Menu Plan Monday 7/30-8/3

Let me be honest. I hate having to sit down weekly and plan out meals. So I started planning monthly after seeing some other smart mamas doing that via the Internet. It's such a relief to have the next four weeks planned out. I'm still going to the grocery store once a week, usually on Mondays to get what we need for the week, but it's usually a quick trip for just a few fresh ingredients.

I have to say all of this meal planning is saving us a LOT of money. It makes a huge difference when I plan what we're eating and just get what we need for those things each week. Usually I don't have to buy every single ingredient. We buy beef in bulk and freeze it and we keep a good supply of frozen chicken breasts around as well. Then there's things like pasta and some frozen veggies that we already have around. This is so. much. better. than shopping willy nilly and hoping we come up with some recipe ideas throughout the week. How did I ever get by without doing this??? Well I guess I didn't. My husband did all the cooking back when I was teaching full time. My feet always hurt too much. Now that I'm venturing into stay-at-home-momdom, I have more time to plan and cook and I'm loving it!

Here's what we're eating this week:

Monday: Chicken with green beans and red potatoes

Tuesday: Leftovers

Wednesday: Girls Night Out! (First one post baby!)


Thursday: Pasta with mascarpone, chicken, spinach and sun dried tomatoes

Friday: Bunless burgers and sweet potato fries

Saturday: Greek Chicken with pita in crock pot- I used chicken breasts for this and they  turned out great. This could be done over rice for a gluten free option.

Sunday: Moe's or pizza

Thank goodness for Pinterest. Am I right? 

Check out the awesome gluten free meal plans at Musings of a Housewife. I'm linking up my mostly gluten free plan there.





Happy Eating and Olympic watching this week!!!

Menu Plan Monday: 7/9-7/13

Has anyone else heard of Food on the Table? I love this site and they have an app. Apps make me happy. Mostly I love it because I can see all the sales for my grocery store for the week and add needed items and recipe items to my grocery list in the app.

The recipes from this site are great too. I always love finding new recipe ideas because I tend to get in a rut. I really enjoy trying recipes for the first time. It keeps cooking more interesting. This week I'm trying two recipes from Food on the Table.

I found a link on a blog I was looking at, (can't remember which one) for a code to join Food on the Table for a year for free. The code was SUMMERFREE. Not sure if it's still valid, but it's worth a shot!

If I could change something about this site and app I would like to be able add in your own meals or recipes as part of the weekly meal plan. I'd also like for them to show meal plans in a chart or grid form for days of the week. I just like looking at it that way better.

Here's what we're having this week.

Monday: Saucy Crock Pot Chicken Thighs (I would link to it, but I think you have to join Food on the Table) and steamed veggies

Tuesday: Pot roast with mashed potatoes and veggies. I'm trying this recipe from Jo Lynne.

Wednesday: Korean Beef- Had this week before last and we loved it so much we're having it again.

Thursday: Italian sausage bake-also from Food on the Table and salad

Friday: frozen pizza, I know, healthy. But by Friday afternoons, I'm usually pretty exhausted and just don't have it in me.

Saturday: Probably Moe's and something Andrew cooks.

Sunday: Leftovers

I don't usually plan meals for the weekend even though I probably should. I feel like I need a break from planning and cooking all week so we usually have frozen pizza, leftovers, something my husband comes up with or take out. I'll probably start planning them soon, I just need to feel like the weekends are a break right now.

Happy eating this week!

I linked to Menu Plan Monday at Org Junkie and Menu Plan Monday at Musings of a Housewife.

The Best Buttermilk Biscuits

Growing up I spent a lot of time with my paternal grandparents, Nonnie and Pop Pop. I would spend the night at their house often and always woke up to the smell of bacon frying, strong black coffee and fluffy buttermilk biscuits. I have tried for years to re-create my grandmother's biscuits and this recipe from Southern Living is the closest I've come. Most of this recipe comes from Southern Living's 30 Years of Our Best Recipes on page 32 to be exact. By the way, this recipe is not technically a whole foods recipe, but it's delicious and every once in a while, you need to eat some buttermilk biscuits. 

In the food processor add 2 cups of self rising flour with 1/2 cup of cold butter.

                         

Pulse until it looks kind of crumb like.

At this point I add a little sugar, usually about a tablespoon. I like sweet biscuits. :) Pulse again.

Then put mixture in a bowl and add 3/4 cup of buttermilk. Once it's all combined, flour your hands and knead a couple of times in the bowl. Then, put dough on a floured surface. Knead a few more times and roll out to 3/4 inch thickness.

I cut my biscuits with my 1/2 cup measuring thingy. What do you call that thing? A cup? Anyway, I don't have a biscuit cutter, but this works great.

Put them on a greased baking sheet and bake at 450 for 8-10 minutes. 

Then they'll come out like this and be delicious!

