Day 46...Beach Day!

Sorry I wasn't able to post last night, but here is a run down of both of my days.

Yesterday I didn't have any breakfast, but I was able to take the kids out for lunch at Eggs & Things in Valencia. I had their yummy southwestern salad with ranch dressing. It was very good and very filling. It was nice to have lunch with both of my kids. Not a normal feat with teenagers, at least in my house.

After lunch, Mikey and I went clothes shopping for him since he has lost so much weight. After that was done we headed over to my brother's house. My mom has come to visit for a week and is staying at his house while she's here. He lives in Stevenson Ranch, so it is great to be able to have us both visit with our mom when she is in town.

My brother and I drank some vodka and Arizona ice tea drinks. He makes a nice drink. He added some capri sun for the first round to cut the excess vodka. Oh well, capri sun wasn't the best choice for me, but that's OK, I was hanging out and on "vacation."

For dinner, we ordered Wood Ranch in Stevenson Ranch and ate it while we visited. We had baby back ribs, tri-tip, mashed potatoes, whipped sweet potatoes and cole slaw. It was so good and so filling. The one thing that I did do good was I didn't eat any of their garlic rolls. Those rolls are amazing, so refraining was an accomplishment for me.  That was all for yesterday.

Today was our beach day at Carpinteria State Beach with my mom, Mackenzie, sister-in-law, Roxy, and Niece, Jackie. It was so nice and cool (except for the sand, that was HOT!). Such a beautiful day and super crowded as you can probably guess. Before we got on the road, I stopped at Subway and got some iced tea and their excellent grilled chicken salad with bacon and ranch dressing. I have them throw all of their veggies into the salad, minus the jalapeño peppers. The banana peppers give it a great zing. One suggestion, ask them for all spinach instead of iceberg lettuce. I forgot today and it was a little soggy and not as good for me.

While at the beach I had some of my favorite pre-popped "movie" popcorn and called it a day until dinner. We decided that dinner was going to consist of Joe's Crab Shack since most of us had never been there. The adults had margaritas with a hard "red solo" cup that you could take home. So, of course, we had to each have 2 drinks to make it a small set.

Yummy margarita!

When it was time to order dinner, I decided to be a little bit good. I had a lobster cobb salad with avocado ranch dressing. It was good, but I think I could have made it better. Does that sound bad? I would have added more goodies to it. After all, it is with lobster, spruce it up!

Lobster Cobb Salad

Because I was feeling like being a little bad, I had some calamari. Not healthy at all and it wasn't just a little bad, pretty much, a lot bad, but it was good and adding the crunch to my salad was nice. There was a lot of fried food at the table, so having my own little bit of heaven made my dinner doable with my lack of strength when it comes to peer pressure, more like my own pressure I put on myself. It was good though, so at least it was worth it.

Fried Calamari

Now we are home and I am not sure that I am going to have anything else to eat today. Maybe I will have a little GF brownie (I'm surprised they are still around, but they are...yippee). Have you had any struggles with your decision making of food? Have you tried any new recipes? Please share.

I hope your day was excellent!

Until tomorrow,

Angela

Day 45...Will Fill You In On Today, Tomorrow. No blog.

I'll catch up with tomorrow about today. My mom just got into town and I haven't gotten a chance to sit down to right it all. 

Day 44...Homemade Tortilla Chips

Today was a nice relaxing day. So relaxing that it made me even more tired. :) As you know, the house is being painted, however, I was able to sneak out since the dogs seem to be getting more and more used to the painters. I've also found that if I keep them gated in the kitchen/family room/garage, that they are less nervous about having the painters around. They see less of them moving around outside and are less protective, I think. Also, I have been able to work on some desensitizing techniques with the door bell. Every time the painters take a break they ring my door bell to let me know that I can let the dogs go in the backyard for a potty break. I haven't been going to the door when they ring it, because it is just a signal to me. I am hoping that my lack of response will help them to reduce their anxiety when the doorbell rings later. Wow, I really went off on a tangent there! Can you tell I am going to school to be a dog trainer? I still have a long way to go, but I am learning.

Now back to my relaxing day. I snuck out of the house and had lunch with Lisa and her friend, Faith. It was a pleasant day talking about our families. I loved it. We meet at Telly's in Castaic and everyone ate something different. I had their turkey cobb salad with ranch dressing and passion fruit iced tea. I was shocked that every one of the bites of salad were yummy and crunchy. After I left Telly's I went to Foster's Freeze. I got ice cream for the family and a small vanilla ice cream with triple berries on top. It was really good and bad for me, but not as bad as I could have been with this sweet tooth. Speaking of my sweet tooth, I did have 2 of Mackenzie's GF brownies last night while I watched The Bachelorette. #TeamJosh

After I got home and enjoyed my ice cream, I knew I had to start thinking about dinner. Since I've been addicted to tortilla chips and Mexican food lately, I decided to make some homemade tortilla chips. I cut the pack of corn tortilla chips into quarters and heated up some corn oil in my iron skillet. If you don't have an iron skillet, get one! It is great and really cooks your food evenly.

I made carne asada nachos with my homemade tortilla chips.

I truly think I am addicted to Mexican food. I could eat it and cook it every day. I love it. Everything about it. I was super tired today. I wonder if it has anything to do with the fact that I threw up my vitamins? Note to self: Don't take vitamins on an empty stomach! Coffee is still an empty stomach. After my flash of nausea, I ate a little bit of cheddar cheese and a banana. The banana helped me so I could go about my day.

That's about all for now. Not a whole lot of food today, but it was a good day. I hope you all had a great day too with great people that brighten your life. You deserve it!

