{Friday Five Foodie Finds #22} Housekeeping

 Hello Friends!

This post almost didn't happen today.  

For my Friday Five Foodie Finds posts, I have been trying to just let the finds come to me...and try to not search for them in order to post every single Friday.  (Does that even make sense?)

Well, after hanging out with my good friend Emily to help her with some blog things (including an exciting giveaway from her home business to YOU!)...I got excited about blogging and looked for the other two recipes to do a post.  I know, I am silly.  I just can't help getting excited about blogging sometimes.

It's a great way to get my thoughts out there, like yesterday's faith post.  It's not even about the feedback, although I truly appreciate the comments and fellowship (seriously thank you and I love you all), but it's like a diary to me.

An interactive diary with pretty pictures where I can occasionally teach someone something new.  And learn in the process.  Pretty awesome right?

Speaking of blogging things...a little housekeeping issue.  (Why does "housekeeping" make me think of Tommy Boy?) 
It's about the Semi-Healthy Blog Facebook Page.  

First of all: I would really appreciate if you'd head over and "like" my Facebook page.  You can participate in discussions, be up-to-date on new blog posts, and often be inspired by random quotes I post.

Secondly: With Facebook's new policy, only 7% of people that 'like' a fan page will see the updates. To see all of my blog posts, giveaways, photos, inspirational quotes and such, just go to Semi-Healthy Blog page & click/hover over the 'Liked' button (beneath the cover photo) & activate the 'show in news feed' option (see photo above). (Sorry for the inconvenience!)

I Am a Christian

Hello Friends!

I am a Christian.  Did you know that?

I'm not super involved with my church.  

I don't even go to church every single Sunday. 

I don't read the bible every day.

I'm not always nice.  I'm not always happy.

My life isn't perfect.  I am not perfect.

I don't share my faith as often as I should.  I try to live my life to represent the One who created me, but often I fail miserably.

I do believe I am saved by grace.

I do believe God created me for a purpose.

{WIAW #29} Shooting Food

Hello Friends!

I thoroughly enjoy linking up to Jenn's WIAW {What I Ate Wednesday) each week.  It's a brilliant idea.

We all eat every day (well, hopefully).  We also seem to have an obsession with knowing what's going on in other people's lives.  (See Facebook, Twitter, blogs and reality shows.)

It's also quite revealing to check in on myself once a week to see what kind of fuel is going into my body.

I am not a perfect eater.  I am not uber-healthy.  I am not a strict, clean eater.

I am just a gal from Nebraska who is trying to balance my favorite indulgences with healthy fuel.  (More info on my What I Ate Wednesday posts here.)

Carrot Muffin Cakes

Hello Friends!

I made these lovely muffin cakes for Father's Day.

Actually the day after Father's Day...because things didn't quite go as I had expected.

I had planned on picking up lunch for the Daddio with the BF, but BF's dad was unexpectedly in town so of course BF wanted to spend the day with his own dad.  So I had to drive by myself and I ended up driving 40 minutes more than I actually needed to since I didn't think about the fact that church was right next to one of the Chilis I could have gone to for food.  Duh Amanda!

Shooting Flying Orange Discs

Hello Friends!

The BF is a great shooter, as I bragged about at the end of my guest post from yesterday.  (Go check it out!  It's all about barefoot running from the perspective of a personal trainer!)

 

BF and his friend won first place in each of their divisions for doubles shooting at the Nebraska State Shoot yesterday!!

Dave (BF), Shannon

The BF is a great shooter, but I am still a little amazed that he won.  As are a lot of other people.

{Running for Newbies} Barefoot Running

Hello Friends!

I am spending a few days out of town at the Nebraska State Shoot as I said in my WIAW post, so I thought I'd break out this guest post I forgot about was saving for you. ;-)

I have been intrigued by barefoot running for awhile, but haven't bitten the bullet and bought the shoes.  I do, however, work out barefoot in my basement AND walk around the house barefoot, so that does help with the muscles that aren't used by wearing running shoes.

Since I am no expert, read this post from someone who knows FAR more than I about the subject of barefoot running.

This lovely post was sent to me from Jacqueline at Move Together Fitness, a very cool business where you actually have a personal training session on Skype!

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Barefoot Exercising-How it can save your joints

As a fitness business owner of Move Together Fitness, I come across the latest fitness trends and fads each day. Every now and again I like to give them a try, so when my clients inquire about them, I have a firsthand opinion. 

