Category Archives: Nutrition

Short Update

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Very quickly….I had a root canal done this morning. My endodontist is awesome, I didn’t feel a thing. I was numb for a few hours and didn’t want to eat anything for fear it would dribble out the corner of my mouth. (And by the way, take care of your teeth…address any temporalmandibular joint syndrome, and/or get a night guard, before you kill the nerves of your molars).

My tooth might be very tender for a few days so I wanted something soft to eat today. Like ice cream. But that would have required that I leave the house. And the couch. So instead, I googled some ingredients I had in the house: quinoa flakes, oatmeal, pumpkin purée, maple syrup, cashew milk. And a recipe popped up for this maple pecan quinoa. 

Soooooo….if I had ice cream on hand today, I totally would have gone for it. I don’t want to come off like I battled through a poor food choice impulse like a beast. Lol. I’m just fortunate that the combination of being tired and having healthy ingredients in the cupboard worked in my favor today. 

I do feel better, my energy is better than if I had ice cream. Good food = good fuel. 

I can’t find the link to the recipe. But this is what I remember:

Makes 1 serving. 

1 1/4 cup cashew or almond milk, unsweetened 

1/3 cup quinoa flakes

1/3 cup pumpkin puree

1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice

Maple syrup

Chopped pecans 

Combine milk, quinoa, and pumpkin in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil, turn down heat and simmer for 90 minutes or until thickened. Remove from heat and add spice and maple syrup to taste. Top with pecans. 

My 11-year old enjoyed it. It was like comfort food. Not comfort like ice cream brings, but it was an excellent healthy alternative that ended up being very good for me. 

8-Week Wellness Challenge

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First of all, I want to say right off the bat that I have succeeded at losing 17 lbs since my highest weight post-total hip replacement surgery!! That means I lost the 15 lbs I gained post-surgery, plus an additional 2 lbs. I have 5 more lbs to go to hit my 1st major goal. My youngest told me today, “Mom, you’re getting skinny.” Lol. Even though “skinny” isn’t my goal, regaining my health is, it was still nice to hear that someone noticed some progress.

My eating and workouts kind of went up and down over the summer, as those who powwow understand the disruption of routines, driving for hours, dancing all weekend, not always having access to the healthiest of foods, packing a cooler, etc. The healthy habits could have been better, they could have been much worse. I concentrated this summer on not beating myself up over slip-ups and just trying to get back on as soon as I can.

My sister got me in the habit of walking for 45 minutes every morning at work. When she isn’t at work, she texts me to ask me if I went out for my walk yet. Lol. That got me going on the consistent activity. But today I want to write about a wellness challenge that has really motivated me.

Tracy is a woman I went to graduate school with and we both earned our MSWs at the same time. Our kids go to the same school, have played on the same teams, and she is friends with one of my nieces. She encouraged me after learning about my hip osteoarthritis back in 2012 to take her cycling class (which, by the way, was a killer workout) to give my joints a break from running, and she has conquered her own health challenges and surgeries. She is inspiring.

My sister-in-law invited me to participate in an 8-week wellness challenge that Tracy was organizing. She had participated the 1st time Tracy did the challenge and encouraged me and my sister to join. The details of the challenge and the structure really intrigued me, which are explained below.

For 8-weeks, each person can earn a point per day in the following areas: 1) Journaling/tracking food intake and following a safe, healthy and nutritious eating plan of our choice, 2) drinking half your body weight in ounces of water, 3) exercising (and she leaves it to us to determine what we think is a workout, there is no minimum number of minutes required to earn this point) – and with exercise one can only earn a maximum of 5 points per week to encourage rest days, 4) getting at least 7 hours of sleep per night. We all took a picture of our scale with our starting weight and sent it to Tracy, and at the end of the 8 weeks we will take a picture of our scale with our ending weight. We can earn 1 point for each percentage of total body weight we lose. For example, if someone starts out weighing 200 lbs, they would earn 1 point for every 2 lbs they lost by the end of the challenge. We have sheets were we can record our points daily. One can earn a maximum of 26 points each week, and then additional points at the end with our final weigh-in. The people who did this challenge the first time don’t mess around. The previous winner didn’t miss ANY of their weekly points and lost weight. There is a $25 buy-in which is given to the winners at the end of 8 weeks. And she set up a FaceBook page for the members of the challenge so we always get little reminders, or encouragement, or ideas for meals and snacks.