This recipe makes 10-12 biscuits. Make a bunch and then enjoy them several mornings in a row for breakfast. Just pair them with some good protein and work out 10 minutes longer that day. It's worth it.

I have discovered menu planning!

I am really starting to enjoy cooking, (gasp! I know. Ok. Calm yourself back down now and keep reading) but I've noticed that I enjoy it a whole lot more when I plan out the meals a week or two in advance and go to the store to get all of my necessary ingredients at the beginning of the week. I'm just not one of those people who can whip something up with what I have in my pantry. I need structure, people.

So I found this free printable menu planner. It's AWESOME and I've been using it to plan meals and grocery lists two weeks in advance.

This week we'll be having:

Monday- Chicken with Wine & Feta, brown rice and steamed broccoli
Tuesday- Naan Bread Pizzas
Wednesday- burgers with sweet potato fries (Happy Fourth!)
Thursday- Herbed Chicken Rose, red mashed potatoes and side salad
Friday- Leftovers or take out from Moe's. I just love Moe's. Did you know that Moe's has an app? I  know! Shut up! You can order from your phone and just walk in and pick it up. Yes, I love technology...I tried to find a link to it, and couldn't, but if you search in the app store on your phone, it should come up.
Saturday- is our 5 year anniversary! I think we're getting take out from somewhere nice and eating at home.
Sunday-leftovers

I would like to say I got this idea and get lots of recipes from Jo Lynne. She has no idea who I am, but I really enjoy her blog and would like to give credit where credit is due. She does gluten free meal plans. I just modify some of those recipes for my gluten filled life.

I know this isn't a new concept, but I'm enjoying it and thought I'd share. I always love finding new recipes and these are all pretty easy since I'm a new mommy.

Buen provecho!

This post is part of Menu Plan Monday at Org Junkie and On the Menu Monday at Stone Gable Blog.

Because even drug dealers like cookies...

After we had Sam and the generous friends from church were bringing us food, a sweet friend who is a wonderful cook brought us these cookies and I thought, "Hey! I can make those!"And I did. They're so hearty and just delicious. 

I usually use a lot less than three cups of oats. Three cups overcrowds the cookie in my opinion. And obviously no one wants an overcrowded cookie. I also add a few more chocolate and butterscotch chips than it calls for. I like an even ratio between oats and chips. When you take them out of the oven, they don't look done, but trust me. After about eight minutes they are. You want them to be soft and chewy.

This recipe makes way too many for two people so I'm planning to take some to my neighbors later today. I'll take some to our sweet neighbor who watches our doggies for us when we're away. And the other batch will go to the drug dealer on the other side in hopes that he'll quiet down his vileness out of respect for the cool girl with a new baby that brings him cookies. :) A girl can dream can't she? Aaand if that doesn't work, I'll just start calling the police, but hey, at least I tried cookies first.

If you don't have a drug dealer in your life or a sweet neighbor who watches your dogs, you can wrap the rest of the dough up in plastic wrap and fridge or freeze it til you're ready to eat the rest.

Farms

Well I just posted a few hours ago how happy I am to be getting so much of our food from family farms and how much healthier I am because of it. In the recent months there have been increasing farm raids where government agents come in and pretty much destroy family farms without a lot of proof to do it with. Kristen at Food Renegade explains it better here so I'll let you read it form her, but it is seriously worth supporting farms so that we can have locally, organically grown food and because the government is getting ridiculous in telling us what we can and cannot eat.

Is it just me or does all this TSA stuff and farm raiding make anyone else feel like they're living in 1984? Ugh.

Where my food comes from...

If you've ever read this blog or talked to me for very long about food, you know the last couple of years have been a journey toward eating more whole and, recently, more locally grown food. It's been an interesting and educational ride and in the last couple of months, we've moved to getting our food from more farms and I'm so excited about it.

I realized the other day that I get most of my food from places other than the grocery store now. I used to read blog posts about people who got all their food from farmers markets or local farms and think, yeah right, but now I understand how feasible it really is to eat mostly locally grown, whole food.

So here is where I get my food:

Fruits, Veggies and Eggs: Grow Alabama-This is a local CSA. A CSA is a way to support local farmers by paying, for us, a monthly fee and eating a certain number of fruits and veggies from local farmers for that month. We get 10 servings of 5-7 different fruits and veggies as well as eggs per week. This organization is awesome because you can choose all your fruits and veggies online and they are delivered to a central location once a week for pick up.

MILK-I finally found a source for raw milk and I'm still working on drinking my first two gallons that I picked up. I keep two quarts at a time in the fridge and the rest is frozen until we can drink it. In Alabama it's illegal to buy raw milk straight from the farmer, so you buy a share of the cow and then you can do whatever you want with the milk, including drink it! :) It's delicious and I think the health benefits of that combined with eating the grass fed beef have really beefed up (no pun intended) my immune system. Usually by this point in the school year I've had a couple of colds and this year not one so far. I have to believe it's a drastic change in my diet and getting plenty of sleep. I am feeling a little under the weather right now, but my husband has had walking pneumonia and I can feel my body fighting it off. For someone who used to run out of sick days every year at work, the fact that I'm fighting off walking pneumonia and not totally grossly sick right now is a BIG deal.

