Servings Update

I am in the process of Spring Cleaning my house, which is hilarious with two little ones.  My time cleaning when they're awake is a hodge-podge of sorting items, putting them in containers and then turning around to find them thrown all over the floor.  Nap time is spent cleaning in hopes of not waking them up.  Perhaps your efforts have been more successful?

And don't even get me started about attempting to clean glass doors.  Between the hand and snot prints from the inside and dog paws from the outside, I have deemed it pointless.

But I digress.

I just wanted to update you on my progress to better equip my growing children (and myself!) with fruits and vegetables throughout the day.  My sister Allison got the girls these adorable little trays so I've been using them for most of their meals.  As silly as it sounds, they've really helped me remember that I need to put a different food group in every little slot.   

So here was Rachel's lunch today.  Mac and cheese (those are veggie noodles), green beans and pears.  

Holy portions, Annie! you say.  You're going to give all that to your one-year-old?

Why yes, yes I am.  Because if you've ever dealt with a one-year-old eating before, you have to be prepared for certain things...

The sweet and innocent look, while toying with her plate...

The "I'm totally over this lunch" move, while turning everything over - while the food was still on the plate, I might add.

And finally, my personal favorite, the What plate? look. 

Hope you're having more luck!

I've been quiet...

I'm so, so sorry.  I swear, I never had allergies until we came to Tennessee.  Now, all of a sudden, I have allergies.  

And my head is fuzzy.

And my baby has a snotty nose.

And Elizabeth has decided that she's wanted to be Princess Pee-the-bed the past few nights...in a row.  

Oh, and we're house hunting.

I know...the ultimate test of staying within your means and not banging your head against the wall.  I have become slightly addicted to all things Real Tracs / Zillow / Realtor.com.  I could probably list every house within a 40 mile radius of where my husband works and literally squeal with delight when I get emails that new homes have been added within my search.

I know...my name is Annie and I really have issues.  

So...this has lead me a little less than inspired to write.  Or cook.  Or clean my house.  

I've started back on the Body for Life workout, which we both highly recommend, and I felt a big difference after being in a structured program for a week.  Sometimes, you just need someone else to tell you what to do, you know?

Today, I was supposed to start week two and I was honestly dreading it.  Looking at the pile of laundry and my messy house and feeling our impending end-of-lease date around the corner, I was tempted to skip it.  "Really, I'll just get to it tomorrow,"  I told myself.

And myself almost won.

Thankfully, I was saved by a two-year-old banshee who decided that the perfect game of the morning was  catapulting herself off Mommy and Daddy's bed into a sprint around the house and screaming kind of thing.

We had shoes and jackets on in five minutes.

Dropping the girls off at the nursery, I zoned out and went right into my workout.  I probably could have used the steam room today, but I knew it would just be putting off the inevitable leg punishment I was in for.

30 minutes went by and after a good set of squats and lunges, I felt myself relax.  A few calf raises later and I was in a pretty good sweat and felt like I was literally sweating away my stress.  My mind was different and my body was no longer achy and whiny and feeling sorry for itself.  

Suddenly, I found myself at the opposite end of the spectrum into thankfulness.  I was thankful that we are in the position to buy a house and thankful that the only illness I have to complain about is a sinus headache.  I was thankful that my children are active and happy and healthy and loud and boisterous.  I was thankful for the ability to move and work and be joyful.  And I was even thankful for my messy house because at least I knew I wouldn't be bored this afternoon.

Ahhhh...

I think we all deal with stress in different ways and sometimes you need a cookie and sometimes you need a cup of coffee and a workout.  Me?  I had my cookies yesterday (ha) so today, I worked out.  And now, I'm oh-so-thankful.  

Have a great day!

How well does your mailman know you??

This was the bounty that came in the mail yesterday...I would say our mailman knows us pretty well!  Not to mention the Better Homes and Gardens and Martha Stewart Living that came in the mail yesterday...can you tell I was a print journalism major??!!  And no, before you croak, I did not buy / pay full price for all of these.  Oxygen is worth full price - I've gotten it for years.  Great workouts and diet tips.  Muscle and Fitness, Parenting, and BHG, I got at a huge discount.  Martha comes for free (score!).  High Five is a gift my mom sent Elizabeth...a little too old for her yet but I'm saving them. 

Great reading material for the Stair Master...and yes, we recycle!  Have a great day!

