How I Lost 5 Pounds (Without Even Trying)

Now, you need to know that I am a person who very rarely steps on the scale. I don't base my self-worth on my weight, although it doesn't hurt to generally keep track of it and take a look-see now and then. So imagine my surprise when I stepped on the scale for the first time in two weeks and noticed I had dropped five pounds. Score!

Keep in mind that weight is not the best measure of health, not by a long shot. If you're stepping up your fitness by changing your diet, increasing cardio and doing exercises to increase your muscle mass, weight will be the least effective way to measure your progress. Muscle weighs more than fat, but it takes up a lot less space. A better way to keep track of how you're doing is to take your measurements when you start your regimen and take new measurements every month (at the bust, waist and hips). This is where you'll notice a real difference. When I was at my most fit back in high school, I weighed 150lbs and I can't tell you how many people scoffed at me in disbelief when I told them my weight. I was solid muscle, and increasing lean muscle mass should be our goal instead of just being a certain size or weight. When your body is at its most healthy, it will settle into its natural shape, which we should accept and love unconditionally. (I just read a great article on this topic by @SophiaTripp: http://wp.me/p2H1ay-6D ) Here is a list of the recent changes I've made in my diet.

Protein
Increasing protein is essential for overall health, as well as any successful healthy diet (by the way, diet just means "what you eat" not "a restricted eating regimen" in my books). Protein helps you to feel fuller for longer, especially when combined with fiber and carbohydrates in your stomach. And when you're satisfied for longer, you're less tempted to snack later on. Have you ever eaten a whole meal and then felt hungry not even an hour later? Yeah. That's pretty annoying, and you end up eating more to quell that hunger, which is counter-intuitive to your goal of overall eating less calories. You don't want to eat a meal twice. Do it right the first time. Start your day with a protein-rich breakfast but don't be afraid to include carbohydrates -- you'll end up eating a complex meal that will give you energy to start your day. I picked eggs for this role. Cook them however you like, I prefer hard-boiled (with the yolks just a little bit soft still, mm perfection). I chose to skip the toast and pair them with a smoothie chock full of fruits and veggies. Which brings my to my next health element...

Fiber
There are two kinds of fiber: soluble and insoluble. Soluble fibers are those that dissolve in water and are found in foods like barley, legumes, fruits, oats and vegetables. Insoluble fibers do not dissolve in water and are found in things like the outer layers of whole grains, celery strings, and the hulls of seeds. The human body can't actually digest fiber, but it helps to move food through the digestive system (I know, gross) so you kind of need it to digest food properly and also to live. These fibers help regulate blood sugar and can significantly lower cholesterol levels. Regulating blood sugar levels is super important. Lastly, fiber makes you feel fuller since it absorbs water from the digestive juices in your stomach. So eating complex meals with lots of protein and fiber will increase satiety and contribute massively to your health.

A note on Carbohydrates
It bothers me to no end when people lambaste carbs as if they were the devil incarnate. Let's set the record straight here: you need carbohydrates to live, so eliminating them from your diet completely is a bad idea. Glucose is a critical source of energy for the body's nerve cells, and that includes the brain. Instead of avoiding carbohydrates altogether, we should be reducing our refined sugar intake. It has a huge amount of calories and absolutely no nutritional value, which is really what we should be focusing on. Carbohydrates are not the enemy; in fact carbs have 4 calories per gram while fat has 9 calories per gram. Make small changes like switching out regular white pasta to those high-fibre versions. This will prevent your blood sugar from spiking like it would with regular pasta, and keep you feeling fuller for longer. Choose bakery bread that has lots of whole grains in it. Switch your white rice to brown rice, or long grain rice. Or even better yet, change up some of your favourite recipes to use quinoa instead of rice. It's higher in protein and more nutritious.

