21 day Sugar Detox-week 3

Week 3 was probably the hardest for me. Partly because I got tired of cooking and doing dishes every night, and partly because I spent 4 days making flowers for my first wedding weekend of 2014 and I was just straight up exhausted. Knowing my upcoming schedule, however, I was able to properly plan my meals with adequate leftovers and food to eat during the week when I didn't want to cook.

Planning ahead
Cooking beforehand: I made a triple batch of the pork sausage at the beginning of the week. Cooked 2/3 of the batch and froze half of the cooked, then froze the remaining uncooked 1/3 in a sausage roll, like what you'd purchase from the store. James cooked this ready to make sausage Saturday morning when we had friends spend the night after the Friday wedding (that I did flowers for and James was a groomsman for so we attended...more on that below) while I finished the flowers for my Saturday wedding.

Oh you know, just another meal as a florist.

Floral photo props make great food props too!

Large meals: I planned roast for mid week as my last meal that would be cooked among the floral frenzy that explodes in the house for wedding weekends. It was cooked in the crock pot so not a lot to clean up, and I didn't have to take time away from designing to cook dinner.

Comfort foods: We didn't experiment with any new recipes this week; we stuck to the basics. While I followed the 21dsd recipes as compared to my own, the food was about par to our normal meals: chicken thighs, meatballs & spaghetti squash and roast.

Same ol' same ol' breakfasts: Breakfast meals are about the same every day. Meat (bacon or sausage balls), spinach (usually) and an occasional piece of fruit possibly with nut butter. Routine only because I love it so much and I feel so much more energetic during the day!

New adventures for week 4
Mashed Cauliflower: technically this fell on Day 22, but because I ate leftovers for half of week 3, I thought I'd highlight this meal: shepherd's pie. Another comfort food that we have grown to really enjoy but this time I made mashed cauliflower for the top instead of using white potatoes, to remain a 21dsd meal. It was tasty and I honestly couldn't tell the difference. A winner in our books. Need to stock up on cauliflower now.

Chicken Pot pie: I waited until after my initial 21dsd to make this recipe because it contains dairy in form of butter and eggs. I have never made a chicken pot pie before and I'm not so sure how successful the pie part was but it was tasty, warm & filling.

Pumpkin spice smoothie: made with full fat coconut milk (from a can, not the carton "beverage"), this smoothie is the creamiest non-dairy smoothie I have had yet. The spices are those used to bake a pumpkin pie: nutmeg, allspice, ginger, cinnamon, or simply "pumpkin pie spice if you buy the pre-mixed bottle. And I had a Sam's 3 pack of pumpkin I needed to use up, so I have been making this smoothie farely often.

Easy Salad dressing: Olive Oil, juice of a lemon and an herb (I've used oregano and basil). A guilt free salad dressing that has a great texture and taste! Simple to make one serving and is ideal for a dinner salad!

Baked Nutty Apple: I grew up eating a similar treat, made with simply butter and cinnamon. Adding the nuts was a fun twist for me! I create it with coconut oil so it remained dairy free!

The disaster: Wedding food. My problem with not eating at home is the temptation to just throw my hands in the air and just eat any and everything. This happened on the Friday wedding. There was a vegetable platter, in addition to the fruits and cheese. There was shrimp cocktail, in addition to the rest of the Hors d'oeuvres that contained gluten, dairy, eggs and everything else I shouldn't normally eat, let alone while on my detox. And don't get my started on the beverages and cakes. I take full responsibility of my actions (threw self-control out the window when I went back for the second piece of cake-gotta try each type), and so the next part is mere observations rather than complaints. For the first time in my life, I was bloated. I had complained about it before, but no prior situation was as bad or painful as how I felt after the wedding. I believe because I had cut everything out of my diet that my body just went into full rejection of sugars, food allergies and intolerances and everything I ate. Before bed I had a good long look in the mirror- I looked 4 months pregnant and my abdominal muscles were stretched to the max and HURT. That night made this detox worth it and my solidified my permanent lifestyle change. It took me close to 3 days to return to normal. 3. days. Never before had I experienced this, and I hope to never again. This is me being real here; I'm not regretting eating cheese and sweets because of the calories. In fact if you know James and I you are right in the assumption we were burning up the dance floor and probably danced off more calories than we even consumed.

[[Side note- This year's goal is to learn the footloose line dance and the thriller dance so I can obtain the ultimate wedding guest status. Invite us to your wedding or event for a good gift and to guarantee dancing on the dancefloor to any song! Dancing includes but is not limited to two-step routines, Cotton-eyed joe, copper head road, electric slide, cupid shuffle and the macarena, but that's rarely played anymore. ;) We can provide full résumé including references if needed.]] 

This week was the end of my 21 days, so I will follow up with my review which is in the works, as well as a look into what we are continuing to implement even after the detox!

~RR

"Success is the result of perfection, hard work, learning from failure, 

loyalty, and persistence." -Colin Powell

Double F: Food and Finances

I have a secret: I love my crock pot! (okay, maybe it's not a secret) Not because it's top of the line or can on its own land a perfect 10 back flip like other fancy slow cookers. 

