Mango Black Bean Salsa

This was a recipe I found online. It was a HUGE hit at dinner! I made it with the following recipe and it took NO time at all! You can (for you meat lovers) make fajita seasoned chicken to serve with this salsa and it is delicious as well! It's a quick easy summer meal, or a great snack/party food!

Mango Black Bean Salsa Ingredients:

1 mango, cubed

1/4 onion (I prefer yellow)

1/4 cup of fresh cilantro, chopped

1 can of rinsed black beans

1 can of rinsed corn

1 teaspoon garlic salt

In a medium bowl, combine all of the ingredients. Serve with tortilla chips, use as a taco filler, you name it! Prep time is about 10 minutes.

Additional Notes: I made this at the same time I did the fruit and vegetable salad, so I chopped the onion, cubed the mango, and chopped the parsley all at once to save on cooking time, and then put those 3 ingredients in the refridgerator until I was ready to make the rest of the salsa. I prefer frozen corn so I cooked frozen corn and then rinsed it with the black beans. Walmart did not carry uncooked black beans or I would have made them myself too. This salsa only has 39 calories per serving (without chicken) and makes 8 servings! The image shown is leftover after 4 people at multiple servings.

Fruit Salad

Fruit Salad Ingredients:

1 Mango, cubed

2 Gala Apples

6 Strawberries

2 Kiwi

Lemon Juice

This one is also easy! Peel, dice, and mix! Pour lemon juice in the salad and mix it to keep the apple slices from turning brown! This makes a great dessert, snack, and is wonderful in yogurt too!

Vegetable Salad

Vegetable Salad:


1 Cucumber
2 Roma Tomatoes
1 Organic stalk of celery (smaller than the other ones you buy)
1/4 Onion
1/8 a cup of cilantro, chopped
1/2 container of queso fresco
Olive Oil
Salt and Pepper





Rinse, Peel, Cut up, Toss in bowl! Pour olive oil over salad and stir. Salt and pepper to taste, then cover and put in the refridgerator for 30 minutes to let it soak before serving. Will last at least 4 days in the refridgerator if you want to make snack size servings and eat throughout the week. This is an extremely refreshing salad to eat during the summer. It's also veggie! Note: Queso fresco ingredients are : skim milk, salt, enzymes. Yay all natural cheeses!

I'm Going As Green as I Can!

Is it easy being green? Is it easy eating health? Can you, that's right you! Can you do it? Here's the truth. I am not 100% all organic, green, healthy. I'm doing little things that I can to protect my mother earth, live healthier, and promote good habits for my family. So now the blog takes a new shift. Here's how I do green. Let's start with something we all do~ Grocery Shopping! Here is my grocery list; what I bought and where I bought it from. I took my handy cloth grocery bags along with me.

Today's grocery list:

From Wal-Mart:

Non-Perishables:
Black Beans (2 cans) wish I could buy uncooked beans, but working mom doesn't allow for experimenting with that yet
Uncle Ben's Original Recipe Wild Rice
Multi-grain tortilla chips
Kashi Roasted Garlic Crackers

Produce:
Mangos (2)
Gala Apples (2)
Strawberries
Kiwis (2)
Organic Celery
Organic Roma Tomatoes
Bell Peppers
Onion
Cilantro
Lime
Lemon Juice
Potatoes
Frozen Corn not in season yet
Frozen Edamame not in season yet

Deli:
Brie Cheese
Natural Swiss Cheese
Queso Fresco

Extras:
Dove Dark Chocolate Candies (for my post dinner cravings for desert!)
Frozen Orange Chicken "meal in a bag" dinner I'm not cooking from scratch EVERY night!
Chocolate Soy Milk

Non-Food:
Dishwashing liquid

From Harvard Meats, A Local, Organic Butcher:
2 lb Chicken Breast (boneless, skinless)
1 lb Boneless Pork Chop
1 lb Jalepeno Cheddar Cheese

Pros: LOOK AT THAT PRODUCE LIST! I'm doing great this week on planning meals that include fresh produce! Here are the meals on the menu for the week:

Stuffed Bell Peppers
Fiesta Potatoes
Pork and Rice
Chicken, Black Bean, and Mango salsa
Orange Chicken

Snacks:
Cheese and crackers, fruit salad, vegetable salad

Cons:
Ok, I felt really stupid halfway through grocery shopping when I realized that I was using those plastic produce bags. What's the point in cloth bags if you use all of those produce bags? Not doing it next time!

Also, you may be wondering about lunches! Lunches are generally left overs. There are only 2 of us that eat off this food, so there are normally extras.

Walmart Total: $66.81
Butcher Total: $30.56
Week Meal Total (not including our night out with friends): $97.37

Not bad. And affordable. Meals for the week will be posted as I make them. So you can decide. Is it easy? Can you do it?

Taking the Plunge

Alright. I'm doing it. I'm going vegetarian. I've always wanted to try it out but have found excuses not to. So now, starting April 10th, I will refrain from all meats, but will continue to eat milk and egg products. I'm trying this out because I hear you feel much healthier, because I'm sick of the crap we put in meats, and because the farmer's market starts April 10th so fresh fruits and vegetables will be available for me. SO look forward to it! I will be sharing my experience along with recipes and honest reactions from Doc, who is going to ride along with me as much as he can. Wish us luck!

Trying to stay off the meds...

I realized that I have never talked about this on my blog, despite the fact that I'm pretty open about it in person. I struggle a little bit with anxiety. I have panic attacks sometimes, but since I changed to eating healthier and exercising I've been able to keep it under control. Well, the sleep deprivation from motherhood hasn't been helping. I had my first panic attack in at least 9 months last week. I don't like being on medication, and I was only on it for a few months before I felt like I could go back to coping without additional help. However, the sleep deprivation isn't going to go away anytime soon and I'm really struggling with finding time or energy to exercise lately.

Staying healthy is a constant battle. I don't know anyone who can eat healthy and work out regularly without struggling to stay dedicated. The point is to have a reason to stay focused and keep yourself accountable for staying healthy. Anxiety sucks. It makes everything you do harder than it needs to be and I can't afford to not be my best right now. So I need to get back out there working out despite all the excuses involving the "I got 2 hours of sleep last night" "there is ice outside" "I just had a baby I don't need to worry about it" reasons I come up with.

Plus, I want to start trying to conceive again in about 6 months, which means I need to start getting my body ready to be challenged again....

So here goes - trying to stay focused and keep from falling off the anxiety edge again....

Need to hold off at least a few more months...

Ok - this is a post looking for options! Birth control options! I want an option that meets the following criteria:

1. Contain no hormone dosage
2. Allow me to start trying to get pregnant again as soon as I stop
3. Not inhibit the joy of sex
4. Allow me to have sex basically whenever I want to

For once, my fear of drugs is not hippie related. I've had some really bad effects from birth control pills and never found one that didn't make me sick, so I'm terrified of hormones of any kind. So far, condoms are the best we've come up with and they suck but I might have to just deal with it for a while.

I'm pretty much 100% positive that I want another baby ASAP....which means once I have a job and it's been long since Evelyn's birthday that my body is ready to handle pregnancy again. Being at my pre-pregnancy weight is a really good start though.