Five favorites Friday!!!

okay I know it's saturday...but it's really early, so I think it counts!!!!!!!

this week for my faves - I am gonna mention 5 food products that I have tried over the last month and wanna give the a-okay yumm-o and with pretty impressive ingredients for food that is in a package!!!!!

#1 - Newman's Own Spaghetti Sauce

I always buy a flavor that says garlic - usually!!! But I put the jar in the dishwasher and off came the label and well...I can't remember which exact kind it was - but it had great flavors!!!! I'm pretty sure it was something of the olive oil and garlic variety and I think the line of organic newman spaghetti sauce!! On a whim I bought it cause it was on sale a while back and really needed it thursday night when I was quick trying to put dinner on the table!!! The list of ingredients is short and sweet and I highly recommend it for awesome flavor and no yuck!!!!!!

#2 - Hodgson Mill Whole wheat Angel Hair

I haven't bought angel hair in a long time - used this last week and wow, it was really fine and tasty - not chewy at all! Highly recommend it!!!!

#3 - Organicville Ketchup

I actually have a fabulous recipe for ketchup and our family really enjoys it, but I was on the low end of my bottle and I had to feed some burgers this week to a group of people outside the family and I didn't want them to completely freak out at the idea that I wasn't going to give bring regular ketchup with all that High Fructose Corn Syrup, so I picked up a bottle of this and everyone LOVED it!! And my kids were able to give their little "talk" about HFCS, which is a riot to hear coming from kids!!!

Our family has been using the Organicville Barbecue sauce, the hot and spicy flavor..which actually isn't hot...but more tangy for quite sometime. So I highly recommed the Organicville line!!! I bet everything they make tastes good!! But you will pay for goodness....this bottle of ketchup was $5 - but I am okay with that!! Maybe someday this will be the mainstream ketchup that everyone buys at walmart for $1.50!!!!!! so lets get the demand for good ingredients up!!!!!!

#4 - American spoon Apple butter

I have actually had this jar in my fridge for quite awhile, but the other day I was looking for a snack and pulled it out! The ingredients are simple - apples, water and cinammon. I stuck my finger in it and yum!!!! so I thought I could just eat this plain it's so good..so why not try it on a piece of celery - I mean celery doesn't really have any taste, right!!! And it was a great snack!!! I'm trying to think of some other ways I can use it!!! I think there are quite a few brands of Apple butter I see in the stores and I am sure they all taste basically the same, who can really change the taste of apples, water and cinammon - so check your store!!! hmm, I am thinking apple butter, peanut butter on celery...oh must try that.....

#5 - Bertolli Extra Virgin Olive Oil - well it isn't really a new product for me - but new to me this week was a big ole jug of it from the Sam's Club!!!!!!! No more buying the smaller bottles - I need this in big quantities!!

Not very exciting.......

Friday's meals looked like this.....woke up and made a smoothie{{{Are you shocked}}}

but this time I had strawberries..oh ya - put that in the blender with, ice, water, banana, blueberry and spinach and it was like dessert, plain and simple!!!!!!!

The kids had the day off school so it was Pancakes!!!!! and I say this is breakfast...but we are farmers, so that actually means more like lunch or brunch or when Daddy comes in from his morning work!!!!

I have always made pancakes from scratch...were talking a few more steps than the premade stuff, it is so easy and lets you control the ingredients!!!! the last 4 years I have been using this recipe, but with a few ingredient notes underneath the recipe.

Buttermilk Pancakes

1 cup flour
1 and 1/4 cup buttermilk
1 Tbs sugar
1 Tbs canola Oil
1/2 tsp Baking soda
1 egg
1/2 tsp salt

combine all the ingredients in a bowl and stir until smooth. If it's very thick, thin it out with a little milk. There really is no way to ruin it, just go by consistency!! Go with your instinct!

At this point I have to make a triple batch because each of my kids eats 4-6 of these babies. My guess ~ 1 batch makes 9 or 10 small pancakes.

In past years I used white all-purpose flour, a few years ago I switched to using 1/2 white and 1/2 whole wheat when making these....just trying to get used to the switch to a better, more healthier whole grain. But if you are used to white flour all the time, the wheat will appear tougher, not as light and fluffy. We basically just had to re-train ourselves and get to know wheat and realize this is how we should be eating it. This past year I am using only 100% whole wheat flour and I buy this brand and variety called White Whole wheat, I believe it is a fluffier and less harsh wheat. you can read more about here I can find it in almost any grocery store.

I also do not use pure white sugar anymore. I do want to save sugars for another post - so I won't delve into the process of white sugar right now. BUT, this is what I buy to use in place of sugar for items like pancakes or oatmeal, etc. It isn't a factory made fake sugar substitute like splenda or nutrasweet, it is just sugar in it's closest form to the sugar cane. It is much less processed, still has some nutrients attatched and therefore easier on our body and doesn't cause the excessive mood swings and up and down levels that processed white sugar does!! I can find this sugar at 1/2 of our local grocery chains and always at the health food store.

