School's Out For Summer!

My third semester is in the books!  I am fairly happy with my grades, although I did make my first B since going back to college.  College Algebra is tough.  Period.  So is human physiology, but I managed to wrangle an A in that class.  So glad to be finished for the summer though, because this semester took a lot out of me.  I plan to have a good time this summer and focus on losing weight.  No matter how healthy you are eating, if you are over-eating, then you won't lose weight.  The stress of finals causes me to eat, and even though that food is all natural or organic... it's still calories that I didn't need... so I haven't lost any weight lately.  I think I may have gained a pound, but I plan on going to the gym regularly during the summer.

Next thing I wanted to talk about was my new tea and tea infuser!  I am a little behind on the loose leaf tea craze.  Better late than never... I'm hooked.  I got a cheap tea infuser and some orange spice and earl grey from Mama Jeans, and coffee has been taking a back seat. 

Chicken Noodle Stir Fry - Recipe

You may notice that I often cook with my cast iron skillet.  I think it is a good idea to ditch the teflon covered cooking pans.  I won't use this post to preach against teflon non-stick cooking pans here, but please research it and make the decision yourself.  If you do ditch the teflon, I recommend getting a good iron skillet.  I love mine.

Moving right along.  This is a recipe that I made up on the fly.  It doesn't get much better than the combination of peas and carrots, and chicken and noodles.  This recipe doesn't take culinary genius, none of my recipes do, because I am just the typical busy mom.  I need quick, easy, and nutritious.  I simply want to show you how I do it.  I don't pretend to know a lot about anything, but I do know basics.  This is very basic, and often times, basic is what is needed for success in eating nutritious meals.

Chicken Noodle Stir Fry
WHAT YOU NEED:
2 Chicken breasts sliced in strips against the grain
3 carrots sliced thin at a slant
1 - 2 handfuls of snap peas
1 small onion sliced and halved
2 - 3 cloves of garlic
(optional: 1 Bell pepper sliced)
1/2 box of whole wheat fettucini
1 - 2 Tbsp olive oil (or your favorite stir fry oil)

DIRECTIONS:
Put a pot of salted water on to boil.  While the water is heating, prep your vegetables.  Lightly salt them and pepper them and set them aside.  Heat your skillet with a tbsp of olive oil (or your favorite stir fry oil like sesame seed oil) Slice your chicken, salt and pepper to taste and place in the hot skillet.  Cook for a bout 4 - 5 minutes turning to cook evenly.  Immediately after your chicken is in the skillet to cook, put the noodles into the boiling water. Give them a stir.  Check on your chicken.  Once it appears to be cooked through, add in your vegetables.  Stir them around and add a bit more oil if needed.  Cook until the onions are softened by not translucent.  You want the vegetables to be more on the crisp side than tender, or else your are destroying the nutritional value in them.  Your noodles should be done at the same time as your stir fry mix.  Drain them, and you can go about this last part in one of two ways.  You can either add the noodles to the skillet and stir them around a bit with the other stuff... or you can plate the noodles and add the stir fry mix on top.  Either way you choose to do it... enjoy.  This is one of my favorite meals.

Coconut Lemon Breakfast Bars - Recipe

Hi everyone!  It's time for another smart and healthy recipe.  First I want to share some happy stuff.  I am down from 150 to 146 lbs.  Hopefully it will keep dropping.  I can't wait until school is out so I can spend more days in the gym.  This summer I will be working much harder to shed all of this weight I put on from having babies.  Just to put it out there, my goal loss by the year 2014 is 30 lbs.  I can do it.

One last bit of great news, I have been struggling this semester.  Human Physiology has been my toughest science course yet.  I started out with a professor who was fresh out of grad school and had never taught before.  She lectured everything individually and didn't tie it altogether to make it applicable.  She left mid term, and while it was pretty stressful, I was completely relieved.  The professor who took her place is brilliant at making the curriculum stick and make sense.  We recently had our Unit 3 exam and out of his 4 classes three people made the highest score of 94%.  I was one of those three, so YAY!  I feel smart again. Ha.

Now.  About this recipe.  This recipe comes out of a cookbook I got recently to help get more "superfoods" in my diet.  The book is called "Superfood Kitchen" and it is authored by Julie Morris.  I can't vouch for all of the recipes, but it is full of awesome information about all the superfoods.

