Green Pasta

Well it happened as predicted.  I fell off the wagon.  Not fully with intention-but because I did not use intention when making my choices!
I did my best to eat right this week-but yes, some no-no foods came.  On the up-side over Thursday and Friday I was so busy with a wedding that I hardly ate and I finally was able to see the scale register a new weight bracket!  Exciting to say the least.  Even though I know it will flex up again-just seeing it gave me hope!
But this is a new week-with new grace for me! So today I started the day with some home-made pancakes (as opposed to the box mix w h2o option). This evening I found myself craving a pasta my dear friend Bethany over at http://be-and-co.blogspot.com/ ...she made it for me this summer and I learned that I DO like peas!  I'd never had them outside of their nasty canned puky state ha. So today I went to grab some veggies for a similar pasta and found I had nothing I liked together except GREEN veggies!  So I decided to skip a homemade tomato sauce and simple cooked up some whole wheat pasta and topped it with the following: snow peas, frozen peas, avocado, broccoli, green onions, onions and then I did add some chip dip I'd made a while back that needed to be used since I didn't have any chips on hand...it was the simple black bean/salsa dip...
DELISH! I'm actually still finishing as I type!
Here's a pic of the veggies cooking up (I added the avo at the end...)

What sort of dishes do you make-up when you find your running low on foods?

November=Pumpkins

Many people consider October to be pumpkin month...I guess I do too-on my front porch.  But come November it's time to hack those puppies up and make some food!
This weekend I took some time to finalize my youngest son-Truman's 1st birthday menu.  I knew I had to add something pumpkin for my lil punkin ;)  Now you're probably thinking I decided to make a soup-I thought so too...until I found a sweet pumpkin smoothie!  I will be serving these in tiny baby food jars as 'shots'. Yeah I'm serving shots at a baby party-so what?!
But along my search for a great pumpkin addition I found this amazing pumpkin meal! I had hoped to make this tonight but at the store I forgot what cheese it required-so I am putting it off for another day.  I love that I am 'allowed' everything on the ingredients list-and anytime something says cheese-well, I'm there! I found this recipe via one of my new fav foodie blogs, Honest Fare, which actually holds 2 of the recipes I will be make for Tru's party.  I'll be sure to reveal his menu after his party so you can see it in all it's goodness!
If you make this-let me know how you love it?!  As always, you're welcome to join me in the 100 Days Real Food Challange I'm partaking in!  It's not really meant for weight loss-but I anticipate it prepping my body to not crave the junk so much when I do finally go for even healthier and better sized portions to aide alongside my workouts.

Recipe

Measurements/cook times are based on a 3lb baking pumpkin.
Cook/prep time: about 1 hour.

You need:

• Olive oil
• ½ teaspoon cinnamon
• ½ teaspoon paprika
• ¼ teaspoon ground clove
• ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1 Tablespoon agave maple syrup

• 1 baking pumpkin
• Fontina cheese (slices or shredded)
• 1 clove garlic
• ¼ cup chopped sage
• 1 Tablespoon chopped oregano
• 1 Tablespoon chopped rosemary
• 2 Tablespoons chopped scallions
• 1½ cup cubed stale baguette

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350°
2. Cut an opening at the top of pumpkin at a 45° angle. Scoop out seeds & stringy guts and scrape inside of the pumpkin clean. Do your best to untangle and separate meat from the seeds. Set meat aside for use.
3. Pumpkin seasoning: Must be pretty potent to flavor pumpkin meat enough. Combine cinnamon, paprika, clove, nutmeg, salt, cayenne pepper, sweetener and 2 tablespoons of olive oil and 1 tablespoon of water. Mix well. Puncture inside of pumpkin in several places with a fork and then slather inside of pumpkin with the seasoning. Put top on pumpkin and place in oven on baking sheet for about 15 minutes.
4. The filling: Cut up about ½ a stale baguette into roughly ½ inch squares. Dice herbs and garlic. Chop pumpkin meat to untangle. Sauté pumpkin and garlic on medium heat in olive oil heat for a minute. Add bread and herbs. Toss all together and immediately add ¼ cup water to pan. Sprinkle salt and little black pepper to taste. Remove from heat when everything is evenly on bread and seasoned to your liking.
5. Stuffing it: Remove partially cooked pumpkin from oven. Fill pumpkin with about 4 layers of bread filling separated by cheese. Compact the bread down so everything fits nice and snug.
Place top back on pumpkin and put back in oven (you may have to remove the top rack or trim off a portion of the stem to make room). Bake for about 35-45 minutes or until pumpkin meat is soft (just remove top to test doneness of pumpkin meat). Bake last 5 minutes with top off to brown the cheese!

