Ramblings of an Unamused Mouse

It's Saturday...here's what the scale says!

2012-02-11T14:53:00.001-05:00

145.8 is the reading today after a small bowel movement, wearing only my socks (damn scale is glass and it's winter, so...). I'm happy with that.

I've cut down to using cream in only one of my coffees per day, with almond milk in the others. I kind of feel like a recovering alcoholic, wherein even the sight of a picture of cakes or cookies makes me very afraid. Afraid I'll cave and be back to my old ways. Sugarholic. That's what I am.

There has been some discussion regarding exactly this; how evil sugar really is, though the general public still refuses to accept it. Whatever - they can have it. It amazes me how people plug their ears and go "LALALALALALALA" when they hear how bad their daily indulgences are. Then they complain that they're fat and sick and want stomach surgery so they can't eat so much. Ridiculous!!

It's about time.

2012-02-09T11:56:00.000-05:00

The headaches have finally subsided and life is back to normal. I haven't been much in the mood for prepping or cooking anything, so thankfully my sweet hunnybun is stepping in whenever he can. The last dinner I cooked consisted of sausages in a crushed tomato sauce with crunchy celery and fresh asparagus pieces. It was pretty refreshing and tasty, if I do say so myself. :)

In other news, I'm in the process of snagging a second pair of Vibram Five Fingers shoes, since Backwoods.com has a sale on right now (and I have a contact in OK to order them for me). Here's what I'm getting!!

I'm hoping that I might be able to sneak them by people at work since they're black, but only on Fridays.

Since finishing the Yeast Buster program I have indulged in a treat or two here and there (NOT everyday) and have resumed using cream for my coffees. I've noticed that my weight has inched upward so I'm going to have to cut back on that stuff. Today I'm back to using almond milk (unsweetened) in my coffee. Of course the coffee doesn't taste as good, but that will also mean that I may not want 3 a day!

We'll see what the scale says on Saturday...

Okay, enough already. Let's move on...

2012-02-03T21:17:00.002-05:00

Every. Single. Day. For the past week I've had either a full-blown migraine or the feeling of one threatening to blossom. I'd like to move on now, thank you.

Last Friday I at least had an excuse, what with the effing smoke alarm blaring in my ear (and btw, my ears rang for several days after that), but since then, there isn't an obvious trigger that I can think of. Let's see...it could be the weather...it's February, I'm in Toronto, and there's NO SNOW on the ground. Bizarro!

Otherwise, I thought maybe I'd upset some neck muscles while attempting my various bodyweight lifting exercises on the bar...or else it could be stress from my idiot clients...not sure.

This weekend we're taking my mom out to shop for a small kitchen table for two (for her new bachelor apartment) and we're also moving her into said apartment on Sunday. Truck rental, the whole she-bang. Who's betting whether the headaches continue for those days? Oi.

On to other news...this week I found myself at the Shoe Company shoe store (weakness! lol) and snagged myself a couple pairs of water shoes, which I am now using as slippers at home (blue pair) and at work (black pair):

They are incredibly comfy, light, and flexible, but I wish they came with steel toes built in!! On both of my big toes my nails are slightly ingrown (ugh!) and today I managed to keep the toe-stubbing to one time only. Is there a pain worse than this??!? I'm sure there is, but man oh man, I could have screamed, it hurt so bad.

A couple days ago I stubbed my toe (and this means a gentle contact with a table leg, when you have an ingrown nail) TWICE. Mama help me and my stupid feet.

I left a message with my doctor's office for a podiatrist referral but haven't heard back yet. I also have a deep callus on the pad of my foot just south of my baby toe on the left side. It's getting difficult to walk with all this going on. :S

An evening from hell

2012-01-27T23:57:00.002-05:00

Yesterday started great; hunnybun and I were able to sleep in a bit together (I was working from home and he had the day off to attend some appointments). We schnuzzled until about 7:50am and it was great.

My working day wasn't too bad, either; at lunch time I went out to grab myself a new wireless keyboard and mouse combo with the gift certificate hunnybun had given me for xmas. (I chose the Logitech MK550 and yeehawwww I love this keyboard!!)

The day was fine...until a late afternoon call with my client from hell. The one that should have been turned over to support about a month ago. The one that kept quiet about their laundry list of issues until the moment I tried turning them over. Them. A-holes. Anyway, this is when the headache began.

Once I finally finished work at 5pm I began preparing (aka psyching myself up) to follow a recipe for steak that I found online, which involved putting the cast iron pan into the oven while it pre-heated to 500F, then you take the pan out and put it on the stove (with the burner on to keep it hot) and throw the (lightly-EVOO'd, salted) steaks in for 30 seconds per side. Then you're supposed to toss the entire thing into the still-500F oven for 2 mins per side. These times are for a steak that is 1.5" thick.

Now, I had two t-bone steaks that were about 1/2" thick, but regardless, I was preparing...psyching myself up to perform this dance at this point. The steaks were still in their packaging on the counter, warming to room temperature, and I was still re-reading the instructions about 5 more times to make sure I got it all memorized so I wouldn't need to run back to the laptop with this 500F pan in my hand (no, not really!).

A short while later, head pounding a little more and lights really starting to bother my eyes, I decided it was time. Time to rinse the steaks and let them drip in the collander while I put some salt into one tiny bowl and some EVOO into another. So I did, as the oven was pre-heating with the pan inside it. As I went through the motions with my hands, my brain was wondering about the logistics of it all. I mean, two raw steaks...I'm to lightly coat them with EVOO...and place them where?? Then salt each side, just like in the video, and, but wait, then I have to take the 500F cast iron pan out of the oven and get the steaks into it right away, and...ouchie my brain hurt.

So I decide that I'm going to place the steaks onto the glass cutting board we have. I lay them there and check the temp on the oven. Almost there. I use my fingers in the bowl of EVOO and rub some all over the steaks, then I grab pinches of the Kosher salt and rub it all over...quickly wash my hands and the oven is now 500F.

Quickly I grab the oven mitts and carefully take the pan out. As soon as I saw the smoke rise out of the open oven door that's when my headache turned into a migraine. Oh boy. This is not going to be good.

The pan is now on the stove and I quickly lay one steak in it...then the second one. As directed, after about 30 seconds (I wasn't counting), I took the tongs and lifted the first steak to flip it over. The bloody thing was STUCK to the pan and little shreds of meat remained stuck while I peeled the rest away to flip it. Oi. Same thing for the other steak. Then the smoke alarm starts blaring. Jesus!! My eyes are going to explode out of my head!! In a split-second of panic I'm not sure what to do, but I go to the front door and open it to get some fresh air in. I'm standing there, waving the door back and forth to pull the fresh air in, and I go back to the stove to put the pan into the oven. Well I tried picking it up, oven mitt on my right hand, and the bloody thing was so heavy there was no way I could single-hand it. Cripes. Both hands now gloved, open oven door resting against my leg, I put the pan in and close the door. Now the alarm is really killing my ears and I see which alarm it is. I can reach the hush button on it if I jump! Yay! I finally shut the fucking thing off.

Then I have the chance to open a window in the dining room to help with the air flow (because the front door is still open). I get back to the stove and the alarm goes off again. OMFG!!! I shut the damn oven off, run for a chair to get the alarm down, and rip the fucking batteries out of it. FINALLY, silence! I don't know how to describe the feeling in my head at this point, but believe me, I was NOT in the mood to be eating steak!!

I put the oven back on, but at 440F this time. I leave it alone for a minute and then open the door to flip the stupid steaks. After a short time I turn the oven off and take the pan out with both hands gloved. I just sit it on the top of the stove. I close the front door and the dining room window. After all that, I practically force myself to at least try the steak. Apparently I put WAY too much salt on it, so it's ruined. FUCK!!!

I ate a couple of bites anyway (had to try the crispy fat) and gave up. I left it there and went to lay on the couch until hunnybun got home. Ugh.

Where do we go from here?

2012-01-25T22:59:00.001-05:00

My mom stopped by last evening for a visit, and of course the usual subject of how good I look in my jeans/top came up...she asked what my goal weight is. I said 140 lbs. She knows I'm currently in the 144 range, so she then asked me what my next goal will be once I reach 140.

I didn't know what to say, because I hadn't considered that, but after a moment I said that I guess I won't really need a new goal, because my body will continue to lose the fat until it's done. It's not like I'm starving myself, so I won't whither away completely; my body will just become optimized, I suppose.

I like that idea.

This afternoon at work I was a bit peckish (my lunch was two sausages and the leftover veggies from dinner) so I went to see if there was anything decent enough to buy from the vending machine. Silly tit!! Of course there wasn't anything good in there...but my eyes locked on my old nemesis Coffee Crisp for a fleeting moment. I thought for sure I'd give in (always did before) but I didn't. And it didn't bother me one bit.

I went back to my desk and promptly forgot about eating until I got home. Success!

Today's post is brought to you by the number...

2012-01-22T22:55:00.003-05:00

144.3! Back down again from last week's reading, which I'm obviously happy about. I've been a good girl this weekend. I've also been using the pull-up bar to stretch against and attempt more chins/pulls a few times each day.

I'm not anxious to go back to work tomorrow (somebody please, make the stupid go away!), but I am VERY anxious to get back to my wonderful new height-adjustable desk!! I can't wait!!

Follow-up to the revelation post

2012-01-21T12:11:00.000-05:00

In my last post I spoke about buying a treat as a bit of a test, and while I didn't gorge myself on the cake, it did taunt me every time I opened the fridge so I had to hide it behind another item. That worked really well, actually, because I forgot about it so well that I was surprised when I saw it yesterday (I had to get a pork chop out of the container that was hiding the cake). That's a point for me, in my books.

Yesterday we forgot to defrost the package of chicken thighs so we ordered in. Swiss Chalet is our favourite chicken restaurant, which also offers a great-tasting fish dinner (with a side of veggies instead of chips/fries). So we ordered one each, a ceasar salad each, and...a dessert each. Crap.

Mine was their beyond-fucking-scrumptious coconut cream pie (weakness!!) and his was their carrot cake. I didn't eat my pie until later at night because of being full from dinner, but as soon as I ate it I felt guilty for even ordering it in the first place.

