And the exciting news is...

I have created a website, which will actually be replacing this blog. It is called

A Fit Family

and it will be similar to Eat, Play, Love in that it is focused on ideas, tips, thoughts, recipes etc. etc. to keep the whole family fit!! I am asking all of you to please, please spread the word!! I will be working out the kinks in the next few weeks, but hopefully I will get a button up there soon that you can add to your blogs as well. I'd also love any thoughts, ideas or feedback you have. I feel so strongly about family fitness and I think there isn't really a lot out there about it.

So--change your Google readers, update your blog link, tell your friends and family. It's now

www.afitfamily.com

Come on over and visit!! Also, look for me on Facebook soon! Thanks for all your support!

Exciting News!

I am working on something I am very excited about--hopefully I will be able to share it within a week or so. I know you are all waiting with baited breath. Stay tuned!!!

Today I did Crossfit and then a 10 mile ride (I swear it was mostly uphill) against up to 50 mph gusts of wind with Lincoln in the bike seat. I NEVER get sore from riding, but my quads are already feeling it!! Tomorrow should be an adventure in walking!

You don't use it, you lose it.

To celebrate St. Patrick's Day (and escape the madness of being home with my kids for TWO WEEKS STRAIGHT NOW), I went on my first real ride of the season this afternoon. Not pretty. It is crazy to me that I work out all winter long and I still sort of have to start over in the spring. I did just over 10 miles in 47 minutes. That is not good. Last September I was doing 12 miles in 40 minutes. It still felt good, though!!

Check out my NEW clip-on shoes and pedals that I got for Christmas. I spent the entire 47 minutes praying that I wouldn't fall flat on my face and make an idiot of myself in front of anyone. (Apparently this is a very common occurrence in newbies such as myself.) So far, so good.

On a side note--could they possibly make cycling clothes LESS flattering? Hmmm...I think I see a need in the marketplace here.

P.S. Rebecca asked what the CrossFit diet is. It is the Paleo diet, if you have heard of that. Basically you eat like a caveman. Lots of lean meat (all grass-fed), eggs and vegetables. Some fruit. No grains. No dairy. Not even beans. Weird. I personally am choosing to reject it. They say you can lose a lot of weight by doing it. But you can also lose a lot of weight by becoming bulimic, but I'm not willing to go that particular route either.

Just getting old (not so gracefully)

My left knee has been acting up again. I don't know why. My kids are out of school, so I haven't even been able to go running, which is what usually triggers my knee pain. I have been icing it and wrapping it and dosing up on glucosamine and ibuprofen. So here is the question of the hour...

If my left knee is causing me so much pain that I can barely make it up and down the stairs, why does my RIGHT knee look like this???

Now I've had unexplained bruising before, but this seems more to me like unexplained massive internal hemorrhaging of the patella (I watch a lot of medical dramas.) This picture doesn't even do it justice. What the heck?!

Is this just a by-product of getting OLD?! Random bruises, joint pain like you wouldn't believe, sluggish metabolism, oh and numbness in my fingers for over a week all because I did some handstands?!

Cookies!!

I have been thinking about my last post all day--as I cleaned my house and did my laundry, as I made lunch for my family, as I took my kids on a nine mile bike ride to a nearby reservoir to play and as I made dinner. My blood was really boiling over this issue. I don't know who I was mad at--I was just mad! But I have since come to the conclusion: SCREW IT. We eat healthy foods in moderation. I am not cutting whole wheat bread or yogurt out of my diet. I may consider trying to cut back on the bread a bit and trying to get some more lean protein in, but that is it. Well, and I have given up Diet Coke again! I don't care what the "experts" of the minute say, because they are all just going to change their minds. I just want to do what is good for me and my family. And what is reasonable. That being said...

I made these awesome cookies the other day!!!!

Chocolate Crinkle Cookies (MY version)

1 cup white flour

1 cup whole wheat flour

2 tsp. baking powder

10 TBSP applesauce

12 TBSP cocoa powder

1/2 cup honey

1/4 cup sugar

2 tsp. vanilla

2 eggs

powdered sugar (to roll cookies in)

Mix together flours and baking powder. Add applesauce, cocoa powder, honey, sugar and vanilla. Mix well. Add eggs and mix in. (It is really thick dough--beware!) Refrigerate for at least a few hours or overnight.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Make small balls of the dough (it is very sticky and you will have chocolate hands by the end!) and roll them in powdered sugar. Place sugar coated balls on a greased cookie sheet. Bake for 8 minutes. Enjoy!