The general rule of thumb for better eating is to choose foods that have a high nutritional value. Eating a variety of nutrient-dense foods will ensure you're getting all the essential stuff like vitamins, minerals and other good things your body needs. Instead of regular potatoes, use sweet potatoes or squash. Instead of chips for a snack, choose popcorn since it's much lower in fat and has a high fiber content. Instead of candy, eat dried cranberries or mangoes for something sweet. Whenever possible, pick fruits and veggies for your snacks. And increase your water intake! If you use a refillable water bottle, aim to empty it twice a day. Water helps every single one of the cells in your body to do the things it needs to do. Stay away from juice and pop, since it's just sugar water. You can still have it, just make it once in a while instead of all the time. With that in mind, here are some meal ideas you can add into your rotation. Basically, with every meal or snack I eat, I'm thinking about how I can make it more filling and nutritious. Many good choices over time add up to a healthy body and mind, just like many bad choices over time lead to health problems. People that are overweight and unhealthy didn't get that way overnight, and you won't lose body fat overnight either -- so stick with it and remember your ultimate goal of becoming healthier. You can do it!

Meal Ideas:
Breakfast
2 hard-boiled eggs + a smoothie (berries, baby spinach, water or juice, with a few goodies thrown in like hemp hearts, ground flax seed or chia seeds)
Greek yogurt topped with honey, berries, almonds/granola
Oatmeal (not the instant kind) topped with cinnamon, honey, flax seed, sliced almonds

Lunch
Tuna salad on toast, with an apple or some other fruit
Baked salmon with a spinach salad
Vegetable soup (with good stuff like lentils and beans. Here's where a home-made soup would be best, but Campbell's makes a really great hearty vegetable soup with lentils, carrots and barley)

Dinner
Whole wheat pasta with lean ground beef in tomato sauce
Chicken fingers (I get mine from the Poultry Place, they are so freaking tasty as well as all-natural, home-made and hormone free) with a spinach salad
Roasted chicken with long grain rice & lentils and roasted sweet potatoes

Snacks
Dried cranberries
Dried mangoes (amazing)
Nuts, unsalted (sunflower seeds, almonds, walnuts, pumpkin seeds; avoid peanuts because they totally suck)
Popcorn
Pretzels

An Essay on Child-Rearing

Studying what I've been studying over the past few months has been difficult. Another word for it is "trying" but it's gone as far as downright terrifying. I did not expect this information to hit me as hard as it did. Being able to personally identify with a lot of what we're learning about has been scary as fuck, since I've been avoiding thinking about these things as much as I could for as long as I could. I finally started to address it and it's been the best thing that I ever did (but at times has felt like the worst thing that's ever happened to me) but this is a topic for another post.

In my current voluntary-distraction-from-exams phase, I've discovered and have been reading extensively The Worst Things For Sale -- which is hilarious, and I highly recommend it. I do this in stores often, especially when visiting the States; I pick up items and scoff at whoever thought a particular item would be a good and necessary thing for people to have. I usually take pictures. And I am usually the only one who finds it funny. But now I know I'M NOT ALONE. I'm digressing here.

In perusing this hilarious website I happened upon an entry regarding a book about "discipline" entitled How To Raise Up A Child. I was a bit scared of what I would find in the reviews. But I am glad I decided to look into it, because this is the exact reason I am getting into the profession of social service work. Reading the reviews on the Amazon item page was also something I dreaded -- thinking there would only be reviews from those singing its praises, testifying about how fantastic the Pearls' methods were, and how it worked for them. To my relief, there seemed to be more warnings to not purchase the book than there were reviews advocating its use. Faith in humanity slightly restored.

Then in one review someone mentioned Lydia Schatz. I looked it up and was amazed that I didn't hear about this story -- or maybe I had, and never looked into it further and simply forgot. Either way, stories like this will now stick in my mind forever as evidence to bring forth whenever someone naively expresses the belief that child abuse doesn't happen anymore. That people have moved past it. Or that everyone knows it's wrong.

Anderson Cooper (bless his gorgeous heart) and another reporter from CNN profiled the Schatz case as Lydia's adopted parents were being sentenced. They spoke with an attorney as well as the authors of the aforementioned ridiculous book, Micheal and Debi Pearl, in this news segment.