Wholesome sweeteners Organic Sucanat

For Dinner we had steak. Yes, we grill all year round!! Right now the gas barbecue is in the garage, Hubby has what he calls his barbecue jacket...aka the warmest one he's got! So while he is grilling meat, I was sauteeing zucchini. Yes I take 1 green zucchini squash and slice it into circles, turn on the pan, put the squash in with a little olive oil, some garlic salt and sautee it for 3 or 4 minutes on med heat. I like mine still a bit crunchy - but really easy to make, takes under 5 minutes! Also tossed up our usual green salad with toppings and my ranch dressing.

Fab Fave Fridays!!!

A very Cool Bad Girl.....Dena.....got me following the Fab five blogs! So I am posting up my first Fab five Friday!!!!!


#1 - fave of the week Bad Girls - this place is my online home away from home!! I love Wendy and all the girls and have been with them since the day it started - yes, I am member #4 on this site and I love it dearly, so I am giving a big shout out to my Bad Girls and all the DT, previous and present - because each one of them has taught me something along the way on my journey to scrap!!!!


#2 - Via Spiga Ancori boots!!!!! These pretty girls that I got on tuesday for $69!!!!! Right now you can get them at Zappo's for $228!!!!! what a screaming deal I got!!!!!! and they are gonna look kickin' ~

#3 - Fruit smoothies......okay I know I have been talking about smoothies all week, but seriously I LOVE THEM!!!!!

#4 - The tv show Biggest Loser....cause I really enjoy seeing people get healthy!!!!!!!! tuesday's at 8pm, - tune in!!!!

and my #5 - this is me.....calling out my girl Jeni Boisvert, cause she is such an inspiration when it comes to photography and just being fun!!!!! And cause she rawks the scrapbook page like no other...especially when she makes such awesome LO's like this one of me and her!!! Oh and the reason I am calling her out is cause she owes me these photos!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :P luv ya, Jeni!!!!

Busy Days........

Thursday is always a crazy long day for me because I leave early in the morning to drive into the boy's school, drop them off - then I have my bible study for a few hours, then drop off the youngest at preschool....and savor those 2.5 hours of afternoon and no little people's!!!! Except I can't come home because our school is 30 minutes away from home and well, that would be silly to go back and forth and back and forth....so I shop and run errands and whatever till school is out! Thursday night is also the night DH and I play on a coed indoor soccer team...and last night we had an early game, so it was home from school by 3:30...but then back out again at 5:40 and finally home by 9pm! Ya'll really wanted to know that, right?? my point is..do you think I cooked yesterday????



Okay Wednesday...... In the morning at some point I had a Banana, string cheese and almonds.....these are major signs that I am on a diet, the old string cheese and almonds south beach diet standby, LOL! then for lunch while DH and DS munched on a yummy grilled salami and cheese Panini with fixin's(love my big geoge foreman grill), I made my sandwich on a big Portabella mushroom! It was huge, I piled on sprouts, cucumbers, tomatoes, red onion, avocado and topped it with some Gouda Cheese slices. Did you all know I am from California....This sandwich to me screams the Golden state!! 12 years ago when i moved to West Michigan, I couldn't even find sprouts!!! oh yum! DH actually ended up finish it up for me since it really was so big, I was full!



Mid afternoon I made a smoothie..darn I still had no strawberries! But Linda mentioned her favorite and DING DING DING, Hello, I never thought of Coconut!!!!! So I had 2 bananas, coconut, pineapple, and orange and pomegranite juice and spinach all blended up and yummmmmmm-ooooo!!!! And I froze half of it for thursday's breakfast.



Dinner was tacos - very easy since I had to bring the boys to church that night for their cadets(church version of boy scouts) so it was one of those eating on the almost run kind of nights!! I fried up some ground beef and I usually use a great homemade recipe for the sauce, instead of that very yucky taco packet(filled with sugar, starches and MSG) which I will share another day...cause instead...I threw in a bunch of chili powder, some garlic salt and Pace makes a great salsa in a jar called Tequila lime salsa and the ingredients listed on the jar are all great! I had used half of the jar on some chicken breasts a couple of weeks ago, so I still had some left - I only maybe added 1/4 of the jar, I really wasn't looking for too much going on, so between those 3 things - we had some great taco meat! cut up some other toppings, and voila, it was taco night!

Thursday..will be very unexciting in the food sharing department!!! Because I wasn't home and personally did not eat any real meals at all!! I packed lunches for everyone in the morning - including my littlest one to eat while we were out and also got a lunch in the fridge for hubby to eat while I was gone...am I taking care of the family or what!!!!

For myself, I brought along my smoothie that I made Wednesday. That was breakfast! It was my turn to bring the "snack" at bible study, we pair up -so while my friend brought 2 items....of the sugar and chocolate variety, I was in charge of the healthy variety! I tossed together some fresh fruit in a bowl - green melon, blueberries and grapes and I had made spinach wraps the day before - very easy....