My kids (and I) love these things! They are soft and chocolatey and taste like little brownie bites!!

NO WAY I'm giving that up. (So there. I'm sticking it to the man.)

Major venting

I'm FED UP and FRUSTRATED!! Does it not seem to anyone else that every time you turn around there are some different "scientifically based" facts about what you should and shouldn't eat? I can't take it anymore!!! Avoid fat. Eat fat. Eat only good fats. Eggs are bad. Eggs are good. Egg whites are okay. Eat the whole egg. Go low carb. Eat whole grains. Avoid all grains. Eat only grains. Don't eat beef. Eat lean beef. Eat grass-fed beef. Eat lots of soy. Soy is of the devil. Stay away from artificial sweeteners. Don't use sugar. Only use raw sugar. Eat local honey. Don't use any honey or agave nectar. Eat multiple small meals a day. Eating multiple small meals a day is "so last season." Supplement with protein bars and shakes. Avoid processed foods. Drink milk. Avoid dairy. Juice, juice, juice. NO JUICE!! Eat the whole fruit. Don't eat fruit. Eat only certain fruits. Try a baked potato. Don't eat white potatoes. Stay under 1500 calories a day. DON'T COUNT CALORIES!!!

When will the madness stop?!

My CrossFit nutrition challenge started today. I feel like I am a very healthy eater. Only according to the challenge guidelines I am doing everything completely wrong. Heaven forbid I eat a small serving of homemade Greek yogurt sweetened with local honey, blueberries and almonds every day. And, HORROR of HORRORS, I also make my own whole wheat bread and eat that too!!!

I don't know what to think anymore. I am certainly not an expert. But I'm starting to think that there AREN'T ANY EXPERTS out there!!!

Confessions, thoughts and a yummy breakfast

One of the reasons I took a big break from this blog was because I realized that I had gained weight because of reading other food blogs!! I mean, obviously it was still my fault--reading doesn't make you gain weight, shoving food in your mouth does. But I would get all these food ideas from other healthy bloggers that would sound so good. I wasn't realizing, though, that many of these healthy bloggers also happen to be 23 and have never had children. I may feel like I am 23, but my metabolism doesn't. Bummer.

So I'm trying to be really careful about what I put on here now. I have to be VERY careful with what I eat these days. I really try to keep my daily calorie intake low. I have many strategies for doing this--mainly myfitnesspal.com!! Usually I make separate meals for my family and myself for breakfast and dinner. That is my reality. I am almost 36 and things have changed.

Confession: my freshman year in college I ate an entire box of Little Debbie Nutty Bars in one sitting. By myself. I weighed 115 lbs at the time! I NEVER, ever worked out. I probably couldn't even have run for 30 seconds straight. Yes, things have changed.

Here is an awesome breakfast recipe for the whole family (like, I get to eat it, too!!!)

Baked Oatmeal with Bananas and Blueberries--adapted from Skinnytaste.com

Ingredients:

2 medium ripe bananas, (the riper the better) sliced into 1/2" pieces
1 1/2 cup blueberries
1/4 cup honey (or agave)
1 cup uncooked quick oats
1/4 cup chopped walnuts or pecans
1/2 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp cinnamon
pinch of salt
1 cup fat free milk (or Almond Milk--less calories!)
1 egg white
1 tsp vanilla extract

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 375° F. Lightly spray a 8 x 8" or 9 x 9" ceramic baking dish with cooking spray; set aside.
Arrange the banana slices in a single layer on the bottom of the ceramic dish. Sprinkle half of the blueberries over the bananas, 1/4 tsp of the cinnamon, 1 tbsp of the honey and cover with foil. Bake 15 minutes, until the bananas get soft.

Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, combine the oats, half of nuts, baking powder, remaining cinnamon, and salt; stir together. In a separate bowl, whisk together the remaining honey, milk, egg, and vanilla extract.
Remove the bananas from the oven, then pour the oat mixture over the bananas and blueberries.

Pour the milk mixture over the oats, making sure to distribute the mixture as evenly as possible over the oats. Sprinkle the remaining blueberries and walnuts over the the top.

(I do all this the night before and stick it in the fridge. Then the next morning...)

Bake the oatmeal for about 30 minutes, or until the top is golden brown and the oatmeal has set. Serve warm from the oven.
I always double this--those warm bananas...ahhh, heaven in the morning!!!

LUNCH...how do I love thee?

Let me count the ways.

