Support us in our race!

https://www.teamorphans.com/fortwayneteam/

We have decided to join Team Orphans this year and race for a purpose.  We will be competing, along with a few friends, in the Fort 4 Fitness Event on September 29^th, 2012 and our team goal is to raise $1200.

Our son is running the kids marathon, My husband is running the half marathon and I will be running the 10k race.

Team Orphans supports Brittany’s Hope Foundation, who place grants on special needs children in orphanages (sibling groups, older children, or children with medical needs) to help pay for their adoption costs.

There are more than 147 million orphans worldwide. Many of the children adopted internationally will have medical costs depending on their medical need on top of the cost of the adoption and travel. Many families wouldn’t be able to adopt without these grants. There are so many kids in need of a family! Help us raise money to help one more child come home!

Would you be willing to sponsor us in our race by making a tax-deductible donation to Brittany’s Hope Foundation?   100% of the money you donate will go toward adoption grants.

To donate:

1-       visit www.teamorphans.com/fortwayneteam  and donate online
2-      or mail a check to:   (put “Fort Wayne Team” on the memo section of your check)

                                      Brittany’s Hope Foundation

                                                      Team Orphans
                                                      1160 N Market Street
                                                      Elizabethtown, PA 17022

****************

 

 

We also have cookbooks left from our daughter’s adoption fundraiser. If you are interested in purchasing a book for $20, all the money will go to team orphans and towards our goal of $1200. Go to http://www.journeyforourdaughter.blogspot.com/2010/06/cookbooks-are-in.html for more information on the book. Then let us know if you’d like to purchase one. You can pay us in cash or check.

 

Thank you for your support!

 Todd, Amy and Josiah Miller

Wow, The summer went by fast!

A few weeks ago, I tried to figure out why I haven't been able to do any posts. Then I looked at the last one I did. It was right before my son's school ended. ah-ha! That makes sense! Summer break came and since the kids don't nap anymore, I just wasn't able to get anything extra done. I decided that was ok. I was busy going places and doing things with them and by the time we got them to bed, I was exhausted and just wanted to watch a show and go to bed.

Although the summer was fun, i'm actually looking forward to having more of a solid schedule. I think the kids really need it, too.

I do have some grilling and summer recipes that I am still going to post. I've been meaning to do it all summer. It's never to late to fire up the grill!

I'm also in the middle of training for a 10k. It's been a rough couple weeks here with training with getting a tooth implant and then follow that with a head cold. I'm doing my best to get rid of it and hope it doesn't settle in my chest so I can get back to my running schedule. I'm running with some friends so we do our long runs on the weekend with each other. It's a great way to encourage and motivate each other to keep running on the hard days. But more of that later.

Here is something I did for the kid's lunch one day. I got the idea from somewhere but I can't remember where. They loved it! My son said "This is a special day!" The idea is so simple and they got such a kick out of it. I put some turkey, egg, cheese, blueberries, raspberries, carrots, cucumbers, yogurt, and some pudding. The only thing they didn't eat was the pudding. It's a good idea for something different for the everyday lunch.

My favorite thing to make...

My favorite thing to make isn't really a healthy thing. Cookies are probably my favorite treat. Well, that and ice cream (Love homemade vanilla with warmed peanut butter and melted dark chocolate on top. Yummmm!) I love making a batch of cookies and when they are cool I pop them in the freezer so I can have a fresh tasting cookie anytime (well, anytime the kids can't see me) and I don't feel like I have to eat the whole batch in two days before they start to go stale.

Last pumpkin season, I was looking for a new pumpkin cookie. And I also had a oatmeal raisin cookie that I really liked. It was a hardy type cookies with more oats than flour. So then I thought what if I made it with pumpkin added cranberries instead of raisins and added chocolate chips. This is what I came up with. This is a hardy cookie.


Oatmeal Pumpkin Cranberry Cookies

1 1/4 cup pureed pumpkin
3/4 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
3/4 cup white flour
3/4 cup whole wheat flour
1 tsp baking soda
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp salt
3 1/2 cups oats
1 cup dried cranberries
2/3 cup mini chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350F.

In a large bowl, combine pumpkin, brown sugar, eggs, and vanilla. Mix until smooth. Combine the flours, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt. Add to pumpkin mixture and stir just until moistened. Stir in oats, cranberries, and chocolate chips.

Drop by 1/4 cupfuls onto a baking sheet coated with cooking spray; flatten each slightly. Bake at 350F for 12-14 minutes. Cool for 2 minutes before removing from pan to wire rack.

Makes 20

If you want to know how this breaks down, one cookie has 179 calories, 3.6g fat (1.6g sat. fat), and 3.5g protein.

Chipotle BBQ Burgers with Slaw

It's grilling time! It seems that last summer, we didn't use our grill that much and I love doing meals on the grill. I hope to find more grilling recipes this year and take advantage of the nice weather and eat outside.

I'm not much of a beef eater so I try to substitute turkey a lot. I've tried turkey burgers before but it was always bland and too dry tasting. This recipe was originally a beef recipe. You can find the original here. But I think this one is good with turkey as long as you don't overcook them. I changed some things on the slaw part. I didn't think the original recipe had enough. I like to serve them with sweet potato chips or seasoned sweet potato fries.

Chipotle BBQ Burgers with Slaw

1/2 cup breadcrumbs

2 T barbecue sauce

1 T chopped chipotle chiles, canned in adobo sauce

2 cloves garlic, minced

20 oz package lean ground turkey

1 large egg

4 cups cabbage-and-carrot coleslaw

3 T reduced-fat mayonnaise

3 T reduced-fat sour cream

2 tsp sugar

2 tsp cider vinegar

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp black pepper

5 hamburger buns

Combine first 6 ingredients. Divide mixture into 5 equal portions, shaping each into a 1/2-inch-thick patty.

