Why You Need Elite Blog Academy

I am taking a short break from our regularly scheduled delicious and healthy recipes to bring you some information on something that changed my life. It’s called Elite Blog Academy and it is nothing short of a life-changing blogging course.

Two and a half years ago, I was at a crossroads with Happy Healthy Mama. I loved blogging, but didn’t see how to make it work as a full-time job. It was a hobby I loved, but I was putting so much time in that I was starting to question if what I was getting out of it was worth my time.

I knew I wanted to take my blog to the next level, but I didn’t know how. 

I stumbled across a course called Elite Blog Academy and was intrigued. It promised to be a step-by-step guide that would teach me exactly what I needed to do to turn Happy Healthy Mama into a profitable blog. I took a leap of faith and purchased the course.

It was essentially my last chance to switch this blog from a hobby to a business. I decided if I didn’t grow Happy Healthy Mama from applying what I learned in the course, I’d be done with blogging.

I’m still here! Taking Elite Blog Academy was, by far, the best decision and investment I’ve ever made for this blog.

What exactly does that mean? Let’s talk numbers. Even though it’s pretty common for bloggers to talk specifics when it comes to income (google “blogging income reports” and you’ll get tons of results) it still makes me feel weird. Nonetheless, I feel like I need to give you some specific numbers so you get an idea of just how far EBA has taken me.

In the time since I took EBA, I have:

• Grown my blog’s traffic significantly. When I started EBA, I averaged 65,000 pageviews a month. These days I average around 500,000.
• Grown my income enough to not need to return to my teaching job. I was making between $75 and $100 a month back in 2014. During the last year I made between $4,000-$7,000 a month. That’s a big range, but it varies by the time of the year.
• Developed a long-term business plan for growth. This is something I didn’t think about before. I was just “blogging by the seat of my pants” and didn’t understand how to get out of that mode.

I didn’t need theories or big ideas on how to grow my blog. I’d read plenty of that. What I needed was a step-by-step plan. Actionable items I could complete that would give me results. That’s exactly what Elite Blog Academy gave me.

So, is Elite Blog Academy right for you? 

Honestly, it depends.

Elite Blog Academy is for people who are committed to following the process and actually doing the work.  As a member of EBA, I’ve noticed that the thing that the most successful graduates have in common is a willingness to put 100% of their effort into completing the assignments in order.

The program works if you do the work.

It’s also not for people who are going to insist that they’ve already heard this all before, or who are going to argue that a task seems too basic or complain that it’s too hard. It’s not for bloggers who just want to just “skip to the good stuff”picking and choosing the lessons they pay attention to, then write it off when they’re not getting results. The EBA process is designed to create success, but it only works if you are willing to commit to actually doing the work.

What’s Included with EBA? 

Elite Blog Academy gives you a proven framework for success that you won’t find anywhere else. The course includes everything you need to turn your blog into a successful, profitable business, from refining your message and growing your audience to monetizing your platform and building your business.

It is possible to create a successful business from a blog, and Elite Blog Academy shares exactly how it’s done, step-by-step.

Because EBA is designed to be self-paced, in order to do it right, you should give yourself plenty of time. Blogging is not for the faint of heart, and this course requires a willingness to buckle down and get to work. That said, for those who are willing to do the work, it also comes with a 100% money-back guarantee.

How Do I Get Started? 

Enrollment for Elite Blog Academy only opens ONCE each year, and will only be open for five days, beginning today! That means that if you are ready to finally take your blog to the next level, you should sign up ASAP!

And if you enroll by tomorrow at 11:59pm, you will also get access to a free Early Bird Bonus—The EBA Product Launch Playbook, which looks pretty amazing!

CLICK HERE TO ENROLL IN EBA. 

I can honestly say that I would not be blogging today without Elite Blog Academy. I know that even though I’ve come so far, I can go even further.

I have seen EBA graduates who have grown their blogs into businesses that make 10K, 20K, and 50K a month. (Really! You can read a whole bunch of inspiring success stories here.) I’ve grown at my own pace and I’m okay with that, but it also makes me see what’s possible.

