I know it has been a while since I've updated but I promise I will update more. For those that don't know I had a beautiful baby girl Feb 18th this year and am currently trying to lose my baby weight. I was 145lbs the end of my pregnancy and now I'm at 120lbs in less than 2 wks! Obviously minus the actual baby hehe she was 7lbs 10oz. but Breastfeeding has helped but exercise and diet has increased it. In my previous blog posts I got to use my own advice now during my pregnancy & breastfeeding. I can personally tell you that eating organic makes a world of a difference in energy level & recovery after pregnancy. For anyone not pregnant it goes for everyday life as well, when you cut out fat greasy foods you feel like a new person! :)
The next couple of blogs I'm going to introduce recipes, I've had a couple people contact me wanting fast organic healthy recipes for moms and non moms. Once I start hitting the gym (since I'm still recovering from a c-section delivery) I will be posting body comparison updates & workout tips etc to help everyone in their weightloss or healthy living journey! Contact me via fb or by posting if you want to request something or have any questions. I have had lots of people ask about my views in diff aspects of organic living/eating & I'll he happy to help anyone that wants to learn. :) As most of you know I'm completing my bachelors in Kinesiology & hope to go into some sort of a fitness physical therapy, teaching/dietitian realm, I'm not a Dr. by any means this blog is just from my personal experience & suggestions so I hope everyone enjoys! :)
The Easiest Cheesiest Mac N Cheese Recipe!: (see pics below)
Ingredients:
.5 lb. #4 Wellness rating Farm raised grass fed Organic ground beef (servings for 2-3 people, if for a family double the ingredients including meat & use two boxes of Annie's)
1 Box of Annie's Organic Shells & Real Aged Cheddar Macaroni & Cheese
Frontier Organic Spice Adobo Mix
1-2 tbsp Organic unsalted butter
3 Tbsp Organic Lowfat Milk (or organic milk of your choice)
For added flavoring you can use 1 clove of garlic to mix in with sauce & extra cheese of your choice
This is the easiest recipe because you just need to somewhat follow the Annie's Macoroni Box :)
Instructions & cookware needed:
You'll need 1 bigger pot in order to boil water
You'll need saucepan for the meat
You'll need 1 strainer/bowl to put the cooked pasta in
Step 1: To start use 6 cups of water (or you can just fill up the pot if your going to strain the pasta after) put in the big pot on high & bring to a boil
Step 2: Once at a boil put pasta shells in & cook to 8-10 mins (put a timer on to help :))
While that is boiling get out your medium saucepan for the meat
Step 3: Put a lil olive oil to grease the pan, lay the ground beef in & season meat front & back with the Frontier adobo seasoning mold into the meat. (if you cannot find the seasoning you can use organic salt, pepper, onion powder, tumeric will do.)
Step 4: Put pain on medium heat & scramble meat up in pain until golden brown (once cooked you can turn pan off)
For added flavor if you would like to use fresh garlic cut & smash one clove out, cut it up very finely & add in step 3 with meat (you can mold it into the meat).
Once pasta is boiled in step 1-2 put aside & strain, ifyou have a stand up strainer leave it in the strainer or put in a regular bowl. Use remaining pot to make the pasta sauce.
Step 5. put 3 Tbsp lowfat organic milk in pan, pour cheese packet in that came in the box, add optional 1-2 Tbsp butter, add optional handful of extra shredded cheese of your choice
Step 6. Stir those ingredients together until mixed in well
Step 7. Pour strained pasta back into Pot & stir
Step 8. Pour cooked meat into Pot with pasta & cheese sauce & stir well till everything is coated
Step 9-----Eattttt!!! :D
Final Product:
Ingredients:
Here is a great comparison of regular Kraft Mac N Cheese over Annie's Mac N Cheese....price point comparison you can usually find them both on sale & are usually 50cents difference.
Annie's ingredients: Organic Wheat Shell Pasta, Organic Valley organic cheddar cheese (organic cultured pasteurized milk, salt, non-animal enzymes), Organic whey, salt, sodium phosphate, organic annatto extract for color.
Main thing to notice is 1 all ingredients are necessary to make Mac N Cheese, 2. they are organic, & 3. they only contain milk & wheat ingredients due to the wheat pasta & cheese ingredients :)
When it comes to dietary needs it is a great source of protein even without the meat, along with vitamins A C, calcium, iron, B1, & folic acid. The sodium level is lower in this mac n cheese as well. There is no added trans fat which is what our bodies cannot pretty much break down.
In this Kraft Mac N Cheese (I personally grew up eating) There is so much added ingredients:
Read the first line alone, in order to have vitamins in this product they actually add it to them...in the other it is naturally in the ingredients. Also this is an enriched macaroni PRODUCT....meaning there is no nutritious means. & the rest of the ingredients if you just read speak for themselves...it is all additives including dyes & added enzymes to make the product look like Mac N Cheese :(
I wanted to do a couple pics of some spices comparison. I used the Organic Frontier adobo seasoning on my ground beef in this recipe. When I was going through my spices I realized I still had an old thing of Cavender's seasoning that I used to use before I went organic. A lot of people speculate that spices don't do anything but in reality they do. Non-organic spices tend to have a higher sodium level & the big thing is they generally use some sort of not necessary additive like hydrolyzed corn or soy.
I know what your probably thinking well soy isn't that bad right? Well yes & no, organic soy has great protein properties in it because it is naturally grown, but now a days most of America is using & processing something called "GMo" soy which stands for Genetically Modified Organism. So soy isn't "soy" anymore, its a genetically modified ingredient that we have modified in order to keep up with production. No one knows the long term effects yet on these GMO products, & it is very important to realize it is not the natural ingredient that comes from the ground anymore when the product becomes modified to keep up with society's demands. I think the ingredients speak for themselves when choosing spices :)
Sodium is alot less at 140mg at 1/4 tsp
Cavender's Ingredients: Salt, Black Pepper, Corn Starch, Garlic Monosodium Glutamate, Organo, Flavor base seasoning (Hydrolyzed CORN SOY PROTEIN, Sugar, Onion powder, Spice EXTRACTIVES??), Parsley, & Five OTHER SPICES?? (see pics below for more on Soy GMO info)
They don't even specify those additives along with this contains soy protein which we can assume it is GMO since all products that are Non GMO are not listed on ingredients or on the front of the product as "Non GMO Project Verified." The Sodium is almost double at 241 mg 1/4 tsp as well.
A great documentary to check out which helped some of my views kick into gear is Food Inc. its available on Amazon prime movies for free & Netflix. I HIGHLY recommend it, it gives a great look into the fast food industry, meat production, & how much GMO soy has effected farmers. Very eye opening.
If anyone has any questions feel free to message me, hope everyone enjoys the tips & treats! :D
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0A97odud60o
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