Week One Recap

Here's a mini recap of the last week.  I started going gluten free on Friday, September 28th.  I had a flub on Tuesday *the 2nd* by taking a bite of the organic pop tarts I'd gotten for the girls.  Other than that, I've been on the straight and narrow.

How am I feeling?  Amazing!  My face has cleared up and my stomach isn't telling me how awful I am.  I've lost a little bit of weight and don't feel nearly as crazy as I normally do.

A couple things to note.  1)  It's amazing how many times I just grab a little scrap of bread *that's fallen off in the bag* while I'm making lunches 2)  How many times I've 'tasted tested for quality assurance' something I make for the girls for lunch *ie: pasta*  3)  A gluten free diet food modification plan doesn't have to be difficult.  I think it's only difficult if you make it out to be that way.  4)  Just like any low-fat diet food modification plan, the food doesn't need to taste bad...season it up with any seasonings you have on hand *provided that they are also gluten free*.

Last night we had rosemary roasted chicken with potatoes served with broccoli and a salad.  Yum!  We are having meatloaf tonight.  Tomorrow night we will have leftover meatloaf made into a Shepherd's Pie.  Fish is on the menu this week, pork, and a couple other things that I can't think of off the top of my head.

On another note, I've talked my grandmother into going gluten free.  She's had a lot of problems since February and while she hasn't tested positive for celiac disease, she's going to give gluten free a whirl.  I'm really hoping that it will make her feel better.  I will update on that too as time goes by.

And before signing off, I completed day 2 of week 8 in my C25K venture.  In my 38 minutes this morning, I did get a total of 3 miles, but that included my 5 minute warm up and 5 minute cool down.  I may not be getting the distance they want me to get *a 10 minute mile...ha ha ha*, but I am definitely running longer than ever before.  You will notice that I'm still logging my miles.

If you're still struggling, now is the time.  Don't wait to get back on the wagon.  Sometimes, circumstances may not change from one day to the next, but you can change how you treat your body.  Get moving!

Comfort Food and Sickness

Bleh.  It's hit.  The sinus gunk that I've been desperately avoiding has invaded my head.  It makes it difficult to think or function.  As a mother of three, with two that happen to be more mischievous than the other, this can prove to be difficult.  The neti pot and I have been friends for a couple of days already because I could feel it coming on.

The hard part?  I want...comfort food!  The particular kind of comfort food happens to be carbs.  What are most carbs made of?  Some type of gluten.  It's been a hard day.

I think what will make me happy is some kind of soup.  With that in mind, I'll pull out my chicken stock that's in the freezer, pull some mixed veggies, toss in some rice, some seasonings *bay leaves, salt pepper, onion flakes*, and cook it up.  I am currently baking a loaf of gluten free corn-like bread, but the recipe didn't seem right, so I tweaked it.  We'll see how that turns out.  And, in lieu of the lack of carbalicious type food stuffs in my house, I've eaten two additional pieces of dark chocolate *more than what I normally have* and a bowl of gluten free cereal with almond milk on it *I'm back to cutting out cow's milk on my cereal again*.  I guess it could be worse, right?

The girls are due to have pancakes tonight, but I think *this* momma will be eating soup and maybe a crust of bread.

Do you ever notice that when you don't feel good, nothing seems to satisfy you?  Why is that?  Is it some subconscious thought process along the lines of, "Feed the ______ "*fill in the blank-cold, flu, sinus infection, etc*?  Maybe you also feed the: pain, sadness, stress, frustration...  You get the picture now, don't you?

So, how can you cheat without really cheating?  I say tweak what you can...count the rest.  I'd love to sit and eat pancakes until my heart's content, but that won't solve much and I know it's not as healthy as my soup *which will also help with my sinuses*.  The chocolate and cereal I had today?  Doesn't help my sinuses, but it does help to keep me from going hog wild.  And, taking the time to write down my feelings and what I've been dealing with today...also helps to stop me in my tracks.

If you're sick, use whatever brain power you might still hold on to *because believe me I'm lacking a lot right now* and make some better choices.  If you can't make soup...go buy yourself some!  Then, resume your couch warming and feel better soon!

Gluten Free--The New Adventure in Food!

So I've been having stomach troubles for a while now.  This is in addition to other 'symptoms' that have been mysterious.  When I questioned my doctor about some of these things *including difficulty with my teeth that I'm still having problems with* and my hair falling out, her reasoning was prediabetes.  She had a blood test to 'prove' that this was the reasoning.  So...I went with it.  I focused on better carb choices and losing the rest of my weight, but even though I've lost the rest and my A1C came back normal, I'm still having difficulties.  Why?

Doctor Google to the rescue!

I looked up information on gall bladder problems.  Nope.  Not it.  Then, I looked up gluten intolerance.  Jackpot!  Now, while I know that the symptoms listed for gluten intolerance can also be part of something else, I'm not completely 100% sure this is the answer.  In that there are so many symptoms that I'm experiencing, I'm willing to go gluten free for a month to see if it will make things better for me.

I started making a valid effort on Saturday.  I googled and pinterested to my hearts content, finding recipes and information about this new adventure in food.  In all honesty, it's not completely difficult to go gluten free for me since most of what I eat is meat, veggies or fruit.  It's just the grain part that I need to alter.  I'm thankful for our new store in town called Natural Grocers.  Yeah, I'm in love with that store...and, their awesome managers that will bend over backwards to help their customers.  I've pretty much found the things that I need to make this gluten free lifestyle a reality *without spending an arm and both legs.*  It's also interesting to me to see how often I pop something in my mouth while I'm fixing food for the girls.  Example?  I'm standing and making sandwiches and a piece of the crust falls off and I pop it in my mouth.  My oops last night...organic pop tarts for the girls.  I wanted to taste it since I'd given them each some and while they were organic, they were not gluten free.  DUH!  Within two hours, I was quite uncomfortable and thankful that I was going to bed soon.

