Slow Cooker Chicken, Rice, and Vegetable Soup

I love comfort food, but most of them aren't very good for your health or waistline. However, this delicious chicken soup is sure to satisfy your craving and is packed full of simple clean ingredients!

Not only is this soup healthy and easy to make, it's also a cheap meal as well! It only costs about $4 to make the entire recipe and is only about $0.30 a serving!

Slow Cooker Chicken, Rice, and Vegetable Soup
Makes approximately 14 cups ~ 116 calories per cup

Ingredients

• 1 lb chicken breasts, thawed
• 1 cup long grain brown rice, uncooked
• 16 oz. bag  of frozen mixed vegetables
• 4 extra large chicken bouillon cubes 
• 10 cups water
• 1 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp pepper
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1 tsp onion powder

Directions

1. Add all ingredients to a large crock pot and cook on high for 4 hours.
2. After the soup is done, remove chicken breasts to shred, then add back to soup.
3. Stir it up and serve!

So what are you waiting for? Get crockin'! :)

Healthy Orange Julius!

Good morning everybody!!

I want to start off this Tuesday with an awesome smoothie recipe that I came up with last night. It's a healthy Orange Julius!

It's so delicious, and tastes like an orange creamsicle! I have to admit that I've never really had an Orange Julius, that I can remember at least. I was always more of a Pina Colada Julius kinda girl. :) I always had one whenever we went to the mall, which was pretty often! No wonder I was a chubby kid!

Anyways, please try this recipe out! It's so simple, requires just 5 ingredients, and is only 100 calories! You also don't need any type of fancy blender for this. I just used my good ol' magic bullet! Worked like a charm!

100 Calorie Orange Julius

Makes one serving

Ingredients

• 1 naval orange, peeled
• 1/2 cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk
• 1/4 cup nonfat greek yogurt**
• 1 tablespoon stevia in the raw (or sweetener of your choice)
• 4 ice cubes
• 1/8 teaspoon xanthan gum*

Directions

Add all ingredients in a blender and blend for 45-60 seconds, or until ice is blended in completely. Add a straw and sip away!

*Note: This ingredient is optional, but it does make a thicker smoothie. Just be careful not to add more than 1/8 tsp to your smoothie or it could become very gelatinous. Ick!  

**You could use vanilla greek yogurt if you prefer, or that is all you have on hand, and sweeten to your liking. Soy yogurt would work as well for a vegan version. :)

I started up yet another workout schedule again, so we'll see if this will get me closer towards the direction of getting toned up! It's a mix of workouts from both Turbo Fire and Chalean Extreme, with one P90X2 ab video. There is a little bit of everything mixed in through out the weeks. There are 3 days of high intensity cardio, 2 days of weight lifting and 1 day of yoga. I think yoga should be incorporated into any type of workout program, or at least some form of extended stretching. It's a nice reboot from your previous days of hard work!

For those curious about this month's workout, here is printable workout calendar for next month if you would like to take the challenge! 

Click to print and view full size

What is your favorite smoothie?

Do you practice yoga once a week or more?

F21 Infinity Scarf

Hi Everyone!

Today I have my first crochet craft to show to you all! It's a super warm and cozy infinity scarf!

I found the pattern on Ravelry, which is a huge community of knitters and crocheters, and they have thousands of free patterns, patterns you can purchase and pictures of completed projects!

Anyways, back to my scarf, you can find the pattern here, but I will also be posting it down below along with some action shots!

Forever 21 Infinity Scarf

Yarn: Red Heart With Love in Eggshell, 7oz skein (370 yards)

Hook Size: J-10 (6mm)

Pattern

Ch = chain

Sc = single crochet

Dc = double crochet

Tr = treble crochet

Hk = hook

St = stitch

Sk = skip

Notes:
- The beginning ch-4 always counts as the first stitch.
- The stitch marker isn't actually necessary, but putting that in the pattern makes it a little easier to explain.

For a scarf with 10 repeats:

Ch 36.

R1: Place stitch marker in 6^th ch from hk. Tr into next 2 ch. Dc into ch with marker. Remove marker. *Sk 1 ch (from the second tr). Tr into next 2 ch. Dc into the skipped ch. Repeat from * 8 more times (only one ch is left unworked). Tr into last ch.

R2: Ch 4, turn. *Sk next st. Tr in next 2 sts. Dc in skipped st. Repeat from * 9 more times. Tr into last st.

Repeat R2 as desired.

To make the scarf wider or narrower, add or subtract chains in your starting chain in multiples of 3.

**I made my scarf only 8 repeats across, so I Ch 30 in the beginning.

Happy Crocheting!