It's a Wrap!

I decided to skip out on trying a new vegetable this week and enjoy some of my favorite vegetables instead. Last night I tried a recipe that I found on the Everyday Paleo web site. It reminded me of the lettuce wraps from Pei Wei or P.F. Changs, so I had to try it. Plus, I had been craving Chinese food, and I thought this might just quench my desire to order an A13.

When Greg got home from work, he said, "Man, it smells just like Pei Wei!" Yes! I knew right then it was going to be a successful new dinner.

Warning: This recipe requires a lot of chopping. I love to chop... it's almost therapeutic for me, so I didn't mind at all.

http://everydaypaleo.com/2010/04/04/chicken-lettuce-wraps/

I made the Thai peanut sauce with my trusty almond butter, and it was the perfect topping. It really added flavor to the wraps. Also, this made a ton of food. I packed Greg's lunch with leftovers, and there is more than enough for Izzy and I to have for lunch.

I just had to post this cute picture of my little girl... she's had such a fun summer. She fingerpainted with Greg last night while I went running. She made such a cute artist in her Cars panties, I couldn't resist taking a picture before I headed out hoping to avoid nasty amphibians on my run... there's got to be something wrong with a creature that only comes out at night... it gives frogs a bad rep, almost like vampires... yeah whatever!

The Little Girl Who Cried Pee Pee!

When I first entered the blogging world I wrote a blog about my dear husband, who is constantly crying "wolf". I've recently realized that I have a little girl that does the same thing!

Izzy tells us that her belly hurts, her fingers hurt and her chin hurts. We always kiss what hurts, and it always feels better. Lately, though, she's been crying "wolf" when it comes to potty training.

Today we went to one of our favorite places for burgers, Mooyah. They have delicious beef patties, and Izzy and I always get Iceburgers... our beef patty and toppings are wrapped up in iceberg lettuce... my new favorite way to eat a burger! Greg, of course, gets a bun, but that's part of what I love about eat out at Mooyah... we can all three get our burgers just the way we want them. I added bacon, onions, tomato, mustard, pickles and cheese. Delicious!

Anyway, during our scrumptious lunch, Izzy was also experiencing her first outing in big girl panties (Cars panties, of course!). Izzy cried, "pee, pee!" at least four times during our lunch and each time I took her to the bathroom nothing happened. I was getting a little annoyed, but I am proud to say she was accident free! But it wasn't just during lunch... we had been shopping for at least two hours before we ate, so it was a big milestone!

Oh, the things I get excited about these days... yeah, whatever!

Swiss Chard... More Like Swiss Blah-rd

Well, my swiss chard frittata wasn't what I thought it would be. First of all, it took forever to finely chop the swiss chard. My chopping skills got very sloppy towards the end of my big bunch of swiss chard.

I sauteed the onions (just two tablespoons) in a little bacon grease and then added the swiss chard and cooked just until it wilted. I tasted the swiss chard at this point and it was pretty tasteless. The texture reminded me of spinach.

Next I added some dried basil and oregano and then six beaten eggs. I stirred it just a bit and then let the eggs start to cook up. When it was firm around the edges, I put it under the broiler for about five minutes.


The first bite I took was straight swiss chard. Blech. I added lots of salt and pepper, and it wasn't that bad. I cut the fritatta into wedges and put it in the fridge to eat later. Greg tried a piece and liked it.

While I really like the concept of a fritatta, I'm not too crazy about the swiss chard. I'd love a fritatta with ham, sausage or bacon... broccoli, sweet potatoes, or green peppers... and even though I haven't had cheese in a really long time, I'd love some cheese in my fritatta.

Now that I can scratch swiss chard off of my vegetables-to-try list, I've got to come up with a new one for next week. I didn't like kale, and now I don't like swiss chard. Maybe next week's veggie will be a keeper... yeah, whatever!

Top Ten Things I'm Excited About

I haven't made a lot of time for blogging lately, so I'm going to try to get into the habit of writing at least a little bit more often rather than my usual once in a while lengthy blogging. Today's blog will be short and sweet.

The Top Ten Things I'm Excited About

10. Decorating my classroom... I know this sounds nerdy, but I love shopping for cute borders and letters and organizing my room. That's nerdy, but that's something I get excited about!

