Protein = PLANT-Based!

I am currently reading Crazy Sexy Diet by Kris Carr.  It's jam-packed full of wonderful tips for a healthy lifestyle!  A lot of it reinforces how I have been striving to live for the past year.  Seeing it in black and white just gives me that extra bounce in my step. Knowing that I am giving my body the opportunity to live to it's fullest potential makes me feel so giddy inside.  I want to start sharing little tid-bits that I find helpful in the book.  I am often asked, "where do you get your protein?" when an acquaintance finds out that I am vegetarian.  Believe it or not, the Standard American Diet calls for more proteins than our bodies really need.  The USDA recommends about .36 grams of protein for every pound of body weight.  What saddens me is that most Americans hear the word protein and think meat.  I hear protein and I think almonds, chickpeas, tempeh, tofu, and lentils.  We have to change the way we think in order to give our bodies a chance.  This body of ours, which God constructed perfectly, was not made to tear into the flesh of animals.  Consider this -- just maybe we were given molars and masticating jaws, to grind up all those high-fiber goodies. (p.67)

Ms Carr suggested starting your day off with a green juice.  I attempted that this morning but without a small piece of fruit to sweeten up my juice of cucumbers, carrots, romaine, and ginger, it was a flop.  Actually, it was gross.  So I have it stored in the fridge until I get home to add some fruit juice to it.  Instead I pulled out my Vega Sport!  I have never been fond of the taste of it plane so I added a banana, soymilk, and a spoon of peanut butter.  WOW!!!  Move over coffee because I have a brand new drink to get me going in the morning.  Of course this is served with a side of B12 and B6.

Cheers! 

Fruit Salad

Fruit Salad (with the munchkin)

 

I chopped up a bunch of different fruits and made a "sundae buffet."  I think that if kids feel like they have their hands in creating the food they are expected to eat, they will be more likely to eat it.  This has been successful with Marsella about a handful of times.  I think I have the pickiest kid on the planet.  Thankfully though, she is getting better...along with my patience.

Banana
Grapes
Strawberries
Apples
Mandarin
Blueberries


I set a bowl of each of these out so that Marsella could pick and chose.  And guess what? She ate it!!!

Running. Beauty. Lemon Cupcakes.

I miss running.  I feel like I haven't been on a run in forever.  The people in my life have got to see a difference - - I keep experiencing periods of time when I feel like I am stuck inside a bubble and I can't escape!  My Sciatic Nerve felt like it was pinched for a while but now I can finally walk without hurting.  So I jumped on the treadmill Friday and gave it a go.  I am sad to say this but I got to one mile...that's it.  I stopped before I felt excruciating pain.  Healing is taking place so I refuse to push it.  I want to get out there with my running group very soon.  My goal is to meetup with them on Saturday morning.  Before that, I will go on a test run midweek to see how I do.  Lord, be with me!  I have been burning enough calories on the stair-master.  Yes, I'm seeing improvements in certain areas but there is nothing like a brisk 6 mile run...nothing!

John got into town on Friday.  It's so great to have him home from Korea.  Friday night was a long one.  I have to say it is pretty entertaining being the sober one in the group.  Mom, Dad, John, and I just hung out and took a peek at some old pictures.  A lot of them where from my Navy days. Those made me sad.  I had no idea I looked so bad.  I was fat.  Plane and simple.  Saturday evening, John and I went out for dinner and he said the sweetest thing to me, "Sis, not many girls get hotter with age! So stop freaking out about what you USED to look like."  How awesome is that!!

Church this morning was great!  We are working through the book of James with the theme "Faith that SAVES you, CHANGES you."  James is a powerful book and the messages that my pastors deliver just hit you so hard.  They make me really take a deep look at how I am living my life.  I like to think I am living the way God has outlined for me but the world is cruel and full of temptations.  I have some people praying for me because I have certainly been a lot stronger lately. :)  Without God, without those prayers, without the accountability of my friends, I would end up traveling down the road I was taking about a year ago.  I want more for my life and I know only God is going to open those doors for me.  I think He was just waiting for me to straighten up. 

I haven't done a lot of cooking this weekend since John has been in town.  Last week was pretty hectic at school, too.  So, I will leave you with an awesome Lemon cupcake recipe that I found on vegweb.com.  It's so yummy!!!

