***** Dutch Apple Cheese Muffins *****

2 cups AP flour
1/2 cup sugar
1 TBS baking powder (yes, a full tablespoon)
1 tsp salt
8 oz cheddar cheese, chunked up or grated 
8 TBS butter (one stick), sliced into about 8 pieces
3/4 cup milk
1 large egg
2-3 Granny Smith apples, cored, peeled and sliced into half-moons 

 Mix dry ingredients in food processor and add cheese and butter; mix til cheese and butter have been incorporated into the dry ingredients and it looks nice and crumbly. Add milk and egg and mix just until combined. Spoon into greased muffin tin, press about 3-4 apple slices into each muffin, and bake for 15 min at 375F. Do NOT use paper muffin cups! (Then add glaze and bake for another 10 minutes, as below.)

Glaze: 

1/2 cup sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
juice of one lemon (about 2TBS; substitute water if you have no lemon)
2 TBS butter

Melt glaze ingredients together over low heat, stirring occasionally, for about 5-6 minutes. The glaze will darken and bubble  a bit and will thicken if you let it cool for a minute or 2 before using.

Remove muffins from oven and drizzle glaze over them, using a spatula  to lift up the muffin edges and get the glaze to drizzle down into the sides of the muffins in the tin (this is why you don’t use paper muffin cups). Place muffins back into oven for 10 more minutes. Remove and let cool in tin for 10 minutes more before removing.

*****

I usually make up a few mixes of the dry ingredients and put them in Ziploc bags to make a batch even easier. And eating and sharing these muffins definitely Works For Me! For more WFMW posts, go to We are THAT Family.

(Lovely photo from Big Bold Beautiful Food.)

The good side of all this is that for a couple of days (after ditching a friend’s birthday party to puke in the parking lot — classy!) I forgot to take my Zofran and suddenly felt immensely better — no nausea whatsoever, not even those sudden retching spells. I wonder if the miraculous (and expensive: $3 each, and that’s with insurance) Z-pill been making me sick. This is one of those krazymaking weeks where the things that make you better make you sick. The things that make you sick make you better. (Okay, I’m still waiting for that last part to happen.)

But now that I’m finally crawling out of the stomach bug chasm of doom, I just may see light up ahead. If the Zofran has been part of the problem, and not taking it helps…. well, all I can do is test my little theory and hope I win some lottery trifecta of no flu, no nausea, no nuthin’. 

Because I really do want to get back to the gym.

But today’s Sunday — a new day, the beginning of a new week. I’m back from church, and I feel forgiven and cleansed from the week before. I’m looking forward to a fresh start, and I plan to add some resistance training to my day. What I need is a regimen I can follow while blogging! I’ll look around for some simple exercises I can do with resistance bands. You know what I’m talking about: handle on each end, stretchy tube in between. Nothing my kids can drop on their feet and hurt themselves with.

Food: I can’t seem to want to cook green vegetables myself, but I’m actually doing better on the veg front and have been downing Indian dishes like mutter paneer and aloo saag — the spice keeps my nausea in check and I can eat loads of spinach and peas along with some basmati rice. The saag was hot as the fires of hell but I drank milk to help cancel some of the heat. Other cravings: pico de gallo made by the market near me, which has a bunch of Latino guys working behind the counter. They make a mean cuban sandwich — and Lord help me if the market ever closes and I lose my supply of pico de gallo! When I’m pregnant my salsa cravings know no bounds. I will practically upend a jar into my mouth (what a lady!). And the other day I did a u-turn to bounce into the Wendy’s line for a Frosty. I ate the whole thing driving the 2 miles from Wendy’s to my house, and if that’s wrong, I don’t wanna be right.

Any ideas for resistance band workouts? I’ll do a YouTube search.

But doggone it. Pregnancy makes green veggies smell like the foulest thing known to man — and I say this with 2 kids in diapers in the house. 

So my bright idea is to let someone else cook the veggies! Luckily we have some fab Thai and Indian restaurants near our neighborhood, with a Lebanese cafe even closer that does vegetable dishes even better than their meat entrees. So now I’m loading up on mutter paneer, aloo saag, various Thai curries, and a plethora of mezza plates: roasted cauliflower, roasted swiss chard with lemon, and more. 

