red onion, halved and sliced

4 cloves garlic, minced (I use the pre-minced garlic that is in olive oil anytime a recipe calls for garlic. It may not be as good, but it is so much easier.)

2 1/2 tsp chili powder

2 tsp cumin

1 tsp paprika

3/4 tsp ground coriander

1 tsp salt

3/4 tsp pepper

Optional

2 TBSP fresh lime juice

1 TBSP honey

For serving: whole wheat tortillas, sour cream, salsa, guacamole, cheddar cheese, black olives, etc

Directions

In a small bowl, whisk together spices. 

Spray crockpot with cooking spray. Pour half the canned tomatoes in the bottom and spread in an even layer. Top with half of the peppers, half of the onions, sprinkle garlic, top with chicken strips. Evenly sprinkle half of the seasoning over the chicken breasts, flip the chicken (I used my hand to just kind of flip it over) and sprinkle remaining spices (again, I used my hand to kind of make sure the spices were even). Top with remaining half of tomatoes, peppers, and onions.

Cover and cook on high heat for 3-4 hours or low heat for 6-8 hours. The longer you cook it, the more likely your chicken will shred due to tenderness. If you want to them to remain more firm, cook less.

Ladle out 1 cup of the broth and discard. 

If desired, whisk together lime juice and honey and add to crockpot.  Gently toss. Serve warm in warmed tortillas with your favorite toppings.

Recipe adapted from www.cookingclassy.com

Service Required--Driving Lessons for Life

Today's guest post was written by my dear friend and former colleague, Jim R. Jacobs. Jim recently wrote his first book, Driving Lessons for Life. The following driving lesson is not in the book, but gives you a sampling of what a gem this book will be. Pun intended!
A couple of days ago, I did a blog post on the ten most influential people in my life. Jim made that list. Here's what I wrote then,  "Jim was my first boss out of graduate school.  He was my supervisor as I pursued my licensure in clinical social work. He became a dear friend.  I see Jim as the older brother I never had.  I know his life isn't perfect, but it is lived with a faith I want to have."  
Jim taught me many driving lessons as we met weekly for my clinical supervision requirements. I learned so much from him and I am excited to get my own autographed copy of his book to cherish. It'll feel like I'm sitting across from him on the couch in his office (eating tuna fish for lunch) and learning from a great man how to become a great therapist, person, and friend. Enjoy!

Service Required

by Jim R. Jacobs

I cannot speak for everyone else, but I am not particularly pleased when one of those indicator lights starts to light up the dashboard of my car.  Normally, these lights communicate there is something wrong with the vehicle, which means I am going to be reaching into my wallet soon.  I don’t find the lights have ever brought me a feeling of satisfaction, peace, or harmony in my life.  Usually, I start to feel stressed.  Then, I wonder whether the light is mistakenly on.  I ignore it for some time, hoping it will just go off.  When it occasionally does, I feel satisfaction somehow in not having to do anything.  More often, it continues to flash at me, sending out waves of anxiety about what is wrong with my car.  While the lights are helpful to maintain my car and keep me moving, I do not like the feeling I get when they start to blink.  However, there is one light on the dashboard which sends a very helpful life message: “Service Required.”

If I could install an indicator light on the dashboard of my life, I would choose the “Service Required” light.  This message is powerful and key to living the most productive and happy life.  Service is truly essential.  When we reach out in loving kindness to others, not only does the world become better, but we grow too!  Service adds substance to each of our daily interactions.  Hearts are lifted, souls are strengthened, and hope is instilled.  When we, in generous service, reach out to someone around us, we feel a sense of confidence, assurance, and connection.  Nothing is more powerful than charitable service to another in need. 

Some of my greatest memories have been wrapped up in the opportunity to serve someone else.  As I look back on the roads of life I have traveled, I smile at the thought of opportunities to help one in need.  Let’s face it!  The road of life is sometimes hard to travel.  Would we all not be better, if we took more time to stop and help someone stranded on the side?  I will never forget heading to a church meeting dressed in my finest clothes and having this opportunity.  A woman was stuck on the side of the road with an obviously very flat tire.  She resisted my help, but in my suit and tie, I changed the tire for her.  She was grateful and was teary-eyed as she looked at my greasy hands and my soiled suit.  I wished her well and never saw her again.  Yet, I have not stopped thinking about that experience.  I was too late for the worship service, but went anyway.  I felt incredible as I walked into the building with my soiled hands and clothes.  I remember feeling just as grand washing my hands as I had felt in any religious service I had previously attended.  Service had made the difference.  It always makes a difference!

