christmas wishlist!

First off, thanks so much for your comments on my last post – just to clarify, these are family friends, not my immediate family.

I am going to give similar advice to the family – especially when it comes to cutting out soda, chips & simple carbs. (which these kids eat WAY too much of anyways!)

Moving onto a more cheerful note, I wanted to talk about a couple of things I want to see under the tree (but will probably end up buying for myself… )

Mountain biking capris..  Seriously, once you start biking, you NEED shorts with a padded ass!  These capris are cute AND functional!

Mountain biking skort – again cute and functional with a padded ass!

Celestial Seasonings Seasonal Teas – I can’t find them!  Where do you people get them?!?

What do you want for Christmas?

looking for ‘going healthy’ advice!

Hi Bloggies!

Today, I don’t have much to talk about – I’m actually looking for advice from you all!

So, I know this family who is starting to try & get healthy – here are the important details.

• Dad was just diagnosed with Type II diabetes a few days ago.  I know he’s only just found out, so I am not sure what kind of information he’s received so far.
• Three kids in the family – 8, 13, & 17.  All three kids are relatively picky (in regards to foods they haven’t had or think are ‘weird’)
• Typical diet as of now is heavy on the packaged stuff (chicken, frozen pizza, etc.)  Relatively light on fruit & veggies (usually canned).  Soda, chips, etc. are eaten fairly regularly.
• Both parents work & are not super-cooks, so stuff that’s relatively easy & ‘normal’ ingredients are preferred!

So, since all of you have probably had to transition to eating healthier at some point, my question is, what were your baby steps? What are easy, fast switches to make to help healthy-up your diet?  Anything appreciated

& Biz, I’d love any diabetes info/tips from you!

fishy, fishy!

Before I get to the true topic of this post, which is fish this evening, two extra special points:

1. I went to TWO Zumba classes this evening – so I Zumba-ed my booty off from 4:30-6:30!  Amazing!!

2. I ordered some grass fed beef today that B is going to pick up tomorrow.  We got 4 pounds of ground beef & 2 pounds of stew beef (all were 6$ a pound, which I justified by the fact that seafood costs more than that…)

Anywho, moving on…I want to talk about fish!  We had swordfish for dinner tonight:

(+ baked potato, frozen corn & organic broccoli )

So, obviously, I don’t hate fish, but it’s definitely NOT my favorite thing.  I have tried salmon & swordfish recently & I didn’t dislike them, but I wasn’t terribly impressed either.  Swordfish is certainly better in my opinion, it’s not fishy and has a strong meaty texture (if that makes sense).  I don’t like most white fishes though (haddock, cod, etc.), my mom used to feed me frozen white fish filets and I don’t think I’ll ever be able to eat them again! Yuck!  (I want to love fish for all it’s great health benefits, but I just find it generally unappealing.  I don’t even like tuna sandwiches.)

I am however, a HUGE shellfish/other seafood fan – shrimp, scallops, lobster, clams, mussels, calamari – you name it, I like it!  Yum, yum, yum!

Do you love seafood?  Hate it?  Are split down the middle between shellfish & fish?

P.S.  I got word today about a really nice giveaway so look for that in the next week

stiry fry & talkin’ organic…

So tonight’s dinner was super simple & easy – stir fry.  I made mine with packaged noodles & seasoning  from Fortune brand (which were surprisingly delicious…), stir-fry chicken, fresh & frozen veggies.

As you can see in the picture – I used carrots (organic!), broccoli (organic!) red onion, corn (frozen), and green beans (frozen).  The veggies, sauce & noodles were very good, but the chicken?  Not. so. much.  No complaints from anyone else though, so it must be me.  I think non-organic/free range meat is starting to gross me out!  I would make this again though, minus the chicken!

 

Now, let’s talk organic…I’ve gotta be honest, I watch movies like Food, Inc. and I want to buy EVERYTHING organic.  Unfortunately, I am a college student with one part time job (sometimes two).  I don’t make that much money and my budget for everything is fairly limited!  Additionally, buying groceries is how B and I “pay rent” & I would say we spend about 400$ a month on groceries all ready!  I know that doesn’t seem like much, but when you add up other bills (cell phone, car insurance), suddenly the budget for groceries is smaller and smaller!  It becomes harder and harder to do the ethical and healthiest thing when your grocery budget isn’t that big!

