Dr Oz Green Shake - AKA Life in a cup!

GOOD MORNING!

Today I'm posting a "not-so-family-favorite."

Nobody in the fam will jump on board 

this refreshing shake/smoothy.

BUT

I'm guessing most of you are mommas and 

might venture on board.

You will be pleasantly surprised.

I saw this many years ago on 

The Dr. Oz Show

Lots of goodness in this drink 

but 

I will tell you how it makes me feel.

Refreshing

Energized 

Like I can check off my veggies for the day:)

Lastly, it really fills me up with hardly any calories.

Ingredients:

1/2 cucumber

 4 celery sticks

 1 green apple (any apple will work)

 1/2 inch chunk of ginger root (tip below)

1 lime

1 lemon

2 BIG handfuls of spinach

ice

Notice my son's football helmet:) I had just cleaned it in the dishwasher.

Chop up and throw in blender.

Tip: put spinach in after all the other veggies and blend well.

Put ice in last and enjoy.

If you want some EXTRA goodness and FULLNESS then 

add a scoop of chia seeds in with the veggies.

You will be full for a long time and no real extra calories!

This is my go to drink when I serious on 

losing some extra pounds.

Why? 

Because it fills me and makes me fill so alive.

Ginger root tip:

Place ginger root in baggie and throw it in the freezer.

It last forever and does not change it's integrity.

BONUS:

I usually don't have an afternoon tired slump when drinking these.

Now go drink up and feel like a grown up 

for eating all your veggies for the day:)

Creamy Jalapeno Ranch Dip/Sauce

Creamy Jalapeno Ranch-dip/sauce

8 oz mayo

24 oz sour cream

1 cup milk (I use whole milk)

1 Cup tomatillo Salsa

1 BIG handful of Cilantro

3 Ranch dressing packets

1/2 pickled jalapeños

Non of this has to be spot on exact.  Just eye ball it:)

OK, here's how I make this delicious stuff as fast as I can.

I have a Ninja blender that came with a food processor.

Throw the cilantro and jalapeños in the processor and

let the machine do the chopping work for you.

Once chopped in smallish pieces, add tomatillo and ranch packets.

Blend well.

Now add the sour cream and Mayo and blend again.

Now add the Milk.  

TIP: Gauge how much milk to add by

 how loose or thick you like your sauce.

ALL DONE!

~This should have only taken 10 minutes tops~

Your family will be spoiled and only want this sauce from now on.

**GOOFY ME:)

Weekly Meal Menus

Hey everyone!

Yep, that me...Sweatshirt and easy bun.

It's my everyday look these days.

So, I'm committed to do better on posting.

___________________

I'm going to post one last time about meal planning,

and show you my meals for the next 2 weeks.

__

Making a weekly meal menu is really important if you want to 

feed your crew good meals and not feel stressed each day on 

"what's for dinner?"

When I don't get around to making mine is when I have 

to pull from my 15 min dinners and 

if I ever get around to creating tabs I'll make a 

super quick dinner tab.

Here is the next two weeks of meal planning for my crew.

I though it might inspire you to make your own list.

Monday: 

Meatballs and rice

There are the yummiest crockpot meatballs.  

Tuesday: 

"Healthy" Chicken Enchilada's with Spanish rice

Option: topped with my a family favorite that isn't "as" healthy...

Homemede Creamy Jalapeño ranch

FYI: I made the rice with the left overs from Monday:)

Wednesday:

Lasagna for picky eaters, garlic bread, side salad 

No chunky tomatoes or lumpy cheese sauce...

just yummy to their tummies.

Thursday:

Chicken Gyros with ?? veggies:)

Homemade greek yogurt sauce

Friday:

PIZZA 

I'll be out of town so I wanted to make it easy for the crew

Saturday:

LEFTOVERS or out to eat

I'm getting in late and will not be wanting to cook. 

Plus, we will have plenty of leftovers to choose from.

Sunday:

Kona Chicken with strawberry spinach salad and brown rice

One of my hubby's favorite!

Monday:

Brauts and oven baked MacN'Cheese (grams style)

I like to have an easy option on Mondays.  

I picked up 2 different brauts, chicken/spinach and beer brauts.

Tuesday:

Chicken Fajita's

Wednesday:

Garlic-Lemon Double Stuffed Chicken

Alright, I'm not gonna lie.  

