New Camera!

Guess who got a new camera {finally!} THIS LADY! I have become quite the crazy person, lugging it around everywhere! I think my family has gotten used to having it in their faces all the time :)
Here are my favorites so far-jus the kit lens so far-a new lens is already on the wish list :)

                                              

Enjoy your day!

Hugs,
Sam

My Decision

Alright friends,
 Here's the deal, I just left a long message on a friend's blog about a decision I have made. I'd like to share it with you:

I am going to stop looking at working out as a way to loose weight-but instead to be healthy. 

My dear friend Elisabeth told me this a while ago-she works out of course so she can look amazing, but also to be healthy! She has an older daughter, who she wants to never look at exercise as just a way of loosing weight; but as a way to stay healthy, keep your heart strong! You do only have one after all! 

  Having children has only increased my desire to change things about myself. Gosh, these kids are hard on our bodies! It seems with each child your body shifts a bit, weight sits differently even after they're born. Then, when the weight is gone, you are left with saggy boobs and maybe some stretch marks. When you are out in public, no one knows that you've had one,two, or four kids-they just see someone that has a pooch, and some flabby arms. The change that is going to happen, is that I am going to try and be happy with who I am-because I know how I became the person I am. 

   I feel like just maybe, not watching the tick marks on a scale, or stressing out about calories-I just might loose some extra weight. Exercising included, of course! Lets face it, we all are much happier people when we exercise, and sweat a little bit!

  Elisabeth has me hooked on a new workout dvd by- Tracy Anderson. The one I have specifically fallen in love with is the Post Pregnancy dvd. Although, you don't have to have just had a baby to get results, and to "enjoy" it. There are some great ab and leg exercises! Tracy believes that as women, we shouldn't lift more than 3 lbs, ever! Of course, that means more reps-which also means we get a leaner muscle tone! I don't know about you, but I am not in the business of bulking up! Now, Tracy's workout is about an hour long, so it is a little bit more of an investment in your time, but I know you won't be disappointed!

  If you are short on time, I also love Jillian Michael's 30 Day Shred! Three different levels, cardio, strength, and abs in each level. All done within 20 minutes! It's an awesome, quick workout-I really enjoy being done after such a short time :) 

   I am a HUGE snacker, and i have a terrible sweet tooth! I've found that keeping a bag of dark chocolate chips (i have 60% cacao) in the fridge helps a TON! When I have a hankering for something sweet, I allow myself to have about four chips. I have never had much self control, so telling myself that I can have some is a good thing-versus "no you can't have that at all!" 

Before I had Ava, I was (and still do) worry a bit about how she will see herself. I was almost admitted to a clinic when I was younger for an eating disorder. I have never been happy with the way my body looks, even when I was at my fittest (thank you soccer and horseback riding!). So, by making this decision-I am hoping that maybe Ava, and the boys, will enjoy exercising and staying healthy. 

Here's to being healthy! 

Cheers!

Cookies!

Helllooooooo!!! WOAH! So, between tj's graduation, family coming and going-and just the day to day stuff; I have been a total slacker on the blog front!
  I came across this recipe for Vegan cookies yesterday, and man are they good!! I tweaked the recipe just a bit-for some added protein I put some Almond meal/flour ( 1/4 cup per cup of flour that the recipe calls for)-and also some oatmeal (about 1/3 cup or so). I also, didn't have the Oat flour the recipe called for-soooo I just used what I had on hand, white flour (don't judge me-lol)...
 Also, the recipe says bake for 35 minutes! Say whaaaa? I'm not sure if it was because I put the almond flour in or not-but it only takes these babies a good 13 or 14 minutes to bake. I also only had my oven at 320 degrees-not 350 like the recipe asked. My oven can be a bit goofy sometimes-so I always put the temp down a bit!

Here's the original recipe

Cannot for the life of my find my camera- so see the cookies on the website? Imagine those, only better :)

Enjoy,
Sam

Sleepy Baby

Absolutely had to share these! Wouldn't you just love to be able to fall asleep like this?! I mean that in a few different ways: 1.) Wouldn't you love to be given the time to fall asleep in a chair? and 2.) Wouldn't you love to look this cute doing it?! 

