So, I really need to figure out how to make this blog look a little better. I will check it out later. First, I need to finish editing the photos from the Blauvelt's photo shoot two weeks ago. I thought they would be way past done by now, but I took SO many pics and they are great!
Secondly, our family has started over with the whole new style of eating. We are following the clean eating plan fairly closely. We have started eating 5-6 times a day and much better food. We have almost completely cut out processed food. I have been cooking breakfast in the mornings too, no cold cereal or pop tarts! My husband is loving breakfast before work and I actually have started getting hungry earlier and can now eat before 10am.
My husband even said that he would take an apple in his lunch this week for snack time!
So, I have also started working out at the YMCA and miss Christina is the best. I think pain is a great motivator. "You know what the thing about pain is?"
"Don't know."
"It lets you know your not dead yet." A great quote from GI Jane.
At 9:15am Monday, Tuesday and Friday there are classes. Last Wednesday she completely kicked my butt in step aerobics. I still maintain that people as big as me shouldn't jump, but I made it and have spent the last week stretching my legs. I can't wait for this week!
I also got some great knowledge from Elena Beachy. She said that 2nd Act in Iowa City has some great exercise gear. I went yesterday and spent $40 to pick up 3 new tank tops, 2 shirts and 2 new sports bras. They were only $4.50 each and they were Champion ones. Normally those are about $40 each!
Christina does a great job of teaching while our kiddos play in the background. I am so thankful for that service.
I lost 2.4 pounds last week and didn't check my inches yet, but hopefully will have enough time to do that tonight. I also hope to see Teresa Hartley Wednesday to see if I can get my personalized workout from her.
Monday, September 3, 2012
Monday, February 6, 2012
Totally Yummy
So on this revolution, we have tried many recipes and I want to share them with all of you. The first one is for 'Granola Energy Balls'. Sound crazy, but they are the best as in VERY hard to resist. What is great is that they are pretty good for you (save the chocolate chips, unless you use dark chocolate) and the kids love to make and eat them too!!
2 c Oats
2 c Coconut Flakes
1 c Peanut Butter
1 c ground flaxseed
1 c chocolate chips (I used mini)
2/3 c honey (can be raw, unfiltered)
2 t vanilla
1 t cinnamon
Mix all together with spoon as much as you can then either get the kids to finishing mixing by hand or get some rubber gloves, because it is sticky while being mixed. Then roll them into balls. The mixture is still a little flaky when you go to make the balls and you have to grab some and squeeze to get it to all go together then shape. A dough scoop works well to scoop out the correct amount of dough, but they still need to be squeezed into a tight ball or they crumble. The yield is dependent upon how big the balls are. It makes about 3 dozen ping pong ball size. I made a few even smaller for the younger ones to be able to just pop in their mouth. Store them in the fridge.
The second recipe I want to share is one that my mom taught me. When we would go camping we would always make these camp potatoes and even did them during the winter in the oven a time or two. I have since modified the recipe to make the potatoes smaller to cook faster (wedges take about an hour, slices take about 30 minutes). We have used this recipe on mushrooms (too yummy, but a little on the fat side since they are cooked in butter) and now I have adjusted it again to work with sweet potatoes!
There are some things in my mind that I just don't see how they can fit together. Fruit and chocolate, chocolate and chiles, potatoes and sweetness. I didn't see how anything labeled a 'potato' was to be put with cinnamon and sugar. Same goes with squash. Obviously I had not yet tried those concoctions before my beliefs came about as I get (slightly) the sweet potato and cinnamon thing, but not much else.
The recipe below is the sweet potato version that I just made (still digesting) today. They were heavenly and when I told my mom I was making sweet potatoes she started laughing on the phone!
Stove: Pan heating on med-low with EVOO. Add garlic (I use dried) & onion (I use dried). Cook for a couple of minutes as the pan heats us. Peel a sweet potato and cut into bite sized pieces. You can make them thin slices (sometimes my laziness wins and they go into the salad shooter) or tonight I cut them about carrot sized, 2" long and 1/4" wide -ish. When the pan is warm, put them in and top with your favorite seasonings. I used chili powder, salt, pepper, celery seed (or powder), curry powder and montreal steak seasoning. I cooked them a little and then tried them and adjusted. I cook mine until tender, but not mushy, still firm not crunchy. Guess what? Cook them however you like, just keep trying them until you bite into one you love! I then put some in my bowl and topped with worchestershire sauce and shredded asiago cheese. I really like that sauce and put it on my baked potatoes regularly. Lea & Pearans is the best and the cheap stuff really doesn't taste good. I let it soak up the sauce a little and ate. I ended up eating a huge bowl of them and then could only finish half of my steak!
