I'm Sick

I'm just to tired to post anything substantial. I will be back tomorrow or Friday.

Here we go!

So, after visiting the doctor I had a coming to Jesus party for myself. Things have got to change or else my life will be miserable and I don't want to be miserable. I've implemented some changes in my life that should help with that and here is what they are. First of all, I'm using weekly menus. This will help me keep a record of what I eat AND it will help me spend more wisely at the grocery store. Another thing I have done with the weekly menus is get the kids in on the action. Right now, they eat pretty much what they want which means I'm preparing at least 3 different meals, 3 times a day. I'm not going to do that anymore so we've made a compromise. They get to choose their meals 4x a week and then in turn, they must eat what I choose for them 3x a week. You can't make a kid go cold turkey onto grownup food so this seems like a decent way to get them to make the eventual switch to healthier eats. The kids and I sat down together and figured out or menu for this week and here they are, their menu and mine:

Kids
Friday: Chicken Nuggets, french fries (all from frozen)
Saturday: Pizza (homemade)
Sunday: My choice
Monday: My choice
Tuesday: Corn Dogs, Grapes
Wednesday: Spaghetti, Meatballs, Salad
Thursday: My choice

Me and Sean
Friday: Fish, Green beans, Rice
Saturday: Homemade pizza
Sunday: Meatloaf, broccoli, Potatoes
Monday: Oven Fried Chicken, Peas, Rice
Tuesday: Leftovers from Meatloaf night
Wednesday: Spaghetti and Meatballs
Thursday: Turkey Sloppy Joe's and Salad (from Rachael Ray's 30 minute meals 2 book)

There are some meals that we will eat with the kids like pizza and spaghetti because I use whole wheat crusts and noodles. And on the nights when the kids don't eat with us I'm able to incorporate leftovers into our meals. It's economical and healthful. I'm liking our plan thus far.

Here are some photos of what we've been eating this week. My new favorite breakfast is something the Pioneer Woman featured on the cooking portion of her website and it's called Egg-in-a-nest. I freaking love this now and eat it almost every day. There's just something about the combination of lightly toasted bread, seasoned with salt and pepper paired up with a gently fried egg in the middle. It is, in one word, divine.

I use a whole grain bread and cage free egg because the yolks are a million times better.

Another breakfast I make when I have the time is an egg and some sauteed potatoes.

For this version, I used red potatoes which I diced along with a green pepper that was grown organically in my container garden. The homegrown peppers pack a lot of flavor into them and are really sweet and delicious. I love eating an egg for breakfast, in case you couldn't tell. It just is a great start to the day.

Salmon is a favorite fish around here. It's hearty, pretty, and doesn't need a lot of adornment to bring out the wonderful flavor of this fish. Here is a piece of wild Alaskan Salmon that I bought at the store:

Isn't it beautiful? Anyway, I cook this under the broiler skin side-up after I season it with a tsp of olive oil, and a tsp of lemon-pepper. Once the skin begins to bubble, I pull it out of the oven, pull the skin off, flip it over and finish it off under the broiler for a few more minutes. The times will vary depending on the thickness and cut of your fish but this particular piece took 5-7 mins start to finish. I served it with a long/wild rice blend, and steamed green beans that I tossed in a pan with some garlic infused oil. Mmmmmmm. So good.


Yesterday, I got a little crazy in the kitchen and decided to make my own pizza dough from scratch. Baking and I don't usually get along because, let's face it. I'm one lazy sucker and I don't like have to be so precise with my measurements. Eyeballing it is more my thing but in order for me to have a healthy dough, I was going to have to make it myself. Last year, I bought a Wolfgang Puck food processor and it came with a couple of recipes for pizza dough. I used the one for whole wheat dough and it turned out all right but I don't think I would use it again. Anyway, here is the pizza in all it's crispy, golden glory:

Again, I used homegrown peppers, canned black olives, and canned mushrooms. Calm down! I was going to use fresh shrooms but they had gone bad. I'll use fresh next time, ok? Here is the pizza up close:

Can't you just smell it?

I'm feeling really positive about this direction in which we're going. It feels good including the kids in the menu-making process and it helps all of us make healthier choices. Since I've added wheat products back into my diet I'm expecting to see my weight go back up a bit but this week, I'm putting exercise into my routine and am hoping it may offset the gain.

I'll be back tomorrow to post pics of tonight's dinner!

Menu Post and Recent Eats Coming Soon

Tomorrow morning I will be posting my menu and recent eats. I will show you my latest favorite thing to eat for breakfast!!

See you tomorrow!

Evie

Been a rough eats week folks.

I have not been feeling well, friends. In fact, I have been feeling so yucky that I went BACK to the doctor, again. This time, I requested a woman because I was really feeling like no one was listening to me and I'm glad I did that because things have been much better since I did that.

You know what the diagnosis is? I'm fat. Yep, I've GOT to lose some weight. A lot of my issues can be connected to my overweight state. For the time being I'm on Prilosec for acid reflux, the reflux has been causing my breathing problems evidently. She also suggested a sleeping pill, exercise, and a healthy diet. As you will remember, I was associating my problems with a possible allergy to wheat but I can tell you, based on my experience over the last couple of days that I don't think I have an allergy at all. I felt amazing today and expect to fell better as the days progress.