2 pkgs frozen spinach(squeeze all the water out)
1 pkg cream cheese
1 cup sour cream
3 tbs chopped green onion
1/2 ranch packet of dressing*****
tortillas

*****which I didn't use - instead I went to my Ranch dressing recipe and threw in all those spices instead!!!!!!! The parsley, dill, chives, onion and garlic powder, s&p

mixed all the ingredients together and spread on tortillas - I had some white and some wheat tortillas. Rolled up the tortillas and put in the fridge. I made these almost a full 24 hours ahead which really gave them time to blend flavors and they were YUMMY!! Right before I served them I cut them into 1 inch "spirals" is that what you call them??? Everyone loved them. So I had a very extended lunch - snacking at bible study on fruit and wraps and later on ate a whole spinach tortilla wrap I saved, along with some marinated mushrooms and olives I picked off the olive bar..while buying my fruit at the store...do you have one of those olive bars at the grocery store????

Dinner was out after the soccer game. We went to The Spicy Pickle, we had never been there before - but one of the kids had a free meal certificate he had earned at school! It is a new eatery here in Michigan and it was pretty good. It was much like Quiznos, except they have ciabatta and foccacia for bread, instead of a sub style bread. I had them toast mine, I am not sure if they usually serve them cold?? One thing I didn't like was you ordered your sandwich and because they make everything in the back...not counter out in front of you like subway or quiznos, I didn't feel like I could add more stuff to it, like vegi's!!! And that is just one of my "things" If I go out and order a sandwich, I want to be able to pile on the vegi's to really make it a good meal for myself!!

I ordered the Santa Cruz - So the sandwich came with turkey, cheese, a sauce, corn relish, slight dab of avocado and lettuce. And the size was maybe 7-8 inches(for $6.75) and that just isn't big enough for me, especially after a day of fruit and vegi's and then a soccer game - I was still pretty hungry!! I think Quiznos or subway would have served me so much better...but I love to try new things and learn!!!!! the sandwich was good - but man If I could have had some more greens and at least some hot peppers!!! And maybe grow the sandwich to 12 inches..okay....enough, LOL! And next time I will just ask if I can add stuff!!!!!

The biggest loser!!!

I seriously love the show Biggest loser!! This is only my 2nd season of watching. Who watched it last night??? I get such extreme joy seeing people get healthy, I know I say this all the time - but seriously!!! And I really respect the show, for showing on air that their is a physician out there that is willing to throw away 8 bottles of meds for a contestant after just 3 weeks of diet and exercise!!! After 21 days the body doesn't need the Cholesterol meds, blood pressure meds..etc, etc!!! I wish more people tuned in!!!!! And my hope is that at least 1 person who was watching gets on the road to a healthier lifestyle and better choices!! Kinda like this blog...if just 1 person is seeing some light, some change for the better...... I want everyone to feel healthy!

I think 1 of the staples that goes unnoticed when changing your diet and exercising is the introduction of more water. Water is the 1 and only thing that can variably keep us alive, it is the one and only thing our body can sustain itself on. It just so happens I am starting to read the book Your body's many cries for water I am just a few pages in, but I just know it will be a great kick in the pants for me to drink even more water!!! Cause I always like to think I am drinking enough water, but I know I am not. I was gone all day yesterday from home and didn't bring a single drop with me....nor did I want to spend money on a stinkin bottle!!! So I did stop at a few drinking fountains - one at the grocer and one at the kid's school - which by the way, I am soooooo grateful that they still have drinking fountains at school..cause otherwise I just don't think kids would drink that much water....do your kids drink water?? I really didn't drink that much water growing up at home. I drank plenty of Pepsi though!!!

Well yesterday was another good day of eating...I took a banana with me and some coffee as I headed out the door to bring the kids to school. I also knew I was gonna be out and about in town all day long so brought with me a smoothie - my frozen half of saturday's smoothie. So it thawed out and I was able to drink it later on. At lunch time I was at the grocery store and decided to belly up to the salad bar. Filled a container with a ton of lettuce and all sorts of fixin's, some dressing and really dug in. I was pretty full cuz the salad was huge and you know what...so much cheaper than any other lunch I would have had - burrito at Qdoba, sandwich at Panera, And I only step into McDonalds, burger king, etc and begrudgingly hand over $5+ for a mere tiny bowl of lettuce...if I am forced!!!

Picked up the kids from school and came home. One of the favorite after school snacks around here is bean dip. Which basically consists of a can of refried beans(no crap in the can, check your ingredients) I spread the beans in a pie plate and pop in the Microwave for a few minutes, then I add some salsa or chili pepper - something to give it some zippy flavor and some shredded cheddar. Heat again and put it on the counter - we all swarm around the plate and dip with corn chips or tortilla chips - both chips should have very simple ingredients. Frito's - whole corn, corn oil and salt. The key is to walk away, LOL. Moderately snack, LOL!