Piggybacking on my local chefs and ordering in the sides works for me! (For more Works For Me Wednesday Ideas, consult Shannon at Rocks In My Dryer.)

(I actually wrote this post last week but couldn’t get it up on the Mr. Linky list. I hope you don’t mind reading it today!)

My lack of sleep and the brain fog that accompanies pregnancy means that getting up in the morning is doable, but I often find myself peering into the fridge for several minutes looking for breakfast inspiration. None forthcoming, I’ll slump over a bowl of cereal. Good for about 20 minutes, til my blood sugar spikes and crashes. Coffee can help the energy issue but who wants to self-medicate with caffeine every single day?

In an attempt to get the monkey off my back improve my morning eating habits, I figured out something to help me get moving in the morning: a list of breakfast foods that are easy to make and hot (I’m a southern girl and need my hot breakfasts). To wit:

- Egg, veggie, and cheese “muffins” (bake the ingredients in greased muffin cups; good for portion control)
- Cherry-cinnamon baked oatmeal — my fave recipe is here. I use pecans, and they float to the top and get caramelized NOMNOMNOM.
- Dutch Apple Cheese Muffins — a $1000 grand prize recipe winner from Cooks Country magazine! Filled with protein and fiber and incredibly addictive. You can find a recipe here; I use plain granulated sugar for what she’s calling “Pioneer sugar”, and it’s easy to cut about 1/4 of the butter if you want to lighten the recipe a little.
- Steel-cut oatmeal– I make this with half milk and half water to boost the calcium. It takes about 30 minutes and I add nuts and dried fruit to add protein and fiber. I can’t go back to rolled oats after eating this for a year!
- Toasted bagel or english muffin with turkey and cheese or PBJ

A little breakfast meal-planning goes a long way when mornings are hectic or if you’re like me and they just don’t find you at your mental sharpest. So put a list on the fridge to help you figure it all out. It works for me! For more WFMW ideas, visit Shannon at Rocks in My Dryer.
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Too often I reach for crackers or (arrgh) brownies — I’m a total carbhound when it comes to snacking. I try to drink lots of water and usually succeed, but the addition of an entire plateful of fresh veggie and fruit snacks would definitely boost my intake of not just water but also vitamins and fiber. I know this is just volumetrics or “filling foods” or whatever you want to call it, but I hadn’t thought of it as an actual water strategy before.

Food for thought, indeed….

When I need to put my head on straight again, I grab this book, “The Skinny: How to Fit into Your Little Black Dress Forever.” It’s by New YorkTimes food writer Melissa Clark and her friend Robin Aronson, who was looking to lose some post-pregnancy pounds after having twins.

What’s great about this book: it’s not about dieting AT ALL. And it assumes that you really like food and think that eating good stuff is just grand. It’s more about helping you find the point at which you really are tasting the food in all its glory and then helping you put down your plate once you peak (usually after a few bites of dessert, or whatever. Clark and Aronson include recipes for various yummy things, but it’s the mental repositioning that helps me most.

Any books that help you get back on track with your eating and fitness goals? Please share!

1. Look at your company health plan. Does it cover gym or other fitness costs? At the very least, are you using your HSA plan to reduce medical/health spending?

2. Buy exercise equipment on Craigslist, Kijiji, or Ebay. Large equipment like treadmills and ellipticals go fast on Craigslist, so when you see, it, grab it. Look especially in January/Feb and around typical moving times (early and late summer).

3. Work out to DVDs – they’re cheaper than a gym membership and you can easily Netflix or borrow from the library. Or trade with friends.

4. Work out to the FIT channel. There is something for everyone there, I promise.

5. Get outside! Get outside! GET OUTSIDE!!!

6. Actually USE the gym membership you’ve been paying for about a year now. Yes, I’m talking to you.

7. Make a weekly menu plan. Stop throwing away those veggies! Pull them out of your crisper drawer and put them on an eye-level shelf. A plan keeps your spending in check, and it can help mindless eating since you know what and when you’ll eat again.

8. Improvise your own weights: water bottles, cans, etc. or buy a resistance band.

9. Look for cheaper fitness apparel – Target’s Champion line is fab — but don’t skimp on a few crucials, like shoes and sports bras.