Foodie Journal!

I am attempting to keep myself accountable by daily posting my foods I consume each day!
If you'd like to check it out there's a little linky in my sidebar that says FOODIE JOURNAL!
If you ever have questions of how I made something or perhaps you wonder how it did or didn't qualify with the Rules , please feel free to comment and ask!  Oh and if you ate something that day that you would like to share with me-please do!  Except if it's something mean like Pepsi and chips haha. For real.
I may or may not add my fitness to the list-seeing as it has been little to none the past few months...we will see ;)

RULES:Always had issues...

So let's be real-if you were to ask my parents; they would inform you that I have ALWAYS had trouble with following the RULES in life.  I pushed them as far as I could.  I like to think that I've tamed myself over time...but I know I still struggle with it comes to foods.
I eat when I'm happy
I eat when I'm mad
I eat when I'm lonely
I eat when I'm bored
I eat when I'm hungry
I eat when I'm celebrating
I EAT!
Even when I know something isn't good for me-I often find myself allowing 'just a few bites'. 
Chips-they are something that used to enter my home maybe 4 times a year.  Why? Because I can eat an entire bag...in one sitting.  Yes. It's both true and gross.
Lately I've been zapping a black bean and hand-cut salsa in my baby's food blender, lol, adding some cilantro and garlic to season...so I've allowed some blue corn and some wholegrain tortilla chips in.  I actually hope to soon try making my own tortilla chips out of homemade whole-wheat tortillas since the chips no longer count for my 5 ingredients or less RULE.
Oh-you didn't know about that rule?  Probably because you didn't go over to the RULES section and check 'em out, right? ;) Well let me make it easy on you-Here are the RULES I'm trying to abide by!
* I am attempting to follow the main rules-not the 10 day alternatives-even though I am setting my goals for 10 days at a time.*

Comment your thoughts-I'd love to have you join in with me!!

What you CAN eat:

1. Whole foods that are more a product of nature than a product of industry
2. Lots of fruits and vegetables (we recommend that you shop for these at your local farmers’ market)
3. Dairy products like milk, unsweetened yogurt, eggs, and cheese
4. 100% whole-wheat and whole-grains (find a local bakery for approved sandwich bread and check the Understanding Grains post for more info)
5. Seafood (wild caught is the more optimal choice over farm-raised)
6. Snacks like dried fruit, seeds, nuts and popcorn
7. All natural sweeteners including honey, 100% maple syrup, and fruit juice concentrates are acceptable in moderation
8. Also check out the Meal Ideas page for a more detailed list of meal options including links to recipes

What you CANNOT eat:

1. No refined grains such as white flour or white rice (items containing wheat must say WHOLE wheat…not just “wheat”)
2. No refined sweeteners such as sugar, any form of corn syrup, cane juice, or the artificial stuff like Splenda
3. Nothing out of a box, can, bag, bottle or package that has more than 5 ingredients listed on the label
4. No deep fried foods
5. No “fast foods”
6. Only locally raised meats such as pork, beef, and chicken
7. Beverages will be limited to water, milk, all natural juices, naturally sweetened coffee & tea, and, to help the adults keep their sanity, wine and beer!

Please leave a reply below if you have any questions about what is okay to eat during your pledge.