No more. I want to fit into my size 7 pants, DAMMIT!!

A revelation, indeed!

2012-01-17T21:35:00.001-05:00

Last night we went grocery shopping for a few items and I practically forced myself to pick out something from the bakery section that would be that first official "oh-so-worth-it" indulgence after competing the YB program. We brought home a Laura Secord chocolate mousse cake. (I picked something small so that it wouldn't linger within my sight and reach for too long.)

Last night my taste buds wanted to taste it but my brain told them it was too late at night, the fast has begun, and to just shut up because they weren't getting any until tomorrow. It actually worked!

This morning I walked (note: didn't RUN) to the fridge to have a small piece with my morning coffee. I enjoyed eating it and did not feel the urge to have a second piece. Holy. Shit.

This evening, again, my taste buds are asking for something for a snack (reminding me about the cake in the fridge) but my brain has already told them to can it for the night. Wow. I'd say this experiment was an astounding success. :)

Our dinner tonight was something I had intended to make for breakfast (since I worked from home today); bacon, onions, garlic and shredded sweet potato in a pan. It was actually good! Next time I'll cook the bacon til it's crispier, the onions until they're a little more caramelized, and the sweet potato separately so that it's more like hash browns. Anyway, will eat again.

Boring Sunday post...

2012-01-15T16:04:00.001-05:00

I decided last week to wean myself off the YeastBuster program because I felt I was ready and I was really sick and tired of having that damn drink first thing every morning.

I'm happy to be off it, but I left all the bottles in the same spot on the counter as a bit of a reminder; if you fall off the wagon you'll be back on this wagon!! Yucky.

So far, so good. I've not gorged myself on cakes yet, which is a good sign of me actually kicking this yeast problem/sugar addiction. There are sweets in the cupboard (such as semi-sweet chocolate chips and my dad's homemade rum-soaked fruitcake) that are not interesting to me at all. What a revelation!

Last night we went to our friends' house for dinner. They didn't know what to make us for dinner so they made tacos. Well, sounds good to me - I haven't had tacos in eons! I looooooooove eating a hard-shell taco loaded with ground beef, tomatoes, lettuce and shredded cheese. Yum! I had two hard-shell and one soft-shell and I was pretty full. Oh yeah, I drank two rum 'n Cokes. Only two.

I brought a container of blueberries and strawberries plus a small container of coconut milk because I knew they would have crap for dessert (and I was right). My friend busted out the chocolate cream pie from the fridge shortly after we went downstairs to play darts. She also had a really gross-looking bag of no-name cheese crunch things. Blech. I had a sliver of the pie. Normally I would have told everyone to get their own damn pie while I ate mine...okay, I'm exaggerating. A little. After my sliver of pie I got myself a nice bowl of fruit in coconut milk. My friends commented on how good it looked so of course I offered them some. After all, I brought enough for everyone; I'm a good friend. :)

Today I had bacon with my eggs for the first time in, like, two months (because of being on the YB program - delicious bacon is NOT allowed on the program). It's a boring day and I'm supposed to be reading for my latest course (Fire Protection) in the Occupational Safety and Health program I'm working through, but I'm finding that my mind keeps wandering to the kitchen for some munchies. A couple of plantain chips and a few spoonfuls of vanilla-flavoured, 9% MF yogurt did the trick. For now. I'll continue reading after posting this entry.

Weighed myself yesterday and the scale read 145.4 lbs, but since we've started working with weights and the pull-up bar I can't worry too much about weight anymore. I wore my size 7 pants last night! W00t!!

Chicken thighs for dinner. Can't wait!!

Grass-fed bavette of beef...

2012-01-08T20:07:00.000-05:00

Yummers!!

New progress pics...goes to hide under a rock

2012-01-08T12:55:00.003-05:00

If I look at these too long my brain starts to remind me that I'm not in the same light and am a little further away from the mirror, but I know for a fact that there are significant changes. It's just that they're all-around instead of concentrated in one area. I know my belly doesn't stick out as far (and my newt tattoo looks better, too!), and I can see a difference in thickness (front to back) in my pelvic/bum area in the side shots (check the curve of the bikini bottom side).

Can't wait to see more results soon!

Mmmm, chicken. And motorcycles. Ooh! And a weight update!

2012-01-07T13:16:00.002-05:00

That humungous free-run bird you saw in yesterday's post is now resting comfortably in the slow cooker on a bed of onion, carrot, garlic and celery, bathed in sea salt, freshly-cracked pepper, Italian seasonings, "roasted garlic and pepper" seasoning, and seasoned salt (guilty pleasure of ours). Actually, I'm starting the cooker on high for a bit, so perhaps the poor dear isn't so comfy...good thing it's not feeling anything at all! :)

Yesterday after work we headed over to the motorcycle show, which happens (almost always) on the first weekend of the year. We had previously arranged to pick up a set of tires for my bike (Honda 599 - aka Hornet) and we also grabbed a pair of boots each (my toes were constantly scraping the front of my old ones), a set of custom-made ear plugs (I wish we could try them out on the bikes, but it's only 6C here and we don't have any heated gear!), a couple of bike covers (to keep the sawdust off them while in the garage), and I also bought myself a new helmet.

Since we were at the show for over 4 hours were a bit hungry so we ate....ugh...a pizza slice each. Gross!!! Actually, it tasted pretty good, but it sure felt icky. I have a headache this morning, too...wonder if I'm that stressed about eating it or if I just over-slept this morning.

My weight this morning was 144.6! Yahoo!!

Come onnnnnnn, SPRING!!! Mama's got some ridin' to do...

Winning part deux! Lookie what I scored today!!

2012-01-05T23:07:00.001-05:00

Winning!

2012-01-05T20:24:00.001-05:00

GROK, I love buying new, sale-priced, smaller pants. Looooove it!!!!

Mom...perhaps she's starting to listen??!

2012-01-04T00:02:00.000-05:00

This past year my mom has been told by our family doctor that 1) her iron levels are pretty high, and 2) she has a fatty liver. This freaked her out a bit, though initially she didn't do much about it. She continued drinking her diet sodas and munching on junk food like cookies and such.

Now that she's seen my weight edging downward again (I hit a plateau for the last few months, which I wasn't trying too hard to get past), she's become interested in hearing about what I'm eating and where I bought the jeans that look so good on me. LOL

I told Mom about Big Fat Fiasco and she said she'd like to see it (!). She has started re-reading her Atkins book and has learned more about what foods to eat and what fats are healthier. Last week we watched BFF together. She wanted to come back yesterday so we could do more research on the computer about the fatty liver and iron, and I printed off a bunch of pages for her to read.

One piece of advice was to get some of the iron-rich blood out of the system by donating a few units of blood on a regular basis. Mom isn't keen on donating blood, though I'm still working on that. (She was willing to do it when I offered to go with her, but she ended up getting rejected at the clinic because of her age; they needed her doctor's blessing before she could donate. She had psyched herself up to do it so she was pissed!)

Advice with regard to the fatty liver was to lose weight. See, Mom's had problems with her weight for a bunch of years, but mostly she's had problems with her BRAIN. She is bi-polar and has been on (the wrong doses of) meds for a looooong time. She used to complain that these meds made her overeat and that's why she got fat. Roughly two years ago she decided that the meds were poison and promptly stopped taking them. Fast forward past a couple years of hell (for her AND for those around her) and the doctors FINALLY got her dosage right. When she was ill anything you said would go in one ear and out the other. It's taken a long time, but I've finally got my mom back (YES!!) and she's willing to LEARN new things. Shit, I never thought I'd see the day.

Mom's been on the Atkins diet before and lost about 85 lbs. TWICE. She wants to lose more and has been asking what kinds of meats are good (grass-fed, organic, hormone-free, etc.), where to buy them, and what oils are okay to use for cooking. She even wanted to come to our house for NYE because "you put out HEALTHY food that's not going make my weigh scale go up."

I think we're getting somewhere here...

One! One pull-up! Ah ah ah!

2012-01-02T20:56:00.003-05:00

Hunnybun installed the doorway chin-up bar this morning, and after testing it out with a couple of half-assed (I mean, leg-assisted!) chin-up attempts earlier, I finally did one chin-up tonight! Ok, it wasn't pure form, but hell, I managed to pull my ass up off the floor! :D

2012 has to be the year that I incorporate more movement and lifting of heavy things into my lifestyle, which will compliment the diet changes I've already made (and continue to make). Progress needs to continue!!

Instructions for starting the Primal lifestyle

2012-01-01T18:19:00.001-05:00

1. Take "before" pictures. Lots of them.
2. Eliminate sugar and grains from your diet immediately.
3. Start reading and learning: Primal Blueprint 101 | Mark's Daily Apple
4. Adopt other aspects of the PB as you learn/are ready for.
5. Take pictures during your transition.
6. Start saving money to buy new, smaller, clothing.
7. Take more pictures.
8. Enjoy your new life.
9. Post your before and after pics in this thread.

Pleased as punch!

2011-12-31T14:13:00.009-05:00

As today is Saturday, the day I weigh in for the week to gauge my progress, I'm super-pleased to report that, even though I indulged somewhat during Christmas, my weight today was 145.0!!! I actually lost 0.6 of a pound!! Fuckin' YEAH!!!!

No shit! (Just discovered this yesterday at the health store...)

2011-12-31T13:24:00.005-05:00

Delicious D Vitamin D3 Liquid Drops

I've been (regrettably) neglecting my vitamin D supplementation lately because I can't stand having to take a pill for this and a pill for that. This fantastic product makes it SO EASY to get my 4000 IU of D3 a day, simply by taking 4 drops either on my tongue or hand, in my glass of water, whatever! There's no extra crap in there, either, and the cinnamon flavour is divine. The ingredients are listed as:

- Vitamin D3 (Cholecalciferol)...25 mcg/1000 IU
- Medium chain triglycerides (from Coconut)
- Natural cinnamon flavour derived from cinnamon bark

Formulated without gluten, dairy, corn, yeast, artificial colour or preservatives.

Made in Canada, too! :D

Yay, it's over! (Christmas, that is...)

2011-12-27T21:26:00.003-05:00

Gone are the cookies and other crap. Any gifts of chocolate received were passed on to others who still eat that stuff. Yes, a small few were eaten by moi, but now things are back to normal - back to eating real food.

