I've had a couple requests for recipes that I've mentioned but obviously I'm not the most timely person you know... So here's couple of the things I've tried.
Savory Garbonzo Filling
2 T. marg/butter substitute
1/4 t. vegex (I used Braggs Aminos)
1/2 C. finely chopped onion
1 egg, beaten (I used some powder egg substitute)
1 C. ground cooked garbonzos
2 T. mayo (I used my homemade tofu mayo)
1/4 t. salt
saute marg and onion, add seasoning (at this point I put everything in my Vitamix and whizzed the crap out of it!)
the wonderful author of this recipe (Joan Arnott) used to fill her homemade brown rolls with this filling, wrap them individually in tin foil and heat in the oven. KILLER GOOD! I didn't even know they where garbonzos!
Oatmeal Crackers
2 C. quick oats
1 C. fine unsweetened coconut
1 C. WW flour (whole wheat)
1 C. white flour
3 T. sugar
1 t. salt
3/4 C. oil
1 C. water
mix all and roll very thin on 2 greased cookie sheets. sprinkle with salt and score (I have this little roller that makes lines that the crackers break into, but you could make cracker lines with a fork too) bake at 325 for 30 min or less. remove edges as the brown (they'll burn if you're not careful!)
I am notorious for just using recipes for ideas and not actually following said recipe (just ask my husband). So this morning the boys and I had pumpkin pie oatmeal which I saw as a recipe in some book. It was YUMMY! I just cooked my quick oats, added some canned pumpkin, pumpkin pie seasoning, brown sugar (not the healthiest I know but we love the taste of it!) and some finely ground pecans. The pecans are something I've been working on. I don't normally care for nuts in most things (cookies, brownies, fudge, oatmeal...usually I figure nuts just take up space where chocolate should be!) However, I know they're good for me and a wonderful source of lots of good things. So on they go...
I've got the ingredients to try a couple more recipes that I'll post after trying them. But here's the little teaser :)
Chocolate Mousse Frosting (to eat plain!)
Vegan Taco Filling
Sweet and Sour Tofu
Chocolate Chunk Quinoa Granola
So stay tuned! There's more to come!
Thursday, May 2, 2013
Wednesday, May 1, 2013
Honestly...
So honestly, this is turning out to be a lot harder than I first thought. In all reality, I do pretty good for 2 of the 3 meals a day. But I am running into problems. For example, I made this great noodle casserole that I really liked. Josh and Owen wouldn't eat it more than one meal (it was a big casserole) and it was all we could do to get Jack to eat it at all. For a while, Owen was doing great on Rice milk. Not Jack...only wanted his cows milk. Then Owen caught on and he wanted what Jack had. Although I can still sneak some soy or rice in on him. ;)
I think the main trouble is the same as I've had all along...it's really hard to plan far enough ahead to keep up with the pace of life. Dinner (usually lunchtime for us) sneaks up on me. AND IT DOES IT EVERY DAY!! And Josh's lunch...well that's another story. Not a great one either.
I keep looking up all these great recipes...but see, I love to try new things...new kinds of food. My husband could eat cold cereal for every meal for 3 weeks before he got tired of it. And my kids? They really do eat pretty well. They aren't horrendously picky but they aren't really interested in too much new stuff either.
So there you have it. I am still trying....but good grief!! I see why people give up!! That's all I got for now....
I think the main trouble is the same as I've had all along...it's really hard to plan far enough ahead to keep up with the pace of life. Dinner (usually lunchtime for us) sneaks up on me. AND IT DOES IT EVERY DAY!! And Josh's lunch...well that's another story. Not a great one either.
I keep looking up all these great recipes...but see, I love to try new things...new kinds of food. My husband could eat cold cereal for every meal for 3 weeks before he got tired of it. And my kids? They really do eat pretty well. They aren't horrendously picky but they aren't really interested in too much new stuff either.
So there you have it. I am still trying....but good grief!! I see why people give up!! That's all I got for now....
Sunday, April 21, 2013
The wise man built his house upon the rock....
As everyone on earth knows vacation is terrible for any type of diet or "weird" eating. And this trip is no exception. Knowing this in advance I had already planned that we wouldn't be maniacs about our eating and would just re-convene back on the home front. I find myself much more conscious about my eating choices though. I made bread and rolls before we left and tried some new recipes too. They all turned out pretty good! (I'll add some recipes at the end.) I made a garbonzo bean sandwich filling that a good friend of the family used to make and serve in homemade rolls wrapped in tinfoil, warm out of the oven. I also expanded my horizons and made my own vegan mayo. I was very pleasantly surprised how well this turned out! The texture is even right!!