I am used to keeping a food journal, and when properly motivated I can exercise 5 days per week. I was really intrigued with the sleep requirement. My sleep routine has been non-existent for almost a year and I’ve never given it much deliberate thought. I go to bed early when I am exhausted or I push myself and don’t get rest. There is no consistency.

We just finished up Week 2 of the challenge. I think I’ve missed only 1 sleep point each week so far when my schedule was a little off on that day. I have been tracking my food faithfully and paying attention to my calorie goals. I even track my “free days” or free meals. There is nothing like seeing that you ate a DQ Blizzard, or 4 slices of pizza from Rudy’s to make you more conscious of your food choices. I make my water intake daily. I’ve earned 5 exercise points per week. I started using MapMyWalk and synched it to my MyFitnessPal so it automatically posts my workouts and calorie expenditure to my food log. Although I began the challenge intending to do the Metabolism Miracle, my actual eating has turned into more of a carb counting routine. I keep my breakfasts and lunches to anywhere between 5-15 grams of carbs or less, I eat many vegetables, take my vitamins, and if I feel like eating some popcorn or a small handful of chips, or 2 soft tortillas in the evenings, I do it. I usually keep dinners to 2 carb servings or less. And guess what…..my weight seems to be just dropping off!! I believe it’s because the structure of this challenge encourages several healthy habits, not just food and exercise. I think it’s the sleep requirement that’s made the difference with me as well as being mindful of my carb intake and not restricting myself as much as before. My energy is evening out more each day…I don’t have as many dips and my energy lasts longer. And I feel smaller already.

So if you haven’t guessed it at this point, Tracy is amazing!!! This was so needed at this point and time and I’m having fun AND improving my health. Thank you again for organizing this!!

6 Successful Vegetarian Days

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We did it. We ate like vegetarians for 6 whole days. I’ve often wondered what it would be like and now I know.

I actually enjoyed my meat-free 6 days. I found myself eating a variety of grains and vegetables. I ate a little more dairy than I usually do, but I look at that as a good thing because of all the calcium and the protein found in dairy milk (I usually stick to almond milk which has little to no protein). The timing of the class I teach was awesome because we covered protein last week.  We looked at the benefits and some of the potential risks of vegetarian and vegan diets, such as becoming deficient in B12, and non-heme iron being harder to absorb than heme iron. I did some research on food combinations and saw the controversy from the plant-based diet people who don’t believe you need to combine different plant-based foods in order to complete the amino acid chains and get a complete protein. I reviewed my own nutrition course notes that says combining whole grain rice and beans, or grains and legumes, or grains and dairy, gives you a meal that has all the essential amino acids. Whatever side of the fence you fall on with the food combination argument, the idea that you need a variety of plant-based foods to create a healthy diet was just reinforced.

I have been trying to convince my husband for awhile now that we don’t NEED to have meat at every single dinner. I have proposed the idea of having one or two meals every week that are vegetarian, and that didn’t go over very well. However, now that he has seen that he can survive an entire 6 days straight with no meat, he is now open to the idea of a “Meatless Monday” or whatever day of the week we decide to this. Maybe now I can get my family to cut back on meat consumption by substituting more vegetables in meat dishes and by having the weekly vegetarian dinner. I am a bit more relieved about how my kids eat, that they actually will get a sufficient amount of protein from combining different plant based foods with a healthy and non-factory farmed source of dairy.

