HealthiER Cinnamon Rolls

*Here is my disclaimer.  Though these are healthier than the normal cinnamon rolls, I am in no way saying that this is a healthy breakfast to eat every morning.  They still have a lot of carbs in them and are an every once in a while type of treat.  And, don't think they are going to taste like regular cinnamon rolls, they are whole wheat, so keep that in mind too. :) That being said, I came up with these this morning while experimenting and we loved them. The kids were sneaking more of them while I was doing laundry. Brandon caught them. Hope you like it. Thanks!

2 1/4 cup whole wheat flour + extra for rolling dough
1/2 cup applesauce, unsweetened (organic if you can find it)
1/4 cup butter
1 tbsp. aluminum-free baking powder
2 tbsp. honey
cinnamon
honey
(pecans)
(raisins)
1/3 cup powdered sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
water

Preheat oven to 425.  In a large bowl, add flour, applesauce, butter, baking powder and honey. Mix well.  On a large cutting board or clean countertop, sprinkle a lot of flour and flour your hands too.  Pour dough mixture onto board and knead a few times, then roll into about a quarter inch thick rectangle.  Drizzle the dough with honey. Add as much cinnamon as you want.  For me  it's the more the better.  (Here is where you would add any additional ingredients like nuts or raisins if you wanted to) With a pizza cutter, cut the dough into 1 inch strips.  For large rolls, make the strips larger and cut them long ways.  For smaller rolls cut into 1 inch strips and cut them into short strips.  Roll each section up into a cinnamon roll.  Place onto baking sheet or pizza stone.  Cook for 10-15 minutes depending on the size of your rolls.  In a small bowl mix the powdered sugar and vanilla.  Slowly add water until it's a runny consistency.  Drizzle over warm rolls. Serve.
* To make them a little sweeter, add some vanilla to the dough ingredients.
* For more cinnamon flavor, add some cinnamon to the dough ingredients.
* Don't want the sugar glaze?  Drizzle a little more honey on top instead.

Goes great with fresh berries!!!

Guacamole!!!

One of my all time favorite foods!  I keep modifying the recipe and I think it's just like I like it now.  It's really fresh tasting, hope you like it.

1 large avocado, take off skin and seed
1 medium organic tomato, diced
1 tbsp. fresh cilantro, minced
juice of 1 small lime
1 heaping tsp. garlic powder

In a large bowl, mash the avocado until creamy.  Add cilantro, tomato, garlic powder and squeeze in the lime juice.  Mix together and taste.  Add more garlic if needed.

*Don't have tomatoes and cilantro? Add 2 tbsp. of fresh salsa instead.
* I have an excess of spinach right now, so I chopped up a small handful and threw it in.

But Everyone Will Be Watching Me....

I was at the gym the other day when I heard a conversation that I've heard a few times.  There was a girl lying on the floor not too far from me stretching and her mom, probably in her 50's, walked up next to her.
"Why aren't you working out Mom?", 
mom: "I don't know, I just don't feel comfortable",
 daughter: "What's wrong?" 
 mom:  "I feel like everyone is going to be watching me, I don't want to look dumb" 
daughter: "No one is going to be watching you mom, just go work out"
 mom: "I don't know, I just don't think I can"
I wanted to jump in and help the daughter convince her mom that it was ok, but I stayed out of it.  Here's the thing, everyone, no matter what they look like now, at some point was uncomfortable in a gym.  And everyone there is SOOO concerned with what THEY look like while exercising that they are not paying attention to you.  Unless you just go into that gym and do a jig on the treadmill, no one is going to be watching you or laughing at you.  Another thing, who cares what everyone else thinks? Why are you trying to impress them?  You are there for one reason only, to get in shape and be healthy... I guess that's two reasons.  If you still feel self-conscience there are a few things you can do to help.
1. If you have the money, hire a trainer.  They will show you how to correctly use the machines and help you to feel comfortable with all of the equipment.
2.  Can't afford a trainer, either find a friend that goes to the gym regularly to tag along with or go online and look up the correct form for each exercise.  If you are going to take this route, make sure you do a lot of research, you don't want any false info.
3.  Go at slow times in the day. Usually mid mornings, after lunch, and late nights are slow times to go. One of the busiest times is from 4-6 when everyone is coming from work or school.  Ask the gym employees when you get your membership when the slow times are. They would know best for that particular gym.
4.  Find any friend to go with, even if they don't work out either.  You can learn together and have fun in the meantime.
5.  Watch the trainers train other people.  Great way to get free info.  Watch the form that they are teaching and what exercises they are using often
6.  If your gym offers classes, take a beginners class. It's a great way to get started and you have a certain time that you need to be there each day, which helps you to get on a work out schedule.