This year EBA has been totally revamped and I’m excited to dive into the course again. That’s right, once you purchase EBA, you have LIFETIME ACCESS to all updates.

I will never stop learning so I can continue this blog to share my passion of healthy living. I feel so blessed that I can share my passion AND make a living doing it AND have the flexibility to work when it fits with my family’s schedule. It’s pretty incredible. 

If you’re still on the fence about EBA, the founder Ruth Soukup is hosting a webinar to answer all of your questions this Thursday at 4:00 EST. You can sign up here for the webinar. 

The links in this post are affiliate links. That means that if you purchase the course through my links, I will receive a percentage of the sale. I only promote products or services that I have tried and love. I appreciate the support!

 

 

The post Why You Need Elite Blog Academy appeared first on Happy Healthy Mama.

source http://happyhealthymama.com/need-elite-blog-academy.html

Zucchini Chocolate Chip Baked Oatmeal

Top Ten Kid-Friendly Wraps

By this time in the school year, I always end up in a rut when it comes to packing school lunches. I fall into the trap of packing the same things day after day. These kid-friendly wraps are inspiration for you (and me!) to change things up and offer some different choices for our kids’ lunches.

If you’re bored with the same old sandwich routine, wraps are a fun way to switch things up. There are so many delicious options you can add to tortillas to make kid-friendly wraps. What I really love about wraps is that they provide a perfect vehicle for a complete healthy meal.

One key to making great kid-friendly wraps is to use familiar foods and flavors you know your children love and branch out from there. All of the wraps I’m sharing today are adaptable to individual taste buds.

Also keep in mind that kids like simple. What may sound boring to an adult sounds like perfection to a child. Many kids are also turned off by messy food, so make sure the fillings are minimal enough that the tortilla can be wrapped tightly and the insides won’t fall out.

If you want to send the hot wraps to school, I suggest making them in the morning, wrapping them tightly in foil, and then sending them to school in an insulated thermos.

If you’re worried about the wraps staying together while traveling, I suggest sending a deconstructed wrap for you child to put together themselves at school. These stainless steel Bento-style containers are perfect for that.

Because I know you will ask, I think these corn tortillas or these whole wheat tortillas are great options for any of these kid-friendly wraps. I can’t always find the organic version of these in our local groceries, but you can buy them in bulk on Amazon and freeze them.

Enough jabber–let’s look at ten wraps that will help your kids eat a wide variety of fruits and vegetables in fun ways!

Top 10 Kid-Friendly Wraps

1. Crispy Veggie and Cream Cheese Wrap

Spread some cream cheese and add your child’s favorite crispy vegetables. Shown here are red peppers, baby spinach, carrots, and cucumber. If you have fresh dill on hand, try these Rainbow Wraps and Chives also!

2. Apple Cheddar Wrap

Shredded apple + shredded cheddar=delicious goodness! Put the whole thing under the broiler for a minute to melt the cheese before you wrap it up.

3. Beans and Rice Wrap

Start by adding guacamole, which acts as the “glue” in this wrap. Then add some cooked rice, black beans, and top with a little shredded cheese. Alternatively, leave off the cheese for a vegan wrap.

4. Strawberry Almond Butter Wrap

I could probably eat this wrap for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. I know these are kid-friendly wraps, but clearly they are for adults, too. This one is as simple as spread the tortilla with almond butter, add some cut strawberries, and you’re done. I told you kids like simple, right?

5. The Chicken Wrap

This wrap is perfect for when you have leftover chicken. Start by spreading some cream cheese (usually a kid favorite), top with some cubed chicken, matchstick carrots, and shredded cheese. Remember, don’t overstuff it!

6. The Smashed Avocado Wrap

I have one avocado-loving kid and one avocado-hating kid. If you have an avocado lover, please try this wrap! You just have to trust me. It’s simply mashed avocado with a sprinkling of nutritional yeast. If you aren’t familiar, nutritional yeast is a deactivated yeast that comes in the form of yellow flakes. It is a good source of B vitamins and is used by vegans and vegetarians a lot as a flavoring. It lends a somewhat cheesy flavor to what you add it to, and it just works well with mashed avocado. This is actually my daughter’s favorite sandwich, behind the peanut butter and jelly, and it works well as a wrap, too.

