I ate sushi...

I just wanted to let you know.....

I almost threw up too.

Who eats that stuff anyway? Weirdos!

Blueberries!

Yes, that's right!

I saw this at the grocery store the other day and knew I HAD to try it. {Plus, it was on sale, so I kind of had to right?}

I love blueberries. Not just a little bit...but A LOT. Blueberry muffins....blueberry scones....blueberry waffles...blueberry cheesecake....oh yeah!

As many of you know, I have been attempting to eat healthier. These last few weeks I have really been struggling to keep to my goals. Every night after dinner my sweet tooth kicks in and it's been hard to stay strong. In fact, last night I ate a bag of M&Ms. {They were SO good!} BUT! This is not good...once I get started I often have a hard time staying strong and it snowballs from there.

Well, this cereal is going to save me! {I hope}

Considering that most candy bars/chocolate items contain super large amounts of carbs, I figured why not swap them for a nice bowl of blueberry cereal goodness instead? What is the difference you ask? Well...let me tell you.

0 grams of fat in my cereal....10 grams of fat in a package of M&Ms

100 calories vs. 250 calories

7 grams of sugar vs. 30 grams of sugar

Plus, the cereal has Vitamin A and C, and contain 45% of your daily needs for iron.

My sugar craving is gone...and I didn't blow it for the day. Hallelujah! Both my brain and my tummy can be happy.

Steps to a healthier you

That right my inter-peeps. I've gone healthy.

I know...I'll give you a second to let the shock wear off.

Last week I started my Nutritional Science class and the first assignment involved the use of a food diary. {YIKES} I then had to weigh my food choices against the recommended servings from MyPyramid, which is the latest version of the Food Pyramid. You can go to MyPyramid Tracker and do the same if you'd like to check it out.

Turns out, though I thought I ate fairly good {not counting the splurges on baked goods} I found that the majority of the food I eat is basically empty calories. Lots and lots of calories...with absolutely no nutritional value.

So, I did some research {because I had to for the assignment} and found out which were the better foods and did all my grocery shopping based on that list. It took me FOR-E-VER to do my shopping this last time. Reading labels and comparing labels is rather time consuming. And this time I wasn't just quickly scanning the fat content like I normally did before. I was looking for the iron and calcium and vitamins and fiber that the food contained. I also had to check the ingredient list to make sure that foods saying they were multigrain, or whole wheat actually contained substantial amounts of those items. You'd be surprised at how many foods claiming to be better are really the exact same as the original.

Anyway...I have been eating this way for almost two weeks now. And let me tell you....I eat A LOT of food. I had no idea I could eat this much food and still stay within my limits. Turns out fruits and vegetables really are good for you. Crazy! :0)

Three cups of milk per day

Two cups of fruit per day

Three cups of vegetables per day

5.5 ounces of meats or beans per day

6 ounces of grains per day

See? Lots of food! I thought I had to be hungry to lose weight. I have already lost a pound, and honestly, I wasn't really even trying. I was just eating, and learning to eat while I did it. I can now say that I get a full days supply of all of the essential vitamins and minerals required each day....simply by eating. And not over-eating....just eating GOOD. I have never gone over my calorie recommendations, nor the fat recommendations. In fact, I'm usually on the low side...but I'm full. I am full...my tummy is happy.

And that makes me happy.

So, go check out the website. Fill out your food diary and see what you are getting out of your daily food intake. Are you healthy?

OCD and me....

Yes, just another glimpse into the world of OCD that I live in.

Actually...Sister Sassy requested my menu planning strategies as she says she is struggling in this area. So, I'm accomodating her here. You can just read for enjoyment. :0)

First of all...I'm going to put a big DISCLAIMER here:

I am not a chef. I am not a dietician. My friend Holly is...but I am not. I would never profess that all of my meals are well balanced, though I do attempt to feed my children "healthy" meals for the MOST part. {We have our moments of pizza/chicken nugget madness. :0)} Back to the disclaimer here....I do not cook gourmet meals. On rare occasions I get creative, but for the most part I stick with quick and simple using as few ingredients as possible. Also...it usually has to be kid friendly. I DETEST throwing away platefuls of food.

OK! So now that I've gotten that out of the way...we can move on!

Here's what I do.

At the end of every month I begin planning the menus for the next month. Sometimes I do it two weeks at a time, this last month I did it for the entire month of February. Just depends on how much planning time I've got. As I knew mid-February would be hectic for me, I opted for the whole month so I wouldn't have to worry about it.

To begin the planning, I look through my cupboards to get an idea of what I've already got on hand, and then pull out my handy refrigerator calendar. Using this I can quickly determine which nights will need to be super quick, super easy meals. Like the first two Tuesdays of every month I've got piano lessons and PTA meetings. This leaves me 1 1/2 hours to whip something up and have my family sit down together to eat it. {Which is a MUST in my house}

After figuring that out...it's time to figure out what's for dinner.

