Saturday, September 27, 2014

Breakfast for Dinner!! Paleo Pancakes!

This is one of my favorite Paleo recipes! Tonight I had breakfast for dinner! I took 2 eggs, 1\2 banana, and a small amount of shredded coconut and mixed them together! Heated up a skillet and put in about a tablespoon of coconut oil. I then poured in the mixture! Cooked it on one side then flipped pancake and let other side cook! You can make one big pancake or 2 small ones! You can a!so top with fruit or maple syrup if have the extra calories! So good!

Paleo Pumpkin Coffee Cake

This morning I tried my first recipe using coconut flour and almond flour! I got the recipe from PaleOMG http://paleomg.com/pumpkin-coffee-cake-lake-powell-trip-3/ it was very easy to make and I think it turned out really good for my first attempt!

Thursday, September 4, 2014

I'm Back! Day 177! September 5, 2014

Finally.........I am back! I haven't posted anything new in 107 days! :( I would love to say that I have not had any processed foods in the passed 107 days, but over all I think I have done pretty well! The downside for me was that I had started adding in allot of carbohydrates and was not doing as well with portion control as I should have- therefore I started gaining weight! So even though this journey was suppose to be about a lifestyle change and not my weight*** as we women know, no one wants to have excess pounds and it is not healthy either! So after some research, I have decided to go with a UN-Processed Paleo eating plan. For special occasions I will stick with some of my favorite UN-Processed recipes but for day in and day out I will be using Paleo recipes!

One exciting thing that happened over the past 107 was My Sister and I purchased 1/4 of a beefalo from Hawks Farms in Chesnee, SC! http://www.hawkfarms.com/

Here are the nutritional facts for Beefalo: http://www.hawkfarms.com/nutritional-facts/


Wednesday, May 21, 2014

Day 70! Happy Cow Creamery! Pelzer, South Carolina


Day 70! Happy Cow Creamery! Pelzer, South Carolina

http://www.happycowcreamery.com/about-us/




I am ashamed to say that I have driven by a big sign for Happy Cow Creamery almost every other Saturday for years! :( I have heard about Happy Cow over the years but just never took the time to stop and check it out! In my search for healthier food my sister reminded me about Happy Cow and how close I live to the farm(about 15 minutes)! She sent me a link to their website and a link to Farmer Tom Trantham's story on Youtube!  http://www.happycowcreamery.com/12-aprils-program/ 
Rhett and I sat down one evening and watched the video, it is a really great story about how the cows let Farmer Trantham know what they needed and therefore became Happy Cows! After school the following day we headed out to Happy Cow Creamery! Rhett loved getting to see the cows and even petting a few of them! On our first visit we purchased a gallon of whole milk and 2 gallons of chocolate milk, I had heard the chocolate milk was the best, obviously it's chocolate! Both of my children and their friends love the chocolate milk! On my visit last week to Happy Cow I got more milk and some butter, can't wait to try it out(had another brand left I need to use first before it goes bad), my sister says it's the best! They also sell fresh produce, cheese, free range chicken, free range eggs, homemade jellies, relishes and so much more! Rhett's favorite is their ice cream! We Love Happy Cow!

Here are the Happy Cow Milk nutrition facts: http://www.happycowcreamery.com/nutritional-facts/


 Here is what I copied off their website today-says partial list of items!




Here are a few pictures from our visits!


Rhett loves petting the cows!

Said He was looking for his favorite cow!

Yum! Milk and Butter!




Rhett loves the ice cream- He always gets 2!