I suspected that my weight was part of the problem but it took a visit to the doctor to confirm it. I'm lucky. My weight hasn't caused my blood pressure to be high but I don't want it to get to that point. As a result of my visit to the doctor, I have decided to make another change here. Every week, I"m going to post my menu ideas here for each meal. I will document one in photos every day and share nutritional info when I can. My plan is to use recipes from Cooking Light, Rachael Ray, and Dr. Will Clower's books, as noted in the sidebar. When using a recipe, I will provide a book title or internet link when available so you can follow along with me if you like!!

Tonight, I'm going through a stack of cookbooks on my coffee table to prepare my menu for the week. Sorry about the prolonged absence I just wasn't feeling well enough to post here for the last few days. Come back on Saturday as the menu should be up by then!!

am I turning into a food snob??

For days I have been craving my favorite side dish. My old family meal stand-by - green bean casserole. The ingredients were purchased and all I was waiting for was the right moment to prepare my all-time favorite meal. Yes. You read that right, I said meal because I can absolutely eat it all by itself. At least, I used to be able to do it until last night. I knew something was wrong when I popped open the can of Durkee's Fried Onions, which in the past I have munched on while mixing the casserole's ingredients, because when I took a little taste, something was amiss. They didn't taste good to me. Immediately, worry set in. I thought perhaps I had a funky can of onions. Well, I forged on and got the casserole together and put it in the oven and anxiously waited for it to come together. It came out of the oven and sat on the stovestop, steamily resting, and I continued to wait for it eagerly. Earlier I had baked some drumsticks in the oven with BBQ sauce and knew this meal would be so good in it's old-schooly comfortable way. After the casserole had cooled down, I plated my dinner with one drumstick and a healthy spoonful of Green Bean Casserole....

It's never been a pretty thing on the plate...

I took a bite, the first one of this manna from heaven in a long time, and was instantly disappointed. It tasted nothing like I expected nor like I remembered. Gone was the delicious warmth that used to envelop me when eating this dish and it was replaced with a bland, slimy, blahness that defied explanation. Has it finally happened then? Have I reached a point in my quest for finding good eats that my old favorites are now history? I don't know, friends. I just don't know. What is known is this. I woke up to a different world this morning, people. Green Bean Casserole no longer equals goodness to me and what that means in the scheme of things is yet undetermined but for now I think it means I have moved on. I'm really ready to eat better things or perhaps to find a more delicious way to prepare the dish that doesn't include canned soup, onions, and beans. Does this portend other major food changes? I guess we'll just have to wait and see.

Oi yoi, yoi

What a crazy few days we've had around here. Thanks goodness I have been doing ok foodwise, in spite of all the stressful things going on because my weight is down to 198.5. Hey! Every little bit counts!!!

On Friday, we yet again ate the chicken dish I've been gnawing on for the last few days. I was going to fix salmon but Sean didn't get home at a decent hour so we just had leftovers. On Saturday at lunchtime, I figured I would fix the salmon we missed out on the night before but I didn't count on finding it spoiled in the fridge. That's the one bad thing about buying fish on special. If you don't eat it the same day you buy it, you may as well throw it out. So what was I going to do? Thankfully I had some butterflied pork chops in the fridge and we had those along with some roasted asparagus and tomato, mozz, and basil, drizzled with olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Roasted Aparagus is so good and easy. You need:

1 bunch of asparagus
olive oil
salt and pepper
parmesan cheese

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Cover a jellyroll pan in foil, unless you like to clean dishes in which case you may leave the pan naked.
Trim 2 inches off the ends of the asparagus and place on your jellyroll pan.
Drizzle with 2 tsps of olive oil, sprinkle salt and pepper over the top and then toss them around the pan to coat.
Put them in the oven for about 15 minutes.
When you removed them, sprinkle some good quality parm on the top or grate some if you have fresh parm.



So gooood!

The Tomatoa, Mozz, and basil is pretty basic. For two people, I used:
1 tomato
half a fresh ball of mozz
a few leaves of fresh basil
olive oil
balsamic vinegar
salt and pepper

Slice your tomato and mozz and layer them on a plate along with some torn basil leaves. Drizzle with the oil and vinegar very lightly, you don't want to drown them. Then crack fresh pepper and sprinkle a tiny bit of kosher salt over the top.

This is quickly becoming one of my favorite things to eat, in spite of the fact that I have never been a big fan of tomatoes. I can't wait for the baby tomatoes growing on my plant to get big enough to eat!

The pork chops were simple as well. In case you haven't noticed, I like keeping things simple. I'm simple. Got it? Ok.

2 butterfly-cut chops 1/2" thick
2 tsp olive oil
garlic salt, fresh pepper

Warm the oil in a pan over medium-high heat. Season the meat according to your own taste and add to the pan once you see ripples in the oil. Cook a few minutes per side, until the you can press on the thickest part and it feels like the part of your palm, close to the heel of your hand. Firm but not hard. It should still have some give. Pork is tricky because you don't want to overcook it or else it's really unpleasant.



This was a great meal!

Later that night we went out to dinner with friends and had a nice time. I got tuna in a soy-ginger glaze served with rice. For dessert, Sean and I split a piece of carrot cake, it is one of our favorites!! Then Sean proceeded to drink too much and spent the next day hungover. LOL


Last night, the boys and I had McDick's for dinner. Usually, I would have the Filet-o-fish combo but instead exercised some restraint and had a regular burger, small fries, and a small vanilla shake. It was not good but I was proud of myself for keeping my portion sizes small.


Hope all has been well with you!

Still here!

I will have a post for you tomorrow, friends. One of my littles is sick so I'm a bit preoccupied. Come back tomorrow though for some photos!

Hope you had a great weekend!