Wellness
Baked Oatmeal Carrot Muffins
Bekah and I made these muffins last week and they were a perfect treat for breakfast or for a snack. We liked the extra nutrition provided by the grated carrots. (I made a batch with grated zucchini as well-you have to let the grated zucchini weep for about 15 minutes on paper towels to absorb the extra moisture.) The carrots were a fun addition to this delicious and nutritious gluten free, vegetarian muffin. You feel like you are eating a bowl of oatmeal with yummy toppings packed into a muffin. A wonderful accompaniment to serve for an Easter breakfast/brunch.
Ingredients
2 ripe bananas
1 ½ cups old fashioned oats
2 Tablespoons chia seed
2 Tablespoons hemp seed
¾ cups milk (I used almond milk)
⅓ cup almond butter
⅛ cup honey
1 teaspoon vanilla
¼ teaspoon salt
1 egg
1 teaspoon baking powder
2 teaspoons cinnamon
¾ cup grated carrots
½ cup raisins
¼ cup chopped pecans
In a large bowl, mash the bananas. Add the oats, chia seeds, hemp seeds and milk and let sit for 5 minutes. Stir in the almond butter, honey and vanilla. Beat the egg and add to the mixture along with the salt, baking powder and cinnamon. Fold in the carrots, raisins and pecans.
Lightly grease 12 muffins tins or use cute muffin papers. Fill muffin cups almost to the top. Bake in a 375 degree oven for 20-25 minutes.
- 2 ripe bananas
- 1 ½ cups old fashioned oats
- 2 Tablespoons chia seed
- 2 Tablespoons hemp seed
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Spring Clean Eating
With the change of season to Spring comes talk of “spring cleaning.” While your house, like mine, probably needs some cleaning, I’m going to instead use this change of season to make a renewed focus in healthy living with CLEAN EATING.
Why Clean Eating?
Clean eating incorporates natural ingredients, promotes cooking from scratch, and loading up on fruits and veggies. I also like that it isn’t a “diet.” Rather than eliminate entire food groups, it focuses on making foods taste good without additives and tons of sugar.
What Is Clean Eating?
Simply put, clean eating is the practice of avoiding processed foods and building your meals around whole foods. Food is a powerful tool to fuel our bodies, protect our bodies, and even heal our bodies when we use it properly!
This article from Eat Clean for Dummies has a great explanation of what clean eating is along with easy spices to add to your recipes.
How Do I Start?
My advice? Just start. Set a goal. Choose a few meals or a few items you eat regularly and revamp them to make them clean. You will be amazed at how great you feel, even just mentally, right away by making the switch. Making small changes you can stick with will give you the confidence to make more changes until eating clean becomes second nature!
The Gracious Pantry has 5 tips for getting started, as well as lots of recipes to help you along the way.
- Define what clean eating is to you and define when/how you will enjoy occasional treats.
- Clean out your fridge and pantry and stock with clean foods
- If you fail to plan, you plan to fail. Plan your shopping list and prepare foods ahead of time.
- Pack your food for when you are on the
White Chicken Chili-Slow Cooker Method
During the month of March, our theme has been PEACE. As we approach one of the most significant days of the year, Easter Sunday or Resurrection Sunday, I wanted to share a recipe with you that can help you maintain peace in your home, in a practical way. I know it can get very hectic preparing for Easter gatherings, parties and community events as we plan to get together with family and friends. So I decided to post this delicious recipe that you can make this week in your Crockpot or slow cooker. You can grab these 5 simple ingredients (plus any toppings that sound good to you) at the store, run home and throw everything in the crockpot and have a wonderful meal prepared for your family without adding extra stress to your week.
Ingredients
6 cups chicken broth
4 large boneless skinless raw chicken breasts (4 cups cooked shredded chicken for stovetop method)
4 (15-oz) cans Great Northern beans, drained
2 cups salsa verde (store-bought or homemade http://www.gimmesomeoven.com/tomatillo-salsa-verde/)
3 tsp. ground cumin
optional toppings: diced avocado, chopped fresh cilantro, shredded cheese, chopped green onions, sour cream/greek plain yogurt, crumbled tortilla chips
Add chicken broth, 4 large boneless skinless chicken breasts, beans, salsa and cumin to a slow cooker, and stir to combine. Cook on low for 6-8 hours, or high for 3-4 hours until the chicken is cooked through and shreds easily with a fork. Shred the chicken.