Bread: I've made my own bread a couple of times and want to keep doing that. I found a great recipe from Musings of a Housewife that makes four loaves at one time, but I just haven't had time to do it in the last few weeks. When I get some time off from work, I want to make several batches and freeze it. So right now we get the bread with the least offensive ingredients from Publix.

BEEF: We've started ordering all of our beef and butter from US Wellness Meats. This site is AWESOME! They have 100% grass fed beef from different farmers all over the country. They ship it to you frozen in a cooler that keeps it frozen even if it sits outside because we're not home yet. You have to order $75 of food at a time, but there's only a $7.50 shipping and handling charge no mater how much you order! We finally got an extra freezer and so we order in bulk now (20-25lbs.) and freeze it until we're ready to eat it. We've bought mostly ground beef and the hamburgers we're making in our cast iron skillet with the beef are AMAZING. Best burgers I've ever had.

Miscellaneous: I still get our chicken from Cost Co. They have organic, but I'm going to ask my milk guy soon about getting some of his free range chickens. We also get Larabars from Cost Co. They are awesome for snacks and have only whole food ingredients. And I drink a good supply of unsweet tea that sometimes we make at home and sometimes we buy Milo's Unsweet Tea at the grocery store. It only has water and tea in it.

I think that's pretty much it. I'm sure I missed a couple of things, but that's the majority of our food right now. I know to some people it's completely crazy to venture outside of a perfectly good grocery store for food or to drive over an hour to get milk, but I really think it's worth it. If it wasn't, I wouldn't do it. I'm so excited I'm getting back to eating the way people used to before processed food and high fructose corn syrup!

It's about more than food now. (Decoster recall)

So I know I'm just one more little unknown food blogger writing about this. And I know my opinion is not the only one like this. But I have to say after hearing all this recall stuff about the eggs, I'm pretty pissed off and not just because of the food issue. And I just need to share it even if it's only for myself and my two friends who read this.                                                                                                                          

 I've been very distrusting of the FDA and ADA for a while, really suspicious since seeing Food, Inc. I do have to say though the more I find out about real food, raw milk and what our government is doing to prevent us from having it, the more emphatic I get about our right for it. And after hearing the details about the egg recall I feel like I just need to smack someone, mainly the head of the FDA. I mean GOOD GRIEF!

So I listened to this story about the recall today on NPR. They talked about where the eggs came from and the company behind the farms that caused the contamination and the most shocking and gross part about the story was all the violations and lawsuits DeCoster Operations had already had.
Let's just run down the list, shall we?

                 -a violation having to do with hogs

                -a violation about abusing hens

                -a "discrimination"suit, which should have been titled a sexual harassment suit because they were charged with raping and sexually harassing the Hispanic women that were working in their plants

                -an immigration lawsuit for hiring illegal immigrants 

And I'm pretty sure with most or all of these they payed a fine to settle. Did you read that? They settled for raping and sexually harassing women. REALLY? REALLY? 

Now about hiring illegal immigrants..I know there are many views, but because I speak Spanish, I have heard hundreds of sad stories about families just trying to make a better life here, so I'm all for them making an honest living. But do you think they were hiring illegal immigrants because they wanted to give them a better life? I suspect not. I suspect like lots of other mass production operations they need "low skilled" workers who will work in almost sweat shop like conditions for very little money and not complain about it. So they found the people who would do that for them. And when it got them in trouble, they paid the money to shut it up.

The reason this makes me mad is not just because I have taken up the real food cause, but because we are now talking about human rights. This operation was abusing people all in the name of faster production, more food, more money. And if you don't think that's the mentality of other mass production farms as well as the FDA, then you're wrong and you need to do some research.

 It's a little bit convenient that the same people that work for the big food corporations also represent them in the government at one point or another. You don't find that somewhat strange? You don't think that clouds the interests of the people running the FDA and the ADA? I think it's more than convenient and strange. I think the word we're looking for is corrupt. 

I am aware that this recall happened in select farms from one company, but all big farms that don't produce food in sustainable ways are moving in this direction and they're doing it with the sweat and on the backs of people who will take the abuse because they don't have lots of other ways to make money. 

If you don't choose to fight for real food for your health or weight loss or the betterment of the food supply in this country, you should think about the rights of the workers who are still used in the mass production of the "food" that these operations put out. That in and of itself is reason enough.

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My Clear Skin Quest

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So this summer I embarked on the no (natural) product left behind clear skin search. I saw a doctor who focuses on more natural treatments. I researched. I read. I googled for days on end. All in the quest to clear my crazily broken out skin. And I think...I think...it's getting better.