If you're interested in seeing some of the recipes I've discovered *and you're on pinterest* you can check out my food board here.  And yes, there are things on there that are not gluten free and also not very healthy.  I like food...a lot.  So, it's no secret that my 'food board' is the biggest one on my page. *hanging head in shame*  I have to say that we've tried the pumpkin bread *a huge hit*, pumpkin coffee cake *SO good!*, pizza *also a huge hit*, and waffles *also delicious*.

I'll keep you all posted as to how things go.  It's a work in progress and I know that I'll slip up without even thinking about it *like I did last night*, but I guess that's what makes me human.  Onward and upward!

Testing Out the Mill

I got my mill yesterday.  To say that I was excited would be an understatement.  I couldn't get it out of the box fast enough or read through the instructions any more quickly, but I did take some pictures along the way.

Here 'she' is!  Hmm...quiet design.  That was about to be tested.

When I first turned it on, just to get an idea, all 3 of the girls instantly had their hands over their ears.  It sure was loud.  In defense of the mill, I didn't have the lid on top or the collecting bowl beneath it.  The directions said to run 2 cups of berries through to kind of 'clean' it out from packaging.

So, I ran the wheat berries through.  You put them in the 'hopper' on top and put the lid on and away you go!

It doesn't take very long for the berries to run through.  After doing my first 2 cups, I ran 6 more cups through to get an idea of a couple different things.  #1--I didn't want to do the full 13 cups that I could do, but enough to give it a good work out.  #2--I wanted to see if the ratio was correct *1 cup of berries = 1 1/2 cups of flour.* 

When it is milling, the noise isn't any worse than me running the vacuum cleaner.  As it got to the end of the milling process, it was a bit louder than my vacuum.  After it finished, I pulled out my flour.

I measured it out into a 1 gallon size, freezer ziploc bag.  I put 6 cups of berries in and got 9 cups of flour.  If you multiply that out, you are in fact getting the 1:1 1/2 ratio that I had heard about.  The last test was to figure out the number of cups of berries in a pound.
After hubby and I got home from our date last night, I did some more figuring.  One pound of wheat berries measures out to 2 1/4 cups of berries.  Based on the above ratio, you would end up with 3.375 cups of flour.  After running the 1 pound of berries through and measuring it, I had 3 2/3 cups + a couple of tablespoons.  When I weighed my flour, I had 1 pound of flour.  The moral of this story, I need to start weighing my flour for recipes instead of using a measuring cup.  I have read that it's better to weigh your flour, but I've always been skeptical of this.  We'll have to give that a whirl too!

The first loaf of bread I made caved on me.  It's still good to eat though.  The bottom of the loaf is good for sandwiches and the top is good for toast.  The second loaf I made looks a bit more pretty.  I did measure my ingredients using measuring cups/spoons.  I do have to say that by using fresh milled flour, my loaf is mighty happy.

This was my second loaf.  Yes, it really is that tall *if you know bread makers, this is fairly common.*  I cut the loaf in half *from top to bottom* and it gives us two loaves instead of one.

I'd also like to make a straight whole wheat loaf.  I may even try out some of the recipes that were in the users manual.  So far, we're really happy with it.

We'll have plenty of new adventures with our new mill.  We'll be having plenty of pancakes and nummy things in the next few weeks.  The girls will be my test subjects. :)

A new adventure!

I am starting a new adventure, once one very important piece of equipment arrives.  I'm not really sure what started me into researching it, but I started looking into milling my own flour.  We use so much of it, as we bake bread *a post devoted to bread making is here*, make pancakes/waffles, bagels, cookies, etc.  We do a lot from scratch.  I like to do it and the girls love it.  If I let them, they'd stand in the kitchen and eat an entire loaf of homemade bread...plain.  Of course, being a good momma, I don't let that happen...much.

So, I ordered my mill.  I was all set to order the Messerschmidt grain mill attachment for my Kitchenaid mixer *seriously, I had it in my virtual cart* when I was reviewing the specs on it...again.  The big thing that stuck out was that you need a Kitchenaid mixer with a max wattage of 325.  I had thought that all mixers were about the same, but I figured I'd look at mine to be on the safe side.  I'm glad I did!  When I flipped my beauty over, it said 250.  Then I went about looking to see if it was necessary to have 325 watts and out of all the sites I looked at, only one said 250!  Let's be clear about something, I love my Kitchenaid mixer.  My grandparents gave it to me *and hubby...I suppose* as a wedding gift.  And really, it's mainly mine.  I'm pretty sure the only time hubby has touched it has been to wipe the top of it or around it.  Moving on.  I use it A. Lot.  I use it for baking: cakes, cookies and bread.  I use it for canning:  applesauce, spaghetti sauce and ketchup.  I've used it for making baby food and grinding up chicken.  I have pictures of my oldest standing at the mixer, 'helping' momma, and she has the same stance I do when I'm working at the mixer *one hand resting on top of the mixer*.  I've got a couple of the attachments, so it seemed logical to order the grain mill.  It is not logical to buy the grain mill and then have it burn up my motor, then have to buy a new Kitchenaid mixer *I really don't want to live without it, so I'd want a new one.*

With all that said, I've purchased a Nutrimill grain mill.  Expensive.  That's what I have to say about it right now.  I've done my research on freestanding grain mills too.  I saw some that were over $400.  I saw some for about $30, but those were hand mills, and let's be honest, do I really want to try and hand mill my flour?  Probably not.  The price per pound for wheat berries is actually cheaper than buying the generic whole wheat flour from Fry's *aka Kroger*.  And since we go through a lot of flour *I figured we'd have gone through at least 10 pounds of whole wheat flour this month...maybe more*, this seems like a logical step.  At some point, we will recoup the cost of the grain mill.

My mill should be here by Monday.  In the meantime, we'll be using my store bought flour. 

