Lunar Eclipse December 21st, 2010

I stayed up all night and it was worth it! (if you want to see it bigger go to my studio blog)

Greek Lemon Potatoes

Greek Lemon Potatoes

10 large potatoes, cut into wedges (In the photo they are cut different for faster cooking, see * Note.)

1/2 c. olive oil

1/2 c. lemon juice (fresh squeezed is best)

6 cloves garlic, minced

1 1/2 c. water

2 Tbsp. dried parsley

2 tsp. sea salt

ground pepper to taste

Preheat over to 400 degrees.

Mix all ingredients, except potatoes, in a 9 x 13 baking dish with a wire whisk until well combined. Throw in the potatoes and toss until they are well coated in the oil mixture.

Place in hot oven and bake 1 1/2 hours, toss frequently, until the potatoes are soft and lightly browned.

*Note-when I'm in a hurry I cut the potatoes in bite sized pieces and put them into the pressure cooker with the oil mixture. Then I pressure cook at 2nd pressure for 5 minutes.  They do taste better baked.

These are great with Fried Feta and Gyros. 

You can Keep your Pumpkin Pie... I've gone to better things...

I have found a new tradition for our thanksgiving!  Delicious and easy to make...

French Silk Pie

1 c. sugar
3 sqs. (3 oz.) unsweetened chocolate, melted & cooled
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla
1 (9 inch) baked pastry shell
Chocolate curls (optional)
3/4 c. butter
3 eggs
Unsweetened whipped cream (optional)

In a small mixer bowl, cream sugar and butter about 4 minutes or until fluffy. Stir in cooled chocolate and vanilla. Add eggs, one at a time, beating on medium speed after each addition and scraping sides of bowl constantly. Turn into baked pastry shell. Chill several hours or until set. Garnish with whipped cream and chocolate curls, if desired. Cover and chill. Makes 10 servings.

Note: I choose a graham cracker crust for mine.





For a sugar free pie I substituted the sugar with 1 to 2 tsp. of stevia powder *different brands have different sweetness*  and I used a super thin flour pie crust. Delicious!

Welcome Fall!

 

 

Apple Butter in the Crockpot

Apple Butter in the Crockpot.

16 cups of cubed apples (they can be large)
2 cups apple cider, apple juice or water.

Cook in Crockpot for 10 hours on low.  I do this the night before and it is ready in the morning.
I use a blender stick straight into the crockpot. Add 2 cups sugar, 1 teaspoon cinnamon and 1/8 to 1/4 teaspoon cloves.  Blend in apples. Cook in crockpot 1 hour on low. Then you are done. Just try not to eat it all! :)

Sugar Free Version
1 1/2 to 2 Teaspoons Stevia instead of sugar.

I got 2 qts. from the Stevia sweetened and 3 qts. from the sugar sweetened.

Sugar Free (Stevia) Iced Chocolate Drink

 

This is so simple. But so delicious. This is my hot chocolate recipe. Summer edition.

8 oz milk

3 Tablespoons Baking Cocoa

sprinkle of Salt

2 packages Stevia

Splash Vanilla Extract

Blend together in a hand blender until cocoa is thoroughly blended in. Heat in the microwave (1 m. 40 S. on my 1300 watt)  or on the stove-top until very warm. *This is important to heat it because it makes it very creamy. Then add tons and tons of ice. This would ROCK with Sonic ice! But I'm in the middle of no where. So I use a whole tray of ice-cubes. 

My Granny is In Glory

You lived an amazing life and were very loved. You will be missed. But we won't wish you back because you are finally home with our Lord!

Loving Granny Before she Goes to Glory

I got to spend several hours with Granny today. Mostly just holding her hand.  I gave mom the choice of taking a nap or spending time with grandchildren and she chose children. :) Sometimes it helps to see life at a different stage of life. Especially adorable 1 1/2 year stage! LOL

Granny was pretty much unresponsive the whole time I was there. J...ust moaned a lot. At one time when my dd 9 was hugging her she said why are you here. And I told her to love on my Granny then she drifted off to sleep. My little guys 3 and 6 first just came and sat in my lap. They were asked if they wanted to watch the movie they were watching, and they said no we want to stay with Granny. Then slowly they got brave and said HI Granny! Then they would run down the hall to watch some more movie. Only to come back a little later and say HI Granny, this is _____ and a few I love you's thrown in! My 6 year old son came at one point and said if Granny dies tomorrow she's going to be dancing with Jesus! And I will get to see her and Grandad again in heaven.

But before I left I hugged and kissed her and told her I loved her and she said I love you too! Which was a gift I will always treasure!

 

 

Unique Tshirts with a Message

Check them out.

Or their facebook page.


I have drooled over these t's for awhile. Plan to get one soon. Thought other's might like them also! They are so unique and beautiful! And best of all they are packed with an awesome message.

