Clean Spinach Pizza

I got this recipe from The Gracious Pantry.

This is just a small, quick pizza that you can toss in the microwave if you are not in the mood to cook. I was a little put off by this recipe because I hate cottage cheese. I just think it's gross. But, it wasn't really that bad. The cottage cheese tasted fine. It's not something that made me say wow, but I would probably eat it again.

Here are the ingredients:



1 Whole Wheat Pita
1/4 cup of tomato sauce (I used Hunt's Paste.. it tasted fine)
1/2 cup of low fat cottage cheese
1 handful of spinach

Step 1:



Put your sauce on your pita

Step 2:



Add your spinach

Step 3:



Add your cottage cheese. Then, you put it in the microwave. I did two minutes in the microwave, but I think that was a bit much because the pita breads edges were very hard to cut. I think a little less than 2 minutes would be better.

Now, this is VERY messy! I am not kidding. This was just so messy and it was the biggest thing that put me off about this pizza. I had sauce and cheese all over me. I used a fork and knife, but even so. It didnt help that I had my two youngest kids trying to steal it, so it was not something I want to eat around kids again. It wasn't bad and actually did taste kind of like a real pizza, but it was by far the messiest pizza I have ever had.

What do you think? Leave a comment below!

Clean Hot Chocolate

Now that colder weather is starting to fall upon us, many of us will start drinking hot chocolate. I know it's a favorite for many in the fall and winter. You do not have to drink the store bought packaged hot chocolate! It's full of sugar and chemicals. You can make your own hot chocolate at home using just a few ingredients.

1 cup unsweetened almond milk
2 1/2 to 3 tbsp honey
1/2 tsp cinnamon
3/4 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder

Combine all ingredients in a pot, heat on the stove at medium high heat. Stir until all ingredients are mixed and mixture gets hot.

I thought this tasted pretty good. I went a little high on the honey, so I'd use a bit less next time I make it. You can alter this however you want. Leave out the cinnamon, use soy milk or skim milk - whatever you'd like.

Like this recipe? Comment below!

Almond Milk

Yesterday, when I went shopping, I picked up some Blue Diamond Almond Breeze Unsweetened Almond Milk (okay, that seemed like a mouthful!). I have never tried this particular almond milk before - I've had the vanilla once and the chocolate once. I am trying to replace milk in my diet and I am a big milk drinker. I think it tastes okay. It is definitely something I can get use to. It is very similar to milk but has a nutty taste. At first, it was like '...hmm.. wait a minute.. this is liquid almonds' (duh) but it did get better the more I drunk it. I even used it in my breakfast (Cheerios) this morning. I think I still would prefer to use regular whole milk because it is just something I am so use to, but I love the fact that this almond milk only has 40 calories per serving and has twice the amount of calcium that regular milk does. Big plus! I will absolutely be buying this again. Now, I can't get my kids to drink it but that's okay - more for me. Haha. If you haven't tried it or are planning to switch from fatty milk, I would recommend it.

Have you tried it before? Leave a comment on your thoughts!

Saving Money While Eating Healthy

I am a former couponing junkie. I use to be able to go to the store and save 50% off my grocery bill by using coupons. I don't do it anymore, though I sometimes do try to get back into it. Now, healthy eating is one area where it is hard to save money. Everyone knows that. It is one of the biggest reason people say they don't eat healthy - because it's cheaper to just buy processed crap. Well, I think maybe every week I can give you a few money saving deals for eating healthy. It might not be much, but any little bit helps. Here are some coupons available right now:

Erewhon has a new variety of cereal sold exclusively at Whole Foods called Buckwheat & Hemp, and is offering a $1 off coupon to try it for less.

The newest organic step from Earthbound Farm is to save $.75/1 Earthbound Farm Organic Avocados. 

Arrowhead Mills White Organic Rice Flour (4 pk) is only $12.55 on Amazon Warehouse Deals. Each bag is two (2) pounds, so each bag is $3.14 or $1.57/lb. 

Head over to Newman's Own Organics to get their latest printable coupons.

Did you know the oats used by Jamba Juice are organic? If you like to have their oatmeal, grab this coupon and grab a bowl for just $2.00. 

There is a new coupon for $1/1 Oregon Chai product.

Here is a rare coupon for Green Valley Organics. Save $.50/1 Green Valley Organics Yogurt.

If you like Funky Monkey Snacks, there is a new coupon for $.75/1 Funky Monkey Products available.

Clean Spinach Tomato Salad

This was such a yummy salad! I had a lot of spinach still left over from my Spinach Blueberry Smoothie I made yesterday, so I went ahead and made a salad with it. It was delicious. I did not measure out the ingredients, but here is what I used:

1 large handful of spinach
Lots of cherry tomatoes cut in half
1 red pepper chopped up

I put Cranberry Balsamic Dressing on it. Simple as that!