Thursday, May 15, 2014

Day 64! Exercise! May 15, 2014

Day 64! Exercise! May 15, 2014 



I feel like I have finally gotten the hang of the UN-Processed Life! It has been 63 days and just this week I feel like I have my life back! I mentioned in a earlier blog that not eating processed food was defiantly work! I also mentioned that it is defiantly worth it! This is by no means written to discourage you, I am just trying to be honest with you!  I work full time and have been on-call nights and weekends 4 out of the 9 weeks! So between work, kids, family, and life in general, I feel like I have been spending most of my "free" time in the kitchen and if I am not in the kitchen I am at the grocery store! At times I have felt overwhelmed and thought I would never make it, but I can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel! I now have a system worked out- between my grocery lists, meal planning, leftovers, making meals ahead for freezing and learning some recipes for what I like to call quick meals, I am happy and thankful to say it is all going much smoother! It has taken allot of work to get my kitchen and life organized! Learning to prepare ahead is defiantly worth it! I feel better and I feel better about what I am serving my children! I would encourage you to take the 10 Days of Real Food Challenge  http://www.100daysofrealfood.com/take-the-10-day-pledge/ or the 100 Days of Real Food Challenge http://www.100daysofrealfood.com/original-100-day-pledge/ I personally did not sign up for either of these as I was already on this journey before My Sister sent me a link to Lisa's Blog! 63 days in I think it would have been nice to have been on some sort of program for encouragement and accountability! I highly recommend this blog for encouragement, tips, ideas, and best of all the recipes! So I guess at this point you are wondering why I put exercise in the title of this entry?? My point behind telling you all of the above was to let you know during all the work I have put into being UN-Processed I have been a slacker on exercising! On day 60 I started back with my exercise routine! I not only want to eat healthier I also want to be stronger and feel even better! Oh and I have the Kiawah Half Marathon coming up in December, no time like the present to start training! Wish me Luck!


As a side note, I am thankful for the New to Me refrigerator I was able to purchase about 2 weeks ago! In my planning and prepping I realized I needed more fridge and freezer space! Not only was this refrigerator bigger and matched my kitchen better, it was a great price! My old refrigerator is now it the garage for more storage! Thankful and Blessed!




Friday, May 9, 2014

Day 59! My Son's Unprocessed Birthday Cake! Mine Craft! May 10, 2014


Day 59! My Son's Unprocessed Birthday Cake! Mine Craft Birthday!




Tomorrow is My Son's 8th Birthday! So hard to believe he is already 8 years old! For his birthday we went hiking and had a picnic lunch at Pisgah Forest in North Carolina!  http://www.tripadvisor.com/Guide-g49442-i116834-Pisgah_Forest_North_Carolina.html The theme of his birthday was Mine Craft, I got a few ideas off the internet on how to decorate his cake! I also wanted to make him a cake from scratch with nothing processed in it. I got this recipe from 100 Days of Real Food : http://www.100daysofrealfood.com/2013/05/24/recipe-yellow-cupcakes-homemade-frosting-better-than-the-box/ I did not do the pink icing- I made his green icing with Spinach that I juiced! So my major fail on this cake was-The Mine Craft character Creeper on the cake is made ofHershey's  chocolate bars! This was the only part of cake that was processed! I had a hard time deciding what to make the face out of and the quickest and simplest thing to so was break up the squares of chocolate and make the face! By far the icing was the best part of this cake and you could not tell it had juiced spinach in it at all! The cake was good too, I did let it bake a little long and it seemed to be a little dry but overall, a Win! Great day of Family, Food, and Hiking! 




Day 57! May 9, 2014 So how's it going?

 Day 57! May 9, 2014 So how's it going?


 I have to say over all I still feel better and have more energy! I am really enjoying the cooking part and trying new recipes! It has been a crazy few weeks here between my daughters prom and our families April and May birthdays! I can not say that I have not eaten any processed foods but I have tried to limit it, the hardest was prom weekend! We were on the go all weekend and ate out allot- even though I tried to stick with salads and whole grain items, and so called good for me items.....guess what??? by Sunday night my indigestion was back, I had not had indigestion in over a month! Needless to say Monday morning I started back juicing and got right back on track! Guess the moral of this story was even when I think I am "eating good", unless I am make it myself its more than likely processed on some level!

 I found some eggplants on sale so I thought I would give it a try! I had never purchased an eggplant in my life so it seemed like an adventure! I used this recipe from All Recipes for Eggplant Lasagna! http://allrecipes.com/recipe/eggplant-lasagna/
It did take me a while to prepare this so unless you do some of the steps ahead of time I would not recommended making this on a busy night! It was some work and but defiantly worth it! The only change I made to the recipe was replacing ground beef for tofu! I also got a tip from someone about eggplants, they said eggplants can have a bitter taste to them unless you soak them in salt water at least 15 minutes before cooking them. I did this and I did not taste any bitterness! I will defiantly be making this again!
Here are a few pics from our crazy past few weeks!



