ASPARAGUS & MOZZARELLA STUFFED CHICKEN BREASTS

4 SERVINGS
4 large skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
salt and black pepper to taste
16 asparagus spears, trimmed - divided
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese, divided
1/2 cup Italian seasoned bread crumbs
1. Preheat an oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Grease an 8x8-inch baking dish.
2. Place each chicken breast between two sheets of heavy plastic (resealable freezer bags work well) on a solid, level surface. Firmly pound the chicken with the smooth side of a meat mallet to an even thickness of about 1/4 inch. Sprinkle each side with salt and pepper.
3. Place 4 spears of asparagus down the center of a chicken breast, and spread about 1/4 cup of mozzarella cheese over the asparagus.
4. Repeat with the other chicken breast, and roll the chicken around the asparagus and cheese to make a tidy, compact roll. Place the rolls seam sides down in the prepared baking dish, and sprinkle each with about 2 tablespoons of bread crumbs.
5. Bake in the preheated oven until the juices run clear when pricked with a fork, about 25 minutes. An instant-read thermometer inserted into the center should read at least 165 degrees F (74 degrees C).

Week 3 Results and New Email

Hello Everyone! I am super lame for not reporting the top 3 sooner. I recently got back from a 2 week trip to Utah where I had zero internet access aside from the public library. So, I promise this blog will be flourishing with awesome information starting this week.

Top 3 point holders for week 3 are:

Hope Winters
Alicia Ehmke
Sarah Garlick

These ladies are in it to win it! I am going to start posting the scores a little different. I will be including the top 5 point holders for each week and the top 5 in the contest overall.

***I will be sending an email to everyone with this info:
I have set up a new email address exclusively for this challenge. So starting this Sunday, please email your point totals and any questions you might have to healthylivingaz@hotmail.com
This will help me collect scores a little quicker so I don't have to search through all my other junk to find everyone :)

I hope everyone is hanging in there, you're almost half way done! Just think swimsuits and summer and beaches! (I added the blog backround to help get you in the summer spirit!)

Week 2 Results

So sorry I didn't post sooner. I am still in Utah visiting my parents and believe it or not, they do not have the internet. Crazy, I know. So I found my way to the Manti City Library. Everyone's scores for week 2 were better than week 1! Top 3 point holders are the same as last week:

Hope Winters
Alicia Ehmke
Sarah Garlick


The race is on! We have a few highly competitive participants! Everyone keep at it! I have lost almost 10 pounds, so it really does work!!

On-time Points

There was a little bit of confusion with the points last week.  Some people reported their point total with the on-time points and some reported without.  I need everyone to report only the weekly total they earned out of the 96 possible.  If and when you report on time, I will add the 2 on-time points to your score.  This will cut out any confusion...hopefully :) 

I hope everyone had a great week 2.  I will report the top 3 point holders in the morning.

Week 1 Report

Congrats to everyone for surviving week 1 of the challenge! Sorry to report so late, I left for Utah on Monday morning. I am totally impressed with everyone's numbers so far. There are a few participants who have yet to report their scores so here are the top 3 so far:
Hope Winters
Alicia Ehmke
Sarah Garlick
If you didn't make the top 3 don't be discouraged. We still have 7 weeks! Anything could happen. Keep up the good work!

There were a few details that were confusing with the system. I will clarify those in tomorrow's post.

How was YOUR Day 1?

I hope everyone had a good day 1 to the challenge! I had a horrible headache which I'm sure was sugar withdrawal. I also didn't get all of my exercise points (although I have a very good excuse...) so if you didn't get all of the possible points yesterday, rest assured that you aren't the only one :)

There are 18 people participating in this group, so that's $180 to the winner! Not too shabby for a $10 investment. There is also the one hour massage to the runner-up. In the case of a tie, the pot will be evenly split. There was talk about a tie breaker, but lets face it, not everyone wants to drag anything out for a few bucks. That's not what this challenge is about. The real reward comes from healthy habits you will form and hopefully feeling better and stronger overall.

Please feel free to leave comments letting everyone know how you're doing, feeling, etc. Don't hesitate to email me with any questions you have! Have a great day!

-Lyndsay

And So it Begins!

Welcome to the Healthy Living Challenge! The goal for this contest is to develop healthy habits that will not only help us get healthy, but stay healthy. I have done the diet pill thing and it of course worked like a charm. The weight came off. There was only one problem, that weight was coming off because a chemical was not allowing me to feel hungry, not because I was making good healthy choices. As soon as I was off the pills and my appetite was back, so was the weight, and then some... I need a program that helps me train my body how to maintain a healthy life style. I am hoping this is the answer!

I will post helpful information and answer any questions you might have daily on this blog, so check back regularly.

Helpful info for today:

Fruit and vegetable serving sizes. Generally speaking, 1 serving of chopped fruits or vegetables is equivalent to 1/2 a cup. Leafy greens are 1 cup, and a whole peice of fruit is 1 serving.

Examples:

Fruits

• one banana
• six strawberries
• two plums
• fifteen grapes
• one apple
• one peach
• one half cup of orange or other fruit juice

Vegetables

• five broccoli florets
• ten baby carrots
• one roma tomato
• 3/4 cup tomato juice
• half of a baked sweet potato
• one ear of corn
• four slices of an onion