Body After Baby Challenge: Let's Get Motivated!

Alright green mamas, are you ready for a challenge? I know I am, so that's why I'm signing us up for the "Body After Baby Challenge"!

Oh, don't look at me like that...this is going to be fun, I promise ;)

This weeks question from the challenge's host MamaNotes is simple:

what motivates you?

Do you want to fit in your pre-baby jeans again? Be fit and trim in time for bikini season? Or just plain ol'feel good?

As for me, what motivates me the most is whether of not I feel healthy after my meals. I don't particularly care what I look like - fit, thin, trim. Yes, I do enjoy fitting into my pre-baby jeans, but I'm not obsessed about how I look at this point of my journey. I'm not posing for any centerfold anytime in the near future.

But what I do care, really care about, is how I feel.

If I eat pre-packaged, processed foods that contain wonderful ingredients such as HFCS, MSG, and the like, I feel like I've been hit by a Mack Truck the following day. No joke, and no pun intended (my last name is Mack ;). So my constant challenge is to find good healthy food choices for every meal, every snack, every day.

And this is no easy challenge since I'm a stay at home mom, make no extra income, and live in a high dollar area. And while I've chosen this lifestyle of frugalness with pleasure - as I love consignment shops and being thrifty in general - when it comes to food...there isn't much wiggle room when you want the good stuff.

But in order to feel the best I can feel, I need to eat whole foods, preferably organic, and totally fresh. This motivates me to find local markets, even in the winter time, where I can buy fresh produce, eggs, breads, and grass-fed meats and dairy. To find local markets near you, check out LocalHarvest.org. They've got a listing for everything.

Joining the challenge? What's your motivation?

:)

Pumpkin Soup with Sausage

My kids loved Green Mama Amanda's Pumpkin Pancakes so much that I thought I'd try adding pumpkin into another meal: dinner!

I was totally skeptical at first. I don't know why. I guess I've just never had pumpkin in a savory dish before. But the end result was not only a good for you soup - with all the nutritional ingredients that help you stay healthy and strong as Mother Earth puts on the chill - it was also very delicious!

And the kids loved it! Very important ;)

As always with my recipes, this is cooking...NOT baking. Therefore both the ingredients and the amounts can vary. That's why I love cooking...it's all about plus-n-minus ;)

What you need...in the order you need them

• olive oil - enough to cover the bottom of your soup pot, and then some
• 2 Tbsp butter
  
• 1 onion chopped (your choice - yellow, white, red)
• pinch of salt
• 3 carrots chopped
  
• 3 celery stalks chopped
• 5 garlic cloves (more if you like, less if you want)
• 1/2 cup pumpkin puree
  
• 6 cups water (or chicken stock if you have it)
  
• 10 baby red potatoes quartered (I bet sweet potato would be good too!)
• 4 sweet Italian sausage links sliced or crumbled
  
• black pepper to taste
  
• crushed red pepper flakes to taste
  
• 2 tsp cumin
  
• 1 tsp thyme
  
• 1 Tbsp chili powder
• 1 Tbsp black strap molasses (very good for you, adds depth of color and flavor)
  
• 2 Tbsp maple syrup (high in iron & calcium, my super most secret ingredient ever!)
  
• pinch of salt to taste
  
• yes, it's a lot...it's soup!!
  

What to do...

1. Saute onion, carrots, celery in olive oil and butter for 5 minutes
   
2. add pumpkin puree and allow to mix-n-mingle for 5 minutes
   
3. add water, potatoes, sausage...and everything else into the pot
4. bring to a high boil for 20 minutes
5. lower to a low boil for 30 minutes
6. serve with Parmesan cheese, buttered bread, anything you like ;)

As always, have the kids help out in the kitchen and out back dumping the kitchen scraps into the compost.

Hope you have some chilly weather your way to try out this wonderful fall soup...enjoy!

:)

Pumpkin patches popping up all over the place!

I'm sure you've noticed the pumpkin patches starting to open up around your town. This is just yet another reminder that soon the weather will start to cool, the evenings will be darker and best of all we get to enjoy the fabulous flavor of pumpkin! So to get you started here's two of my favorite recipes.

Pumpkin Pancakes

In a bowl combine:

1 cup whole wheat flour

1/4 cup brown sugar

1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

In a separate bowl mix:

1 cup organic milk

1 egg

1/3 cup organic pumpkin (I typically add more and adjust the flour for consistency)

Now mix wet and dry ingredients together, let stand for 5-10 minutes. Cook pancakes.

We like to add extra garnishes as we cook them some of our favorites are chopped walnuts, bananas, dried cranberries, pecans...etc.

Pumpkin Gingerbread

1 3/4 cup whole wheat flour

2 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

2 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

2 teaspoon baking powder

3/4 teaspoon nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/3 cup chopped crystallized ginger

2 large eggs

1 large egg white

1/2 cup canola oil

1/2 cup molasses

1/3 cup packed brown sugar

1 cup organic pumpkin

1.) Combine flour, cinnamon, ground ginger, baking powder, nutmeg, baking soda & salt. Stir in crystallized ginger

2.) Whisk eggs, egg white, oil, molasses & sugar. Whisk in pumpkin. Fold into dry ingredients until just combined.

3.) Pour into bread pan and cook @ 350degrees for 35-40minutes.

Read Your Labels! What to Ingredients to Avoid

If most of your time shopping is spent reading labels, you're not alone. More and more moms are wising up and informing themselves about the beneficial and harmful effects ingredients in everyday products have on their families.

You do your homework. You read your labels. But do you know which ones you should be avoiding and why?

Pull out some of the things you already own at home: shampoo, sunscreen, toothpaste, hand soap... You've checked them before, but check them again. You might need to rethink your choices and find more healthy alternatives for you and your family.

Here are some of the worst offenders in ingredients, along with what they may be doing to you and your family:

• Sodium Lauryl Sulfate (SLS) - skin irritant with mutagenic effects
  
  
• Parabens - causes breast cancer
  
  
• Propylene Glycol - alters skin structure for other chemicals
  
  
• Phthalates (aka: fragrance) - disrupts hormones; decreases sperm mobility; genital abnormalities in baby boys; linked to asthma and allergies
  
  
• Petrolatum (aka: mineral oil, Vaseline) - banned in Europe, linked to breast cancer
  
  
• Cocomide DEA/Lauramid DEA - human immune system toxicant
  
  
• Diazolidinyl Urea - human carcinogen and nasopharyngeal cancer
  
  
• Butyl Acetate - skin, eye, and lung irritant
  
  
• Butylated Hydroxytoluene - human immune system toxicant and neurotoxin
  
  
• Ethyl Acetate - linked to cancer, developmental and reproductive deformities; skin, eyes, and lung irritant
  

This short list, borrowed from the Environmental Working Group, is just the tip of the iceberg. To learn more about all the dangerous chemicals found in our everyday products - and why we should be avoiding them - go to www.ewg.org today.