Thoughtfulness & You: Tomato & Zucchini Pasta

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If you are like me and L-O-V-E pasta you'll love this dish. It is simple, healthy and extremely filling. There are days I split this pasta dish into 2 separate meals because I can't finish it all.

 

You should know it is high in potassium, fiber and protein...and full of vitamins and minerals. Scroll down to see the nutritional information. It will WOW you!

 

If you're looking for a quick recipe your body will love...check this out.

 

 

Servings: 1

 

Ingredients

 

1/2 cup to 1 cup of Hunt's Diced Tomatoes w/Basil, Garlic & Oregano

(you choose how saucy you want it)

3/4 cup whole wheat pasta

1 zucchini

1/2 cup chickpeas

1 Tbsp olive oil

1 Tbsp chopped basil

 

 

 

Begin...

 

Cook your pasta, drain & set aside...

 

Follow the below instructions to make your dish...it is very simple!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Time to Eat!

 

 

This pasta is so yummy! For some of you it may be a little bland...so if you know you like lots of flavor be sure to purchase additional garlic, basil and/or oregano to take it to (as Guy Fieri would say) FLAVORTOWN!

Fantastic Thursday - Five Little Chefs

Inspire Me Please

Happy Hour Friday

 

 

***After calculating the nutritional information I noticed that the sodium was crazy high. I verified each ingredient and the Hunt's Diced Tomatoes with basil, garlic and oregano is skewing the sodium number. The website I used to calculate this recipe has incorrect information. I looked up Hunt's nutritional information for this product and the sodium is 300mg per serving.

 

***I am not being paid to endorse Hunt's Diced Tomatoes...I just like it.

 



Nutrition Facts
1 Serving
Amount Per Serving
Calories		471.1
Total Fat		15.5 g
	Saturated Fat	2.1 g
	Polyunsaturated Fat	2.0 g
	Monounsaturated Fat	10.3 g
Cholesterol		0.0 mg
Sodium		1,407.4 mg
Potassium		708.0 mg
Total Carbohydrate		74.1 g
	Dietary Fiber	14.5 g
	Sugars	11.0 g
Protein		12.7 g

Vitamin A	52.8 %
Vitamin B-12	0.0 %
Vitamin B-6	39.5 %
Vitamin C	71.4 %
Vitamin D	0.0 %
Vitamin E	9.7 %
Calcium	15.8 %
Copper	26.9 %
Folate	29.1 %
Iron	23.0 %
Magnesium	26.5 %
Manganese	124.7 %
Niacin	8.4 %
Pantothenic Acid	10.0 %
Phosphorus	27.4 %
Riboflavin	9.5 %
Selenium	44.2 %
Thiamin	14.8 %
Zinc	16.4 %

 

 

Thoughtfulness & You: Easter Creativity

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Life can be so busy...it is easy to neglect the simple things that make us happy. For me, happiness = creativity. I enjoy walking into Michael's or Hobby Lobby and getting inspired. Being creative allows me to zone out and essentially play with whatever crafty idea is on the table.

 

It is important to be thoughtful to others just as it is important to be thoughtful to ourselves. Don't forget to take time out for what makes you happy. My crafty project was extremely simple and very inexpensive. If creating makes you happy and you don't have a lot of time...be inspired by these quick projects.

 

 

Step 1

 



 

Step 2

 



 

Step 3

 



 

Or...

 



I made...



Easter Egg Template

Cut ribbon 2 inches longer than the portion of the egg you are covering. Cover the entire egg in Elmer's Glue and place ribbon on egg. Fold extra ribbon over the side of the egg and glue.

***I made sure to copy the egg template onto a thick piece of poster board because the Elmer's Glue will make regular paper bend super easy. Once the ribbon covered egg is dry, hot glue it onto the burlap.

 

Using orange felt I drew a carrot free-hand. I hot glued the bottom portion of the carrot onto the burlap and then added extra hot glue to the top of the carrot to support the green plastic stems.





 

.

Easter Bunny Template

I cut the Easter bunny template, traced it onto scrapbook paper and cut it again. I hot glued the bunny directly to the burlap. See...SUPER easy!

 

Happy Creating...or doing whatever it is that makes YOU happy!

Easter Hop to it Link Party

Whatever Goes Wednesday

Fantastic Thursday - Five Little Chefs

Inspire Me Please

Happy Hour Friday

 

 

 

_
 

Too Many Magazines?

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Thanks to the Krazy Coupon Lady website I got great deals on a few magazine subscriptions. Well, actually 4 magazine subscriptions. I've never been a magazine subscriber. No, I was one of those checkout line consumers. I'm sure you're familiar with the practice and that paying the newsstand price never pays off.