What infuriates me is their insistence that abuse can be helpful. That it's beneficial to break a child's will. To hit a toddler until they stop whimpering, for as long as that may take. This is the mindset that killed Lydia Schatz; why? Because she mispronounced a word for fuck's sake. A great blog post with quotes from the book can be found here.

This book is dangerous material for anyone who isn't familiar with child development, which is unfortunately the reality for a lot of fundamentalist religious people. When the only education you get is Bible-based, you get a very ancient methodological basis for your life. We've learned a lot about people since the Bible was written, and this needs to be taken into account. A parent needs to know what behaviours are appropriate for children from ages 0-10 at the very least. They need to know what to expect as normal, childish behaviour -- that which any child of their age would do. Certain behaviours are exploratory, or for fun -- because that's what children do. They explore their fucking worlds by reaching for things or putting things in their mouths, and we should only stop them when their safety is in jeopardy (or maybe when we don't want them drooling on our $600 phones). And that's just it -- you can stop them, and explain why you stopped them. Kids are a lot smarter than we give them credit for. Explain your reasoning in a way they can understand. Distinguish this behaviour from purposefully defiant behaviour -- that which is meant to test your boundaries. Or if they're older, it might be to purposefully piss you off (some kids think this is really funny, and can you blame them? You probably look hilarious when you're mad).

A few years ago I was shopping in a large store with a friend and her then 3-year-old son. As a single mother she was able to be very precise in her disciplinary methods (not abusive, for the record). She could practice consistency and control to an amazing degree because she was always with her son, all the time as a mom who worked from home. When she and I stopped to look at something, her son took off running at full tilt towards the far end of the aisle. I of course expressed some slight concern, but she didn't look bothered -- she just said "Oh, he knows to stop where I can see him." I looked over and was astonished to see him stop abruptly at the end of the aisle, turn around and smile his adorable huge smile at us both. This kid is three years old and he knows to stop running before he gets into an area in which his mother cannot see him. How did he know this? She explained it to him. It's about safety. If she were to not explain that part to him, and just do the whole "because I said so!" then it becomes about control. Then, of course he is going to run away where you can't see him and watch you freak the fuck out because it's hilarious. Don't just expect your kids to listen to you about everything, all the time, without explaining why. Again, kids are pretty fucking smart and a lot smarter than we give them credit for. It starts early, too -- when your kid throws a toy off his high chair onto the floor and watches you pick it up for him, over and over? That is hilarious, and he realizes he can control you in that way. Don't slap him for it -- just don't pick up the toy, and he will eventually learn that when something falls off of a surface, it's then out of his reach, so maybe he shouldn't throw it away if he actually wants to play with something while he's in his high chair.

I'm rambling now, but I'm trying to make a point -- there is a better way to make your child understand the world than hitting them. Spanking was not a disciplinary method in our household. From a young age my mom tried her very best to instill favourable personality traits in us through basic Christian teachings (to me they're just basic guidelines for being a good person, but whatever): be nice, treat others how you would wish to be treated, don't do things that are self-serving/don't be selfish, share and give back to others, don't be concerned with things like revenge, practice unconditional love and forgiveness, and other basic things that amount to: don't be an asshole, and do the right thing because it's the right thing to do. And while these traits may have led to me being a timid doormat who took a whole lot of shit from other kids growing up, I'm glad I got past that stage to become a person who actually cares about others (and increasingly, myself).

Spanking was a rare thing for my mom -- it usually happened when she was not okay, and only when we did something really bad, and when we were at the age where we could be snotty, purposefully talking back and occasionally being jerks to each other and her as well. She hated that because it showed disrespect, and probably made her think she didn't do a good enough job raising us, which was probably a scary thought for her. We always were still sent to our rooms, and we always talked about it after. And we didn't just get the "it's for your own good, so quit your fucking whining" spiel. I got the "it hurt me to do that to you, but your actions were hurtful to me too. When you talk to me like that it feels like you don't care about me, and that you don't love me. If you love me, act like it in everything that you do." This still is something I practice today. Don't say something that can hurt someone's feelings even when you're angry. Saying what you mean and meaning what you say is a big deal that sounds a lot simpler than it is. If we're fighting and you are so frustrated with me that you (for example) tell me to just go, get the fuck outta here, then I'm fucking leaving end of story. But later when you say "Why did you leave? Well I only said that because I was so mad..." So if you didn't fucking mean it, don't say it motherfucker! Anyway.