We need each other.  There are too many people in this world who tear down.  We need more who lift up.  There are enough people who find fault.  We need more people who build and strengthen.  Every day, you can find an abundance of people who act in selfish ways.  We need more people who give self-less service.  For within service is the very substance of life.  Greater joy, greater love, greater harmony, greater satisfaction, and greater peace all can be found by the service we do for others. 

Start today!  Install a “Service Required” light on your dashboard.  Attend to it right away.  Start with your family and those right around you.  Then, extend the marvelous influence of self-less service to those in your neighborhood and community.  Seek to make a difference.  For in a full and rich life, service truly is required.

Jim R. Jacobs is the author of the new book Driving Lessons For Life, a great new book teaching powerful life lessons from what we experience on the road.  Driving Lessons For Life is not your typical self-help/inspirational book.  Jim takes the common experiences we all have behind the wheel of the car, and weaves a powerful lesson into them.  There has never been such a book as this.  You read the lesson, you recall the story, and then you do what you always do—drive somewhere.  Literally, every time you head off in your car, a key life lesson will be reinforced in you.  Driving Lessons become Life Lessons as you reflect on them again and again.  These lessons are powerful because they are so connected to your everyday life.  Sign up for driving lessons today!  This book is a perfect gift for yourself, your friends, the new driver, the old driver, and everyone who gets in the car.  Get a signed copy today at www.DrivingLessonsForLife.com.

To contact Jim to share your experiences, to arrange a great speaker for your next event, or for a complimentary, no obligation coaching session, please send an e-mail to DrivingLessonsForLife@gmail.com. 

Your Vibe Attracts Your Tribe

I hear the phrase "Your Vibe Attracts Your Tribe" a lot among other Beachbody coaches. They are definitely on to something. It got me thinking about my own tribe. I decided to share a little about some of the most influential people in my life. They have definitely helped shape me into the woman I am today.

10 People Who Have Influenced Me (In no particular order)

1. My parents.  I'm counting them as one person here and I hope they don't mind.  My parents were the first great influence on my life.  They taught me so many things and continue to teach me things even into adulthood.  Here are two that stand out. It's okay to make mistakes.  It is important to always do MY best and not that important to be THE best.  Because I learned these things, I have been more willing to take risks, more able to accept disappointment and move on from it a stronger person, and I feel a confidence that apparently is more unique than I thought it was.

2. Janelle Butler Simmons.  I sometimes tell people she saved my life.  I truly believe this.  Janelle was my visiting teacher, for those that know LDS lingo, shortly after my divorce.  That was a super tough time for me and she was the friend I needed to help keep me going many times over.

3. Scott Pederson. Scott was the first person to teach me how to laugh at myself.  I have always been way too serious and it was way worse as a teenager.  Scott made life fun and gave me the courage I needed to start laughing.

4. Stacey Hesson Gillespie.  My SISTER!  I love this girl.  She really is my best friend and I get to be her sister.  It's awesome.  I am always amazed by how much love she has for me.  She makes me feel like I could do anything.  I love her for that and so many other reasons.  Sometimes I think Stacey should have been the older sister.  She is so loyal and will kick someone's butt if they cross a person she loves.  I am pretty sure I learned all about loyalty from my little sister.

5. Kendall Williams and Christopher Prince.  Again, two people counting as one.  These were the missionaries from the LDS Church that taught me all about the LDS Church.  Their testimonies and strength were influential in my ultimate decision to join the LDS Church: One of the best decisions of my life.

6. JoAnn Moghimi. This woman is one of my newer friends! We became fast friends a few years ago when we were introduced through mutual friends. JoAnn is loyalty to the max. She has my back, but gives me a swift kick in the pants as needed. We laugh together and cry together and just get each other. She has never judged me and always seems to know when I need her. I love you, JoAnn!

