Usually my fiance and I do just about everything together; cooking, cleaning, shopping, running errands, laundry, and even a bit of car work (handing him wrenches and paper towels counts, right?). But today is a "you do your chores and I'll do mine" kind of day.
One of the best things I learned from an etiquette column was in response to a woman whose husband refused to write thank-you notes for birthday gifts he recieve. The columnist answered "Whatever happened to 'You do your chores, I'll do mine' ?" Suggesting that this woman should write the guests of the party she threw for her husband, thanking them for attending and also dropping a line in about how much her husband loves the gift. After all, there are different things that men and women are expected to do.
Now don't get me wrong, I consider myself progressive! But after
carefully observing and reading about the differences between men and
women, it has become clear that there are certain things that women are more
inclined to do--like the dishes--that men will most definitely forget. Then there are certain things that would drive a woman nuts if she had to deal with that a man can tackle with a little crumbling and
cursing but will feel so amazing after it's over; like fixing the car
(which is precisely what Garrison's task is today).
So my plan for today is to write thank-you's for our Christmas presents, clean the apartment and then zone out on some piece of cardio equipment whilst watching a tv movie.
In other news, I tossed my charred toast and didn't feel too sorry about it. And yes. I ate way too much crap at the party anyhow. I've also mapped out my Master Cleanse ease-in. Today my diet shall be "normal" but I'm basically cleaning up the leftover perishables and procuring raw fruits and veggies for the next couple of days. The day before the cleanse, I plan to drink smoothies and juices.
Saturday, I will start the Master Cleanse or "lemonade diet," as some call it. "Diet" is somewhat of a dirty word to me. It makes me think of punishment and a lot of low-calorie, yet highly-processed foods. Diets are meant to help you lose weight but not become healthy. Cleansing is meant to rid your body of toxins and thereby help you become more healthy. Weight loss is an inevitable side bonus since what you consume in the cleanse is limited to your "main course" of a lemon juice, water, maple syrup, cayenne cocktail plus herbal laxative tea, a salt water flush, and all the filtered water you can drink.
I did this cleanse last year in February and blogged about it. I'm interested in seeing the similarities between 2012's and 2013's. I didn't ease-in last time so I hope to see some major differences.
I'm using these two days off to get some cleaning done. I started with the fridge and now it is immaculate! But alas I don't have a picture to share because the camera went with my fiance to document some car work. I will put it up later so stay tuned!
Monday, December 31, 2012
Sunday, December 30, 2012
Away from my kitchen!
For Christmas, my fiance's family decided that we needed to be ripped away from the comforts of our kitchen for an entire seven days filled with outdoor winter activities and tons of processed food. Also, that my desire to eat whole foods needed to be mocked.
Wow, that sounded a little harsh didn't it?
Okay, I'll admit not all the food we ate was processed since a lot of it was from classy restaurants. I wasn't mocked either. It was merely suggested by the future Physician's Assistant that antioxidants could help undo the damage caused by the free radicals released by the heat treated vegetable oil that inevitably makes its way into foods we eat. And I did my fair share of dishing it out when I suggested my future father in law could attribute his hair loss to the rapeseed oil in his beloved Skippy peanut butter.
So let me try again.
In your own kitchen, you very much have control over the methods in which your food is prepared. In someone else's kitchen, even if you're given a touch of free reign, not so much. In your own town you also know the right place to shop in order to find the foods you prefer to eat. I've never appreciated Wegmans more! Absence makes the heart grow fonder, they say.
But I have returned home to my lovely canisters filled with brown stuff and my cute little Frenchy in which I meticulously brew delicious coffee meant for the sophisticated addict's taste buds.
I won't rehash every detail of my trip but I will tell you I'm excited for my extreme recovery after the period of moderate indulgence.
My man's youngest brother bought two bagels from the grocery store the other night and after two days of them sitting in a paper bag and a 3.5 hour car trip, he decided he didn't want them. "I'm wasteful," he said. I appreciated his honesty. I, however, am not wasteful. Alas. I don't eat white bagels. Or at least I declare I don't until I accidentally do.
It just so happens that I'm attending a party this afternoon so I thought I'd put these bad boys to good use. I cut through their stale crusts and made small bruschetta toast size pieces. I figured they would be tasty to the average palette if I tossed them with herbs and oil and toasted them. So I did like I did when I make bruschetta. Well not quite. I usually brush on dried herbs, fresh garlic and olive oil. But this dish is for a party, not for me.
