I Have So Much To Tell You

Wow, it's been a long time since my last post. I hope at least one of you still follow this blog because I have so much to tell you.

Sadly summer is over, but fall is here and it's my very favorite time of the year. I love the weather, the pumpkin flavored everything, the changing leaves, comfort food, and cozy blankets. We have a lot of fun family fall activities planned, like; visiting the pumpkin patch, Thanksgiving Point's Barnyard Boo, Hogle Zoo's Boo at the Zoo, Gardner Village's Witches Night Out, and more. I also love the fall because it's when I celebrate my Birthday. I turned 35 this month and I made a lot of goals to become healthier and stronger by my next Birthday. I have decided that I am done with dieting, calorie counting, and other awful restrictions. I am going to continue to eat whole, all-natural, fresh, and organic foods (nothing artificial and no preservatives) and just eat smaller portions. NO MORE CRAP. I am going to cook more food from scratch like the marinara sauce I made the other night that took two hours but was worth every delicious bite. I am also planning on doing five 5K's before my next Birthday - I already have two races I definitely want to do.

Over the summer I also added two more items to my bucket list; travel to Italy and learn to paddle board. Last month I went to San Diego for 10 days and stayed in a beach house with some of my favorite people on the planet but I never worked up the courage to go rent a paddle board. Next time I am going paddle boarding.

This year we grew a garden and enjoyed all of the delicious squash, fresh tomatoes, eggplant, peas, and more - all organic, I might add. My herb garden was also amazing this year and I used herbs in a ton of recipes. My 2-year old loved helping me pick herbs and fresh veggies from the garden. We also went to every farmer's market in Salt Lake and even made it up to the Park City farmers market. We had a lot of delicious produce this summer.

I have more to share but will save them for future blog posts, which will be at least once a week, not every few months (insert smiley face here).

Fifty Shades Of Grey

I just ordered Fifty Shades of Grey (the first book in the Fifty Shades Trilogy) by EL James from Amazon. I have had so many people tell me that I have to read these books. They warned me that this series would most likely be rated "R" (or worse) if made into a movie so for those of you that thought the Twilight series was a little risque, these books are definitely not for you. I will post my review soon.

Top 10 Food Additives To Avoid

We all know that most processed foods are bad for us. We know that whole, fresh foods or minimally processed foods are better for us. So why do we eat the bad processed foods? Because they taste good, right? But they are NOT good for us. My goal is to eliminate most processed foods from my diet - especially any foods with ingredients like MSG, Trans Fats, High Fructose Corn Syrup, Nitrates, and Artificial Sweeteners, to name a few. Check out the Top 10 Food Additives To Avoid from Hungry For Change (also download the printable shopping guide). You can see which common foods you will find the 10 ingredients in and what side effects they could possibly cause. 

"Low-fat, fat-free, low-carb, sugar-free, low-cal: Sounds like an 80's chemical fiesta. Get over dieting and simply start EATING CLEANER! Dieting?? So OUT!" 

- Stiletto Chef

Start eating cleaner today with this delicious recipe from Whole Foods: Mango, Avocado, and Black Bean Salad with Lime Dressing. Yummy. 

Via Whole Foods

Quick Fact: I like Eden Organics black beans - they are one of the only companies that have BPA free can linings (read more, here). Did you know that most canned goods are lined with BPA as an ingredient (an ingredient we avoid like the plague when it comes to water bottles and plastic products for our babies)? Now you know. 

Peanut Butter Banana "Ice Cream"

If you love ice cream but don't really love the fat and long list of ingredients on the carton, then you have to try this easy, healthy, four-ingredient "ice cream." It's delicious and creamy and my new favorite summer treat (click here to see my other favorite healthy summertime treat).

Peanut Butter Banana "Ice Cream"

1 Frozen Banana, Sliced (click here for tips on freezing bananas)

1 Tbsp. All-Natural Peanut Butter 

2 Tbsp. Vanilla Almond Milk

1/8 tsp. Cinnamon

Put ingredients into a blender or food processor and puree until smooth. Serves 1