I have always been a “gardener”.  In fact, in the old days of early married life, my husband called me a farmer!  I had turned every available space into working gardening space.  I remember tasting Cauliflower from the garden to my mouth and it being the best damned cauliflower I had ever tasted.

Yes, it’s January, and if you don’t live in Southern California or somewhere warmish..planting a garden is the furthest thing from your mind.  But, really, it’s time to make a plan, order some seeds and get them in seed pots.  Why am I pushing gardening on you now when you might have been looking for a food/fitness post? Because, this is my website and I can talk about what interests me…it’s always been about food since it’s earliest days.  We eat tons of fruits and vegetables to the tune of $70ish dollars a week!  Zucchini, Onions, Carrots, Squash and Spinach are all vegetables I eat every single week…and they also happen to be very easy vegetables to grow (at least here- although I’ve never been successful with carrots).  You can actually help the planet by growing your own food, seriously.

This post was inspired by this TED talk and I’m planning my next veggie garden NOW.  Who’s with me?

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It all started with a pizza…way back when…. {see “How to Trash Your Kitchen in 15 Minutes Flat” , the Kale Chip Experiment and Tears of Seasoning.

I’ve always used cooking as a means of managing my young children while I attempt to get dinner on the table. But, really, it’s become it’s own thing now. My children are 8 and 5 and they are both VERY interested in getting their hands dirty in the kitchen. As my tastes and interests have changed, they’ve just gone with the flow up until now.

My youngest child is still very much a carrot, strawberry and protein kind of kid, however, he’s the one whose most interested in cooking {also should give credit to the movie Ratatouille}  and I find it fascinating the recipes he’s been picking out!  We are currently working our way through, Everyday Paleo and last night Ratatouille was on the menu even though my child will in general have nothing to do with zucchini, onions or tomatoes!  My deal with him is if he cooks it, he has to at least have 2 bites {Book Review}.   And, he eats it.  I am not sure if it’s the process of cooking he likes, or having control over the stove the most but I can’t get him out of the kitchen.  “I’ve got it mommy” he tells me with my biggest kitchen knife.  Cooking with kids can be dangerous, nothing like hot food and sharp knifes……and, yes, I have little panic attacks because he thinks he’s got it!   All in all, though, we are having a blast cooking together every night and I can only hope that eventually he will develop tastes for more than just carrots and strawberries.

My little chefs!

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My children and I have been doing tons of cooking.  In fact, they are begging me every night to let them do the cooking.  It has become their main thing to do when we get home from school, thanks to the movie Ratatouille.  At times, I am doing the chasing just to keep them from burning themselves and not letting things boil over.  However, I’m having tons of fun with this, so, now I’m on a hunt for matching chef hats and aprons for the boys and a cute, sexy one for me!  Santa would be doing us all a favor if he could deliver these for us, hahahaa…

Anyone, have any suggestions?

Flirty Aprons for Mothers and Daughters.

And for the boys, so, far, all I’ve found is on Etsy.

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is now published on Social Moms!

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This product review is written by a friend of mine.  She is an avid crossfitter, teacher, and yoga addict and truly believes in only putting super healthy foods in her body.  I asked her to help me with this product review and below are her findings with the products.  Herbalife was kind enough to send us the entire line of products for athletes,  “Nutrition for the 24 Hour Athlete”.

The kind people at Herbalife sent me a box full of a variety of their line of their “24” products for athletes. These products use fructose and have no artificial sweeteners added. This could be big selling point for some, or a put off for others. I used the Hydrate product, which is high in electrolytes and vitamin C to keep hydrated before or during a workout. It tasted good and mixed easily. The other 2 products I enjoyed were the Rebuild strength and the Formula 1 meal replacement. The chocolate Rebuild strength tasted like chocolate cake, delicious. My husband thought it was too sweet for first thing in the morning but I loved it. But with 24 grams of protein and 14 grams of sugar, it might be too much sugar for many athletes. The Formula 1 meal replacement was also delicious. I had the vanilla flavor. It has 9 grams of protein and 9 grams of sugar per serving, a little too low in protein for a meal, so I used it more as a snack. These seem to be good quality products, taste great and mix easily. I’m not sure how they stack up in price because these were sent to me to review and to order them you have to go through a Herbalife rep. So I was not able to price them on-line. If you are avoiding artificial sweeteners, and the amount of sugar is ok for your training goals, these might be good products for you.

