Eat some yummy beans today!

Beans are super good for you! They are on Dr. Fuhrman's list of the 5 top cancer fighting foods.

• loaded with protein, pair with rice, grains, pasta, tortillas for a complete protein
  
• high in complex carbs
• dietary fiber
• rich in vitamins and minerals
• no cholesterol

Canned beans are fine, but you want to make sure that they are rinsed well to get rid of the sodium film that's on them.

Rice and 2 Bean Salad:

Salad:

3 C cooked basmati, wild, black or brown rice (your choice)

1 C bean sprouts

1 can, 16 oz kidney or pinto beans, rinsed well and drained

1 can, 16 oz black beans, rinsed well and drained

1 can corn, drained or 1 ½ C frozen corn thawed

4 green onions, or ½ of a red, white, or yellow onion diced.

1 sweet red bell pepper, cleansed and chopped

¼ C fresh minced cilantro

Dressing:

½ C Olive Oil

¼ C. Apple Cidar Vinegar

1 T agave or sugar

1 garlic clove, minced

1 t salt

1 t ground cumin

1 t chili powder

1 t ground black pepper

Mix salad and dressings separately, and then pour dressing over salad, toss to coat.

Beauty Redefined

I just got back from a workshop at my church given by Beauty Redefined. You should check it out, here. www.beautyredefined.net. It was all about loving your body and being as healthy as you can be. There are some awesome articles on the website. Here is a short summary.

• Healthy and Beautiful comes in all sizes, shapes, and colors.

• Women are defined in media as something to look at while men are defined by their actions.

• Every media picture is airbrushed? I know there are some obvious ones out there but all of them? They showed us some before and after pictures, it really makes me upset.

• White women are always tanned and dark women are lightened in media
• Sport's Illustrated and other magazines publish mainstream pornography. Sometimes we think of porn as a dark website, but unfortunately, It's in the grocery aisles and on billboards, recognize it for what it is!
  

• Women are so worried about what they look like, they're self worth is low that it keeps them from doing good things for themselves and for others. They are too focused on themselves.
  

I think that while media is to blame, we are to blame too. How often do you hear women talking bad about themselves? "My thighs are really big" and the response is something like "You think your thighs are big, you should see mine", and on and on. Or when a woman is given a compliment, "You look really nice today", and the response, "Oh my hair is so stringy, gross"

It has actually started to annoy me when I hear women talk about their bodies so negatively. I sometimes fall into the trap, but I have gotten a lot better about it since having babies. Watching my amazing body give birth to my children has made me love my body more than ever before. I love my stretch marks (I really do, ask Michael). I marvel that my body knows how to do so many things. I want to be healthy so that I can be the best me and the best mom to my children, so that I can enjoy my life.

More Water please!

Christian says, "I don't want water, I need some chocolate milk!" then 2 minutes later, "I need more water please, come on, on the count of 3: 1,2, 3.!"

I am always trying to drink more water. I prefer to drink water over juice, milk, soda, ect. I like to drink distilled water best, so I bought a distiller last year when I was pregnant. Tap water is better than juice, soda or nothing, so I drink it too.
I want Christian to drink water too.

A couple of weeks ago, I started filling up a pitcher with water every morning and leaving it on the counter with 1 glass and 1 cup beside it. When Christian sees it he immediately wants water. me too! My goal is for us to drink 3 pitchers a day. It is amazing how great I feel!

Fabulous Honey Popcorn

We make this so often I have this recipe memorized. Michael thought that this sounded gross at first but now this is how we eat popcorn for our Friday night treat.

1/2 C Honey
1 Tbsp molasses
2 Tbsp butter
1 tsp baking powder


Put all ingredients but baking powder in a sauce pan over the stove at a low to medium heat. Bring to a light boil. Turn off heat. Stir in baking soda and watch it fizz up. Pour over bowl of popped popcorn. Salt to taste

Frozen tortillas for fast/healthy lunches

Here's what I did and it turned out awesome! First, I made a double batch of these tortillas without cooking them. Then I put the dough into snack sized bags (about 1 Cup of dough/bag). Then I put all my little snack bags (I think there were 6) in a bigger gallon sized freezer bag.

Now whenever we need tortillas for lunch (like today), I take out a snack bag and then put it in the microwave for 45 seconds. The dough is then easily rolled out (Christian loves helping), and I cook it for 1 minute on each side. The tortillas are "fresh" again! (ha ha I know that real fresh tortillas are better but these taste pretty good and I can't make them everyday!)