Oh and our new favorite bread recipe can be found here.  It is so yummy!  I do tweak it just a little because I don't want to buy powdered milk right now.  So, I use half milk and half water.  I also double the recipe to have a bigger loaf.  I didn't have millet before, but I picked some up at our whole food store on Monday.  I also like to split the sugar into different kinds; sometimes I use brown sugar and white sugar.  Other times, I use honey, but you have to watch the amount of liquid you have in your breadmaker so you don't have 'soupy' bread.  I think I may try molasses in a future batch.  I'll keep you posted.

And one other thought about fresh milled flour.  Apparently, once you go fresh, you don't want to go back.  Hmm, we'll have to wait and see.  Stay tuned for more blogging regarding our new adventure.

Summer Grillin'

I love summer and one of those reasons is because I can use the grill...a lot!  Out of all the meals that I have planned *for last week and this week*, only two of them did not include the grill.  I love using the grill because it is so versatile and you can do just about anything on it.  Last summer I made a roast chicken on it, but it wasn't a favorite.

So what have I made so far?  This week we had on the grill:  chicken, hot dogs, beef sausage kabobs *with apples, summer squash & onion*, and pizza.  Yes, I said pizza.

When I was menu planning, I was getting ready to axe our weekly pizza night, but wondered about making it on the grill.  Some restaurants serve 'fire-grilled' pizza, so why couldn't I make pizza using the grill?  Google to the rescue!  What I came up with was this recipe.  When I looked more closely at it today, I decided to just make my own pizza dough like I normally do in the bread maker.  I always add my own homemade pizza seasoning and garlic, but this time I added in some fresh chopped basil.  While my dough was being made, I went for my walk *if you didn't know, I'm kickin' 7 miles now...who would have thought that I'd ever be walking that long??*

I came home from said walk, did my stretching, tracked my calories on MFP, chugged some ice cold water, vegged for a few minutes, and got busy making our pizzas.  I lit the grill, rolled out my first piece of dough into something that resembled a rectangle.  I then wrapped it around my rolling pin *loosely* and carried it out to my already lightly greased grill.  My dough puffed nicely and once it was brown *and I had put my oil on the up side of the dough*, I carefully flipped it over.  I put a light basting of my olive oil/garlic mix on the now browned up side, put a light coating of sauce, and then put my toppings on.  Once the cheese had melted *just a few minutes*, I pulled it off the grill.

Hubby and I both agree that it was better than oven made pizza.  It was the bomb!  Seriously.  The crust was fluffy.  The toppings weren't overly cooked...they were just right.

Here is my first one:

This week, we're planning to have turkey burgers in addition to other yummy things.  When we cook boneless, skinless chicken, they turn out so tender.

I'd also like to give cooking fish in foil packets on the grill this summer a whirl.  It.  Will.  Happen.  It's just another adventure in food prep in our house.  And, it's fun!

Step out of your comfort zone and try something different on your grill this summer.  You won't be sorry!

When staying up late...

...don't make the same mistake that I did last night.

Here's the background.  I went to the store to get milk and a few other items that we needed.  I had plans to make yogurt...again, since we've all been eating it *including me*.  This last batch was 71 calories per 1/2 cup.  I digress.  Milk was on sale for $1.57/gallon, so I figured I'd make yogurt using the entire gallon *because you can.*

I put the milk in the crockpot *I used a bigger one; it's 5 or 6 quarts* at shortly after 8.  The girls were put to bed and I started making granola.  I made this delicious granola that can be found here.  I didn't make the 30 servings that it suggests, but cut it in half.  For my purposes, it still made 30 servings *I'm figuring about a 1/4 cup per serving...you probably could use less*.  I also didn't use all of the ingredients listed *I didn't have:  sunflower seeds, oat bran, pecans, or maple syrup.*  Instead of the oat bran, I used flaxseed meal *but only a 1/2c instead of 3/4c* and instead of the maple syrup, I used sugar free breakfast syrup.  I also used 2 tablespoons of regular butter and 6 tablespoons of light butter instead of the vegetable oil.  I omitted the raisins.  After baking it and allowing it to cool, I needed wanted to taste-test for quality assurance, so I had some of our homemade yogurt with the granola on top.

At about 10:30, I checked the temp on the milk.  It wasn't there yet.  At this point, I was already fading.  I'd had some decaf coffee and some dark chocolate.  Then I had... and ....

Are you seeing a pattern?  I was having difficulty staying awake long enough to get the milk ready to go in the oven.  My coping mechanism for staying awake is food.  I did this in college...often.  When it finally  got to temp, I then needed to cool it.  Ugh!  More waiting!  I got the wrapped crockpot into the oven shortly after midnight.

There are several morals to this story.  #1--It takes quite a bit longer to get a gallon of milk to temp than a half gallon...so start early.  #2--If you're not wrapped up in making yogurt and you're very tired...Go.  To.  BED!!

If you get caught up in this dilemma, remember to track everything.  Things like this happen and we just need to keep ourselves accountable.

**Edited to add:  1/2 cup of my yogurt *the one I made with myself in mind* works perfectly with 2 tablespoons of the granola.  Yum!

More fun with yogurt!

After my friend told me about starting her yogurt on the stove, I decided to give it a whirl with fat free *or skim* milk.  What I really wanted to see was if I could make yogurt for me too.  The only difference would be that I'd substitute splenda, agave nectar or honey in place of the sugar that I've used in the girls' yogurt.  So, let the 'experiment' begin.

I put the milk in a large pan on one of the large burners.  I turned the heat to medium, but decided after a bit that it seemed too hot.  I turned it down to medium-low *on my stove it's 2-3*.  I was working on cleaning up my kitchen and doing the dishes, so I was right there to monitor the pan.  I stirred often because, I didn't want scorched milk on the bottom of the pan.  It easily took me an hour to get it to temp.  My friend uses a gas stove and said she thought that it took about 30 minutes.

