And I'm so excited! I'm ready for some farm fresh food and creativity in my kitchen. It's definitely needed. As much as I enjoyed the Fall/Winter selection, I bet I'll enjoy the Spring/Summer variety even more. I love fresh summer produce. I have some pics of the goods, but can't upload them right now.
Today's box was great:
Two large bunches of leafy lettuce (I'll have salads twice daily I'm sure)
A couple of verities of greens (I love braised greens!)
A bunch of small carrots (for the salads....Ethan could eat all of them on his own)
A small bunch of spring onions (for cooking with and salads)
And a small container of bright red strawberries (snacks for the boys, and topping for greek yogurt or steel cut oats for me)
I like that getting the CSA box forces me to eat fresh; you don't want the food to go to waste.
The past couple of months have been hard for me to eat well. I try when I can, but my sweet tooth is working overtime and I find myself out of the "comfort zone" of where I want to weigh. Nothing that can't be easily remedied with more exercise and eating better. I have a goal in mind for myself of where I'd like to be in about a month and I'm going to work hard to get there.
The most difficult thing has been that I just can't get a workout in. Not at the gym at least. I simply don't have the time right now to go to the gym. Our schedule is jammed packed.
I was able to get two good workouts in this week at home doing a combo of the treadmill and a 20-min circuit that I made up (intervals of 1 minute cardo like jumping rope/jumping jacks and 1 minute weight or resistance). The first workout had me very sore for the next two days, so I feel like it was effective.
The truth is I was making more progress when I was going to the smaller women's only circuit gym (Shape Express) than I have being at the big gym. It's not a surprise to me; I knew this going into it. There really is something to a good effective 30- minute circuit training workout that combines cardio and resistance at the same time than to doing 30 minutes of intense cardio and 30 minutes of weights, which is what I usually end up doing at the "big" gym. I know taking classes would help, but I just can't make it to the classes. They're either during school or in the early evening. I'd need a mid-day class.
But...the big gym offers great child care and kid's activities, something the small one didn't have.
I'm thinking if I can come up with a really good 30 minute circuit I could do at home I'd be set.
Whatever I do, I need to make it happen. Lack of exercise isn't only showing on the scale, it's showing in my stress level, sleeping, and just not feeling relaxed. The days I've done it, I feel so much more relaxed.
There...I've put it all out there so now I'm committed!
Thursday, April 30, 2009
Friday, April 17, 2009
White Chicken Chili
I totally meant to post this recipe at Christmas, especially since this is what I made on Christmas Eve for the family. And here it is April and I'm posting a Christmas recipe! It's great for any time of the year, though. It's also a wonderful option for serving at larger gatherings. You can do a tex-mex thing with it and let people top the chili with various toppings (sour cream, salsa, pico, chips, shredded cheese, etc.) It went over great. I pretty much made it just as the recipe calls, although I decided to use dried white beans and soak them overnight in lieu of the canned. Make it the day before and you won't be disappointed!
White Chicken Chili
White Chicken Chili
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
Some of you may have seen this before; it was in my inbox this morning from a naturopathic/homeopahtic doctor I've been to. Very cool! Gives new meaning to the children's prayer "Thank you God for our food."
Nature's Pharmacy! Amazing!
God left us great clues as to what foods help what part of our body!
A sliced Carrot looks like the human eye. The pupil, iris and radiating lines look just like the human eye... and YES, science now shows carrots greatly enhance blood flow to and function of the eyes.
A Tomato has four chambers and is red. The heart has four chambers and is red. All of the research shows tomatoes are loaded with lycopene and are indeed pure heart and blood food.
Grapes hang in a cluster that has the shape of the heart. Each grape looks like a blood cell and all of the research today shows grapes are also profound heart and blood vitalizing food.
A Walnut looks like a little brain, a left and right hemisphere, upper cerebrums and lower cerebellums. Even the wrinkles or folds on the nut are just like the neo-cortex. We now know walnuts help develop more than three (3) dozen neuron-transmitters for brain function.
Kidney Beans actually heal and help maintain kidney function and yes, they look exactly like the human kidneys.
