Making the most of the holidays is so important to me because my family loves the holidays.  Growing up I with my moms side of the family was great and it was big. Every weekend there was a birthday party,  a wedding, quinceañera (15 birthday kind of like a sweet sixteen), or just a get together.  We ate all sorts of Mexican dishes like mole, birria, chile colorado, carme asada and more much more.  Mole is one of my favorite things on that list and luckily my husbands too!

Just happens that I had bought extra turkeys during the thanksgiving sale and my mom makes a mean turkey with mole dish so I decided to take a chance.  Now I've told y'all how much I love my InstaPot so I knew I was going to use it to cut time Big time the only problem was fitting this huge almost 13 pound  bird in it so I decided to cut it into pieces threw half  the turkey in it some salt (tbsp), half onion, four cloves of garlic, little water (1 cup I needed the broth) put it on for 20 minutes and let it release on its own.

Turkey was done so fast!! I made the second batch the same and decided to freeze it to make something else for later I'm thinking turkey tamales, cause why not?! I strained the broth both times which yielded about 4 cups each time which I strained  and put in mason jars.  I used one batch of this and set my onions and garlic aside as well to use for my sauce.  I shredded the turkey I was using and set that aside while I made my sauce.

I also had bought 1 can of ground mole at Food Lion last week it is in the Hispanic/ethnic food section.






I opened that bad boy up blended it with my onions, garlic and broth I set aside. I also had crisped but not charred a corn tortilla meanwhile on the stove top over the fire (the way my grandma does) and added that in to my blender it gives it a good flavor trust me you can also add a spoonful of almond butter/peanut butter to this at this time. Once it was all blended smooth I added it to my large pot then added my shredded turkey and let it all come to a boil then simmered for a couple minutes.  It was so good and so darn easy tasted like my grandmas mole!

I didn't get a pic but here is what it looked like except my turkey was shredded.

My InstaPot Mexican "everything" Chicken

Some pretty neat things have happened I've lost some weight all while staying busy with the kids and getting some DIY stuff done super fun!! Today though I'm going to talk about my InstaPot if you have one you will understand how much you can love a kitchen gadget! InstaPot is an electric pressure cooker that can make dinners from frozen to table ready within a  hour or so. I have tried so many recipes out on it lately maybe because I have been on the go so much and I've used it more than my stove haha!  The best recipes that I want to share is my Mexican "everything" chicken recipe it's so easy and you can use it for so many things. I use it to make nachos, tacos, burritos, enchiladas etc etc.

Mexican "everything" chicken
This is what I use
3-4 large chicken breasts (I put them in frozen too depending on how much prep time I've had)
4 cloves of garlic
1 small onion chopped
2 Roma tomatoes chopped
1 green bell pepper chopped (if you don't have littles or your fam likes spicy use a jalapeño or two)
1 cup of chicken stock
salt, pepper
1 tsp cumin
1 pack of Sazon seasoning with cilantro and tomatoe << My secret weapon

I mix in garlic, onion, tomatoes and bell pepper with a tablespoon of olive oil on sauté  once it's tender I add the rest of my ingridients  set it to cook for 15 minutes in my InstaPot and done!!
Tip you can double this about 6 breasts and cook for about 20 minutes seriously a great way to make ahead of time and freeze for really quick meals!

Starting Out

So I started my healthy journey first of  I went to a naturopath and we came up with a health plan to get me back to feeling good.  It is totally doable she also added some natural supplements to help me through it all.  I am eating lots of steamed veggies but I'm limited like no greens or and lots of grains like quinoa, barley, millet (I thought it was bird food), brown rice etc. and oats.  All of it sounds a lot healthier than what I've been doing though so I'm giving it my best.  I am also drinking about a gallon of water a day with a fresh squeezed lemon yum and have cut back on coffee from 8 cups to 4!!  That's big for me!! 😳😳. My energy level is still about the same maybe it's the thyroid or Lyme disease that usually keeps me down though but I do get bursts of energy lately and that is good my friends!  

My kids are being so helpful and making sure I stay on track too!! They remind me to drink water actually we all are drinking more water and to not eat their snacks that they've left over lol. I hate wasting food but I hate being unhealthy more.  

I want to say it's been a big struggle but it hasn't been too bad. Now it has been a BIG adjustment but change is good especially if we are headed to a better place! I also have an awesome friend who is very crunchy she has been super amazing (thanks Elizabeth you are the bomb 💣) at helping me out and answering so many of my questions.  I mean I didn't even know what some of those grains were and she has explained and even told me how easy some are to cook!  

Totally getting crazy on this journey but I'm praying for just a bit more energy so I can work it out at the gym or at least take long walks... walking is good right?... I do love walking it gives me time to talk and work things out with God and that is always good!! 

Ruthie C

Living Life Differently

Life starts out so simple and get so difficult oh but it does, doesn't it. My grandma always said "life is what you make of it".  Now that I'm older I realize she is absolutely correct if you choose to waddle in self pity well that's where you will stay but if you choose to stand, run and push yourself to get where you want to be well that is where you will land.  

Hi my friends call me Ruthie, I am a wife to a pretty sweet guy and a momma of 3 fun loving extremely active kids. We live in a farm house on 20 plus acres in the beautiful countryside state of Virginia we have goats, chickens, a donkey and dogs and at one time pigs, bunnies whatever my sweet animal loving kids would convince us they"needed".  My life revolves around my family and our farm house  as I'm sure most of you parents out there can relate to this.  I was not raised a country girl (but am at heart being born in Texas and all) I mostly grew up in California's Bay Area. There are no pigs, chickens, goats or donkeys in Cali, life is fast paced and work is hard but in a much different way than here in the country.  My life took a big change everything had been easily accessible for me going to the gym, the Drs, church all took a couple minutes. 

Here is why I'm blogging I love my life it's crazy, hectic and always full of projects, DIY trials, family memories  but also I am in need of taking my life back in every way I can... I need to, I want to and I must if I want to see my children grow up. I am a very social person and love sharing and interacting with others also I think a blog will give me accountability. I am at an unhealthy weight as well and it's something I have struggled with before. I've always found it difficult to maintain my weight but like I said going to the gym was so much easier in Cali (<-- excuse right there I know).  I have tried different "diets" only to fail time and time again.  Here is where my story gets scary I am pre diabetic <-- that's hard for me to read so many things in my body have been affected by this my thyroid is one. 

I know many folks are struggling out there there the struggle is real but here's the thing YOU ARE NOT ALONE! I know it's really tough especially when you start a new "diet" but that's the thing I can't "diet" any more I need to change my lifestyle. It's so easy to make excuses like "I can't run to fast I have asthma" or "my head is killing me my blood pressure will get too high if I walk too much" yeah I've had those too. I am just now realizing it's time for me to stop making excuses and start changing my life. 

So here it is my goal is not to get skinny or thin but it's to get healthy I don't want to prick my fingers or have to take my BP anymore. So starting in September I will be taking a big step towards health if you want to join  me and have some accountability, someone to cheer you on or need ideas on what to eat you can follow me on this journey I know it's going to be a wild ride!