21 Day Sugar Detox

On April 2nd, I will begin my very first 21 Day Sugar Detox.  As I mentioned in a previous post, I am trying to go paleo but sugar is one of those things that I am having a hard time with.  Not that I eat a lot of it but I do enjoy my chocolate, not just 70%+ cocoa but any type of chocolate available!  I need to stop that and get some better focus.  I feel fabulous so far and am maintaining a steady weight.  I have got to incorporate exercise in but am having a hard time with the motivation for that too.  Excuses, excuses!!  Anyway, I will be posting about my experience and hopefully it will help others to decide to give it a go!

Breakfast for Dinner

Somehow I pared down my weekly menu too much and took Monday off! D’oh! Being so not in the mood to be creative, we went with a big favorite in our house…breakfast for dinner.

Hubby cooked up some nitrate-, nitrite-free bacon from the local Farm Institute and fried up a bunch of eggs. Yum!! A dinner we ALL enjoy. Doesn’t happen often in this house.

Instead of toast, being grain-free and all, I had the remainder of the awesome paleo banana bread I had made. Smeared with Kelly Gold Butter (from grass-fed cows)…delish!!

Gone Paleo! (Of sorts)

In the many attempts to find just the right eating plan for me, I have stumbled upon the Paleo diet.  Having just finished a year-long treatment for melanoma in January, I wanted to get my body back into shape and try and be the healthiest I can be. I was so tired of being tired and feeling sick all the time.  Since cutting grains out, I feel fabulous!  I have not been able to cut sugar completely out yet but I don’t eat much that has sugar in it anyway.

My family is eating much more healthy foods (except for the 8 yr old who won’t eat anything unless it’s pizza or mozzarella sticks!)  We only eat 100% grass-fed beef that either comes from Trader Joe’s or when I can, the Farmer’s Institute on Martha’s Vineyard. Talk about knowing where your food comes from!  Can’t get much closer than that!!  The majority of our fridge is veggies!  I try to get a rainbow going so I know we’re getting everything we need.  I have adapted paleo to fit my lifestyle so you may notice some recipes here that include non-paleo items but this is what works for us.

Last night we had an amazing Beef Stew followed up with a fantastic Chocolate Pot de Creme!!  Amazing!!

I have all of my favorite Paleo (and non-paleo) Recipes on Pinterest…give me a follow!

Simple Homemade Granola

Borrowing this recipe from The Joy of Baking, my son and I decided to try making our own granola. We had a great time and boy, is it yummy! I will never go back to store bought granola! One, it’s way too expensive and two, we know exactly what went into our granola. No hidden anything!

Before it becomes toasted yumminess!

My breakfast this morning: my homemade granola with Vanilla Cocunut Milk.

Homemade Tomato Sauce

This past weekend the family made a trip to a local Farmer’s Market to pick up 20 lbs. of tomatoes and other goodies! Here is my process pictorial. Enjoy!

This blog is going on a semi-hiatus as I concentrate on my journey into the world of melanoma and self-healing.  I will of course post any new fabulous and cancer-fighting recipes that I come across. 😉

Pretty sneaky, Sis!

Ok, so, usually I do not condone lying about what a recipe or food I’m preparing contains but I really wanted my husband to give tofu a chance. I knew that if I told him ahead of time that the Trader Joe’s Vegetarian Chili I was cooking had tofu in it, he wouldn’t eat it.  I, myself, was unsure about tofu as I have horrible childhood memories of the tofu dogs my mother tried to get us to eat. Fortunately, tofu seems to have come a long way.

I got the chili piping hot and made sure to throw out the cans before he had a chance to see them.  I had mine with a big dollop of sour cream and it was delish!  I asked my husband what he thought and he said he would definitely eat it again.  A glowing endorsement from a man who swore he “would not try anything with tofu so do not bring it home”.  Of course, this is the same guy who told me that hummus was so gross it wasn’t even fit for scrubbing the bottom of his feet with.  I got him to try that a couple of weeks ago and although he isn’t addicted like I am, he does like it and has asked for me to get many different flavors.

I still have not told him that there was tofu in the chili but I will.  Or will I?  Duh duh duhhhhhhh!

There’s WHAT in a Ding Dong????

Image via Wikipedia

Today I was absolutely disgusted to learn that there is beef fat (or animal shortening…sounds even worse!)  in Hostess Ding Dongs!!  Ugh!  I am however extremely happy that I have not had a Hostess Ding Dong in many years.

It proves that I definitely need to be looking a little closer at the labels of everything I buy.  Beef fat???  Really???

Here’s the whole ingredient list:

Sugar, partially hydrogenated vegetable and/or animal shortening (may contain one or more of: soybean oil, cottonseed oil, palm oil, beef fat, lard), enriched flour (niacin, iron, thiamine mononitrate, riboflavin), water, cocoa, skim milk, corn syrup, eggs, mono- and diglycerides, starch, whey, leavening (baking soda, sodium acid pyrophosphate, monocalcium phosphate), salt, sodium caseinate, lecithin, cellulose gum, polysorbate 60, artificial color, artificial and natural flavors, sorbic acid

Read those labels people!!

Time Flies When Your Becoming Veg!

It’s been a bit since my last post but I can explain!  This blog’s orginal purpose was to chronicle my journey into the world of clean eating.  On my way to clean, I discovered I actually wanted to be vegetarian.  There have been several times in my life when I had said, “I wish I liked veggies more so I could become a vegetarian but I’m a meat eater through and through!”  For some reason, with 40 fast approaching, becoming veg really hasn’t been difficult at all.

I have eaten so many veggies that I swore I would never touch…mushrooms (see my mushroom soup post), tomatoes (as long as they’re roma/plum, I put them on everything!) and even eggplant.  I made a summer ratatouille with fresh picked eggplant, squash, etc. that was absolutely fabulous!

I can’t even begin to describe how good I feel (except for this wonderful cold my 6 yr old brought home and shared with myself and my 9 month old)!  I have lost 10 lbs. in 2.5/3 weeks…without even trying.  I eat 6 times throughout the day so hunger is no issue.  Due to the loss of my gallbladder (medical mistake) over 3 years ago, I have a history of horrible attacks of bile salt diarrhea.  These attacks can be absolutely debilitating, leaving me lying on the floor of my bathroom writhing in pain.  It made being able to go out to dinner with family or friends almost impossible.  I have had no such attacks since beginning my veg journey.  My system has made adjustments, yes, but nothing like the attacks I would have.  It’s nice to be able to go out and enjoy a meal without fear of having to make a mad dash back home.

I haven’t done this alone and I owe a lot of thanks to many websites, bloggers and tweets from various people and organizations that have helped me in this learning process.  For anyone who is looking for support while becoming veg/vegan, I highly recommend visiting the Happy Herbivore.  The recipes are easy but fabulous and Lindsay makes learning fun!  This is my number one source for recipes and newbie information.  I have even taken an HH e-course and am excited to take more.

I love that all I have to do is turn on my computer and the world of vegetarianism is right there for me to explore!

Make Your Own…

I am finding that I love making my own pizza. Especially since I don’t have to worry about making the dough from scratch. Our local grocery store has begun carrying whole wheat pizza dough which has been a godsend.

Tonight I put pesto with Basil and Olive Oil, plum tomatoes thinly sliced and a small bit of mozzarella cheese (still trying to quit the dairy…baby steps!) it was so easy and delicious. It’s also very nice to know exactly what is in/on my family’s pizza.