9. Swiss Chard... I know. Really weird, but I'm trying to eat a new vegetable every week, and this week is swiss chard. I'm going to make a frittata with it once I finish this blog. There's just something about the name "swiss chard" that sounds so... international!

8. Shelby's baby shower... I am so excited for my sis! She is so very pregnant right now and so deserves this big day to be showered with precious gifts for Miss Abbey. I cannot wait!

7. Fingerpaint... I bought Izzy some fingerpaint yesterday, and I'm so excited for her to use it! She really likes to draw on the shower door with her fingers, so tonight we're going to put some paper on her easel and let the fingerpainting begin!

6. My housekeeper... is amazing! I am so glad I finally hired someone to clean my house. I'm so, so excited for her to come next Thursday. She's like a cleaning genius! I never thought I could find someone as meticulous as myself, but I have... and then some! So excited!

5. The Help... I am so excited to see this movie. I read the book in three days and loved every bit of it. I just know that the movie is going to be fantastic!

4. My dad's visit... my dad is driving all the way from Oklahoma (or homa-homa, as Izzy says) to visit us this weekend. It's been about three years since I saw him last, and I'm excited for him to get to know Izzy and spend some overdue time with Greg and me.

3. NO MORE DIAPERS!!! I'm thinking this should be number 1! (Really, these aren't in a certain order.) Izzy has finally gotten the hang of potty training! She was accident-free yesterday, so I told her that she could pick out some new panties. She picked out little boys Cars briefs. Nice.

2. My wedding band... finally, I am married and not engaged! Ha ha! I have a beautiful engagement ring that doesn't quite fit well with a wedding band, but I've really wanted one. Over the weekend, Greg and I found the perfect band to match! This is my early 30th birthday/5 year anniversary present. I am so, so excited about it. It reminds me of when Greg and I got engaged, and I literally couldn't stop looking at my ring... I love it!

1. Izzy's progress... I am so, so proud of my little girl and the progress she's made this summer. She has done so well with everything we've thrown at her (figuratively speaking, of course!). She's gone from barely eating the foods we've given her to asking for more, please! She's much more compliant when it comes to things she might have typically thrown a tantrum about. She's talking so, so much more and really expressing herself. Some of my favorite little sentences that she's said are:

"Brr... I'm cold. I need a jacket." (When it's 105 outside!)

Arg... I'm a pirate, Mama!"

"I love frogs... Wibbit!"

"I'm Izzy princess mermaid fairy."

"Uncle Chase caught a big crap." (crab)

and, of course...

"I love you, Mama."

Ok... so my short and sweet blog turned into a long blog... What can I say?! I've got a lot of stuff to be excited about... I'll tone down my excitement and go make that Swiss Chard Frittata... yeah, whatever!

Our Izzy-less Weekend

Man, I'm really slacking in my blogging! I have some good excuses though... Greg and I had a wonderful weekend. We shipped Izzy to Bee Bee's house on Friday afternoon. By "shipped" I mean I met my mother-in-law halfway. That's two hours to the drop off spot and two hours back.

Friday evening we went out to eat, and that was the first time I cheated on my diet. I ordered my favorite cheese-filled, beef fajita meat-stuffed enchiladas with rice and beans. The first few bites were amazing. Then I started to feel really full, and I had no interest in eating the rest of it. I did, however, resist my temptation to have a margarita... and it was happy hour! I patted myself on the back for that one!

Saturday morning I had to get my bangs trimmed and get a pedi before the day's festivities. I ate bacon and eggs for breakfast and headed out. I went to a baby shower at 1 pm in downtown Houston and a wedding at 6 pm in Houston/reception in Katy. I won't even get into the details of what I cheated with during these two events. What I will say is that it wasn't worth it. It made me feel like crap.

Sunday morning we got up and made a big bacon and egg breakfast again and headed out to do a little shopping and watch another movie (can you tell that we are movie-deprived?!). I continued to cheat on my diet. It was like a snowball effect. Once I started, even though I felt bad, I just kept doing it. That night, however, Greg grilled some pork chops, and I made a batch of Son of Grok BBQ sauce. (Thanks for another great recipe Jenni!) We had steamed broccoli and salad, and it was delicious. I was ready to get back on track.

