Nope, I didn't fall off the face of the earth!!

Yep!  I'm still alive!  LOL.  A bit embarrased at my lack of posting, BUT I'm back.  September and October kicked my booty.  I didn't eat healthy.  AT.  ALL.  Stress overrode my focus on healthy eating and, to be honest, I'm just not going to beat myself up about it.  I won't go into the details, but I'd be happy if I never had 2 months like those ever again, in my WHOLE life!  SO.....I'm starting over and my weight is back up to the highest it's been in 2 years (285), but I'm moving past it.  I won't be talking so much about my weight as I will about food, clothing sizes and enjoying life!  My goal is to weigh once a month (was really proud to only get on the scale only once this week instead of every day!  *blush*) and just really focus on healthy eating and living!

Sugar detoxing.....it's a real thing, people!!  I experience horrible headaches for about a week....ugh.  And I do mean HORRIBLE.  Last night they were of migraine proportion.  Not nice.  You'd really think that would be motivation to keep me from going back to partaking of sugar on a daily basis, but no.  This is my 3rd time to quit sugar this year and prayerfully my last!  I won't say that I will refuse a piece of pie at Cracker Barrel on Thanksgiving, but eating sugar on a daily basis......I might as well just rub it on my belly or hips!!  It packs on the pounds in a serious way!

I just started back eating healthy this week.  I had a health issue that I had checked out over the last month and is fine, but it uncovered some indicators that, if I don't get serious about being healthy will make my life very complicated MUCH sooner than they should.  My dr said diet and exercise aren't an option any more, they are a MUST.

I'll start taking pics of food and next week (as long as I have a good internet connection), I'll post some how-to's on eating healthy while eating out!  (The week of Thanksgiving we stay in our camper close to my hubby's work since he works retail and we'd NEVER see him otherwise!  Plus we live 1+ hour away from his job and the shorter commute is a blessing to him during Black Friday weekend!)

Blessings!

Dana

S Granola.....

It's really true.....a low carb granola!!  I'm in LOVE!! 
My friend, Jessica Myers, shared this recipe with me and she got it here.....
Coconut/Almond Crunchies!
I also altered the recipe from the way Jessica gave it to me......so I hope I haven't stepped on anyone's toes! 
I haven't tried it with almond milk yet.......I just keep snacking on it, but I will!  I'm super excited because it's perfect for an on-the-go snack and we are headed to youth camp on Thursday!  Hope y'all enjoy it as much as I am!

 

 

Nutty Granola!!!

 
Combine dry ingredients:
1 cup coconut
2/3 cup almond flour
1/3 cup peanut flour/oat fiber (I did 1/6 cup of each....hope that makes sense!)
1/3 cup whey powder
1/3 cup almond slivers

Combine and mix into dry ingredients:
1/3 cup coconut oil
1 or 2 eggs (I only needed one for this recipe, but you might need 2)
1 tsp. vanilla
1/3 cup xylitol or 2 T Truvia  (I used Truvia)
1 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt (I used a bit more because my almonds weren't salted)
1 tsp. cinnamon

Spread out on cookie sheet (I used parchment paper and it worked great!). Bake at 250 degrees for one hour stirring every 15 minutes. Makes one quart. Enough for a few mornings!

Chocolate Nutty Granola!!!

 
Combine dry ingredients:
1 cup coconut
2/3 cup almond flour
1/3 cup peanut flour/whey protein (I did 1/6 cup of each....hope that makes sense!)
1/3 cup Cocoa powder (I used Hershey's special dark!)
1/3 cup almond slivers

Combine and mix into dry ingredients:
1/3 cup coconut oil
1 or 2 eggs (I only needed one for this recipe, but you might need 2)
1 tsp. vanilla
1/3 cup xylitol or 2 T Truvia  (I used Truvia)
1 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt (I used a bit more because my almonds weren't salted)
1 tsp. cinnamon

Spread out on cookie sheet (I used parchment paper and it worked great!). Bake at 250 degrees for one hour stirring every 15 minutes. Makes one quart. Enough for a few mornings!

Enjoy!! 

Dana

Yep....it's been awhile.

Ok, ok, ok!!!  So it's been a WHILE since I've been here.  *blush*  I'm sorry to say that I fell off the THM wagon BIG TIME!  Ugh.  I gained all the weight I'd lost and was pretty miserable. 

