Day 4 and the Tough Get Going!

Today was super busy. I was out of the house from 9:30 AM to 4:30 PM, then went for walks with Raiden and did active garden work until 8:30, when I put Raiden in bed early and began chilling. I'm seriously considering hitting the hay at 10 tonight and leaving the dish washing until the morning. I hate that it puts me under stress to get everything together in time tomorrow, but I've about spent the last of my energy.

Day 4                     Sunny Wednesday, Going to Chattanooga for an errand excursion!

This morning began with my first foray into GF baking, and it wasn’t a disaster! Hooray! My MIL is also mostly GF because of a sensitivity to wheat…and yesterday was her birthday. Since I was seeing her today, I decided to fix a GF version of her favorite breakfast: biscuits, gravy, and chicken. I used this recipe and added an extra splash of milk:

http://www.glutenfreegigi.com/gluten-free-drop-biscuits/

They turned out a little dry still, but very good overall. The chicken and gravy covered up most of the ricey flavor and I’m sure they’d be delicious with butter and jam on them as well.

I will say, overall today I was a bad girl. Going out, I did eat GF and easily—the menu item I wanted happened to be GF. It also happened to be really fattening, which makes the whole toning up aspect of this whole scenario a little more elusive.  I’m sure I’ll get a salad in sometime this week.

Breakfast: Biscuits, a little gravy, and chicken (all GF and all delicious!)

Lunch: Asiago and crab dip with tortilla chips from Big River Grille

Dinner: Leftovers from lunch. Don’t judge me. It was staring at me from the fridge calling my name. The salad was oddly silent…maybe my rejection has hurt its feelings. 

So I'm off to wash up for bed. My husband has quite the surprise waiting for him when he gets home, seeing as my sunflowers and pole beans are now history. Goodnight!

Day 3 And the going gets tough...

Sunny Tuesday with a call from my boss and curry cooking

I almost messed it up today. Raiden has been pretty miserable with his teeth happening, so before he went to bed, I treated him to some Annie’s bunny crackers. When I went to clean up the mess, without thinking, I popped a few of the crumbs in my mouth. Thankfully, I realized what I had done before swallowing, so I spat them out and washed out my mouth.

I will say, today has been a little more difficult in that I am less interested in the many and varied approved foods I have available and more interested in ones that aren’t. My solution is just to eat a little snack and see how I feel about eating more later, when I’m actually good and hungry. I keep reminding myself, “it’s only for a month, and this is the worst part now. Hang tough.”

Breakfast: Leftover grits from yesterday, dolled up with some milk, cheese, and a slice of turkey bacon

Lunch: ½ a banana, some chips and guacamole. I meant to go back and eat a salad, but was too busy.

Dinner: Leek and onion soup with fixins (see Day 1)

Snacks/beverages: Hot tea, a little more chocolate (I’m spreading a small bar over 3 days), water, probably some chicken. 

Day 2 Gluten Free

Today I did a little research (read, about 30 seconds' worth) because I heard that going GF can give you withdrawals. This is what I found: 

"Some people experience withdrawal symptoms for several days or weeks after starting a gluten-avoidant diet, according to Wangen. These can include headaches, fatigue and powerful cravings for glutenous foods. Withdrawal symptoms should resolve within a few days or weeks..." (http://healthyeating.sfgate.com/expect-stopping-gluten-1075.html). 

Good to know! So far, none of that craziness, though I have been a space cadet today. I wore my shirt inside out for the first half of the day, misread something (and I'm a copy editor), and generally was a spaz. That may just be me, though. :-) 

Day 2                     Rainy/cloudy/sunny Labor Day Monday with laundry, dishes, and cooking salsa!

I think I’m less hungry during the day on hot days. I usually make up for it after Raiden goes to bed, when its cooler out. Hopefully I can come up with plenty of tasty options to get us through the week. There will probably be discount grillable foods this weekend on sale at the grocery store, so next week’s cooking will be a cinch.

Breakfast: Scrambled eggs topped with a smidgen of sausage, cheese, and grits

Lunch: Roasted green beans dipped in ranch dressing. Mmmm.

Dinner: Ummm....wow, I really was not hungry today. I'll try to remember to take my prenatals tomorrow so that I can get some extra nutrition. 

