Category: Food

Another Monday Morning Weigh-In

Well, I normally dread these Monday morning weigh-ins and yet this weekend……not so much!

And wouldn’t you know it, for all of my not dreading it…..I gained weight this week. How’s that for fun?

The scale showed a clear 193.8…..that’s UP 1.6 pounds from last week.

While I’m not happy about that – I’m also not devastated. I’m still exercising (4 times this week) and I’d guess that I just need to be a little more aware of what I put in my mouth this week.

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I will get “there”. In my mind, “there” means healthy and happy with myself. That’s what I’m working on….. While at times it may seem like an uphill battle, every positive choice that I make takes me one step closer to that goal.

I think that for me, one thing that I’m learning is that it’s all about choices and consequences. If I choose to eat healthy and to exercise, I’ll reap the rewards that lifestyle brings. On that other hand, I am also responsible for the choices to eat crap and to take a day (or two or three or so) off exercising.

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While once in a while “treats” are okay – it really needs to be once in a while, and not “the norm”. I think I’m learning…..slowly….oh so slowly. It’s not that I’ve not known this in the past, but I’ve just not really accepted it or lived my life as if these rules applied to me. Like I said, I’m learning…..

I don’t really see a big difference between these photos and the previous ones, but that’s okay. I’m feeling good and I know that I’ve lost 10 lbs and for right now…..that’s good. It will come. I will be healthy. I believe it.

When Planning Ahead Totally Pays Off

Last Thursday was an “At Home” day for me.

I had planned on running out to the store to pick up some groceries for the weekend and then figured that while I was headed out, I might as well plan for the next week of meals and pick up what I could for the next weeks meals and that way I’d be one step ahead of myself (if that’s even possible).

And now……am I ever glad that I planned for this week early!

I feel like crap BUT…. Jon and the kids are able to keep things running smoothly on the meal side of things.

There were a few adjustments to last weeks schedule…..but this is normal, eh?

Friday we were supposed to have Bar-B-Que chicken, BUT…the girls headed over for a sleepover at my sisters and so Jon, I and the boys had Taco Del Mar. YUM!

Saturday was the Thanksgiving dinner with my family and then Sunday…….

Sunday was the day that I felt absolutely brutal. We were going to have Jon’s parents over for dinner and have pork roast. Instead, we canceled on Jon’s parents and took the chicken that we were going to make on Friday and used it to make Chicken Soup.

It was just what I wanted….and it was so good that I made a second batch this morning.

My Chicken Soup Recipe

Put a few pieces of chicken, cloves of garlic, a whole cut up onion and 2 Tblsp of Oregano into a pot of water.

(I did 4 chicken legs, 6 cloves of garlic, and 1 large onion into approx 16 cups of water)

Boil it all for 2 hours or more.
Pull out the meat and put aside to cool.
Strain the garlic and onion out of the broth and blend in blender with a tiny bit of broth.
Pour blended garlic and onions back into broth.
Once meat is cool enough to touch, strip it from the bones.
Cut meat into small pieces and return to soup
Cut up 2 carrots, 1 cup daikon, 1.5 cups zucchini, 1 cup celery & add to soup. (all guesses)
Add 2 Tblsp of Miso soup paste to soup.
Add rice noodles or rice or barley……your choice….(I did rice noodles)
Add Salt to taste

Simmer, Stir and Enjoy……

Anyway, without further delay, here is the planned out Meal Schedule for this week.

Monday: Beef & Broccoli over Rice (I ate some broccoli and rice – it was yummy)

Tuesday: Spaghetti with Salad

Wednesday: Soup & Salad and Biscuits

Thursday: Chicken Stir-fry over Rice noodles

Friday: Ham & Pineapple Kabobs with Rice

Saturday: Burgers with Homemade Fries

Sunday: Lasagna & Salad

I’ll probably eat soup for as long as I feel crappy, but the rest of the family will still eat good.