I'm glad to say that THM is a plan that encourages jumping back in and moving forward!  Just like my walk with the Lord.....He's there even when I choose not to meet with Him everyday.....so is THM!  Both are gracious!  My fall is in the past and I'm happy to report that I've been on plan for 2 weeks and have lost 2 lbs!  WooHoo!  I'm even working out 3x a week!  Am I tired?  Yes.  Am I sore?  Yes.  Can I think more clearly?  YES!  Am I glad to be back?  Absolutely!

You know, I think in America we've done ourselves a great disservice by misunderstanding what the "pursuit of happiness" actually means.  It doesn't mean we have to find a life that is happy.....it means that we have the freedom to choose to do the things in our lives that give us joy and fulfillment!!  For me, eating gives me great joy, but gaining weight does NOT!  So finding a plan that allows me to choose to eat foods that are healthy AND taste good is essential!  THM provides both of those things and I couldn't be more grateful. 

My goal for August is to get back into the 260's....I have 5.5lbs to go!  So close!!  It looks like I'm losing about 1 lb a week and I'm learning to be content with that!  I've also started to include about 3 or 4 E meals a week this week.  I have PCOS and my body doesn't handle carbs very well (as in, I've never lost weight eating them!), but when I stick to oatmeal and fruit as my main sources of carbs instead of gluten-based carbs the scale still moves down!  YAY!

That's all, Folks!  I have a few more posts in production.....about food (chicken fried steak....this southern girl is in hog heaven!!), not about me falling off any wagons!  LOL!  And I promise to post again no later than next week! 

Blessings!

Dana

Life is wild......

Ok, so I've been a terrible blogger for the last 2 weeks!  So sorry!!  My hubby and I are VBS directors at our church and our first night is tomorrow!  Needless to say, it's been WILD around here!  LOL! 

Anyway!  I had a good week!  I'm down another .6 lbs!  Not much, but I'll take it!  Saturday, I had a whole day of crossover meals.  I was SOOOO tired!!!  Today has been better, but I think it'll be another day of eating on plan before I'll be back to normal.  Live and learn!  ;)  This week is definitely going to be a challenge because we are going to be SO busy, but I think I'm pretty ready!  I'll be having most of my E meals for breakfast - toast, egg whites, turkey bacon / oatmeal.  I won't be doing much cooking for dinner, but I've cooked up 2 lbs of ground turkey to make lavash wraps. 

Well, that's about all I have time for!  Have a great week and I'll be back next week!!

Happy Sunday!
Dana

What??? Greek yogurt??

I have always had a hate/hate relationship with yogurt.  My mom always tried to get me to eat it growing up, I tried to eat it when I dieted in college, I tried it again when I had babies because it was good for them too, right?  Noooooooo.....YUCK!  I hated every, single, slimy, icky bite.  Didn't even matter how much sugar they could cram into it!  BUT.  Things have changed.  I've been doing THM for 5 weeks now and I've tried quite a few interesting ingredients and have actually liked them!  This "drive-thru Sue" never really thought I'd like flaxseed, glucomannan, stevia, coconut oil, let alone like and CRAVE them!!  SO, I had a couple of ladies who where encouraging me to use 0% greek yogurt instead of sour cream for my E bean burritos.  Uhhhhhh......nah.  I said "thanks", but didn't plan on trying it.  Then I walked by the dairy section of WalMart.  And that yogurt was just calling my name.......I bought it and brought it home and put it in the fridge where it sat for a whole week without seeing the light of day.  Every time I opened that fridge, it was the first thing I saw!  Ugh.  So this morning I made a bean burrito, opened the greek yogurt, spooned it on, took a bite and..................................................................................................





I actually liked it!!!!  Oh, yeah!!  It was SO yummy!!!  I was SHOCKED!  Then I decided to try it in a smoothie (who is this girl???!!)  And it was the best thing ever!!  So creamy!!  So smooth!!  So yummylicious!!!  Here's my recipe!

Dana's Very Yummy Greek Yogurt Smoothie!

This is a FP smoothie!!