Snacks/beverages: Hot tea, a little chocolate, a taste of the salsa on about 3 tortilla chips, grape/pomegranate juice mix

AND, in case anyone was wondering, here is my salsa recipe:

A quart ish of ripe tomatoes (these were the ones with spots from my in-laws' garden)

1 onion

1 bell pepper (this is mild, use jalapeno and poblano for spice that bites back)

small bunch of green onions

small bunch of cilantro (why I didn't eat more of the salsa)

juice of 1/2 a lemon

at least 2 teaspoons salt 

leeetle bit of garlic powder

red and black pepper

Slice, dice and puree as desired. This would be great mixed with avocado to make guacamole! In fact, that may be tomorrow's snack, if the cilantro flavor doesn't get any more intense. 

Gluten-Free Month!

Big things are happening in the next couple of months at the Thomas house, and it's time to be prepared!

First off, we decided not to do a beach vacation because it would cost us 5% of our annual income to pull off the shindig we wanted, so instead I'm planning a fall staycation with apple picking, aquarium visit, and all sorts of things that don't involve busting a grand. That, I'm sure, will be the subject of future posts.

Second, the minja will be turning 1! I've got a tiny toddler on my hands, and each growth offers new ways to make things amazing. His is one of about 3,572 birthdays happening in the next month, and all in time for the holidays to show up, sooooo....

It is now time for me to finish off this baby weight. Any of you who know me well probably know I nurse Raiden and don't really plan to stop for a little while. Though things have definitely slowed some, the hormones really need about 3 months of no milk before it becomes easy to lose again. If it ever even does.

So, I want to take some "drastic" measures that won't hurt my milk supply. And since I spoiled it in the title, I'll go ahead and spell it out: no gluten for Jenny in the month of September. Today was Day One, and things are off to a great start.

I have my size measurements below, and I'll check again at halfway and at the end, to see if there's a change. I don't have a scale, so weight is not going to factor in. I also have eczema, and this will be a bit of a test to see if anything changes there, though I doubt it will. Mostly, I'm hoping to trim up that 40.

Waist: 32 1/2 inches
Hip: 40 inches (you see where the problem lies)
Bicep: 13.5 inches

So, without further ado, here's Day 1 of my Making Gluten Free Amazing challenge!

Rainy Sunday with afternoon trip to Ama’s to shell peas; writing the Fuel

Day one of my gluten-free month! I must say, though there are plenty of temptations around me, my excitement and my plan have held through pretty well. The plan is to have 3 delicious meals and a couple of snack options available. Then, when hunger comes, I know what options I have next. I hate meal planning long-term, so planning a day at a time gives me something to look forward to without making me feel trapped by a piece of paper.

Breakfast: Omelet with cheddar, ½ slice of turkey bacon, avocado, and green onion.

Lunch: Leek & onion soup with goat cheese, ½ slice of turkey bacon, balsamic dressing, and tortilla chips.

Dinner: Rice/veggie medley, chicken, baked green beans, Greek yogurt sauce

Snacks/beverages: Green grapes, shared orange, hot tea

If anyone wants my recipes for any of this, holla!!! 

My DIY Pedicure

I, like Jude, love to take a “sad song and make it glad,” so when my Friday turned out to be a bit of a boring bummer, I decided to take the plunge and enjoy my first ever pedicure.

If you can’t tell by now, I’m not much of a girly girl. The fact that I’m 25, have never had a pedicure, and am now doing my own at home with supplies I have around the house might cue you in a little more the extent to which this is out of the ordinary for me. But the baby’s in bed (still whining, so this might be a piecemeal pedi) and the husband is off playing his guitar as loudly as his heart desires somewhere besides our living room, and there’s no one but myself to hold me back from trying something new!

Step 1:

The soak. The website I looked at (http://www.womenshealthmag.com/beauty/pedicure-at-home-0) suggested some witch hazel, Epsom salt, and essential oils…and I had almost none of it on hand. So I opted for a lavender bath salt in warm water in the baby bathtub. Aren’t I a genius? My feet feel awesome already. 10 min.

Step 2:

Exfoliate! (Dalek voice) Sugar/salt scrub with some oil in it. Got it. Extra Virgin Olive oil and sea salt it is, then. Now my feet feel all nice AND slick. I also find it odd that I used the same critter to scrub my feet as I do to scrub potatoes before baking them. I hope Step 3 isn’t “bake at 375 until done.” 5 min.

Step 3:

Sand down the calluses. I have a tool that looks like a combo between sandpaper and a cheese grater, so that will be my go-to for this job. I think pedicures are the cure to Shylock’s problem. I hyperbolically shed a pound of flesh in 20 min. So, we’re up to nice, slick, and tingly. I haven’t had this much sensation in my feet since they both fell asleep.

