Something Like Life

Oreos are one of my biggest downfalls, which let me tell you when you are trying to get healthy and lose weight. When I came across a recipe for Oreo Cheesecake you can imagine the temptation to make them, and eat them all of course. So I calculated the calories to see how bad they were for me and decided that 201 calories for a cheesecake the size of a cupcake just wasn't going to happen! I spent the next two days figuring out how to make these little fattening cups of goodness as healthy as I could :O) I am happy to say I got them down to 102 calories a piece!

OREO CHEESECAKE
2 Packages Fat Free Cream Cheese 1 Cup Non-Fat Plain Yogurt 3 Large Eggs 3/4 Cups Sugar 20 Oreos 1 Teaspoon Vanilla
Now this was my first try at any kind of cheesecake and here I was changing the entire recipe.lol However this turned out great and were super easy to make.......almost to easy! Simply start buy mixing together the cream cheese, sugar and vanilla. After those are well combined add you the eggs and mix…

Sunday mornings are the only days we really have  nothing to do. There is no rushing about to basketball games or school. So I take every opportunity to make the most of the "relaxing" day I get. Creating as few of messes as possible is one way I help myself. I found this neat idea a while back on Pinterest and boy has it been a wonderful find :O) It really is simple just take an old ketchup bottle. I've seen other bottles used but I love the no spill design of the ketchup bottles. I use just add water pancake mix so when I buy a box I take my funnel and fill several bottle ahead of time so when Sunday comes I can simply add water, shake well and cook. These are going to be so handy for camping to!

Breads are a fairly new things to me so I never really create things on my own.lol In fact this was my first bread I have made by hand it is usually always in the bread machine! So when I was looking for a good recipe I headed over to My Side of Life, my favorite blog, and found a french bread. It was pretty simple and I think I did everything right :O) 


3 cups all-purpose flour 1 package yeast (rapid-rise recommended) 1 cup warm water salt to taste (I used 3/4 teaspoon)
In a large bowl, combine water with yeast and salt. You will then need to let sit for five minutes. Stir in flour until the dough is stiff enough to knead. I added a half of a cup at a time and when I got to about 2 1/2 cups turned it out onto a counter. Remember 3 cups is not an exact amount it may vary. Knead dough until smooth and elastic–a few minutes. Place dough in a greased bowl and cover to let rise until doubled. Form dough into a french-style loaf and place on greased baking sheet.  Place immediately in oven surpr…

You have probably heard me talk about Smiley360 before if you have looked around my blog. Really I cannot say enough about this program. I was lucky this time to be chosen to do a mission with Children's Advil. Let me tell you this package couldn't have come at a better time! My baby girl, who is actually 4 now, came down with RSV after a visit from some friends and nothing was helping her. My husband had gone to the store and picked up other pain relievers a fever reducers, however none of them gave her much comfort. As you a parent you can imagine how frustrating this was for me. I came home yesterday to find a package on my pouch and of course since I had been expecting my Mission items I quickly opened it like a kid on Christmas morning. Inside I found a full sized bottle of Children's Advil, white grape flavored which I had never seen before. I was thrilled to see that it was dye free! Not only does this save me stains from any spilled but I have found that products wi…

Just remember at the end of the day the only thing that matters is that you took even 5 minutes to do something physical. Any exercise counts as good exercise and everyone has to start somewhere. If all you can do right now is make a lap around your house think of how soon it will be two laps then three.

If you are like me you really want to get healthy and get in shape but you really dread the actual process. Well I stumbled upon this on Pinterest the other day and liked it so much I thought I would start it for myself. I took an old Gatorade container since it is what I had handy. what you do is reward yourself for working out. So every day I work out I give myself a quarter in my jar :O) when I reach my goal weight I will take that money and buy  myself something that I want! Reaching your goal weight now isn't just good for you but rewarding in many other ways.

I love starting out Monday with a little  motivation, I mean after all who really likes waking up on Monday and heading back to the every day grind of work and school schedules. I've really been working hard on looking at Monday less as a day to dread and more as a day to conquer! Here is a little picture to think about while I type up some posts to help take control of not only this day but of your life and health :O)

As my children get older I seem to have less and less time during the week to get things done. Slowly I have been adding things to my weekend that help to make the rest of the week go just a little smoother. Here are some things I found that really help my family out.
1.Make meat ahead! On Saturday I always start 5 pounds of Chicken breast in the crock pot. This amount of meat will really last us several weeks but a large package of fresh chicken breast is so much cheaper. After it has cooled I divide into packages that meet our serving size needs. This can also be done with ground beef for items like tacos and spaghetti! Cooking 5 pounds on the weekend will save you up to an hour a week!
2.Prepare Smoothie Bags so you are ready for the week. I love Making smoothies in the morning...problem is I often don't have time. One Sunday I always gather all my fruits and divide them into serving size bags so they can just be dumped in the blender and they are ready to go. I include not only …