Next time, Gluten Free Seasame cheddar bread!
2 c Oats
2 c Coconut Flakes
1 c Peanut Butter
1 c ground flaxseed
1 c chocolate chips (I used mini)
2/3 c honey (can be raw, unfiltered)
2 t vanilla
1 t cinnamon
Mix all together with spoon as much as you can then either get the kids to finishing mixing by hand or get some rubber gloves, because it is sticky while being mixed. Then roll them into balls. The mixture is still a little flaky when you go to make the balls and you have to grab some and squeeze to get it to all go together then shape. A dough scoop works well to scoop out the correct amount of dough, but they still need to be squeezed into a tight ball or they crumble. The yield is dependent upon how big the balls are. It makes about 3 dozen ping pong ball size. I made a few even smaller for the younger ones to be able to just pop in their mouth. Store them in the fridge.
The second recipe I want to share is one that my mom taught me. When we would go camping we would always make these camp potatoes and even did them during the winter in the oven a time or two. I have since modified the recipe to make the potatoes smaller to cook faster (wedges take about an hour, slices take about 30 minutes). We have used this recipe on mushrooms (too yummy, but a little on the fat side since they are cooked in butter) and now I have adjusted it again to work with sweet potatoes!
There are some things in my mind that I just don't see how they can fit together. Fruit and chocolate, chocolate and chiles, potatoes and sweetness. I didn't see how anything labeled a 'potato' was to be put with cinnamon and sugar. Same goes with squash. Obviously I had not yet tried those concoctions before my beliefs came about as I get (slightly) the sweet potato and cinnamon thing, but not much else.
The recipe below is the sweet potato version that I just made (still digesting) today. They were heavenly and when I told my mom I was making sweet potatoes she started laughing on the phone!
Stove: Pan heating on med-low with EVOO. Add garlic (I use dried) & onion (I use dried). Cook for a couple of minutes as the pan heats us. Peel a sweet potato and cut into bite sized pieces. You can make them thin slices (sometimes my laziness wins and they go into the salad shooter) or tonight I cut them about carrot sized, 2" long and 1/4" wide -ish. When the pan is warm, put them in and top with your favorite seasonings. I used chili powder, salt, pepper, celery seed (or powder), curry powder and montreal steak seasoning. I cooked them a little and then tried them and adjusted. I cook mine until tender, but not mushy, still firm not crunchy. Guess what? Cook them however you like, just keep trying them until you bite into one you love! I then put some in my bowl and topped with worchestershire sauce and shredded asiago cheese. I really like that sauce and put it on my baked potatoes regularly. Lea & Pearans is the best and the cheap stuff really doesn't taste good. I let it soak up the sauce a little and ate. I ended up eating a huge bowl of them and then could only finish half of my steak!
Next time, Gluten Free Seasame cheddar bread!
Tuesday, December 6, 2011
Stil working it
Well, last night I read a disturbing article that puts my happy thoughts in a twist. I know that we as a family are doing better than before and we are cutting down on the junk, but it seems someone is always trying to sneak in the junk where we least expect and have a hard time trying to find it!
The article was the top 7 things you should just not eat. We just about eat them all. I will see if I can remember them all. Microwave popcorn. What would we do with out it in our house? There would be many snackless days and even in Weight Watchers they say that the unbuttered kind is a good low cal snack. There is something in the lining of the paper bag that makes the popcorn 'toxic' when popped. What rotten luck. Stove or air popped is the best alternative. Fine with me, I can add the perfect amount of butter that way! I wish I could find a popper like we had when we were kids, I think I remember that we loved that thing, I shall go and look that one up tonight.
