*reposted with permission from Mama and Baby Love - check her out…gorgeous Mama, adorable baby and AWESOME ideas!

 

 Like I mentioned in my post the other week, the last time I did a big cooking day, I had big ah-ha moment.

Although, I had a blast with Lauren, it was logistically very difficult to accomplish, between the juggling of cooking and childcare, the prep work, organization and scheduling, it can be overwhelming.

So this latest big cooking day, I did it by myself and only did slow cooker recipes.  Basically, all I was did was chop vegetables and assemble ingredients.

Even with doing it this way, it was still a 3 hour affair, but during this time I was able to finish all the cooking AND the cleaning.  Most importantly my feet didn’t ache at the end like they normally do.  I also didn’t have any sort of panic or anxiety leading up to the big cooking day like I normally do. HUGE.

I chopped all the vegetables with Penelope in her Learning Tower before nap (which was really fun, I went through all the colors of the vegetables with her and talked about rainbows and made it a fun learning experience).

Then I assembled everything during her nap (thank you Jesus, I can now skip a pump session here and there and can do other things at nap time than sit in front of a computer) and finished cleaning up after nap, again with her in her Learning Tower.  This time she played independently with a bowl of soapy water, she made a huge mess,  but the rags I used to clean up her mess where the same rags I used to clean up my mess so it wasn’t that bad.

I just dumped the veggies into the gallon ziploc bags, then added the meat, then added the spices.

Once I was done and cleaned everything up, I felt like I had invented electricity!  I thought I was such a genius for finally (it took me over a year, people) getting once a month cooking down to an efficient and easy art form.

I am telling you it will change your life! Give it a try and tell me how it went!

 

 

 

Here are my recipes.  I use a ton of vegetables in each meal, because I don’t tend to eat a lot of veggies through out the day, so I try and get them all in at dinner.  And Peter is more apt to eat veggies if they taste like barbecue or curry than as a plain side dish.

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Healthy Mama Barbecue Chicken
3 medium unpeeled  sweet potatoes, cut into 1/2 inch pieces
2 large green pepper, cut into strips
1 large red pepper, cut into strips
1 zucchini, chopped
1 medium onion, sliced
1 tablespoon quick cooking tapioca
2 pounds chicken thighs or drumsticks
1 8-ounce can of tomato sauce
2 tablespoons packed brown sugar
1 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon yellow mustard (I wasn’t sure if this meant actual mustard or the spice so I did a little of both)
1 clove garlic, minced
1/4 teaspoon salt

Dump everything into two gallon freezer bags, shake it up, seal, label and put in the freezer.

Stephanie’s Goulash
3 cups chopped onions
2.5 cups coarsely chopped green sweet peppers
4 large beets, peeled and diced
2 cups of carrots
3 cloves garlic, minced
3 pounds beef stew meat, cut into one inch cubes
1 6-ounce can tomato paste
4 teaspoons Hungarian paprika or regular paprika (I used regular)
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
4 cups hot cooked noodles
1/2 dairy sour cream

Dump everything into two gallon freezer bags, shake it up, seal, label and put in the freezer. EXCEPT the sour cream, that is for garnish after the meal is cooked.

Chicken Curry
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
4 tablespoons curry powder
1.5 teaspoons ground cumin
1.5 pounds chicken thighs, cut into 1 inch pieces
2 cups chopped peeled sweet potatoes
2.5 cups baby carrots
2 cup coarsely chopped mango
1 cup chopped onion
1 zucchini chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
chicken bouillon
.5 cup raisins (for garnish)
.5 cup peanuts or cashews (for garnish)

Dump everything into two gallon freezer bags, shake it up, seal, label and put in the freezer.

To cook, take out of freezer and set on counter for about 30 minutes, then dump contents of bag into slow cooker. Cook on high for 4 hours, or low for 8 hours.

