Run for your LIFE

Run for your life. Just something that has been on my heart lately.

a) God gave me one life
b) Also, one body

My responsibility is to be obedient to His call and His word. That's my job... so I desire to take care of this physical body so that I can run this race without the complications of sickness or excess 'weight'.  God doesn't want us spiritually running with baggage. Why? It slows us down, weighs on our hearts and takes the focus off of Him.
It doesn't matter how heavy you are now, but it does matter that you start to 'lighten your load', if you will... both physically and spiritually.

Start to drink more water and less coffee! Less soda or juice. Our body is made up of mostly water, keep it at great supply. Water also helps with the digestion process, helps flush toxins, and loads of other amazingly intricate things!

That doesn't mean that you have to go run a marathon right now. It means you can watch what you eat or what you don't eat. Start by walking. Add a little jog into your step, run for a couple minutes and then walk some. Run a mile strait! Run half a mile, walk half. Run a whole mile, walk a half mile. Run a 5K. Run a 10k, Run a Marathon.

Sometimes it's uncomfortable when we are stretched by God's plan for us... I think that sometimes we need to feel stretched when it comes to our physical body as well. It hurts to run, its uncomfortable, you sweat, you stink, hahaha. But I think it is supposed to feel that way. No one ever regrets a good work out.

Run for your life! FOR YOUR LIFE! Because you only get one crack at it. I don't want to set my expiration date, I want God's expiration date on my life. I hope you get my heart through this.

This is a fragile subject and I have a passion for health and fitness, if you need help or accountability please feel free to email me! Have a blessed day!

Hungry Mom

Eating Healthy in the Fall ? IT IS POSSIBLE

Well fall is knocking at our door! I thought it would be fun to just have some simple tips for eating clean in the fall. It seems like the pumpkin spice lattes come out along side the pumpkin pie and its all over from there. Just remember, you don't have to eat it!

Tips:

Replace white flour with Oat flour. How you say? Buy Oat flour OR do what I do, and grind up regular oatmeal in the coffee grinder or in a bullet.  Some sort of fine grinding machine. Grind oats to a fine flour! The oat flour is great and has been what I have been using in breads as well as muffins, pancakes, and cobblers.

Use RAW sugar or pure cane sugar over brown sugar and refined sugars. It is so easy to just buy the white sugar to go in baked goods or even coffee, but RAW unprocessed sugar is better then the white. Please Read --> http://www.naturalorganiclifestyle.com/unrefined-raw-sugar.html

Use applesauce in place of oil. It works and it is great!

Use dark chocolate when baking. Adding dark chocolate M&M's to cookies is a great alternative to milk chocolate chips.

Right now is a great time to get grapes! Grapes are an amazing healthy sweet snack and they are in season. I get mine at seven oaks for .79 a lb. That's a steal. Load up on these, rinse and throw them in the fridge and pull a handful out when you need a sweet treat!

Other 'in season' produce: Summer squash, corn, cucumbers, beets, tomato, peppers, melons, potatoes, pears, apples.

Keep chopped veggies on hand so if you feel the need to snack you can grab something that is ready. I keep some dip or hummus always in the fridge so I can eat a cucumber as a snack with some dip and when I'm done, I feel satisfied.

Making soups is a great idea right now. I made potato and Kale soup for dinner last night and it was great!

Another great tip is to buy the in season produce for cheap and invest in some freezer bags and wash, cut, and freeze fresh produce now, so you can enjoy the harvest all year long. I have a freezer full of Peaches, corn, and blackberries and I am looking to do some applesauce, peppers, and freeze tomato sauce. Please take advantage of your local farms now, while you can get it for such a great deal! It just takes small steps to keep a healthy you.

If you have yet to watch Forks over knives, please do so! It is a documentary that you can view on netflix or rent. It may change your life.

Here are a few recipes from their site!

Blessings,
Dani

http://www.forksoverknives.com/baked-french-fries-ketchup/

http://www.forksoverknives.com/vegan-thanksgiving-recipes-2/

Berry Coconut Crisp

I went and picked some fresh blackberries today and had some blueberry's in the fridge. I told myself I wouldn't make this, but I couldn't resist! It turned out amazing. Please enjoy this recipe and feel free to share with me via email any special recipes you may have!