 See? Only 1 knob with 4 settings including OFF. So simple.

Rather, deep down at the root of my being (well maybe one of the root shoots) I love to multitask. Besides prepping the food (you know super hard cutting meat and veggies or opening cans), the crock pot allows me to cook and do everything else I need to do in a day! AND minimal cleanup time if you use these fancy bags!

 (I buy these in bulk.)

So this 5 year love affair has been blissful, and I can't imagine where I would be without my crock pot.

Seriously.

I'd like to say I'm joking but almost everyone knows that James fell in love with me AFTER I fed him crook pot roast in college. (Single Ladies out there, take note: there are 3 ways into a man's heart, accomplishing 2 will solidify a date. One of those ways is through his stomach, so learn to cook and quench his appetite.

So I write this post to explain how my crock pot fits into 2 pillars of our household (as previously mentioned in this post: finances and food. 

 

Finances: One of the main PROs of a crock pot is the financial efficiency of most meals. I say most because I'm sure there's someone out there making organic, farm raised meat meals who would beg to differ. (Future Rachel we are talking about you!) But point is: Lots of food at a small cost. This food can be eaten all week, frozen for later, or shared. I have done all three and still find it cheaper than a meal out at times (even if I feed 12 other people). So for those days you know you would come home from work and NOT want to cook and cave in to ordering pizza at 8pm or later because your husband sits on the couch the whole time and whines about being hungry but doesn't want to cook anything either, a crock pot would have been a better solution financially and health-wise, too. So think ahead, plan your meals, and don't give in to the "let's just go somewhere and spend money" temptation anymore! When you come home to the smell of dinner, you won't think ONCE about going out to eat. Unless you are thinking about how much money you saved by using your trusty friend the crock pot!

The other pillar: Food. My favorite things to cook in the CP: Roast (True life: I have never not cooked a roast in a crock pot) and taco chicken. I'm starting to crave both of these meals now. The truth is, I wasn't a chef prior to or even during college. In fact, my skills are still minimal compared to many women who have more experience than me (and less for you gifted ladies out there). I began "cooking" in college by using the crock pot. It was my gateway kitchen appliance if you will. There are recipes upon recipes for slow cookers out there, and I rarely find one that's bad. I'll eventually post my winners.

If you don't have a crock pot, buy one. It'll be an investment that will positively change your health and bank account if you find it hard to cook healthy meals and are wanting to save more money this year.

Peace, love, and crock pot meals.

~RR

Cooking Adventures of the Paleo/Vegan Diet

We recently learned my husband James has quite a few allergies: dairy, egg, gluten (to name a few).  We've decided to change our diets for awhile to see if the change affects headaches and stomach aches he has recently been having.  In our attempt to find allergy-free recipes, we have decided we are really adapting a paleo/vegan diet: eliminating processed foods and staying away from dairy and eggs, but still eating meats.  So far we have cleaned out our pantry, restocked it with allergy-free ingredients and products, researched appealing recipes and have started adapting to our new lives.

As my doctor told me, allergies are like a cup of water: as you are exposed to an allergen, imagine pouring some water into a cup; the more allergens you are exposed to, the fuller the cup, until your body goes completely haywire and your cup overflows.  When my younger brother was in the 8th/9th grade, this is exactly what was happening. He was skin and bones and had stomach issues.  We did a blood test on him and found he was severely allergic to soy, gluten and eggs, basically the only food groups he was eating.  Since he has changed his diet, he feels great, looks great, and is now a healthy senior in high school. I admire him; I couldn't imagine being 18 years old and not eating cake, hamburgers, drinking pepsi, and so much more.

With my brother's experience, my whole family changed our diets, so this new diet to accommodate to my husband's newly found allergies wouldn't be too different for me. The change, however, will be the cooking of the foods, as I have rarely cooked many allergy-free foods.

Today I changed up my usual crock pot roast so that it would be soy and gluten free. Normally I plop the roast in the crock pot, empty about half a packet of Lipton Onion soup mix packet on top and add some water. Today however, I used some different ingredients:

Roast from the 'Lewis Place', half of a small cooking onion, half of the package of dried portobello mushrooms, and half of the carton of organic, allergy-free mushroom soup.

We absolutely love returning home from work to the smell of a crock pot creation, especially roast! 

The roast tasted the same, if not better, than my traditional onion soup mix recipe; the main difference actually comes with the higher cost of the allergy free ingredients. I altered my mashed potatoes to use only Original flavored Almond Milk (normally I pile in the butter and regular milk).  The mashed potatoes were creamy and tasted just the same! Of course the gravy from the roast would have masked any odd flavors if there were any!

All in all, we had a successful dinner and, besides for the initial 'full' feeling, felt amazing! No discomfort or drowsiness at all. I look forward to adapting more of my recipes and trying new ones as we experiment with our new life change!

Is anyone else trying a new diet due to dietary restrictions? Any suggestions or recommendations out there?

Yours truly,

RR

"Do not live life attempting to make your presence known, 

but live in a way which makes your absence felt."