It’s just nice to know that even though I feel lousy that we have what we need and I don’t need to run out and pick tons of stuff up.

Eating Right…….for ME!!!!

I’ve been really trying to watch what I’m eating recently. Not only because I want to loose weight, but because I really want to be HEALTHY!

I’m trying very hard to switch my focus from being “THIN” or “SKINNY” to being “HEALTHY”.

This is a very hard switch for me as I’ve wasted YEARS attempting to attain this image that I see in my head the media. I’ve been all over the “weight map” from seriously overweight to thin (although I would say that I’ve spent way more time in the overweight camp than I ever did in the “normal” weight camp, but still, I was there from time to time and that counts for something, eh?)

I am a big person. I’m not talking about weight – with that comment – I’m talking size. I’m 5 foot 10 inches. I have a HUGE bone structure. I will never be a “petite” person, but I can be healthy….and where I am at right now….is not where I’d like to be.

I’m not looking to be super-model skinny, but I’d like to lose a few more pounds. I don’t want the extra weight around the middle and the extra jiggle that I’ve been carrying around for the past few years.

And so I’ve made some changes…the first was to start regularly exercising and NOW…….I’m finding that I’m really enjoying it. That’s not to say that I always enjoy it, but I do find that I crave it during the day and then usually dread it in the hour or so before I actually go and then am exhilarated after it’s finished and then I am brutally tired a few hours after that….wake up the next morning and rinse, lather, and repeat….

We have a pretty good diet. We made some rather HUGE changes a few years ago when we cut out dairy, most wheat and processed food, and sugar. Normally, we eat HUGE amounts of fruit and veggies, a small amount of meat, a variety of whole grains and we typically have a meatless meal or two a week.

I know that I do better when I have “less to no” meat and about 2 weeks ago I re-read the Eat Right for Your Blood Type Book. There are so many things in there that make sense to me and “feel” right to me and I’ve been implementing more and more of his suggestions into my daily eating and it’s making a HUGE difference.

The biggest, most radical difference that I notice is when I cut out meat, specifically red meat. When I eat any red meat, I feel so bloated and sluggish and BLURGH! But when I don’t eat meat – I feel amazing. I have SO. MUCH. ENERGY.

I am eating way more fruit, veggies and eating beans, eggs, nuts and goat cheese for my protein. The biggest area that I’m noticing that I’m lacking is in the whole grains. I need to add some more grains to my meals, but other than that – I’m doing pretty well and I’m feeling so much better than I was, even two weeks ago.

I’m finding that I’m more aware and in tune with myself and my body and am recognizing that when I eat crap food….typically, I end up feeling very crappy. Who wouldda though it, eh?

I recently bought a mandoline and it is all that I thought it would be and more. It has seriously cut down time spent slicing and has totally helped me to up my veggie intake.

I’ve been implementing more RAW foods into our diets and I have to say that there are some seriously tasty recipes out there in the RAW food world. I’ll try to throw up some of the recipes that I’ve tried recently and LOVED! One thing that I’m really loving about this kind of food is just how quick it is to throw some of these recipes together. No waiting for cooking or baking – just quick, throw together recipes and then YUM!

Here is a dip that is SO YUMMY and quick to make found via here and then originally here(it’s the second video down).

Non-Dairy Ranch Dip

1 cup of soaked sunflower seeds (soak for 2 hours and drain)
juice from one lemon
1/2 cup chilled water
1.5 tsp of sea salt
1 tsp of onion powder/granules
1/8 tsp of black pepper
1/5 Tblsp dried Dill

Blend everything together and serve with veggies or chips or over a salad….YUM!

You can thin it out with a bit more water to make it creamier if you like a thinner dressing for your salads.

This dressing is so delicious and everyone in our family likes it but Jeremy….and well, he doesn’t like food in general so his opinion doesn’t count.