Until tomorrow,
Angela

Day 43...Shopping & Organizing

Today is Monday and Monday equals grocery shopping and cleaning out and filling the fridge with fresh cut veggies. Mackenzie helped me out today and cut some veggies too. That was a nice help. All of the hard work pays off when Mikey comes downstairs and asks for a sandwich with turkey, roast beef, mild cheddar, cucumbers and red onions and mustard. He had a golf tournament today and didn't eat again when he was there. I wish he could feel confident to make good choices while he is away from home.  At least he drank lots and lots of water. I am thankful for that choice.

It was a chaotic day at my house with painters outside with their power washers. My dogs were going nuts. It was especially hard because I couldn't let the dogs outside so I had to set up a potty station in the garage. I was thankful that Mackenzie was home today so that I could go to the grocery store and get my shopping on. Just kidding, it really isn't fun at all. Shopping bores me. But at least Mackenzie entertained the pups while I was gone.

Not all was horrible at the store though, I ran into my friend, Tammie. She was so encouraging about this blog and has even tried recipes that I've posted. I love to hear stuff like that. My babble is actually useful? Thank you, Tammie! You made my day!

As for my food eating, I started out with some coffee (shocker) and some oatmeal again. Today's oatmeal selection was even tastier than yesterday's choice.

Jackpot! 

After I got myself together, off to the store I went. I was on a hunt for some GF alternative foods so that I don't cheat to eat something that I am craving. Ralph's has an amazing selection of GF foods. They had Udi's and Rudi's. I actually found myself wanting to try many of them, so into the cart they went.

So many Gluten Free choices 

When I was checking out, the girl helping me with my bags, said that all of my fruits and veggies were making her hungry. Isn't it true? When you see the fruits/veggies that are crisp and fresh, it makes you crave them? That is why I chop up all of the veggies when I get home and put them in containers. It makes it easier to eat them and they look extremely appetizing. 

Doesn't this look refreshing? Raspberry iced tea.

When I got home from the store, Mackenzie, was so excited to share that she made herself GF pasta and some GF brownies. My girl and I have serious sweet teeth right now. I was very proud of her because she never cooks. She would rather avoid it and be served, but not today, and hopefully, not from now on. I bought and ate some tortilla chips with salsa while I was working. Not proud of it, but I did it and I'm owning it. I also made some cold brew raspberry iced tea. This is my new saving grace. I am in love. 

After all of the work with the groceries was done, I sat down with some chopped up cucumber and carrots with light GF bleu cheese dressing. Brian was home and decided to go out with a buddy to Las Rocas and offered to bring dinner home. Yes, please! I had their carnitas tostada with tortilla chips. I didn't not eat the tostada shell. 

Now, I sit here typing my blog with a very full belly.  I have yet to try the GF brownies, but I am sure it will happen by the night's end.

This is for all of us!

I found the above picture last night and had to save it for all of us. We need to remember this every day. We should never give up on ourselves and what we feel is best for our families as well as for ourselves. We can do it! Don't give up!

Until tomorrow,
Angela

Day 42...Struggling

It seems like whenever I write this blog lately, I have been sharing with you my downfalls or slip ups.  Today is really no exception. I have been struggling. I am still diet coke free, and even though I have been eating GF for the most part, I have not been eating too clean. Last night after I published my blog, I had some left over pre-popped "movie" popcorn, some GF "oreo" type cookies something else, I can't remember what it was, but I feel like I ate something else...I was a bit of a pig. Late night watching TV tends to start my cravings.

Today, coffee and instead of eating the bacon that Brian made, I had some oatmeal. It was purchased a bit ago from Smart & Final and had some pretty healthy ingredients in it. I was pretty pleased with it.

Yummy

After I did some chores, including vacuuming Spencer (my dog), Brian asked me if I wanted to go to TPC Valencia Country Club to eat at their restaurant and look around. We might be interested in a membership since my boys golf so much, it could be a good investment. At lunch, I had a southwest cobb and 2 bahama mamas to drink. They were good, but surprisingly strong, not in taste, but in alcohol. I was zonked, but not too zonked to pass up on sampling their bread pudding. It was good, but not as moist (hate that word, but it applies) as I would have wanted. Bread pudding is my absolute favorite dessert. I think I need to find a way to make a clean eating one that is GF. I think it can be done. 

I came home and took a nap. I told you I was zonked. For the rest of the day, I only had some banana chips. I have been feeling guilty about my lunch/dessert/drinks, so I haven't been wanting to eat much more. I'm thinking I may make myself an egg later, not sure but I am craving something. Must drink more water, maybe that will help cut the cravings. 

That's all for today! 

Until tomorrow,

Angela

Day 41...Cleaning, Cooking & Studying, Oh My!

What a boring day. I spent the day cleaning and studying. The success of the day is that I took my Animal Behavior College Stage 5 test and cleaned a good portion of the house. It just wasn't fun.

I woke up and had some coffee. Then, I made myself a bowl of sliced cucumber with cottage cheese with salt, pepper and a little tiny bit of italian dressing (the bottle was pretty much empty).

Cucumbers and cottage cheese

I figured since I've been such a cooking slacker this week that I would make dinner tonight. I had a 6 lbs pork loin that I needed to cook so I threw some soy sauce, ginger, garlic, agave, lime juice and rice vinegar in a bowl and mixed it all up. I cut up a pineapple and sliced it to line the bottom of my baking dish and to put the pork loin on while it cooked. I also took 2 slices and put them under the fat layer on the loin.  I poured the sauce over the loin and sliced up some onions. Baked it at 325 for 3 hours.

Pork Loin with pineapple, onions and some kind of asian sauce that I created. 

Asian pork loin with coconut rice and applesauce

Dinner wasn't too pretty as it was all the same color shades, but oh well! Dinner was made and it was good. Of course, I had to add applesauce to my loin. Am I the only one that needs to do that with pork?

That's about all for today! Oh ya,  wait, while I was studying I did have some tortilla chips and some GF 7 layer dip from Vons. It was good, but not great!