3/4 cup of unsweetened almond milk
2 handfuls of frozen strawberry slices
2-3 tsp of Truvia
3 shakes of pure Stevia (with only 3 of the small holes open)
2 Tbs lime juice
1/2 scoop of Swanson whey protein powder
1/2 cup of 0% Fage greek yogurt
4g of inositol powder (this is a supplement that I've just started taking for insulin resistance)

Throw all of it in your blender and mix until smooth!  Feel free to adjust these amounts to suit your own tastes!!  Makes 3-4 cups of smoothie!!  Yum!  Enjoy!!

Happy Thursday!
Dana

P.S.  I was so excited about the smoothie that I forgot to give my week 5 update!  Oops!!  I didn't lose anything or gain anything this week!  And for the first time EVER.....I'm truly ok with it!  I know that I ate well this week and that almost everything that went in my mouth was a blessing to my body.  I also have PCOS and since this past week I ate a LOT more E meals, I think my body just doesn't know how to process them well at all.  I'm just letting my body do it's own thing, in it's own time.  Wow.  What a blessing to my usually hyperactive brain!  No more looking back over the week before to find where I "messed" up!  WooHoo!  And I got into my favorite pair of capri pants!  I'll take it!

Pizza Night!!

WooHoo!!!!  It's pizza night!  And this bread/pizza dough recipe is the BEST EVER!!  No, really.  It's the best thing since....well, since sliced bread!  ;)  I made it up on Monday and let it ferment in the fridge all week...no kneading, no stirring, no poking.....just mix it and forget about it!  The recipe came from one of my all time favorite THM blogs, Gwen's Nest!  Click HERE for the recipe!
For my THM's, this is an E meal......a super yummy one!! 

My delicious E day started with this yummy Fat Stripping Frappa, recipe on pg 240....I know what you THM's are saying....that isn't an E meal!  LOL....well, I really wanted a smoothie for breakfast!  So a FP it was!

Then I had breakfast for lunch!  Toast, egg whites, turkey bacon....yummy!!

 

 

 

And for dessert (3 hours after dinner!!!  ;)  Peanut Squares!  It reminds me of Peanut Butter Pie!  OMGosh!  Scrummylicious!!!!  (pg 377)

 

 



Happy Thursday!!
Dana

Week 4!!

It's been 4 weeks since I started THM!  I'm still loving it and, drum roll please.......

I'm down 8.6lbs from my starting weight and 30.8lbs from my all time high!  WooHoo!! 

I'm SUPER thrilled!  There's definitely been a learning curve, but it's been totally worth it!  My first week I had a headache for about a week from not eating any sugar, BUT there have been NO sugar/junk food cravings!  That is amazing!  I've had 3x of off-plan eating....
once was chicken nuggets from Chik-Fil-A and a Kripy Kreme donut.....the nuggets were ok, but the donut made my tummy VERY unhappy. 
The 2nd time was late, late, late one night when I was really hungry but was out of my usual healthy snacks and I ate 2, single-serving bags of chips and 1, single-serving bag of animal crackers.  No bueno, either.  Yuck.  
The 3rd was a dinner at Taco Casa and instead of making my taco salad a wonderful S meal, I ate it like it came....tortilla shell and all....my digestive system let me know for a few days just how much it did NOT appreciate this intrusion!!  LOL!  I'm definitely not in the purist camp, so I know I will not eat on plan ALL the time, but it is my goal to do what's best for my body. 

Taking a detour!  Calling all other Blogger bloggers!!  (that sounds weird!)  I'm having an issue with my pics!  When I upload them, Blogger automatically puts a white frame around them!  Like this....

I'm pretty much hating that.  Any ideas on how to fix this?  I found a website that had me change the html code, but it did not work.  Suggestions, ideas or just pointing me in some direction that my have some kind of answer would be fantastic! 

Happy Wednesday!!
Dana

P.S.  I finally found a website that could help me remove that annoying border around my pics!  Click here to see the site I used!  Thank goodness!!  LOL!

Gardening.....

I live in Texas and usually by mid-May I'm overflowing with squashes, tomatoes, and cucumbers out of my garden.......this year, I'm just getting started!  We've harvested a few red potatoes and about 10 squashes total......I'm not complaining, but I AM excited to see my garden FINALLY giving us some fresh produce! 

(Northerners, please don't throw your store-bought tomatoes at me!!  Just remember it'll be 100+ degrees in just over a month here!  When my garden is giving up the ghost, yours will be in its hay day and I'LL be jealous!  ;)

Today, I had sautéed yellow squash and zucchini with onions for......breakfast!  LOL!  I'm just so excited to have them!  It was so yummy!  That and a link of Feta and Spinach Chicken Sausage from Sprouts and it was an excellent S meal!!