Celery, Bok Choy, Rhubarb and many more look just like bones. These foods specifically target bone strength. Bones are 23% sodium and these foods are 23% sodium. If you don't have enough sodium in your diet, the body pulls it from the bones, thus making them weak. These foods replenish the skeletal needs of the body.
Avocadoes, Eggplant and Pears target the health and function of the womb and cervix of the female - they look just like these organs. Today's research shows that when a woman eats one avocado a week, it balances hormones, sheds unwanted birth weight, and prevents cervical cancers! It takes exactly nine (9) months to grow an avocado from blossom to ripened fruit. There are over 14,000 photolytic chemical constituents of nutrition in each one of these foods (modern science has only studied and named about 141 of them).
Figs are full of seeds and hang in twos when they grow. Figs increase the mobility of male sperm and increase the numbers of Sperm as well to overcome male sterility.
Sweet Potatoes look like the pancreas and actually help balance the blood sugar of diabetics.
Olives assist the health and function of the ovaries
Oranges, Grapefruits, and other Citrus fruits look just like the mammary glands of the female and actually assist the health of the breasts and the movement of lymph in and out of the breasts.
Onions look like the body's cells. Today's research shows onions help clear waste materials from all of the body cells. They even produce tears which wash the epithelial layers of the eyes.
Garlic, also helps eliminate waste materials and dangerous free radicals from the body.
Nature's Pharmacy! Amazing!
God left us great clues as to what foods help what part of our body!
A sliced Carrot looks like the human eye. The pupil, iris and radiating lines look just like the human eye... and YES, science now shows carrots greatly enhance blood flow to and function of the eyes.
A Tomato has four chambers and is red. The heart has four chambers and is red. All of the research shows tomatoes are loaded with lycopene and are indeed pure heart and blood food.
Grapes hang in a cluster that has the shape of the heart. Each grape looks like a blood cell and all of the research today shows grapes are also profound heart and blood vitalizing food.
A Walnut looks like a little brain, a left and right hemisphere, upper cerebrums and lower cerebellums. Even the wrinkles or folds on the nut are just like the neo-cortex. We now know walnuts help develop more than three (3) dozen neuron-transmitters for brain function.
Kidney Beans actually heal and help maintain kidney function and yes, they look exactly like the human kidneys.
Celery, Bok Choy, Rhubarb and many more look just like bones. These foods specifically target bone strength. Bones are 23% sodium and these foods are 23% sodium. If you don't have enough sodium in your diet, the body pulls it from the bones, thus making them weak. These foods replenish the skeletal needs of the body.
Avocadoes, Eggplant and Pears target the health and function of the womb and cervix of the female - they look just like these organs. Today's research shows that when a woman eats one avocado a week, it balances hormones, sheds unwanted birth weight, and prevents cervical cancers! It takes exactly nine (9) months to grow an avocado from blossom to ripened fruit. There are over 14,000 photolytic chemical constituents of nutrition in each one of these foods (modern science has only studied and named about 141 of them).
Figs are full of seeds and hang in twos when they grow. Figs increase the mobility of male sperm and increase the numbers of Sperm as well to overcome male sterility.
Sweet Potatoes look like the pancreas and actually help balance the blood sugar of diabetics.
Olives assist the health and function of the ovaries
Oranges, Grapefruits, and other Citrus fruits look just like the mammary glands of the female and actually assist the health of the breasts and the movement of lymph in and out of the breasts.
Onions look like the body's cells. Today's research shows onions help clear waste materials from all of the body cells. They even produce tears which wash the epithelial layers of the eyes.
Garlic, also helps eliminate waste materials and dangerous free radicals from the body.
Saturday, March 21, 2009
Quesadillas
Yummy quick dinner tonight for myself, the boys and my mother in law:
2 types of quesadillas on whole wheat tortillas:
1.) Shrimp, cheese (low-fat shredded Mexican), and grilled onions with a little creole seasoning sprinkled in &
2.) sliced apple and cheese
Served with sour cream with a bit of fresh lime juice mixed in and TJ's peach salsa.
Easy and yum!