Workout Music

A friend shared what music she listens to when she works out. And I realized I should do this also. So here are the songs I thought of so far. I'm sure I could find many many more. But this is already dreadfully long. So put on some comfy clothes and move! This is over 75 minutes of music. So you may want to pick songs from each section!

Warm UP
Aaron Shust


Starting to Move More

Ginny Owens- I Know Someone





Time to get Moving!
Gotta listen to some Krystal Myers!






Addison Road


Cali


Mandisa- Shackles


Britt Nicole- Ready


Cool Down

Jeremy Camp- I am Nothing



Sara Groves- Hello Lord


Rebecca St. James and Barlow Girls


Phil Whickham- Divine Romance

Cute Chick!!!

Late May Flowers

What an awesome creator we have. He gives us beauty at every corner. Praise Him Today.

Flokati Rugs get a Makeover

When I was a child I lived on the island of Crete. And my parents bought HUGE Real Flokati rugs for our home. Now almost 40 years later I am giving them a new life in the studio. They are cut onto a throw rug size and mini for baskets and such. I choose Grey, Keeping one set natural, green and brown. I can't wait to try them out! Far superior to that fake one I bought at walmart. That after one washing was ruined.

I just transfered TONS

And tons of posts from my other site. Please excuse the mess with the posts  being in mass categories. Instead of a little bit of this and that. Once everything gets transferred it will get better.

Had to show off what my dd made...

She made them for a friend who has a big city theme. My little brother took the pictures. (so he's 37 he's still my little brother.) Then we converted them to iron on's and she designed the pillows.

Shirt Remake/Sunday Snapshot

I went Rummage Saling on Saturday and was able to get a bag of goodies for me for $2.00 total.
One Cato Peasant Blouse was just too large. (Let's sing yippee for me!) So this morning it was transformed into a spring dress for Prairie Princess. It's been to long since I have sewn. It felt good!!!
Total cost $.15.  Time 30 minutes.

Come here for more Sunday Snapshots. I have wanted to join this for weeks and finally found something to do.

My DD made the cutest Baby hat and bloomers

I just had to capture them on my little "Dolly" before they ship out to the photographer who ordered them. If you would like to hire her knitting skills for your baby or prop just email us.
andrea@prairieladystudio.com

Had fun on a Spring Day...

Fun hat at the library.
Hair forever blowing

More Weightloss tips and tools

DIFFERENT WAYS TO MEASURE YOUR PROGRESS

1990 WEIGHT STANDARDS
(I got this chart from Gentle Eating book) I choose this one because it is more forgiving than some.
Height Weight
19-34 years 35=
5' 97-128 108-138
5' 1” 101-132 111-143
5' 2” 104-137 115-148
5' 3” 107- 141 119-152
5' 4” 111-146 122-157
5' 5” 114-150 126-162
5' 6” 118-155 130-167
5' 7” 121-160 134-172
5' 8” 125-164 138-178
5' 9” 129-169 142-183
5' 10” 132-174 146-188
5' 11” 136- 179 151-194
6' 140-184 155-199
6' 1” 144-189 159-205
6' 2” 148-195 164-210
6' 3” 152-200 168-216


NEGATIVE CALORIE FOODS
“All foods have some calories. No food is actually “negative calorie” food. But the overall effect of certain foods in our body is that of “Negative calories”. Negative calorie foods are foods, which use more calories to digest than the calories the foods actually contain!
VEGGIES
Asparagus, beets, brocolli, cabbage (green), carrots, cauliflower, celery, chicory, chili peppers, cucumbers, endive, garlic, lettuce, onions, spinach, turnips and zucchini
FRUIT
apples, cranberries, grapefruit, lemons, mangos, oranges, papayas, pineapples, raspberries, strawberries and tangerines

When You hit a PLATEAU
(These tips are from a friend who is a personal trainer! )
1. What is your sleeping pattern like? Whenever I hit a plateau (which, unfortunately was way too often for my preferences! ), the first thing my trainer would always ask me, was how much sleep I'd been getting nightly. The optimal is 7-8 hours. I don't know how 'true' this is, as I can't verify it, but he said that in the 7th hour is when the 'fat burning' takes place???? Whether or not that, in particular, is true, I do know that recently a study was published that DOES show a correlation between weight loss and an adequate amount of sleep. (I can give you more information about this if you want it.) But, take a look at how much sleep, on average, you're getting nightly. Don't cut corners there.

2. If you don't, I'd encourage you to log what you eat and when you eat in a food journal. Record
ALL bites that you take and the times that you take them. This can often show some patterns that you don't even realize. This would also be helpful to really take a look at your calories. Maybe it's not so much as cutting down on calories, but you may not even be getting ENOUGH calories????

3. Might consider changing up your diet a bit. You eat pretty small in the morning, you might consider eating MORE during the morning/lunch and little at night. You might also consider not eating anything after 7-8pm. Doesn't really matter HOW you change it, but just change your diet a bit since your body may be used to one way of eating and need a bit of a change.

