Whole 30 Days 27-29

I've made it 4 weeks and 1 day!  Officially in the home stretch, with 1 day remaining.  I am starting to think that I might be losing weight, just little bits all over instead of all off my stomach like I would prefer.  Saturday was a busy day.  After making omelets for all of us in the morning, I supervised the kids cleaning their rooms.  This proved to be incredibly challenging for James.  When they finally finished we headed over to the library to return a couple books and grab others I had an hold.  I talked to one of the librarians for a bit and she told me she had recommended me to reorganize the library at the school.  She couldn't remember my name or my kids' names at the time though, so I'm "safe" unless I want to out myself to the assistant principal.  From there we headed over to Carolyn's soccer, which ended up being fairly disappointing.  Then I took the kids to Jon's track meet and we watched the final race.  We can home for a late lunch, which proved to be too late for James.  He fought us through the entire nap time.  I laid down for a bit and ended up falling asleep, so Jon took the kids to church.  We all had dinner together and then put the kids to bed.  Jon and I watched Augie lose in the elite eight.

Yesterday was a pretty low key day.  The kids played around the house, dancing to the Beatles (thank you kindergarten teacher), a little reading, and some random art projects.  We had a family nap time and I fell asleep for a bit.  I haven't been sleeping the greatest at night, so I've been really tired.  The time change certainly isn't helping with this.  Carolyn had her second to last basketball game, we had dinner, and then put the kids to bed.  I played soccer last night and got in a good workout playing center mid.  I discovered I can score a goal on the kick-off.  I guess my ankle must be pretty well healed.  I hate playing at 9:15 though, I didn't fall asleep until close to midnight.

I've been exhausted all day today.  I had to wake both kids up.  I struggled through 4-5 hours of work, volunteered at the school, and then went for a run to try to wake myself up.  The cloudy day didn't help wake me up any either.  Hopefully we can get some sun soon, as I know that will help greatly.  The run helped to wake me up mentally, but of course now my body is tired.  James had his last day of acting class today.  I got to in and watch a bit.  It was fun, but I think he might be ready for something more.  Depending on schedules next year we might look into them doing some sort of play.  Although they kind of already do that at school, so maybe not.  I got back and forth on kids' activities.  There is a part of me that wants to just cancel everything and play more.  I might not feel that way with giving up gymnastics though.  No practice/game will now be longer than 1.5 hours.  So the days we have practices won't be as long and we should have some time to play before heading out.  We'll see how this Spring ends up playing out.

Saturday
Breakfast - Omelets - spinach, pepper; Fruit
Lunch - Leftover casserole
Dinner - Leftover casserole

Sunday
Breakfast - Fried eggs, clementines, spinach
Lunch - Beef jerky, fruit (ran out of leftovers)
Dinner - Over roasted pork chops (new recipe), sweet potatoes cooked in ghee, broccoli

Today
Breakfast - Fried eggs, spinach, fruit
Lunch - Beef jerky, pear (not real hungry)
Dinner - Chicken soup - broth, chicken breast (I should probably do thighs next time for a higher fat content), carrots, celery, zucchini, red/green peppers, onion, herbs/spices.  This ended up turning out really well.

And now, I think I'm going to go take a bath and relax before heading to bed a bit early.  It feels much later than it is.

Whole 30 Days 23-25

I am hanging tough.  This has been one busy week!  Tuesday night was Carolyn's first reconciliation.  It was an awesome service and the kids did so well.  My favorite part was the song they all sang together twice.  I could listen to little kids sings all day long I think.  The asst principal commented on Carolyn's leadership during the service as well, saying she was the first to start singing and the first to step into the aisle when they all needed to go up together.  It is so awesome to see the adults at her school recognizing her talents and abilities.  Both kids have crashed quickly the past 2 nights to make up for being up late on Tuesday.  Tuesday afternoon the weather was beautiful so I got to play ball with James in the yard while dinner cooked.  It's interesting to hear the things that wander through his head while playing catch.  He even started to learn some multiplication since he was asking about it.

Yesterday I went for another run and my ankle felt pretty good.  I skipped the brace since jogging is just a straight movement and I found my ankle felt better as I went.  I completed nearly 2 laps, jogging for 1 minute, walking for 1 minute for 10 minutes and then jogging for 1:15, walking for 0:45 for the next 10 minutes.  I felt pretty good afterwards, although I did ice when I got home.  Last night I had a MOPs steering meeting and beforehand I was lamenting how I was on day 24 and didn't feel like I saw any change in my body.  A couple people then said that they could see a change in my face.  So perhaps if I bother to put batteries in the scale when I reach day 30 I will notice a change in weight.  It was wonderful on Wednesday so I sent the kids outside to play ball while I finished dinner.  Before that they both helped chop vegetables for dinner.  It's so wonderful to see them helping more around the house.

Today was another good day.  I worked most of the morning, took a nice bath with the epsom salts, worked some more, and then went for a 2 lap walk.  It's nice to listen to KLOVE radio while I walk, streaming through my phone.  Tonight I played soccer and while my ankle is definitely sore now, I was able to play pretty much uninhibited.  I definitely need to keep running to get back in shape, but I think I'm pretty well beyond the injury stage, YAY!  I am definitely ready for a weekend with not much to do though.

Tuesday
Breakfast - Eggs fried in coconut oil, zucchini, fruit
Lunch - Leftover stir fry
Dinner - Lemon chicken, sweet potato "fries", cauliflower

Wednesday
Breakfast - Eggs, fruit
Lunch - Leftover chili
Dinner - Tex Mex Casserole (new recipe that was okay, but not a huge favorite, likely not worth the effort again)

Thursday
Breakfast - Eggs, fruit
Lunch - Leftover casserole
Snack - Banana, cashews
Dinner - Chicken spaghetti w/ zucchini noodles for me

Looking forward to a low key day.  Since I played soccer tonight I'm thinking I will not run tomorrow and instead walk and do some kettle bells.  I did some on Wednesday and got tired pretty fast.  Now time to crash and let my muscles recover.