Serve warm in large bowls with desired toppings.
Finding Peace Through Healthy Living
Over the past year and a half I have found a place of peace by making health a priority. Not only have healthy choices had a physical effect of peace, but knowing that I am making positive choices has the effect of mental peace. Our bodies are a precious gift from God and should be taken care of. We should not obsess over food and exercise and outward appearance, but we can and should care about our health.
One way I have found peace through healthy living is with exercise. Mayo clinic lists the top 7 benefits of regular exercise as weight control, combating disease and illness, improving mood, boosting energy, better sleep, improved intimacy, and FUN.
Another way I have found peace through healthy living is in healthy friendships. Jim Rohn states, “You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with.” So choose to spend time with people that support and encourage your healthy habits. You will have accountability AND friendships based on healthy shared interests are fun and likely to last.
One of the most important ways I have found peace in my health is through nutritional cleansing. Nutritional Cleansing provides a solution for environmental impurities we cannot avoid and nutrient deficiencies in our food. Knowing that I am helping my body detoxify itself and nourishing my body as I strive for long term health gives me such peace as I navigate a busy life and learn to be a healthy role model for my family. As a parent, we have so much responsibility in our children’s health. I want to show my girls how to make healthy choices and live the way God designed us – happy and healthy. Feeling great and having energy is such a source of peace and something …
Read MoreInspired through Others
Do you get inspired by other people? A new year is the perfect time to set your own goals, be motivated by the goals of others, and encourage the people around you to reach their goals!
Last weekend, I got the opportunity to support my hubby through his first marathon! The training wasn’t how he expected with two different stints of stress fractures on each foot. But, he pushed through! He may not have gotten his ideal time for his first marathon, but he finished it and I was able to be there to support him at the finish line! Now, I wouldn’t go far enough to say he inspired me to run a marathon…but seeing someone so close to me accomplish something so big and important to him was really neat to be apart of! I hope that someday he gets to support me in such a big bucket-list accomplishment!
How to find inspiration through others:
- 1. Don’t compare!
Don’t allow others’ goal setting and accomplishments make you insecure. Use what others are doing to push you and energize you to reach your own ambitions.
- 2. Set clear intentions!
Be clear and distinct with what you want to achieve.
- 3. Make a plan that follows those intentions!
“Direction, not intention, determines your destination.” – Jeff Vines
Making a plan allows you to see step-by-step how to reach your goals. You make it easier to see the end goal when you break it down.
- 4. Don’t give up!
There may be will be trials and tribulations when working to reach a new objective. But DO NOT GIVE UP! The time and hard work will be worth it in the end!
Who inspires you?
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Healthy Winter Soups to Warm You Inside & Out
Winter has settled in and this year in Northern California we are having the first really cold winter in years. The days are cold and the evenings are colder. It seems overwhelming day after day to come up with healthy and hearty meals to feed the family. I love cooking a big pot of soup and serving it for dinner on these wintery nights. Add some delicious crusty wheat bread, cornbread or high fiber bran muffins and a big salad and you have the perfect meal. Not only will your family love any of these four soups below…your budget will love the low cost and you will be supporting your new year’s resolution to eat healthier in 2016. Here are 4 of the Growing Weisser family’s favorite winter soups.
Italian Kale and White Bean Soup
https://www.growingweisser.com/2014/03/11/italian-kale-and-white-bean-soup/
Skinny Vegetable Minestrone Soup
https://www.growingweisser.com/2015/12/17/skinny-vegetable-minestrone-soup/
Smoked Paprika Chickpea and Chard Soup
https://www.growingweisser.com/2015/10/13/smoked-paprika-chickpea-and-chard-soup/
Vegetable Delight Lentil Soup
https://www.growingweisser.com/2013/12/04/vegetable-delight-lentil-soup/
What are your favorite winter soups?
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Roasted Butternut Squash Soup
As Christmas day approaches, our calendars get filled up with activities….shopping, decorating, gathering together with family and friends. The days are getting colder and the hours in the day seem to get shorter. When dinnertime comes around it is nice to have an easy dinner to serve for your family. One that is filled with wonderful flavors and incredible health benefits is an added bonus to help sustain the energy needed to accomplish all the things you have on your “to-do” list. This roasted butternut squash soup is easy to prepare and lasts for days in the refrigerator. It is a wonderful soup to pull out if a friend stops by around lunch time. Put on your favorite Christmas carols and take an hour to unwind as you fix this delicious soup for your family.
