Playing in the kitchen...again

I am going to toot my own horn as I would consider yesterday a very successful day. Yesterday marked the beginning of my new week for meal plan and all that fun stuff. On Thursday I made a new menu plan that I was very pleased with and then Thursday evening we went to the grocery store and stocked up on all the healthy foods. I also included some new recipes - something I've been doing a lot more of lately!

Yesterday I tried two new recipes and they were both a huge hit so I thought I would share them all with you. I found them both on Pinterest (seriously love that site). If I had used the recipes I found on Pinterest exactly how they were I would have just linked you to them for copyright reasons, however, I changed both of the recipes as I went along to suit what I wanted to I will post them here for you.

Sun-Dried Tomato Hummus

1 can chickpeas
1 package sun dried tomatoes (I found them in the produce section of the Superstore)
1/4 cup fresh cilantro
Salt and pepper to taste
1/3 cup olive oil
1/4 cup water

1. Peel the skins off the chickpeas (you can do this by gently squeezing them out of their shell. It took my husband and I about 5 minutes to do the whole can and we had never done it before).

2. Rinse the chickpeas and put them in the food processor (I used a blender which I feel was MUCH harder to do and the most time consuming part).

3. Cut up sundried tomatoes into small pieces (I used scissors since it was too tough to cut). Add them into the food processor.

4. Chop finely 1/4 c. cilantro and add to food processor.

5. Add pepper and salt to taste.

6. Add 1/3 c. oil.

7. Blend until smooth. *Up until now the items have only been sitting in the food processor, not blended already*

Now that being said: as I mentioned I used a blender since that was all I had and it wasn't going to well so I slowly added a bit of water to keep things moving. I also feel like I could have gotten away with a lot less oil and a bit more water. I really don't even like hummus but this was a big hit!!! I had it with cut up veggies. YUM! Next time I think I will add some roasted garlic to this dip!

Cauliflower Pizza Crust

1 head cauliflower

1/4 c. flour (you can use regular/whole wheat flour or a gluten free flour like coconut flour - I used regular white flour)

1/4 tsp. salt

1 tsp Italian seasoning - I just used what ever spices I had in the pantry

1/2 tsp garlic powder

2 tbsp yeast

2 large eggs

1. Place cookie sheet in the oven and preheat to 475F. I used a round pizza cookie sheet.

2. Use a cheese grater or food processor to grate the cauliflower into very small pieces.

3. Place the cauliflower in a bowl and microwave for about 4 minutes on high. Remove from microwave and dump into a clean tea towel. Let cool for a few minutes. roll the cauliflower up and make sure it is in there good and secure so you won't loose any. Over the sink, squeeze the cauliflower like you are wrapping a candy (in opposite directions). I had my husband do this part for me since he is stronger and he wore the silicone oven mitts as the water was coming out was quite hot. You want to get as much water out as possible.

4. Mix cauliflower and all other ingredients into a large bowl - then mix with your hands. I mixed for about 3 minutes since I didn't know what the "dough" was to look like. It was very sticky to my hand and I thought FOR SURE this was going to be an epic failure (but it wasn't). Then I put a piece of parchment paper on the counter and put the dough onto it and pressed it into a pizza crust formation (scraping the dough off my hands as I went as it was quite sticky).

5. Remove the hot cookie sheet from the oven and put parchment paper on it then return it to the oven to cook the crust for 8-10 minutes (or until golden brown). While crust is cooking chop and prep pizza toppings.

6. Remove crust from oven and top with your choice of pizza toppings. I used pizza sauce, green pepper, onion, mushroom, pineapple, a small amount of "light" old cheddar, and some feta. Some chicken would have really made the pizza better as well.

7. Bake until cheese is melted (about 6-8 minutes).

I was concerned that this wasn't going to turn out - but it was SO good. Granted it was a lot of work, but in my opinion it was worth it. The dough only made enough for one pizza so if you were wanting it for more people you would need to adjust the recipe to the amount of people you were making it for. I am still drooling over this and if I didn't have a yummy dinner already planned for tonight I would be strongly inclined to make it again.

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Yesterday reminded me of something very important and that is how I feel when I make healthy choices. There is not one part of me that feels bad when I make healthy food choices. I feel so strong and confident which moves into all areas of my life especially my workouts. I had a great session with my trainer yesterday and pushed myself hard (did a few next exercises I wasn't found of, but got to push myself). Granted we may have chatted a bit too much during the session to but it was fun and I definitely got a good workout done  ;). 