My sister's kitchen: Fresh Ginger Cupcakes

Aunt Allison with her favorite little cupcakes!

By Allison

Okay kiddies, on this episode of Baking with Allison, we're talking substitutions. You might be asking yourself, "But what's the point of having sweets if they can't be deliciously fatty and sinful?"  Well the good news is...THEY CAN BE DELICIOUS AND HEALTHY ALL AT THE SAME TIME! 

I know. I just blew your mind. Take a minute to collect yourself, I'll wait.  Okay, ready?

Think about the things in your favorite cookies and cakes that give you pause about eating them when you're trying to get fit. 

Oil? Gulp. 

Eggs? Double Gulp.

Butter? There goes bathing suit season. 

But wait! There is hope! Simple substitutions can cut down on most of this guilt. For example, if a recipe calls for oil you can completely substitute the entire amount with apple sauce. My mother has been doing it for years and it not only keeps the cake super moist (which is the whole reason behind the oil in the first place) but it is delicious. And it sneaks in some nutrition for the kiddies. You can also cut back on the cholesterol the eggs provide in your recipe by subing with egg whites. For every 1 egg you would like to sub, use 2 whites. If the recipe calls for 4 eggs (just as an example) I would only sub 2. That way you're still getting the idea but it'll be lighter.

So to keep with the spirit, I have provided you with a delicious recipe that not only has the substitutions done for you but....IT DOESN'T CONTAIN ANY BUTTER. Take it from me, an avid butter lover, this cake will rock your socks.

Allison's Is It Spring Yet? Fresh Ginger Cupcakes 

2 cups all purpose flour

3/4 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon cloves

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

3/4 cup sugar

3/4 cup molasses

3/4 cup applesauce (no sugar added)

3/4 cup boiling water

1 1/2 teaspoon baking soda

3 oz ginger root

2 large eggs

Before you get mixing, I would peel the ginger root (I like gently scrapping the skin off with a spoon). Once it's naked, throw it in the food processor and make it slush and set it aside with the water.

Ginger root (*Annie's note:  I've always been terrified of these things!)

Put all dry ingredients (with the exception of the baking soda) into the mixer. Give a little turn of the paddle attachment - just enough to mix it together.  While that's mixing up, sprinkle your baking soda into the boiling water. Once it's dissolved, add the fresh ginger. Set aside.

Matching containers are fun!

Back to the mixer, add the molasses and the applesauce to your dry ingredients and stir until incorporated. (Scrape down the sides of your mixing bowl periodically to insure you won't have any flour pockets.) Add eggs, one at a time. Now you will add the ginger, baking soda, water mixture. Mix until incorporated. Be careful not to over mix-adding too much air to the batter will kill the loft of the cake. 

The batter will be wet, so don't worry if it's not as thick as most of the batters you've done. Scoop the batter into cupcake liners and put in a 350 degree oven for 20-25 minutes or until toothpick comes clean.

Adorable cupcake liners sold separately!

I would traditionally pair this with a cream cheese frosting but the cake itself is so 'BAM' that it doesn't need anything else trying to steal the spotlight and besides, we said no butter...So a simple drizzle of icing will do it.

BAM!!

 Whisk 1/4 cup powdered sugar with a 3/4 teaspoon of milk. And drizzle away babies!

Of course, I had to try one...to make sure they weren't bad...

If you wanted to make the topping a little fancier, you could always make (or buy) some candied ginger for the top of the cupcakes.

Stop licking the computer...

Until next time.....

Lewis, out!

Music Rut

I blame my new ipod for my music rut.

It's just been so easy to walk into the gym, turn on "Annie's Workout" mix and go to work.  Now, I have not been that imaginative with this, so my "mix" is about 10 songs and they have gotten just a little bit old (since I got the ipod at Christmas from my wonderful husband).  I've gone with the Barney Stinson philosophy (if you watch How I met your mother on CBS) that you want all "up" songs in your mixes - so it's basically full of techno and high speed rock out music. 

But today, for some reason, I just needed a change. 

So I flipped through my music and did some box jumps to Bon Jovi ...You Give Love a Bad Name helped me through some lunges, but then I wanted something different.


Randomly, I picked a shuffle of Lonestar.

Ah....

Songs I hadn't heard forever gave me the extra little boost to finish.  My mind drifted back to being a Graduate Assistant at Gardner-Webb and my pitchers and trips down I-77 with my sister, Andrea (we blared Lonestar in my little white Chevy quite a few times). 