Like this recipe? Comment below!

Clean Spinach Blueberry Smoothie

I got this idea from The Gracious Pantry. It is a Spinach Blueberry Smoothie. Yes, it does sound weird. Yes, it does look weird. No, it does not taste weird! I was a little afraid of the way it looked after it was all blended together, but it actually tastes pretty good. It mostly tastes like bananas. My 3 year old and 2 year old both said 'Yum!'.

Here are the ingredients I used:



1/2 cup of Almond Breeze Unsweeted Almond Milk
1/2 cup of water
2 cups baby spinach
1 banana
1/2 cup of thawed out frozen blueberries
1 tbsp of flax seeds

Here is what it looked like before blending it:



What do you think of this smoothie? Leave a comment below!

Clean Chicken Sandwich

For lunch today, I made myself a clean chicken sandwich. It was my first time trying this recipe. Honestly, I can't say that I will try it exactly like this again. It wasn't that it tasted bad, but the sandwich bread got soggy really fast and fell apart. It was difficult holding onto the sandwich. I think if I do again, I will use hamburger buns.

This is what I used:

1 Chicken Breast cut in half
2 slices of Nature's Pride 100% Whole Wheat Bread
1 handful of baby spinach
About 1 tbsp of Inglehoffer Stone Ground Mustard (I didnt measure)

I baked the chicken breast at 350 degrees in the oven for 35 minutes. The skin of the chicken breast came out too dry, but I just pulled it off and the rest was very juicy. Maybe wrapping it in foil would solve that problem. Then, I just made the sandwich which is pretty obvious and you probably don't need the steps. The taste was okay, even though I've had better chicken sandwichs. It was very juicy though. I just need to alter it a little more, I suppose. My 2 year old and 3 year old seemed to enjoy the sandwich a lot.

Clean Super Strawberry Smoothie

Today, I whipped up my first ever clean smoothie. It was delicious! Even my three kids (ages 5, 3 and 2) loved it. My 2 year old kept asking for more after his was all gone. It's a super simple recipe and only has three ingredients. All you need is a blender. I personally use a Magic Bullet Mixer. It worked great. Here are the three ingredients:



1 cup of Kefir (I used the strawberry Kefir, so that's why this is a Super Strawberry Smoothie)
1 cup of strawberries (my strawberries aren't the cleanest option since they are not organic nor fresh. You can use fresh or frozen - just thaw the frozen ones out first)
1 tbsp of honey (this is optional and you can use any kind of honey you have on hand, I just have plain ole store brand honey because I am on a tight budget. Again, probably not the cleanest option available.)

The first step is to pour 1 cup of Kefir into your blender:



Then, add your cup of strawberries:



Blend it and taste. If you find the taste not sweet enough, add the honey. I had to add the honey. It was so good, I would definitely drink this again.

Scratched Workout DVD

This morning when I went to do my Jillian Michael's 6 Week 6 Pack, I had found my kids had scratched my disk up. :( At first, I tossed it in the trash. It wouldn't play! Boo! Then, I looked online and found some home remedies for scratched disks and ended up pulling it out of the trash and putting toothpaste on it (yes - toothpaste lol). Well, it works. So, I am late for doing my workout now (okay REALLY late), but I am going to still try to squeeze it in some time tonight. I am still a little sore from doing Jillian Michael's Killer Buns & Thighs yesterday.

I guess if I don't get time to do it tonight after dinner, then I won't worry about it. No big deal. I'm a little bummed though because when I threw it in the trash, the DVD case got food on it so now it's kind of gross. The paper sleeve got wet inside. Ick. I have to let it hang out and dry. I should have found a remedy before throwing it in the trash but I was pretty irratated in the moment. Oh well, you live and learn!

Clean Cereals

Everyone knows breakfast is the most important meal of the day. Many people choose to eat cereal in the morning and there are clean options available. You just need to know which ones to look for.

Here's what you DON'T want in your cereal:

• Artificial Food Dyes - Most food dyes are petroleum based. They are linked to obesity, diabetes, behavioral problems, asthma and the top three used food dyes (red 40, yellow 5 and yellow 6) contain cancer causing substances.
• High Fructose Corn Syrup - May be linked to obesity.
• Caramel Color - As stated before, there are four caramel food colorings and two of the four are are made with ammonia.
• Partially Hydrogenated Oils (trans fats) - Raises bad cholesterol and lowers good cholesterol.  Linked to diabetes and obesity.
• Butylated Hydroxytoluene (BHT) - A preservative that is possibly linked to cancer.