So I dumped on about 2/3 cup of canola oil (because it needs to be removed from my cabinet but I HATE wasting things I mistakenly spent money on) over the slices and added a spice blend I never use.
is what came out of the oven after 8 minutes. No, those darker ones are not a pumpernickel variety. Now I'm going to see about salvaging the ones which were not burnt and supplementing my dish with something else.Oh! I almost forgot to mention that these are intended to be topped with a hot pepper jelly whose first ingredient is sugar. Gotta get rid of it somehow, right?
I've yet to work out all the details of my recovery but I know at least it will involve an all-organic, vegan ease-in to the Master Cleanse and a similar ease out with some (hopefully) permanent changes.Wish me luck!
Wow, that sounded a little harsh didn't it?
Okay, I'll admit not all the food we ate was processed since a lot of it was from classy restaurants. I wasn't mocked either. It was merely suggested by the future Physician's Assistant that antioxidants could help undo the damage caused by the free radicals released by the heat treated vegetable oil that inevitably makes its way into foods we eat. And I did my fair share of dishing it out when I suggested my future father in law could attribute his hair loss to the rapeseed oil in his beloved Skippy peanut butter.
So let me try again.
In your own kitchen, you very much have control over the methods in which your food is prepared. In someone else's kitchen, even if you're given a touch of free reign, not so much. In your own town you also know the right place to shop in order to find the foods you prefer to eat. I've never appreciated Wegmans more! Absence makes the heart grow fonder, they say.
But I have returned home to my lovely canisters filled with brown stuff and my cute little Frenchy in which I meticulously brew delicious coffee meant for the sophisticated addict's taste buds.
 |
| This is what wooden spoons look like when they haven't been used for a week. WHO KNEW!?!?!? |
I won't rehash every detail of my trip but I will tell you I'm excited for my extreme recovery after the period of moderate indulgence.
My man's youngest brother bought two bagels from the grocery store the other night and after two days of them sitting in a paper bag and a 3.5 hour car trip, he decided he didn't want them. "I'm wasteful," he said. I appreciated his honesty. I, however, am not wasteful. Alas. I don't eat white bagels. Or at least I declare I don't until I accidentally do.
It just so happens that I'm attending a party this afternoon so I thought I'd put these bad boys to good use. I cut through their stale crusts and made small bruschetta toast size pieces. I figured they would be tasty to the average palette if I tossed them with herbs and oil and toasted them. So I did like I did when I make bruschetta. Well not quite. I usually brush on dried herbs, fresh garlic and olive oil. But this dish is for a party, not for me.
So I dumped on about 2/3 cup of canola oil (because it needs to be removed from my cabinet but I HATE wasting things I mistakenly spent money on) over the slices and added a spice blend I never use.
Maybe I'm recalling incorrectly. I thought when I did the brushed-on olive oil method that I left my toasts in a 450 degree oven for a good 10-15 minutes. Well since these slices were, like, totally soaked in canola oil...
THIS
is what came out of the oven after 8 minutes. No, those darker ones are not a pumpernickel variety. Now I'm going to see about salvaging the ones which were not burnt and supplementing my dish with something else.Oh! I almost forgot to mention that these are intended to be topped with a hot pepper jelly whose first ingredient is sugar. Gotta get rid of it somehow, right?
I've yet to work out all the details of my recovery but I know at least it will involve an all-organic, vegan ease-in to the Master Cleanse and a similar ease out with some (hopefully) permanent changes.Wish me luck!
Tuesday, November 20, 2012
Pumpkin
I was given a gift. A very large gift. A large round, orange gift that probably weighed a good 12lbs or more.
Finally! I get to accomplish my goal of making a pumpkin pie! Like... you know, from a real pumpkin instead of a can!
Ok, so it's not a "pie pumpkin" as they say...the smaller round looking ones are better for pie because of the fibers or something. Pshaw. A pumpkin is pumpkin to me. If Cinderella's fairy Godmother can turn it into a carriage, I'll turn it into a pie.
So also bought myself a new camera and took some pics of said pumpkin. I don't have my card with me so I'll upload pics later. I didn't as many progress pics but I'm working on the whole food-tography thing.