I vaguely remember, in a conversation with Karla about not STAYING vegan, she told me something about my body adapting. I know the body is a magnificent creation (thank you Lord) and adapts quite well to what we put into it. HOWEVER, I have to say I didn't think my body would notice anything at all in a matter of 3 days! IT DID!! I ate well/vegan for 3 days before we left for Wisconsin. I ate chicken strips, fries and a rootbeer float at A&W on Saturday night, had yogurt this morning (oh and butter), and a slice of cheese pizza for lunch. I think my guts complained all day!! Even though I ate plain oatmeal with honey and an english muffin with butter (much different than my usual choices) my tummy still complained! Odd. But tomorrow we're heading home and I'll be eating my sandwich spread and veggi's for lunch.
Here's the link to the recipe I used for mayo.
Wednesday, April 17, 2013
In the beginning.....
My mother is really the health nut in my family, not me. I LOVE make that ADORE eating! And I am a conissour of all things dessert. Hence why I am now back up to my max weight. Not a proud moment I must confess. There are many avenues leading to the here and now of my weight and ultimately my health. So since confession is good for the soul, and I hope the waistline, I begin this blog with gritted teeth.
If I'm really gonna confess, I must go back quite a while. I was a healthy kid at a normal size all through my early school years and even high school. I wasn't particularly great at sports but loved to play anyway. My family didn't eat out much; that was for special occasions. My mom cooked healthy, home made meals without many processed foods. By the time I hit college and could my all my own choices, things started getting a bit iffy. I also began dealing with my "disease", depression. I am an eater (as previously noted) so I tend to eat when I am stressed, lonely, sad, depressed, happy, need to celebrate....need I go on? Depression meds often have a curious side effect of weight gain. When you mix that with the added weight girls sometimes put on about freshman year of college and dribble in some time spent living over seas in a stressful situation, I was a wreck of bad eating habits. I was also quite good at telling myself that I was young still so I could eat whatever I wanted whenever I wanted and it shouldn't hurt me (aka chicken fingers at 11pm at least one night a week and midnight Taco Bell runs). Most women say they hit the metabolism brick wall at about 30. Me? right about 23. When I graduated from college in 2003 I weighed around 190 lbs (yes, I have no qualms about stating my weight or my age). A couple of years into my marriage I had one of those experiences that stuck out like a snapshot. I was over at my parents and some friends with their little boys where visiting. MY MOTHER COULD RUN AFTER THOSE LITTLE BOYS FOR LONGER THAN I COULD!! That was my light bulb moment. I ended up joining LA Weightloss. While an expensive option, it worked. I lost 45lbs in about 6 months and was at my goal weight of 145lb in time to visit my sister on Guam and then graduate from Xray school. That was 2007. Jackson came along in 2008. Now as I look back at my pregnant self, I think, "Jeeze! I was a skinny preggo lady!" But after baby and breastfeeding and back on birth control I was still up around 165lb. I started my second pregnancy at 173lb and really only gained maybe 10lbs. Owen is now 2 and here I am weighing in at the dreaded 197 lb. I've always told myself I would never weigh over 200. Why I insist on getting so close before I do anything about it is rather baffling though. So now at 33 years old I work in a clinic taking xrays, drawing blood and running lab tests, I feel my mortality hitting me in the face a bit harder. Now don't get me wrong...getting up the gumption and determination and willpower to loose weight has been a CONSTANT battle over the years. I've failed more times than I can count or remember.
Back to my mother....she spent 2 months living with my sister this winter (Guam). Beth and Matt are vegan...mom came home preaching the vegan sermon to this heathen meat eating over weight Mommy. Have I ever spent time thinking about vegan stuff??? That would be a big fat NO. Didn't really feel the need to be a vegetarian either although we aren't exactly a 'meat and potatoes for every meal' type family. But after some serious thought and discussions with my friend Karla (who has gone through the CHIP program in the past) I began to seriously kick around this vegan thing. High cholesterol runs in my family along with heart disease. Honestly Josh has every disease in his family history that is made worse by being overweight. I've noticed my hands have been really achy lately (my mom says her's are like that after she eats a lot of sugar), I've got some really strange fat lines that I've never seen on me before and there were a couple other concerns on my list that I can't remember now. :) So here's what I came up with...and Josh has a pretty good attitude about following along :).
We are going Vegan for a month.