Don't let fear stop you from getting healthy.

Chicken Salad

Sorry, no picture, but I'm pretty sure you all know what Chicken Salad looks like. Makes two sandwiches.

1 rib celery, finely chopped
1 tbsp. finely chopped onion (optional)
1 tbsp. pine nuts
1 heaping tbsp. spicy brown mustard
1 heaping tsp. fat-free sour cream
1 heaping tsp. greek yogurt
1 cup cooked shredded chicken
a pinch of pepper
whole grain bread
Lettuce
Tomato

In a large bowl, mix together the celery, (onion), pine nuts, mustard, sour cream, yogurt and pepper.  Add the chicken.  Spread half the chicken salad on a slice of bread. Add a lettuce leaf and tomato and top with another slice of bread.  Repeat with the remaining ingredients to make the second sandwich.

(Men's Health: Muscle Chow)

Pineapple Chicken and Rice

Super easy meal.

Brown rice
1 pineapple cut into long strips
3 chicken breasts
salt and pepper
teriyaki sauce

Cook the brown rice according to package instructions.  Heat the grill to medium high heat.  Season the chicken with a pinch of salt and pepper and rub on a little teriyaki sauce.  Spray the grill with olive oil or other cooking spray.  Cook chicken until no longer pink inside. Plate and cover with foil. Spray grill again, cook pineapple, turning until it has grill marks on each side and is starting to soften.  On each plate, add some rice, chicken and pineapple. Serve with veggies.

Healthy Body, Healthy Soul

So, as I was out running my 4 miles last night, it got me thinking.  This whole challenge thing has been great for me getting in shape and eating right.  If I set out to accomplish a challenge and I post it on my website, then I work really hard to make sure that I either conquer it or come as close as possible.  It's very motivating.  Why can't I do the same thing for my spiritual life?  There are so many aspects of my christian life that need work.  If I set goals for each month, why shouldn't I be able to achieve them?  So here is my new additional challenge:  to read a chapter out of the bible each day. That is 7 chapters a week. So now, I will be running 10 miles a week and reading 7 chapters out of the bible each week.  For each month, I plan on changing both challenges, physical and spiritual.  If there is a part of your life that needs work, set some goals, make a challenge for yourself and tell people about it.  Be held accountable for what you are doing, otherwise you are more likely to slack on it.  Make sure that you set a reasonable goal and an achievable one.  You don't want to have a goal that you can't achieve, it will just end in disappointment and you are less likely to continue setting goals and challenges.  Even if your goal is something that seems like nothing to other people, that's fine.  You know yourself and what you are capable of, it doesn't matter what everyone else is doing.  Good luck!

