What I Ate Wednesday: Ring in the New Year

Okay, so I know that New Year's was last month, but I'm talking about a different "ring in the new year."

My wedding ring, to be exact. 

It's actually a lot shinier and sparkly than this, but you get the idea.

I think I might have shared this with you before, but I'm going to again.

My husband and I didn't have a big elaborate wedding or even a ceremony in a church. Instead, we eloped. 

Nothing says "classy" like a wedding photo framed by a metal detector.

Three days before the "Big Day" (and yes, it's even a big day when it's just a courthouse wedding), we picked out our rings. I chose the one above because it was the ring that fit in the style I liked. We didn't have time to get it sized before we married.

However, platinum is a soft metal and I've lost stones. I lost one small diamond at work one night. Before we realized it, the baguette-style diamond ended up in the trash because my supervisor thought it was a shard of glass. Thankfully, it was under warranty. On our tenth anniversary, the center stone fell off. By some miracle, we found the diamond in a chair minutes after realizing it was gone. Consequently, I only wear it on special occasions when I won't be working with my hands. 

When I was teaching every day last spring, I started wearing it to school. But, it's heavy and I couldn't wear it working out. One afternoon after work, I went to the Y and didn't have a place to put it. So, I set it in a locker in my shoe. I had my husband take my shoes home for me, completely forgetting my ring was in them. 

And then, it was gone. 

I looked everywhere. I searched under the seats of both of our vehicles. I climbed under our bed, hoping it had fallen off the bedside shelf. I pulled all my shoes out from under my dresser, praying that my ring had been knocked behind it. I even walked the parking lot at the Y, wondering if it had dropped out of my shoes. 

Despite all the searching, I couldn't find it anywhere. I kept praying every day that it would turn up. I had dreams that I had found it, only to wake up on the verge of tears because it was still missing. I finally gave up hope, but prayed anyway. I knew every passing day made the chances of finding it less and less.

We looked for one to replace it, but, of course, they no longer made the style. It would have to be custom made. It just didn't feel right to buy a new one.

Last week, ten months after I lost the ring, I returned home from the store to my husband bragging about how he had saved us money. I teased him that it must be from switching our car insurance. Then, he held out his hand, my ring in his palm.  I cried.

Apparently, it was in the back of the junk drawer. There is no viable explanation as to why it ended up there, in my opinion. God had to have sent some angel to put it there for me. 

It still seems too good to be true. I check to make sure it's in my jewelry box about once a day. 


And now, on to what I ate. 

 

BREAKFAST:

Thin Mint Protein Shake (recipe here)

 

LUNCH:

Lentils cooked in mesquite beef stock 

and stir fry veggies with Frank's Hot Sauce

SNACK:

Two baked chicken strips

SUPPER:

Romaine salad with balsamic vinaigrette, smoked northern beans, 
grape tomatoes, and Daiya cheese

Steamed asparagus

Slow-cooked chicken, mushrooms, and onions cooked with beer

(I also added fresh rosemary to the recipe.)

and a slice of bread I made today with wheat I ground this afternoon.

1. Have you ever lost anything really important to you? How did it turn out?
2. Do you believe in miracles, even in the little ones?

Happy Campers and the "Heirstream"

A month or so ago, we inherited my parents' 1972 Land Yacht Airstream trailer.

After sitting at my brother's house in the country for almost eight years, it needed some love. We spent a few Sunday afternoons vacuuming, wiping down all of the surfaces, and cleaning the carpet and upholstery. With lots of  help from our friend, Michael, my husband was able to get the electrical working. We didn't have a chance to fix the plumbing, but that didn't stop us from taking her out on her "matron" voyage.

The Wednesday before Labor Day, we decided to take the "Heirstream" up to Camp Arrowhead for family camp. As a child, I went to Camp Arrowhead for a week each summer as a camper, riding horses, canoeing, and singing songs around the campfire with other kids. Although our boys are too young for camp kids camp, we thought it would be great for all of us to go together for family camp. We all needed to "unplug" for a while and get away.

Since Camp Arrowhead is a church camp, the grounds were clean and safe. Our two year-old ran around both days until he nearly dropped. Our six year-old played Uno and Frisbee with other kids. He also went on the zipline and rode an ATV around the camp. Before we left, the boys rode horses for the first time. 

I'm not saying that everything went smoothly. We used the nearby bathhouse and carted water from the water pump, which began to get irritating. On the way there, a tire on the Heirstream blew out about 10 miles from the camp. Thankfully, the owner of another RV lent us their spare tire to get to camp.  An electrical problem with one of the power poles (which was likely struck by lightning the night before) caused a power outage for several hours. Temperatures neared 100F that day and the AC couldn't keep up, so it began to leak at about 10:00pm. Overall, it was perfect, however. We had fun and managed to sleep well.    It was odd to come home from a short vacation well-rested instead of exhausted!

