Chip-O-Top-Lay, Chipoodle… oh right, Chipotle!

Chipotle Mexican Grill is a great fresh fast-food mexican chain that allows you to build your own taco, burrito, salad, or burrito bowl. From the looks of the of it, one would think it would be healthy, but hidden underneath that burrito lays over 1,200 calories! Yep, you heard me right. . . maybe it has to do with the fact that their burritos are bigger than my face. You definitely can’t say that you don’t get your money’s worth here! ! !

Calories add up fast and you don’t even realize it when you add a little guacamole here, a scoop of sour cream there, a hand full of cheese, and oh wait… don’t forget the lime chips… they are by far God’s gift to mankind! Oh man, I’m hungry!

So how do you eat healthy at Chipotle?

For one, don’t eat the entire Chipotle meal. Portions these days have gotten ridiculous… especially at Chipotle! Check out this older post on Visualizing Portion Control and then go compare your burrito… you might understand me then.

For those of you who are like me and “accidently” end up eating the whole meal without realizing it, cut your meal in half and bag it up before you even begin to eat. This way you aren’t mindlessly eating till it’s gone… and having to roll yourself out of the store

For a burrito or taco, skip out on the guacamole, sour cream, and cheese. . . this saves you nearly 400 calories. If you want to save an extra 300 calories, opt out on the burrito and go for the burrito bowl.

Just because you are skipping out on the tortilla, doesn’t mean you should add on extra rice and beans. Fill up your bowl with veggies and ask for a little bit of rice and beans.

And for those of you that want to be extremely good, go all the way for a salad. These are my favorite because the sauteed bell peppers and onions is a perfect addition to a tasty meal. Add in tomatoes and corn and you are set!

Toss the 260 calorie, 25g of fat salad dressing and opt for salsa.

While Chipotle might have 1,200 burritos, there are ways around it. So make sure you have a plan before heading into the store.

This handy dandy Chipotle Calculator is great to building your own meal. Make sure to use this the next time you head out to Chipotle.

Question: What is your favorite combo meal at Chipotle?

Adios Amigos!

A Success indeed! No more chewy spinach smoothies

… I have successfully made my very first green monster smoothie

Thanks to all you that commented and gave me such wonderful advice on making these smoothies.

I went out that night and bought some fresh spinach!

Top Advice: Fresh Spinach! Me being the cheap person that I am thought I would save money on buying frozen spinach. Well, if you like to chew your smoothies, then go for it. For me, I’m all about the puree!

And really, fresh spinach isn’t expensive, so I pretty much wasted my time on the frozen spinach.

I thought this morning I would attempt the Virgin Green Monster Smoothie Recipe from the Green Monster Movement.

- 1 frozen banana

- 1 cup Almond Milk

- 2 cups spinach

- 6 ice cubes

- A dash of Stevia

The recipe doesn’t call for sweetener, but I have a huge sweet tooth so I added this in at the end.

OMG! This stuff is amazing. Seriously people, if you haven’t tried it, you need to. I promise you that you won’t taste the spinach… unless you are like me in round one and aim for a chewy smoothie with frozen spinach. There are just some things you can’t go cheap on

What are you waiting for… go make one all ready!

Question: What type of Green Monster Smoothie did you make this morning?

In honor of my previous post on smoothies, I thought I would take it upon myself to try the newest craze I’ve been reading about. Green Monsters. These smoothies are made with a key ingredient, kale or spinach.

I know, I know! Gross, right? Well evidently all it is all said and done, you can’t even taste the spinach. You simply combine spinach or kale with your favorite fruits and voila… you have a Green Monster.

Angela over at the Oh She Glows first started this craze. Evidently these smoothies are suppose to give you huge benefits. Increases Energy levels. Decrease consumption of oils and fats in your diet. You start craving more veggies and less sweets… now that is what i need. I have a huge sweet tooth! You can read more about these healthy drinks HERE.

So, I woke up this morning excited to try it out. After my 5 mile run I thought a Green Monster Smoothie would be a perfect way to refuel and start off my day

. . . hmmm

Lets just say, my first attempt this morning didn’t go as planned

I pulled out all my ingredients…

1/4 cup strawberries

1/4 cup blueberries

2 cups spinach

1 cup Almond Milk

I don’t know what happened with the spinach, but it is way too chunky! Maybe it was due to the fact that I used frozen spinach or the blender was messed up? I don’t know. It just wouldn’t blend and now I sit here chewing on my drink.

Any suggestions?

For those of you who have not tried a Green Monster Smoothie, head on over to Angela’s site. She has tons of great recipes to try. Hopefully yours won’t be so chunky like mine

And for the Pro Green Monster Smoothie Makers out there, leave your favorite recipe in the comments section for all of us newbies to try out.

Holla mi amigos!

Hope you are having a great weekend.

Mexican Food has gotten a bad reputation in the weight loss realm for all the greasy, gooey, cheese smothering foods. Have no fear though my weight watchers… this recipe will live you in a food coma and still losing weight.Today I thought I would share with you a great low calorie Mexican Food Recipe. Check it out:

Healthy La Tortilla Pie

Ingredients

* 1 cup corn kernels

* Sliced Green Onions

* 1 teaspoon ground cumin

* 1 1/2 cup salsa

* 1 can (15-19oz) low sodium black beans, rinsed and drained

* 4 large La Tortilla Low Carb Tortillas- 80 calories

* 1- 1 1/2 cup fat free shredded cheese

* 2 tablespoons chopped cilantro

Directions

* Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Spray large cookie sheet

* Over medium heat, add corn, green onions, and cumin. Cook for about 3 minutes. Remove skillet from heat; stir in salsa and beans.