Monday morning I did a little more shopping and went to an orthodontist appointment. Then I headed back out to pick up Miss Izzy. Although we had a great weekend, we were really missing our little girl. We didn't get back here until around 9 pm, so that made for a late night.

I think I needed this weekend to remind me that I don't need all of that crap food. It does nothing but make me feel like crap. I feel so much better when I stick to the diet. While I definitely screwed up my Whole30, I don't think I was really ready to do it just yet. If I was that easily tempted by a weekend without Izzy, then it makes me think that I wasn't mentally prepared for it. I WILL complete a Whole30. That is a promise I'm making to myself. I need to learn to overcome temptation. It's almost a peer pressure thing, you know? Greg ordered enchiladas, so I ordered enchiladas... so I could look normal. I thought peer pressure stopped after middle school. No wait. After high school. No... I definitely experienced peer pressure in college. And now as an almost 30 year old... yeah, whatever!

P.S. We had nut fried chicken again last night - amazingness! :)

Days Three, Four & Five

Wow... there was no time to blog yesterday or the day before, so I'm going to cram those two days plus today into this blog. Hopefully, I can make it short and sweet!

Day Three
Breakfast
Bacon, Eggs, Blueberries

Snack
Banana

Lunch
Leftover Nut Fried Chicken (love leftovers! And that chicken is DELICIOUS! Probably my favorite Paleo recipe so far! Yum!)
Leftover Salad with fresh squeezed lemon and evoo

Snack
Turkey Bacon

Dinner
Basil & Lime Tilapia
Roasted Sweet Potatoes
Green Beans

Snack
Strawberry, Banana & Blueberry smoothie with a splash of lime

Day Four
Breakfast
Bacon, Eggs, Blueberries (Are you seeing a pattern here?!)

Snack
Banana

Lunch
1/2 of a grilled chicken salad from Chick-fil-a (I asked for no cheese, but they put cheese on it, so I ate around it. And the reason I only ate half is because Izzy and I grabbed our lunch and headed to the pool because the housekeeper was at the house... and Izzy didn't want to eat; she wanted to swim!)

Snack
Chicken-Apple Sausage
Guacamole with green pepper strips (this was surprisingly delicious!)

Dinner
Grilled Flank Steak
Salad with tomato, cucumber, green peppers dressed with lime juice and evoo
Avacado

Snack
Banana-Blueberry smoothie

Day Five
Breakfast
Breakfast
Bacon, Eggs, Plum (see, I'm changing it up!)

Snack
Banana

Lunch
1 1/2 burger patties from Sonic
Apple slices

Snack
Banana
Almonds
Turkey lunch meat

Whew... that was a lot of food to write down! The good thing about writing it all down at once is that I'm noticing some recurring patterns. I like my breakfast habit, but I would like to change it up a bit. Another I've noticed is that I eat a lot of bananas. I need to change that. Izzy's nutritionist told me that one banana has about 40 grams of carbs! Geez!

I'm starting to get a little antsy as this weekend begins. For one, I just met my mother-in-law to drop Izzy off for the weekend. I'm always a little off kilter when she's away from me. Secondly, Izzy's away! We can do whatever we want! I can eat whatever I want and not have to worry about telling Izzy that she can't have it... but I've started my Whole30. I'm even trying to rationalize with myself. "It's not a real Whole30 because I'm still eating fruits," and "It would be nice to have a glass of wine and relax this weekend." Part of me wants to pat myself on the back for lasting five days, and the other part of me wants to slap myself and say get it together!

Paleo eating is very new to our family. We've been on this diet for about six weeks. Of course, I had to give up a few more things to be Whole30 compliant. Was it too soon for me to start a Whole30? I can't remember who said you should strive to eat Paleo 80 percent of the time... but that has been running through my head all day! Can this weekend just please be the other 20 percent?! Yeah, whatever!

Day Two: Not so bad!