Lemon Cupcakes 
1 3/4 cups whole wheat flour 
    2 teaspoons arrowroot powder
    1 teaspoon baking soda
    1 teaspoon cornstarch
    splash nondairy milk
    1/2 cup nondairy milk (I use soy)
    2 tablespoons applesauce
    1/2 to 1 teaspoon lemon zest
    5 tablespoons vegetable oil (I used sunflower)
    1 scant cup sugar (I used raw turbinado)
    1 tablespoon lemon juice

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Prepare a muffin pan by greasing or lining with muffin cups. Sift together flour, arrowroot, and baking soda.

2. In a measuring cup, mix the corn starch and a splash of milk, until smooth.  Add the 1/2 cup milk to measuring cup, along with the applesauce.  Add enough water to make 1 cup of liquid.  Sprinkle in the zest.

3. In another bowl, mix sugar and oil well. Gradually add your wet and dry ingredients to the sugar and oil mixture, mixing gently. 

4. Finally, add the lemon juice to the batter. Spoon into prepared cupcake tin.  Bake about 20-30 minutes, or until the cakes pass the clean-toothpick test.

Serves: 12, Preparation time: 10-15 minutes

LLL: The joining of the sisterhood

My nephew, Aiden

      “We were born in captivity.” This is a quote from Gini Baker I often heard throughout my Lactation Education class.  Unfortunately, this is the truth.  In the early 1950’s, breastfeeding rates dropped to nearly 20%.  The introduction of cow’s milk to infants was being used instead of a mother’s milk.    The idea for Le Leche League was born during a family picnic in July of 1956.  Mary White and her friend found comfort in the fact that they were providing their babies with adequate nutrition without having to worry about cleaning bottles and heating formula.  Their feeding choice of breastfeeding provided a convenient supply and demand feeding system readily available to their infants at all times.  Mary and her friend decided that it would be beneficial for their community if they started a group dedicated to supporting and encouraging breastfeeding in new mothers.  From this small idea, blossomed an organization dedicated to educating mothers worldwide! 

                On March 17, 2011, I attended my first La Leche League meeting in Sacramento.  During the 18 months that I breastfed my daughter, I never attended one of these meetings and I now wish I had.  The class began at around 10am.  Sybil, the leader, provided a snack of bagels as she unloaded multiple books and resources bursting with breastfeeding information.  To begin the class, we all introduced ourselves.  I was thankful for the wonderful welcome I received when I explained that I was pursing my Lactation Education qualification and to hopefully someday be certified as a Lactation Consultant.  It seems that there is an overwhelming need for more individuals willing to devote time in educating and supporting these mothers.  They are all so grateful!

Aiden - "Where is my boob?"

                The passion that these women possess is overwhelming.  Out of the ten women present at the meeting, three were pregnant.  Four out of the seven mothers were Tandem Breastfeeding, which means they were providing nutrition to a toddler and infant.  It was amazing to see the patience and passion in these moms when both children wanted to latch on at the same time. 

Once brief introductions were made, Sybil asked if there were any concerns that the mothers wished to address during the meeting.  After she wrote a couple on the board, the conversations took off.  The three mothers who were nursing just one child expressed similar concerns when it came to latch, gassiness in the baby, returning to work, and positioning.  All of the mothers were eager to offer recommendations for each of the concerns.  Sybill was able to interject and clarify information that might need more explaining.

                One particular new mom,  Samantha*, expressed her lack of confidence in her breastfeeding and mothering abilities.  Her baby boy was 5 ½ weeks old.  He seemed to be doing very well.  I would conclude that she lacked a lot of support from her family when it came to her breastfeeding efforts.   I felt the great love and concern that poured out from the other mothers.  They offered advice to her concerns about latch, positioning, pumping, and returning back to work.   Each mom had something a little different to offer.  I was able to make recommendations on pumping and returning to work while others were a bit better at explaining positioning and latch options.  When the meeting concluded around 11:30am, Samantha walked out with her head held a little higher and a smile on her face.  

                Having the privilege to be a part of a breastfeeding community is such an honor.  These women are strong-minded, patient, loving women all doing their best at providing their babies with the most precious gift of all.  Breastfeeding is a proactive healthy choice for a newborn.  Having the peace of mind that your infant will be at a lower risk for heart diseases, diabetes, obesity, and could possibly have a higher intelligence level is very empowering.  I admire these women and I look forward to being able to offer my experiences and knowledge to the breastfeeding community.

* Names have been changed to protect privacy

Squint Squad Crush

With the weather being pretty nasty and someone not feeling up to par, Marsella and I have been spending a little bit of time working our way through Bones: Season 1.  I'm addicted.  And apparently, so is Marsella!