This all started about a year ago when I came off of birth control and everything went CRAZY. I've always struggled with acne, but this was like nothing I've ever seen before. It was deep cystic acne under my skin. And it was all over my body. I'm not kidding. I don't want to over share, but seriously. It was out of control. So at first I thought, maybe my body is just readjusting to coming off of birth control and my hormones just need time to regulate themselves. Well nine months later, things were still crazy. And I mean embarrassingly crazy. I try not to be super vain, but like I couldn't wear some short sleeve shirts because of the acne on my arms. Ugh.

Why, you might ask yourself, didn't I see a dermatologist during this time? Well I have seen them throughout my teen years. I've tried all the creams and antibiotics and I knew they would just stick me back on birth control or acutane. And let me tell you one thing. I will do a lot of things and endure a lot of bad acne before I'll go on acutane. I can't believe they even prescribe that anymore. Ridiculous. Ok don't get me started. Anyway. Let's just say the side effects outweigh the benefits.

So this summer I started putting two and two together that maybe my diet really could be effecting my skin and I still really believed that part of my acne was hormonal. So I cut out most of the sugar from my diet. And I also cut out most dairy. That was REALLY difficult. I love milk like you wouldn't believe, but I found out that most cows (even organic ones) are milked when they're pregnant. HELLO! Hormone disruption! And did you know that even organic cows live in confinement sitting in manure?! Ew! Just because it's organic doesn't mean it's good for you. I learned that from Kelly the Kitchen Kop. She'll be talking about it in her Real Food for Rookies Class. Ok I'm done plugging now. So when trying to find milk that's good for you go for raw milk and grass fed beef. To eat grass they have to roam. I'm still learning, but I know that much. Also, a lot of people are allergic to milk and don't know it, but do better with raw milk.

Anyway...cutting out dairy and sugar has seemed to help. If I could find raw milk I would start to work it back into my diet to see how my skin did. I haven't found a provider close by yet. It's kind of a big deal (maybe illegal?) to sell it I think. The FDA is not down with it, even though it's way better for you. Listen about raw milk here. Anyone know where to get any in or around Birmingham? Email me!

Like I said, I went to see a doctor who will do some more natural things, but she does conventional things as well. She tried to put me on an antibiotic. I'm not really a fan, but she said I should just take it around the times of the month my acne flares up. I'm still trying/deciding about that. We're also working on getting my hormone levels back to where they should be, so I'm on something that lowers my testosterone levels. I'm getting my levels tested again in December and I hope then that they will be where they should be and I can come off of the medicine. She also tested my vitamin levels and put me on some super charged vitamins that are really helping my energy levels and I think they're helping my skin too. We also figured out I have rosacea, and she said all her patients with rosacea have low B vitamin levels, so we're hoping the super B vitamins help with that.

I also changed my skin care routine. I read about Hemp Hemp Hooray on High on Health and let me tell you how amazing this stuff is. Oh my goodness. First of all it just smells delicious and I know that's not what we're after here. We want clear skin, but really it smells gooood. Ok back to the skin care benefits. It has all natural organic ingredients from Australia including lime and hemp oils. It just feels good and cleans your skin without drying it out. And then the Skin Soothe cream. Aaahh. It's like a treat for my skin every morning and night. It feels so good and really does calm down the redness and inflammation that's there. I think it's helping with the rosacea just as well as the prescription cream. The doctor also put me on clindamycin pads. Kinda like oxy 10 pads, remember those? They're kinda intense, but I think they really help with the acne on my chin and I only use them once a day.

So where am I now? Most days it's really manageable and way better. It's nowhere like it used to be. I still have occasional moderate acne, mostly on my chin and I think there are still some hormonal flare ups (around my period) and when I don't eat as well as I should that it gets worse. I also think that not managing my stress well can send me into a break out in no time. But it is nothing like what it used to be. The all over body acne is gone. It's not as cystic, deep and painful. I feel like I'm taking better care of my skin and my body as a whole. And I feel better about it because I feel like I'm not having to rely on birth control (putting more hormones in my body) to control my skin.

Without having gone through that painful (physically and emotionally) period, I don't think I would have learned how to eat real food and about the connection between eating real food and feeling and looking great. My skin keeps me accountable with eating real food and for that I'm grateful. Otherwise, I'm not sure I could always stick to it on a consistent basis.

So if you're struggling with acne, investigate the causes. Try cutting out certain foods and see how it goes. Check out High on Health. She's got a lot of great info. And feel free to share your tips here too! I always want to know more about how other people are caring for their bodies!

And remember, you're beautiful! Treat yourself that way!

This post is a part of Fight Back Friday at Food Renegade.

