Saturdays Around Here...

Very rarely do I post on Saturday, but I feel like I have so much to tell you, that an update is truly in order.  This morning was shaping up to be a busy day with lots to do at home, so we opted out of the gym and had a family breakfast of waffles instead.

I had been eager to try the Paleo waffles from the Eat Like a Dinosaur book I've been raving about and not only did they LOOK like real waffles, but they were pretty darn tasty as well!  Check them out - gluten and dairy free! 

Today was the first Saturday to pick up our CSA box at the farmer's market, so we carted the crew off and met the farmer who is going to supply us veggies for the next several months.  It works out to about $20-30 a week for a mother-load of freshness.  And the lady said that this would be the lightest box we would get!

I found our CSA through this Local Harvest website.  You can search for one in your area, if you're interested.

Of course, the girls were more excited that we stopped by a couple yard sales on the way home, looking for some more sleepers for Caleb.  We struck out on those, but did score a $5 three-wheeled scooter for Rachel and a 10 cent My Little Pony for Elizabeth...and there was much rejoicing.

I believe she named it Cloudia.  Not to be confused with her other pony named Rainbowa and her stuffed dog named Sparkla.

Now, to get a box like this was the closest I will ever get to Iron Chef and I spent a couple hours this afternoon looking for new recipes to use the vegetables I've never cooked with before - especially beets.  (AND NO, THERE WEREN'T ANY ZUCCHINI, YOU SMARTIES!!) 

The smell of beets cooking reminds me of my Memaw's house growing up, when I swore off the stinky things forever.  This evening though, I pulled up my big girl britches and started to work.    We made this Beet and Apple Salad from the Food Network and it was AMAZING.  I roasted the beets beforehand and caught myself eating them straight out of the pan.

Scott and I were just talking about how our taste buds have changed since limiting our processed foods and sugars and this is just an example of it.  Fruits and vegetables taste so much sweeter, without the need for dressings or dips.  In fact, even the girls are starting to accept newer veggies and eat more things on their plates - HALLELUJAH!!

And speaking of limiting sugar (ha!), we had ice cream for dessert and the girls enjoyed them in cones for the first time.  (Aldi had them for 99 cents a box and I thought that would be such a fun treat.)  So after dinner, outside we went and they were so excited to feel grown-up with cones in their hands!

Posing with the cones...

Posing with the cones and Daddy (who is NOT eating two, but is holding the photographer's)

 

See, you lick it with your tongue Mom...SEEEEEE???  AHHHHHHH!

Hey!  Where's mine??!!

Enjoy your weekend, my friends!!

Chicken Pesto with Squash Noodles

By the end of last week, I was getting close to the end of my vegetable stash and didn't want to haul all three kiddos to the store so I began the grueling task of figuring up a meal with what I had.  

You know those shows on the Food Network where they give the contestants just a handful of ingredients to come up with something edibley awesome?  Yeah...I wouldn't do good on those shows.

So when Scott called and had a stressed out tone to his voice, I decided to go with chicken pesto pasta, which was one of his favorites.  The only problem was that I didn't want to eat spaghetti when I was just getting the scales to move in the right direction, so I started looking at some options with the summer squash I had on hand. 

(Now, before I go any farther, I will tell you that I did not feed this to my children.  In fact, I didn't even attempt it.  They got noodles and red sauce and were as happy as clams.  I just wasn't in the mood for a fight this particular night.)

Me:  "Rachel, eat your beans."  Rachel:  "What beans??"

Earlier in the day, I had thrown a whole chicken in the Crockpot with salt and pepper and set it for about 6 hours.  After it was cooked, I shredded the meat and then threw the carcass in the pot to make stock later.

I had three yellow summer squash and three zuchinni, which I washed and cut the ends off and then peeled into strips with the vegetable peeler.  I loved the look of the yellow and green!  After tossing them with salt, I put them in the strainer and let them drain for a while.

I heated some olive oil in a skillet and threw in my squash for a couple minutes - just not long enough for them to get mushy.  I would love to tell you that I then whipped up my own pesto, but I didn't.  Not when Costco's is so tasty...

Topping the squash with the shredded chicken, I added about a tablespoon or two of pesto to each plate and then sprinkled the whole shooting match with a little bit of parmeasan cheese (making it technically NOT Paleo, but who's counting...).

Scott walked in the door during bath time (which was much needed, as I refer back to the earlier picture of Rachel) and, after getting the kids to bed, we enjoyed this dinner and a well deserved date night in our own dining room.  The verdict?  For the little bit of extra work, this is definitely something we'll do again.  It had more taste thank pasta could provide and really didn't take that much longer to make.  And I could even look my scales in the eye in the morning... :) 

Enjoy!

Meal Planning Adventures with Toddlers

Seriously, this is really a post more for me than for you.  Things always seem better once you talk (write) about them, right?  Well that's what I'm banking on anyway.

So somewhere in our multiple conversations this weekend, my loving and possibly slightly demented husband mentioned that perhaps our small children did not need to eat cheese sandwiches or pizza or mac and cheese for lunch every day.  In fact, I think he said they didn't need to eat cheese every day.

I know...he's cute...

You know, now that I think about it, this must have been Sunday, when he fixed lunches while I nursed Caleb and the girls threw a fit over a lack of cheese and chose taking hungry naps over eating the very Paleo-friendly spread their daddy had put out for them.

I've told you that we've decided to undertake this eating lifestyle which is basically high on fruits and vegetables and meat and low to void of grains and dairy.  We haven't been fanatical about it, but are amazed at how much we feel better.  Even small, nagging health issues with the girls have cleared up once I got them off cow's milk.  

But the whole cheese factor has been their hard limit. 