Dr Brennan and Dr Addy

We are watching an episode tonight and this is the conversation that ensued:
"Mom, isn't he just so cute?" 
"Who?"
"That guy!  See him!  The one with the cute face!" - in her cute squeaky voice


Now...the truth comes out!  At least she seems to be heading in the right direction -- clean, smart, geeky guy that probably has a bright future.  High Five my munchkin!

Everything Stir Fry

In an effort to utilize some of the yummy veggies I picked up at the Farmer's Market, I whipped up a stir fry with the left over Choy Sum.  I'm addicted to this stuff!  It's so pretty and delicate!
Now, when I cook something up like this, I don't measure.  In fact, I'm not a fan of measuring.  I estimate and pray for the best!
So, here is what's for dinner tonight!

"Everything Stir Fry"
A bunch of Choy Sum
2 carrots
a bunch of brocolli
about 1/4 cup of chopped onion
1 glove of garlic - minced
handful of fresh spinach
Garlic Powder
Celery Salt

1. I added the vegetables to a pan with a little bit of olive oil in this order: carrots, broccoli, choy sum.  Once these are starting to look nearly done, throw in about a handful of fresh spinach. 

2.  Last, add a sprinkle of garlic powder and celery salt. 

Dinner

I served the stir fry on the side with some Linguini and Cauliflower Sauce that I made the other night.

Cauliflower sauce


One head of cauliflower
Vegetable Broth
Minced Garlic

Steam the cauliflower until pretty soft.  Throw it in a food processor with some vegetable broth.  Add enough broth to satisfy your  consistency preference.  Add minced garlic and give it a few pulses.
Divertiti!

Zumba Fitness!

Wow!!!  If you have a Kinect, you must get this "game."  I've never done Zumba before but there is a pretty big rave about it right now.  Before I decide to take a class at the gym, I wanted to get the moves down so I didn't make a fool of myself.  Can't let the world know that this girl lacks moves....oooh well...wait, now I guess everyone does.  I've done both 20 minute Beginner classes and I break a sweat every time.  This says something because I consider myself to be in pretty good shape.  This is well worth the investment!

Just me and my sidekick

Lake Natoma View from Folsom Bridge

It's been a pretty decent weekend.  Marsella and I have spent lots of good time together - even when she's not feeling good.

Yay for natural home remedies!  Marsella woke up last night with a horrible earache.  After taking some motrin, she was able to get to sleep but this morning the pain attacked again.  I don't like taking her to the doctor because it's the same thing each time - weight, height, look in the mouth, ears, and then "Well, you can give her Tylenol to ease the pain and just let her rest."  I wish I could say that and get paid for it! Instead, I opted to try out a natural home remedy of olive oil, garlic, and onion.  I heated up the oil in a sauce pan and then added about two cloves of chopped garlic and half of a chopped onion.  I let this cook for about 15 minutes and then cool before her Dearest dropped some into her ear.  I then cooked up a peel of the onion to get it soft and let the juices start seeping out.  This was placed on her ear to kind of cup it.  She was NOT thrilled about having an onion on her ear.  I told her when she was done I was going to eat it and the look on her face was priceless.  I thought her eyes were going to pop out of her little head!  She took a little nap and seems to be doing about 60% better.  No ear pain but we are still tackling the cough.  Now that the garlic and onion has had time to seep into her ear, she smells like a little italian cook.

Farmer's Market Flowers

Yesterday, she had an "up" day!  It was a beautiful day so we hit up the Farmers Market down the road to see what kind of goodies we could get our hands on.  We picked up some fresh veggies, fruits, and flowers.  I just love getting fresh flowers from the market.  They are always so pretty and they last a lot longer than the grocery store.
Something different I picked up was Choy Sum, which is the flowering stem of Chinese cabbage.  When I first saw it, I thought "Well this is pretty but what do I do with it?"  The little guy told me to just treat it like a stir-fry vegetable.  This is exactly what I did.  I washed off the leaves and little yellow flowers and tossed them in the pan with some olive oil.  I tossed the greens with some linguini and a little bit of soy sauce.  Oh my goodness ---YUM!!  I regret not taking a picture.  This just means that next weekend, I will have to pick up more.

In the afternoon, we met up with some good friends and took a little bike ride down the American River Bike Trail.  It was so nice to get out in the sunshine.  I definitely got a good workout pulling two 4 year olds behind my bike.  Once our friends had to leave, we ventured on to take a ride around Lake Natoma. I believe it's about 12 miles give or take a mile.  Not very long but challenging when it came to the hills.  My thighs were burning! At some points, I was yelled some encouraging words by passer-bys.  We ended the day with some ice cream and starbucks.