Step 4:

Cut your nails. Mine were already cut, so whatever. Also, the phone rang at this juncture and I discovered that my in-laws are bringing me some tomato plants. Huzzah!

Step 5: Do your nails. I think I’m skipping this one as well in lieu of walking around outside in the dirt with no shoes on. Well, considering that my feet still feel like I’ve been pressing olives all day, I might opt for some shoes.

Some things I’ll do next time: finish out the actual pedicure by fidgeting with my toenails, light a candle, eat some chocolate, play some jazzy music, and get a towel to step on in between steps so I don’t slide across the house with oily feet. J Cheers! 

This was definitely a success. My feet feel really nice and I didn't fork out a single dime for it. 

Cooking Philosophy and Thai Wings

One of the first hallmarks I notice in a good cook is not the taste of the dish, the complexity, or the oddity of ingredients. It’s in the HOW. And a big part of that is how the cook uses recipes.

When I first started cooking, I learned from my mother and grandmother. Both are fantastic Old South cooks who mostly make everything “from scratch” and without a recipe. In fact, both of their best dishes are ones for which they’ve never even seen recipes. The balance has to be taught and made to taste and feel. This means dozens of attempts, occasional failures, and art have all occurred.

Don’t get me wrong, they used recipes occasionally. Certain desserts or rare treats had recipes carefully copied onto index cards and filed in a little box. I plan to one day take a scanner to that box and have a treasure trove of favorites from which to draw.

So how does that look in the 21^st Century? My cooking style, though Old South influenced, takes on many more modern twists and turns, most of which land me squarely in Asia. But I still love to pay homage to the recipe-free history from whence I come.

First, I actually use more recipes, instead of fewer. But the way I use them is more loose, more inspirational. I can type in “buttermilk biscuit recipe” and Google will give me nearly 300,000 options. I would then gather what the typical cooking temperatures, methods, and ingredients are and design my own biscuit from that information.

Here’s a semi-regular example of my cooking process from last week:

First, I did research. I’ve never cooked wings before, so I collected a few options. David near about begged for the Thai, so I then narrowed my search and selected the top five Google results for Thai hot wing recipes. I then took some notes:

Sweetness (honey, brown sugar)

saltiness (soy, fish sauce)

tartness (lime juice)

heat (chili)

garlic, onions, cilantro

peanut butter/peanuts

Method:

bake 400, skillet to thicken sauce

marinate, bake

fry, make sauce, coat

marinate, grill

I then chose the ingredients I had on hand, and decided to develop my own recipe based off of these elements and blended it to suit our particular tastes. I dipped mine in Ranch dressing.

Honey

Soy sauce, ginger brine (leftover from sushi ginger--I keep it on hand for Thai cooking)

Lemon zest and juice

Red pepper flakes

Fresh garlic, green onions, and cilantro

Peanut butter, coconut milk

Masti chutney (more garlic, onion, and cilantro, but in a puree)

I marinated it, baked it, then used cornstarch and a saucepan to thicken the sauce. I always make Thai and really any curry to taste (this is the secret of Thai—make it sweet, tart, spicy, creamy, and flavorful in a way that makes your taste buds beg for more).

So, now that I’ve finished, I’ll share what I learned.

1. This recipe was not spicy unless you bit straight into the pepper flakes. If you want spicy, you’ll have to use ground peppers or cayenne.

2. They were delicious! Sweet, salty, flavorful, what have you...

3. Wings are pointless. David loved the sauce/marinade and didn’t like the meat, and though I enjoyed them, I tend to agree. Making this with quarters, breasts, or drumsticks would be so much better than wasting time on silly wings. All fat and bone, no meat…nah, we can do better.

4. I think grilling would be better than baking them. They did great baked, but everything tastes better from a grill.

So…recipe, great. Premise, not so great. You live and learn…and eat tasty Thai chicken.

Eating Healthy on a Budget

I was really proud of myself yesterday. I went to two grocery stores, after having not bought anything in two weeks, and still managed to spend less than $75. I can't find one of the receipts, but it may have been right at $50.

My dear friend, ProVerbs, asked me to share how I manage to eat mostly natural and organic on a budget of $350/month for myself, my husband, and our 8 month-old baby, so here are some of the tips that help me!

A lot of the stores I use are regional, but even Walmart here sells all kinds of organic foods, as do Kroger and Bi-Lo! I also get a few things at Costco by asking my in-laws to pick up the things I want and I pay them back. I go to Earth Fare about once every month or two as I can't leave the place without spending at least $50.

