back on track

 Since I have been feeling better and my food cravings are sort of back to normal I have been back to making healthy dinners.  I feel so much better when I eat healthier.  I swear there were some nights that I wouldn't be able to eat anything unless it was taco bell.  It was disgusting.  Tonight I made the best pasta sauce I have ever made!  Its super easy and healthy, all organic/vegan but you would never know it because it tastes so good and is really creamy.  My pictures kind of suck because I used my ipad, too lazy to get my camera out.

 

  Tomato Basil Pasta (adapted from oh she glows).

Ingredients:
2 small tomatoes
1/2 cup cashews
1/4 cup water
1 Tbsp tomato paste
1 Tbsp olive oil
3 garlic cloves
2 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
1/2 cup fresh basil, finely chopped
whole wheat pasta

1.  Chop tomatoes and add them to blender, Add cashews, water, and tomato paste.  Blend all together until smooth
2. Add olive oil and minced garlic to skillet and heat on low.  Only cook for about two minutes
3.  Pour the sauce from the blender to the skillet on the stove with the olive oil and garlic.  Add salt , pepper, and basil.  You can add more water to thin out sauce but I liked it thicker.  

Put this sauce on top of your whole wheat pasta and enjoy.  You will be so glad you tried this!

I made a light salad to go with this pasta and topped it with my favorite dressing
Ingredients:
sunflower seeds
feta cheese
apple slices
dried cranberries

Balsamic vinaigrette dressing for the salad:
combine 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar1 teaspoon regular mustard1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil1 1/2 tablespoon pure maple syrup

 I had to get remotivated to eat healthy so I watched these great movies on netflix that I have already watched.  

 I just bought this book on my ipad for 5 dollars.  It has a ton of recipes that look really good.  All of the recipes are vegan.

Life Update

  I am going to try to start blogging again once a week.  I'll see how it goes.  I just started a new job that makes me have to wake up at 5 am every day!  The morning and me have always always hated each other.  I guess I'm going to have to learn to go to bed at 9.  This past week we found out that we are having a little girl!  I am so excited.  I am getting anxious and still have a long ways to go.  In one week I will be five months pregnant.  I made two new recipes this past week that were really good!

The first one I found on pinterest.  Sweet and sour chicken with rice and broccoli!  I have been craving orange chicken but I won't eat it at any restaurant because who knows what they are putting in it.  I used organic chicken and cut the recipe in half.  I am going to make it again this week and instead of using sugar for the sauce I am going to try truvia/stevia sugar.  You can find the recipe here.

The second recipe I loved is white chicken chilli soup.  Here is the recipe.  My cousin Alex seriously has some good recipes on her blog.  I probably use her blog for new recipes once a week.  It was my favorite soup recipe that I have made.  I usually make chicken tortilla soup but this soup definitely wins.

More exciting things....

The dark knight rises came out on dvd!  Best movie ever!  We bought it Friday and watched it and then we decided to watch it again on Saturday night.  Its that good.  I have always loved batman movies.  I'm also really excited for superman to come out.  During Christmas break I'm going to have to have a batman marathon and watch all three.

Since I have been feeling better I have been trying to ride my stationary bike and do yoga.  This DVD is actually pretty good.  There isn't really anything on it that a pregnant person can't do.  They don't really use a lot of weights, some light dumbbells.  I was so sore after doing the work out.  I don't think I would really call this a yoga workout.  Bob Harper always has good workout dvds so it is definitely worth trying.  I don't think I can do real yoga, or meditate.  I like to sweat and get my heart rate up.  I relax when I watch tv.

The ACSM guidelines for exercising during pregnancy is that you should exercise  3-7 days per week moderate intensity 15-30 minutes per day.  I definitely need to start exercising more.  I have been so lazy.

Here is another workout dvd I want to try

Its a kettlebell workout with Bob Harper.  Not sure I can use a kettlebell when I'm pregnant.  I'll have to look into that.  If I can I will have to be a lighter one.  If you have never used a kettlebell before it is definitely time for you to buy one.  It is such a good arm and cardio work out.  I had never used one before cross fit but I will probably never do a workout with out using one now.  I told Jordan that after I have this baby I am for sure going to do cross fit for at least a couple months.


These are my top picks for decorating the baby's room.  I will probably end up going with coral and light blue.  Yellow and gray is a close second.  Our baby room is currently an office work room jam packed full of bike stuff we are selling.  Who knows how we are going to organize that into a work/baby room. 

Kind of a random post, but I haven't posted in a while so there was a lot on my mind.  Hope everyone has a good week! 

Winner Winner Chicken Dinner

What I've been up to....

I am finally starting to feel a little better.  I get to find out what the baby is in just three weeks.  I was in a complete panic the other day because I have only gained three pounds and am 15 weeks pregnant, I thought something was wrong.  Luckily my doctor said that was completely normal.   I am not trying to brag, I seriously was on a get fat diet because I thought the baby wasn't growing, I may or may not have made myself feel sick a couple times because I was trying to eat a ton.   I also found a new hobby, genealogy!  I always thought family history was a little boring until I started reading stories online about the pioneers in my family line.  I also found out that through my Grandma Leora I am related to the same person my husband is.  So technically we are fourth cousins twice removed.  The reason why family history is so fun is because its kind of like a mystery you are trying to solve.  I found eight kids that were not even linked to their parents through different documents I searched through online. We are actually going to take a trip to Safford soon because tons of my relatives are buried there.  I'm not going to talk about the election because it's just too sad.  I think we all know who the smart people in this country voted for. 

I started watching the cooking channel the other day and decided to actually write down the recipe and try it.  It turned out really good.  But I decided it was too much work for my lazy cooking self.  I only like meals that take thirty minutes or less haha.  This chicken lasted us all week.  So it was worth it.  I used the left over chicken to make a big pan of chicken enchiladas. 

Chicken marinated with herbs/butter:

Chicken marinated with herbs/butter:

I was at costco the other week and usually buy chicken once a month because its so expensive to buy it organic.  I usually buy the normal chicken breasts that I can quickly make on the stove or put in the oven.  Next to the usual chicken I buy were two whole chickens.  They were the same price as the other chicken I normally buy and were three times as much chicken.  So I guess for a little more work it was worth it.  You definitely get more for your money.

Here is the recipe:
-thaw out your chicken and place it in a pan wing side down.  (The opposite of how you normally cook a chicken).  Then combine half a stick of room temperature butter in a bowl with some chopped up rosemary and thyme.  Mix the herb butter and spread half of it all over the chicken.  Try to get the butter underneath the skin.

-In a separate bowl cut small potatoes in half and mix with olive oil and salt.  

- Bake the chicken (wing side down) at 425 degrees for about fifteen minutes.  Then take the chicken out and set the oven to 350.  Move the chicken to a different pan and put all of the potatoes in the pan you are cooking the chicken in.  Then move the chicken and put it on top of the potatoes.  Put the chicken back in the oven at 350 degrees (wing side up) or the normal way you cook a chicken.  Let the chicken cook for about an hour and ten minutes.  Make sure to buy a thermometer so you can check the temperature of your chicken to make sure it is cooked enough.  Stick the thermometer in your chicken and make sure it is at least 170 degrees.