Over the summer Vibram 5 finger shoes had begun sweeping the nation. Vibram shoes are designed to give your foot the feeling of being barefoot with that extra protection from the elements. 

{WIAW #28} Monday Eats

Happy Wednesday Friends!

Today I am procrastinating packing for my trip to the Nebraska State Shoot. 

Yep.  That's right.

Am I shooting flying disks this week in hopes for a prize shell bag?  Hahaha...no.  The BF is!

He is actually quite a good shooter.  (Is that what you call it?)  He has won almost all of the awards that you can at this particular shoot.  He didn't get to go last year because of his new job, so he is VERY excited about this year.

The very first time I saw his serious face was a couple of months after we had started dating at this particular event. 

His mom, Betty, told me to just give him his space and let him come to me.  (Instead of running up and hugging him I guess?)  I remember thinking, what the heck are you talking about lady?  But I saw a different Dave when he was out there with his gun by his side.  A very focused, thoughtful, concentrated version of the goofball I knew and loved.

Two years ago at the Nebraska State Shoot.  His dad, Bob, is on the left...smiling!!

Something else I remember from that day was the fact that his mom kept introducing me as "Dave's friend."  Nice, Betty.

In my procrastination, I am going to share with you all of the food pictures I took on Monday as my WIAW.  (Never heard of WIAW?  Click here for the WIAW details!)

WIAW {What. I. Ate. Wednesday.}

Rice-A-Roni Three Ways

Hello Friends!

Growing up, we had a lot of food from boxes or packages.  

Pretty much the only thing we made from scratch was my mom's famous chocolate chip cookies (a family secret), pancakes, and biscuits.

I can now understand why we had so many pre-made food items.  It is time consuming to cook from scratch.  I lived with a single mom of four kids who was working her butt off just to keep us fed, clothed and happy.  And honestly, I still can't make chicken and rice like she made in the microwave.  (Love you mom.)

Then at the Daddio's, we had poptarts and beefaroni (and LOVED it).  Would you expect any more from a bachelor?  *sigh* Brown sugar poptarts and Saturday morning cartoons.

I think this is why I tend to go to packaged foods, although in theory I would make everything from whole foods.  If I had the time and materials, I might even attempt to make my own pasta.  But really, who has the time for that?

I grabbed a few boxes of Rice-A-Roni when they were on sale a couple of weeks ago.

{Friday Five Foodie Finds #21}

 Hello Friends!

It's Friday!  And unlike most people I am not trying to just make it through the day...I have the day off!  I do, however work tomorrow at the Farmer's Market and my babysitting job.   

So I am trying to enjoy this lovely, if rainy, day.

On the agenda is getting my Foodie Pen Pal box together and mail it out.  I am doing something homemade, however I can't decide what to do.  I made those Double Chocolate Whole Wheat Cookies last week...intending some of those to go into the box.  Nope.  Only one left.

I have a nice list for my Friday Five Foodie Finds this week.  Maybe I will use one of these recipes?

When I first started doing these posts, I would search for recipes with the intention of putting them in my post so that I could post every single week.  Now I am much more laid back and just let it happen.  This means I might only post every 2 or 3 weeks, but these are recipes that I truely drooled over and want to try out.

Soft Chocolate Chip Macadamia Nut Cookies by Chocolate Covered Katie

Cookies are my favorite.  Soft cookies make my mouth happy.  These look amazing and as usual, Katie made these healthier than a usual cookie.  If she hadn't already established the most awesome healthy baking blog, I would probably start one similar.  But for some reason, I feel like I can't hold a candle to some of her recipes.  She actually recently got contacted by a "major publisher" to write a cook book.  I am jealous of the publisher part but I really don't think I would want to have the pressure of writing a cook book.  Some other sort of book, yes. ;-)

Peanutbutter Strawberry Time!

Hello Friends!

I'm working at my favorite job today...babysitting the twins!

The end table--one of their favorite toys!

Poor girlie twin is a little sick today (weren't they just sick??) so she has had a boogie nose all morning and woke up only half an hour after I put her down for their morning nap. 

Double Chocolate Whole Wheat Cookie Goodness

Good Evening Friends!

I will never stop baking.  

Nor will I ever stop loving chocolate.  Or cookies.

But I will try to make my sweets a little healthier, without sacrificing true deliciousness.

I had a slight scare last night.  I don't step on the scale but a couple of times a month.  Okay maybe once a week, but I am not an every-morning-stepper.

Purple Stride Walk 2012

Hello Friends!

I went for a long run for the first time since...May 16th according to DailyMile.  It felt good!