Well, Day One of my Whole30 wasn't so bad. I finished up the evening just as I planned. I cooked the stuffed bell peppers for dinner, and I thought they were just delicious! Greg doused them in Frank's Red Hot Sauce and Izzy avoided it until I showed her that she could just eat the meat and not the pepper. After dinner we walked (Izzy rode in her wagon) to the park and watched Izzy play for a little bit. I love going for walks in the evening.

When we got home, I was dying to try my new blender that I got on sale at HEB, so I whipped up some strawberry banana smoothies. (Ice, 1/2 pint strawberries, one banana, splash of fresh squeezed orange) Izzy was so excited about this because I told her it was like ice cream. She jumped up and down while I made them and then sat quietly and slurped her smoothie through her pink straw! Delicious! I did feel a sugar rush after drinking the smoothie... maybe this is why I should be laying off the fruit for my Whole30? I just don't feel like I can give up fruit right now. Since we started eating Paleo, I rely on fruit... probably more the reason to not eat it for a month? Maybe next time! :)

Here's what I've eaten today:

Day Two

Breakfast
Bacon
Two Eggs, scrambled
blueberries
Water

Snack
Banana

Lunch
Three pieces of ham rolled up in an iceberg lettuce leaf
Leftover steamed veggies from yesterday's lunch
Two more pieces of ham

Snack
Almonds
Watermelon

For dinner tonight I plan to make "Nut Fried Chicken"... another recipe from my friend, Jenni. It sounds delicious. I'm also excited because we're having avacados to go with it. There is nothing better to me than eating an avacado sprinkled with salt and pepper. Yum! Another delicious way to eat avacados (other than guacamole, of course) is to grill them for a few minutes... just enough to get grill lines on them. It makes them soft and gives them that great smoky flavor.

Wow... I could really talk/write about food all day! Yeah, whatever!

Whole30... I'm doing it: Day One

After a few days (a couple of different instances) of indulging in unhealthy food and beverage choices, I have decided to start my Whole30. (This is the Whole9 website explaining what a Whole30 is: http://whole9life.com/2011/06/whole-30-v4/) I have been getting pretty sick when I overindulge, so I decided I should just start my Whole30. Some other reasons why I was wanting to do a Whole30 is 1)I get migraines, and I don't want to anymore. 2) I pass out on occasion, and doctors have told me I'm hypoglycemic... I don't want to deal with that anymore either! Plus, I've noticed when I make healthy food choices, Izzy makes healthy food choices. She's sitting next to me right now munching on almonds for a snack. :)

Here are the things I will be eating:

Meat (beef, chicken, turkey, fish)

Vegetables

Fruit (mostly berries... I'm not cutting fruit out completely.)

Good Fats

Nuts

I've been quasi-paelo for the past six weeks or so, but there were a few things I just kept eating. The things that I will give up from my current diet:

Beans

Tortilla Chips

Coffee

Splenda

Wine

I've already ditched the Splenda, actually. I would only use two packets every day in my coffee, which I thought was good because it used to be about three teaspoons of sugar! For the last week I've had my coffee with almond milk, and I've pretty much realized that the only reason I ever liked coffee was because of the milk and sugar!

I don't think the other four things will be that difficult.

Here's what I've had to eat today:

Day One
Breakfast
Strawberries and blueberries
1 piece of bacon

Snack
Three pieces of turkey lunch meat (nitrate free, no MSG, preservatives or additives)

Lunch
One can of Central Market tuna (no soy, just tuna in water)
Broccoli, carrots and sugar snap peas

Snack
Banana with almond butter (about two tablespoons)
A few almonds

For dinner tonight I plan on making stuffed bell peppers, a recipe that my friend (and I'm pretty sure the only person who reads my blog - ha!), Jenni, shared with me.

Here's the link: http://balancedbites.com/2010/10/easy-recipe-italian-style-stuffed-peppers.html

I know I can do this, but it's not going to be easy. I'm going to a baby shower and a wedding on Saturday. I'm sure there will be all kinds of sugary sweets tempting me, not to mention wine! But I'm a big girl... I won't succumb to a piece of wedding cake with buttercream frosting or an open bar... yeah, whatever!

Bakin' Bacon

My new favorite food is bacon. I eat it almost every day for breakfast. Izzy could live on bacon. It is soooo delicious, and I am so grateful that we don't have to eliminate it from our diet!