  
My Daughter - Prom 2014




My Daughter and Jacob- Prom 2014- Rhett photo bomb!

My Daughters 17th Birthday Party!

My Mon's Birthday and Parents 45th Anniversary!





Wednesday, April 30, 2014

Day 48! It is actually April 30, 2014! Backyard Produce!

Day 48! It is actually April 30, 2014! Backyard Produce!

So my last backdated entry was at day 25, so fast forward to day 48! I was trying really hard to catch the blog up to the current date and I felt like I was just getting farther and farther behind! It became clearer I was not able to give you a really accurate account of exactly what was going on and with my age the details and my thoughts on that exact day are becoming harder to remember! I will still go back from time to time and share the recipes I made during the 23 days I just skipped!

Two weeks ago I joined Backyard Produce http://byproduce.com/howto ! The first week I unpacked everything and forgot to take a picture! Today I did not make that mistake! You can go to their website and see exactly how it work, but the basics are: I go online Thursday, place my order! The following Wednesday I leave the box provided by them on the front porch! After work my fresh produce is there! It is a Win Win!



Friday, April 25, 2014

Day 25! Chicken Enchiladas! April 7, 2014

Day 25!  Chicken Enchiladas! April 7, 2014


There is one thing I will note at this time, eating non-processed food can be allot of work! I am not trying to discourage anyone but I feel like I am in the kitchen all the time(keep in mind I am referring to the time I get home from work till time I got to bed)! I am sure as time goes along and I continue to prepare ahead and freeze meals this will become easier! The great thing about the Chicken Enchilada recipe is that it makes 2 dishes, one to bake that night and one to freeze for later! Rhett loved this one and he enjoyed helping me make our own tortillas! I had a little trouble getting the tortilla dough just right but finally I got it to work! I was making it too thin and it was sticking to the press! Once I got that right it went really fast! This is not a recipe I would recommend making if you don't have allot of time unless you already have the tortillas and rice made ahead! But defiantly a kid friendly recipe and freezer friendly! I got this recipe from 100 Days of Real Food! http://www.100daysofrealfood.com/2010/04/14/recipe-chicken-enchiladas/ Here is the recipe for the Corn Tortillas: http://www.100daysofrealfood.com/2011/04/26/recipe-easy-whole-grain-corn-tortillas/


Thursday, April 24, 2014

Day 22! White Chicken Lasagna! April 4, 2014

Day 22! White Chicken Lasagna! April 4, 2014


I love this dish! It is so good and again easy to make! My kids actually like this one and will eat it! I got this one from 100 Days of Real Food! http://www.100daysofrealfood.com/2014/02/06/recipe-white-chicken-lasagna/

Tuesday, April 22, 2014

Day 19! Ice Cream! April 1, 2014

Day 19! Ice Cream! April 1, 2014

I am not sure that I have ever met anyone who does not like ice cream! I love ice cream and sweets! I was so excited when I found this recipe on 100 Days of Real Food for Strawberry Ice Cream! My sister gave me her ice cream maker and I tried out this recipe that night! http://www.100daysofrealfood.com/2012/04/26/recipe-strawberry-ice-cream/ This ice cream maker requires that you take bowl out of it and freeze it until solid! I thought I could get away with only freezing it a few hours! My dreams of ice cream ended up as a fail, the mixture never froze and was just like soup! I poured the mixture back into the measuring cups and put the bowl from the maker in freezer to freeze overnight! The next night I put it all back together and turn on the machine, in less than 10 minute we had ice cream! I am not going to lie and say it was the best ice cream I have ever had, however it was not bad at all and I could defiantly get use to it! I am sure the reason I did not think it was the best ice cream ever was because I am used to the sugary sweet taste of Brusters or store bought ice cream! For me knowing exactly what I was feeding to my self and my kids is defiantly worth it!