Whole 30 Day 17

I have had another successful day.  It is very tempting to grab a little bit of sugar from the kids' Valentines stash at this point.  When I needed something of a different taste I grabbed a prune today.  I have to say that the longer I go in this the more disappointed I'm becoming.  I don't feel a change in energy and my clothes aren't fitting any looser.  With 13 days left I am wondering if there are any changes that are even happening.  But I will stick with is in case something is just not visible yet.  It doesn't help that my ankle is still not better and it has turned super cold again.  I made an appointment for an injury screening at Athletico tomorrow to see if things are worse than I originally thought.  I continue to have pain at the front of my ankle and could barely walk last night.  Today I have used a combination of the ace bandage and air cast to get me through the day.  If I walk with my ankle nearly locked I don't experience pain.  But this is very difficult to do for any amount of time and the muscles quickly tire.  So we will see what a professional has to say.

Not much exciting went on today.  I didn't have a ton of work, so I nearly finished it before going grocery shopping.  I finished up this afternoon as I was given a new mentor on my team.  I found some time to make sweet potato chips.  They didn't some out as crispy as I had hoped.  So I think I will try baking them in the oven next (I had used the dehydrator.)  I am considering trying to make some dried fruits, maybe some bananas or something.  These could be really good to pack for our plane trip this summer and/or even for the kids to take in their lunches for school.

Breakfast: Eggs fried in coconut oil, beef jerky, orange
Lunch: Leftover offal meatloaf, cauliflower, sweet potato fries
Dinner: Meatball stew new recipe from Frugal Paleo Cookbook over zucchini noodles (kids had corn based pasta).  This meal took a lot longer to prepare than I thought it would, but everyone loved it and both kids have declared they want it for lunch tomorrow.  So this will go into our rotation for days I have more time to prepare a meal.

Time to go put together a library list so Carolyn can have some new things to read!

Whole 30 Day 15

And so we begin week 3!  I spent part of last night preparing my first fully homemade beef jerky.  And today it dried in the dehydrator for 4 hours.  What's weird is that it doesn't have much taste.  So next time I will increase the amount of spices.  But everyone likes it and I like knowing exactly what is in the beef jerky.  Because I made it myself at home, I also know that it is definitely Whole30 compliant and I don't mind the kids eating it since there is no sugar in it.  I wonder how fast we will end up eating it.  Should be an easy way to get a little more protein into the kids' breakfasts even when they won't eat eggs.

Today was a pretty low key day but my ankle was really hurting.  I hobbled to the bathroom this morning and then put my air cast on when I got up to make breakfast.  That didn't seem to be helping so I wrapped it in the ace bandage for the rest of the day.  I'm starting to worry that the injury might be worse than I initially thought.  If it's still bothering me by Friday I think I might try getting an injury screening at Athletico when James has his soccer.  I finished all my work before heading to the school today, which was nice.  Because my ankle was hurting I wasn't able to do anything very productive this afternoon.  I did clear off the top of my dresser and then I watched 2 episodes of Fuller House.  I really miss the old, wholesome shows that were on when I was kid.  Everything these days is honestly just junk.  I might let my kids watch a little more tv if things like Full House and the Cosby Show were still on.  This probably makes me sound old, complaining about how things used to be, haha.  The kids had a great afternoon with James at his acting class and Carolyn at softball.  It will be interesting to see how she does in a real game this Spring.  She almost caught a fly ball another girl batted tonight even.  There are 4 more weeks left of this class.

Breakfast - eggs fried in coconut oil, blueberries, strawberries, green pepper
Lunch - Leftover Mahi, broccoli
Snack - beef jerky
Dinner - Slow cooker Italian beef (everyone really liked it, but next time it needs a side with it or more vegetables)

Tomorrow I meet with Carolyn's teacher to see how she did on her testing and figure out the plan going forward.  It's so wonderful to have a responsive school.

Whole 30 Days 12-14

This has been a long but fun weekend.  I went to bed early Friday night to snuggle under the covers and read.  Friday was a great day where I had time to do some cleaning around the house which let us enjoy the warm weather even more.  The kids had a good afternoon playing with a balloon after their snack until we went to James' soccer.

Breakfast - Tea with lemon
Lunch - 3 eggs fried in coconut oil, leftover steak, orange
Dinner - leftover sauce with zucchini noodles
Snack - Banana

Saturday we spent the morning at the park. I was hopeful that my ankle was on the mend and was able to kick around with the kids for a little bit.  But as the morning went on I felt some twinges and quickly realized it wasn't as good as I thought.  Carolyn had an indoor soccer game and then we spent the afternoon at a winter carnival at the church where I attend MOPs.  The kids had a blast and we think we'll head back there for their egg hunt in a few weeks.  They'll actually hide the eggs so it should be more fun.  We then went to church and out for dinner before I headed out from my MOPs MNO.  I brought celery and guacamole there so I would have something to munch on.  It was a lot of fun to talk with other moms and just hang out.  It made me miss the moms' group I was a part of before we moved.  I hope that we'll start to make friends with some of the other parents at the kids' school and maybe start to hang out with some other families as our kids get older.

Breakfast - Omelet with avocado, green onion, cilantro, green pepper
Lunch - Apple with almond butter (ground in store, no additives), something else that I can't remember now
Dinner - Meatheads burger on lettuce with tomato, pickle, mushrooms, and mustard
Snack - celery with guacamole

Today was another awesome weather day and we spent nearly the whole morning at the park.  I played catch with Carolyn for a bit.  She can catch!  It was so awesome to be able to play catch and have her actually catching the ball in her mitt consistently.  The kids also took turns hitting and they're both getting pretty good and hitting a live ball.  This Spring should be a lot of fun for both of them.  After lunch we had quiet time and James and I both feel asleep.  Since I was up late last night and we spent the morning outside, it was what I needed.  My ankle has been really hurting for most of the day and I have had to wear the aircast.  So I decided to skip soccer tonight in hopes it'll be fully healed by next week.  It's a weird pain at the front of my ankle and rec soccer isn't worth taking any chances.

