How Does Your Garden Grow? Deliciously!

The outer edge of the garden is for my herbs, and the inside is full of vegetables! Chewie likes to sniff the herbs, as you can see!

Hello, friends! It’s a beautiful summer day here. How is it where you live? I hope it’s as gorgeous as it is here! Because we now have our forever home, I have FINALLY been able to have the vegetable and herb garden of my dreams. We decided to make raised beds so I wouldn’t have to stoop or kneel to weed or pick my veggies and herbs. Now I’m really glad we made that decision. We also decided to make the raised beds out of stone instead of wood, because stone lasts forever, and we knew we would have to replace wooden beds in 3-5 years. I actually had to make the footprint of the garden larger twice while it was being built because I didn’t want to outgrow it too soon. We used organic soil once the stone was in place, and only use organic fertilizers on it as well. We never use pesticides or any chemicals of any sort on it, as there are lots of great natural ways to prevent infestations of bugs.

This is my tomato section, you can see how tall and luscious they can get with organic fertilizer and soil!

Eventually I would like to have a massive garden, and grow veggies and herbs to sell to restaurants who are interested in providing their customers with organic, scrumptious and beautiful vegetables and herbs. For now, though, I am focusing on growing enough for our family. I am writing about this today because I want to encourage you all to grow your own vegetables and herbs. It’s astonishingly easy to do, and requires very little maintenance along the way to deliciousness. I also want to share my recipe for salsa from my home grown tomatoes, peppers, onions and cilantro.

The back side of my garden with more herbs on the outside, and the inside has veggies, veggies and more veggies!

You don’t have to use stone, or make raised beds. Making a garden is as simple as clearing a spot for it, planting vegetables, adding organic fertilizer, watering every other day, picking weeds (I used to pull weeds every day and because they’re so small and tender they literally pull out in seconds, but now that the plants are so tall and well established they have pushed the weeds out), and enjoying the bounty of your garden. If you live in an apartment or condo (or like us were renting a home), you can grow your vegetables and herbs in pots on your patio.

Ok, I admit, I already outgrew my raised garden and had to use the edge of the fenced in area to plant my melons, zucchini, and cucumbers.

The vegetables I am growing are onions, peppers, asparagus, cauliflower, cabbage, broccoli, arugula, kale, potatoes, zucchini, cucumbers, corn, and garlic. The fruit selection is strawberries, cantaloupe, tomatoes (they are a vegetable!8 different kinds!), blueberries, and watermelon. The herbs are 5 different kinds of basil, 4 different types of oregano, 6 different types of thyme, rosemary, French tarragon, lavender, 3 kinds of mint, curry, and probably a lot more that I can’t recall right now. As you can tell I love herbs!

Just outside of the fenced in area of our yard, I am growing potatoes and garlic!

One of the main advantages to growing your own over buying store bought produce is price. For example, if you buy herbs from the grocery store it can cost anywhere from $3-6, and you can use them for 1-2 meals. Buying potted herbs costs $2.5-4.00, and they can last anywhere from 8 months to indefinitely. I have rosemary and parsley in pots that I brought with me from our old house that are going on 1 1/2 years old now. They wintered inside our house, I took them outside once it got warm enough, and they are flourishing now! That’s a great return on a $4.00 investment!

Another reason for growing your own is that you can control what goes into your food. You can use organic soil, fertilizer and pesticides like I do. For me it is such a relief to know how my food is grown, and what is used in the process. In addition, store bought produce is often picked half-ripe so that it can ripen once it gets to the grocery store, causing it to not grow to its full potential of nutritional value. Home grown produce can be picked at the peak of ripeness, thereby getting the full value of every single vitamin and mineral it contains. It’s also super convenient, instead of driving to the grocery store, you can walk out into your yard, snip off some basil, pick a few tomatoes, peppers, and onions, and you are on your way to a delicious homemade tomato sauce.

So with the bounty I currently have from my garden, I made my yummy salsa the other day. It is so easy to make fresh salsa, but it’s even easier when I can go into my yard to pick the ingredients for it. I will share it with you now!

Valerie’s Fresh Garden Salsa

4-6 large tomatoes chopped into smallish pieces
1 medium size onion, finely chopped (I used two large green onions)
2 jalapenos– seeded and insides removed if you don’t like much heat, I put them in intact because we love heat in our salsa! I also used sport peppers (heat index, somewhere between bell pepper and jalapeno) and banana peppers too!
3 tablespoons fresh cilantro
1/2 cup each extra virgin olive oil and vinegar
2 tablespoons minced garlic
1 tablespoon salt
1/2 tablespoon pepper
1/2 tablespoon garlic powder

Chop tomatoes, onions, peppers and cilantro and add to large bowl.