Also, we have to factor in items that we buy every week, that we don’t necessarily even eat, but since we are buying for the household, we’ve got no choice. (Ex. 2 gallons of milk, atleast one pound each of deli meat & cheese, a dozen bagels, etc.)  Please don’t take this as complaining – I am looking for suggestions! How do you afford healthy, organic stuff?  Or don’t you?  That’s okay too!  Also, if you are an occasional organic buyer (like me!) what do you buy organic vs. conventional?

(I really am interested in dairy & meat that is organic and free range & I just found a farm 5 minutes from my house that sells grass fed antibiotic free ground beef for 6$ a pound – I am going to buy a couple pounds & see how we like it!  Would you buy it?)

 

Also, since I totally spaced announcing it yesterday – Evan was the winner of my giveaway!

Evan, email me your mailing address

 

sunday treat – blondies!

So, I figured since the holidays are officially here, for the next few Sundays,  I’m going to feature treats!  These treats are mostly likely NOT going to be the healthiest thing you’ve ever seen, but they sure are yummy!  Also, they’re TREATS so they’re supposed to be once-in-awhile.

Blondies have got to be the EASIEST baked good to create.  I whipped up a batch today ’cause I promised B a treat, after I dragged him out of bed to go run with me this morning.  I like my blondies with chocolate chips, but you can omit or add a little somethin’ somethin’ of your own.  I’m betting peanut butter cups, pretzels, booze, and other goodies would be delicious!  I stick with the chocolate chips because they’re the only thing I ever have on hand at my house.

Onwards to the recipe.  For an 8×8 pan, it’s pretty hard to forget the amount of each ingredients, because they’re all ONE.

Blondies

ONE stick of butter

ONE cup of brown sugar

ONE egg

ONE teaspoon of vanilla

ONE cup of flour

+ a pinch of salt if you prefer (I don’t) and whatever you choose or don’t choose to mix in!

1. Melt butter in cancer cube.  Took me about 90 seconds.

2. Add brown sugar, mix until smooth.

3. Add egg & vanilla.  Add, mix until smooth.

4. Add flour. Can you guess what to do?  Mix until smooth.

5. Add mix ins of your choice, dump into 8×8 pan & bake @ 350 for 20-25 minutes.  I usually go closer to 20 because gooey=awesome in my book.

6. Don’t worry about calories & enjoy – in moderation!

P.S. Are mini chocolate chips not the CUTEST thing?

suzie homemaker…

is who I feel like!  Today, I seasoned our cast iron skillets, and I made:

Tomato Sauce

Pesto (looks like hot garbage in this picture, but it tastes awesome!)

I whipped it up in the blender with a bunch of basil, 1/2 cup of pine nuts, olive oil until I got the right consistency, and probably 1/2 c. plus of cheese & a pinch of salt!  Oh, and a little garlic!

& pizza dough- which I then made into three pizzas…

Pesto & sauce with cheddar, ricotta, onion & broccoli!

Deep dish man pizza – provolone, pepperoni & onion

And, just plain old cheese – sauce, provolone, & cheddar!

Was a yummy day!  Got to love homemade sauce & pesto on homemade pizza dough!

B and I are going to watch The Curious Case of Benjamin Button tonight- hope it doesn’t suck!  We’ve got plans to go run around the pond again tomorrow

Don’t forget that my giveaway ends tomorrow!  Link back for additional entries!

rainy day bootcamp :)

This morning, B & I did a mini boot-camp type thing because the gym at school is closed until Sunday evening & I definitely ate way too much yesterday!  I was craving some exercise! (Which I am SO HAPPY about!)  We named our boot camp ‘Rainy Day Boot camp’ ’cause it looks like this outside & no, we are NOT in that little clear spot!

We left our house, ran down to the pond through the woods (guessing that’s about 1/8 of mile)

Ran around this pond six times for a total of .9 miles (each lap equals .15 miles)

Ran up, walked down these stairs 10 times (23 steps each way)

Then we ran home (the rest of the loop) which is probably another .25 miles.