With the winds here in West Texas lip balm is a required accessory with out a doubt. Not only can it get expensive but they can contain countless numbers of ingredients I would rather not put onto my lips. So I searched around and found a way to make an all natural lip balm that is just AMAZING! Problem was all the directions I found were very difficult to understand and the amounts were even trickier.
1 Cup of Soy Wax Flakes(Can be purchased on Ebay or other wax distributors, you'll have to order by the pound which will yield 2-3 cups) 1 Cut Coconut Oil(Can be bought at any Walmart it is cheapest down the baking isle) 2 Teaspoons Sunflower Oil(Also down the baking isle at Walmart)
I used an old soup can to melt it down because I do not have a double boiler. Place can into a small pot of water filled with about an inch of water. Heat on medium heat till completely melted stirring occasionally. Remove from the pot and heat after melted. Depending on how smooth you want it stirring till…

I really had no idea what I was going to make for dinner I am trying hard to use up all those things in my pantry and fridge that get shoved to the back all the time. So I started throwing stuff together.lol Not really the best method but it what I was going with. :OP Here is what I ended up with:
1 & 1/2 cups Brown Rice 1 can Cream of Chicken Soup 1 Cup Dried Black Beans(or 1 can of Black Beans) 1 Cup Dried Kidney Beans(or 1 can of Kidney Beans) 2 Cups of Peas 2 Cups of Corn 4 Cans of Water 2 Cups of Shredded Chicken
I started by boiling my beans for about 30 minutes then rinsing well. I was hoping to avoid the black coloring from the black beans. Then I put everything but the peas and corn into the crockpot and turned it on. If you are going to cook it all day use low! If you want it in a couple hours use high! this was my biggest mistake.lol about 30 minutes before you are ready to serve add the peas and corn to the crockpot and mix them in. I served with corn bread and topped with a li…

This idea came from my good friend over at My Side of Life and really I thought it was going to be so hard. I made sure the kids were back and warned my husband we may be making an emergency room trip.lol Much to my surprise it was so simple! I used beer bottles, because well my neighbor keeps throwing them into my yard and I figured I might as well try to use them for something. However you can use any kind of glass bottle you may have laying around. First make sure your bottle is clean and COMPLETELY dry inside and out or this will not work. Next fill your kitchen sink up about half way with cold water. After you have done that you will want to take some yarn and wrap it around your bottle 5-6 times tying a knot to hold it on. 
Then remove the string loop and saturate it in nail polish remover. After you have wet the string loops place them back over the bottle make sure you have the string EXACTLY how you want it cut this string will be your cut line. Now comes the fun part :O) take …

I know, I know this blog is suppose to be going healthier.lol Well everyone needs to cheat every now and then and this is how I like to cheat :OP well that and cupcakes but when the late night munchies hit I don't always have the stuff for those. These are basically a knock off of Nestle Toll house Recipe that is on the bag with a few changes for the better!
1 &1/4 cup flour1/2 teaspoon salt1/2 teaspoon baking soda1/2 cup Nestle Toll house dark chocolate and mint chips(to die for)1 egg1 stick of butter1/4 cup white sugar1/2 cup packed brown sugar3/4 teaspoon vanilla

Start by mixing together the egg, butter, and sugars. Once those are well mixed add everything else :O) yes I am by far the laziest baker ever! However I usually do mix my chocolate chips in by hand because the beaters tend to break them up.lol Spoon heaping teaspoons full onto a cookie sheet about 2 inches apart and bake at 350 till golden brown. Mmmm....these are so good.  Sorry about the poor picture I only have o…

Today was the first day of classes for me and of course my teacher was late. Being that I take online courses this meant i had plenty of free time that i had allotted for class :O) So while browsing about on Pinterest, of course, I found something that looked fun. Making bowls out of plastic beads. It was a tutorial by Chameleon Girls that looked fun and easy. Better yet I have been trying to find a way to use these thousands of beads I have. lol I started by finding an oven safe dish. I couldn't find anything real small unfortunately so I ended up trying my hand at a larger bowl :O) Next I applied a layer of cooking oil to the inside with a napkin. at first I wondered ummm...why?? But quickly I realized it was what held the beads into place.lol I was so  glad that her tutorial was easy to follow. After about an hour of picking out beads, because my princess insisted we use only certain colors, we had all our beads placed in the bowl.
I started the oven at 200 degrees like she said…

As today we look back on the celebration of Martin Luther King Jr. today it is amazing to me to see the changes that Americans have made, all because of the dream of one man. While I'm sure this dream was held by many people he was certainly one of the most outspoken advocates of tolerance and equal rights. There is no measure to the amount he could have accomplished had he been given the opportunity to fulfill his dreams, the changes he brought about were really immeasurable. I think the most important thing to remember about King was his non-violent outlook in handling things. A lot can be learned from Martin Luther King Jr. like it does not matter what size your dream is what matters is you have one. Here are some of my favorite quotes by Martin Luther King Jr.