Breakfast - 3 eggs friend in coconut oil, bacon, orange
Lunch - 3 hardboiled eggs, celery with guacamole, apple
Dinner - Mahi, new recipe (that Carolyn asked for seconds on) with brocolli

Nearly 2 weeks into this I have to be honest and say I'm a little disappointed.  I don't feel like I've lost any weight or inches.  I don't feel like I have any more energy.  I was hoping to notice some sort of difference at this point.  But I am committed to keep going in hopes that at some point something in my body will reset.  I'm thinking I'm not seeing any major changes yet since I do typically eat pretty healthy and gave up wheat years ago.  We'll see where this takes me!

Whole 30 Days 9 and 10

I'm 1/3 of the way done with this challenge!  I continue to do well on it.  I don't notice any weight coming off though, which is a bit of a bummer.  The good news is that my ankle seems to be healing pretty quickly.  I was able to do all the grocery shopping today with no brace.  I decided to put the air cast back on for the rest of the day though as my knee was starting to bother me.  I must have unconsciously been walking differently but now that I'm using the brace my knee is fine.

It's been snowing here since about 10am, but there's barely a dusting on the grass.  I was hoping this was the big snow we've been waiting for.  With the temperatures forecasted in the 50s this weekend it looks like this snow may be void of any playing in the snow.  I suppose the Spring sports are likely excited about the early warm temperatures!

Day 9
Breakfast: Eggs fried in coconut oil with salsa, Blueberries
Lunch: Leftover chicken stir fry
Dinner: Beef roast, sweet potato "fries", green beans

Day 10
Breakfast: Eggs fried in coconut oil, orange
Snack: Banana (at 12 since I wouldn't get lunch until after 1)
Lunch: Leftover chicken stir fry
Dinner: Tacos - new recipe for the meat from The Frugal Paleo Cookbook which got 5 star reviews from both kids.  Kids had theirs in corn tortillas topped with tomato and cheese, I had mine in romaine lettuce topped with tomato.

Week 1 complete!

Can you believe that today completes the first week of the year?!  It feels like just yesterday we were celebrating Christmas.  Of course, we did just take down the tree and decorations today.  The living room feels so spacious without the tree.  We haven't had the furniture in this configuration with the construction completed and no tree yet, so it's strange to have it gone.  At the moment a stack of bins is in the tree's place until the temperature gets a level which carrying them out and unlocking the shed won't require thawing out afterwards.  Even the fireplace seems barren without the garland, stockings, and nativity.  But it's very nice to feel the extra space and I will no longer have to worry about James knocking over the tree riding his tricycle or Carolyn doing a cartwheel into the tree.

School was canceled today due to the cold.  This is just crazy to me, I think we might have had 1 snow day in all my elementary/high school days combined.  We'll be home again tomorrow as well.  I anticipated having tomorrow off, so we spent the morning at the library and picked up craft sticks at Joann's this morning.  Tomorrow morning we'll work on Carolyn's log cabin and James' farm as we complete their KWL sheets.  They are enjoying learning about a topic chosen themselves and getting to make a project from it.

At the library I realized why Carolyn will always be ahead of grade level in math.  Her brain works like mine and she wants to know things.  The library has various puzzles set out to complete, mostly for toddlers.  She sat down in front of a 6 piece police car puzzle just before we left and took 3 pieces out, then declared it was half a car.  I asked her why she thought that.  This led to a 5-10 minute discussion of fractions, wherein she moved puzzle pieces around and thought about how 2 pieces in is 2/6 or 1/3, 3 pieces in is 1/2 and 4 pieces in is 4/6 or 2/3.  She did the division of 6/2 easily, really without realizing that is somewhat of an advanced concept.  This may not be a normal discussion for a parent to have with a child, but she craves these sorts of interactions and initiates them herself.  She would be an ideal candidate for unschooling.  The pile of books we brought home from the library is awesome - she wants to know about pioneers, presidents, and some random archduke because she was interested in the name.  Then she chose a pile of chapter books and picture books.  During quiet time today she read 2 of the chapter books and a few others throughout other parts of the day.  I'm looking forward to working with her tomorrow.

I have made 2 more new recipes this week.  Monday was our typical standby of homemade pizza which we've enjoyed as leftovers for lunch the last 2 days.  Tuesday we tried lemon chicken which does not seem to be a family favorite.  James stated it was too sour and didn't eat much.  So it likely won't be repeated for some time.  Today I made beef and pumpkin stew which was really good, but Jon did not appreciate the pumpkin taste.  I thought it was great, so I might try to tweak this by swapping the pumpkin with something else.  I'm not typically a fan of stews, but this kind of hit the spot.  Tomorrow we're doing an old favorite sweet potato hash.  My body seems to definitely by adjusting to no sugar.  I find that I have more energy and am sleeping a bit better.  I can't wait to see this weekend if it's also leading to some weight loss.  The pile of cookies on the counter does keep calling my name, but at this point I seem to be able to avoid them.  This weekend I think it's all going to be thrown out since it's old anyway.  Great to be getting good food in and starting to feel better!

Enjoying my kitchen!

We have been home with a fully functioning kitchen for about a month now.  With the holidays officially over, I am excited to get back into my kitchen and try some new recipes.  We seem to get caught in eating the same 7-10 things over and over since I'm too tired on Friday nights when to find new ideas and make a list.  So a few days ago I sat down and figured out meals for the next several weeks, tricky only due to gymnastics Tues/Thurs and art class on Mondays.  Since we eat so early I have to do quick to cook or crockpot meals on these days.  But Sunday and Wednesday I can cook whatever I want.  If things get too stressful I might even switch our leftover night to Thursday and cook on Fridays.