Dinner was chicken - another very easy dish. With 5 ingredients

Olive Oil - Garlic Powder - Salt and Pepper - Worcestershire Sauce

let me talk about worcestershire - most brands are made with corn syrup. The brand I buy is Natural Value. Look around find the one with the ingredients you are comfortable with!!

I had a package of 4 Chicken leg quarters(the thigh and drumstick together), I layed them in a 9x13. Poured some Olive Oil on each piece and rubbed it in. Sprinkled the chicken with the Garlic powder and S&P. Then I shook a few glugs of worcestershire on each piece and rubbed it all around shoving it under the skin. Oven preheated to 375. Covered the dish with aluminum foil and baked for 45 minutes, uncovered for another 10 or so - you will know they are done when you stick a fork in the meat and it springs out clear juice. If no juice comes out...they aren't done! This took me all of 6 minutes to assemble and shove in the oven. Gotta love that when you've been gone all day.

For our vegetable - I simply made a veggie tray. We could probably have a veggie tray every night and everyone would be so pleased!!! This household loves raw veggies with Ranch. I have this nice plate with 4 sections - I fill 1 with carrots, one with sliced cucumbers, one with sliced red peppers - those 3 things are staples in our house. the other slot gets a mix - sometimes radishes, mushrooms, grape tomatoes or broccoli..depending what is in the fridge. the best thing about the veggie tray - it is so easy to put together, and seriously what is better than raw vegetables...but water :P Everywhere I go I bring a vegi tray..when there are little kids involved because kids love vegi's and Ranch and I get so giddy when they eat them - you would be surprised the amount of little children who surprise their parents by wolfing down red bell peppers...give them a try!!

Also want to address Ranch Dressing....if you look at the bottles in the store you will notice the ingredients list is a MILE long. my guess to keep it good on the shelf.
Here is my recipe. It takes under 10 minutes to make and if you buy fresh buttermilk that has a good expiration date(like over a week away) The ranch can last in the fridge a month!!!! Go buy the spices to have on hand cause you will make this over and over. Don't deprive yourself of vegi's....bathe them in this......made with real food! Have you seen the back of a Ranch packet lately???? Monosodium glutamate, maltodextrin which is just sugar!

Ranch Dressing

2 cups Mayo
1 C Buttermilk
1 tsp dried chives
1 tsp dried Parsley
1 tsp dried dill weed
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp onion powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper

In a bowl whisk everything together. refrigerate.

I store mine in the tupperware dressing container.

*also this recipe can easily be halved if you know you won't use it up! I made half batches all the time before my boys grew into heavy eaters.

*If you like it really thick replace the buttermilk with sour cream(the real stuff) or even do a 1/2 cup sour cream and 1/2 cup buttermilk.

...back to dinner..also had a caesar salad - which is basically just a few types of lettuce, some red or green onion, grated parmesan and Caesar dressing - currently trying the Full Circle brand, so far so good with the ingredients. I made my own caesar dressing last week and while it was good, it did not last long in the fridge, only a few days.....and well that's hard...still searching for something though!!

Still eating...not scrapping......

Man I really want to find my scrapping mojo...anyone have any hints as to where it could be??? who has it?????

So yesterday was a chilly day here in Michigan and I was cold..like all day long, so I did not have a smoothie. Instead I just had the banana, the apple(with peanut butter) and an orange early in the morning.

A few hours later I saw the little container of black beans in the fridge, leftover from my quesadilla, so I poured some in a bowl, added a little cheese and a dab of sour cream, gave it a mix. I'm thinking...it's possible......that snack sounds gross???? Hey, I love snackies like that, especially when they are full of fiber, which will keep my tummy full!!! Sidenote...have you ever bought canned beans? Yep most of them have sugar and HFCS......BUT there is always one brand that is just beans, water and salt, or beans and salt...look for those anytime you need some beans - pinto, northern, red kidney, black - all very good for you and keep you full!! just make sure and rinse the beans in water completely to get all the gunky stuff off that seems to collect in the can. Oh and I obviously like to repeat good info, cause I told you about those sugary beans :P



So about lunch time DH finally gets in from an all morning long session of TB testing cows...yes tuberculosis testing!!! So I fried up some eggs - I love fried eggs, I had one.

Dinner was interesting - I went out to the freezer and a couple of packages of cube steak fell out. now I will admit I don't really cook cube steak but once a year, I rarely have any and I know DH would just rather have a STEAK than a wannbe steak that is more like hamburger. I am not very savvy at making cube steak act more like steak....but I turned it into a good meal!!! And it was easy!!