In short, abuse still happens. And it is usually because a parent does not know of any other method of discipline. Or they may have half-heartedly tried a more gentle method that didn't produce results that they were satisfied with. Probably because they tried it too late, or weren't consistent enough. Good disciplinary basics dictate that the consequence must come directly after the unwanted behaviour, and it must be consistent. Otherwise the child cannot connect the two events as being related and therefore it will be pretty fucking hard for them to learn that a certain behaviour will have certain consequences. You can't let them sometimes get away with it. Explanations for your discipline are always necessary -- make it perfectly clear why what they did is wrong or unacceptable behaviour.

There is always a better way than hitting/spanking/striking with objects. It should absolutely not be your go-to method of discipline for everything. Regardless if the Pearls have had what they measure as "success" in their methods, and regardless if they don't think that they take it too far, it is a dangerous line to skirt. You're potentially creating so many more problems in this little person that they will carry for the rest of their lives. To recommend that you hit a child until you break their will is not okay. Should we hit grown-ups until their wills are broken? No. So let's not do it to our kids, alright?

Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins

Last week, while throwing yet another couple of browned bananas into my freezer, I noticed that the pile of hardened torpedoes was about to take over my entire freezer. I resolved to finally do something with these poor neglected fruits that I had been hoarding. And so, to Google I went, to search for yet another banana muffin recipe. I had been unsatisfied with my previous staple recipes, and wanted something new and different. I also had some chocolate chips that I wanted to use, because, well... chocolate is great.

And so I stumbled upon this recipe. It had more ingredients than I was used to, and so I was slightly skeptical of it (simple = easy = hard to screw up). But then I read the reviews. All were five stars. All were raving. The words "bakery quality" hit my retinas and I was instantly convinced. A few slight tweaks later, and I was the proud new owner of a batch of the most delicious muffins I've ever baked. Yes, they're that good.

Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 cup wheat germ

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp salt

1 egg

3/4 cup light brown sugar

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1/2 cup plain yogurt

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 large bananas, thawed and mashed (squished with a fork works too)

3/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Mix together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and wheat germ in a large bowl. Set aside. Mash the bananas in another bowl, and then add the rest of the wet ingredients, including the brown sugar with the wet ingredients (I even moved it down in the list so you wouldn't be tricked into thinking it goes into the dry bowl. Helpful hint!). Make sure it's all well-mixed, then pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients. Mix until all ingredients are ALMOST incorporated, then fold in the chocolate chips. It's really easy to over-mix muffin batter, and if you do it, you end up with rubber bouncy balls instead of muffins. Over-mixing activates the gluten in the flour, which makes it tough and gummy. So don't over-mix! Combine the ingredients with the fewest amount of strokes possible.

Scoop your muffin batter using a 1/4 cup measuring cup into paper liners or a greased muffin pan. If using silicone baking cups, you'll want to coat the insides with a bit of flour. Just put some on your fingers and run them around the sides and the bottoms. Bake for 22-25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. If your muffins are bigger, you'll have to bake them for a bit longer. Just watch they don't get too brown on the outside. If you're using silicone baking cups, you'll want to take them out of the cups immediately after taking your muffins out, otherwise the bottoms will continue to bake even when they're sitting on the counter and "cooling." I learned this the hard way, after multiple batches of muffins came out perfect except for the bottoms, which were almost black and really tough. I realized that the baking cups stayed extremely hot for a while after baking, and presto! Now my muffins are perfect all the way through. Don't do what I did. Remove them toute-suite. I use a pair of chopsticks and an oven mitt, because those puppies are seriously steaming straight out of the oven! Remove with caution.

