Dr. Oz's. 3 Day Detox

Golly, I'm behind! This new year's post is falling under the category of "better late than never". I don't have any resolutions to share this year. However, I did start out the year with a health challenge that I thought I would pass along. I came across Dr. Oz's 3 Day Detox on Pinterest. I have never seen his show, but after reading a few other blogger's reviews and watching a few YouTube videos, I decided to give this a shot. This particular detox appealed to me because it involves consuming a fair amount of healthy food and it did not require consumption of any unregulated pills or unknown concoctions. In fact, I found everything I needed at the grocery store on New Year's Eve. Party animal- I know!

Are you thinking of trying this detox out for yourself? Here's my advice: chop all your fruits and vegetables up as soon as you bring them home. I was surprised at how long it took to prepare each drink otherwise. I was even more surprised at how long each drink took to consume! The drinks are large and often took me 1-2 hours to ingest. Overall, the drinks taste pretty good, though I missed chewing my food after the first day. I heeded the advice of other bloggers and ate the celery on it's own rather than putting it into the lunch drink. I also peeled the cucumber for the lunch drink the second and third day. If you decide to leave the peeling on, get ready for something VERY green and chunky! I thought it would be a big challenge not to have any coffee for three days, but I found that I really liked the green tea I had in it's place. The breakfast drink was also a lot more filling than what I normally have for breakfast, so i guess that extra food served as good distraction from the lack of coffee drinking.

What happened as a result of the detox? I lost about 4 pounds, which was nice after a lot of holiday eating. Another plus is that the detox pushed me to try some new foods. I am still looking for ways to use my leftover coconut oil and almond butter. Both are good healthy fats. After a a few weeks have passed, I can honestly say I am kind of craving the supper drink, so I guess I found some good recipes I can use again in the future! Overall, I'm glad I tried this detox, though I am not really looking forward to doing another one any time soon. It was a good exercise in mindfulness and it reminded me of all that I take for granted, which was an unexpected benefit.

Merry Christmas

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Is this thing on?

Oh look- I'm alive! However, I do not intend to write a blog about not blogging- I don't like those! What's new around here? Travel: I went home twice in the last 3 months- once for my sister's 30th birthday and once for my 10 year class reunion. We went to South Carolina to visit Joe's family over mother's day weekend as well. We also spent a night in Kansas City at a historic hotel after a night out with friends at a fondue resturant- yum! Joe is about to head back to SC for a week to help his parents with some home renovations- such a handy man! School: I am headiing back to Columbia tomorrow to start my 4th semester of doctoral work at Mizzou. The prep has been tough for me this time around, but I a just going to keep whacking away- nose to the grindstone. This strategy has a way of working for me. Work: Higher Ed is alwasys exciting. Lots of good work to be done every day! Not going to lie- things are nuts around here- hence the lack of blogging. If you're feeling nuts too, might I suggest the folllowing.... 5 Things you Should Shamelessly Try and Subsequently Love: 1.Call me Maybe- so bad, yet so good! A song has not stuck in my head like this one for a long time! 2.Easy set pool- RoMo is too hot for this Minnesota girl to go outside w/o being immersed in h2o! 3.The Bachelorette- is it just me, or are none of the guys a good fit this season? 4.50 Shades of Gray- What woman isn't reading this book? 5.Pick a recipe- replace the most unhealthy incredient with Greek yogurt- bada bing bada booom.

Regal in RoMo

Hello February!  Time flies when you're working like a hard-working person.  After 4 weeks of doing the full-time work, full time school thing, Joe and I were ready to get out of dodge.  So, yesterday, we hit up the St Louis Art Museum.

 I was pretty impressed with the collection; they have over 30,000 pieces from all over the world including some the most famous, Monet, Van Gogh and my personal fave, Winslow Homer.  After a few hours of strolling through the gallery we went out for a late lunch at a Tuscan Grill and then saw a movie.  I have to recommend The Descendants.  It has been nominated for several Oscars, so don't just take my word for it.  This film had the capacity to be a total sap-fest... but, instead it turned out to be funny and intriguing in an awkward sort of way.  Definitely the antithesis of sap- take your husband! 