So through this journey, I honestly haven't been as strict with the girls and normally fix them a kid-friendly lunch with a fruit and vegetable side, which they normally reject.  I figure I make it up with fruit or something healthy for the afternoon snack and give myself a C for the day. 

One day last week, I foolishly thought a fun activity would be to peel our own hard boiled eggs.  After I had cleaned floors.

So after getting this recent challenge to further apply the Paleo diet to our children, I thought it over and decided if I was really going to make this work, I had to extend my meal planning to breakfast and lunch - not just dinner.  I think I've told you that my mom was possibly brilliant by having a different breakfast every day of the week and keeping the same schedule through my entire childhood.  In fact, I'm sure if you popped in on my parents on a Saturday morning, you could still snake some waffles.

So I've decided to try the same thing in my house with the following schedule:

Monday - pancakes

Tuesday - scrambled eggs and toast

Wednesday - sprinkle oatmeal

Thursday - hard boiled eggs and muffins

Friday - waffles

Saturday - eggs ala daddy

Sunday - whatever we can stuff in our face before church

Now, I'm not going Paleo yet for breakfasts simply because I'm not mentally ready to think that hard for three meals a day and also, with my kids opting out of most dinners, I feel better if I fix a breakfast that they like and will eat.  So all of these apply.

I splurged and bought a dry erase weekly meal magnet planner thing at Staples off the new Martha Stewart line and LOVE it.  So far, I've been using it to plan my dinners, but I'm going to start planning lunches too.  The reason for this is two-fold.  One, I need to make sure I have enough food in the house (a big problem for me when we started eating more fruits and veggies...I ran out a lot!) and two, the less I have to think during the day, the better.  I can whip up a cheese sandwich in 2.0 seconds flat, which is one of the reasons we have them a lot.  

Well, and they are darn tasty.  

But anyway...

Today, we ventured home from the Y and I was racking my brain about what to fix for lunch and got an idea to do a best friends lunch.  So I got out their little trays with the dividers and put "best friends" in each one.  Carrots and ranch dressing.  Apples and peanut butter (which is not Paleo, but I have a huge tub that I refuse to throw away).  Sliced hard boiled egg and just small slivers of cheese (because we really can't quit cold turkey).  I also gave them each a handful of Craisins, just because I had one little space left on the tray.

As my leg-huggers marched around the island chanting Mac and cheese!  Mac and cheese!  I announced that we were having a new best friends lunch and it was going to be SO MUCH FUN!  The chant stopped and they skeptically climbed into their chairs and surveyed their trays.  I demonstrated how each food was grouped and you eat them together so they don't get lonely...blah, blah, blah.

They listened.  They nodded.  They smiled.

Then they dive-bombed the cheese.  

Once it was gone and they were sufficiently convinced that I wasn't giving up any more, they moved on to the rest of their tray.  I was actually pretty pleased that Elizabeth ate all her eggs, 2 carrot sticks and a piece of apple.  Rachel, on the other hand, was a mess.  After screaming for more cheese, she took to sticking her finger and licking ranch off.  Upon getting fussed at, she then began dipping her apple in ranch.  Once my dry heaves eased up, I talked her into trying the carrot.   And so she did...and proceeded to spit little orange, carrot, chewed up pieces all over.  Eventually, she ate all the apples and peanut butter off her and her sister's tray and that was about all she wrote for the fussy two-year-old.  

Sigh...

And so begins my journey in improving my children's diets.   

Not me yet!  I still eat at Mom's!

Got ideas??  Let me know!  Here are a couple great resources I've found, in case you are on the same road as me...

100 Days of Real Food - 10 Ways to Switch up Your Kid's Lunch

Super Healthy Kids - This blog has great ideas and yummy looking recipes. 

Paleo Parents - I love the recipes on this blog and we recently purchased their book, Eat Like A Dinosaur.  It is fun to read, the recipes are easy to follow and are kid approved!

Dog Cookies

From what I read around the blog spectrum, the coolest moms make some sort of baked goods for their little children to have for afternoon snack.  Now, I have a couple issues with this...the first being that I tend to eat 90% of all baked goods I make around here, which is not a good thing when you can no longer do high intensity cardio and you're also trying not to gain a million pounds in a pregnancy.  The second issue is that my children like almost anything sweet or not good for you - so snack time is when I try to force them to eat some sort of fruit or yogurt, etc.

But yesterday, I had a weak moment and found a great recipe for granola bars over at My Baking Addiction that I thought would be fun for Elizabeth and me to make together while Rachel was sleeping.  That's the other thing in the blogosphere...lots of moms cooking with their sweet, well-behaved children.  Most of my tries in this arena have been fails, but there were a lot of dry ingredient stirring in this recipe so I thought I'd give it a try.

Not to bring up the bean incident from a couple weeks ago, but you really can't blame me for being gun shy.

That is, until Elizabeth wound herself into a giant tantrum and put herself to bed for a couple hours (score!!).  *Editor's note...and then proceeded to stay up with mom and dad until 9:30 p.m... no score*

So I decided to make the granola bars myself.  I followed the recipe pretty closely, substituting coconut oil for the vegetable oil and I also added about a 1/2 C of shredded unsweetened coconut and left out the almond slivers.  Not only did these come out incredible, but my house smelled amazing.

I was so stoked to be able to offer the little children in my house these yummy treats for a snack.  And, of course, being three and 20 months and sensing their mommy's excitement, they both took one look at them and turned up their noses.  

"I don't yike dem," Elizabeth said.  "They're dog cookies."