7. Darren and Emily Ernst. I know I'm cheating, but they go together!  Darren and Emily showed me what a marriage could really be like.  They were the first people that reached out to me as my marriage fell apart.  Though we haven't lived close since that time, I have kept in touch with them.  Because of their example, their love for one another, and their faith in me I had hope that there was something better out there for me.  Guess what?! There was and it is wonderful.

8. Jim Jacobs. Jim was my first boss out of graduate school.  He was my supervisor as I pursued my licensure in clinical social work. He became a dear friend.  I see Jim as the older brother I never had.  I know his life isn't perfect, but it is lived with a faith I want to have.

9.  Brooke Anderson.  Brooke was one of my BYU roommates.  I love her and I love that although we live about as far apart from one another as we can get (me in FL and her in WA), we still are part of one another's lives.  Brooke is so creative and so thoughtful.  She inspires me to be the best mom and wife I can be as she selflessly does those things herself.  She is a true friend and I cherish her so much.

10. Jared Krause. My hubbabaloo.  I love this guy. He has influenced my life for good in so many ways.  He taught me to love again and he taught me it was safe to be loved.  He had to be pretty patient and for that I am so grateful.  We have a good life together.  It is crazy and busy and chaotic, but it is our little life.  It is so full and I am proud to be Mrs. Krause.

Faith

I have read the Book of Mormon nearly every year for the last 20 years. I make a sincere effort to do so once a year. Each time I read the Book of Mormon something extraordinary happens. I find something new. Maybe it's just that something new resonates with me. This time around, it was the subject of faith. One of the Book of Mormon prophets, Alma, teaches the people in Alma 32 about faith and how to grow one's faith. It is a great chapter and coupled with Hebrews 11, really helps one to understand  the concept of faith.

Faith is not just the religion someone practices.

Faith is not just a character on Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

(Sorry, I just had to.)

Faith is an all-encompassing way of living one's life. Faithful is a word I want used to describe me. I strive daily to live by and increase my faith. I am a prayerful person and I don't just believe my prayers are answered, I know my prayers are answered. Quite often answers to prayers require a leap of faith.

Boyd K. Packer had this to say about faith. "Faith, to be faith, must center around something that is not known. Faith, to be faith, must go beyond that for which there is confirming evidence. Faith, to be faith, must go into the unknown. Faith, to be faith, must walk to the edge of the light, and then a few steps into the darkness. If everything has to be known, if everything has to be explained, if everything has to be certified, then there is no need for faith. Indeed there is no room for it.
"The prophet Alma said: 'Yea, there are many who do say: If thou wilt show unto us a sign from heaven, then we shall know of a surety; then we shall believe. Now I ask, is that faith? Behold, I say unto you, Nay; for if a man knoweth a thing he hath no cause to believe, for he knoweth it... And now as I said concerning faith--faith is not to have a perfect knowledge of things; therefore if ye have faith ye hope for things which are not seen, which are true.' (Alma 32:17-18, 21).
"There are two kinds of faith. One of them functions ordinarily in the life of every soul. It is the kind of faith born by experience; it gives us certainty that a new day will dawn, that spring will come, that growth will take place. It is the kind of faith that relates us with confidence to that which is scheduled to happen...
"There is another kind of faith, rare indeed. This is the kind of faith that causes things to happen. It is the kind of faith that is worthy and prepared and unyielding, and it calls forth things that otherwise would not be. It is the kind of faith that moves people. It is the kind of faith that sometimes moves things. Few possess it. It comes by gradual growth. It is a marvelous, even a transcendent, power, a power as real and as invisible as electricity. Direct and channeled, it has great effect.
"But faith must be faith. One man tried 'experimenting' with faith. He had spoken to his certainty that an event would transpire, and his desires were not brought to pass; the event he so much yearned for did not happen. Afterward, his bitter comment was, 'Well, you see, it didn't happen. I didn't think it would.'
"In a world filled with skepticism and doubt, the expression 'seeing is believing' promotes the attitude, 'You show me, and I will believe.' We want all of the proof and all of the evidence first. It seems hard to take things on faith.
"When will we learn that in spiritual things it works the other way about--that believing is seeing? Spiritual belief precedes spiritual knowledge When we believe in things that are not seen but are nevertheless true, then we have faith" (Boyd K. Packer, "What is Faith?" in Faith, pp. 42-43).

