Sorry, but I will not be writing my blog during the Labor Day weekend. I can tell you that I haven't been very good, but I have also been sick with a head cold, so I have been looking at comfort food as my friend. I slept all day yesterday, except for a couple hours while watching the USC game. I came home from Las Rocas and went back to bed.
I hope you are having a great weekend.
Until Tuesday,
Angela
Sunday, August 31, 2014
Thursday, August 28, 2014
Day 74...Laughing Is Good For The Soul
I have been so spoiled lately to get to go out to lunch with my friends. Today was with my friend, Laura. We went to CPK in Valencia. She works in the same parking lot, at Providence, so it was nice and easy. We did nothing but talk and laugh and laugh some more. We have so many inside jokes that have made over the years (13 years), that we can go non-stop reminiscing about them.
This morning it was the same routine. Coffee, lunch being made and a smoothie for the girl. I told Mikey to school and enjoyed the company of my girl, Tommy (dog). She has arthritis in her spine so she doesn't do much, but she sure does like going in the car...and she is good in the car. I'm sure she feels good to know that she gets to go and the boys, Spencer and Bucky, have to stay behind. We call her, "Mama," so she don't get much of a break from her boys...or really from Bucky. He's a bit needy for her attention all the time.
Once I got myself ready to go to lunch with Laura, I headed out. I got to the restaurant a little early, so I ordered an iced tea and artichoke/spinach dip with tortilla chips. It was good. Once Laura arrived, we laughed so much that we didn't even finish the dip. For lunch, I ordered their cobb salad with beets. It is really a great tasting salad. I really love beets on my salad. I think I need to experiment more with beets at home.
After lunch I picked up Mikey and we went to Wal-Mart. I asked Mikey what he wanted me to make for dinner and he said he wanted meatloaf and mashed potatoes again but with beef instead of turkey. This time I used GF break crumbs instead of ground up GF pretzels. I knew I could whip that up for Mikey and also cook something else for dinner. The other day, Brian thought he meatloaf/potatoes was too rich, so for him, I made ribeye pork chips with GF bread crumbs.
While I was cooking, I had a coors light. I really need to break this desire for beer lately. This is NOT GF and I don't like GF beer.
I have been impressed with all of the GF option that Wal-Mart has to offer. Many of them are also Wal-Mart brand. I am in love with their pretzels.
After all was said and done, I had some meatloaf cupcakes with mashed potatoes. Then, later, I had a pork chop. It was all really good, but the meatloaf with the beef was a bit over cooked. Probably should have cooked them 25 mins instead of 30 at 350 degrees.
That's all for today. Not a whole lot to report. If you have a blog that you are writing to keep yourself accountable and/or journal your daily accomplishments, please share! I would love to read it.
Until tomorrow,
Angela
This morning it was the same routine. Coffee, lunch being made and a smoothie for the girl. I told Mikey to school and enjoyed the company of my girl, Tommy (dog). She has arthritis in her spine so she doesn't do much, but she sure does like going in the car...and she is good in the car. I'm sure she feels good to know that she gets to go and the boys, Spencer and Bucky, have to stay behind. We call her, "Mama," so she don't get much of a break from her boys...or really from Bucky. He's a bit needy for her attention all the time.
Once I got myself ready to go to lunch with Laura, I headed out. I got to the restaurant a little early, so I ordered an iced tea and artichoke/spinach dip with tortilla chips. It was good. Once Laura arrived, we laughed so much that we didn't even finish the dip. For lunch, I ordered their cobb salad with beets. It is really a great tasting salad. I really love beets on my salad. I think I need to experiment more with beets at home.
After lunch I picked up Mikey and we went to Wal-Mart. I asked Mikey what he wanted me to make for dinner and he said he wanted meatloaf and mashed potatoes again but with beef instead of turkey. This time I used GF break crumbs instead of ground up GF pretzels. I knew I could whip that up for Mikey and also cook something else for dinner. The other day, Brian thought he meatloaf/potatoes was too rich, so for him, I made ribeye pork chips with GF bread crumbs.
While I was cooking, I had a coors light. I really need to break this desire for beer lately. This is NOT GF and I don't like GF beer.
I have been impressed with all of the GF option that Wal-Mart has to offer. Many of them are also Wal-Mart brand. I am in love with their pretzels.
After all was said and done, I had some meatloaf cupcakes with mashed potatoes. Then, later, I had a pork chop. It was all really good, but the meatloaf with the beef was a bit over cooked. Probably should have cooked them 25 mins instead of 30 at 350 degrees.
That's all for today. Not a whole lot to report. If you have a blog that you are writing to keep yourself accountable and/or journal your daily accomplishments, please share! I would love to read it.
Until tomorrow,
Angela
Wednesday, August 27, 2014
Day 73...GDO
I was looking forward to today for a week or so now. Today is the day that I was going to lunch with some of my girlfriends. It was fun! I love them, but missed my Tina! :)
That's all for today! I may find myself enjoying a GF egg sandwich or some leftover mashed potatoes, I don't know. It will be a surprise!
I woke up and started my morning routine of making lunches, smoothies and drinking coffee. It was a nice, slow morning. I just dilly-dallied until it was time for me to get myself ready for lunch.
We meet at Las Rocas in Castaic and we kept one of the waiters busy while we chomped down the tortilla chips and salsa. It was a mistake seating us a bit away from the kitchen. We needed many refills of chips/salsa and iced tea. Poor guy. We were so happy though.
I ordered the 2 crispy shredded beef tacos with rice and beans and extra sour cream. Not really an amazingly healthy choice, but I told you I wasn't gonna be great! At least I didn't have one of their fish bowls of coors light. I was tempted. Instead, I had 2 beers when I got home. <grin>
When I got home with Mikey from school, I started chopping up the veggies that I neglected to cut up from Sunday. I don't know what I was thinking, but I forgot to by red/orange/yellow bell peppers. I was missing them in my chopping extravaganza.
Once I was done with all of that, I realized that I had no ideas of what to make for dinner yet. I was too busy playing with my friends that I didn't plan in advance.
I made my trusty greek salad and hoped that the family would be super excited about my no meat dinner, not so much. Mikey ate leftover turkey meatloaf and mashed potatoes and Mackenzie requested 2 egg sandwiches on GF english muffins. I obliged. I had the greek salad and some cottage cheese. It was good, but at 7:40pm I am feeling a little bit hungry. I've offered to short order cook for Brian, but he wants to just figure it out. He's never hungry when he walks in the door. He is a late lunch eater, not so much an early dinner enjoyer.
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| Doesn't this look fresh and yummy? I think so too. |
Until tomorrow,
Angela
Tuesday, August 26, 2014
Day 71 & 72...I'm A Blogging Slacker
Day 71
To be honest, I cannot remember much of what I ate yesterday. It was a day of studying and writing essays for ABC, Stage 6. Oh wait, it is coming to me. I woke up and had coffee. That was easy. I did some laundry and made myself 2 GF sandwiches with turkey and mild cheddar cheese. I am remembering that I was still in procrastination mode and ate the sandwiches and watched Maury. That is such a train wreck.
Once I got Mikey from school and completed my stage 6 test with essays, I started on dinner. I had 2 lbs of italian seasoned turkey to cook for dinner, but I didn't have a recipe or thought about what I was going to do. THEN, there was a commercial that came on and it mentioned meatloaf. I love background noise, but I never thought it would give me a dinner idea.
I decided to make italian turkey meatloaf cupcakes with mashed potatoes. I didn't have any GF break crumb, so I ground up some GF pretzels. I was proud of that idea. I chopped up some onions, added an egg, some garlic salt, onion powder and mixed it all up. Then, I filled up my 12 cupcake tins and popped them in the oven at 350 degrees for 30 mins.
When the "cupcakes" were cooking, I decided to make some mashed potatoes. I chopped them very small to cook them up to be done and served in the amount of time it took to make the cupcakes.
That was all for yesterday. I spent the rest of the evening helping Mackenzie with horrible hives. She had an allergic reaction to an antibiotic that she was on that is a cousin to penicillin. She is allergic to penicillin, but had never had a problem with this medication. This time she did and it was BAD! I set her up with an oatmeal bath and sent her to bed with some Benadryl and some hydrocortisone. She was in hell. We went to the doctor this morning and got some prednisone and Zyrtec. She seems to be on the mend and her pain and itching is almost gone. Phew! I am so thankful for my friend, Laura, that helped me last night with making sure I was covering all of my bases with Mackenzie last night. She is a nurse and actually helped us when we went to the doctor today. She is my keeper friend! <3
From my appointment I went to pick up Mikey. Mackenzie wasn't going to be home for dinner and I was starving so Mikey and I stopped at Jimmy Dean's to get our early dinner. He ordered a turkey club and fries. He said, "I'm gonna get fries, I haven't had them in 2 months." He's right. I ordered a Ruben with fries. It was good, but I only ate half of the ruben.