I also know that when I have healthy foods on my meal plan that I like and am excited for it makes it MUCH easier to stay on track and not eat unhealthy foods - for example, if there is something I really like for dinner that night and we are asked to go out to eat instead I am much more likely to say no thanks when there is something good for dinner that night. I do realize that this does take a bit of extra planning - but in the long run it is totally worth it! You are worth it!

Foam roller

Another Christmas has come and gone. Rylee's first Christmas too! We had a good day with family and enjoyed a good Christmas dinner...maybe enjoyed it a bit too much ;). Today is just a lazy day here for us, lots of pajamas, blankets, books, fire place, and relaxing! We did go out this morning to use a gift card we had gotten on a new blue ray player. We just needed a basic model so we didn't have to keep switching ours back and forth from the TV's. First world problems I know!

So it is almost 2014 - and although I am not really one for New Years resolutions I am actually going to make one this year (shhhh it was something I was going to do anyways, but might as well time it with new years to give myself a start date). But you will have to read later on this week to find out what my new years resolution actually is.

I have some lofty health and fitness goals and will be attacking them full force, no excuses. I have done it before and I KNOW I can get back there again. I am very close to my pre-pregnancy weight and then I will be losing what I had gained before getting pregnant. 

I have specific weight loss goals that I want to accomplish but I can't figure out a fitness goal. I think it would be helpful to work on them together since they go hand in hand but for the life of me I can't come up with something. I see my personal trainer three times a week but I know that I want something more -- I just don't know what.

We also have some financial goals we want to meet. We have made a debt repayment plan to be 100% consumer debt free by Dec 31, 2014. After that we will have a bit of business debt still to pay off but it will feel so good to get our consumer debt gone!

Today I made the next two weeks of meal plans and tonight I will go get the groceries after dinner. I am looking forward to stepping up the workouts, focus more on clean eating as well as point friendly foods and just continue on my weight loss journey. I do know that this is a process that I will take step by step - one day at a time! I also know that it is a journey that I will be on forever, and I am totally okay with that. On a side note: I am allergic to bananas and I am really sad that I have had to give them up. I really miss adding them to things like cereal, oatmeal, yogurt ect.

One of the gifts that I got is a foam roller, which will really come in handy over the next year as I get deeper into my workouts. What the heck is a foam roller you ask?! Well it is exactly how it sounds, a large roll of dense foam. It is for stretching out and massaging your muscles. It really hurts at first, especially if you are really sore but it feels SO good afterwards. One day my trainer made me do this crazy calf exercise and legit I had charlie horses in my calves for two days. It was beyond painful = not cool. We did some sessions on the foam roller and although it was painful at the time, I could literally feel the muscles relaxing. The pain relief was instant - I knew I had to get one for home! Since then I have used it on my legs a number of times and it feels so great. I am super happy my awesome hubby got me one for Christmas.

Rylee will be 10 months old on Saturday which means I only have two months left of my mat leave as I mentioned the other day. I totally plan on making the most of it!

One for the money, two for the show

It is a dreary Monday morning here - I am wondering if we will get snow for Christmas this year. I don't think there have been too many Christmas days where we have not gotten snow.

I got to spend a lot of time last week with family and do a lot of reflecting. We had a great time together, and learned just how loved and supported we really are.

Yesterday we had a quiet day. We went to Church then had my mother in law over for some lunch (we/she has gotten so much food lately it has been a blessing to not have to worry about getting groceries). 

I spent much of the day working on expenses, meal plans, and my meal data base. I updated my meal data base with a bunch of new ideas - some we have tried, some we have not. 

As I look forward over the next few months I was trying to get some kind of idea what it might look like. I have just over two months before I return to work and I plan on making the most of it. I also know that once I return something will have to go because there is no way I can do it all, especially with the hours I work. My shift is from 8:45am-4:45pm. Awful hours! By the time I fight my way through traffic I will get to pick up Rylee at 5:30pm and she goes to bed at 7. Let's not forget making and having dinner and getting her bathed and ready for bed. So our evenings are pretty much a write off, especially when Sean is on afternoon shift. 

I have come up with a few tweeks to my current meal planning (which I love because it is super easy and efficient) and also came up with a new recipe organization method.

