Recipe!

Good morning! I was thinking about the blog last night and realized that it's been a while since I've posted any recipes. I decided upon my mother's Chicken Lasagna. In the past months I seem to have been taking a lot of meals to people who have had babies. This is my go-to meal. It freezes really well and you can make it up without doing the final cooking, so when you are ready to eat it, it tastes fresh! On another note, this recipe uses a lot of cheese. I HIGHLY recommend grating your own cheese. Take a look at a package of shredded cheese and look at all the extra preservatives and stuff in it. It is rather disturbing. On the other hand, a block of cheese has only those ingredients you would associate with cheese. My opinion, always grate your own. It really doesn't take that much more time!

Chicken Lasagna

8 oz. oven ready lasagna noodles (I use the whole wheat kind!)
1/2 C. chopped onion
1/2 C. chopped green pepper
3 T. butter
1 Can of Cream of Chicken soup
1/3 C. milk
1/2 t. basil
3 C. diced cooked chicken (I just cook a package of breasts and chop them up!)
1 1/2 C. ricotta cheese
1/2 C. Mild Cheddar Cheese
1/2 C. Parmesan Cheese
1 1/2 C. Mozzarella Cheese
8 oz. package of mushrooms

Cook the onion, pepper, and mushrooms in the butter until tender. Stir in the soup, milk, basil and chicken to make the "sauce." Place 1/2 of the noodles in the bottom of a 9X13 pan. Cover with 1/2 of the ricotta cheese, 1/2 of the sauce, and 1/2 of the cheeses. Repeat the layers. At this point you can either wrap it up and freeze for later, or bake at 350 for 45 minutes.

I have also been experimenting with some vegetarian dishes this week. I just made up a few this morning, but have yet to try them. As soon as I do, and if they pass the taste test, I'll post those as well. I'm really trying to get a LOT more veggies in our diets and thought that sticking a few vegetarian items into our menu would be a good way to go about that. We'll see. They sure smell good!

Spring is Here Now, Right?

Well, as I look at my window I think I'm convinced that Spring is actually here this time. I think most of the snow from the weekend has melted and I think it's supposed to be a nice day. It's time for fresh produce!!

Yesterday we had our CSA orientation and my husband and I are both rearing to go. We had to sign up for a day to work at the farm during the growing season and we decided that he would take off work so we could do the farm thing as a family. I am REALLY excited about all of this local eating. We also signed up for some meat and egg shares from another farm. We will be getting grass fed beef, lamb, pork and chicken and then eggs from those free wandering chickens. The menu is going to be very tasty this summer.

Because of eating locally high that I'm currently riding and because of an OB appointment I just left, I really wanted to talk about food and exercise for a bit. For those of you who aren't aware, I had to have a hysterectomy at the age of 28 and have been struggling with some of the side effects from the surgery for about 2 years now. One of these struggles happens to be weight. Another background note is that last October, while training for a 1/2 marathon, I developed a stress fracture and acute tendinitis in my right hip and have been pretty much been off exercise since then because of the pain. Anyway, my dr. and I were talking about the "right" steps that I need to be taking to ensure great health. While many of my weight issues are because of my hysterectomy, these are all issues that I would have had sooner or later. It's because of my surgery that this is happening about 15 years earlier for me! I wanted to just share some of her wisdom:

1) She really advocated Yoga. She said that since my body is no longer producing hormones naturally that I am now at a risk for Osteoporosis. In order to combat this I need to be doing some weight resistant exercise like Yoga two times a week.

2) Eat as much whole foods as possible. She mentioned that you should have red meat only once a week with chicken and fish filling in the rest of the days. Meat should also be a side item, not the main dish.

3) While you need both fruits and veggies, you should eat at least twice the amount of veggies as fruit.

4) Running is bad on women's bodies (and my Dr. is a runner). Not only is it hard on the joints, but it also is really hard on the female organs due to the jostling while running. She really pushed swimming and biking as great ways to get my cardio in at least 5 times a week.

5) Finally, she recommended trying any exercise that you could see yourself doing at the age of 60 or 70. Finding exercises that you can do for your entire life will ensure that you are staying healthy your entire life.

I think those were the main points of my visit. While I haven't done any research myself, she also pointed out that studies have been done that are relating Alzheimer's and dementia with cardio health. In other words, if your arteries around you heart are clogged or moving slow, so are the ones in your brain. That really made me stop and think. I can think of no worse disease!

I hope this helps all of you in your quest for healthier selves. Good luck and eat locally!!

Short and Sweet

Hello everyone! This is going to be a very short post. I have two 3-year olds waiting to be put down for a nap, but I wanted to post a few pictures before I did that. First of all, here are the pictures of my daughter's Easter dress that I finished almost 2 weeks ago. She's very excited to
wear it. It's not perfect, but not bad for my first time, either!

Here are a few other projects that I have recently finished. This is my little bunny creation. He's made out of a recycled cashmere sweater. It had moth holes in it and was no longer wearable, so I've given it new life and turned it into a bunny for a baby named Owen (hence the O on the front!). He is my second recycled bunny and I think they turn out pretty darn cute. If any of you have any unwearable sweaters that you'd like to contribute to the cause, they make great baby gifts!

Finally, these are a couple of pictures of a baby quilt that I just finished for a friend. Obviously, she just had a baby girl named Olivia.

I think that about sums it up for now. We're pretty busy here so I hope to post a more thought provoking entry in the near future! God bless!

P.S. Did any of you watch Opera last Thursday? It was all about the food industry and eating better. She had the guy from Food, Inc. on. It was great!

My Amazing Mentor

Today I just wanted to quickly write a little bit about mental health. Part of my journey to all-around good health involves being healthy mentally, and being a mother of 3 year-old twins, this isn't at all easy! However, I have found a great cure to all that ails mentally. Find a hobby. I think that it really is that simple.

When I was pregnant I was looking everywhere for baby bedding that I really liked and that was gender neutral. At the time, it was nearly impossible. I didn't want a themed room at all, but I was also having a hard time finding stuff that wasn't primarily pink or blue. Therefore, I decided to make my own. Please keep in mind that at this time I didn't know a thing about sewing and didn't even own a sewing machine. So, I asked for and received my sewing machine that year as a birthday gift and had my mom teach me a few basic things about sewing. It was a slow process, but after a week of doing nothing but sewing, my mother and I completed my nursery. It was then that I realized I had been bitten by the sewing bug. Since then, I just can't get enough!

It didn't take long for me to outgrow my mother's sewing knowledge. At that point I turned to books (I can learn really easily by looking and reading books). I was able to pick up quite a few things from each book I picked up, but I felt like I was missing something in each technique. It was at this time, while at a P.E.O. meeting, that I was talking about my sewing and another woman piped up that she knew all sorts of stuff. Apparently her mother had owned a quilt shop in Louisiana while she was growing up and she knew how to do all sorts of things. She was also quite excited to teach me. I was thrilled! Since that meeting, we have gotten together twice. She is currently teaching me how to smock. For those that aren't savvy, smocking is the tiny pleating done on baby and little kid outfits, usually across the chest that will have a design or picture on it. It's used a lot in christening gowns as well. Anyway, I am almost finished with my daughter's Easter dress ( hopefully I can post some pictures on here later this week) and I'm so excited to learn more. My mentor is going to teach me heirloom stitching, more on quilting, and even tatting (that's the creation of lace). I can't describe what this has done to my stress levels. Mentally, I believe I am healthier now than I have been in a long time!

I want to challenge each of you to try something you've always wanted to try, or learn something you've always been curious about learning. It is such a great way relieve stress and it can't hurt to know a few more useful skills, right?! Good luck!