Hi friends! Happy Saturday! What are you up to this weekend? We’re spending time with some of our favorite friends: dinner and Botanical gardens, stocking stuffer event, Waitress the Musical, and then pasta making and dinner. I’d love to hear what you’re up to!

Some random pics from the week:

Before we get into Friday Faves, a couple of quick notes:

THANK YOU x1000000 to those of you who have filled out my annual survey. Your feedback is invaluable to me and it’s made me so excited to start working on 2024 content.

Award Winning Instant Pot Chili Recipe [+VIDEO]

Instant Pot Chili that is award winning and bringing home cook-off victories across the country. You don’t want to miss diving into a bowl of our best chili!

If you want from scratch, our traditional chili is your answer. It took us 10 years to discover an award winning recipe and this is finally it, plus it’s an instant pot recipe which means it’s all done in less than 1 hour (with instructions for cooking on the stove top or crock pot as well)!! It is full of bacon, ground beef, beans, classic chili spices and all the toppings you want!

Let’s talk about how to make this homemade chili step by step, and discuss what goes well with it, and how to freeze it to eat later. So much to talk about, so let’s get going!

We attended a chili cook-off and brought this awesome Cheesy Ground Beef Enchilada Chili. It was so good, but soooo many arteries were clogged that night. It’s pretty unhealthy, but I heard a rumor that if you don’t eat it alone the calories don’t count.

Pretty sure that’s true.

If you want a healthy chili recipe, you should definitely try our award winning healthy turkey instant pot version, which uses ground turkey instead of beef. And imho, all chili, healthy or not so healthy, should be accompanied with a side of cornbread or our crazy easy 7-Up biscuits!

Chili Cook-Off Idea!

• Muffin Tin Trick

Oh! And listen to this, at the chili cook-off a couple of people brought muffin tins and then placed a sample scoop of each kind in the well so they could try them all and vote without going back or over eating. GENIUS. That’s seriously the smartest thing ever.

Next to figuring out this award winning instant pot chili recipe, right?! 😉

We hurried and made you all a video to help with the questions. Thank you for all of your love and support with making this the #1 chili out there!

Ingredients for Instant Pot Chili

• Meat: Ground Beef and Bacon
• Beans: Kidney Beans, Pinto Beans, and Black Beans
• Tomatoes: Fire Roasted Diced Tomatoes and Tomato Paste
• Vegetables: Red Onion, Red Bell Pepper, Garlic, and Jalapeño
• Broth: Beef Broth and Worcestershire Sauce
• Spices: Oregano, Ground Cumin, Kosher Salt, Ground Black Pepper, Smoked Paprika, Chili Powder
• Toppings: Sour Cream,

Blueberry gelato is a delightful fusion of creamy, rich gelato married to an irresistible tangy fruitiness.

When you combine the smooth richness of homemade ice cream with berries or a berry sauce, the result is always a refreshing, creamy treat – and this blueberry gelato doesn’t disappoint.

Blueberry Ice Cream

If you’ve been making ice cream here with me for long, you may recall my long-time love affair with Rusconi’s blueberry chocolate ice cream. That was my introduction to the wonders of blueberry ice creams and gelatos.

I’m grateful to Chef Michael for sharing his recipe with me when we were preparing to move to Ohio. Because once I made my own batch of Blueberry Chocolate Chunk Ice Cream at home, there was no turning back. Blueberry ice creams make regular appearances in our freezer now.

When I’m craving the restaurant’s ice cream and have never time nor motivation to make that custard base, this Blueberries and Cream Ice Cream has become a go-to. With no stovetop time at all and just a blender to whir it all together, you can have that one ready to churn in just minutes.

Blueberry Gelato

This blueberry gelato recipe is a cross between both of those blueberry ice creams. With a simple blueberry sauce reduc

French Dip Sliders [+ Video]

French dip sliders are perfect for a quick and easy family dinner or for the next big game day! These are buttery with caramelized onions and a luscious aus jus!