I pulled recipes from a list of Whole 30 approved meals.  I'm not doing a Whole 30 as that is really restrictive and our budget won't allow for it.  But it's great to have these guaranteed gluten free meals.  So tonight's main course is Crispy Buffalo Chicken Fingers.  The kids enjoyed helping to crush up the pork rinds and this took about 20 minutes to get into the oven.  I did simply cut up chicken breasts instead of buying chicken strips.  Looking forward to a new taste.  To accompany tonight I made potato fries - baked in the oven for 30 minutes at the same time as the chicken and frozen broccoli. Looking forward to a yummy new taste made from known ingredients.  Hopefully the kids will be a fan.

I also made Energy Balls last night.  I plan to send these in Carolyn's lunch as a "dessert" and use them as a quick breakfast when needed.  Both kids tried and approved them today.  Next time I think I might swap out the flax seed for gelatin.  I wonder if that would work?  It would certainly up the amount of protein in these, something I always seem to be looking to get more of with the kids.

I'm looking forward to trying some snack recipes for the kids as we go into this year.  If I can find a combination of things that need to be baked and that don't we'll have some good things throughout the year, regardless of the weather.

Off to try dinner!

Update:  Two thumbs up by me and Jon.  The kids think it's a bit spicy.  Hopefully with some more exposure to spicier foods they'll not be quite so impacted.  They did eat it by dipping in ketchup though, which they seem to do with most meat.  Which reminds me that I should really get around to making my own ketchup to get the sugar out.  We also discovered that we like the fries cooked at 400 much more than the usual 350.  This produced a nice, crispy outside and soft inside.  Hopefully this good meal will help this nausea and dizziness to go away.

Initial Estimate

Life has really been busy this week!  On Tuesday we received the initial estimate from the field adjuster... $25k worth of removal and replacement costs.  Of course, that's what I assume the R&R on the estimate means.  This is before the structural engineer checks anything out.  It appears that the floor and ceiling will be ripped out and replaced as expected.  The west wall of the living room, where the tree leaned into as it fell, will also be torn out and replaced.  I assume this is so that they can expect the wall for any damages.  There is some stuff on there about the siding, but I can't quite tell what they intend to do there.  Looks like a lot of work, especially as the roof reframing is listed at 32 hours alone!  And that I'm pretty sure is number 1 on the list of what needs to be done before we can move back home.  That will need to be done before the electric can be restored I assume and it's what needs to be done to ensure the structural integrity of that room.  I'm not sure what other things need to be done before we're home.

Tuesday afternoon I received a call from the contractor that will be overseeing the repairs, since we're using the people the insurance company suggests.  She said she would call back Wednesday morning to schedule someone to meet with me at the house so they can assess the damages and figure out as a contractor what needs to be done.  Alas, I received no phone call yesterday.  So it's looking like it'll be next week before they'll even get out to the house, which makes me think we won't be home by 9/30.  My real hope is still Halloween, and with all of these delays it seems that may be close to reality.

We had a wonderful dinner last night with a neighbor.  They have spent some time redoing their backyard and it is gorgeous!  The husband did all of the work and built a brick oven, in which he cooked pizza for us.  Jon is jealous that he missed this at conference night.  The kids had a wonderful time playing together and of course didn't want to leave.  I think that's the hardest thing... there's just not much time to play anymore.  When we add in all the extra time spent in the car, we remove all the short bits of time where the kids could play with friends during the week.  We're planning to go to the park near the house after school on Friday though.

All is well and God is in control.  Seeing the potential for severe storms on Saturday has me a little nervous.  But I know that's just how it will be for a while.  My mind knows it will all be fine, but my body gets nervous.

Ready for another full day - take Carolyn to school, get an oil change, do laundry, work, take Carolyn to gymnastics, then the ice cream social.  I'm sure we'll all fall asleep quickly tonight.

Odd Behaviors

So Carolyn has been acting, well, different lately.  She's been saying please and thank you less, talking back more, started telling lies, and just generally not acting nice.  We've tried talking to her about it, tried ignoring it, and yesterday we left the park early when she started stomping her feet (I forget what it was about).  She complains about being tired all the time, despite an early bed time (7:30/45) and taking nearly daily naps.  She continues to eat fairly voraciously, asking for multiple helpings of meat loaf tonight and finishing her green beans and having some of her potatoes for dinner.  She continues to devour books, always asking to be read to, and draws on the easel and wants to do her "preschool" worksheets.  Everything she does she excels at, yet her behavior lately has been ugly.  She has even been having a little trouble in gymnastics and soccer as of late.  The only thing that I see that could be a sign of a health issue is her bedwetting.  She'll be 4 in about 2 weeks and she needs a diaper for sleeping.  When she falls asleep in the car she wakes up soaked.  And multiple times a week she's waking up with wet sheets, despite wearing a diaper.  So what's going on here?  Are these 2 things linked?  If anyone has any ideas, I'm interested in hearing them.  Definitely plan to talk with her pediatrician when we go for her 4 year old appointment in a couple weeks.  Saw a glimpse of the old her tonight during dinner and our walk.  But this is all puzzling.

Made a great dinner tonight that had the kids asking for more.  It's a great feeling as a mom to cook a healthy meal and have your 1 and 3 year old children asking for more meatloaf and green beans.  Neither of them ate much of the mashed potatoes (with butter, garlic, and salt), but that's okay by me.  They each had 3 helpings of meatloaf, which I made with almond flour instead of bread crumbs and omitted the worchestershire sauce after seeing "modified food starch" and "wheat" on the label.  Even Jon said it tasted just like normal.  I put some coconut oil on the green beans and couldn't taste it at all.  Will probably start pulling things out for Jon before doing things like that though, as he didn't like it.  But overall a great dinner that will be repeated again, possibly even within the next week or so.  Could become a regular meal if we can continue to find the ground beef and ground pork so cheap at Joseph's.

