The Shopping Channel picks up 8 Week Challenge!

For the last three years, Briar and I have been trying to take the 8 Week Challenge globally. In March 2013, at CBC studio's we waited among thousands of other hopefuls trying to pitch the Dragon's Den thinking this would help spread the word.

Well the Dragon's never came through, but what did happen that day changed everything. We decided in that moment that no matter the outcome we were going to keep pushing until the world knew about the  8 Week Challenge.

We started the flood of calls to the Shopping Channel, knowing if we could just pitch directly to them we had a shot. We got the pitch. May 30th, at 9:30am we showed up to pitch one of the shows producers with sweaty palms and a lot of excitement. The producer told us "OK you have 15 mins to convince me..." We got all set, and started into the pitch, after 5 mins the producer said, "ok that's enough..." in my head I thought, well maybe it's not our day. She then said the words, Briar and I have been dying to hear for over 3 years. She said "I love it, I want this on the Shopping Channel, you girls and the 8 Week Challenge are going to be a house hold name." My hands were shaking and it took everything I had to hold back the tears. Briar and I gathered up our Challenge package and lap top and headed back to the car. People must have thought we were crazy. We loaded everything in my vehicle and the tears started, we were crying, hugging, cheering and high fiving in the parking lot of the Shopping Channel! All the hard work, sleepless nights, up and downs it was finally all coming together. We got our first big break!

We go live on air, the first week of January. We hadn't officially made the announcement because we needed to wait until the vendor agreement was complete and lawyers did their thing. But it is OFFICIAL!

8 Week Challenge Inc., Briar and I along with some past challengers will be in the homes of over 3,000,000 viewers! We wanted to say, thank you to our Challenge Friendly community that is growing every single day, to our members at Balance Fitness Studio as this is where it all started. Who knows where this is going to TAKE THE CHALLENGE, but one thing is for sure. We are not going to stop until the world knows about it!

We always say "if it doesn't CHALLENGE you, it doesn't CHANGE you"!
Our next LIVE/VIRTUAL CHALLENGE starts Sept 23rd! Start to get your team together today! Please email me at Bonnie@8weekchallenge.com and I will add you to my list of potential captains! Here is a "GETTING STARTED" commercial you can share with friends and family members that might want to join your team!
http://youtu.be/uNp8QKZqpt4

Here we go!
love bon and bri

Another Challenger Success Story!

I wanted to introduce you to a past Challenger.  Sharon LeMasters.  She was part of a Corporate Challenge we had in the spring!  Sharon has changed so much and worked so darn hard we wanted to share her story with our Challenge Friendly community.  After 8 Weeks Sharon lost 19.5 pounds, and she kept at it, sticking with her new Challenge Friendly lifestyle and after another month is down over 30 pounds.  Its reading stories like Sharon, that bring tears to my eyes.  Briar and I couldn't be more proud of you Sharon and you inspire all of us!  Keep it going girl!

 

SEPT 23rd, LIVE/VIRTUAL CHALLENGE is now open for registration!

The day everyone has been waiting for! REGISTRATION is now open, for the September 23rd, LIVE/VIRTUAL Challenge! We will be having a LIVE TALK, LIVE GROCERY TOURS, LIVE WEIGH INS and of course off all of this is available in DVD format for our Challengers across Canada, United States, and Europe! Couldn't come at a better time!! If there is anyone trying to get your friends and family to join your team, please share this post! CHECK OUT OUR NEW "GETTING STARTED" COMMERCIAL!

We are so excited for this Challenge, we can hardly stand it. Briar and I will be hitting this Challenge hard, ourselves, right along with you. "If it doesn't CHALLENGE you, it doesn't CHANGE you." Here we go... To register please go to www.8weekchallenge.com!

Challenge friendly , Camping ideas

  Quick,and  Easy, that could also be used it you are traveling, and need food on the go......here it goes

 

Breakfast Options:

• oats, chia seeds, hemp seed hearts and cinnamon in one Tupperware (dry) bring little apple sauces, (unsweetened) and mix when ready!  So awesome.
• fried eggs (if you have a Colman stove) with toast
• hot oatmeal, with hot water topped crumbled NUT BALL (make ahead of time) and blueberries (or any berries or cut up apple)

Snacks:

• lara bars
• Nut Balls (they do not need to be refrigerated recipe in manual and Simply Balanced
• goat cheese (needs to be in cooler) spread with rice crackers
• cut up veggies (precut if you want or prep before) with hummus (needs to be in cooler)
• homemade trail mix (walnuts, almonds, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, dried mulberries (at Bulk stores, so awesome packed with HUGE amounts vit c and iron), raisins, cranberries (make sure they are not coated in sugar)

Lunch:

• Hard boiled eggs (make ahead)
• Hummus, baby spinach, red pepper and veggie wrap (Ezekiel wrap or Sarah's fine foods whole wheat wrap Costco)
• tuna concoction from manual (make ahead) with rice crackers or ryvita for scooping

Dinner:

• Turkey sausage (just make sure not sugar or WHEAT filler added) with onions and Dijon mustard and salsa
• homemade turkey or beef burger (make before hand, recipe attached)
• SHRIMP and veggie Kabobs (see attached recipe)

Treats:

• Nuts Balls
• Blue corn chips and salsa
• Terra Chips (root vegetable chips) with hummus

Drinks:

• Perrier
• Club Soda
• Pomegranate Mojito Spritzer (see recipe attached)

If you choose to drink alcohol, even though you still lose your points, here is a great choice. 