To be honest I didn't want to use an app in case I don't always stick with apple products. I didn't want to be retyping them again and again. I also don't want to switch to paper because one of my biggest stress causer is already how much paper we use that constantly has to be organized. I will sort and file papers and the next day 20 more will appear and I have no clue where they came from. So I have decided to go with a word document sorting system. I will make a file folder called recipes and then sub folders within that folder. I will have each recipe it's own document and it will be saved as the recipe name so it will be very easy to find.

Yesterday I also went to Wal-Mart (during dinner time so it wasn't busy) and man were the shelves completely picked over. There were SO many empty spots. People will be getting A LOT of tooth brushes, deodorant, travel size items ect. I have never seen a store so empty! I went to get some supplies to make some healthy muffins, and oatmeal bake today.

Today will consist of some cleaning up around the house and some baking to put in the freezer for the next few weeks/months as well as some food planning over the next few days. 

I still want to reach my goal of 25 more pounds down by March 1 - it might be tough now given I have stayed the same the past few weeks but I am going to keep working hard at it and re-assess later if need be. There is nothing wrong with changing your goals as you go along. I am going to be making my list of 2014 goals over the next few days as well!

Have a happy and healthy Christmas everyone!

Funeral for a friend

Friday paid a beautiful tribute to my father in law. His body is now laid to rest but we know he lives on in heaven. My brother in law Ryan paid a beautiful tribute to his dad with a very good eulogy. I was also very fortunate to be given the change to speak and I thought I would just post my speech for those that weren't able to attend or wish to hear it again:

We lost a dear husband, father, grandfather, and friend but heaven gained so much more and for that we can rejoice. As we pictured this the past few days we could see Dave driving a solid gold tractor and eating a sugary, dairy filled dessert – probably a cheesecake!

My name is Kelly and I am the second daughter in law of Dave and Kathie, wife of Sean. If you are here today I can only assume that you knew Dave, even if only from a brief meeting one time. And even if you met him only one time for a few minutes it would have been very obvious to you his kind, gentle, and loving personality.

Dave was a big kid at heart, which is probably why Kathie often said she had “four boys”. He had a great relationship with all of sons and he had a different, but special, connection with each of them.

I have so many fond memories of Dave that date back to when their family first made the move to First Lobo Baptist Church. Sean and I were very much on again off again, and on again off again teenagers. Even when we were “off again” our parents still remained good friends and our families went to dinner and did movie nights quite often. 

Obviously over the past 6 years that Sean and I have been only on again, my memories of Dave grew stronger as we spent a lot more time together. He became my second father and I cherish my relationship with him very much. We would be here all day if I shared all of my memories with you so instead I will only share with you a few.  

9 and a half months ago our daughter Rylee was born. The first grandchild on both sides of the family. She was a scheduled c-section, that just happened to be booked for the day, and very close to the hour, that Dave had a very large report due for work. He had a few days notice, so he worked some longer hours in the days before to make sure it was done so he could submit it early and be at the hospital for when she was born. He was one of the first people to hold her and we took her picture of him holding her, but quickly realized that his hand, took up most of the picture! It was a hand *hold out hand* and a little head with a pink hat on it. It is my favourite picture of her first few hours of her life.

And most recently most of the family was able to go to Florida to celebrate a family wedding. While we were there we rented a house. Sean had to leave early to go back to work and so the family helped out extra with Rylee. Except that Rylee only wanted to go to myself, Dave, and Ryan for the most part. I think it was something about them that reminded her of her dada. Every morning Dave gave her her bottle and played with her on the floor.  Even at the family wedding Dave danced with Rylee for a number of songs and she just had a ball dancing with her grandpa – they must have shared their love for music. They spent many hours that week in the pool as well. My favourite part of the trip, aside from the wedding and seeing family, was a tour of a chocolate factory. I was SO excited and here was Dave, a diabetic with lactose intolerance, going on a tour of a chocolate factory…what is wrong with this picture?!

Dave had a number of jokes, a limited number of jokes, as we heard them time and time again. When people who knew his sons, met Dave for the first time, they quickly said “oh, that is where you get it from”. You couldn’t say Hey without hearing straw, or Let’s go without hearing where are we going. When ever someone said “opposites attract” Dave and Kathie would race to say at the same time “I’m the good looking intelligent one”. He always enjoyed making fun of my many blonde moments and shared a laugh with everyone over them. I quickly learned that if he made fun of you it meant he loved you.  If you ever sat next or even near to Dave you probably felt like you were trapped in a mild earth quake from the constant shaking of his leg, which my husband was so lucky to “inherit” from him.

