Andrew....The Tiny Gourmet

This week's Meatless Monday consisted of Spinach Artichoke Pasta Bake. I felt the meal could have used something else. I kind of had the feeling I was missing something and just eating a side dish. It WAS good though. Both kids ate it like it was going out of style. Of course, give them something with a noodle and they usually do. My husband liked it as well. I've just got to figure out how to make it feel like a more cohesive meal. This would make me happier.

This dish was loaded with veggies though. And veggies that kids usually wrinkle their little noses at! I bumped up the nutritional value of the dish by replacing the plain pasta the recipe originally called for with a whole grain "garden" variety. So it was made with whole grains PLUS the little bit of vegetable juice that they use to make the pasta all the pretty colors.

Yesterday (Tuesday) I was scrambling for something to cook for supper. What I ended up with was "cheesy rice and sausage". Certainly not good for you, but pretty tasty! My six year old, Andrew, who LOVED spinach artichoke pasta bake did NOT love cheesy rice. Every kid's dream: rice and tons of cheese. No go for Andrew. I'm turning my kids into health food lovers. And I'm okay with that. Now if only I could follow suit.

Another One for the Box!

This week I did not exercise any more, but I DID find an awesome recipe that everyone loves! You win some, you lose some...

So, I found this recipe on Ready, Set, Eat! It's called Spinach Walnut Penne, and it was a hit! First, let me tell you a little about Ready, Set, Eat. This is a meal planning website which will allow you to search recipes based on a main ingredient (or meatless), how much time you have, and even what's on sale in your local grocery store. I signed up for a weekly email that I kind of forgot all about.

Monday morning, as I was weeding through the enormous amounts of email that seem to come to my inbox in the middle of the night, I was going "WHAT AM I GOING TO COOK TONIGHT?!?!" (I totally just typed that while holding down the shift key...who needs caps lock?) There it was, email number 6,752....Ready, Set, Eat "4 Delicious Vegetarian dinners" I heard "Hallelujah Chorus". I read the email and decided that Spinach Walnut Penne sounded super tasty. I was really excited about it actually.

I had everything in the house except for spinach and walnuts....off to the store it is. This meal took all of maybe 30 minutes to prepare. That made me happy. It tasted great. That made me AND everyone else happy. The only critique we had was that my husband didn't care for the crunchiness of the walnuts mixed in with everything else. Maybe if I had followed instructions and chopped the walnuts it wouldn't have been so noticeable. Oops. Maybe next time, because there will be a next time for this dish. Soon.

My (Almost) Vegetarian Day

Monday, I tried to come up with something meat free for me to eat for every meal. I'm borrowing my mom's juicer so I can try it out and decide if it's something I will buy for myself. So far, I love it. Monday morning I made myself fresh carrot/apple juice. It was so good and I didn't add anything to it! The glass of juice itself was enough to fill me up so I didn't have anything else for breakfast. The children do not like carrot/apple juice. We don't usually buy juice so it's always a treat for them to have, but they would not take more than one sip of this juice. I'm eager to try just plain apple juice and see if they like it any better.

For lunch I made myself one of my new favorite things: a Greek yogurt smoothie. I love these! It's very simple. I put a banana, a six oz. container of flavored Greek yogurt, a few berries (if I have them) and enough vanilla almond milk to reach the 16 oz. mark on the blender pitcher (I know, my precise measurement thrills you). I blend it all up and yum!

For dinner (Meatless Monday mind you) I decided to do a baked potato bar. My husband said he would love to have the potato bar again on a day he's carb loading before a long run. He loves baked potatoes, and so does my oldest. They were very happy to see potatoes. I baked giant russet baking potatoes, and giant sweet potatoes. It's actually very simple to do. Move the oven racks to the top and bottom thirds of the oven. Put aluminum foil on the bottom rack. Preheat the oven to 375° Scrub the potatoes, poke about 8 - 12 deep holes with a fork, coat them lightly with oil, sprinkle with salt. Bake the potatoes on the top rack for at least an hour. Mine took an hour and half because I was cooking so many. Check for doneness by poking them with a fork. We had butter, sour cream, green onions, cheese and.....bacon. There's the 'almost' in my vegetarian day. I put crumbled bacon on my baked potato.

This day was one of my better food days in a long time. I had tons of fruits and veggies and natural sources of all sorts of vitamins and minerals. I felt so good too. Not bloated and "ugh I ate too much, but it's meal time so I'm going to eat again..." When it got close to meal time, my stomach growled, and so I ate enough to be satisfied. The only time my stomach ever growls is halfway through church on Sunday because I never eat anything Sunday morning then I over eat at lunch to make up for the not eating. If I could have more days like Monday I'd be a happy camper. Oh, and I walked on the treadmill for a mile. I had to stop after a mile because my left knee was not happy...it hasn't been happy for a while now...but I actually exercised. Tuesday and Wednesday haven't been nearly as healthy, but not bad either. Am I starting to turn it around? Maybe. As much as I hate to think of it, I should probably step on a scale sometime soon....

Momma hides spinach....and they don't care!

This week we had a pretty good Meatless Monday. I made a recipe that I pulled out of a magazine ages ago. Spinach Mac and Cheese. I was a little nervous since the spinach is very visible. Will my kids eat it? And the answer is....YES! And they didn't even ask me, "what's this green stuff?" They just heard the words "mac and cheese". They were committed. Dad and I thought the recipe lacked something. Maybe it would be better with my usual cheese sauce. So I modified the recipe I posted in Spinach Mac and Cheese to reflect changes I would make next time. I'd love to hear your opinions about this recipe!