 On the way home, we stopped at Trader Joe's and I got a Pomegranate and some blood oranges.  I had never tried either.  The pomegranate was great- if you need help figuring out how to eat one, look here:  http://iowagirleats.com/2012/01/25/how-to-eat-a-pomegranate/ 

As for the blood oranges, I am sad to share that in the event of a blind taste test,  I am quite confident I could not distinguish the difference between a blood orange and a navel orange... oh well!  They are pretty. 

I meant to share these next shots a while ago.  Here is my dear nephew, enjoying his very first solid food!  Rice cereal.  What a cutie- he did great.  It is funny to watch someone try food for the first time.  If you look close, you can definitely see and expression of "oh my, what is this?!" 

On a final note, I must expose you to this video.  I swear I was born in the wrong decade...  David Bowie- you're so fly...

I Resolve

Are you a New Year's resolution maker?  For whatever reason, this year, I have  been giving my resolutions a good amount of forethought.  However, at this time, it has been determined that I'm lacking gumption for dramatic or glamorous changes this year.  After all, I'm in the process of getting the letters D and R in front of my name, which has the capacity to suck up most of my drama and glamour on any given day.  For this reason, my resoutions are few and simple.  I, Katie Jackson, do solemly swear to pack my lunch at night, Sunday through Thursday. 

January 1st, I shall be eating this:

http://www.flatoutbread.com/pbj-with-sbg-flatout-wrap/ 
and this:

https://docs.google.com/document/pub?id=1EOZjC330qmSLhleqlRajR7eN9kyAXcBeBCkYShWsTBY

Hotdish

Minnesota girls looove hotdish.  When I was little My favorite was "Katie's Hotdish".  A hotdish, named in honor of my strong affinity... A concoction of elbow mac, cream of mushroom soup, hamburger, and canned corn.  Yum.  I have not had it in years.  I had dissimilar feelings towards "Red Hotdish"- elbow mac, condenced tomatoe soup and hambuger.  I would cry when my parents started making this entree. 

Nowadays, my husband is not open to the idea of hotdish.  I guess I can't blame the guy, I can certainly attest to the love-hate nature of hotdish.  Despite my husband's disinterest, I loooove to make the following hotdish- a modification of the recipe found on the back of the Stove Top stuffing box.

1 cup chopped chicken (I use the froze chicken breast pieces from Schwann's)
1 cups frozen vegetables (I use brocolii)
1/2 a can cream of mushroom soup
1/3 cup light sour cream
1 box Stove Top stuffing mix
1/2  cup mild shredded chedder cheese
Directions:

1.Make stuffing according to the instructions on the box.
2.Combine remaining ingredients and place in an 8X8 baking dish.
3. Top with prepared stuffing
4. Sprinkle with Cheese
Bake at 400 degrees for 30 minutes

Christmas Clicks

In college, I kept my baby Christmas tree up year round.  I had two sets of ornaments- Christmas and Easter.  The rest of the year, I celebrated the North woods (like many Minnesotans do)... FYI-if you're from MN, it's okay to have a fake pine tree adorning your home 12 months a year.  It's a lodge theme, I guess.  Anyway, nowadays, I live in MO, so I get to saver  my lovely tree for about a month, but after that it gets tucked under the stairs for the majority of the year.  For this reason, I feel compelled to document the beauty of my tree here, on the blog.  I also want to share some fun tips for making your tree look awesome in pictures!  If you have a DSLR camera, bust out your tri-pod and put that puppy on manual setting.  Make sure it's plenty dark outside and turn out all the lights in your home.  Crank up the camera's ISO AS FAR as it will go, set your aperture at 1.8, and select a shutter speed between 1/30 and 6 seconds (this is a broad range, but it will depend on how much ISO your camera has ).  Tah-dah: