Mommy In The World

Up until my recent graduation I have always used the university gym to do my daily work outs. As soon as I graduated my husband and I decided to invest in a treadmill for our home. My brother left his weight set at home when he moved out of the state so we inherited that and created our own little gym in our bonus room. It was great! We had fun working out together with luxury of never leaving our home!

…then we moved. Suddenly we didn’t have our wonderful ‘bonus room’ to pile our weights in and we wondered if buying a treadmill was really the right choice. But, I’m stubborn and I tried everything I could to convince my husband that buying a treadmill really was a smart investment and that we would always want one in our home. I hate to admit it but I was wrong.We really don’t have the room for it anymore and lets face it, nobody really uses their in-home treadmill as much as the swear they are!

So I finally broke down and joined the Gold’s Gym that is literally down the road from my house. It is seriously only 1 mile away which makes it no excuse not to want to go as much as possible. Also, I purchased the day care package and can take Sophia with me, which absolutely leaves me with no excuses not to go to the gym!

Gold’s Gym is wonderful! They have everything there from group exercise to an onsite tanning salon. And not only do they have every modern weight-training equipment but it is FUN to go to! The atmosphere is so inviting and every time I go there I feel like I’m going to a party! Kind of silly, I know, but isn’t that how you should feel when you are going to the gym!

I would honestly recommend to anymore wondering to join their local gym! Gold’s is not the only ‘fun’ place to loose a few extra pounds but many other institutions such as YMCA, 24 HR Fitness, Curves, and independent gyms as well.

… and have frozen yogurt! Not necessarily the frozen yogurt that you would find at an ice cream shop but just plain old throw-in-your-freezer- yogurt! Last night the devil was coming out in my husband, as explained in previous posts, and he was tempting me to go get some ice cream! I told him no way!

He then went to the fridge to look for something to eat when he pulled out a yogurt, “Wait!” I said. “Let’s freeze them for a minute!”

We then enjoyed eating our ‘frozen yogurt’ on the couch while watching a movie. We didn’t need to get up and go buy ice cream, which we would have needed to do, and we probably saved ourself not only calories but money on buying designer ice cream! Try it!

… compete in a triathlon! This weekend my family and I took a trip to McCall do visit the Winter Festival ice sculptures and had fun riding up in the ‘girl’ car. The husbands all took their own car and it was fun to have some girl talk. The two other mommies that I was with were talking about how they were preparing for the Boston Marathon and all of the work that they were putting in to that.

I couldn’t believe how hard they were working for this and thought it was amazing that they were devoting that time to achieve a personal goal. Why Not?! The conversation was going really well until one of them turned to me and asked, “Do you run too, Hailey?” Nope. I don’t.

I have never really been a ‘runner’ and always considered myself a biker and then I began to feel jealous of them as they were participating in something so accomplishing. I then thought about it for a minute and realized… why don’t I compete in a triathlon? That incorporates biking and swimming and running is limited! It was the perfect solution for me.

I came home that weekend and began looking into competing in a ‘beginner’ triathlon. I found the site http://www.beginnertriathlete.com/ that connected me to a local triathlon that is taking place this spring and gives me just enough time to begin my training! I’m going to be a triathlete!

I encourage you to check out the site and maybe fulfill a secret dream of your own!

1 15oz. can of diced tomatoes

1 tbsp. oregano

1 tbsp. thyme

1 tbsp. rosemary

2 tbsp. fresh basil

2 garlic cloves

1/4 c. grated parmesan

1/2 c. olive oil

Puree all ingredients in a food processor until well blended! This is my favorite homemade marinara sauce because it is quick, simple and is made from all of the usual kitchen staples found in most homes! I love how easy it is and how creative you can be for your own personal twist. I’m all about adding your own personality to cooking and this recipe allows you to do that. You can  substitute more or less of the ingredients to this recipe or even add a new flavor to the mix to jazz it up! Have fun!

The Flat Belly Diet requires a yellow squash as a vegetable during the Jumpstart diet and spaghetti squash became my new favorite ingredient! Not only is it easier than you would think to prepare it but it is full of the necessary nutrients our bodies need!

It took my a while, and some researching, to figure out how to prepare and cook this wonder food but once I did I realized how versatile it could be as a side or even main dish to your family’s dinners. So when I took it home and began the process of dissecting the veggie I realized it was a lot harder than I thought it would be. My assumption was that it was like any other soft veggie that I could easily slice and dice my way through the recipe. Not the case. I realized there was a lot more steps necessary to prepare it.

First, I tried cutting it up like a pineapple. Didn’t work. Then I tried microwaving it to fast-cook it. Helped a little. Then I realized if you warmed it up enough, say for 40 min in a hot oven, that the spaghetti strands would easily come loose! Duh! After it cooked for a bit I pulled it and cut it in half long-ways. From there it is pretty simple… pull the spaghetti strands off using a fork!

You can substitute it for real spaghetti or just eat it as it is. My family and I loved it in our weekly spaghetti feed and could hardly tell the difference! Try it for your family tonight!

Ok, so lately I have been on this healthy living kick that I have committed myself to but you still have to have some fun with your cooking! And with this simple recipe you will surprise yourself about how easy this is to do and how yummy it is to eat! Don’t worry… they can be small portions!