This is my pan up to temp.  *My other burners are missing because I'd cleaned the drip pans while I was doing the dishes.  The cleaning never ends.*  After my milk cooled down *about a half hour to 45 minutes*, I added the 'normal' stuff *dry milk and 1 cup of starter*.

Next up:

I put the lid on and wrapped my pan in a towel.  This time when I went to bed, I left the light in the oven on.  I also let my yogurt sit in the oven a bit longer *10 hours* instead of the 8-9 hours I did with the previous batch.  When I pulled it out to stir it, it was definitely thicker than the last batch.  I added the sugar and vanilla, and due to the lack of time before my book study, I put the lid back on the pan and threw it in the fridge.

When I had a chance, I poured it into jars.  I ended up with 4 pints plus enough yogurt to fill 4 freezer pop slots *yes, we've done that too.*  I didn't pull off a cup of my newly made yogurt because I still have my 1 cup in the freezer from the last time.  When I added my 1 cup to this batch, I still had plain yogurt in the fridge, so I used that.  If I factor in the cost of my half gallon of skim milk and the 1 cup of plain yogurt, I'd say I spent roughly a  little over $1.50 for twice the amount of yogurt!  What a deal!  The verdict on which way of preparation I'd prefer?  I'm leaning more towards doing it in the crockpot, mainly because I wouldn't have to stand over it and stir it to keep it from sticking to the bottom of the pan.  The pan/stove method was faster, but again, if I had the time to 'stand' over it and monitor it.

Since I said something about our freezer pops, I'll go back to that.  A friend of mine said she had put hers in the freezer.  I thought, "Why not?"  I bought one of the freezer pop 'makers' at Family Dollar for a $1.  I poured cherry and peach yogurt into it *up to the top of the hole* and put the stick back in *8 total freezer pops*.  After a couple of hours, they were solid.  I did have to twist the stick a little to loosen the pop from its spot, then lean the container a little so that the pop stays on the stick.  Ha!  It's tricky a piece of cake.  One of the best parts?  The girls love them.  Another positive?  They're cheap!  You want another positive?  Okay...they're healthy.  Still not convinced?  They can be versatile.  What do I mean by that?  You can make your base yogurt vanilla and then add in whole fruit *or chopped up*.  They're also a nice cold treat!  Believe me, I'm sold!

Now, what are you waiting for?  Go make yourself some yogurt and yogurt pops!  You won't regret it!

The next great food adventure!

So, I tried something new that I had wanted to try before, but always thought you had to have some type of 'special' contraption to make it.  A friend of mine posted about making it in the crock pot and I thought, "No way!!"  So...I googled it.  I stumbled across this recipe for making yogurt *yes, you read that right...YOGURT* in the crock pot.  My friend also posted this recipe.

As I looked over both recipes, I thought...I can totally do this.  It looks like a piece of cake.  So, I went to the store and picked up a half gallon of 2% milk ($1.99) and 32oz container of plain yogurt ($2.69 I believe).  This will be the most expensive batch because from here on out, I can save 1 cup of yogurt from each batch that will get added to the following batch.  Cool, huh?

I started the process at 8pm and based on a little of both recipes, and knowing that my crock pot runs hot, I opted to run it for 2 hours on low. 

After using my food thermometer, it told me that the temp was only at about 140 degrees.  So, I turned it up on high for about another 10-15 minutes just shy of boiling.  I turned it off, leaving the lid off, and every so often walking over to stir it.  After a half hour to 45 minutes, it was ready to add the 1 cup of yogurt *for the live & active cultures* and my 1/2 cup of dry milk. 

Then I put the lid on and wrapped the crock pot.  The whole thing went in the oven.

It stayed in the oven the whole night.  We took the middle kiddo to school and came home to check out the finished product.  All told, our yogurt stayed in the oven for about 9 hours.

Just a note, the yogurt is not as thick as store bought because they use things like pectin to make it thicker.  While it has a 'runnier' consistency, it is still yummy!  You can immediately put in containers and put it in the fridge, or do what we did.  We made up flavors right then and there.  Since I have home canned fruit, we opted for some peaches and cherries.  We also decided to use homemade raspberry jam since we had it on hand.  In the half a cereal bowl that I had left after filling 9 pint jars, I used vanilla extract and a touch of splenda *you probably could use stevia or another alternative sweetener like honey*. 

So here is what we got for $1.99 *basically*:  the green lid container is my 1 cup for the next batch, my half a bowl full of vanilla yogurt, 2 pints of peach yogurt, 2 pints of cherry, and 1 pint of raspberry.  Not bad if I do say so myself.  My girls get 1/2 cup of yogurt as a serving.  That means there is 21 servings for now and 2 more that will be used in the next batch.

The next adventure was going to be using 1% or skim milk to make our yogurt next.  Well, another friend has already mastered that and I was there to see her pull it out of the oven.  It looked great!  I had told her about the yogurt adventure earlier today and she decided to give it a whirl.  The other difference she had was that she put it in a pot and heated the milk up on the stove *stirring often* and achieving the 180 degrees.  She may very well be a new convert as well.  It also seemed that her kids loved it as much as mine did!

This is such a neat adventure and I'm so glad that I've learned about it.  I'm excited to try new flavors and experiment with this new found love.

**Edited to add:  Safeway has their sale ad out for next week *tomorrow* and their half gallon of milk is $.99!  If their full gallons were on sale for $1.57, that would be the better route, but $.99 for all of that yogurt?  Crazy!!  Also...frozen yogurt pops?  Yum! 

Baked Apple Casserole

I've always wanted to come up with something of my own.  I can honestly say that I did not pull this from a recipe.  I even remembered to keep track of the ingredients that I was using.  I just realized how yummy this would be if you served it over ice cream, but maybe use a half serving instead of a full one.  Also, I got two thumbs up from both of the big girls and hubby.

