Healthy.

So I know thus far, I've had kind of weird scattered posts and haven't yet addressed why I'm doing this or what I think about the world and such. 

First off, I love to cook, bake, sew, can (although I've done very little since I don't have a pressure cooker yet), up-cycle, and do a lot of random things. So here I'll post things I create or upcycle, what I cook and bake, and some of the fun things I try to do with my family, friends, etc. 

One very important thing about me is that I believe in moderation and that helps reinforce my idea of health. I do NOT think it's healthy to eat spinach and almond milk every meal, if you do you will not enjoy it here. I also do NOT think eating the fewest calories and losing weight = being healthy. Being overweight is not healthy, duh. I definitely would like to lose a few pounds and try to make healthy steps and exercise to help accomplish that goal. One way I will not do it is by eating very few calories by eating "fake food". 

**The way I have decided upon my definition of health is by what makes me and my body feel good. I don't care if you disagree, and I don't want to fight about it. I do think my idea of health is best way to be healthy for just about everyone but I don't care if you do it or not.**

So here's my definition: health in terms of food is eating food! For example the recipe I posted yesterday (smothered tilapia) it has 7 ingredients. However, if I were to have to make an ingredient list like on the back of all the food we buy these days it would STILL have only 7 ingredients (maybe 8, there might some curing salt in the bacon). I took food that exists and made it into something else that's super tasty. Yeah, I know bacon is cured and such but if I bought pork belly I would have to do the same thing, which I wish I could! I've tried to start doing things for myself, it's just hard because financially and space-wise right now it's not an option to do EVERYTHING so I do what I can and try and make wise-choices on the things I can't do from scratch. I also know that bacon is not considered healthy. However, I know a couple slices of bacon makes my body feel much better than  10 calories of fake butter. 

This being said I don't always eat just "real food". I still eat normal people food. I also make a lot of normal people food because I live in a house with 9 other people (yeah, I know) ha. I try to eat as much real food as I can, as well as helping my family secretly start  eating healthy. Yeah, I eat store-bought bread sometimes... that's life.  

Another reason eating real has been so important for me is because I don't tolerate gluten. Mine isn't very bad at this time but I still feel WAY better when I don't eat it. You'll have lots of gluten free recipes here, as well as normal ones because I'm cooking for other people too.  It's a lot easier to know something doesn't have gluten in it if 1) I make it , 2) it naturally doesn't have gluten, and 3) if I don't have to read 7000 ingredients to decide. 

This is how I try and eat. I also try and exercise regularly. I also make sure that I only exercise when I enjoy it. This sounds very wrong to a lot of you I'm sure. BUT I currently enjoy working out. I also know it helps me be healthy. So if I am having a shit day and don't work out 1 day that week, to me it's way better than forcing myself to and starting to have negative feelings towards exercise.  

Dinosaur Eggs!

This was a WAY fun activity. It was pretty easy and since we made enough for a couple sets at once it was very little prep time for something my little brothers loved... and maybe I enjoyed myself too. I think it would be an awesome activity at a birthday party or something of that nature and I forgot to mention that it's SUPER cheap.

We called this babies "dinosaur eggs" because we hid cute little plastic dinosaurs in them. They do look more like poop than eggs though. ha. You could hide pretty much anything in them (I think plastic stuff would work best because it's not delicate or ruin-able). Yeah, I make up words. 

1 cup coffee grounds, used
1 cup flour
1/2 cup salt
1/4 cup sand
3/4 cup or so water
the stuff you want to hide (small toys, jewels, etc.)

Mix coffee, flour, salt, and sand. Then add water 1/4 cup at a time until a dough-like consistency. Form a little ball of the dough. Stick your stuff in it, and add more dough and/or form it into a ball so the whole toy is covered. (if you make it too big it won't dry forever). You can either let them sit out for a couple days (2 or 3) or you can put them in your oven on low (150-200* whatever is the lowest on your oven) and bake for 20 minutes or so until dry. 

Then break and enjoy! We used forks and knives to help us break them up. We made 10 or so "eggs" with this much and did it three different times. I think this would be just as fun for girls too, if they're not into dinosaurs and stuff I would think any of the cute party favors like rings and stuff would be awesome!

Smothered Tilapia... or Chicken!

Now, I will preface this by saying I usually make this recipe with chicken and not tilapia. The tilapia was yummy, but I think I prefer this dish with chicken (we didn't have any chicken and a store run was not on the agenda) and to have my fish dishes more fish like, ya know? If that makes sense, ha. So I'd recommend trying this dish with chicken! It is one of my favorite dishes and even though you have to do a few steps they are all super simple and make a phenomenal dish.

2 chicken breasts or tilapia filets
4 slices bacon, chopped
2 onions, sliced pretty small
1/4 c. brown sugar
1/4 c. shredded cheese
salt & pepper, to taste

Preheat oven to 350*. If using chicken breasts, I like to cut them into a bit smaller pieces so they cook faster. Place chicken (or tilapia) into an aluminum foil packet with a little olive oil, and salt and pepper to taste. Throw it in the oven and bake away. A whole breast will probably take 40-50 minutes to cook through, where 1/2 a breast should take 20-30 minutes, and tilipia will take 10 minutes if defrosted, or 20 minutes if frozen. While the protein of choice is cooking away, start frying up your chopped bacon. I like mine nice and crispy so I cook it until it's crisp. Then remove bacon from pan onto a paper towel (leave the grease in the pan). Throw the onion into the hot pan with the grease and start cooking. I don't cook them all the way caramelized just nice and tender. After about 10 minutes or so, I add in the brown sugar and stir it all good. Once the onions are coated and the brown sugar is dissolved. Layer your protein, onions, sprinkle some cheese, then your bacon. I like mine with rice and broccoli.