Sugar Relapses and the Lessons We Learn

Shwoo...it's been a while. There was the whole hand injury and the start of school and if you know me, you know that takes over my whole being. It was all wake up, go to work, come home, be barely coherent, eat, go to sleep for a few days. I'm adjusted now. I think...No really I do feel like my body is adjusting and I'm getting my energy back up. I'm taking some suped up vitamins that I got from my doctor. It turns out my B & D vitamin levels were low and so I got some pharmaceutical grade vitamins and man I can tell a difference. They really perk me up. It's amazing how you feel when you have the right amount of nutrients in your system. :)

So this week I've been really craving sugar. I had been doing really well. No soda or sweet tea. Only things with real sources of sugar in them (honey, maple syrup and cane sugar, rarely) and then this week it was outta control. I'm not sure if it's PMS or stress. I think my body craves carbs and sugar when I'm stressed. I also heard if you're not getting enough full fats you can crave refined carbs, but I made some biscuits this week that would give most people a heart attack (lots of butter and buttermilk) so I'm not sure that's it.

 Anyway, yesterday was a shameful day in terms of eating real food. There may have been a Mtn. Dew, a candy bar and some cookie dough involved (all the while looking at my husband, telling him not to judge me) and almost immediately I felt horrible, physically. I mean really. And then I felt awful for the rest of the day. It was hard to go to sleep because my stomach hurt. So it served as a good reminder that there were tons of reasons why I started eating real food only, but the one that trumps them all was that I just wanted to feel better and I feel like crap when I eat crap. The end.

So there's a new online cooking class available called Real Food for Rookies by Kelly the Kitchen Kop. Her blog is awesome and from what I've heard about this class, it sounds awesome. I think I'm definitely going to do it. I feel like I've learned a lot about real food, but there are still things that are overwhelming and it sounds like this class will help sort some of those things out, like how to prepare quick, real food dinners, and how to talk to farmer's market vendors without offending them. I always hate asking about pesticides! Anyway, you should sign up if you're feeling overwhelmed by all the real food info!

Check out the top 10 reasons to do it here:




Hope everyone is having a great weekend! I'm making bread today! Time to go cover myself in flour and knead!

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Disclaimer: If you sign up for the e-course from the link above I do get a little kickback.

This post is a part of Fight Back Friday at Food Renegade.

Diets

Something that has concerned me recently with some of the girls I teach is the number of them that say they are dieting. Now, listen. I know our country is headed down a road to obesity, but the girls I'm talking about are healthy, growing girls and some of them are teeny, tiny, not needing to lose weight. So why isn't a beautiful healthy 15 year old girl enjoying her life and the food around her? Why is she preoccupied with weight when she's still a child?

I have a few theories. Don't get me started on the media and what it does to our girls. They can barely go anywhere or do anything without seeing some unrealistic, airbrushed version of an unauthentic woman everywhere they look. No wonder our perception of thin and beauty is just a little bit skewed. Then you add to that the fact that most girls' dads' are too checked out to affirm them anyway and we've got one big messed up generation.

Outside of the emotional aspect of this, and it's a big one, I don't think anyone is teaching our kids how or what to eat. I am just now learning how to eat real food and real food only. How has this simple concept become so difficult and so far fetched for so many people? In another recent dieting conversation with a former student, I was talking to her about how she didn't need to diet. She just needs to eat real food. I recited the advice from Jillian Michaels: If it doesn't have a mother or doesn't come from the ground, don't eat it. I think this really made her stop and think. But IT WORKS. When I started eating real food, I got back to my healthy weight, naturally. I don't work out a ton. I try to get a good amount of activity and my job is very active, but seriously in about a month, the excess weight fell off because I wasn't putting a ton of excess trash in my body. I'm still working out some of the kinks, but it's really getting easier the longer I do it and my tastes are changing to appreciate less sugar and more savory things.

I wish I could help other people get this. It hurts to see people struggle with meal replacements and dieting strategies because I have been there and it's so frustrating! But it's simple, there is food God intended for us to eat and crap He didn't create for us to eat. If we eat the crap, we will look like we've eaten crap. End of story. But I guess a lot of this, like most things, is about want to, and wanting to eat good things for my general health got me started on this train. Then I fell off for a while. Then, wanting the best for my health and wanting to feel good again got me back on again. Then I fell off again. Then, wanting my skin to clear got me back on. Now my skin is doing ok and I think I'm on for good. It took me really wanting to give up the crap for my best interests to stick with it. And once I did, it was worth it.

Hopefully, the more people start to talk about real food and blog about real food, the more society will realize that it's just better to eat real food. I really hope my kids can get that so they don't have to struggle for years with "diet" drinks and foods trying to be satisfied with what's not really satisfying.

A New Favorite- Naan Bread Pizza

When my husband and I were trying to work more vegetable into our meals and I was having a hard time getting used to it because I didn't always enjoy vegetables, (I know, horrible, but true) he came up with this amazing meal that I now absolutely love, love, love.