One of the most difficult things about eating healthy is cutting down the refined sugar intake and finding healthy things to satisfy the sweet tooth.  This recipe does that.  Baking these refreshing, filling, sweet-tooth satisfying treats up is not as simple as whipping up a batch of chocolate chip cookies.  Zesting a whole lemon peel and chopping up dates is time consuming and exasperating, but I am always happy I took the time to do it.  The kids love them too.

Coconut Lemon Breakfast Bars

WHAT YOU NEED:
1 1/2 Tbsp Chia Seeds
3 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
1 C oat flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
pinch of sea salt
3/4 C + 2 Tbsp shredded dried coconut, divided.
2 Tbsp fresh lemon zest
2 Tbsp coconut oil, melted
2 Tbsp applesauce
1/4 C maple syrup or agave nectar
1/2 C soft Medjool dates (about 5 or 6) pits removed.

DIRECTIONS:
Preheat your oven to 300 degrees.  Lightly grease an 8x8 inch baking pan.

Zest the lemon to get 2 Tbsp worth.  Set aside.

In a small bowl, mix the chia seeds and lemon juice together.  Put this aside so that the chia seeds will soak up the lemon juice and plump up.  Stir once at 10 minutes.

While the seeds are soaking, get a medium mixing bowl, mix together the oat flour, baking powder, salt, and 3/4 C of coconut flakes.  Sprinkle in the the lemon zest and mix well.

In another mixing bowl mix together the coconut oil, apple sauce, and maple syrup or agave nectar (I use agave nectar). Add in the chia seed/lemon juice mixture and the chopped dates.

Pour the wet ingredients in with the dry and mix well with a spatula or spoon.

Spread the mixture into the baking pan using the spatula to flatten the surface.  Sprinkle the top with the last bit of coconut flakes.  Press lightly into the mixture.

Bake for 25-28 minutes.  While it is still warm cut into bars or squares.  What size you make them is up to you.  The book says to cut them into 12 - 16 squares.  HA!  I didn't get that many out of it ha.

Easy Peasey Healthy Chicken Fajitas - Recipe

Before I jump into talking about the recipe I wanted to share some helpful nutrition facts that you might like a lot if you haven't heard it already.  This little tid bit is about our favorite "guilty" indulgent... Chocolate.  When I see friends trying to diet or eat healthy, one of the biggest things they complain about is not eating chocolate... and my question to that is "Why?"  Stop avoiding chocolate... especially dark chocolate!!!  The more cocoa it has in it, the better.  Do you wonder why when you are upset or about to enjoy the visit of Aunt Flo, you crave chocolate?  This is because it is chock full of antioxidant and natural stress relievers.. and if you are a chocolate eater, your body knows this.  Important to take note of, is a purer form of cocoa which is cacoa.  Cacoa is minimally processed at low temperatures to preserve a lot of the plant's natural health benefits.  Cocoa is roasted or processed, so it loses some of those benefits during that process.  Cocoa is what most, if not all, of the chocolate bars in the world are made with, but still, while the health benefits decrease with this process, it still contains health benefits.  If you are really adventurous and want the full benefits, go to your health food store and get some cacoa nibs or cacoa powder.  There are plenty of recipes out there to utilize this purer form of chocolate and you can get crazy amounts healthy goodness from it.  Bottom line, don't deprive yourself of something so wonderful.  Moderation and limit milk chocolate intake, but don't beat yourself up over eating chocolate.  It does your body good.  With being high in iron, calcium, mood elevating phytochemicals and amino acids... how can you go wrong?  My favorites right now are Chocolove Orange Peel in Dark Chocolate and Green&Black's Organic Maya Gold Dark Chocolate.  I eat a piece everyday... and I don't feel guilty.  P.S. I am down another 2 pounds since my last post.

Now, Onto the recipe!

Easy Peasey Healthy Chicken Fajitas by Amy Martin

WHAT YOU NEED:
2 bonelss skinless chicken breasts (free range)
1 green bell pepper sliced into strips
1 orange (yellow or red) bell pepper sliced into strips
1 small yellow onion sliced into strips
1 fresh organic tomato
1 tsp chili powder
fresh garlic to taste
1/2 tsp salt
Organic flour tortillas or wheat tortillas (I use Stacey's Organic tortillas from Mama Jeans in the refrigerated section... only $2.50 or there about)
cilantro
lime
green scallions
lemon half
avocado diced
1/2 cup white cheddar or Monterrey jack cheese

DIRECTIONS:
First of all... chicken and fajitas are actually contradictory.  Fajitas, I guess, means skirt steak... and chicken isn't skirt steak, but I don't know any other way to describe this dish than call it Chicken Fajitas, ha.  So if you are someone who gets annoyed by the myth that is chicken fajitas, please forgive me ha!