In fact at one point, they were both crying for apples, so I ended up slicing them each one and eating about 10 of the granola bars.  Major loss for the no-sugar goal and also for my waist line.  *sigh*

Oh well, maybe YOUR kids will like them.  Or forget the kids, maybe YOU well and then us dog cookie eaters can unite together.  As it stands, the girls who work the nursery at the Y were thrilled to see me come in with a container of goodies for them. You know, so I didn't eat the entire batch today.

Enjoy!

Cheater, cheater, pumpkin eater!

Ok, so poor Peter - I took his nursery rhyme for my title - but it was just too catchy for what I needed.  

I told you Thursday about how Scott and I were doing this cleanse together and it omitted certain things from our diets, including coffee??  

Well, I am happy to report that I stayed steady for a little over 24 hours...and then I threw in the towel.

Friday morning I woke up, not wanting eggs without cheese.  In fact, the idea flat made me gag.  I glared at my happy children enjoying their yummy, warm oatmeal and the coffee pot just sitting there on the counter, not even earning it's keep.  It took me an hour to get everything ready to make the vegetable juice that would be my breakfast and I then drank it begrudgingly rather than joyfully.

Stupid trying to get healthy...stupid...  (You know you're losing it when the moping in your head doesn't even make sense.)

Don't even get me started on the sad puppy of a husband that followed me downstairs and couldn't have a shake for breakfast.  

My rain cloud followed me to the gym, where I made it through my workout, but I didn't break any records, not to mention much of a sweat.

Stupid no energy from this stupid diet...stupid...

Scott met us back home, as he was going to work a couple hours from the dining room table, and I heated us up some leftover beef stew from the night before.  The food improved my mood, but not much.  An hour later, I'd had enough.  Draping myself dramatically across the table, I looked at my working husband and said, in my best whiny three-year-old imitation:

"I want to cheat."

He didn't even look up from the computer.

"Ok."

I popped up.  "What?  OK?? What about the cleanse?"

"We did it a hundred percent for 24 hours.  Let's just make modifications for the things that we absolutely need.  Like coffee and shakes."

Shaking hands on the deal, we both jumped up, me to start the coffee pot and him to raid his BSN stash.  Of course, we didn't agree to cookies, but I managed to have five of them that afternoon (blowing my no-sugar week out of the water) and also my beloved Friday dinner sandwich - as pregnancy cravings win out over diet plans most days of the week for me.

Sunday was a full cheat day for us and we joined our friends, the Jebsens, for Pumpkin Pancake Palooza at their house after church.  Susie made the most amazing pancakes with warm apple syrup...mmmm...and coffee...and a teensy slice of apple pie for dessert.  Good food with good company - what a great Sunday!  We topped off the night with pizza, since the day was a loss anyway and went to bed happy and full.

This morning, I was in a much better frame of mind to enjoy my specified hard boiled eggs and grapefruit and be back on the plan.  We have noticed a difference, even if doing this for a short time.  Of course, my husband has lost ten pounds while doing this for less than a week (men!!) and I have noticed a significantly lesser amount of swelling in my legs since starting this.  After Rachel was born, I held a lot of water around my legs and when I got pregnant this time, they seemed to swell up a little too quickly for my liking.  So the relief the past few days has been wonderful, although I wonder which element of my diet was contributing to this...

Thankfully, I can rule out coffee... ;)

Happy Monday, my friends!  If you are No-Sugaring it with me, we have two full weeks left!  Tell me about your cheat weekend!!

Fall Play and Pumpkin Chili

I love fall.  There's just something about the colors and the smells and the cooler temperatures...

and the food!

It's been pretty warm here in TN and we have been bombarded with the most irritating gnats in our front yard.  I think we just need a good freeze to get rid of them, but until then, they will just continue to be a pain.  So last week, when we got a good rain and they all went into hiding, we headed out for some good bike riding.

Of course, to double-up was Rachel's idea.  She is her daddy's child.

Trial run while her sister was distracted.

And we're off!

Still going!

And just in case you need the real thing...

I also find myself craving all things pumpkin and apple once the temperatures begin to dip and last night, we made pumpkin chili for the first time this fall.  I can't lie, the first time we saw it, we crinkled our nose at the thought.  But every time we make it, we can't believe how good and flavorful it is and I encourage you to give it a try if you even remotely like chili or pumpkin pie.  

Something about the sweet and spicy combination...probably the same reason why they would always serve cinnamon rolls with chili in elementary school...or was that just my elementary school?

I got this recipe out of an Oxygen Magazine about a cagillion years ago and it's so worn from being referenced so many times that I don't have all the information to reference it properly.  But I am openly saying that this isn't my recipe and I don't alter it.  Well, because it's so good!

Pumpkin Tomato Chili

By Nancy Kennedy and Bobby Strom via Oxygen

1 tsp olive oil

2 lb extra lean, ground turkey breast

1 large onion, diced

1 red pepper, diced

2 cans dark red kidney beans, rinsed and drained

5 1/2 cups no-sodium tomato juice (I used V8)

(2) 14 1/2 oz cans no-salt, peeled and diced tomatoes with juice

1 1/4 cup canned pumpkin puree (I just used the whole smaller can - it's a little more than this)

2 tbsp sugar-free maple syrup (or the real stuff if that's what you have)

1 1/2 tbsp pumpkin pie spice

1 tbsp chili powder

1/4 tsp nutmeg

Add olive oil to large pot and brown the ground turkey.  Drain off fat and add onion and red pepper and cook for about 5 minutes.  Stir in beans, tomato juice, diced tomatoes, pumpkin puree and maple syrup.  Season with pumpkin pie spice, chili powder and nutmeg.  Simmer for 1 hour, serve.

Now if you are a spice-wuss like me, this will be perfect for you.  However, if you like any sort of heat with your chili, my husband recommends adding red pepper flakes and hot sauce to the final product.  To each his own!