Here's the food I've been eating.

 

BREAKFAST:

Egg and kale fritatta

and red beans with Frank's Hot Sauce

and a cup of Bulletproof-like coffee

LUNCH:

Green beans, bean fry bread, and fried eggs

SNACK:

"Nutella" protein shake. 

Oh my you have no idea how yummy this is!

SUPPER:

BLT salad

made with a whole romaine heart,

mayo, turkey bacon, and tomatoes from my garden.

We have been eating a lot of these this summer!

And can we talk about that Bulletproof-like coffee?

It is the best thing. Yes, it really is. 

I'm nearly addicted to the stuff. I don't use the fancy beans or special oil the original recipe calls for, but the taste is still fantastic! I make it with 2 cups of French press brewed coffee, 2-3 Tb. Rumiano salted butter, and 2 Tb. organic virgin coconut oil. It is divine.

Did you do any camping this summer? How was your Labor Day?

Are you a coffee or tea drinker?

What I Ate and the Ugliest Cupcakes You Will Ever See

Sunday was my father's 80th birthday.


I don't ever remember my dad being happy about his birthday. He doesn't like people spending money on him or making a fuss. In years past, I have given him a framed poem I wrote about him (it's about him watching the moon landing on the eve of his birthday) and a handwritten book of 100 reasons why he is a great dad.

My dad and my boys last fall

Another thing I do for my dad on Father's Day, his birthday, and Christmas is to make his favorite food Kroppkakor or palt, as they are known in Sweden. They take HOURS to make!

This year, my mom said she was going to make the Kroppkakor for him. This left me completely out of ideas about what to make for my dad.

This is where the ugliest cupcakes come in.

Kroppkakor are probably one of the world's least appetizing-looking foods. They look like rocks. If you cut one in half, they kind of look like geodes because of the chopped bacon in the center. Did I mention we eat every bite with a little bit of butter?

Instead of making my dad a birthday cake, I made him "Kropp-cakes," cupcakes made to look like Kroppkakor. Here is the result.

 

I made them by wrapping homemade fondant around frosted white cupcakes. 

The result was wonderful! They may not have been pretty, but they tasted like a Little Debbie or Hostess cake. I am so making these again for myself! I may have found my new favorite dessert!

After the feasting on Kroppkakor, pizza (my dad's least favorite food in the world), and these cupcakes, I was ready to go back to healthier fare.

Here is what I ate.

BREAKFAST:

I'm still being a good girl and getting my breakfast at 9:00am every day.

Since I don't think I've been eating enough protein, 

I had a few egg whites and one whole egg

and fresh chopped spinach

with black beans and smoked paprika.

The paprika really gave it a "bacony" taste!

LUNCH:

For lunch, I had green eggs and black beans again.

I also threw in half a bag of Bird's Eye Recipe Starts Grilling Blend.

I've been using a lot of these lately. 

This bag had zucchini, yellow squash, red pepper, and red onion.

I topped it with Frank's Hot Sauce.

SNACK:

At 3:00pm, I had a Green Tea Energy Shake. 

I'm posting the recipe for it next week on the blog.

SUPPER:

Again, I'm trying to get more protein, 

so for supper, I had a four Morningstar sausage links,

mashed northern beans with garlic, butter, and parsley,

a Power Greens salad with Caesar dressing and olives,

and green beans.

Here are a few of the other cakes I've made this year.

My six year-old's birthday cake.

 

My husband paints life size light towers that look like this one I made.

You can see more of my cakes here.
 

1. What is the best gift you ever made for someone?
2. What is the best gift someone made for you?
3. Do you like making cake or just eating it?

WIAW: How I've Been Eating After the Sugar Detox

What I've been eating the past few weeks isn't nearly as interesting as how I've been eating.

I've been doing What I Ate Wednesday off and on for a long time now. Each week, I would force myself to eat normally, how I thought should eat, three meals and a snack at regular intervals. I would pretend this was typical for me, even though it wasn't. 

Sometimes I didn't eat until 4pm. Sometimes I started my day with a bowl of ice cream in the early morning and kept eating refined, fatty starches all day. Other than supper with my family, I rarely ate meals and never at regular intervals. Either I ate everything or nothing at all. I was hungry all the time, fighting the urge to eat.

That all changed about three weeks ago when I detoxed from my sugar addiction. Since then, I eat breakfast, lunch, a snack, and dinner. I don't feel guilty about what I eat. I stay full between meals. I've also lost 5 lbs. without dieting or restricting myself. 


