What I Eat Wednesday!

Hello Everyone!!

Hope everyone's week is flying by as fast as mine is, with things picking up at work and also with school... the days are coming and going faster then I realize!

First off..... I am COMPLETELY excited for tomorrow when I get to go home, pick up my boyfriend, and go to an Eric Church, Kip Moore, and Justin Moore concert!! My man has never been to a concert so I got him these tickets for his birthday!! I might just be more excited then he is - he will understand once we get there!!

Okay - so im going to give you all a little preview of what I eat in a regular weekday - please do not judge, Im just simply giving examples of the foods that my body works well off of.

Breakfast - before work I prepare something easy, usually an egg of some sort for a protein boost to get me up and going. Here is what I have been having a lot of lately - scrambled eggs with a large farm fresh tomato

Morning snack - usually a handfull of grapes, carrot sticks, or some un-salted almonds

Lunch - for the last few weeks I have been making enough supper each night so that I have lunch the next day, it has worked out GREAT!!

Afternoon snack - I usually don't eat a snack in the afternoon unless i get real hungary or if I know Im going to do an intense workout in the evening, examples of what I have is a rice cake, graham crackers, or an apple.

Dinner - This is my favorite meal because I have been doing alot of experimentation lately!! My obsession lately is baked potatoes made in the oven at 400°F for 20-25 min or until tender or.... zucchini julienne sliced and cooked with a tad of olive oil or butter just untill tender!! Delicious!! In this pic I have dill weed/onion baked chicken with some zucchini in a tsp. of alfrado sauce.  YUMM healified chicken alfrado!!

So, there are some examples of my eating habits - I have been really trying to keep my diet clean and healthy with minimal sodium, sugar, gluten, or dairy. I have been very happy with my results the past few weeks!



Hello Fall Harvest!!!

Happy Harvest Time!!!

Hope everyone is taking complete and full advantage of the wonderful weather expected for this week, here in MN we are expecting mid 70's - PERFECT for harvest both in gardens and in the fields!

My favorite time of year is Fall, and for obvious reasons like the wonderful colors! Some other things that make me fall in love with Fall are, pumpkin flavored EVERYTHING, fieldwork, apple crisp and making home made apple sauce (YUMM), and the best part.... knowing the holiday season is just around the corner!

I have made a crazy amount of apple crisp and apple pie's already this season, with MANY more to come and maybe even learning how to freeze some!! I made my first Pumpkin pie this weekend, which only lasted and hour... it got eaten as soon as it was half cooled off!! Needless to say it was DELICIOUS! I am really looking forward to this next weekend as I will be making apple sauce and apple juice/cider! I will also be helping my mother can tomatoes and beets.

This thursday, September 27th..... I will be attending the Eric Church, Kip Moore, and Justin Moore concert here in MN. I am sooo excited!!! Country Music tells the story of my life!!

Happy Fall Ya'll :)

Kids on the Farm!!!

I have a very large family, and with 10 nieces and nephews.... most days there are a few of those rugrats running around the farm.

The kids know the boundaries, they know not to climb on the machinery or go into the cattle pens. For the most part we have yet to have anyone get seriously hurt (knock on wood). They know to stay out of the way of tractors and know not to wonder off behind the barn or behind the house.

We love having the kids out on the farm, helping with chores like feeding calves and picking eggs, it has helped them each be comfortable around the animals and responsibilities.

Here are some of the snap shots I got though out the summer of the kiddos  -

This bottom one is my FAVORITE - if you look close, you can see that this little girl (Beth)  fell asleep with a baby chick sitting on her!! Precious!

Beth seems to be the most photogenic when it comes to picture taking!!

Hope your all having a wonderful First day of FALL!!!!

Aaaamazing Apple Crisp!!!!!

Hello Everyone!!!! Happy FRIDAY!!!!!!!!

After making apple crisp for the past 3 night... I have FINALLY came up with the best Apple Crisp  - at least that is mine and my room mates opinions... testing the family this weekend!!!

Aaaamazing Apple Crisp -
adapted from http://southernfood.about.com/od/applecrisps/r/bl11014d.htm

Preheat oven 375°F

Apples, peeled, cored and sliced (# of Apples depends how you like your apple/crumb ratio, I fill the pan about half full of apple pieces)

Mix apples with juice from 1/2 lemon so they don't turn icky brown. I used a 8x8 pan, if using 9x13 maybe double crumb recipe.

In a medium size bowl mix together...
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 tsp cinnamon (or 1/2 tsp cinnamon & 1/2 tsp nutmeg)
1/3 cup flour
1/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup rolled oats
1/2 stick cold butter (cut into pads/sliced)

cut butter into flour with a pastry blender or two forks until mixture is crumbly (I used my hands)

Bake for 30-40 min.  - Enjoy!!!!

Terrible Tuesdays!!!

I have come to the conclusion that Tuesdays are by far... the WORST day of the week. There are only memories from the weekend before, but yet no hope for a break for another 3 whole days!!! UGH

The most excitement I get throughout the week is my workouts and the occasional cooking frenzy... yippy!!

My workouts this week have intensified, by adding some swiming. I set a goal in April of this year (2012) that by the beginning of fall semester, which was Aug. 22nd, that I wanted to lose 20 pounds!! I managed to reach that goal by July and surpass it by losing 25 by the dead line. I have now decided that another 15 pounds could be managed by the end of the year. Even though I have now stayed at the same weight for some weeks... I have decided to intensify my workouts in hopes to lose the last few pounds before the sinfull holiday season!!

This week’s workouts include (done in the evening after work, 4 times a week)

2 mile run/jog
300 ab crunches
15 min. misc leg workouts (leg press, calve press, lunges, etc.)
15 min. misc arm workouts (weights, curls, etc.)
1 mile cool down speed walk

THEN - durm-roll please... 1/2 mile freestyle/back-stroke swim  and 10 min. treading water

By the time I get back home its 9:30pm and its time to catch up on homework, and read some Fifty Shades of Gray (my newest addiction!!)

I also got some apples from the farm .... so, anyone have any good crisp recipes?!?!?!

Weekend Happenings

This weekend we are all prepping for the soon to come "Harvest Season"!!

Here is the short version of our weekends for the next few months.... Combining, calves, and cows... Yippy!!!

 

One of our Cows that had this little heifer calf on Saturday night - we usually get 2-3 calves a week!

For those of you "city folk" - a heifer is a young female that has not had a baby yet - a cow is a female that has had babies and produces milk.

We also went out and gathered some corn to test moisture and decide when combing would start. We have already chopped some corn silage, we will soon be combining high moisture and then dry corn. All of which get fed back to our cattle. 

And finally... the star of the farm - this is Bear, an Australian Blue Heeler/Rottweiler cross... we think?

He is the protector of all that live on the farm!!! 

Hope you all are having a great weekend!!

Welcome!!

Hello Everyone!!!

For a little introduction, my name is Rose and I come from a dairy farm in South Central MN. We milk 75 Holsteins and run about 400 acres of crop land. I have a very large family, 5 brothers, 5 sister-in-laws, 5 nieces, and 5 nephews... My parents are very blessed!!

This blog will support almost everything from day to day life on the farm, to healthy recipes and workouts.

I hope you all enjoy it!!