And there you have it. Lovely muffins that are delicious AND nutritious! I was surprised at how moist they were, and yet the texture was still firm and not too crumbly. I think it was the yogurt. What a lovely secret ingredient! They also weren't too cake-like, which I hate. If I want something sweet, I'll make a cupcake. I like my muffins to be muffins. I like to think that the wheat germ added a bit more nutrition and fiber, so let's just pretend that these are a health food. (Note: I said pretend, so don't sue me like this lady sued Nutella over its so-called "health-food" claims.) Health food with chocolate in it? I'll take it!

B. <3

Easy, yummy Tomato Sauce with Beef.

I was struggling to come up with a title for this recipe, and so I ask for your forgiveness. It's quite... un-inspired. But really, what else can I say about this dish? There are tomatoes. There is some beef. And some other spices. And voila! A beefy, tomato-y sauce. It's adapted from this recipe from Real Simple. I leave out the fresh mozzarella because I found it didn't really need it, and I don't always have it around. Also it doesn't really add any flavour. Parmesan is much more flavourful and not so bad with the sodium if you don't dump it on. Just use a little. Like, less than a tablespoon's worth. There's enough flavour here already that you don't really need any at all. But you can add some if you really feel it's necessary. You won't die without it, I promise.

I also add some canned/jarred pasta sauce to this recipe, because otherwise it isn't really saucy enough for me. And so, this recipe is a wonderful mix of home-made and pre-made. I hate to take things out of cans or jars, heat them up, and just eat them as is. This might be because we didn't really do this at my house growing up. I was fortunate enough to have a mom that valued eating fresh food, and so hardly anything came out of a can--even our holiday cranberry sauce was made on the stove, a simple mixture of sugar, water and fresh cranberries boiled down into a mush. This is probably why I prefer to add things to pre-made sauces and make it my own. Or you could see it as using these convenience items as helpful aides in the kitchen, since I don't have time to be simmering a pot of home-made sauce for hours. ANYWAYS.

I really love this recipe. I've been meaning to write a post about it for quite some time. I've made it at least four times in this past month alone, and every time, I think "Crap! Should've taken a picture for the blog," including this time. Apologies for that, too.

It's really quite simple to put together. The ingredients are staple items which you would usually have lying around, looking uninteresting and lonely in their natural state. However. Don't be fooled by all this normalcy. Because inside each of these ordinary, boring ingredients is the potential for something delicious. Beef. Onions. Garlic. Tomatoes. You can make these ingredients sing. They'll mingle and make love in a hot pan, and conceive delicious flavours for you to enjoy.

Alright, enough of that business. Let's get down to it.


Ingredients
olive oil
1/2 of a white onion
3 cloves of garlic
1 lb ground beef
2 tbsp tomato paste
1 large beefsteak tomato
1/2 a can of plain pasta sauce 
3 basil leaves
A pinch of Italian Seasoning (I only cheat a TINY bit here because I don't have any other nice fresh herbs and spices. This does the trick.)
Salt and pepper


Method
Do my fancy water-boiling trick (which isn't really all that fancy. It's more time-saving than fancy) and put some pasta on the boil. Since this sauce is quite chunky, I like to use pasta that is in shapes instead of long strings. Shapes like rotini or penne are great for holding lots of thick, chunky sauce. I've preferred using whole-wheat pasta lately since it's extra filling (and you won't be eating a whole bowl of simple carbohydrates, which basically turn into sugar in your digestive system), BUT HEY. It's your thing. Do what you wanna do.

Meanwhile, heat some olive oil over medium-ish heat in a large skillet. Turn it down if you need to. I always do, since my garlic tends to burn in a matter of minutes on medium. I go for medium-low. Chop some garlic and throw it in. Let it simmer while you chop your onions. Throw them in the pan too. Add some salt and pepper and let the onions simmer for a few minutes until they get soft. Add the ground beef and brown. Drain any extra fat in the pan. Add the tomato paste and stir it around so it gets on most of the beef. The pan might seem a little dry right now, but that's alright.