Anyhow here are the steps I used to process my pumpkin.
1) Sharpen knife for a few minutes.
2) Have your fiancee slice the damn thing into 12ths.
3) Scoop out the stringy things and the seeds and set in a bowl. An ice cream scoop worked very well for this.
4) Arrange the sections of pumpkin on a baking tray and roast in a 300F oven for one to one and a half hours.
5) While that's roasting, add water to your seed and string bowl play in the slime, pulling the seeds (which should float) away from the strings (which kind of sink).
6) Pour the strings and water into a pan on the stove and bring to a boil. Reduce and simmer for 45 minutes. Strain and reserve your PUMPKIN BROTH!!!
7) The pumpkin meat slices in the oven should be tender. Some of mine had pools of what looked like water on the surface. So I dragged my finger through it and took a taste. It wasn't water, it was oil! And it was sweet! I picked up the slice and there was all this gorgeous oil resting at the bottom of my baking sheet! What I didn't lick up stayed in the pan.
8) After the pumpkin slices cool, get the ice cream scoop back out and scoop the cooked meat into a food processor or blender. Wear earplugs.
9) Puree until smooth.
Our pumpkin yielded about 21 cups, including the raw meat. We were definitely cycling the oven for a few hours with slices, one tray at a time. This is very much a weekend project.
I also tossed the seeds with the oil plus salt and pepper and toasted them. I ended up having to add olive oil but still I thought it was pretty friggin cool that I could the pumpkin's own oil to cook its seeds!
Now I get to cook with all my puree! So far I've made pumpkin pie oatmeal and a pumpkin smoothie. More on those with a later post!
Finally! I get to accomplish my goal of making a pumpkin pie! Like... you know, from a real pumpkin instead of a can!
Ok, so it's not a "pie pumpkin" as they say...the smaller round looking ones are better for pie because of the fibers or something. Pshaw. A pumpkin is pumpkin to me. If Cinderella's fairy Godmother can turn it into a carriage, I'll turn it into a pie.
So also bought myself a new camera and took some pics of said pumpkin. I don't have my card with me so I'll upload pics later. I didn't as many progress pics but I'm working on the whole food-tography thing.
Anyhow here are the steps I used to process my pumpkin.
1) Sharpen knife for a few minutes.
2) Have your fiancee slice the damn thing into 12ths.
3) Scoop out the stringy things and the seeds and set in a bowl. An ice cream scoop worked very well for this.
4) Arrange the sections of pumpkin on a baking tray and roast in a 300F oven for one to one and a half hours.
5) While that's roasting, add water to your seed and string bowl play in the slime, pulling the seeds (which should float) away from the strings (which kind of sink).
6) Pour the strings and water into a pan on the stove and bring to a boil. Reduce and simmer for 45 minutes. Strain and reserve your PUMPKIN BROTH!!!
7) The pumpkin meat slices in the oven should be tender. Some of mine had pools of what looked like water on the surface. So I dragged my finger through it and took a taste. It wasn't water, it was oil! And it was sweet! I picked up the slice and there was all this gorgeous oil resting at the bottom of my baking sheet! What I didn't lick up stayed in the pan.
8) After the pumpkin slices cool, get the ice cream scoop back out and scoop the cooked meat into a food processor or blender. Wear earplugs.
9) Puree until smooth.
Our pumpkin yielded about 21 cups, including the raw meat. We were definitely cycling the oven for a few hours with slices, one tray at a time. This is very much a weekend project.
I also tossed the seeds with the oil plus salt and pepper and toasted them. I ended up having to add olive oil but still I thought it was pretty friggin cool that I could the pumpkin's own oil to cook its seeds!
Now I get to cook with all my puree! So far I've made pumpkin pie oatmeal and a pumpkin smoothie. More on those with a later post!
Thursday, November 15, 2012
Sugar
I accepted a challenge to go 3 days out of a week without consuming any form of sugar except for fruit. I was successful for ONE WHOLE DAY! I had intended to do 3 consecutive days but by day 2...well, I folded.