5 cups fresh berries, I used 3 cups black and 2 cups blue
2 Tablespoons RAW sugar
(Mix these two ingredients and place in the bottom of baking dish)

In a bowl, combine
1/2 cups Oats
1/4 cup Rice Flour or Oat Flour or regular
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 tsp Cinnamon
1/2 cup coconut shavings
4 tablespoons butter or butter substitute

Mix these ingredients together and cut butter in last. When mixture is course, add to the top of berries evenly.

Bake @ 375 for 30 minutes. Allow to cool and serve with Vanilla ice cream or topped with whipping cream.

This is my very own creation. I must say its amazing, my husband LOVES it.

Blessings,

Dani

Seven Oaks Produce List

Hope you all find this as helpful as I did! Its a little hard to see, but it shows what months they have certain produce! I love Seven Oaks Farm!

For those of you that have no clue where they are, here is their info! 

Contact:
5504 Rogue Valley Hwy, 
Central Point, OR 97502
541-664-2060 

Blessings, Dani

DIY Fluoride Free Toothpaste

Very excited to try this home made toothpaste. It is Fluoride free, in case if some of you are wondering why I am excited about my toothpaste not having fluoride... its simply because it's poisonous. Some of the toothpastes actually have a Poison warning on the actual label. Which is why, you are supposed to spit out as much as possibly while brushing. I know it is such a small amount ingested but, if its capable of causing death in kids and adults if ingested in high amounts, I want to avoid it if I can. It's definitely something worth looking into for your family.

With having little ones around my house, they actually swallow quite a bit while brushing. So I found this recipe, and I am so excited to try it. It has great reviews. 

Blessings, 

Dani

Tooth-Soap

1 Tbsp Dr Bronners Castile liquid soap

5 Tbsp Coconut oil

1 Tbsp Olive Oil or water (to get the consistency, to get it to work through a soap dispenser)

20-25 drops of essential oil, Orange or Peppermint, if you use Dr Bronners mint soap, skip this step

Stevia to sweeten to your liking's 

Mix up, put in an unused or cleaned soap dispenser or mason jar... whatever you want. 

Whistle While you Work

Alright, I know what you are thinking... Dani, this is a healthy food blog. Yes, yes it is. But, for some strange reason, today I feel inspired to write about cleaning. Why? Well, because I feel if you have a clean home, you have a happy family, a safe and fun environment that your kids and spouse want to be in.

My theory is, if you start it and stay focused... before you know it, you're done! (It's that staying focused thing that tends to get us.) In this day and age, there are so many distractions. Too many 'devices'. Yes, I said it.
We tend to neglect the things that need done. Ouch huh? I am totally guilty of this one. TOTALLY.

So, my simple challenge to you this week and maybe in the weeks to come, is too map out a cleaning plan, jot down what really needs to get done. For me, its that I need to go through every bedroom and GET RID of toys/clothes/accessories. Clutter. I need to get rid of things so that I can remain organized. Do not be afraid to get your kids involved. I have 4 kids. 6,4,2 and one. My 6,4,& 2 year old clean their own room. They know where their toys go, most of the time I have to go in there and remind them, a couple... ok like 15 times to clean and not play... but hey, they know it is their responsibility. As they get older they are excited to help around the house because they know their help, means a lot.

Jot it down, map it out, stay focused and get it done!

Blessings!

Dani

Whole Wheat Tortillas

We all know that we can buy 100% whole wheat tortillas, but you can also make them. I love making them, because if you haven't noticed on the ingredients label of your store bought ones, its not as simple as this recipe. And the words I can't pronounce, tend to scare me. :) 

My husband and I really enjoy these tortillas, they are delicious and filling. I hope you enjoy! This week try to focus on the main goal of this blog and that is Eat to Live, not Live to Eat. Have a great week! 

Blessings, 

Dani

Whole Wheat Tortillas

2 Cups Whole Wheat Flour

1/2 tsp Salt

2 Tbsp Olive Oil

1/2 cup warm water

Mix flour and salt in bowl.

Add olive oil and stir until combined.

Add warm water Tbsp at a time.

Knead dough on floured surface for a few minutes.

Allow dough to rest for 15 minutes. (sometimes my dough doesn't get a 'rest' )

Roll dough into sausage shape and then cut into 12 equal parts.

Roll parts into balls, if you are wanting larger tortillas then only cut into 6 parts.

With a rolling pin, start from middle of dough and work out.

Heat a skillet over medium heat, I use a nonstick pan with no oil.

Place tortilla on pan when it starts to bubble/dry, flip.

Keep tortillas warm by wrapping in a kitchen towel, or placing them in a tortilla warmer.