A lot of times I forget about the whole marinating stage and then I just skip fajitas altogether... but this time I said to heck with it and ended up making the best fajitas I have ever tasted.  It is one of our favorite meals now.

Slice the chicken breast against the grain into 1/4 inch strips.  Sprinkle with the chili powder, garlic, salt and mix together.  If you want to marinate them, do this in the morning, add half a lemon sliced (all parts) and some olive oil to the spices in a glass dish that has a lid, mix well and allow to marinate while you are at work or doing what you need to do... if you don't marinate, DON'T sweat it... I NEVER marinate. It doesn't sound like a whole lot of seasoning, but that is what I like about this dish.  The flavors are fresh and not overwhelming... the good think is that if you like a lot of seasoning, you can add it.

Okay,  heat up your skillet to medium high.  Prep your toppings which is the cilantro, lime, green scallions, avocado, and cheese.  Add a splash of olive oil or coconut oil to your skillet and  throw in the chicken and cook for about 2 minutes on each side.  Add your peppers and onions.  Cook for about 5 minutes tops.  You want the peppers to maintain a crispness.  Set aside.  Heat up your tortillas however you like.  I usually put them on a plate covered by another plate and heat them for about 30-45 seconds in the microwave.    Now you are ready to serve.  Heap a spoonful of the fajita mix into the tortilla, top with a big pinch of cilantro, green onion, some avocado, squeeze the lime on top of all that, and enjoy.  So delicious.

Side note... cilantro is GREAT for detoxing the body of harmful metals like mercury!  Cilantro is VERY good for you, and it adds so much delicious flavor!  So eat up!

Work Cited:
Morris, Julie. "Superfood Kitchen." 2012 (information on Cacoa)
Adams, Mike. "Cilantro Helps Detox Heavy Metals." naturalnews.com (information on cilantro)

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Energy Balls - Recipe

It is a lot more difficult finding time to blog than I thought it would be.  I have so much happening with class right now.  Tests and papers are due left and right.  I am actually procrastinating on putting some finishing touches on my research paper to blog this.

So far I have lost 3 lbs after one week of changing what I put into my body.  I have so many recipes to share, and they will be geared toward the busy mom who wants to make some healthy changes.  I mentioned the water and I hope you all have begun to take hydration seriously.  It's so vital to your metabolism.  I am on day 12 of hydration and I feel a lot better for it.

The recipe I am going to share is actually a recipe that an instagram friend posted, but I tweaked it a bit.  Breast cancer runs in my family and I have to be extra careful with consuming phytoestrogens, which means that I try not to consume a lot of soy or flax seed.  This recipe orignially calls for a 1/2 cup of flax seed... but since it has phytoestrogen I changed the recipe to include a little bit more oatmeal and a tablespoon of chia seed, which is as benifitial as flax seed, only it doesn't contain the phytoestrogen.

WHAT YOU NEED:

1 1/2 cup of organic rolled oats.
1 Tbsp chia seeds (I use black chia seeds)
1/2 cup of organic or all natural peanut butter (any "nut" butter will do)
1/3 cup of local honey (you can use processed honey, but the local honey has health benefits)
1/4 cup of organic semi-sweet chocolate chips

DIRECTIONS:
Mix together all ingredients until they are well incorporated.  If you like the sweet and salty taste feel free to add a pinch of salt.  Get a small cookie dough scoop and roll into balls and place in a container.  Then place in the refrigerator for at least 15 minutes to firm them up.

These are great for a quick snack or breakfast.  They take the place of pop tarts for my kids.  They love them.

See you in a little while with more recipes:
Coming soon...
Quick and Yummy Chicken Fajitas... Tabouleh... Pesto Whole Wheat Pasta... Coconut Lemon Breakfast bars.

Happy Healthy Eating... and "Eat like your life depends on it, because it does."

I'm Making a Comeback

Hi there!  Hopefully some of you are still out there.  I took a little blog hiatus.  I plan on blogging more in the near future.  I will likely start this weekend.

I've made some huge changes in my life health wise, and I want to share them with you.  Look for a far more in depth post this weekend.