Thank you, Herbalife for providing us with all these products to try!

To learn more about Herbalife, please visit their website, here.

P.S. FTC, these products were provided for free and the opinion in authentic.

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We have a rule in our house that if you burp, belch, fart or make any other rude noises at the table, then, you must eat the most nastiest (according to them) vegetable on the table. Lately it’s been roasted beets, tonight, zucchini. However, we found this kid’s menu at a restaurant in Monterey this past weekend that takes the cake for what to do with a misbehaving child!!

Which kid do you know would eat Liver and Brussel Sprouts?!?!

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This is too funny!

Have you tried?

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Testing the Lean Out Program is now live!

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For the past few months, I’ve been on a shoe search for the perfect CrossFit shoe. Most of my friends utilize the Inov-8′s, converse or some other random running shoe, however, most of my friends agree that none are completely perfect. In any given workout, we could be lifting heavy weight off the floor {Deadlifts} or Box Jumping or Sprinting or even lifting heavy weight that requires some precise foot movements such as squat cleans. In a perfect world, I’d wear only my Olympic lifting shoes for anything that requires heavy lifting, racing flats for sprint workouts and a good cross trainer for everything in between. And, the hunt continues…

So, I have a true story to share with you. I’ve always been a New Balance fan, so recently, I wrote to New Balance using their standard customer service form and asked them if they had a CrossFit shoe! This began a very helpful and intelligent string of emails with customer service and how they do have a new shoe called the Minimus that they are marketing for CrossFitters! Then, just two days later, I received an email from New Balance’s PR representative telling me about the new Minimus and would I like to try them for purposes of review on my blog!! It was my lucky day!

The New Balance Minimus is designed for cross training with or without socks. They are a very lightweight, flat soled shoe that has a really cute pink accent trim. These shoes have been designed also for the barefoot technology in a very minimal approach to running that is very popular now.

How did they work for me?

Well, they work great for box jumping, I love lifting in them, I can throw wall balls and do burpees. They are cute, lightweight and easy to wear. My one main problem with them is that I can’t run in them. They are simply too flat. This is not the fault of New Balance, it’s mine. I haven’t yet learned how to run using more of a barefoot style running – meaning less heel strike and more on the balls of the feet. When I run in these shoes, even for a short distance, I feel like I need more support in the soles. But, for everything else that I do in CrossFit, they work great- even pushing heavy sleds!

Would I recommend them?

Heck yes! They are a great all around good cross training shoe that is reasonably priced, easy to obtain, and of high quality.

How many of you have had good experiences with New Balance?!

FTC- New Balance provided me with these shoes and the above opinion is my own.

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……..Back to Work Week, People!!

Yes, it’s true I’ve had two and a half months off, oh yeah, baby, being a teacher does have it’s benefits, although 12.5 hours with my two boys has been one heck of a ride!! We’ve been to the beach, the mountains, the air museum (twice), watched lots of movies and had generally good times when just hanging at home. They’ve learned that they can really dive into their cars game and it can literally last all day. Or legos, or trains, or whatever….as long as everyone is getting along, I’m happy.

Going into this week, I’ve had goals to you know, clean rooms, drop off donations, plant a another vegetable garden, cook lots and be rested. Well, let’s just check off two of those things, and hope for the best! My biggest fears are going back to work and having nothing healthy to eat for myself, my husband or my kids–wierd way my brain works, I know. So, today, you get to have a peek at my fridge, because I’m proud to say we are ready for the week!!

Pictured in fridge is 1 doz. hard boiled eggs, 2 large containers of roasted sausage and peppers to be eaten for breakfast and lunch, sliced strawberries, cooked beets, carrots, grilled chicken breasts and a butternut squash sauce to be served with sausage later in the week! Yes, we are good to go!

Now, please pray for a calm and successful return to work and that everyone adjusts easily.

Happy Monday!

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