I am not going to be a nazi about it, but I am trying really hard to stick with it even when Iam out and about. I am currently planning vegan menus and have been really surprised by how many recipes we already eat that are vegan (or can easily be made vegan). I've got some new recipes to try too. I am also working really hard on consuming more water (one of the things that helped me loose weight before) and stay away from excess sugar (no more desserts at every meal and fighting the soda battle). The boys are eating the same stuff as us with a couple of exceptions: Jackson doesn't seem to like soy/almond/rice milk so he'll probably stick with the 1%. Owen is a HUGE fan of the yogurt sticks and the fact that he is my slightly picky eater means that sometimes, a boy just has to eat what a boy will eat.
I've recorded my weight and my cholesterol levels for a starting point and am curious to see how they change in the coming month. I will be trying to add some activity/exercise to the daily grind also.
I'll keep posting stuff as the days go by and let you know how thestruggle battle change in lifestyle is flying by!
If I'm really gonna confess, I must go back quite a while. I was a healthy kid at a normal size all through my early school years and even high school. I wasn't particularly great at sports but loved to play anyway. My family didn't eat out much; that was for special occasions. My mom cooked healthy, home made meals without many processed foods. By the time I hit college and could my all my own choices, things started getting a bit iffy. I also began dealing with my "disease", depression. I am an eater (as previously noted) so I tend to eat when I am stressed, lonely, sad, depressed, happy, need to celebrate....need I go on? Depression meds often have a curious side effect of weight gain. When you mix that with the added weight girls sometimes put on about freshman year of college and dribble in some time spent living over seas in a stressful situation, I was a wreck of bad eating habits. I was also quite good at telling myself that I was young still so I could eat whatever I wanted whenever I wanted and it shouldn't hurt me (aka chicken fingers at 11pm at least one night a week and midnight Taco Bell runs). Most women say they hit the metabolism brick wall at about 30. Me? right about 23. When I graduated from college in 2003 I weighed around 190 lbs (yes, I have no qualms about stating my weight or my age). A couple of years into my marriage I had one of those experiences that stuck out like a snapshot. I was over at my parents and some friends with their little boys where visiting. MY MOTHER COULD RUN AFTER THOSE LITTLE BOYS FOR LONGER THAN I COULD!! That was my light bulb moment. I ended up joining LA Weightloss. While an expensive option, it worked. I lost 45lbs in about 6 months and was at my goal weight of 145lb in time to visit my sister on Guam and then graduate from Xray school. That was 2007. Jackson came along in 2008. Now as I look back at my pregnant self, I think, "Jeeze! I was a skinny preggo lady!" But after baby and breastfeeding and back on birth control I was still up around 165lb. I started my second pregnancy at 173lb and really only gained maybe 10lbs. Owen is now 2 and here I am weighing in at the dreaded 197 lb. I've always told myself I would never weigh over 200. Why I insist on getting so close before I do anything about it is rather baffling though. So now at 33 years old I work in a clinic taking xrays, drawing blood and running lab tests, I feel my mortality hitting me in the face a bit harder. Now don't get me wrong...getting up the gumption and determination and willpower to loose weight has been a CONSTANT battle over the years. I've failed more times than I can count or remember.
Back to my mother....she spent 2 months living with my sister this winter (Guam). Beth and Matt are vegan...mom came home preaching the vegan sermon to this heathen meat eating over weight Mommy. Have I ever spent time thinking about vegan stuff??? That would be a big fat NO. Didn't really feel the need to be a vegetarian either although we aren't exactly a 'meat and potatoes for every meal' type family. But after some serious thought and discussions with my friend Karla (who has gone through the CHIP program in the past) I began to seriously kick around this vegan thing. High cholesterol runs in my family along with heart disease. Honestly Josh has every disease in his family history that is made worse by being overweight. I've noticed my hands have been really achy lately (my mom says her's are like that after she eats a lot of sugar), I've got some really strange fat lines that I've never seen on me before and there were a couple other concerns on my list that I can't remember now. :) So here's what I came up with...and Josh has a pretty good attitude about following along :).
We are going Vegan for a month.
I am not going to be a nazi about it, but I am trying really hard to stick with it even when Iam out and about. I am currently planning vegan menus and have been really surprised by how many recipes we already eat that are vegan (or can easily be made vegan). I've got some new recipes to try too. I am also working really hard on consuming more water (one of the things that helped me loose weight before) and stay away from excess sugar (no more desserts at every meal and fighting the soda battle). The boys are eating the same stuff as us with a couple of exceptions: Jackson doesn't seem to like soy/almond/rice milk so he'll probably stick with the 1%. Owen is a HUGE fan of the yogurt sticks and the fact that he is my slightly picky eater means that sometimes, a boy just has to eat what a boy will eat.
I've recorded my weight and my cholesterol levels for a starting point and am curious to see how they change in the coming month. I will be trying to add some activity/exercise to the daily grind also.
I'll keep posting stuff as the days go by and let you know how the
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