CUBE STEAK

6 small cube steak, about the size of your hand
lemon pepper
garlic salt
2 C. Panko crumbs(breadcrumbs)
1 Tbs. Oregano
1/2 Tsp cumin
salt and pepper
Olive oil
2 eggs
lemon slices


Layed the meat out, sprinkled them with lemon pepper seasoning on one side, the other side garlic salt. Then I took 2 cups of Panko...otherwise known as Whole wheat bread crumbs from Japan. Because of course american bread crumbs are all white bread. I have to go to the Health food store to get Panko breadcrumbs or if you have a big grocer that has an ethnic section! nice tall container, $3 and man they are good and a bit crunchy!! so I mixed the panko, Oregano and cumin and some salt and pepper. I put that mixture in a shallow dish. Beat 2 eggs - had that in a shallow dish. Poured some Olive Oil in a big frying pan, filled about 1/8 inch in the pan, and let that heat up.

Dipped the steak in the egg and then the crumb mixture, coated both sides, not too heavy. then set them in the pan over medium heat, cooked about 6 or 7 minutes, flipped it over and cooked that 5 or 6 minutes more and they were done!!! The part that really makes the steak is after they are done frying - squeeze some lemon juice over each piece of meat!! This was really tasty and I think I ate too much of it!!!!

Served it with Steamed fresh Broccoli and a salad. Cause every meat needs a vegi and a salad at our house!

Also drank about 3 cups of Green tea today, which I am becoming very fond of - Good Earth Green tea with lemon...that is what it says on the package.

I also had dessert.....ever had a Medjool Date?? It's like a big raisin, except it taste sugary and very sticky! A nice yummy wholesome treat with natural sugar!! I am seeing these in almost all the grocery stores these days. I tore the date into 4 pieces, cause there is a seed inside and in order to unearth the stickness, you need to get to the middle.....and then rolled the pieces in a bit of unsweetened coconut - not to be confused with the sugary sweetened coconut you find next to the chocolate chips :P

medjool date + coconut = almond joy

these are the dates.....

What I am eating....

this week I'm going to tell you just exactly what I am eating each day. I do want to put a big preface out there first though!!!!

First off - It has been 6 years since I started paying attention to my food and ingredients. I used to drink my coffee and tea with sugar, I used to drink a coke everyday, I loved sugar and the taste of it. I can honestly say it has been a long road of changing the taste buds. It took me 3 years to actually stop buying coke at the store. I still drank it on occasion...but it wasn't until about a year ago I actually drank some coke and really didn't like it anymore. I was able to switch to diet coke and diet dr pepper if I needed some soda on occassion without the sweet. But again I started to taste the chemicals and notice the bloating, the headache, the pockets of fat on your inner thighs that form(um, yuck) and got to the point where water is what my body craves!! My point is....do not expect to be able to change your food choices overnight! It is a process, it takes time and energy and the desire to change. Just take it slow and steady..you can do it!!!

Which brought me to a thought about what I eat, how it tastes to me...and how it might taste to you. It's going to be different! I was reminded of this while giving my brother-in-law some Honey cake(kinda like banana bread) I had made - he said this is really good, it just needs more sugar - of course me, DH and the kids didn't notice because we aren't used to "all that extra sugar" Another point....if I post something here and you give it a try and think...eh....kinda bland, needs more sugar, or whatever! just tuck it away for a later date and try it again...and be on your way to real food heaven!!

Yesterday was Sunday.........and it's the only day of the week we don't eat real meals at the table, so it's very relaxed. Sunday morning before church I always boil up a pan of soft boiled eggs...do you eat these?? I never ate soft boiled eggs as a kid, didn't even know people ate them not hard boiled!!! Not till I met my hubby. So anyway I had 2 boiled eggs in the morning and a few cups of coffee!! and a pear.

For lunch I made myself a big salad. I always have a variety of lettuce in the fridge, so I chose some romaine and red leaf - these are my 2 staple greens that I use for any salad. I also threw in some arugula(kind of new for me) and some kale.

sidenote - I can make my lettuce last for weeks in the fridge - when I bring it home from the store, I chop off the stalk at the bottom, I lay all the leaves out on the counter and leave them out until most of the water has dried up - then flip them and again wait, depending on your weather, sometimes it's MANY hours!! once they are dry enough(maybe I dab with a towl too) I stick a paper towel in the dry produce bag throw a bunch of leaves in, lay another paper towel and throw in more leaves. Getting all the moisture out of the bag saves the lettuce...that way it lasts for weeks and I use it all up. Otherwise, I was always throwing away bad lettuce, making it expensive!!

back to my salad>>>>> I also added some handfuls of Broccoli slaw to the bowl, that stuff is good and crunchy! I cut up some cucumber, tomato and red onion cause I always use those 3 items on salads, I just do!! Then I kind of poked around for other stuff to add, I threw in some raisins and sunflower seeds and red bell pepper. I threw down some salt and pepper, olive oil and red wine vinegar, mixed it up and it was yummy!!

oh ya, while I was making the salad, I ate a handful of lays potato chips..cuz the kids had them out! And at some point I snacked on some almonds cause nuts are so good for ya!!!