That's all for today. I hope you had a great day and are staying on track. Obviously, I am not doing so well. I am going out to lunch with my girlfriends tomorrow, so I am not sure how great I will be. We are going to Las Rocas and I love me some chips!
To be honest, I cannot remember much of what I ate yesterday. It was a day of studying and writing essays for ABC, Stage 6. Oh wait, it is coming to me. I woke up and had coffee. That was easy. I did some laundry and made myself 2 GF sandwiches with turkey and mild cheddar cheese. I am remembering that I was still in procrastination mode and ate the sandwiches and watched Maury. That is such a train wreck.
Once I got Mikey from school and completed my stage 6 test with essays, I started on dinner. I had 2 lbs of italian seasoned turkey to cook for dinner, but I didn't have a recipe or thought about what I was going to do. THEN, there was a commercial that came on and it mentioned meatloaf. I love background noise, but I never thought it would give me a dinner idea.
I decided to make italian turkey meatloaf cupcakes with mashed potatoes. I didn't have any GF break crumb, so I ground up some GF pretzels. I was proud of that idea. I chopped up some onions, added an egg, some garlic salt, onion powder and mixed it all up. Then, I filled up my 12 cupcake tins and popped them in the oven at 350 degrees for 30 mins.
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| Italian turkey meatloaf cupcakes |
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| Cupcakes on their frosting |
That was all for yesterday. I spent the rest of the evening helping Mackenzie with horrible hives. She had an allergic reaction to an antibiotic that she was on that is a cousin to penicillin. She is allergic to penicillin, but had never had a problem with this medication. This time she did and it was BAD! I set her up with an oatmeal bath and sent her to bed with some Benadryl and some hydrocortisone. She was in hell. We went to the doctor this morning and got some prednisone and Zyrtec. She seems to be on the mend and her pain and itching is almost gone. Phew! I am so thankful for my friend, Laura, that helped me last night with making sure I was covering all of my bases with Mackenzie last night. She is a nurse and actually helped us when we went to the doctor today. She is my keeper friend! <3
Day 72
I woke up this morning a little later because Mackenzie was going to be skipping school to get herself together and to the doctor. I poured a couple cups of coffee and got Mikey off to school. Came home and got myself ready for our adventure at the doctor. It was so hard to see her so miserable.
After her doctor's appointment, we were starving so we went to Eggs & Things in Valencia. I had a southwest salad with ranch dressing and iced tea. We finished our lunch and headed home. Mackenzie had to get ready to go to school and then to SoCal Physical Therapy to work. I dropped her off at home and went on my way to get my hair done. Today, I was chopping more off the back and dying it auburn with black streaks. Kristy is awesome and does a great job. She always listens to what I want to do and lets me play with my hair, knowing that it grows so fast.
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| New color |
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| Jimmy Dean's ruben and fries |
That's all for today. I hope you had a great day and are staying on track. Obviously, I am not doing so well. I am going out to lunch with my girlfriends tomorrow, so I am not sure how great I will be. We are going to Las Rocas and I love me some chips!
Until tomorrow,
Angela
Sunday, August 24, 2014
Day 70...Just Me & My Iron Skillet
I am in the middle of studying for my ABC stage 6 exam, so I need to keep this short.
Breakfast was coffee. Duh!
I wrote yesterday's blog and started cleaning up my kitchen. I had no desire to do it last night, so it had to be done.
When that was finished, it was time for me to make lunch. Brian brought home Subway sandwiches but that isn't GF so I passed and made myself a baked potato with grilled onions and mushrooms sautéed in my iron skillet. I added butter and cheese to the potato and then topped it with my mushroom mixture. It was super filling and very rich.
Potatoes with butter, cheese and mushroom/onion mixture.
The rest of the day was spent reading and studying for my exam. I realized at 4:30pm that I didn't have any dog food for my pups, so I ran to Ralph's. Spencer is extremely allergic to many ingredients so I normally don't buy their food there but since my delivery hasn't arrived yet, I had to so some serious ingredient reading. I found a kibble that would work! Great to see. Also the
kibbles are shaped like hearts. You have got to be kidding me. So cute.
While I was at the store, I figured I would do some of my weekly grocery shopping. After all, I needed food to make breakfast and lunch tomorrow for the kids. Tomorrow, I will chop and organize everything. However, the fridge has been cleaned out already.
For dinner, Brian already bought steaks and fresh spinach, so I didn't have to
worry about that. After I got home and cleaned out the fridge I realized that I had some zucchini that was chopped and needed to be cooked. Zucchini lasts a long time. Very good to know.
I sautéed the zucchini with onions and lots and lots of garlic in my iron skillet. Once that was cooked down I added the fresh spinach. There is so much water on spinach. It always amazes me how much it breaks down and into such a little amount when it is cooked. 2 bunches became barely anything in my skillet. After the spinach was added it brought a great deal of liquid to my veggies, so I added some Italian dressing seasoning to thicken it up. That worked and brought great flavor.
Steak and spinach/zucchini sauté
Now, all is cleaned up and I am up in my room where I am supposed to be studying. I feel like a kid who is procrastinating. I will get back to it now. Wish me luck!
Until tomorrow,
Angela
P.S. I also had a Stella beer. Opps almost forgot! It was warm and gaggy but I had it. :)
Day 69...ESPN Auto-Draft Is HORRIBLE!
What a great day spending time with my friend, Rachel and her baby girl, Kaylana. I love hanging out with these girls.
The football parents put out a huge spread of food for the players and families after the scrimmages. It was so kind of them to do that. Because I had my sandwiches, I didn't eat any of the food. I am glad that I wasn't hungry, because there were so many yummy choices that I was surely going to over eat and make bad choices for myself.
The day started with me downing some coffee and then realizing that my house needed some love. I did a full downstairs cleaning and felt good that I got it done. The rest of my family were upstairs napping, so it was the perfect time. I was supposed to go Chris' house to participate in my fantasy draft, but after coming to the realization that this was going to be the first football game of sorts for Mackenzie to be an official purple shirt leading the sports med team with the 3 other purple shirts (huge accomplishment), I couldn't miss it. I set my fantasy team on auto-draft by selecting the positions that I wanted drafted for each round and the number of players I wanted for each position. Easy, right?
Brian texted me to tell me that I got the #1 pick. I was so excited, because this meant was going to land me Adrian Peterson for my first pick. I love AP. I drafted him as a rookie and did very well that year. The very upsetting thing is that I didn't get AP, the crappy auto-draft gave me Doug Martin. What? Doug Martin? WTH? My whole team is not what I was hoping it would be and I am a bit frustrated. It is just going to make me work harder managing my team this season, but I am up for the challenge. Watch out to the rest of the teams in my league, I am coming for blood!
OK, I said it. I am better now. Thank you for allowing me to vent!
While I was waiting for Rachel and Kaylana to come over, I made myself 2 GF sandwiches. I love these sandwiches. I added avocado and smushed it with the mayo, mustard and chia seeds. So tasty.
The plan for today was to have a couple drinks with Rachel before the scrimmages. This season, we decided to try a different drink. Last year, we would make Blueberry Muffin drinks made with blueberry juice and whipped cream vodka. Very good.
Yesterday, we tried a different recipe made with pineapple juice, pomagrante juice, vodka and malibu rum. It is called the Purple Flip Flop. I didn't take a picture of the drink, but the pic below is what it was supposed to look like. Mine wasn't quite so purple. I wish.
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Pinterest photo by  wewerebornready |
The football parents put out a huge spread of food for the players and families after the scrimmages. It was so kind of them to do that. Because I had my sandwiches, I didn't eat any of the food. I am glad that I wasn't hungry, because there were so many yummy choices that I was surely going to over eat and make bad choices for myself.
Once I got home, I was pretty hungry. I was so tempted to eat things in the house that weren't the best ideas, so in a desperate attempt to still eat well, I grabbed a bag of seeds with pepitas, almonds, and many other seed type nuts with dried cranberries. I had a couple of handfuls of that and hit the hay.
That was it for the day. I know that I wasn't perfect because I enjoyed the purple flip flops, but I had a great day and am happy that I was there to watch the players do their thing and to see my girl step up into her new position within sports med. All of the students in that program are amazing. All the players at VHS are so lucky to be supported and taken care of by all of these babies.
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| VHS Sports Med Purple Shirts (Head Trainers) |
Seeing the parents that I don't see outside of football season was so much fun. I can't wait for the season to begin. I love watching VHS Football and seeing my baby girl on the sidelines. GO VHS!
Until tomorrow,
Angela
Friday, August 22, 2014
Day 68...No Cooking!
