Kroger Simple Truth Brand

I've been shopping at Kroger since I was a little kid with my mom. Now, that I have my own family and live less than 2 miles from Kroger, I still do most of my grocery shopping at Kroger. One of my favorite brands at Kroger is the new Simple Truth brand.  There are many items that I love from Simple Truth such as their creamy organic simple peanut butter and organic whole milk. Recently, I was given for free some Strawberry fruit and grain bars, lip balm and almonds to try.

First up, the Strawberry fruit and grain bars- aka cereal bars are something I really enjoy but I don't eat them due to the sugars. However, they are often in our pantry for our preschooler who enjoys them for a quick on the go snack. The Simple Truth Strawberry Fruit and grain bars are delicious-just the right size, and not to dry like other cereal bars. They have 8g of whole grains and 12g of sugar.  Give them a try if fruit and grain bars are your thing- they won't disappoint.

I was also send a single serve bag of roasted salted almonds which were almonds. They were fine. and  a simple truth lavender organic lip balm- it was not my favorite. Lavendar is a strange choice to me and it made my lips feel more dry after it wore off. 

Check back to hear more about other simple truth products!

Friday Workout + Lunch

Well, I said this blog would be about a little bit of everything! Today, I want to share my workout and lunch! I met my workout crew today and we decided it was a good day to do an outdoor workout, so we headed outside to a grassy area and did a Max T3 workout, short bursts of high intensity exercise. I highly recommend checking it out, the workouts can be done anywhere and are only 12 minutes of exercise!

Everyone can spare 12 minutes a day to exercise! 

Here is the workout we did today:

• 1 Minute of Speed Squats
• 1 Minute of Lunges
• 1 Minute of Toe Raises
• 1 Minute of Good Mornings
• 1 Minute of Split Squats
• 1 Minute of Jumping Knee Tucks

Then you get a 1 minute break, and you repeat! Here is a video of Dr. Fred demonstrating the Jumping Knee Tucks: 

It doesn't sound/look like much but try it and you will be surprised! It's my challenge to all my readers, give it a try and let me know what you think! 

After my workout, I came home and was starving and I hit the normal problem; what am I going to eat for lunch? I opened the refrigerator and found a pound of grass fed beef, cabbage and I knew I had some shredded carrots,somewhere, so I started throwing things together and it turned out pretty good (Moxie enjoyed it as well). Not to mention, it was super easy! ~ Enjoy 

Cabbage Helper

1 pound of grass fed beef

1 cup of thinly sliced cabbage

1/4-1/2 cup of shredded carrots

1 tsp of salt

1 tsp of pepper

1/2 tsp of garlic powder

* you can also add any spices/seasonings you feel necessary*

1. Brown the hamburger in a skillet, add salt, pepper and garlic powder

2. Once hamburger is cooked through, add cabbage and carrots to pan and cook 3-5 minutes longer

3. Serve and Enjoy

Another idea is to add chopped onions while browning the hamburger. If you don't have time to slice/shred vegetables, you could get a bag of coleslaw and add that! I have used a bag of the Broccoli slaw before to ground beef and it is good as well. 

Try the workout, try the recipe and let me know what you guys think! 

Happy Friday~
Mandy 

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My Little Novice Trick Dog

Moxie AKA Moxie Moo, Moo Moo, Peanut etc. has been in training since she was 9 weeks old. We first enrolled her at All Dogs Allowed, Karen Smith, puppy class. It is a 10 week class that teaches Eric and myself how to train Moxie and care for a puppy such as nutrition, crate training etc. I think we loved the class more than Moxie and we continued to enroll her in other classes such as Focus Fidos (CGC Class) and our most recent class, TRICKS! But first, here is an old video I found of Moxie learning "Wait" at 3 months old: (She can now wait much longer!)



We were pretty excited and happy with Moxie's success in Puppy Class and Focus Fido's because before the age of 1, Moxie knows:
Sit
Down
Stay
Wait
Roll Over
High Five
Paw
Target- touching something with her nose
Touch- touching something with her paw
Loose Leash Walking
Drop it
Leave it
Stand
Come
Spin & Twist

and several other obedience tricks. We were wondering, what are we going to learn in Tricks Class? But we enrolled and we are glad we did. We have learned: Play Dead "Bang", Say your Prayers,Teeter & Perch. We are currently working on Balance & Catch which is balancing a treat on Moxie's nose and having her catch it. We are also working on barrel racing, strengthening our by me from a distance and much more

Moxie practicing a Down Stay

In our tricks class, we learned about Domorewithyourdog.com and Moxie earned her Novice Trick Dog Title and is halfway there to earning her Intermediate Trick Dog Title!

Moxie's Certificate

Hopefully in a couple weeks, I will be blogging about my Intermediate Trick Dog! More videos to come...

A Gold Mine

I recently stumbled upon a gold mine for eating ML approved, Healing Cuisine by Elise. This website is AWESOME! I have been addicted to browsing her website and trying out a bunch of new recipes. Last week, I decided to make the Black Bean Brownies, and I was one happy camper. These brownies were delicious, healthy and very easy to make! I did not make any changes to the recipe. I think these would be great with some pureed strawberries or raspberries. Guess I will have to make them again soon to try it with some pureed fruit sauce.