I recently made these…..well, I’m not even sure what to call them. I sliced yellow zucchini thinly and length wise on the mandoline. On each strip of zucchini, I placed small pinch of sprouts and a small spoonful of the sunflower dip and then wrapped them up like a sushi roll. I served them with a small dish of the dressing, in case a little extra dipping was required and well…..they didn’t last even a few minutes. I’m lucky I snagged these few to take a picture of.

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Let me know if you give the dressing a try and what you think? Or if you have any great, healthy recipes…I’d love to hear about ’em?

A Little Planning Will Get You a LOOOOOOOONG Way!

I made a meal plan last week and it was a HUGE help.

We have done it before and while it didn’t seem as helpful as it seems right now….it was still a good guideline and we used it “loosely” about 50% of the time…..

But for whatever reason, it is really “clicking” right now. It must be one of those “right time, right place” things.

I am really trying to watch what I’m eating AND I’m also trying to be really aware of our spending AND we have noticed that we were spending WAY too much on “eat out” food recently.

We have been so busy and I feel like I was just trying to survive the summer and we’ve been running around like chickens with our head cut off. Basically we have just been reacting to our situations, and not planning enough things out.

So, with all that in mind, I took the time last week to plan out our meals for last week and it was AMAZING!

We have two days where we are working outside the home and if I plan for easy, quick meals on those two days then it really helps things out. It also helps out that the girls are old enough and accomplished enough to make most any of our meals by themselves. I love that we’ve included them in preparing our meals since they were little and now it is TOTALLY paying off.

Last week, felt so much smoother and less chaotic….it probably helps that we are in a better groove as far as kids going to school and working and at home days with organizing, and cleaning, and….well….I’m just feeling SO much more relaxed about life right now, and really….this is a VERY good thing as it translates into every aspect of our lives.

So, this week didn’t start off exactly as I planned it, as Jeremy was home from school yesterday and it threw my day off slightly.

But, I did manage to list out my meals for the week and here they are:

Monday: Pork Roast with Veggies and Quinoa
(Broccoli and Cauliflower – Jon did the prep on this meal as I was at my Exercise Class and it was DELICIOUS!)

Tuesday: Roast Chicken & Rice with Veggies
(Kale & Carrots – We work today and so the roast is in the fridge ready to go with the rice and chicken in the roasting pan and the girls will just throw it in the oven at 4pm)

Wednesday: Homemade Soup, Salad, and Bisquits
(Chicken potato soup that I have on hand in the freezer. The girls whip up the salad and make the biscuits from scratch.)

Thursday: Chicken, Veggie Stir Fry with Rice Noodles
(2 Chicken Breasts, zucchini, daikon, peppers, celery, carrots, over rice noodles)

Friday: Tortillas with Beef, Beans, and Fixin’s
(Ground Beef, Beans, Lettuce, Peppers, Goat Cheese, Tofutti Sour Cream, Salsa and Corn Tortilla’s)

Saturday: Homemade Pizza
(Dough From Homemade Sourdough Starter, Chicken, Olives, Peppers, Goat Cheese, Farmer’s Sausage, Pineapple, Tomato Paste)

The MOST Delicious Pizza

Sunday: Lasagna with Salad
(Made last week with leftover spaghetti sauce and frozen – will throw it in before church and time it to be ready when we come home from church with salad prepared as soon as we get home)

I’m expecting that this will be a great week of meals that we will all enjoy. We do sit down as a family and eat together almost every night of the week and we find that it’s a priceless time when we can chat and debrief about our days and talk about future plans and just laugh with and love on each other. I wouldn’t trade it for the world.

Apple Hemp Muffins

Yah, so I took a down day on Monday after my melodramatic post….OH WOE IS ME! And then – BLAM! Whadda ya know…I’m back at it…..or not…..we’ll see! Just taking it one tired day at a time!

Here’s the deal. I did some baking on Monday and they were SO yummy I just had to share.

They still taste pretty good the next day, but fresh outta the oven with a light schmear of Earth Balance and they were DELICIOUS!

I found this recipe at the Happy Foody. Here in this exact post…..to be exact.