I weighed myself to see if I would lose any pounds during our week. I did not. Just goes to show you that eliminating meat from our diets (meat is very calorie dense) doesn’t necessarily mean you will lose weight. Different forms of dairy can be very calorie dense, as well as nuts and legumes. Also, eliminating meat from your diet doesn’t automatically mean all your food choices are healthy. Like one of my students said recently, “Chips don’t have meat in them.” Losing weight on a vegetarian diet is just like losing weight on the standard American diet: portion control, plenty of non-starchy vegetables & whole fruit, no sugar-sweetened beverages, limiting processed foods, being mindful of your sodium intake, and most importantly – paying attention to how you feel when you eat and stopping when you are either satisfied, or when you are no longer hungry.

This past week as also reinforced my motivation for another venture. Learning how to garden. The seeds Sara planted are sprouting and we are keeping them alive….if you knew how I have failed to keep house plants alive in my adult life, you would understand what a big deal that is. Shelby convinced me to buy a small mint plant awhile back and we have had to replant it in a bigger pot because it’s growing and growing. She wants to make her own mint tea and have mint for infused water and to put in lemonade. I am reviving the jade plant given to me as a gift. I am starting to believe that I will actually have a garden this summer and I am excited for me and my girls.

Being a vegetarian or wanting more plant-based foods in our diets isn’t just about health, it’s about sustainability. It’s about reconnecting with where our food comes from. This week was beneficial to me and my family in a multitude of ways. Now we just have to keep the momentum going.

Day 4 Vegetarian Meals & Reflections

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Day 4 Veg Meals

Yesterday was Day 4 and we are hanging tough. I’m actually enjoying this, but Joe B is starting to miss meat products. He keeps talking about the bacon and egg sandwiches and double cheeseburgers he plans to eat on Sunday.

I found out that instead of 7 days of vegetarian eating, it’s only 6 days. So we have today and tomorrow to go, then Sunday we are free to resume our omnivore ways.

My husband is reporting some mild stomach upset during the past 4 days. His explanation was, “Too many plants. Too much xylem and phloem.” That made me laugh. I want to give a shout out to my 7-8th grade science teacher Mr. Bertram and my high school science teacher Mr. Flak because I actually could recall what xylem and phloem were after more than 30 years and I was able to get the joke right away. That’s some good teaching right there.

I feel lighter after Day 4. Not lighter as in I think I’ve lost weight, but lighter as in all the vegetables, fruits and grains don’t feel as heavy settling in after a meal. This really hasn’t been that difficult for me, which has my husband worried because he’s afraid I will try to turn our family into vegetarians. Fear not, because again, I come from hunter-gatherer people….not just gatherers.

I’m surprised at the timing life has…yesterday my 11-year old came home after play practice and said “Mom, I want to be off chicken for at least a month. Maybe longer. I’m ok with meat like venison or bison, I just don’t want to eat any chicken.” She had watched a film at school about factory farm chickens and how they are treated as they are raised and processed for meat to be sold. It bothered her enough that she doesn’t want to eat anymore chicken or eggs. She said she’s not quite ready to see how feed lot cows are treated. I’m glad her school showed something like that, to help students understand where the majority of the domesticated meat in our diets come from. I think it will give me an opportunity to find a local farm that raises chickens, so I can take my girls for a visit and they can see what a local, sustainable part of our food system looks like. I’m hoping that if she decides to consume chicken and eggs in the future, that she will understand the need to find a local source for these things, and why I want to encourage my family to cut back on meat a little. It all starts with one person changing their view….lol.