Nope, I didn't do it! I didn't cook today. It is Friday, after all. I made Mackenzie her normal breakfast and lunch and poured myself a cup of coffee. It was nice and warm on my throat. I wasn't feeling great today. I think my cold is going toward my head. You know when you aren't feeling well and a warm drink helps clear you up? It was that type of morning.
Mackenzie left for school, then an hour later, I dropped Mikey off. I went back home and started doing laundry. Ugh! It breeds, I tell ya! The laundry breeds. I don't like doing it, but I sure do like it when it is all clean and put away.
No breakfast for me, just coffee. The day flew by and it was time to pick up Mikey. I picked him up in the Carl's Jr. parking lot by his school, so I went through the drive thru and got an iced tea and some sweet potato fries. I was starving. They were good, but not really worth the guilt.
When we got home, I realized that I was still hungry so I pulled out some chips and salsa. I later realized that they were seasoned with soy sauce which means that it included wheat. Ugh! I think I am starting to realize when I eat wheat. I feel a subtle stomach pain. I've noticed it because I feel that twinge of pain when I've had beer...a couple hours later. I don't think I have a gluten allergy, but I feel like I have a resistance to it. So much processing in our food has brought it away from the clean wheat it used to be, in my opinion.
Tonight was the Luau at Valencia High School. As a freshman, this was my son's first dance. I am glad he went. He is still there as I type this. It ends about 11pm. As a senior, Mackenzie is over the dances. She doesn't go to them at all any more, but then again, she is rarely home when they start. She is normally still at school with sports med until 7:30pm-8pm.
For dinner, I met Brian and Chris at Las Rocas for our second time this week. I had 2 coors lights and 2 crispy shredded beef tacos with rice and beans. I also munched on some chips and guacamole. It was a nice night with the boys. They are funny together. The Raiders played Green Bay in a preseason game and Chris is a huge Raiders fan, so, of course, Brian had to bet him. It got ugly.
That's all for today. Not a whole lot to report, but I'm glad I reported it anyway. I hope you had a great day. I still have some more reading to do with my ABC stage 6, it is good stuff. All very relevant to what I am doing right now with my pups. Bucky sure is a handful but I love him!
Until tomorrow,
Angela
Mackenzie left for school, then an hour later, I dropped Mikey off. I went back home and started doing laundry. Ugh! It breeds, I tell ya! The laundry breeds. I don't like doing it, but I sure do like it when it is all clean and put away.
No breakfast for me, just coffee. The day flew by and it was time to pick up Mikey. I picked him up in the Carl's Jr. parking lot by his school, so I went through the drive thru and got an iced tea and some sweet potato fries. I was starving. They were good, but not really worth the guilt.
When we got home, I realized that I was still hungry so I pulled out some chips and salsa. I later realized that they were seasoned with soy sauce which means that it included wheat. Ugh! I think I am starting to realize when I eat wheat. I feel a subtle stomach pain. I've noticed it because I feel that twinge of pain when I've had beer...a couple hours later. I don't think I have a gluten allergy, but I feel like I have a resistance to it. So much processing in our food has brought it away from the clean wheat it used to be, in my opinion.
Tonight was the Luau at Valencia High School. As a freshman, this was my son's first dance. I am glad he went. He is still there as I type this. It ends about 11pm. As a senior, Mackenzie is over the dances. She doesn't go to them at all any more, but then again, she is rarely home when they start. She is normally still at school with sports med until 7:30pm-8pm.
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| Behram, Jesse & Mikey at the VHS Luau |
That's all for today. Not a whole lot to report, but I'm glad I reported it anyway. I hope you had a great day. I still have some more reading to do with my ABC stage 6, it is good stuff. All very relevant to what I am doing right now with my pups. Bucky sure is a handful but I love him!
Until tomorrow,
Angela
Thursday, August 21, 2014
Day 67...Crazy Day
You know those days when you are expecting to be home alone to do your thing and your spouse is unexpectedly home? Ya, it was one of those days.
This is all that I packed for Mackenzie.
I was able to find some errands to run because I never realized how loud I am in my house when I am all alone. Well, not really alone, I have 6 animals and talk to them all. Brian needed to make calls so I needed to make myself scarce for both of our sanity.
I woke up this morning with a little more skip in my step then I have had lately. I downed 2 cups of coffee while getting my kids packed, fed and off to school.
Mackenzie is at school for a long time each day so I pack her tons of food. Today she for a GF turkey sandwich, Greek salad, GF granola bar, pirates booty (gf), P3 (protein snack), nectarine, 2 mandarin oranges, and an applesauce.
She's a bit burned out on the Greek salad so that came back home. Still, she eats pretty good. She also had a protein shake in the morning on her way to school.
Mikey, on the other hand, eats nothing. Tonight while I was about to put dinner away, he started making himself a plate. I think I approached him too quickly because, like a scared animal, he backed away and didn't eat it. Who is this kid and what has he done with my son? He picks at food here and there but I have yet to get him to sit down and eat a proper meal. I will continue to work at it. At least I did get him to take vitamins. I also got him an "ensure" like shake with extra protein that he will drink.
For lunch, I made myself a sandwich. I hadn't eaten all day and it was 3:30pm when I made it. I also snacked on some Kellogg's popcorn chips and Fritos.
As for dinner, I BBQ'd up some seasoned chicken to make soft tacos with corn tortillas, cheese, red onions and sour cream. It was simple and good. I was lazy and didn't have any desire to cook, so that was as good as it got. Brian wasn't complaining. He scarfed it down.
While I was cooking dinner, I had 2 Mike's Hard Pink Lemonade. I know that is not a good choice but I had an emotional day and I just wanted to have a nice cold drink, I wanted a beer but went for this instead. Both are bad, but this one seemed lesser of the two evils.
It was Cold. Hard. & Refreshing.
That's all for today. Not much to report. Now, I need to start finishing up my Stage 6 portion of my ABC book. Gonna go out soon with my mentor to work with real dogs in need. Not just what I'm reading in my book. Hands on. Can't wait.
Until tomorrow,
Angela
Wednesday, August 20, 2014
Day 66...Greek Salad Is Now A Staple
I made Mackenzie's lunch and a smoothie for her and she was out that door. For Mikey, I made a smoothie as well, but he didn't drink it. Ugh! I drank it. It was good. Lots of chia and today I made it with orange juice instead of almond milk. I added TJ's protein powder. He doesn't want me to pack him lunch because he won't eat it. I snuck some Whole Food turkey jerky in his bag, but it came home unopened too. Luckily, he eats once he gets home. Once I got Mikey off to school, I was still feeling a little bit puny, so I went back to bed. My desire is to just sleep off this feeling. I think I just have a slight flu, at least it is not a concussion. It didn't help me when I put on my reading glasses and thought I was wearing my regular glasses. My blurry vision was freaking me out a bit. I'm glad it was my own stupidity. I may not ever say that again.
Brian came home early today and texted me to meet him for lunch. I did, we met at Las Rocas in Castaic. Our friend, Chris and his daughter, Jesse, met us too. It was a nice way to mix up the weekday. I had chips and salsa with iced tea and ordered a carne asada tostada. I used the chips to eat the tostada, but didn't eat the shell. No, no, no, I'm bad, but no that bad. Still gluten free.
After lunch, Brian had stuff to do and I needed to run a couple of errands before picking up Mikey. I found myself in Walgreens. Not always the best place since I like to "browse" and fill my cart with the "As seen on TV" section. I love that stuff. If you haven't tried the Mr. Lids, you should. I love them! I also really like the Walgreens reward programs. The points you gain by making purchases gives you money to be used to take off of upcoming purchases. I was able to take $10 off of my purchases today. Can't beat that!
After I picked up Mikey, we came home and I started making another greek salad. Since Mikey has been eating it as his staple, I decided that I should keep putting beans and chicken in it as well. I need to give the boy as much protein as I can.
For dinner, I made a white chicken chili for the family, but realized when it was time for me to sit down to eat, I didn't want it. My flu like feelings are making me so hot lately that I decided it was just too hot to eat soup. I made myself a sandwich (x2 cause they are small) instead. It really made me very happy, doesn't it look good. The key to GF bread is to toast it! It must be toasted or it is nasty and crumbly.
Brian came home early today and texted me to meet him for lunch. I did, we met at Las Rocas in Castaic. Our friend, Chris and his daughter, Jesse, met us too. It was a nice way to mix up the weekday. I had chips and salsa with iced tea and ordered a carne asada tostada. I used the chips to eat the tostada, but didn't eat the shell. No, no, no, I'm bad, but no that bad. Still gluten free.