I haven't made very good choices this week. I don't feel well, and it shows in my eating. I just want to curl up and eat ice cream because my throat hurts and my ears hurt...Actually, I had ice cream for breakfast this morning. Sigh. Will I ever break loose of these bad habits?  Well I can try one day at a time, one meal at a time. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have laundry to do...

Minestrone....Round 2!

Tonight we had minestrone. I thought it would be a perfect night for soup since our crazy Louisiana weather can't make up its mind what it wants to be! Today it decided to be winter. Great soup weather! My kids gobbled up my version of veggie soup. The hubby loves it too! He was so excited to walk through the door and find a pot of soup simmering on the stove. I also made homemade yeast rolls because, well, I love bread! It is my weakness.

Now, in addition to Meatless Monday last week, I had a Meatless Wednesday! TWO days last week with not a meat in sight! I made myself a smoothie for lunch that consisted of almond milk, Greek yogurt, and banana. It was delicious! And of course, I had leftover butternut squash sauce and pasta for supper. That day I REALLY wanted french fries, but I made healthy choices instead. Still craving those french fries though....

I'm Baaaaack!

Well, after a long, hard fall and holiday season, it seems my world is mostly back to normal. As normal as life can be that is. So we're back to Meatless Monday here! I'm so thrilled to be back on a healthier track of eating! Tonight we had my favorite pasta and butternut squash sauce. You can find that recipe in the recipe tab. Of course, my children don't like butternut squash sauce. Silly children. So I made for them my "Veggie Skettie Sauce" (recipe also posted!) This made everyone happy. Between salad, pasta and garlic toast we had some full bellies!

I realized how long we had been without making an effort at nutritious eating when my husband was so excited about salad he licked the salad bowl clean. Now, don't get me wrong, we didn't revert back to burgers and fries every night, but my conscious efforts to cram veggies into every space available had disappeared. It seems though, that we have been eating well long enough that it's a habit, however. Our food choices were pretty good these past few months. My kids ask for yogurt and carrots as snacks...without prompting! I'm excited to see though how fanatical we can get about healthy eating from here!

We've signed up for the spring crop share season at a local organic farm. Who knows what kinds of crazy things we'll get to try! And I really, really want a juicer. My mom has one, and I got a taste for juicing at her house...I want one!

I went shopping for clothes recently and bought things in sizes I never thought I'd see again. I haven't weighed myself in months, but I'm down two pant sizes. Shocking! I'm still avoiding the scale though. I hate it. Maybe because it tells me my body fat percentage...or maybe just because it tells me all sorts of info about my health that I know is bad. So I'll avoid the scale some more, and continue to make smart choices. Oh, and that hip pain I was complaining about months ago? Practically gone. I can't wait until it's just a memory.

I'm plodding along here and hoping that I can find time to exercise soon. You know, besides all that housework....

Roller Coasters and Leftovers

So, I have had one emotional month! For those of you who have not read previous posts, I'm an emotional eater. It's not a good thing when I have stress. I usually gain weight. This time was not the case. Maybe because it's a different kind of stress all together. I mean, over the course of my life, I've had stress. But it's been the "how am I going to pay that bill?" or "what can I do to fix this" variety. This month, I had the kind of stress I've never known in my practically perfect existence. The kind of stress that turns your world upside down. You see, I lost a parent. He fought hard the battle against cancer, but he did not win.

I know that he accomplished what he set out to do in this life, and he did it well. God called him home. I believe that with every fiber of my being. At the same time, I can't help but wonder how much of this terrible illness was brought on by his diet. It wasn't just any cancer. It was colon cancer. My dad, the lover of all things yummy, had a long life of Creole food. Lots of fat, meat and rice. Very little else. He liked vegetables, but would turn them away because then he could eat more rice and gravy. He also had a bad soda habit for years. There's got to be a connection with the way we treat our bodies through our diet. How else do you explain a man who had (quoting the MD here) "absolutely NO risk factors for cancer" getting cancer? It's one of the reasons I'm on a crusade to get my family on a healthier diet. Maybe if we treat our bodies better they won't be so quick to rebel against us!

After nearly a month of no Meatless Monday (I was staying with my mom and eating everything in sight probably out of rebellion) I got home and thought "I just don't have the energy to come up with something new and fun and tasty". Then I remembered. Leftovers. I made a ton of butternut squash sauce last month and froze the leftovers! Yay! Of course the children don't like butternut squash sauce. I still haven't figured out why. So they got peanut butter and honey sandwiches. Probably their favorite meal. They were happy. I was happy, and I didn't have to take time away from much needed housework. Hopefully I'll be back in full health food mode soon.

On a side note, my oldest made me proud at a church fellowship. He went to get a cupcake for himself and his sister. The lady tried to give him two. He said that the cupcakes were big and he and his sister could share. He said "too much sugar isn't good for you and that's a big cupcake so my sister and I can share." I was so impressed when the food server came and found me to tell me of his wise choice! It's what I've been striving to teach them!

Keep on the lookout for new recipes posted on my recipe page. I'll post some as soon as I can catch up on all this housework! Hmm. I may never get there....