10-Day Pledge Alternatives

If you feel that you have the will, but not the skill to do the 10 Days of Real Food pledge then here are some general lifestyle changes to consider instead…

1. Read the ingredients label before buying anything. For years, if I even looked at food labels, I was reviewing items such as fat grams, calorie count and sugar content. While this may be important to some, the best indicator of how highly processed a food is can actually be found in the list of ingredients. If what you are buying contains more than 5 ingredients and includes a lot of unfamiliar, unpronounceable items you may want to reconsider before buying.
2. Increase your consumption of whole foods especially vegetables and fruits. I am sure you’ve heard similar advice a thousand times, and I hate to tell you that it couldn’t be more true. This will help to displace the processed foods in your diet, and will actually make your food selections in general very simple. No more counting calories, fat grams, or carbs when your only concern is selecting whole foods that are more a product of nature than a product of industry.
3. Buy your bread from a local bakery. I actually used to eat white bread, but what I bought for my husband from the grocery store was what I thought was whole-wheat bread. When we finally checked the ingredients and found 40 different items on the list, including white flour and sugar, we decided it was time for a change. Why would there be so many on the list if it only takes a handful of ingredients to make bread? We since started buying our bread from Great Harvest Bread Company. Not only do they grind their own wheat every morning, but their honey whole-wheat loaf only has five ingredients – whole-wheat flour, water, yeast, salt and honey.
4. In addition to your bread choice, when selecting foods like pastas, cereals, rice, and crackers always go for the whole-grain option. And don’t just believe the health claims on the outside of the box.  Read the ingredients to make sure the product is truly made with only 100% whole grains – not a combination of whole grains and refined grains which is unfortunately how a lot of “whole grain” products are made. The white flour or other refined grain alternative is simply high in calories and low in nutrition.
5. Avoid store-bought products containing high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) and those “that have some form of sugar (or sweetener) listed among the top three ingredients” according to Michael Pollan. Despite the mixed research on if HFCS is really worse for you than good ol’ white sugar, it just happens to be “a reliable marker for a food product that has been highly processed”.
6. Don’t order off the kids’ menu. The next time your family is out to dinner try to avoid the kids menu. Those selections are most often things like pre-made chicken nuggets, fries, and pasta made with white flour, among other things. Instead try assembling some sort of side item plate (like baked potatoes and whatever else your kid will tolerate) and/or try sharing some of your meal.
7. Visit your local farmers’ market the next time you need to restock your fridge. According to Michael Pollan not only will you find “food that is in season, which is usually when it is most nutritious”, but you will also find a selection of pesticide-free produce and properly fed meat products. It is also better for our environment to purchase locally grown products as opposed to the supermarket produce, which travels on average 1500 miles from the farm to your plate.
8. Lastly, to once again quote Michael Pollan, he says to “eat all the junk food you want as long as you cook it yourself.” If you had to peel, chop and deep fry potatoes every time you wanted French fries then you might not eat them very often. Only eating “junk food” such as cakes, sweets, and fried foods as often as you are willing to make them yourself will automatically ensure the frequency is appropriate.

Rules originally posted by 100 Days Of Real Food Blog

Here we go!!!

A few days ago I started the 100 Day Food Challange!  I am working 10 days at a time...so while I may not make it to 100 days-I am proud to even accomplish 10 days!
When my friend Sarah-author of Feed Me Like You Love Me asked myself and some of our friends if we'd like to join her in this venture...I was excited but scared! Me, give up Pepsi?  I used to cook a lot more-but with my hubby at work until 8, the baby not eatting a ton of table foods and our oldest son being on the Ketogenic Diet to control his seizures...the idea of cooking a full on meal seemed pointless...and I was already in this rut from my hubby being gone 6 months this year.  So while cooking is a passionate love of mine-I had all but stopped doing it more than once a week!
I found myself eatting out a lot, throwing together 'meals' that really didn't consist of cooking or of whole foods. And trust me-my body is showing it!  My efforts to loose baby weight had come to a halt-resulting in a stagnant scale read for 5 months now.  Not good-not at all!  Especially when I have 30 more lbs to loose.
I don't anticipate this challange to really help me loose weight-but it will prepare me mentally for moving away from so many of the packaged foods that had found their way into my house over the last 12 months!
I'm excited to learn more about ways to prepare foods I don't use enough, or things I would often buy from a can for convience sake.  I've already begun to cultivate a love affair with beets, cilantro and beans. (I've always loved beans-but finding new ways to add them is exciting.)
I would love for you to join me in this!  Even if it is 10 days at a time like I'm doing!  You can join a great support/resource forum HERE . I'm excited to clear my body of crazy man-made 'ingredients' I can't even pronounce! ;) Hope you are too!