The Morning After

2011-12-26T15:17:00.007-05:00

Yesterday was Christmas dinner at Dad's, which consisted of my step-mom's always delicious dishes like curry goat, turkey, roast duck, candied sweet potatoes, stuffing, etc. etc. I ate, not worrying too much about how much (bread) stuffing or mashed potatoes I was having (and the two stiff rum 'n Coke's went down pretty well too!); it's Christmas, dammit! :)

I barely had room when the desserts came out, but I couldn't pass them up (see above). I tried a small piece of oh-so-moist Christmas cake (which wasn't loaded with candied fruit chunks, thankfully) and a couple of homemade shortbread cookies. I didn't have enough room to have any raisin tarts or cherry pie, which was just fine with me. My coffee had less than a teaspoon of sugar added and some half and half cream. Amazingly, it still tasted sweet enough, considering I used to put two teaspoons of sugar.

With a sore, bulging belly I made my way over to the couch to relax (and stay away from everyone, since I was sick with a cold). When we got home I had my Greens+ drink, eventually downed my two DDS Acidophilus capsules, and went to bed knowing full well that I wasn't going to sleep. I just knew; my breathing was rapid, the air felt cold coming into my nose (sucks, when you're sick), my heart was racing and so was my brain. I couldn't relax one bit.

I tossed and turned until about 3:30am when I couldn't stand it anymore and went to the office to surf the net. I also made myself a NeoCitrin in hopes of soothing my throat (and myself!) enough to sleep. At around 6:30am I headed back to bed to try again. A few Zs were had, though I was awake again at 9:30 when hunnybun got up. He then disappeared into the basement in hopes of letting me sleep some more.

A few more Zs were had, but I gave up at around 12:30pm. I feel better now but we're going to my sister's for dinner tomorrow night and I will probably eat some more crap. Whatever; it's Christmas. :)

The Good, Bad, and the Ugly

2011-12-24T20:35:00.005-05:00

The Good: I got on the scale this morning and (WOOHOO!) it read my new lowest weight in years; 145.6! YES!! Yesterday was a very productive day in the washroom (thank you, Greens+???) so I hoped that it would make a difference on the scale today. Yay!

My mom and nephew stopped by this evening for some Christmas cheer and to open up ONE gift each. I wasn't making a dinner so we had a veggie platter, hummus, some shrimp with seafood sauce, and pumpernickel bread with spinach dip.

The Bad: I was hoping it would go away after awhile; that tell-tale dryness I had in the back of my throat yesterday. This morning when I woke up it was dry AND sore. Great. Just in time for family gatherings at Christmas.

The Ugly: I ate some of the pumpernickel bread, some of the delicious homemade shortbread cookies Mom made for us, aaaand, she made some baking powder biscuits (tea buscuits) from a Fanny Farmer recipe. OMG they were so good...

For background music I had a Christmas channel from Iceberg Radio on. I'm done with Christmas music for this year now. Especially those damn chipmunks.

Merry Christmas, everyone!!

Non-Exercise Types and More Ramblings

2011-12-21T22:55:00.004-05:00

Non-exercise types. Yes, I am one of them. I've never been that much into exercise and while I'd like to blame my lack of motivation on diet/weight/lifestyle/whatever, I really don't know why I don't feel like getting out of this chair more often.

I can't blame diet right now anyway, since I'm eating very clean and have been for over a year now, with just a few cheats here and there. ("Birthday season" in my family starts in September and I just can't resist my step-mom's homemade chocolate cake.) Heck, this "lifestyle" (it's not just a DIET!) of eating "primally" is enough on it's own to drop some excess weight and KEEP IT OFF for over a year and counting. This is without regular exercise AND while working an office job.

Think about that.

Now think about your friends, your co-workers, the general population that is overweight and fluffy. You hear "whoever" constantly complaining that they want to lose a few pounds...when they see themselves in the mirror they whine about their acne or the size of their ass...they say they're going to join a gym (AGAIN, and since they threw away their money before you want to say "just give the money to me, since you won't go anyway!).

I used to be like this...heck, I still comment on my tummy or whatnot, BUT, making this change to my diet alone was the first crucial step in changing myself. Without forcing myself to run on a treadmill or get out my old workout DVD I lost 20 pounds and it has STAYED OFF.

The general population is always looking for a simple (lazy, half-assed, don't want to break a sweat or get off the couch) way to lose weight. Diet pills and surgery are the laziest options in my humble opinion, they're dangerous (for example, some diet pills are no longer "on the market" due to health risks yet some desperados still source them out!), and these people almost always re-gain the weight back soon after.

The easiest change to make is to change what you stuff into your piehole (I love that word hehe)! The only caveat (and deal-breaker for many) is that *gasp!* you need to cook your own meals using *gasp!* real foooooood! This requirement of preparing and cooking meals is what people dread. They have no idea how to cook meals using real food and goddamnit, it's easier and faster to throw that frozen dinner box into the microwave! They don't want to spend an hour prepping and cooking! And then the CLEANUP...who the hell wants to spend 10 minutes washing pots and pans! The HORROR!

I used to be that person too. I had no interest in cooking when I was growing up, I didn't have the same palette as my mother (and didn't like what she'd make), and with all the fast food restaurants around and frozen meals available, why the hell would I waste my valuable time cooking??! I didn't even own a proper cookware set!

When I gained weight from eating these so-called "healthy" frozen dinners and was still hungry, that was it for me. The salt content in these things is CRAZY. I later learned, through reading about Paleo and Primal), how much of these "meals" were man-made and my eyes were opened. For good.

Even though I didn't know how to cook I started buying REAL FOOD and cooking it, experimenting and phoning family members for help. Sure I ruined a few roasts (I still do LOL) but there were some great-tasting meals starting to develop. Best of all, the weight started dropping. I was excited to learn more, and with all the resources out there (Mark's Daily Apple, etc.) there's a SHITLOAD of easy Paleo and Primal recipes to be found. Ribs in the slow cooker all day with just a few simple seasonings are TO DIE FOR. So simple even a caveman could do it (har!). ;)

Anyway, my point is that one can easily get started on the path to better health by simply changing their eating habits, even if they aren't the "exercising type". The only way to lose weight is to change something, and this is the best (tastiest!) way out there. You have to start somewhere, and why not give your body what it needs as a starting point??

Changes...

2011-12-19T22:12:00.003-05:00

Today was the first day in a whole week that I didn't have to fight off a headache. The gas has also subsided (YES!!!!) and I've a bit of diarrhea. I'm still a bit bloated in the belly though, and I'm finding that I'm still full from dinner when it's time for my Greens+ drink. Hmm.

I also decided today that I would try making Dark Chocolate Macadamia Bark Sprinkled with Sea Salt to hand out for xmas. It was super-easy to make but I didn't buy enough dark chocolate to make the quantity I wanted and I forgot the damned sea salt! Thankfully, chocolate is on sale this week at my local supermarket so I went and bought 12 more bars to make 3 more batches. The macadamia nuts were a pretty penny - almost $30 for just under 2 kgs at Bulk Barn. Not going to do this often, but it's a special occasion so it's ok!

Bacon is also on sale so I bought 16 packages...lol.

Hmmm...and mmm!

2011-12-13T20:13:00.005-05:00

I'm not sure if it's stress-related due to my next exam being on Thursday evening, but for several days in a row now I've been fighting off headaches. Maybe it's the change in weather...hmmm.

Last night a few co-workers and I went out for dinner to celebrate the completion of a pain-in-the-ass client...I mean, project, and I tried bison meatloaf! It was incredibly tasty, likely due to the bacon wrapped around it, the rich gravy, and whatever spices and unmentionables added, but I would absolutely order it again! I'm not supposed to touch any sugar, flour or alcohol during the YeastBusters program, but I had a chocolate martini anyway. I'm not experiencing any "yeast die-off" symptoms (unless that's what the gassy ass is all about! haha!!), so I figure I don't have a severe-enough case of yeast overgrowth to worry about one drink.

Hunnybun made dinner tonight while I did some studying:

Salmon is on special this week so we stocked up. The rest of the dish consists of onion, celery, red/yellow/orange bell peppers, garlic, and shredded coconut (!). It really turned out delicious and he kept the celery crunchy so it was a nice light, refreshing dinner. Two thumbs up! :)

Dairy

2011-12-12T08:58:00.008-05:00

The only dairy I've consumed for three weeks has been butter, and I've recently noticed three things:

1. My sinuses are clearer than they've ever been; the only times I really need to clear them are first thing in the morning, after I sneeze, or after walking outside in the cold for a bit (wet, cold schnoz).

2. My mild rosacea has suddenly gotten a bit worse; this week I have small bumps and more redness on my cheeks. My face feels warm and flushed a lot of the time. It's NOT menopause! LOL

3. I'm getting my first pimple in a LONG time. :(

Prior to starting the YeastBusters program I didn't drink a lot of milk but I would have (higher-fat) yogourt and put cream in my coffee. I actually don't miss the yogourt (surprising, because I LOVED the really thick stuff!) and I'm fine having almond milk in coffee (unsweetened, chocolate flavoured variety preferred).

I wonder if I'll ever go back to using cream.

Our Fridge...and gas???

2011-12-11T22:50:00.006-05:00

This is the fullest it's ever been, and most of it is leftover meals and fresh food next in line to be cooked. Ignore the bottle of Coke (that's his) and the KFC (the chicken, fries and gravy are mine and the salad is his...we had nothing ready to cook for dinner on Thursday past so we ordered in. It happens.).

There's a shitload of delicious food for us to eat for the next few days. It's never looked so appetizing (again, except for the crap already mentioned lol).

The other thing I wanted to mention is the insane amount of gas I've had for the past few days. I don't know exactly what's causing it, but it's fucking lethal!!! Is it the Greens+?? Anyone know??

Today's Meal - Chicken Stew with Pumpkin "Pie" for Dessert

2011-12-10T20:27:00.004-05:00

This afternoon was spent prepping a crapload of various vegetables for the chicken stew. Hunnybun did the grocery run (thank you again, Sweetie!) while I chop-chop-chopped in the kitchen. Here's the pot of stew after we already doled out our first portions:

Then came the dessert (perfectly primal, thankyouverymuch! :)):

To make the crust, combine the following in the food processor:

- Freshly-ground almond meal
- Melted butter
- Various yummy spices like cinnamon, nutmeg and allspice

Press it into baking dish of choice.