* Place 1 tortilla on cookie sheet. Top with 1/2 cup bean mixture and 1/4 cup cheese. Repeat, starting with tortilla, to make 2 more layers. Top with remaining tortilla and cheese.

* Bake the pie for about 10 minutes. Sprinkle with chopped cilantro

Hope you Enjoy!

Smoothies are always a great choice during the summer when it’s hot outside and you want something healthy to cool off on. While most smoothies are loaded with rich antioxidants, fiber, vitamins and minerals, beware, most fruit smoothies are loaded with sugar and calories. For instance, Jamba Juice’s Peanut Butter Moo’d is a dazzling 800 calories and 122g of sugar! While the Orange Dream Machine loaded with vitamin C is a whopping 70g of sugar.

The safest route for a healthy smoothie is to bust out that blender and make it yourself. Avoid ingredients like ice cream, whole milk, sugar and cream. There are the culprits in sabotaging your healthy smoothie. Pick ingredients like fat free milk, light yogurt, almond milk, fat free milk, and sugar-free fruit juice.

Unlike most healthy smoothies that are extremely watery and flavorless, adding in frozen fruit to your smoothies will create that creamy and thick texture. No fruit in your recipe? Freezing the liquids in your recipe will work as well, such as coffee, juice, and milk. Just pour them into an ice cube tray and you have several smoothies.

Add a little kick to your drink without the calories by adding in vanilla, almond, coconut, or lemon extracts.

Need a great guilt-free smoothie recipe?

This Orange Dream Machine is still loaded with vitamin C but no where near 70g of sugar and only 85 calories!

Orange Dream Machine

- 3 oz. Diet Orange Juice Concentrate

- 2-3 packets of Splenda

- 1/2 cup light soy milk (regular or vanilla)

- 1/2 cup water

- 4 ice cubes

- 1 tsp. vanilla

Citrus Berry Fruit Smoothie

- 1/2 frozen banana

- 1/4 cup peaches

- 1/4 cup blueberries

- 1/4 cup strawberries

- 1/4 cup Diet Orange Juice Concentrate

- A little bit of lime juice

Share with us some of your favorite healthy smoothie recipes?

Some people think Quaker Rice Cakes taste like cardboard, but I love them! These crunchy cakes range anywhere from 35-60 calories with flavors including plain, chocolate, peanut butter chocolate chip, caramel, cinnamon apple, popcorn and cheddar.

The mini snack cakes have even better flavors ranging from mint chocolate chip, cinnamon streusel, peanut butter, white chocolate drizzle, and sour cream and onion… just to name a few and have only 60 calories for approximately 8 rice cakes. Swoop those sour cream and onion lays for these rice cakes and you save 100’s of calories and fat!

What most people don’t know is that you can do so many different things with Quaker Rice Cakes. You can make anything from mini meals to delicious low calorie desserts. Create some excitement with your Quaker Rice Cakes with these simple, low calories, low fat recipes:

Guiltless Pizza

(80 calories, 2 weight watcher point)

*1 Quaker Salt Free Rice Cake

* Fat Free Pizza Sauce

* Chopped Veggies

* Fat Free Shredded Cheese

BBQ Chicken Salad

(100 calories, 2 weight watcher points)

* 1 Quaker Salt Free Rice Cake

* Cooked Shredded Chicken

* Barbecue Sauce

* Chopped Onions

* Fat Free Sharp Cheddar Cheese

* Chopped Cilantro

Mini Nacho Dippers

(200 calories, 3 weight watcher points)

* 9 Quaker Quakes Rice Snacks, Nacho Cheese

* Old El Paso Fat Free Refried Beans

* Fat Free Sour Cream

* Salsa (Mild, Medium or Hot)

* Optional: slices of jalapenos and/or black olives

Mexican Pizza

(100 calories, 2 weight watcher points)

* 1 Quaker Salt Free Rice Cake

* Fat Free Refried Beans

* Salsa

* Diced Tomatoes

* Chopped Green Chilies, Green Peppers, and Onions

* Chopped green peppers

* Fat Free Shredded Cheese

Tuna Delight

(100 calories, 3 weight watcher points)

* 1 Quaker Salt Free Rice Cake

* Tuna in Brine or Water

* Chopped tomatoes, onions, cucumbers, green apples, green chili

* Fat Free Mayo

Banana Nut Caramel Chocolate Crunch

(110 calories, 2 weight watcher points )

* 1 Quaker Caramel Rice Cakes

* Fat Free Chocolate Syrup

* Chopped Peanuts

* Fat Free Caramel Sauce

* Slices of Banana

* Fat Free Whipped Topping

Berries and Granola

(80 calories, 1 point weight watchers)

* 1 Quaker Cinnamon Toast Cakes

* Fat Free Vanilla Yogurt

* Blueberries and Raspberries

*100% Natural Low Fat Granola with Raisins

Key Lime Pie

* 1 Quaker Cinnamon Toast Cakes

* Soft Low Fat Cream Cheese

* Splenda

* Vanilla Extract

* Lemon Juice

Peanut Butter N’ Marshmallow Crunch Cake

(168 calories, 4 weight weight points)

* 1 Quaker Caramel Rice Cakes

* Marshmallow Creme (room temp.)

* Reduced Fat Creamy Peanut Butter (room temp.)

* Semi-Sweet Mini Chocolate Chips

They also are great crumbled up in yogurt or in ice cream

for a low calorie / low fat version of granola!

So how do you like to eat your rice cakes?