The secret to healthy eating

Ever get in the mood to start a new diet or health trend? The answer from most people is yes. Ever actually start that trend? Most answer no. People want to do better with eating, but don't understand that work and effort needs to be put in on the front end to ensure smooth success.

Even as knowledgeable as I am in the culinary world, and as much as I love to cook, I have a busy schedule and don't 'like' to cook as much anymore. This can create many problems when trying to stay fit and eat healthier.

So knowing that time management is an issue, what's the solution? PLANNING AHEAD!!!

This will not only keep you from coming up with excuses, but will also allow you to have more time and an overall better week. No more standing in front of the fridge wondering what to take to work for lunch, or make for dinner. (My main problem is just completely skipping meals.)

I challenge all of you to plan a weeks worth of meals. Create your grocery list from the ingredients needed to make the meals (To save money, choose meals with overlapping ingredients). You will know in advance what you will be eating, and also when. You'll be able to pre-count your calories to ensure you are on the right track with your nutrition goals.

Leading by example, today I have already planned my lunches for work and am working on breakfast and dinner items now. I plan on grocery shopping in the next 2 hours. :)

Saturday will be my prep day. Preparing all items that can be prepared in advance, packaging them, and having them ready for me to grab on my way to work.

P.S. For those of you who need help planning or grocery list making, contact me and let's get you all set up :)

What's for Dinner tonight?

So I was thinking about making a Chicken Marsala dish this past weekend for dinner, but I didn't have any Marsala wine, and still don't, lol. However, I'm still gonna make it, but just with a different red wine. I'm using a Shiraz wine made by Layer Cake. I decided to use both Portobello and Button mushrooms (I love mushrooms) and have cooked them down already with a little Balsamic Vinegar. I think I'll serve this dish with some roasted garlic mashed potatoes and some sort of green veggie.

I'm still working on my cookbook and have decided all the different categories to include and the majority of the recipe titles. One huge thing that is setting me back is the fact that I don't measure when I cook. I can recall most if not all of the ingredients used, and can guestimate the amounts used. So I'm trying daily to become more concise so I can pull my cookbook off and share my passion with others :)

Weekly Nutrition and Fitness Checkup

I have been doing P90x for the past 4 weeks now and have been on a regular eating schedule with bi-weekly cheat days. Since the beginning I have lost 9 pounds and gotten right back to my pre-pregnancy weight. (Cris was born Oct 8th.) My highest pregnancy weight was 180. So I lost 20 pounds right after delivery and then these additional 9 pound when I decided to eat right and workout. I probably would have been right around 145 right about now, but thanks to Thanksgiving, lol, I'm not quite there yet. But don't worry I will be soon.

With my success, I reached out to my mother and sister because they are trying to eat right and exercise too :) I have asked that they send me a food log of their week and I'll assess the plan based on their individual goals to find areas of improvement to help them real their fitness goals :)

I challenge all of you to take a more serious approach to your goals. Make a plan and stick to it. Include rewards for yourself for motivation and you'll be more likely to succeed.

If you need help, just email ahkeeia@yahoo.com, or comment on this post. Also if you would like weekly analysis of your food logs email and we'll discuss special offers. :)

I'm phinally a Prophyte!!!!!!

So I have been waiting for a little while now to have neos of my own and they are phinally here!!!! Welcome my lovely sorors of "Paradigm Shift" FA2K11!!!! I am so happy you're my sister :)

Holiday Pancakes!! :)

So I know I have been M.I.A. for quite some time, but...................... I had my little bundle of joy!!! Cristopher Trent Ward was born October 8, 2011. Since then I have been super busy taking care of home and I'm back at work, so I haven't quite figured out how to balance work and life yet, but I'm working on it, lol. And I must say shout out to my cousin, Deidra, because she always gets on me about not blogging, lol. So thank you ma'am. I'm back at it :) .............. Anywho, on to the idea de jour :)

I absolutely love making pancakes for breakfast. I'm also a huge fan of adding fruit and nuts to them to make for a  more exciting pancake. My thought for the holidays is to add those staple ingredients into the batter to create the most delicious Holiday Pancake :) I immediately thought of Egg Nog. It tastes like thick, spiced milk with a little tang, lol. My next thought was pecans. Though I don't like pecan pie (I just haven't created a recipe for it, but I will soon and I'm pretty sure I'll like it, lol) Pecans are a staple ingredient for the holidays along with pumpkin and nutmeg. So combining all of these ingredients into your already prepared pancake mix will make the most delicious pancake of all time during the holiday season.

