Happy New Year!

I'm not making a New Year's resolution. I'm carrying on with my quest to organize the house and make me the best me ever. I've moved some recipes over to my family site, but will be keeping my ramblings about my house keeping skills (or lack of!) and trying out new stuff in the kitchen and recapturing my health.

Over the past few days, I've been cleaning out my sons' dressers and shared closet. It's such a great feeling to know that the only clothes in their room are clothes that fit, are clean and not full of holes. Clothes that are ready to move on are in the guest room waiting to be tagged for the upcoming Just Between Friends sale. I've been ironing the little shirts and slacks every night while catching up on Season Two of Glee on Netflix.

I've also used my baking soda/lavender essential oil mix to clean the boys' mattresses. A light dusting on each mattress, let it sit for about 20 minutes and vacuumed it up...ewww. Even more eww, the kids looked at it under the microscope (pictures on the family blog). Their blankets, pillows and stuffed animals were all washed on the sanitary cycle tonight and were snuggly warm from the dryer just in time for tuck-ins.

The kids are still home on Christmas Break from school and I thought it would be a treat to have Chic-fil-a for lunch. But wowsa - the price of healthy fast food (two sandwiches on wheat buns with child sized lemonades and small fruit cups; two salads; and one order of chicken strips, small lemonade and small fruit cup = $33). Clearly, we won't be dining out that frequently anymore with our plan to use Dave Ramsey's principles to keep us from going in the red when I embark on my journey into Grad School in about 5 months.

It's been in the low 60's here for the high during the day. I made a delicious quick chunky chicken noodle soup for dinner. I enlisted some help from Wolfgang Puck and these yummy gluten-free noodles.
While the soup was cooking, I took out my new toy - a Ninja blender and made the hubby and me some nutrient-packed smoothies. So yummy...

- Almond Milk

- Frozen fruit

- Kale

I added my supplements to mine...and then it ended up tasting gross, so I dumped it down the sink. Next time, I'm only adding the chia seeds and leaving the Maca Powder (which doesn't taste too bad in OJ, but not so much in my smoothie) and the Spirullina out.

What, orange juice has scary stuff in it, too? Ugh

I've been hearing about all the uproar about arsenic in apple juice, and I hadn't really given it much thought since we are not big juice drinkers. Apple juice seems to upset my youngest's tummy to the point that we must remain near a restroom if a well-meaning grandparent gives him a juice box that contains apple juice. Sneaky apple juice is in nearly all juice boxes, so Daniel brings a special bottle of water each day in his lunch box.

This morning, my kids had a delicious breakfast including orange juice. According to the packaging, this OJ is made about 20 minutes away from my house. I was thinking it couldn't be too terribly bad. And then I read this article a physician friend of mine linked to Facebook. And of course, if it's on the internet, it must be true! While ordinarily, I take things I read online with a grain of salt, this business of OJ not really being as healthy as it proclaims itself, is something that I've been thinking about since viewing Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead on Netflix last week.

I've asked for either a juicer or a Vita Mix for Christmas, but I know Santa's budget is pretty tight, so I don't know if it will work out. It's in my quest to try to get more raw fruits/veggies in my diet.

This morning, I made a yummy smoothie in my cheap-o Oster blender that was a wedding gift 13 years ago.

1 cup of ice

1 cup of Almond Milk

2 TBSP greek yogurt

1/2 cup frozen strawberries

1/2 cup frozen blackberries

1 cup frozen spinach

1 scoop chocolate flavored protein powder

1 TBSP chia seeds

Documentary watching fool

I haven't had time to sit to post, and I have a dozen or so recipes to post. However, I have been spending some quality time with my treadmill and have managed to find a way to get my netbook to stay on the top of the treadmill so that I can watch movies while I walk/trot. I just watched the documentary Forks Over Knives. I had already heard much about it from my father-in-law, and it did not disappoint. My problem is (well, one of many!) that I know which foods are good for me foods, and which foods are bad for me foods. I just don't seem to have the time to make the good for me foods.

Then, a couple of days ago, while on the treadmill watching Food Matters, something really sunk in. I had been trying to hard to make meals based on what a "meal" was when I was growing up - meat, potatoes, veggie, rolls, and a drink. And meals my husband grew up with were vegetarian and moderately healthy, but full of sodium, preservatives and butter-soaked veggies.

So anyway, I'm watching this documentary and a light bulb goes off over my head when the documentary starts talking about raw foods. Duh, when my kids were little toddlers, our whole diet was pretty much raw or lightly steamed fruits/veggies. I would say our diet is about 25 percent fresh, raw fruits/veggies right now. I'm working hard to increase that to at least 50% of each meal.

I'm also working hard to not beat myself up when I don't have time to cook.

Dinner last night...

- Grilled Cheese (real cheese)

- Sliced honey crisp apples

- Carrot chips (found in the organic section of our grocery story - just sliced crisp cold carrots)

- Rice cakes (by request from the youngest)

- Ice water with lemon

Not impressive by any means, but also not a Happy Meal.

Chinese Cabbage Salad

Let me say that my husband loved this salad and requested it be added to the dinner rotation. I had intended for this to be a side dish, but since I live in Florida and it's ridiculously hot and humid, salads are meals around here. It became a meal when I broiled some marinated chicken cutlets and shredded the chicken to add into the salad.