Almost ready to put into the oven!

The yummy brownies were just the start to a wonderful weekend! We also had landscapers at our house all week and Saturday the project was completed.  Our house came with just a rectangular small concrete patio, we decided to expand it with patio pavers. Check it out:

We also had 4 Cryptomeria trees planted which will hopefully create a natural privacy screen in about 5 years. We absolutely love our new patio! We spent some time on Saturday using sidewalk chalk to draw out the patio furniture "layout" and we think we have it figured out. We ordered a new dining set for our patio and as soon as we have that, I will take a picture of the final new patio!

Well that's it for now...... hope to have a picture of our new "outdoor living" space next time!

What to Expect

Another blog, what can you expect!?

I am using this space to talk and share things I enjoy in life:

1. Cooking, Baking & Experimenting in the Kitchen- I recently, well Jan 2012, found out about Maximized Living (ML) and I have been trying to eat things that are approved by ML. ML is pretty simple, "if it is natural, eat it. If it's not, stay away from it". I have been adapting recipes and dishes to be ML approved and I have been finding a lot of new recipes that are already ML approved. Of course, desserts are the trickiest  I have been experimenting a lot in the kitchen with desserts that have no flour, no sugar etc. Luckily I have found quite a few that I hope to share.
   
   
2. Exercising- Also with ML, I have been working out with my favorite workout partner, Lora. We meet almost every M-F to do a Max T3  exercise. I really enjoy these workouts and maybe I will share some with you along the way. "Get Maximum Results in Minimum Time."
   
   
3. Craft Making & DIY projects- When I moved from a 1 bedroom condo to a 4 bedroom house, I found I have a lot of rooms to decorate. Therefore, I began finding crafts to do with empty wine bottles, wire spools we found in the construction dump site in our neighborhood, wreaths to make for my front porch door (for every season), and much more. Eric also enjoys things like this so we have "our" time on the weekends doing DIY projects and crafts. Last year I also got a sewing machine so I hope to be doing many more sewing projects.
   
   
4. Pets, mainly Moxie (Sorry Heidi & Jazzy)- In December 2011 we got Moxie, our little Cairn Terrier. We have had her in training at All Dogs Allowed with the amazing Karen Smith since 9 weeks old. She has been in obedience training with the goal to become a CGC Dog. She took her first test in late August but did not pass- which was expected at such a young age. However, I am still extremely proud of her and all that we have been able to teach her. I think it is safe to say I have a well behaved dog! Maybe one day, she will be a CGC dog. In the meantime, we started a tricks class which I think Moxie excels out. She likes tricks more than obedience.  She recently received her first title as Novice Trick Dog (more to come on that)! So in this blog, you will hear some Moxie stories- success, failures and just funny things dogs do! Oh, we also make Moxie some of her own "agility" equipment. Our latest weekend project was making Moxie a Teeter Totter to use in her tricks. So somethings you will see craft/DIY projects mixed in with Moxie stories! 

About Me

I’m Mandy. I’m a wife, mom to two beautiful cats, Heidi & Jazzy & one lovable playful Cairn Terrier, Moxie, a lover of  clean eating cooking, baking, developing recipes, exercising, making crafts, and teaching new tricks to Moxie.

I grew up in a Mooresville, Indiana. It’s a small town located about 20 minutes southwest of Indianapolis. I went to Monrovia High School where I met my high school sweetheart, Eric.  I graduated from Monrovia High School in 2003 and decided to attend Purdue University to study Psychology- BOILER UP! While studying at Purdue, I got my first two fur children- Heidi & Jazzy.

At that time, I was also working at a daycare/preschool and found that I have a passion for caring for children and animals. Heidi and Jazzy became my “children”. I have always been told,  ”You’ll make an excellent Mom!”, maybe one day…..

I graduated from Purdue in May of 2007 with my BA in Psychology, got married to Eric and moved to Chicago- well Oak Park, IL. Oak Park is the first suburb west of Chicago. It is the home of Frank Lloyd Wright. Big Change from small town Mooresville to Chicago!  I got my first job at Zacuto USA, LLC where I climb the “corporate” ladder from receptionist to my current position as Vice President of Sales & Marketing. We spent several years in Oak Park, IL while Eric finished his Ph.D program at the University of Illinois at Chicago. In April 2011, Eric graduated with his Ph.D and got a post doc position at Duke University which moved us out to Apex, NC in April 2011. We bought our first house!

Since living in NC, I have adapted to a “slower” pace of life.  I now work from my home office for Zacuto. I have also been blessed to find Borgert Family Chiropractic who has introduced me to Maximized Living, a new way of eating and exercising! In this blog, I hope to share things that I enjoy: crafts, Max T3 exercising, Maximized Living cooking, baking & training Moxie.  Hopefully, you will find something interesting and continue reading my blog.