We are attempting to fatten Jeremy up this summer as he looks like he has an eating disorder….well, to be more accurate a not-eating disorder. The meds make him feel slightly nauseated and so he doesn’t eat. Which means that he’s skinny…like skinny, SKINNY, skinny. We have managed to have him not LOSE weight on the meds (which apparently it is totally normal to loose weight on ADD meds), but honestly I can’t fathom him losing any weight. You can already see every bone and sinew on his body. It’s slightly nasty…or maybe even a little more than slightly nasty. Not cool for an 8 year old.

And so, I feed him and feed him and feed him again; and deal with him un-medicated as often as I can so that he can gain some weight and look just slightly more “normal”. This ought to be a FUN summer.

Any way, the point is….for healthy, non-dairy, non-egg muffins…these are amazing. Give’em a try.

Here is the recipe that I used….tweaked slightly from the original which you can find from the link above.

Apple Hemp Muffins

Don’t they look scrumptious!

Apple Hemp Muffins

1 1/2 cups stoneground Spelt Flour
1 cup ground oats (blend quick oats in food processor until flour consistency)
1/2 cup hemp seed nuts
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg (freshly ground is best!)
1/8 tsp ground cardamom
1 cup unsweetened applesauce
1/2 cup pure maple syrup
3/4 cup soy milk
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
3 tbsp olive oil

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In large bowl, combine all dry ingredients. In another bowl, combine all wet ingredients. Mix together gently and fold until blended (do not over mix). Bake for 15-20 minutes

Makes 18 small muffins.

Just Another Manic Monday.

I looooooove my Monday’s.

Monday’s are my planning and organizing days. If I actually get off my butt and plan out the week, then the pay off is HUGE. However, if I sit on my butt and do nuthin’ – I find that the rest of the week totally and completely SUCKS!

Last week I jumped back on the menu planning thingy and this week I’ve done the same. It’s not a fabulous menu, but it’s easy and more importantly it will be easy to follow and requires only that I hit the market for fruits and veggies as I already have everything on hand to do this week. That’s a bonus in my world.

I hate grocery shopping. It used to be my MOST favorite thing to do. I had my monthly budget all set out and went looking for the most amazing deals and anything that was left over at the end of the month was “mine ALLL MINE” (cackling wickedly as she rubs her hands together). And then we discovered that all that cheap processed food was hurting my kids and we switched over to an all natural diet and my previous grocery budget was shot because all that natural food is freakin’ expensive and you can’t get “deals” on that crap and you can’t even really shop at normal stores and so shopping became totally and completely NO. FUN. AT. ALL.

So, now I shop because I “HAVE TO”….and it’s either shop or listen to the children whine and whine and whine some more about how hungry they are and I already have to listen to them whine about not getting the sugar cereal or anything else “cool” and there is only so much whining I can handle before my ears start to bleed.

Back to what I was saying before, if I plan thing out at the beginning of the week, then our lives are just all around easier.

An even bigger bonus this week is that I’m not working on Tuesday as it’s our kids Sports Day and for once the “sports day teams” have worked in our favor and both of the two middle kids have sports day on the same day….I have done 2 days of sports days every year for the past 3 years and it’s getting a bit old. So when I found out that I only had the one day…..WOOOOO HOOOOO! I was thrilled. And this year we are being terribly bad and not even thinking about volunteering to help out on Sports Day….yes, we are wicked, WICKED rebels….*snort*

Anyhoooooo, this week is shaping up to be a great one….not even terribly busy until the end when it seems to creep up on us and explode into absolute chaos and mayhem…..otherwise known as my sister’s wedding – should be a FABULOUS day.

Without further ado, here is my week in point form (along with the meal schedule)

Monday – Planning Day
Vegetarian Chilli loaded with vegetable-y goodness over brown rice.