We also love this with a little fat free sour cream, shredded cheese and lime Tostitos...mmmm...which also ups the bad-for-you factor, but the chili itself is so clean, you can get away with it.  (At least that's what I tell myself!)

Trust us on this one and try it!  And I hope your fall weather is bug free so far!!

Coffee...I need coffee...

I don't think I've ever gone back and talked about Scott's back surgery and the total spin it put on our lives to land us here and completely put our lives in God's hands.  And this isn't necessarily the time to do that, but I'm just throwing the idea out there to give you the background info that we know backs in our house.  And chiropractors.

We love them and trust them and have had great ones and bad ones.  Well, Scott tweaked his back a couple weeks ago, getting ready for a powerlifting competition and it put us in search of a good one again.  Thankfully, we found one and Scott really likes and trusts him.

The other day, he gave him this handy-dandy pamphlet on nutrition and a cleanse to help heal your body.  After reading through it last night, he handed it to me and announced that he was going to start it.  Tomorrow.  

Now, I have had my share of friends try cleanses and, honestly, it hasn't ever been anything that's interested me because they've all involved drinking tons or weird drinks and not eating anything and, well that's out right now for Miss Prego here.  But this was different and is a basic, three stage clean eating plan that is similar to what we've done before, the first stage eliminating some fruits and starches and dairy and basically, junk.

So I agreed to join him because there's no point in one person in our house going about anything alone...and then I read what else this first stage eliminated...

coffee.

As in, my life-blood.  (All of my friends just pulled in a sharp breath between their teeth, because as I live, I drink coffee, people.)

So I shared this information with my husband and he too, sucked air in his teeth because he is my love and fellow addict.  And then I let him know what else it eliminated...whey protein.  (And all of Scott's friends just fainted because very few have seen him without an EAS shaker at some point during the day.)

But move ahead we did, in the name of health, and have proceeded to be zombies together all day without our caffeine mana...

Which leads me to my main point that mothers with small children should never go off caffeine.  Undoubtedly, they become whinier, louder, bader forms of your previous children.

So this morning, I got up and proceeded to drink three large cups of tea, in hopes that it could touch the caffeine buzz that I am used to in order to go on with a normal existence.  It didn't, but at least it took the edge off as Elizabeth came downstairs after having dressed herself in clothes from the dirty clothes hamper.  Seeing the spaghetti stains from yesterday simply made me crave that sweet coffee and creamer more and I sent her back upstairs to "find something clean!  From your drawers!  And put those back in the dirty clothes."

So this was the outfit she came back down with and I'm not sure it's much better than spaghetti stains, but at least it's clean.  She loves leggings, of any color, and this shirt is one of her favorites.  She's also wearing striped purple socks.  Why yes, I dressed Rachel...I AM GOING OFF COFFEE, OK?!  IT REALLY LOOKS CUTE IN PERSON. 

After yet another fit (by Elizabeth, not me...ha!), my fashionistas and I headed to the Y and we all came out after an hour with better attitudes and decided to make a run to Kroger for all the healthy food that daddy and I needed for our new diet.

I don't know why I went to the nice Kroger...I should have just gone to the one right down from our house that we normally frequent.  The one that knows me and shoots knowing glances in the direction of the frazzled, pregnant again mother with two small children.  But I thought the nice one would have nicer produce and it was conveniently located right next to a Chick-Fil-A that I could use as bribery for my children, who tend to run sprints up and down the aisles.  

(By the way, Elizabeth and Rachel are not joining us on the diet...I know my limits, people.  And my limit stops at no cheese or Dora yogurt for my daughters.)

The shopping trip went beautifully...our best ever, in fact.  My children were cute and happy and didn't run and ate their free cookies from the bakery (another bribe...I have no shame) and then we went to the check out.  

Now, if stores could create checkout lanes with no candy, I would wait in line for the thing.  As it goes, I play the slap hands game as my children grab Mentos, Rolos, and their favorite - Tic Tacs.  They've never eaten these candies,  they just like the looks or (in Tic Tacs case) sound of them.  Meanwhile, I am trying to squeeze by the grocery cart that has the car attached to the front and is as wide as a semi with my big pregnant belly and reach the groceries over the cart to the conveyer.  All while the check out lady stands and watches me and eyes up my children's ensembles.

Really...I didn't need her help...

So we got it all loaded and past the candy and as she gives me the total, I look up and see that Elizabeth has climbed out of the plastic car and is running for these bins of candy.

As in open bins.  You know, the kinds with the scoops?   So I keep one eye on her as I slide my debit card and in no time, watch her open a bin of gummy worms, pull one out and put it in her mouth, spit it out and put it back in the bin.  

They were sour.

I could have been in a movie, with the delayed, "Noooooooo!!" as I lunged towards my oldest child and grabbed her by the arm, dragging her back to the cart.  Because seriously, what was I going to do?  Rummage through for the wet one?  Buy the whole bin?   No.  I did what came first to my head and high tailed it out of the nice Kroger, where I can never show my face again.  Seriously, we'll just stick close to home and eat lesser produce.  It'll be fine.

Of course, my best friend Amanda called on our way home and, upon hearing my saga, died laughing, adding into it my episode yesterday where I caught Elizabeth washing her hands in the toilet.

"So old potty fingers doesn't like gummy worms, huh?"  

Coffee...I need coffee... 

Dropping Sugar Like A Bad Habit...

Oh, I sound real tough, don't I?

But honestly, this is a big one for me.  And it has several factors going behind it.  I have read more than a couple articles recently about how we eat way too much sugar and how the white stuff isn't good for us - far past rotting my teeth out like my parents used to threaten.  It can be linked to not only the obvious health culprits and obesity but also depression, heart disease, acne and cancer.