We were gone exactly 30 minutes – it was fun!  Then I hopped on my mountain bike & rode back down the road to get mileage for the pond. (My mountain bike has a digital odometer on it because I am obsessed with knowing how long I’ve been riding/how far.)  I didn’t ride through the woods because it’s too wet and slippery   Don’t I look excited?

The verdict? Running outside was fun & the little loop around the pond was good because it’s flat and small!  I am glad I had this idea!  Now that I know what the distance around once is, it will be easy to figure out mileage and stuff to get used to not running on the treadmill!  It’s nice that running around the pond seven times will be about 1.05 miles! This little park has potential for being a prime workout spot – tons of trails to run around, a playground which exercises can be improvised on, park benches for push up & stuff, stairs to run, and small hills to run sets on!  I think when the weather is nicer, I’ll have to do a real photo tour!

Don’t forget the giveaway!

I’m thankful for…

1. McKinley -my three year old CRAZY Australian Shepherd!

A picture from the day I got him:  (& yes, he’s chewing on a ski pole handle… )

2. The boyfriend, B. Love you!

3. My family – but especially Mom, Dad, Miah (brother)  & grandparents!

Here’s a throwback – Miah & I circa. 1990.  See, I’ve always liked food…

4. My job – Even though I occasionally complain, I know a lot of people don’t have any work!

5. My friends – old & new, real-life & internet!

6. My life! I know I am a pretty lucky kid, with support from my family who believes in me!

(Even though I don’t always succeed…)

7. Skiing – it keeps me sane!

8. Traveling - I love it!  I have been all over the US, Mexico, Canada, Ireland, England & Scotland.

This is looking up the Royal Mile in Edinburgh, Scotland – my favorite place!

What are you thankful for?

Don’t forget to enter my giveaway!  It ends on the 29th!

squash – revamped!

So, I figured, Thanksgiving being tomorrow & all, I’d talk about a recipe I made the other day.  This recipe was based off of my Butternut Apple Soup.  I am calling it Double Squash & Applesauce Soup. I know, be astounded at my creativity on that one.

This recipe features Musselman’s Applesauce (that I was provided), but I was not compensated in any way for this creation

I think either variety of the soup would be a great way to serve squash at Thanksgiving (or any other time) other than the traditional boiled or roasted!  Here’s the recipe

***

1 tbsp. olive oil

1/2-1 c. onion, chopped (I used red )

3 small carrots, chopped

1 butternut squash – small to medium sized, peeled and cubed

2.5 cups pre-cooked & mashed Blue Hubbard squash (This is just what I had in my fridge.  A few cups of any variety of uncooked squash would be fine too!)

2-3 cups Musselman’s Natural Unsweetened applesauce (adjust this amount to your taste!)

4 cups chicken/vegetable stock (or 4 buillon cubes & 4-5 cups of water!)

Various spices

1. Add olive oil to large soup pot.  Heat slightly & add carrots and onion, cooking over medium low for 5 minutes, until they begin to soften.

2. Add cubed butternut, cook for another 3-5 minutes.

3. Add stock of your choice, mashed squash & applesauce.  Add spices (I used salt, pepper, cumin, and thyme) to taste and bring to a slow boil.

4.  Boil, stirring occasionally until squash and carrots are cooked through.  I added more applesauce at this point.

5.  It’s ready to serve as is, but I prefer it blended smooth, either with an immersion blender or a regular blender in smaller batches!

Happy Thanksgiving tomorrow!

 

amy’s pesto pizza review!

B & I cooked this up this evening for a nice, easy dinner! Easy is right – take out of the package, put in preheated oven for 12 minutes and voila!  I love that it looked the same on the box as in ‘real life’.

The edges got nice & brown but the middle, while warm, the cheese barely melted   Next time, I’d probably throw it under the broiler for a minute at the end, but that’s personal preference!

How was the taste? The tomatoes and broccoli that were on top were SO FRESH tasting.  So good, they taste like summertime tomatoes!  The cheese was good, but the pesto did not taste like pesto to me!  Not to say it wasn’t good, but it was more spinach-y, than basil-y and lacking the nice nutty saltiness I associate with pesto.  It was tasty though, just different!  The crust was really nicely chewy with a little bit of crisp!