We take a piece of garlic naan bread (bought pre-made from Publix, but we're working on getting some from the Indian store or making our own), baste it with extra virgin olive oil, put cut up cooked chicken, cut up white onion (small pieces), red bell pepper, whatever kind of cheese we have in the fridge, grated and Zahtar seasoning. I know you're thinking, "What the heck?" or at least I was. We got it from World Market, but I'm sure any seasonings that you like and that go with these foods would do. Then we bake this all on a cookie sheet at 375 until the cheese is melted and it's a little brown.

And here you have one of my new favorite meals. So flavorfully, amazingly, wonderful. Oh I love it.

Yes, we can all agree my photography skills need a little work, but you get the idea. Also, try to ignore the fact that I had already cut it into four pieces. I was hungry and ready to eat. Just be glad I stopped long enough to take a picture.   =)    Mmmm.....

Culinary Progress

It's been a while. I went out of town for a conference for work and it was great! So informative. They had awesome keynote speakers that talked about working with at risk kids and helped get me from that place in the summer where I think, no way can I go back to work to, yes I can do it and want to do it again. So it was great. We talked about drug trends among teenagers, teenage dating trends, how to talk to kids about dating and drugs, creating a positive culture at your school or in your organization, teen killers and other warm fuzzy things like that. That last topic was heavy and scary, but very informative and necessary in the society we're now living and teaching in.

Eating well proved to be a little difficult while I was gone. Access to whole foods was low as was my will power. And I decided beating myself up for falling off the wagon for a week was not really necessary. My body already felt bad physically enough. I could really tell the difference. It was VERY noticeable. But I'm settled now again and trying to get back into the groove.

I made my first two loaves of homemade bread this past weekend. It was work, but it was manageable. I felt very capable when I was finished. Here's a picture of me actually rolling dough! I've never done that before in my life. I had to go buy a rolling pin in the middle of the whole rising process.

And the finished product!

YAY! It was really yummy! I used a recipe from Musings of a Housewife and it turned out great even though I didn't have the all purpose flour. I think I'll try it with that next time. It's a mostly whole wheat recipe.

In other culinary feats, yesterday I roasted my first chicken. I looked at various suggestions online for what to do, but ended up slicing up a lemon and putting 3 slices inside the cavity and stuffing 3 inside the skin. Then I used 6 cloves of garlic and did the same thing I did with the lemon slices, (3 in the cavity, 3 in the skin) and then I took some dried tyme and sprinkled some inside the bird and some inside the chicken and used some to season the outside. Then, I salted and peppered that bad boy like there was no tomorrow. :)

Here's the little guy going in:

I roasted him at 325 for about 2 hours until the thickest part of the thigh was 180. And because I'm not very experienced with blogging about food, and also because I was fixing pasta at the time it came out of the oven, I forgot to take an after picture. But I can tell you that it was DELICIOUS. The skin was crispy. The meat was so juicy and flavorful, and my husband who is waayyyy more experienced in the culinary arts than I am kept telling me how much he loved it. I think that counts for something.

We had this with spaghetti tossed in pecorino romano cheese and spinach (recipe from Skinny Italian, great book). I was really satisfied with my dinner preparation last night. Before you think I sound a little proud of myself, a.) I am because cooking is still way new to me and the fact that I planned and pulled this off mostly by myself still surprises me and b.) it's not so much cocky pride as it is wonderment that I can actually do semi-not super easy things in the kitchen. I feel very capable in the kitchen and willing to keep trying new things. I'm really enjoying cooking this week. And that, ladies and gentlemen, is a breakthrough. Hallelujah.

Cooking

Cooking is not my forte. I didn't grow up learning or loving to cook and God blessed me with a husband who loves to cook. So I, naturally, haven't killed myself to learn. I also was surrounded by boys who would make jokes like, "Woman, get in the kitchen and make me a pie." And I think, actually I know, things like this stuck with me and I have a really hard time with feeling like I should have to know how to cook just because I'm a girl. So for all of those reasons combined, I haven't really invested in learning how to cook. I can bake when I really want to. And I have learned how to do basic things from watching my hubby, but I've never really had ownership or passion for it.

Enter my new pursuit of all whole and unprocessed foods and this fabulous e-course that followed and I think I've found a new passion and ownership for cooking! You can still sign up if you're interested.

This morning I made scones, the first recipe I've tried from the e-course. They were whole wheat and made from scratch. It was kinda intense, but I was proud of myself. Next week we're doing made from scratch sour-dough bread. I can't wait! And I found this online to help me move forward in my bread making ventures.


I cannot wait to use it!!! Don't worry. I'll take pictures of the real thing when it gets here, along with my hopefully successful bread. I've decided that I want to make bread at home from now on because the fresh bread at the store is EXPENSIVE and the bread that's not fresh has a bunch of crap in it that we don't need to be eating. So that's how I justified the mixer purchase, but I got it on ebay for a great deal! Here's to lots of fresh bread and more fresh cooking!

