Hello lovelies,

So I told you that I was going to weigh in and do measurements today but after some discussions with a group that I am on I decided I will only do it once a month. Therefore, my measurement and weigh ins will be on the 8th of every month.

So far I have kept up with working out 5 days a week and will continue on this path. I still have to do today's workout so this blog will be short and sweet. I still haven't added yoga back into my routine yet because I have been getting my sleep instead which is just as important. I have been eating a half decent healthy diet but I still need to do a lot to clean it up.

I am enjoying the program that I am on right now and I am hoping to continue enjoying it. I will also be continuing to add recipes and hopefully add more boxes to the list.

That's all for tonight.

Pat

Bell pepper spinach soup

Bell Pepper and Spinach soup

This is yet another recipe that was created because I had food that was about to spoil in the fridge. I like to buy the packs of mini bell peppers at the grocery but often I don't eat them all on time. We also tend to throw out a lot of spinach ( We try to eat healthy but a lot of time we don't eat enough of the produce on time). 

I decided to make soup because it was a chillier day and I though a good soup would make for a good warm-up. 

Ingredients

360g of Bell peppers( I used Red, Orange and Yellow peppers) 

( Once you weigh them, de-seed them)

1/2 of a large onion ( chopped)

3 tablespoons Olive oil 

1 1/2 Chopped Garlic ( I use already chopped jarred Garlic) 

1 teaspoon  Oregano( fresh or dry )  

1 teaspoon Thyme ( Fresh or dry) 

1 teaspoon cinnamon 

900 ml vegetable broth

1/2 cup of rice ( White or Brown)

4 cups of baby spinach 

In a pot cook the onions and peppers together with the garlic, oregano, thyme and cinnamon. Cook until the onions turn clear.

Add the broth and rice into the pot and let it simmer for 30 minutes. 

In a blender pour 2 cups of the contents of the pot with two cups of spinach ( the whole pot should yield about 4 cups) hit the liquefy button and voilà it is ready to eat.

Kiwi orange bread

Kiwi Orange Bread

Ingredients

3 Cups Flour

1 tablespoon Baking Powder

1 teaspoon Baking Soda

1 cup of butter ( I use salted butter and melt a bit)

1 cup white granulated sugar

5 kiwis ( Peeled and mashed yields approximately 2 cups)

The juices and skin of one orange ( grated yields about 1/2 cups)

1/3 cup of water

1 Tablespoon of chia seeds ( I used the ground up type)

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Mix the chia seeds and the water together in a small bowl let set.

In a bowl mix the first three ingredients ( flour, baking soda and baking powder). Set aside. 

Mix the butter and the sugar together in a separate bowl until well blended. ( I do it by hand but by all means use an electric beater if you have one)

Once the sugar and butter are combined add the fruits and chia seed mix and  blend everything  together. 

Make a hole ( or a well) in the middle of the flour mix. Pout the fruit mixture in the middle and mix all the ingredients until well blended ( try not to mix it for to long as it will make your bread harder)

Grease some baking pans. I used a 4" by 8" pan and a multi-sectional pan ( 2" by 4" there is 8 section in the pan) Fill each pan about half way with batter. 

Cook for 15-30 minutes depending on the size of your pans or until a toothpick comes clean after poking it into the center of the bread.

Let cool take out of pans and enjoy.

I came up with this recipe when I had kiwis and an orange becoming a a little too ripe. I decided this year that I wanted to stop wasting food in the house. I used to throw out a lot of vegetables and fruits out every week which adds up to a lot of money. Now I buy flour and butter on sale so I can always bake cookies and breads and good knows what more recipes I can come up with. 

This bread is just a right amount of sweet and really moist. You will mostly taste the orange over the kiwi.