If you have never had a Crepe, you are missing out!  Even better, get creative in your kitchen, and whip up a batch of Crepes.  Crepes are native to France and the definition of Crepe in latin is crispa meaning curled.  Crepes are basically very thin pancakes.  They are filled with a variety of things.  Crepe Suzette  is a Crepe with a filling of sugar, orange and liqueur.  Personally, I fill them with fruit and even scrambled eggs and cheese.  Crepes are very simple to make and they are a hit for breakfast, dessert or any meal.  I like to make Crepes for Sunday morning breakfast.  I fill half with apple filling and half with scrambled eggs and cheese.  The following is a recipe from allrecipes.com.  It is one I have used and it works very well.  http://allrecipes.com/recipe/basic-crepes/

If you follow these simple steps, you can't go wrong!

1.  An easy way to mix your Crepes is in a blender.

2.  Use a non-stick egg pan for the Crepes.  You can use either butter or a non-
      stick spray.  Once your pan is greased, it should be ok for the duration of
      cooking the rest of the crepes, so you are not utilizing a lot of grease!

Pour batter in the center of pan 

Rotate pan to spread the batter evenly in the pan

Using a rubber spatula, loosen the sides of the crepe, turn it over and cook slightly on the other side

Apple Filling                       

Scrambled Eggs

Finished Product!   Enjoy!

From my kitchen to yours, find your inner culinary soul and enjoy cooking!  Valentine's Day is fast approaching.  Why not be bold and avoid the crowded restaurants and create your own romantic bounty of food!  In the words of Julia Child:
I think careful cooking is love, don't you? The loveliest thing you can cook for someone who's close to you is about as nice a valentine as you can give.
Julia Child

Until we meet again, Happy Cooking and....Bon Appetite !

What is better than a bowl of homemade chicken noodle soup?  You can do this in a half hour!

2 to 3 chicken breasts, sliced into cubes
6 to 8 cups of chicken broth (I use Chicken Base and water, it stretches farther and I can control the sodium)
1 16 ounce package frozen vegetables
Salt and pepper to taste
A sprig of thyme is good if you like thyme and a bit of parsley for color and flavor too.
Noodles, I prefer to make my own!

Noodles:
1/2 c. flour to 1 egg.  For this recipe, 2 cups flour and 4 eggs are enough.
Directions:
Measure flour in large bowl, make a well in the middle of the flour.  Add slightly beaten eggs in the well.  Mix together the flour as much as you can with a fork.  Put mixture on floured surface and need the dough until it forms into a round ball.  Cover and place in refrigerator for 10 minutes.  Take ball out of frig and split the ball in half.  Roll thin and cut into noodles.  You can let noodles dry or cook them right away.  The trick is to be sure to add it to the broth when the broth is boiling. 

Chicken noodle soup is easy to make and tastes much better than from the can!  On cold frosty nights, it warms me from the tip of my head to the bottom of my toes!  Adding the vegetables to it helps to complete the meal.  Add a slice of whole wheat bread and you have dinner made, wha la!  This picture is borrowed from online, but looks a lot like my end product!  Use whatever vegetables that your family enjoys, dare to be creative!

Physical Activity, if you are like me, I get a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach!  I have never been the runner, I have never been the star athlete and if I think too much, I can get on a roll and be really negative about exercise.  For instance, I hate to sweat, I don't have time, and truthfully, I would rather just not worry about it!  This mindset changed for me over night in the spring of 2011.  My blood pressure was so high, I was considered in stroke zone and I received a fast ride to the hospital.  The diagnosis, well, my gene pool kicked in with a vengeance.  If you know me at all, when something happens, I have to know why and what to do about it.  So, I began to read as much information as I could.  I began to see a theme, EXERCISE!  So, rather than embracing that notion, I thought I should read some more, and yes, the same theme, Exercise.  I am happy to report, I do exercise.  I found motivation through a facebook group created by a very motivational woman who has quite a health story of loosing a lot of weight.  I gained motivation from my family who recognizes that we need to be active together.  I am finding it is really not that difficult.  I just had to get rid of all those points that I used as an excuse not to do it.
1. Sweat, ok, still not over that, but just have to deal with that one.  I visualize a hot shower after I am done.
2.  Time, the recommendation is 30 minutes most days of the week.  The good news is, I do not have to do it all at one time!  I stretch in the morning, walk over lunch and when I am at home, I ride my stationary bike or turn on my favorite aerobic program that I record on my DVR. 
3.  Become Addicted to Exercise!  Wow!  Now there is a concept, an addiction for me that may be positive.  A childhood acquaintance whom I have admired, was the athlete and continues into adulthood running marathons and all kinds of other things.  I once asked her what the secret is and she simply said, "you have to become addicted to the adrenalin rush of exercising."  Hm, I pondered this thought and wondered if I would get to this frame of thinking.  I think I am almost there.  Now, keep in mind, my idea of the level of activity and the addiction to it is far different from my childhood friend, but I am gaining ground with my health.  I find that when I do not exercise, I feel stressed and the stress stays with me.