I hope you had a great start to your weekend and made some good choices. Most likely you made better choices than I did!

Until tomorrow,
Angela

Day 40...2 Restaurants, No Cooking

Wow, I've really become a lazy butt. Today was a day of running around with my girl for her senior portraits. First we had a hair appointment to get her hair done so that it was nice and pretty for her portraits. Her hair was done and we had a little time to kill so we went to California Pizza Kitchen. CPK had Gluten-free pizza, but I have to say that it wasn't that good. I was happy to have it, but sad that it was gritty. I think they must have used almond meal or something like that to make it grainy. In Ameci's GF pizza is WAY better.  In addition to splitting a GF pizza, Mackenzie and I both had salads. I had their cobb salad with beets and ranch dressing. Super good. I really like beets on a salad. I don't know why I don't get that more often.

After lunch, we rushed home for Mackenzie get her make up on for her photos. Once she was done, we were out the door. Rush, rush, rush! We arrived and got those shots taken.

My baby girl, Mackenzie

After the shoot, I took Mackenzie home and I headed back out to start creating a birthday gift for our dear friend, Chris. Once that was done, I ran over to Vons to see if I could get something quick for dinner. While I was there, Brian called and suggested that we go out to dinner. OK!!! I won't argue with that. We met Chris and his daughter, Jesse, at Las Rocas.

While at Las Rocas I had tons of chips and salsa, 1 1/2 draft coors lights and a combination taco (2) plate. It was really good. I was in a cheating mindset, I guess. I figured since margaritas aren't very GF or great for me anyway, why not have some coors light instead.

Now we are back home and I am done eating for the day.  I am super tired. I might go to bed early tonight! I hope you all had a great day and have exciting or relaxing plans for the weekend.

Until tomorrow,
Angela

Day 39...I Didn't Cook Today

Can you believe it wasn't the weekend and I didn't cook? I can't either. Mackenzie went to Egg Plantation today with some friends from her COC class and brought me back an omelet that was filled with sausage, tomato and cheese. It was HUGE! Not only did she bring me an omelet, but she also brought me some toasted GF bread from the restaurant as well. I was so giddy to have some GF toast. I know I can buy it at a store, but to have it at a restaurant was pretty exciting. It was very good. I added my own strawberry chia jam to it. I was in heaven! Before eating breakfast, I had 2 cups of coffee to hold me over until my breakfast arrived and I caught up on Big Brother.

Egg Plantation's HUGE omelet with sausage, tomato and cheese with GF toast.

I didn't eat anything for the rest of the day, until dinner. Since Mikey had a golf lesson with his new "focus" coach at Valencia Country Club, I decided that I would get food while we were out for dinner. Mikey requested Jersey Mike's, so my boys both got sandwiches and I stopped at El Pollo Loco as well to get a double chicken salad with avocado salsa and their cilantro dressing. Mackenzie wasn't home for dinner, so it was an easy decision to refrain from cooking.

Double chicken salad from El Pollo Loco

After dinner was finished, I decided to end the GF banana bread's reign at the house. I am surprised that it lasted that long, but it did, and I was thankful. Maybe it was because I hid it a bit? Shhhhh!

That's all for today! Just finished watching Hell's Kitchen. I love Ramsey. Is that strange? He is nasty and mean on Hell's Kitchen, but is so sweet on Master Chef. I hope you've had a great day. 

Until tomorrow,

Angela

Day 38...Back In The Swing Of Things

I'm sorry for flaking out last night on this blog. I was at a funeral and then spent the rest of the day with the family and friends of our dear friends, Cy & Kathy. It was great to spend time with them while remembering Cy's dad.

To recap what I ate yesterday is pretty easy. I really didn't eat a whole lot, but I did drink. Brian and I got to the funeral location pretty early, so we went to Chuy's in Simi Valley and I had a margarita and some chips and salsa. After the funeral, Brian and I went back to Chuy's with our friends, Kevin & Rob. We all had a shot of patron and I had 2 more margaritas. Once we were done hanging out there, we went to Cy's parent's house to spend time with their family and friends. There, I had a glass of Riesling and a GF roll with some deli meat, mustard and thousand island. It was easy to eat there because my friend, Kathy, is also GF (she is the one that introduced me to the benefits of it). She brought the GF rolls. I was so thankful and it was so good to have some bread. :)

At around 8:30pm, Brian, Kevin & Rob decided that they needed to eat, so we went to Larsen's in Simi Valley. I had a small chopped salad and water. The boys all had some sort of meat (ribeye, tri-tip, fish), potatoes and rolls. I was jealous, but whatever!  That was all I had yesterday.

This morning, I had a cup of coffee with whipping cream with agave, instead of my normal stevia. I liked the agave better, less of an after taste.

I got myself ready for the day and got the rest of my hair chopped off. I am so happy to have my spunky hair style back. I've had long hair for a couple years now, but I like the sass of short hair better.  I had some GF of my homemade banana bread and some grapes. It wasn't really enough because my vitamins kicked my butt again. I drank lots and lots of water.

For lunch, I had some pre-popped popcorn and had some iced tea.  I was having a bit of a stomach ache today, and no its isn't from all of my drinking yesterday. I know that feeling, this wasn't it. Besides, I drank water from about 5pm and for the rest of the night.

I went to PT and did most of my exercises (except for the ones where I have to balance on the exercise ball and do arm exercises. The pressure hurt my stomach. :(

I came home and started dinner. While I was cooking I sampled a couple of GF crackers. They were good and now I know what I can eat if I make a yummy dip. For dinner, I made Mongolian Beef with coconut sticky rice (rice 1:2 and coconut water in the rice cooker) and roasted asparagus (salt, pepper, olive oil & garlic powder at 475 for 30 mins). It was tasty and very filling!