7. The Egg Wrap

I serve eggs for lunch more often than breakfast. So much so that one day I tried to serve my son eggs for breakfast and he said, “What?! Eggs are for lunch!” This wrap can be for any meal, not just breakfast. I sauté some onion and red pepper (use your child’s favorite vegetables), then scramble an egg with it and finish it with a small amount of cheese.

8. The Sweet Fruit Wrap

 

This was the wrap I used to convince my daughter she likes wraps. I whisked together cream cheese with a touch of pineapple juice and honey and spread it on the tortilla. Top with your choice of fruits, like raspberries, blueberries, and pineapple. It’s a healthy dessert wrap!

9. The Hummus and Cucumber Wrap

Just like my kids are split on avocados, they are also split on hummus. One loves it, one won’t eat it. This one is for the hummus lovers. It works perfectly with crispy cucumbers cut length wise.

10. Banana, Peanut Butter, and Honey Wrap

Oh yeah. You can’t go wrong with this combination.  Try not to love it. I dare you.

I hope you have found some inspiration for incorporating healthy wraps into your kids’ diets! If you want more healthy lunch ideas for kids, check out this giant list of healthy school lunch ideas or this post with 2 weeks of healthy school lunch ideas. 

Links to products are affiliate links, which means if you use the link to purchase a product, I will receive a small percentage of the sale. This means at no cost to you, you’re supporting my blog and I thank you for that! 

The post Top Ten Kid-Friendly Wraps appeared first on Happy Healthy Mama.

source http://happyhealthymama.com/top-ten-kid-friendly-wraps.html

Are Healthy Family Dinners Really Important?

Life is busy and there are so many important things to juggle as a mom, it’s hard to know what’s really critical to focus on. We all want the best for our kids; there’s no doubt about that.

I’m sure there isn’t a parent reading this who wouldn’t agree that she’d do whatever it takes to help her kids turn out well.

But wait. What happens when there’s 1,000 different things “they” say you should be doing? How to you sort through and figure out what is really going to make a difference?

Having a healthy dinner and family mealtime most nights is one of the most difficult tasks on the long lists of things we “should” do, so how do we know if it’s worth it? Well, let’s take a look at what the research tells us.

What the Research Says about Family Mealtimes

• Kids who have frequent family meals with their parents have a decreased risk of smoking, drinking or other drug use. (source)
• Teens who have frequent family dinners are more likely to have high-quality relationships with their parents. (source)
• Children who take part in family meals are less likely to be overweight. (source)
• Children who take part in family meals have higher academic achievement. (source)
• Family meals contribute to children with improved psychological well-being. (source)
• Kids who have frequent family meals are less likely to be delinquent. (source)
• Family dinners correlate positively with better family relations. (source)
• Children and teens who have frequent family meals are more likely to eat healthy foods. (source)

Okay, so the research is clear. Family meals are a big deal. They are worth the effort.

Even if your family’s schedule makes it difficult to have a family meal time together, it’s worth the effort to make it work at least some of the time.

If you aren’t in the habit of having family meals together, start with a goal of 1-2 nights a week. Build from there. Before you know it, it’ll be a habit that you and your kids will appreciate.

When I think about the times our entire family sits down and does something all together, if it weren’t for family dinners, it wouldn’t happen all that often.

Instead, nearly every night we have 20-30 minutes of family time. The four of us are sitting at the table together, focused on each other. We talk. We connect. I can see why all this research points to such positive outcomes.

But what about the “healthy” part? Is that important, too?

I think you know how I feel about that.

Making healthy eating a priority when your kids are young sets them up for a lifetime of healthy habits. Just like we pass down our genetics to our children, we also pass down our lifestyle habits.

Looking at families from generation to generation, eating habits are often the same. Breaking a habit you grew up with is hard. I know. I’ve had to do it.

I grew up eating a lot of processed food. Cutting it out of my diet was not easy and I continue to struggle with cravings for processed foods on occasion.

You are doing your children a great service by cooking them healthy, homemade dinners most nights and having family mealtimes.

