Bits and Pieces

We had a relaxing weekend, and it was GREAT.  We needed that.

I'm bucking the trend and NOT making a summer to-do list, for neither me nor my kids.

I have read several posts lately, including both here and here, on the paleo diet boosting fertility.  I wonder if it would have made a difference for me when I had PCOS.  My situation was tricky, because my doctor told me I had the "thin" form, as in I didn't have excess weight that I needed to lose to help solve the problem... But while my diet was pretty free of chemicals, etc., I was still a carb addict, feasting on lots of flour and sugar.  Even without losing weight, would it have helped me to cut those things out?  Interesting.  I guess I won't know.  I took the pills, got pregnant, and my body seemed to recover.

What is with all these yogurt bar places that are all so similar but with a kajillion different franchise names? Did a bunch of people have the exact same idea at the exact same time?  Don't get me wrong, they are quite tasty, for an unhealthy treat.  I'm not knocking them.  It just seems weird to me that they all popped up at once, but under different names.

Still waiting on our Trader Joe's to open.... :)

Time to go out in the sunshine and get some Vitamin D!  Happy Tuesday!

My Favorite Summer Shoes

I love cute shoes.  Who doesn't?  But for my everyday shoes, when push comes to shove, utility wins out over pure aesthetics.  (I'm on my feet a lot for work.  It's a super casual, jeans and t-shirt work environment.)

Last summer, my go-to footwear were these Reefs.

They were the best $25 I've ever spent on flippy-floppies.  Completely worth it.  Possibly the most comfortable set of footwear I've ever owned.  Why did it take me so long to get some?

A few weeks ago, in my search for some "comfort" summer shoes in the "brown" category, I purchased these Sanuks.

I love that they were made to be worn barefoot, so hopefully they won't get super stinky.  They run big.  I typically wear and 8 and 1/2 for dress shoes, 9 for regular shoes, and 10's for running shoes.  Yes, I have long, skinny feet.  But I wear an 8 in these Sanuks.  So far, I am loving them, and the jury is still out on if they will bypass the thongs for the title of "My Favorite Summer Shoes".  I'll keep you posted.

What are your favorite shoes?  For any reason or season....

Everybody likes a good shoe recommendation.  At least I do!

Menu Plan 5/30/11

Notes on last week's meals: I didn't make pumpkin pancakes.  Instead, I made these paleo pumpkin muffins.  I doubled the recipe, made almond flour by grinding almonds in the blender, and substituted 1 cup of ground flax seed in place of 1 cup of almond flour.  I also didn't stick the almonds on top, that looked weird to me.  They were quite nutty and filling muffins.  They hit the spot spread with some Kerrygold butter! :)  We actually had them for a quick dinner one evening with some fresh blueberries, strawberries, and real milk.


Breakfasts:
Coconut Milk Smoothies
Eggs and Fruit
Milk

Lunches:

Leftovers from the previous evening's dinner
Fruit

Snacks:
Ants on a log (celery, almond butter, raisins)

Dinners:

Memorial Day - Stir Fry (new recipe attempt, I'll let you know how it turns out)

Tuesday - Salmon Burgers, Salad

Wednesday - Meat Sauce over Zucchini (a paleo spaghetti-ish dish), Salad

Thursday - Grilled Chicken with Broccoli, Bacon, & Cashew Salad

Friday - BBQ Meatballs*, Coleslaw

Saturday - Grilled Sausage, Peas & Carrots

Sunday - Chicken & Green Bean Stir Fry

*The sauce is far from paleo with all the sugar, but it is so good!  I may try to cut down the sugar a tad bit, we'll see.  I usually use half the sauce recipe anyways.

Summer Has Arrived

I am:

-feeling introspective

-wishing I have heavier weights to do the crossfit workouts

-wanting to get in the habit of a decent bedtime for myself

-glad I get to snuggle my kids each night

-enjoying some reading

I have figured out why non-fiction books are good for me.  I can find stopping points.  With good fiction, I tend to read 24/7 until I finish the story and that is not a healthy balance.