Mongolian Beef over Coconut Rice with Roasted Asparagus

That's all for today! Not a whole lot of food, but it was all yummy! I hope you all had a great day and are excited about what you will do tomorrow! Keep up the great work. I know you can do it!

Until tomorrow,

Angela

Day 37...no blog today. Sorry.

I've been gone all day celebrating the life of a friend's dad. No blog. I hope you all had a great day. 

Until tomorrow,

Angela

Day 36...Banana Bread!

Yes, I am screaming banana bread! I am super excited about it. It is currently in the oven so I don't have a picture for you yet. I will keep you posted on how it turns out. It is a gluten-free banana bread.  I used GF all-purpose flour from TJ's and truvia for my sugar and went with coconut oil instead of butter. I can't wait!

Today was the big weekly shopping day. Cleaning out the refrigerator, shopping, cleaning storage containers and then peeling and chopping veggies for the week. In addition to all of that, dinner had to be made.

I went to Ralph's this week to do my shopping. They had everything I needed for this week's menus. They carry GF soy sauce too, which is nice. TJ's doesn't carry it at my local store.

While I was unloading groceries, I ate some grapes and then had some "movie" pre-popped popcorn. Before I ate that I only had coffee. Not a good mix for all of the vitamins that I've been taking.  Note to self, let's not do that again. EAT BREAKFAST!

For dinner tonight I made an antipasto salad with GF pasta shells. Instead of the different spices in the recipe, I poured the ingredients in to make italian dressing, minus the water. Everything all mixed up and it was done. I popped it into the fridge before I went to PT and came home to a yummy dinner all ready to go.

Antipasto Salad with GF Shells

In addition to the antipasto salad, I roasted some zucchini and summer squash with olive oil, salt, pepper, shredded asiago cheese and Old Bay seasoning. While that was cooking, I make a quick tortilla soup for my boys. It was one of those where all spices are in there, all you have to do is add the water and chicken. It wasn't the most clean soup I could make, but I knew my boys weren't going to love my antipasto salad, so I wanted them to have an alternative.

Now, my banana bread is still in the oven, but the house smells amazing. Yippee!  Oh my, there goes the buzzer!!!! Gotta Go!

Until tomorrow,
Angela

Day 35...Gotta Plan Food For Next Week.

Yesterday Brian scheduled an appointment with a guy to fix our shower door.  Being that the appointment was at 9am this morning, I had to scrub my bathroom last night. However, just because the guy was coming so early didn't mean that I was going to get up that early. 😁 Brian woke me up before the guy arrived and I went in the backyard with the dogs, a pillow and a blanket. I'm not very social in the morning. 

When I was ready to officially wake up, I poured a mug of coffee and sat down to figure out my menu for next week. This week I used the allrecipes.com site. I like this site because they have an app too that gives me the shopping list for the recipes I want to make. I bring my phone I to the store with the app and you click on the ingredient you stuck in your cart so it is removed from the list. Very easy. I searched gluten-free recipes and will alter  some to accommodate clean eating. 

While I was figuring out the menu, I had some white rice and Asian ground turkey for brunch.  

Mikey had a golf tournament today and with Brian having a softball game before the golf tournament was over, I drove out to Moorpark to pick up my boy when he was done. I'm not always welcome to watch Mikey play because I am "too positive."  Mikey doesn't like to hear how good he did if he doesn't believe it to be true. I like to focus on something positive. He does not. Oh well. 

Mikey wasn't too happy with his game today so it was a very quiet ride home.   Once I got home I knew I needed to get to making something for dinner because Mikey didn't eat much today and needed to eat. I microwaved some potatoes to make baked potatoes and started chopping up veggies and chicken for a fresh salad. I love baked potatoes mixed in my salad. Kind of tastes like a warm potato salad. 

Fresh veggies salad with chicken 

  

While I was microwaving the potatoes Mackenzie decided to share that she doesn't like baked potatoes but really missed French fries, so she started to cut up a potato to make her own French fries. She fried them in safflower oil. Not the best choice but it was better than vegetable oil, I think. 

I served myself some salad and a baked potato. I used butter, cheddar cheese and sour cream. The salad was served with some ranch dressing. 

Mackenzie making her own French fries. 

That is about all for today. Tomorrow will be about throwing out leftovers that are still around and all of the chopped veggies before they go bad. I really liked that I had green onions all cut up this week. I used them a lot. I probably only need about 5 bell peppers instead of 6. Carrots were about right. Way too many zucchini and summer squash. 

Mackenzie has a request for more fruit this week. My fridge needs to be cleaned out with what is left and the new chopping and peeling of veggies will start again tomorrow. 

I hope you had a wonderful weekend. Tomorrow is a new day. What do you have  planned to cook this week?

Until tomorrow, 

Angela

Day 34...Not The Best Day

I woke up this morning especially tired. I poured myself some coffee and sat down to watch some TV with my baby girl. Big mistake because very quickly Mackenzie wanted me to make some breakfast for everyone. I finally got off my tush and started sautéing some onions, scallions, red bell pepper, sliced garlic and mushrooms. As those were cooking down, I cracked some eggs in a bowl. As I was breaking the eggs, I noticed 2 yolks were coming out of each egg. Wow! As I was whisking the eggs, I added some Old Bay seasoning. After all was cooked, I added some shredded cheddar cheese and let it sit while I cut up some avocado and spooned out some cottage cheese for each plate.

I though the breakfast was tasty and Brian liked it too, but Mackenzie didn't like the Old Bay Seasoning added. :( She just ate the cottage cheese and avocado. The plate I made for Mikey is still in the microwave.

Mackenzie and I decided that we needed to get some work clothes for her since she is starting some volunteer work at SoCal Physical Therapy on Monday. Work pants and polos are the attire.