More about my sugar detox in a later post!

Here is what and when I've been eating.

 

 

BREAKFAST 9:00AM

I started mixing things up by having my Green Tea Energy Shake in the morning. 

I was having it in the afternoon for a snack, but I think it was keeping me from sleeping.
Even though I make it with lower caffeine Sencha tea,
it really gets me going without feeling jittery! 

LUNCH 12:00PM
  For lunch, I had my usual breakfast, 
green eggs with two pieces of Ezekiel bread toast.

SNACK 3:00PM
This weekend, I roasted some raw peanuts.
Since they have no maltodextrin, msg, any of the other nasties in roasted peanuts
from the store, they taste so much better!

I had a few handfuls of these for a snack.

SUPPER 6:30PM
One of the blogs I read this week (sorry, I don't remember which),
inspired me to add canned artichokes to our salad we always eat for supper.
I topped it with black olives and Caesar dressing.
We also had vegan cheesy potatoes
made with a bag of O'Brien potatoes and Follow Your Heart vegan cheddar.
And we ate steamed peas.
I finished the meal off with some dates!

Have you ever had a problem eating "properly"?

Are you a sugar addict like me?

Have you ever been inspired by another blogger's post? What was it?

In case you missed it, check out my post 5 fruits in Season in June and July

including how to choose the best fruits and how to store them.

What We Ate Over the Holiday Weekend

As far as most Nebraskans go, we're the odd ones.

Despite my husband and I each being raised by ranchers' daughters, we have evolved into mostly vegetarians. Some days, we are even vegans! The carnivorous cravings that are in our DNA sometimes come out of hibernation, however. About once a month, we go out for ribeye steaks. Every three or four weeks, I sneak out for fast food chicken strips. Otherwise, we usually don't even bring meat into the house.

My husband (MK) and our 6 year-old, "Peanut."

However, this all changes during spring and summer holidays. We could be some of those awesome vegetarians or vegans who grill vegetables or bean burgers, but we're not; we chow down on steaks, hamburgers, hot dogs, and ribs. And we enjoy every bite!

Peanut, our almost 2 year-old "Happy," and Felicia (our adoptive daughter, mid-bite!).

This holiday weekend, we did a pretty good job of spreading out the festivities instead of gorging ourselves in one or two meals. Each day, we had at least one cookout. On Independence Day, we grilled Spiral Cut Hot Dogs for lunch, then joined an evening Independence Day party with the family of my friends, Karen and Mary. We feasted with my in-laws on my husband's birthday, the fifth of July. My mom even made us burgundy marinated New York strip steaks to throw on our grill!

Kurt (MK's brother) and MK

Remarkably, I managed to lose three pounds over the past five days! I think it is because I watched my calorie intake during the non-cookout meals and ate plenty of veggies and fruits. We also ate a salad with supper every night, just like we have when we aren't feasting.

My mother-in-law, Marylene and my boys.

By Sunday night, we were both sick of eating meat. It is really hard for us to understand how people can eat it three times a day.  I'm sure we will be ready to devour some beef by the time that Labor Day gets here, but I think for now we will be sticking to the veggies, fruits, grains, legumes, and a little dairy!

Now, what did I eat after all of the feasting was over? All kinds of yummy stuff!

BREAKFAST
9:00AM

I started my day with my usual, egg whites, spinach, and Ezekiel bread or tortilla.
This time, I made "green eggs" by running three egg whites in my Vitamix
with a handful of fresh spinach and making it into an omelet.
I folded it up and ate it between two buttered pieces of Ezekiel toast.

LUNCH
12:00PM
I wasn't very creative for lunch, either, going with one of my favorites:
an Ezekiel tortilla with Italian seasoned tomato paste,
a smear of whipped cream cheese
and a handful of fresh spinach.

SNACK
3:00PM
I ate the last piece of my husband's Dairy Queen ice cream cake.
He was upset to learn that I had eaten the rest of it.
(He only had one piece on his birthday.)
But really?
It was there for FOUR DAYS and he didn't have any.
I feel like I had great self-control only eating a piece a day.
(It's upside down because I always eat the chocolate ice cream first.)
I also drank a cup of kombucha tea.
(Click here if you want to see my son drinking a glass of it!)

SUPPER
6:30PM
We always start dinner with a leafy green salad topped with vinaigrette dressing,
but I didn't take a picture of it!
Our main entree was multi-grain pasta
mixed with sauteed onion, red pepper, celery, and shredded cabbage
and topped with a little bit of Parmesan cheese.