Yesterday for breakfast I had a poached egg plus 1 egg white, on toast made from homemade honey whole wheat bread with organic butter, plus a whole orange and my black coffee. I had an avocado to put on the toast instead of butter, but I wasn’t feeling it yesterday. For lunch I made a big salad with romaine lettuce, celery, cucumber, diced apple, and I made my own vinaigrette dressing out of white balsamic vinegar, olive oil, dijon mustard, honey, and some salt & pepper. I also tried something called a Root Vegetable Pot Pie from The Merc and it was the best vegetarian thing I’ve tried so far. It was just like a chicken pot pie but from what I could see, it just had potato, onion and mushrooms in it. For dinner I made vegetarian lasagna from a recipe I found online. It was amazing!!! I was so anxious to eat it that I didn’t even bother to plate it with my salad and make it look pretty, I just took a snap of the pan after I cut some pieces out of it. Joe B liked it and said he didn’t even notice the lack of beef….and if you knew my husband you would know that this a quite a remarkable thing for him to say.

Today we have plenty of leftovers from Wednesday’s pizza and the lasagna last night, and my big bowl of salad, I just need to make some more dressing. And I still have some black bean quinoa salad to take to work. All in all, our vegetarian week is going well!

Vegetarian Week – Day 3

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Day 3 Vegetarian Meals

We are winding down on Day 3 of our vegetarian week, in support of our daughter Samantha and her nutrition course assignment. I wanted to post our meals today since I am feeling better and actually cooked a vegetarian meal (last night I made egg salad, which to me isn’t really cooking….it’s more like assembling).

Today for breakfast I had a slice of homemade cinnamon raisin bread (my first try at making homemade whole wheat raisin bread) with some organic butter, a full cup of blueberries, and black coffee. I was very surprised at how long it held me. I thought I would be hungry within an hour.

For lunch I had a bowl of what is called Caribbean Quinoa Salad from The Merc. It has quinoa, black beans, sweet potato, pineapple, limed red onion with a vinaigrette dressing. Again, very filling and I loved the taste.

My snack….my favorite Girl Scout cookies. They count as a vegetarian food. 😛

For dinner I made homemade pizza on a whole wheat crust that I prepare in my bread machine. The recipe makes enough dough for 2 pizzas so we make one pizza for the girls and one for the adults (we always have leftovers for lunches the next day). My girls had chopped spinach mixed in with the sauce, and they just like cheese for their topping. My little one now likes the Applegate Uncured Turkey Pepperoni so she put some on half of their pizza. Our pizza had the chopped spinach as well, and the toppings included mushrooms, red onion, and red bell pepper. I thought for sure I would hear from my husband, “It was good….it needed some sausage though.” But I didn’t. He actually said what I was thinking….he was surprised how tasty it was and how filling it was.

I wasn’t even really hungry, but I snacked on some mixed nuts while watching one of my favorite TV shows. That was really mindless eating….I wasn’t even hungry. I need to work on that habit.

Some observations 3 days in:

  1. I am surprised at how filling plants can be. I haven’t felt hungry between meals and I feel satisfied after I eat a plant-based meal, even if it doesn’t include dairy or eggs.
  2. I have not felt sluggish after a meal – except for the overall fatigue and yuckiness I felt from being sick. I was worried that upping my intake of complex carbohydrates and cutting down on the animal-based protein might result in feeling sleepy after I eat, but it hasn’t.
  3. I have not missed meat. I haven’t craved it, nor do I feel like I’m missing out on anything.
  4. Our local Co-op, The Merc, has come to our rescue a couple of times with their delicious vegetarian/vegan food offerings at their hot bar and deli.

All in all, it’s going very well. Tomorrow I know I will feel even better, so I have all the ingredients to fix vegetarian lasagna. If I can pull that off and my little crew likes it, I will consider the entire week a success.

 

Going Vegetarian for 7 Days

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*Sigh* Although I am not the meat-lover my Kiowa husband is, (there are several Kiowa meat-loving people I know who insist there is no word in their language for “vegetable”), I do enjoy cooking and eating animal products. Especially game meat. Ever since I became more enlightened about factory farming and where my beef and chicken comes from and the conditions under which they are raised, I’ve tried to cut back and just buy from local sources and local butchers. I’ve entertained the occasional thought about going vegan or vegetarian, but then I always told myself, “I come from hunter-gatherer people…..not just gatherers.” Hahaha.

