Go GREEN!

A couple months ago my hubby bought some Matcha... I thought to myself "oh great another gross thing I have to consume because it's good for me!"

I like to eat sushi often and usually I'll order green tea... most of the time it tastes like DIRT and I end up wishing I had ordered ice tea or just plain ol' water.

Well to my surprise Matcha doesn't taste like dirt... it's really good and it's really good for you... WINNING! Haaaa!

SOO what is Matcha and why is it good for you?

Well Matcha is finely ground whole green tea leaves. You’re actually consuming the tea leaf itself instead of just steeping your tea with the leaf.  Drinking tea with whole leaves means you’re getting more nutrients & fiber.

Matcha contains antioxidant compounds called polyphenols that according to research aid in the prevention of heart disease and cancer.  Other benefits of Matcha are tension & stress relief, as well as, improvement in concentration and mental focus. Hey, that sounds good to me!!!

To prepare my "afternoon tea" (sounds fancy) I add a teaspoon of Matcha to my cup and pour warm (not boiling) water about halfway and I whisk till it’s frothy. Next, I add a teaspoon or two of local RAW honey... stirring till melted. Then I add warm or room temperature water to fill the cup... it is important not to add water that is too hot of a temperature because it will compromise the healthy enzymes in both the green tea and raw honey. (Also, never microwave honey - it will kill the enzymes as well)

Matcha is a Japanese tea that is available in the United States now. My husband bought ours online but with it gaining popularity I’m sure it’s available in most health food stores.

Is Santa really real? - Zack (age 7)

So the other night at dinner the kids were talking about Christmas because I had purchased some cute lil placemats in preparation for decorating for the holidays.  Zack asks, “Is Santa really real?”  Uuuhhhh (I’m a deer in the headlights then I look down at my plate HOPING Brian says something so I don’t have to!) Brian replies, “You need to finish your dinner… eat your vegetables.” Pheeww! HAHA… that was close. He didn’t ask again so we lucked out.

I’m not at all opposed to telling him the truth about Santa Claus… it’s something I have felt conflicted with for a few years now. We were just caught off-guard and don’t know how to tell the kids without it making them sad!

The next day I told Zack’s teacher about this and she gave me an excellent book that we are going to read to the kids as a family tomorrow night. It’s called “Santa Are You For Real?” by Harold Myra.

I’ve read through it a couple times in preparation. It tells the story of the REAL “Saint Nicholas” and how he would secretly give gifts to those in need. Nicholas loved Jesus very much and he gave these gifts because Jesus came on the first Christmas to give himself. It goes on to explain that the real Saint Nicholas is in heaven now with Jesus and when we see Santa in a store or a parade, we think of Saint Nick.

Here is Harold Myra’s Note to Parents;

“Christmas, children, and Santa Claus. The combination often generates adult explosions against materialism. Why should children be encouraged to be so self-centered, so caught up with a myth that distorts Christmas into a pagan holiday?

Why indeed? I had always been ambivalent myself. But then I read about the historic Saint Nicholas. Even after skimming off the tall tales and adjusting for medieval exaggeration, he comes off as a rather exciting person for children to know about. It’s important to understand the roots of the Santa Claus phenomenon and how the original Saint Nick put the Christ Child clearly at the heart of his Christmas.”

So from now on Christmas is going to be a bit different at our house… and I’m excited!

The story of Saint Nicholas reminded me of this Bible verse…

Matthew 6:1-4 -Giving to the Needy

1"Be careful not to do your 'acts of righteousness' before men, to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven.2"So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full.3But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing,4so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.

The holidays are going to be here before we know it!!!

It is my prayer for all of us to be blessed with a giving heart this holiday season... and that we can all put the Christ Child clearly at the heart of Christmas… just like Saint Nicholas did.

School Food... Fed Up With Lunch

This lady rocks! She secretly blogged a whole year of school lunches and wrote a book about it! So many parents have no idea what their kids are eating at school.

Source: chicagotribune.com
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/ct-met-undercover-school-lunch-20111005,0,2935446.story?page=1
                       
                 
      
Mrs. Q's blog: http://fedupwithlunch.com/

It's National Taco Day!