Apples. The deal here is that you should just go with organic because apples get sprayed with so much crap. I get it, but apples are 99 cents a pound and organic ones run closer to $2. I know, I know, think the price of health. People wonder why lower income families eat at McDonald's, well it is because you can get a entire cheeseburger for $1 and if you went into a grocery store you could only get a pound of pesticide apples for that price (if they are on sale) and what would fill you up better? I am learning you get what you pay for works on food as well, but it is hard because you don't see the effects right away. For instance, if you buy cheap toilet paper, you know it. If you buy generic tampons, the difference is massive, but I don't think the difference between and apple and an organic apple are immediately recognized.
Next on the list is the potato. These too should be purchased organically because of the chemicals that leach or are sprayed onto the ground just get soaked up by the potatoes.
Farmed salmon. I would think farmed salmon would be the wiser choice because you are using something that is sustainable and not helping with over fishing, but what they feed salmon in fisheries makes them not so good to eat and they have a lot less vitamins and goodness to give us when we eat them.
Corn fed beef. Now here is a shocker. Not that many years ago there was a huge campaign (especially in Iowa) to state that corn fed beef was so much better than grass fed beef and that you could taste the difference. Well the deal here is that grass is what God meant the cows to eat and that is what feeds their muscles the best. By giving them food they are not meant to consume it makes the meat less beneficial to us. Grass fed beef is ultra expensive!! I can't wait until I can raise a few cows of my own.
Canned tomatoes are something we eat a lot of and it is on the no eat list. Shucks! Since tomatoes have so much acid in them the cans they put them in have a special coating inside that the tomatoes soak in while they are in the can. This makes the tomatoes themselves not so healthy to eat.
Lastly, milk produced with artificial hormones. This is pretty self explanatory and we don't drink much milk at all. We have almost completely switched to Almond Milk.
As for my new food, we really like to purchase the organic plain yogurt from Kalona Organics in the big tub. I open it and scrap the cream off the top. Then I put my hand sifter over a container. I place a piece of cheese cloth (about 4 layers thick) over the strainer and dump the yogurt on top. Let the yogurt set at least overnight and you have sour cream!! Let it stand a day and a half or two and you get more of a cream cheese type mixture. We then use it for the base of our ranch dip for veggies and I added a packet of Fiesta Ranch dip to it the other day and it was good!! I used it to put on my bean dip and it was awesome!! One layer refried beans (warm or cold), then fiesta ranch dip, then lettuce, cheese, and olives, onions or chives, whatever you top it with. Eat with corn chips!!
As for our bread situation my husband couldn't wait until I baked my next loaf, so he did go down town and get one loaf, but I think one loaf in 3 weeks is a pretty good record so far. Want to know what I will be doing tomorrow then? Baking bread and cinnamon rolls!!! Courtesy of Annika!!
Thank you all!
The article was the top 7 things you should just not eat. We just about eat them all. I will see if I can remember them all. Microwave popcorn. What would we do with out it in our house? There would be many snackless days and even in Weight Watchers they say that the unbuttered kind is a good low cal snack. There is something in the lining of the paper bag that makes the popcorn 'toxic' when popped. What rotten luck. Stove or air popped is the best alternative. Fine with me, I can add the perfect amount of butter that way! I wish I could find a popper like we had when we were kids, I think I remember that we loved that thing, I shall go and look that one up tonight.
Apples. The deal here is that you should just go with organic because apples get sprayed with so much crap. I get it, but apples are 99 cents a pound and organic ones run closer to $2. I know, I know, think the price of health. People wonder why lower income families eat at McDonald's, well it is because you can get a entire cheeseburger for $1 and if you went into a grocery store you could only get a pound of pesticide apples for that price (if they are on sale) and what would fill you up better? I am learning you get what you pay for works on food as well, but it is hard because you don't see the effects right away. For instance, if you buy cheap toilet paper, you know it. If you buy generic tampons, the difference is massive, but I don't think the difference between and apple and an organic apple are immediately recognized.
Next on the list is the potato. These too should be purchased organically because of the chemicals that leach or are sprayed onto the ground just get soaked up by the potatoes.
Farmed salmon. I would think farmed salmon would be the wiser choice because you are using something that is sustainable and not helping with over fishing, but what they feed salmon in fisheries makes them not so good to eat and they have a lot less vitamins and goodness to give us when we eat them.