The following is a slide show from UNL and has a lot of helpful ideas. 

http://www.slideshare.net/alicehenneman/how-should-you-spend-your-calorie-salary

My random advice:
1. Find time in your schedule and stick to it.
2. Take a day off if you want to.  This usually happens on the weekend.  It gives me freedom.  ( I have found, I am taking fewer days off because I like how I feel after a good workout)
3.  Do a variety of things for exercise, the same thing over and over again, gets old and stale.  Just be sure you stretch, incorporate an activity that gets your heart rate up such as aerobics or brisk walking, and weight bearing exercise.  Here is the part that is the best, you do not need a gym for any of this!  The weight bearing exercise is as simple as stomach crunches, or push ups. 
4.  Just DO IT!  Don't let your mind over ride your need to be healthy.  Your body is like a fine tuned machine, you need in-put (Healthy food) and output (exercise).

Let's face it, most of us have sedentary jobs and they are typically filled with stress.  If we can handle our jobs and fit in exercise, we will be healthier for it. 

5.  More importantly, you need to remember the importance of water, you got it, water!  Keeping hydrated is a key to your body running smoothly and helping you with your plan of action for physical activity.  Most doctors recommend 8 to 12 glasses of water a day, if you are exercising, you are in a hot environment or perhaps fighting an illness, you need more than the recommended amount.  Loose the pop and other sugary drinks and choose water.  If you don't like water, try adding a bit of fresh fruit to your water, right now, citrus fruit is in season, add a little lemon or lime to your drink. Create a habit for you and your family.

Until next time, fit in a little fitness into your life, you will be glad you did!  You will find yourself less stressed, you will have more energy and overall, you will have an attitude that you can take on whatever challenge life may throw at you!

I leave you with one of my favorite songs when I am feeling down, and really don't want to move forward. 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LODkVkpaVQA

 

How are your New Year resolutions going?  If you are like most of us, you chose one directly related to healthy lifestyles, eating healthy, or loosing weight.  My resolution is to embrace cooking, stay away from eating out and with any luck, this will assist me in eating healthier and maintaining my weight.  So far, so good!  There are times when I have the desire to eat out because of a favorite dish that I have never made before.  One of the dishes recently was french onion soup.  Wow, super simple and since I made it in my kitchen, less expensive and healthier as I controlled the salt and fat content.  I utilized the recipe from Rachael Ray as a baseline and altered a few things to meet my needs.  It turned out fabulous!
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/rachael-ray/oh-so-good-french-onion-soup-recipe/index.html

Our family has a new soup that they will request in the future!


Next up, chicken pot pie sounded like a good meal for Friday night and would be great since we have bitter cold temperatures here in Nebraska.  Again, I went on a hunt for a great recipe.  I started out with my tried and true pastry shell recipe, the trick to a good crust is to chill the flour and fat mixture as well as the water (separate of course).  When cool, mix together and roll it out.  The following is the recipe I tried and it was very good!  I chose to use a regular pie pan and that worked well.Next time, I would make the sauce with a bit more liquid.  Other than that, it was a keeper!
http://allrecipes.com/recipe/chicken-pot-pie-ix/


The best way to keep my resolution of eating healthy is to find the joy of cooking in my own kitchen.  I hope you can do this as well!  Until I blog again, try something fun in your kitchen!

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

• 
  
  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.

 .

 

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!