Tuesday – Sports Day
Roast Chicken with potatoes and veggies

Wednesday – Jon & I working in town (Chris’s Birthday)
Roast Beef and potatoes (in crockpot) with veggies

Thursday – At home day probably loads of packing and cleaning
Chicken Fajitas (with handmade tortilla’s – YUM)

Friday – Jon & I working in town
Sister’s Wedding Rehearsal Party

Saturday – Sister’s Wedding

Sunday – Father’s Day
I’m thinking about Bar-B- Que Steaks and Baked Potatoes (we’ll see)

If all works well, there should be no fast food at all this week…..much to Jeremy’s dismay….that kid would live off “out dinners” (as he calls them) if he could.

The Planning of the Meals

Here is this weeks meal plans….

Monday…..it’s an at home all day today

Roast Beef Dinner with Potatoes & Gravy and Carrots and Broccoli

If I feel particularly inclined I might even make Yorkshire Puddings

Tuesday….working all day then Jon is staying late for a Board Meeting

Farmer’s Sausage with Veggies

I’m going for ease tonight with Jon not around.

Wednesday……I’m working until dinner time

Ham & Rice and Peas and Carrots

Thursday…..Its another at home day for me – SOOOO NICE!

Roast Chicken with Potatoes and Grilled Zucchini and Peppers

Friday…..We are working today and then have to leave for a Youth Activity by 6pm

Hamburgers

I’ll prepare as much as I can on Thursday and be ready to just put the burgers on the Bar-B Que as soon as we get home.

And there you have it. I love having a plan – it’s so easy to just follow, and there is no worrying or wondering about what is for dinner.

And now to clean my house……BLURGH!

Shrimp Fettuccine

Well, I had my first weigh in yesterday.

And the damage……..

I lost 4.4 pounds. That brings me from 194 lbs to 189.6 lbs…..officially leaving the 190’s, even if only by a smidge.

YAAAAHHHHH! I’m so excited. I managed to stay within my points allowance for each day and with the extra “flex” points that you get each week, I went out for my weekly date with Jon – for sushi.

We’ve been trying to figure out some fun meals that fit within the points per day, AND….that also fit within the lifestyle and diet that we’ve chosen.

In some ways, it’s a little more difficult to eat the way that we do and do Weight Watchers…only because some of the more “natural” things cost more points than a sugar free chocolate bar or things like goat cheese have a higher fat count than regular cow cheese and I’ve not yet come across a low fat or fat free goat cheese. There might actually be some out there, but I’m just happy that I’ve been able to find decent goat cheese, in the first place.

This past Friday night I was at a bachelorette party and we ate a a great little restaurant. I was thrilled because they had a spinach and goat cheese salad with strawberries and a vinaigrette dressing. It fit perfectly within the points that I had left over for that day and so I ordered it and it was okay….I was surprised that the goat cheese had no flavor – which is amusing considering that I typically think that goat cheese is a little too strong. So, my tastes must be adjusting.

Two of the girls in the party ordered a seafood pasta with cream sauce and it looked heavenly. I was SO JEALOUS….and desperately wished that I could even just try it, BUT…..I keep telling myself that…….

Nothing tastes as good as being thin feels!

And, I made it through the dinner and then all was well.

So ever since then I’ve had a hankerin’ for some sort of creamy shrimp pasta.

I picked up some shrimp on Saturday and some rice fettuccine.

I did vary a little from our diet in that I also picked up some fat-free cream cheese. Now I know that it has dairy in it, but it’s just a little cheat, right?

I made the cream sauce from

1/4 cup of Fat-Free Cream Cheese
1 Tblsp of Vinegar
1 Tblsp of Soy Sauce
1/4 cup of onion
2 cloves of garlic
1/2 tsp of oregano
1/4 tsp of cayenne
salt and pepper to taste

I added in 2 1/2 cups of shrimp and cooked it all up.

It tastes AMAZING!

I boiled up a package of Brown Rice Fettuccine and then when it was done cooking I threw in a bunch of asparagus with the tips removed and then broken in half. There was probably 3/4 cup of asparagus in total….I’d probably double that next time and believe me THERE WILL BE A NEXT TIME!

