The end of the beginning

Well I've finished my 21 days...it was a rough go. Especially the last few days our household got hit with a major head cold and all I wanted was comfort food...Probably one of the hardest things I have ever done....did I make it 21 full days noooope did I try my hardest YES! I honestly did give it a good effort and this way of eating I am going to try and stick with just not as strict. I like honey in my tea and other small things like that. I give props to those peeps that have to eat like this for one reason or another! It's hard work... Over all the most valuable thing I learned was the beginning of a skill in cooking! This is something I have been wishing I was better at always saying "I wish I liked to cook" or could cook but I tried some things I would have never tried and it got me started on learning! I officially have gifts for the next oh I don't know...5 years for birthday and Christmas all kitchen utensils and supplies haha :) 

The most disappointing part was how expensive supplies are. Good food should NOT be impossible to afford! I mean for goodness sake why should I have to choose between feeding my family whole healthy foods grown organically without chemicals and crap or paying my electric bill!! It just makes me angry because we both have good jobs and make enough to support our family but spending up words of $300 a WEEK to eat healthier is so so sad! Granted I'm sure there are tips and tricks you pick up the longer you live "clean" ...I've said it a millions times before but it just makes me want to move out into the middle of a farm and become a farm lady :) if you knew me before this I can imagine how that sounds haha but it just has recently become one of my passions. 

I have thought a lot about continuing this blog or stopping after my 21 days and after a lot of back and forth I have decided to keep it going. Bettering myself is really a life long journey and this just seems like a great place to keep my thoughts. I want to continue to become healthy as my children grow, being as athletic as I was in my "younger" years it blows my mind I even allowed myself to become this unhealthy...now I could give you all about ten million excuses but I won't bore you. I will probably not post every day or even ever week sometimes but I will turn to this as an outlet during the good times and the bad because I love my food especially when I am stressed or sad or bored or maybe I just like food a little much!! I will try my hardest to live with the saying "eat to live, don't live to eat" 

Until next time my friends...

Am I not suppose to start feeling better...

Man oh man have I been cranky for the last few days. I have had this headache that comes out of NOWHERE from not having one to hurts so bad i cant blink in 15 minutes....My face was looking amazing but now it looks terrible. wah wah wah....ok im done with my pity party. Week two was rough, I was not as prepared and did have the money to buy all the stuff on the shopping list. It is ridiculous how much whole unprocessed food cost compared to the "boxed" stuff...its like the more processed it is the cheaper it is and that is Bullsh*t! makes me want to move away on a farm and just live..raise my babies and live off the land. Some day Ill have some land to at least pretend :)

The Food- I didnt really try any new recipes from the book, I have been eating what I have on hand so breakfast is eggs with a veggie tossed in today it was zucchini. I did make this big pot of kale and chicken soup its amazing and all mine because my husband wont touch it haha. It is was not for my daddy (yes I still call him that) I would have gone hungry this weekend. He has been doing this with us and lost 6 LBS! in a week and a half, gives me some leverage to encourage him to keep it up :) its crazy what little changes can do. I have been sticking to chicken and veggies for dinner for the most part. I of course have not been perfect so this 21 days didnt exactly happen and Im ok with that so for now I will finish off as strong as I can and try to keep it up.  I also tried to make these almond butter cups that taste absolutely horrible! so bad that I will be tossing them out! so so yucky but here is a picture they looks really yummy but looks can be deceiving haha...this is honestly the first thing I can say that I have made from my book and absolutely positively will never ever make them again!  Anyway this busy Momma has a ton of stuff to get done and no one to do it for me so off I go :) Until next time my friends nighty night OH and I didnt read or proof this soooo oopsies if there are errors.

The Importance of Preparation

Yesterday I learned a very valuable lesson, not that I didn’t know this already but it sure set it into stone….PREPARATION IS KEY TO SUCCESS! Now a little back story for you all (which will sound a LOT like an excuse but rest assured I take full responsibility) My son is 4 ½ months old, slept really well for the first 4 months of his life only waking once a night to eat quickly and always went right back to sleep. Well about 3 days before I went back to work full time he decided it would be fun to wake up every oh 1.5 – 2 hours all night long and eat every time he woke up needless to say this was a little bit of a shock to my system because he spoiled me so much while I was off work.…SOOO it begins the other night he actually slept a full 8 hours IN A ROW!!! This was a blessing and a curse for a few reasons but the most important is that I slept completely through my alarm…I mean he has been my alarm for two weeks now I completely didn’t hear my actual alarm when it went off. I woke up a full hour later than I normally do and if you have children you know that even 5-10 minutes can be detrimental to getting somewhere on time….because he didn’t wake up to eat 5 times I also had some other issues that needed taken care of. THIS my friends is where it alllll went wrong! I did NOT have anything prepared for lunch OR breakfast for the day because the night before I decided I would just get it ready in the morning…ya know because I’ll be up and all… well as I rushed to get things done, bottles put together, dressed, showered, kids dressed and Jackson fed I did not make time to get meals ready. I had a croissant…BAD BAD BAD! I didn’t think about it, I didn’t feel guilty it happened so fast. I did however feel so sick after and if that was not punishment enough I now had to spill the truth to all of you. Come lunch time though I was back on track and I ate a salad from subway. This made me feel a little better and instead of just giving up and quitting because I didn’t stick to the plan exactly for my 21 days like I usually would have I just decided I would go home and have something ready for breakfast and lunch before I went to bed.

