baby weight loss before and after | Healthy Pesto and Chicken Salad

Selasa, 16 Februari 2016

baby weight loss before and after


If youve been a little burned out by all the prepared meals Ive been sharing here, youre in for a treat with todays Healthy Pesto and Chicken Salad recipe from Morgan of Morganize with Me.  Shes a girl after my own heart with a passion for health, exercise, organizing, and of course, her family (they have three adorable youngsters) and are currently living abroad.  That she lists "Target, pedicures, books you cant put down, and happy tears" as some of her favorite things makes me adore her even more.  I hope you like this healthy pesto and chicken salad.  I told Morgan Ive never made pesto before, but this makes me want to give it a go!  And chicken for added protein? Perfect!

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Im really thrilled to be here today and to share a yummy recipe with you! Im also so happy that spring time is here. The fact that I am able to start wearing my flip-flops again just makes me giddy. Do you know what also makes me giddy? Being able to just toss a salad on the table for dinner. Especially if it falls into the category of being a "one dish" salad. (Meaning I dont have to make other sides.) This Healthy Pesto and Chicken Salad is the perfect example of a "one dish" salad. It is packed with protein and veggies and topped off with a homemade pesto dressing.

  Pesto Salad

This simple salad is a recipe that you can whip up ahead of time and have waiting for you when you roll in at the end of the day. (Just keep the lettuce and pesto dressing separate from the pasta mixture. Then toss and serve together when you are ready for meal time.)  

Healthy Pesto & Chicken Salad

Serves up to eight salad lovers.

Pesto

  • 2 cups basil leaves
  • 1 cup parsley leaves
  • 6 tablespoons chopped walnuts (toasted)
  • 3 tablespoons olive oil
  • 2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 2 garlic cloves
Combine all of the pesto ingredients in a food processor; pulse 5-6 times or until finely minced. Set aside.

DSC_0531

Pasta

  • 4 cups cubed cooked skinless, boneless chicken breast
  • 3 cups uncooked bow tie pasta
  • 2 cups quartered cherry tomatoes
  • 4 tablespoons chopped pitted kalamata olives
  • 8-12 curly leaf lettuce leaves
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Cook pasta according to package instructions, drain and rinse with cold water.

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Combine (cooled) pasta, chicken, tomatoes, and olives in a large bowl. Add pesto to pasta mixture, tossing gently to coat.

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Then place 1-2 lettuce leaves on each plate and top each serving with pasta mixture.


Toss this delicious salad on the table and you can say; "Dinner is done!"

Pesto Salad

Also if you prefer gluten-free just omit the pasta and replace with a gluten-free pasta, such as a quinoa. And if your kids arent interested in the lettuce - just serve them the pasta portion.
Are you a fan of salad like me? How about flip-flops?

Enjoy your spring!

Headshot-CircleMorgan is the energetic and motivated, but also realistic girl, behind Morganize with Me. She specializes in Personal Organizing and Personal Training. Her mission is to share tried and true techniques that she hopes will encourage her readers and clients as they focus on their health and homes. She believes in simplifying, prioritizing, and measuring progress one day at a time.

Keep in touch with Morgan here:

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weight loss during late pregnancy | Contemplating depression faith loss and hope in the new year

weight loss during late pregnancy


Yesterday, I spent hours crying. 2014 has been a horrible year for us and Im certainly not sad to see it go, but when I tried to imagine 2015, I just couldnt muster up anything but thoughts of the upcoming due dates and first birthdays that will haunt us. (One each in May, June, July, and September make the middle of the year particularly dreaded.) Also, the knowledge that 2015 wont bring us the birth of a child seems to strip it of hope.

But after a few hours of crying for the babies well never meet, I felt a bit of a relief and room to think in a more positive light. The past week has been extremely trying and probably even more difficult than any of the days Ive actually miscarried or the due dates weve struggled through.

I struggle with depression even during the best of times. Days in which we have nothing but blessings to be grateful for, I still fight despair. So when we have moments of incredible grief and hopelessness, my depression is truly unbearable. Since my first miscarriage, Ive also struggled with nightmares which make sleep nearly impossible and anxiety that has only increased with each subsequent loss. Obviously, the few months after each loss are the hardest and then things get back to being very manageable. But I always have to be very vigilant to get have a very regular daily routine, eat well, take my vitamins and minerals daily, (try to) get adequate sleep, and plenty of sunlight.

This past week has been the perfect storm - a recent loss (with both the grief and hormonal instability that accompanies it), the holidays (which make even a more distant loss more difficult), and being away from home which makes it nearly impossible to keep up any sort of routine, eat healthfully, exercise regularly, etc. Just realizing that how Im feeling is the result of so many outside factors has been such a relief and allowed hope to creep in. Im very confident that once we get back home and can control several of these factors, that the deep despair Im feeling will melt away.