We have not pushed the Disney princess stuff at all with our 3 year old; she just gravitates towards it.  She wants a Belle cake for her birthday... so I am planning something like this.  I welcome tips from anyone who has done this.  What kind of frosting did you use?  I am wanting to use a butter based frosting (non-Crisco) but don't know if it will get too runny.

Have a good holiday weekend!

Tuesday

Nice title, huh?

I washed the windows today.  All 14 of them.  Only said a bad word once when dealing with the broken shades in the laundry room.  Yay for me.  It is an accomplishment to get past the regular upkeep of laundry and cleaning to actually get around to the big projects.

Thinking of Joplin, and am glad for windows to wash.  I hear the weather channel is predicting more outbreaks of tornadoes today and tomorrow in the midwest.  Yikes.

Looking forward to swimming season!

I'm still working part-time this summer, but a little more low-key-ish than during the school year... I hope to do what I need to do, but also just enjoy the kids.  So therefore, no to-do list-making right now.  I loved summer as a kid...

Amost done with Light's Out: Sleep, Sugar, and Survival.  It is fascinating.  It contains a lot of information to wade through at times, but it is worth reading.  There are a lot of scientific specifics in it, but the main point is we all should sleep more because we kill ourselves in countless ways when we stay up and keep the lights on.  It explains how getting the right sleep is necessary for our bodies to fight diabetes, obesity, heart disease, etc, etc, etc.  When it is dark outside, we should be sleeping (!!!)  Seems like a daunting task in this day and age.  A warning: if you reject all forms of evolution (evolution being defined as in living things change and adapt over time), you probably won't like this book.

Searching for some more easy paleo/primal recipes...

But I really should go shower and do my Bible study homework, so see ya later.

Menu Plan 5/23/11

Hello!  How is your weekend?

So last week, I actually used this cabbage roll recipe (instead of the link on my menu plan), doubled the sauce, used shredded cabbage, and threw it all together in a pot on the stovetop.  It looked like chili, but didn't taste like it.  I had neither heard of nor had cabbage rolls before (apparently they are Russian?), until I started searching around for a meal to make with ground beef and cabbage that could be adapted to be paleo-friendly.  So, we basically had cabbage roll stew :)  My kids liked it, even though it was "different" and I did, too.  My husband wasn't home for dinner that night, so the final verdict is still out.

Late last week I got lots of pineapples and cantaloupes at Aldi (99 cents a piece) and bananas, too.  I happened to look at their "nicer" jarred spaghetti sauce and was happy to see that if I read the label correctly (I was in a hurry) the marinara sauce ($1.79, I think) does not contain any added sugar or soybean oil.  That sauce might be on my list in the future!

We finished the week out by adding some more Pizza Chili and some Chicken Fajita Salad to the menu plan.

And now, here's the menu for this week.

Breakfasts:

Coconut Milk Smoothies

Eggs and Fruit

Quick Banana Pancakes

Grain-free Apple Flax Muffins
Milk

Lunches:

Leftovers
Fruit and Nuts -or- Celery and Almond Butter

Dinners:

Monday - Hamburgers & Sweet Potato Fries

Tuesday - Almond Crusted Chicken, Salad, Broccoli

Wednesday - Beef Taco Salad

Thursday - Pumpkin Paleo Pancakes

Friday - Shepherd's Pie (made with sweet potatoes?)
Saturday - Grilled Sausage and Veggies
Sunday - TBD

Have a great week!

Tasty Ideas

Some semi-but-not-100%-healthy ideas for summer:

I want to make this coconut milk chocolate ice cream... seems so easy!

First I need an ice cream maker :)

What about these grain-free apple flax muffins?

Mmm, yummy fruit sorbet.

Magic sauce.  Sounds interesting.