Dave was slow to anger even if we had ruined his stuff, like when my husband hit fence post and heavily damaged the steering column of their tractor, or the time that I opened the barn door the wrong way and completely took it off the track. Dave and Evan had to climb up on the ladder to get it back on and working properly. I won’t do that one again! And let’s not forget the time that Ryan didn’t hook up the trailer to the truck properly and the boat smashed into the tail gate into his brand new truck.

Dave and Kathie have always been so welcoming and opened their home to everyone. When you walked in the door you were told to help yourself to anything in the fridge or cupboards, and to make yourself comfortable. Which I am sure they regret every time my husband visits!

In all seriousness, Dave was the type of person who would do anything for anyone. He was always there to help in any way he could. He was looking forward to playing around on the farm after his retirement. He had a smile that was infectious, and a very distinct laugh. He loved his wife, his boys, his two beautiful daughters in law, and the first baby girl, his granddaughter, Rylee. When Ryan and Mel announced that they were expecting, Dave was beyond excited. He was already making plans to make frequent trips to Kitchener. Dave was a loving son, brother and friend to many. Yesterday showed us a small glimpse at the number of lives he touched.

Over the past few days we have had lots of time with family to reflect over Dave’s life, which you will hear more about shortly, but it has been very clear to us in so many ways God’s timing of Dave’s passing. God has been putting his plan into place piece by piece and we know He’s not done yet.

I want to take a moment to read the poem that the family chose to use in Dave’s memory. I know it has been used at many funerals but I feel the words are so fitting to Dave.

Miss me – but let me go

When I come to the end of the road

And the sun has set for me,

I want no tears in a gloom-filled room,

Why cry for a soul set free?

Miss me a little – But not for long

And not with your head bowed low,

Remember the love that we once shared,

Miss me – But let me go.

For this is a journey we all must take,

And each must go alone,

It’s all a part of the Master’s plan

A step on the road to home.

When you are lonely and sick of heart

Go to your friends that we know,

And bury your sorrows in doing good works,

Miss me – But let me go.

Although we feel his time here on earth was cut far too short, we know that God has a plan that we just can not see yet and we know Dave will be waiting for us all in heaven and as my husband said a few days ago, this is not goodbye…this is see you later. 

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I plan to continue with my regular blogging about health and nutrition over the next few days once I get a new plan in place.

Until next time...hold your loved ones a little bit tighter this Christmas season as you never know when you might see them again. Don't take any time with them for granted because there isn't always "tomorrow". 

Gone but not goodbye

I admit it has been a few weeks since I wrote last. Between Christmas and other stuff I did get side tracked but have not forgotten about my blog. 

This week has been a very difficult week for myself, my husband, and his family. We were all set for his family Christmas in Kitchener when we showed up at my husbands parents farm minutes after his mom had found his dad passed away. 

It was very sudden and unexpected but we are thankful he passed peacefully in his sleep and did not suffer. The autopsy confirmed it was a heart attack. 

Moments like these often change our lives. They are monumental and have a very large impact on the person you become in the future. They give you new in sites on what is important to you. My husband and I feel more than ever now the importance of our healthy and our journey to get fit. 

The next two days will be the hardest of our lives thus far so we are taking today to be together as a family and take some time to rest before what lies ahead. 

Dave was taken from us far too young - before he could enjoy his retirement, Rylee's first Christmas, or the birth of my niece or nephew (his next grandchild) sometime in May. We trust that God has a plan and have already been seeing how Gos has worked and is still working through this very difficult time. 

Hair, hair, hair!

Okay so this post is kind of superficial but everyone deals with it in some way so here we go. 

The last few years I have been very frustrated with my hair. It is super healthy, very fine, and pin straight. Why was I frustrated by that you ask? Because I couldn't do anything with it. Curls only stayed if I had a whole can of hair spray and then they looked gross, braids were flat against my head and so small you could barely see them. Pulling it back into a bun was impossible unless I shampooed it, did not use conditioner, or brush it and then it was a notty mess and would stay in a bun. So fast forward to having a baby my options were down or pony tail. Since down is not an option with a baby who grabs everything and pukes often, pony tail won every time. 

Everyone I asked for help kept telling me to watch YouTube videos for things to do, which is fine for the average person, but my hair would not stay in anything I tried. Not even with hair spray. I know, frustrating right???