Meatloaf
0.5lb ground beef
0.5lb ground pork
1 egg beaten
almond flour
1/4 tsp garlic salt, ground mustard, pepper
1/2 tsp salt

Combine ingredients and shape into loaf.  Cover with ketchup.  Place in baking dish and cook for 1 hour at 350. 

Unschooling - Gardening

We've been enjoying a fun week as a family.  Monday we relaxed at home, Jon played with the kids while I tutored in the morning.  Yesterday the kids had gymnastics in the morning, I went to the doctor, and then we all went out to dinner at Red Lobster.  At things that I probably shouldn't have, but I figure every once in a while isn't going to kill me.  I get no side effects from eating wheat either.  This morning we went to the library and then the park.  This afternoon we broke ground on our garden.  Looking at the weather forecast, I think on Sunday we will spend some time splitting off the doubles/triples from the indoor seeds and try planting those.  Won't be too upset if they don't make it.  Likely start everything else the end of April.  Feels great to start the garden though!

Tried a new recipe for dinner tonight, from the Wheat Belly book.  It turned out okay, but the kids weren't big fans.

Three Cheese Eggplant Bake

1 eggplant, cut crosswise into ½” thick slices

1/2C olive oil

1 yellow onion, chopped

2-3 cloves garlic, minced

3-4T sun-dried tomatoes

4-6C spinach leaves

2 tomatoes, wedges

2C tomato sauce

1C Ricotta cheese

1C shred mozzarella cheese

1/2C grated parmesan

4-5 basil leaves, chopped

Preheat oven 325.  Place the eggplant slices in a baking pan.  Brush both sides of the slices with most of the oil, reserving about 2T.  Bake for 20min.  Heat remaining 2T of oil in large skillet over medium heat.  Add onion, garlic, sun-dried tomatoes, and spinach and cook until onion softens.  Scatter tomato wedges over eggplant.  Spread spinach mixture on top.  Top spinach with tomato sauce.  Mix together ricotta and mozzarella.  Spread cheese mixture over tomato sauce and sprinkle basil.  Sprinkle parmesan on top.  Bake uncovered until bubbling and cheese is melted, about 30 min.

Probably won't make it again, but got me thinking about using eggplant to make a dish similar to lasagna.  Might have to give it a shot sometime.  Thinking it might work if I cut the peel away and use the insides as a noodle layer.  Perhaps I will try it with some of the eggplants we grow.

Picked up some more homeschooling books today and got a chance to start one on Unschooling.  So far I feel like it's the way we already live.  I try to take advantage of any time my kids ask questions.  Carolyn has been loving counting the newly opened flowers every morning.  We found lots of worms in the graden area today as we were digging, so we looked up why worms are good for the soil.  The village is about to do some work on a sewer drain near the big pond at our neighborhood entrance, so we talked about drains and sewers while on our walk this afternoon.  So many easy ways to teach our kids, without even really thinking about it.  Some days (like today) I wish that I could get Jon on board with homeschooling.  I really do think that both of our kids could thrive at home.  But he's already firmly stated he's against it.  So I have the next year to work with Carolyn, and then hopefully we can continue to keep her interested in learning through unschooling at home even after she starts school.  The next few years are going to be interesting.

Pizza Night!

Tried another new recipe for pizza crust tonight.  Definitely my favorite so far.  Topped with jarred sauce, mozarella cheese, mushrooms, and sausage.  2 pieces and I was quite full.  James wanted seconds and Carolyn ate hers up.  Then they had some grapes for dessert.  Looking forward to a big turkey tomorrow, since it was on sale at Meijer this week.  We have some fresh green beans too.

Pizza Crust #3
4 ounces cream cheese, softened
2 eggs
¼ cup Parmesan cheese
1/2 tsp pizza seasoning (I used Italian seasoning & more than 1/2 tsp)
8 ounces (2 cups) mozzarella cheese, shredded

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Grease 9 x 13 glass baking dish (metal does not work well; crust will stick) and line with parchment paper.

For crust, in medium bowl, whisk cream cheese until smooth and creamy. Whisk in eggs until mixture is well-blended and smooth. Add the Parmesan cheese and seasonings. Stir in mozzarella until completely moistened. Spread mixture evenly over parchment paper.

Bake at 375 degrees for about 20 minutes, until evenly browned, but not too dark. Let cool for a few minutes on a wire rack. When slightly cool, I “cheat” and lift the crust using the parchment paper and place all in the freezer for about 30 minutes until completely cooled. If you have plenty of time, you can cool the crust on the counter and then leave in the refrigerator for several hours uncovered. The goal is for the crust to dry out enough that it will be crispy/chewy and you can pick up with your hands.

I also made wheat free cookies for the first time.  They turned out okay, not anything spectacular.  We did leave out the coconut since I'm not a huge fan.  Although I haven't been real big on cookies in a while.  What I really would like to do is find a yummy brownie recipe.  Haven't even looked for that yet, perhaps will tonight.  The kids loved the cookies though, so I will probably make them again.  The plan for the next sweet though is cupcakes for St Patrick's Day.  I want to see if I can come up with a recipe that will work for Carolyn's birthday.

Chicken Casserole

Had another wonderful day today.  Eggs and bacon for breakfast with clementines.  I swear, James is going to turn into a banana one of these days the way he eats them.  That, or a piece of cheese!  I had egg salad for lunch, the kids had chicken salad.  Everyone had tons of energy today and were literally bouncing off the walls.  James' new game is to run through the house until he finds a spot to "crash" and then run another direction.  I can only imagine what I might be told if he was in daycare.  But he is already following directions for 75+% of his gymnastics class.  So he'll be fine as he gets older and then we get him into more structured activities as well.  I think he's longing for Spring just as much as I am.  I see 50's on the forecast for next week though!

