Super Bowl = SUPER Pig Out Day?

Super Bowl Sunday is only second to Thanksgiving for the amount of calories consumed.  The average American consumes over 3,000 calories during Super Bowl Sunday, with over 1,200 calories coming from snacks and drinks.  This is scary, as 3,000 calories is a couple day's worth of intake!  Here are some tips to avoid a caloric overload and stay on track with a healthy lifestyle!  Being health conscious doesn't mean cutting out the fun!

• Substitute carrots, celery, cucumbers, etc. for chips
• Avoid high caloric drinks - opt for light beer, or choose diet soda/soda water/tonic water for your cocktails
• Make snacks at home!  This lets you decide on your ingredients.
• Opt for fruit and veggie trays (without sugary or creamy dips).
• Choose hummus, home made salsa (store bought salsa contains tons of sodium), and vinaigrettes over creamy and sugary dips.
• Avoid pizza, nachos, and wings.  One buffalo wing hosts about 72 calories - in order to burn that off, you would need to run around the football field 12 times to burn one of those bad boys off!
• MINDFUL EATING!  Pay attention to what you are consuming!  Eat slowly and savor each bite.  It takes 7 minutes for the signals to reach our brain telling us we are "full".  The slower you eat, the less you will consume!

Looking for a healthy recipe?  Try some homemade COWBOY SALSA!!!  It's so good that you don't even need chips - just eat it with a spoon, or with other veggies!

Salsa:

15oz can black beans, rinse and drain (I go with low sodium option)

15oz can of shoe peg corn (or regular corn), rinse and drain

2/3 cup chopped green onions

2/3 cup chopped fresh cilantro

3-4 chopped roma tomatoes

1 large avacado, cubed

Dressing:

2 Tbsp red wine vinegar

1 tsp. Tabasco sauce

1 and 1/2 tsp oil

1/8 tsp pepper

Mix everything in the salsa recipe together, but wait to add the avocado's and dressing until right before serving!

Enjoy!

Colorful Burst

Many of you have probably noticed this post on Pinterest - well, I couldn't find a tutorial, so I managed to create this piece based on some of the comments and my own scheming!  I hope this is helpful, as these pieces are not difficult to make, and look really pretty when finished!  Happy arts & crafting :-)

The supplies:

• Canvas - I purchased a 20" x 24" canvas at Joanns (check their coupons every week, it will really help reduce the cost of this project).  I purchased a pack of two because I am using the other canvas for another project, and the multiple packs were cheaper.
• Paint - I decided to go with a quart of interior wall paint from Walmart (gah, I know - not a Walmart fan, but it fits the grad school budget) because I was using the paint for multiple projects and this was my cheapest option.  I have also seen recommendations to purchase the paint at the craft store.
• Mod podge - I purchased this from Joann's, used to attach the fabric and provide a finish.  I chose matte finish on the mod podge.
• Fabric - I purchased a bundle from Joann's.  The other option is to pick out your own individual squares (also found at Joann's).

The steps:

1. Paint the canvas.  I used a little paint roller and did two coats of paint total.  Remember to paint the edges of the canvas too!
2. Cut out fabric petals.  Start by cutting a bunch of the squares of the fabric.  I cut an equal number of squares from each piece of fabric, and picked one type of fabric for the center circle.
3. Lay out petals on the canvas.  I started by placing the center circle and working out from there.  You may need to reshape the petals or change the size of them to make everything fit as you like.  
4. Glue the petals down.  Once again, I started from the center circle, painting the mod podge on the back of the fabric and gluing it to the canvas.
5. Finish.  The mod podge can be painted on in a light coat as a sealer/finisher.  

I hope this is helpful!  Enjoy!  :-)