Shopska Salad

Bontymama Shopska Salad

A new, okay not really new, but reintroduced summer favorite of mine: Shopska Salad.  Oh, it is so delicious and seriously simple!  I was in Macedonia for a summer and tried Shopska salad for the first time.  The funny thing is that I didn't like it, because I didn't like tomatoes at the time...I know, who doesn't like tomatoes.  Don't worry I love them now.  I revisited the Shopska salad a couple weeks ago when I had an excess of tomatoes and cumbers thanks to friends with gardens and I didn't know what else to do with them before they went bad.  I am so glad I did!  Here is my version of the Shopska Salad:


Shopska Salad Bontymama Style
Diced tomatoes
Diced Cucumbers
Feta Cheese
EVOO
Matt's Mix

Mix them together and enjoy! :)

FreshStart

Okay, so I have done a fairly lousy job with my food journal...stink.  I was hoping that I would be better at it, but with chasing 3 kiddos around, I am pretty satisfied to be following the FreshStart plan, even if I don't write it down.

The Great news:  I lost 4.2lbs in a week!!!  YAY!  Almost to my goal.  I feel so much freakin' better!  My clothes are fitting better!  It is great.  Plus I have still been able to breastfeed this whole time and I am actually producing more milk!  (I think that is a huge part to the detox tea, which has milk thistle in it!)

Here's to your health!
bontymama

Fresh Start Day 4

Day 4 Food Diary:


Breakfast:
Arbonne Fizz Tab
Fried Egg and Brown Rice Cake

Morning Snack:
Arbonne Vanilla Protein Shake
Lunch:
Romaine, Cabbage and Spinach salad topped with leftover Chicken & Veggies (from the burritos), quinoa tortilla chips, salsa and avacado.



Afternoon Snack:
Arbonne Antioxidant & Immunity Booster
Arbonne Fizz Tab plus Arbonne Digestion Plus

Dinner:
Hummus, carrots and celery
Smoothie:  Arbonne Vanilla Protein Shake, Arbonne Fiber Booster, strawberries, raspberries, kale and orange juice. 


After-Dinner Snack:
Arbonne Detox Tea

Here's to your health!
bontymama

Katherine Bontempo
ID#16367212

FreshStart, Day 2 & Day 3

So today (Day 3) was a little rough. I went to make Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free Steel Cut Oats and was more than a little disappointed...we were out.  OUT! Stink.  Well that definitely didn't start the day right, so I had to improve a quick breakfast to get everybody out the door in time.  UGH!  Plus I was up WAY too late the night before!  So the plan for tonight early to bed and start again tomorrow!


Day 2 Food Diary
Breakfast:
Arbonne Fizz Tab (Citrus & Pomegranate Combo)
Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free Oatmeal with sliced almonds, flax seed meal, Arbonne Fiber Booster, and unsweetened almond milk 

Morning Snack:
Arbonne Vanilla Protein Shake

Lunch:
Mixed Greens and Spinach salad topped with leftover Dill Salmon with Roasted Veggies and Quinoa, EVOO and Lemon juice.
Arbonne Fizz Tab plus Arbonne Digestion Plus

Afternoon Snack:
Arbonne Antioxidant & Immunity Booster
Hot Chocolate with Almond Milk (home-made with dark cocoa and blue agave nectar)

Dinner:
Turkey Chili

After-Dinner Snack:
Arbonne Detox Tea

Day 3 Food Diary
Breakfast:
Arbonne Fizz Tab
Brown Rice Cake with Almond Butter

Morning Snack:
Arbonne Vanilla Protein Shake
Lunch:
Turkey Chili

Afternoon Snack:
Arbonne Antioxidant & Immunity Booster
Arbonne Fizz Tab plus Arbonne Digestion Plus
Arbonne Chocolate Protein Shake

Dinner:
Chicken and Veggie Burritos

After-Dinner Snack:
Arbonne Detox Tea


Here's to your health!
bontymama

Katherine Bontempo
ID #16367212

FreshStart, Day 1

So today my husband and I embark on a NEW journey!  Our FreshStart: 30 Day jump start to a Healthier Lifestyle.  I am really excited.  It is a great Detox/Weight Loss/Need-to-make-better-choices plan.  The plan comes right alongside Arbonne's amazing new Arbonne Essentials Line.  It offers SO many food options.  I knew my husband would jump on board when I showed him all the things that you ACTUALLY CAN eat! 

Look at all the yummy stuff you can eat!!

My goal is to lose the lingering 5-6 pounds of baby weight and really be able to start enjoying my clothing again as opposed to "fitting into"  things.  I mean just because you CAN button your jeans, doesn't mean you SHOULD wear them!