French dip sliders are not at all something I grew up with but occasionally when life was busy, the weather chilly and mom was tired she’d gather up simple ingredients for French dip sandwiches. Just sliced roast beef, hoagie rolls, and flavorful aus jus was all she needed to get dinner in the table for five hungry kids.

We have our own French dip recipe on the blog but knowing how mouth watering our ham and cheese sliders are, I have been itching to make a new sliders recipe. You guys, forget the ham ones, these are out of this world. The best thing I’ve made in months!

Why Make Sliders?

Not that sliders need to be justified, but just in case you wondering why you should make them, let me tell you! Sandwiches are like the best things ever! They are like a whole meal all in one perfect little package. Sliders are just mini sandwiches, so you can eat more than one and not feel guilty! The bread to meat ratio is even better than in a full sized sandwich, and they can be eaten for dinner or for an appetizer. It’s just all around winning!

How to Make French Dip Sliders?

These french dip sliders come together in three different steps…the caramelized onions, the sandwiches, and the aus jus. First, preheat your oven to 350 degrees and grease a 9×13 baking pan.

Caramelized Onions

Let’s start with the caramelized onions so that they are ready to go when you assemble the sliders. Slice a medium yellow onion and then melt a couple tablespoons of butter in a saute pan over medium heat. Add the onions to the butter with two sprigs of fresh time and water. Stir the onions occasionally and add salt and pepper. The onions will begin to turn golden and soften. They will cook for about 20-25 minutes.

Sandwiches

Now it is time to start assembling the sliders! These are so easy! Start by slicing your rolls in half and place them side by side in your greased 9×13 pan cut side up as shown below.

Then you want to lather the top of each roll with stone ground dijon mustard. A different kind of mustard can be used, but we really recommend a stone ground dijon mustard. It just gives it best flavor and extra texture.

Then add a layer of thinly sliced roast beef. We like to go to the deli counter and ask them for a half pound of their best roast beef. Then we just evenly layer it all over the mustard buns.

Next comes the cheese!! We love these sliders with provolone, so we pick up 9-12 slices at the deli counter when we get the roast beef. You can’t have too much

Hi friends! How’s the week going so far? I’m so excited because I have a new podcast up with Josh Kreifels. I follow the account that he shares with his wife over on Instagram, and love their approach to healthy living. I align with a lot of his values and messaging, and am so thrilled to have him on the show today.

Here’s what we talk about:

Metabolic health

prioritizing health with a busy schedule

biohacks for anti-aging/longevity

and so much more.

146: Metabolic health and biohacking with Joshua Kreifels, RD

Here’s a bit more about Josh:

Josh Kreifels is the founder of kreifwell functional medicine along with his wife Kristina. He is a masters level trained registered dietitian focused on helping you use food as medicine. Josh is passionate about NOT telling you what to eat, but instead teaching you how to eat in order to optimize health, function and longevity. He is best known for helping women with hypothyroid address the root cause and reduce symptoms, increase energy and improve body composition.

Connect with Josh and Tina on Instagram here, check out their website, and use this link to book a free discovery call.

More resources from this episode:

I love love love the meals from Sakara Life! Use this link and the code XOGINAH for 20% off their meal delivery and clean boutique items. This is something I do once a month as a lil treat to myself and the meals are always showstoppers.

If any of my fellow health professional friends are looking for another way to help their clients, I highly recommend IHP. You can also use this information to heal yourself and then go one to heal others, which I think is a beautiful mission. You can absolutely join if you don’t currently work in the health or fitness industry; many IHPs don’t begin on this path. They’re friends who are passionate to learn more about health and wellness, and want to share this information with those they love. You can do this as a passion, or start an entirely new career.

You can use my referral link here and the code FITNESSISTA for up to $250 off the Integrative Health Practitioner program. I highly recommend it! You can check out my review IHP Level 1 here and my review of Level 2 here.

I’m still obsessed with Read more