Here it is:

Baked Apple Casserole

Ingredients:
3 pounds Granny Smith Apples (peeled, cored & sliced)
1/3 c + 1 tbsp Splenda Brown Sugar (or regular depending on taste)
1/4 c raisins
2 tsp cinnamon & nutmeg (enough for sprinkling or to taste)

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Peel all of your apples. Core and slice enough apples to cover the bottom of an 8x8 pan. Sprinkle with Splenda brown sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Core and slice more apples to create another layer. Again, sprinkle with Splenda brown sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Repeat one last time, topping with the 1/4c of raisins. Place uncovered in the oven for 30-40 minutes or until you've reached desired doneness.  Stir to coat the apples and allow the raisins to be throughout.  Serve warm *I think it tastes better that way.*

Serving size = 1/2c
P+ per serving = 4

Day 5

I definitely skipped posting yesterday.  I had a lot of moments of weakness and counted every morsel.  This is me being the best sugar addict I can be.  Yikes!  Maybe at some point I can say that I'm a recovering sugar addict, but for now, I'm a straight up, hard-core, sugar addict.  Who wouldn't love pancakes made with white flour instead of wheat?  Who wouldn't love milk chocolate over dark?  *Wait...maybe there's a select few that love those subtle differences...*  Not that I had all of that mind you, it's for illustration purposes.  The point being, there are times where I like to buck the system.  Maybe you could call me evil, bad, or some other vicious name, but I'm a redhead.  There's something kind of ingrained when you're a true redhead that makes you just a bit fiery, if you know what I'm saying.

Today has been a much better day.  Then again, I've been busy.  I printed off my checklist *again* and went to town.  Nothing says wahoo like checking stuff off your list *at least for me.*  I even hung our laundry out on the line today which is so ridiculously early for us, it's not even funny.  But, this momma is trying to not have a $100+ electric bill again next month...it's just not in the budget.

We got our basket today which means trying something new *usually* for dinner.  Here was our basket from today:

So many fun things, so little time.  What we ended up trying tonight was the kale.  That is the green stuff between the carrots and the romaine on the right hand side.  I made kale chips.  Umm...it was like eating potato chips without the guilt.  I'm so there!  So tasty and so easy to make.  I will definitely be picking up kale again on our own!  We also had cucumber and banana peppers in our romaine salad tonight.  Our salad was definitely a happy one tonight.

I shared my fun new tip about regrowing the green onion with the lady picking up her basket next to mine this morning and with my friend Sarah.  I'm still using the same green onion that I bought about a month ago.  Now, I have some fresh stuff to alternate with.  And what do I mean by this?  When you get down to the white part of your green onion, throw it in a glass of water *with part of the stalk sticking out of the water*...it would look like this:

This is after just a couple of days being in the water.  Another friend of mine told me that she actually throws hers in a pot with soil and continues to grow hers that way.  I know that green onion isn't terribly expensive, but sheesh!  If only people knew of this little trick...

Oh and the kamut rolls were okay, but I felt like they might have been missing something.  They'd be good if you were dipping them in something, but they seem a little 'salty'...maybe too much baking soda/salt.  Who knows?  I'm not good about tweaking things like that in a recipe.  This is what they looked like:

And I have to say that our meal turned out so amazing that night *Thursday*.  I stuffed the chicken with lemon, garlic, rosemary and marjoram.  It was the best chicken I have ever roasted *if I do say so myself.*  The girls all had seconds.  That's how good it was!  Our chicken:

The full meal:

And lastly, after we'd enjoyed our dinner, some kickin stock got made as well.

I said to hubby after our meal was finished, that I was a pretty good cook when we got married, but I've gotten better over time.  He agreed *although, he didn't have much to compare me to anyway...except maybe his grandma :) *
Now that I've overloaded you on pictures, I'm off to put the oldest kiddo to bed.  It truly has been a lovely day today and I'm hoping that tomorrow is equally as nice with a little less of the cleaning stuff.

Day 3--Ugh!

Oh boy...trigger-city!!  I've decided that, for as much as I love my girls, they are one of my triggers for my sugar addiction.  We all have bad days, but I'm realizing that when we have those bad days, all I want to do is eat comfort foods (ie: simple carbohydrates, chocolate, salty stuff, etc).  I'm so glad that I'm beginning to realize this so that I can start to nip it in the bud.

My choices to nip it?  Some 78% dark chocolate, a Coke Zero, and 1 1/2 cups of my soup that I made yesterday.  Surprisingly, I feel full and satisfied with no desire to run back to the kitchen for more.  I'm also drinking my water.  How much water have you had today?

I tried a new recipe for breakfast.  This morning I had an omelet of spinach, onion and 2 laughing cow cheese wedges.  It was very tasty.  I also had my Kamut Puffs.  We are having a roast chicken for dinner tonight.  I still haven't decided on sides to put with it, but I'll get that figured out before I start making dinner.

Ooh!  I just found a recipe for rolls!  Yippee!  They're just 2P+ per roll.  Here's the recipe.  I'll let you know how they turn out.  We'll probably have broccoli and a salad to round things out.

Off to make rolls!

Day 2

Well, day 2 is shaping up to be a good one.  It's now afternoon and I'm feeling a little more energy than I did yesterday.  For breakfast, I made the same scramble that I had yesterday, but this time I remembered my 'greens'.  I did throw the spinach in at the end to cook it a little since eating eggs on fresh spinach didn't exactly appeal to me.

My snack consisted of light Activia yogurt and 14g of almonds *and yes, I measured those*. 

Lunch was some lentil soup that I made.  I did prepare all of my veggies that I needed for my soup and for dinner this morning.  I figured, why not?  I was standing there at the cutting board, I might as well.