Day 1 Food Diary:

Breakfast:
Arbonne Fizz Tab (Citrus & Pomegranate Combo)
Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free Oatmeal with sliced almonds, flax seed meal, Arbonne Fiber Booster, and unsweetened almond milk 
Arbonne Vanilla Protein Shake

Morning Snack:
Arbonne Detox Tea
Brown rice cake with Almond butter

Lunch:
Mixed Greens and Spinach salad topped with Green apples, chick peas, pecans, a little EVOO, lemon juice, and Matt's Mix
Arbonne Vanilla Protein Shake

Afternoon Snack:
Arbonne Antioxidant & Immunity Booster
Arbonne Fizz Tab plus Arbonne Digestion Plus

Dinner:
Dill Salmon with Roasted Veggies (red onion, tomatoes, mushrooms) & quinoa

After-Dinner Snack:
Arbonne Detox Tea


Frankly that was a pretty amazing food day!  Here's to your health!

bontymama

Katherine Bontempo
ID #16367212

back to the simple life

Yup, that's right!  We are heading back to the simple life.  To the days of milking your own cows, catching fireflies,  swimming in the creek, homemade pies, and County Fairs.  Okay, maybe not that simple.  I have been slowing working my way [our family's way] back to basics and simplifying life.  I make some of my own cleaners, switched to cloth diapers (which are WAY less complicated than I thought), and in general try to lessen our intake of chemicals and yucky things.  Well after doing some more research specifically in the food department I was more that blown away.  I had some serious misconceptions on how I got my food.  The movie Food Inc. is A-MAZE-ING!!  It will blow your mind and disgust you...at least it did for me.   If you haven't seen it, I highly recommend it.  So watching Food Inc. and doing some other research as well as sharing Arbonne's new Arbonne Essential line with the 30 Day to Feeling Fit (more to come in another post) I have decided to go almost completely organic and focus on whole foods.  We were some what organic before, but now I don't think that I can even consider non-organic meats!  Yikes-a-roo!

I recently purchased this cookbook:  Feeding Our Families:  Bringing Back the Made-from-Scratch Family Dinners.  It is written by Katie Newell.  Katie is a  reformed junk food junkie, a healthy eating expert, motivational speaker and real food consultant.  She is the founder of HealthnutFoodie.com, which is an awesome website.  I made 2 meals from the cookbook and they were so scrumptious!  I am really excited to make more!  Katie recently share her knowledge at a weekly training call with Arbonne, it was so wonderful.  I learned a ton!  You can download (or listen online) to her talk here.  It is available for a limited time. 

Happy cooking!

Steel cut

So I recently discovered Steel Cut Oats and I LOVE them!  They are so stinking yummy!!  John McCann's Oats with applesauce, flax meal, sliced almonds, and cranberries are my new favorite breakfast!  Love it!

Arbonne Essentials!!!

 

Check out these AMAZING new products from Arbonne!  I am so excited for them to arrive!!! 

From the Arbonne website:

	When it comes to what your body needs, it’s simple — the small changes are the ones that make the biggest difference in your life. So if you’re not sure if you’re getting the vitamins and minerals you need throughout the day, there’s an easier way to approach everyday nutrition that will help you feel better — and live better. Arbonne Essentials can help you accomplish your goals and get you on the path to healthier living with nutrition that’s individually targeted to your body’s needs. You can choose products from Daily Essentials, Fit Essentials or some combination of the two.
	Maximizing Absorption & Effectiveness Using an integrative approach, our ingredients work together to increase nutrient uptake for optimum absorption and effectiveness.◊
	Nothing to Hide Arbonne Essentials are formulated without gluten and have: • NO artificial colors, flavors or sweeteners • NO cholesterol, saturated fats or trans fats • NO animal products
	◊This statement has not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.

 

Milking the Milk

So, I am ALL about little tricks to save money.  This one I got from a great website www.healthyoates.com.  Basically you buy 1 gallon ORGANIC WHOLE milk, which is the same price as skim, 1 percent or 2 percent, and divide.  Separate the milk into two half gallon portions and then add a half gallon of purified water (I use a Brita) to each and voila! you have the consistency of about 2 percent milk for HALF THE COST!!!  That my friends is SWEETNESS!  You can check out their article here.

I also get my milk from Trader Joe's.  They have great organic milk and it is regularly cheaper than Horizon's (unless it is on sale) and better tasting than the other store brands available here (Meijer or Kroger).  Happy Milking!

Making the switch to Cloth

So I am making the switch to cloth diapers for bug number 3!  Honestly, I really just can't handle paying for diapers anymore.  It seems like such a waste of money to me.  I know that you need something on your baby's cute little bottom, but seriously disposables are like throwing money away.  At least that is the point that I have come too.  Maybe part of it is that my older 2 are only 15 months apart, which means I was going through a ton of diapers a month for a while.   So to save money, mostly and to cut back on our waste and be a little more eco-friendly, I decided to switch to cloth.