Sometimes, at times like this, I begin to blame myself for not trusting God enough, for not being faithful enough, or having a better relationship with God. I read stories of people whove struggled with mental illness or eating disorders or substance abuse who are suddenly "cured" when they come to know God. But I know thats not how it works for the most of us. There are Saints - Saints! - who struggled with these issues all their life, who knew God profoundly and served Him well, and never escaped these afflictions. These issues are real physical and psychological ailments that cannot be healed simply by loving God and feeling His love for us, at least no more than someone with a chronic illness will be healed simply by faith - sometimes miraculous healing does happen, but most often, were left to nature and the natural weakness of our bodies and minds.

My relationship with God is stronger and deeper than it was before my first miscarriage. Each subsequent loss has brought me closer to Christ. I dont believe that God caused my miscarriages in order to bring me closer to Him or to make me into a more humble person, but that is what has happened. (I thoroughly believe the cause is something natural and God simply allowed it to happen, as He does with most of nature.) I believe that He is able to use all things for good and He has worked in me through our heartbreaking losses. By allowing Him to do so (for you have to give Him that invitation), I am able to be a sign of my children. They may not be visible to this world, but their existence has meaning if I let them transform me into who God created me to be. Obviously, I am no Saint. I have a long way to go. But I am closer to holiness than I was before they were conceived. And so I know that this depression is not a lack of faith, because I have grown in faith even during the most extreme periods of depression Ive ever felt.

It is Satan that tries to make me feel like my depression is due to my spiritual failings. And I know I cannot give into him, for if I did, I am sure I would lose my faith. Though certainly I hope that someday Ill be cured of depression and anxiety, I assume that they will be burdens I will carry with me my entire life. And if I were to go through life thinking that if I were only truly faithful to God, if I only really believed, if I only prayed more or did X better, I would be cured, I would go through my whole life feeling like a failure. Nothing I would do could ever be good enough because mental illness is not simply a matter of faith. And at some point, I would break, give up, turn my back on God. But the truth is, it is only God who can free me from this, if not in this life, then in the next, when our bodies and minds will be whole. In the meantime, I need Christ with me to help carry this cross. I need to unite my suffering with His so that it has meaning, so that it bears fruit.

I walk daily with these crosses of depression and recurrent pregnancy loss. Sometimes they seems so cruel. Sometimes I cry out to God, "Why do you allow repeat miscarriage to happen to someone who already struggles with depression?" Because certainly, its easier to deal with either one or the other.  But there are no answers, and as of yet Ive been able to cope. Ive been given the graces to survive this, even if it seems like Im only barely surviving. Some days Im even able to look to the future and say, I can do this again. We can try to get pregnant again and if we miscarry again, I will survive, and not only that, it will be worth it.  Other days, I struggle with how to just make it to tomorrow.

Every morning I wake up needing time to pray and to rework through these thoughts. To remind myself that I am strong and that I have Christ beside me. To remind myself that my depression is separate from my faith. To remember that my depression will get better and I can take steps to control it. I think about the children Ive lost and how much I love them and how their short lives were purposeful. And I thank God for my husband and daughter and the many other blessings I have in my life. I often have to go through these same prayers and thoughts many times during the day to make it through. But I do. Each day I make it through and its this very conscious, purposeful reasoning gives me back hope. Faith and reason, right? I need both.

Today, on the first day of 2015, Im able to count my innumerable blessing, all five of our children among them, Im able to see the good things that this year might bring for us. Even if this year does not bring us a viable pregnancy, I have so much else to look forward to. Fertility struggles tend to give those who experience it tunnel vision so that the only purpose in life is in another baby, the only thing worth looking forward to or working toward is another child. But my life is so much more than that. Another year with my wonderful husband and daughter is a blessing to look forward to in itself.



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baby weight loss plateau | Our Rainbow Baby