A Lesson In Procrastination

So my goal for this week was to run 10 miles. I was off to a great start running a little over 3 miles on Sunday. That left me 6 more days to just run 7 more miles.  Well... life happened.  My husband was out of town from Monday morning to Friday night.  I was trying to clean the house out to get ready for a garage sale, which we desperately needed to have.  My daughter had her 4 year well-check appointment and got 5 shots on Wednesday morning. That was awful! She couldn't even stand up by the end of the day, wanting me to carry her everywhere and cater to her while she laid on the couch.  It was quite pitiful.  We had an afternoon birthday party to go to, grocery trips to make and so on.  It was a busy week!  To make things a little harder, I didn't have anyone here to watch the kids so I could go run, so the gym was my only option.  I went Tuesday and halfway through my workout, before I could get on the treadmill, my son had an accident and we had to go home.  We didn't make it back all week.  Saturday came around and I knew I had to run as much as possible.  I made dinner, made some healthy cookies for our weekly dessert, put the kids to bed and got ready to run.  It was 8:30, so I only had about an hour to run.  I took off thinking I'll just run until I can't run anymore.  1 mile past, then two, three and four... then dinner hit me along with a nice little cramp in my hamstring.  Problem was, I was still over a mile out from my house.  I pushed through it, though my pace slowed dramatically! It was getting dark quick, so I had to head home. I finished right at dark, running 5.53 miles.  The entire time thinking, why didn't I just make time to run in the middle of the week?  Lesson learned.  I ended up running almost 9 miles this week, so I now have a mile to make up for next week.  Procrastination is BAD!  

Healthy Happy Kids

It's the age old problem, how to get kids to eat their vegetables.  Well, I have the answer!....Not really, I wish I did though.  I do have some tips that may help.


1.  Let kids help you pick out the fruits and veggies at the store.  I've created a monster in my daughter.  She asks everyday to go to Trader Joe's.  It's her favorite store.  She loves that she gets to push her own little cart and I pretty much let her fill it up with anything she wants. For two reasons, one, she always picks out the stuff that we usually buy anyways because that is what she knows, two, there's not much you can go wrong with at a store like that.  
2.  Let kids help you prepare the food.  My kids pull up a chair EVERY time I'm in the kitchen.  They know I will let them stir, or pour or whatever that particular recipe calls for.  The love it and they are getting pretty good at helping.  I'm hoping this will teach both of them how to cook and give them a love of cooking in the future. 
3.  Put fruits and veggies out on the counter or table while you are cooking dinner.  My kids are always hovering around looking for something to eat while I'm cooking.  They now know, if they want something to eat, there will be food on the counter.  This is how my son started finally eating carrots.
4.  Let kids help you grow the food. This will get them very excited to eat the food that they helped to water each day.  It's a great science lesson too for all of you homeschool moms.  Also, another opportunity to teach about how awesome our God is.  
5.  Give them two or three choices of healthy things to eat.  Don't just use phrases like "what do you want to eat?"  Try saying things like "do you want an apple or banana for your snack?"  or "Let's make a smoothie and you can pick which fruits go in"(then set out 4 or 5 fruits for them to pick from)  
6.  Sneak veggies into everything.  I've added carrots to popsicles, spinach to pizzas and smoothies, etc.  If you need help, there are plenty of tips on-line to help you.  Jessica Seinfeld (Jerry's wife) has a cookbook about sneaking veggies into recipes. I don't have it, but I heard it's really good.  
7.  Make eating fun.  Make up stories about the food, have contests with a prize at the end for everyone who completes the contest, let the children be magicians that can make their food disappear, whatever works for your child.  And no two children are the same.  The magician thing worked for my daughter, but my son just looks at us like we are crazy.  


We are responsible for shaping our kids eating habits for the rest of their lives.  We are also facing different challenges than our parents because of the changes in our foods in the last 15-20 years.  It seems sometimes like 95% of the food in the grocery stores are artificial or have artificial ingredients in them.  Think about that word "artificial".  "Fake", "not real", or  "junk".  I understand that it's cheaper to eat junk food, but ever think about why?  It's not real food.  Anything that is fake is cheaper, but it is also going to be much less effective and poorer quality.  We want the best clothes, best car seats, best medicine, best education, best daycare, and so on, for our kids and we are not willing to skimp on these items because we want our kids to be cute, safe, healthy, smart, well-taken care of kids.  "Only the best for my kids, I'm not willing to cut corners on any of these" we think.  But what do our kids do more than anything besides sleep? Eat.  It's one of the most important parts of their lives as it is for adults.  It will affect their energy levels, ability to think clearly, growth,  weight and immune systems.  This next generation is facing some scary futures. Let's do everything we can to make sure they are healthier than what is being predicted.  We have to set the example.  Let's start making changes now.  Consumers control what is put into grocery stores.  Know why companies have switched over to processed, artificial, quick and easy foods.  Because that is what we have told them we want by buying those items every time we see them.  We are telling them that cheap and easy is more important to us than health.  If more people start buying organic, real foods we will start to see more of these items on the shelves and we will see the prices start to drop.  Remember, if you are on a tight budget, buy organic where you can. Refer back to the organics list.  I use this example a lot, I know, but a bag of organic apples is going to go much farther, be a lot healthier, and give kids a lot more energy than a box of packaged fruit snacks and they cost about the same. Ok, I'm off my soap box now.