Monday, April 21, 2014

Day 18! Salmon and Brussels Sprouts! March 31, 2014

 Day 18! Salmon and Brussels Sprouts! March 31, 2014

Tonight the kids were not going to be with me so I decided to try something new: Wild Salmon Cakes
http://foodbabe.com/2013/01/11/wild-salmon-cakes-with-avocado-arugula-salad/  I decided not to make the Arugula Salad because I had allot of Brussels Sprouts that needed to be cooked! I used this recipe from All Recipes to make them: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/roasted-brussels-sprouts/



I was shocked how good the Brussels Sprouts tasted considering all you add if Olive Oil, Salt, and Pepper! This was easy to make and very healthy! A great meal to put together, put in the oven, get a few things done, and all ready at one time! Will defiantly make these recipes again!



















Friday, April 18, 2014

Day 17 of My UN-Processed Life! My New Favorite! March 30, 2014

Day 17 of My UN-Processed Life! My New Favorite! March 30, 2014


Parfait Porridge!



Day 17 still feeling great and would not change a thing! I found this recipe on the Food Babe's page: http://foodbabe.com/2011/08/21/the-perfect-parfait-porridge/  These are so easy to make and taste really good! I just make them the night before and in the morning they are ready to go! Here is a recipe for another version of them: http://www.100daysofrealfood.com/2014/03/27/recipe-favorite-overnight-oats/ I have made both, my son likes the second version better, probably because of the yogurt and honey! :)

  








Thursday, April 17, 2014

Day 16 of My UN-Processed Life! Final Clean Out and Popcorn! March 29, 2014


Day 16 of My UN-Processed Life! Final Clean Out and Popcorn! March 29, 2014

By the evening of my 16th day I had completely cleaned out the food panty, cabinets, refrigerator, and finally the freezer!  If you have been reading my blog you will remember this post about cleaning out the food pantry: My next stop was home, where I proceeded to clean out my food pantry and get rid of all processed foods! I will admit that I did leave my microwave popcorn in my pantry until Saturday(about 2 days)! For some reason this was the hardest for me to give up! I did not actually ever eat any of it, but for the sake of honesty do want to add that I did not get rid of it the first night! I will write more about what I did end up doing with it later in another post! Just from the clean out of my pantry I removed 3 trash bags full of items- that had either already been open(which I would not want to give to someone) or had expired! I could not believe how much food I had in there that I had been wasteful with and had let expire! I had 6(by the time I finished my refrigerator and freezer it was 20bags- Wow) grocery bags of items to give away to a food pantry or someone who might need them! FYI:I worked on my freezer and refrigerator Saturday, so items would not spoil before I could get them to the people who wanted them!

Well below is a picture of my beloved popcorn! :( I have thought allot about why this was such a big deal for me to give my popcorn away and the only thing I came up with was, no matter what diet or program I had tried I would always eat popcorn before bed! Just seemed to keep me full during the night and I just love popcorn!  I had read an article by the Food Babe about all the things they put in microwave popcorn and knew it was not healthy for me! http://foodbabe.com/2013/11/12/microwave-popcorn/ So on Saturday afternoon, I reluctantly put my popcorn in the bags with all the other items to give away! I remembered how my mom use to make up popcorn on the stove top and decided to give it a try! My mom use to use vegetable oil to pop the corn and then we would melt butter and pour over top of it! I kept thinking vegetable oil can not be good for me either so I decided to try coconut oil for popping the corn! All I can say is WOW! Not only did it smell amazing while I was popping the corn, it tasted amazing! And it was so good we did not even need to add butter to it! I could not believe I had even made a big deal about giving up my microwave popcorn! My son tasted it and said it made his taste buds explode! This was a total Win! I am in love with my Coconut Oil Popcorn!

My Old Popcorn!


My New Popcorn!
Smelled and Tasted Amazing!

Eating Our Popcorn and Watching the Croods!

Monday, April 14, 2014

Day 16 of My UN-Processed Life! Pizza for Dinner! March 29, 2014

Day 16 of My UN-Processed Life!  Pizza for Dinner! March 29, 2014

For dinner I had decided to make something that every kid and most grown-up love......Pizza! After reading this article by the Food Babe I was defiantly going to be making my own Pizza! http://foodbabe.com/2014/03/23/if-youve-ever-eaten-pizza-before-this-will-blow-your-mind/
 It was just going to be Rhett and I for dinner since Shelby had to work! I found a very easy recipe from the Food Babe to make Pizza! http://foodbabe.com/2012/02/03/pizza-is-really-a-vegetable/
The part of this was allowing my son to chose his toppings and watching him make his own! He did only chose sauce and cheese - but it is a start! This was a huge hit and so good for him! On mine I added sauce, spinach leaves, bell peppers, broccoli, cauliflower, and cheese!