Tonight's dinner will be homemade sloppy joes.  This particular recipe doesn't come from the new cookbook, but it doesn't have too many 'sugary' items in it.  I am going to have mine on nine grain bread.  The girls can have the buns. 

I've now picked up my kitchen...again.  I've got enough soup to put in the fridge and some in the freezer.  I pulled the buns out of the freezer, set up the ingredients by the stove for tonight's dinner, and I'm having a cup of hot decaf tea because it's cold today.

As for exercise, I've taken the week off.  I'm still doing my "Mad Abs" *a new challenge I started with the gals on the 1st*, but I'm just focusing on my food this week.  I need to focus on my food.  I need to find my energy.  When you are lacking energy, it's difficult to get some of the 'easiest' things done around the house.  It's frustrating.  And yes, I know that I have 3 children home most of the day, but I want to be a better momma.

Thank you for sticking with me while I get my thoughts out.  It helps me to write things down...kind of like a journal of how I'm feeling with the subtle tweaks that I'm making.  So hang in there!  If there is something else that you'd like me to discuss, don't hesitate to ask.  I don't want to bore you with my daily stuff.

Keep on friends, keep on!

Changing things up!

I'm still struggling with being tired a lot so, I'm making an effort to switch things up just a bit. If you know anything about me or my journey, I like to tweak things from time to time. It definitely keeps my body guessing what will happen next. So while I was in PHX the other day, I went through the cookbook section. Oh yes. It's another addiction...cookbooks. On the plus side, I probably could accommodate just about anyone's particular diet plan. The title of the book is "Beat Sugar Addiction NOW! Cookbook". My thinking in buying this book is two-fold. One, I know that I have problems with carbohydrates *and I struggle to stay clear of them during that wicked time of month...about a 2 week period*, and my hubby also has a problem with sugary things. 

The neat thing about the book is that there are 4 different types of sugar addicts.  They have a little 'quiz' to see which you are.  For hubby, he turned up to be a Type I sugar addict.  I am a Type III addict.  We both flirt with the Type IV part as well *since it has parts for both men and women.*  It also includes recipes that benefit all 4 types of addicts.  There is definitely a little bit of adjusting, but I think if I can stick to it, I'll lose a few more pounds and will find my energy again.

When I went shopping yesterday, I went to our 'local' whole foods store.  I was kind of excited about going since a friend of mine shared some important information.  That info?  That they have a bulk foods section in the back of the store.  Oh.  My.  Goodness!!  It was kind of like being a kid in a candy store, but with healthy stuff.  I know.  I'm weird.  It's okay, I've always known this.  Moving on.  What they had back there was numerous types of bulk hot cereal, various types of flour, various types of granola, nuts, etc.  I walked to the checkout with:  spelt flakes, Kamut puffs *a breakfast cereal--relatively cheap and pretty tasty*, 7-grain cereal for making bread, quinoa, barley *not pearly, but hulled regular barley*, and a 70% dark chocolate bar *that's one chocolate that I can have that won't set this Type III addict into a tailspin.* 

I came right home and put groceries away while I cooked some quinoa.  I have now officially had my first serving of quinoa and it was wonderful!  It was a bit like rice, but almost has a nutty taste.  It was very good.  Even the hubby liked it.  The short people didn't get a taste of it since hubby had already fed them.

This morning, I had a serving of the Kamut puffs with my almond milk on it.  I also made a scramble that consisted of 1 egg, 3 tbsp of egg whites, 1 minced garlic clove, fresh basil, green onion, some dried oregano, and a teaspoon of olive oil.  After cooking it, I forgot to throw it on top of some salad greens.  Eh...I hope to remember tomorrow.  Lunch was tofu egg salad.  Yeah, it was good.  I'm not sure what I will be adding to dinner for protein, but we're having multi-grain pasta.

Also, it is basket week!  Oh how I love basket week!  It will definitely help in the goal of eating to control sugar.

I can't say that I feel a whole lot of energy yet, but we'll see what a week or two does for my body.  It is trial and error.  I may make one of the soup recipes that's in the cookbook tomorrow for lunch.  It includes barley.  Yum!  I'll keep you all up-to-date on how it's going.

My Healthified Cookie

So today was baking day for my friend Sarah.  Her favorite cookie?  Oatmeal Raisin.  The recipe?  It is as follows:

Kati's Healthified Oatmeal Raisin Cookies  *I doubled the recipe, so hang in there.*

2/3 c agave nectar
1/2 c packed brown sugar & 1/4 c packed Splenda brown sugar
1/2 c homemade applesauce *unsweetened store bought or the like would probably be fine.*
1/2 c canned pumpkin *told ya I love me some pumpkin*
1 tsp baking soda
1 slightly rounded tsp cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/3 c egg whites *or 2 egg whites*
3 c quick-cooking oats
1 c all-purpose flour
1 c kamut flour *or whole wheat*
1 c *or 1 package* of pomegranate craisins

Heat oven to 375.  Mix all ingredients except oats, flour and craisins.  Stir in oats, flour and craisins *allowing your dough to sit just for a few minutes*.    I used a 1 tablespoon cookie scoop and made level tablespoon sized cookies.  You'll also need to use parchment paper because these don't have any butter or oil in them, so they might stick if you don't.  These didn't spread too much, so you can easily get 4 cookies across on a sheet *at least on my cookie sheets.* Bake about 10 minutes or until light brown; cool..
These came out to be 1 P+ per cookie or 3 P+ for two cookies.  They are very tasty and both the girls and the hubby give them 2 thumbs way up *so do I by the way.*  The pomegranate craisins give them a nice twist and I'd imagine you could use just about any type of craisin.  I also didn't double the amount of craisins, but you wouldn't know it if I didn't tell you.  I love being able to tweak recipes and sometimes they don't work out, but most often they do.  This one certainly turned out fantastic!  Am I the type of person to come up with something on my own?  Nope.  But, I do a great job when someone gives me a starting point.