For dinner quesadilla's - 2 whole wheat tortilla's with a bit of cheddar and mozzarella cheese, added a handful of some canned black beans(drained and totally rinsed) on one half, then folded it in half. I toasted the tortillas on both sides waiting for the cheese to melt..set them on a plate! then in a bowl I had mixed an avocado, mashed it with a jalepeno, tomatoes, lime juice, S&P, cilantro and red onion and then smeared the whole guacamole concoction on top of the tortillas and feasted while watching football - it was so good!!

After dinner I had a honeycrisp apple dipped in peanut butter.

By the way, did I mention I am on a mission to lose what is left of the holiday pounds and I was down another pound this morning!!! My tummy feels so nice and not bloated, I am gearing up for that tropical place next month where I get to do the bikini thing!!

MODERATION.......

I just needed to put that out there - mostly to remind myself!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!




The last few weeks I have really, really, really been trying to up my intake of fruits and vegetables!! It's easy to tell myself I eat plenty of servings...but some days I wonder. Some days I think I eat Cheese more than anything :) All week long I have been thinking that when it comes to the other food groups - Meat, Dairy, eggs, grains(did I miss one...I really didn't pay attention in health class..maybe a beans, nuts category?? legumes..okay who knows) - I really want to focus on eating in moderation and indulge in fruits and vegi's. So this week I am going to try to make my servings of vegi's and fruits more than any other food group. Is anybody freaking out????




For the last week I have been making myself a smoothie everyday in my cheap-o blender. You don't need anything fancy, it really only takes less than 10 minutes. The coolest thing about smoothies is there really is no wrong, no recipe - just throw stuff in. I have had 7 different combos this week - all were yummy!!

I start out with 2 handfuls of ice from my ice maker, putting that in the blender first - then I turn the water faucet on and add 1 or 2 seconds of water...see I told you there is no recipe, I mean who measures in seconds..well me! Okay I think one of the main ingredients for any good smoothie is banana...but hey that's me. I know my hubby takes a sip and says...it always just tastes like banana...okay maybe you want to leave that out if you are one of those people?? I use 2 bananas and the riper the better, the sweeter as a matter of fact I had some yucky 2 week old bananas the other morning - perfect!! And when you get really ripe bananas and you aren't using them just throw the whole banana in the freezer with peel and all.....when you need it at a later date for blending or baking, they are FINE!!! oh and can you please throw out the whole "bananas are high in carbs" and whatever other bad diet things you have heard about bananas


>>>>>>>>Back to the smoothie.........so after I get my bananas in there I think about some other form of juice. Most of you have orange juice in the fridge, apple juice?? those are good.....a few chugs..glug, glug in the blender. Me personally - I just peel an orange and squeeze all the juice into the blender, let in some pieces of orange sections...or cut up an apple....but bottled juice is good too. I have a nice bottle of Pomegranate I have been trying too!

Once I have poured in my liquid..which is important....without any liquid your ice won't blend, your motor will just burn :) Okay..the next step - choose a green..do you dare?? I throw in a handful of spinach or kale. Greens are so good for you and aside from salad there is no other way I really eat them, so I throw in a handful!! Believe me when I say...you do not taste the green!!!! Put enough yummy sweet fruit in and it will cover it right up. Try it both ways..compare...you will see!!!! this is Kale

so after you have your green...if you have dared - go pick out some fruits! Me, I am not a big seed in my teeth gal....so I haven't tried any strawberries this week...I might! But one thing I do love is pineapple - so in goes some pineapple and maybe kiwi, apple, grapes and blueberries. I have frozen blueberries year round - I get a whole crate in August when it's berry season then I just toss the berries in a few ziplocs and feed off of them all year long!! Freezing blueberries is easier than boiling water! I put the frozen blueberries right into the blender! And hey it's not the wrong time of year to freeze them, pick up a container at the store today and store them in the freezer...they won't ever go bad!

Somedays I pick out 2 or 3 fruits, other days 5 or 6!!!! there is no rhymore or reason, let your taste buds be your guide!!!

Once I have my ingredients in - I hit the blend button. I taste and maybe add more of something if needed - Then I pour it in a glass and enjoy. BUT!!!!!! the coolest part about smoothies - you can freeze them!! so I usually pour the remainder of my smoothie into a plastic container with a lid. SOOOOO, any day I can just take the smoothie out of the freezer and thaw on the counter.....or even more delightful I pour the extra into 2 smaller containers...like the picture below...freeze...and then after dinner when I am craving some sort of sweet dessert, I take one out set it on the counter for about 10 minutes and then start eating it with a spoon like it's a frozen slushy!!!!!!! How's that for a guilt free dessert!!!!!!

My Basic Foundation

Okay..I am going to back up a few steps and just state my main foundation for the way our family eats. Pure and Simple - eating real food.

**Vegetables that grow from the ground

**spices made from herbs

**fruit and nuts that grow on trees and vines.

**good natural oils that come from pressing fruits and seeds

**meat, seafood, dairy, eggs, items that come from animals

Now I am not saying everyone has to eat all of these things! I have much respect for those that don't eat all types of food available!!!