I know...yikes!

Aaaaaaaaaaannnnnnnnnnndddddddddd last week, I might have eaten a whole bag of Hershey Kisses by myself.  And a half batch of oatmeal cookies...and some rice krispie treats....and a large sweet tea from McDonalds.

Actually, it was the sweet tea that did me in, as I sipped on it while reading the last and final article on the badness of sugar that pushed me over the edge.  

It's not that I don't think that sugar is fine in moderation - I do...I just also know that I have no moderation when it comes to sugar.  Therefore, I decided to join some other bloggers I follow that have been providing positive peer pressure and go without.  Well, sort of...

I told two people when I decided to start this:  Scott and my best friend.  I no sooner typed the email to Amanda when she called in a panic.  "What do you mean, you're going off sugar?"

You see, she was around when I went off sugar the first time.  Back in college when I had an elbow that wouldn't heal and I didn't want to miss pitching my entire junior season so I went to a chiropractor that told me that my diet was horrible - too much sugar, too little protein or complex carbs, too many hydrogenated fats, blah blah blah.

I know...what did he know... *pshhhh*

The 20 year old Annie and her friends viewed it all as a bunch a bull-hockey, but I wanted to pitch so badly that I thought I would give his theory a try and went off my beloved sugar, Poptarts, and crackers.  I learned to read labels and plan my meals.  It really was a learning experience, and even though I did eventually go back to the dark side (once I was able to pitch again - HA!), it taught me a lot about nutrition.  

But anyway, a week into my new diet and my best friend showed up at the door with what would save me:  sugar-free Jello with fruit cocktail mixed in and enough spoons to go around for us and my roommates.  We ate it right out of the bowl and it was the best thing I swear I had ever tasted. 

The whole situation became quite hysterical - as we sat and ate the entire bowl and laughed.  I think we'd been studying...for a very long time...AND if you never hear from me again after this post, they have massacred me for posting this picture!

And I was just darn loopy from no sugar...I couldn't tell you what I was doing here.  All I know is that I would LOVE for my forehead to have that few wrinkles again!

So, understanding her concern, I tried to talk her down.  "Yeah, I'm getting a little out of control and I don't want to gain a million pounds with this pregnancy,"  I told her.

"Tell me how you're doing this," she delved. "I mean, are you avoiding everything with sugar because you know pretty much everything HAS sugar in it."

Looking down at the peanut butter I was smearing on a piece of toast, I gulped.  She was right.  So right then and there, I decided that I was giving up sweets and soft drinks - the obvious stuff.  My husband was in full support of my decision - having seen the Kisses bag in the trash and knowing that he didn't eat any - but convinced me to just go during the week, giving myself the weekends to cheat.

Which sounded perfectly logical to me, considering that I am deeply in love with fall sweets.  (Cue Homer Simpson voice)  Mmmmm...pumpkin and apple ANYTHING....mmmmmm...

Now supporting me and being in love with me can be two different things though, as my sweet hubby called on the way home yesterday and was running through Sonic to get something to drink as a pick-me-up.  Did I want anything?  Oh, temptation washed over me like a flood.  But I sighed, "No...I'm not doing sugar.  Can you get me something unsweetened?"

So he came home with a little strawberry lemonade for Elizabeth and Rachel, a drink for himself and an unsweetened tea for me.  And, you know, it wasn't too bad!

Now, the question remains about other sweeteners and, currently, all I'm using is either honey or maple syrup.  I don't trust any other, although I haven't read all the research on Stevia yet.  And I really don't want to fool with it while being pregnant because I'm not really looking at this as a weight loss answer.  So it's not like I've traded my beloved baked goods in for items that are "diet" or "fat free."  Honestly, I'd rather have the sugar and just deal with the side effects I know. 

Other people who try this have claimed improved complexions, loss of excess weight, more energy and just a better overall feeling.  All those things sound just about awesome to me right about now.  

So I am wrapping up my first week of this and have noticed a couple things.  One, I have dropped a couple pounds.  Now, don't fuss at me and tell my I'm depriving my baby because I'm not.  Mysteriously, I gained five fast ones that week that I went on my binge-o-sweets.  So I am just losing the crap I put on.  I think the baby weighs about an ounce right now...I assure you, IT'S FINE.  

Two, I am forced to snack better and I realize that my go-to when I was hungry was something sweet.  All.the.time.  Now, I grab a piece of fruit or cut up some raw vegetables or heat up some leftovers.  At the same time, my kids are snacking better because Lord knows a mama can't eat a thing without a little bird coming up and wanting a bite.  

Three, I am looking forward to the weekend and enjoying what is forbidden during the week.  Gluttony is dangerous and to just throw things in your mouth isn't good...so I really think that I will savor what I choose to eat this weekend.  

So...anyone up for joining me?  Do you think allowing cheat weekends makes it more "do-able?"  Or perhaps you could use a 30 Day No-Sugar Challenge??  (Which, consequently, should wrap up right at Halloween?! ha!)  Let me know!  Maybe we'll start this full swing on Monday. 

Batch Cooking 101 by Professor Susie

The good news is that I found an expert regarding this batch cooking mess...in my own family, people. I know - color me embarrassed.  But this is truly one of the cases that knowledge is only important to you when you need it.

My mother-in-law is the queen of the kitchen.  She is just a natural and is the kind that I can call when I find myself faced with no dinner plans, an hour until Scott gets home, and the weirdest ingredients ever... ("Ok Susie,  I have a bag of pepperoni, a can of pineapple, some breadcrumbs...")

Most weekends, she lays me out a laundry list of her cooking plans and accomplishments...she has been known to cook up pounds and pounds of meatballs, casseroles, chicken, etc.  She works full time and before dawn hours, so the last thing she feels like doing when she gets home is cooking.  So often times, she makes for the week and then some.

