Zebra Popcorn

You will need:

1/2 c. butter

1 c. brown sugar

1/2 c. corn syrup

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp vanilla

1/2 c. unpopped popcorn

(don’t forget the white and milk chocolate chips!!)

Preheat the oven to 250 degrees F.

1.) Melt the butter in a saucepan over medium-high heat. Stir in the corn syrup and the brown sugar. Let this simmer without stirring for 4 minutes.

During the 4 minutes is usually when I use an air popper to pop the popcorn. It works pretty well, because then the popcorn is still hot when the caramel is ready.

At the end of the 4 minutes, remove the caramel from the heat, stir in the salt/soda and then stir in the vanilla.

2.) Pour the caramel over the popcorn and stir to mix. I usually run the bowl under hot air from the air popper to help the caramel stay hot enough to spread over all the popcorn. (Tip #1 – spray the bowl you’re popping into with non-stick spray so the caramel doesn’t stick to the bowl)

3.) Divide the carameled popcorn into two 9x13 cake pans. Put them in the oven for 1 hour at 250 degrees. Stir every 15 minutes.

4.) Pour the carameled corn out onto cookie sheets covered with wax paper. (Tip #2 – spray the wax paper with non-stick spray). Melt white chocolate chips (about 1 1/2 cups) and drizzle the melted chocolate over the popcorn. Repeat with milk chocolate chips (about 1 cup) (Tip #3 – if you don’t have a super fancy microwave like mine that has an auto setting for melting chocolate, you can still use your microwave, just use a lower power setting and turn it on for short amounts of time – like 30 seconds. Otherwise, you can make a double boiler using a class bowl over a pot of boiling water – but still be careful… it is VERY easy to over cook chocolate… and overcooked chocolate doesn’t “drizzle”)

5.) I put the cookie sheets in the fridge or freezer so the chocolate will harden. Store in an airtight container or ziplock bag.

Enjoy! It is sooo addictive. You can also just stop at the caramel corn (maybe add nuts?) if you prefer. Or just use white chocolate, or just milk chocolate. Make it your own!!

I promise after the holidays I will get back to posting about how to be healthy instead of how to expand your waistline!! 8-o Maybe I’ll do a special on New Year’s resolutions for health!

Marshmallow Bones

    For our Halloween “Boo” plates I made marshmallow bones. They’re ridiculously easy to make and they are SO yummy.

You need:

stick pretzels

mini marshmallows

white chocolate chips

 Take two marshmallows and stick one on each end of the pretzel. You can break some of the pretzels so you have bones of all sizes. You put the marshmallows on the pretzels so that the flat sides are parallel to the pretzel (so it looks kind of like a hammer).

Melt the chocolate chips on the stove or in the microwave. I did mine on the stove by taking a big pot and filling it with water, then placing a large glass mixing bowl over the top of the pot. Put the chips in the glass bowl and bring the water to a boil (this is also called “making your own double boiler”). Stir the chips and they will start to melt. When they are almost completely melted, remove the glass bowl from the pot of water (and turn off the stove, obviously). Keep mixing up the chocolate until it is completely melted.

Dip the pretzel/marshmallow bones in the chocolate. I used a fork and tapped the fork on the side of the bowl to help the extra chocolate drip off. Another tip – before you drop the bone into the chocolate, press the marshmallows onto the pretzels again. Otherwise you might loose marshmallows in the chocolate.

Lay the bones on wax paper and put them in the fridge to cool.

We also shaped skulls out of large marshmallows and stuck chocolate chips in for the eyes, then dipped the whole things in white chocolate.

Eat and enjoy munching on some crunchy Halloween bones.

5 a day

I have decided to start planning meals around the vegetables that we will eat for that meal instead of planning vegetables as a "side dish." Vegetables have always taken the back seat when it comes to meals. Or I guess you could say the side seat! Well, no more! We are bring vegetables to the front. From now on, our main dish is going to be vegetables, with a side of grain and a side of meat.

About 1/2 of your plate should be fruits and vegetables at each meal, 1/4 should be meat/protein, and 1/4 should be grains. Something tells me that is rarely the case at most people's meal time.

Tonight I made roasted veggies. I just chopped up a bunch of veggies that I bought at the farmers market yesterday - Brussels sprouts, sweet potatoes, carrots, bell peppers, white potatoes, broccoli, and onion. Tossed them with olive oil, vinegar, and some spices, and roasted them in the oven for about 45 minutes. The were scrumptious. As a "side"I grilled some chicken breasts and cooked a few cups of brown rice. It was the perfect meal for a cool evening, and very filling.

See how many more vegetables you can incorporate into your diet by making the focus on the veggies!

I'll try to post "veggie-spotlight" menus in the next few posts.

Health Family Tip #3

Exercise together.

You'd be surprised at all the ways to get in some physical activity. Just this weekend we did a bunch of yardwork together. It was one of the best workouts I've had in a while. And we all got some exercise out of it!

We also have a trampoline and occaisionally we'll all go jump together. Jumping is really good for your lymphatic system, and so can aid in weight loss (not to mention overall health).

Some evenings we put on some dance music and workout in the living room. Papai does push ups, sit ups, and some curls, and we all do jumping jacks and crunches. My two year old loves doing jumping jacks, and when our baby was just a few weeks old, she even started kicking her legs and flapping her arms when we did jumping jacks!

Exercising can be fun family time. So make a goal to get off the couch at least 3 times a week and get some physical activity as a family! You'll get family bonding time and a workout all in one shot!

Crazy Nachos

We made Nachos for dinner the other night. They were amazing. We piled them high with veggies and they were very delicious (AND nutritious!) I think we’re going to make these much more often.

(excuse the bad picture… our camera broke a few weeks ago, and now we only have a little $20 camera with no flash, so the pictures are a little… hmm… not so good)

time to go shopping

When my fruit bowl starts looking like this, I know I need to take a trip to the commissary!

Aerobic vs Anaerobic Exercise

I have been reading a book called Perfect Weight America. It's actually a really neat book. The author wrote it actually after gaining weight, not losing weight - his crusade is that everyone has a perfect weight, and eating right will help you get there - wether it means gaining weight, or losing weight. I don't think I've ever seen a "diet" book that has addressed BOTH issues. Incredible, really. And in the same breath he talks about conserving - water, energy, etc.

One thing that I found interesting was his section on exercise. He says doing only long-duration aerobic exercise is not good for you. And especially doing exactly the same aerobic exercise day after day. He quotes some doctor saying that doing repetitive aerobic exercise like walking on a treadmill dimishes our body's ability to produce quick bursts of energy. He recommends doing at least 20 minutes of anaerobic exercise each day.

He has a cool little chart in his book that say something like this:

1 hour of aerobic exercise: during workout - 210 calories burned, 2 hrs after workout - 25 calories burned, 3-15 hours after workout, 0 calories burned

1 hour of anaerobic exercise: during workout - 650 calories burned, 2 hours after workout - 150 calories burned, 3-15 hrs after workout - 260 calories burned

Examples of anaerobic exercise are jumping rope, sprinting, lifting weights, doing high-intensity step aerobics, and elliptical machines. Anything that is high intensity is usually anaerobic.

So add some anaerobic to your workout routine today!!