But going back hundreds..well thousands of years ago the food that was available.....was only what the good lord provided. And still to this day real food and water provides you with all the right things to keep you healthy. It keeps you energized, it keeps you well.

Feed your body and your immune system good food and it will work for you. It will fight all the germs you pick up and it will provide you the energy to make it through everyday with a kick in your step. We did not wait 2000 years for the makers of diet coke, red bull, nyquil and sudafed to make us feel good and get better :)

SOOOOOO.....with this whole idea in mind build your diet around all these real foods and all the different ways you can mix and match them to create food. Let me give you a few examples of how food has evolved here in America...the way I see it!!

Okay someone took a potato and sliced it up and cooked it in some nice oil with some salt and so was born the potato chip - yummy, very natural and good. I eat them, my kids eat them. Chips, with potatoes, oil and salt. Lays makes them and so does every other chip maker!! just don't eat half a bag!

But, slowly the industry started adding flavors to them, which you can easily do by adding herbs..still very natural and good, BUT now we are in a full blown add a bunch crap to a potato, can not find any good flavored chips anymore!! And on top of that - americans decided to formulate the Dorito, which isn't even made from a potato at all, it's just a bunch of combined processed food to form something our body doesn't even recognize or use! sure they taste good, but they aren't real...you get me? Find the real potato chips, look at the ingredients!!

Condiments are wonderful examples too - because so many of them began as they should - mix a few real food items and voila - you have something different, something tasty!! all is well! For instance Mayonnaise, an item I use all the time - real food mixed. once upon a time someone took some oil, water, eggs, lemon juice and vinegar and mixed it all up and had a yummy combo - it's called mayo!!! Nowadays it's hard to find mayo on the shelf that doesn't have a LOAD OF CRAP in it......and then there is the horrid knock off that followed - Miracle whip....King of Crap! nothing real in there at all! And somewhere down the road mayo got a bad wrap for being fattening!! Well wipe all that fat grams, sugar grams, everything grams on the back of the label out of your head. It all doesn't matter in the grand scheme of - is it real or isn't it???? Your body uses the real food for good things in your body. you feed it additives, corn syrup, cellulose this and polysorbate that with 0 grams of fat and you will be FAT!!!!!! okay I buy this brand - Best Foods, although on the east side of the Mississippi where I live, it is called Hellman's. I buy the regular mayo - Feel free to look around and compare ingredients, it's a nice lesson. The light and all the other variations are just extra crap added. you really can't "lighten" oil, water, eggs, lemons or vinegar...so the point is missed, don't fall for the marketing...not even the nice Olive oil or canola label...it's got crap too!!!! I know the Hellman's original does have sugar in the ingredients...but my own rule of thumb..since I am not perfect....there is only 7 ingredients, so everything used to make it - is real, they added sugar, it's at the bottom of the list, I am okay with that small amount.

Okay, this is getting long and I have so much left to say...but I do want to go to one of my comments from a few days ago about what noodles do I buy? given that I center our meals around real food, we rarely eat Pasta. It has nothing to do with carbs or anything crazy like that. It is just the simple fact that noodles for me are not quite real. At some point in time some Awesome Italian man or woman baked up a nice noodle made from some really nice wheat or whatever and I bet it was fabulous......but modern day america......the noodle isn't a real food item that helps my body. You never see pasta listed anywhere with a list of nice vitamins and anti-oxidents. And Wheat is one of the things I don't know that much about, so I do plan on doing quite a bit of research this year, so I know for myself what the benefits of wheat are. With that said, we still eat a pasta item usually once a month. Most of the time it's spaghetti. So I do buy a 100% whole wheat spaghetti noodle. But when I make my dish, I buy a can of tomato sauce that is just tomatoes and spices ------ no sugar, or corn syrup added, I add in all my own spices, olive oil, everything known to man like garlic and oregano, basil, you name it, then I add a bunch of vegi's - mushrooms, bell pepper, onion, and ground beef. Then I feel like the meal has some benefit by adding all the vegi's and meat. you could do the same with a jarred sauce...just pick the one with the best ingredients, I know they all have sugar as an ingredient..just avoid the corn syrup and all the crap!! Baby steps, remember!!!

Okay Happy Eating and I'll see you next week!!!!

Hey everyone!! Thanks so much for stopping by and for giving me the nudge to get another post going!!!! I was pondering things all day while I was out and about skating my vehicle through all of this crazy snow!!!!!! I had a bunch of basic ideas in my head that I need to share about going back to square one...sort of the foundation of my beliefs - so look for that tomorrow or Saturday!!

But for now, I'll leave you with this....Peanut Butter. How many of you or your kids eat a lot of PB..well mine do!!! ...so much better than cold cuts which all have nitrates, additives, yack, yack(read the ingredients).....that will have to be another post!!!! Well if you have been digging into Skippy, Jif or all the rest of the Peanuts and High Frustose Corn syrup concoctions...here is the brand for you - Smart Balance!! Now you could pick up one of those nice jars that is just peanuts and salt, cause that sure is good and healthy too. BUT, I love this brand because..well where else do my kids get to have a bit of Molasses, Palm and flax seed oil - all very good in my book!!!!