Tomorrow is my first WI day of my maintenance.  I'm not sure how to feel about it.  It's been a rough week and I am certainly ready to put it behind me.  This weekend will also be busy.  Oldest kiddo and I will be off to a concert of sorts tomorrow evening and then a group of gals and I will be going to see "Wicked" on Sunday.  Whew!

If cookies happen to be a trigger food for you...walk...away.  If not, give these a whirl.

Eating well on a budget!

My sweet sister asked this question:  "How do you get special things for yourself diet wise without driving up the cost of your grocery bill?"

We started couponing again in January.  We have cut our bill just about in half.  This helps us to buy the things that we don't eat, at a much better cost, allowing us a little wiggle room to get things that cost a bit more.  I have also been able to get some things that we do eat for a much smaller amount.  Example?  I picked up 5 boxes of whole grain pasta for 25¢ a box.  Also, getting our 'basket' every other week for $15...that saves us quite a bit in the veggie/fruit department!  I am also having to learn that just because that cut of meat seems expensive, it's really not that bad when you break it down into price per serving.  If I can get a pound of meat *beef for example* at $2.99/pound and am able to stretch that to feed all five of us, then it's only 60¢ *roughly* per serving, plus whatever we have for sides.  The goal for me is to have meals that cost less than $1/serving *gosh...I'm starting to sound like my hubby when he's at work!!*

I am constantly comparing the sale ads to Sam's Club too because there is often a savings at one or the other.  The example?  I'm planning our menu for March and 90/7 ground beef is on sale for $2.99/lb, but I can get ground turkey at Sam's for $2.75/lb.  Yeah it's only 24¢, but if the ground beef is sold in larger value paks, then I'll end up paying a wee bit more.  And, we prefer ground turkey over beef anyway.  Sam's also has the best deal on flour *at least right now.*  I'll be snagging another 25lb bag of flour this month.  I can't believe that in 2 months time, I've gone through an entire 25lb bag, but I have!  Between the pancakes, the bread, and the pizza dough...we've certainly used it.  And *just a small pat on my own  back*, I told hubby that I wasn't going to buy bread for the girls in January and I've now gone 2 months without buying a loaf of bread for them!  I've been leaning heavily on my delay timer on my bread machine.  Why would I ever make bread any other way again?

So what's on our menu for March?  The staples:  chicken *I'm getting a couple of roasting chickens this month too as I am about out of stock (aka broth) in the freezer*, pancakes, hot dogs, and the new favorite staple...mom's homemade pizza.  I know you're probably getting sick of this same list, but my girls don't.  It's a little predictability.  To round out our menu, we're getting some pork, we're having the aforementioned pasta, and we'll alternate between tacos & sloppy joes *the homemade kind.*

Sometimes stuff just isn't on sale, but you do the best you can.  In some ways, when you coupon, you can stock some things away for later use, especially when it's really cheap or in some cases, free.  I picked up 3 tubes of toothpaste for free and we won't have to worry about that for a while.  And like I said, if it's not on sale, sometimes one store carries it at 'regular' price, but it's less than their competitors.  It can also be trial and error.

I think shopping should be fairly easy this month.  That's certainly a change for us!  I am happy that I haven't had to labor over the menu too much to come up with the healthy options that we can enjoy.  Do what's best for you and your family.  Budgeting isn't easy, but it is so worth it in the end!

Basket Day!

I know some of you are annoyed when I post about our bounty, but it was a good one today for sure!  A couple of items that I never buy myself and one baggie of something I've never even heard of!  This was our basket:

I've never bought mangoes or cantaloupe before.  I'm not even sure that I've tasted a mango before.  That's weird considering I love fruits and vegetables.  I weighed the cantaloupe because I was curious to know how big it was...4 pounds!!!  There is also a 3lb bag of pears you can't quite see and the little brown things in the bag up front...those are Jerusalem artichokes *aka sunchokes.*

With tonight's dinner, we had the sunchokes *smashed with a little butter, a splash of milk, and some cheese* and also fresh broccoli/cauliflower mix.  It was delicious.  The sunchokes are a bit sweet and would almost remind you of a potato, but they're not quite as dense as a potato.

For lunch, I had this with that fine looking butter lettuce in the back.  The only swap that I made was instead of the light mayo, I used my light ranch dressing *the 2tbsp of ranch mix with light mayo/fat free buttermilk*.  Oooh boy, was that yummy.  I did use turkey bacon.  I think I might make another wrap tomorrow.

Also a friendly reminder go back to this post and leave a comment about what your favorite cookie is so that you can be entered into a giveaway by yours truly *tasty cookies done my way* sent directly to your house.  Yumm!

I also want to say, I almost have 20 followers.  That's a big deal for me.  I have also logged just over 2,500 views just since the end of December.  It makes me all warm and fuzzy.  So, keep on reading and refer a friend or two.  I just like sharing my story with others!!

This is it! #50!!

So, this is now truly my 50th post.  To celebrate, I am going to send out a batch of cookies *this next week*.  The kind will be determined by yours truly.  They'll be done *my* way, but will not fail to disappoint.  So...if you would like some yummies delivered to your door...by yours truly, leave a comment below telling me what your favorite cookie is.  Then I will randomly choose some lucky person to have the goodies.  And also, if my sister is the only to comment, then I guess she'll get the goodies. Ha!  I will choose a winner on Monday *hold me to it!!*

In the spirit of all things cooking/baking related, we tried yet another new recipe tonight.  It was called Chicken Pot Pie Soup and you can find it on Skinny Taste.  Believe me when I say, this is equally as good as having Chicken Pot Pie, just without the crust.  The big girls had seconds, hubby had a great big bowl, and the littlest one ate nearly her entire portion.  That recipe is for sure a keeper!  And so that you know what it looks like, check this picture:

It looks like a small amount because I didn't think to take the picture until after we'd eaten our share.  It still looks tasty, huh?

