burnt broccoli

It's hard to get kids to get their vegetables.  When my daughter first started eating real food I was crazy about her eating all organic foods with tons of fruits and veggies.  Needless to say she is now on a solid diet of chicken nuggets, hot dogs, and waffles.  I learned during an appointment with a dietician how important protein is for children, this information, along how little my daughter ate, I changed my philosophy.  I make sure all her meals have protein in them and at least one fruit or vegetable (with at least one veggie a day.) 

At first my daughter loved edamame, in the pod or out of the pod.  Sadly a few months ago she got over them, so I had to come up with a new go to veggie.  This is where burnt broccoli came in.  It's easy to do and she loves it, here's how to make it.

- Heat oven to 450 degrees
- Clean and cut broccoli
- Put olive oil and garlic salt on the broccoli
- Put in oven until broccoli is crispy

ice cream

My down fall is ice cream.  Just ask my husband, he has seen me cry more than once over not being able to get it.  I try to save my desire for ice cream for special occasions or at least weekends but most of the time (especially in the summer) I have it more than I should.  One of the perks of being pregnant twice was my ability to eat ice cream anytime.  I didn't feel guilty about it (it's calcium for the baby) and what's cuter than a huge pregnant women eating ice cream.  Now that I have kids I try to pawn getting ice cream off on them (scan to me telling my daughter that we can't go to the bookstore until we get ice cream).

So one day while I was busy pinning on Pinterest I came across a healthy ice cream.  It seemed like an easy recipe so I tried it and fell in love.

Here it is:

1 frozen banana (frozen is key)
1 cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk
a few tablespoons of cocoa
a teaspoon or two of vanilla

Blend it with some ice and you have a chocolatey banana ice cream!

myfitnesspal

My biggest tip to losing weight (or maintaining) is to keep track of everything you eat.  You'd be amazed at how much you eat while you're not thinking about it or how many calories are in something that you thought was healthy.  I think anything that makes you keep track of what you eat will help you loose weight, whether it's Weight Watchers or a simple journal.  The easiest thing for me are iPhone apps.  I always have my phone with me and these apps give you the calories of what you've eaten and subtract it from your daily allowances.

I've used a few different apps but my favorite thus far is 'my fitness pal'.  I like this app because it's easy to use, seems to have any food you could think of, and takes into account your exercise by adjusting the calories you have remaining for the day. Best of all, it's free!

You can find it in the app store or at myfitnesspal.com

Katie's Adventures in Health

Everyday I think about health.  Whether it's the run I want to go on, the new recipe on Pinterest I want to try, the newest product I found at the store, or different ways to get my kids to eat good food. I love watching infomercials for blenders, juicers, and fitness DVDs and reading health and fitness magazines.  When I find something new that I'm excited about I want to share it but I was never sure where.  I mean really, how many of my Facebook friends care about my run or how many calories are in my low calorie lasagna??? And you can only take so many Instagram pictures of food.

So that is where 'Katie's Adventures in Health' was born.  From my obsession with food and fitness and my excitement in sharing my ideas and good finds in health with everyone.