Smoothie Mix Up

I know it has been quite a few months since this blog has been updated. I do apologize for that! I've had a difficult time adjusting to life at home without internet since moving to the country. Our only internet option out there now is satellite and it costs and arm and a leg if we did go with that (which we wont, because it's way too expensive. Almost $80 a month! Crazy!!). Anyway, I usually do posts on here with photos I find on Pinterest so not having internet at home means I don't surf Pinterest constantly which means I don't usually have things to share.

In January I gave birth to our precious baby boy. You may remember my Healthy Eating During Pregnancy post from last June. Since January I've been working on getting used to the new role of being a stay at home mama. I think I'm finally getting things in a good working order so hopefully I can start a few regular posts over here now. I've been keeping my main blog, Blue Eyed Beauty Blog, updated regularly so now I hope to get this one up and going again too.

During pregnancy I gained almost 50 pounds. I didn't always eat the healthiest, and I didn't exercise hardly at all, if any, so I'm not really surprised by this. I had a fair bit of weight gain right off the bat and then I just had normal pregnancy weight gain during the middle months, then there at the end I think most of the weight just piled on quickly. I have been working on losing the 'baby weight' for about a month now. I post regularly on my main blog about my After Baby Weight Loss; usually on Wednesday the new update goes out. I'm not very good at being consistent with working out, but at least I'm attempting it!

As for healthy eating? I'm quite horrible at this now too. I just really like high fat foods and so for the last six months or so that's mainly what I've been fixing for dinner. Since March though I've been *trying* to do better about fixing slightly healthier food options. My latest favorite is to make up a smoothie after I work out. I found the photo below on Pinterset (I couldn't find an original link?) and thought it was great because it shows different ways to mix up making smoothies. I personally like to make up a smoothie I call the Strawberry Protein Smoothie which has about 6 frozen strawberries, 6 big spoonfuls of vanilla yogurt, and 1/2 cup of milk. I call it a protein smoothie because both milk and yogurt have a lot of protein in them. It's very tasty though! {Hubby says protein makes you gain weight, but so far I haven't had a problem with that, and I don't make this every day, just a few times a week.}

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What is your favorite smoothie blend?

Until next time!

Mixing Up Your Salad

Hey guys I'm back for a short post. As you may have noticed, this blog has been very inactive lately. If anyone is interested in writing a health post on food, diet, exercise, fitness, etc. please send me an email with the topic you'd like to write about! I would love to have some posts written by you readers!

Anyway, back to the subject at hand: Salads!!!

How many of you actually enjoy salads? I have to be honest and say that I only enjoy them on occasion. They have to be a good salad too, not some crappy lettuce and dressing salad. I like it fixed up with a few other toppings such as almonds, spinach, raisins, tomatoes, croutons, cucumbers, sharp cheddar cheese, shredded chicken... and I could go on (not all in the same salad of course!).

I thought I'd share with you some different photos of salads I've enjoyed over the last few months. Get ready for your mouth's to start watering!

This salad has a nice mix of almond slices, raisins, dried cranberries, spinach, iceberg lettuce, and ranch dressing. It is probably one of my favorites to make, although I usually don't add almonds to it except for on occasion.

This salad is mostly spinach with raisins, sharp cheddar cheese, croutons and ranch dressing.

A more classic salad which consists of a nice mixture of green lettuces, beautiful cherry tomatoes, and sharp cheddar cheese with ranch (my favorite dressing if you haven't noticed lol).

Adding shredded chicken to a salad gives you some protein with your veggies. As you can see this salad has the dark green lettuce, spinach, shredded chicken, a few dried cranberries and of course, ranch dressing.

If you're looking to make a salad into a meal try Taco Salad. I usually make it up with ground beef, frito chips, lettuce, shredded cheese, salsa, black olives, red onion, kidney beans, ranch dressing, and occasionally I add spinach too. I have the Taco Salad recipe on my main blog which you should totally check out if you think most or all of those things sound good!

So there are some ideas for mixing up your regular salad to make it more tasty and enjoyable!

What are extra toppings you like to add to your salads?

