A Spoon Full Of Sugar Helps The Medicine Go Down

We always hear about how important it is to eat our dark green leafy vegetables, and rightly so. I recently did two weeks worth of lessons on vitamins and minerals in my Lifetime Nutrition and Wellness class, and guess what has almost every vitamin and mineral in it? Dark green leafy vegetables! The problem comes when you don't like them. Guess how many of my high school students said they don't like them? Yep, almost all of them. Guess what else? Their teacher doesn't prefer them either! I have tried Chard, Kale, Mustard Greens, and Spinach. Spinach is the only one that I have found tolerable up until this point, and even so, it isn't a staple in my diet.

I had pretty much given up on my dark greens until one Saturday while judging a 4H practice cooking contest, I discovered Wilted Kale Salad. Am I the only one who didn't know about this stuff? It is simple and the taste of the kale is barely noticeable.

I searched for a recipe, but didn't find one that I liked, so I came up with one on my own.

Use as much kale as you need for your meal.
Cut the stems off, wash, dry, and place in a bowl.
Sprinkle with enough vinegar to coat each piece of kale (you may have to toss to ensure even coating), then do the same with lemon juice.
Add about a tablespoon of Extra Virgin Olive Oil.
Cover and refrigerate over night.
When you are ready to eat, cut up your favorite vegetables and toss together.
Sprinkle with sesame seeds (optional).

The vinegar and lemon juice are supposed to take away the bitter taste of the kale, which worked for me.

I know this is an odd dish to use, but I used it for overnight storage because it had a lid.

In my search for a Wilted Kale Salad recipe, I came across a recipe for Kale Almond Pesto.

http://www.elanaspantry.com/kale-almond-pesto/

I LOVE pesto, so I figured I could give this a try since I was willing to try any way to make this stuff taste better. This is a FANTASTIC recipe. It is a great pesto, and you don't even taste the kale.

I ate some of it the way it was, and then added some red sauce to the rest of it. Super yummy, easy, and healthy. We ate it over thin whole wheat spaghetti (talk about feeling accomplished!).

My husband can testify that I am a pretty picky eater, and that dark green leafy vegetables were never in my vocabulary until now, but these are two recipes I can definitely live with and would not only enjoy eating on a regular basis, but have become a favorite in our home.

If you have any other recipes that help to doctor the taste of kale, chard, mustard greens, etc., I would LOVE for you to share them with me!

My New Year's ResolutionS

So I have 7 New Year's Resolutions...Pathetically enough, I have fallen off the bandwagon for every single one, and we are only one week into the new year! It has been one of THOSE weeks - you know, the one where you want to find out who opened Pandora's box on Monday and club them over the head? But here I am, because despite my week, I am ready to climb back up and try again. Weeks like this only happen every once in a while, but your wellness needs to last for a lifetime!

As I stated in my first post, I'm here because of Joyce Meyer's book "Never Give Up". In the first chapter she talks about making goals, and how you need to be specific when making them. You will find that I was pretty specific. I thought I'd throw that out there in case some of it seemed odd.

Here is my list of New Year's Resolutions (in no particular order)

The first one is financial, so I'll choose not to share details - not that I have a dirty financial secret, but I'm not sure how appropriate it is to share financial details online, and since I don't know the etiquette, I'll choose to keep this one to myself.

Number two - Become a better house keeper. Specifically I will put things that I use back where they belong. I thought I'd start out easy on this one since I'm TERRIBLE at keeping the house clean, and I didn't want to be unrealistic.

Number three - Spend my time wisely. Specifically I will make a schedule for my free time and stick with it. Since I am a teacher, when I say, "Free Time", I mean the summer, winter, and spring breaks. I tend to squander my time when I don't have a routine or schedule. At work I'm a machine - I work from the time I get there until the time I leave. I get there early and I leave late. I'm the poster child for productivity at work, but at home where it matters, where I WANT to do the work, I seem to not be able to find the motivation. So that is why I have chosen to work on this one this year.

Number Four - Spend time with the Lord every day. Specifically wake up at 4 AM every morning (I know that sounds early, but I have to leave the house by 6ish), Pray and read my teaching book (Drumming to the Beat of Different Marchers by Debbie Silver and Peter H. Reynolds). Then at night read Joyce Meyer and pray.

Number Five - Eat Healthy (notice I didn't say "Healthier"). Specifically I will eat fruit and/or whole grain toast with peanut butter for breakfast, a salad or soup with one side for lunch, a healthy snack after work, and then anything I'd like for dinner as long as it is healthy. I'm thinking about allowing myself two desserts a week.

Number Six - Start an exercise routine. Specifically - Stretching, 5 minutes of cardio, 5 minutes of weight lifting, and 25 crunches a day. I figured that would amount to about 20 minutes, and with my busy schedule I figured that would be the right amount to not make me want to give up on busy days or days that I come home tired.

At first, I thought my specifics with this one were being very generous with myself and that I would eventually need to increase them, but after doing them for a few days, I realized that 5 minutes is a lot longer than I thought haha. Some of you may be rolling your eyes right now, but if you will remember from my first blog, I HATE exercise.

Number Seven - Write/Journal at least once a week. I used to journal every night, and I have noticed that I am a lot more focused when I journal. My thoughts are more put together, and I'm all together a healthier person. I have a paper journal at home that I write all of my personal things in, and now my online journal that will help me address topics of well living and receive feedback from all of you. Luckily I didn't fully fall off the bandwagon with this one. I made it this week even though it wasn't by much. I'd like to write more. I already have a ton of things I want to address, so hopefully my schedule will slow down soon :-).


Hopefully we are past all the boring posts and now I can move on to fuuuuuuunnnnn stuff. Coming up next...How to incorporate a nasty green vegetable into your diet in a delicious and easy way!

Have a fantastic weekend!

My Purpose For Blogging

Ever met a person who loves chocolate and donuts so much that "chocolate donuts" was their first words? Yep, that's me (slight exaggeration of course...and by slight, I mean SLIGHT).

Ever met a person who hates to exercise? Who was in absolutely no sports whatsoever in school? Who begged their PE teacher every day to let them sit out? Yep, that's me too.

Ever met a perfectionist with a stressful job that works long hours and has little time for themselves or the things they love? Yep, also me.

I LOVE sweets, I HATE working out, and I have a lot of stress in my life. This is a bad combination. Well, I've passed my mid 20's and that metabolism started slowing a few years ago, so bad lifestyle habits that I was able to get away with in high school and college are no longer an option. I have recently discovered that I need to make some changes in my life if I am going to live to the fullest.

I decided to start this blog after reading the first chapter of Joyce Meyer's book, "Never give up". I was quickly giving up on being a healthy person by what I ate, my lack of exercise, and the amount of stress I allowed in my life. If any of this sounds like you, I hope my blog will help you as well.

This blog was a promise to myself. I decided to start blogging again because it is good for your soul and helps you to keep your thoughts in order. It also helps those that you love stay informed about your journey and about the topics you choose to discuss. Thank you for reading, and I hope that you will enjoy my journey, and that it helps you in your journey as well!