Eating Fresh

In everything I've been learning lately about eating whole foods everyone says it's super important to eat local foods because really the food you're buying at the grocery store was picked several days ago, probably before it was ripe, and trucked across the country or internationally and then sent to your local store, and in that process it lost a lot of its nutrients, by the way. Case in point, my ORGANIC grapes from Whole Foods are from Mexico. Really? I mean I know Alabama isn't the best grape growing climate, but Mexico? I can't get at least some grapes from the U.S.? While we're on the grape subject I would like to say there are some wineries in Alabama  and one of my friends has a very successful grape vine. I'm just sayin. Aaanyway, I've been trying to find more local food lately. Birmingham does have some impressive farmer's markets. I have to give it credit for that.

source

Today we headed down to Pepper Place, an awesome farmer's market that happens every Saturday downtown.  They have people from farms from all over central Alabama. They also have artists, musicians, chef demonstrations and people who bring the cutest dogs you have ever seen. It's really fun. So we went and we perused. Andrew got some lemongrass and he was so excited. We use that a lot to put in Thai recipes. Well let's back that up and correct it, he uses it in Thai recipes. I don't cook Thai food really. I think it's cool that he cooks it and then I eat it. I was happy the other day when I made a successful omelet. This e-course I'm taking is very needed, let's just say. :)

The only frustrating thing about the market was you couldn't tell whose produce was organic and whose wasn't. I know, I can use my mouth and ask people. I did that the other day at a smaller market I went to and I felt like I had personally offended the woman and then felt like I had to defend my need to ask her about whether or not she uses pesticides on her plants. I wish I could get over the pesticides thing. Well, I guess I just wish there weren't pesticides. I just can't get over knowing what they do to my body and eat something knowing they're there. My hormones are so out of whack and I'm exhausted a lot and I know a lot of that is caused by my diet and lifestyle the last 9 months, but I think what we eat or not guarding the chemicals on our food and in our food is part of that. I just can't get over it.

And let's face it, trying to eat fresh and locally is frustrating. I just want to eat like my ancestors did. I want to eat whole foods that were grown from the ground (without toxic chemicals sprayed on them!) or animals that were not given hormones to make them so big they can't stand up. I'm so glad I've learned everything I have to change the way I eat, but it's overwhelming and it's difficult and expensive at times. I'm not giving up and I totally think it's worth it, but I just needed to express that it's confusing and frustrating that it's cheaper and more convenient to eat out of a box from the store than to eat from a local farmer. When did that happen? Probably sometime before I was born. Ok I'm done complaining now.

I just needed to get that out. We will press on and keep trying to eat local, whole, sustainable foods without hormones or pesticides. And I will eat less sugar and more vegetables! Amen? Amen!

Food for Healing

I've had skin problems since I was a teenager. It started with mild acne and was mildly annoying. I went on birth control to help with the severity of my periods and that helped. Then last summer when I came off of birth control (because my periods did get better, I'll post about that later) my skin went CRAZY. I mean out-of-control. I had horrible cystic acne all over the top half of my body. I know, gross. And hey, give me some credit for my vulnerability here. So I put two and two together and figured it had to be hormonal acne because it happened when I came off of birth control. 

So yes I could just keep taking birth control if I wanted a fast cure, but that's really just treating the symptom of my unbalanced hormones. And I would like to balance my hormones naturally through food if possible, or natural supplements. I don't want to keep taking pills adding hormones and adding to my hormone imbalance when I could work to fix this and let my body do what it's supposed to naturally. I want my body to do what it was meant to do. And yes I do believe in conventional medicine when necessary. I take allergy medicine when I'm sneezy and I couldn't live without sudafed when I'm sick, although I'd love natural remedies for allergies and stuffiness. I just don't want to have to take a bunch of extra added hormones for the next however long to treat my acne. I would rather figure out how to eat well and figure out what's going on in my body that's causing it to go crazy on my skin. 

So...I've been researching and I found a few things. The first website I found that deals with acne naturally was The Cellulite Investigation. This is a great blog whose primary aim is to investigate cellulite, but the writer did struggle with acne that she was getting from the fluoride in her water. She writes about it in the previous link I gave to the blog. It's worth looking at if you struggle with acne. I knew my acne was hormonal though and my acne has only been cystic twice in my life, once on a b.c. pill I had a bad reaction too and when I came off b.c.

Then, I found this. And I was so relieved. I mean so relieved. I researched online for days before I came across this website. Or really I guess it's a blog. And I know you shouldn't believe everything you read, but this girl struggled with acne for 3 years and she's my age. Her blog is her story of her struggle with acne and her quest to treat it naturally through diet and how she figured out how to do that. She did see a medical doctor at the same time, but she also writes about the negative side effects of accutane and proactiv, which was interesting because I'm too scared to try accutane (side effects) and proactiv always stops working on me after a certain period, which she writes about! She has a 7 step e-course you can download (for free!) and a book you can download ($27). And she also recommends skin care, but you can only get it in Australia, where she is from. 