Healthy Eating During Pregnancy

In my last post I announced my being pregnant (read that post here) and since then I've been busy with life in general, and then laptop issues have taken up the rest of the past few weeks. (I had to send it off to be repaired and that took about three weeks, and then I was locked out of my email account for almost a full week once I got my laptop back.) ANYWAY... I'm just popping in to share a few more healthy food ideas that I've shared over on my main blog, but thought you readers here may enjoy as well.

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A healthy snack: Nutella on Rice Cakes. This is something I sort-of accidently discovered one day when I was looking for something sweet to snack on but didn't want to take the time to bake anything. Of course there are all kinds of rice cakes you can use. The one in the photo (from my main blog) is just a plain and regular white rice cake. I'm sure this would be healthier with a brown rice cake, but I didn't have any of those.

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A good breakfast: Whole Wheat Blueberry Oatmeal Muffins. Since being pregnant I've discovered that my used-to-be massive sweet tooth has almost completely disappeared. I walk down the candy isle in WalMart now and nothing really looks or sounds good, where as before I wanted most everything on the shelves! Anyway, this recipe is one I created and is really tasty...and as you can see, quite full of blueberries too!

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Snacking: Freezing Bananas. We have an ALDI store around here and I LOVE going in and looking for good deals. Quite often I can find bananas for 0.29 cents a lb. and when I do I usually pick up a few bunches of them to have on hand. Not only are bananas great for eating fresh, but you can also freeze them while they're fresh to use in smoothies later on. OR if you wait too long and they start to turn brown they are perfect for making banana bread! Lots of great, healthy ideas here!

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Filling Snacks/Breakfast: Healthy Granola Fruit Yogurt Snack. I don't know about you but yogurt and granola are two of my favorite things to snack on...add fruit and it's 10 times better! This is a regular snack or dinner for me. I like to make my own granola too because you can put whatever you want in it and it can be either mostly healthy, or completely healthy {granola recipe here}.

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A breakfast idea: Blueberry Oatmeal Muffins. In case you didn't notice, I REALLY like Blueberry Muffins! lol. This recipe is a little different from the one listed above...and with the original ingredients is not near as healthy, but if you make the suggested ingredient changes from the notes (on the recipe page) they actually are quite healthy for you!

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Another breakfast idea: Healthy Applesauce Muffins. This recipe is nice if you like something that has a hint of sweetness, but is mostly very plain and basic. I'm sure you could easily add fruit to this recipe if you'd like.

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Homemade Food: Almond Butter. This is a recipe/my first experience in making almond butter. I thought the experience was wonderful. It is for sure something I'd like to do again when I end up buying some nuts. You could probably make any kind of nut butter that you'd like. I've only tried to make it out of almonds so far but it was a good experience over all.

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Homemade Food: Crockpot Apple Sauce. Now this is a recipe that I'd suggest using later on this fall if you can find a neighbor who has an apple tree full of apples they don't plan to use (that's what I did last year and it was wonderful!). Making apple sauce really isn't that hard. Especially if you use the crockpot like I did for this recipe. The hardest part is peeling and removing the core of the apple, everything else is a breeze!

I could go on sharing with you, but I'm sure this gives you enough to have found at least one thing you want to try! :) I am working on publishing more posts over on BEBBlog with healthy eating ideas and foods, but those are somewhat slow in coming since I'd MUCH rather bake or cook unhealthy things! lol. They are slowly building up though and that's a good thing.

What are some healthy foods/snacks you have been enjoying lately?

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What Fruits Are You Eating?

This is an interesting photo I found via Pinterest. It linked to this blog post on Living a Changed Life.

Fruit's are so good for you! They have lots of natural vitamins which your body needs, and if you know what you need most then you can find the best fruit to add to your regular diet.

Here is a short list of some fruits and their top contributing vitamins and the calories for a recommended amount. If you click on the reference link you will be able to read a lot  more information on each fruit listed, and see where I got my information here from.

~Apples have a lot of Fiber and Vitamin C. One small apple is about 54 calories. (Reference/Read more!)

