Introduction

Healthy Texas Hash

I was flipping through some old family recipes the other day and decided to try my hand at making a dish. When I was in the store picking up a few last minute items I decided to put my own healthy spin on the recipe. I honestly didn’t want to buy white instant rice. I’m thinking about potentially doing paleo so I didn’t want to bring another thing into my kitchen that I would have to throw out later, and I had the quinoa and have been waiting to try it!

I’ll admit I was a little scared. I’m not the worlds greatest cook, and to build my own recipe was intimidating. But I figured that it wouldn’t hurt to give it a try. I ended up using things I had in my house (minus my trip to get a pepper), the best part is I am sure that you can’t really mess this one up!

 

Ingredients:

1 pound of beef

1 can of tomato sauce

1 can diced tomatoes

1 onion

1 green pepper

1/2 cup quinoa

*The original recipe called for instance rice, I substituted with quinoa.

 

I cooked the hamburger with the pepper and onion. Once the meat was cooked and the onion and pepper browned I drained the liquid and added the tomato sauce and the diced tomatoes. I poured the quinoa into a 2 quart baking dish and added 1 cup of water. I then poured the hamburger mixture into the dish and stirred. Then I baked it for 40 minutes at 350 degrees.

 

The finished product. I was pleasantly surprised by how the quinoa turned out. The dish ended up tasting exactly like my families version. I will probably stick with my healthier version of this recipe, it reminds me of meals I had when I was younger just a little healthier and you can’t go wrong with that!

 

Yesterday I received a package from Holland. Inside was a hot pink clog keychain and two pieces of candy. I thought the keychain was awesome! I am a sucker for anything hot pink! The candy…well I didn’t love it. I was warned that it would be a bit shocking, but I don’t think anything could have prepared me for that! I love getting mail, especially random things like this!

Book club

I was invited to a book club by my fellow blogger Tarah. Needless to say I was a little skeptical because me in social situations never mix. I usually talk myself out of going because I am super shy. However I didn’t want to miss out so I sucked it up and despite getting lost I went!

We had the meeting at Ghyslain which is a French restaurant located in downtown Louisville. I ordered the Italian baguette with chicken and pesto and a fruit salad as a side. Oh and my fancy Norwegian water…

The book we read was “ready player one”. It was definitely not a book I would have picked to read on my own…but I liked it. Was a little bit more of a gamer book and since my knowledge of the 80′s is null I didn’t understand a lot of the references. However I did enjoy the book. I now have to go see if I can find the next book they are reading so I guess first thing Monday I will be calling the library!

And to end the night I went out with my cousins for drinks…well drink. I love the umbrella!

Watches, Watches, Watches

I can not decide on what heart rate monitor/ distance measured I should get.

I went to best buy with the intention of picking up a Garmin however with the price I just couldn’t justify the buy. It seems like the best watch out there but costs $250 for the forerunner 310xt. The watch it for triathletes, while I’m not at that level it had many features I wanted.

I ended up buying this Nike+Sportswatch. I wasn’t even sure at the store if this watch had what I wanted. I knew I wanted that could measure distance indoors/outdoors. The sales lady convinced me that it could measure distance without the extra foot sensor. The foot sensor is the apple based sensor. I have had bad experiences with the sensor in the past and did not want to have to be tied to it. Once I got it home I realized that the sales lady was wrong, it would not work indoors. Disappointed I returned it to the store immediately. I thought I had found the one.

I went back and purchased this watch. The Timex Ironman I actually saw the male version of this watch. It measured both distance and heart rate. It was what I wanted. I picked up the female version thinking it would do the same. Unfortunately it only measures heart rate.I will probably end up taking this one back also.

I also considered the FitBit and Body Media Fit.

This whole process has been difficult. I have yet to find anything that meets my needs and my budget. I hope I find something soon. I’m going to keep looking because I am sure there is something out there that I will like!

Earth Fare

On Saturday I met up with Madelyn for a day of shopping. It was our second annual ultra nail polish sale event. I know we get excited over little things. While we were over in the summit we decided to check out the organic supermarket Earth Fare.

It was like shopping at Whole Foods with less people, which could be because we went there in the middle of a down pour. What I liked about our experience was they offer coupon books when you enter the store. The books were pretty good in size so there was a discount for everyone. They had a huge selection. The food does not contain high fructose corn syrup, artificial preservatives, bleached flour, synthetic growth hormones, and no artificial sweeteners.

They had a large selection of pour it yourself products.

For lunch we headed over to Qdoba. I had the naked burrito w/ chicken and veggies as well as 3 cheese nachos.

My lunch date, Madelyn. She understands I’m a blogger so she dutifully poses for pictures and lets me know when there are blog worthy events in Louisville!

After we did a few more hours worth of shopping we ended up at Orange Leaf for some froyo!

Huber’s Orchard

Went to Hubers Orchard today. I haven’t been since I was a kid picking pumpkins. For some random reason it came to me on Friday night to go and pick apples.

Jonathan and Gala apples were in season. They also had raspberries, grapes, peaches, peppers, and eggplant that we’re able to be picked.

I decided to just pick apples. While it would have been fun to pick other fruits and vegetables, I didn’t have the time to justify spending all day in the fields. But I definitely can’t wait to go back soon.

I ended up going with my cousins Becky and George….also known as my recently adopted parents! I mean who else is going to humor me when I call all excited like a kid at Christmas saying that I wanted to go pick apples….

The fields ran for miles and miles…. It was nice to escape the city and be able to enjoy the nature of it all.

What’s a trip to an orchard without some wine! Luckily it was open. Indiana has an alcohol ban on Sundays so usually purchasing alcohol on a Sunday is impossible. I bought a peach, strawberry, and spiced apple wine. They had so many fruity wines that I had to refrain from buying the store!

I ended up buying peach bread, corn, sweet potatoes, and peaches.

And of course all the apples I picked! I got a mixture of Gala and Jonathan….the Jonathan apples remind me of Hungary. They were the apples that I always bought from the supermarket.

While I sit here and blog I’m having a nice glass of peach wine….it is the wine of the month!

Trying new fruit

It’s been a productive Saturday so far. Got in a good workout, fixed lunch, and tried a new fruit.

Lunch time…. Baked fish and asparagus

While I usually eat my veggies fresh I decided to purchase some frozen asparagus from trader joes. They turned out to be a perfect lunch time addition.

For the fish I added olive oil (that I imported from Italy!) and my favorite lemon and pepper seasoning.

For dessert a nice fresh fig. I haven’t ever had a fig before, so I shamelessly had to google how to eat a fig….I was skeptical at first of trying new fruit but I will definitely be purchasing more in the future.

Before lunch I hit the gym. Got in 5 minutes on the elliptical, legs strength training, and 30 minutes on the arc trainer. I usually won’t go to the gym on Saturdays but I had so free time so I decided to go. It was definitely worth it!