(When I keep this eating schedule and make sure I get plenty of fiber and protein,
 I don't overeat or eat between meals/snacks.)

I hope you had a great holiday!

A candid with me and my boys

Check out how I spiraled those hot dogs with this how-to post!

How was your holiday?

Do you eat on a schedule or whenever you feel hungry?

What I Ate Wednesday and Where I've Been...

Hello!

It's been a long time since I blogged on here. I've been busy with stuff and things.

Since I really wrote a post:

1. I subbed full-time for six weeks as the high school English teacher at my old high school.

2. My five year-old turned six and graduated kindergarten!

3. My baby is almost two years-old! I can't even begin to tell you how much HE has changed!

4. My husband started working days.

5. I started writing fan fiction.

I thought that a good WIAW post would be a great place to start blogging again.

Here is is.

 A great day of yummies!

BREAKFAST:

Egg whites scrambled with sauteed onion and fresh spinach

topped with a sprinkle of Daiya cheese in an Ezekiel tortilla.

LUNCH:

(Leftover from last night.)

Whole wheat thin spaghetti

mixed with a bag of Birds Eye Tuscan Veggies 

with tomato sauce, garbanzo beans, and 

sauteed fresh basil and garlic from my garden

and a chopped zucchini from the farmers' market.

SNACKS:

Green tea powder slushie

A Wasa cracker and a nectarine

SUPPER:

Black bean enchilada in Alvarado Street sprouted tortilla

with chopped romaine lettuce, tomato from the farmers' market,

and Elle's Easy Guacamole.

My husband came home from the store with picante sauce, romaine lettuce, and E.L. FUDGE COOKIES.

They were not on the list!

Don't let these smiling guys fool you; they are loaded with fat and sugar.

I had four of them. 

Honestly, I have been horrible at eating breakfast for years now. I hate to do it. I feel like if I eat breakfast, then I'm hungry all day. 

In an effort to really get this eating thing right, I have started eating breakfast at 9:00am every day. I try to get enough protein and fiber so that I feel full until lunch. I've found that the 9:00am, 12:00pm, 3:00pm, and 6:30pm schedule keeps me full all day. 

How have YOU been since I regularly blogged back in November??

WIAW: Game Day!

I've read other food blogger posts with glee over the past few weeks. Like me, they get excited about college football season.

Yes, we are football fans, but more importantly we are a family. The weekly football game turns an average Saturday evening into a holiday, a scheduled gathering with my parents.  We laugh, we joke, we tease, and we eat.

My boys watching the game at Grandpa and Grandma's last year.

 

Here is what I ate:

Breakfast: Hurry-hurry-hurry before church. I just grabbed a FiberOne bar. I think most granola bars are candy bars. At least this one has fewer calories and fiber in it.

Lunch: Easy Vegan Caprese Salad that I tossed up for us, followed by cream of potato soup made by Mom and fruit salad for dessert (suggested by my 5 year old).

Supper: Leftovers from lunch!

Do you watch football?  Who do you watch it with?


Come back on Friday for Vegetarian Potluck Link Up!

 

 

WIAW: Hospitals in General

I am one of those strange people who like hospitals.

I'm not a nurse. I'm not a doctor. I'm not any of the various additional specialists, aides, or staff in a hosptial.

But I feel at home there.

When I was young, my grandmother was in the hospital a lot.  She had heart bypass surgery.  She had a stroke with months of rehab.  It seemed like she was always in and out of the hospital for one reason or another.

My aunt was also in the hospital quite a bit when I was growing up, too.  My mom had minor surgery. I was hospitalized with systemic E. coli for a week. My dad went through cancer treatment.  I birthed both of my sons in hospitals.

Hospitals have always been a second home.

A strange thing happens to people in hospitals: they are at their most real.

Some are there for joyous reasons, like to meet a newborn baby and mother. Others come to see a loved one recovering from surgery.  Family members gather in ICUs, hoping and praying someone gravely injured will pull through. 

In waiting rooms I have seen people at their best, offering up to each other a place to stay, a car to drive, a prayer of hope and healing for someone they have never met.

I'm late posting today since I have spent a lot of time this past week visiting my dad in the hospital.  Thanks be to God that he went from the ICU to home in five days and is recovering well.

I'm also grateful to be comfortable in hospitals, in general.

Here is what I ate:

Breakfast: I tried to make my usual a little more unusual by eating half FlaxPlus Multigrain cereal and half FlaxPlus Pumpkin Granola with unsweetened almond milk.

Lunch: I ate an Ezekiel wrap with seasoned tomato paste, Tofutti vegan "cream cheese," and fresh spinach.