So I read earlier today that its "National Taco Day"... no joke... I even googled it to make sure. haaa!

Well at our house Tuesday is usually "Taco Tuesday"... it's a meal I've made a million times!

I guess today's post will be about TACOS!

My health tip is to substitute ground beef with all white meat ground breast of chicken or turkey. Dooo it! Cows everywhere will thank you - ha!

I usually buy it pre-packaged at Trader Joes... I think its a 20 oz pkg... plenty to feed an entire family and maybe you'll even have some left overs for lunch the next day.

I also recommend going to the meat counter at your local store and buying only the amount of ground chicken/turkey that you need. Preferably a cut that is good for you… you know, organic veggie fed free range no hormones all natural whatever the healthiest option is Yada Yada Yada. If you’re like me and on a tight grocery budget you think well sheesh that’s too spendy and I can’t afford it… BUT if you only buy 3/4 lb (family of 4) instead of the big 20 oz pre-packaged container... it becomes more affordable and you avoid leftovers that sit in the fridge only to be thrown out later.

It is my opinion that as a society we eat WAY too much meat... really we should only be eating a 4-6 oz portion of meat at dinner. We really should stop making MEAT the main attraction and it would solve a lot of health issues. Reduce your portion sizes and now you can afford the better cut of meat & organic produce to go with it!!!

Sooo as far as cooking goes... MAKE sure to cook it thoroughly but avoid overcooking or it becomes too dry. Poultry needs to be cooked to 165*... I like to cook with a bit of olive oil and season the ground breast of chicken or turkey with cumin, garlic & onion powder and I have a big container of taco seasoning from Costco that I use.

For those of you who want to save on carbs (i.e. NO tortillas or shells) put the seasoned taco meat and toppings over a bed of mixed greens!

Easy Peasy!

GIVE PEAS A CHANCE

Wow... where did the time go? I said I was going to start blogging and I haven't been on here for at least 6 months!

A LOT has happened since then... The biggest event was the loss of my dear sweet Mother-In-Law. This week it'll be a month since she passed away. She fought a nasty form of brain cancer called Type 4 Glioblastoma Mulitform. She fought hard, ran fast and eventually won the race... running straight into the arms of Jesus. Her demonstration of GRACE, FAITH, LOYALTY & LOVE brings our family PEACE that she is with HIM.

While my husband’s mother was sick we did a ton of research about cancer and watched some really good documentaries. As a result we made some personal lifestyle changes... most notably with our diet & products we use on a daily basis around the house... and I'm working on getting back into the gym this week! Our main goal is good health… and hopefully cancer prevention!

From here on out I'm going to TRY and use this platform to blog about the changes I've made for our family. I feel some of the things I have learned over the last few months are so valuable not to share... I know there are others out there dealing with health issues and I firmly believe that with a whole food diet and exercise you can feel way better and maybe even reverse whatever health issues you might have.

I've had a health issue for many years that was finally diagnosed as Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS) about 4 years ago. I don’t have all of the sypmtoms of this syndrome but enough to make me physically uncomfortable & fatigued ALL. THE. TIME. No one has answers for me… they just say to take "the pill". So I did for the last four years and I'm not gonna lie... it did make me feel better but it felt like a band-aide covering up my symptoms. A couple months ago I stopped taking "the pill" and switched to a whole food and an organic (when I can) diet. In addition I’m taking a whole food multi-vitamin for women, bee propolis, adult probiotics, vitamin d3, and krill oil for women. I had already made some changes with our diet over the last year or two… and it's only been two months for the rest of the changes. I’ve slipped up a few times but for the most part my body is already feeling better... I won’t know if any of these changes rid my body of PCOS until this next Spring when I go in for an ultrasound. I sure hope so!

From here on out I’ll try (key word TRY) to blog the food I like to prepare and products I like to use. Thank you for reading my mumble jumble... hope I don't annoy or bore you! hahaaa.

And I’ll leave you with an amazing quote that changed my way of thinking;

'Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food' - Hippocrates