Quinoa Stuffed Mini Jack-O’-Lanterns  or Halloweegan Peppers

Prepare the squashes:

• 2 gold acorn squashes
• olive oil
• salt
• black pepper

If you’re going to bake them in a conventional oven, preheat it to 375ºF.

Slice off the bottom tip of the squashes to create a flat base. Cut off the tops and use a spoon to remove the seeds. Save the tops for later!

Use a pencil to draw the faces on the squashes, and use a small serrated knife to carve out the faces. Luckily, carving a small acorn squash is easier than carving a big pumpkin!

Brush a little olive oil all over the inside of the squashes and lightly sprinkle them with salt and black pepper. At this point you can choose to bake them in a conventional oven for an hour or until soft, or you can cook them in the microwave like I did. Place the squashes in a microwave safe bowl, add about 1/2 cup of water and microwave for 5 to 8 minutes or until soft.

In the meantime, make the quinoa stuffing:

• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1/2 cup onion, chopped
• 1/2 cup mushrooms, chopped
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 1 tbsp fresh parsley, minced
• 1/4 tsp salt
• black pepper to taste
• 1/2 cup uncooked quinoa
• 2 tablespoons nutritional yeast
• 1 cup vegetable broth

Heat the oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add the onions and saute for about five minutes or until soft. Stir in the mushrooms and saute two more minutes. Stir in the garlic and saute for just about 30 seconds.

Add the parsley salt, black pepper, quinoa, and vegetable broth. Reduce heat to low and simmer for 15 to 18 minutes or until all the water is absorbed and the quinoa is soft and fluffy. If the quinoa is still crunchy you can add more broth and simmer it for a few more minutes. 

Spoon the quinoa stuffing into the acorn squashes and cover them with the reserved squash tops. Reheat the finished dish, if necessary, and serve. 

For Tiny Appetites: You can make those mini pumpkins instead of the bigger acorn squashes. You can stuff 6 to 8 mini pumpkins with this recipe, depending on their size.

Halloweegan Peppers: You can also stuff a carved orange bell pepper. Carve, stuff, and bake in a covered casserole dish at 350 degrees F. for 25 to 30 minutes.

**reposted from GoDairyFree.org

Have you transformed your body with a Beachbody® fitness program?

Or are you about to start one?

 Then you could win cash and prizes with The Beachbody Challenge* and I would like to help you get there! 

If you are already someone I Coach, shoot me a message and let me know you are ready to COMMIT! 

If I am not your Coach, please click on the FREE COACHING tab and sign up, send me a message and LET’s GET STARTED!!

Commit to get fit now, achieve your desired results, and come back to submit your story anytime after August 1, 2011.

We’ll send you a FREE wristband just for making your commitment, and a FREE T-shirt when you submit your results. Plus, you could win daily, monthly, quarterly, and grand prizes . . . up to $100,000!

Commit to get fit

 Want to win daily $500 cash prizes? Starting August 1, 2011, new rules take effect in the WOWY® Supergym Sweepstakes. The $500 daily prizes will be awarded only to those who’ve committed to get fit and/or submitted their results in The Beachbody Challenge. Just commit to get fit with your favorite Beachbody® program and you’ll be eligible to win $500 every day, just for logging your workouts in WOWY. And, we’ll send you a FREE Beachbody wristband! Don’t forget to submit your results after August 1st!

*Not only will you continue to be eligible to win $500 a day, but your story can also win you $1,000 cash, free trips, even up to $100,000!

Use these Team Beachbody® tools designed to help you reach your goals:

- Log your workouts in WOWY for a chance to win daily cash prizes.

-Connect with people like you on the Message Boards.

-Find a Fit Club near you.

-Blog about your journey.

-Eat smart every day by using the Meal Planner.

a FREE T-Shirt. Plus, WIN daily and monthly prizes . . . up to $100,000!