After lunch, Brian had stuff to do and I needed to run a couple of errands before picking up Mikey. I found myself in Walgreens. Not always the best place since I like to "browse" and fill my cart with the "As seen on TV" section. I love that stuff. If you haven't tried the Mr. Lids, you should. I love them! I also really like the Walgreens reward programs. The points you gain by making purchases gives you money to be used to take off of upcoming purchases. I was able to take $10 off of my purchases today. Can't beat that!
After I picked up Mikey, we came home and I started making another greek salad. Since Mikey has been eating it as his staple, I decided that I should keep putting beans and chicken in it as well. I need to give the boy as much protein as I can.
For dinner, I made a white chicken chili for the family, but realized when it was time for me to sit down to eat, I didn't want it. My flu like feelings are making me so hot lately that I decided it was just too hot to eat soup. I made myself a sandwich (x2 cause they are small) instead. It really made me very happy, doesn't it look good. The key to GF bread is to toast it! It must be toasted or it is nasty and crumbly.
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| Gluten-free sandwiches with olive oil mayo, mustard, chia seeds, mild cheddar cheese, shaved turkey, avocado & cucumber with salt & pepper.
That is it for me today. That's all I ate. I'm not gonna lie, there was a part of me that wanted to crack open a soda today. Not only have I been diet coke free, but I have been soda free altogether. Nothing out of a can. Nothing. I've been craving it. But, I won't do it. I need to stay strong. The fact that I don't feel good is making me want to cave but, I won't do it.
Until tomorrow,
Angela
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Tuesday, August 19, 2014
Day 65...Headache All Day!
I pretty much slept all day today. Not much to share. But here it goes...
I made a smoothie for me this time. Since Mikey doesn't drink his so I added chia seeds and made it my own. It was tastey.
Once that was done, I woke Mikey up. drank my smoothie and went back to bed. Brian even took Mikey to school for me. That was so nice. I didn't sleep the night before so being able to go back to sleep so soon was a very nice thing to do.
I slept until 1pm, I wasn't lying when I said I didn't sleep in the night. I needed sleep and my headache wasn't going away.
When I woke up, I made a sandwich with GF bread stuffed with turkey,
Mild cheddar, olive oil mayo, mustard, chia seeds, tomato and cucumbers.
It was fillinf but not too filling since I had a couple of Fritos too.
I picked up Mikey from school and proceeded to start assembling dinner. Today is a Greek salad with added proteins. I added chicken, garbanzo beans, black beans & corn. Homemade Italian dressing was poured all over it and it was tasty. My boy likes it so that makes a difference to me.
Greek salad with added proteins
Once I got the kitchen cleaned, dogs,
guinea pigs and bearded dragon fed, I went to bed. I just woke up and realized I never typed my blog for the day so I am typing it, in bed, on my phone.
Sleep well my friends!
Until tomorrow,
Angela
Monday, August 18, 2014
Day 64...ALS Ice Bucket Challenge
So, I'm sitting here with a concussion from the ice bucket challenge (JK). My husband got a little over zealous with the amount of ice needed, I think. No joke, my head does hurt though. We decided that it should be called the Ice Storage Bucket Challenge, since Brian didn't just use a bucket, he used a tub.
Today was about grocery shopping, clean, cutting, chopping and organizing. You know the drill. Not a whole lot of excitement! I like to buy the following veggies to chop up and have on hand at all times:
Chives, cilantro, red onions, sweet onions, red/orange/yellow bell peppers, mushrooms & cucumber (chopped and sliced). These veggies seem to go in so many recipes that it makes it so easy to throw a dinner together when they are all set up and ready to go.
Some coffee and a smoothie were my breakfast today. Seems to be a normal weekday breakfast for me now. Since Mikey hasn't been drinking his smoothie, I am going to start making it per my specifications. Long live lots of chia seeds.
When I was at the grocery store, I grab some snack items that were gluten free. Not always the best choices, but I guess I was hungry. While I was unloading the groceries, I was snacking on Fritos corn chips. They were good, but oh so bad for me. That is what I had for lunch.
Once I got Mikey home from school, I pan fried him up some tilapia and then started chopping all of my many veggies.
For dinner, I didn't really know what to make. I didn't create a menu this week before the grocery store, so I was playing it by ear. I grabbed some italian sausage and started sautéing up some olive oil, onions, mushroom and crushed garlic along with the sausage that I cut into little chunks with my scissors. Once that was almost cooked, I added chopped eggplant from 3 eggplants. Salt, pepper and more olive oil. Once that was cooked down, I added italian dressing seasoning and mozzarella cheese slices to the top. I figured it was too rich to serve alone, so I also made some gluten free pasta and mixed that in.
I have to say that it wasn't my best dinner. I'm not too excited about it. It had a bit of a funky taste to, so I'm not happy. Brian said it was a little too rich for him. Not his type of fare. Whatever! I only get to criticize my meals and I have to agree. Not leftover worthy.
After dinner was done and Brian got home, we had to get ready for my ALS ice bucket challenge. I was nominated by my friend, Lynn to do the #icebucketchallenge on behalf of Carousel Ranch (www.carouselranch.org). I did this challenge for both Carousel Ranch and ALS. Donations have been made to both organizations. As for the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge, I nominated my friends Lisa Vergara, Chris Vasquez and my cousin, Christopher Melito. They have 24 hours to accept. As of right now, all have accepted and Chris Vasquez has done the challenge.
I love that there is so much recognition being made to such a difficult disease. I hope these donations are able to help find a cure for patients with ALS.
Until tomorrow,
Angela
Today was about grocery shopping, clean, cutting, chopping and organizing. You know the drill. Not a whole lot of excitement! I like to buy the following veggies to chop up and have on hand at all times:
Chives, cilantro, red onions, sweet onions, red/orange/yellow bell peppers, mushrooms & cucumber (chopped and sliced). These veggies seem to go in so many recipes that it makes it so easy to throw a dinner together when they are all set up and ready to go.
Some coffee and a smoothie were my breakfast today. Seems to be a normal weekday breakfast for me now. Since Mikey hasn't been drinking his smoothie, I am going to start making it per my specifications. Long live lots of chia seeds.
When I was at the grocery store, I grab some snack items that were gluten free. Not always the best choices, but I guess I was hungry. While I was unloading the groceries, I was snacking on Fritos corn chips. They were good, but oh so bad for me. That is what I had for lunch.
Once I got Mikey home from school, I pan fried him up some tilapia and then started chopping all of my many veggies.
For dinner, I didn't really know what to make. I didn't create a menu this week before the grocery store, so I was playing it by ear. I grabbed some italian sausage and started sautéing up some olive oil, onions, mushroom and crushed garlic along with the sausage that I cut into little chunks with my scissors. Once that was almost cooked, I added chopped eggplant from 3 eggplants. Salt, pepper and more olive oil. Once that was cooked down, I added italian dressing seasoning and mozzarella cheese slices to the top. I figured it was too rich to serve alone, so I also made some gluten free pasta and mixed that in.
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| Italian sausage, onions, mushrooms, eggplant and mozzerella |
I have to say that it wasn't my best dinner. I'm not too excited about it. It had a bit of a funky taste to, so I'm not happy. Brian said it was a little too rich for him. Not his type of fare. Whatever! I only get to criticize my meals and I have to agree. Not leftover worthy.
After dinner was done and Brian got home, we had to get ready for my ALS ice bucket challenge. I was nominated by my friend, Lynn to do the #icebucketchallenge on behalf of Carousel Ranch (www.carouselranch.org). I did this challenge for both Carousel Ranch and ALS. Donations have been made to both organizations. As for the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge, I nominated my friends Lisa Vergara, Chris Vasquez and my cousin, Christopher Melito. They have 24 hours to accept. As of right now, all have accepted and Chris Vasquez has done the challenge.
Until tomorrow,
Angela
Sunday, August 17, 2014
Day 63...Is It Monday Yet?
Who would ever wish for Monday? Me! Why? Because I need to get back on track. I have been a piglet this weekend. I had lots of beer with my honey and ate horribly.
I had some coffee this morning and then finally got myself moving (after writing yesterday's blog). Once I was ready, Brian and I headed out to try a new restaurant in Valencia called Rustic Burger. It is the type of restaurant where you order at the door, find a seat and they bring you the food. You order your food in a step type fashion. You decided on the burger meat, the toppings and, the bun and then the side. I ordered their all beef burger, cali toppings (avocado, cheese, bacon, aioli) with a gluten free bun. Can you believe they have gluten-free buns? I was so excited. My side was a house salad with a vinaigrette dressing.
The food was good to me. I was happy. Having a gluten free bun made me happy. Unfortunately, Brian also ordered a GF bun and was not happy. He said it was too much bun. The bun to burger ratio was off. Gluten free bread is an acquired taste and an odd texture, but I was pleased. The salad was good too.