After we ran some errands, we went to Las Rocas in Castaic and had some chips and salsa as well as crunchy tacos with rice and beans. It seems that whenever I have a cheat day I eat crunchy tacos with rice and beans. I am such a creature of habit.

Lunch was good and very filling. After lunch we went back home and I started on some chores. Fun fun fun! Not my favorite thing. I do not feel like I am a very good house cleaner. I would much rather nap. That is my downfall, I like to nap. Oh well.

After chores were done, Brian ordered Ameci's gluten-free pizza. I wasn't going to eat any, but after I had some dehydrated mangos, I realized that I wanted some. I am really glad that I did. I really liked it, it is a very thin crust pizza. I ate more than I should have, but it was GOOD.

That's it! That's all I had to eat today. I drank iced tea and water all day and ate food that wasn't cooked by me and was not the best for me, but I did it. I ate it. Tomorrow will be a better day.  I can't believe I didn't take any pictures of any food today either. So, instead of food, I am attaching a picture of my Spencer. I love him!

Spencer likes naps too.  He looks so sleepy here!

What did you eat today? Were you on track or having a cheat day like me? I hope you had a great day regardless of the path you took in your healthy eating journey. 

Until tomorrow,

Angela

Day 33...The Week of Winging It!

I was just about to go upstairs and put my jammies on, but I felt like I was forgetting something. I was...my blog! Today was a pretty slow day in the food department. I woke up and had myself some coffee, or did I? To be honest, I can't remember.

I got ready for the day and did some chores including getting over to Wal-Greens to get some more vitamins. The doctor called to tell me that my blood results were better for B12 & Magnesium, but not normal yet. It was 2 weeks on the vitamins, so I used a suggestion that a friend of mine gave me and got some magnesium citrate and sublingual B12. I will see if that makes a difference.

Since I was out I got the kids breakfast burritos at Telly's in Castaic. They love those burritos. The flour in the tortilla is the only bad thing, so I went with it. I only got an iced tea for myself. Still diet coke free, if you were wondering.

I came home and found myself feeling a bit nauseous. I think it was my lack of food along with my vitamins on an empty stomach, so I sat down with a bag of the healthy "movie" popcorn. I probably should have made myself an omelet or something, but I wasn't really in the mood. I needed to catch up on my Big Brother. Devin was on the block! :) I ate the entire bag of popcorn. Not something I am proud of, but this blog is for my accountability, so I am owning it.

I had physical therapy today so I got going. That is 2 hours of upper body exercise with isometrics and weights. I keep trying to add more weight because I am so competitive, don't know if I am hurting myself or not, but I like the workout.

After I got home, I knew I had to make something for dinner. As has been par for the course this week, I was gonna wing it again. I thawed some Seafood Blend in some cold water and started the water to boil on the stove for some corn pasta. While the water was boiling and the seafood was thawing, I added some chopped onions to my iron skillet and chopped up some mushrooms all to sauté in clarified butter (ghee). It seemed like it needed more than salt and pepper so I added some crushed garlic and Old Bay Seasoning to it while it cooked down. Once that was caramelized and ready, I added the Seafood Blend. As it was cooking, I remembered that I had some leftover cooked chopped bacon, so I added that to the mixture while it was cooking. After the pasta was done, I mixed it into the seafood mixture in the iron skillet and added some asiago/parmesan cheese, until it was a bunch of cheesy goodness.

Seafood Blend

Seafood Blend Corn Pasta

Oh, I almost forgot, my baby girl also had PT today, but we drove separately since we were 30 mins off on our start times. On her way home, she stopped at Juice It Up in Valencia and brought me and Mikey all fruit smoothies. I drank the smoothie while I was eating dinner. I was in heaven! What a treat!

All Fruit Smoothie from Juice It Up!

After dinner I chomped on some dehydrated mangos and am now ready for bed. I was up late last night finishing up the Orange is the New Black season 2. Now I have to wait until next summer for season 3. I sure do miss my girls at Litchfield Prison. 

Confession time, last night, after the blog was sent and while I was watching OITNB, I pigged out on some TJ's trail mix and plantain chips. Neither were bad for me, but I didn't blog them last night (since the blog was already posted) so I've been feeling guilty. One thing I won't do on this blog is lie about my food intake as that would defeat the purpose of this blog altogether. 

I hope you had a great week and are looking forward to a wonderful weekend filled with good choices.

Until tomorrow,

Angela

Day 32...Are You Sick Of Me Yet?

Sometimes I feel like I am on such babble alert every night when I type this blog. I wonder if I am just annoying for even typing it, but then I think, who cares! This blog is to hold me accountable. I've learned that some of you are using it as a motivation to get healthy too and that makes me feel so honored.

Today was a pretty emotional day for me. Days like this make me so happy to have my sister-in-law, Roxanne, in my life. She is always there for me and was there for me today. I don't know what I would do without her. Thank you, Sis!

Because I was meeting Roxanne, I didn't have breakfast. I had some coffee and got myself ready for my day. Roxy and I accomplished our goal of the day and found ourselves at Chili's. We both celebrated our goal that was reached and toasted with a shot of patron, then we each had a patron margarita. I was able to make some better choices for lunch though. I had the Chipotle Tex Mex Bowl. It was really good and reminded me of something that I would make at home. Tasted fresh and healthy. I feel like I made a good choices at Chili's...aside from the drinks, of course!

Once I got home, I was pretty lazy. I knew I had to figure something out for dinner, so I was on the hunt for a decent recipe with the ingredients that I had on hand. Unfortunately, I missed a couple of ingredients when I was shopping at the beginning of the week and used extra ingredients in my "off the cuff" dinners, so I had to wing it.

I made some sticky rice made with coconut water, my new favorite, and browned up some ground turkey. While I was cooking the ground turkey, I added soy sauce, rice vinegar, chili sauce, green onions & sesame oil. I cooked it all up and viola! Dinner is served! Asian turkey over coconut white rice.