But I know it’s hard. Even with healthy, homemade family dinners being a top priority, I’ve had times when I’ve lapsed. That’s exactly why I created the Conquer Dinner eBook.

It’s a step-by-step system for busy people who want to have healthy, homemade dinners and family mealtimes, but just need a little help getting there.

The launch date for Conquer Dinner is quickly approaching. If you want to be the first to know when it’s being released, please join my email list. I only send emails once a week and they are full of great information, inspiration, and motivation, all about healthy living! Sign up below. (It’s FREE to get on my list, of course!)

Be the first to know when Conquer Dinner is released!

Without a doubt, one of the best things you can do as a parent to help your child is make healthy, homemade family meals a priority. The research is clear.

In my own family, I see our meal time as some of the most treasured times we have together. It’s when the kids tell us about their days and reveal more than any other time. So to answer the title question, yes, family dinners really are important.

The post Are Healthy Family Dinners Really Important? appeared first on Happy Healthy Mama.

source http://happyhealthymama.com/healthy-family-dinners-really-important.html

Chocolate Covered Cherry Shake

Hot Fudge Pudding Cake (Vegan & Gluten-Free)

Chicken Fajita Pasta and a Sneak Peek at How Conquer Dinner Works

Homemade Taco Seasoning Recipe

Our Whole30 Experience

Tim and I did the Whole30 program for the month of January. I didn’t really intend to blog about it, but I think it’s worth reporting how it went. Plus, not talking about it on here started to feel like I was trying to keep it a secret or something. So I’m spilling the beans about our January “diet.”

Let me give you the quick run down of what the Whole30 is in case you aren’t familiar. It’s a diet program that involves cutting out a lot of different foods for 30 days. Direct from the program guidelines: “Cut out all of the psychologically unhealthy, hormone unbalancing, gut-disrupting, inflammatory food groups for a full 30 days.”

These are the foods you cannot eat while doing the Whole30:

• No sugar of any kind. (including natural sugars like maple syrup and no artificial sweeteners of any kind.)
• No alcohol.
• No grains. Nada. No wheat, rice, barley, oats, etc.
• No legumes. No beans of any kind or peanuts/peanut butter. This includes soy in all forms.
• No dairy. The only exception is the allowance of ghee or clarified butter.
• No carrageenan, MSG, or sulfites.

Two additional rules were to not create baked goods or treats with approved ingredients (Things like these 2-ingredient Sweet Potato Pancakes and these energy balls would not be allowed.) and don’t step on the scale or take body measurements during the program.

You are encouraged to eat a lot of vegetables, some fruit, meat, eggs, seafood, nuts, and seeds. It’s very Paleo-like, but it a little more strict.

I got a lot of “why are you doing this when you already eat healthy” type responses when I told people I was doing the Whole30. I decided to do the Whole30 for a few reasons.

First, from Thanksgiving through the holidays wasn’t the best time for me. There was a lot going on and just didn’t eat as well as I normally do. I ate more sugar, dairy, and refined carbs than usual and it made me feel less than stellar. I needed a reset. The Whole30 does just that. It gives your body a rest and a chance to recover.

Also, I did it for my husband. He eats what I make him for dinner, but the rest of the day he’s not always the healthiest eater. I wanted Tim to see how certain foods might affect how he feels. I challenged him to do it with me and was so happy when he agreed.

Before I tell you what I liked and didn’t like about the Whole30, I have to give a disclaimer. I didn’t follow it 100%. In the book that outlines the program, It Starts with Food, it says that if you have slip up, you have to start the 30 days over. I didn’t do that.

I had red wine. I mean, I had a girls’ dinner, how was I supposed to not have wine?! Then I had book club and had wine again. And then one night Tim and I wanted some wine. Whoops. Darn wine.

I also had some soy yogurt, agave nectar, and black beans.

For some people, following the program 100% is important. I didn’t feel like it was necessary for me. It still had its intended results for me and Tim, despite our rule-breaking ways.