Now that I spilled my terrible mistake to you all I’ll get to the food I did eat the last few days that followed the plan….I have been making the smoothies and they are actually very good! So far I have tried three of the four recipes in the book and I’ve liked them all, there is one that you put unsweetened cocoa powder in which gives my brain that small amount of chocolate it needs to think I just did something I wasn’t supposed too. Monday for lunch I had left over meat balls and boc choy slaw..which was something that was really great. I will make them again and again because it was not only super easy but it tasted good! Jared wanted to try a meat ball and I wouldn’t let him because he chose to eat dinner and his mom and dads this, may be evil but I’ll make them again and he can eat with me next time hehe and that way I had lunch leftovers. For dinner my dad made my mom and I shrimp pad Thai, something I would NEVER consider even trying because of the shrimp but because my dad sent some along for me I decided to put my big girl pants on and eat it…and I’m glad I did it was yummy and I even ate all my shrimp! Of course you know I didn’t eat breakfast and for lunch yesterday I had a salad from subway that had meat on it and various veggies no salad dressing, But for dinner again I didn’t have anything ready I so called my daddio and he made us all chicken. It was really good along with the dressing he home made from the book. I have and will continue to beg them to go to storage and get their stash of mason jars so I can have some jars to put my homemade stuff in…salad dressing, mayo etc. and because today I am back on track I had scrambled eggs for breakfast with spinach chopped up in it and an avocado. YUM YUM!

I saw something on a friends Facebook, that said to get rid of the word “DIET” from your vocabulary and that is just so true especially with having a beautiful little girl in my home, I have never been positive about my post baby body (not that I openly bash myself or anything in her ear shot) but its so important to teach good eating habits and the importance that we don’t live to eat we but eat to live…fuel for our bodies! If we treat our bodies right they will be good to us. And on that note I vow to try my hardest to never “DIET” again but to continue my journey towards eating healthy and clean for the sake of my children, Hubby and of course myself.

week two around the corner

well we are starting week two and I am actually excited...I am hopeful this can become a lifestyle not just a 21 day challenge! I think I have my birthday and Christmas list for the next...oh 5 years with all the kitchen stuff I want and need. Dont tell Jared but I am really enjoying learning how to cook. I have wanted to cook more but just havent known where to star so this have really helped me jump in. I could probably make a pretty funny comedy show if they just filmed me. Jared has yet to eat what I cook, well ok I am selling him short...he did eat the dijon chickin I made :) but I probably forgot because he ate Dairy Queen in front of me haha. OH and he told me how good it was too....HOW RUDE! 

For the food this weekend I made the pumpkin pancakes with coconut vanilla butter and it was a bust, I think probably because they were pretty bland and not to mention the vanilla bean I had to purchase should have been covered in gold! 

I made the bacon and root veggie hash...different for sure but still good. After I got done crying for like an hour...my heart was broken....ok ok actually I was cutting onions but HOLY MOLY no joke I washed my eyes out with water twice just to finish cutting them and THEN as I am sauteing them they started burning my eyes again! Not to mention I can still smell them on my hands and under my nails eeewww!  Anyway I made it and ate it with scrammbled eggs the first day, with a sausage patty and it was not bad...then I heated it up this morning and made eggs over easy (first time ever doing that too whoot whoot, ok I know that is not climbing a mountain or anything but for me it is just another first to check off my list) I will probably not make that in the future but I guess I shouldnt say never. Here is a look at it.

