Chocolate Oil-Free Bran Muffins

This recipe is fabulous for boosting your fiber!  For this reason, I recommend limiting yourself to one muffin per day at first :).  These muffins are tasty, delicious, healthy, and I haven't yet met someone who has not liked them! 

Enjoy!!!

Zesty Italian Tomatoes

Squash and Corn Chowder

This is the perfect fall recipe.  Warm soup + squash + nutrients = PERFECTION!!

Many people say they don't like squash - but I refuse to believe it!  My theory is that most people don't know what to DO with squash.  Here is a fantastic recipe that not only tastes yummy, but shows you what to do with winter squash!

To read more about why winter squash is so fabulous for your heath, click here (scroll down to the section that says "Health Benefits of Butternut Squash").

PS - don't limit yourself to only using butternut squash for this recipe.  Most winter squash would taste wonderfully in this soup (except maybe spaghetti squash - it would be too stringy).
If you find yourself struggling to cut open your squash, poke the squash multiple times with a fork or knife and microwave for 5-6 minutes.  Trust me, I just made your life a whole lot easier!

Spinach Balls

This is a fantastic vegetarian recipe!  If you have a hard time squeezing spinach into your diet, this recipe is for you!  These balls are great to serve with spaghetti in place of the meatballs.  They are also so tasty, I often just eat them plain!

Sesame Salt

Okay folks!  Here is a great salt substitute!  This simple recipe can be used to HALF your salt consumption, but DOUBLE the flavor! 

Enjoy!

Sausage & Barley Bean Soup

Barley and beans are both great sources of fiber (and beans are a great source of protein!).  Love me some good soup!! 

Roasted Vegetables

This one is a favorite of mine!!

Rice Pudding

Pina Colada Yogurt Parfait

Hummus

Recipe - Balsamic Honey-Glazed Carrots

Recipe - Basil Pesto

Oh SNAP!

Challenge: 4 days, only $5/day for food. 

This is what you have available to spend on food if you are dependent on SNAP benefits (previously termed Food Stamps) for every meal.  This challenge was given to my community nutrition class as an assignment.  Most people have said they were STARVING the entire time they did this assignment.  I tried to prove the opposite over the past 4 days.  I tried to make healthy, well balanced meals while feeling full instead of famished.

As you look over these meals, keep in mind a few items:
- I learned (through being a college student that eats on the run) that if I eat my breakfast and lunch meals in sections I felt fuller longer (i.e. Yogurt at 9 AM, Grapes at 10 AM, Banana at 11 AM etc.) and this allowed me to eat what I did and still feel satisfied. 
- These prices are according to the portion sizes I ate.  What Tom ate may have exceeded the $5.00 limit. :)

                       Day 1 (Total: $3.74)
      Breakfast                                    Lunch
Shredded Wheat - $ 0.24                 PB&J - $ 0.55
 Milk (10 oz) - $ 0.14               Red Grapes (7 oz) - $ 0.28
    Banana - $ 0.28

                                Dinner
               Dijon Mustard Fish Fillets - $ 1.38
                Cheesy Mashed Potatoes - $ 0.31
                       Green Beans $ 0.20

Day 1 Dinner: * We would recommend not using the amount of Dijon sauce that we did, it was too strong of flavor.  A small amount goes a very long way with this sauce!

                           Day 2 (Total: $4.89)
           Breakfast                                 Lunch
Yogurt (1 1/2 Cups) - $ 0.46          Cheese Quesadilla - $ 1.29
      Grapes - $ 0.61                            Banana - $ 0.28

                                   Dinner
                    Saucy Stuffed Shells - $ 1.85 
                         Garlic Bread - $ 0.20
                           Broccoli - $ 0.20       

Day 2 Dinner

                       Day 3 (Total: $3.36)
          Breakfast                             Lunch
 Oatmeal (1 C) - $ 0.16                 PB&J - $ 0.55
1 Med. Pancake - $ 0.08               Apple - $ 0.63
     2 eggs - $ 0.33
                                  Dinner
                     Chicken Marsala - $ 1.36
                          Wheat Rice - $ 0.05
                  Zucchini/Onion Blend - $ 0.65

Day 3 Dinner

                          Day 4 (Total: $3.20)
        Breakfast                                Lunch
Shredded Wheat - $ 0.24             Tuna Sandwich - $0.50
      Milk - $0.14
    Banana - $ 0.28
                                    Dinner
                         Giant Calzone - $ 1.84
                       Steamed Spinach - $ 0.20

Day 4 Dinner

 All of these meals were delicious and I would recommend any of them!  For sake of space, I have not included the recipes for my dinner meals (if enough people are interested, let me know and I will include the dinner recipes in a later post). 
I learned a lot from this assignment, but mostly I was happy to see that the foods I ate were well under my allotted food costs.  And yes, I did not go hungry:)!  I still haven't come to a conclusion about my personal beliefs about SNAP benefits, but my eyes have been opened to a different way of living.  These meals required time and knowledge of cooking, which are commodities that many people do not have. 

Dreams

Tom and I have created this blog to let you know about all of our adventures.  We have quite the list of dreams (this is a literal list)!  Some of the things on the list are silly, other dreams are more... ambitious!  The title of this blog comes from a favorite childhood book of mine, Ship of Dreams.  My dad read this book to me many a scary night.  Both of my parents taught me how to dream both literally, through trying to get a scared girl to sleep, and figuratively.  I will forever be grateful for my parents for teaching me to be the person that I am today.  I am especially mindful of my mom today, as are we all.  I am so grateful for the friend she has always been.  She is the world's best listener and I know that she cares about me, worries for me and feels my pains just as much, or even more, than I do.  I hope that I can be the mother to my future children that she has been to me.  Thank you Mom, and Happy Mother's day!

Here are some of our dreams:
Picnic
Salmon Run
Old people spheel
Frightmares
Chalking
Snowshoeing
Rain Gutter Championship
Make gack
Make Play-Doh
Cookie Sheet Sledding
Weeping Mary under full moon
Ice Blocking
Throw Watermelon off building
Goofy-style bowling
Croquet Tourney 
Outdoor Iceskating
Fishing on Free Fishing day
Skiing at Beaver Mtn.
Hardware Ranch 
Corn Maze
Haunted House/Forrest
Scarlett Pimpernell
Finger painting
Temple Sawmill Hike
Ice Fishing
Hot Springs
Flooming
Mail a fruit
Horseback riding
Ice climbing
Camping
Get Engaged
Get Married :)
Make canvas paintings
Make carmel apples
Make an Igloo
Make and sleep in an ice-cave
Temple square extravaganza
Tye Dye shirts
Spelunking Timp. Caves
Canoeing
Kayaking
Skydiving
Buy a dog
Hand-milk a cow
Chilean hotdogs
Ride a tractor (green?)
5 story card castle
1000 + piece puzzle
Ginger bread house
Provo Temple baptisms
Fly a kite
Visit Jerusalem
Explore the world!

As you can see we still have lots of dreams to cross off!  As we finish dreams of ours, we will let you all know about it! 

The Redd Rocket was Joey's wagon.  He'd been riding it all afternoon.  Around the backyard, up the driveway, and through the garden they'd gone, with adventure at every turn.

Multi-Grain Waffles

Broccoli, Squash, and Cheese Soup