Brian and I sat at the bar and each had an "805" beer. We were there for a while and ended up having more beers. What? Mackenzie came by and ate as well. She enjoyed the gluten free bun, as I did. She ordered tater tots as her side and I snuck some of hers. Since she was getting mad at me, I ordered a separate side of tater tots. They were really good, but oh so bad!
That was it! That's all I had today. We had a late lunch and I haven't been hungry since. So, now that it is 10:20pm, I will go to bed knowing that I did bad, but not as bad as I could have been. I think all of my nerves have taken over today too. There was a boy on Instagram that threatened to shoot and kill kids in SCV, starting with the school that my kids attend. He was arrested, but I am still feeling uneasy about it. I know that this week will probably be the safest of all weeks with the stepped up protection, but it is still scary. Hoax or not, this is not something that anyone should take less than seriously. Sometimes, people with issues do tell on themselves beforehand, it seems like this kid did too. I just hope that he didn't have any friends that are as disturbed. Knowing that people liked his post about killing SCV kids makes me very uneasy. Why would anyone like a post like that? These kid have no idea how serious this is or could have been.
I wish safety to all of the SCV babies out there. Babies everywhere! We all need to stick together, be diligent and keep our eyes open on social media. If you have kids and don't know how to use these apps, LEARN! Sign up, read what they are reading, get their passwords, do it! I knew about all of this that was going on last night because I was on my daughter's twitter stalking her feed. I was researching the kids that "liked" the post on instagram because their names were on the pictures. I was looking at their followers and who they followed. You can do that too! Educate yourself. Protect your kids and help them to stay safe.
OK, I will get off of my soapbox.
Until tomorrow,
Angela
I had some coffee this morning and then finally got myself moving (after writing yesterday's blog). Once I was ready, Brian and I headed out to try a new restaurant in Valencia called Rustic Burger. It is the type of restaurant where you order at the door, find a seat and they bring you the food. You order your food in a step type fashion. You decided on the burger meat, the toppings and, the bun and then the side. I ordered their all beef burger, cali toppings (avocado, cheese, bacon, aioli) with a gluten free bun. Can you believe they have gluten-free buns? I was so excited. My side was a house salad with a vinaigrette dressing.
The food was good to me. I was happy. Having a gluten free bun made me happy. Unfortunately, Brian also ordered a GF bun and was not happy. He said it was too much bun. The bun to burger ratio was off. Gluten free bread is an acquired taste and an odd texture, but I was pleased. The salad was good too.
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| Gluten free bun with salad. |
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| 805 Beer |
That was it! That's all I had today. We had a late lunch and I haven't been hungry since. So, now that it is 10:20pm, I will go to bed knowing that I did bad, but not as bad as I could have been. I think all of my nerves have taken over today too. There was a boy on Instagram that threatened to shoot and kill kids in SCV, starting with the school that my kids attend. He was arrested, but I am still feeling uneasy about it. I know that this week will probably be the safest of all weeks with the stepped up protection, but it is still scary. Hoax or not, this is not something that anyone should take less than seriously. Sometimes, people with issues do tell on themselves beforehand, it seems like this kid did too. I just hope that he didn't have any friends that are as disturbed. Knowing that people liked his post about killing SCV kids makes me very uneasy. Why would anyone like a post like that? These kid have no idea how serious this is or could have been.
I wish safety to all of the SCV babies out there. Babies everywhere! We all need to stick together, be diligent and keep our eyes open on social media. If you have kids and don't know how to use these apps, LEARN! Sign up, read what they are reading, get their passwords, do it! I knew about all of this that was going on last night because I was on my daughter's twitter stalking her feed. I was researching the kids that "liked" the post on instagram because their names were on the pictures. I was looking at their followers and who they followed. You can do that too! Educate yourself. Protect your kids and help them to stay safe.
OK, I will get off of my soapbox.
Until tomorrow,
Angela
Day 62..Cheat Day (yesterday)
I woke up extra late yesterday and immediately started on my coffee. It was yummy! Once I got myself ready I met Brian at BJ's for lunch. He was out keeping himself busy since he is an early bird and was bored at home waiting for us all to wake up.
The bad eating/drinking started at BJ's at lunchtime. I had 2 Stella beers and a California chicken club sandwich with string fries and ranch dressing. It was all really good and I don't feel guilty at all. I should but I don't! That might be an issue, but freeing myself for the day was really nice.
The rest of the afternoon was about being lazy. I vegged out until it was time to get ready for my friend, Joy's 40th birthday party at Sisley's in Valencia. Once we were ready to leave, we were ready to have a great night enjoying old friends while celebrating Joy.
These friends were friends that we developed while Mikey was playing pee-wee football. That was when Mikey was in 2nd grade. He is now in 9th and these people are still important to me even though my boy stopped playing football years ago. They have always made us feel special to them and we love them for their friendship. Hugs, love, laughter and great conversation all around.
At the party I had 2 Stella beers and a Tom Collins (Brian ordered it without knowing that I already ordered a beer). They were really good.
For dinner, I ordered the chilean sea bass. It was served on spinach and mashed potatoes. It was to die for, so good. They started the meal with a dinner salad and I ordered it with creamy italian dressing. I was dying, all was so good.
For dessert, I ordered a cookie cake. It was huge and I really couldn't eat much of it, but it was good.
I feel horrible that I didn't eat much of it. It was good and yummy, but way too big.
The bad eating/drinking started at BJ's at lunchtime. I had 2 Stella beers and a California chicken club sandwich with string fries and ranch dressing. It was all really good and I don't feel guilty at all. I should but I don't! That might be an issue, but freeing myself for the day was really nice.
The rest of the afternoon was about being lazy. I vegged out until it was time to get ready for my friend, Joy's 40th birthday party at Sisley's in Valencia. Once we were ready to leave, we were ready to have a great night enjoying old friends while celebrating Joy.
These friends were friends that we developed while Mikey was playing pee-wee football. That was when Mikey was in 2nd grade. He is now in 9th and these people are still important to me even though my boy stopped playing football years ago. They have always made us feel special to them and we love them for their friendship. Hugs, love, laughter and great conversation all around.
At the party I had 2 Stella beers and a Tom Collins (Brian ordered it without knowing that I already ordered a beer). They were really good.
For dinner, I ordered the chilean sea bass. It was served on spinach and mashed potatoes. It was to die for, so good. They started the meal with a dinner salad and I ordered it with creamy italian dressing. I was dying, all was so good.
For dessert, I ordered a cookie cake. It was huge and I really couldn't eat much of it, but it was good.
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| Cookie Cake before |
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| Cookie Cake after |
I feel horrible that I didn't eat much of it. It was good and yummy, but way too big.
Thank you to Joy and Todd for such a great night with friends. We are so thankful to be apart of your anchor. <3
Until later today,
Angela
Friday, August 15, 2014
Day 61...The Dryer Is FIxed!
With the kids starting school on Thursday, I am trying to get my footing. I haven't been a taxi for a while with Mackenzie driving and Mikey walking to school. Now, I am! I'm good with it and I'm enjoying my time with my Mikey, but I have to plan my day around pick up now. :)
The morning routine consists of smoothies, smoothies and more smoothies. Mikey has decided that he doesn't want to eat at school, so this is something I am still trying to work out. I'm not OK with it, but I am not going to send him to school with a lunch that will just come right back to me after school, inedible.
Note: I forgot to mention that I had 2 GF bread sandwiches with turkey, mild cheddar, olive oil mayo, mustard and chia seeds on Wednesday. I meant to mention it yesterday, but I fell asleep after I was finished reading a section in my Animal Behavior College (ABC) book.
Anyway, Thursday's food:
I drank what was left of Mikey's morning smoothie and coffee (not together). Made with a banana, kefir, almond milk & frozen berries. Lunch was leftover Mexican casserole from Tuesday night. Dinner was a greek salad that I made that night. I added black olives and corn. Mikey loved it and asked that I always have it on hand. :) I think I can do that. After I had 2 bowls of greek salad, I had some more leftover Mexican casserole. That dish has gone far this week. I love it!
Today, I didn't do any cooking. I made smoothies (and drank Mikey's), coffee, made Mackenzie's lunch, but I didn't cook dinner. I can say, it is Friday, that's why I didn't cook, but it was really just because I had leftovers in the fridge and we need to eat those leftovers, damn it! Plus, I've been feeling lazy today. I can't really say that it was Friday, because frankly, I felt like Tuesday with the kids starting school on a Thursday.
After I got my boy off to school, I went straight to PT today. Like I said, this whole taxi thing is really making me plan my days differently. I can no longer go to PT in the afternoon. The timing won't work. I guess that is best anyway, keeps me from going back to bed once the kids are at school. My day starts and continues just like theirs does now. Once PT was over, I ran some errands and then went to Wendy's and got a BBQ chicken salad. I added my own ranch dressing. It was really good.