What I Didn’t Like about the Whole30

I’ll start with the bad and then talk about the good things. My main complaint about the Whole30 is similar to why I don’t love the Paleo diet. It relies too much on animal protein. I ate animal protein with every meal. I never, ever do that. Normally I eat vegan or vegetarian for breakfast, lunch, and snacks (most days anyway) and then eat animal proteins with dinner.

Having so much animal protein was a big change for me and I didn’t love it. Also, it was much more expensive. Quality animal protein isn’t cheap!

The other thing about the Whole30 I didn’t love was the aspect of rules. I don’t like feeling restricted and like I CAN’T eat something. It’s the nature of the program, and I know it serves its purpose, but I hated the feeling of restriction.

What I Did Like about the Whole30

Doing the Whole30 was a great reminder of how good I feel when I don’t eat sugar, dairy, and gluten. My wrists and fingers, which normally get stiff and painful, were pain-free all month. Mentally, I know I should keep those inflammatory foods out of my diet, but I needed that physical reminder.

For Tim, I think this was the best thing he could have done for himself. He lost 15 pounds. He has a new interest in foods and how they affect us that wasn’t there before. He is actually continuing his dietary changes and is now reading and implementing Tim Ferriss’s 4 Hour Body. He’s never been this interested in his health, and I am so happy to see it.

Who Should do the Whole30? 

I think anyone who feels like they need a kick in the pants to get back on track should do the Whole30. Anyone who has health issues that could possibly stem from what they are eating. (Think: unexplained pain, such as painful joints, stomach aches, headaches, skin problems) Cutting all of these foods out of your system for a period of time can be very telling. It’s only 30 days. What do you have to lose?

I am slowly adding back in the foods I didn’t eat in January and seeing how I feel. I know that I’ll be eating much less dairy, gluten, and sugar because those foods have proven to be a problem for my joints.

Overall, I’m happy we did the Whole30 and I think it’s worth looking into if you’re curious.

 

The post Our Whole30 Experience appeared first on Happy Healthy Mama.

source http://happyhealthymama.com/whole30-experience.html

Chocolate Covered Strawberry Cups

The Life-Changing Magic of Meal Planning

We all know that tidying up is magic, but did you know meal planning has the same life-changing magic? Does this scenario sound familiar?

It’s seven o’clock, you just ran in the door after picking up your oldest from practice. Your youngest tells you he’s so hungry he might eat his arm and he starts for the pantry.

You open your fridge to see what’s in there. Oh yeah, you bought some chicken at the grocery store this week. Better hurry up and use it before it goes bad. Then you open Pinterest on your smart phone and search “healthy quick chicken recipes” hoping that something totally delicious pops out at you.

Recipe #1: nope, you don’t have any lemons. Recipe #2: Why didn’t you buy parsley? Would that still taste good without the parsley? Oh, well. Moving on. Recipe #3: Spinach! Yes! You have spinach! Oh, no feta though.

You look at the clock. It’s been almost 10 minutes of searching. You hear, “Mooommmm I’m hungry!”

Forget it. I’ll use a different cheese in place of the feta. This has to work. You gather the ingredients and start the recipe. You soon realize the recipe author grossly misused the term “quick” and this dinner is going to take much longer than you anticipated. You’re half way through, though, there’s no turning back now. 

Dinner is underwhelming. The “starving” son picks at it. Your oldest inhales it, but he eats whatever you put in front of him. Your daughter, the middle child, complains and calls it “gross.” Even though you agree, it’s not that great, you grit your teeth and say, “Eat your dinner,” while forcing a smile. 

I’ve been there. Well, I don’t have three kids, and our dinner time isn’t usually that late, but I have been there. In our own specific realities, we’ve all been there at one point or time. This whole scenario changes with two simple, magical words: MEAL PLANNING.

New scenario: 

Instead, you get home at seven o’clock and you know exactly what you’re having for dinner. You have all of your ingredients in the fridge and pantry and there is no frantic searching for food or recipes. You have dinner ready and on the table before eight o’clock. You saved yourself a whole lot of stress and chaos because you planned your meal.

Meal planning is the simple act of taking the time to plan your meals, create a grocery list, and go shopping for the ingredients needed to make the meals you planned. It really does change everything.