I try to buy things like rice and beans in bulk, so as to save in the long run--and bulk goods and spices look really cool in mason jars on the counter!

Keep lots of fruit on hand and out on the counter where it's more convenient than ice cream (my weakness!).   I also keep organic tortilla chips and salsa on hand for the hubby's midnight snacking, since he's on night shift hours.

Use spices to make the same veggies into completely different dishes. My veggie staples are carrots, onions, bell peppers, potatoes, broccoli, mushrooms, avocados, spinach, mixed salad greens, squash, and tomatoes. With those, I can make Italian pasta/veggie dishes, Indian curry, Thai curry, stir fry, roasted veggies, sauteed veggies, grilled veggies, baked veggies, raw veggies with dip, Dutch/German pasties, or Mexican fajitas. Who can get bored with that?

To save money, I get the sales papers and compare who has the best sale on the stuff I need that week and completely skip over the frozen and canned sections and stick to fresh produce, meat, and dairy. That way I'm not tempted! If I don't buy it, it's not in the house staring at me. Sadly, coupons don't help me much, since I don't often buy the things they have coupons for. Using coupons tempted me to buy stuff I didn't need, so I stopped.

The grocery stores I use have a "main" branch and a "ghetto" branch. This may sound awful, but I use the ghetto branches because the fresh produce there doesn't usually sell on time. Thus, they put a lot of their salad, spinach, and organic dairy products on half off to get rid of them! I also get my meat this way. There have been times I've gone to the store and ONLY bought things that were on sale or discounted. The main branches never have that much on discount.

I super rarely buy pork or beef. Most of the meat we eat is chicken, turkey, or fish. My stomach just isn't a red meat fan anymore. I love the occasional sausage and cheese balls and steak or ribs a couple times a year, but otherwise we use venison if we can get our hands on it, and not an awful lot of red meat. Ground turkey is great as a replacement for ground beef, turkey bacon is not at all like pork bacon, but it's still good and doesn't kill my stomach later.

Olive oil and real butter!!!!! I get the massive bulk first cold pressed extra virgin olive oil that sets me back a pretty penny, but it lasts for nearly a year. I buy really good butter and a little goes a long way. I use these as substitutes for Crisco, canola oil, margarine, and any other fat. And boy do they taste yummy!

Biggest thing I've noticed this way: It starts off expensive because I was used to eating a lot of food to get the nutrition my body needed. When you eat low-nutrient foods, it takes a lot more food to get your body what it needs, and in the meantime you're loading up on all sorts of things your body doesn't need. After a while, though, your body realizes "umm, that was all I needed. Thank you, no more, please." And you start having to make less, buy less, and the cost starts going back down.

Have fun learning to make things yourself? What is your favorite dish at your favorite restaurants? Look it up online! Make it at home! You'd be surprised at what tastes BETTER at home with your own spin on it, and look at the cost difference! Usually, I can make enough for 6 people on what it would have cost me to go out to eat the same dish!

Try new things! I love spinach and artichoke dip, but don't want to buy canned artichoke hearts...so when I saw artichokes on sale 2/$5...I snagged me a couple and looked up how to cook them. It was super easy, I had PLENTY to make a recipe and eat off of them a couple days, and they were AMAZING! I couldn't stop eating them! I've discovered that asparagus, though disgusting when canned or boiled, is wonderful grilled or roasted in the oven with a little olive oil, sea salt, and fresh cracked black pepper. Kale, a green leafy thing like collards or turnip greens, is really tasty roasted in the oven to make a crunchy, salty "kale chip" that makes me think I'm eating junk food...when in reality, it's loaded with vitamins! Brussels sprouts, though pretty good roasted, just didn't hit our fancy as much. But it was worth the shot! Make your own french fries and potato chips one day. Make a lasagna and make your own noodles (it's just flour and eggs rolled out and boiled).

I also love gardening. We live in an apartment and don't have garden space, but our porch is covered with plants and our little 8 square feet of flowerbed is loaded to the brim! I blanch and freeze any extra veggies and looove popping those bad boys into a pot of soup or a lasagna to fill it up with goodness!

Another thing I'm a fan of is making a bunch of something (chili and curry especially) and freezing part of it so you can just thaw it out and go with it. It's awesome to have homemade chili to thaw out when you grill hot dogs.

And now, with all this talk of food, I'm getting hungry. :) Enjoy the amazing variety God has put on this Earth to fuel us and for us to enjoy and praise Him about! Get with it! :)