I admit I've got quite a collection of recipe books. I LOVE finding new, great recipes and trying them out. The ones I find to be share worthy I post on my recipe blog here. I have also found some really yummy ones here at my friend Alicia's family recipe blog. For those of you in need of some really great quick/easy recipes you can find oodles of them online. My favorite sites for these types of recipes are Kraft Foods, Pillsbury {I don't know if you can see them in the pictures, but I've got a couple of the Pillsbury cookbooks because I used so many of these recipes}, and of course...Food Network. I absolutely love Paula Deen. I have four of her cookbooks. She is fabulous!

Anyway...I have a few staple menu items that I rotate throughout EVERY SINGLE MONTH. Family favorites such as tacos {Jaysen's favorite}, spaghetti and meatballs {Landon's favorite}, and pizza for weekends. We cook a lot of Mexican food in this house as Jaysen loves it so much. And a lot of things I grew up on as well. Stuff like Shepherds Pie, Beef Stroganoff, and Tater Tot Casserole. My mom is an amazing cook and so is my grandma. I've learned to make a casserole out of just about anything. Seriously. Throw it all in a pot and there's dinner. :0)

Back to menu planning.

This handy little chart is my Febraury menu list. The first column shows my busy nights. Then, the day of the week, the actual date of the month, and then the menu for each night. I fill in the busy nights first with the quick and easy recipes. Stuff like spaghetti, or broccoli soup, sometimes Hamburger Helper {Jaysen is cringing}, Hamburger Gravy, etc. Weekends usually get the fun meals like pizza. Then I start searching through recipes to fill in the rest of the days. Where I've been doing this for so long, it usually only takes me about an hour to get through all of this. Especially when I print out, clip out, etc. recipes that I've found throughout the month that look yummy and put them on my desk to save for the next menu planning day. If you go to the Kraft Foods website, you can sign up and get a free magazine from them that has oodles of yummy recipes in it.

The main thing to remember once you've got this all filled in is to set out the meat the night before so it has thaw time. It's much safer {bacteria wise} to let meat thaw in the refrigerator.

Some other handy cooking tips I've found:

1. Buy chicken tenders instead of chicken breasts. My kids can't ever eat an entire breast anyway, and when you are needing to chop and cook for other things it takes a lot less time.
2. Cream soups, though fattening {I buy the fat free kind} are my best friend. I use them in almost all of my quick easy recipes. Stroganoff, hamburger gravy, shepherds pie, chicken enchiladas.....oh yeah. By mixing the soup with sour cream and onion soup mix you've got an instant "gravy" base on which to build WHATEVER you want. Good stuff.
3. Crock pots are your friend. I have trouble remembering this one. But there are some really great recipes out there for "Set it and forget it" meals.

Also, while you are getting together your list of recipes you are using, make sure that you make a separate list of all the ingredients you DO NOT have on hand. This you take to the grocery store so that when you are ready to whip up that nights dinner, you've got everything on hand.

There you have it. It probably doesn't sound easy to anyone but me. It's a system I've used for a while now and it works great for me. The key is to find a system that works for you. If you know what you are cooking and you've already got the ingredients on hand, then dinner will be quick and simple and healthy. More importantly, you won't be prone to ordering out. I've been known to just throw up my hands and grab Chili's To Go if I'm caught without a menu planned for the night. I also love making things the kids can help with too. More time to spend with them. Like when we made homemade stuffed crust pizza and Landon got to help stuff the crusts with string cheese. Good times.

I hope this helps you out Sassy. If not, at least you got to see another one of my OCD areas. :0) Happy meal planning!

A new favorite!!!

I ate lunch at a new spot here in town and thought I should share. It's called Zulu Bagels and they have some YUMMY bagel sandwiches. I love bagel sammies and have gone to Molly's Bagel Bakery for years. The only problem is that I have to actually get OUT of my car to get one. Sigh. Nothing like taking a 2 year old into a place like that. Zulu bagels has a drive through window around the back. I went in my pajamas. Literally. And let me tell you...such a good sandwich. Asiago cheese bagel, turkey, oodles of veggies and veggie cream cheese. Oh my gosh! It's a brand new restaurant...brand new building.....on Washington Street between Filer and Falls. Go try it and tell me what you think!

Enough already!

So, I've decided I'm just going to let myself go until after Christmas. So much good food, so little time. I can't control myself any longer! I've tried to be good. If I knew naughty food was on the menu at the place I was going...I would eat super light all day long. But honestly...it's getting old.

So, I asked Jaysen if he'd still love me if I let myself go....he assured me that as long as I wasn't TOO big....he'd be ok. (doesn't that make you feel warm and fuzzy? sheesh!) He realized I was slightly joking, so he being such a witty one, bantered back. It's what I love about him! I can't help it!

I'm going for it! I'll let you know how it goes. Sure, I'll be upset after the fact. But don't we all start our New Years diets soon anyway? I'll Tae Bo my way back into shape. ;0)