Dinner tonight was Chicken Casserole
A few minor changes, based on personal preference.  We used all cheddar cheese, except for a touch of grated parmesan on top.  And didn't use the arrowroot.  Also only cooked it for 30 minutes because I got a late start.  Turned out wonderfully after letting it sit for 5 minutes after removing for the oven.  James gobbled it up and Carolyn even said she liked it.  Lately she's been saying she doesn't like anything, so that was good to hear.  So this will definitely be something going on our menu rotation.

Looking forward to another homemade soup tomorrow.  Let the chicken bones from Sunday cook all day yesterday and today in the crockpot for a good broth with lots of calcium able to leach out of the bones.  Added the chicken chunks back in along with zucchini, carrots, celery, onion, brocolli, and potatoes.  Love not buying store bought soup anymore and knowing we're not getting overloaded with salt or MSG.

S is for...

Today we did the letter S.  Watching the minds of both kids develop is so awesome.  We made scrambled eggs for breakfast.  Carolyn helped cut up the mushrooms and then both kids helped put the veggies into the pan.  Then they each even helped stir a little.  They love helping in the kitchen and I think it gets them to eat a little more as well.  While we were eating, Carolyn asked how much bacon I had made.  I took the opportunity to work on her elementary math skills... 3 for mom, 3 for Carolyn, 2 for James = 8 pieces.  She thinks it's so cool to work on things like that.  And as a former physics teacher I love taking simple things and turning them into learning moments.  We then read all 4 of her S books from the library and wrote her S list.  Her vocabulary is quite large.
James has is own development milestones he's working on.  I think he may be ready to get rid of diapers soon.  I'm letting him lead, but hoping that the signs he's showing aren't just a passing interest.  May even have Jon pick up some underwear this weekend when they go shopping.

Dinner tonight was a pork stir-fry.  No real recipe and I have to admit it wasn't a huge hit with the kids.  I wonder if it was too many different items.  Marinated pork pieces all day in terriyaki sauce.  Cooked that in coconut oil and then added red and yellow pepper slices, 1/2 onion slices, 3 mushrooms sliced, and leftover peas and green beans from last night's dinner.  Put the lid on to soften all the veggies.  Served it over quinoa for the kids and Jon, had mine plain.  After dinner each kid had an apple to try and fill their tummies.

We took a look at kindergarten readiness lists tonight.  We do that now and then just to reassure ourselves that Carolyn won't need preschool.  We looked at Wheaton's list, since that's one of the towns we're considering moving to.  Carolyn can do everything on there, except write her name with just the first letter capitalized.  I'm confident we can work on that in the next year.  It's awesome to see her develop and us never have to really teach her anything but be able to do everything.  She's really working hard on reading too, I wouldn't be surprised if she's reading before Kindergarten.  Lately she's been really into writing though.  I need to pull out the letter pages I printed in August.

We also tried the bagel recipe again from a couple days ago.  This I used 5 eggs and coconut oil instead of applesauce.  Came out much better from my view and both kids gobbled them up again.  I assume they'll request them for breakfast as well.  Feels good to feed them things I now is doing good things for their body.  It'll be interesting to see their height and weight growth at the doctor over the next few months.

Busy Week

This was a bit of a crazy week.  Started out with R is for Raisin Bread, which I'll discuss below.  I spent Monday morning at the doctor, finding out it's a 2nd degree sprain so I'm in an air cast but should be good in 3 weeks.  Definitely improvement already, but can only do the theraband exercises 2 of 4 ways at this time.  Hopefully only one more week completely off of soccer, then I should at least be able to play goalie.  Tuesday brought the usual chaos of gymnastics, chasing James with a hurt ankle is not fun.  James got sick Wednesday - pink eye and ear infection.  He's tons better now though. 
I feel like I cheated all week with dinners, all crockpot after Sunday. 

Monday - Chicken Soup
Used bones from previous dinner to make stock, left chicken that feel off.  Added brocolli, zucchini, carrots, onions, potatoes and cooked all day in the crockpot.

Monday - Raisin Bread
I had to leave it for my mother-in-law to take out of the oven, so the middle part was a little underdone.  Will need to split in two as suggested for next time.  It was very yummy though and the kids loved it throughout the week.  Definitely a keeper!

Tuesday - Pork Roast
Jon put this together for me.  Layered potatoes, carrots, onions and garlic on the bottom, roast on top.  Cooked all day.  Wonderful, moist and falling apart meat.  Great dinner and 2 days of lunch as well.

Wednesday - Chili
Not low carb, but meatless for Ash Wednesday.  Lots of beans, some corn, diced tomatoes, salsa, onions and some chili powder.  Jon put this together as well.  Cooked all day (~10hrs).  This was a weird night since Jon took James to urgent care and didn't get home until 6.  But will have for leftovers tomorrow.

I feel like my tummy is getting flatter when I look in the mirror.  So we'll see what the scale says on Saturday.  Now it's time to plan meals for next week, despite practically no real food being on sale at any of the 4 stores we frequent.  Guess we'll pulling out of the freezer some this week!

Eggplant

I can't remember ever having eaten eggplant before.  But it was on sale, so we picked one up.  I was shocked at how light it was.  So I was slightly surprised when I found the inside to be solid.  We had it for dinner tonight though and it was very good.  Did pretty well this weekend in terms of getting more produce and staying within budget.  Looking forward to a variety of foods this week as well.  Soup for tomorrow is already to go.  I also weighed myself yesterday and found I am down 3lbs from when I started this.  Not spectacular, but considering I ate a fair amount of junk for Valentine's Day, it's good.  And for me, 3lbs in 5 weeks is better than I've had for a while.  Might even make it under 190 this weekend!

