Hearty Chicken Stew with Butternut Squash & Quinoa

Ingredients:

•  1 1/2 lb. butternut squash, peeled, seeded & chopped into 1/2-inch pieces
• 3 1/2 cups chicken broth
• 1 1/2 lb. boneless, skinless chicken thighs
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 medium yellow onion, finely chopped
• 1/2 tsp kosher salt
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 1/2 tsp dried oregano
• 1 can (14 oz) petite diced tomatoes
• 2/3 cup uncooked quinoa
• 3/4 cup pitted and quartered kalamata olives
• Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
• 1/4 cup minced fresh flat-leaf parsley

 Instructions:

1.  Steam the butternut squash until barely tender, about 10 minutes. Remove half of the squash pieces and set aside.
2. Steam the remaining squash until very tender, an additional 4 to 6 minutes. Mash this squash with the back of a fork. Set aside.
3. In a large saucepan set over medium-high heat, bring the chicken broth to a simmer.
4. Add chicken thighs, cover, and cook until chicken is cooked through, about 15 minutes.
5. Transfer the chicken thighs to a plate and allow to cool. Pour broth into a medium-sized bowl.
6. Return the saucepan to the stovetop and lower heat to medium. Add olive oil.
7. Add onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until onion is starting to turn brown, 8 to 10 minutes.
8. Add minced garlic and oregano. Cook, stirring, for 1 additional minute.
9. To the saucepan, add tomatoes, butternut squash pieces, mashed butternut squash. Stir to combine.
10. Stir in reserved chicken broth and quinoa. Bring to a simmer, cover and cook until the quinoa turns translucent, about 15 minutes.
11. Shred the chicken with your fingers or a fork.
12. Stir the chicken, olives and pepper into the stew and simmer, uncovered, to heat, about 5 minutes.
13. Stir in parsley and serve.

Why are Fitness Challenge Accountability Groups so Effective?

I’ve Got Just What you Need to Succeed!!

• ✅ Have you been stuck in a rut with your workout and need a change?
• ✅ Are you going to the gym every day, but not seeing any results?
• ✅ Do you like to eat healthy but you just can’t stay away from the chips and cookies?
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I have the perfect solution for you. It is my Personal Fitness Challenge Accountability Group.

What is a Fitness Challenge Accountability Group?

• ✅ It is a small group of 5 – 10 people who are committed to their health and fitness and want to achieve their goals.
• ✅ Its a group of people who push each other to be the best that they can be.
• ✅ Its a group that shares their accomplishments, their struggles, their goals and their challenges in the hopes of supporting and motivating the rest of the group.

Everyone in the group is committed to working out at least 3 days a week, committed to a healthy nutrition plan including Shakeology, and open to sharing their fitness goals and accomplishments with the group. I will be actively coaching the group, participating in the group, and moderating the discussions. The primary method of communications for the group is a private Facebook Group where everyone will be encouraged to post updates on a daily basis. This approach eliminates any kind of geographical restrictions and lets us bring together anyone who wants to make the commitment.

Accountability is the key to our success. Most people start out a new fitness program full of enthusiasm and energy, but often that enthusiasm fades quickly at the first sign of adversity. In the accountability group, your fellow participants will be expecting to see your workout logged 3 days each week and see the progress that you are making towards your goals. Those mornings that you don’t feel like getting up to workout, you will know in the back of your mind that the rest of the group will notice if you don’t show up. When you are tempted by that donut in the office break-room you can think about the others in the group who are making sacrifices to achieve their goals. You can even tap into your competitive side by comparing your progress to the others in the group. If you have 3 or 4 friends who all want to work toward their health and fitness goals, we can even form a private group just for you and your friends.

How do I join the group?

The first step is the really think about WHY you want to be in a group like this. I would love to have you in my group, but YOU have to be committed. You have to truly want to make a change in your life. When you and I talk about the Challenge Group, my first question will be “Why do you want to join this group?” I am looking to see what is driving and motivating you. Next, you need to sign up for your free Beachbody account with me as your coach. We use the Team Beachbody account for logging and tracking your workouts so this step is important. click here to start setting up your free account. Once you setup your account I will contact you to discuss your goals, nutrition, and what fitness program you would like to do.

Find out how you can even win cash for being successful! Click here: http://tinyurl.com/Tzena-sBeachbodyChallenge

Making the Financial Commitment to Your Health

I hear from a lot of people that they can’t make the financial commitment to a challenge pack. I completely understand this. I had the same objections myself when I was making my decision to invest in my own health. The result was that for a long time I refused to make the commitment. I was hiding behind any excuse not to do the work, not to make changes to my “comfortable” and “fluffy” life. I had a lot of “reasons” why I couldn’t do this. I am a mom. I don’t have time. I don’t have the money. I don’t have space in my house to workout. Sound familiar?

Guess what? Not only do you owe it to yourself to become healthy, to model the behaviour yourself that you want to see in your kids, the excuses simply are not true. The biggest excuse that I would like to help you move past is the excuse of “I can’t afford it”.

I wanted to share with you the numbers that I crunched.

Before I switched to an at home workout program I was spending:

• $8 – 3 times a week buying lunch = $24 a week = $96 a month
•  $5 – 3 times a week at Starbucks = $15 a week = $60 a month
• $50 a month for a gym membership that I didn’t use enough as it was hard to get there around work and my child’s schedule.
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That is a grand total of $206 a month going out a little here and a little there!!!!!!

Once I saw these numbers it became hard to argue with myself about the financial commitment. If I could easily spend $206 each month maintaining a lifestyle that was unhealthy and hurtful to my child, then why exactly could I NOT make a ONE TIME financial commitment of $140????? I decided to make changes and BE SMARTER with my hard earned money. If I purchased a challenge pack I would own the workouts and fitness plans forever. It no longer required a monthly fee to workout.

 I decided to give up Starbucks and to make lunches, not buy them. I bought a challenge pack for a ONE TIME COST of $140.

I SAVED $66 the first month!!!

The second month (and every month since) I continued to purchase shakeology. This costs me $125.87 (all in). Now each month I SAVE $80 and I lost 18 pounds!!!! I also stick with my workout because I can do it at home around any schedule that I have. While the baby naps, while the kids are at school, early in the morning, while they have quiet time….literally whenever. Some days my daughter even wants to do it with me. There is nothing better then modelling a healthy life for my kids! The added bonus is that at 4 years old she understands the difference between a healthy snack and a processed snack and requests the healthy snack. To me, there is not price that can be placed on that.

So, I ask you to please, HONESTLY look at where you are currently spending your money. Why wouldn’t you want to get a program that WORKS and will SAVE you MONEY each money. Why wouldn’t you want to model healthy behaviour to your kids and be responsible for providing them with a long, healthy life?

If you are ready to invest in yourself because you ARE WORTH it please let me know.

I have never once regretted my decision and I made it OVER a year ago.

You can get more info on taking the challenge here: http://livinghappyandhealthy.automaticceo.com/marketing/go13