 

 ALMOST  Challenge Friendly drink lol

vodka

Perrier

splash of pure pomegranate juice

with a few frozen blueberries, raspberries

ice

  

Peaches and Nectarines in season

Peaches and nectarines are in season lots of yummy challenge ge friendly things to make with them , like crepes, flavored water , grilled peaches , peach salsas, an the list goes on 

How will you enjoy your peaches and nectarines ?

Great Challenge Friendly Marinade for CHICKEN, FISH and Tofu!

Fire up the BBQ's!  I came across this awesome marinade and I wanted to share. I have a lot of questions coming in from Challengers, wanting ideas for marinades and summertime recipes.  This marinade is so versatile you can use the IDEA behind building a MARINADE, using a Acid (ex, rice vinegar, balsamic, lemon juice) a Salt (low sodium tamari, sea salt, miso paste) and a Challenge Friendly Sweet (date butter, apricot paste, apple butter).  Then add your spices of choice! Start grilling ;)
love bon and bri

Great Challenge Friendly Finds!

Bulk Barn is stepping it up! Look at the new #challengefriendly options! Love it! Eat up Challengers.  Follow us on twitter @8weekchallenge and instagram at bonnieandbriar to get our updates all the time! 

Mint Chocolate Fudge

When you are dying for mint chocolate aero bar look no further! Challengers you are going to love this!

Mint Chocolate Fudge

Makes 24 mini's

2 per serving

Ingredients:

1/2 cup coconut oil, melted

2 ripe bananas, cut into chunks 

1/4 cup cacao powder

1 tablespoon almond butter

1/2 tsp peppermint extract

Directions:

Place all ingredients in food processor. Process roughly 5 mins. until completely smooth, scraping down sides. 

Pour into mini muffin tins greased with coconut oil and place into freezer to set, roughly one hour.  Good luck waiting!! Enjoy.   Store in freezer.

Kale, Goat Cheese and Egg Cups!

I was looking in my fridge this morning and my kale was getting alittle sketchy and I was trying to come up with a way to use it up.  lol So I put my 4 favourites together and WOW!!! It was awesome.....here it goes...

Kale, Goat Cheese and Egg Cups

These are so quick and easy and done in 15 mins not to mention taste AWESOME!

Ingredients:

kale or spinach leaves
2 eggs
2 sundried tomatoes
2 tablespoons goat cheese
 

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375ºF.  Fill muffin tins with kale or spinach leave.  Making sure to cover the bottom and sides.  Place sundried tomato on top and sprinkle with goat cheese.  Crack egg on top being careful not to break the yoke.  Bake for 15 mins until whites are set.  AMAZING!

Challenge Friendly ways to stay cool

It's a super hot day!! These are some ways we like to stay cool 

1. Frozen grapes 

2. Cucumber ice water 

3. Plain Greek yogurt with frozen berries 

4. Briar's fav, Banana Chocolate ice cream 

Simple Chocolate Banana Ice Cream 
3 frozen, peeled ripe bananas
2 tablespoons of high quality cocoa powder (full-fat is recommended)
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
Rice or almond milk

if needed, to help with the blending process

1. In a food processor or powerful blender, blend the bananas, cocoa powder, and vanilla extract, until smooth. If needed, drizzle in milk of choice to make a creamy texture. Don’t add too much however, or it will turn into a thick smoothie. If your bananas weren’t very sweet for whatever reason, you can add a little sweetener.

Another Challenge Success Story!

Meet Ashley, one of the fellow Challengers, that was with the DSBN Challenge (corporate challenge).  The DSBN had teams of different schools, HR department, head office staff just name a few.  They all embarked on the Challenge together, and the results have blown us away. 

Ashley, a teacher, and getting married next year decided this was her time to take her health into her own hands. And boy did she ever! 

After just 8 short weeks, Ashley lost 20.2 pounds and over 28 total inches and a total

percentage weight loss of 13.7% percent of her entire body weight.   

Ashley said in her testimonial “The 8 Week Challenge is by far the most  successful and most realistic weight loss program I have ever seen.  It has taught me the importance of clean and simple eating.  I am so grateful for the knowledge and support! Thank you, thank you, thank you.”  Ashley we are  so proud of you.  Please send us pictures when you walk down the aisle next summer! 

 

Happy Canada Day, Challenge Friendly NON-Cheesecake!