Here's a list of clean cereals:

• Cheerios
• Post Grape Nuts
• Kashi Autumn Wheat
• Kashi Honey Toasted Oat Heart To Heart
• Kashi 7 Whole Grain Flakes

There are also a lot of organic cereal options out there. This is just a basic list so that you can see you do have options.

Photos Of Myself & My Journey

This post is going to be just so you know where I am coming from - a little background info on myself. I consider myself to be fit. In fact, I consider myself to be in great shape. I think I am probably in extremely great shape for someone who has had three kids. I do not beat myself up - never have. I am not vain (okay, maybe a little), but after the effort I have put in with workouts in combination with great genetics (I can't deny that), I think I have no reason to nit pick at any flaws.

I have always been small (5'1 and 110 pounds), up until I got pregnant with my oldest child. I ended up putting on too much weight during pregnancy (I was 152 at delivery).



The weight took a while to come off. I didn't really workout and I got stuck at various weights. I finally ended up at 117 after a year and a half, which was okay but I certainly wasn't 'fit'. A lot of my 'baby belly' became flab and rolled over the top of my pants. It wasn't a good look, that's for sure.

Then I got pregnant with my second child when my oldest was 18 months old and really took care not too gain as much weight. I ended up gaining around 25 pounds. I worked hard and lost the weight really quickly and ended up back down to 110 pounds.

When my second child was 6 months old, I got pregnant again with my third. Again, I took care not to gain too much and once again gained around 25 pounds.

I began working out and I am still around 110 pounds, which to me is great. I am in pre-pregnancy shape and I often shock people when they find out I have 3 kids. I do all my workouts at home, like I said previously. I use Jillian Michael's workout DVD's because they don't totally bore me like some other videos I have tried in the past.

This is where I am at now:

I am looking to tone up my muscles more. Like I have said in other posts, I do work out but I don't eat the way I should, so my journey is really about improving that. I am hoping with some proper clean eating that I can really shape up my muscles the way I want. 

This is what I am aiming for:

I know not everyone has the same goals, but I think it's a great idea to at least have some sort of motivational image that way whenever you are feeling down you can give yourself a gentle reminder of what you want. This is all just my personal goal. Will I ever be at that level of the picture above? I don't know. I won't kill myself to get there, but it is definitely motivation for me.

We all have different goals and different bodies and it's okay, we just need to try our best to take care of ourselves and I believe the rest will fall into place. Don't beat yourself up if you never get to the goal you want, just knowing that you are putting healthy things in your body and improving your health is even better than wearing size 0 jeans.

Planning My Fitness Routine

I am trying to map out my weekly plan for working out. I like to know what I am doing each day ahead of time because it gives me so much more motivation to actually work out! I do NOT go to the gym. Yes, I work out at home with 5 and 3 pound weights. I want to increase my weights eventually, but for now the 5 pound weights will do. I use Jillian Michael's DVD's for all my workouts. I own 'The 30 Day Shred', '6 Week 6 Pack' & 'Killer Buns & Thighs'. They are all excellent DVD's and I highly recommend them if you do plan to workout at home. I am planning to buy more in the future, I love the DVD's that much.

I am planning on starting this tomorrow, which is Thursday. I have college classes on Saturday and Wednesday, so I am not really planning on working out those days, but if I do find the time later in the day then I might.

Here's my plans:

Thursday: Killer Buns & Thighs (level 1)
Friday: 6 Week 6 Pack (level 1)
Saturday: Rest or The 30 Day Shred (level 1)
Sunday: The 30 Day Shred (levels 2 & 3)
Monday: Killer Buns & Thighs (level 2)
Tuesday: 6 Week 6 Pack (level 2)
Wednesday: Rest or The 30 Day Shred (level 2)

Again, if you don't have the DVD's, I do recommend them. They are great. I don't recommend overloading yourself in the beginning if you are just starting out because you WILL hurt! I've been so sore that I couldn't even move the day after starting these DVD's. But, your hard work will pay off.

Finding 'Clean' Bread

 

 

 

I wanted to start my healthy eating out with one of the main staples in our food diets - bread! Now, I grew up on white bread and I love it. I eat tons of sandwichs using white bread. I've had wheat bread a few different times and I always hate it! To me, the flavor is so off and quite disgusting. However, white bread is not clean and whole wheat is. I really didn't think I was going to find any 'clean' whole wheat breads at my local Publix. I have heard of Ezekial bread, but they did not carry any. I thought it was going to be impossible to get a clean bread without me baking my own at this point.

 

After standing in the bread aisle, reading ingredient lists on various whole wheat breads - I struck gold!

 

Nature's Pride 100% Whole Wheat Bread.