While starting to look at all the cloth options and what the cloth diapering world was all about, I about gave up, and I hadn't even started yet!!  It was so stinking overwhelming.  There are so many options to choose from and all the places to buy and what do you need to do.  AHHH!  Please make it stop!  Phew, okay I survived.  Thanks to a great website that I stumbled upon:

www.allaboutclothdiapers.com

This website I found really helpful mainly because it broke down the types of cloth diapers and introduces newbies into the cloth diaper world in a not-so-overwhelming-kind-of-way.  A couple of the posts that really helped me were:

New to Cloth Diapers

Cloth Diaper System

Diapering on a Budget

Recommendations

Once I figured out which system was the way to go, the next step was to figure out where to buy.  That is where this site comes into play:  www.bananapeelsdiapers.com  I was able to purchase everything I needed to get started and the great thing about it that she offers free shipping with orders over $50.  I am a big fan of free shipping.  

So what did I decide to get?  

Flip with Stay Dry Inserts

Econobum

Thirsties Duo-Wrap Covers (I picked one with snaps and one with out, just to see what I like best)

Mainly I am starting with the stay dry inserts and prefolds.  They seemed like the easiest route to start.  I was also given some BumGenius to try as well.  

My order is placed and I am waiting for them to arrive.  Hopefully I will transition well into the cloth diapering world.  

Anemia

My liquid iron from Germany!  

So the results are in and I am freakin' anemic.  I have the worst case that my doc has ever seen!  Awesome.  Go big or go home....that's the way I roll.  Oh goodness.  At least that I know what is going on and it is a pretty easy fix...lots o' iron.  Which by the way spinach it not a good source of.  I know, I thought that it was too.  Apparently it has calcium in it and calcium blocks the absorption of iron.  Who knew.  Vitamin C on the other had helps with the absorption of iron.  So I am taking my special liquid iron from Germany with Orange Juice.  As long as I don't go into labor tomorrow or have some sort of freak cooking accident I should be okay.  Otherwise I will need a blood transfusion!  Yikes!  I told you it was bad.  

When it rains, it pours

So this week has not been my favorite.  I have been feeling yucky during this pregnancy (worse than normal) so after a quick call to my doc on Monday, followed by a not so quick visit that night.  I could have some yucky problems.
My options:  1.  preeclampsia  2.  pregnancy induced hypertension (PIH) or 3. anemia

Since I am slightly anemic and my levels were low when I had my glucose test, they think that is the cuplrit behind my wonky vision and extreme exhaustion.  Tuesday I had to go in to have blood work done, to test it all.  The lab was closed Monday night, bummer.  So another trip to the doc was needed.  Bug number 1 woke up with PINK EYE on Tuesday morning!  Are you kidding me?!  Thankfully my pediatrician called in a prescription for me.  I just couldn't make it to one more appointment.  Today I had had to say goodbye to Rocket.  Rocket is our van.  Bug number 1 named him.  Rocket got hit a while ago at the Farmer's Market and he is getting fixed!  Yay!  But no van, in fact no vehicle for the day.  Goodness.  It has been a long week and it is only Wednesday!

Summer Veggies

Our new favorite dish:

Roasted Veggies

Chopped zucchini, red onion, red potato, tomatoes (mainly what I can procure from the Farmer's Market)
toss with EVOO and Matt's Mix.

Heat oven to 350 with empty baking sheet in oven
When oven is heated pull baking sheet out and throw veggies on, it makes a great sizzle.
Cook for 20-25 min*

Delicious!!!

*Potatoes take longer so I put them on a separate sheet and start them first (about 15-20 min) before added remaining veggies. 

Matt's Mix

So I recently discovered this at Northville's Farmer's Market and it is AWESOME!!  Everyone needs to try this and use it.  It really is great on everything!  I made roasted veggies, yum-o!

Check it out at www.mattsmix.com  and on Facebook.  It is a great on hand seasoning, especially for picky little ones!!

Arbonne's New Product Launch

Arbonne Cosmetics

Check out these AMAZING new products from Arbonne!  So sweet.  They have outdone themselves again with providing quality products.  They just keep getting better and better.   The new Re9Advanced Set and Re9Advanced for Men and new Arbonne Cosmetics

Re9 Advanced

I just love being with a company that continues to pioneer new and safer ways to amazing skin care with out all the junk. 





katherine bontempo
ID #16367212

Challenge Yourself

Join the Arbonne 8 week weight loss challenge. Jump start your new year with healthy meal plans, supplement, and support to loss the weight you desire and get on a healthier track.  To sign up go to www.gofigure8.com 

Try either the Ready, SET, Go! Chocolate or Vanilla to get your weight loss program off to a start. 

 

Figure 8 Ready, SET, Go! Vanilla

       

Figure 8 Ready, SET, Go! Chocolate

katherine bontempo

ID# 16367212

Start the new year right

Look at these SWEET new products that Arbonne just launched!  They just compliment the Figure 8 line so well and make it so easy to lose weight and get your protein.  Although they are for weight loss, I use our shakes just to maintain health, so don't worry if you aren't trying to loss weight they are a perfect fit for you as well.

katherine bontempo
ID #16367212