The only healthy part of this dish is the chicken and the garlic.

 It is filled with a delicious cream cheese filling and topped

with more cheddar cheese. 

 BUT...it's yummy!

Thursday:

Turkey burger sliders and fries

I will be trying my hand at home made sweet potato fries.

I might be trying to recover from the fatty Wednesday dinner, lol.

Friday:

Chicken Fried Rice

I love all-in-one dinners:)

By now I will be in need of another big HEB run but I'm sure I

will have needed to run there for more of "something".

Because I'll be out of town the last few days of the second week,

**College unofficial visits for my volleyball girl**,

I will try my best to prepare these ahead of time enough for 

anyone to throw on the grill or in the oven.

I also bought enough pizzas to cover a couple days, lol.

Hopefully I'll take pictures and post recipes here soon for these meals.

Looks like I'm 2 days behind since it's already Wednesday:)

ONE MORE THING...

Meal planning tip:

When you sit down to plan out your meals, be sure to have 

your calendar, recipe book, and your trusty phone.

Why a calendar? 

Plan your meals around your schedule. 

If you don't then you probably won't be able to stick to your menu.

Why recipe book? 

To look up favorite meals and get ingredients needed.

Why Phone? 

To look up at least one or two new recipes to try...or 

to just inspire you to create you own.

Time saver tip:

BE SURE TO MAKE YOUR GROCERY LIST WHILE CREATING YOUR MENU.

Happy Planning!

Lasagna that everyone will enjoy

I don't know about you but I love Italian food. When it comes to lasagna I'm picky and so is my family. I'll admit to buying the frozen premade stuff a long time ago but I could never pass that along to my kids anymore nor would I want to.

This lasagna recipe is for the picky eater. I've won over the pickiest of eaters.
There are three main reasons why this recipe will win over the picky eaters.
#1 You will not find any chunky tomatoes (something my son continues to ask)
#2 The white cheese mixture is not chunky, I think I see a pattern here. It's very smooth.
#3 It has just a hint of sweetness in it...not including the sweetness from the cook:)

 As I've mentioned before, I cook for a crew. This recipe yields 2 foil pans (11 x 9 ish) serving about 10 hungry folks.
This size pan was perfect for my family plus one  = 9 (we always have at least a plus one, love that)
It's a heavier meal so it really goes a long way and now I have a pan in the freezer for when I'm feeling lazy:) or on those ever so frequent busy athletic nights.

I'm not at my computer today so pictures will come later.
Now for the good stuff. That's why you're here right?
Remember, this is making you 2 meals worth.

3 lbs of ground meat (I almost always used ground turkey)
2 T of sugar OR honey
2t salt or a good hefty pinch
1/2 t pepper or pinch (honestly I never measure this part)
15 oz. can of tomato sauce
12 oz. can of tomato paste
16 oz. cream cheese ( 2 normal size blocks)
16 oz. sour cream (do not use fat free)
One box of lasagna noodles
8 cups Mozzarella cheese

Let start cookin!
I'm going to write instruction exactly how I do it...being a good cook takes practice in multitasking.

Set out the cream cheese to get to room temp.
Next, start browning the meat in a large frying pan making sure you chop it up good with the spatula so that there are no big chunks, you can season the meat here lightly with garlic powder.
While meat is browning start cooking your noodles. Tip: don't out noodles into the water until water is boiling.
Drain your meat and put back into the pan for more ingredients.
Drain your noodles in same strainer...the hot water will help clean the grease off the strainer for later:)
I like to lay the noodles out flat on paper towels to dry a bit.
Put both the tomato sauce and tomato paste into the meat. Combine well. Now add the sweetness (honey or sugar) and the salt and pepper. Combine well-
Now for the cheese mixture.
Mix the cream cheese and sour cream together. I like to use a mixture to really mix it good.

Now, your already almost done! This part is the fun part.
Bring all your mixtures, mozzarella, cheese and dishes close.
I like to add a bit of olive oil to the bottom of the dish.
Line the bottom with about 6 noodles (you will have to over lap.
Then add cheese mixture, meat, then mozzarella. Next layer...only half the noodles...no over leaping this time. Followed by the same cheese/meat/cheese.