Add extra virgin olive oil, vinegar, minced garlic, salt, pepper, and garlic powder to the bowl and mix well. Taste and add more salt and pepper as needed. It tastes really good right away, but it’s even better the longer it sits. So if you make it in advance of the time you want to serve it, and let it sit and chill in the fridge that would taste extra amazing!

And voila! The finished product! It tastes delicious and it’s so good for you too. It’s full of vitamins, minerals and antioxidants that our bodies need to be healthy. It also helps prevent all kinds of diseases like cancer and heart disease. So remember to grow your own herbs and produce, and make yummy things with that home grown produce like my salsa. It will help you live a life of vitality- with Valerie! 🙂

Peter Piper Knew What He Was Talking About- Here’s Why You Should Do It Too!

Eat your heart out, Peter, I pickled my own!

Now when I speak of our good friend, Peter Piper, I’m not talking about the part where he PICKED the peck of pickled peppers. Though how do you pick pickled peppers anyway? Wouldn’t you have to pick regular peppers and then pickle them? So confusing, those old tongue twisters. No it’s the PICKLED part of the peppers that I want to focus on today.

You may be thinking, why should I care about pickled peppers or pickled anything else? Here’s why you should care- pickled or fermented vegetables are SO GOOD for you! And we’re talking ANYTHING pickled- like cucumbers (most common vegetable pickled), radishes, green beans, cabbage (think sauerkraut), and the Korean fermented vegetable dish called Kim chi. Did you know that pickled foods contain probiotics (good bacteria that helps your gut health)? Yes, that’s true. Let me explain this a bit.

Pickled cucumbers, or as most of us call them, pickles!

Pickling is a form of fermentation, and when vegetables and fruits are fermented, healthy bacteria help break down the hard to digest cellulose in foods, as well as some of the natural sugar. These healthy bacteria help keep fermented food safe and less likely to spoil, and can also help increase the good bacteria in your gut when eaten. That’s not just good for your gut, my friends, it also affects your immune and nervous systems. Almost 80% of our immune system exists in the gut, which contains about 100 trillion bacteria. In other words, we have 10 times more gut bacteria than the number of cells in our entire bodies! The gut also has the second nervous system in our bodies. We have the same amount of neurotransmitters in our gut as our brain! I know, crazy right?!!

Here’s the thing you’re probably thinking, ok so the gut is important, but why do we need pickled or fermented vegetables and fruits? The reason is because bad diets, antibiotics, stress and numerous other factors can create an imbalance of bad bacteria, creating bloating, fatigue, diarrhea, inflammation, headaches, and sugar cravings. Probiotics in fermented foods can help rebalance your good bacteria and ELIMINATE THESE SYMPTOMS!

Yummy, interesting Kim chi!

Another reason we need more pickled or fermented fruits and vegetables is that overweight people have different intestinal bacteria than lean people. In addition to other health problems, an imbalance of bad bacteria can create inflammation and fat gain. A study in the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition showed obese people reduced abdominal fat nearly 5% simply by drinking probiotic rich fermented milk for 12 weeks. Probiotics also reduce the risk for metabolic syndrome, which is an unpleasant condition that includes high blood pressure, insulin resistance, cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes. Clearly, probiotics are the way to help prevent numerous diseases!

The recommendation is to eat 1-3 servings of pickled or fermented vegetables each day to get the optimal gut benefits. Now, don’t go rush out to the grocery store and buy 10 jars of processed pickles. If you’re going to buy your pickled vegetables please buy them from the refrigerated section and try to get them without added sugar and organic if possible. If you don’t like pickles, refrigerated, non-pasteurized high quality sauerkraut is a delicious and healthy way to get your probiotics and vitamins, minerals, and phytochemicals too. Kim chi, the Korean fermented vegetable dish, is another way to get your probiotics. My daughter’s boyfriend is of Korean descent and his mom brought us Kim chi. I have been OBSESSED with it since she sent it, and have eaten the garlicky, spicy vegetables with almost every meat I’ve eaten. If you don’t know someone Korean, go visit your local Korean restaurant and try it! Truly unique and delicious!