Remember my dryer was broken? Well, it is now fixed. I received a window of 11a-2pm. Normally people come at the very start, if not earlier than the time frame. Today, he came at the very end. I was stressing that I was going to be late getting the boy, but all worked out.
Once we got home, I started reading more of my ABC book. Since I didn't cook today, I had leftover pesto pasta and leftover GF pasta with tomato sauce from the other day as well. There wasn't a lot of each item, but it was a perfect amount for dinner.
Aside from iced tea, that is all I had for today. I cannot believe it has been 2 months that I have been diet coke free. How long have you be able to stay off of diet coke? Have you been able to stick with it? It's hard, huh? It is worth it. We are worth it. Stick with it!
Until tomorrow,
Angela
The morning routine consists of smoothies, smoothies and more smoothies. Mikey has decided that he doesn't want to eat at school, so this is something I am still trying to work out. I'm not OK with it, but I am not going to send him to school with a lunch that will just come right back to me after school, inedible.
Note: I forgot to mention that I had 2 GF bread sandwiches with turkey, mild cheddar, olive oil mayo, mustard and chia seeds on Wednesday. I meant to mention it yesterday, but I fell asleep after I was finished reading a section in my Animal Behavior College (ABC) book.
Anyway, Thursday's food:
I drank what was left of Mikey's morning smoothie and coffee (not together). Made with a banana, kefir, almond milk & frozen berries. Lunch was leftover Mexican casserole from Tuesday night. Dinner was a greek salad that I made that night. I added black olives and corn. Mikey loved it and asked that I always have it on hand. :) I think I can do that. After I had 2 bowls of greek salad, I had some more leftover Mexican casserole. That dish has gone far this week. I love it!
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| Greek Salad |
After I got my boy off to school, I went straight to PT today. Like I said, this whole taxi thing is really making me plan my days differently. I can no longer go to PT in the afternoon. The timing won't work. I guess that is best anyway, keeps me from going back to bed once the kids are at school. My day starts and continues just like theirs does now. Once PT was over, I ran some errands and then went to Wendy's and got a BBQ chicken salad. I added my own ranch dressing. It was really good.
Remember my dryer was broken? Well, it is now fixed. I received a window of 11a-2pm. Normally people come at the very start, if not earlier than the time frame. Today, he came at the very end. I was stressing that I was going to be late getting the boy, but all worked out.
Once we got home, I started reading more of my ABC book. Since I didn't cook today, I had leftover pesto pasta and leftover GF pasta with tomato sauce from the other day as well. There wasn't a lot of each item, but it was a perfect amount for dinner.
Aside from iced tea, that is all I had for today. I cannot believe it has been 2 months that I have been diet coke free. How long have you be able to stay off of diet coke? Have you been able to stick with it? It's hard, huh? It is worth it. We are worth it. Stick with it!
Until tomorrow,
Angela
Day 60...I Zonked Out!
I can't believe I forgot to post last night's blog. I will get on it and it will be another double whammy day. Opps!
Wednesday, August 13, 2014
Day 59...Back To PT
After about 2 weeks, I needed to get myself back to PT. With my mom in town and my trip to Vegas with Mackenzie, I put my injury recovery on the back burner. Not anymore! I took so many steps backward from missing 2 weeks, it is time to get back to it, plus the exercise is good.
Chores, chores, and more chores with lots and lots of laundry to do to get the kids ready for their first day of school. This task would be an easy one if my dryer was working properly. It runs and blows air, but not hot air. Ugh! It works on and off, so that is why it hasn't been fixed yet, but that ends this week. World Appliances will be out to fix my dryer. I will be jumping for joy with a dryer that works as it should. You know it will work great on the day that the guy comes though, right? I'll look like a complete idiot.
After PT, I found myself at Smart & Final for their disposable cups for morning smoothies and some veggie that I forgot at the grocery store on Monday. I think smoothies in the morning are going to be important for Mikey before school. I'm not really sure how much he is going to eat while he is there. I will pack him snacks and a sandwich, but I am not feeling confident that he will even eat it. Ugh! It is hard to know how he will handle eating in high school, especially since it is his first year there and he is unsure about the best way to eat healthy while at school. Mackenzie has sports med and their fridge for her lunch, Mikey is like everyone else without a fridge. This will be a trial and error experience with my boy. I just hope that he is able to keep up the great eating and confidence in himself.
When I got home, I broke open a bag of macadamia nuts and munched on those while I was trying to figure out my plan of attack for dinner.
Dinner consisted of Lemony/Kale pesto made with kale and lemons (of course) as well as basil, garlic, pine nuts, parmesan cheese and olive oil. I have to tell you that it was a bit thick with the recipe, so I added more olive oil and even some chicken stock, then threw it into my nutribullet to make it as smooth as possible. There was a recipe for shrimp and pasta with the kale pesto sauce, but to be honest, I cooked the pasta and shrimp on my own and only used the recipe for the kale pesto.
Once I woke up and got myself moving, coffee was on the menu. After hanging out with my bearded dragon, Keith, I decided that we could share a banana. I figured it would be good for me to eat it and he needs to eat more fruits and veggies too, so we both benefited.
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| Keith sampling some banana |
After PT, I found myself at Smart & Final for their disposable cups for morning smoothies and some veggie that I forgot at the grocery store on Monday. I think smoothies in the morning are going to be important for Mikey before school. I'm not really sure how much he is going to eat while he is there. I will pack him snacks and a sandwich, but I am not feeling confident that he will even eat it. Ugh! It is hard to know how he will handle eating in high school, especially since it is his first year there and he is unsure about the best way to eat healthy while at school. Mackenzie has sports med and their fridge for her lunch, Mikey is like everyone else without a fridge. This will be a trial and error experience with my boy. I just hope that he is able to keep up the great eating and confidence in himself.
When I got home, I broke open a bag of macadamia nuts and munched on those while I was trying to figure out my plan of attack for dinner.
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| Kale pesto with sautéed shrimp with garlic/onions |
On the stove, I boiled some water to make my GF brown rice pasta. While the pasta was cooking, I started peeling my shrimp, luckily they were already deveined. Once the pasta was done, I drained it and put it back in the pot and added the pesto to it. It sat while I started sautéing some butter, onions and garlic in my iron skillet. Once they were translucent, I added the shrimp. I cooked them down until the butter was absorbed into the garlic and onions. Once they were done, I served the pesto pasta on each plate and added the shrimp mixture and viola! It was very tasty, good and healthy too.
Do you have any recipes that you've tried recently that you really like? Does your family like it too? My family doesn't always like my new recipes. I wish they loved everything and that they jumped for joy every time I put a plate in front of them with one of my creations, but that is not always the case. I'll keep trying.
Tomorrow will be a crazy day with my babies starting school. This will be the first time in 7 years that they will be at the same school. I am so excited for them! Too bad, their schedules are different in that Mackenzie can't take Mikey to school. Don't get me wrong, I am excited to have my "Mikey" time each day, but it would have been great to give them more brother/sister time too.
Until tomorrow,
Angela
Tuesday, August 12, 2014
Day 58...The Veggies Have Been Chopped
After I guilted myself into writing last night's blog, this morning, I got myself ready and took my boy to get his new phone. That boy's phone was old, cracked and mangled, it was time. Since I had him trapped, in my clutches and it was lunch time, I held him captive and made him go to lunch with me. Mackenzie meet us and I had a great lunch with my babies. Yay!
Islands was our restaurant of choice. Well, it was my restaurant of choice and since I was paying, that's where we went. After lunch was over, Mackenzie had to get back to school and Mikey and I had to go to Tilly's to return some clothes. That was fun, NOT! It was very crowded. Don't go there until the babies are back to school, I'm warning you.
I garnished my "enchilada" with more green onions, tomatoes, avocado and sour cream. I actually had 2 helpings. It was that good. Or I was that hungry. Either way, you should try it!
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| Cobb salad from Islands |
Once we got home it was time for my chores to begin. Laundry...I loathe doing laundry. Folding my laundry and cleaning my room happened and then I was back downstairs and in the kitchen, where I am happy.
I started dinner by making some homemade red enchilada sauce for my "stacked" chicken enchilada dish. While the sauce was simmering, I started chopping all of the veggies I bought at the store yesterday. I realized while I was preparing to put the dish together that it took much more time to prepare food when my veggies aren't already chopped. This time I chopped cilantro, green onions, onions, red onions, parsley, bell peppers, celery, and lots and lots of cucumbers (chopped as slices for sandwiches, and chunks for salads).
Dinner was finished after 30 mins in the oven and it was very fresh and clean. I really loved it. This one was a keeper. Mikey doesn't like enchilada type dishes because the tortillas get a bit soggy, but this one was good. The tortillas were thinly layered in it.