And I thought I'd share some pics of my girls in my garden.....

 

 

Have a happy Tuesday!!

Dana

Chilled Avocado Soup.......Finally! ;)

Since I promised a week ago to share my Avocado Soup recipe.....I figured I should make good on it!  I used an avocado recipe of Martha Stewart's and changed it up so much that it isn't even similar to the original!  (except for the fact that they both use avocados and are chilled!)

Chilled Avocado Soup (Martha Stewart Recipe altered by me)

THM peeps, this is a S soup!

Ingredients

·         3 ripe avocados (I used 6 small)
·         1 ½ cups kefir (I make my own, so this is what I had on hand)
·         ½ cup half&half
·         Several dashes dried dill
·         1/3 cup diced onion
·         1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
·         1 teaspoon coarse salt
·         2 shakes cayenne pepper
·         2 T Lime juice

Directions

1.    Halve and pit avocados. With a spoon, scoop out flesh and transfer to a food processor.

Add all ingredients and blend until smooth. 

The soup will be pretty thick at this point so add chicken stock until it is a soup-y consistency.
2.    Cover the blender and refrigerate until the soup is well chilled, at least one hour.
This makes about 6 healthy servings!

Bon Appetit!!
Dana 

 

Waffles!!!!.....

Good morning!  I have a BIG announcement today!!  ;) 


I ate WAFFLES for breakfast!!!!

I know, you are all shocked and surprised!  LOL!  j/k!  I'M shocked and surprised!  After eating low carb for YEARS, this Trim Healthy Mama way of eating is amazing!  I LOVE being able to eat carbs AND lose weight!  So, without further ado, here is the recipe!

E Waffles - this recipe made 4 waffles for me!
1/2 cup dry old fashioned oats
1/2 cup low fat cottage cheese
1/2 cup egg whites (I use Great Value brand in a carton)
dash or 2 of salt
2 tsp Truvia
2 shakes NuNaturals Stevia (small holes)
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp baking soda (I use aluminum-free)

I started by pulling out the nut/seed blade for my Magic Bullet and giving the oats a spin.  It made oat flour and made sure we didn't get big chunks of oats in our waffles!  (but if chunky waffles are your thing, go right ahead and leave them whole!)  :P
Then I blended everything in my food processor and it looked just like regular waffle mix!  If your mixture seems a little thick, add some water.....but only a little at a time!  (don't ask how I know this!)I would like to add, since there is NO oil in this recipe, you will need to spray your waffle maker EVERY TIME you make a waffle!  Just a little squirt will do, but it is necessary!  Trust me!  ;)  (don't ask how I know this either!)

Now for the "syrup"
4 oz of low fat cream cheese
between 1/8-1/4 cup unsweetened almond milk
2 shakes NuNaturals Stevia (small holes)
1/4 tsp vanilla
maple flavoring (I used some sugar free maple syrup)

I blended all of that in my Magic Bullet, adjusting the almond milk until I had a good syrupy consistency!  I warmed up 1/2 cup of frozen blueberries and mixed in about 2T of the syrup and poured it all over my waffles!  YUMM-O!!! 


I'm so thankful that God guided my path toward this new, healthy way of eating!  It's been a wonderful, waffle-y blessing!!

Happy Thursday!!
Dana

Happy Tuesday!

Holy Smokes!  It's been CrAzY busy around here!  Whew!  I finally found stole a few minutes so I thought I'd share my super yummy raspberry sherbet that I whipped up this morning afternoon (morning/afternoon, what day is it?!)!!  It was so creamy and sweet and raspberrie-y (it's a word!!).....first the pic.....

Now the recipe:

Raspberry Sherbert (for my THM friends, this is a FP snack!)

Add 1/2 c. ff cottage cheese, 1/2 to 3/4 c frozen mixed berries (blueberries, raspberries and blackberries), and some Truvia or a tiny shake of NuNaturals Stevia Extract in a bowl.  Use an immersion blender to combine.
(I used my Magic Bullet and it worked ok.  I had to add about 2T of liquid to get to mix)
This will remind you of a raspberry sherbert! 

