Healthy Breakfast

So in case you haven't noticed, I LOVE BREAKFAST!!!  The best meal of the day!  But being from the south, I would love to sit down to a bowl of grits and a huge plateful of biscuits and sausage gravy, with eggs on the side!  However, My hips would NEVER forgive me!  So I try to eat a healthy breakfast, so that I start my day off right.  I found this awesome article the other day with some breakfasts on it.  The author of Eat This, Not That, also has a website, and guess where I found that article....  You got it, on that website!  Here are a few I liked!!!

Quick and Healthy Oatmeal
Ingredients:
1 cup Vanilla Soy milk
1/2 sup Old Fashioned Oats
1/4 cup Blueberries or Raspberries
1 Tablespoon Maple Syrup

Directions:
1.Combine milk and oats in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat and bring to a boil.  Reduce the heat to low and simmer for 5 minutes.
2. Serve topped with berries and maple syrup.
Only 360.7 calories, 7.4 g fat, 0.6 g saturated fat, 0 mg cholesterol, 57.9 g Carbs, 17.8 g sugars, 8.1 g dietary fibers, and 18.3g of protein to each serving!

Easy Cheesy Mushroom Scramble
Ingredients:
3 eggs
1/2 cup pre-sliced fresh mushrooms
1 ounce 2% shredded Mozzarella
1 teaspoon pam cooking spray

1. Crack eggs into bowl, and whisk to break yolks.
2. Add mushrooms and cheese
3. Spray pam on hot pan
4. Add eggs and cook until firm sirring and flipping often.
5. and in my case, I end sharing with at least three of my six kids!  LOL!

293.1 calories, 19.1g fat, 7.2 g saturated fat, 649.7mg cholesterol, sodium 414.2 mg sodium, 3.3 g carbs, 1.7 g sugars, 0.4 g dietary fiber, 28.1 g protein

Hope that helps add to your healthy breakfast recipes!!!
~Mommy of 6 <3

Pesto Pasta and Chicken

Ingredients:
1 lb cavatappi or other pasta
12 oz chicken breast cutlets
Olive oil
1⁄4 tsp each salt and pepper
1 tub (6 to 7 oz) cilantro or basil pesto
1 cup jarred roasted peppers (preferably red and yellow), drained, cut in strips
1 cup halved grape tomatoes

Directions:
1. Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add pasta and cook as package directs, reserving about 1 cup of cooking water before draining.

2. Meanwhile, heat stovetop grill pan. Coat chicken with Olive Oil  and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Grill chicken 4 to 5 minutes, turning once, until cooked through.

3. Cut chicken into strips. Add to drained pasta along with pesto, peppers, tomatoes and about 1⁄2 cup pasta cooking water (or more if desired). Toss to mix and coat.

Enjoy
Mommy of 6 <3

Immunity Boosting Juices

2 Juices guaranteed to boost immunities, or ward off colds.  How do you think I survive the cold season and don't get colds???  Come on I have six kids, three in school!!!  LOL!  These are healthy and don't taste bad!!!  Can it be true? 

Yes....  yes it can be....

Ingredients:
4-5 large carrots
Small handful of parsley
1 clove garlic
1 apple, cored

Directions:
Run ingredients through juicer. Strain. The parsley takes care of the garlic odor, and the apple sweetens the juice.

Ingredients:
6 large carrots
2 stalks celery, cut into 1" chunks
Handful of parsley
2 cloves of garlic

Directions:
Process all ingredients through juicer. Strain. This is a great juice to ward off colds.
Enjoy
Mommy of 6 <3

Best for Cholestrol Article

Best for Cholesterol

All fruits and vegetables have health benefits to offer. But some are especially good.

Among the best:

Avocados. Although this is one of the few fruits high in fat, it's mainly monounsaturated fat. Several studies find that eating one avocado a day can lower your LDL as much 17 percent while raising your HDL. Try them in salads and sandwiches or mashed with a bit of lemon juice, onion, and chopped tomato as a topping for baked potatoes. Just don't go overboard; one avocado has about 340 calories.

Garlic. Garlic can lower cholesterol modestly as well as prevent blood from becoming sticky and forming dangerous clots. The compound most studies focus on, allicin, is the same one that gives garlic its distinctive odor. In one analysis of five trials in which participants received either garlic supplements or a placebo, the authors concluded that you could lower your total cholesterol about 9 percent with the equivalent of 11/2 to 3 cloves of garlic daily for two to six months.  You need to crush, chop, or otherwise bruise the cloves to release the allicin. For a sweet way to get your garlic, remove the loose paper covering from a head of garlic, cut off the tops of the garlic, drizzle olive oil on it, wrap in foil, and bake in a 350°F oven until soft, about an hour. Then squeeze the heads of the cooked garlic onto toasted bread and spread.

What if you don't like garlic, also known as the “stinking rose”? Can you get the  same benefits from a garlic pill? Maybe, if you choose the right one. A study by  ConsumerLab.com found that 7 of 14 garlic supplements tested contained less of the active ingredient (allicin) than researchers say is necessary for a therapeutic effect. Those doses include 3,600 to 5,400 milligrams of allicin, while the doses in the products tested ranged from 400 to 6,500 milligrams. The products that met or exceeded recommended doses included Garlinase 4000, Nutrilite Garlic Heart Care Formula Dietary Supplement, Spring Valley Enteric Coated Odor-Free Garlic 1,200 milligrams equivalent per tablet, and Kyolic Aged Garlic Extract.

Oranges. Think of your morning orange juice as cholesterol medicine in a glass.  After drinking three glasses of orange juice a day for four weeks, 25 participants in a Canadian trial increased their HDL levels 21 percent and lowered their LDL/HDL ratio 16 percent. Of course, if you're watching your calorie intake, three glasses of juice is a lot; you'll probably want to stick to a glass or two a day.

Prunes. Prunes (dried plums) contain a special kind of soluble fiber called pectin, which forms a gel in your intestines that sops up cholesterol before it hits your bloodstream. Blend cooked prunes with water into a puree that can replace oils and fats in baking, add dried prunes to stews for a delicious sweetness, or chop and sprinkle over salads, yogurt, cottage cheese, or cereal.

Counting to Nine
Hearing you need to get nine or more servings of fruits and vegetables can be daunting. But consider the definitions of a serving (below) from the National Cancer Institute. All varieties of fruits and vegetables fresh, frozen, canned, dried, and 100 percent juice--count.

•One medium-size fruit (apple, orange, banana, pear).
•1/2 cup of raw, cooked, canned, or frozen fruits or vegetables.
•3/4 cup (6 ounces) of 100 percent fruit or vegetable juice.
•1/2 cup of cut up fruit.
•1/2 cup of cooked or canned legumes (beans, peas).
•1 cup of raw, leafy vegetables (lettuce, spinach).
•1/4 cup of dried fruit (raisins, apricots, mango).

Article from Reader's Digest Cut Your Cholestrol
~Mommy of 6 <3