Last and most important, I’m here to give you an easy and quick recipe for pickling vegetables so you can do it at home. You will be stunned at how easy and delish this is. Then, you can make some more when you run out instead of buying more from the grocery store. It’s also convenient to make your own because you can pickle whatever vegetables and fruits you have available at home. Check it out, you’ll be impressed!

Ingredients ready to be pickled!

Valerie’s Easy, Quick Pickled Vegetables

Gorgeous peppers- Peter would definitely want these, even before they’re pickled!

One cup chopped vegetables ( I used cucumbers and of course, peppers- both sweet and jalapenos)
1/2 cup vinegar
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt

Stir the vegetables into the vinegar, sugar and salt. Let sit for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. THAT’S IT!

Cukes sliced and ready for pickling!

You can put the pickles on a burger, hot dog, any sandwich, mix them into scrambled eggs, serve them alongside pork chops or steaks, or stir them into soups or top them on salads- they are versatile and delicious. I made a batch before I wrote this post, and Danielle is trying to eat them all before I’m even done writing! They’re addictive, and they’ll help give your gut the healthy flora it needs to boost immunity, fight disease, and get rid of that extra weight! Sounds great to me!

Voila! Done and ready for eating!

Try to pickle your own vegetables and let me know what you think of them. Also, I’d love to hear if your health improves by eating your pickled veggies, but remember you need to eat them AT LEAST once a day! Eating pickled vegetables is a way to live a life of vitality- with Valerie!

Fab Fourth- Fab Side!

Hi All! Well I’m sitting on the beach in sunny Southern California right now, and I’ll be spending the Fourth of July in Las Vegas this year. It’s quite a change from my normal Fourth festivities, that’s for sure! I usually have a cookout, and then we go and watch our local fireworks display.

While I won’t have a cookout this year (or even cook at all!), I wanted to share a recipe for the BEST and easiest side salad to make your fabulous Fourth meal complete. It’s made with one of my favorite vegetables, the humble but delicious cucumber. Did you know how healthy cucumbers are for you? No? Then it’s a good thing you read my post today because I’m going to tell you right now.

Cucumbers protect your brain because they contain the anti-inflammatory flavenol called fisetin. It plays an important role in memory by protecting nerve cells from age related decline. They also contain polyphenols called lignans and phytonutrients called cucurbitacins which have anti-cancer properties.

Cucumbers also contain potassium which plays an important role in lowering blood pressure. They’re very high in fiber and water too which helps in two ways. First, fiber helps aid in digestion (colon’s broomstick!) and water helps digest the other food you eat, and it also fills you up so it helps maintain a healthy weight. Another super thing is that cucumbers are very low in calories (1 cup has only 16 calories) so you can eat a lot of them and not take in too many calories.

Are you now convinced that cucumbers are a super duper thing to eat? Good, because I’ve got a delicious salad to share with you that my family loves. It’s quick too so you can spend time enjoying your family and friends during the holiday.

Cool Cucumber Salad

1. Prep Veggies– Peel and chop two cucumbers, one onion (I used fresh green onions from my farmer’s market for this recipe but any type of onion will do) and one large tomato. I use Heirloom tomatoes because I love the flavor but again, any will do. Put them in a flat-ish container (because I like for the vinaigrette to really soak into the veggies).

2. Make Vinaigrette– Combine 1/2 cup organic white vinegar with 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil, 1 cup of water, a teaspoon of honey, 2 teaspoons of salt, and 1 teaspoon of pepper in a small bowl and whisk them together.

3. Add vinaigrette to cucumbers, tomatoes and onions and give a stir. Ideally I like to make this an hour or so ahead of my meal to allow the ingredients to combine, but I’ve also made it a second before dinner and it’s been yummy so either way is fine.

That’s all there is to it! My family raves about this salad and it’s so easy to make. I hope you try it, and I know you’ll like it! Let me know if you do! Eating healthy side dishes like this one will help you lead a life of vitality- with Valerie!

Spring Into Weight Loss- Low/No Carb Of Course!

Low/No carb cornucopia!

Well friends, spring is coming to the Midwest, I can feel it now and it feels SO GOOD! The snow is melting, the air is warming, and the sun is finally shining- to which I have to say, thank goodness! Along with this feeling of utter joy that the weather is so much nicer, I am also feeling the need for spring house cleaning. No, not in my actual house, but in my life. I realize that as the winter seemed to drag on forever, my eating habits got as heavy as my mood and I was eating more pastas, breads, and potatoes. Right after Valentine’s day I got on the scale and much to my dismay I had gained 5 pounds since early December. That happens a lot easier now as I grow older!