 

Now, here's some intresting facts about bread that you find on your store shelves. Almost all have soy and corn in them, which means most have GMO's. Breads that are not whole wheat use enriched flour. This is because when they process the flour for the bread, they remove the bran and germ which is where the nutrients are. Then, the manufacturers enrich the flour to add back nutrients, but your body does not process it the same.

 

Here is what to avoid in your bread

• High Fructose Corn Syrup
• Sodium
• Caramel Color - There are four types of caramel colorings. Two of four contain ammonia. Best to just avoid it all.
• Calcium Propionate - a preservative associated with stomach ulcers, behavioral changes and headaches.
• Azodicarbonamide - a bleaching agent that has been banned in Europe and Australia because it is linked to asthma and allergies.

Nature's Pride 100% Whole Wheat Bread has no high fructose corn syrup or preservatives.

 

Ingredients - Whole Wheat Flour, Water, Yeast, Sugar, Wheat Gluten, Cracked Wheat, Cultured Wheat Flour. contains 2% or Less of: Honey, Salt, Brown Sugar, Soybean Oil, Molasses, Wheat Bran, Raisin Juice Concentrate, Vinegar, Soy Flour, Whey, Soy Lecithin, Cultured Corn Solids

 

One slice contains 110 calories, 5g protein, 20g carbohydrate, 1g fat (0g saturated), and 3g fiber.

 

I had this earlier with tuna and the first bite, I will admit, just felt gross to me. I thought about scrapping all my tuna right on to a slice of white bread. But, I continued eating and about half way through the sandwich, it wasn't quite as bad anymore. I think over time I will get use to it! It is just so different than what I am use to. I would buy it again, though. In fact, I probably will next week.

 

Here are a few other 'clean' options for bread:

 

• Ezekial Bread - organic, free of GMO's and found in the grocer's freezer
• Alvarado Street  Bakery Bread - organic, free of GMO's
• Sara Lee Hearty & Delicious 12 Grain Bread - no preservatives or chemicals listed above
• Udi's Bread - gluten free
• EarthGrains 12 Grains Bread - no preservatives or chemicals listed above

 

 

What Is Eating Clean?

What does it mean to 'eat clean'? I think it's pretty simple (at least, explaining it is - I have never tried actually eating clean!). Eating clean basically means you eat healthy, but healthy doesn't always equal clean.

Let me explain. Some healthy foods (or labeled healthy foods) have many ingredients. Ingredients that the common person cannot even pronounce. The key to a CLEAN food is that there are few ingredients as possible and all being easy enough to say. It doesn't mean that you have to eat dirt or bland foods. You just have to keep a more vigilant eye on what you are putting into your body.

I've found that after exercising relentlessly, I often end up getting fast food afterwards and obviously this lifestyle just isn't going to work. I get no postive results from living that way and I am certainly no healthier for it. This is all about making sure you're putting in good nutrients for your body.

Now, I personally am not one to dive head first into things. I am going to be taking this slow and I'll have you along every step of the way. You could dive all into healthy eating, but I know from my own experience that I often get extremely bored with things when I do them all at once - like healthy eating. I need to take this slow. Slowly introducing healthy things into my diet, one by one. You know, really getting a feel for it all. Some people would just get rid of all processed foods and go out and buy all the pricey healthy things. Like I said, I won't be doing it that way. I have a goal of a few new things every week and giving you all reviews on what I think of the product. I want you to be there every step of the way. Sound good?

This will be about baby steps, but in the end I hope we can all get there.

Enjoy this post? Leave a comment below!

Beginning My Journey By Eating Clean

 

I've been trying for quite some time now to create a healthy lifestyle for myself. I've worked out without actually eating healthy, thinking that I could eat whatever I wanted to simply because I had worked out. I've found this to be not true. In order to live healthy and be healthy, you have to do both. That's something I have always struggled with.

 

My goal in creating this blog is to hold myself accountable, as well as hopefully teach and inspire some other people to lead a healthy lifestyle too.

 

The big thing I want to focus on is my eating. This has always been such a weak spot for me, as I have grown up on junk food - eating processed sugar cereals, stuffing my mouth with Chef Boyardee or frozen meals for lunch and non stop snacking on cookies and chips throughout the day. It never was a real issue for me since I come from a family of very tiny people. I thought if I wasn't gaining weight and I felt "okay" then my lifestyle of eating horrible and sitting down all day couldn't have been too bad for my health. I felt I was okay.

It wasn't until after I started having kids that things changed. My metabolism slowed down, and while I still am in pretty good shape - I am concerned about my future. I want to grow old gracefully, I want to avoid having to go to the doctor for health scares and I want to influence my children to live their lives aware of good nutrition and exercise. What we do today determines our tomorrow. I want my kids and I to have many good days and the key to that is good health.

I look foward to enjoying this journey with you! Let's laugh, learn and get fit!