~Apricots have a good amount of Vitamin A. Other vitamins include: Vitamin C, Tryptophan, Fiber, and Potassium. One apricot is about 16 calories.

~Avocadoes have so many good vitamins in them! Fiber, Vitamin K, Floate, Vitamin C, Vitamin B5, Potassium, Vitamin B6. To eat one avocado would equal about 233 calories. (Reference.)

~Bananas have a lot of Vitamin B6. They also have good amounts of Vitamin C, Manganese, Fiber, and Potassium. One banana is about 105 calories. The potassium in this fruit is a huge bonus to people who participate in sports. (Reference.)

~Blueberries are highest in Vitamin K, but they also have Manganese, Vitamin C, and Fiber. To eat one cup of blueberries would equal about 84 calories. (Reference.)
Cherries

~Cranberries have a fairly small amount of the following vitamins: Vitamin C, Fiber, Manganese, Vitamin K, and Vitamin E. For a serving of one half a cup that would equal about 23 calories. (Reference.)

~Grapefruit's are packed full of Vitamin C! They also have a large portion of Vitamin A. Other vitamins include Fiber, Potassium, Vitamin B5, and Vitamin B1. Half a grapefruit equals about 40 calories. (Reference.)

~Grapes have a large amount of Manganese. Vitamin K is also high in this fruit. Other vitamins include Vitamin C, Vitamin B1, Potassium, and Vitamin B6. 1 cup is the recommended serving and that would equal about 61 calories. Grapes are really good for the cardiovascular system, respiratory system, immune system, inflammatory system, blood sugar regulating system, and nervous system. (Reference.)

~Kiwis have huge amounts of Vitamin C with Fiber and Potassium showing in much smaller amounts. 1 kiwi equals about 45 calories. (Reference.)

~Lemons/Limes have a ton of Vitamin C. For 1/4 a cup you would consume about 15 calories. Because of the large amounts of Vitamin C lemons/limes can be helpful in preventing the development and progression of atherosclerosis and diabetic heart disease. (Reference.)

~Oranges are well known for their large amounts of Vitamin C, but they also provide Fiber, Folate, Vitamin B1, Potassium, Vitamin A, and Calcium. 1 orange equals about 61 calories. (Reference.)

~Papaya's have an extremely large amount of Vitamin C. Vitamin A is second largest while Folate, Potassium, and Fiber are much lower. Vitamin's E and K are also present. One serving (about 304 grams) equals about 118 calories. (Reference.)

~Pears have Fiber, Vitamin C, and Vitamin K. One pear is about 103 calories. (Reference.)

~Pineapples have large amounts of Vitamin C and Manganese. These vitamins and minerals are also included: Fiber, Vitamin B6, Copper, Vitamin B1, and Folate. 1 cup is equals 82 calories. (Reference.)

~Plums have small amounts of several vitamins, but the prominent vitamin is C. The other vitamins are Vitamin K, Vitamin A, Fiber, Tryptophan, and Potassium. One plum equals 30 calories. (Reference.)

~Strawberries have a huge amount of Vitamin C. They also have: Mangnaese, Fiber, Folate, Iodine, Potassium, Magnesium, Vitamin K, and Omega-3 Fatty Acids. One cup is about a serving and that would be about 46 calories. This fruit has a large combination of antioxidants and anti-inflammatory nutrients which can help in cardiovascular support and prevention of cardiovascular diseases; improved regulation of blood sugar which can decrease risk of type 2 diabetes, and preventions of cancers including breast, cervical, colon, and esophageal. (Reference.)

~Watermelons have a lot of Vitamin C, Vitamin A, Potassium, and Magnesium. For a one cup serving that would be about 45 calories. This fruit can help the inflammation that contributes to conditions like asthma, atherosclerosis, diabetes, colon cancer, and arthritis. (Reference.)


My top five fruits:
Apples ~I can't eat them raw, so I enjoy baking with them and drinking Apple juice.
Bananas ~I like to include 1/2 a banana with breakfast.
Blueberries ~Great for freezing and eating a few when I get a craving for sweets.
Lemons/Limes ~I just love cooking with their flavors!
Strawberries ~I love to use these frozen in smoothies.