Corn fed beef. Now here is a shocker. Not that many years ago there was a huge campaign (especially in Iowa) to state that corn fed beef was so much better than grass fed beef and that you could taste the difference. Well the deal here is that grass is what God meant the cows to eat and that is what feeds their muscles the best. By giving them food they are not meant to consume it makes the meat less beneficial to us. Grass fed beef is ultra expensive!! I can't wait until I can raise a few cows of my own.
Canned tomatoes are something we eat a lot of and it is on the no eat list. Shucks! Since tomatoes have so much acid in them the cans they put them in have a special coating inside that the tomatoes soak in while they are in the can. This makes the tomatoes themselves not so healthy to eat.
Lastly, milk produced with artificial hormones. This is pretty self explanatory and we don't drink much milk at all. We have almost completely switched to Almond Milk.
As for my new food, we really like to purchase the organic plain yogurt from Kalona Organics in the big tub. I open it and scrap the cream off the top. Then I put my hand sifter over a container. I place a piece of cheese cloth (about 4 layers thick) over the strainer and dump the yogurt on top. Let the yogurt set at least overnight and you have sour cream!! Let it stand a day and a half or two and you get more of a cream cheese type mixture. We then use it for the base of our ranch dip for veggies and I added a packet of Fiesta Ranch dip to it the other day and it was good!! I used it to put on my bean dip and it was awesome!! One layer refried beans (warm or cold), then fiesta ranch dip, then lettuce, cheese, and olives, onions or chives, whatever you top it with. Eat with corn chips!!
As for our bread situation my husband couldn't wait until I baked my next loaf, so he did go down town and get one loaf, but I think one loaf in 3 weeks is a pretty good record so far. Want to know what I will be doing tomorrow then? Baking bread and cinnamon rolls!!! Courtesy of Annika!!
Thank you all!
Saturday, November 12, 2011
Bread experiment
Well, the day that I said I was going to try and never buy a loaf of bread from the store again failed me slightly. I should've checked to make sure I had all my ingredients before I said that!! So, I had to buy one more loaf. I have since purchased my missing ingredient and I have, with a ton of help from my daughter, baked our first two loaves. It is really good although I would like to manipulate it a little so that I can get a crust that is a little softer. It isn't crusty per say, just a little tougher than we like. It is a honey wheat bread that even your 7 year old can make too. I will post the recipe as soon as I can. I have a sleeping baby on me at the moment so it won't work right now.
This recipe came out of my latest favorite book. It is called Healthy Bread in 5 Minutes a Day. It takes a recipe that is super simple and it makes 4 loaves at a time (mostly). There are a couple recipes that make less. You then put it in the fridge overnight and get it out the next day, let it rise and then bake. There is no kneading or rising to double (who can really figure that one out anyway) and then punching it back down and letting it rise again. You also make what is called a 'Master Recipe' and doctor it from there as to what you want. Really great book! One thing you have to have on hand for most of the recipes and the secret to their success is something called 'Vital Wheat Gluten'. I have found it at the Kalona General Store. Online it is cheaper, but I didn't check that price with shipping. I am guessing that it is available at New Pioneer Co-Op as well. I also found something called 'Wheat Gluten' at Stringtown in Kalona. I plan to try it as soon as my first box runs out.
If anyone would like a loaf to try and see what they think, PLEASE let me know. I would love to show you how easy it is to bake!
More secrets to come!!
Angi
This recipe came out of my latest favorite book. It is called Healthy Bread in 5 Minutes a Day. It takes a recipe that is super simple and it makes 4 loaves at a time (mostly). There are a couple recipes that make less. You then put it in the fridge overnight and get it out the next day, let it rise and then bake. There is no kneading or rising to double (who can really figure that one out anyway) and then punching it back down and letting it rise again. You also make what is called a 'Master Recipe' and doctor it from there as to what you want. Really great book! One thing you have to have on hand for most of the recipes and the secret to their success is something called 'Vital Wheat Gluten'. I have found it at the Kalona General Store. Online it is cheaper, but I didn't check that price with shipping. I am guessing that it is available at New Pioneer Co-Op as well. I also found something called 'Wheat Gluten' at Stringtown in Kalona. I plan to try it as soon as my first box runs out.