2 types of quesadillas on whole wheat tortillas:
1.) Shrimp, cheese (low-fat shredded Mexican), and grilled onions with a little creole seasoning sprinkled in &
2.) sliced apple and cheese
Served with sour cream with a bit of fresh lime juice mixed in and TJ's peach salsa.
Easy and yum!
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
My Kitchen This Week
Monday....Sweet and Sour Chicken with brown rice...Wyatt's absolute favorite. It's the only time he asks for more chicken.
Tuesday night...Roasted Chicken with carrots, potatoes and onions. Also tried my hand at braised cabbage. It was pretty good!
Wednesday lunch...Quick Thai Corn Chowder. We're having kids over to play today, so maybe ordering a pizza and throwing together a salad is in order if they're all still here at dinnertime.
Thursday...eating out or eating leftovers.
Out of town this weekend! We're heading down to the Strawberry Festival in Tampa...I've heard they have the best strawberry shortcake ever! Good friends and good times ahead.
Tuesday night...Roasted Chicken with carrots, potatoes and onions. Also tried my hand at braised cabbage. It was pretty good!
Wednesday lunch...Quick Thai Corn Chowder. We're having kids over to play today, so maybe ordering a pizza and throwing together a salad is in order if they're all still here at dinnertime.
Thursday...eating out or eating leftovers.
Out of town this weekend! We're heading down to the Strawberry Festival in Tampa...I've heard they have the best strawberry shortcake ever! Good friends and good times ahead.
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Valentine's Day Part 2
I know Valentine's Day was so last week, but indulge me a bit. If you read my food blog from last year, then you know that Valentine's Day is a much celebrated holiday in my house. No so much for the "romantic" part, but just as a good excuse to celebrate the love we have for each other. It all started when I was a child. Valentine's day is my mom's birthday, so growing up, we had a double celebration. My mom, sweet lady that she is, would always go all out getting gifts and sweets for all of us. Plus, we always had a nice meal and homemade cake to look forward to. Over the past several years, I've tried to recreate that idea for my kids. We have an "I Love You" dinner. It's quite a simple idea actually. I love my men...all three of them, and instead of hiring a sitter and feeling like David and I have to go out as a couple, I'd much rather stay home, cook a really yummy meal, decorate, light candles, and give gifts to my guys. We've also invited my sweet Aunt Kathy to join us for the past few years. It's always been such a night to look forward to and one I do from my heart.
This year I decided to make it a little bit of a bigger deal by inviting my parents, my mother in law, and both my aunts to celebrate both Valentine's and my mom's birthday. My aunt made a coconut heart shaped cake and an appetizer. I did the salad (spinach, strawberries, red onion, pecans, cucumbers and poppy seed dressing) and the entree: Granny smith apple and sausage penne. I also went a little overboard and made sure everyone had a small gift (really..not a big deal. I totally scored on necklaces and bracelets with $20 price tags but only paid $2).I also decorated with flowers and candy kisses. Very festive and fun. It was all a total hit.
Right before dinner, Ethan snuck upstairs and came back down totally dressed up. It was all his idea. He said he wanted to "look nice" for dinner. That made my heart melt!
My mom looks pretty good for 71, huh?
It seems like most families have one special day a year that they do differently than anyone else. This is ours.
This year I decided to make it a little bit of a bigger deal by inviting my parents, my mother in law, and both my aunts to celebrate both Valentine's and my mom's birthday. My aunt made a coconut heart shaped cake and an appetizer. I did the salad (spinach, strawberries, red onion, pecans, cucumbers and poppy seed dressing) and the entree: Granny smith apple and sausage penne. I also went a little overboard and made sure everyone had a small gift (really..not a big deal. I totally scored on necklaces and bracelets with $20 price tags but only paid $2).I also decorated with flowers and candy kisses. Very festive and fun. It was all a total hit.
Right before dinner, Ethan snuck upstairs and came back down totally dressed up. It was all his idea. He said he wanted to "look nice" for dinner. That made my heart melt!
My mom looks pretty good for 71, huh?
It seems like most families have one special day a year that they do differently than anyone else. This is ours.