I realized that I probably haven't gone too many days in my life without some form of added sugar (including, honey, maple, etc). Even in the days of yore when I was eating as healthy as I knew how to, I was still consuming tons of sugar-in my daily "healthy" Slim Fast shake and in my daily yogurt and granola parfait. Plus I was eating Peter Pan peanut butter by the pound and had a pb&j sandwich (not the kind I make now) pretty much daily.
So even at my skinniest, I've been a sugar-monger.
My wonderful Fiancee reminded me this morning of a memory I shared with him while ago. Back in 6th grade, I used to make a box mix of brownies every Friday night for my school lunches the following week. I'd package one for each day, set one aside for my mom who was teaching piano in the front room and then the rest would come to the family room at the back of the house where I'd gobble them up while watching teenybopper sitcoms. By the time I was done, my dad would come back from work. I may have saved one or 2 for him as well. Because you know...the consuming carbs in front of the tv was a habit I picked up from him after all!
Why he decided to bring this up over a steaming hot bowl of steel cut oats seasoned with nutmeg, cocoa powder, raisins and peanut butter baffles me. And made me sad. Why did my parents allow me to do this? Sure I was thin but I was eleven and a dancer!
Friday nights when I was in 7th and 8th grade were my choreography nights. I'd brew up a huge pitcher of orange tea into which I'd dump like a cup of sugar and dance until I was too tired or making too much noise for my parents to sleep.
My sophomore year of high school, after dance team practice I'd come home and help myself to a plate or two of cookies from the freezer left over from my mom's piano recital. Ah yes this was accompanied by a diet pop (I grew up in Ohio, ok). This is when it really started to catch up with me. By then end of my sophomore year, I was not skinny anymore!
Not to get all boo-hooey over my adolescence but I recall thinking that I was fat when I was 10. I looked at a 5th grade class photo when I was in high school and I said to my mom "I was so skinny! I thought I was fat!" Truth is I told myself I was fat because that was the negative self-talk I heard from my own dear mommy. I was always told I'm more like my mom and my brother was more like my dad. I do look a lot like my mom. I'm good with kids and a natural teacher.
But I love adventure! I like doing things outdoors- not all the time but occasionally. I love cooking, baking, and trying new things! I used to rip snails out of their shells and give their wriggling bodies to my grandpa to use as fishing bait. I enjoy (to some degree) helping Garrison work on the cars. I love raunchy humor and thought provoking theatre.
I'm really not exactly like my mom. I don't have to be! If/when I have children of my own, they don't have to be like me either but I HOPE HOPE HOPE I don't pass my bad habits down to them. I want to raise them to eat healthy and make good choices. Sure they might not follow everything I teach but I just want to know that if they turn out to be 25 and struggling with weight or body image that they can't turn around and point their finger at their mother.
I realized that I probably haven't gone too many days in my life without some form of added sugar (including, honey, maple, etc). Even in the days of yore when I was eating as healthy as I knew how to, I was still consuming tons of sugar-in my daily "healthy" Slim Fast shake and in my daily yogurt and granola parfait. Plus I was eating Peter Pan peanut butter by the pound and had a pb&j sandwich (not the kind I make now) pretty much daily.
So even at my skinniest, I've been a sugar-monger.
My wonderful Fiancee reminded me this morning of a memory I shared with him while ago. Back in 6th grade, I used to make a box mix of brownies every Friday night for my school lunches the following week. I'd package one for each day, set one aside for my mom who was teaching piano in the front room and then the rest would come to the family room at the back of the house where I'd gobble them up while watching teenybopper sitcoms. By the time I was done, my dad would come back from work. I may have saved one or 2 for him as well. Because you know...the consuming carbs in front of the tv was a habit I picked up from him after all!
Why he decided to bring this up over a steaming hot bowl of steel cut oats seasoned with nutmeg, cocoa powder, raisins and peanut butter baffles me. And made me sad. Why did my parents allow me to do this? Sure I was thin but I was eleven and a dancer!
Friday nights when I was in 7th and 8th grade were my choreography nights. I'd brew up a huge pitcher of orange tea into which I'd dump like a cup of sugar and dance until I was too tired or making too much noise for my parents to sleep.
My sophomore year of high school, after dance team practice I'd come home and help myself to a plate or two of cookies from the freezer left over from my mom's piano recital. Ah yes this was accompanied by a diet pop (I grew up in Ohio, ok). This is when it really started to catch up with me. By then end of my sophomore year, I was not skinny anymore!
