Healthier choices

We are becoming more conscious of the foods that creep into our mouths and we did great during the first month of the year.

Here are just a few things we've changed in our diets:

• Drink more water
• Incorporate fish into our diets at least once a week
• Switched from packaged popcorn to kernels of popcorn we pop ourselves
• Eating smaller meals throughout the day ex; protein shakes in the afternoon with some frozen spinach thrown in
• Meatless Mondays
• This has been helping us look for other protein sources like beans and legumes
• Eating more raw foods and fruits and veggies and salads
• Carrots, celery, peppers, cucumbers, broccoli in their raw state
• Including the kids in preparation
• They have been more interested in eating it
• Instead of ordering pizza we have been making our own at home and it's delicious!
• We have been buying organic meats

Here's a new recipe I just made for Meatless Monday.  The link can be found (here).  I didn't have a chance to take a picture because it was a late dinner and we were starving.  It went so fast.  I didn't have pine nuts so I omitted them from the recipe and I had about 1/3 cup of left over spaghetti sauce that I threw in there.  Delicious and very easy to put together.  Katie helped me make the lasagna in the morning while Mikey was at school and we stuck it in the fridge until dinner time.

Makes 4 servings

Ingredients

8 ounces whole wheat lasagna noodles
15 ounces part-skim ricotta
1/3 cup chopped basil
1/4 cup toasted pine nuts
1/3 cup packaged pesto
4 ounces shredded part-skim mozzarella

Preparation

Preheat the oven to 350. Cook the noodles according to the package directions. Set aside.

Combine the ricotta, basil, and pine nuts in a small bowl. Set aside.

Spray a 9x13 baking pan with cooking spray. Spread 1/3 of the pesto into the bottom of the pan. Cover with half the noodles. Spread half the herb-ricotta mixture over the noodles.

Repeat with another 1/3 of the pesto, the remaining noodles, the remaining ricotta-herb mixture, then cover the whole thing with the pesto. Sprinkle
 the mozzarella cheese over the top.

Bake for 30 - 45 minutes or until heated through and bubbling.

Mikey cooked the salmon tonight.  He spooned the soy sauce based marinade on it and used the spatula to flip it over.