Anyway, I have been to several lectures and presentations on the benefits of plant-based diets. I know I have a strong family history of heart disease and I’ve learned how a plant-based diet can help prevent heart attacks and strokes. I am a huge fan of author Michael Pollan. Reading his work is part of my inspiration to learn how to garden, or up until now – buying into a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) group. But I always felt that meat had its place in our diets and food systems, especially with Indigenous people. So I never seriously considered a meatless diet.

Until now.

My daughter Samantha is back in school to get her RN (she has been an pediatric LPN for years), and she is taking a nutrition class this semester. One of their assignments is to adopt the vegan lifestyle for a week. Vegan means that one doesn’t consume any animal products in their diets…..in addition to no meat, there is no butter, milk, yogurt, eggs, or dairy-based coffee creamer. I even saw on an episode of “Chopped” where a vegan chef was forced to use honey in his dish because it was a basket ingredient, but he refused to taste the food after he added it.

I know any lifestyle change beyond a couple of days is daunting. So I told her I would do it with her to support her. Her carnivore dad got on-board and said he would be a vegan for a week as well, even though he seriously believed it would kill him. Thank goodness her instructor changed the assignment from 7 days of vegan-ism to 7 days of lacto-ovo-vegetarianism. So we can eat dairy products and eggs, just no meat or fish.

The assignment began yesterday. And as luck would have it, I got sick yesterday. Some type of weird allergy attack that began as soon as I woke up. I was strung out on antihistamines all day. Miserable. So my plans of cooking homemade cheese pizza with whole wheat crust went out the window. My 1st day of being a vegetarian almost went out the window as well. I just wanted comfort food, and something I could taste. I had some leftover homemade chicken noodle soup with dumplings that I wanted more than anything else yesterday evening. But I hung tough and didn’t cave in to my omnivore tendencies.

Day 1 had to be the most unhealthy eating day I can remember in a long time. Just goes to show you that vegan-ism or vegetarianism isn’t always about health. Lol. I started out good. I had a slice of my homemade whole wheat bread with natural peanut butter and a sliced banana on top. As my misery set in with my allergies, I ended up eating microwave popcorn and diet 7-up for lunch…the yogurt and fruit I packed for lunch was the last thing I felt like eating because of my sinuses and drainage. I came home and almost heated up some soup for myself, but Joe saved me. He came home from work and made us grilled cheese on whole wheat bread. I am counting the potato chips I ate with it as mental health food….I needed some comfort!! Lol. And they were meatless….so bonus! And I had some mixed nuts with some M&Ms tossed in, again as a mental health necessity.

Today I did much better. Poached a couple of eggs on toast with my homemade bread. Went to the doctor and got a prescription, then headed over to The Merc to look for a vegetarian lunch for Joe B and I. The Merc is going to save us this week, I think. I got a bean and kale soup that was sooo good. Joe B liked it too, but his comment was, “This needs some ham hock in it.” Hahahaha. I also picked up a black bean and quinoa salad, and a root vegetable pot pie.

I am off to the store at some point to buy ingredients to make a vegetarian lasagna. I have locally produced vegetarian patties by Hillary’s Eat Well in my freezer in case I run out of time or energy to create a vegetarian meal. I am trying to focus on eating healthy and not just meatless. I’m also hoping to learn some good stuff this week about our eating habits and consumer habits. And I am hoping to get my amateur photography skills some practice and take pictures of some of the stuff I cook. Wish us all luck!

 

7 Weeks Post-THR

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Originally posted to my Facebook page on February 5, 2016

I am just a little over 7 weeks out of my hip replacement surgery and I’ve hit a wall. I’m still progressing, I just feel physically like I got run into a wall. Physical therapy is hard. The past 3 sessions have left me exhausted and sore. I feel fine while I’m doing it, I don’t feel like I’m overdoing it….I’m very careful about that. But when I leave, within an hour of my session ending, I feel like like crud. Yesterday was the worst. I almost didn’t go because I had muscle soreness from Tuesday’s session, but I thought I would feel better after I went. I did feel better for about 45 minutes. Lol. The joint feels fine, there isn’t any pain in the joint itself. It’s all muscle soreness. But it feels different than before my surgery…it feels achy….almost like when you are getting sick.