Rhett's Pizza!
My Pizza!

Going in the Oven!

My finished Pizza!















Friday, April 11, 2014

Day 16 of My UN-Processed Life! Breakfast and Lunch! March 29, 2014

Day 16 of My UN-Processed Life! Breakfast and Lunch! March 29, 2014

So I stopped juicing for the weekend to allow myself to try all the recipes I am making for my kids! I can not really ask them to eat something I have not tried myself and may not be edible! For Breakfast we made Whole Wheat Banana Pancakes! I got the recipe from 100 Days of Real Food! http://www.100daysofrealfood.com/2010/04/21/recipe-whole-wheat-banana-pancakes-freeze-the-leftovers/ These were so good and easy to make! Rhett loved them and because of the banana being sweet there was no need to add allot of maple syrup! I also used coconut oil in my pan, it worked great! Breakfast was a success! I put the leftovers in the freezer!  
Lunch was grilled cheese sandwich made with our homemade french bread with a side of Fruit Me Up-apple sauce! Lunch was also a success!
I have to say between meals was rough! My kids are use to sitting around the house eating junk all day! It was raining and there was not allot to do which amplified the problem! I had plenty to offer however it was not the junk food they were use to eating! The good news is I had gotten rid of all the junk food so there was no chance of me giving in! Just kept sending them back to fruit bowl or bowls of cut fruit in fridge! They'll catch on!

Making Pancakes!

Finished Product!




 








Lunch Grilled Cheese!

Side was Fruit Me Up! Applesauce!







Day 15 of My UN-Processed Life! The Kids Are Back! March 28,2014

More of Day 15 of My UN-Processed Life! The Kids Are Back! March 28, 2014

On the first night of my children being back in my home for the week we had Quinoa Tacos! Shelby did not eat with us as she had to work(she was probably glad :)) While I was cooking dinner I got allot of complaints from my son about no junk food in the house! My son would ask what he was gonna have for snack, where the granola bars were, fruit snacks, etc. Every time I sent him back to the fruit bowl on the table or cups of cut fruit in refrigerator! When dinner was finished Rhett was not to sure about quinoa or eating a lettuce taco(where's my shell?), so I made his more like a salad and he was fine with that!


This was my version of them! These are very good, easy to make and had leftovers for another night! 


 




I made it according to the recipe and the only thing that I added different was salsa!  One mistake I made was buying the smaller heads of romaine lettuce! The leaves were small and it was hard to wrap it around the ingredients! I would recommend buying the larger heads of romaine lettuce!


After dinner it was time for Rhett and I to try our hand at making bread! During my time researching I had read this article from the Food Babe about bread:  
http://foodbabe.com/2014/02/24/healthiest-bread-on-the-market/  My sister had a bread maker she was not using, so she offered to let me try it out! I chose the easiest recipe in the book for my first attempt at this! I bought King Arthur's Organic White Bread Flour and Rhett and I made French Bread! The bread maker was amazing, all I had to do was put the ingredients in the machine, close the lid, press about 3 buttons and several hours later we had bread! My son really enjoyed helping me, watching it mix the ingredients, and then bake through the little window on the machine!

Watching the ingredients mixing!

Done!

The final product-tasted good and best of all UN-Processed!





Thursday, April 10, 2014

More of Day 14 of My UN-Processed Life! The Kids Come By! March 27, 2014

More of Day 14 of My UN-Processed Life! The Kids Come By! March 27, 2014

After the shopping, cleaning, and organizing my kids came by to see my for a few minutes while they were out and about! I went ahead and showed them the new changes! My kids knew that change was coming because I had discussed it with them through out the week at different times, but I am not sure they were prepared for this:

Keep in mind if you had opened my pantry the day before you would have seen an assortment of chips, candy, cookies, granola bars, fruit snacks, and fruit roll ups, just to name a few! My kids opened up the door and immediately wanted to know what had happened to their food and what were they suppose to eat!? I proceeded to tell them about all the great meals I had planned, snacks and even healthy desserts on menu for the week! I can assure you they were not impressed! My daughter Shelby who is 16 was least impressed! She has been eating processed foods for the past 16, almost 17 years of her life and now the junk food is gone! My 7 year old son, Rhett followed her lead, as she complained he repeated it! When they left I knew I had a battle on my hands, this was not going to be easy at all!