Ingredients:

• 3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
• 2 tablespoons white sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1 (3 ounce) package chicken flavored ramen noodles, crushed, seasoning packet reserved
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1 (16 ounce) package broccoli coleslaw mix
• 1/2 cup chopped green onions
• 4 ounces toasted slivered almonds
• 
  
• 1. In a small saucepan, cook the vinegar and sugar over medium heat until dissolved. Remove from heat and stir in salt, pepper, ramen seasoning packet and oil. Set aside to cool.
  2. In a large bowl, combine the uncooked ramen noodles, broccoli coleslaw mix, and green onions. Pour dressing over salad; toss evenly to coat. Refrigerate until chilled.
  3. Sprinkle with almonds.

Surviving Dinner with Young Kids

I'm pretty blessed that mealtimes at our house seem to go without much argument. Since the early days of toddler-hood, I've believed in a "meal of 4 items". There are so many different tid-bits of information out there, that I find it hard to wade through the sea of knowledge without feeling like I'm sinking. I do believe in much of what Ellyn Satter has to say about it only being my responsibility to provide appropriate meals - it is my child's responsibility to eat. I've also had the pleasure of meeting members of the Popsicle Center.

So this meal of 4 items (and I apologize, since I don't know if I read about it somewhere, or how I started doing this!) is really a simple concept. Basically, it means that we aren't having just a dish of spaghetti, or just a bowl of cereal, or just a sandwich. Basically, with each meal I strive for 2 different fruits/veggies, 1 protein/carb and maybe something fun (basically, the 4th item is always something I know my kids will eat - even if I have to chop up a cheese stick.)

In this meal - we were celebrating our trip to Disney's Animal Kingdom. There is a salad, and Rainier cherries, and Mickey shaped chicken nuggets (Costco) and baked onion rings leftover from another meal. I know for sure my kids are going to devour the nuggets. So what's so important about being sure there's at least one thing you know the kids love? Well - that gives you creative licensing to mess around with the rest of the plate - add something new, or even re-try something that hasn't been successful a month or so back. It takes a few times to warm up to some foods.

Our "rule" on second helpings of food goes a little something like this: you don't have to eat everything on your plate, but if are hungry enough to want more chicken mickey heads, then you are hungry enough to work on the rest of your plate. With the exception of the new food. If the new food is a bust, then it's okay to overlook that slimy onion-ring for the sake of more broccoli in the salad. Who knew? My kids have never had onion rings before and really didn't like them! The whole point of having 4 items is that some will be hits and some will be misses, but you will likely get some nutrition in your kids without an argument, and without without bribing them to eat, and the big catch is that one day they will surprise you and ask for more broccoli for their salad.

Speaking of salads. I keep a variety of dressings on hand. Some store bought and some that I've made myself. My two favorite are here:
The hospital I work in has a great salad bar, but their variety in dressing is ho-hum. So as odd as it sounds, I pack along my salad dressing! This week, I've gotten up a little earlier and packed along some Super Greens to have with my salad. My big wish is for a Vita Mix for Christmas, so I can juice my greens.

Cheesy Taco Wraps

At our house, movie night means bento-style snacks. I was in hurry and did not snap a picture of the snacks this week.

We used these containers from the Target garden area. I couldn't find the exact picture, but that's a good similar picture.

In the long area of the container, we do air popped popcorn.

In one of the two small areas, I put in rainier cherries. So yummy! (By the way, I'm in the market for a good cherry pit picker and am open to suggestions.)

In the other of the two small areas, I made cheesy taco wraps.

Cheesy Taco Wraps

2 blocks cream cheese

8 oz sour cream

2 cups shredded cheddar cheese

1 tbsp of onion soup mix

1 tbsp of taco seasoning

1 package of wheat wraps

Mix all of the ingredients (except the wraps!).

Spread mixture all over one side of the wrap and then wrap up. Wrap the wrapped up wrap in plastic wrap and put in the refrigerator for 1 hour.

After an hour, take out the wraps and slice into appetizer sized yumminess - don't forget to take the plastic off first!

Reviews:

- I loved the wraps.

- Hubby loved the wraps and asked me to make more of the filling, which he used as a spread on some crackers the next night for a snack.

- All three kids gave it a collective 6 thumbs down. Apparently, it was a little too spicy for them, and so next time I'll leave out the taco seasoning (which is a combination that I made a while back that seems to be heavy on the cayenne pepper).

Skin Care Products

I've been trying to be more mindful of the chemicals that I put on my body and that of my family. My favorite line of beauty products is made by Yes To Carrots.

After checking the Skin Deep Cosmetics Database, I'm very confident with the products I'm using. I have extremely dry skin and I love the moisturizers made by this company. And as my kids are getting bigger, my daughter loves to sit with me while I'm washing my face at night when I get home from work, and I love that I can use the cucumber wipes on her face, too, when she wants to wash with me.

Don't even get me started on the eye cream. I love the cucumber eye cream. Unfortunately, I'm a belly sleeper, which means that my eyes are very swollen every morning. To add insult to injury, I get up at 5am for work, and my peepers need a little kick in the morning!

I'm in no way endorsed by these folks. I just wanted to share my favorite safe skin care products.