just do it

honey whole wheat bread

go to your basement, reach deep in your cupboard, crawl in that closet - go find your bread machine. most of you have one. go dig it out, dust it off and make THIS BREAD. just do it gosh darnnit. it's easy, it's good, it's healthy. my 4yo knows the ingredient list, makes it with me, and gobbles it down. the recipe is from my BFF lisa over at 100 days of real food. recipes like this make it easy to choose real food over the processed stuff. this bread has 6 ingredients. six. and i bet you have most of the stuff in your kitchen pantry already. go grab the bread you bought at the grocery store. how many ingredients does that have? just sayin'.

thanks for reading. and, make the bread.
amy~

can i have a snack?

if your a parent, chance's are you hear this question EVERY day... "can i have a snack?" or "i want a snack!" i hear this in my house all the time. we have a rule, the kids can have one "junkie" snack during the day and one "healthy" snack. if they want something else they can fruit or nuts.  i ALWAYS keep fruit on the table for them to grab if they want. no eating after 4:00 pm, because i want the kids to eat dinner. 

well to was like a dream!!! my 5 year old did NOT ask for her "junkie" snack!!!!! she came into the kitchen and started to eat the grapes that i had on the table!!! OMG is she getting it?!?! i started to jump up and down and said to her "do you know what you are doing?" she looked at me like i had ten heads. i said to her " you made a great choice eating the grapes! mommy is proud of you!"

when my family started out healthy lifestyle, it was like pulling teeth, the tears, the fight, the whining. . . all over snacks...junk...junk that my husband and i bought into the house.  now if it is not in the house they don't ask for it.  you ask, but she just said her kids get one junkie snack a day. well they do! a junkie snack would be... frito's(they only have 3 ingredients), chocolate cover raisins, chocolate cover blueberries, homemade whole wheat chocolate chip bran cookie, or cheese crackers and peanut butter.

lisa

it's like the energizer bunny

i love to take a hunk of meat, rub it down with some tasty spices and throw it in a crock it. especially on a sunday. you can do all your dirty work in the morning and then go about your day. the best is coming home from running errands with the family and the delicious aroma slaps ya in the face before you can even get through the door. this past weekend i did a whole chicken and let me tell you, it's like a gift that keeps on giving. that night we had chicken, brown rice and tossed salads for dinner. the chicken was super moist and we couldn't stop nibbling at it. i kept the juices and carcass in the crock pot and after dinner i added water, threw in a few spices, a couple carrots and let it simmer, all night. i woke up the next morning to homemade chicken stock. i jarred some up for the fridge and also froze some in an ice cube tray. why get it from a can or carton when it's that easy to make? monday night we had pulled chicken tacos. i'm not brave enough to attempt the homemade tortillas that my cousin lisa tried but i do make a mean taco seasoning, no packets for us. tuesday night, more shredded chicken. this time i threw it in a vodka cream sauce i whipped up and served it with whole wheat penne. this meal made enough for wednesday night too. one chicken = 4 nights of dinners & a boatload of chicken stock. it just kept going and going and going.

thanks for reading.
amy~

click here for the 'best whole chicken in a crock pot' recipe. there's a link for the chicken stock as well. this is from my bff lisa over at 100 days of real food.

click here for the vodka cream sauce recipe from allrecipes. i used 1/2 & 1/2 in place of the heavy cream and used less than half a pint.

trail mix, hiking not required

seeds are good. but eating them on their own? eh. trail mix is the answer. throw some seeds, nuts, dried fruit and chocolate together and ya got some healthy snack action going on. oh yeah.

here is a picture of my favorite ingredients; lightly salted sunflower seeds, unsalted pumpkin seeds, roasted unsalted almonds, milk chocolate chips, dried cranberries & unsalted peanuts. this is a staple for us. there's always a canister of trail mix in our cupboard. it covers salty, sweet & crunchy. all my snacking needs. my husband grabs handfuls of it when he does his nightly 'cabinet shuffle' and our 4yo goes straight for the cranberries and chocolate chips. go whip up a batch of your own trail mix and let us know what you like in yours. thanks for reading.

amy~

what i'm spending money on.