 

 

For example, US Weekly costs $4.99 an issue. These issues print weekly. Every month a loyal checkout line consumer (like me) spends $19.96 + tax toward their habit. I can only imagine the amount of money I've wasted over the years buying my "zone out...don't think about anything" reading material. That is, until I came to my senses and got real. How dumb am I to waste so much money on something I could have purchased at a fraction of the price?

 

My official diagnosis...LAZINESS. Horrible excuse...but it is the truth. Pathetic right?

 

Moving on...

 

After I got my act together I did a little searching on the Internet and found a couple great deals! The best deal...my US Weekly subscription. I don't think I paid more than $20 for my entire 52 week subscription. Ah-mazing!

 

Unfortunately, there is a Debbie Downer side to the story.



 

As we all know...too much of a good thing isn't great...and that is what this post is about.

 

The problem...every month I get 7 magazines. Three monthly magazines and 4 weekly magazines.

 

That is TOO many magazines.

 

What do you do with all of these magazines?

 

Where do you store them?

 

I'm not a pack-rat so I refuse to fill bookshelves, drawers or boxes with old magazines. I feel incredibly guilty even thinking about throwing them out.

 

What's a magazine loving girl to do?

 

BRAINSTORM of course!

think
think
think
think
think
think
think
 

Ta-da!

 

I came up with 3 categories

 

1. Share

2. Donate

3. Create

 

SHARE

 

1. Give your magazine subscriptions to friends, relatives or co-workers.

2. Organize a fun party where multiple magazine subscription holders come together and swap magazines...food...and favorite articles...the result - more to read at a cheaper price.

 

 

DONATE

 

Donate your magazines to businesses and/or organizations that would appreciate the free reading material (ex: libraries, hospitals, schools, dentist/doctor offices, automobile service departments, nursing homes and women's shelters).

 

CREATE

 

Pinterest is full of creative magazine DIY projects. Check out my favorite here. Oh...and this one too!

 

 

The point is...don't let the life of your

magazine end after one reading.

 

Share it.

Donate it.

Create with it.

 



 

 





 



Follow Up: The Bird Feeders

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What's good about talking about feeding birds if you don't have a proper bird feeder? Read on if you know what I'm talking about. If you haven't got a clue check out When it Snows Birds Go Hungry. It will make sense.

To keep good on my promise of keeping the neighborhood birds plump I set out to find bird feeders.

Being new to feeding birds made me want to make sure I didn't go overboard and splurge on a ridiculously cute and expensive bird feeder. So where do you go when you need something inexpensive? Walmart, of course.

I found two bird feeders that were about $6.00 each (+ the cost of the stand). That is the perfect price because, let's get real here, the houses are going to be exposed to the outside conditions. I live in Missouri. That means wind, rain, snow, tornadoes, humidity, etc. We are not wasting money in this category. Plus, one day after setting up the feeders birds had already poo'd on them. Go figure.

 

Birds are stopping by left and right to grab a bite to eat. The only party foul we had was after I re-filled the red bird feeder. I didn't push the slider thingy down to secure the roof. So, the bird feeder's roof was tilted off allowing for quite a bit of rain and sleet to contaminate my clean bird seed. Grrrrr! Oh well...live and learn, right?

The next goal...learn about freakin' birds. I'm sad to report that we've had many birds come visit...but the only ones I can identify are the cardinals. Yes...the bright red...obvious to the eye...St. Louis baseball mascot birds. Who can shout PATHETIC the loudest?

Health & Fitness Friday: First Timer!

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Today is my first time linking up with Health & Fitness Fridays! Woo Hoo!

I've been reading this link up since it started...and finally got in the groove to participate.

Where do I begin? Just like my About section describes...I tend to be a perfectionist and make things more difficult than they need to be. In the area of health and fitness I will say that I am making huge progress in the way I tackle working out.

Who do I credit? This lady.

Yes...we've all heard how amazing the 30 Day Shred is and that Jillian Michaels is "TVs thoughest trainer"...yadi yadi yada. What connected for me was one of her trademark sayings, "...spend hours phoning it in at the gym..."

OMG!

That is me!

I would tell myself, "Okay you are going to the gym. You are burning 500 calories before you leave. If that means you spend an hour and a half on the elliptical machine then by golly that is what you're doing!"

What was the result = A lot of sweat, feet that were falling asleep, and incredibly slow results.

Holy Heck! How counter productive. I'm working out more and seeing less results.