4 squares semi-sweet baking chocolate (or 1/2 c. chocolate chips)

1/2 c. butter

1 c. powdered sugar

2 eggs

2 egg yolks

6 tbsp. flour

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Melt the chocolate and butter in a microwave safe bowl for 1 min or until butter has mostly melted. Remove from microwave and stir until all chocolate has melted. Slowly add the powdered sugar and mix until well incorporated and the mixture is smooth. Add the eggs including yolks one at a time and mix well. You can do this step in an electric mixer but it is just as easy to do it by hand. Finally, add the flour and mix until flour is completely mixed in.

Pour final mix into small ramequin cups about 3/4 of the way up. Bake for 11 min or until the outside edges or fully cooked leaving the middle slightly undercooked! This is the yummy secret! Enjoy!

I love my husband more than anything… but every night around 9 o’clock the devil comes out in him! No, he does not lose his temper or want to get frisky but much worse… this about the time every night his junk food cravings kick in! Sounds like no big deal but when it involves him being that devil figure who tries to persuade and justify junk food to me it is hard not to give in!

So there we were in bed going through our usual routine of reading before bed when my husband looks over at me and says those few sinful words, “Doesn’t ___ sound so good right now?!” … And that’s when I cave! It never is, by the way, rice cakes or soy nuts that he craves but instead this time it was pizza.

“How about we order one of those new Dominos pizzas online? Wouldn’t that be fun?!” He says to me before I can even get a word in. And just when he is about to click the ‘Order’ button I interrupt him and ask him how many calories are in a single piece of pizza. We scrolled down to their nutrition facts page and the results were shocking!

Obviously I know that pizza wasn’t healthy and that there would be a lot of calories in a slice but what was really shocking about our whole investigation was that after reading about the nutrition facts we did NOT want pizza anymore. Or any other kind of food for that manner! We were so disgusted by what we saw from the nutrition guide that we vowed, only for a second, to never eat pizza again! It is mind boggling to think how many calories you could be taking in by eating the average 3 slices per person a meal. So shocking that we became interested in some of the other foods that we like to eat.

We then began to look up some of our favorite restaurant’s nutrition guides and were once again disgusted by their numbers. How could we possibly allow ourselves to eat that much food? We even revisited a time when we ordered and ate an appetizer, entre, and dessert at The Olive Garden. We totaled those calories to be 4,000 in our 3 course meal! Our dessert alone was 1,000 calories. We couldn’t believe that we were consuming almost all of our intended daily calories of 1600 to one meal that didn’t even fill us up!

So as you are experiencing some of the cravings the I or my husband have nightly just think to yourself… I wonder what this food’s nutrition facts are… you might change your mind!

We can all agree that sometimes a deli sandwich can be the healthiest choice for a quick lunch… but sometimes they can get a little old to eat everyday! That’s when I decided I was going to keep my healthy lunch but add a kick to the average cold sandwich…by grilling it in a panini!

Stocking your kitchen with an electric panini grill can be one of the best gadget investments you can ever make! These wonderful cooking agents are appearing all over local markets nowadays at very affordable prices. Try one! The beauty of the grill allows you to transform an ordinary soft, cold sandwich into a hot, crispy meal that can consists of all your favorite ingredients!

Panini Turkey Sandwich

2 Slices whole wheat bread

4 slices deli turkey

2 slices provolone cheese

2 pieces roasted red pepper

2 tsp. Honey Mustard

Spread honey mustard evenly across the bread slices. Arrange the turkey, provolone, roasted red peppers between the bread slices. Place sandwich in preheated panini grill for 4-5 min or until crispy and cheese has melted. Enjoy!

It has already begun! My little 9 month old is already starting to refuse to eat! Partially because her grandparents are having too much fun feeding her table food and partially because my husband and I haven’t invested the time we need to in order to teach her to eat.

Last semester both my husband and I were enrolled in school and just making a bottle was the easiest, and fastest, way to feed our daughter, problem was we didn’t establish a good eating habit with her. Now I have to fight her to get her to eat anything. I even tried a new kind of baby food for her but still nothing was helping. I could tell that she just wanted her bottle and to get back to playing. And I’m sad to say… so did I.

But this weekend… we put our feet down! We spent a few days practicing with Sophia by keeping her in her high chair and showing her how fun it can be to eat! But it did not go so well at first! She threw a fit like I have never seen before! Thankfully, my husband is the most patient man I know and while I threw my hands up in the air and left the rom he stayed and helped her.

His Tactic: While she is willing, get as much food in her mouth as possible! During down time… walk away!

His whole idea was that if we give her the attention that she wants while in the high chair then she will want to eat. It worked! This may not be the clinical researcher’s advice on parenting but it worked for us. She now will eat her baby food with little or no fuss. The whole idea is to tailor your parenting tactics for each individual child for the best results. Good Luck!

Chocolate-Pecan Popcorn

4 c. no butter popcorn already popped

1 c. chopped pecans

1/2 c. melted dark chocolate

1 tsp. salt

Spread popcorn evenly over a cookie baking sheet. Disperse pecans over popcorn evenly. Drizzle chocolate over popcorn and pecans using a spoon. Sprinkle the salt over the whole thing! Let popcorn mixture stand until chocolate has completely cooled and hardened. Enjoy!

This truly is the most delicious, healthy treat that I have ever have! I got the idea from the Flat Belly Diet Cookbook and modified it a little to my own liking. I substituted pecans for cashews for more of a buttery, sweet flavor and I added a dash of salt to contrast the chocolate and to make it more eating friendly. After a while the chocolate can be too much so the addition of the salt really helped a lot for the balance. I hope you love this treat as much as I do!