In fact, I was on my way to the nursery to get the girls when Front Porch Looking In came on and I decided to do a couple extra sets instead just because that song touches me differently now than as a 23-year-old single woman then. 

What am I getting at here?  Spring is such a great time to clean out and revamp...there's just something about seeing the sunshine after so many months of blah to get your juices going again.  So maybe look for areas in your workout that you can do the same.  Mix up the tunes.  Totally revamp your routine.  Get a couple books from the library.  Try a new class.  Invite one of your best friends to do a challenge with you.

And enjoy it!  This shouldn't be a chore...it's your life!  Have a great weekend!

Rachel's Photo Opp!

My little mover and shaker obviously saw her opening last week when her big sister was down for the count.  She seemed to ham it up and play especially cute - enjoy!!

Yay!!  Spaghetti!!

Yay!!  Mama!!!

Mama, just let me see that camera for a SECOND!!

What do you mean, "Get down"?

Crusin' for a brusin'

Elizabeth, will you get up and play NOW??!!

Happy to see Grandpa

Happy that it's Grandpa's birthday

VERY happy to have cake on Grandpa's birthday!

The sick girl emerges...and plays with a puzzle for a little bit (thank you Aunt Donna!!)

Happy St. Patrick's Day - Eat Green!!

You know, it's funny to see the influence of your upbringing on your adult life.  My grandparents always ate very healthy - looking back now, I think my Memaw needed to for some health issues, although she passed away when I was too young to fully understand them.  I can remember them eating wheat germ and making  yogurt and growing bean sprouts...in fact, when I got my own apartment, I thought I was such a grown up because I bought wheat germ (still do!).

The same holds true to my mom and I've told you how much influence I believe she's had on my life and daily routines... one important one being to have a green vegetable on your dinner plate.  Now, sometimes she strayed from that and we had carrot sticks or corn, but almost every dinner found something green.  Today, I really don't feel like I've put a complete meal on the table without a green vegetable. 

By now you know that I'm battling picky eaters, so it doesn't always mean that my kids EAT them, but at least I put them out there. So I thought it would be fitting, being St. Patrick's Day, that we talk about our favorite green veggies and how to prepare them. 

Nutritionally, your best bet for eating vegetables is raw - it holds all the vitamins and keeps the most water in the food you're eating (think hydrating your body from the cells out!).  If you have little kids like me, though, you may shudder at the thought of raw veggies.  Elizabeth is not the best chewer and last night, we saw Rachel suck a piece of cabbage into her mouth like a spaghetti noodle and swallow it whole. *shudder*  So unless we have sandwiches or pizza (I may get teased for serving carrot sticks with pizza for the rest of my life...but that's how my mom did it!), most things that hit our table are cooked.

When heating vegetables, your best bet is to steam - and by best, I mean healthiest.   Steaming has gotten so much easier with the frozen steam-able vegetables, the bags that Ziploc makes (has anyone tried these?) or hand-dandy machines.  I very rarely pull down my big double-boiler pot to steam anything anymore.

Another option - now that the weather is warmer - is to use your grill.  When we were visiting my best friend a couple weeks ago, her husband made an awesome dish of  diced zucchini, yellow squash, onion, a little olive oil and salt and pepper.  He mixed everything and then put it in a little slotted pan designed for the grill and cooked it beside the burgers.  It was wonderful!

I pulled out my electric griddle the other day (because I swear, the thing can cook anything) and tried it with asparagus.  I think we were having steaks or something nicer and I wanted to make a fancier vegetable.  

This looks like a hodge-podge, but I ATTEMPTED to line them all up, like you cook hot dogs, drizzle olive oil and salt and pepper, and then rotate them until they were cooked on all sides.  They came out wonderful!

We have peas...mostly mixed with mac and cheese... and green beans (only canned for my little weirdos) and broccoli.  I haven't gotten into salads yet with the girls - when does that happen?!  I can get spinach in soups but can't sneak a brussel sprout past them to save my life.  

One day, I dream of a garden where I will grow rows of fresh produce and use my children as cheap labor... however, the idea overwhelms my brain right now.  Perhaps that will be the answer to this pickiness...  Hey, a girl can dream, right?!

Ok, tangent over.  Talk green to me, people!!