If anyone would like a loaf to try and see what they think, PLEASE let me know. I would love to show you how easy it is to bake!
More secrets to come!!
Angi
Wednesday, November 9, 2011
Day One
Well, I have decided after much debate that I would start a blog. I don't really need another thing to do (that may shock some to hear those words from me), but I think it is something I need to do. There are several things that I want to get out and debate and I think this will be the best place for it. I plan to give you an over view of my discoveries so that they may be a benefit to others.
So, for a little background information. I have been married to my wonderful husband Shane for 10 years. It hasn't always been easy especially with my stubbornness, but we have made it this far and have no intentions to quit any time soon. I have 4 absolutely wonderful children. Ashton is 9, Taylor is 7, Lance will be 4 in a week and Jett is 17 months. I homeschool during the day and am a photographer whenever time allows. I love crafting all kinds of things and would just create all day long if I could!
I now have stopped having children and am ready to get myself and house on track to good health. I really want to make sure that my children don't have to struggle or worry about their health. I started this journey to better health over a year ago starting with a visit to Christina at Bright Futures Chiropractic in Kalona, IA. I have read many books and watched many films. In due time I will share them with you.
Some people can just go and throw out all the crap in their cupboards and start new the next day, but I am not able to do that with this program. I call this a program for lack of a better word. I guess it could be a system, but never a diet. A diet is something you do for a little bit to get to a goal, but this is to change the way you eat forever. I am going to share what products I love and what works for my family to slowly convert them to good food. If you try and change everything at once you will be met with a bunch of resistance. If you change one thing at a time, the transition is WAY easier!! This will be about my many, many steps to make things easier.
I have changed many things so far and am working mostly off a 'Clean Eating' plan. Clean eating is basically the premise that you eat good whole foods with very little to no processing. There are many cookbooks out by Tosca and I have one of them that helped me to start on my journey. You can also join the facebook Clean Eating page and you can google all kinds of recipes. When I need a good recipe for something I google; clean eating lasagne recipe. The amount available is awesome.
I wondered how to get started on it all and so here is what I have figured so far. Step 1> Start working towards getting everyone in your family to eat 5-6 mini meals a day. This is tough for me. Where I come from we make a pizza and that is your supper. The whole supper, not part of it. We never at a salad with a slice or things like that. Lasagna, chili, spaghetti, all those are what we had, just a big bowl of that and nothing else. Now to try and convert everyone to eating mini meals that are balanced is a big step.
Step 2> Read labels and teach your kids how to do it. My kids like to see what is in their food. Our first major mission is to get rid of High Fructose Corn Syrup. Did you know that it is even in the loaves of bread that you buy in the store? Why? I have never used it when I make homemade bread! This is a mission that we are pretty diligent about. Now, we did just have Halloween and my kids do have treats. I seriously limit the amount of crap that they have and have decided that at the end of 1 month what ever is left will be thrown away.
I can really tell when my kids are eating right because their behavior will mirror that. My husband even came home the other day and noted how rambunctious there were being. He asked me what was going on and I said that they each had one small pixi stick about 6 hours before he saw them. I could still see small effects the next day. This has been the case on several occasions when I let them have too much.
Although there will be pitfalls and we don't always follow all of our rules we are making progress. We did eat at Wendy's last night and no, I didn't eat the salad! I made Kraft Macaroni & Cheese (yes, not a bit of healthy, but for some reason my kids love it) and I used unsweetened Almond milk. Blue Diamond Almond milk is the only one that I will EVER purchase. I have tried many and won't buy anything else. I use the vanilla sweetened for cereal and things, word of warning, it is pretty sweet though. We have tried the chocolate, but don't care for it. The prices on this are best at the New Pioneer Co-Op. I tend to shop at the one in Coralville, but they both are great. We also purchase their Peanut Butter that you can grind right in the store, what a great job for my son.
I will tell you how I see things I hope you add your comments. I am only writing things from my point of view, so never take offense as I mean none. I hope to share products with you and tips to make things go easier. Please ask questions if you have any. I will also share some of my favorite recipes too.