I think my body is back to 'normal' after having pain killers and ibuprofen in my system.  I'm finally seeing some slimming in my arms from all of the work I've been doing.  Slow and steady wins the race.

And tomorrow...is my WI.  I am unsure of what the scale will hold, but I'm truly hoping to see the number I want to see!  All beverages and food have stopped for the evening.  The only water that I will drink will be enough to take my antibiotic in a little bit.  Now...I just need to put my game face on.  Grr...

Don't forget...comment with your favorite cookie, now until Monday at 5pm MT.  Ready?  Break!

***********Edited to add:  After some consideration, maybe I'll only send a taste of some cookies, since most of you are probably trying to LOSE weight not GAIN it!  :)

Post #50! <<--I lied!

This is my 50th post...already!  I can't believe it!  Just another instance of persistence paying off.  **After my initial excitement over my 50th post, I realized that I had 1 draft post that I hadn't officially posted yet.  Shucks!  Have no fear...there will be a #50!*

I would love to hear what you would like to know about.  Do remember that I am just a gal who has been there, done that a fair number of times, that I can only tell you what has worked for me, and give you tips and recipes.  And boy, do I love recipes!  I'm serious now people, write something in the comment box!  I mean it!

Today has been great and productive.  I like productive days!  I also figured out why my lower back is sore.  There is this scissor leg move that 'Debbie' does on Slim in 6 that's meant to strengthen your lower back and work your butt and thighs.  Umm...yeah, guess I need to modify that.  So, I did that today.   I also swept off our porch and stairs, picked up some trash around the yard, and swapped bikes for the middle kiddo.  I also did dishes *with help from the oldest* and picked up some.  Have you ever noticed that your kitchen is forever a mess??

Would you all like a little baked goodie give-away?  Sadly, I think this one would have to stay within the U.S. though as I don't think it would ship fast enough over-seas to be tasty.

Oh and I tried another new recipe last night.  It was Pumpkin Spice Cream Cheese from Skinny Taste.  I believe that my family thought they were eating creamy golden deliciousness.  I spread it on Ritz crackers...mmm...yeah, that was good stuff!!  I think I have a tiny obsession  love with pumpkin and am thankful that I stocked up when Sam's had a 3 pack of the big cans for something like $7.  I like pumpkin in a lot of things.  I LOVE, love, LoVe...this pumpkin spiced latte from Hungry Girl.  I also love throwing 2 tablespoons of pumpkin *not to be confused with pumpkin pie filling* in my oatmeal, with a dash of cinnamon, nutmeg, and Splenda brown sugar.  It tastes a bit like pumpkin pie.  You could even use pumpkin pie spice in your oatmeal.  Mmm...yum!  Also, I won't ever buy pumpkin pie spice again, because I use this little recipe and love it.  I also make a killer pumpkin brownie recipe, but it isn't entirely healthy.

Do you all love pumpkin?  Do you have a favorite recipe?  I'd love to hear about it!

Also...goodie give-away??  Yes?  No?  And in addition to that...what would you like to know about?

^^^All of this...write in that little comment box below this post *or click on comment.*  I don't want to bore you with day to day stuff like:  Today I worked out and I ate this for breakfast, lunch, dinner.  I'm sure you'd like to know more than that.  Right?

So...get crackin'!

What is healthy?

Recently, a friend of mine sent a lunch to school with her kiddo.  The food 'police' at the school ended up taking away a fruit and nut scone.  This frustrated me a lot because I thought, "Who are they to tell me what is healthy for my child."  Then this morning, another friend of mine posted this link to an article about something similar.  A mom sent to school with her child:  a turkey and cheese sandwich *on white/wheat bread*, a banana, a bag of chips, and some apple juice.  They told the child that the lunch wasn't okay and gave her a school lunch consisting of chicken nuggets.  The only thing she ate...the chicken nuggets.  If she'd been left alone, she would have eaten all of the lunch that her mother had sent with her.

Where am I going with this?  Why am I posting about this on my weight loss blog?  I feel as though after the many times of going through this weight loss journey, that I know what I should and shouldn't feed my child for lunch...not the state.

Hubby and I talked about this as I drove him out to work this morning.  Last school year when we were having a lot of problems with our then 3 year old, we ended up turning to look at the food she was eating.  It was suggested that we eliminate HFCS *High Fructose Corn Syrup*.  When I started looking at the foods that she was eating, you'd be amazed at how many foods this particular ingredient is in.  I talked a little bit about how crazy off the wall my kid acts when she ingests HFCS in this particular post.  I remember after removing it from her 'diet' here at home, but the school hadn't done it yet, that she came home and was literally bouncing off the walls.  When I looked at the menu for lunch, she'd had tomato soup.  When I looked at a can that I had on hand...the 2nd ingredient was...you guessed it, HFCS!!!

Thankfully, the school allows for an ICP *Individualized Care Plan* which at the point of the soup incident, had not been put into place.  Even prior to the ICP, I had complained about the so called meals the kids were having.  The one morning I ended up running to the store to buy a large jar of peanut butter for the kids because they were having:  wheat bread *not toast* plain, fruit, and milk.  That was IT!  When I asked the director about it, she told me that this was based on the nutritional guide for these kids.  Also, the serving sizes are not based on my children, because they can EAT!

When I dropped kiddo off at school this morning *after discussion with hubby in the car*, what are they serving for breakfast at school?  Large soft pretzels.  Seriously?  Made me thankful that my pathetically skinny kid had eaten eggs and toast before she left our house.

When my kids have lunch next year, it will be packed.  I can send a much healthier lunch than what they can *normally* get at the school.  If anyone dares to tell me that what my girls bring for lunch isn't healthy, I'd like them to show me the nutritional information of the food garbage they are trying to have my kids eat and compare it to the nutritional info of what I've sent.