loving cashew cream, but kicking it up a notch

I have growing girls who like yummy treats so I make a lot of things with nuts:

Cashew Cream Cheese

Chocolate Chia Brownies

Blueberry Bites

Dixie Pie Bites

Chocolate Frosting

and the list could go on.

Since I cook with nuts so frequently, I need to kick it up a notch at the gym. (Some of my jeans are getting snug. It's still warm and summery, so it doesn't matter, but come fall, I don't want to have to buy new pants.) Nuts are full of fat and calorie laden, but oh so good. So now it's extra trips to the gym!

I'd like to do more cardio, 'cause I'm a cardio kind of girl, but this fall, is all about muscle building. Having more muscle makes it easier to burn off calories when you are just sitting--muscles require them. Cardio burns off calories and can burn off muscle, too. (I'm not explaining it very well, but I don't feel like getting technical.)

My goal is to add in 2 strength building classes each week. I was only doing one strength building workout a week; a Pilates on the reformer workout. I think I've found a good schedule of 3 days strength training, 2 days of tap, and 1 day of heavy duty cardio day (plus walking as much as possible). (I'd like to get one more day of heavy duty cardio in there, but I don't have time until my class is over in December.)

I do love the reformer. My back, so sore for many years because of an injury and 3 pregnancies, is now not sore most of the time. From 2002-2008, it hurt more days than it didn't. I remember that if I stepped funny of a step or curb, I would be in pain. Some experts said to take it easy and rest it and some said, do more core work. Back then, I wasn't sure what a core was, but I finally figured it out and I'm glad I chose to move and not rest. It took a while to get strong, but now my core is strong and my back doesn't hurt. I don't like doing the strength building classes but not hurting is worth an hour of strength building 3 times a week!

Okay... new recipes soon. I hope. Yesterday, it was hot and summery, we even went swimming, but I decided to make soup!  I made this one Veggie Soup with Kale. Except I had no Kale. So I used cauliflower, carrots, and broccoli (and potatoes). I might add tomatoes next time or use Kale. Soups are fun 'cause you can improvise and it always works. Even the time when you add cashew cream to minestrone (I don't think I ever told you about that), but still, it worked--if you didn't think of it as a minestrone. I froze one dinner's worth of that soup (for the five of us) and have two more dinner's worth in the fridge. Next week, hopefully I'll do another soup. I made it a goal last year to make a soup every Sunday. That lasted a few weeks and then I was sick of making soup. I did get a lot frozen, and it was helpful to have them over the course of a busy year. Over the next couple of months, I'll try to make 3 or 4 kinds and get some of each kind frozen. It's all about EASY around here!

Fast, easy, and good for you!

 

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fast and healthy dinner.

A friend asked for tips on making fast, easy, and good for you food. One trick is to cook up a whole bunch of a food and eat it all week. This is certainly not a new trick, but it works. Earlier this week, I made a big pot of Pinto beans. These are similar to my almost homemade black beans.

The girls had this for dinner a couple of nights this week and I had it for lunch a couple of days. It turned out we were a little burned out on pinto beans, but no worries, you can either use them to make a "bean burger" or freeze them. Since I'm a little out of time right now (we just moved!), I chose to freeze them. They'll microwave quickly in a couple of weeks for a VERY fast dinner. They are already spiced nicely.

I also made a bunch of quinoa to go with the beans. You can have the beans with rice, quinoa, veggies (my fav is brocolli) or tortilla. We eat a lot of salsa, too.   

A big batch of soup is also really handy. I made one this week, and we had soup for a few dinners / lunches, too. We almost ate it all, but I managed to put some in the freezer before we did. When I make a big batch of something, I like to freeze some of it. It's a great treat to find a frozen batch of soup in the freezer on a night when you are really busy. As we get ready to start school, my goal is to get a few more things in the freezer. A helpful tip is to label the items and date them when you freeze them. I haven't always labeled things and I managed to move a couple of "mystery" items. One has already been composted and one will be tossed in the compost bin soon. 

Pictures of Mexican Lasagna

Here's the recipe for Mexican Lasagna.  The recipe (from my happy, healthy friend), recommends that you use canned sweet potatoes if you're in a hurry.  I haven't tried that yet, but when I'm in a hurry, I use these, the frozen in a bag kind (picture below).  I used two bags (20 oz.).  I put them in a bowl and microwaved them for 5-7 minutes (until they were soft) and then put them in the lasagna.

Above, I'm assembling the lasagna with kale.  I had two layers of kale in it.  I microwaved the kale for ~30 seconds before I put it in to make it a little wilt-y.  I added a little more of it after I took the picture to that layer.  I had probably 5-6 cups of it in the whole pan--not a lot, but it's good to add greens to recipes.  It all adds up!  I used all 8 tortillas in the recipe and next time, I think, I'm going to try to make 1/2 the pan with very little tortilla and the other half with normal tortilla.  Or maybe I'll go all crazy and make 1 pan with and 1 pan without--believe it or not, this stuff freezes pretty well.

I use a lot of pico de gallo in my lasagna.  I think I used 3-4 of those  12 oz. containers.  I tend to NOT use all the juice, but to scoop out the chunks.  I think a cooked salsa with a thicker sauce might be nice, but I really like pico de gallo.  (It's scary how much I like it.)

Every time I make this lasagna*, Nick says, "I don't like sweet potatoes, but the sweet and spicy works."  I myself have mixed feelings about sweet potatoes, but this recipe does "work."  Enjoy!



*I've only made it 3 or 4 times.  Someday, he'll probably not say it, and then I'll be sad.  It's pretty cute.