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| Stacked chicken enchilada |
That's all I'm going to eat today. I've only had iced tea and coffee to drink. I have to say there are still days that I miss my diet coke, but I know that it is not worth it and even after all of the cheating I've done on my food, drinking diet coke would make me feel like I needed to start over on my day count. 58 days of being diet coke free is a huge accomplishment for me. I have to say that I'm pretty proud of it.
Until tomorrow,
Angela :)
Day 57...Bachelor in Herpedise
This is delayed, but I will make it quick since I will post another one for Day 58 tonight. I got home late from my friend Allison's house and was too tired to write about all of my shortcomings for the day.
The day started out pretty good, I guess, coffee and more coffee. So much coffee was needed because I needed to figure out my menu for the week. It was Monday and Monday is groceries, chopping and organizing. Bleh! It was nice to get some groceries in the fridge since it was pretty empty, I didn't shop last week.
Mackenzie came home between working at SoCal Physical Therapy and going to school to help the football boys and was starving. Since I hadn't made to the store yet, we went to Matsu in Castaic to have some Sushi. That is where the downslide began.
I had the intent of eating as good as I could but it didn't end up that way. Yikes! I ordered their 911 roll and a dynamite dish. Mackenzie and I split their double mexican roll and Mackenzie ordered their lunch box with tempura and California rolls. Technically, I wasn't that bad, but the soy sauce is not GF (I have GF soy sauce at home).
Here are the pics of the rolls and creeper, Mackenzie.
We both drank iced tea. It was good, but not worth the guilt I feel for eating semi-bad.
After lunch I was able to get my tush to the grocery store with my huge list. I have to say that when you are eating good, you really only shop the perimeter of the store, so it goes pretty fast. Once all was said and done, I only forgot the lemons (there were out), spinach and kale. I tried to be tricky and not use my phone for the produce section, I guess, and forgot 2 important items for my upcoming recipes. Ugh!
Normally, I would have chopped up all of my veggies once I got home, but since I was going out, I had other things to do, like make my grandpa's famous cabbage salad. I proceeded to chop up celery, green apples, mozzarella and added tomatoes, black olives and shredded carrots to a pre bagged coleslaw mixture. Once all was chopped up and added, I made homemade italian dressing and poured it all into the bowl and added oregano, salt and pepper to taste. It was a winner, but my olive oil was a bit overpowering, so next time, I need to use a lighter olive oil. The salad can sit so I made it in advance.
I knew I needed to feed my kidlings, so I started sautéing up some onions and mushrooms in my iron skillet. Put a pot on the stove to boil water and made GF pasta for the kids. This is a dish that my husband doesn't like, he doesn't like red sauce, so I like to make it when he isn't gonna be home for dinner.
The day started out pretty good, I guess, coffee and more coffee. So much coffee was needed because I needed to figure out my menu for the week. It was Monday and Monday is groceries, chopping and organizing. Bleh! It was nice to get some groceries in the fridge since it was pretty empty, I didn't shop last week.
Mackenzie came home between working at SoCal Physical Therapy and going to school to help the football boys and was starving. Since I hadn't made to the store yet, we went to Matsu in Castaic to have some Sushi. That is where the downslide began.
I had the intent of eating as good as I could but it didn't end up that way. Yikes! I ordered their 911 roll and a dynamite dish. Mackenzie and I split their double mexican roll and Mackenzie ordered their lunch box with tempura and California rolls. Technically, I wasn't that bad, but the soy sauce is not GF (I have GF soy sauce at home).
Here are the pics of the rolls and creeper, Mackenzie.
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| 911 Roll |
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| Double Mexican Roll sans crunch. |
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| Dynamite...not good, it was gross. |
We both drank iced tea. It was good, but not worth the guilt I feel for eating semi-bad.
After lunch I was able to get my tush to the grocery store with my huge list. I have to say that when you are eating good, you really only shop the perimeter of the store, so it goes pretty fast. Once all was said and done, I only forgot the lemons (there were out), spinach and kale. I tried to be tricky and not use my phone for the produce section, I guess, and forgot 2 important items for my upcoming recipes. Ugh!
Normally, I would have chopped up all of my veggies once I got home, but since I was going out, I had other things to do, like make my grandpa's famous cabbage salad. I proceeded to chop up celery, green apples, mozzarella and added tomatoes, black olives and shredded carrots to a pre bagged coleslaw mixture. Once all was chopped up and added, I made homemade italian dressing and poured it all into the bowl and added oregano, salt and pepper to taste. It was a winner, but my olive oil was a bit overpowering, so next time, I need to use a lighter olive oil. The salad can sit so I made it in advance.
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| Grandpa's Cabbage Salad. |
I knew I needed to feed my kidlings, so I started sautéing up some onions and mushrooms in my iron skillet. Put a pot on the stove to boil water and made GF pasta for the kids. This is a dish that my husband doesn't like, he doesn't like red sauce, so I like to make it when he isn't gonna be home for dinner.
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| Sautéed onions, mushrooms w/ garlic |
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| Finished product with mozzarella mixed in with the GF sauce. |
Doesn't seem that bad, right? Not too bad, until I entered Allison's house. Her house is beautiful and it was a potluck type extravaganza while we watched Bachelor in Paradise. I brought my salad, Allison made some lasagna, there was olive dip & baguettes, queso and corn chips, apple cider alcholic drinks (I had 3), bell peppers stuffed with cream cheese and wrapped in bacon (I think YES!). I enjoyed all of the above. In addition to a yummy fruit cobbler with vanilla ice cream. I pigged out but really enjoyed myself and the company. It is not like me to go out on a weeknight, but I'm so happy that I did. Watching and mocking Bachelor in Paradise was a really fun thing to do. Now, we wait to read Jen Frase's blog. She is so fricken funny!
I hope you ate better than I did yesterday! I am trying to make today a better day.
Until tonight,
Angela
Sunday, August 10, 2014
Day 56...Half Of A Good Day
Well, today started out good with coffee, chores and more chores. My house was left with the animals and my boys while Mackenzie and I were gone, so I'm thinking you can figure out the clean up I had ahead of me.
Once all was done (or at least all I was doing for the day), I got ready and Brian and I went to Las Rocas. This is the first half of my day...not so good. I had 2 beers and not just 2 small beers, I had the Coors Light fish bowl beers that they serve at Las Rocas. Very refreshing! I know it was bad and so were the nachos that I ordered, but that was all of the bad that I had for the day.
Mackenzie and I left Las Rocas to do some school clothes and supply shopping...oh yea, the kids meet us for lunch after they hit the mall together. We went to G-stage and bought nothing. Then, since we were in Canyon Country, we went to Wal-Mart. That was a very BIG mistake. We went shopping on the Sunday before school starts...TO WALMART!!! What were we thinking? Not only that, but the entire store smelled like rancid oil from McDonald's. We literally felt like we had oil in our hair. I know that is a bit of an exaggeration, but it was pretty bad. REALLY BAD!
We finally got out of there with our supplies in hand and headed home. Mackenzie later drove to my brother's house to work on AP Calc with my nephew. They both have the same class, so getting it done together is helpful for both of them. When she was on her way home, she stopped at Urbane Cafe in Stevenson Ranch. I think yes!!! It was so good. She brought us both cobb salads with ranch dressing. I skipped the homemade bread that was included. See, I told you that I was half good today.
That's all for today, I know I was not as good as I had hoped to be today, but I ended on a good note. I drank iced tea for the rest of the day. I hope you had a great day! Tomorrow is Monday and it will be an even better day. After all, Mondays are THE day to start a diet, right? Groceries, chopping and organizing are in my future.
Until tomorrow,
Angela
Once all was done (or at least all I was doing for the day), I got ready and Brian and I went to Las Rocas. This is the first half of my day...not so good. I had 2 beers and not just 2 small beers, I had the Coors Light fish bowl beers that they serve at Las Rocas. Very refreshing! I know it was bad and so were the nachos that I ordered, but that was all of the bad that I had for the day.
Mackenzie and I left Las Rocas to do some school clothes and supply shopping...oh yea, the kids meet us for lunch after they hit the mall together. We went to G-stage and bought nothing. Then, since we were in Canyon Country, we went to Wal-Mart. That was a very BIG mistake. We went shopping on the Sunday before school starts...TO WALMART!!! What were we thinking? Not only that, but the entire store smelled like rancid oil from McDonald's. We literally felt like we had oil in our hair. I know that is a bit of an exaggeration, but it was pretty bad. REALLY BAD!
We finally got out of there with our supplies in hand and headed home. Mackenzie later drove to my brother's house to work on AP Calc with my nephew. They both have the same class, so getting it done together is helpful for both of them. When she was on her way home, she stopped at Urbane Cafe in Stevenson Ranch. I think yes!!! It was so good. She brought us both cobb salads with ranch dressing. I skipped the homemade bread that was included. See, I told you that I was half good today.