Not to get all boo-hooey over my adolescence but I recall thinking that I was fat when I was 10. I looked at a 5th grade class photo when I was in high school and I said to my mom "I was so skinny! I thought I was fat!" Truth is I told myself I was fat because that was the negative self-talk I heard from my own dear mommy. I was always told I'm more like my mom and my brother was more like my dad. I do look a lot like my mom. I'm good with kids and a natural teacher.
But I love adventure! I like doing things outdoors- not all the time but occasionally. I love cooking, baking, and trying new things! I used to rip snails out of their shells and give their wriggling bodies to my grandpa to use as fishing bait. I enjoy (to some degree) helping Garrison work on the cars. I love raunchy humor and thought provoking theatre.
I'm really not exactly like my mom. I don't have to be! If/when I have children of my own, they don't have to be like me either but I HOPE HOPE HOPE I don't pass my bad habits down to them. I want to raise them to eat healthy and make good choices. Sure they might not follow everything I teach but I just want to know that if they turn out to be 25 and struggling with weight or body image that they can't turn around and point their finger at their mother.
Monday, November 12, 2012
For health or vanity?
I took a journey through Facebook last week and browsed a bunch of photos of me from my freshman year of college. Doing so made me feel terrible. How dare I torture myself so?
From my senior year of high school through my first summer after college, I lost 20-some pounds. I wanted to be thin because I thought a skinny figure was the missing piece of my success as a triple threat. In high school, I worked SO HARD to get the role I wanted. I made it my only ambition. I figured that since I was doing everything in my power to achieve my goals, I better lose some weight since I probably just don't have the right look.So I completely gave up all sweets and fried foods and had a Slim Fast shake for breakfast every day. I also exercised 5 days out of the week; Pilates, running, and light weights.
I got to college and kept up the habits whilst improving them some. I was still probably getting sugar and other processed ingredients but I was eating as healthy as I could to the best of my ability. I was also walking everywhere--on campus and off and never took the elevator to my 4th floor classes or my 4th floor dorm room.
I was looking HOT. But I started to take in my surroundings...people indulging in high fat or sugar foods....people taking the elevator or driving places...or not even bothering to get the Rec center for a regular workout. Yet these were theatre colleagues of mine who had no trouble landing a leading role in a play or musical. Or someone who was just a little chunky seemed well-liked by people anyway. This confused me.
I changed my habits in order to change the shape of my body in order to be a successful actress and be liked. When I look back on these days I have mixed feelings. I was thin but I certainly wasn't healthy- mentally or physically-- and I was looking for validation in all the wrong ways.
Right now on my diet of mostly organic whole foods, I haven't been sick in 9 months. I'd say with the exception of my occasional sugar or highly processed food binges (a different issue to address some other time), I'm pretty healthy! Well then why the obsession? I'm not thin.
When I was thin I had the vanity but not the healthy. Now I'd say I mostly have the health but not the vanity.
Forgive the lack of clever writing. I guess I've been mulling over this idea. I did not get what I wanted from being thin and engaging in behaviors that I thought were healthy. Since I know that such validation isn't available, even if I wanted, then why all the headache?
Plus I couldn't possibly duplicate the habits I had in college. I didn't drink alcohol at that time. I'll be damned if I'm going to deny myself wine and beer! The only dessert I ever ate was an espresso fudge brownie every other week from the campus Starbucks and now STARBUCKS DOESN'T EVEN HAVE THEM ANYMORE!! Everywhere I go is too far to walk, there aren't 4 flights of stairs at my leisure and DAMN IT, I go into work 8am Monday through Friday. There's no such thing as a 9am workout before my 11am class.
Sorry for the pity party...this weight loss thing is just too hard.
From my senior year of high school through my first summer after college, I lost 20-some pounds. I wanted to be thin because I thought a skinny figure was the missing piece of my success as a triple threat. In high school, I worked SO HARD to get the role I wanted. I made it my only ambition. I figured that since I was doing everything in my power to achieve my goals, I better lose some weight since I probably just don't have the right look.So I completely gave up all sweets and fried foods and had a Slim Fast shake for breakfast every day. I also exercised 5 days out of the week; Pilates, running, and light weights.