Just a week ago we were on our way home from Padre, and we stopped at this little Czech deli. They had the thickest cut bacon I had ever seen! Of course we bought a pound and cooked it up for breakfast the next morning. Wow! This was bacon on a whole different level. It was almost like eating ice cream it was so good! (I never thought I'd compare bacon-goodness to dessert!)

Since then, I've been on a quest to find the perfect bacon. This morning we tried peppered bacon from a local meat market... it paled in comparison to the thick cut Czech bacon. I'm thinking I already found the best bacon... and it's only an hour drive from our house to get that slab of bacon... just how can I rationalize driving my gas guzzler 60 minutes for bacon and only bacon? I think it's worth it... yeah, whatever!

One of Izzy's favorite snacks is turkey bacon. I found a recipe in the Primal Blueprint cookbook for a turkey bacon snack. It's almost like turkey jerky.

Bakin' Bacon
Turkey Bacon (you can bake as little or as much as you want! I buy the Applegate Farms turkey bacon.)

Cooking Racks (if you have them... I don't, so I just use a baking sheet)

Baking Sheet

Preheat oven to 200 degrees. Lay turkey bacon slices on a baking sheet or on cooking racks on a baking sheet so the grease can drain (I find that turkey bacon doesn't really render a lot of grease and the cooking racks aren't needed). They should be close together but not overlapping. Cook for an hour and check for desired crispyness/chewiness. Check every 30 minutes thereafter.

I've cooked it too long, and it was super crunchy... I prefer it to be chewy, so an hour or hour and a half usually does it. I then tear the bacon into bite sized pieces and portion them into snack sized baggies (for Izzy).

Padre = Pooch + Pounds

Last week we spent a much needed week at South Padre Island. We had a blast! Izzy loved the beach and being with family every day.

While I made sure that Izzy stayed on her strict diet, I took this opportunity to go on a diet vacation. I ate toast with my breakfast, potato chips for a snack and even had fried food for dinner on the way home.

The first negative change I noticed was the reappearance of my pooch or muffin top, if you will... you know, the little bit of belly that hangs over the top of my shorts. This was the thing I was so excited about losing on this diet! I remember when I noticed it was gone... I stared in the mirror for fifteen minutes straight, just looking at my flat belly. I hadn't had a flat belly for about four years, and I gained it back in one short week. Not only did I gain my pooch back, but I also gained weight... seven pounds to be exact.

Even though the pooch and the pounds really bothered me, I felt drained of energy, not wanting to do anything. It's amazing how much different I felt by indulging in "normal" foods. Of course, the first few bites tasted great, but after that, I would almost immediately start feeling sick.

So since we've been home, I've been on a mission to get back on track. It's been pretty easy, actually, because our kitchen is full of great paleo food choices. And I've started experimenting with food more. I made my own breakfast sausage this week and bought nori at the sushi counter at HEB to wrap meats and veggies.

I've realized that while we are eating paleo, we're not eating enough vegetables. It's easy for me to eat meat, fruit, berries, (good) fat, and nuts, but the veggies are a bit harder.

I've decided that we will try a new vegetable each week. Change it up a bit, and incorporate more vegetables in our diet. This week it was kale. I've never had kale before, but I've heard a lot of people talk about it and seen lots of recipes online for it. About an hour ago I made a batch of kale "chips". I just tasted them, and they are... different. Maybe I need to find a different way to cook kale.

Kale Chips

One bunch of kale

1 Tbsp. olive oil

1 Tbsp. vinegar (I used red wine vinegar)

Salt

Wash kale and dry good with paper towels or salad spinner. Tear into small potato chip-sized pieces. Place in a ziplock bag (or a bowl if you don't mind getting your hands oily) and add half of the oil. Move the kale around so that all pieces are equally coated. Add the rest of the olive oil, and coat again. Sprinkle vinegar over the kale and work in to coat each piece. Cook in a 300 degree oven for about 30 minutes. Remove and sprinkle with salt. Serve immediately.

All of the reviews for this recipe were great, so I'm wondering if I overcooked it... or maybe I just don't like kale... or maybe I was expecting it to taste like potato chips... yeah, whatever!