That's all for today, I know I was not as good as I had hoped to be today, but I ended on a good note. I drank iced tea for the rest of the day. I hope you had a great day! Tomorrow is Monday and it will be an even better day. After all, Mondays are THE day to start a diet, right? Groceries, chopping and organizing are in my future.
Until tomorrow,
Angela
Saturday, August 9, 2014
Day 54 & 55...JT & Now We Are Home.
Traveling to Vegas makes it very hard to stay on track. I tried at times to be good, other times, I did not! In fact, I went the total opposite. When I did good, I ate salads and drank iced tea. When I was bad, I had a cheeseburger with fries, a ruben sandwich with fries, nachos with cheese sauce, hot dogs, sweetened iced tea, Doritos, Chex mix, snickers bites, bread pudding, bites of chocolate cake and tasty alcoholic drinks. Crazy bad, huh? I'm not proud of myself. I'm really not.
I plan on starting fresh tomorrow. The kids start school this week and to be honest, this crappy eating isn't making me feel very good. My nemesis, indigestion, is rearing its ugly head again. I don't miss that at all.
My plan this upcoming week is to get started with some exercise. I haven't been doing that since I have still been going to PT with pain in my feet and shoulder, but I need to muscle through it and at least START. I have to start moving. All of the good eating I have been implementing with my family will work better for me, personally, if I start moving. After all, water, exercise and good eating are the ingredients for healthy living, right? I need to starting doing that.
If you are my friend on FB, then you were able to see that I had a bad experience with a jerk when leaving the JT concert. I don't need to address it anymore other than to say that I am so amazed at how kind my friends are to me. I was down, but now I am up and ready to take on the new days ahead of me. Thank you, my friends! Thank you for supporting me, for loving me and for picking me up when I was feeling down. I don't know what I would do without you all!
That's all for today! I plan on getting myself to bed early. I am tired! We walked a great deal in Vegas, shopped and ate like piglets. I hope you were able to enjoy your last days of summer too.
Until tomorrow,
Angela
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| Yummy bread pudding! |
I plan on starting fresh tomorrow. The kids start school this week and to be honest, this crappy eating isn't making me feel very good. My nemesis, indigestion, is rearing its ugly head again. I don't miss that at all.
My plan this upcoming week is to get started with some exercise. I haven't been doing that since I have still been going to PT with pain in my feet and shoulder, but I need to muscle through it and at least START. I have to start moving. All of the good eating I have been implementing with my family will work better for me, personally, if I start moving. After all, water, exercise and good eating are the ingredients for healthy living, right? I need to starting doing that.
If you are my friend on FB, then you were able to see that I had a bad experience with a jerk when leaving the JT concert. I don't need to address it anymore other than to say that I am so amazed at how kind my friends are to me. I was down, but now I am up and ready to take on the new days ahead of me. Thank you, my friends! Thank you for supporting me, for loving me and for picking me up when I was feeling down. I don't know what I would do without you all!
That's all for today! I plan on getting myself to bed early. I am tired! We walked a great deal in Vegas, shopped and ate like piglets. I hope you were able to enjoy your last days of summer too.
Until tomorrow,
Angela
Thursday, August 7, 2014
Day 53...Vegas, Baby!
I've been waiting for this day for a while. Going to Vegas with my baby girl.
Mackenzie and her NY Steak. Cutie!
Woke up, made some coffee, cleaned some dishes, packed some clothes and got myself ready to go! We flew out of Burbank on southwest. While we were waiting at the gate, we both had a cut sushi roll. Mine was spicy, Mac's was not. We also bought a small bag of plantain chips and had some green iced tea. After we finished the sushi we were still a little hungry and the plantains were just not doing it for us, so we bought a small bag of jalapeño chips to split. They were yummy.
Going to Vegas, Baby!
Once we got on the plane and up in the air, the refreshment orders were taken. I had a cranberry juice with vodka. The only issue was as soon as our drinks were delivered, we were about to descend (we were sitting in the back). Therefore, I was forced to shoot my drink! But, I'm not complaining.
Once we got to our hotel, Trump, we got ourselves ready and headed out to Bobby Flay's Mesa Grill at Caesar's Palace for our reservation. I'm not used to dressing up in Vegas. I normally sit at a table with my man and gamble and drink the night/day away. This was a nice change.
Once we were seated at Mesa, Mackenzie and I both ordered Sophie's Chopped Salads for starters. It was very tasty. I also had 2 of the Mesa Grill margaritas. They gave us an assortment of breads and butter as well.
Mesa Grill Margarita made with fresh lime juice.
Sophie's Chopped Salad
For our main course, I ordered the chipotle ribeye and Mackenzie ordered the NY steak. We shared mashed potatoes.
Doesn't this look good? Love !
Loved having dinner with my girl.
That's all for today. We are back at our hotel now. Crazy to be back so early while in Vegas, but my baby girl is tired. It was really nice to walk into the Trump because it is a non-smoking, no casino, hotel. It smells like flowers. I've never heard of such a thing while in Vegas. I like it. Brian booked it through Priceline so we didn't know what we were really getting ahead of time, but I have a strip view and it smells good. I'm happy.
Justin Timberlake and hot stone messages tomorrow. I'm so excited.
Until tomorrow,
Angela
Wednesday, August 6, 2014
Day 52...Registration Day
Today was a day of getting my kidlings all set up with their class schedules at Valencia High School. My daughter, Mackenzie, will be a senior and my son, Mikey, will be a freshman. I have to say that both of the counselors that we needed to talk to helped us tremedously! They were both amazing. They both wanted to help us get the schedules right and gave great information to help my babies start off their semesters on the right feet. Thank you!
Since I needed to get Mikey to VHS this morning, there was no coffee and no breakfast. After we left the school, we stopped at El Pollo Loco and ordered their Mexcian cobb salads with chipotle dressing and avocado salsa. Their mango iced tea was great too. So refreshing.
Throughout the day, I did snack on GF banana bread. I still have that sitting around and it is really good. A bit soggy right now, but that's OK.
For dinner, I made GF Barilla pasta (my favorite) mixed with onions, bell peppers (yellow, red and orange) and garlic. Once the pasta was done cooking, I mixed the noodles in with the onions and peppers and added some Barilla GF pasta sauce. I was feeling lazy tonight, can you tell?
For dessert, I had some banana bread...again. That's it! That's all I ate today. Not much to babble about. I am in the process of getting myself all packed up for me and Mackenzie to leave for Las Vegas tomorrow. It will be a fun time! I can't wait! The next couple of days will not necessarily be about cleaning eating, but about what we were able to find to eat. We made a reservation to dine at Giada's, but I may have to cancel the reservation because we may not be able to make our flight home if we eat there! We will be cutting it close. She serves gluten-free, dairy-free and vegan dishes there, so it would be great to experience her dishes.
We will most likely hit one of Gordon Ramsey's restaurants as well as one of Bobby Flay's. I can't wait! It will be a blog of indulgences! Stay tuned...
Until tomorrow,
Angela
Tuesday, August 5, 2014
Day 51...Last Day Of Bad Eating
Keith ate better than I did today!
My mom and I went to get our nails and toes done today at Castaic Nails. I love that place and always feel like family when I'm there. It was nice for my mom to feel that way today too.
Before we left I only had a cup of coffee. I bought an iced tea to drink while my nails were getting pampered. That was all I had until about 4pm when the rest of my family came out and we went to Las Rocas for some pre-eating/drinking before our dinner with the rest of the family at Lucille's.
Mikey had a golf lesson so Brian and his brother went with him. The girls (me, mom, MIL & SIL, Teresa) went for drinks and chips with guacamole and refried beans. I also had 2 margaritas with patron, on the rocks with salt.
Once the boys were done, we meet them at Lucille's. Once we got there Brian and the boys got there before us and ordered a huge platter of fried food. Yes, I partook. I'm not proud of it and to be honest I regret it. My stomach hurts right now. Too much gluten lately, I think. For dinner, I ordered a PO' boy sandwich with fried shrimp. I do not recommend that sandwich at Lucille's, it sucked and was totally not worth it. Their garlic mashed potatoes were good but I should have ordered the cole slaw to help with the dry and gaggy sandwich. I had peach iced tea to drink.
Mackenzie and I left early because we decided that she needed to go to the doctor before they closed. She's been having headaches and dizziness. We wanted to rule out vertigo. We are now treating her for a sinus infection but are waiting on blood results to see it we need to do anymore tests. Her sinus X-ray was pretty inflamed. She is a girl that has a very high tolerance of pain so when she complains we need to take it seriously and make sure we cover all bases.
That is all for today. I will do better tomorrow, I promise. I hope you had a better day than I did!
Until tomorrow,
Angela
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