Tuna, a little bit of Jalapeno Ranch dressing, sprouts, cucumber, tomato, lettuce on freshly made 100% whole wheat bread. Yes, please.

New Work out!

I've started a CrossFit class that is intense and a nice change of pace. It is always a good thing to have someone else push you a lot harder than you push yourself! So now I'm doing that three times a week as well as my daily cardio workouts (elliptical every night, running once a week, swimming 1-2 times a week and recumbent bike 3 times a week.) All of this in anticipation of multiple triathlons this summer!! Woo hoo!!

making yogurt

It's actually not nearly as intimidating as it sounds! (Soap is much harder.) All you need are a few key ingredients and supplies and a sense of adventure and you end up with creamy, fresh, homemade yogurt. (Not only tasty, but MUCH cheaper than buying it!!)

I don't really follow an exact recipe, so bear with me.

Pour a bunch of milk in a pot. I use organic milk from our local dairy, but any milk will do, I think. Have fun and experiment! Let us know how it goes! (Unless you use breastmilk. We don't want to know about that.)

Heat the milk to 180 degrees. Here it is very helpful to have a candy thermometer. The milk will be almost boiling--with little bubbles around the edges. But I find it much easier to ignore the bubbles and just look at the thermometer.

Next cool the milk down to 112 degrees. You can place your entire pot in an ice bath. Or put your pot in the fridge. Or just leave it out. Whatever floats your boat. Again, though, it is nice to have a candy thermometer here. ($3 at Wal-mart.)

While you are waiting for your milk to cool, heat up your containers. For one pot of milk, I used three big yogurt containers. I just put them in the sink in hot water.

Now add your starter. WHAT STARTER?! you ask. Never fear. Just add some yogurt to your milk (a little store-bought container will do--you just need to make sure it has "live and active cultures".) Mix it up. You can also add a little sugar at this point to "speed up the bacteria growth." That's right folks, we are growing bacteria!

Pour the milk into the containers. Put the lids on. You now get to incubate your yogurt. There are many methods to this madness, but my favorite is the heating pad method, so that is what I will show you. You are welcome to research others...

I put a cutting board down to protect the counters, then place the heating pad on top and cover it with a towel. Put your yogurts on top of this and wrap them all up in another towel. Put the heating pad on medium heat and let the yogurt incubate for about 8 hours or so.

Warning! You kind of need to babysit your yogurt. It's not like babysitting an infant or anything, more like a 10 year old girl. Just a little bit of supervision here and there. The first time I tried to make yogurt I let it incubate overnight. Fail. The heating pad has an automatic shut off feature!!! The yogurt needs to stay between 90 and 120 degrees the whole time. So I ended up with weird milk stuff. Now I just do it during the day, so I can periodically make sure that the heating pad is still on.

That's it!!! We like thick yogurt, so at this stage I start the process for making Greek yogurt--see my previous post. It's super yummy and creamy and not as tart as store bought stuff.

Oh, I should mention, this is plain, unsweetened yogurt. Add fruit or honey if you don't want to feel like you are eating straight up sour cream. :)

So I know that seems like a lot of steps and somewhat daunting, but it is really easy! Give it a try!!!

All you need:

milk

pot

candy thermometer

a small thing of store-bought yogurt (with live and active cultures)

a little sugar (if desired)

old yogurt containers

a heating pad

towels

a sense of adventure :)

Really real.

I am pretty proud of this morning's real breakfast!

Whole wheat/oat toast with apricots and cream cheese

Cage free scrambled eggs

Fresh, homemade yogurt made with organic milk, sweetened with honey and blueberries

I'll post recipes later--we are on our way to the pool!

Crackers

I tackled Cheez-its/Goldfish and Saltines today. We still have a good supply of Ritz and grahams, so I will have to save those for another day. Which is probably a good thing, because although both of these recipes were decidedly easy, they were also somewhat time consuming, to put it mildly. Now that I've got the hang of it, I'm sure it will go quicker next time. A lot of work, though. The kids LOVE the Cheez-its!!! Apparently that real cheese and real butter is much better than the fake stuff. They begged for more and I had to turn them down. Those babies took me like 6 hours to make--I have to ration them out!! :) Kidding!!

Sort of.

Here is the scoop:

Homemade Saltines (my version)--I doubled it to get the above amount.