Bake at 350* for 20 minutes or until golden brown edges appear. Most of my family likes the lasagna to be mostly golden brown but you fix it how you think yours would enjoy best.

Enjoy with a small side salad, and bread YUM!

Feed your kid

One goal as a momma is to feed my kids good healthy food they love.
Sometimes that means training those taste buds a bit.

Here's what I did make that "training" easier.

About 11 yrs ago I saw that my kids didn't choose healthy options. I had been a penny pinchin momma that didn't pay too much attention to food ingredients. I was happy to fill the belly, save the $$, and ingredients were important but did not take center stage. Veggies usually came in the form of canned which was the first thing I decided to tackle. I started with salads. It was probably one of the unhealthiest salads you could get. Those first salads consisted of iceberg lettuce (yuck!), BACON (anything is yummy with some bacon), cheese, and ranch. I put that salad in front of them EVERY NIGHT. Not too much but they had to eat at least a small one. I then moved to Big Salad night, comparable to a fried chicken tender salad you might find at a popular restaurant. It's still part of my "go to" meals.
Changing your family to eat healthfully is all about baby steps and moderation.
If you don't get that last point then your kids will be more likely to not choose healthier eating when not with momma. The whole reason for feeding our families this way is not for them to just get a good start but to be health minded people for a long healthy life.

Is there anything you don't compromise on? Yep, soda. Will I be totally besides myself if soda touches my kids lips? Nope. BUT out of the junk foods, soda would be the 100% no go.

Here's some more things that I try to put into play.

*No or low MSG. The available msg here in the states is not good for you all the way around. I've seen reports that msg over seas originally was not bad. MSG is so something companies add for added flavor. I'm not going to get into what companies do to our food for added flavor without regard for our health here.  For more on that go to thefoodbabe.com - this lady is in the front lines of this.

*Fresh veggies and fruit instead of canned or even frozen.

*unbleached flour

*homemade instead of store bought. This one is important to me. The less amount of ingredients the better...especially those you can understand. I don't worry too much about fat if it comes from homemade. Now-a-days, the kids that people worry about whom are over weight are usually kiddos that eat more prepackaged foods and don't get much physical activity. Don't feel too bad if this can't happen as often as you'd like. Just try and try a little more the next time...soon you'll be surprised how well you've done.

For the athlete:
Protein is such a major topic among athletes. There are more intelligent people who know way more about this but here's what I do know. Your body can only use so much protein at one time...so getting 60 grams of protein at one time is not as important as getting protein, fat, and carbs throughout the day....many times a day. Trying to shove this down a teens throat won't help with your relationship with said teen. It's your job to make the right foods available and to offer them when you can. Protein bars are ok if you don't get the ones with a bunch of junk and the sugar content is not through the roof but don't let it be the main source. Do a google search on foods with protein, you'll find some surprising choices. It doesn't always have to be turkey, chicken, fish and peanut butter...although all good, kids need variety.

Well folks, it's time for me to go get the little kiddos from school.

Enjoy your day and stay focused on what's important!


Ps. My surprisingly delish lunch.
Ritz crackers, left over jasmine rice, a small avocado chunk, and bits of arugula.
I was able to eat 3 but that's just because my stomach isn't very big right now due to recent gallbladder surgery.

Stone soup

Now that the craziness of summer is over, I was excited to start back on here.
Until....my gall bladder missed behaved!
I am recovering from surgery today. The gallbladder had to go!

Food. Right now is a major issue for me. I'm on a serious strict diet.
So what is a juggling momma/ foodie to do...let's get to work.

Busy Moms Still Need To Wash....produce:)

One of the SINGLE handed easiest way to

feed your family good healthy food....especially snacks 

is to wash and prepare all that wonderful produce.

I'm sure I'm not the only health conscience mom that

buys produce in the hopes her kids will fill up on 

fresh food...only to have it thrown in the refrigerator

and rot.

Sooooo.....Here's your push to take a little extra time or

better yet enlist your kids to do the job and

wash that beautiful fresh produce, dry, and place in

an easy access container. 

Example:

If I have washed grapes in a bowl or tupperware type

container verses unwashed in a bag thrown in the drawer, the kids would

eat all the washed grapes and let the other to rot.

You know that old saying, "Out of sight, out of mind."

FYI: Don't stop buying foods that go bad quickly. 

Those enzymes are what we need. 

Just make them available.