Happy Friday!

happy Friday everyone! hope your week was grand! mine was rather fast. thursday (which is my friday at work) came pretty quickly, so no complaints.

this week, i have been trying to opt for a healthier way of eating. although i'm a vegetarian, i do find myself snacking A LOT--which can help with packing on the unwanted pounds. i mean, who in their right mind would turn down some chocolate covered raisins?! ugh, so good. but at the end of the day, i want to be healthy and feel good. for the past few weeks i have eaten out, snacked and drank about 3 sodas a day and last week i noticed that i haven't felt very "healthy". i have been extra sluggish and just felt plain yucky.  this week my mom cooked some yummy, but healthy meals. one of them was salmon, fresh broccoli with a little cheese from a local farm, and potatoes. DELICIOUS! also my lunches this week consisted of healthy snacks: cheese and crackers, grapes, strawberries and maybe something left over from the night before. talk about a major change in the way i feel.

this week, every morning before i leave for work, i managed to make myself a smoothie for breakfast.  it gives me boost of energy and i don't seem to feel as sluggish.  i made a smoothie today which gave me LIFE! it was so good! so here it is

Ingredients:

-1/2 cup plain non fat yogurt ( i didn't opt for that, but greek non fat is the best :) )
-1/2 cup almond milk
-1/4 cup strawberries
-1/4 cup frozen berries (blackberries, blueberries and raspberries)
-1/2 cup mangoes and apples peeled (this part is OPTIONAL. also, you don't have to peel them if you don't want)
-1 cup spinach
-1 teaspoon honey
-1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

Directions:

add yogurt first, then fruit, cinnamon, honey and spinach. blend and VOILA!



There you go! you don't have to stick to this recipe, you can use whatever you want as far as fruits go! and you also can replace almond milk with soy milk or regular milk. the choice is yours. :) this website helps a great deal on building a smoothie to your taste..  hope you can try this and enjoy it!! <3

Spring has finally sprung--so let's start a garden!

look at that tomato plant in the back to the right. yay!

it is FINALLY spring time here where i live.  since i live in the south eastern part of the US, the weather is so unpredictable.  it's quite frustrating at times, but when we have days like this-- 70 degree weather-- it's absolutely glorious. ahh man.

since the weather is great and it's getting warmer, i pitched the idea of starting a small garden to my mom. she was ALL for it and was very excited about it.  she grew up planting vegetables, fruits, but mainly tobacco with her mother, father and siblings.  although that's what her and her family and the rest of the families in the community spent most of their summer doing, it wasn't so much fun for them. but it kept them out of trouble and at the end of the summer, their reward was an awesome family vacation. that's a pretty good deal for giving up your summer to work in the fields and garden.  my grandparents had a lot of land in the country area of North Carolina so they were able to grow their own food.  they grew so much, that they had to give away what they couldn't put away & freeze.


my grandma still gardens today and she has about 2 or 3 in random locations around town where she lives planting different stuff and still feeds everyone that comes over. my great great grandma gardened until she was about 100 years old. pure dedication. i hope i'm as dedicated to something when i get 100+ years old. :)

a tomato plant, green bell peppers, red bell peppers and some pretty flowers have been planted. i think there will be some kale and cucumbers coming soon, as well. i'm thrilled to be growing my own vegetables! i save money and get fresh veggies at the same time!