Ingredients
1 large butternut squash (2-2 ½ pounds) peeled and cubed
2 Tablespoons olive oil
½ teaspoon sea salt
½ teaspoon freshly ground pepper
2 Tablespoons fresh rosemary chopped fine
1 tablespoon butter
1 large leek, washed and chopped (2 cups)
4 cups fat free, low sodium, organic chicken broth (vegetable both for vegetarians)
½ cup sherry
6-8 fresh sage leaves chopped fine
¼ cup plain greek yogurt
Preheat over to 400 degrees. Mix cubed squash with olive oil, rosemary, salt and pepper in a large bowl and spread on a foil lined 15×10 jelly roll pan that has been sprayed with non-stick cooking spray. Bake 45-50 minutes until squash is fork tender. Allow the squash to cool. While squash is roasting melt the butter in a large stock pot and add the chopped leeks. Turn heat to medium and cook the leeks until translucent, stirring occasionally about 6-8 minutes. Add the cooled squash and the broth, sherry and sage and turn heat to high. …
Pumpkin Harvest Hummus
I hope and pray that each one of you felt the peace and joy that comes with stopping to be grateful for all the blessings we have in our lives. Our Thanksgiving celebration was an amazing experience as we reflected on our year and shared about all that we are thankful for. As we head into the Christmas season, we will all be invited to many potlucks, hors d’oeurve parties and probably have many friends stop over for a spontaneous visit. This Pumpkin Harvest Hummus is absolutely the perfect snack to have on hand to take to a holiday party or to whip out and serve with carrots, cucumber slices and pita chips when friends come by. I made some for a party last week and it received rave reviews so I thought I would share it with you.
Ingredients
1 (15 oz) can garbanzo beans (drained and rinsed)
1 (15 oz) can pumpkin puree
2 Tablespoons Tahini
2-3 cloves garlic
2 Tablespoons olive oil
½ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon pepper
⅓ teaspoon cayenne (ground red pepper)
1 ½ teaspoon cumin
3 Tablespoons lemon juice
2-3 Tablespoons water (if needed to thin as you blend)
Put all ingredients into a Vitamix or blender and mix until pureed to the consistency of hummus. Use a bit of water to thin it out if you think it is too thick. Pour into an airtight container and chill until ready to use. Serve with carrots, cucumbers, pita chips or pita bread. It also makes a great spread for your turkey sandwich (with a bit of cranberry sauce, lettuce and tomato).
Have Fun With Your Significant Other!
Do you have someone special to share your life with?! If you do, you know how important it is to carve out time together regularly.
A great way to spend time together is to do an activity. Pick something you have in common and join a group, club, gym, etc. to schedule that regular time doing something together.
My husband and I love fitness, so we bought a Groupon to take kettlebell classes together. The fun part about this is he has experience and I don’t–so he gets to be the “expert” of sorts, sharing something he enjoys as I learn the ropes (or should I say “swings” since we are talking about kettlebells).
It is fun to break out of the normal date routine of movies and dinner and share an experience together. I am getting to learn more about one of my husband’s passions, while also doing something I love–fitness!!
What do you and your husband do together? What activity would you choose?
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Build Your Own Burrito Bowls – When Dinner Delights
I easily get stuck in a rut with meals. I forget that my three little mouths to feed need a change. Sometimes I get it right, and this week I had success with Build Your Own Burrito Bowls!
You can use any of your favorite Mexican foods – just place each food item in its own bowl with a serving utensil and let your family choose what they want and scoop it themselves into their bowl.
Here are the foods we had for our burrito bowl feast.
Build Your Own Burrito Bowls
Brown Rice
Black Beans
Pinto Beans
Sauteed Kale
Chicken
Grated Cheese
Cucumbers
Sliced Red Pepper
Salsa
Avocado
Tortilla Chips
The girls LOVED serving their own food and ate so many things they never eat! We actually had to stop dinner because they wouldn’t stop eating!
It can be fun to get your family excited about meals again just by changing the presentation of your meals. Try finger food lunch in muffin tins, use cookie cutters to make shape with your foods, make muffin pizza or mexican taco cupcakes.
How do you get your family excited about meal time?
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