Here's how to do it :)

1 cup Pancake mix (the just add water kind)
1 cup cup Egg Nog
1/2 cup Pumpkin Puree (from a can)
1/4 cup Pecans (chopped)
1 tbsp Nutmeg or Cinnamon
1 tbsp Vanilla Extract

In a large bowl, whisk all the ingredients together until the batter is smooth. Cook like you would your normal pancakes. Large griddle on medium high heat. 3 mins per side or until golden.


Hope you enjoy :)

"No Sugar Added" .... Don't Be Fooled!!!

So lately I have been noticing that many food products say one thing on the front of their packages, but the nutrition labels tells a different story. I thought I might share some knowledge with those of you who have been fooled by pretty labels.

The biggest myth or false advertisement of them all is "No Sugar Added" in juice brands. WTF!!?!?!?! Whoever came up with this idea totally sucks. If you read the nutrition label on those brands, it STILL has about the same amount of sugar as the regular version. (ex, reg 33g sugar, "no sugar added" 27g sugar) The difference is pretty much nonexistent.

I searched long and hard for a juice that didn't scream DIABETES!!! After much searching and nutrition label reading, I finally found a juice that I can feel good about drinking. It is the DIET version of  Ocean Spray Cranberry. It still taste delicious, but it more healthy for you. And get this, even though it has only 2g of sugar per 8oz the label does not say "no sugar added". Pay attention to what you are drinking and what you give to your loved ones, especially those with health problems. Sometimes taking the extra minute to read can make all the difference between living a healthy lifestyle and killing yourself slowly.

Pork and Apples are happily married.

So  my cousin, Deidra, got on me about how she is disappointed that I haven't been writing on my blog. Made me feel really bad :( But honestly, the creative juices have left the building. I think they are on the way back soon though. Just the other day I was thinking about adding new foods to my life and one of the foods that I rarely eat, other than bacon (delicious!!!!!!!!) is pork. So I thought I'd give it another try today.

Now-a-days most chefs will say that pork is a lean meat and now can be eaten when cooked to medium. I'm not quite sure about the lean part and I definitely don't suggest or recommend anyone to eat their pork under well done #ImJustSayin. Despite all that I bought some thin pork chops and decided to cook them today, and since pork and apples make a good combo, I tried a version of my own. Here's what I did.....

4 Thin Cut Pork Chops
1 tsp Black Pepper
1 tsp Onion Powder
1 tsp Garlic Salt
1 tsp Seasoning Salt
1 tsp Paprika
1 1/3 T Cinnamon
1 T Sugar
2 large apples peeled and cubed
1/2 cup Water
2 T Olive Oil

Firstly, make sure the pork is clean and patted dry. Heat a large skillet to medium-high heat with 1 T OliveOil. Mix together 1 tsp of all the spices except the sugar. (Save the rest of the cinnamon and sugar for the apples) Sprinkle both sides of the pork with the mixture.

While waiting on the pork to marinate a little bit, in a small pot, add the apples, water, sugar and cinnamon. Turn on high heat and cook until apples are tender. Very careful add the mixture to a blender and blend until you have apple sauce. (Word of caution, hot mixtures and blenders don't usually mix, but make sure you have a towel over the top of the blender so the top doesn't come popping off from the steam.) Set to the side. (Also if you don't have a blender, you can serve the apples as a thick, syrupy, chunky sauce. Might be even better :) Just add less water to create a thicker consistency.

When the pan is hot enough, add the pork and cook for 5 mins on one side. Drizzle the other 1 T of Olive Oil over the top of the pork when you are ready to flip. Flip and cook for another 4 mins.

When plating you can either spoon the apples sauce on top of the pork or on the side is a dipping sauce. Good either way :)