Tex-Mex

Heyo!
  Ok-so last night, I ended up making the Tex-Mex meal from my previous post. MAN was it good! I made a few additions- I sauteed some onions in some butter, then added them to the browned ground beef. I also topped the meal with some sour cream, and some shredded cheese! Let's just say that there weren't any leftovers! YUMMO!
Make this tonight-ok, maybe tomorrow! :)

Great Dinner Ideas

Most of the time when you grab a flyer at the store, it ends up just being tossed in the trash (or the recycle bin, hopefully!). 

However, the flyer at Whole Foods is so awesome! It of course has a ton of coupons, and on the back on the current issue-TONS of meal ideas! 

  This week has been really stressful for some people, trying to figure out if they were going to get their paychecks etc. So, I found these ideas really helpful, because they are inexpensive, and they only have a handful of ingredients. They have ideas for making your meal: Irish, Cajun, Asian, Tex-mex, and Italian.
Hopefully this is easy to read-the link wasn't working so I just had to type it out. I like how it also tells you how much it costs per serving. It's nice to think about, if you went to Chik Fil A or your choice of fast food, and got a meal-you can compare how much you're spending. You're getting a great home cooked meal, sitting down at the table with your family-for a great price! Now, these prices are based on shopping at Whole Foods-so I think that makes this EVEN better! Healthy, grass fed beef meals, for under $5.00/serving! Can't get much better than that! 

grass-fed beef skillet dinners for four

family-friendly, budget-friendly, quick and easy

These are great for weeknight meals or in simple homage to events such as Mardi Gras or St. Patrick’s Day. Each one begins with a pound of ground grass-fed beef. Feel free to substitute ground turkey or, for vegetarian versions, replace the beef with tempeh and a little canola oil.

    Seasonings: 

SEASONING

Irish : 1 cup chopped onion + 1⁄2 cup lager or pilsner beer (after browning meat and onion)

Cajun: 11⁄2 tsp salt-free Cajun/Creole seasoning

Asian:  2 TB soy ginger sauce + 2 TB water

Tex-Mex: 1–2 TB chili powder

Italian: 1 TB Italian seasoning + 8 thinly sliced oil-packed sundried tomatoes

Veggies: 

Irish:  2 cups thin-sliced organic green cabbage

Cajun:  1 cup chopped onion + 1 cup thinly sliced celery + 1 thinly sliced red bell pepper + 11⁄2 tsp more salt- free Cajun/Creole seasoning

Asian:  1 cup pineapple chunks + 1 chopped red bell pepper + 6 thinly sliced green onions

Tex-Mex: 1 (15 oz) can diced tomatoes + 1 (15 oz) can rinsed and drained black beans

Italian:  1 (15 oz) can diced tomatoes + 1 bunch thinly sliced lacinato kale (tough stems removed) + 2 tsp chopped garlic

TO SERVE

To Serve: 

Irish:   spoon over 4 baked potatoes and top with 1⁄4 cup grated Irish cheddar

Cajun:  toss with 4 cups cooked brown rice + 1 (15 oz) can rinsed and drained kidney beans + 1 tsp more salt-free Cajun/ Creole seasoning

Asian: toss with 2 cups prepared and drained rice vermicelli noodles and serve in lettuce cups

Tex-Mex:  ladle over squares of cornbread from our bakery, top with diced avocado and serve with lime wedges

Italian:  spoon over or toss with 3⁄4 lb pasta, cooked and drained

COST PER SERVING*

Cost Per Serving: 

Italian : $3.73

Cajun : $2.66

Asian : $3.99

Tex-Mex : $3.68

Italian : $3.18

GO ORGANIC!

Go Organic! 

Irish : only about $1.19 more per serving using organic potatoes

Cajun : only about 33¢ more per serving using organic red bell pepper and rice

Asian : only about 28¢ more per serving using organic red bell pepper

Tex-Mes : only about 32¢ more per serving using organic tomatoes, beans, avocado and lime

Italian : only about 27¢ more per serving using organic sundried and diced tomatoes, and pasta

Food from last night

Salad was a huge hit! Nolan loved it, he is such a good eater! We ate almost half of it! 

Pulled Pork!  I used this bbq sauce (the burgundy packaging), and it was DIVINE! Honey bunny is a great company-Made with canadian organic clover honey (not sugar) Gluten-free, kosher certified, and no preservatives. If you can't find this at your local store-I found it at Whole Foods, you can find it on amazon! :) 

Man were these good-and sooooo easy, just plop it in the crock pot, with some Mug Root Beer (i've found this is the best tasting one)---drain, and then add the bbq sauce.