When she comes to visit, she blesses me by doing the one thing I have been unable to do so far - stocking my freezer.  When she came to see us for a week after Elizabeth was born, she went to work bagging up spaghetti sauce and chili and macaroni and cheese and chicken and noodles and sloppy joes and other odds and ends - what blessings and easy meals these were for me in the rough times.  I remember going to the freezer and playing Press Your Luck in my head, trying to find a quick meal for Elizabeth...

You know...show me big money, big money, mac and cheese, no whammies, no whammies...

Just the other night, she saved me with a quart bag of taco meat she made on her last visit...I was stone cold out of dinner ideas and had all the fixings for tacos, minus the meat.  Then the magic little Ziploc bag appeared in the back of the freezer.  She had purchased a pork tenderloin on special and just stuck it in the slow cooker until it fell apart.  She shredded all of it and made half it into barbecue and the other half into taco meat.  Done...four meals.  Me?  I would have just thrown the whole puppy in the freezer to deal with later.  But then, what do I know?

There it is...do you hear the angels singing??!!

I am going to feature her very soon because I am so proud of her recent weight loss journey (she is almost to the 30 lbs gone mark!), but first, I have to fill you in on her advice on my cooking woahs.

I heard a lot of response that you were interested too and, my dear friends, simply put, we have to plan and take a little more time on the front end with our food...and use our freezers.

Susie said that the key is to plan to work with your protein sources as soon as you get in from the store.  Meaning that I need to do something with this 4 lbs of ground turkey and 2 lbs of ground chicken I got on sale today pronto.

Apparently chunking the entire packages in the freezer is not the way to go.  Again, who knew? ;)

"Plan to prepare them - make up your spaghetti sauce, chili, taco meat, meat loaf, casseroles or slice up your chicken into strips for stir fry.  But you need to get this done when you get home...that's how you'll get ahead," she said.

She also said that she normally doesn't cook her casseroles, meat loavess or meatballs before she freezes them.  For the loaves or meatballs, she just sticks them on a cookie sheet and, once they're chilled, bags them in a freezer bag.

"If you want to cook them, you can...just make sure you label if it is cooked or not.  If I am going to cook up a casserole and freeze half, I just write cooked and the date on the bag and so that I know that I can just throw it in the microwave."

Her only advice for meat loaves was to make sure that the loaf will fit in your freezer bag...a testament to experience...and that you can freeze it in more of a "can" shape to throw in your crockpot for a fast and easy meal.

"Just make sure that you fry up a little bit of the meat to test your seasoning (regarding meatballs or meat loaf).  There is nothing worse than going through all that work to cook it up and find out that it is awful or that you forgot an ingredient."

Now, this may be all common knowledge to you, but not for me.  My mom cooked almost every meal we ate, but I also remembering her preparing it fully that evening...after working an entire day...and she is my hero for it.  So I am so thankful for Susie for educating me...and maybe you?

Truly trying to turn over a new leaf, I put this plan into action, making about a million meatballs and chicken nuggets the past few days with my aforementioned sale meat.

Some of these, I cooked up and threw in one of our favorite soups - the rest are chillin in the freezer.

I went to work on these chicken nuggets after the gym the next day (cue the Myoplex).  They actually taste fantastic and have spinach and apple in them...which my children can plainly see...therefore they refuse to touch them.  Next time, I need to throw the whole shooting match in the food processor.

I find that right before lunch time is a good time for me to get rolling on a project and I have enough time and patience to conquer about one thing a day, if I wish.  Today, I made these breakfast sandwiches I've seen popping up everywhere online (which must mean they are tasty).  I didn't think they turned out too bad.

Can I butcher an english muffin or what?

I wrapped them in tin foil and then grouped them in freezer bags.  I figure, if they resemble McDonalds, maybe my kids will give them a fighting chance??

I've posted a couple other articles I found on these issues on Facebook...I am seriously studying it so I can get better here.  And I love the support I have found in some of you!  My friend Amy is trying out a meal subscription service that sends her recipes, grocery lists and everything for a small fee...so I may have her try it for a while and then con her into reviewing it for us!    

Keep the advice coming and let us know your progress.  Maybe we'll all get there together!

Planning Meals through the Crazy times: A cry for help!

My hats are off to you working mamas...

I'm not sure I could pull it off anymore and I just was in a bit of your world Saturday.  I had a clinic in the morning for an hour and a half and then traveled across town to do another clinic for another hour and then got home and gave a lesson...

And then I promptly died on the couch.  Clay-rimmed ankles and everything.

(I can't say that I miss THAT from the softball field!)

I couldn't think of anything dinner or cleaning...I'm telling you, I was down for the count. 

So, I did what any exhausted person would do = asked my loving husband if we could go out to eat.

And do you think that we went to the cleanest, healthiest restaurant in town??  Oh, you know me better than that.

Mellow Mushroom is one of our favorites and it is right in the middle of downtown and when you go a little after 5, you can get right in and get a seat with your little children who hate to wait. 

And Saturday night, after working all day, it hit the spot.

An order of soft pretzel appetizers, a token salad and half of the best calzone I've ever eaten later, I was feeling somewhat human again.  And that somewhat borderline was crossed over by a quick trip to Ben and Jerry's afterwards.

Which was a fun trip because as we walked in, Elizabeth announced that she wanted vanilla.  I said, "Honey, they have all kinds of flavors here...why don't we just look and see what they have and then you can decide what you want?"  So I picked her up and let her smear her greasy little face along the glass and peer at each tub of yumminess.  Then she turned and pointed at the one she wanted.