For the filling:

- 1 can of pure pumpkin puree
- About a cup of coconut milk
- More of the above-mentioned spices

Pre-bake the crust in the dish. I only did mine for 10 mins at 350F but realized later it needed a bit longer.

Pour in the filling, spread it around, and bake at 350F until a toothpick inserted near the middle comes out clean. (For me, using a gas convection oven, it was around 40 mins.) Let it cool a bit before slicing.

I didn't realize that when you slice the root end off a bunch of celery that you end up with a pretty rose! That made me smile. :D

2-Ingredient "Cake"...First Attempt

2011-12-07T23:02:00.009-05:00

I went down to the kitchen tonight with the intention of opening a can of tuna and eating it, but then I remembered we bought eggs last night so I got sidetracked!

Here's where I got the idea from.

When I first saw that thread, I bought a package of un-sweetened baker's chocolate to use for the recipe. That was about a month ago. Tonight, I finally got around to trying this out.

I took 100g (5 pieces) of the chocolate:

I then put the bowl into the microwave for 20 seconds at a time until the chocolate was melted enough to stir:

Next, I learned a lesson; that I should have let the chocolate cool down a bit before adding the egg to it. The egg started to cook a little as I stirred it in:

Once the egg was mixed in as best I could, back into the microwave the bowl went, for about 40 more seconds (my microwave is pretty powerful!). Here was the result!

Beauty! It was perfectly moist and spongy. However, unless you like a bitter chocolate "cake", don't use un-sweetened baker's chocolate. I'm getting minor tummy cramps now. Next time I'll use 85% cocoa, but there WILL be a next time! :D

MORE WATER!

2011-12-05T19:47:00.001-05:00

I NEED to be drinking more water...clearly I'm not drinking enough!!

(Ouchies.)

Curry Pork Stew

2011-12-04T20:25:00.007-05:00

Curry pork stew...a dinner I pulled outta my butt tonight (not literally!). :)
It has cubed boneless pork, onions, pigeon peas, and apple pieces. Next time I'll make this in the crock pot and add a second apple. It was tasty!

Just for the hell of it...

2011-12-04T12:32:00.004-05:00

I weighed myself again this morning upon rising, after emptying my bladder. 146.6! Awesome!

No, I'm not going to be weighing myself every day going forward - just thought I'd see after all the bowel movements I had yesterday hehehehe. :)

...aaaaaaaand I'll now introduce a new label (tag) at this point: TMI! :D

After Two Weeks on the YeastBusters Program...

2011-12-03T22:23:00.005-05:00

I'm holding steady at 147.9 lbs and although there were a couple of days where I couldn't drink as much water as I should have, I'm still regular.

Last night I started taking Greens+; one spoonful mixed in a cup of water (today I used unsweetened apple juice instead). It tastes like oddly-fruity green hell if you keep it in your mouth too long. The juice helped but made it way too sweet overall, so tomorrow I'll try it with more water than juice.

Slept like a log last night and went for a walk with my mom today. I made a huge bowl of popcorn for my hunnybun with a generous amount of melted butter drizzled over it (OMFG) and I resisted having even one kernel. Wow. One of my (now, former?) weaknesses.

I tell you, once I am finished the 8-or so weeks of this program I will be treating myself with something decadent and sinfully chocolatey! (I just hope that by that time I will be able to eat one thing as a treat and not need to eat 8 of them or every day, etc.)

Update

2011-11-26T15:34:00.007-05:00

Thought I'd post an update since I have now been on the YeastBuster program for a week.

Day one (Monday):
- Mixed the drink together using just water. OMFG - NARSTY!! Got a few gulps down before the taste hit me. Couldn't touch any more so the rest went down the drain.

- Went to grocery store to get some unsweetened fruit juice to mix into the next one.

- Forgot to take the DDS Acidophilus pills before bed. Oops.

Day two:
- Mixed half water and half unsweetened pineapple juice in the drink. MUCH better! Downed the whole cup and then realized I was only supposed to use 2oz of juice with the rest being water. Oops.

- Remembered the damn DDS Acidophilus pills at bedtime. Yay!

Day three:
- Drink tasted just fine with the 2oz of juice. Yay! Finally doing it right.

Day four:
- Had my drink in the morning. After work I met up with my BFF to see Breaking Dawn. Picked up some dinner from Loblaw's (grocery store); salmon and sweet potato fries (sweet potatoes are on the 'reduce' list during the YB program). Had no problem walking by all the junk food in the store. I was hoping to grab a bag of plantain chips to munch on during the movie but they didn't have any. At the theatre I had nachos and cheese (hey look, another weakness!). BFF bought the nacho combo for me, which came with a gargantuan pop (that I didn't drink...the sweetie was thoughtful enough to get me Coke Zero lol).

- Experienced strange tummy grumblings after eating, unrelated to what was going on in the movie (heh).

Day five:
- Drink in the morning. Today I noticed how perfect my poops are this week. Stealth! :)

- Forgot to take one of the two DDS Acidophilus pills at bedtime. Oops.

Day six:
- Drink in the morning. Ate pork roast leftovers for breakfast. Awesome bowel movement shortly thereafter. Got on the scale for the hell of it, expecting to see ~150 again. Nope!! 147.8!!! WOOHOOO!!!

Part of this daily drink is a spoonful of psyllium powder, so I have to drink lots and lots of water...which means constantly having to pee like a racehorse, but it's important so that I don't get stopped up.

I'll weigh myself again next Saturday to see how things are going, and then I'll also begin taking Greens+ as directed.

I'm also poo-free again, using only ACV as a rinse in every shower. While it's in my hair I use my scalp massager brush to loosen up any dandruff. Next week I finally have a hair appointment and am going back to short and flippy hair. Can't wait!!

Thennnnnnn, right after my haircut, we're off to see The Tea Party in Toronto!! I hope they play this song....it's my favourite:

I heart my crock pot!!

2011-10-22T22:37:00.003-04:00

Salt, pepper, roasted garlic and pepper spice, Italian spices, splash of soya sauce and splash of Worcestershire sauce. Put in crock pot on low for about 5-6 hours. Christ on a bike, were they ever good!! :)

An over-due update

2011-10-22T22:11:00.003-04:00

Let's see...where to start?

I'm pretty sure I have candidiasis, based on the opinion of an online contact (who says he has a BSC and PHD in naturopathy and homeopathy):

If you're sugar-addicted you most likely have candida overgrowth in your gut. MD's should have their licenses revoked for reckless negligence as we see so much of this. They prescribe antibiotics like candy, and never recommend the patient follow up with probiotics. Prescribing antibiotics is ok, but antibiotics these days tend to wipe out all your gut flora as they're broad spectrum. If you have a white fuzz on your tongue in the morning, sugar-addicted, bloated after carbs/sugar, brainfog-ish, that's candida at work.

The sugar cravings are actually the yeast begging you to feed it. Once you get rid of it, the sugar cravings disappear. You must follow the candida diet (much like Atkins), and take both natural and medical antifungal drugs (Diflucan 100 MG, 30 Tabs, one pill, once daily) and no sugar! Sugar is candida food. Natural antifungals do work, but not as well as Diflucan which blows up the yeast cell. As the yeast cells blow up, you will feel crappy as all the toxins from these cells are dumped into your bloodstream. This is called die-off. Drink a ton of water. You can buy a Yeastbusters kit at any health food store, and a bottle of garlic capsules (not odor free) and chew on real garlic cloves as well.

Also, OOO (Oil Of Oregano) in liquid form, five drops on the tongue, breath in and out ten times, take a sip of water, swish in mouth, and swallow will kill yeast from mouth to the other end. Garlic and OOO are the most powerful natural antifungals. Buy a large bottle of probiotics (acidophilus/bifidus) to recolonize your guy flora. This will put your gut flora back into proper balance. Take the probiotics for the rest of your life and only use pharmaceutical antibiotics if your life is in jeopardy. OOO will kill most any bug/cold/flu you will ever come across in your life. And it won't destroy your gut flora.

Read all you can on Candida, buy the book The Yeast Syndrome, follow my guidelines and those in the book and you'll notice in four weeks or so you'll be able to walk through a bakery and look at sweets and you'll look at, smell the bread and you'll come to the realization that you don't crave it anymore.

I don't see myself munching on fresh garlic cloves but I have started taking spoonfuls of EV coconut oil, which is also an anti-fungal. I'm thinking of buying the Yeast Busters kit but I should at least ask my family doctor if the ingredients included in the kit are safe for me before I spend the $100 or so. I really would like to kick this sugar habit...

Beef marrow bones

2011-09-03T21:23:00.003-04:00

I saw a package of these bones a few weeks ago and thought I'd try them out. Into the freezer they went for awhile, and this weekend I finally got around to dealing with them.

After defrosting in the fridge for a couple days I roasted them in the oven for 20 mins at 450F. The smaller ones looked nice and done (the larger ones still looked red and nasty) so I thinly sliced some little buns, toasted them, and spread the marrow on them. It was pretty tasty and Rabbit thought so too.

The crockpot was standing by, pre-loaded with baby carrots (all I had), celery, onion, two cloves of fresh garlic and a bit of freshly-ground salt and pepper. The bones went in and I filled the crock almost to the top with water. It's on low and will run at least until tomorrow. I look forward to drinking the stock...yummmmm!

Tasty dindins

2011-08-29T22:13:00.005-04:00

Wild salmon (fried in butter in the cast iron skillet) with lots of zucchini and peppers fried in bacon fat, and fresh garlic, which I'm REALLY starting to appreciate.

Getting back on track

2011-08-27T14:15:00.003-04:00

I'm managing to change some of my bad habits again and eat better food. In just a couple of days I'm back down to 152.2 (the other day I was 154.5) and feeling a little better.

We've made a couple of stir fry dinners this week and unfortunately rice made a reappearance on our plate. At the very least, it wasn't instant rice! Usual ingredients in our stir fry include large chunks of zucchini, bell peppers, garlic, and sweet onion. These are fried up in hot bacon fat and then we usually add some sort of leftover protein (last night it was hamburger). Hot damn, it was delicious. It got eaten so quickly there wasn't any time for photos.