"Believing is seeing." I love that! Here's to being less skeptical and more faithful. If you're waiting for a sign to do something, maybe the Lord is actually waiting on you to take a leap of faith.

At Home Fitness

I have always chosen to run or do an at-home fitness program in lieu of the gym. I have just never liked the gym. It is smelly, crowded, and far away. I have 5 children ages 8, 6, 5, 3, and 1. By the time we load up, get to the gym, unload, get inside, drop off at on-site daycare, workout, pick up from on-site daycare, load up, drive home, unload... Well, you get the picture. I don't have time for that nonsense. At-home workouts offer me the flexibility of getting up a little earlier than my family, working out, showering and having breakfast on the table before 7 AM. I also just prefer to not be with a bunch of people I don't know while I'm sweaty and in the zone. I like being in a comfortable place AKA my living room. Not to mention the monthly charges to my credit card for something I rarely used!
I have purchased dozens of at-home workouts prior to trying Beachbody fitness programs. Denise Austin, Winsor Pilates, Discount Bin DVDs from Wal-mart, Jillian Michaels, and many more. The only one that came close to doing anything was Jillian Michaels' 30 day shred. But, it cost $20 and only had 2 workouts on it. I got bored really quickly.

I had heard of P90x several years ago, but never did it because it seemed so LONG! I needed something shorter. Say, 30 minutes, that would actually work. My friend, Amy introduced me to Beachbody almost a year ago and I was an instant fan. My first 30 day program, CIZE, was a hip-hop dance program with Shaun T. He was super motivating. The workouts felt like a dance class. I lost 10 inches and about 5 pounds. Not a whole lot, but I wasn't really trying in the kitchen. I was 4 months post-partum and wasn't prepared to stop eating whatever I wanted.
Next, I tried PIYO. Another fabulous program with another fabulous trainer, Chalene Johnson. She felt like my friend and her program was dynamic and fun and helped me lose another 6 pounds and 8 inches.
I got sick around Christmas and put exercise on the back burner. I would go for walks inconsistently, and wasn't doing much to really finish off the last of my pregnancy weight. In April, I became a Beachbody coach and started 21 Day Fix. I finally learned how to make it count in the kitchen and in just 21 days, I lost another 6 inches and 6 pounds! I couldn't believe it. I was seeing a number on the scale that I hadn't seen since 3 babies ago!
Jared and I just finished a 60 day program called Hammer and Chisel. I didn't lose any weight because I wasn't trying too, but I did lose inches and built some actual muscles. I feel incredibly strong and confident. Honestly, the workouts were tough, but we showed up every day for 60 days and I couldn't' be more proud of us.
I am floored that I got these results from at-home fitness programs! I am a huge believer in what Beachbody is doing. They are getting results in a safe way that takes effort, hard work, and consistency. It isn't a get thin quick thing. You have to show up every day. You have to want it. You have to work for it. But, that is how the best things in life happen for us. Plus, putting in the work teaches you how to stay where you want to be and not gain it all back or begin eating poorly again.
It Actually Works!

Beachbody sends you all the tools you need to be successful when you purchase one of their fitness programs. You get ME as your FREE coach. I do my best to help you achieve those goals, motivate you, and hold you accountable. You get a calendar to follow for the duration of the program. Most programs have a minimum of 7 different workouts. The one we just completed, Hammer and Chisel has 16 different workouts! I was NEVER bored. I was challenged every day. You also get an eating plan/nutrition guide and the newer programs provide you with Portion Fix containers to help implement the eating plan. Portion Fix has revolutionized the way I eat. It works because you are eating normal foods, but in the right quantities. It really helps you to focus more on what you can eat and not what you can't. Plus, because you tally up your food by the containers and not calories, you don't get stuck on the numbers. There are plenty of ways to only eat 1,400 calories a day that are empty calories! That doesn't happen with Portion Fix, unless you eat too many yellows! That's the carb container, so you can see why they are hard to limit! Americans LOVE carbs!
So, if the gym isn't working for you. If your current at-home workout isn't working for you. I think you'll find something in Beachbody that does work for you. If you put in the work, show up every day, and really try you will have success!