I got to college and kept up the habits whilst improving them some. I was still probably getting sugar and other processed ingredients but I was eating as healthy as I could to the best of my ability. I was also walking everywhere--on campus and off and never took the elevator to my 4th floor classes or my 4th floor dorm room.
I was looking HOT. But I started to take in my surroundings...people indulging in high fat or sugar foods....people taking the elevator or driving places...or not even bothering to get the Rec center for a regular workout. Yet these were theatre colleagues of mine who had no trouble landing a leading role in a play or musical. Or someone who was just a little chunky seemed well-liked by people anyway. This confused me.
I changed my habits in order to change the shape of my body in order to be a successful actress and be liked. When I look back on these days I have mixed feelings. I was thin but I certainly wasn't healthy- mentally or physically-- and I was looking for validation in all the wrong ways.
Right now on my diet of mostly organic whole foods, I haven't been sick in 9 months. I'd say with the exception of my occasional sugar or highly processed food binges (a different issue to address some other time), I'm pretty healthy! Well then why the obsession? I'm not thin.
When I was thin I had the vanity but not the healthy. Now I'd say I mostly have the health but not the vanity.
Forgive the lack of clever writing. I guess I've been mulling over this idea. I did not get what I wanted from being thin and engaging in behaviors that I thought were healthy. Since I know that such validation isn't available, even if I wanted, then why all the headache?
Plus I couldn't possibly duplicate the habits I had in college. I didn't drink alcohol at that time. I'll be damned if I'm going to deny myself wine and beer! The only dessert I ever ate was an espresso fudge brownie every other week from the campus Starbucks and now STARBUCKS DOESN'T EVEN HAVE THEM ANYMORE!! Everywhere I go is too far to walk, there aren't 4 flights of stairs at my leisure and DAMN IT, I go into work 8am Monday through Friday. There's no such thing as a 9am workout before my 11am class.
Sorry for the pity party...this weight loss thing is just too hard.
Wednesday, November 7, 2012
Monday, November 5, 2012
Package, restaurant, the ground
I visited my future in laws this weekend. They were powering their house on a generator and the internet was down until about 5pm on Saturday so I couldn't update as much. Here's my food Friday through Sunday as I can best recall:
Friday:
Breakfast: Oatmeal as usual.
Lunch: I had a turkey and black bean chilli for lunch with a few organic blue corn tortilla chips and hummus.
Afternoon: I DID NOT HAVE ANY CANDY!!! I’m so proud of myself. Except something very strange happened– I was very emotional/ angry. I started to think maybe the sugar has been like a drug for me and I was experiencing withdrawal symptoms. I believe I had a Larabar some time in the afternoon which is still a sugar because there's fruit in it but the nuts should slow down the absorption...so they say.
Dinner: A natural pb and organic fruit spread (no sugar added) sandwich on 100% whole wheat Wegmans bread (which has a pretty lengthy ingredient list). On the car ride down to the in laws I caved and had a handful of trail mix my fiancee made with nuts and candy.
Saturday:
Breakfast at 10am: Organic 100% whole wheat waffles ( my wonderful man did not add any sugar to batter) with real maple syrup and a slice of bacon and about 2oz of strawberry apple juice. I usually only eat 3 of my waffle squares but they were so light and fluffy this time and I ate all four. I was more than full.
"Lunch" at 3pm: A slice of cheese pizza we grabbed after buying a new car for me! I was starved! Oh and before we left the dealership, our sales guy Pete gave me one of those Quaker chocolate chip “granola” bars.
Dinner at 7 or so: We went to a fantastic restaurant called Settler's Inn for my FMIL's birthday. It's a bit of a drive (relatively) from their house but well worth it for the amazing food. I had 6 pot stickers over Asian slaw as an appetizer. My meal was braised lamb shank over potatoes with some pepper strips and covered with some sort of reduction. I had one glass of pinot grigio and 2 glasses of zin. I did not order dessert but everyone gave me a sample of theirs: bites of flourless chocolate cake, toffee pudding, some caramel covered grain (I forget what it was called) and a homemade chocolate ice cream.
Sunday:
Breakfast around 10am: Two white tortillas filled with scrambled cage-free eggs, sausage, black beans, peppers, onions, and garlic topped with salsa and tobasco sauce.