It was vanilla.

So later, as I lay in my food induced, sunburned coma, I began counting the endless calories I had consumed in the time that I was exhausted. 

How easy it was to say, "Forget it...I'm just hungry...it doesn't matter...I've worked hard all day."  Every statement making excuses for food I really shouldn't have been eating.  Perhaps you might be reading this, feeling sorry for me and thinking that maybe that I had earned it?  I hadn't...I didn't workout that day and I barely did more at the clinics or lesson then stand and walk around, probably only burning off the calories from the Coke I consumed in between clinics. 

Not that cheat days stress me out all that much.  There are a lot of programs that encourage you take a day to eat whatever you want - saying that it keeps your metabolism in check, as well as your mental sanity, as long as you eat clean for the rest of the week.  When Scott and I were staying pretty strict to the Body for Life once upon a time, we would wake up on Sunday mornings and celebrate with a dozen donuts and a package of bacon.  So please realize it isn't that I can't give myself a break.  But you see, we had just had a couple of McDonald's sandwiches for lunch...and Zaxby's for dinner the night before because it was Friday and I hate to cook on Friday...and Mexican two nights earlier because I had burned the soup to a crisp.  

Can you burn soup??  Oh yes...I can.

So I know that it is merely a product of me being tired and not organized.

And as my lessons pick up (such a blessing) and my time becomes busier, it will become more and more important for me to plan.  Currently, I plan my meals a week out, but think I might need to go further out - like a month.  I need to better utilize my freezer and Crockpot.

So my question to you:  how do you plan healthy meals for your family when your schedule is busy or you are working?  What are your best go-to resources for the rest of us?  (I will list mine below and please list yours in your comments.  And by all means, if you cover this on your blog, promote yourself!) 

I think...no, I know...if I knew that I was coming home to something already prepared, then I'd be less likely to go through a drive thru / order take out / go to a restaurant.  So what do you do?  Do you give into temptation?  Do you plan ahead?  How far ahead?  Do you have a single day cooking bonanza?? 

Share!  I need to get back to meal planning...

My favorite meal planning resources:

$5 Dinners

Once a Month Mom

A Year of Slow Cooking

Meatloaf Makeover!

I had a little bit of a self-confidence problem in regards to the kitchen going into this being a housewife thing. 

It wasn't that I didn't know how to cook, it's just that I didn't do it a lot.  We were coaches and our evenings were spent on ballfields and wrestling rooms - so quick and easy was normally how we did dinner.

One Sunday, after making the full time shift to mommy and homemaker, I was planning out our weekly meals and asked my loving husband if he had any requests for the week.  (Since coming up with new meal ideas ranks right up there with curing cancer at times.) 

"Why don't you make you specialty?" he suggested.

"What's my specialty?"  I asked. 

"Meatloaf."

"Meatloaf??  Seriously??"  I wanted to cry. 

"What's wrong with that?  I like meatloaf!"

This sent me, hormonal and then very pregnant with Rachel, into a crying mess - horrified that in my husband's eyes, the best thing I could make in the kitchen was meatloaf.

Now, I've come a long way since then but since many of you posted a couple weeks back that one of your favorite cold dishes was meatloaf, it put me in the mood...and also in the mood for a new recipe.

Let me pause to tell you that I have become slightly obsessed with the Pioneer Woman.  I read a blurb about her book, Black Heels to Tractor Wheels - A Love Story on another blog and saw it one day as I was chasing Elizabeth down in the library and decided to grab it on the sprint.

I couldn't put it down.

She tells the story of how she met her husband, left the ambitious career world, and settled down to raise babies.  (Hard to see how I could relate!)  Her writing is wonderful...funny and descriptive and I literally read it in a few days and then immediately went to her blog to see if I could find out what happened next.  Her blog is one of gorgeous pictures, fun stories, mouth watering recipes and the whole thing takes on her spin of ease and humor.  

Even better, the first meal she made for her future husband was a complete disaster...much like the hockey pucks steaks I grilled Scott for an early date.  However, she now has her own cookbook now...while my meals are simply edible!  ha!

So one night last week, when I was searching for a new drug for my meatloaf, I looked to her.  And wholly moly, was it ever wonderful. 

I had to substitute some things because I didn't have everything on hand, but the flavor and moistness of the meatloaf  was unmistakable and this will be how I make it from now on.  Note to anyone looking to try turkey bacon instead of real...don't.  It isn't even worth your time.  I had some in the freezer and thought I'd give it a go...  eck.

Not to say there isn't a place in this world for turkey bacon...I just haven't seemed to find it yet.

My Favorite Meatloaf - Ree Drummond.

You know, if you're in the market for a change, or just some entertainment.  Have a great day!!

Hot or cold...that is the question...

I love Just another Manic Monday...

And those who truly know me and know my love for corny 80's pop music are rolling your eyes right now.

It's on my ipod...in my workout mix...right after Fame and Walking on Sunshine...

Yes, I have a problem. 

But the tune applies to today and I'm going to keep this short as we just got back from gymnastics (where my daughter was not only good, but also wore TWO pony-tails!) and I'm going to try to fit a video workout in while the girls sleep so we can run to the DMV after they wake up (double joy).  Oh, and do about a million loads of laundry...

Does laundry multiply like rabbits in your house?  I swear, I had it all done Saturday.  I took Sunday off and today, I have four full baskets of dirty clothes.  Summer clothes even!  Which I love because they don't take as much space up as winter clothes...  It's like the law of laundry physics don't apply here...

But back to hot or cold...

Are you the type to eat things cold out of the fridge and what is your favorite thing?  My mother in law loves Long John Silver's fish out of the fridge.  As I try to control my gag reflex, she always claims that it's delicious.  My husband likes to have all his desserts cold...even ones that get ice cream on them, like cobbler.  So I always make birthday cakes far enough in advance so I can stick them in the fridge.