Would we buy this again? Sure, if we were looking for something quick, easy, and healthy!  Only real downside is that it was a pretty small pizza, so you would definitely have to bulk it up a bit with a salad or a side dish!

busy bee!

Unfortunately bloggies, I am FAR too busy to put up a ‘real’ post tonight & FAR too stressed!

I am working hard to finish up some homework and then treatin’ myself to a nice g&t!

Until tomorrow, bloggies!

Don’t forget about my giveaway!

If you’d like, continue to share your thoughts on Food, Inc. & my review of it!

Food, Inc.

This weekend, B & I rented Food, Inc. off of iTunes.

We totally recommend the movie, just not renting it through itunes, it kept skipping & freezing.

“There are no seasons in the American supermarket. Now there are tomatoes all year round grown half way around the world, picked when it was green & ripened with ethylene gas. Although it looks like a tomato, it’s kind of a notional tomato, it’s kind of the idea of a tomato” – Food Inc.

What does this mean?! BUY IN SEASON. I found a generalized seasonal list here. Totally eye opening for me, half the veggies I have in my fridge are not in season. If only I didn’t live in the Frozen Tundra of the Northeast and there were Farmer’s Markets year round, where the food is local, in season, and grown without pesticides, but for now I think I’ll settle for seasonal & organic as much as possible!

My Favorite Points:

- Virtually ALL of the conventional (for lack of a better word) meat we buy in the grocery store is produced by a handful of companies. Companies that douse the animals in antibiotics, torture them, mistreat their workers & exploit local farmers. Even if you avoid fast food restaurants you’re still eating the same meat.

-Chickens are grown to be twice the size that they used to be, in half the amount of time. They’re also genetically modified to make them have larger breasts, because that is what consumers want. (Note: I have a whole chicken in my freezer now & I’m not sure I want to eat it.)

-The majority of meat produced in this country is produced by 13 slaughterhouses! And they are dirty, contaminated places! The FDA is so corrupt, when it comes to the food we eat.  The government, FDA, UDA, and huge meat corporations are so intertwined, which is not good!

-The meat and poultry industries have become SO powerful with backing from huge fast food companies, that the government literally has NO power over them. The USDA’s right to shut down a plant that tested positive for e.coli and salmonella repeatedly was REVOKED. ARE YOU KIDDING ME?

How I Feel about Food, Inc.

I found this movie to be powerful. So powerful in fact that I am still wrapping my mind around it, but I can tell you with certainty that factory-farmed meat is disgusting. I don’t think I want to cut meat out of my diet completely, but I do think it’s worth it to know where your meat came from. Shopping locally is a great way to do that if you’re able to, as well as buying organic and free range products.

I am still unsure how I want to approach my diet in light of this very interesting film. I know for sure that I am going to be doing whatever I can to help local businesses, so that they don’t get sucked into these huge corporate nightmares. I am proud to shop at my local farmstand during the spring/summer/fall and I will continue to do so. I think more than promoting vegetarianism or anything like that, Food, Inc. is more about stopping the corporate giants who are overtaking our foods and our health is taking the hit.

I enjoyed Stonyfield’s part in the movie & their CEO’s point that every single thing you buy at the grocery store is a VOTE, and that is the best place to start changing the way the world eats!

How can you get involved? Go here. Also, find local farms and diaries near you here.

Have you seen this movie? What did you think?

turkey meatballs – two recipes

Today was all about turkey – ground turkey.  I had two tubes of Shady Brook Farms turkey that was certainly one it’s last leg & needed to be cooked!  So, I made turkey meatballs & in turn, stuffed acorn squash.

Turkey Meatballs

(Sorry for my lack of pictures – totally spaced.)

2 lbs ground turkey (I used Shady Brook Farms tubes)

1 egg

3/4 cup breadcrumbs (I used packaged Italian style)

1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Spices of your choice, but remember, turkey can be bland, so spice accordingly.  I went with salt, pepper, dried basil, garlic powder, and cumin.