Today I ate a wheat tortilla with re-fried beans, black beans (from the freezer too!), lettuce, tomato, onion, salsa, and red quinoa (from my fridge that I used for a Tabouli Salad earlier this week) Yum!
Christian ate a tortilla with re-fried beans and cheese. He also likes to dip the tortillas in honey and eat them that way.


Whole Wheat Flour Tortillas:

2 3/4 cups Whole Wheat Flour
1/4 cup Ground Flax Seed
1/2 tsp Real Salt
1 tsp aluminum free Baking Powder
1/2 cup Coconut Oil
1 cup hot water

Combine dry ingredients. Mix in oil until flour balls up. Pour in hot water slowly and mix. Make into 2 in diameter balls and then roll out into a tortilla (mine are never perfect circles). Cook over medium heat in non-stick skillet (no oil needed since it's in the mix). Cook about 1 minute on each side or until tortilla bubbles.

Granola Bars

We make Granola Bars a lot around here. Christian likes them for a quick breakfast while we're on our way the gym in the morning.
I've found that granola bars are like smoothies, you can add whatever you like or whatever's lying around.

2-3 cups rolled grain
1-2 cup binder (oil, applesauce, mashed bananas, peanut butter)
1/2 C sweetner (agave, honey, maple syrup, rice syrup, brown sugar)
1-2 C anything else (dried fruit, nuts, seed, cereal, cinnamon, nutmeg, whatever sounds good)

Today we made some that turned out yummy!
Grains:
2 C. rolled oats
1/2 C. grapenuts cereal
1/2 C Wheat flour
Binders:
2 tbs ground flax seed
1/2 C coconut oil
1/2 C peanut butter
2 mashed bananas
Sweetner:
1/2 C Agave
Other stuff:
1/4 C sunflower seeds
1/4 C Pumpkin seeds

smooth onto cookie sheet and bake 350 deg for 20 min. Cut them while they are warm that way the won't break off. If you use flax seed you should store them in the fridge, but otherwise they can be stored in air tight container at room temperature.
(I wish I had a picture, but my camera won't turn on, I seriously have bad luck with it)

Don't have a lot of time? Increase Intensity

Today I only had a few minutes to work out, so I did my push ups and then did a tabata type workout. You can read about it here.
Tabata was developed by a Japanese Speed Skating coach. Obviously speed skaters have a very high aerobic capacity! He was able to push his athletes' hearts to 150% of their training zone heart rate. He found that 4 minutes of very very intense intervals was similar to those that performed an hour of steady state Cardiovascular exercise.
So what does this mean for me? Although I am not in the shape of a speed skater; I can still benefit from doing High intensity interval training.

My "tabata type" workout (I call it a tabata type workout because I am not able to measure my heart rate accurately and I know that I cannot workout at the intensity of a speed skater)

3 minutes warm-up 3.5-5.5 mph

repeat 8 times: treadmill at 10.1 mph (the max)
20 sec running
10 sec rest
for a total of 4 minutes

I actually had to work up to doing all 8 intervals! I am always gasping for breath.
2 minutes cool down 3.0 mph.

Yummy Smoothie!

This is what I am drinking right now, It's my new favorite treat!

1 orange
1/2 cup rolled oats, not instant
1 C milk (regular, almond, or soy)
1 tsp honey
1 banana (I use frozen)

blend until smooth.

100 push up challenge!

I need a exercise goal.
I decided to participate in the 100 push up challenge. You can read about it here. If I follow the challenge, after 6 weeks I should be able to do 100 push ups! I did the initial push up test on Wednesday and I did 20 push-ups. The last 5 were a struggle. That puts me in rank 3. Today I am going to start the first week.

I finally found it, the best pizza dough!

I have been on a search for the best/healthiest pizza dough recipe. This is really good and fast! This is from WinCo.

1/2 tbsp active dry yeast
1 cup warm water
2 c whole wheat flour
1/2 c wheat germ
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp honey
Preheat to 350F. In a small bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water. Let stand until creamy, about 10 minutes. In a large bowl combine flour, wheat germ and salt. Make a well in the middle and add honey and yeast water. Stir well to combine. Cover and set in a warm place to rise for about 10 minutes. roll dough on a floured pizza and poke a few holes in it with a fork. Bake in a preheated oven for 10 minutes, or until desired crispiness is achieved.

This dough will cover a big cookie sheet. Yum! I made double and froze half in the freezer. (I'll let you know how it thaws!

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No artificial sweetners, flavors, colors, or preservatives!