So I decided to follow my own advice and do some spring cleaning to my diet. Conveniently for me I gave up all sweets and snack foods for Lent so those things were the first to go. I’m not much of a sweets eater however I do love my dark chocolate so I’m really missing that right now. I also don’t eat a lot of snack foods but occasionally I really enjoy chips and other salty foods. So that was a first step but I still wasn’t seeing much improvement- probably because I don’t eat too much of those kinds of foods anyway. I decided to practice what I preach and take the next step toward “decluttering” my body by cutting WAY back on carbs.

Hummus and vegetables is a great low carb snack!

If you refer back to one of my past blog posts, “Fat Doesn’t Make You Fat”, you will see that contrary to popular opinion fatty foods like butter and bacon do not make you gain weight. It’s difficult even to overeat those foods because they are SO rich they will make you feel sick if you eat too much of them. What does cause major weight gain and belly fat is carbohydrates. Did you read that? It’s so important I’m going to repeat it: WHAT DOES CAUSE MAJOR WEIGHT GAIN AND BELLY FAT IS CARBOHYDRATES. Period. End of story.

It’s so hard for people to grasp though. They think, “Well I eat only 1600 calories every day and I should be able to lose weight, but I can’t.” What they don’t realize is that a calorie is not a calorie is not a calorie. In other words, all calories are not created the same. As I explained in my past blog post, the reason that carbs make you fat is that they overload the liver and then the liver turns the carbs/sugar into fat. Now you might say, “wait, I don’t eat sugar so I’ll be fine.” That’s untrue because carbs like potatoes, pasta, bread, muffins, etc etc etc, turn to sugar in your body, and then that sugar overloads the liver and turns to fat. Specifically it turns to belly fat, especially if you’re over 40. You don’t even need to eat many carbohydrates to overload your liver. Any small amount will cause this to happen. That’s why you get that ANNOYING muffin top that laps over the top of your pants, it’s because of carbs. Don’t forget too, that sugar hides in processed food so even if you’re cutting out sugar and carbs, you could still be gaining weight if you’re eating a ton of food that comes out of a box.

And by no sugar I mean all things that you eat that turn to sugar in your body!

So, I went back to basics, no bread, pasta, or tortilla chips (my personal favorites), and VERY limited amounts of potatoes (obviously no French fries or mashed potatoes), brown rice and quinoa. I would only have ONE SERVING A DAY of the carbs on my very limited list. Here’s the deal, my friends, I lost that 5 pounds that I had gained over the past few months in three weeks! I also lost my muffin top in the process and found my abs!

I thought I would give you a sample of a day of eating for me, so you can see how to do this low/no carb thing, and then I will share a recipe for a delicious low carb chicken stew that you will love! Now obviously the amount of calories each person needs to consume in order to lose weight will vary from person to person, depending on your weight and how much you want to lose. With my size, I needed to eat approximately 1400 calories per day to lose weight. In my past post, “My Fitness Pal is my favorite Fitness Pal” I discussed my use of the app as a way to journal the foods I eat in order to better control my eating. In my post I relayed the information that journaling is known to be one of the most effective ways to lose weight and maintain that loss over the long haul. So I can look back at what I’m eating to see where I need to improve.

This is what the diary looks like on My Fitness Pal!

For instance, on Tuesday of this week I started the day with my typical cup of coffee with coconut creamer and cinnamon. For lunch I had chicken salad with mayonnaise, celery and onion on lettuce and a half cup of steamed cauliflower, broccoli and carrots with a teaspoon of butter. For dinner I had a slice of meatloaf, made with no breadcrumbs, 2 glasses of Pinot Grigio (it’s a must), a salad with cucumbers, tomatoes and a homemade vinaigrette, and caprese tomatoes made with extra virgin olive oil, slices of mozzarella, and basil. That day I consumed 1503 calories but burned 201 calories with exercise, so I had 258 calories remaining. I left those calories on the table, so to speak. My Fitness Pal app tells me that I consumed 53% of my calories from fat, 29% from protein, and 18% from carbohydrates. That’s a really good nutritional breakdown for a day of eating, especially if weight loss is the goal.

