Here's my LAST TWO resolutions! I promise! I've been going thru them this past week & hopefully my writing them down will encourage not only me but you as well to not give up on yours! Some of the more "deeper" ones are posted in my other blog Bigger Than This. But these are more about family, health & fun so I put the last 2 of my resolutions here...
1. Plan my dinner menu & cook more...I think this makes the list every year, & I usually start off pretty good, but it's those really busy times of year that get me off track! I find that the recipes on the back of things like the lipton soup secrets packages & french's fried onions are so easy & very tasty! (I never said I was a chef!) I've also been doing more crock-pot meals lately, & here's some of my favorite recipes...
Chicken Stroganoff As you may notice with this recipe, my dinners are NOT designed for losing weight, although you can replace the margarine with coconut oil (one of my favorite new things, more about that as you read further) & use the lower fat cream cheese (Neufchatel) to help a little! But this recipe is very good & the kids like it which is always a PLUS!
Beef Stew : Just made this one a couple of days ago & YUMMY!! The red wine gives it a great flavor & having to smell it all day was basically torture! I only used 2 lbs of stew meat and had plenty for my family of 5 (which includes a growing 2-3 helping type teenager) and plenty leftover!
Asian Apricot Pork Loin: This was a different taste but very good as well! Kids just picked around the apricots but they still liked the meat & it was very tasty & tender!
Now that I've made you hungry...share some of your favorites! :)
2. Eat more healthy & exercise...yes the dreaded exercise resolution! Haven't done much of this yet, unless playing Dance Central 2 on the Xbox counts! :) But the eating healthier part I've found a few great items lately I've incorporated into our diets...like Coconut oil of all things. It is a very strange looking thing & it's not necessarily low in fat. But as I've researched the benfits & the many uses I couldn't help but try it! These are just a few of the benefits...
• Improving your heart health.
• Boosting your thyroid.
• Increasing your metabolism.
• Promoting a lean body and weight loss if needed.
• Supporting your immune system.
It also helps with digestive issues, which both my husband & I tend to have & with skin! Use it on your face your feet or even on your hair challenged dog! I know most of you don't have one of those...but I do! Her picture is on this blog somewher & seriously if something says it helps I'm gonna try it on her...it has made her much softer & after the last 3 weeks of use (she has her OWN jar by the way), I really think she looks (and smells) better!!!
Well so that you don't just take my word for it, there have been segments on the Dr. Oz show about coconut oil as well as articles from a respected "natural health" dr. we've always liked, Dr. Joseph Mercola & you can read more thru those links below...
Dr. Mercola, Benefits of Coconut Oil
How do I use it? I use it in place of butter & olive oil at times (on bread, in a recipe, on veggies instead of a little butter). I even put a little in my coffee/tea, may sound strange but it melts & gives it a slight sweet taste & it's just an easy way for me to incorporate it into my diet. I've used it on my face...really! I find it works better than my regular "moisturizer"! And as I stated above...I've used it on the dog! :)
You can probably buy it from your grocery store, sometimes in the regular oil section sometimes where the olive oil & stuff is. It's not the cheapest but it's been worth it in our household. I also purchase a lot of vitamins that my kids use & coconut oil & other healthy stuff we eat online thru amazon...all of these things below, I've found at area stores, but I they were more expensive. So the free shipping & not running around to 2 or 3 different stores made it worth it for me. I believe vitacost.com has comparable prices as well.