My kids are so weird about meat.  Some days they avoid it, other days they eat it first thing of the meal.  It is hard to predict.  My 1 year old, who had been avoiding chicken, loved it in the meal I threw together last night.  Chicken, string beans, a little green onion, and seasonings (onion, garlic, salt, pepper) sauteed lightly in olive oil, and topped with cashews.  No soy sauce, because I am not a huge fan of the taste.  They even ate the nuts.  Wow.  Necessity is the mother of invention.  I think this was a good invention.

Who wants to come clean my house?

It is not cluttered; it just feels grimy.  Let's face it, it is grimy.  Sticky handprints on the walls, scuffed baseboards, and the windows, oh the windows.  So many wet noses and tongues have been pressed against them.  Human and canine, alike.  And dustiness.  I could go on and on.  Tomorrow my mission is to clean. I will not get it all done.  The flat paint on the walls is not washable, so the handprints (yes, literally, handprints) will remain until I come up with the time to repaint them, if I am allowed by my husband - because I am a messy painter, just like I am a messy cook.  But.  The point is this: I will remember the time when I would have traded anything for some sticky handprints on my walls.  So tomorrow (and everyday) I will rejoice that I have messes to clean and lots of little clothes to fold.  Because I know someone, actually several out there that would give everything for this.

Menu Plan 5/16/11 and a Shopping List

Whew!  Back in town and getting organized for the week... Maybe things will be a little slower this week???  For dinner tonight, we had breakfast casserole (w/ spinach, no cheese) and I made some little pumpkin custard cupcakes things (not completely paleo with all the honey) using this pumpkin pie filling recipe.

I don't have a full menu planned, but here's what is down so far:

Breakfasts:

Banana Almond Pancakes

Coconut Milk Smoothies

Eggs and Fruit

Lunches:

BLT Salad with Chicken

Carrot-Apple Salad with Chicken

Waldorf Salad with Chicken

Dinners:

Monday - Pizza Chili (with leftover meat sauce from last week)

Tuesday - Taco Salad (might get adventurous and make some homemade salsa!)

Wednesday - Leftovers

Thursday - (unrolled) Cabbage Rolls (I have a bunch of frozen shredded cabbage.)

Friday - Leftovers

Weekend - TBD after an end-of-the-week shopping trip

A couple non-paleo things I am going to make this week:

Feta Dip (for a pot-luck party)

Chocolate Cupcakes (from a mix on sale, for my husband to take to work)

I ran to Price Chopper tonight to get some strawberries so we'd have some fruit for tomorrow.  Also got some bacon on sale, some green onion, and some dried sage.  Spent $8.

I hope to get to Aldi early this week.  Here's my list, since I will likely be a slacker on the photos:

salad mix (sale) - 4

grape tomatoes (sale) - 4

mushrooms (sale) - 2

bell peppers (sale) - 2 pkgs.

red onions

olives

avocados or guacamole

feta cheese

bread or pitas for dip

apples

carrots - 2 lbs.

celery

bananas - 2 pkgs.

eggs - 2 dozen

ground turkey - 2 lbs.

nuts

raisins

cinnamon

diced tomatoes - 2

tomato sauce - 2

tomato paste

large ziplock baggies

diapers

Should be about $55.

This post shared at Musings of a Housewife, with other gluten-free menus!

Menu Plan 5/9/11

Two books that were on hold at the library for me came available the time last week:
1. Grace Based Parenting
2. Light's Out: Sleep, Sugar, and Survival
So I am going to try to get through both, one at a time, in the next two weeks, because I've really been looking forward to reading them both!

I listed some of my baby stuff on craigslist... Sniff.  I've loved all our baby stuff.  I had so much fun spending hours researching to find the good deals on what I wanted without costing a fortune.  A lot of it was given to me as gifts or hand-me-downs.  Some of it I am passing on to others... but most of my friends are past the first baby stage, so they don't need much besides clothes.  So, I'm going to try to sell some of it, too.  I want to get my infant cloth diaper stuff to someone who really wants it and will appreciate it.  (We're still using the toddler stuff.)