The best part is that because I’ve pretty much replaced the carbs with vegetables I find that I feel more full after I eat, because vegetables are full of fiber and fiber fills you up. Plus vegetables are also full of vitamins and antioxidants so I’m getting a big bang for my nutritional buck! That’s a win-win!

With that in mind, I made a chicken stoup (Rachel Ray term for a dish that’s somewhere between a stew and a soup) that I really like. It’s low carb and full of flavor. I had it for lunch yesterday and it was so delicious and satisfying. I think you’ll really like it and I’d love to share it with you now.

Chicken “Stoup“

Ingredients

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 carrot, peeled, cut into bite sized pieces
1 small onion, chopped
salt and pepper
1 14 oz can chopped tomatoes
1 14 oz can chicken broth
1/2 cup fresh basil, chopped
1 tablespoon tomato paste
1 bay leaf
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme leaves
2 chicken leg quarters (about 1 1/2 lbs total)
1 15 oz can organic kidney beans, drained

Veggies, chicken broth and chicken into the pot!

First, heat the oil in a large pot over medium heat and add the celery, onion and carrot. Saute the vegetables until the onion is transluscent. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Stir in the tomatoes with their juices, chicken broth, basil, tomato paste, bay leaf and thyme. Add the chicken leg quarters and press to submerge them into the broth.

Getting all warm and bubbly in the pot! The smell is to die for!

Next, bring the cooking liquid to simmer, then reduce the heat to medium low and simmer gently uncovered until the chicken is almost cooked through, turning the chicken over and stirring the mixture occasionally, about 25 minutes. Using tongs, transfer the chickien to a plate and let it cool for a few minutes. Discard the bay leaf from the broth. Add the kidney beans to the pot and simmer until the liquid has reduced into a stew consistency, about 10 minutes.

Chicken out of the pot and ready to be de-boned and skinned! I was pulling the meat from the chicken bones when I got called to the door. When I returned most of the chicken had disappeared, including the bones and skin, and there were two very guilty looking but satisfied dogs sitting nearby. Luckily, they left me enough to finish the stoup with!

Discard the skin and bones from the chicken. Shred or cut the chicken into bite sized pieces and return the chicken meat to the stoup. Bring it back to a simmer, hit it with a little salt and pepper, and you’re ready to serve it.

My delicious chicken stoup ready to eat and it is DELISH!

Well that’s it for today, my friends. I’m here to tell you it really does work for sure to cut out most of the carbs you eat. You will not miss them and you also won’t miss the pounds you lose as well. Message me if you have any questions about your own diet that you’d like me to help with. Eating like this is so much better for your body and will help you live a life of vitality- with Valerie!

Sick of Sandwiches? Here’s what to eat for lunch!

This post is for my sister, Paula, who asked me to give her ideas for healthy lunches. I know what she means. I think lunch is sort of the forgotten meal of the day. Usually there is a lot of emphasis put on breakfast and dinner, but lunch kind of gets lost in the shuffle. That usually results in eating some sort of sandwich for lunch, which isn’t always the healthiest choice. I actually enjoy thinking of yummy and healthy lunch ideas. It pushes my creative boundaries. Especially when I was trying to think of lunches to make for Danielle, who hated her high school cafeteria choices, can’t eat gluten, and doesn’t like to eat the same thing every day! She always challenges me cooking wise! So I came up with a few good lunch ideas that I’d like to share with you today. I hope it inspires Paula and all the rest of you in your lunch choices.

Love my leftovers for lunch!

1.Utilize your leftovers- Don’t be afraid to repurpose your leftovers for a tasty lunch. In the picture above, I heated up the pork carnitas I had made from the other night, with the quinoa I made a different night, and the guacamole I had made with the carnitas. I sliced some tomatoes and called it lunch! If you work outside the home or are making kids lunches and you don’t have access to a microwave, preheat the quinoa and carnitas, put it in a thermal container and it should still stay warm throughout the morning.

Chicken corn chowder with a bowl of mixed veggies!

2. Soup, soup, and more soup- For a delicious and hearty lunch I love to have a bowl of soup. In the above picture I had an amazing chicken corn chowder from Urban Ladle, which is a small business here in Indy that makes tasty gluten free, all natural soups and salads. I found them at the Fishers Farmers Market this summer and I like that they have samples to try. I tried the chicken corn chowder and knew I had to purchase it. They sell some of their soups frozen and I put it in the freezer. I also purchased their chicken tortilla soup as well. With frozen soups, you just pop them in the microwave to thaw and then either heat in the microwave or on the stove. Easy and delish!