That is until I started doing the 30 Day Shred. The hour and a half elliptical workout had nothing on those 20 minutes.

I use 5lb weights for all strength training exercises (except for the anterior raises with a side lunge...my shoulders kill me during this exercise so I currently use 3lb weights).

I've also incorporated the treadmill into my routine. Again...no phoning it in.

I do a 20 minute treadmill workout that has my heart wanting to literally beat out of my chest by the end of the second minute.

I rotate the following incline:

2 minutes at 3.5 mph and a 5% incline
2 minutes at 3.5 mph and a 9% incline (working on getting to 10%)
...until I reach 20 minutes (I'm working toward a goal of 30 minutes)

This not only gets your heart pumping, but it is giving your lower body an amazing workout.

I'm not the type of person who likes to switch up her daily exercises...I'm routine all the way...so I do the same thing everyday...and after a total of 40 minutes I've had an amazing workout that is giving me the results I want to see.

Am I near my goal? No. Thank goodness it is only March.

 

 

 

Thoughtfulness & You: I Love Lemons

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In my quest to be healthy I incorporated the Green Machine smoothie into my diet and stumbled upon the benefits of lemons. Holy heck! My entire life I thought people who drank their water with lemon just didn't like the taste of plain ol' water. I had no idea there were such amazing benefits to it.

 

To get the maximum benefit it is recommended that you drink a cup of warm lemon water every morning to get your system working.

 

I grab a small glass, fill it with warm tap water, squeeze the juice from half a lemon into it and drink with a straw (to avoid the destruction of my teeth). I've heard you can rinse out your mouth with plain water after drinking to remove any remaining juicy acid from stripping the enamel from your teeth.

 

After quite a bit of research, I found this article that nicely sums up the benefits of Why You Should Drink Warm Water With Lemon.

 

Warm Lemon Water:

 

1. Boosts your immune system

2. Balances pH ( I had no idea about this...very interesting)

3. Helps with weight loss

4. Aids digestion

5. Acts as a gentle, natural diuretic

6. Clears skin

7. Hydrates the lymph system

  

Click this link to read more about each benefit

 

This is seriously an easy dietary change that could do wonders for your body. Like I said in my Green Machine post...after lots of medication I am all for natural ways to help my body be the best it can be.

 

Since I began drinking warm lemon water about a month ago I can definitely see and feel a difference. My skin looks brighter and I feel cleaner on the inside. I guess my body needed a good internal scrubbing. :-)

 

 

 

 

 

Re-write the Ending!

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Who doesn't love Halloween? The pumpkins...the decorations...the costumes...the CANDY!
It is the first holiday of the fall season that is full of fun for kids and adults alike.

So imagine in the midst of this fun and excitement...Halloween turning kind of sucky.

That is what happened to our neighbors who live at the entrance of our subdivision. They have a 2 year old son who is at the age where he is starting to understand the world around him. He knew something called "Halloween" was about to happen. He loved his pumpkins that were outside of his front door.

That is...until the day the family woke up and found their 3 pumpkins missing. Someone stole their pumpkins. Other than this being pathetic, ridiculous and mean it made this little boy VERY upset. His pumpkins were gone.

Now, some of you may think yes, stealing is wrong...but get over it. I beg to differ. I can imagine the parents so excited to share this brand new experience with their son and then some mean person takes the magic away and reminds them of how down right crappy some people can be.

We only learned of this situation after these neighbors posted a large sign on their grass thanking the thief for stealing their pumpkins and making their son cry. Was the sign a little overboard...maybe...but as a parent I could imagine their frustration. Your son loves the pumpkins...they get stolen...why would you want to buy more pumpkins to possibly have them stolen again?

Now, how do I fit into this story.

As I was driving home from the store I saw their sign. I felt bad. I told my other half what I saw and we thought it would be funny if we bought pumpkins and anonymously put them on their front porch to replace the stolen ones. It was said more in a joking manner until later that day when I decided I was going to re-write the ending to their story.

We have never met these neighbors, but I knew how to make it better. I bought two pumpkins from the store, jazzed them up and snuck them onto their front porch. The tag said, "Happy Halloween - Katie & Vince."

 

The moral of this story is to think how you can re-write the ending to someones story to make it a happy one. Years from now when this family looks back on the Halloween of 2012 they will remember having their pumpkins stolen, only to have the kindness of strangers replace them.

The pumpkins that were stolen are now only a detail to the story. The complete surprise of brand new pumpkins showing up on their doorstep is the happy ending.

It's March...not October. I know. The the idea is universal.
Look for ways everyday to create a new happy ending!

Who has done this lately & what did you do?