Tonight we're going to our friends' house for dinner and drinks, so I will try to be good under the circumstances.

I feel like shit.

2011-08-21T19:08:00.006-04:00

My eating habits....well, hunger pangs are out of control. I am a slave to sugar and salt and Philly cream cheese onion chip dip. (Christ, it's so bad, just typing that makes me want to go buy some and down a large bag of dipped chips.)

I feel that my eyes and my tongue are in cahoots to sabotage my health and weight-loss that I experienced last year. I've only gained 5 lbs of it back, but it looks like it's all in my belly and I hate how fat it makes me feel. Last summer I almost thought I could see a glimmer of hope; a smaller belly with the possibility of one day having a flat belly again. I almost saw definition in it. Almost.

Then I got lazy. Again. I don't feel like doing much of anything and while I wish I felt like exercising more, I just don't feel like I have the energy. Of course I blame that on all the shit I've been eating lately. AND the rum and Cokes just about every night. Why can't I stop myself? Why????????? I'm even having trouble choking down the fish oil and calcium magnesium tablets!

We moved to a 'new' (older) house this summer and bought a new gas range too, however, I can't seem to get back into the swing of cooking. For shame, it's been almost 2 months and the most action it's seen is the frying pan with bacon and then eggs cooking in it. Actually, no, the MIL came by last month with her infamous apple crisp and needed to bake it in our oven. Of course.

I'm having trouble staying satiated for long as well. I need more fat in my diet and the chicken skin (from a crockpot-roasted bird) is not enough. Today I ordered a 1-gallon tub of Nutiva coconut oil so that will help.

When I open the fridge I want to dig in to the chocolate cream pie that's in there (yes, that was my doing as well). When I have bones to put in the organics-waste bag in the freezer, I see three tubs of sugar-laden ice cream and I groan inside my mind but I close the door. I have to be in a special mood to want ice cream.

I wish I had taken a picture of the bird in the crockpot - it was a beautiful sight. I cook it breast side down and when trying to turn it over to take its temperature the luscious dear just fell right apart. God, it was good. I have one more bird to cook this way (next week; don't want to get tired of chicken) and I promise to take a picture then.

My career goal is to become a certified health & safety professional and my brain is starting to remind me that I need to practice what I preach. I don't want to be a walking contradiction. Now if only my eyes and tongue would cooperate...

Yep

2011-08-06T22:58:00.001-04:00

I suck. lol

I'm back!

2011-03-13T16:11:00.003-04:00

Went through a bit of a cooking funk there, where nothing really inspired me. I've also got a lot going on over here, what with my online course aaaaaaaand we're prepping the house to sell it. Mix in the hours spent looking at prospective next homes and boy oh boy, I sure don't feel like cooking.

However, I did make a beef roast recently and hey, whatdoyaknow, when you have a proper meat thermometer that you can stick into the meat and leave it there while it's in the oven, cooking isn't nearly as unpredictable!

This roast still came out a bit more done than I wanted, but now I know for next time. The veggies were a frozen mix that worked quite nicely. I'm glad I didn't have to chop all of that stuff!

Update: Deodorant / Armpit Rash

2011-02-06T14:09:00.002-05:00

Awhile back I had made my own deodorant, which was fantastic at keeping my pits smelling divine. However, because I already had a rash from my previous store-bought stick when I switched, the baking soda in the homemade stick irritated the rash enough that it wouldn't go away. It took me awhile to figure out what to do about it, aside from using nothing and stinking. Eventually I decided to try putting a dusting of corn starch on them, and nothing else for awhile.

It worked! The rash is just about gone, and once it's completely healed I'll try the homemade stick again. Should only be another week or so to be sure.

Successful Experiment: Eggs in Bacon Baskets

2011-02-06T14:05:00.005-05:00

Got a couple of updates for the blog today, and the first is to proudly show off our eggs-in-bacon-baskets! :D

Tonight's Dinner...Pollock Fish Soup

2011-01-31T21:55:00.004-05:00

This was something I kind of threw together, using coconut milk, some butter, some chicken stock, a package of frozen pureed squash, and various seasonings. Plus the pollock, of course! It turned out alright, which was pleasant surprise.

Successful Experiment: Cauliflower Rice

2011-01-23T19:16:00.003-05:00

While it wasn't perfect, it sure was tasty! It went well with the slow-cooked ribs I made in the crock pot with beef broth and pork soup broth from last week. NOM.

Once again, Mom was impressed. :)

Successful Experiment: First Time Frying in the Cast Iron Pan

2011-01-23T11:35:00.004-05:00

For my birthday this past September I had asked my parents to buy me a cast iron frying pan, and my hopes were to become a cooking expert with this "pro" tool. (laughs) After reading many different instructions on the 'net for seasoning this thing properly, we finally decided to DO it...IN DECEMBER!

We put it through only one 'round' of seasoning and time ran out and we just haven't gotten around to continuing for 5 more rounds. I've been reading that some people also say to just start using it (provided there's no rust in the cooking area), so today that's what I decided to do.

Today is Sunday, which is bacon 'n eggs day. I got the pan out, heated it up (I also read that there are two keys to preventing food from sticking; the pan has to be hot enough, and there has to be enough fat in there), and tossed the bacon in.

Once the bacon was done (and the fat was drained once part-way through), the eggs went in. Now I was pretty nervous about the eggs, because they would be much more likely to stick, so I kept a close eye on the grease and the heat. Luckily, they didn't stick all that much and I was able to lift off what did stick. Yay!

Then when the eggs came out, I added a couple more tablespoons of bacon fat and a bunch of sliced cremini mushrooms, and tossed those around for a few minutes. YUM.

In the end, the pan is free of stuck food and the oil just needs to be dumped. Then I'll wipe it down with paper towel and it'll be ready for next time.

W00t!

Coconut Oil Used For Frying...Ok to Re-Use?

2011-01-22T21:37:00.005-05:00

We attempted coconut shrimp for the first time last night. They didn't quite come out the way we hoped, but they were edible anyway. Here's what the oil looked like in the pan after it cooled overnight. Is this normal? Would it be okay to reuse again?

Edit: The advice received was to never re-use coconut oil after frying and the odd shapes might have been caused by the shrimp...

Almond Butter!

2011-01-19T21:01:00.004-05:00

Decided to make this last night on a whim...wish we had some bananas to smear it on!

After scooping most of it out of the food processor I added some small pieces of Lindt 85% Ecuador chocolate and whipped that up. Mmm.

Last Night's Dinner: Slow-Cooker Pork Roast with Onions 'n Stuff

2011-01-19T20:56:00.004-05:00

Mmmm, so juicy and the FAT...OMG *drool*

After slicing, back into the pot it went...at least until hubby was home and ready to eat!

PRIMAL SCREAM

2011-01-17T09:37:00.002-05:00

What a shitty fucking day so far; absolutely nothing has gone right.

Happy Dance

2011-01-15T12:31:00.004-05:00

This morning when I got on the scale (twice, to be sure) it read:

147.7!!!!!!!!!!

That bring my total weight loss to just over 18 pounds! YES!!!!!!!!! Last October I had reached 148.2 but then with xmas and all that I had gone up just a couple pounds, always hovering between 149-151. This is the lowest I've weighed in YEARS. Seeing as I'm not really working out a whole lot at this point, I'm not building muscle weight so the weigh scale does matter to me. Just for now.

Last Night's Dinner: Baked Pollock Fish with Steamed Cauliflower and Yam

2011-01-15T12:27:00.003-05:00

Tonight's Dinner...Leftover Chicken on Cabbage and Bell Pepper

2011-01-13T22:11:00.005-05:00

We bought a new pan!! So far so good (though I can't stand Rachel Ray her pan is nice lol). We glopped a few blobs of bacon fat in there, tossed in the chopped peppers and cabbage for awhile...

Then we added some seasoning and the leftover chicken that was in the fridge to warm it up. Et voila! Tasty!

Tonight's Dinner...Roast Beef on Mashed Cauliflower

2011-01-11T20:51:00.001-05:00

Awesome Music: Beck and Bat for Lashes

2011-01-09T18:34:00.002-05:00

Let's Get Lost, Beck and Bat for lashes (twilight 3)

Roast...messed another one up. :(

2011-01-09T13:13:00.007-05:00

I try. And I'll keep on trying. Next time I'll watch it closer and take its temperature more. Or maybe I'll put the meat thermometer right in there and leave it in there. I don't know. I just hate ending up with a dry, over-cooked roast. It sucks.

Anyway, here's what it looked like. I cooked it in the oven at 250F with some water and seasonings in the bottom of the pan. The good news is that the gravy (which I reduced in a pot after it was done cooking) turned out AMAZING.

We had a big salad to go with the roast, but ended up with quite a bit left over, so this morning I cooked up some bacon and we had bacon salad for breakfast!

Foooooooood.

2011-01-03T11:25:00.007-05:00

I've got two pork tenderloins in the crock pot, one in the oven, and a belly full of sardines (canned in olive oil).

Pics of the tenderloins to come later!

Edit: It's now later:

First, here is the oven-roasted pork tenderloin (at 250F for 2 hours) that was juicy and tasty as all hell:

This was a piece from the two tenderloins I cooked in the slow cooker (which for some reason turned out dry - overcooked, I guess?):

Served with cabbage, onion, carrot and leek.

The "Mother In-Law"

2011-01-03T00:57:00.007-05:00

My "MIL" (in quotes because Rabbit and I are just common-law) came over yesterday (Sunday) to make dinner for us here, so she arrived with most of the fixings and got started. The main dish was going to be a hunk of roasted beef (no complaints there!), but the one side dish she brought was something she called dumplings, but it consisted of tiny little balls that resembled pasta. There were three ingredients, one of which was flour, so I wasn't too keen on eating this stuff, but I had told my honey that I was going to shut up and eat whatever she made, because it was her who previously droned on about how there's nothing wrong with eating (whole) grains, etc. I'm not interested in hearing it anymore and I'm tired of explaining myself. Anyway, she had asked what we might have on hand for sides and she chose cauliflower to go into the oven with the roast.