I threw the asparagus in with the sauce just to heat it up but left it crunchy. YUM.

and…………..VOILA!

Shrimp Fettuccine

One serving was

1 cup of Brown Rice Fettuccine (4 points)
and a quarter of the shrimp, asparagus, cream sauce. (3 points)

It tastes delicious and is totally worth the 7 points.

If you were starving and combined this meal with a nice green or spinach salad, it would be perfect.

I’m looking forward to my weigh-in next Saturday

Hello…..ooo…oooo….oooo….oooo……oooo…oooo (can you hear the echo?)

Yah, I’m still here.

It’s been quite the week. I went in and stayed with my mother-in-law this past week. It was fun. We worked and ate and hung out and the week just seemed to fly past.

It’s always different to be away from my house and from Jon and the kids but I know that Jon is amaing with the kids and keeping things going and so that makes it all good.

This whole working thing is going to be a good thing I think………?

It’s definately going to take some planning and some serious organization to work out a really good schedule and to plan the meals and to keep on top of all the house stuff.

But, I think that being out of the house a few times a week will be good for me. I will actually feel like I’m accomplishing more than just another meal or the 1,874,352nd load of laundry….not that those things aren’t so exciting but…..well…..ya know…..I’ll just leave it at that.

Things shouldn’t be as crazy as they were last week normally….and I’ll looking forward to finding out what the new “normal” schedule will look like.

The drive home last night in traffic wasn’t as bad as it could have been, and I didn’t even have Siah with me to be able to take advantage of the HOV lane. And it still only took 1 hour to get home. It take 45mins. with no traffic….so not bad, eh?

Still it’s an hour, but with a cell phone to keep you company – it’s all good.

Now, I have a butt load of things to get done today and so I’m off to blow through this place in the hopes of a whirlwind cleaning situation.

I have a question for you though…..do you have any ideas for either crock pot meals or roasts or one dish meals that can be prepared beforhand….ready to be popped in at the right time?

I can adjust most meals to suit our non-dairy, non-wheat eating family but it helps to have some new ideas and to hear what YOUR favorites are. So, lemme know what works for you.

AAAAARRRRGGGGGGHHHHHH

I’m not sure what’s up, but Siah had a allergic reaction last night and I was up with him barfing from 3:30am until 7am when Jon took him and let me “try” to get some sleep. I slept off and off for the last two hours, and now……I’m tired.

I had even gone to bed at 10pm to get extra sleep so I wouldn’t be tired. So Frustrating!

And on top of that, I’m not sure what happened.

I did make Shortbread Cookies (with Butter) yesterday for a cookie swap that I’m going to tonight, but I was very careful – or so I thought – that Siah didn’t get any of the butter or the cookie and so I’m not sure if the kids dropped a crumb or what the deal is.

I did eat a few, but typically butter has not been too much of an issue when I eat it (I’m still nursing) and so I’m really baffled on this one.

It was awful. I heard him at 3:30am gagging, and when I went into check on him, he was still sleeping, but when I felt around in the bed there was last night’s dinner….beans and salmon….nice mix to barf up, eh?

So he barfed and then just slept through it…..I tried to clean him up the best I could without waking him, and removed the barfed on blankets, and then I layed in bed waiting……waiting…..waiting….and at 4:30am iswhen he started into it for good.

It’s so awful. Not knowing what to do, or even what triggered it. Did he get some cookie or what?

There is no fever, and the barf has this “not regular barf” smell. I can’t explain it but it sucks….and now I’m tired and he is sleeping, so I might try to catch a half an hour if I can….UGH!

Do any of you deal with allergies for yourselves or for your kids?

I’m so thankful that he’s not having throat closing, breathing issues, because the barfing is enough for me…mind you, we’ve never given him straight dairy and so I don’t know how he’d react to that….I hope I never find out.