Let it all simmer while you chop your tomato, then throw it in and mix everything up. Your tomato should add enough liquid that all these ingredients can mingle sufficiently. If it doesn't, add a little water to the pan. But not too much. Add your basil and/or Italian spice mix. Stir occasionally. Let it simmer for a few minutes, until the tomatoes look soft, and then add the pasta sauce. Turn the heat right down at this point, almost to the lowest setting. You want the sauce to heat up and obtain the flavour you just coaxed out of all the lovely ingredients in the pan. You don't want the sauce to boil and bubble and leave streaks of sauce on your walls that you'll still be finding weeks later. Heat slowly. Let it simmer for at least five minutes. My pasta had to sit in the pot all drained and dry, waiting to get sauced. It's worth it if you have the time. If you don't, it isn't the end of the world.

Taste the sauce. If you like the way it tastes, throw in the pasta and mix it around and call it a day. If it's not done yet, let it be, or adjust your seasonings if you like. This recipe makes enough sauce for approximately 2-1/2 cups of prepared pasta, which will feed two people twice. Or four people, once. It makes a bunch, how about that. Bonus of cooking in large amounts: it's even better the next day.

Note: Feel free to experiment with the amount of tomatoes you add, and even the type. Last time I did this recipe I used some grape tomatoes I had in the fridge that weren't getting eaten and were about to go soft.

And there you have it. An easy yet delicious and filling meal that comes together in under 20 minutes.

Hooray for minimal effort in the kitchen!

Cheese Ravioli with Spinach and Tomato

In search of an easy pasta dish with which I could make use of the remaining pile of baby spinach in my fridge, I found this recipe over at Real Simple. Its minimal ingredients and fresh approach won me over, as did the frozen bag of ravioli I picked up last week as a just-in-case-I-had-no-energy meal. Since I had already consumed three pieces of bacon with my breakfast this morning, I decided I could do without the bacon and keep this a veggie meal.

This recipe was thrown together and finished in about 15 minutes, making it great for someone without much time. It was full of flavour and just as satisfying as one of those frozen skillet meals you can get in a bag, but this version is obviously better in every way: it's cheaper, healthier, tastier. The only part I cheated at was the ravioli, and frankly, I trust Ontario Ravioli Ltd to deliver a well-made product. I know where it comes from.

Please excuse the picture quality. There was still a bunch of steam in the way.

Ravioli with Spinach and Tomato (makes 2 servings, measurements are approximate)
1 cup fresh or frozen ravioli
1-1/2 cups baby spinach leaves, stems removed
2 medium-sized tomatoes
3 cloves garlic
3 basil leaves
2 tbsp olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

Place a large pot of salted water to boil (boil the water in a kettle first if you're really strapped for time). Boil the ravioli, stirring occasionally, following package directions for timing.

Meanwhile, in a large skillet, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Finely chop the garlic (or mince it, or bash it with your knife) and toss it into the heated oil. Stir and let it cook for a few minutes. Dice the tomatoes roughly, and add them to the pan. Add salt, pepper and basil leaves and cook for about five minutes, until the tomatoes are soft. Finally, add the spinach leaves and stir frequently for two minutes or until the leaves are wilted.

Drain the ravioli well and add it to the skillet. Toss it all together and adjust your seasonings if necessary. Dump it all into a bowl and top with Parmesan cheese if desired (I found it unnecessary); stuff into face.

Sometimes, it's okay to cheat.

Like when you've been battling a viral infection for a week, and you have little to no energy. Making meals for myself has been a real challenge. Besides being exhausted all the time, I hardly have any appetite, which doesn't really help me in the motivation department. The only thing that keeps me shoving food into my face is the knowledge that my body needs fuel in order to help itself get better and fight these monsters inside of me.