Snack around 1pm: A salted caramel hot chocolate from Dunkin Donuts. Again I employed the tactic of not ordering any sort of sweet so I got to mooch off my fiancee’s pumpkin muffin and my FFIL’s coffee cake muffin.The 2 Labradors had a couple of munchkins. I had never seen dogs eat donuts before!!
Dinner 5pm: I got to make a meal I would usually make during the week but to my FMIL, it was something special- chicken curry over brown rice. I don’t think the chicken was organic. The sauce was coconut milk and tomato paste that I seasoned with garlic, onions, salt, pepper, curry powder, cumin, cinnamon, and ginger. We also had a salad of organically grown farm fresh lettuce and spinach that we plucked from the earth THAT DAY (can we say yum?) topped with carrots also from the garden and store bought peppers, avocado, and a balsamic vinaigrette made with olive oil.
If no drinks are noted, you may safely assume I drank water or black coffee.
We were also sent home with a pretty big zucchini and a GINOURMOUS pumpkin that I get to do great things with. Also, my FMIL doesn’t like quinoa (I have no idea why) so we also came home with a 3lb bag! Score!!
Friday:
Breakfast: Oatmeal as usual.
Lunch: I had a turkey and black bean chilli for lunch with a few organic blue corn tortilla chips and hummus.
Afternoon: I DID NOT HAVE ANY CANDY!!! I’m so proud of myself. Except something very strange happened– I was very emotional/ angry. I started to think maybe the sugar has been like a drug for me and I was experiencing withdrawal symptoms. I believe I had a Larabar some time in the afternoon which is still a sugar because there's fruit in it but the nuts should slow down the absorption...so they say.
Dinner: A natural pb and organic fruit spread (no sugar added) sandwich on 100% whole wheat Wegmans bread (which has a pretty lengthy ingredient list). On the car ride down to the in laws I caved and had a handful of trail mix my fiancee made with nuts and candy.
Saturday:
Breakfast at 10am: Organic 100% whole wheat waffles ( my wonderful man did not add any sugar to batter) with real maple syrup and a slice of bacon and about 2oz of strawberry apple juice. I usually only eat 3 of my waffle squares but they were so light and fluffy this time and I ate all four. I was more than full.
"Lunch" at 3pm: A slice of cheese pizza we grabbed after buying a new car for me! I was starved! Oh and before we left the dealership, our sales guy Pete gave me one of those Quaker chocolate chip “granola” bars.
Dinner at 7 or so: We went to a fantastic restaurant called Settler's Inn for my FMIL's birthday. It's a bit of a drive (relatively) from their house but well worth it for the amazing food. I had 6 pot stickers over Asian slaw as an appetizer. My meal was braised lamb shank over potatoes with some pepper strips and covered with some sort of reduction. I had one glass of pinot grigio and 2 glasses of zin. I did not order dessert but everyone gave me a sample of theirs: bites of flourless chocolate cake, toffee pudding, some caramel covered grain (I forget what it was called) and a homemade chocolate ice cream.
Sunday:
Breakfast around 10am: Two white tortillas filled with scrambled cage-free eggs, sausage, black beans, peppers, onions, and garlic topped with salsa and tobasco sauce.
Snack around 1pm: A salted caramel hot chocolate from Dunkin Donuts. Again I employed the tactic of not ordering any sort of sweet so I got to mooch off my fiancee’s pumpkin muffin and my FFIL’s coffee cake muffin.The 2 Labradors had a couple of munchkins. I had never seen dogs eat donuts before!!
Dinner 5pm: I got to make a meal I would usually make during the week but to my FMIL, it was something special- chicken curry over brown rice. I don’t think the chicken was organic. The sauce was coconut milk and tomato paste that I seasoned with garlic, onions, salt, pepper, curry powder, cumin, cinnamon, and ginger. We also had a salad of organically grown farm fresh lettuce and spinach that we plucked from the earth THAT DAY (can we say yum?) topped with carrots also from the garden and store bought peppers, avocado, and a balsamic vinaigrette made with olive oil.
If no drinks are noted, you may safely assume I drank water or black coffee.
We were also sent home with a pretty big zucchini and a GINOURMOUS pumpkin that I get to do great things with. Also, my FMIL doesn’t like quinoa (I have no idea why) so we also came home with a 3lb bag! Score!!
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