We missed service this morning.  That was pretty heart-wrenching.  I hate missing service but I have to remind myself of my responsibility as a mom.  I was supposed to meet with the Elders of my church and give my testimony.  I'm a little nervous because I never really thought about my path that led me back to Him.  I have considered myself a Christian all my life but I haven't been living His way -- I've been living my way.  Which certainly doesn't always work out so well.  Since I have been making a more conscious effort to follow his laws, life has been looking up.  I do struggle with feeling lonely now and then but in those times, I just pray.  I pray that He will just wrap his arms around me and remind me that I'm never really alone.  He's here, with me and my munchkin, all the time! 24/7!  And that in itself is pretty amazing.  He knows how we are feeling right now, the challenges we go through, and He knows where we will end up.  Our future - I struggle with that a lot.  I feel like there is so much I want to do, so many different career directions I could take.  It sure is comforting knowing that He'll show that path to me when the time is right.  All I can do now is trust Him.

I have to share something!  I just tried Annie's Naturals: Green Garlic Organic Dressing.  It's AWESOME!

Cucumber-Celery-Pear-Apple juice

Very original name isn't it? :)  I've been making juices for about two weeks now and I just love them!  I'm finally getting the hang of it and figuring out which vegetables go good with others.  So here is what I made today:

1 cucumber
handful of fresh spinach (doesn't make much juice but what does come out is a beautiful dark green color - very concentrated)
2 stalks of celery
1 pear
1 apple

This makes about 16 oz.  Yummy!!!

Blacked Broiled Tofu, Rice, and Veggies

What an absolute surprise!  The Tofu didn't taste like good ol' Southern blacked fish but it certainly will suffice.  I would make this any day.  It was real easy too.  Total prep and cook time about 20 minutes.  
I served it with brown rice and veggies.  
Appreciated and loved by all  ( all = my roomie)! :)

Trader joe's Roasted Seaweed Snacks

For .99 cents, I figured what the heck. Gave it a try.
Gross! Taste like fish!

Wake up Call Recipe

Triple Grande Soy Latte from Starbucks
B6 - amt unknown
B12 - amt unknown
Oxyelite

I am AWAKE!!!  After being up til 1am studying....I think I'll survive the day.

Back by Popular Demand

Alright, alright...maybe not totally popular but one of my good Navy friends, suggested I start a blog because I'm just so entertaining.  I do post some crazy random, stuff don't I?  Ya just never know if it's going to be an update about my latest running ventures, single mommy challenges, grueling school schedule, or rant and rave over the horrid treatment of God's creatures in the factory farming industry.  Pretty broad subject base, I know.

I remember I had a vision that this blog would be exclusively about running and cooking.  Both of these have been put on hold for a little bit.  I started at Sac State this semester and made sure I had a pretty busy schedule.  It was all great at the beginning of the semester and now that it's midterm time, I'm feeling it.  I'm taking a full load at CSUS and an online Lactation Educator class through UCSD.  I know sometimes my parents are wondering why in the world I need to study so much.  They have been great in helping me with Marsella during these years of me trying to figure out what I want to do when I grow up.  Oh wait, did I miss something?  Oh no, I'm grown up already?  Why didn't someone take me by the shoulders years ago and tell me this?  I could have used that in my mid-Navy years when I was to busy playing around bar-hopping and partying. What a waste.  At least I was able to obtain some awesome educational benefits from the whole deal.  And of course, I left with some great memories and friendships that will never be replaced.

Running has not been happening as much as I would like.  I was logging about 20 miles a week before the semester got crazy.  Lately, I've been spending lots of time on the stair-master and weight training.  Benefits to the stair-master: maintaining my shapely legs, firming up the glutes, and I can read while I'm climbing.  It's a win-win.  The weight-training has certainly helped me out on the range.  Firing off a 40 cal takes some strength and stability.  I am no longer tearing up the tires that are placed on the ground at the range.  I am hitting the target!  Yay!!

I would love to spend more time updating on some pretty awesome things that have been going on in my life but instead I must get back to a Lactation lecture.
But a quick overview:

• I <3 my church!  I have connected with some amazing people that I just love!
• Marsella is smart as ever!  She just got accepted into our first Christian school of choice! (Mama is gonna be broke...but it's so worth it.)
• Still applying to nursing programs.
• I celebrated my one year as a vegetarian last month!