"isn't eating healthy expensive?" i get this question a lot when i tell friends that i'm choosing to serve healthier options to my family. yeah, our produce total is high. but my 'crap' total is low. i'm not buying all those snacks we used to eat. like granola bars, fruit snacks, little paks of cookies and even worse, those paks of crackers with the weird orange cheese that you spread on with a little red spreader thing-y. yes, my daughter was eating those. but only because i was buying them. so i stopped buying them and guess what? she survived. she's snacking on fruits, yogurt, cheese, more fruit, dried fruit, freeze dried fruit, peanuts, chocolate chips if she needs a little chocolate, cause who doesn't? we have not kicked the goldfish habit though. those are like crack for kids. for real. the other day new friends came over for a play date and i offered berries and bananas for a snack and the 2yo looks at me and says "goldfish please" in the cutest darn voice. i have a recipe for cheese crackers that we need to try. it uses three ingredients compared to like 18 on this bag of goldfish i'm holding. and some of those ingredients, eeeek, i don't even want to tell you what they are. (i'll post about all that craziness later) other items i'm spending money on are spices. instead of buying bottles of marinades and sauces i'm making them. we were die-hard good seasons salad dressing fans. we make dressing now using oil, vinegar and spices. same with ranch dressing, you can easily make it at home. so yeah eating real food, healthy food, good, tasty food is expensive BUT we're saving tons by not buying all that crappy stuff. it's working for us. i'm going to keep it up. i see that scale going down. that's the type of motivation i like! thanks for reading.
amy~

i love you like a fat kid loves cake.

everyone loves cake. cake is so good. my favorite is white cake with white frosting. my husbands favorite is white cake, white frosting. my daughter's favorite (gasp) chocolate cake with chocolate frosting. you rarely find someone who will pass up a piece of the stuff at a birthday party. even when you are on a 'diet' (insert eye roll) you always have the cake, just a small piece. only a bite. mmmmcake. when i was pregnant with my second child i became obsessed with red velvet cake with cream cheese frosting. obsessed. thank goodness i didn't give in every time i thought about it. but my mom made me cupcakes at a summer bbq and one of my bestest girlfriends made me an awesome double layer cake for a little 'baby' party my friends threw me. i'm so thankful to both of them for taking the time and making them from scratch. knowing where your cake comes from. knowing the ingredients. that's kinda important. i admit it, i never really thought about it. i mean, it's cake. what could be in it, right? ever check out the ingredient lists on the cakes at the grocery store bakery? you will never go near one after reading this article about super market cakes. thanks to food babe for her post on our most favorite blog, 100 days of real food. it's pretty crazy. ever heard of propylene glycol ? me either. click the link, do it. cause it's the main ingredient in anti-freeze and you are probably feeding it to your family. it's in cake and a whole bunch of other stuff like candy, biscuits, salad dressings, soft drinks. we need to be more conscious of what we are buying, eating, giving our children. our bodies cannot break down the chemicals, preservatives, poisons that are in processed foods. 'man up' and start paying attention. and most important, stop buying the crap. if it's not in your house you can't eat it. i've noticed changes in my own family over this past month. every little positive change, every extra veggie or fruit we eat, sip of water we take is improving our bodies. wake up and smell the real food! make a change today and start looking at those food labels. just do it.

so yeah, i do love you like a fat kid loves cake. but a real cake, none of this fake crap. and definitely not the antifreeze cake. thanks for reading.
amy~

like we needed another reason to love target

i needed snacks. i was getting close to reverting to not so healthy options merely because i lacked the healthy stuff. i needed help. i needed help fast. enter target. me and the girls headed over after pre-school today. i opted to bring the double stoller instead of pushing a cart and boy did i regret that. it was a balancing act on the way to the check-outs. laundry baskets were on clearance, so i had to get two, and proceed to fill them. i had them on top of the stroller, i couldn't even see over the top. and the stoller itself is a freakin' tractor trailer. anyways, back to healthy. they have a fantastic selection of healthy snack options. their archer farms line is pretty awesome. the freeze dried strawberries are tart, yummy and a little addicting. i also got the freeze dried apples which are super delicious. sadly though, the apples have preservatives added. but still under five ingredients. i've been looking for chocolate covered almonds since lisa mentioned them in an earlier post. and guess what, target has dark chocolate covered almonds in this cute little round canister. y.u.m. thank you target for saving me. i plan to go back and check out the other freeze dried fruit. mango was calling me but i wanted to play it safe today. next time you're in target check it out. there was an aisle with nuts, trail mix, the fruit. archer farms. good stuff.