Now...don't going freaking out when you stick your finger in it and take a taste and it seems well...not very sugary...and maybe tastes kinda like peanuts!! Cuz it is!!! So it might take some getting used too, to peel yourself away from the sugar taste - but I guarentee your kids will hardly notice. And if they do...well just know you have a ways to go in reigning in the sugar addiction....but all worth it in the end!!!

2 pesky ingredients!!!

Two little ingredients that I detest. Why, oh why are they in everything that americans eat???

MONOSODIUM GLUTAMATE & HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP

everywhere...stuck in product after product to drive me crazy!!! I long to see more healthy children and adults, I long for people to feel helathy and feel good, get off their medications, and to feed themsleves with good, real food!!! that truly is all the body needs. So here is a start to changing some of those habits and just familiarizing yourself with food. It takes years to get to know how the food system in our country works. Here I am 6 years into researching food and the way we eat, and I am still learning, still adapting...and feeling AWESOME, healthwise!!! It also takes many, many steps backwards.....learning and relearning to change our way of thinking.

One of the things I started doing about 2 years ago was read the ingredients of every product I picked up off the shelf. Silly me for thinking sour cream isn't just soured cream!!!! I buy this brand - Daisy..it is everywhere, in almost every store.

cause actually it is just 1 ingredient - grade A culture cream. But most other brands consist of cream, milk, whey, modified corn starch, sodium phosphate, guar gum, sodium citrate, guar gum and carrageenan........NOW IS IT EVEN NECESSARRY TO ADD ALL THAT STUFF?????

Every soup can, every bag of potato chips, even a can of pinto beans, can of tomato sauce, Salad dressing, barbecue sauce, every sauce!!...and those are just the simple food items - I won't even delve into the boxed meals and hostess cupcakes - cause honestly I haven't picked up those things in at least a year - so I would hate to be inaccurate ;) Anywhoo....take a look at the ingredient labels of the stuff at home. I am not talking about the fat grams or the sugar grams or calories - just ingredients..familiarize yourself with what is really in your food!!

Are you shocked to see that High fructose corn syrup is everywhere?? fruit snacks, tomato sauce, soup, can of beans, granola bars! I don't even need to mention baked goods and sweets, right?? that is just a given :) They manage to stick it into stuff that doesn't even need it! How about MSG - it is in every flavor of chips, it is soup, soup broth, it is in spices....I just found out a few months ago my chili powder that I buy at the sams club includes MSG...I was floored!!! I thought Chili powder was just powdered chili's!!!!!

MSG and HFCS they are flavorings, they are additives and I could delve into all the research and the studies and all the things that point to these 2 ingredients and how bad they are - how they relate to Obesity, headaches, tiredness, anxiety, depression, add, etc, etc.

Instead I will just say take a look at your food ingredients, use common sense. It is a flavor enhancer,a simple additive - food companies, fast food chains and restaurants they use the ingredients to enhance their food plain and simple. Our tongues, our brains love the flavor, the rush, and in turn our brain loves the addiction, makes us feel crappy when we deprive ourselves of it, and there isn't a single good thing about it - it's of no benefit to our bodies. Why not try cutting out a few of those items, find your replacements! There are many brands that will produce a healthy alternative with real ingredients - like Daisy, all of their products are all natural, no additives!

thanks for stopping by and reading, I really hope to keep up the blog and share many things that I learn and it will probably all be very random....a lot of times I will learn something new and just want to share it with the world! Hopefully I get back to my scrapping and can get some LO's up too!!

I would love to hear feedback on the blog or by e-mail, any questions, confusions, anyway I can help adults and kids get healthy!!

Wishing you all a Happy New Year and hope your Christmas was Merry!!!!!



Hey Online friends!!!!!! I miss everyone!!! I know I took a big ole fat break from all my online hangouts...but it gave me a chance to really catch up on LIFE!!!!!!

2009, brings a new year and I would love to get my blog a little more active and not just with all my scrapiness, but my other loves as well - cooking and being healthy, exercising and keeping the crap out!! A lot of you know I have strong issues with our current bad american way of eating and the things that all the food companies and restaurants put in our food. I have made many many changes in the whole families way of eating and living over the past year..would love to share about that this year too!!! I would soooooo love to help anyone who just wants to be healthier!!!! who is with me!!!!!!?????

Have really enjoyed these last few months with my boys. I have suddenly realized none of them are toddlers anymore and I am now a real person to them :) And we are all capable of sharing together, reading, talking and hanging out!!!!

Loving my DH as much as ever.....even though I have never in our 14 years of bliss seen him with a beard!! It's just okay for me Dawg.....gosh, American Idol must be upon us!