Loving Life

I have a confession to make.  I cheated.  Yesterday was a low day.  I was feeling fairly ill in the morning.  I had scheduled a dentist appointment for the morning, and while I was on my way there, I began to feel quite yucky ( as in plotting my quick-stop-on-the-side-of-the-road-to-vomit yucky).  So I turned around and made it home, cancelled my appointment and promptly went to bed.  I slept 4 hours straight (this was after sleeping a hard 8 1/2 hours only two hours before).  I woke up feeling refreshed enough to make it to the Iowa/Nebraska basketball game to which our neighbor so generously gave us tickets.  We didn't want to waste that opportunity.  And that's where I fell in my resolve.  I still felt a little shaky/ill and in need of some TLC and it's tradition that we get ice cream when ever we have the chance to go to a game.  So instead of staying strong and telling myself I would not eat any, I opted to get the cone.  I told Aaron that if I cheated, I would hav

I'm on Day 9 of my 21 day challenge.  So far it's been going well.  I don't mind not eating meat all that much.  It's a little harder on the dairy products, but not horribly bad.  I do miss sugar a lot and really desired something sweet last night especially.  It's probably good I'm taking a little break from it.  I found Sunday to be my hardest day so far in this challenge.  That's the day I rarely cook and rely on convenience foods to feed my family (frozen pizzas are our usual after church lunch, followed by ice cream and popcorn for supper - not all that vegan friendly).  So it was harder to have to think about what to eat instead of allowing that to be my eat what's convenient day.  My mom continues to be doing very well.  She's lost an amazing 8 pounds already.  I'm so proud of her!  She also says that she is feeling better physically and mentally since radically altering her diet.  Yea!  On an unrelated note, I was blessed beyond belief y

So I'm on Day 5 of my Vegan challenge  with my mom.  So far we are doing very well.  My mom reports that she is feeling better already and less draggy feeling than she has been feeling for a long time.  She has already started to see some weight loss too, so she is excited about that. It's been going well for me too.  I had my first eating at a friends house experience.  It was with some close friends, so I didn't feel weird bringing my own little tub of food for myself to eat while everyone else ate the yummy looking chili with cheese that smelled very good.  It really wasn't too hard for me.  I haven't been able to tell too much of difference in how I feel as of right now.  Mentally I'm still enjoying the challenge of it and of course I enjoy the process of finding new recipes and adapting old recipes. I've been amazed by Aaron most of all.  He has been a very good sport through the whole process.  And while I am not making him go vegan, he is voluntar

Last Friday, Aaron and I had a very fun date night.  We have always wanted to go to Aldi's (our discount grocery store) with $20 and buy things to make gourmet meal together on a date night.  So we happened to go shopping the day before our date and decided that it was time.  Here's a rundown of what we got. A hunk of brie with some really amazingly good strawberries.  They almost tasted like summer strawberries.  We snacked on those while we cooked.  They made an awesome combination when eaten together. Here is master chef Aaron busy making our salad. A bag of spinach, some mushrooms, sliced strawberries, and our salad is born!  I had it with a red wine vinegarette that we had in the fridge. We marinated shrimp in three different sauces and made shrimp kebobs to grill.  Here they are pre-grilled. If you know me, you know that I am a sucker for cute food.  I have always wanted to have a cornish hen because they are so incredibly cute looking.  So we got one.  I let it soak al

Thank you to everyone who has commented for my mom on my last post.  I really appreciate it and so does she.  You guys are awesome.  There is still time to encourage my mom, so don't delay!  So we are entering Day 2 of our challenge.  So far so good.  Last night for supper (I have assured Aaron that I will work hard to not disrupt his eating too much, though I may be trying out new recipes.  I'll just add chunks of meat to his portion so he doesn't feel deprived and I'll give him cheese to sprinkle on things) we had our favorite black bean and rice soup.  It was mostly vegan to begin with, all I had to do was substitute out the chicken broth in the recipe.  It makes a great meal and the family loves it already, so it was good for me too!  I did try out a new cornbread recipe.  I found it here .  The kids came by one by one as they were seeing what was for supper and took a look at the cornbread and asked what it was.  I told them I was trying out a new corn bread recipe

I am undertaking a three week challenge as a way of support for my dear mother.  I would include a picture here of her if I could, but she would not appreciate that (though I do have permission to write this post) Years ago, as a wee little lass, she had the misfortune of contracting polio.  While she was able to regain normal function and led a very normal life for most of her years, polio has reared its ugly head once more in her life, this time in the form of post-polio syndrome.  Click here for a link to just what post-polio is.  For those of you who prefer a one sentence summary of PPS, it's mainly a continual weakening of the muscles that were affected when polio was first contracted - it can range from mild to quite debilitating.  My mom has been struggling with full blown PPS for a couple of years now.  There is really no cure at all, few medicines to help, just learning to listen to your body in what it now has decided that it can no longer do and trying to keep your activ

My last post mentioned that I had recently purchased 40 pounds of bananas.  I froze many of them so I can make them into smoothies.  But I didn't freeze all of them.  I googled "banana recipes" to see what would pop up and then had fun experimenting.  Here are the banana things I've tried lately.  And sorry, I only took a picture of one of them. 1.  Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins - Grade: A+  You really can't go wrong here with this recipe.  Simple and delicious (with chocolate!).  Recipe is below for those interested. 2.  Banana Whoopie Pies - Grade: B+ They were fairly easy to make, the filling is cream cheese based.  Everyone else who tried them really enjoyed them, but I think the cream cheese filling threw me off a bit.  It was a little too cream cheesy for my liking, but I'm not a huge fan of piles of cream cheese to begin with.  The banana cookie part was quite good too.  Click the name above for recipe if you desire. 3.  Banana Snack Cake - Grade: B

Forty pounds of bananas for just seven dollars?  Yes, please.  These lovely things will soon be put away in my freezer awaiting to be made into smoothies - just need to get a touch more ripe.  Also purchased with my bananas were 8 qts. of strawberries for $6.50.  Definitely a happy shopping excursion.  The strawberries are already in the freezer waiting to be paired with my bananas.  Mmmm. I took several days off from school with the kids over Christmas.  We usually don't take very many days off, but we took probably around 6-7 days off over the last three weeks.  It was definitely needed for me.  I declared that I would spend time putting together a puzzle during that break. I put together not just one, but three 1000 piece puzzles that week.  I love doing them.  It's a perfect way to relax and not have to think about anything I don't want to do - which can turn problematic when I start spending time doing my puzzles instead of daily basic tasks that the day requires (foo

I love the start of a New Year.  It always feels so fresh and exciting - though in reality life isn't all that different from last week.  It's just the new and fresh mindset that is going around where anything is possible and people start dreaming about what they really want instead of settling for what they have.  I love dreaming! I went back to my old January posts from last year to see if I had posted anything about New Year's resolutions to report on them to you.  Thankfully, I hadn't made any resolutions because if I had, I had forgotten them by now.  I usually don't make "resolutions" at the start of a year.  There are times when I have a few things I'd like to work on, but I don't often wait until the New Year to start it.  I just do it as I see the need for change in my life.  So whether or not this is a resolution, I am in the midst of getting back on track with my overall health.  I've spent the last few months eating unhealthily an