Organic soups you can buy in the grocery store

If you don’t have access to a wonderful local soup business, you can purchase great tasting soups from the grocery store. Above are two examples of soups that I enjoy, Amy’s organic and Pacific. I also eat a lot of lentils and vegetables so these two types of soups fit perfectly within my desired flavor profiles. Use a thermal container if you eat lunch away from home and you’re good to go!

Egg salad- Salad

3. Egg salad/chicken salad/tuna salad- Salad- This was one of Danielle’s favorite lunches that I’d pack her when she was in high school. Instead of making egg salad/chicken salad/tuna salad on bread, I’d make it on a salad tossed with a vinaigrette dressing. She LOVED this lunch. I make my own chicken salad with a tablespoon of mayonnaise, teaspoon of Dijon mustard (we like a tang to our chicken salad), 1/4 cup chopped onion, handful of grapes cut in half, 1/2 cup of chopped pecans, and salt and pepper to taste with 2 cups of chopped chicken. I usually make it when I’m making chicken soup because I will have leftover chicken. Or when I get a rotisserie chicken from the grocery store I will use the chicken that’s left. I l would send egg salad- Salad during Lent when we don’t eat meat on Fridays because we’re Catholic. To prepare it I boil 6 eggs, peel and chop them, then add a tablespoon of mayo, a teaspoon of yellow mustard, 1/4 cup capers, and salt and pepper to taste. Yummmmm! Danielle doesn’t like tuna salad, but Jacqueline and I LOVE IT! We like to use pink salmon sometimes and white albacore tuna other times. It depends on our moods. I use a tablespoon of mayo, 1/4 cup each of chopped onion, celery and kosher dill pickles, 1 teaspoon of spicy mustard, and salt/pepper to taste. Again, I serve it over a lettuce salad lightly dressed with vinaigrette. My vinaigrette is 1/4 cup of white wine vinegar (but any type of vinegar would work), 1/4 cup of extra virgin olive oil, 1/2 teaspoon minced garlic, salt and pepper to taste. I pack it in a round Tupperware container with a lid, throw in a fork and out the door they go!

Quinoa- so versatile and a great lunch ingredient!

4. Quinoa- It’s one of my favorite things for lunch. And you can do sooo much with it. Whenever I make quinoa for dinner I always make twice as much as I need and use the rest for lunch. I either serve it warm as a side dish, like in the first picture at the top, or I serve it cold as a salad with lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers and vinaigrette. You can use quinoa as a warm oatmeal type dish with milk, cinnamon, honey, and cooked apples or peaches too. It’s so versatile you can do just about anything you want to it and it would still taste good. It can be easily packed for a lunch on the go by using a thermal container. I just love quinoa!

Love me some hummus!

5. Great sides- Now don’t forget your lunch side dishes! My favorite lunch side dish is hummus with carrots and celery to dip in it. I eat it quite often. I like the Sabra brand hummus with tapenade in it, but hummus is easy to make and more delicious that way. Just take 3 cups canned garbanzo beans, rinsed and drained, 1/2 teaspoon minced garlic, and 8 teaspoons of extra virgin olive oil. Put all ingredients into a food processor or blender, and blend on high until smooth. Salt and pepper to taste- yummy!

Salsa rules!

Another of my favorite sides is chips and salsa. I use gluten free, non-gmo tortilla chips. My current favorites are beet and corn chips called The Better Chips. They taste SO good, even if you don’t like beets I think you’ll like these. They’re salty and tasty! I eat chips and salsa almost every day. Just remember the chips are carbs so take that into account when you’re eating them. Also, pay attention to serving size, a typical serving size is 12 chips for 140 calories. I usually count out my chips and put the bag away before I start eating so I won’t overindulge. Salty is my thing so I have to do that because I could eat salty snacks ALL DAY without stopping.

Well friends, that’s my list of healthy lunch choices. Since I don’t usually eat breakfast, lunch is my first meal of the day and I like to make it really count. Let me know what you like to eat for lunch. I hope you’ll try some of my lunch choices because they’ll help you live a life of vitality- like Valerie!

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Vitality with Valerie

Sharing the importance of living a joyful and healthy lifestyle!

cucumbers

How Does Your Garden Grow? Deliciously!

Peter Piper Knew What He Was Talking About- Here’s Why You Should Do It Too!

Fab Fourth- Fab Side!

Sick of Sandwiches? Here’s what to eat for lunch!

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