4. Depending on how long you've had your exercise routine, you may need a change. I think you recently started the rebounding class, right? Well, maybe there's another change needed, if you've been doing the other things for awhile. It's good to change your routine somewhat every 4 weeks. Even if you just 'tweak' it a bit. For example, today I did just cardio -- often I run or do the elliptical. But, today I did the stairmaster (with the real stairs! ) and I was sweating like crazy after 10 minutes! The other day we did the bike in our trekking class, and went to level 25 and I was huffing and puffing and sweating like crazy, too. What I realized was that in running and the elliptical, unless I up the intensity, my body has become 'used to' those machines, so I MUST change things constantly to keep me challenged. Change is so good for our bodies! Could you maybe do some swimming/ rowing/ stairmaster? Do you have a crossaerobics machine? Running? Also -- does your gym have backpacks? You could strap on a 5-10lbs. backpack while you're on the treadmill or elliptical. This 'tricks' your body into thinking that it's heavier and therefore it burns more calories. You wouldn't need to do this all the time, but just maybe for awhile until your plateau breaks. Also, you could do more Interval training. Even while on the elliptical -- every few minutes, go harder at a greater intensity (faster pace or higher level) for 30-60 seconds, then bring it back down to 'normal' and then go harder again. Do this a few times within your routine, and each time keeping adding another interval. Could do this with the treadmill, too -- do 'bursts' of running or a higher incline for 30-60 seconds, every few minutes. This is GREAT for your body! And, in a way it 'tricks' your body also and you burn more calories.

5. Do you drink plenty of water? You should drink 1/2 your body weight in water. And, then if you drink coffee/pop or caffeinated beverages, then you're to add in another cup for 8oz. of caffeinated beverage.


Here are some excerpts from a magazine article called Scale Stuck? Don't Panic!

#1 Do the Math, Find out how many calories you need at your current weight. (Bandermom showed how Figuring out your needed caloric intake: !)

Constantly adjusting the program to beat the plateau really helps

#2. Shake up YOur Routine- Variety is a great way to boost your exercise results. "You don't have to do a different activity every time. It can be as simple as doing some intervals of higher-and lower- intensity exercise. This will change your cardiovascular system, as well as increase the number of calories your'e burning.

#3 Add some Muscle- If you don't feel like your body is getting firmer or burning fat efficiently, you probably need to discover the benefits of pumping iron. Better still, muscles are like fat-burning furnaces, the more muscle mass you have, the more efficient your metabolism is, so you'll essentially be torching calories even when your not exercising.

#4 Take a Break- If you overexercise and/or under eat, your body goes into survival mode and won't let go of the fat you're trying to lose. Whether you're an athlete or a new exerciser, if you're doing too much too soon, your body holds onto extra fat because it thinks its' in a famine situation. Going slow and steady tells your body everything's normal and OK In general, if you've been exercising more than an hour a day, six days a week, and/or you're consuming less than 1,200 calories a day, your body's going to hold onto everything it can. Take two or three days off of your exercise program. When you start getting your energy back you can exercise again. Generally getting 1 hour or exercise, 3-6 days a week is fine, and you should be consuming a MINIMUM of 1,200 calories a day. Considerably more if you are exercising!

#5 Focus on your feelings- People get frustrated because they're so focused on the scale. He says to focus your mind on something else. Especially if your weight training. You could be losing weight, but gaining muscle- so even though your body's getting more compact, the scale might stop moving or go up for a little while, even though you're losing fat. Bottom line: Pay attention to how you feel, the changes in your body, the way your clothes fit- and trust that the numbers aren't nearly as important as your health and well-being.



PORTIONS
Even though we have the best intentions when it comes to a healthy diet, it's still easy to overindulge. Here are some guidelines to help without having to dig out your measuring utensils!

Serving Size Equals...
1/4 cup granola golf ball
3 cups low fat popcorn 3 fists
1 tsp. butter postage stamp
3 ounces white fish checkbook
3 ounces cooked meat deck of cards
1 medium potato small bar of soap
1 medium fruit baseball
1 bagel hockey puck
2 Tbsp. peanut butter roll of film
1 cup pasta tennis ball
1 ounce cubed cheese 6 small dice
1 serving ice cream computer mouse




SCRIPTURES FOR YOU TO LOOK UP!
http://www.biblegateway.com/

Hebrews 10:35
James 1:2-4
James 1:12
2 Cor. 4:7-9 and 16-18
Song of Solomon 4:9-16 and 5:1
Ps. 37:3-5, 84:5, 69:16-17, 73:26, 31:7, 4:1, 28:2, 23:3, 127:2, 25:16-17, 104:13-15, 136:25-26
Nehemiah 8:10b
Lamentations 3:22-24
1 Corinthians 10:31, 3: 16-17
Rom. 8:9 and 1-5
Proverbs 4:18, 1:17, 31:17
Luke 3:22-23, 18:27
Galations 5:16
Gen. 2:9
Phil 4:6-7
1 Peter 5:7
Jeremiah 29: 11-13
John 6:35
Micah 6:8