My kids have had a couple of viruses the past 2 weeks. Maybe I’m just fighting those off. Also I feel like I’ve been super busy at work ever since going back full-time last Wednesday. Maybe I’ve just run myself down. Either way, I’m home today and resting and recuperating and trying to get better.

After my friends saw my Facebook post, they answered with much encouragement, and a suggestion that I may not be eating enough protein to fuel the tissue growth that is occurring in the recovery from my surgery. I was already starting to look at my protein intake as one of the reasons for the muscle soreness and fatigue. So I started a protein shake…and if anyone knows me, they know how I hate having to default to a shake, I would much rather get it from real foods. But I needed to do something quick, and the shakes actually helped!

Short Blog Entry on Cooking

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Originally posted to my Facebook page on January 23, 2016

Since I can’t workout like I did pre-THR surgery, maintaining my health depends mostly on how I eat. I am not cleared to take my iron supplement yet, and I can’t take a multi-vitamin or any other type of supplements such as Omega-3 (doctor’s orders until my follow-up). I really have to try to get my nutrients from the food I eat.

Tonight I cooked hamburgers (lean grass fed beef from a local butcher) on whole wheat buns, baked sweet potato fries, and a green salad with diced apples, red onion, cucumber, celery, and I made my own apple vinaigrette dressing with local honey.

I’m finally getting the hang of making my own salad dressing. Sometimes I add Dijon mustard, or I change up the type of vinegar I use. It’s much easier than I ever imagined, and it’s fresh.

I didn’t really plan on making everything from scratch because this was just supposed to be a quickly prepared meal. I thought about grabbing a bag of frozen sweet potato fries, or a bag of pre-washed salad mix. But Sara wanted to try slicing and baking a sweet potato, and the head of lettuce was on sale. it worked out nicely because Joe B is a good sous chef. Everything tasted so good.

And I’m just thankful I have energy to cook more regularly now. That was really a killer, not feeling up to cooking. My family has missed my cooking and I’ve missed it as well. I enjoy it. It makes me even more thankful for all the meals that were delivered to us from friends because it kept us from living on fast-food or takeout in the weeks immediately following my surgery.

Bringing Back an Old Pow-Wow Traveling Tradition

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Powwow Food Prep

When I was little and my mom took us on vacation, she would always pack a cooler. Sandwiches, fruit, crackers, chips, etc. We looked forward to stopping at this rest area north of Grand Rapids that had a creek, lots of trees, and picnic tables. We had our lunch there and then continued on. When we started traveling to powwows my mom would bring a cooler as well. She would surprise us at some powwows by bringing out a package of ring bologna and crackers and some sliced cheese.

Over the years as we camped less and stayed in hotels more, we relied less on coolers and more on food available at powwows. The usual fair: Indian Tacos, soup with none of the fat trimmed off the meat, and Ndn dogs. Now we have walking tacos, cheeseburger, Ndn burgers (cheeseburger in a piece of fry bread instead of a bun), funnel cakes, chicken strips. A plethora of fried foods, white flour, and saturated fat. And not to mention the casino buffets that we frequent now that casino powwows are well-attended. I know from research that the reason many people gain weight is because they overestimate the calories they burn through exercise and they underestimate the calories they consume. I think this is common during powwow weekends where we think we are burning more calories that we actually do when dancing. I know several people who feels its challenging to maintain their healthy habits during powwow weekends.