"I submit to you that if a man hasn't discovered something that he will die for, he isn't fit to live."

"Love is the only force capable of transforming an enemy into friend."
"Never forget t…

Okay okay that is probably the lamest title I have ever come up with lol, but after spending 5 hours cleaning my children's rooms top to bottom today my brain is just about done. Of course with deep clean comes a lot of things from broken toys to broken crayons. Well I remembered as I cleaned that the other day while on Pinterest I came across a picture of remelted crayons. So I rush to find the directions and :O( sadly it was just a picture of cut crayons and the finished product. So I though ehhh why not let's figure this out.lol So I gathered all my crayons up and peeled off any remaining paper. The next issue was getting them in small pieces. I cut them just long enough to fill the hole of the mold standing up. My kids insisted that we had to try to keep like colors together lol, I thought it would be far more fun to mix them, so we did a little of both :O) After filling the molds as best I could I thought hmmmmm....soooo....how do I melt it.lol Well I tried them in the mi…

If you have children you have probably experianced a stressful Saturday. You fight, fight, fight all week long to get them off to school the BAM! They are up before the sun is on the weekends. after I whipped together a backbreaking bowl of cereal for each child and some Malt-o-Meal and Green Tea for myself I decided Pinteresting for motivation was probably just about what I needed today. Ironically on the first page I found two really interesting pictures all about stress :O)
Wow who would have known all the horrible things stress can do to us. Of course none of us like stress but maybe it is time to makes some changes to help insure I don't feel the negative effects any longer.

As a mother of 3 I am always so busy, so trying to add time to workout in my schedule has been hard. They say it is best to people to eat 6 small meals a day so I had that to work with to.lol I needed something that I could eat that was fast, tasty, and would keep my metabolism busy without making my stomach cramp. It all made my head spin. I tried protein shakes but then mother nature would come calling in the middle of my run. Protein bars in the store are so costly and lets face it they taste well.....like protein bars. SO I made the healthiest version I could come up with :O) here is what you need to make them:

Quick Oats-3 CupsCocoa Powder-1/8 CupPeanut Butter-1 Cup2/3 Cup Water1/4 Scoop Chocolate Protein PowderNow mixing these together was probably the hardest part of everything! Start by mixing together all the dry ingredients. Then add the water and peanut butter in. I mixed with a spoon as long as I could but really I just couldn't get it well mixed. So dig your hands in.l…

I won't lie today has been very unproductive for me as a whole. I really have done nothing but Pinterest and Facebook all day long. I sat here thinking about it........WHY?!? Since I have started my path to a healthy lifestyle I have been feeling GREAT! So then why today am I feeling so down.......I got to thinking though and it was MY BREAKFAST! Since starting to see my trainer and starting his diet I had felt great. Well this morning I did something I should have known better then to do.......I ate doughnuts. We aren't talking Krispy Kreme, or Dunkin Doughnuts...I had some good old Hostess Chocolate Donettes. I really need to start pre-planning and portioning out food to make me less likely to grab something bad! Who is with me :O) I am thinking of doing something like this: Beside making food fast and easy it will make my fridge look great :OP

These have always been a favorite around here but they cost Sooooo much to buy! Not to mention they just aren't really that good for you.lol Well Yesterday I got an issue of Women's Day magazine in the mail and it had a recipe inside. So I decided well what a good time to try them out.lol I tried to make them a touch healthier by converting some of the ingredients and let me tell you they are ADDICTIVE! You MUST MUST try these out.

