Such a cold wintery Nebraska night!  Perfect for Bread Pudding!  What do you need for bread pudding?  Eggs, a bit of sugar, milk, vanilla oh yes, and some raisins and a touch of melted butter.  This, so far is the best recipe I have found for bread pudding.  I love to have it steamy hot with a touch of milk.  Yum!  Warms me from the top of my head to the tip of my little toes!  What do I hear?  The timer!  Off to eat pudding!  Cheers!

http://allrecipes.com/video/976/bread-pudding-ii/detail.aspx

    

 Tis the season for looking at New Year’s Resolutions and making positive lifestyle changes for your family.  Reflecting on the past list of New Year Resolutions, when you create one behavior change that you are committed to, this is when real success happens. In preparation for this article, online data suggests that more often than not, resolutions relate to being more fit and eating healthier.  Although great ideas, achieving the goals of being fit and eating healthy can set one up for failure.  Eating and physical fitness are achieved by repetitious behavior change.  One of the key factors is to have everyone on board in your household.  Instead of such a broad goal, look at changing one aspect of this for each item.  The recommendation for exercise is to workout 30 minutes most days of the week for adults and 1 hour most days of the week for children. Begin with a goal of achieving a 30 minute workout every other day and build on this habit.   In relation to eating healthy, try embracing the concept of cooking as an art and a joy as opposed to a daily cumbersome task.

     Exercise is an activity that when embraced gives you more energy to get through your day.  This is definitely a change that needs to be embraced by everyone in your family.  Children tend to be active so if parents will join them, this helps everyone.  There are three components necessary for physical activity.  Basic stretching, anaerobic which involves increasing your heart rate and weight bearing exercise which can be such things as push-ups.  Physical activity does not require you to spend vast amounts of money on fancy equipment or memberships to health spas.  It is a matter of deciding on a time, a place and the activity.  Our family finds that the best exercise is that done right here at home.  We have a stationary bike for those days like today that the Nebraska cold prevents one from taking a walk.   We discovered that our cable network has Fit TV so we select programs that we like and record them to workout with at a convenient time for us.  We find that the easier the plan is the more apt we are to follow through.  

     The art of cooking, when you make the decision to cook, you reduce your fat, sugar and salt intake.  All of these are a recipe for improving one’s health.  In most cases, cooking from scratch is not much more time consuming than using products from a box and the best news is that you decide what to put in the dish.  I watched “The Chew” today and they made their own vinaigrette dressing.  The ingredients were fresh; they used less oil by blending the mix in an in-expensive food processor and reduced the fat, sugar and salt added to the dressing.  Not only is it healthy but saves you money at the grocery store as well. Consider a garden, a kitchen herb garden is a great place to begin to help you reduce your fat, sugar and salt intake by adding the flavor of herbs. 

Rosemary

Oregano

 

Parsley

The first step is to decide what it is you wish to change and then be sure it is something you want to change.  Fitness goals can be S.M.A.R.T goals while choosing to cook accompanies eating healthier.  I find personally that the easier I make the goal, the more it becomes reality and easy to obtain.  So, my first goal....I love French Onion Soup so I am going to have this for New Year's Eve!  More to come on this adventure!  As far as fitness goals, I will continue to play nicely with my stationary bike Burt, I may even keep my eye out for a replacement for Burt.  He is beginning to groan and a few of his spokes have broken.  So, perhaps it is time to find a new workout mate.  Also, I plan to work hard on a stress free lifestyle.  This will involve learning to say no to some things and feeling ok about it.  To you and yours, may you have a very prosperous 2013!

 

   

The Art Of Slow Cooking!

After having a week of crazy evening commitments and struggling to stay away from fast food alley, I am going to plan on pulling out my slow cooker, dusting it off and using it in the next few weeks.  I had high hopes that December would be slow....not so much!  

Recently, I have had a lot of interest in slow cook programs, so the following is a helpful idea on freezing the ingredients for slow cooking ahead of time along with one of my favorite recipes!  Enjoy!!

 Tips for Freezer Cooking with Slow Cooker Recipes

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  Cooking with a slow cooker can be one of the easiest ways to have a meal ready to eat when you walk in the door after a long day.  Slow cookers are great to use because all you have to do is place the ingredients in the slow cooker and turn it on.  Here are a few tips to make slow cooker cooking even easier:
  
  
  • Set aside time for food preparation.  Consider doing more than one recipe to prepare for more than one meal.
  
  
  • Chop vegetables and meat separate.  Be sure to chop pieces, especially meat, into small chunks.  This will prevent any food safety issues. http://www.fsis.usda.gov/pdf/slow_cookers_and_food_safety.pdf
    
  
  
  ·         Freeze meat separate from fruits and vegetables.  Place the bags or containers together for easy assembly of recipes.  If using bags, lay bags flat in your freezer to save freezer space. 
  
  
  ·         Attach the recipe or label the containers for easy assembly.
  
  
  The day before you are going to prepare your slow cooker frozen ingredients, remove them from your freezer and place in your refrigerator.  If they are still frozen, quickly run cold water over the container or bag long enough so they will be loose.  Place meat in a microwave safe bowl and microwave so that meat is thawed out.  Assemble and cook the food according to your recipe.  Handle leftovers in the same manner you would other food items.  Separate large amounts into shallow containers and refrigerate within two hours after cooking is finished.  Do not reheat food in the slow cooker, use your stove top or microwave and be sure the temperature reaches 165 degrees Fahrenheit. 

Veggies chopped and ready to go!  Always cut meat on separate cutting board.

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Veggies in 1 bag, Meat in a separate bag

Lay flat to freeze(be sure to label)

 

Slow Cooker Chicken and Rice: (Serves 4 to 6 people)

Ingredients

4 to 6 boneless chicken breast halves, without skin

1 (10 ¾ ounces) can low sodium cream of mushroom soup

½ c. water

¾ c. rice, uncooked

1 ½ c. low sodium chicken broth

1 to 2 cups frozen green beans, thawed

Directions

1. Place chicken breasts in slow cooker.
2. Pour cream of mushroom soup and water over chicken.
3. Add the rice, chicken broth, and green beans. (Do not stir, keep it layered.)
4. Cover and cook on low for 6 hours, or until chicken is cooked and rice is tender.

**Slow cooking is a wonderful way to avoid Fast Food Alley!  Find time in your schedule to prepare ahead, freeze several meals in advance.  Pull the ingredients from the freezer the night before, and assemble before leaving your home.  It is a wonderful thing to come home to meal that is ready to go!  Be sure to contact me if you have any questions on slow cooking.  One more fantastic way to eat healthy, stay on your budget and avoid putting your money into those fast food places!

 A sound mind, sound body is the recipe to living happily ever after!  Have a happy and healthy holiday season!