When the beef was done she wanted to use the drippings to make a gravy. I said we had some corn starch (I'm not sure whether this is any better than white flour, but offered it anyway), but noooo she only wanted flour. She knows darn well that I do not wish to consume flour/grains, but like I said, I shut up and ate what she made anyway. I honestly think she's trying to provide her son with these CW foods because she feels I'm depriving him. She even mentioned she'd bring ingredients to make bread next time, since my stand-up mixer came with a dough hook. *facepalm*

This must be why people don't usually get along with their in-laws, right??

When she comes over she usually brings the supplies to make her apple crumble dessert as well, and this time was no different. I had some and shut up about it.

Tomorrow I'll eat what *I* want to eat.

Awesome Music: Sloan

2011-01-02T15:35:00.000-05:00

2011 Wish List

2011-01-01T18:30:00.002-05:00

- Lose another 10+ lbs.

- Land a position in the Health & Safety field so I can start getting some real experience.

- Spend less time staring at a computer screen and/or sitting in chairs.

2010 was the year...

2011-01-01T18:15:00.009-05:00

- I decided to (for the most part) go poo-less and soap-less. And made my own deodorant.

- I enrolled myself in a one-day course on being a crematorium operator (boy, was THAT ever interesting!).

- We went on our first real vacation (my first since I was 10 yrs old).

- We decided to (for the most part) eliminate sugar, grains and processed food from our diet.

- I really learned to cook, mostly by using a lot of great recipes I found on the Internet.

- I lost 16 lbs from the above diet changes, going from 166 to 150 (and holding, +/- a couple lbs).

- My mother, with the aid of a hospital stay and medication, FINALLY got her mental illness under control and is FINALLY behaving normally (she had been in a bad state for a number of years, last year being the worst in memory) which was really hard on all of us.

- We made an unprecedented move and canceled our cable (thus rendering our living room virtually abandoned).

- I hated my current job the most (especially the rude, condescending asshole clients) and really, really wanted out.

- I FINALLY chose a career path I wanted to pursue (Occupational Health & Safety) and began taking distance learning courses.

My Weaknesses: After Eight Chocolates

2010-12-28T20:14:00.001-05:00

Ohhh boy. *Someone* cute and fuzzy got me a box of these for xmas. Someone very naughty! Now I'm trying not to think about them and he now has to hide them on me. LOL

Evil temptation. EVIL!!

Christmas 2010

2010-12-28T20:05:00.004-05:00

Aside from being sick with a cold, this xmas went pretty well, albeit at light speed. All of a sudden it's over, and we have a huge mess to clean up. I've done pretty well with my food intake, merely sampling goodies here and there. I had a small homemade shortbread cookie for dessert (skipping the black forest cake!) at Dad's, and a small slice of pumpkin pie at my sister's. Oh, and I inhaled (not literally lol) the milk chocolate penis pop that was also found in my stocking. ;)

Other than that, when I've been hungry I've eaten good (better) food. Not quite primal, as the leftovers from Dad's included mashed potatoes mixed with mashed turnip with gravy on top, but better than junk food. Ohhhhh the curry goat my step mom made is to die for...

I got a couple sexy santa's helper outfits (HO HO HO, lol) and some nice tops from my sister which accentuate every bump there is to see, so I really need to start working on this belly fat. Starting tomorrow (cause I have a headache today).

All year long...

2010-12-24T16:58:00.003-05:00

...I've been moaning about how my co-workers are always taking sick days and I never get a day off work. Well, my time has come to get sick (just a gross cold), but now that the holidays are here we get to work from home anyway, so I'm still not taking a sick day!

BOOOOOO!

Well I guess it's actually a good thing...but dammit, I'm gonna take some sick days next year even if I'm not sick! So there!!

Four!

2010-12-21T22:08:00.003-05:00

Four batches of almond cookies! Ah ah ah!

These are being handed out for xmas to various peeps, and I still need to make more. Somehow, before Saturday, I need to pump out two batches of my cereal, too.

And finish wrapping the gifts. Ugggghhhhhh.

Today's Eats

2010-12-19T21:44:00.003-05:00

Today was an experimental day of sorts; I cooked breakfast this morning, which consisted of bacon and an omelet of sorts which started with some of the remaining bacon fat, a bit of garlic and lots of mushrooms, to which I added a bowl of 7 scrambled eggs. We both loved it. The bacon was...well, crispy, juicy NOM-NOM-NOM bacon as usual. :)

Another experiment was using the self-clean cycle of the oven to also get some rust off our cast iron skillet so that we could start seasoning it. We both got some reading time in while it was doing its thing (me: The Primal Blueprint; him: The Feeling Good Handbook).

It took a few hours for that to finish, then I had to wipe everything down, and then I warmed the pan up again to open the pores before rubbing it down with flaxseed oil. Then, back into the oven it went at 500F for an hour. It's too late to do the second round so that will have to wait until tomorrow.

The third experiment today was what I just cooked up as a light dinner/late snack. We had some collard greens in the fridge from our last Wanigan delivery (which I've cancelled for at least the winter), and they were close to going bad so I had to do something with them. I sliced them into strips and followed the same recipe that I make my delicious swiss chard, and I also added the rest of the cremini mushrooms that we had. It came out okay, but collards certainly aren't chard. We ate the shit out of it anyway. :D

Tomorrow after work we'll do the second coating on the pan and I have to start wrapping gifts! I finished my shopping nice and early, but procrastinated on the wrapping...DOH!!

Today's Eats

2010-12-18T14:56:00.003-05:00

Breakfast: Roughly 1/2 cup strawberry yogourt

Lunch: 1/2 left over steak (*DROOL*)

Dinner: Will be roasted pork shoulder, onions, bell peppers, and bacon-wrapped asparagus. YUM!

Weighed myself this morning (no BM, unfortunately) and I'm 149.3! Now that all the evil shortbread cookies are out of the house (and into my belly :(), I can get my carbs down to a better level again. Damn those cookies all to hell!!! (YUM lol)

What really grinds my gears...

2010-12-11T23:40:00.002-05:00

...is when *whoever*, when they know I no longer eat things like bread and sugar, etc., goes on and on about how the bleached flour is no good for me, but whole grains certainly are, and how white sugar is no good for me but go ahead and enjoy the brown/turbinado sugar...yadda yadda.

Listen. Just because I don't eat it anymore doesn't mean it's up for discussion or I need a "talking to"! I'm not telling THEM not to eat it, so why do they feel it's okay to tell ME to eat it! I know what works for me, and I've been just fine without that crap, thank you very much, so BUZZ OFF.

If they want to eat it, FINE. Leave me the hell alone. I don't want the pressure and the wasted time arguing about it.

sigh

2010-12-11T17:08:00.000-05:00

Why do shortbread cookies need to taste so good?? WHY??? *facepalm*

What to do with boneless, skinless chicken breasts

2010-12-04T20:33:00.005-05:00

Rinse and salt them with sea salt. Coat them in a mixture of yogurt, lemon (or orange juice), garlic, and parsley. Then coat them in ground/finely chopped almonds and put them in a buttered baking pan. Slap a pat of butter on top of each one before baking, covered in foil, at 350F for an hour. Remove the foil at about the 45-minute point. (You may need to put the broiler on to brown them nicely.)

In another pan (or two), put sliced sweet peppers and wedged onions coated with EVOO, low-sodium soya sauce and sprinkle with steak spice. Bake everything at the same time (best if you have a convection oven) for the hour at 350F.

For a second side, I made swiss chard on the stove, using my favourite recipe here, except I used bacon fat instead of EVOO.

So good, it didn't last long enough to get pics. :)

Mmm, Salmon

2010-12-02T21:57:00.005-05:00

These delicious morsels were cooked up in butter, then seasoning and coconut milk was added to make the sauce. YUM!

drool

2010-11-27T16:27:00.001-05:00

These lil' darlin's will soon be marinaded in evoo, low-sodium soya sauce and steak spice, then BBQ'd. YUM!!

Tomorrow's Dessert

2010-11-26T21:06:00.004-05:00

BAS and Fried Bananas!

2010-11-24T22:38:00.008-05:00

Today was one of those days where we didn't really have any leftovers in the fridge and hadn't taken anything out of the freezer to defrost. Soooo, since we had some lettuce to use up from last Friday's Wanigan delivery, we made a salad. A BAS (in case you don't know; a big-ass salad) with tuna!
His:

Hers:

For dessert I decided to fry up some banana slices in some virgin coconut oil and dusted them with coconut flour:

Unfortunately they turned out a bit smushy because I had too much oil in the pan at first, so hopefully next time they'll be firmer and crispier. They were awesome, anyway!

Oooooops.

2010-11-20T14:34:00.001-05:00

After working from home Thursday and Friday I needed to let loose and have some fun. Hubby was working late and then later attending a send-off dinner for one of his co-workers, so I decided to enjoy some Bajan rum with Coke and crank some tunes as I surfed the net.

The drinks were going down very smoothly, I was singing along to the music, chatting with an old girlfriend, making kale chips, and baking some chicken wings (gently coated with olive oil, low-sodium soya sauce, flax seeds, and chopped almonds...mmm!). The kale chips were tasty, but a tad overdone.

Hubby came home and asked me how I was doing. I said I was doing very well, thanks, and after a quick smooch off he went upstairs to hop on his computer. I checked on the little darlings in the oven a couple times, the last time really resisting the urge to just lay on the floor of the kitchen to have a nap. I almost gave in.

I sat back down at the dining room table (where my laptop was) and lay my head down on my arm. Hubby came down at some point and asked if I was alright, if I wanted him to help me relocate to the couch/bed/wherever (such a sweetie he is). I declined, so he asked if I wanted a bucket. LOL. I accepted that offer and he brought out the small garbage can from the washroom. He also checked the wings and took them out of the oven for me.

It felt really, really good to rest my head on the table. Really good. Until I suddenly noticed that my mouth was watering. Uh-oh. I've never been a messy puker, so I got the bucket ready and up came the kale. Just the kale - no rum and coke, oddly enough. It looked like a tiny pile of chewed-up grass. I almost laughed at it.