Funny story: After my daughter left that night she went around telling everyone that I had thrown away all their food and they had nothing to eat! She also told them that I had thrown away the Oreos she had bought the previous week with her own money! She has a job and drives so she had gone and bought herself a bag of them, they were in the closet and yes I did throw them away! When her and Jacob came by the house the next evening she started up again about me throwing away her Oreos! I proceeded to tell her she should thank me for throwing them away! She started back up and I cut her off and said, "You should be glad I threw them away because last week your brother opened each Oreo and licked the middle and put it back together and put it back in the bag!" I wish I had a picture of her face when I told her that! Not only did I save her from a processed food, I saved her from her brothers germs! 

Day 14 of My UN-Processed Life! 2 Weeks In! March 27, 2014


Day 14 of My UN-Processed Life! 2 Weeks In! March 27, 2014

Day 14 and I am still feeling great! One of the most fascinating things I have noticed that my cravings for sweets are gone and for me that is huge, I love sweets! After reading a blog called "100 Days of Real Food" http://www.100daysofrealfood.com/start-here/ I have decided that my kids do not need to be eating processed foods either! Also check out  http://www.facebook.com/l/IAQF_9Wm6AQF2sjP9BXQbPRb4KRBVp1b71Q6UvN6yeydRMw/foodbabe.com/tag/ingredients-banned-in-other-countries/  Now I know this seems silly to have finally come to this conclusion 2 weeks later, but again what do I feed them, what will they like? I also knew that it was going to take total commitment on my part and was I ready for it?! Shopping, planning, cooking, the list went on and on! But the reality is I want my kids to feel as good as I do! Changing the whole family over was going to require allot of work, and I anticipated allot of whining and complaining! As the days went by, I was feeling more and more guilt about having junk food in the house and allowing them to eat all those bad things! So I made the decision that day it was all or nothing! I am divorced and have shared custody of my children, so Thursday night before they came back to my house on Friday I started the complete food makeover, that way I could start everyone out fresh with no temptations! I started the process by making a notebook, choosing the recipes that I wanted to make for the next week, and then I made a grocery list! 


 My Notebook!
My goals are on front page of My Notebook to keep me focused!
I have a section made up for every day of the week!
I even have a section for recipes I want to try!



I choose the recipe, print it out, and put in my notebook with the day of the week I plan to make it!
My first whole foods shopping list! 












From there I make a grocery list!

 I went to the store and purchased the items on my list, reading the labels and making sure to buy only the healthiest things I could find! On My first trip to the grocery store I had to buy allot of staple items: flour, cereal, Ezekiel bread, 100% maple syrup, cheese, spices, and items to bake bread with! Below is picture of my grocery cart at Ingles! I found in my area that Ingles had best selection of organic products and they also carry Ezekiel products! I did run into 2 other stores, but not allot of luck finding healthy non-processed items! 

My First Real Food Grocery Shopping Trip!

My next stop was home, where I proceeded to clean out my food pantry and get rid of all processed foods! I will admit that I did leave my microwave popcorn in my pantry until Saturday(about 2 days)! For some reason this was the hardest for me to give up! I did not actually ever eat any of it, but for the sake of honesty do want to add that I did not get rid of it the first night! I will write more about what I did end up doing with it later in another post! Just from the clean out of my pantry I removed 3 trash bags full of items- that had either already been open(which I would not want to give to someone) or had expired! I could not believe how much food I had in there that I had been wasteful with and had let expire! I had 6 grocery bags of items to give away to a food pantry or someone who might need them! FYI:I worked on my freezer and refrigerator Saturday, so items would not spoil before I could get them to the people who wanted them!

Items Getting Rid of from Pantry! 






 The next step was to get all of the new items into the pantry and get my pantry organized! This was probably the most fun for me! It felt good putting healthy food in my pantry and preparing for my kids arrival the next day!


Love it!



 My Food Pantry Makeover!