As I mentioned in a previous blog, preparing for powwows this summer is my priority. I wanted to get back to bringing my own food like my mom used to, and when we used to camp. There was nothing better than a sandwich and fruit (and maybe some chips) at our camp after a session, and fresh fruit always helps during the hot afternoon sessions. I did my powwow prep a few weeks ago when we traveled 7 Clans Casino Powwow in Thief River Falls, MN and it worked out great. I made smoothies and the kids had all kinds of fruit. No one gained weight that weekend and we actually saved some money.

So here is my #HealthyPowwowFoodPrep for this weekend. Shelby and I stayed up late last night making whole grain muffins and shredding chicken I cooked in a crockpot. We are staying in a hotel where all the rooms have refrigerators. I’m packing the following in my cooler.

  • Lunchpail Muffins
  • Lean deli turkey
  • Diced chicken cooked in a crockpot
  • Chicken salad with diced celery, apples, almonds in low-fat olive oil mayo
  • Boiled eggs
  • Sliced apples
  • Grapes (in 1-cup portions in zip-lock bags)
  • Whole wheat sandwich thins
  • Nonfat vanilla yogurt
  • Plain nonfat greek yogurt
  • celery
  • What is left of the blueberries and strawberries in my fridge
  • Thin sliced Colby-Jack cheese
  • String cheese
  • I have cherries washed but they didn’t make into the picture. They WILL be in the cooler

My girls are learning nutrition through Kurbo Health (I’ll write about our experience in a separate blog entry) so making these preparations has become even more important. If we can make 90% of our food choices over the course of a powwow weekend healthy choices, then I won’t have any problem with splitting a piece of fry bread with someone and enjoying.

Our friend Grace Pushetonequa asked for suggestions on healthy food to bring to powwows on FaceBook and then she posted a picture of her food prep today. I’m going to encourage people to do the same….take pictures of their healthy powwow food prep and post them on their social media. You never know who you will positively impact just by sharing your experiences.

2 Smoothie Recipes from The Swirlies

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What an extremely hectic April and May we had!!! Too much to write about so I’ll just cut to the chase.

We ended our indoor powwow season last weekend with Haskell’s Commencement Powwow. Two weekends in a row of working powwows (for me), and 2 weekends in a row of my kids dancing. I got a rude awakening once again at how difficult it is to maintain healthy eating habits during powwow season. Fry bread everywhere you turn, fatty/starchy soups, candy, Gatorade and soda/pop…..*sigh*  And I didn’t have time to prepare and bring healthy snacks like my own fruit, veggies, cheese sticks, turkey, boiled eggs, etc. Making time to prepare before every powwow will be my priority this year.

So, in an effort to get back on track, the Swirlies (my 2 daughters) decided to have smoothies for breakfast this week. They both have their own recipes, and both are delicious! And very simple to make.

I keep forgetting how small their tummies are, so I made too much the first day. By this morning I had the ingredients down to where they fit into a regular size coffee cup (8 oz, or 1 measuring cup), which is the perfect amount for them. Myself, I can always knock out at least 12-16 ounces of one of my smoothies.

Shelby’s Smoothie – Strawberry Pineapple

  • 1 C-heaping, sliced fresh strawberries and pineapple combined
  • 1/3 C fat-free vanilla yogurt (I buy the Dannon Lite & Fit vanilla because it has much less added sugar than other non-fat vanilla brands)
  • 2 Tbs (1/8 C) water
  • Add ingredients to a blender and blend until smooth. Fits in the coffee cup.

Sara’s Smoothie – Pineapple Apple

  • 1 C-heaping, sliced fresh pineapple and apple combined (I leave the skin on)
  • 1/3 C fat-free vanilla yogurt
  • 2 Tbs (1/8 C) water
  • Add ingredients to a blender and blend until smooth

I was amazed at how sweet the Pineapple Apple smoothie was. Almost tasted like a treat!

I am going to try to talk the girls into having a “Smoothie Party” for their combined birthday parties. Let them and their friends have fun creating and get many different fruits (and veggies) in their systems!

No picture this blog entry, but will try to summon up my amateur photography skills on the next one. 🙂