PB and J Smoothie

Ella isn't feeling good today and decided she wants some strawberry ice cream.  Well, here is what she got.  It's modified from a smoothie recipe we used to make all of the time from "The Abs Diet".  One of my favorites.

1 pint of organic strawberries
1 banana
1 large spoonful of all-natural PB
1 1/2 cups coconut milk (or skim milk)
1 scoop of chocolate whey powder
2 cups of ice

Blend and Enjoy!

I used the extra to make more popsicles.  It's good to always have extra popsicle forms on hand when making a smoothie, don't want any of that goodness to go to waste!

Grilled Peaches and Ice Cream

Get some ripe organic peaches, 1 per person. If they are firm when you buy them, put them in a brown paper bag for a couple of days, it helps the ripening process.   I also threw a couple of apricots in there before they went bad.  Cut in half and remove seed.  Sprinkle with cinnamon.  Spray grill with olive oil and heat to medium high.  Place seasoned peaches cut side down on the grill. Cover the grill and cook for about 5-7 minutes, until they have grill marks and are heated through.  Put in bowls and top with all-natural vanilla ice cream, more cinnamon and all-natural granola.

Check the ingredients on your ice cream. You should know what each ingredient is.

Want a healthier version?  Use yogurt or greek yogurt in the place of your ice cream.

Thought for the Day #3

6:30 this morning, I went running.  It was great.  I snuck out of the house while everyone was sleeping and just took off.  This time I left my phone at home, so there was no music, no pace keeper, no map telling me how far I've gone, just me and my thoughts.  Besides the two cars I saw and one other runner, it was just me out there.  I'm pretty sure everyone else was asleep, although I live in a neighborhood of mostly "older" people, so they were probably up 2 hours before me. The first 10 minutes I spent talking to God.  I needed this.  Everything in my life right now is going great, so first off I needed to thank Him for that. Then ask him to be with everyone who needed prayers right now.  Then I starting thinking about all of the other bits and pieces of my life: my husband, my kids, this blog :), my goals.  It was just one of those great moments were the weather was perfect, I felt great, and things are good.  If you've never gotten up early and gone running, I suggest you do.  There is something about it.  It's nice and cool, sometimes there's a fog, the sun is coming up (the birds are singing the sun is shining, it's like a disney movie).  The point is, I loved my run this morning and I think everyone should have moments like this.

June Challenge

Well, I've made it through three months of challenges. I am now officially off of cokes, not eating out much at all, and working out 4-5 days a week.  I've debated on what to make this months challenge about.  Nutrition, exercise, money, or how I spend my time. I've done two nutrition ones, one money, and one exercise challenge.  Since we will be traveling so much this month, I decided to stick with a running challenge, since that is something I can do wherever I am. Also, I am planning on running in some 5ks this summer, so this would be a great time to train.