I went to Costco and Aldi last week, but no pictures.

I hope everyone is having a good weekend!

Here's the plan for the week, short and sweet:


Breakfasts:

Quick Banana Pancakes

Fried Eggs & Fruit

Strawberry/Banana/Orange Coconut Milk Smoothies

Milk

Lunches:

Leftovers

Paleo Chicken Salads

Salmon Burgers (loosely based on this salmon melts recipe)
Carrot Sticks

Dinners:

Monday - Hamburgers, Sweet Potato Fries

Tuesday - Tuna Salad Stuffed Peppers, Tomatoes

Wednesday - Red Wine Meaty Tomato Sauce & Spaghetti Squash, Green Beans

Thursday - Leftovers

Weekend - TBD (after an end-of-the-week shopping trip) -or- eating with family

Tuesday Thoughts

It is Tuesday, right?  Life has been fluctuating between the extremes of frenetic and down- time, lately.  Heavy on the frenetic side.  I tend to prefer more of the predictable middle ground area, but at least there has been some down-time to keep me sane, although it has not been enough for me to keep all the plates in the air spinning at once... some have come crashing down and I've just swept the mess to the side, so to speak.

I just looked up the word frenetic to make sure I was using it properly.  I was.  It is a combination of frenzied and frantic, just like it sounds.

I made some paleo BBQ sauce tonight and poured the whole thing down the garbage disposal.  It was just awful, even after I added honey and molasses.  I won't link to the recipe, because I don't want to badmouth anyone's work.  I'm sure it is a really good recipe because it earned rave reviews from everyone else, not a single negative review.  I must have done something wrong.  So we mixed some homemade ketchup (that I keep on hand for the kids) and some mustard and ate that as sauce on our brisket, instead.

These Bible word clouds are cool.

It is several years old, but I just want to say that I like the movie Remember Me.  A lot.  I think I watched it initially because Robert was in it, but I ended up liking it for way more reasons than that.  You have to be in the mood for something emotional in order to appreciate it.

I am fighting the afternoon sugar addiction again.  I seriously cannot have any of it around or I am a goner.  Most of it revolves around chocolate.  I am doing well with meals, but have had few 100% paleo days since Easter due to those dang snacks.  I think I'm gonna have to re-commit to 100%, all or nothing.

My favorite (only) restaurant paleo meal during our 30 day challenge was a salad from Chipotle.  Lettuce, chicken (they gave me extra when I said no to beans), tomato salsa, and guacamole.  That's it.  And it was so good.  Just fyi, in case you care :)

Goodnight!

Menu Plan 5/2/11

It is May 1 right now, so happy May Day!  Also, cilantro, tomatoes, avocados, lettuce, and limes are all on sale this week for Cinco de Mayo...Yum!  I took a break from posting about the grocery shopping this past week... it was a little hectic.

Breakfasts:

Quick Banana Pancakes (this recipe uses coconut oil instead of almond butter, I like them either way)

Eggs and Fruit

Coconut Milk Smoothies

Lunches:

Leftovers from dinner the night before
Chicken Vegetable Soup (for the weekend)

Dinners:

Monday - Chicken Taco Salad

Tuesday - BBQ Brisket, Mashed Cauliflower, Salad

Wednesday - Chicken with Chimichurri Sauce, Salad

Thursday - Salmon Burgers, Peas (my kids especially love this meal)

Friday - Out to eat :) to celebrate Mother's Day early!

Saturday - Fresh Grilled Sausages, Green Beans, Carrots

Sunday - Chicken, Broccoli, and Carrot Stir Fry

Snacks:
Apples & Almond Butter
Crispy Almonds & Walnuts with Raisins Snack Mix

It was a fun weekend, with lots of rich food, celebrating a graduation... donuts, Cheesecake Factory, cake pops... Mmmmm :)...

Here's to a good (and healthy) week ahead!