                                        

 As most of you know the seahawks played yesterday and we are a big pizza and beer family but I made my favorite corn and cheese chowder (thank you pioneer women) for Jared, Hailey and my inlaws and My mom and I made tuna salad for me mom and dad. I will make that all the time, it was really yummy and I can put it on salad, eat it right out of the bowl or in wraps anyway it will be good. Easy lunch dinner and summer time treat. Dinner tonight I made the meat balls and boc choy slaw. Not something I would have even agreed to eat a week ago because of the red cabbage in it but it was so so good! I probably could have scarfed down the entire bowl but I needed something for lunch I put it in the fridge along with the meat balls which were also a favorite. I think it is safe to say I am looking forward to lunch! And after a week so far I have not noticed a drop in my milk supply which is a huge relief because it is so very important to me and Jackson :) Until nex time my friends you can drool over my dinner 

                              

Hanging my foot...Urrac-uh-oh

I had my foot off the wagon this morning, I went through my favorite coffee stand and got a drip coffee with half and half BUT I also got a chocolate chip cookie GASP! I have not eaten it and I will not eat it….after my momentary lapse in self-control I felt extremely guilty so it now sits in my trash can! Whew dodged that bullet. I think it be best if I stayed away from that amazing wonderful coffee shop for the simple fact that I just proved to myself I am not quiet in control just yet J I should have read my support email before I left the house and I probably would have avoided this little bump. OH well moving on….

So I was shocked today was already Thursday…I missed a day in the week somehow (maybe the fogging brain she talked about haha) but anyway things seem to be going good, no more headache for the last few hours which is wonderful because those buggers suck, I am however cranky cranky…which might have to do with the withdrawals and lack of sleep combined. I know this will get better as well, I just have to stick it out.  Overall things are going pretty OK.

I have not had any more fire alarm incidence so that is a plus, but there is always tonight when I meal prep for tomorrow. Who knew you broil with the oven door cracked (not this chick) does that give you a clue into how great I am at cooking J the food the last couple days have been tasty.  Being able to eat left overs for a few meals has been a wonderful help because I feel a tad in over my head…the lack of experience and the amount of other stuff I am supposed to accomplish from the time I get off work until bedtime is astronomical making meal prep a little difficult. This chick does not have a dish washer in our house….well yes I do, its ME so I am constantly trying to keep up on the amount of dishes I have used so they don’t pile up and the bottles…OH the bottles, washing those every night is starting to make my eyes cross. Next year I think I’ll ask Santa for a dishwasher purchased and installed!

Ok onto the Food-The Sausage Patties for breakfast were Delish! I didn’t taste the apple much but they were good and I loved that we made our own spice for them. I really enjoyed the broiled fish Ill cook my fish like this more often, the slight crunch on the top really added a great texture. The mustard Chicken I had for dinner last night was great one also, next time I think I will try with boneless skinless chicken breast just because I am not a big fan of the skin and I wanted to really taste the mustard glaze.

Next up is the veggie hash which I have to make tonight but am pretty excited about it, looks super yummy and not all that advanced for my skills or the lack of I should say. I think what I am enjoying most about this so far is the amount of knowledge I am gathering. I don’t think I would have ever attempted to do things from scratch if it wasn’t for this program. It is amazing what you can avoid putting in your food when you are preparing everything yourself, is sure gives you an idea of what can be avoided by simply completing a recipe from scratch. It really is eye opening the amount of sh*t they put in your food when you are reading the labels! This is enough to make me want to move to the country grow a garden have some livestock and live off the land all by myself…too bad that is a distant distant past! Anyways until next time my friends…

dinner tonight...off the meal plan but sticks within the guidelines. Baked chicken breast, broiled asparagus(i know now to keep the door cracked hehe) and baked sweet potato for my energy modification. yum!

 

Ready(or not)....Set....GO!!

Well it has begun! We shopped and prepped at the last minute in true Robinson fashion (if you don't know my family we are a bunch of procrastinators) and let me tell you I wish I was not because as we were zipping around town to pick up our needed produce/meat/spices and so much more I felt very overwhelmed and lost. First off I had NO clue what some of the products on my list were let alone where to buy them. Then it was home to food prep for the first two days. I did this late at night after my two kiddos were fast asleep this made for a late night not only because I started late but because I had to figure out how to use some kitchen appliances I dusted off...like my mini food processor for the salmon salad....let me tell you to be a fly on the wall in my kitchen. Once I finally figured out how to assemble the darn thing I got to work following the directions for the recipe and BAM it got stuck on, could not figure out how to turn the darn thing off but to unplug it from the wall, couldn't get the top of so I am banging it on the counter to try and loosen it whew i did it though and my salmon salad was complete and packed away for lunch yesterday. once I was finished prepping i had it all packed and ready to go for my first day. Overall it went smoothly thank goodness for my daddio who prepared dinner for my mom and I.

First day recipes, I really liked breakfast minus the spinach but i choked it down and this morning I decided to chop it up after I steams it and crumbled my egg muffin apart and mixed the two together which was WAY easier to manage. Lunch was a bit salty for my liking but I think that's because the capers sat in the salad over night. Dinner was great yummy

leftover dinner for lunch today is great also. I am excited to get past the headache stage and start feeling better.

here is a peak at my lunch today. (added mashed sweet potato for my energy modification)