People who meal plan:

1. Tend to eat healthier.

2. Have less stress in their lives, and markedly more peaceful dinners.

3. Spend less time making meals.

4. Save money.

5. Waste less food.

The problem is that the act of meal planning is simple, but not easy. Following through with meal planning consistently can actually be quite difficult. Maybe you do a great job one week, but the next week you’re busy and don’t get to it. Then you fall out of the habit for a while and end up eating out more than you’d like. You try to get back into it, but struggle to find a sustainable system. Sound familiar? You need a solution.

Meal Planning Solution #1

Use the Happy Healthy Mama Meal Planning Toolkit. This is a basic pen-and-paper approach, but I know a lot of people prefer to do their meal planning this way. Sometimes all you need is a basic template to get you in the habit. The toolkit includes a healthy pantry checklist (for those days when you need a quick, throw-together meal), a meal planning template, and a grocery list template. It’s everything you need to get started with meal planning! Just put in your email address in the box when you click on the following link and you’ll have instant access to the FREE download.Click Here to Get my FREE Meal Planning Toolkit

Meal Planning Solution #2

Use an online meal planning system. If you are an online kind of person, I highly recommend using Meal Garden! It’s an amazing system full of tools to help you with your meal planning. It has a database of hundreds and hundreds of recipes for you put into your custom meal plan with a click of a button.

It’s easy to search recipes however you want: vegan, gluten-free, family friends, quick, chicken, Paleo, etc. You can even import any recipe you want that you may have found on the web or from your cookbook collection and it will put it in your online collection for the future and even automatically include its ingredients in your grocery list.

Did I mention it automatically produces a grocery list for you?! You can print it up or access it directly from your phone. Another great feature is that Meal Garden can give you the nutritional mark up for any recipe you are using. It’s great for anyone who is counting calories or needs to keep track of specific intake of certain things like carbs or sugar. 

I am a contributor to the Meal Garden Healthy Eating Bundle, which is only available through this month. With the Healthy Eating Bundle, you get a one-year subscription to the Meal Garden website (which includes everything I described above and more!) plus an entire bundle of already-created meal plans according to dietary need and dozens of articles to help you on your healthy eating journey. All of this is just $19.95 Canadian. (Usually just a one-year subscription to Meal Garden is more than twice that, so this is an outstanding deal!) You can click here to get started with Meal Garden.

Meal Planning Solution #3

All right. Let’s just say you have the best intentions when it comes to meal planning, but your execution just isn’t there. Maybe you’ve tried a myriad of systems, but taking the time to plan your meals just isn’t happening. If you’d rather have someone give you an already completed meal plan, with the grocery list, then you need my new product that’s coming out at the end of this month. Coming soon:

Conquer Dinner

The Step-by-Step Plan for Getting Healthy, Homemade Dinner on the Table, Fast.

Yes! It’s finally happening! If making homemade dinners is your nemesis, this product is for you. If you just want to spend less time meal planning, this product is for you. If you are so busy you feel like healthy, homemade dinners aren’t possible, this product is for you.

So what is it, exactly? It’s an eBook that has six weeks of meal plans and grocery lists done for you.  But it’s more than just that. It also includes a step-by-step system for doing a small amount of meal prep ahead of time so that your meals are easy to make at dinner time. It eliminates so much stress.

I break the recipes down for you and show you exactly what you need to do ahead of time so that once it’s crunch time, getting a healthy meal on the table is easy.Yes, I said easy! I’ve been using this system for over a year now and let me tell you, it is a system that works. I’m only sorry that it’s taking me so long to put it into a pretty package for you. Your wait is almost over!

If you want to be notified when Conquer Dinner is ready, the best way is to get on my email list. I only send one email a week typically and it’s filled with healthy living tips and inspiration. You can sign up right here and I’ll make sure you’re the first the know when Conquer Dinner goes on sale.

One of these options will work for you, I just know it. If you are committed to making healthy eating a reality for your family, choose one of these meal planning solutions to get started!

The post The Life-Changing Magic of Meal Planning appeared first on Happy Healthy Mama.

source http://happyhealthymama.com/life-changing-magic-meal-planning.html