1 cup white flour

3/4 cup whole wheat flour

1 1/2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt

5 TBSP cold butter, cut up

1/2 to 3/4 cup ice water

1 + tsp. salt

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Mix flours, baking powder and 1/2 tsp. salt in a bowl. Cut in butter with a pastry cutter until mixture resembles small crumbs. Add ice water and stir gently to incorporate. When mixture will clump together, roll out onto a floured surface. Cut into squares (or any other shape, I guess!) Brush with olive oil and sprinkle with salt. Arrange on 2 sprayed baking sheets and put in oven. Cook for 9 minutes, then rotate sheets and cook 9 more minutes. Let cool and enjoy a nice, REAL snack!!

I started off my Cheez-its with the idea of making them cute and little (more like goldfish.) HA. HA. HA. I took the original recipe's suggestion of using baking tips to cut out little circles.

And soon realized that although these might be somewhat cute and charming, it was going to take me until the middle of next week to cut them all out. So I did about 7 like that, then switched to a quicker, easier method. Next time I will probably just use a pizza cutter, because really, they just go straight into your mouth, so who cares what they look like!!

You could also make these bigger, which would speed up the process as well!

Homemade Cheese crackers (a la Lindsay)

8 oz. sharp cheddar cheese, shredded

4 TBSP cold butter, cut up

1 cup whole wheat flour

1/4 cup steel cut oats

3/4 tsp. salt

2+ TBSP cold water

Pulse everything except water in a food processor until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Add water, 1 TBSP at a time. Test to make sure dough will clump together--add more water if necessary. Remove dough from processor and wrap in plastic. Refrigerate for 20 minutes. (Try not to go longer than that--or else you will get quite a work out rolling out the dough. Take my word for it.) Roll out the dough and cut into desired shapes. Place on sprayed cookie sheet and bake in a 350 degree oven for 15 minutes. Yummy!!

Next time I do these, I want to experiment with using less butter.

REAL food.

I just discovered this website and I'm really excited to look at it more in depth. It pretty much totally answers my sugar vs. Splenda debate (NEITHER!!) Is anyone else wanting to take the challenge with me? Only eating real foods--cutting out all of the overly processed, mechanically altered food from our diets, eating EVEN MORE whole fruits, veggies and grains, sticking to cage-free eggs and grain-fed, local meats and local organic milk?? Let's do it!! I've already started making my own protein bars and guess what? I can pronounce every single ingredient in them! (Nuts, berries, oats and organic brown rice syrup.) Today I'm going to tackle making my own Cheez-its. I'll let you know how it goes (and more importantly, what the kids think!!)

Happy Valentine's Day!!

Valentine's Day = Chocolate!!

Instant gratification is even better.

Especially when it is low in calories and fat...

All you need is...love. And...

3 TBSP cocoa powder
2-3 TBSP sugar (I used Truvia. *I am on the fence about sugar vs. calorie-free sweeteners.)
1 TBSP flour
3 TBSP unsweetened almond milk
3 TBSP applesauce
1/2 egg white (make two recipes! One for you, one for your sweetheart!)
1/4 tsp. vanilla

Mix dry ingredients in a microwave-safe mug. Add in the wet and stir it all up. Stick it in the microwave for 2 1/2 to 3 minutes. Dollop of bit of whipped cream or ice cream on top, if desired!

*I want to cut processed foods out of our diet as much as I can, but at the same time, I am trying to keep my calories low (in accordance to my endocrinologist's advice.) I should probably figure something out!

Indoor FUN!

Getting my kids moving inside while it is cold and snowy outside...

Hopscotch!!!

Juice!!!

If you haven't seen or at least heard of "Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead" you must be living under a rock because I feel like everyone is talking about it lately. It's a great show and it might make you thirsty...

Juice, juice, juice!!! I got my juicer before I even saw the show ("The Gershon Miracle" convinced me of the importance of juice) and we have been enjoying the benefits of it for a while now. I don't ever follow an exact recipe--I kind of go with what is available.

Today's batch included:
5 apples
2 pears
6 carrots
1 stalk of celery
1/2 cucumber
1/2 sweet potato
6 oranges
1 cup spinach

All those fruits and veggies really don't even make that much juice, but wow, think of all that liquid health!! I try to have the kids drink some every day and I have it as a snack. It is a bit high in calories, so I have to just have like 1/2 cup, but still--soooo good for you!!!

And if you try the "Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead" diet, I'd love to hear your thoughts!!