Canada Day NON-Cheesecake


Well it's Canada Day, and who says you can't celebrate with alittle cheesecake! lol Challenge Friendly NON-Cheesecake is a winner any day of the year, but on Canada Day with the strawberries arranged like the maple leaf, it doesn't get much better than that!  It really is a easy dessert to make, and tastes awesome.  Don't be afraid of the millet it cooks just like rice.  Happy Birthday Canada, we are so proud to be Canadians!

 

Ingredients:

            Oatmeal Cinnamon Crust
            1 cup oatmeal
            1/2 cup spelt flour
            1/2 cup ground almonds
            1 teaspoon cinnamon
            1/4 teaspoon salt
            1 teaspoon vanilla
            3 Tablespoons apple butter
            1/4 cup coconut oil, melted
            2 tablespoons fresh squeezed orange juice

            Filling
            ½ cup millet, uncooked
            2 cups water
            1/2 tsp. salt
            1/3 cup unsalted cashews
            1/3 cup lemon juice
            1 teaspoon grated lemon rind
            1/3 cup date butter
            2 teaspoons vanilla

            Topping

            2-3 cups fresh berries
            (strawberries, kiwis, peaches, raspberries, blueberries etc.)
           

Directions:

Crust
In large bowl, combine dry ingredients for crust. Mix well. In smaller bowl
combine wet ingredients. Carefully add wet to dry ingredients without over-mixing.
Press firmly into sides and bottom of a 9 inch pie plate. Bake in 350˚F oven
for 9 minutes. Cool before filling.

Filling
In saucepan, place millet, water and salt. Bring to boil, cover and simmer for about
45 minutes, until water is absorbed and millet is soft. Meanwhile, in food processor, add all remaining filling ingredients. Puree for about 1 minute, until
perfectly smooth. Scrape down sides if necessary. When cooked millet is still warm
add it to blender mixture. Process for about 3 minute until creamy and smooth. You
may have to stop the blender and push mixture down with spatula and stir to blend.
Pour into cooked & cooled pie shell. Chill.

Topping
Arrange fruit over filling and serve. 

Berry Sauce (Optional)

1 cup fresh or frozen berries

¼ cup packed pitted dates

* Place all ingredients in a blender and process until smooth.  Add water if necessary to thin out sauce.  This sauce can be poured over cheesecake!  Enjoy!

 

First harvest of the summer !!

Fresh greens, for smoothies , salads and juices ..from very own backyard  Thank u summer !! 

Bonnie and Briar's Favourite Things

Bright coloured running shoes :)

Bonnie and Briars Favourite Things

Look out Oprah, we are starting our own fav's! Lol Add this to our summertime list of FAVOURITE THINGS!  It's so hard to find a Challenge Friendly drink that cools you down and tastes awesome! Well here it is!!! Drink it up!! Enjoy the sunshine challengers, get out there and get movin!

Challenge Friendly hiking

Balance girls hiked 32km in just 6 hours , and what kept us fueled was our Challenge Friendly Food , The staff favourite NutBalls 

Strawberry, Rhubarb Chia Jam

Today a friend of ours, and owner of the amazing Seaway Farms dropped off a flat of strawberries!! (thank you Eileen) What can we create today??? 

 

How about Challenge Friendly Jam? Can it be done?? Of course it can!! Lol  Remember Briar and I are not chefs, we are busy moms just trying to get it done.  So if we can do it, so can you.  lol  Here it goes...

 

Strawberry Rhubarb Chia Jam

Ingredients:
2 cups strawberries, tops trimmed (cut in half)
2 stocks rhubarb (chopped)
1/2 cup packed pitted dates or 15 pitted medjool dates
1/2 cup water
4-5 tablespoons chia seeds

Directions:
Add strawberries, rhubarb, dates, and water to small sauce pan.  Bring to a boil, reduce and simmer about 15 mins until strawberries and rhubarb are cooked down.  Stir in chia seeds, allow to soak up liquid about half hour.  If there is to much liquid continue to add more chia seeds one tablespoon at a time. 

Store in air tight jar, in the refrigerator. This recipe will freeze if you really want to go strawberry crazy and double or triple your batch. 

Great Challenge Friendly Sale

Great deal on dimpflmeier whole wheat at No Frills! stock up challengers! ;)

Yoga at the Market!

Pop by and see us at the Niagara Falls market for some #challengefriendly nut balls, and court yard yoga! What a awesome day ;)

Loving our Juices

After school snack

My kids were starving when they got home today. All I had was , a pita, hummus, and taboule. Put it all together and what do you get lol

Challenge Friendly greatness in seconds! Lol

 

Pina Colada Pops

Pina Colada Pops
These Challenge Friendly popsicles will be a hit with kids!
Blend and freeze the following ingredients (don’t forget the sticks!):
(Makes 6 servings)

Ingredients:
1 pineapple cut into chunks, include any juice
1 banana
1 can coconut milk
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Directions: Blend and freeze!