Asian turkey with sticky coconut rice

I was happy with this throw together dinner. It was a hit and was very filling. Yay! I was able to get in a couple of Orange is the New Black episodes (I'm very sad because I'm almost done with season 2), and am now watching Hell's Kitchen with my honey.

I hope you had a great day and were able to succeed in whatever you set out for the day. Don't forget that you are worth it. I believe in you!

Until tomorrow,
Angela

Day 31...Using Leftovers

I crawled out of bed this morning started my chores of feeding my bearded dragon, Keith, and giving my dogs their medicine. I got myself downstairs to make some coffee and it was especially good this morning.

I sat down and turned on one of my favorite shows, Chopped. The contestants were competing and someone made a hash with bacon. I thought that would be a great breakfast for me and my boy (Mackenzie was at summer school at COC). I started chopping up some bacon and threw them in the iron skillet. My burner clicked but never lit. I panicked. Why wasn't it working? I used a lighter to help light the burner and nothing. I tried turning on the oven to see if it was just the burners, nothing. What was I going to do? I felt like I was in Cutthroat Kitchen and figured I was just given the sabotage of cooking on the BBQ. So, I went into the backyard to turn on our natural gas BBQ. Nothing. It clicked, but didn't light. I tried to turn on the spa to see if there was gas coming into the spa to heat up. Nothing. I was about to lose my mind. How am I supposed to eat well without my stove/oven/BBQ? I went online to see if I could get some troubleshooting help. The site allowed me to book an appt but it wasn't until August 11th. That wasn't going to work. I NEED TO COOK! Finally, I called their emergency number feeling guilty that it wasn't really an emergency, but they helped me! They considered it an emergency if my water heater wasn't heating water. So, they came out 2 hours later. After they installed a new meter, I learned that the meter just stopped working. Phew! Now onto food decisions that were made for the day. 

While I was waiting for the gas company to arrive, I microwaved the chopped up bacon and then microwaved some mini potatoes to have for lunch. After it was all cooked, I had mini baked potatoes with butter, bacon and some shredded cheese. I also added some leftover salad from last night to my plate. It was so good and just what I needed. 

The gas guy came and was gone by 5:00. Now, it was time to start thinking about what I was going to do about dinner. I didn't really plan ahead today since I was thrown off my game, so I decided to wing it. While I was trying to figure out my plan of attack, I had some TJ's trail mix. It was dark chocolate, cashews, pistachios, cranberries & raspberries. It was good and gave me some fuel while I tried to think about dinner. 

I started cooking some TJ's polenta in a skillet with olive oil, salt and pepper. I thought I would make thick little tortillas to have a taco salad type dish. It was not cooking up as I thought it would, so I mushed it all together and added some canned corn to it, hoping to make a something like the corn-ish little side dish that they serve you at El Torito. I let that continue cooking down to brown it a bit. On another burner, I cooked some onions and ground beef until brown. I added some taco seasoning and water along with a can of black beans. I let it simmer until fully cooked and flavored with the seasoning. 

After all was cooked, I spread the corn mixture on the bottom of a ceramic dish. 

Polenta and canned corn

Added ground beef with taco seasoning and black beans

Added cheddar cheese

Topped with leftover southwestern chopped salad

Final product with sour cream and cholula.

Viola! Dinner is served!

I feel especially good about this dinner because I didn't use a recipe. I just flew by the seat of my pants and made a meal that was worthy of seconds. It feels so good to see my family go back for more. Brian even thought that it had some type of bread in it. Nope! It was the polenta that gave it that extra filling feeling. 

That's all of the excitement that I could take today. I was really feeling like I was being challenged to stay the course. I did it! No eating out to accommodate for food and a good dinner was still made at the end of the day. 

I hope you had a great day! Stay on track and know that you are worth it!

Until tomorrow,

Angela

Day 30...This Month Went By Fast!

I cannot believe that I have been blogging and clean eating for a month. 30 Days! Wow! It makes me feel so accomplished, but also so new and inexperienced. I know this is something I can do for a long time. My family is worth it and so am I.

As promised, I woke up this morning and made breakfast. My boy and I had eggs. I actually made some toast (not GF) for him with fried eggs on top. I had 2 fried eggs with cottage cheese, tomatoes and avocados with my eggs. Of course, coffee was served with my breakfast.

Today was the day for me to get my hair did. It was very much needed. My hair was getting sparkly and not a cute, "let's add some fun to your hair" sparkly...it was all about being old. I don't like that. I'm not ready for it. I decided to spruce it up too. I chopped 4 inches off of my already shoulder length hair and am really trying to embrace my natural curls.

This made makes me laugh because it looks like a mugshot
Have I been watching too much Orange is the New Black?  Probably!

OK, this is better. I'm not a criminal. 

Once I got myself together after enjoying a hair cut and color (it is always so relaxing) and finished pigging out on some of TJ's pre-popped movie popcorn, I figured it was time to start making dinner. It was such a hot day, perfect for a nice cool salad. I made a nice Southwestern Chopped Salad with Cilantro Lime Dressing. I added chopped chicken breast to make it more of a meal for us. It was really filling and refreshing. This salad is a keeper and will be made again. Super easy and perfect for a summer night. 

Southwestern Chopped Salad with Cilantro Lime Dressing

That's about it for tonight.  I might make a fruit smoothie to end the night, but chances are I will be too lazy to do anything else. I really want to make something sweet like a cake or brownies (GF, of course), but I will have to figure it out and see if I have the ingredients and energy to make that happen. I hope you are all staying cool. Have a great rest of the night!

Until tomorrow,

Angela

Day 29...My Family Is Getting Healthy!