The sound of barfing got hubby running down again to check on me, and he later commented how funny it is that I'm so quiet all the time (hence the Mouse nickname) except for when I sneeze or barf. LOL

He helped me over to the couch where I laid down sooooo comfy-like. After a short rest I made my way upstairs to brush my teeth and get into bed. Nothing else came up, thankfully, and I tried sipping as much water as I could before falling asleep. In the morning I was woken up at 7:30 by the piece of shit dog down the street, as usual, but I felt just fine.

I know that I drank too much considering I hadn't eaten a whole lot. Breakfast was some yogurt and lunch was 3 sunny-side-up eggs that were a bit runny for my liking, but I was pressed for time so I ate them anyway. Add the couple kale chips to that and that was it. The wings were going to be my dinner. I should've taken them out of the freezer and cooked them earlier. Live and learn. :)

Hamburger Soup

2010-11-15T22:57:00.006-05:00

Ahh, one of my faves, especially when there's yam to be added to it. Mmm, sweet goodness.

This contains:
- 2lbs medium ground beef, browned with Worcestershire sauce
- sliced carrots, celery, onion
- diced yam
- Italian seasoning, garlic, Montreal steak spice, and seasoned salt

Slow cooked on high for maybe 4 hours.

Damn.

2010-11-13T18:25:00.002-05:00

I really wish Jimi hadn't died.

Tonight's Dinner...

2010-11-09T18:47:00.003-05:00

Farm-fresh honey garlic sausages, steamed broccoli and roasted fennel.

On the fennel is a very light coating of olive oil (EVOO) and balsamic vinegar. Roasted uncovered at 400F for approx. 20 mins. Very interesting flavour, and the house smells divine!

My Weaknesses: Tim Horton's English Toffee Cappuccino

2010-11-08T13:22:00.005-05:00

WIN! Red (Swiss) Chard Recipe

2010-11-07T19:36:00.006-05:00

Made this tonight and we inhaled it! I still have the BEST aftertaste in my mouth. Mmmmmmmm.

Recipe - Simply Recipes

(My substitutes were to use Montreal steak spice instead of crushed red peppers, and thus I didn't need to add any more salt.)

Today's food intake started out good enough, with farm-fresh bacon and eggs, but then I got into the apple crisp and birthday cake from last night. I am powerless when this sort of stuff is in the house! If I see it, I have to eat it! I just love the taste so much. :(

Anyway, that was early today and I'm back on track now. I had some of the chard after finishing off the sardines I had cracked open a few days ago (canned), and then because my tummy was still craving cake and possibly the lasagne in the fridge, I had a cheese stick (mozza and cheddar) and a small apple. If I feel the need to have anything else I might have a square or two of dark chocolate and/or some almonds. Yeah.

UGH

2010-11-06T22:08:00.002-04:00

I am SOOOOO stuffed. Tonight's dinner, made mostly by my hubby's mum, consisted of meat lasagne, lightly breaded veal cutlets (fried in vegetable oil), and potatoes/carrots/green beans/onions as a side. Then, my step-mum had brought over her best-chocolate-cake-in-the-world for hubby's b-day. I feel like I don't need to eat another bite for at least two days.

Tomorrow, after our bacon and egg breakfast, I think I'll fast for awhile or just make a coconut milk smoothie for dinner. Yeah. Ugh.

Blarg.

2010-11-05T23:21:00.006-04:00

Today's meals have been garbage. Today, I ate crap. That's more accurate. McDonald's was involved. Yesterday, I ate crap as well. Some of it was good, but for the most part, CRAP. Yesterday I went for product taste testing (paid) and there were 6 different store-made white cakes to sample and rate. Really. I should have downed two fish oil capsules after that. If I were anorexic I would've thrown that shit back up. But I'm not, so life goes on.

Ugh.

I DON'T want this trip to end. I want to lose a little more weight. I want to feel good again. We just got our second Wanigan delivery today and I intend on eating every last bit of all the fruits and veggies. I don't know exactly what I'll do with the fennel yet, but I'll find a recipe somewhere.

There was also red chard in there. Wow that shit is vibrant. I took pictures of it; I was so inspired. What a neat looking vegetable!

Tomorrow will be another day of eating crap, because someone else will be cooking it. *sigh* I can't wait til Sunday, where we'll enjoy our regular breakfast of bacon and farm-fresh eggs. That reminds me...I need to go to Broadway Farms to buy more bacon.

I got my uptake and scan test results today. They said the two small cysts didn't show up on the scan, but my T4 is in the high-normal range. They want to send me for another uptake and scan in two months to see if there's a difference. They also want me to get another ultrasound done in about 6 months to check on the cysts. So there you go.

I had walked over to the walk-in clinic for my results while my winter tires were being put on my car. *wail!* Winter's gonna suck!!! Oh wait...I can work from home when I want/need and hubby and I each have a pair of snowshoes for exercise. Hopefully it won't be too bad. :)

OH!! I almost forgot. My winter itch is already back. I recently trimmed my fingernails so it's really hard to scratch. How unfulfilling that is. I've started putting grapeseed oil on my legs to try to calm the itch a bit. It works for a little bit but returns the next morning. *screams*

The dreaded time has arrived...

2010-10-31T20:13:00.006-04:00

...now that Halloween is over, here comes the blasted xmas music. I can't fucking stand the shit. It makes my ears bleed. Over and over, everywhere you turn or SHOP, it's in your face and brain. UGH.

Anyway, this is the first year I attempted carving a pumpkin using a stencil (from the internet) and it didn't turn out too bad!

Look at that silly tit in the window...his first photo bomb! Awwww....lol

Accidental Halloween Bat (Chicken) Goulash

2010-10-25T21:00:00.001-04:00

In using up some produce, I accidentally made what could be a great family dinner for halloween:

Sodium-free chicken broth (or water)
Two sweet potatoes, cubed
Head of purple cabbage, chopped
Carrots, sliced
Chicken (I used 10 thighs, skin on, bone in)
Mushrooms (the darker and ickier the better!)
Onions
Garlic
Seasonings of your choice (I used seasoned salt, sea salt, dry Italian seasoning mixture)

Bring all ingredients to a boil in your cauldron, then turn down to low and simmer for at least an hour.

Awesome Music: Ted Nugent

2010-10-23T20:22:00.001-04:00

Speaking of Rock Star the movie (now I'm dying to hear some of the songs from the soundtrack!)...

Awesome Music: Alter Bridge

2010-10-23T19:48:00.000-04:00

The singer, Myles Kennedy, was in one of my favourite movies, Rockstar. Unfortunately, they've disabled embedding, so here's the link:

Open Your Eyes Music Video

Wheeeee Fresh Food!

2010-10-22T18:11:00.001-04:00

We got our first Wanigan delivery today! Lots of fresh fruit and veggies to consume. We got the small Wanigan box, which was $34 plus we added a bag of Gala apples to last us the two week period (the bag of apples is not in this pic).

A nice-sized pot roast has been relaxing in the crock pot all day and it smells delicious.

Edit:

Regarding my blood tests, the verdict (so far) is just that I'm low on vitamin D, which is no surprise, based on what I've read on the MDA Forum. The results haven't yet come in from the uptake and scan. I learned that there's a 5mm something-or-other cyst on my thyroid, too, which they said was "insignificant". The uptake and scan should tell us more detail about that cyst.

TGIF!!!

Mmm, Acorn Squash

2010-10-19T22:02:00.001-04:00

Yesterday at work one of my co-workers came over to comment on how good I looked since I lost some weight this year. We got to talking about how I did it and she was genuinely interested in learning more. I told her about cutting out the sugar and grains, eating REAL FOOD, etc. and she was excited to try it out.

Today she stopped by my desk, again commented on how good I looked in my new outfit (lol) and told me about what she cooked for dinner last night. She was all excited that she made pork and a whack of veggies, plus she made her own apple sauce and DIDN'T add any sugar! I was very proud of her and her excitment. See, she goes to the gym several times a week and is finding that while it is a way to let stress out, it's not helping her lose any weight. Matter of fact, I've noticed her face rounding out a bit.

Later, we ran into each other in the washroom and again she looked me up and down before mentioning how good I looked. LOL Now, she's NOT a lesbian and she just got re-married earlier this year, so I know she's not being lewd. I sent her a message on our internal chat system joking that next thing you know she'll be asking me out on a date! (hahahaha!) She got a kick out of that. :)

For the hubby and I, today was workout day after work. After working out we prepared an acorn squash to go with our dinner of leftovers. Hubby cut the thing open and I did the rest. NO brown sugar touched this squash! I took a knife and scored the meaty insides, smeared butter all over them, and sprinkled cinnamon, nutmeg and allspice on them. I felt something else might be good as a liquid, so I added a tiny bit of (real) vanilla extract as well. Into the 400F oven they went for about an hour and 15 mins. Here's what one looked like:

Mmm, mmm.

I got a call from the walk-in clinic tonight as well. They have my blood test results back and the doctor wants to see me to talk about them. I hope to make it there tomorrow after my massage therapy after work.

And another thing...

2010-10-17T10:11:00.000-04:00

I haven't yet mentioned that I've been getting some tests done to see if something is going on with my thyroid. In July my neck (n general) started hurting like as if I had pulled some sort of muscle or vocal cord. The way I describe it is if you were singing along to a song and try to hit a note that is too far out of your natural range - you tend to hurt something in your throat (done that before). It makes it hard to swallow, talk, and turn your head for at least a day.

In August I noticed a sort of lump on the right side of my throat. I went to the local walk-in clinic to get a doctor's opinion. He asked me some typical questions around potential hypothyroidism and I didn't really have any symptoms other than heart palpitations. He sent me for an ultrasound.

The ultrasound results came back and it was a different doctor at the walk-in this time (that's how it goes at a walk-in...you get whoever's there/available). He asked me a few more questions and said he wanted some blood tests and an uptake/scan. I haven't received the blood test results yet and I just went for the uptake/scan appointments this past Thursday and Friday.

Last night we had our best friends over for dinner and drinks, and I was drinking but didn't even catch a buzz (what a waste of rum! lol). I woke up in the middle of the night in a pool of sweat and my heart was palpitating like crazy. It was pretty discerning, but I had a pee and relocated to the other bedroom where I wouldn't keep my hunny awake and the room was much cooler.