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Tex Mex Bowls
It's time for me to make a confession. I've been terrible lately at making meals at home. Our schedule the past several weeks has had us away from home during the late afternoon hours and it's just so hard to arrive home after 6pm with a starving family and expect to whip up a decent meal in minutes. It's been so much easier to go to our favorite "kid's eat free on Tuesday nights" restaurant. Hey...if we have to eat out, at least we're not paying for the kids. Problem is...it's usually junk the kids end up eating (hot dogs, grilled cheese). Sure, it's nice to go somewhere else where they cook and clean up and we return to a perfectly clean kitchen. Still, it's more money unnecessarily spent on a not so decent meal. In my defense, there's been plenty of nights I have planned ahead and organized something very easy to make on these busy days, but my well meaning husband is very good at talking me out of going to the trouble of making dinner and our behinds end up in a restaurant booth. It's a guilt ridden process: I feel guilty for spending the money on poor quality food, guilty that my kids are eating it, guilty that I couldn't be more on the ball and have dinner ready myself, and guilty that I'm probably consuming way more calories than I would at home. Planning has got to be key, but I've also got to plan meals that can be cooked earlier in the day and warmed up just before serving. I'm becoming more friendly with my crock pot again. Staring in March, the boys will have some type of activity nearly every day that will have us out of the house in the later afternoon hours. I won't have the time to devote to making dinner at dinner time.
It's can be weird to think about preparing dinner in the AM hours, but that's what I think will save us. Take today, for instance. I'm taking one of our favorite meals...grilled chicken, black beans and rice and making most of it in the morning. I soaked the beans overnight; very easy to do. Threw them in the crock pot along with some onions, garlic, cumin, curry powder, salt, white wine, rice vinegar and chicken broth. I'll cook them on low for 6-8 hours and cross my fingers that they won't get overdone.
The rice (brown jasmine) was cooking while I made the boys lunches and the chicken is marinating in the fridge. Once we get home tonight after 6pm, I'll throw the chicken on the grill, heat the rice, and maybe even toss a salad together. The final plan will be to make Tex Mex Bowls...layer in a bowl: rice, shredded cheddar cheese, black beans, chopped chicken, shredded cheese, salsa and sour cream.
If all goes well, we'll be sitting down to dinner around 6:30. Not too bad.
Another great idea for these types of meals is bar-b-q chicken Kelle's way. It basically consists of throwing a few chicken breasts into the crock pot, pouring a bottle of gourmet bar-b-q sauce, perhaps a few chopped onions and garlic powder and let it do it's thing until dinner time. I love bar-b-q this way since I can control the type of meat (hormone and antibiotic free). Plus, the leftovers make great lunches.
I'm going to have to brainstorm to come up with more ideas like these. There's always the typical pot roast, but we don't each much red meat in our house. Maybe some good chicken recipes are due.
It's can be weird to think about preparing dinner in the AM hours, but that's what I think will save us. Take today, for instance. I'm taking one of our favorite meals...grilled chicken, black beans and rice and making most of it in the morning. I soaked the beans overnight; very easy to do. Threw them in the crock pot along with some onions, garlic, cumin, curry powder, salt, white wine, rice vinegar and chicken broth. I'll cook them on low for 6-8 hours and cross my fingers that they won't get overdone.
The rice (brown jasmine) was cooking while I made the boys lunches and the chicken is marinating in the fridge. Once we get home tonight after 6pm, I'll throw the chicken on the grill, heat the rice, and maybe even toss a salad together. The final plan will be to make Tex Mex Bowls...layer in a bowl: rice, shredded cheddar cheese, black beans, chopped chicken, shredded cheese, salsa and sour cream.
If all goes well, we'll be sitting down to dinner around 6:30. Not too bad.
Another great idea for these types of meals is bar-b-q chicken Kelle's way. It basically consists of throwing a few chicken breasts into the crock pot, pouring a bottle of gourmet bar-b-q sauce, perhaps a few chopped onions and garlic powder and let it do it's thing until dinner time. I love bar-b-q this way since I can control the type of meat (hormone and antibiotic free). Plus, the leftovers make great lunches.
I'm going to have to brainstorm to come up with more ideas like these. There's always the typical pot roast, but we don't each much red meat in our house. Maybe some good chicken recipes are due.
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