1. Daily Prizes: $500 awarded daily in the WOWY® Supergym Sweepstakes.

2. Monthly Prizes: $1000 to the top transformations in 8 categories each month. Plus, their coaches can win $500. $1000 to the top male and female Shakeology® Success Stories. Plus, their coaches can win $500.

3. Quarterly Prizes: $5000 and a trip to Los Angeles for 2 winners and a guest. One male and one female winner are selected by an online community vote each quarter.

4. Grand Prizes – up to $100,000! Combining the voting of the Team Beachbody® online community and the scoring of Beachbody’s internal panel of experts, the winners of prizes in the Grand Prize Contest are determined.

$100,000 to 2 Grand Prize winners (1 male and 1 female) $20,000 Coach prize, if nominated by the Grand Prize winners

$25,000 to 6 Grand Prize finalists $5,000 Coach prize, if nominated by the Grand Prize finalists

$25,000 to 2 Shakeology Grand Prize winners (1 male and 1 female) $5,000 Coach prize, if nominated by the Shakeology Grand Prize winners Plus, an all-expenses-paid trip to the 2012 Team Beachbody Coach Summit for all Grand Prize finalists and Shakeology Grand Prize winners

It’s a health and fitness transformation competition.

Share the results you achieve with any Beachbody program to get a FREE T-SHIRT, and if your results are judged to be the BEST in your age and gender category (18 – 29, 30 – 39, 40 – 49, 50+) you can win cash and prizes.

Entries are judged on their written Success Stories, stats, and transformation photos.

BONUS PRIZES for using Shakeology®! Tell us how Shakeology helped your transformation for an extra chance to win $1000, and even $25,000!

Entries are judged on written Success Stories and stats alone.

Enter The Beachbody Challenge™ 2011 – 2012

Running has so many fun little perks…like this tip from Runner’s World’s August edition…

“having a popsicle or icy drink before a hot run will lower your body temp so you can go longer without overheating.”

DUDE! I get to eat POPSICLES?!?!  screams my inner 5 year old!

oh. wait. I have long since outgrown those syrupy sweet icy treats.

While not much of a fan of traditional popsicles I am VERY excited to try this grown up, healthier version posted in the New York Times Magazine this past Sunday. MUCH healthier than the sugar ladden, rainbow colored boxes gracing the super market frozen food aisle…I will still be subing a natural sweetener for sugar and almond milk for milk.

I will let you know! YUM!

Back in the day, Beachbody® employed a rather aloof nutrition expert named Chef Pierre, who possessed a singular skill for converting unhealthy recipes into nutrition meals.

Unfortunately, we had to let Chef Pierre go after a particularly outrageous Christmas party during which he validated half-a-dozen or so French stereotypes, but his philosophy—that healthy eating begins with the ingredients—lives on in our hearts. That’s why I’m particularly pleased about the cookbook Super Natural Cooking, in which chef Heidi Swanson will assuredly convert even the most diehard refined flour user to the ways of natural, whole food.

While this is, technically, a cookbook, it can also be considered a primer in the ways of whole foods divided into five chapters:

 Build a natural foods pantry

 Explore a wide range of grains

Cook by color

Know your superfoods

Use natural sweeteners

Every chapter contains a little lesson, followed by several ingredients honoring that lesson, and then several recipes. For example, chapter three is about carotenoids—the phytonutrients found in produce that provide their color as well as myriad health benefits. The chapter opens with a little more detail about carotenoids, runs through a list of the better known ones, mentions several fruits and veggies you’ll find them in, and ends with a bunch of great recipes—including Crema de Guacamole, a delicious avocado soup rich in potassium, fiber, and the carotenoid lutein, which studies show can help with heart health, and combat arthritis and several forms of cancer.

Chapter one is also particularly useful. In fact, it should be required reading for anyone who happens to have a kitchen in their home. It offers detailed alternatives to refined flour, sugars, and oils. For example, check out barley flour as a healthy substitute for baking—but, as the book notes, make sure to lower your oven temperature by 25 degrees when replacing conventional flour with barley flour.