Preheat oven to 350.  Add all ingredients to mixing bowl.  Here’s the messy part – gotta mix with your hands!  Mix everything up well, and roll into balls. (your preference, I made larger meatballs this time, but generally I go pretty small.)  I generally use either a cookie sheet with aluminum foil or a 9×13 casserole dish to bake my meatballs, this time I went with the cookie sheet.  Since turkey is low in fat, they can get a little stuck, nothing to worry about, but you can spray the pan with some cooking spray if you’re concerned.  Fill the pan/cookie sheet & bake for 20-30 minutes. To check if they’re done, just slice into a few and check for pink/rawness.  Ta-da!  They look like this:

(except more appetizing, )

After I whipped up the batch of meatballs, I began to prepare an acorn squash because I was CRAVING it.  What I like to do with acorn squash is slice one in half, and place it cut side down in a baking dish with some water in it.  It then goes into a 400 degree oven for 20-30 minutes.

I chose dried cranberries, two turkey meatballs & some parmesan cous cous (pre cooked) as my filling, which I loaded into my squash half and placed on a cookie sheet (which is the same one I used for meatballs, which explains the nasty look of the aluminum foil)

Bake for 10ish more minutes & enjoy!

Sprinkling cheese on top (especially goat & feta) is key to get a nice brown crusty top, but I’m all out so I suffered through this   It was delicious!

Happy Saturday!

more stonyfield reviews :)

Two items up for review, which I hasten to note were not provided by Stonyfield, nor am I being compensated for their review.  (I mean, other than getting to enjoy their deliciousness )

Product one: Stonyfield’s Cookies & Cream Lowfat Frozen Yogurt:

So, with this review comes a little story – we bought this Sunday night, opened it up when we got home and both B & I tried a few bites.  We both thought it was good, and put it back in the freezer for the next night, or whenever.  I went to get it out the next night & B had eaten about 1/2 of the container!  Guess he really liked it   He requested that I put in here that & I quote “Stonyfield should sell this in gallon containers”

Needless to say, this is delicious frozen yogurt, with the perfect balance of cookie & vanilla fro-yo.  It has a nice, raw sugar flavor to it, and it was creamy and a perfect treat!  And seriously, at 130 calories for half a cup, you could certainly have more than a serving on those days where your sweet tooth just can’t be stopped!  Some other nutritional info – (per serving) 4g of protein, 2g of fat, and 25g of carbs, and like all Stonyfield products, everything is organic!  Can’t beat it!  Oh yeah &, McKinley really enjoyed cleaning the container:

Product two: Stonyfield’s Vanilla Nonfat Fro-yo:

This totally beats out Ben & Jerry Vanilla ICE CREAM for the best vanilla frozen treat I’ve ever had.  Hands down!  So, so, so creamy (you would NEVER know it’s fat free!) and absolutely amazing real vanilla flavor.  The nutritional stats on this stuff are very good – 0g of fat (obviously) 4g of protein, 20g of carbs and only 100 calories for 1/2 a cup.  Now, with that kind of low calorie level, to me that means it’s fair game for eating all at once if I so choose!  Ice cream for dinner anyone?

Organic, fat free, amazing flavored fro yo – yes please!  I only wish Stonyfield had more than 4 flavors (vanilla, chocolate, vanilla fudge swirl, and coffee) in the fat-free variety!

 

Alright, I am off to prep for my long run tomorrow (wish me luck!) – gotta make a playlist to pump me up!

Don’t forget to enter my giveaway!

 

big news!

So, this weekend I was interested in trying to run a town-wide Turkey Trot (5k) but after viewing the course, I decided that I definitely was not going to be able to run the course (2 HUGE hills – one at the beginning and one in the middle).

B jokingly suggested that instead we try to do 10k’s on the treadmills – and I agreed!  We decided on Saturday we’ll give it a shot.  B will have no trouble with running a 10k, but I honestly have never run more than 3.5 miles at one time, so I would love to do the whole 10k, but I’m setting my goal at 5 miles.

 

Any of you runners out there have any tips?

Don’t forget to enter my newest giveaway!

Don’t forget, you can link back for another entry!