Homemade Granola Cereal

I made this this morning and it was so amazing I had to share!  I haven't eaten conventional cereal in so long, I don't even remember how long its been, perhaps 6 months to a year.  There is so much junk in it these days.  Additives, preservatives, and all kinds of ingredients I can't pronounce (which to me, is never a good thing).  So, I modified this recipe to have no sugar (just natural honey) and it's naturally gluten free!  It is so easy to make and it is made of all organic and natural ingredients!  Here's the recipe:

Homemade Granola Cereal:
(modified from http://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/super-low-fat-granola-cereal)1/2 c. cranberries1/2 c. apricots1 c. raisins8 c. oats3/4 c. raw honey1/4 tsp. baking soda1/4 c. water1 tsp. salt1 tsp. real maple syrup1 tsp. vanilla
1. In a large bowl, combine oats, raisins, apricots and cranberries; set aside. In a saucepan, combine honey, baking soda, water and salt. Cook and stir over medium heat until honey is melted and all ingredients are mixed together. Remove from heat; stir in maple syrup and vanilla. Pour over oat mixture; stir to coat.2. Transfer to two greased 15"x10"x1" baking pans. Bake at 350 for 25-30 minutes or until crisp, stirring every 10 minutes. Cool completely before storing in an airtight container. Serve with milk or yogurt. Yields 9 cups.

Juicing + Project: Pinterest Update

I've been super busy with work, school and life.  I juiced for almost two weeks!  I did, however, eat steamed broccoli on Sunday afternoon.  My man and I went out for Chinese and he doesn't like he broccoli thats on the side, so I ate it.  I also had a bite of mashed potatoes on Monday, and a small serving of mashed potatoes on Tuesday.  But I haven't had anything solid since.  Unless you count my split pea soup I made on Sunday to eat this week.  It's technically not juiced, but blended, just like a smoothie!  Here's the recipe!

Fill a pot with water (or chicken broth) (about 4-6 cups) and let it boil.  Add three carrots shredded (my mom doesn't like the flavor of cooked carrots, so if you shred them. you don't taste them), one chopped onion, two stalks of chopped celery, and a bag of split peas.

The whole pot made five pints which was perfect!  I am able to have one pint a day.  And after eating sweet fruit juices and V8 Fusion, I needed something salty!

On Sunday night it was icky freezing rain, so I drove back to the apartment on Monday morning.  Here's an example of the awesome freezing rain.

Juicing has been going pretty good.  It was hard to resist food.  Like, really hard to resist free food!  But I did it!  Through it all, I lost six pounds!  I think juicing was really beneficial for me to teach me self control.  My skin also cleared up really nice!  Juicing is pure nutrients that your skin and body is craving!  Overall, juicing was a very good experience.  Next time I juice, I plan to do it in three day increments.  I got the results I wanted in those three days, so I don't feel the need to continue on.

On to...

Project: Pinterest!

Yesterday I did a swim workout from Livestrong.  Here is a quick run down:

4x50 freestyle

1x25 kicking

1x25 freestyle

1x25 single arm

1x25 freestyle

12x25 freestyle (kick every fourth)

6x50 pull

1x100 freestyle (push and glide)

1x100 easy freestyle

I rated this workout three out of five stars.  I didn't really like the single arm lap, but that's probably because I don't really know how to do it.  And I also thought the 12x25 freestyle should have been intermingled with the 6x50 pulling.  I felt like my effort was six out of ten.

I decided to start a fitness log.. in a good old notebook.  I feel like their are so many workout apps, but none do everything I want them to do.  So I just started my own!  I've started to rate how hard I pushed myself and how much I liked the actual workout.

Today's workout was from Fitness Magazine.  It was the "The Booty Camp Workout."  Here's a quick run through:

-Flyaways with light weight (5#) - 10 reps

-In-N-Out Lunges - 20 reps (10 diagonal, 10 crossover)

-Ski Boot Sit - 10 reps

-Duck Squat with light weight (5#) - 10 reps

-Tennis Shuffle - 10 each side

-Side Shaper - 5 each side (this was the hardest of them all!)

-Crunch and Lift - 12 reps

-Upside down Crunch - 10 for 5 counts

I rate this workout a 2 out of 5 stars.  It was difficult to keep the intensity up and some of the moves are hard to understand.  I probably won't do this workout again.  But if you're up to it: TRY IT!

I thought that because it was hard to keep up intensity, I give it 5 out of 10 for my effort.  I definitely could have tried a lot harder!

That's all I have for now, I hope to do a different Pinterest workout tomorrow!  I'll keep you posted!

Kicking off Project: Pinterest

Howdy!

Today was our photography club field trip!  It was a total blast!  We went to the cities to see the General Mills photography studio.  This was the highlight for me!

I really loved this place because of the honesty they put into their work.  They use all real products in their shoots.  They left over food gets eaten by staff and unopened boxes are donated to the food shelf.  Don't you want to go to that food shelf!  A former graduate of our school is now the food stylist there.  Everything was so interesting to see and watch!  I wish we would have been able to talk to the photographers a little more, but the trip was so worth it!  They also showed us how they do some really artsy photos that were entered into competitions.  They all featured General Mills products as well!

There is just so much to talk about General Mills, but I haven't the time or space!  I would definitely consider working at General Mills! 

After that it was off to lunch!

To get some more variety into my diet this week, I bought a regular Berry UpBEET Smoothie!  It was tasty!  I hardly could finish it all since I'm used to drinking juice and not having it be so thick!  I was stuffed afterwards.

After lunch, we were off the the Minnesota Institute of Arts.

I went straight for the photography section to see what I could see...

Dorthea Lange's "Migrant Mother" is a very powerful photo.

Chuck Close's painting from a photograph of "Frank."  Chuck Close is one my favorites.  He does amazing work!

The weather was getting icky (slushy and icy.. yes, in April.. This is Minnesota after all!), so we cut our visit short and went on to our next stop of Mariposa Custom Framing.

This is where they make the frames.  With the tools they have, it takes about 5 minutes to cut and assemble a frame.  My mother would be so jealous!

This is three of about six walls covered with frame samples.  It was so crazy!

After Mariposa, we were on our way back home!

After coming home, I had some Kefir for supper and put together the title of this post!  Project: Pinterest!

If you have Pinterest, you know that so much gets pinned, and nothing gets done!  So I'm challenging myself to do all the work outs I have pinned on Pinterest!  If there is not a minimum time specified in the work out, I will be doing it for two weeks long.  So since today was Tuesday, I did a swimming workout from Women's Health Magazine and started the Color Run's 5k training week one.  Here are the links if you want to check them out.  Swim Workout and Color Run's 5k training.

I'll put my workouts I do on here tomorrow as well and keep you updated as to results and such!  Hope you have a wonderful night!  Stay safe if there's crazy Minnesota weather about you! :)