Super Natural Cooking also offers a great appendix on “Basic Recipes and Techniques” that’s worth checking out. Within, you’ll find easy ways to make tomato sauce, all-natural baking powder, egg-and-dairy-free mayo, and veggie stock, among other staple recipes.

One thing to keep in mind is that this is a vegetarian cookbook, even though it’s not promoted that way. But this shouldn’t inhibit you carnivores from checking it out. It’s void of any meat-free dogma and the lessons it teaches can apply to any recipe, whether it contains animal protein or not. So pick it up and prepare to be educated.

The acerola trees abundantly found in the southern areas of West Indies, South America, Mexico and the United States, has a bright red colored berry fruits that produce many health benefits. The wide health benefits of acerola fruit are due to the high nutrient content and its potential to fight against illnesses.

Acerola is not only marketed for its fruit, but it is also used as an ingredient in cosmetic products due to its natural anti-aging property. Following are the health benefits of eating acerola fruit: Acerola is the richest source of vitamin C that helps in fighting against the infections, boosts the immune system, prevents blood clot formation, repairs damaged skin tissues and reduces the risk of degenerative diseases, heart diseases and cancers.

The fruit is considered to be the second richest source of vitamin C. The minerals such as calcium, potassium, phosphorus, iron, manganese, magnesium and zinc found in acerola fruit improves the metabolism in the body. The copper content in the fruit aids in iron absorption by the body. Acerola fruit is very low in fats, calories and sodium content and moreover does not contain any cholesterol.

Thus, this is a right fruit for health conscious people. The juice made from acerola fruit is a powerful solvent that acts on inorganic calcium deposits that will help in maintaining the elasticity of the body and thus hardens arteries. The dietary fiber present in acerola fruit provides roughage to intestines and thus, gives quick relief from constipation. The fruit is a good skin astringent and is considered to produce anti-fungal and anti-inflammatory properties. Acerola is also a good source of vitamin A and beta-carotene that helps in improving eyesight and combats against acne. It also gives glow to the skin.

*article from Nature Cure

As we celebrate our country this holiday weekend, this patriotic Hippie would like to take some time to honor our military!!  and a corporation?!?!

Whats that you say. A hippie in support of “the man”?

With her whole hipster heart!

The “Man”, our man…

Carl Daikeler, Chairman & CEO of Beachbody

I LOVE when everything I love comes together in such a synergistic way.

Beachbody trainer, Tony Horton has always been a huge supporter of our military. He has traveled all over working out with our troops.

Sent to places like Japan and Italy to by Armed Forces Entertainment Tony was able to speak about his passion and support our soldiers in his “Ripped and Ready” Tour.

Attributed to Tony Horton: What I love most about my job is being able to help people. I not only help people reach their goals, I help people live a longer, healthier life. Travelling overseas to visit the troops is just doing what I love. I’m so glad I was given the
opportunity to give back to the men and women serving our country, it was an honor.”

According to Mr. Horton, visiting military bases across the U.S., Italy, and now Japan is his way of giving back to service members serving in the U.S. military.

“I want to thank the military for all they’ve done,” he continued. “I want to be with the troops, and just say thank you for what they do.”

USAF Lt. Col. Kathleen Weatherspoon, Chief, Armed Forces Entertainment said…Tony is not your typical athletic trainer – he has a great sense of humor and a fun approach to his fitness methods. We’re so glad that he was able to take time out of his busy schedule to travel all the way to the Pacific for our troops.

In further support Beachbody recently rolled out their FREE Sign up for Active Duty Military Program. This program combines so many awesome opportunities, so many things I <3.

Whether members sign up as a “Wholesale customer” and start their own journey or sign up to join in the mission to “end the Trend” of obesity in our country…this is a win/win.

THIS Hippie supports “the man” supporting our military!

If you are currently Active Duty and would like to find out more about this opportunity please contact me at HippieCoach@yahoo.com

Peace