Well, the run didn't feel good the whole time, but I feel good today having run 4 miles at the Purple Stride Walk.  It was also for a very good cause, pancreatic cancer.  The survival rate is extremely low...think below double digits.  The BF's family has lost a few family members to this disease.

Get Fit with Music

Hello Friends!

My friend Emily suggested I do a post on different upbeat songs that could get her and her little ones moving.

I have been wanting to share my workout playlists for awhile..but sometimes I have so many ideas running around in my head that I totally forget.  I even write my ideas down...but who knows where those dang pieces of paper go?

I would say 95 percent of my workout playlists are by contemporary Christian artists.  I love going for a run and at the same time, focusing on the One who gave me my strong legs and the air in my lungs.

Here is a list of 10 songs taken from my half-marathon playlist...although I will be completing this race later than anticipated:

{WIAW #27} Happy National Running Day

Hello Friends!

I ran yesterday for the first time in....3 weeks??

I had some cool new shoes to test out!  I only did a walk/run for 2 miles, but I am sore today!  Could have had something to do with a good song on the ipod and sprinting up a hill at the end of my outing...

I had the day off yesterday (as I have in the past two WIAWs) and it was kind of a lazy day.

I cleaned out both my personal and my blog e-mail, which was quite a feat.  Then I got out of the house with my little 2-miler.  I also updated my Friends/Family page and did a yummy Dr. Pepper Ribs post.  I even managed to do some laundry and dishes.

And eat!  And take pictures of my eats!

I guess I did get a few things accomplished.  Hoorah for a day not wasted!

Here is what I ate yesterday.

I Want my Baby Back {Dr. Pepper} Ribs

Hello Friends!

Since the BF and I are obsessed with Chopped on the Food Network, when we saw a special episode featuring grilling (more specifically, ribs), we both got a craving for some BBQ ribs.

I made this recipe from Men's Health a couple of years ago...only I put it in the crockpot.  I really really wanted to make it again, however I didn't remember the specific crockpot method I used.

Did I fill the crockpot with Dr. Pepper?  Did I season the meat?  Did I wait to put the sauce on? 

I could not remember!

This is one reason I love food blogging...many of my favorite recipes are saved on this lovely space of mine on the internet.  I can pull it up anytime, anywhere.  (See my Recipage Page.)

Except for this ribs recipe...because I'm pretty sure I wasn't blogging at that point. :-(

After coming home late on Saturday from my late birthday-fun-day, I realized that there actually wouldn't even be enough room to put two full racks into my itty-bitty crockpot.

You see this time, we were planning on sharing the yumminess with some friends!  Which made the pressure to figure out the recipe even greater!  Emily (my zoo day friend) and Joe are nice and all..but it would still be embarrassing if the dish was a flop!

I decided I would have to bake the ribs.  Low and slow seemed to be the ideal way...and closest to crockpot cooking, but I didn't have a whole lot of time since I didn't get home from church until around 1pm.  Dinner was supposed to be at 5:30pm...30 minutes away from my house.

The Perfect (Late) Birthday Celebration

Hello Friends!

Yesterday the BF and I celebrated my birthday.

Yes, my birthday was April 7th, however BF has been traveling A LOT and whenever he's back in town we always seem to have some other activity going on.

We never got to celebrate just us like we had planned on so I figured..better late than never!

I got a little dressed up, which doesn't happen very often.  I'm more of a jeans and t-shirt girl.  Or, as of late, workout clothes and flip flops.

This ended up involving clothes and shoes everywhere in my quest for the perfect effortlessly-cute-and-comfortable-but-a-little-dressy outfit.

Went with the ones on the left and brought the ones on the right for when my feet got sore.  Always prepared. ;-)

We started with some errands first.  Got BF measured for a tux for his cousin's wedding in August.

Then we went to the running store and finally picked out my birthday present from BF's mom!  New running shoes!!  

Zoo-exercise

Hello Friends!

Well I am pooped.  And famished.  (And overly-dramatic.)

Today I had the pleasure of exploring the Omaha Henry Doorly Zoo.  Apparently Trip Advisor rated it the best zoo in the US. 

No big deal. ;-)

I'm so excited!!

I met my good friend Emily who had her little babe Rhea and the little one she babysits, Mia. 

Can you spot the Mia hand?  This is what I get when I try to hold a tot and take a picture.

It's always fun catching up with Emily.  Both of our guys work for the same railroad so we get to chat about slash complain about their jobs. ;-)