Ingredients

1&1/2 cups water(about 120-130 degree mine comes out of the tap hot enough)1 -1/4 ounces package dry yeast(2 1/4 teaspoons)1 Tablespoon sugar1/2 Teaspoon salt(original recipe called for 3/4)1 Cup whole wheat flour3 Cups All purpose flour(original called for all "all-purpose flour")1&1/2 Teaspoon olive oil(original recipe called for 2 Tablespoons of canola oil)2 Tablespoons of Baking soda
The directions are long but I promise they are easy to make :O)
In a large bowl mix together yeast, sugar, salt,wheat flour and 1 cup of a…

Today has been such a busy day around my house. I swear cleaning never stops around here! I've started deep cleaning my house because.......well , frankly I am tired of feeling like it is a huge mess. I just keep cleaning and cleaning and thinking to myself THIS IS IMPOSSIBLE! THIS HOUSE IS IMPOSSIBLE TO MAKE CLEAN! So I decided to take a much need break for a snack. While eating my apple and playing on Facebook I read a friends status which said. Nothing is Impossible.......Impossible itself say "I'm Possible" so stop trying to convince yourself you can't do it. I must say I stop dead in my tracks. She was right! I CAN do it I was just wasting my time NOT DOING IT! Don't waste your time today :O) put on a smile and make a change in your life!

So as I travel down my road to health and fitness I still horribly crave some things in life. Sugar is a big one of those things.in fact it consumes most of that space. I have wanted a soda so bad the last couple of days and keep struggling with it. So today I Googled reasons to not drink soda to try to talk myself off the cliff of diet ruin!Here is what I found and I tell you I don't think I will EVER put another soda to my lips again! From bone loss to obesity this poster is very convincing. So filling up my water bottle and filling up on what mother nature made me instead.

I was trying to think and think what I could possibly do to make a healthier chocolate snack for my 3 children. I thought about making cheese cracker...........but I am out of cheese. So using what I had around the house I made what my children say are an amazing chocolate "cookie." Now the ingrediants are fairly common in my house and not a lot is required. 2 Cups whole wheat flour1/3 Cup Nutella 2 Tablespoons of butter2 Tablespoons of cocoa1/2 cup water1/4 Teaspoon of salt.1/2 teaspoon of mint extractLike with all my recipes this one is really easy :O) simply throw everything in your food processor and mix till it forms a ball. TADA! Then I rolled out the dough to about 1/4 of an inch next time I think I will go a bit thinner to make it more of a cracker. I happen to have  a shark cookie cutter on hand so I used that because it looked so fun. Bake in a pre-heated 350 degree oven for about 10 minutes they do puff up a bit towards the end of cooking. My children thought they w…

growing up in an Italian family we ate really nothing but pasta. Well that was fine until I started getting older and needed less carbohydrates in my life. So in compromise of being Italian and being healthy I decided to start making my own pasta! My favorite thing about making my own is I can have a healthy LARGE serving of pasta with 1/2 the calories and really no preservatives. Today I made Garlic and Herb whole wheat pasta and boy is it amazing!Here is what you need: 3 Cups of Whole Wheat Flour1 Cup of Water1/2 Teaspoon black pepper1/2 Teaspoon Italian seasoning3 Teaspoons Roasted garlic olive oil(if you can't find this simply add a little garlic to a pan and cook till it is translucent. Then allow to sit in your oil for a couple hours ;O) )Now I have a pasta machine and have never tried making it without a machine.lol So simply put all ingredients in your machine and turn to mix. Once mixed extrude your pasta :O) I like to keep a fan blowing on my pasta to help it dry as it co…

LMAO Okay okay so I think we all know that it really isn't the right way to get a good measurement but it is pretty funny. The human body can fluctuate every day in weigh several pounds so some times it can be discouraging to step on the scale. Here is the best tips for making sure your results are as accurate as possible. 1.Weigh yourself naked ;o) yep I said it. Clothing however can weigh up to 5 pounds if you are wearing shoes. If you don't feel comfortable naked then make sure you are wearing the same thing every time. 2.Always weigh yourself first thing in the morning. Weighing before you eat or drink is the best weigh to make sure you are at the same level as the time before. If one week you weigh yourself in the morning before eating and the next you weigh yourself in the evening after several meals, of course you will weigh more.
Remember it is nearly impossible to gain a pound in one day. You would have to eat 3500 calories MORE then you usually do and well most of us wi…

We all do it year after year and 90% of us will fail to meet those New Years resolutions we made. I know last year I was certainly one of those people. This year though is a new year and hopefully with some small changes in thinking and a whole lot of hard work I will be able to succeed. Here are a few tips that I found while making my goals that really are helpful no matter what your goal is.
1.Most importantly I think this year was to be realistic. I haven't become the person I am over night I certainly won't be able to change myself overnight, or even within the year but I can head in the right directions. Making a life long change WILL take time make sure to set small goals. 2.Make a plan. We all jump right in to out resolutions but what you really need is a plan. Sit down and write down the top 5 things you want to accomplish this year. Then write what it is really going to take in order to get there. Again be realistic here it won't do any good to side step around what…