Snack: Sliced Golden Delicious apples and Biscoff cookie butter.  Cookie butter! AAH! I ate an entire jar in three days!

Supper: I made Spicy Black Bean Quinoa and ate it with romaine lettuce.

Are you comfortable in hospitals like me or do they make you nervous?


Come back on Friday for Vegetarian Potluck Link Up!

 

 

WIAW: Breaking the Fast

Most of the time I'm vegan.

I eat high fiber organic cereal and for breakfast almost all of the time. Usually for lunch, I have a wrap with an Ezekiel tortilla, vegan cheese, homegrown alfalfa sprouts, and romaine or spinach.

I keep my snacks healthy, too. I like to have a soy protein shake with unsweetened almond milk and a piece of fruit.

Nearly every supper begins with a salad and dairy-free dressing.  Sometimes the entree is a vegetarian meat-substitute, other times it is something with beans. Whole wheat grains can also be the entree, while there is always a fresh or frozen vegetable for a side.

Dessert is simple.  Three small pieces of dark chocolate.

Holidays are different.  I thoroughly relish eating unhealthy food.  I feel it after I'm done eating and definitely the next day; I am often bloated, sometimes a little nauseated and ready to go back to healthy, whole, vegan eating.

Labor Day was one of those holidays when I broke my fast from simple starches, dairy, and meat.  And I enjoyed it.

The beginning of college football season meant snack foods at my mom and dad's on Saturday afternoon. I ate tortilla chips and cheese dip with enthusiasm.  Mom also made cornbread to go with a big pot of beans.  I finished the day off with some cookies and cream ice cream.  Nom. Nom. Nom.

I also skipped the norm on the Sunday before Labor Day (the day I'm using for my WIAW).

Here is what I ate.

For breakfast, I ate two pieces of cornbread and unsweetened almond milk. I never make cornbread, but this is possibly my favorite breakfast of all time.

At lunchtime, I reheated bruschetta pasta made with tomatoes from my garden and Follow Your Heart vegan mozzarella.  I'm going to try to get the recipe written up for Friday Vegetarian Potluck Link Up.

As a snack, I ate a nectarine.  These are so good that I'm eating at least one a day, sometimes two.

Supper was spectacular and totally unhealthy.  I made a BLT salad with tomatoes from my garden, bits of pan-fried turkey bacon, romaine lettuce, olive oil mayo, and croutons.  Then, we ate oven baked seasoned potatoes, peas, and ribeye steak that had been marinating in mesquite seasoning for three days.  My husband grilled mine up to medium-rare perfection. It was all amazing! 

Do you ever allow yourself "cheat days" where you indulge in unhealthy food once in a while?

Come back on Friday for Vegetarian Potluck Link Up!

 

 

WIAW: Let Us Eat Cake!

As you may have read in my last post, we now have a young woman living with us, trying to get on her feet.

We are very glad to have her with us.  She helps me make dinner or cleans up after we eat.  My sons love her and she gives them lots of attention.  She is thoughtful and keeps her things gathered up.

She also already landed two jobs the first day after she moved here!

Sunday, the day I use for my WIAW pictures, was her 21st birthday.  I had fun making her a cake while she was at work.  It wasn't my best cake, but I was pleased with how it turned out.

Felicia on her birthday

It was actually the second cake I made over the weekend.  Friday was my five year-old's "half-birthday," so I made him half of a chocolate cake.  I used one 9" round, cut in half, and stacked it on the other half.  (I only iced between the layer and on the outside round part of the cake, so it looked like a whole cake had been cut in half.)

Since I knew I was eating cake after supper, I didn't eat much during the day. 

 

Breakfast:

Nature's Path Flax Plus Cereal

with dried cranberries,

unsweetened almond milk,

and a little Sevita.

 

Lunch:

Ezekiel Bread toast

with homemade peach preserves

and a slice of Follow Your Heart

vegan mozzarella cheese.

 

Supper:

Romaine lettuce salad

with croutons

and sliced tomato from my garden.

3 pieces of Archer Farms pizza with eggplant

(I was too excited for cake and forgot a picture!)

 

Dessert:

A big piece of birthday cake!

 

Even though I had that big piece of cake, I still planned the rest of my meals ahead of time and was able to keep my calories below 1500 for the day.

 

If you would like to see some of my other cakes, click here.

 

Be sure to come back for Friday Vegetarian Potluck Link-up

and see what everyone is bringing! 

I will bring my recipe for Easy-Cheesy Julienne Potatoes. 

They are gluten-free and dairy-free!

 

 

Also, check out the rest of What I Ate Wednesday at Peas and Crayons.