For tonight's dinner, I knew I needed to bring out the big guns: garlic and onions. These things are heavy hitters in the Foods That Heal bracket, and I happened to have a bit of a jar of alfredo sauce in the fridge. Pre-made sauce equals less prep time for me, and that's a huge plus in my current state. And so a simple meal idea was born: garlicky shrimp and broccoli alfredo.

All measurements are approximate. This recipe made enough for two large servings. I hope you like it as much as I did. Feel free to adjust the levels of garlic to your liking.

Ingredients

Some large, flat noodles (either fettucini or linguine will work)

4 cloves garlic

1/2 of a medium Vidalia onion

1/2 of a head of broccoli

3/4 cup shrimp, thawed

1/3 of a jar of Classico Roasted Garlic Alfredo sauce

Salt and Pepper

Method

Start some water boiling for your pasta. If you're short on time, a trick I like to use is to fill up my electric kettle with hot water from the tap and set it to boil. Once it's popped, pour the whole thing into a pot you have ready on the stove. Turn the dial to high, and blammo--you will have a pot of boiling water in less than half the time it would have taken if you just poured a bunch of lukewarm water into a pot and waited for it to boil the traditional way. ANYWAYS.

In a large frying pan, heat some oil or butter over medium-low heat until hot. Cut up some garlic and onions and toss them in the pan. Cook until translucent, about 4 minutes. Rinse your shrimp, blot them with some paper towels, and toss them into the pan as well (you don't want too much liquid in the pan or the shrimp get all rubbery). Season with salt and pepper. Cook for about 4 minutes, turning often. Dump the contents of your jar of sauce into the pan and let it simmer, stir often. Feel free to adjust the amount of sauce depending on the amount of pasta you're cooking. Heat everything all together over low heat for a few minutes, or until your pasta is done.

Meanwhile, your pasta should be nearing completion. During the last few minutes of cooking, dump your broccoli pieces into the boiling water right along with the pasta. The time the broccoli takes to cook depends on the size of the pieces you cut and how tender you like your broccoli bits to be. Adjust cooking times accordingly.

Drain your pasta and broccoli thoroughly, then dump it into the frying pan with the sauce. Toss everything all together; stuff into face. Remember that cheating is a perfectly normal and acceptable thing... sometimes.

Peach & Berry Crisp

Last week, in my excitement at finding an obscene amount of peaches at a very reasonable price, I bought far too many peaches than I could ever hope to possibly eat. I had been slowly chipping away at the pile, eating a raw peach every day as a snack, when the rest of said pile started to get a little too soft. And so I was like, Egads! All this cheap fruit! I cannot let it go to waste! Whatever shall I doooo!? (previous scene possibly exaggerated).

So, with all these peaches on the verge of being far too ripe, I decided to make sure they would not go to waste, and that I would make something delicious in the process. And so, I came back to an article I had found last week over at Real Simple containing numerous creative ways to use up the bounty of lovely peaches available at this time of year.

This kind of peach. Perverts.

I went through all of them, multiple times, before I found one that seemed just the right amounts of easy, delicious, and requiring ingredients that I had in the house: Peach Crisp. Though it called for more peaches than I had, I was able to supplement the amount of fruit with some berries I had in the fridge. I was hoping for a tart yet sweet late-summer-fruit feel, and my instincts were spot-on. These fruits came together in a wonderful medley of flavours that let me pretend, if only for a few brief moments, that summer was going to stick around for a while. Summer-lovers, this one's for you.

Ingredients

Filling:

6 peaches, sliced

1-1/2 cups fresh blackberries

1-1/2 cups frozen strawberries

1/3 cup white granulated sugar

1 tbsp white all-purpose flour

Topping:

3/4 cup flour

1-1/4 cups light brown sugar

1/4 tsp salt

3/4 cup unsalted butter, cut up into little pieces

2 cups rolled oats

Method

Mix the fruit together in a large bowl with the granulated sugar and 1 tbsp of flour. Dump it all into a large, shallow baking dish and set it aside. (I forgot to add the flour here, so I mixed it in the baking dish like a fool. Also, my dish was pretty deep. It still turned out fine.)