If you are a friend of mine on Facebook, you already know that my son and I have had some great results from this new clean eating way of life. As of today, I am down 7.9 lbs and Mikey is down 20 lbs in 29 days. I am very proud of my boy. He has really committed to this new life. He hasn't even taken the option to have a cheat meal. Unless he is eating soup, he won't eat outside of the house. Of course, he is growing taller, so that is helping his weight loss. He is starting high school in August, so I am excited for his new more confident self. 

Coffee was my breakfast of choice, as always. I woke up pretty late today as I was up early in the morning with my pups. They were struggling with the new rules of the house, so I was up trying to stay consistant.

Last night, after I wrote this blog, I created a menu for the week. I am excited to try the new recipes. My grocery store of choice today was Trader Joe's. I bought my standard GF snacks of nuts and dehydrated fruit along with many fresh veggies and meats to help me to make the dishes that are on my menu this week. 

For lunch, I made leftover brown rice spaghetti from last night's dinner. It was so good. Italian food is always so good the next day. I was very happy. 

Once I finished lunch, it was time to work.  I cut and peeled all of the refrigerated veggies that I bought for the week. It is a lot of work, but seeing all of the fresh veggies all stacked up and ready to eat is worth it, such a sense of accomplishment. 

Freshly Chopped Up Veggies

Dinner tonight was BBQ rosemary pork with roasted eggplant and cucumbers/gorgonzola cheese. I was happy with the recipe and then decided to roast the eggplant with olive oil, salt, pepper & garlic salt at 450 for 45 mins (mixing it up half way through). They came out soft and flavorful. After marinating the pork chops in olive oil, salt, pepper and rosemary, I threw them on the BBQ. While the pork was cooking, I was thinking about the look of the plate and knew I needed some more color. I grabbed my container of cut up cucumbers and added some red wine vinegar, salt, pepper, italian seasoning, olive oil and gorgonzola cheese to it. I also added sugar free apple sauce to the plate. I can't make pork chops without apple sauce (pork chops & apple sauce).

BBQ Rosemary Pork Chop, Roasted Eggplant with Cucumber & Apple Sauce

That is all for today as it is 9pm in the evening. I really shouldn't be eating anything else today. I will do my best to eat a good breakfast tomorrow. I can't even the feelings that I have from the support that you all give me. Hearing that I am making a difference in your way of thinking about food makes it all worth it. Keep up the great work and know that I am here to support you too. 

Until tomorrow,

Angela

Day 28...Being Diet Coke Free Is Worth It!

This morning I woke up with a desire to go to the Saugus Swap Meet. My boys were at a fundraiser golf tournament, so it was just me and my girl. Mackenzie and I got ourselves ready and headed for the Swap Meet. It was a hot day here in So Cal. While we were at the swap meet, Mackenzie's car read 102 degrees. Super dry heat too. We walked around bit and then decided to try to get something to drink. Being that we are diet coke and soda free, this made it very difficult. We were craving iced tea, but it was nowhere to be found. Mackenzie ended up getting a cup of their homemade lemonade and I got a bottle of water. It was refreshing but we still wanted an iced tea. Oh well. Being diet coke free was worth it.

After we bought a couple of treasures, we decided to go to Rattler's BBQ for a nice cool salad and a great big iced tea. In addition, we ordered some chicken wings for a little appetizer.  I was starving and ate my whole salad.  

BBQ Chicken Wings from Rattler's BBQ

After lunch I noticed that I forgot to take a picture of my yummy salad. Mackenzie offered her half eaten salad as a model. Ya, that wasn't gonna happen. It was no longer yummy looking!

After we got home, I realized that I needed to come up with some ideas for next week's dinners. No one in the house has any ideas, except Mikey, he wants me to make some chicken noodle soup. He is my soup boy. I'll make that no problem.  I've been looking through Pinterest and some gluten-free and/or clean eating websites. I found a couple of recipes but still not enough for the week. Hopefully, I won't be flying by the seat of my pants for recipes. 

As I was browsing websites, I ate some dehydrated mangos.  Mackenzie told me she was hungry so I had to start thinking about dinner for tonight. I settled on a pasta dish. I sautéed up some red/sweet onions & mushrooms in butter with salt and pepper. Smashed up some garlic and added them to the sauté mixture. I cooked them down until they were clear and set them to simmer while I cooked the brown rice GF pasta. 

Red & Sweet Onions w/ Mushrooms & Garlic 

Once the pasta was done, I mixed it in the skillet with the onion sauté. After that was all mixed up, I added some GF pasta sauce onto the top in the center and finished it with chunks of asiago cheese. I was quiet proud of my throw together dinner. Normally, I add butter to the pasta with garlic salt and call it a day. Today was different and MUCH better, if I do say so myself.

GF Brown Rice with Onion/Mushroom Sauté and GF Pasta Sauce

I really only make dinners like this when I know Brian isn't going to be home because he doesn't like red sauce. He doesn't like tomatoes at all, so it makes it hard for this Italian to refrain from making red sauce and tomato dishes. Tonight was easy and very much enjoyed. 

Now, I need to go back to figuring out my recipes for the rest of the week. I hope you were able to stay cool today. 

Until tomorrow,

Angela

Day 27...Cheat Meal

Today, I was able to spend lunch with my step-dad, Don, along with Brian, my kids,  David (my brother) and Joey (my nephew). It was really great to see him and reminisce about old times. Don and my mom were married while I was growing up. Elementary school and into college. Needless to say, he had a huge impact on my upbringing. It has been over 3 years since I've seen him (not counting Facebook), so lunch was a meal worth cheating. He really wanted me to be able to make good choices since he understands that I've been working hard to stay healthy, but instead, I decided that I wanted to celebrate his visit and eat what I wanted. I also didn't want to be a pain in the tush with the restaurant selection. We went there when he last visited, so it was perfect to go there again.