thanks for reading.
amy~

breaking out of your comfort zone

over this past week-end we celebrated my dads birthday. happy birthday dad!! the food was so yummy...we had a mexican theme! i love mexian all food.  my mom had made a seven layer dip and it was amazing!! i never really tried her seven layer dip, until this past week-end.  well after eating it i thought, how can i make it healthier without effecting the taste, well the answer is simple...i am going to try my hand at homemade re-fried beans.

stay tuned and i will keep you up-dated for i will be cooking them over night in the crock pot...

lisa

farmers what???

farmers what? a farmers market! oh, whats that and how do i find one?  eat local fruit, veggies, and eggs. ok, that sounds great however one BIG problem how do i find them and where do i buy them? ok i guess that is 2 problems.  last couple summer's my husband and i had our own garden in the back yard. it was great! we had lots of fun! the whole family got into it.  yet another problem...not a wide variety of veggies. we had a ton of what we grew.  so last september i heard about these farmer things....well how do find them was my biggest issue.  i heard about this web site http://www.localharvest.org/  all you have to do is type in your zip code and it pulls up all the local farmers markets in your area and gives you all the details. that simple!!! i have a list wait for us to try!!! i can NOT wait to check them out.  i hear get there early for the good produce sells out fast!

lisa

what's in juice?!

now of day's every time you turn on the t.v. or get on the internet something else is bad for you.  the one that had the most impact on my family( well at least the one we listen to) was juice.  don't get me wrong my kids didn't drink juice all the time, however kids drink juice! so after doing some research i decided i wanted, no i NEEDED a juicer. well my husband thought i was once again, yes, crazy. being the best husband he embraced the idea!  i decided to borrow one before we went out and spent the money to buy one, due to they are not cheap.  well, i fell in love with it, along with the rest of the family. not to mention the health befits and best of all it is all natural!!!  what's your favorite juice?

lisa

emotional eating

i have always been an emotional eater. i eat to celebrate and i eat when i am stressed out, oh yeah and every other emotion in between.  well today was a stressed out type of day, which is going to only lead to another one tomorrow as i sit in the waiting room while my husbands has emergency eye surgery.  how do i stop myself from picking that candy bar, bowl of ice cream, cookies and then finish it off with a nice big soda. i have learned to pick up a cheese stick or a big glass of cold water when i feel that need to eat because i am stressed out...

lisa 

skinny vs. healthy

ultimately in my mind i want to be skinny, . , . , . oh yeah feel good about my body and be healthy. i guess up until today i never put real thought into what i said and how i worded it, about my weight loss and eating while my five year old daughter was around  . . .  i thought we had a couple more years to worry about self image with our daughter .  while spending time together she said to me, "i wish you were skinny like erin's mom." I asked "why?"  point blank she said "it's cool to be skinny like her."  i think my mouth dropped to the floor. she is FIVE. please tell me where do they learn this???? after lifting my jaw up off the ground i simply respond " i want to be healthy, it doesn't matter how skinny you are as long as you take care of your body." ok this is after i have lost 66lbs. from this point on i will now talk about how i am becoming healthy and NOT skinny.  i don't want my daughter to think it is cool to be skinny!!!! i want her to be confident and comfortable with who she is. yes do i want to to be "skinny",  however what defines skinny?

with all that being said, she loves our new mid-day snack that i offered today and the best thing is, the little guy can eat it too!!! home-made trail mix!  all i did was grab a bowl, pour some cashews in, pour in some crasins, add some chocolate chips and mix. how easy is that! yummy!

lisa

Let's Do This!

Hi- I am Lisa!  A couple months I ago I  started making  healthier choices for my family. I  was so excited when my cousin Amy show interest in our new healthy lifestyle.  Amy and I have talked almost every day for the last week about meal, snack, drink ideas, and  all around how to make easy changes without disrupting our family life! Last night she said to me, "Let's start a blog!" so here we are... Join us as we make healthy choices one meal at a time!!