This blog will be an inspiration and collaboration for anyone who is shifting their primary means of attaining nutrition from the highly processed and industrial farm produced food to more of an organic, natural, local approach to food and nutrition.  I will be posting ideas, recipes and sharing about any weight loss and health benefits that I am noticing.

The first thing I want to share about is water.  It's so important to be properly hydrated, and I can honestly say I have only been properly hydrated for about 1% of my life so far.  I started using an app that I was introduced to by a friend.  It is called Water Your Body, and it is a great motivator. It also helps to have a pretty and chemical free container to drink your water from.  When you like your water bottle, you'll want to take it with you everywhere and drink from it.  I love my lifefactory waterbottle.

So, I guess I should say that the first step to good health is drinking enough water.  My weight means that I need to drink 74 oz. a day.  When you drink water it helps your metabolism (hydrolysis)... it cleans you out... carries out some toxins.  Drink water.

See ya this weekend with a recipe.

Put the Stones Down

I know that I said that the last post would be it for a while, but I was reading my news apps this morning and the big story that is getting overplayed right now is the story of the radio hosts that prank called the hospital that the Duchess was getting treated at.

Being the obscure blogger that I am, this post will more than likely serve no purpose but to let me feel at peace about sharing my thoughts.  For those who may not know the story:  Austrailian Radio DJs Michael Christian and Mel Greig prank called the hospital that Kate Middleton (Duchess of Cambridge) was being treated at.  They posed as the Queen and Prince Charles and inquired after Middleton's medical condition.  The prank call was successful and thus begins the drama.   Maybe its the future nurse in me, but I believe that the privacy of medical information should be respected.  I think that when doing things for entertainment value, this should be considered heavily.

Unfortunately, this privacy wasn't respected by Michael Christian and Mel Greig, however, that was their only crime.  Jacintha Saldanha, the nurse who took her life after what some believe was a result of humiliation from the prank call, was a tragic loss, but her loss cannot be blamed on Michael and Mel. I can't say for certain, as I have no ties to this story personally, but it is a high probability that this nurse was suffering long before these DJs ever prank called that hospital.  This incident may very well have been the breaking point for her.  We likely will never know, because now everyone wants to politicize this, but this nurse probably suffered from depression or some sort of personality disorder.  It is likely her issues were running deep and long before that fateful phone call.

Bottom line.  Many people are bullying these DJs right now.  They are throwing proverbial stones and failing to see the times in life when they hurt someone's feelings.  You know we all have.  We all have said things that hurt.  Just because that hurt didn't happen to effect someone who was suicidal doesn't mean that you aren't just as wrong.  This world would be a much better place if before placing harsh judgements, death threats, and accusations, people would stop to examine themselves.  If after examination you can without a doubt claim that you have never played a joke, pulled a prank, or laughed at someone's expense, then by all means carry on.  Throw your stones... however, if I am right, you aren't in the clear.  You were just lucky that your actions didn't trigger an emotionally unstable person to do the unthinkable.  Put your stones down and walk away.  This was a tragedy.  Let the DJs work through this and let the family of this precious nurse mourn. 

Michael and Mel:  If they were to, by some magical miracle, read this, then I would let them know that not everyone blames them.  I don't.  They had no way to know this would be the outcome of something meant for silliness.  I would tell them that I hope that someday they will be able to reconcile this horrible tragedy and not let it damage them.  I would say that I am sorry they are going through this.  Then I would give them both a big virtual hug.  Not a real one because hugging a stranger is just awkward and weird, but seriously... they are going through a lot of emotional turmoil right now.  You can debate whether it is deserved or not, but I believe that since there was no malicious intent behind the initial act, then they don't deserve to be treated so harshly by the raging masses.  I dare say, they deserve a little sympathy from all of us who have at one point or another hurt someone's feelings.  Oh wait... that's all of us.

NOW, I'm signing off for a bit.  For real this time.  Blogging has, in a fashion, been put in drawer for safe-keeping until I once again feel the desire to dump my personal thoughts and feelings on poor unsuspecting blog reader! ha.  Find me on instagram.  @amyschmamey  I tweet... very rarely, but I do have a twitter @amschmamey

Let's all love.  I was told recently that we all have a white wolf and a black wolf in us.  One capable of great evil, one of great good.  The one that wins is the one you feed.  Think about that.  Feed the white wolf ;)...