So now that this is Day 1 of my Blog I will say I am out of bread from the store. Now this to most of you just means that I should go get more, but to me it is a chance to change things. I plan to not buy bread at the store ever again. Yes, my goal with the help of my new book is to never buy bread again. Let's see if we can do it! I have so much to say, but this is already getting longer than I wanted it to. Tomorrow I will have more to share.
Thank you,
Angi
So, for a little background information. I have been married to my wonderful husband Shane for 10 years. It hasn't always been easy especially with my stubbornness, but we have made it this far and have no intentions to quit any time soon. I have 4 absolutely wonderful children. Ashton is 9, Taylor is 7, Lance will be 4 in a week and Jett is 17 months. I homeschool during the day and am a photographer whenever time allows. I love crafting all kinds of things and would just create all day long if I could!
I now have stopped having children and am ready to get myself and house on track to good health. I really want to make sure that my children don't have to struggle or worry about their health. I started this journey to better health over a year ago starting with a visit to Christina at Bright Futures Chiropractic in Kalona, IA. I have read many books and watched many films. In due time I will share them with you.
Some people can just go and throw out all the crap in their cupboards and start new the next day, but I am not able to do that with this program. I call this a program for lack of a better word. I guess it could be a system, but never a diet. A diet is something you do for a little bit to get to a goal, but this is to change the way you eat forever. I am going to share what products I love and what works for my family to slowly convert them to good food. If you try and change everything at once you will be met with a bunch of resistance. If you change one thing at a time, the transition is WAY easier!! This will be about my many, many steps to make things easier.
I have changed many things so far and am working mostly off a 'Clean Eating' plan. Clean eating is basically the premise that you eat good whole foods with very little to no processing. There are many cookbooks out by Tosca and I have one of them that helped me to start on my journey. You can also join the facebook Clean Eating page and you can google all kinds of recipes. When I need a good recipe for something I google; clean eating lasagne recipe. The amount available is awesome.
I wondered how to get started on it all and so here is what I have figured so far. Step 1> Start working towards getting everyone in your family to eat 5-6 mini meals a day. This is tough for me. Where I come from we make a pizza and that is your supper. The whole supper, not part of it. We never at a salad with a slice or things like that. Lasagna, chili, spaghetti, all those are what we had, just a big bowl of that and nothing else. Now to try and convert everyone to eating mini meals that are balanced is a big step.
Step 2> Read labels and teach your kids how to do it. My kids like to see what is in their food. Our first major mission is to get rid of High Fructose Corn Syrup. Did you know that it is even in the loaves of bread that you buy in the store? Why? I have never used it when I make homemade bread! This is a mission that we are pretty diligent about. Now, we did just have Halloween and my kids do have treats. I seriously limit the amount of crap that they have and have decided that at the end of 1 month what ever is left will be thrown away.
I can really tell when my kids are eating right because their behavior will mirror that. My husband even came home the other day and noted how rambunctious there were being. He asked me what was going on and I said that they each had one small pixi stick about 6 hours before he saw them. I could still see small effects the next day. This has been the case on several occasions when I let them have too much.
Although there will be pitfalls and we don't always follow all of our rules we are making progress. We did eat at Wendy's last night and no, I didn't eat the salad! I made Kraft Macaroni & Cheese (yes, not a bit of healthy, but for some reason my kids love it) and I used unsweetened Almond milk. Blue Diamond Almond milk is the only one that I will EVER purchase. I have tried many and won't buy anything else. I use the vanilla sweetened for cereal and things, word of warning, it is pretty sweet though. We have tried the chocolate, but don't care for it. The prices on this are best at the New Pioneer Co-Op. I tend to shop at the one in Coralville, but they both are great. We also purchase their Peanut Butter that you can grind right in the store, what a great job for my son.
I will tell you how I see things I hope you add your comments. I am only writing things from my point of view, so never take offense as I mean none. I hope to share products with you and tips to make things go easier. Please ask questions if you have any. I will also share some of my favorite recipes too.
So now that this is Day 1 of my Blog I will say I am out of bread from the store. Now this to most of you just means that I should go get more, but to me it is a chance to change things. I plan to not buy bread at the store ever again. Yes, my goal with the help of my new book is to never buy bread again. Let's see if we can do it! I have so much to say, but this is already getting longer than I wanted it to. Tomorrow I will have more to share.
Thank you,
Angi
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