Breakfast of Champions

Long-time readers will know that I am a big fan of a nice, home-baked breakfast for my kids every morning. But because I have three kids in elementary school and one in preschool, mornings tend to be a bit chaotic at our house. So I usually end up making breakfast the day before. I came across this recipe on Pinterest--it is originally from Everyday Food magazine, but it had been altered and then I altered it even more. My kids loved these muffins and I have been making a batch a week to just have on hand for a quick go-to breakfast for myself and Ryan. Cause let's face it--by the time I have all four kids bathed, fed, dressed, teeth-brushed, hair-done, backpacks packed, bundled up and out the door as well as having the kitchen clean and hopefully a load of laundry started--I need a quick, easy breakfast! I'll usually just have one or two with a mug of sugar-free hot chocolate! Perfect way to start my day!

Healthy Morning Muffins

adapted from Everyday Food magazine

1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour

1/3 cup packed brown sugar

2-3 Tbsp ground flax seed

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp fresh ground nutmeg

1/2 tsp salt

1 cup old-fashioned rolled oats

1/2 cup steel cut oats

1/2 cup raisins

3 Tbsp applesauce

1/3 cup pumpkin puree

1 large egg white

1/3 cup unsweetened almond milk

4 medium carrots, shredded (I use my food processor and then chop them even smaller so I don't have long strands of carrots sticking out of the muffins.)

1 medium ripe banana, mashed

1) Preheat oven to 400*. Coat a 12 cup muffin pan with cooking spray. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, brown sugar, ground flax seed, baking soda, baking powder, nutmeg and salt until there are no lumps. Stir in oats and raisins. Add oil, egg, milk, carrots and mashed banana and stir until blended.

2) Fill each muffin cup with 1/4 cup batter. Bake until a toothpick inserted in center of muffin comes out clean, 20-25 minutes. Serve muffins warm or at room temperature. (To store, keep in an airtight container up to three days--or longer in the fridge!)

Plans

A friend of mine recently posted on Facebook that she JUST STARTED planning out her meals before going grocery shopping. (And no, she is not 18, she is my age.) Another friend recently asked me to come over so she could, "pick my brain about food." I brought her my meal plans for the next month so she could photocopy them. I plan out every day for a month--breakfast, lunch, dinner, after-school snacks and Friday night game night dessert. And now I am discovering that not everyone does this!!! Wow. How do you people function?! :) I love to do it. I love to plan. I love to cook. I love to try new recipes. I love to alter them to make them healthier for my family. It is right up my alley. I'm going to try to find a convenient way for me to share my plans on here--so that those of you who aren't planners can take advantage of my OCD. I say convenient because as much as I love to plan and try new recipes, I don't particularly love typing them out. Really it takes me long enough to do this...

Where have I been?

I was just looking for a recipe on this old blog of mine and I realized, Hey, this was a dang good blog. Why did I stop? This last year was so busy for me--we pretty much remodeled and redecorated the whole house and the blog got put on the back burner. I also really started relying on myfitnesspal.com to help keep me accountable. But now that the house is complete, I think I will start back up! How about a recipe??

THIS BREAD IS DIVINE!!! No, really, you probably shouldn't make it because you might not be able to stop eating it!!!! Not only is it fabulous, it is 100% whole wheat, has no fat and my kids love it too!!!

Honey Whole Wheat Bread

Ingredients:

3 tablespoons yeast

4 cups really warm water

1/2-3/4 cup honey

10-11 1/2 cups whole grain wheat flour (freshly ground if possible)

3 teaspoons sea salt

1/4-1 cup anything else you would like: I add 2/3 cup steel cut oats and 1/4 cup flaxseed

cooking spray

Directions:

1. Grind wheat.

2. Mix yeast, water, and honey in a bowl.

3. Let rest for 5 minutes until yeast foams.

4. Then add flour, I just add all the flour at once then gently mix with my paddle attachment.

5. Then add salt and anything else, if you choose to.

6. Then gently mix again just until the salt or other ingredients are mixed in.

7. Knead for 4-6 minutes. Now this dough is really sticky and you are going to think that you need to add more flour. Sometimes I have had to add the entire 11 1/2 cups but sometimes I am fine with just 10, however just know that the dough will be very sticky and you only want to add enough flour that the dough barely pulls away from the bowl.

8. Let dough rise for 15 minutes.

9. Spray the back of your hands with cooking spray and punch down the dough.

10. Form into loafs, this will make 3 smaller sized loafs. Put into greased loaf pans.

11. Let rise in pans for 30 minutes.

12.Bake in 350 degree oven for 30 minutes. I like to put a large glass baking dish filled with water on the lower rack.

14. Remove from pans immediately and let cool on a cooling rack.

Enjoy!! And don't say I didn't warn you....