I drifter in and out of sleep there, but at least I wasn't sweating anymore. I look forward to getting to the bottom of this issue.

I don't want to put too much onus on weight, but...

2010-10-17T01:08:00.001-04:00

...this morning after a BM my scale read 148.7. YES!!!!

Been working on the wall push-ups and squats, so I expect to gain a bit of muscle weight...I should look into how to measure BF% someday.

For now, I'm happy with my progress so far. Since I've been recording my weigh-ins, the trend shows a loss of approx. 10 lbs over a 6-month period, so I hope to have lost 20 lbs by the end of the year. That would be sweet.

I'm drooling just looking at it...

2010-10-14T22:49:00.001-04:00

Last night's dinner:

Today's Eats

2010-10-09T19:55:00.000-04:00

- Bacon and eggs for breakfast (standard stuff; no pics)

- Yogurt

- Made some more primal cookies:

- Slow-cooked chicken with carrots, onions, mushrooms and kelp for dinner:

Mouse's Favourite Music: Canadian Rock - Turn it up!

2010-10-09T18:00:00.000-04:00

I think this might be a great topic! More to come, but for now...

Some old...

Some new(er)...

Oh what a day.

2010-10-08T22:26:00.000-04:00

It started off pretty normal for a vacation day; roll outta bed at around 10...get breakfast in me...but today would turn out to be a busy day!

Breakfast was leftover steak chili from Broadway Market. OMGYUM!!

We needed to put another coat of paint on the garage door but before starting that I wanted to make a quick run out to Broadway to grab some of their prepared stock. I grabbed two containers of chicken and one of beef. Can't wait to use them in something!

Painting the garage door was next up, and I tell ya, after us working together yesterday to do two coats and one today, I've had just about enough of painting! My thumb went numb from holding the plastic container holding a bit of paint and my back is a tad screwed. The next paint project will likely be the rec room in the basement, but that won't be any time soon!

Once the garage door was (finally) done, we decided to go to Albion Hills for a nice hike since the weather was so gorgeous (and we had hoped to do this sometime this week, anyway). Here are some pics of what we saw:

We really had a great time out there - aside from the odd mountain biker or jogger, it was just us and the trees. Oh, and the turkey (??!). :)

Once we got home we realized we'd forgotten about dinner (and it was kind of late to start cooking), so we whipped together a batch of coconut milk/banana/cocoa powder smoothies. Mmmm, mmmm.

(TMI side note: I just spent 10 mins in the washroom with pretty bad diarrhea. I think I just lost 5 lbs (lol) but I feel kind of funny over all. Hmmm...)

OMG WOW YUM!

2010-10-07T23:30:00.001-04:00

Today was an interesting day, as I had decided to FINALLY try making mock mashed potatoes out of cauliflower. The head of cauliflower was purchased a few days ago and was patiently waiting in the fridge for it's name to be called.

We had ribs gently brushed with apple butter in the crock pot and they were just about done. Then, out came the cauliflower! I tried to remember back to the instructional video I had watched via MDA, and while I remembered some of the ingredients, I decided not to get too technical and just wing it.

Both hubby and I were excited to try this recipe, as we're both HUGE fans of traditional mashed potatoes. (My step-mum even grows a small crop of potatoes specifically for me, for Thanksgiving mashed potatoes!) I separated and rinsed the florets and popped them into the microwave for 10 minutes to steam. Then, into the food processor they went (a few at a time -- it's only a 7-cup) and once they were all smashed up, in went the 1/2 cup of 14% MF sour cream, 1/2 cup melted butter, Montreal steak spice and seasoned salt. Whipped that up some more with the machine, and then it was time to taste...

We have a winner!! To hell with mashed potatoes and their empty carbs -- I'll take mashed cauliflower from now on, thanks!! :D

Tue. Oct. 5, 2010

2010-10-05T20:58:00.001-04:00

Today was a busy day; got up at 10:30am and had to hurry to get dressed/cleaned up to go out - we were meeting my mom and sister at Mandarin for lunch. I tried to make 'better' choices at the huge buffet and I did alright. Of course I did enjoy a few small desserts, some of which were supposedly "sugar-free", though they were still sweet enough. Not sure what they used to sweeten them, but alas...

After lunch we went to my sister's house to see her new chihuahua puppy. Cute little thing!

Once we got home and relaxed for a bit we went for a walk to grab some cat food and almonds. (I had it in my mind that I'd be baking something later, trying out a primal recipe.) After the walk we went down into the basement to work out, and I completed level 1 of each the Primal Blueprint essential movements under "lift heavy things". In addition, hubby spotted me during a few bench presses. I felt really good after all that and can't wait to do it again in a couple days.

While dinner was warming up in the microwave (leftover chicken and vegetables, which was still delicious), I assembled the ingredients of Best Primal Cookies with my chosen variations. The oven was pre-heating to 350F as we started eating dinner, and after a few minutes the cookies went in. 12 minutes later we had these:

Yum! After eating 3 of them I was stuffed. I probably should've waited a little longer after finishing dinner. Whatever. :)

Tonight's Dinner...

2010-09-29T23:46:00.000-04:00

...was OMFG deLICIOUS steak and zucchini on the BBQ. WOW, did my hunny ever do an impeccable job on this meal! YUM!!

Oh so scrumptious...the fat!!! *droooool*

I'm Tired.

2010-09-27T22:07:00.001-04:00

I don't know if it's work stress or the weather, but today I just don't have any energy. Come to think of it, it might have been the crap food we ate on the weekend and for the past week. Birthday cakes, pizza, pumpkin squares (oh GOD were they goooood!). Just plain CRAP.

Last night, however, DH BBQ'd some pork ribs that went VERY well with the apple butter we bought from Downey's Farm Market & Winery (a farm a little North from here).

That provided leftovers for lunch today, and dinner tonight was chicken soup that I made with the chicken dinner leftovers, with some chicken stock and extra veggies added. I simmered this on the stove for about an hour and then we devoured it. There's also enough of this for our lunches tomorrow. Wish we had some corn bread. *drool*

Wait...BAD MOUSE! No bread for you!! lol

Tonight's Dinner...

2010-09-25T21:35:00.001-04:00

...is in the oven. Yeah, it's gonna be a late one tonight!

This afternoon we visited two of the local farmers' stores; one had just about everything but meat, and the other had meat. From the first one we bought some pumpkin squares (kind of like butter tarts but with pumpkin) for a treat, fresh zucchinis, yams, green onions and some apple butter for tomorrow's ribs dinner. From the second store we bought frozen homemade chicken stock, a free-range chicken stuffed with apple and dried fruit, and bacon (BACON!!!). When we got home we each devoured one pumpkin square (we were famished after exploring the two stores) and hubby started working on our bacon and egg lunch. Goddamn, that bacon was awesome. We'll definitely be going back for more - and the best part is that both stores are less than 10km away!

Next up is the chicken for dinner. I put a few small gobs of bacon fat in the roasting pan, chopped up the zucchinis, some green onion, a yam and a few carrots, and added a bit of water for moisture. Over top of the veggies went some seasoning (Italian seasoning, Montreal steak spice, seasoning salt, and some roasted garlic from a jar). Then the chicken went on top, coated with a bit of EVOO and seasoned with the same spices as the veggies. Here's what it looked like before going into the oven:

A couple hours later....YUM!

Unfortunately, because someone at the farm stuffed the chicken, that meant that it also contained traditional bread stuffing. Oh well, we ate the shit out of it anyway. ;)

Ramblings of an Unamused Mouse

It's Saturday...here's what the scale says!

It's about time.

Okay, enough already. Let's move on...

An evening from hell

Where do we go from here?

Today's post is brought to you by the number...

Follow-up to the revelation post

A revelation, indeed!

Boring Sunday post...

Grass-fed bavette of beef...

New progress pics...*goes to hide under a rock*

Mmmm, chicken. And motorcycles. Ooh! And a weight update!

Winning part deux! Lookie what I scored today!!

Winning!

Mom...perhaps she's starting to listen??!

One! One pull-up! Ah ah ah!

Instructions for starting the Primal lifestyle

Pleased as punch!

No shit! (Just discovered this yesterday at the health store...)

Yay, it's over! (Christmas, that is...)

The Morning After

The Good, Bad, and the Ugly

Non-Exercise Types and More Ramblings

Changes...

Hmmm...and mmm!

Dairy

Our Fridge...and gas???

Today's Meal - Chicken Stew with Pumpkin "Pie" for Dessert

2-Ingredient "Cake"...First Attempt

MORE WATER!

Curry Pork Stew

Just for the hell of it...

After Two Weeks on the YeastBusters Program...

Update

I *heart* my crock pot!!

An over-due update

Beef marrow bones

Tasty dindins

Getting back on track

I feel like shit.

Yep

I'm back!

Update: Deodorant / Armpit Rash

Successful Experiment: Eggs in Bacon Baskets

Tonight's Dinner...Pollock Fish Soup

Successful Experiment: Cauliflower Rice

Successful Experiment: First Time Frying in the Cast Iron Pan

Coconut Oil Used For Frying...Ok to Re-Use?

Almond Butter!

Last Night's Dinner: Slow-Cooker Pork Roast with Onions 'n Stuff

*PRIMAL SCREAM*

*Happy Dance*

Last Night's Dinner: Baked Pollock Fish with Steamed Cauliflower and Yam

Tonight's Dinner...Leftover Chicken on Cabbage and Bell Pepper

Tonight's Dinner...Roast Beef on Mashed Cauliflower

Awesome Music: Beck and Bat for Lashes

Roast...messed another one up. :(

Foooooooood.

The "Mother In-Law"

Awesome Music: Sloan

2011 Wish List

2010 was the year...

My Weaknesses: After Eight Chocolates

Christmas 2010

All year long...

Four!

Today's Eats

Today's Eats

What really grinds my gears...

*sigh*

What to do with boneless, skinless chicken breasts

Mmm, Salmon

*drool*

Tomorrow's Dessert

BAS and Fried Bananas!

Oooooops.

Hamburger Soup

Damn.

Tonight's Dinner...

New progress pics...goes to hide under a rock

I heart my crock pot!!

PRIMAL SCREAM

Happy Dance

sigh

drool

UGH