Heaven forbid I judge because I have to admit that I, too, have guilty pleasures straight from the ice box.

My top one right now?  Leftover corn on the cob.

mmmmmmmmm

Scraped off the cob after dinner is done, popped into a Ziploc bag or leftover container, put in the fridge...  I am salivating.  

What brought this up?  Well, one, I tried to pawn it off on my kids the other day at lunch.  And two, I was looking at a recipe today that called for frozen corn and was suddenly mad that my beloved corn never makes it to the freezer!  Guess I need to start buying extra.

Here is my little bird, coming to beg while I fix anything in the kitchen.  She just pulls at my leg and says, "Mmmmmmm!!!"  That means, "Give me some food, woman!!"  (And yes, Frankie, that's that little dress you got her so long ago!  Isn't it cute?!)

Giving her a sample of my delicacy... She ate it then.

But you can see that it failed the lunch-time selection committee.  They chose to go with the cheese sandwich and oranges and leave the corn to ride solo on their trays instead.  

So are you a hot person or a cold person?  And even if it's just pizza, share your guilty pleasure so that I might actually save some corn for winter.  ;)

Ok, gotta run.  Jillian is screaming for me to get my butt moving from the living room.  Have a great manic Monday!

It looks like spaghetti...sort of...

I still remember the first time my grandma fixed us spaghetti squash.  My sisters and I loved spaghetti and it really didn't taste that much different in a meat sauce, so we gobbled it up and sang the praises.

My children, however, are suspicious of everything.  If it is unrecognizable, they won't touch it...especially Elizabeth.  Just last night, I made potato salad that she refused to touch and then I caught her putting dirt in her mouth during our walk...

Makes me real confident in my cooking, people.  Real confident...

So you would imagine my surprise when I made spaghetti squash last week and both children ate almost an entire plate.  If you're watching your carbs, or counting your veggies, it really doesn't get much better than this.  I can't credit the recipe, since we saw it on Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives, but I did add a few tweaks. 

One side note, if you have any tricks in cutting your squash in half, please let me know.  I swear, I almost went out to find the chainsaw, this puppy was so hard!

Start a pot of water with some salt and drop in your squash, cut in half.  For my family, I actually used two spaghetti squashes (what in the world is the plural of squash??  Squashes...squashi...)

Boil for 15 minutes - now, I have always baked my squash, but this was quicker and gave it a little different taste.  Depending on the size of your squash, you may need to go 20 minutes. 

I chopped up some Italian sausage and began browning it in a pan.  Once it's ready, add a jar of your favorite sauce and heat through.  You could also do browned hamburger or turkey.

At the same time, cut up your veggies and heat up a large saute pan with some olive oil.  Here's where you can choose...but I added onion, green pepper, carrots, celery, broccoli and asparagus.  I cooked them until the onions went clear, but the broccoli and asparagus were still crunchy. 

Then add in your sauce. 

Once the squash is cooked, remove it and spoon out the seeds and innards.  Then, take a fork and scrape out the "spaghetti."  

Combine spaghetti and sauce with vegetables in a 9x13 casserole dish and top with mozzerella.  Bake at 350 for 15 minutes until gooey...

mmmmm...

The TV show didn't add the meat, but I thought that really gave it a good flavor...especially since it's all vegetables.  I would show you a picture of my children, but trust me...it wasn't pretty.  Spaghetti never is in our house.

Case in point...

Day 2 leftovers were phenomenal...enjoy!

Raspberries and my sad attempt at gardening

One of the best things about this rental house is the raised bed in the back with its unruly raspberry patch.  Last year, I made the mistake of thinking I could manage the entire thing being planted, only to discover that I am not Old McDonald nor the Farmer in the Dell...  My biggest problem was that I didn't weed it early because I wasn't sure if weeds or sprouts were popping up and very quickly, it over-ran me.  

Well, that, and I had a newborn.

Ah, there's our pride and joy.

And because it's a rental house, and we've owned a house before, we really don't have much inspiration to do more than the bare minimum to the property.  So we keep the grass trimmed and Scott manages the bushes.  But those raspberry bushes are BORN FREE!!  

So I've kept my eye on them from the kitchen window and ventured out today to pick in the land of dog poop, mosquito's and mud.  (Notice the nice, dog mud path created in front of the cinder blocks??)

Now, last year, I was worried about the birds getting to the berries before I could - so I used netting and realized what a pain in the rear end it is to pick through little netting holes.  So we didn't mess with it this year and our birds haven't touched them...weirdos...

Look here!  Free berries!!  (Free for us because we didn't pay for these plants...and it's not like we've used any pesticides or fertilizer.)  This is about a cup and they're really small, but are so sweet when they get dark.  It'll take me about a week to get them all, but every day, I'll be able to pick about this amount. 

I rinse them, plate them and stick them in the freezer.  After a couple hours, I'll put them in a baggie.  Now, I've been told not to rinse them before hand because it makes them mushy, but I caught Butch cocking his leg in the general vicinity of the bushes, so I thought I would play it safe.

Ah, there's Mr. Wonderful himself. 

I'm unhealthily craving a mixed berry pie in my future...or a raspberry/green tea shake I saw recently.  The house we're moving into has blueberry plants already and I'm really counting my chickens that they wait to ripen until after we move in.

The rest of my gardening?

Eat your heart out, baby.  We have green peppers, salad mix, tomatoes and jalapenos.  I have no idea which is which except for the salad mix that has flowers growing out of it.  Is salad supposed to have flowers??!!

Ok, my friends...back to packing!