My challenge is to run 10 miles a week. To some of you that may seem impossible, others may be thinking that's not much of a challenge.  But for me, where I am right now in my "training" (not really sure what big event I'm training for yet), this is a challenge.  The number one challenge, finding the time to run 10 miles a week and still get some weight training in.  I don't want to take away from my family time.  Since it stays light until about 9:30 here, that gives me about 45 minutes to an hour after the kids go to bed to get a run in. I've struggled with feeling guilty for taking time for myself since we had Ella 4 years ago.  I wanted to work out, but didn't want to take too much time away from the kids and my husband.  This year I decided it was important for me to exercise and take care of myself, so that I can stay healthy to care for them and be a good example for them.  So here we are. Me working out and feeling better than I've felt in years, in turn, having more energy for my kids and husband. In our bible class Wednesday night we studied the virtuous woman (Prov. 31:10-31).  In verses 15 and 17 it talks about how she gives her family good food and her arms are strong.  I've read this scripture many times before, but these verses really stuck out to me this time. ( I wonder why) My favorite verse has to be "She is clothed with strength and dignity and can laugh at the days to come" I just picture this super woman standing in front of her house, cape blowing in the wind, hands on hips, laughing as if to say "I'm ready for anything you can throw at me". I know that's a little off topic, but it was something that came to mind while trying to pick this month's challenge. Thanks for bearing with me.

So anyways, I will be running 10 miles a week. Wish me luck!

June 3- Ran 3 miles before church. Awesome run!
June 4
June 5- 40 minutes at gym
June 6
June 7
June 8
June 9-  5.53 miles  (52 minutes)
Total: 8.53 miles

June 11- 1 hour at gym
June 12- 4 miles  (35.5 minutes)
June 13- rest
June 14- 1 hour at gym
June 15- 4.9 miles  (47 minutes)
June 16- 2.1 miles  (17.5 minutes)
Total: 11 miles

June 18
June 19- 3.1 miles
June 20- 1 mile (7min 32sec), biceps, 1 mile (7min 20sec), abs, 1 mile (7min 30sec)
June 21- 1 mile (7:24), abs, calves, 1/2 mile
June 22
June 23- 3.17 miles (26:44)
Total: 10.77 miles

June 25- 3.14 miles (28:00)
June 26- gym- 1hr.
June 27
June 28- gym- 1 mile(7 min 28 sec), abs, legs, 1 mile (7 min 45 sec) abs, legs, 1.5 miles
June 29- ran 7.07 miles (1(hr): 04 (min))
Total: 13.71 miles


Well, the challenge is over and after a slow start, I still accomplished my goal and am very happy with myself.  There were days that I didn't want to get out and run, especially those early morning runs, but once I started I was glad I did it.  It is just that first 10 minutes after the alarm goes off that are the hardest.  I've learned though that most days if I don't get up and run before everyone else gets up, that run may not happen that day.  I felt so good on the days that I did run in the mornings.  That sore, tired, and kind of sick feeling after a good run is a great feeling believe it or not! It means you've worked hard, pushed yourself, and your hard work is going to make a difference.  Totally worth it.  I'm one more step closer to my goal of running a half-marathon this year.  


I also had set a spiritual goal halfway through the month.  Unfortunately I didn't reach my goal everyday, but it did help me to get in better habits.  And I plan on making up for the chapters I didn't read in July.  I'm really glad I added this on, it's so important and has made me change a few things in my day to day life.  I hope you are doing well in your spiritual goals.

Spicy Chicken Soup

1 1/2 tbsp. olive oil

1 cup chopped onion

3 garlic cloves, minced

1 red bell pepper, chopped

1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and minced (be careful not to get the seeds on your skin, I learned the hard way)

1 tbsp. chili powder

1 tsp. ground cumin

1/2 tsp black pepper

3 cups cooked, shredded chicken

2 cups frozen corn

4 cups low-sodium chicken broth

2 large organic tomatoes, chopped

1 can organic black beans, rinsed and drained

1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro

1/2 cup queso fresco

In a large pot, heat the oil on medium high. Add the onion, garlic, peppers, and cook for 3 minutes.  Add chili powder, cumin, pepper. Saute for about 30 seconds.  Add chicken, corn, broth, tomatoes and beans and bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat and simmer for about 6 minutes.  Spoon into bowls and top with cilantro and cheese.  It does have some spice to it, so probably not something for the kids.  I just left some chicken and tomatoes out for the kids before I put the rest in the pot.