baby weight loss plateau


You may have noticed that today, October 15, is Pregnancy and Infancy Loss Awareness Day. While it seems that there is something special to celebrate every day of the year, this day hits close to home for me.
Its hard to believe that almost a year ago to the day, I was at the high-risk doctor praying that the baby I was carrying was still viable. Praying that I would not have to endure another miscarriage. 
Thankfully God answered my prayer.
The year was a tumultuous one. We were settling into a new city, in a new house, after living out of suitcases for 6 months. Daniel and I were ready to expand our family and were elated that by Easter we were expecting. 
Shortly after Easter came the horrible news that I was experiencing a blighted ovum and would miscarry. The miscarriage happened at home on the Sunday before Mothers Day. I was crushed.
Today, as I hold my sweet baby boy, it is hard to believe that last year held such difficulty. My pregnancy with Isaac was high risk and filled with anxiety. There was a fear that would not loose its grip on me. And it all culminated last April with a rather scary emergency C-section. 
Six month later, here we are. Isaac is our sunshine, our rainbow after a terrible storm. He is laughter and sweetness and love. He reminds us that good things can happen, even after bad. My experience in bringing him into the world is one of learning to trust fully in God. In letting go of the things that I cannot control. He is our rainbow baby.
I recently had an epiphany: 
While my miscarriage was very difficult (physically and emotionally), and I am saddened that we never met that baby, if we had not walked through that valley Isaac would not be in our arms today. 
So we press forward and embrace what God has given us: our precious family of four. We do not take for granted our days and we give thanks for the good and the bad, having hope in the knowledge that the child lost is in heaven.
If you have experienced pregnancy or infant loss, I hope that you will be brave and share your story with those around you. In sharing I have found great healing. If you know someone who has experienced this type of loss, be willing to listen in an effort to shoulder their burden with them. Click here for other suggestions for supporting your loved one.
Early this year I met someone who shared HopeMommies.Org with me. This is an organization that provides an online support system for those who have experienced infant and pregnancy loss. They also have retreats you can attend and Hope Boxes that you can purchase on behalf of a loved one walking through this valley of sorrow.

"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." Jeremiah 29:11


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baby weight loss secrets | Jacks First Year of Preschool

baby weight loss secrets



I know that it is already June and Jack has been out of preschool for almost a month now, but I wanted to record a little from his first year of preschool. Jack had a great experience and some wonderful teachers. I think his favorite parts of school included music class, doing crafts and PlayBunch. Every day he asks when he can go to school. I tell him when the weather gets cooler he will go back.

First Day of Preschool

Halloween Party

 Dressing up and playing with play-doh.

 Making slushies.

On the playground for PlayBunch

Making new friends and learning to share.

Easter Egg Hunt

Learning about taking care of our teeth from a local dentist.

Checking out the animals from a petting zoo.

Spring Music Program

Last day of school. Party at the park.


 School/Class Photos

Our floppy-haired boy has grown so much this year. 
We cant wait to see what the coming years have in store!


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pregnancy weight loss exercise plan | Homemade Granola

pregnancy weight loss exercise plan


I came across a great recipe for homemade granola on Christinas blog, This Woman Cooks and she graciously agreed to share it here.  Her blog is full of lots of recipes and the cutest pictures of her little baby girl!

Christinas original homemade granola recipe called for 3 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon vegetable oil and 1/4 cup of brown sugar so I would make a couple easy tweaks to make it healthier.  First, I  would omit the brown sugar altogether, and second, I would substitute the same amount of canola oil as it is  lower in saturated fat than vegetable oil and contains omega nutrients, which is considered to be better for your heart.  

* * * * * 
via This Woman Cooks

Source: slightly adapted from Baked: New Frontiers in Baking
Servings: 1 pound

2 cups rolled oats
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon vegetable oil (substitute canola oil) 
1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar- (omit) 
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/3 cup almonds
1/3 cup whole hazelnuts
1/3 cup dried cranberries

Preheat the oven to 350. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

In a large bowl, toss the oats with the cinnamon and salt.

In a medium bowl, stir together the oil, honey, brown sugar, and vanilla. Whisk until completely combined. Pour the honey mixture over the oats and use to hands to combine.

Using your hands, grab fistfuls of the mixture, so youll have a couple of clumps for texture. Pour the mixture onto the baking sheet and spread it out, leaving a few clumps here and there.

Bake for 10 minutes, then remove from the oven to flip the granola with a spatula. Sprinkle the almonds over the granola and return to the oven. Bake for 5 minutes, then remove from the oven again and flip. Sprinkle the hazelnuts over the granola. Return the baking sheet to the oven and bake for 10 more minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool completely. Sprinkle the cranberries over the granola and use your hands to transfer it to an airtight container. Granola will keep for 1 week.

* * * * * 

Thank you Christina (This Woman Cooks) for sharing this recipe today ! I hope yall will stop by and say hello!

* * * * *
Have a great weekend!



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weight loss after pregnancy youtube | March 4 2000 My last best day

weight loss after pregnancy youtube


Fourteen years ago was my last, best day.  I dont mean I havent had best days since, I certainly have.  The live births of my two children Alison and Adam were the miracles that brought me back to life.

But fourteen years ago today, Eric and I went to lunch to celebrate my grandmothers birthday. We went to Patricks Pub on Northern Boulevard in Little Neck, NY.  I had quiche.  I was very cranky that day.  Could something deep down in my psyche known how my life would begin to unravel the very next day?

Fourteen years ago today was the last day I would have ever not worry incessantly about what could happen in life.  And while the worry doesnt stop me from living my life, it is always present right below the surface of my mind.

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