Heat a grill to medium-high heat. Grill patties until no longer pink inside.

Combine coleslaw and next 6 ingredients (through pepper) in a large bowl; toss well. Place 1 patty on bottom half of each bun; top each serving with 1/2 cup coleslaw mixture and top half of bun.

My favorites in healthy cleaning

Update: Between now and April 30, 2012, Shaklee will waive the membership fee (usually $19.95) with any order! That means you can save 15% and get the member price on products. You can email me with any order and I'll do the rest and have it shipped to your home. amymiller@shaklee.net


I've used Shaklee's Get Clean cleaning products for a few years now and love them! I've tried other natural brands and find that shaklee's products just work better. Before I started using these, I'd have to be careful of when I cleaned my house. I had a little trouble breathing after cleaning with traditional cleaners. I wouldn't be able to run well if I cleaned the same day. I had to either run before I cleaned or just do it on different days. The toilet cleaner was the worst for me. But now that I don't have those fumes from cleaning, it doesn't bother me anymore.

I used most of the products but I wanted to highlight my favorites.

Basic H: I use this to clean literally everything. I have 3 bottles with different concentrations to use on different things. A 16 oz bottle of water with a couple drops of basic h is used to clean windows and I use it to dust as well. We have a dog who slobbers on the back window and this works really well at getting that off, too. I do recommend a window cloth so you don't have streaks. Any specifically for windows should work.

Then the two other concentrations are 1/4 tsp and 1 1/2 tsp of basic h into 16 oz of water to clean everything else. I use Basic H on everything from toys and kitchens to floors and bathrooms.

Scour Off: This is one of my favorites. It's a paste and it is great for cleaning sinks, tubs, grout, ovens, even rust. This makes it easier for me to clean my tub. It helps to remove the soap scum. And it smells nice!

I love that I don't need 10 different cleaners to get my house clean. I can clean anything with these.

Another product that I really like is the Nature Bright. I've used this to get stains out of the kids clothes and it works great. I put them in a bucket and let them soak before washing them. I've also used this to get stains out of my carpet. With a dog and two kids, sometimes that is hard to keep up with!

A couple other things I really like are the Dishwash Concentrate and the Dish Washer Automatic Concentrate.

That is a quick overview of the healthy cleaning products I like. Like I said, I've used other natural cleaners and I found these worked better for me.

Team Orphans

I saw this blog post in the newsletter from the adoption agency we used for my daughter. It is about Team Orphans, a group of people raising money by running races and having people sponsor them to run.

Team Orphans was created to raise money to help families with the cost of adoption through Brittney’s Hope. It specifically helps families adopting special needs children internationally. The cost of adopting internationally can be overwhelming and when you add the cost of any treatments or surgeries the child might have to have after they come home, it can be hard on a lot of families. Rebecca Cruttenden started team orphans because she didn’t see any athletic teams that were raising money for orphans. Check out their website www.teamorphans.com.

 
We are creating a team to run in the Fort 4 Fitness event on September 29, 2012 to help raise money for adopting families. 100% of the funds raised go to help provide grants to families adopting special needs kids internationally. You can choose which race you want to run – the 4 mile, 10k, or half marathon. You don’t need to be fast, just finish!

If you want to be a part of this here’s what you need to do:

1. Let me know if you want to run in the fort 4 fitness event and commit to raising pledges. We will also need to have a fundraising goal. So if you have an amount that you think you can raise let me know. That would help me to figure out a team goal.
2. Sign up for one of the three races at www.fort4fitness.org. They have a 4 mile, a 10k and a half marathon. Let me know if you want a training schedule based on your race and fitness level. I’ll have my husband help me get one for you. (The cost the race goes up after 5/4/12.)
3. I will sign us up as a team and set up a fundraising webpage with team orphans. All pledges can be paid through the webpage.
4. When the webpage is ready, I’ll let you know and you can tell your friends and family to go there to sponsor us as a team. Team Orphans will provide us with a sample fundraising letter to send out.
5. Train and run the race!

If you don't want to run but would like to sponsor our team, I'll let you know when the webpage is set up and what to do. Right now we are just looking for team member who want to run and raise funds for adopting families.

Let me know!

More bars...

After trying the peanut butter bars, I had to try a couple other flavors. It took me a while to post them since I had quite a busy week last week with the resale I was working at and then this week, I was recovering! I haven't worked that hard in a while!

I made Cranberry Pistachio bars and Chocolate Coconut. The coconut ones taste like Mounds bars. They both are really good. These freeze really well. They don't get rock hard.


Cranberry Pistachio Bars

1/4 cup raw, unsalted almonds
1/4 cup pistachios, shelled
1/2 cup oats
1/4 cup dried cranberries
3/4 cup dates

Process nuts and oats in food processor. Add cranberries and dates and process until finely chopped. Press mixture into a 8x8 dish lined with wax paper. Refrigerate for an hour.


Chocolate Coconut Bars

1/2 cup raw, unsalted almonds
1/2 cup dark chocolate
1/2 cup unsweetened coconut
pinch of salt
1 1/2 cup dates

Process nuts, chocolate, and coconut in food processor. Add salt and dates and process until finely chopped. Press mixture into a 8x8 dish (or something similar) lined with wax paper. Refrigerate for an hour.


Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip (a smaller batch than the previous post)

3/4 cup unsalted peanuts
1/2 cup dark chocolate
1 cup dates

Process nuts and chocolate in food processor. Add dates and process until finely chopped. Press mixture into a 8x8 dish (or something similar) lined with wax paper. Refrigerate for an hour.

Enjoy!