Rules to Live By

These are some tidbits/snippets/tips/do's and don'ts on eating clean

Dinner tonight

So one thing I'll say is I like to eat clean but I also think a home-cooked meal is great! Our grandparents didn't go wrong when they ate on the farm with just meat and potatoes.

Here's whats on the menu for dinner tonight:

Oven baked spare ribs
Brown rice
baked beans (I use a can of Pork and Beans**)

This recipe is adapted from PackMomma.com

• 2 lb spareribs
• 1/8 cup Creole seasoning
• 3/4 cup tomato puree
• 1/2 cup honey
• 1/4 cup soy sauce (low sodium)
• 1 tbl brown sugar
• 2 tsp garlic powder
• 1 tsp onion powder
• 2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
• 1 tsp of cayenne pepper (optional for heat)

Instructions

1. Preheat your oven to 375 degrees. 
2. Generously sprinkle both sides of your ribs with Creole seasoning 
3. Lay your ribs on a cooking pan and cover the pan well with foil so that no steam will escape. Slide pan into your oven and cook for 30 minutes.
4. In a saucepan, add tomato puree, soy sauce, honey, brown sugar, and spices. 
5. Bring to a low boil, stirring constantly. 
6. Once boiling, lower the heat and let simmer for 10 minutes. 
7. Remove from the heat and let cool to slightly thicken up the sauce.
8. After your ribs have cooked for 30 minutes, carefully remove the foil (watch the steam!) and using a basting brush, cover both sides of your ribs with the BBQ sauce. 
9. Recover pan and return the oven for another 20 minutes. 
10. When the 20 minutes have passed, remove the pan again, take off the foil and carefully drain out the excess liquid from the bottom of the pan. 
11. Coat all sides of your ribs heavily in sauce and cook uncovered for another 20 minutes, turning on the broiler for the last 10.

FYI this recipe is kid tested! Connor ate this up and juuuust enough left overs for lunch tomorrow.

**Pork and beans is about as healthy as you can get for canned beans. Compare the nutritional labels for each:      You're Welcome!

Van Kamp's Pork and Beans

Nutrition Facts
Serving Size 1/2 cup (130g)
Servings Per Container about 6
Amount Per Serving
Calories 110 Calories from Fat 10
	% Daily Value*
Total Fat 1g		2%
	Saturated Fat 0g	0%
	Trans Fat 0g
	Polyunsaturated Fat 0g
	Monounsaturated Fat 0g
Cholesterol 0mg		0%
Sodium 390mg		16%
Total Carbohydrate 23g		8%
	Dietary Fiber 6g	24%
	Sugars 7g
Protein 6g

  

Vitamin A 0%	Vitamin C 0%
Calcium 4%	Iron 8%

Bush's Baked Beans

Serving Size: 1/2 cup (130g)
Amount per size:
Calories 140Calories from fat 10		%DV*
Fat	1g	2%
Saturated Fat	0g	-%
Trans Fat	0g	-%
Cholesterol	0mg	-%
Sodium	550mg	23%
Potassium	-	-%
Carbohydrates	29g	10%
Dietary Fiber	5g	20%
Sugar	12g	-%
Protein	6g	-%
Vitamin A	-	-%
Vitamin C	-	-%
Calcium	-	4%
Iron	-	10%
*Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000-calorie diet. Your daily values may be higher or lower depending on your calorie needs.

Reading recommendation for beginners

I've used a few sources to help with my workouts and clean eating. Here are my top 3 choices that are definite musts to check out!

First is to learn how to properly workout

Bodybuilding.com

This website is not just for the "meat-head" types and as a woman,

you aren't going to get all bulky and manly unless you're an actual 

fitness model and your life revolves around workouts.

Build your workout plan, print out sets and even watch videos on

proper form for working out.

The Abs Diet for Women

Abs Diet for Women was like a Bible that I carried around with me for weeks. The workouts are ok but the meal planning and what you can learn from it will teach you everything you wanted to know (and some you didn't want to know) about the nutrition facts label and what all those big words mean. 

Even has a whole list of items of what you should always have in your pantry and fridge.

Link to Amazon for purchase

Personal Blogs

Alexa Jean Fitness

Now of course I would promote a personal blog

any chance I can since I have one. I really like

Alexa Jean because she is a mom like me and

her exercise plans and eating is realistic. (Hey I'm

not trying to be GI Jane here!)

Check all these out! What do you have to lose ;-)

So this was me...

So this was me back in 2013....I worked my little arse off to get to a post-baby weight I was happy with. Not even a weight for me. But I got to a fit level that made me want to put a bikini on.


Wellllll! It's time to get back on the wagon..After the divorce and working hard to get my career where I'm happy, I went from going to the gym 4-5 days a week to mayyyybe 2-3.




Here's me back in May 2015

Lets just say I'm not looking like that right now either. So much for getting bikini ready in the summer! Anyway, I'll share my tips, thoughts and complete meltdowns with you....