Credit for this yummy recipe goes to   ~Amanda Wylie

Avocado soup and Loaded Cauliflower posts to follow soon (hopefully!).

Happy Tuesday, Y'all!!
Dana

A tease.....

Just wanted y'all to know I have some yumminess lined up for next weeks post!!  I've been cooking up a storm and experimenting with some new recipes!  Creamy Avocado Soup and Loaded Cauliflower Casserole!!  Mmmmmmmm.......so very yummy!!  Hubby is on his way home from San Francisco and I'm SO ready to see him! 

Happy Weekend, Everyone!
Dana

A Yummy Midnight Snack....

Well, it's not really midnight.....it's actually about 3am.  My sweet hubby is out of town this week and I barely sleep when he's gone.  SO!  I thought it was the perfect time to do some late night snacking and baking!  (What else would you have done?! ;)

First, a snack was needed!  I bought some Light Wasa crackers the other day and as I opened the wrapper, my first thought was........cardboard.  These crackers look just like cardboard!!!  Uh-oh!  I've been following the Trim Healthy Mama eating plan for 2 weeks now and I've tried a LOT of new foods, all of them have been so yummy and NONE of them looked like cardboard!  LOL!  I was having flashbacks to my mom's "diets"......you know, rice cakes and tuna fish?!  YUCK.  So I plowed ahead thinking, "I'll try a bite, maybe it won't be too bad.  Maybe."  I spread Laughing Cow cheese on it, then sprinkled some nutritional yeast, sliced a juicy tomato and laid it on top.  Then I grabbed my Himalayan salt (love that it's pink!  so pretty!) and my Herbs de Provence and sprinkled it all over the top.  Here's what it looked like......

I took a bite......and........it was WONDERFUL!  Nothing like cardboard at all!  Thank goodness!  The cracker had a kind of nutty flavor, but the crunch!  Oh the crunchiness of that cracker was heavenly!  I'd been really craving chips.....crunchy chips, and these hit the spot!  This ain't your mama's diet!!  LOL!  (btw, this snack was considered a S Helper because of the carb content.)

After this lovely snack, I started craving something sweet and warm.  I've had several lovely smoothies lately, but no warm, soft cookies!  So off I went in search of a cookie recipe and I found one!  A Peanut Butter Chocolate  cookie!  The recipe is on page 387 of Trim Healthy Mama.

 

 



They turned out beautifully!  So yummy!!  I ate 2 and was totally satisfied!  They were SO delicious and I'm sure I won't get to enjoy many more of them once my girls are up and about in the morning!  I may have to hide a couple to savor with my morning cup o'espresso!

Happy snacking and sweet dreams!
Dana

The First....

Well, it's my first blog post!  My goal is to post about something every week for at least one year.  It probably would have made more sense to start on January 1, but I say let's break with convention and fly by the seat of our pants!  LOL....as you come to know me you will find this statement hilarious.  I do NOT fly by the seat of my pants.  Pretty much ever. 

I suppose I'll start by saying 'hello' and telling you a little about myself!

Hello!!  My name is Dana and I'm a sah-wife of a wonderful man that I've been married to for 15 years this month and a sah-mom of 2 beautiful girls!  I homeschool them (the girls, that is) and try to stay on top of keeping our smallish house clean.  We live in the country and have a garden (that is hating this cold Spring we are having this year, I might add!), 2 dogs, 1 rabbit and about 25 fish (who knew one boy fish could wreak such havoc!!).  We love the Lord and, if we aren't at home, we are most likely at our church!  I enjoy cooking (more on that later), crafting, teaching, crocheting, gardening and going to Disney World (much to my hubby's dismay!). 

So, about the cooking.  In my quest to better our health (mostly mine in the form of shrinking my waistline), I've delved into quite a few interesting recipes and diets.  Recently I've found this eating plan

and I am LOVING it!!  I just finished my first week eating "clean" and I lost 7 lbs!  Pretty good!!  I'll share some recipes that I'm enjoying and some of my experiments too!  ;)

I also promise to post pictures.  I can't stand blogs that don't include pictures!  If I wanted to read a book, I would!  LOL!  I read blogs to feed my inner child's love of storybooks....full of pictures.  ;)

Ok.....That's all I have time for today!  I've got to run (well, drive) to the grocery store, finish school with the girls and have dinner on the table for my hubby!  Thanks for joining me!

Dana