10. Downsize your plate: split an entree when eating out, or just order an appetizer for your meal. American restaurant portions are so out of control that sometimes I literally get ill just looking at my plate.

11. Barter services with a personal trainer — any PTs out there in need of a writer?

12. Go for low-gear fitness: running, yoga, pilates, walking. If you walk around your neighborhood you don’t even need actual workout wear — jeans and sneaks are fine.

For breakfast: scrambled eggs (I use 2 egg whites and one whole egg) with a handful each of fresh spinach and chopped tomato with a little parmesan on top

For lunch: salad topped with chicken, hard-boiled egg (or another protein, like a handful of nuts) — just make sure your salad contains a dark leafy green and another colorful veg, like tomatoes, carrots, or peppers. Or spread a tortilla with hummus or cream cheese and add roasted red peppers, cucumbers and sprouts or spinach for something portable. I’m a protein hound, so I’ll add a slice of turkey with the hummus. One soup I love is carrot soup, and it’s easy: cover a bag of baby carrots (or roughly chopped larger ones) with chicken broth, and boil til soft. Add a jar of drained roasted red peppers, a sauteed onion, and a handful of tarragon leaves (or basil or prepared pesto) and blend or puree in a processor til smooth. (True confession: sometimes I add a dash of cream at this point.) Add a small turkey sandwich or grilled cheese and you’re ready to face life again.

For dinner: just add a couple of veggie sides to whatever you’re serving, and eat those first. Instead of mashed potatoes, try roasting cauliflower and pureeing it, or pureeing cooked lima beans with fresh garlic and salt (also good as a dip). With 2 kids, I don’t have time for complicated dinners, and the new Steamers frozen vegetables make meals even easier — we love the green peas as well as the brocc/cauliflower mix with cheese sauce.

If you don’t want to cook, just pass a crudite plate of raw veggies with any meal or keep them handy for snacktime. (This is especially effective if you are a mindless snacker or need that crunch to feel satisfied.)

Eating my veggies the easy way works for me! For more works for me ideas, visit Shannon at Rocks in My Dryer!

exercise demons -- what's holding you back?

Approximately 6 minutes into my yoga program this morning, the baby woke up and wouldn’t go back to sleep. Hey, at least I got 6 minutes in. But this year’s motto is “No Excuses!” So here are my personal exercise demons, with suggestions on how to overcome them:

Demon 1: Lack of sleep. Frankly, my 2nd baby hasn’t slept much since she was born. She’s almost a year old and she still wakes up at least 3 times each night. I’ve gotten about 5 hours of sleep max for a year now. Needless to say, this leaves me perpetually exhaustedzzzzzz. See?

Solutions: Put baby to bed in minivan outside Take turns with my husband to get up with the baby, on the one night on, one night off principle. Go to bed earlier. Nap when the kids nap. Sleep-train the baby (we’re doing this, but it’s slow going).

Demon 2: It’s cold outside. You know how it goes: who wants to get out of a warm, cozy bed to run in the dark or do yoga in an ice-cold living room? (Imagine that I’m saying this in a feeble voice from under my down comforter.)

Solutions: Sleep in workout clothes. Drink tea or coffee before exercising. Set small goals, like “just 10 minutes” — inevitably, I keep going once I start, but the minimal expectations lowball me into getting out of bed. (Shame! it’s the new black!)

Demon 3: No time. I have 2 kids, both in diapers, whom I love to death but who would suck everything out of me if they could. This includes exercise, recharge time (a pipe dream, but still), mealtime, and sleep. It’s the nature of the little beasts.

Solutions: Hey, you know who *also* has 24 hours in his day? Michael Phelps. So take back your day, in as small increments as you need. For me, this means getting up a minimum of an hour earlier than my kids, around 5-5:30am. My husband is still sleeping, so I can head to the gym for a quick workout. If the morning goes badly, I can exercise in the den while the kids eat lunch in the kitchen (it’s all one big room, so put down the phone). If there’s no getting away from the kids, throw them in the stroller and head outside.

Of course I have more than three exercise demons, so expect more tomorrow. What keeps you from exercising? Share, share. And if you have more solutions for me, bring ‘em on!