We went to Don Cuco's on Lyons in Newhall. It is a Mexican restaurant so I needed to have a margarita or two, of course. In addition, I had chips and salsa and 2 crunchy beef tacos with some refried beans and rice. I wasn't good, but I wasn't horrible either. I have to say that it was either the salsa or the margarita, not sure, but one of them brought back my in-di-ges-tion. Blah! I haven't struggled with that feeling for a couple of weeks now, so having it come back makes me really want to get right back track.

For a snack, I had some freeze dried mangos. Ingredients: Mangos. I have to admit that I didn't like that as much as my dehydrated mangos. I've mentioned that I'm addicted to the dehydrated mangos, right? I love them! Freeze dried mangos, not so much!

For dinner, Brian went to the store and got some steak and scallops along with some fresh spinach. I sautéed the spinach with some onions and some ghee (salt and pepper, of course). After that was done, I took the spinach out and added the leftover onions and ghee to my iron skillet and added the scallops. Brian BBQd the steak. Once it was all done, I warmed up some leftover coconut water rice and dinner was served.

Steak and Scallops with Spinach & Coconut Water Rice

I was able to make the rest of the day right with my eating.  I feel good that I didn't go completely off the wagon and cheat the whole day away. I think that I've been eating well long enough now to know that I feel better when I eat well. Eating clean is the best for me and it makes me feel accomplished. 

I hope you are having a great weekend. 

Until tomorrow,

Angela

Day 26...Brian Is So Supportive!

Since I've been tired of telling you that I haven't had breakfast each morning and have just been drinking coffee, I made breakfast. It was very filling and super good. I sautéed up some sausage in my iron skillet (I love my iron skillet, by the way) and sautéed mushrooms and red onions in another skillet. After they were tender, I whisked some eggs with heavy whipping cream and added them to the sautéed mushrooms/onions. Once they were all cooked up, I cut up some tomatoes and avocado and added them to my plate with cottage cheese.

Breakfast of the Day!

I was reminded that I should not weigh myself after eating such a big breakfast and 2 cups of coffee, as it makes for an emotionally sad place. I think my scale hates me. I like it, when it works, but lately it has been very temperamental. This is why I haven't posted my weight loss/gain this week. I don't trust what it says. It is an Aria fitbit scale and hasn't been very trustworthy. The batteries keep dying and it takes forever for it to give me a weight.  Grrrr! I'll figure it out, but at the end of the day, it is about my health, not necessarily the scale! I do, however, feel like I have lost inches. Yay!

The rest of the day was spent snacking on macadamia nuts and popcorn. I was a bit of a pig today and ate a whole bag of pre-popped movie popcorn (the healthy kind). Peppermint tea was my drink of choice until later this evening. That is when I broke out the pomegranate iced tea (so daring)!

Since it was Friday (I don't like to cook on Friday) and I was studying for my Animal Behavior College, I didn't cook dinner. Brian said he would pick something up for us from Chili's. I asked for their Quesadilla Explosion salad. Brian came home with a grilled chicken salad with a low fat vinaigrette instead. The dressing was spicy, but tasty. Brian didn't want me to have to risk eating the quesadilla that comes with the salad. I didn't plan on eating it, but it was really sweet that he didn't want to tempt me. We both ate salads. 

Grilled Chicken Salad w/ Low Fat Vinaigrette

That's about all for today!  Not much excitement, but sometimes that is also good. Mackenzie has been home all day catching up on her sleep and Mikey is now at the Ice Station again hanging out with his buddies. I am trying to slow down on my Orange is the New Black watching so that I don't go through major withdrawals once it is over. To fulfill my obsession, I downloaded their theme song as my ringtone. Obsessed much? Ya, I think so too!

I hope you have had a great week and are looking forward to a relaxing weekend. 

Until tomorrow,

Angela

Day 25...He Asked, "Is There More?"

I feel like I drove the "Newhall Ranch" circuit all day today. First, I took Mikey to the orthodontist and home. Later, I drove him to the Ice Station to dropped him off only to drive back to pick him up 2 hours later. I was happy to have him out of the house with his friends.

Coffee, macadamia nuts, dehydrated pineapple and leftover greek salad were my snacks throughout the day. Pretty simple. I just picked all day long. After I dropped Mikey off at the Ice Station, I started prepping dinner.

Tonight, I made pan sautéed salmon (salt, pepper, garlic powder & ghee) over coconut water rice (made in the rice cooker with coconut water instead of regular water) with mango/avocado salsa. Dinner was really good and very filling. When Mikey was eating it he said, "It tastes like ceviche. Is there more?" I don't get many requests for more from Mikey lately, so hearing that made me think that I was on the right path tonight. Yahoo!  Mackenzie doesn't like salmon, so she had rice with the salsa and was very happy. She really liked the rice made with coconut water. I did too! It was extra sticky and flavorful.

Mango/Avocado Salsa

When Brian came home, I sautéed up some salmon for him and prepared his plate. While he was eating he told me how much he liked it. Normally, the fact that he eats it is a good sign, and he really isn't very picky. However, him saying he liked it without me fishing for a positive critique was awesome. This dinner was a winner!  That was it for today. If I have a snack tonight, it will be some popcorn that is made with just popcorn and sea salt.

Pan Sautéed Salmon over Coconut Rice with Mango Avocado Salsa

I have to say that it is pretty cool to go out about my day and see friends that have been quietly reading my blog. Mikey's orthodontist, Dr. Mulcahey, has even been reading it. Of course, she is a friend of mine on Facebook, but still, it made me feel special. 

I love hearing about all of the new recipes you've tried too. It is fun to try something new. I've come to see that many recipes have many of the same ingredients, but are just worked with a bit differently to make the food taste different. Give a new recipe a try and let me know how it goes. 

Until tomorrow,

Angela