In another bowl, mix together the brown sugar, salt, flour and butter with your fingers, pinching the mixture as you go along. After a few minutes it should resemble coarse crumbs. Add the rolled oats and mix roughly. Sprinkle this mixture on top of your fruit, squeezing it as you go, making large coarse clumps. It should look uneven and messy and glorious.

Bake in a 350-degree F oven for 45-55 minutes, or until the topping is golden brown and the fruit is bubbling.

Serve warm, with vanilla ice cream for extra delicious.

And there it is: the best way to make the most of summer's delicious bounty! Remind yourself as you eat it that you are eating fruit. And fruit is good for you. That technically classifies this as health food. You're welcome.

Food Challenge!

The phrase "food challenge" evokes images of Kitchen Stadium, all fog and lights and shiny knives while opposing chefs stare menacingly at one another.

This isn't like that. This is a challenge where we can set goals regarding the food we buy for ourselves and how we eat. I'm aware that I'm a little behind in officially starting, but I unofficially challenged myself a few weeks ago to start eating healthier, and this has expanded into the following goals:

1. take advantage of the glut of fresh fruits and vegetables that are in season,
2. hone my cooking skills so as to be able to comfortably experiment with and incorporate new flavours into my meal rotation,
3. save a bit of money by buying my fruits and veg from a local farmer's market,
4. be smart about buying in large quantities, and utilize my freezer for its awesome preservation abilities,
5. lose a teensy bit of weight.

The last one has already started to come about, mostly by accident. I don't actually own a scale--though I should probably get one--the only reason I know is that I was told recently that it looks like I've "lost a bit of weight". It's not my primary goal, hence why it's the last on my list, I'm just aware that it's an inevitable consequence of eating a diet that's lower in fat and sugar and higher in whole grains and fresh things.

In last week's grocery run, I will admit that there were more frozen and pre-packaged food than I would normally buy--however someone in my household is currently going through recovery after a some minor surgery, and "want" foods became "need" foods for comfort reasons. These include some frozen pizzas, toaster strudels (my weakness! which I have successfully resisted! go me!), frozen waffles, and some pizza pops. These items are in my "occasional treats" category, and I've been pretty good lately at reaching for healthier alternatives for snacks than constantly having these same things. And if I do reach for some frozen waffles, I make sure to have them with a bunch of fruit on top and a glass of milk. Like this!

But for the most part, the grocery list has been successfully tweaked: bottles of pop, bags of chips, and frozen pre-prepared foods are no longer seen as necessities like they used to be. This time last year, I was at the same point, except I gradually let these things become essentials. I let my dietary standards slide and got into a vicious cycle of valuing convenience over nutrition, and settled into a routine of bad habits. Now that we've gone backwards, we're feeling much better about how we're eating, and surprised at how little we find ourselves wanting these things. Chips? What are those? Now, if I want some chips as a snack, it'll be whole grain tortilla chips that I can eat with salsa. Ideally the ones with flax seed in them, they're awesome. Because salsa counts as a vegetable dish, right? Totally.

Last night's dinner was especially successful; I was tempted to just throw in a frozen pizza but I caught myself--I remembered that I had a whole crisper drawer chock FULL of fresh green veggies to use up. And so I made a whole-wheat pasta dish with three different kinds of vegetables and some chicken. And it was awesome.

Oh, and today I stopped by a farmer's market on the way home, but it was closed. Boo.

Something I still need to work on: actually bringing food from home to eat while I'm out at school, every freaking time. I tend to underestimate my need for a meal being at school for 4-5 hours at a time, and I assume I'll be fine--but I never am. I have a change purse that is almost always full, which allows me pretty much whatever I want from a vending machine. So I need to stop that.

So that is where I'm at, a few weeks after making a conscious decision to eat better. Special thanks to my good pal Melissa over at BrokeTO for the inspiration to share my dietary and budgeting goals for the month of August. Follow her $100 Grocery Challenge and stay updated here (original post with instructions here)!