Tried 2 new things for dinner tonight...
Eggplant Involtini - A LOT of prepwork, but VERY yummy.  Used all mozarella since it's a cheaper cheese, italian seasoning because we're apparently out of basil (oops), used coconut oil instead of butter, and no parchment paper.  But turned out great and the kids were eating it up.
Zuchinni "Pasta" - Not being sure if the kids would eat the eggplant, I cut up some zuchinni into real thin strips.  Drop them into boiling water, bring back to a boil and boil for 1 minute.  Then take them out and rinse with cold water.  If I had cut these real thin, I think it would have felt more like spaghetti.  But I was cooking a bunch of stuff and didn't have the patience.  Topped with a quick homemade marinara - tomato sauce, diced tomatoes, and some spices.  Kids gobbled this up too.
Overall, a good night for dinner and definitely filling.  Leftovers for lunch tomorrow too!

Also tried Kale chips today.  Ended up throwing them away as no one like them.  Oh well, can't win them all I guess.

I'm in the middle of reading "Why We Get Fat" by Gary Taubes.  Combined with "Wheat Belly" by Dr William Davis, so much about food and weight is starting to make sense!  They both tout limiting carbs, increasing fats and protein intake.  And they back up everything they say with history and research.  I'm looking forward to being able to go super low carb for a few weeks this summer to really get my body into fat burning mode.  Just don't want to do it while I'm still nursing, so waiting until after James' 2nd birthday.  Plus then we'll have our garden so it won't be as expensive.  Off to the doctor tomorrow to get my ankle looked at.  I should be able to at least walk normally by now and not be in pain when sitting.  Hopefully we can figure out what's up so I can get back to normal life!

Happy Valentine's Day!

This isn't really a Valentine's Day related post, but I'm taking the night off of work so I have some time to write.  We've tried some new recipes lately that I want to comment on.  I'm feeling better this week, not quite as tired.  I have been trying to track my food using sparkpeople as well, aiming for a low carb count each day.  I've been quite successful, so we'll how things on the scale look this weekend.  No exercise this week since my ankle is still healing.  Gymnastics class was interesting today as walking fast still hurts.  I'm kind of wondering how long it will take for me to get back to running and playing soccer.  I was hoping just a week off, but at this point I'm thinking more like 2-3.  It's weird because it's not real swollen or turning colors, just painful to the touch in certain areas and so stiff it hurts to move it certain ways.

Chicken Fingers 

We had this last night, with veggies and quinoa for the kids/Jon.  I made some small modifications.  First, we haven't been buying boneless, skinless chicken breasts due to cost.  I cut up 2 split chicken breasts.  I also don't use parts of eggs much, so I used 2 whole eggs instead of egg whites.  These turned out great (well, the first batch).  The kids gobbled them up and there were no leftovers.  One word of caution, be careful if you make 2 batches in the same pan.  I must have turned the heat up to melt some more coconut oil for round 2 and forgot to turn it back down.  I burned the second round, although not horribly and we still ate them.  So just a word of warning.  But this will definitely be something that we make again!

Tonight we did our old stand by, "chicken spaghetti" in the crockpot.  I had planned to make spaghetti squash with it, but Jon bought butternut squash.  So we had veggies and everyone else also had more quinoa.  We still have a lot of that left.  It's funny to me how Carolyn loves the sauce.  In case anyone is wondering, here's the super easy recipe:

Chicken Tomato Sauce

1 can (8 ounces) tomato sauce

6 to 8 boneless chicken breast halves, skin removed

1 can (6 ounces) tomato paste

3 tablespoons water

3 medium cloves garlic, minced

2 teaspoons dried leaf oregano, crushed

4 ounces shredded mozzarella cheese

Preparation:

If desired, brown the chicken in hot oil; drain. Sprinkle generously with salt and pepper. Arrange chicken in slow cooker. Combine tomato sauce, tomato paste, water, garlic, oregano and sugar; pour over the chicken. Cover and cook on LOW for 6 to 8 hours. Remove chicken and keep warm. Turn cooker to high heat setting, stir mozzarella cheese into sauce. Cook uncovered, till cheese melts and sauce is heated through. Serve chicken and sauce over hot cooked spaghetti. Serve with Parmesan cheese. Serves 6 to 8.

So full!

It's weird how I am barely hungry anymore.  Yet I don't feel like I'm eating that much more, quite possibly even eating less than before.  I know my breakfast and dinner today was less than it used to be.  Breakfast was 2 fried eggs, some mushrooms, 2 pieces of sausage, milk, and a couple orange slices.  Used to add toast into that (but left out the mushrooms, LOL).  Was full on that until lunch - tuna salad on romaine lettuce, 4 pieces of cheese and water.  Was hungry for dinner because we had just done our crossfit workout.  But only ate 2 pieces of pizza, and these were small pieces!  I'm so full I won't get to enjoy one of my cupcakes tonight or have any ice cream.  A little disappointing, but it will be a great way to keep me off of the junk food and from overeating.  Tried a new recipe for pizza tonight...

Cheesy Pizza Crust - Wheat free, grain free crust
I didn't have any parchment paper so I used my large pyrex rectangle.  Still flipped it halfway through, then flipped it back before putting on the toppings.  Used jarred sauce, added mushrooms, sausage, and mozarella cheese. 
Both kids gobbled this up!  Carolyn ate 1 full piece, although she pulled the sausage off.  James happily ate her sausage and most of his piece.  So we will keep this as a possibility.  Still some other crust recipes others swear by that I'd like to try before we settle on one.  Would love to find one that I could make ahead and pull out of the freezer.  I don't think this one would hold up well to that.