All in all I found the information in the course really helpful. Some of it I knew from some of the other stuff I've been reading lately, but it was a great reminder that what we put in our bodies has to come out. And if we're eating a lot of processed food, our bodies have to get the toxins out, and our livers and colons (I knew, ew) can only do so much, and then eventually it comes out of our skin. She also talks about stress causing acne, which I can totally see. It will be interesting to see that if during my low stress summer state, I have any clearing of the skin. :) 

So, if you struggle with acne, I really encourage you to check out http://www.highonhealth.org/. I think it's full of great information for health in general, especially for those of us who want to clear our skin naturally. I'm going to try all of this (eating non-processed foods, low sugar, managing stress better, natural skin care, getting my hormones tested) for three months to see if it works. And I may have to ride a bumpy skin road while I wait it out, but that's ok because we all know that our worth does not lie in what our skin looks like. Ok good. I need to say that as much for myself as for others. :)

This post is a part of Fight Back Friday at Food Renegade.


Oh and UPDATE from the last post: Sugar Cravings: It's getting better the longer I'm away from it. I got some more fruit and that's helped (mmm...cherries). And the more I tell myself that if I'm eating a ton of processed sugar, I'm making it worse for my skin, that really helps! So I feel like I'm making progress! And I got a smoothie at Whole Foods yesterday and I actually thought it was too sweet! Can you believe that?! I was shocked at myself! I think the sugar addiction may be starting to leave. Yay!

whole foods (not the store) although I love the store

Probably two years ago my husband and I came across this book. It totally changed the way we viewed food. We sort of followed the plan in this book for a couple of months (mostly veggies, very little meat, less dairy, more water, green smoothies, less sugar) and we both lost some weight and noticed we felt remarkably better.

But then we realized that while some of the things in the book may be right, they just weren't practical. For instance, this girl cannot live in a world without cheese and chocolate. I mean really. So then we tried to do it in moderation. Then we fell pretty much all the way off the wagon...and for the last few months we've been trying to get back.

I've been very convicted over the last year or so to live a very whole, natural life with a  whole diet and natural exercise (whole foods, yoga). So I've been trying to eat a diet full of veggies, fruits and whole grains because I think this is the best way to go from everything I've read and seen. I think during the times when I've eaten less meat, I've felt better and my body has functioned better. This does not mean I'm a full fledged vegetarian. I just think for me, less meat works better. I could never give up my eggs and milk though. Never.

So I've been reading some good blogs about eating whole foods. There are a lot of great ones!
The Nourished Life
Nourishing Days
Musings of a Housewife
Food Renegade
And a lot more...
They're encouraging. They keep me up to date with what's important and what's healthy. And they remind me why I try to eat healthy, why I spend more money for organic stuff, why I buy "weirdo hippy" stuff, why it's important to me.

Today's most recent conviction from Musings of a Housewife is to cut out more sugar. It's just not good for us and it along with all the other processed food our country is addicted to and self medicating with is why we're the fattest nation in the world.

So I continue to trek down this road of trying to eat healthily and live more naturally...A few fun things we got this weekend at Organic Harvest in Hoover.
 um yes please!                hello!

And I got a Neti Pot! We'll see how it goes and hope I don't drown! Wish me luck!

quitting the bloat

In my quest to be healthy I've thought about giving up sodas for a long time, considered it, pondered, and then been horrified and wondered how I would get through a day of 150+ teenagers sans diet dew. But my addiction has become pretty heavy this school year. I have one soda every morning to get the day started. Then one following lunch and sometimes another after that. All of that caffeine and fake sugar cannot be good for my body. Plus I think it's making me more bloated and I doubt it's helping the migraine problem.

Now,I am always talking about eating whole foods. I am seriously convicted about this EXCEPT when I have my 3 sodas a day. (hypocrite).   :) whoops. Then I read an article about how sodas lead to premature aging in your bones and tissues because over the last 10-20 years they have been adding more phosphorous and phosphorous leads to bone and muscle deterioration. So in my efforts to keep all things in my life healthy and whole, why not stop the sodas (for the most part) now? I mean really? I can have coffee or tea in the mornings and I don't need all of that caffeine anyway. So I started and it's been almost a week. And I haven't died or spontaneously combusted. 

What has made it easy? Amazing coffee. Ugly Mug from TN.

I mean seriously, this coffee makes me sigh and say, mmmm...And there are several foods and drinks that make me do that in all fairness, but they have to be really good. I love holding my warm mug with this in it. I could never drink soda ever again for this stuff. I think I'll make some soon. Mmm... Ok anyway, and Izze natural sodas. They're natural fruit juice with sparkling water, so no soda junk. Just fruit juice, water and a little fizz. Yum!

So I think at least for this week, I've kicked the soda cans to the curb! We'll see how it goes! Wish me suerte! (luck)