Weighed myself on Saturday and didn't lose any weight.  But I ate a lot of junk last week - cupcakes and ice cream - so it's not that surprising, especially since I wasn't feel too.  We will see what things look like this Saturday.  Back to crossfit this week too, so got in a great workout yesterday and today.  New recipe again tomorrow for dinner!

Busy busy Week with new recipes

I keep meaning to post but I've been fighting a cold and so I've gone to bed early each night.  Combined with working some extra hours at the beginning of the week, I just seemed to run out of time to post each day.  But I have made several new recipes that I want to share.  So I'll put them all into one post. 

I did discover yesterday that I love my house.  I was able to let the kids play in the sandbox while I was inside cooking dinner.  Sounds scandolous these days.  But we back up to a marsh, one house next door is vacant, and the other is a retired couple.  Both of my kids are extremely responsible.  They only left the sandbox to come to the door to ask for something.  As the weather gets nicer this is going to be a great thing!  We're definitely in the right place at the right time. 

We've also pretty much decided not to enroll Carolyn in preschool.  She can already count to 20, backwards from 10, and write her name.  She won't be 4 for 2.5 months!  She has some great fine motor skills too, zips her own coat, buckles her car seat, strings beads, "sews", and helps in the kitchen.  After watching her and James play over the last month, I've decided I want to give them the extra year together.  They're only little once and have a great gift of lots of time together to build an awesome relationship.  If I send her to school in the morning, they'll only have maybe 1 day a week to play in the morning.  If Jon gets a new job for next year, I'll be able to spend more time with her while James naps and work on preschool type things each day.  Even 20 minutes together is probably equal to the time she'd get in a classroom once you factor in all of the play time.  So we're going to save our money and just enjoy her last year before she starts Kindergarten.

Yesterday was my birthday, and so I enter into the final year of my 20's.  My goal is to be in the best shape of my life when I turn 30.  Of course, I don't get to use a personal chef, personal trainer, or suddenly get to stop working/taking care of the kids.  As the weather gets nicer, I know I'll be spending less time working out in the basement and more time playing with the kids and gardening.  So for the next 6-7 months I'm going to focus more on eating healthy than working out a ton.  When I'm outside with the kids I'm going to try and get more active with them.  Carolyn will likely enjoy more games of tag, races, and going on longer walks.  So everyone should be happy.  Here's to a great year of health and ending my 20's on a high note!

Monday Dinner - Baked Potato Soup
I have made a few modifications to fit our liking.  I chopped 3-4 large potatoes, enough to fill the crockpot about 2/3 of the way.  I don't peel the potatoes, because there are a lot of nutrients in them.  I used a little less broth because we bought cans (on sale) and in the past 2 quarts has been so much liquid that the pot overflows when putting the cream cheese.  So I used 4 14.5oz cans.  When putting in the cream cheese, be sure to break it up or you'll just end up with chunks.  I use a knife to cut it into 1/5's as I put it in.  Then be sure to stir real well. 
Both kids gobbles this and the bacon served with it right up. 

Tuesday Cupcake Trial
Attempted this recipe on Tuesday.  I should have known that it wasn't going to work out when I tasted the batter.  They looked really nice, but are very bitter to me.  It's been suggested by a few people that I try an alternate brand of Stevia or simply a different sugar alternative.  Interestingly, Carolyn says she likes them.  Although she chose the second batch for dessert last night.

Wednesday Dinner - Grain free Meatloaf with mashed potatoes (butter, cream, garlic salt) and fresh brocolli
First time with the recipe above.  I think next time I would cook it a bit shorter, closer to just 60 minutes.  We found it a bit cheesy for our liking as well.  I think next time I might take my mom's meatloaf recipe and find a replacement for breadcrumbs instead.  Stuck in our old ways, I know, but we really like her recipe.  Might try tomato paste mixed with tomato sauce for the outside of it though.

Cupcakes second try
I gave the same cupcakes a second try, this time tasting the batter before cooking and adding sugar to taste.  I ended up adding nearly 2 cups of sugar.  They turned out very yummy, but the centers caved in.  So I made a cream cheese frosting (cream cheese, cream, butter, and powdered sugar) and filled in the middle.
We had these after dinner and everyone gobbled them up, very yummy!  Will have to keep trying to find a grain free recipe for the cupcakes that holds up.  I'm thinking I might leave the sugar since we really only make these for birthdays.  Have to find something that works for Carolyn's birthday if anyone has any suggestions.  I'll need something that I can spread frosting on without it falling apart so I can put down the frosting base and then decorate.

Tonight is leftovers and then the weekend is here.  So no more new recipes for a couple days.

Relaxing weekend

So we didn't do much this weekend.  Worked out yesterday morning while the kids enjoyed the nice, clean basement.  Jon took the kids to the store in the afternoon, where they bought the ingredients for my special birthday treat I'll make Tues/Wed.  Today they went to church while I worked at home as usual.  Trying to finish up the last of a project for my company.  Hopefully will finish up tomorrow and might even get a night or two of no work before the new month begins! 
Tried 2 new recipes today.  One was great, the other great but not so kid friendly.

Breakfast - Grain and Sugar Free waffles 
The kids really liked these.  Although next time I need to not forget to spray the waffle maker and I bet everyone will like them more.  Probably should double the recipe too to end up with some leftovers.  Should think about something for syrup as well.

Dinner - Wheat Free Stuffed Peppers 

Jon and I thought these were great!  The kids, not so much.  It sure doesn't help that I think James is getting his 2yo molars right now either.  Carolyn ate about 10 bites and then helped herself to a pear, which she ate nearly all of.  James had an apple, I'm still amazed that he's already eating them right off the core.  I think the hard but juicy part helps his mouth a little.

Tomorrow is "O" day and we'll be making Omelets for breakfast.  I'll update on how I get the kids to help me after we do it.  Two more brand new to us recipes coming later this week, so stay tuned!