Yesterday I went for a hair cut and I was torn between trim or chop since I was quite frustrated. I decided to just go for trim because then at least I could still wear my pony tail. When explaining again in more detail my problem my hair dresser asked if I had tried dry shampoo. I had heard of it but never tried it since my hair is always clean I never needed it. At the end of the cut she put some in my hair and gave it a slight tease. Legit INSTANT volume. I didn't think the volume would last longer than me getting to the car, but it did! And it did the rest of the day/evening! 

Surely I can do that myself so I bought a can (half off right now I might add) and this morning I gave it a try! BAM! Same thing awesome volume and best part was I could do it myself! 

All I did was give a little spray to my roots, do a little tease, and braided it. The braid was 5x larger than it has ever been before. Needless to say I am super happy over something this small. 

Especially over the last few months I have been trying to take the stance of "at least you have hair". So maybe people would be so jealous to have healthy, flat, limp, pin straight hair. But here I was wanting something else. I am so grateful for my hair and what I do have. I am also greatful for my hair dresser that showed me this product so I can work with it much easier now. 

I'll even let you in on my tip for baby hairs...hair spray on a tooth brush. Works wonders! I've been trying that one for weeks now! 

Physical activity and the holiday season

Did you know that the average person gains between 5-8 pounds every Christmas? That is a crazy amount of extra calories consumed, but let's face it, we all know it is easy to do.

So now that you know this, are you going to be one of those people that gains 5-8lbs, stays the same, or loses weight even though it's a holiday?

If you really look at it Christmas is just one day. For most people Christmas is a SEASON. They turn it into a whole month event. Read: There is NOTHING wrong with that, as long as you are not using it as an excuse to eat what ever you want for that whole season. You can still celebrate Christmas for a whole month if you want, just don't do it with food! Sure, it is tempting, I'm not pretending for a second it's not -- but are you going to have a game plan for how to handle certain social events in regards to what you put in your mouth? Are you going to enjoy the season any less if you are mindful of what you eat and DON'T put on those extra 5-8 pounds? HECK NO! I'm proof of that. This is my favourite holiday and I LOVE all parts of Christmas, yes even the food, but I enjoy it in moderation. Instead of eating ALL of the Christmas cookies I bake, I will have one, maybe two and give the rest away.

The holidays can be a very stressful time for many people, and today I was on the borderline of a melt down. I was at my limit. We have been working really hard to finish our kitchen renovation, and the dryer broke down, and the baby has been clingy, and so many more reasons that I had just had enough.

My trainer encouraged me to get out and go for a walk. BUT I had SO much to do, when was I going to fit it in? But, I said I would go, so I did. When Rylee woke up we both bundled up and headed off. By the way -- pushing a stroller through slushy snow is quite the work out.

Within 5 minutes of starting the walk I became SO thankful that I had taken the time to go. The fresh air did a world of good and really gave me a chance to step back and think about what was stressing me out, break it down, and focus on what was important. As I was walking I was remembering that during the holidays exercise is usually the FIRST thing to go when people get too busy or stressed. They say (much like I thought today) I don't have time for that. BUT, you need to MAKE the time. Even if it is just 30 minutes a day or 3 times a week, you need to still incorporate it into your schedule through out the WHOLE holiday. 

Even if you can't make it to the gym, spend time outside with your family, take them sledding and walk up the hill, or go for a family walk, or pop in a work out DVD after the kids go to bed. And learn to say "no" sometimes. You can't do everything so maybe you will have to pick and choose what events you attend.

I am SO thankful my trainer cares about my well being and that I did take the hour to go out for a walk today because I was able to step back so I can now move forward and be far more effective than if I had kept running around on auto pilot like a chicken with my head cut off crying because...oh I don't even remember why that is how small and insignificant it was. I was able to remember what my goals are and remind myself that by keep up with my physical activity this Christmas season, not only will I be taking care of myself, but I will be better able to take care of my family. 

On a very similar note tomorrow I am taking a partial me day. Sean and I agreed that I would take one this week and he would take one next week since we have been working so hard on the kitchen and everything else going on.

I am going to sleep in (well as much as I can since I'm pretty sure I lost the ability to sleep in haha). I plan on painting my nails and having a nice long hot shower. I am also going to get my hair cut. A perfect way to spend the day (well the most of the day since I will have to take Rylee when Sean goes to work). 

SO -- to sum up what I have said, take care of yourself this season, don't become a zombie. Take that walk to clear your head, say no to a few parties to give yourself some extra time to get things done, and ENJOY the holidays.

Of course, if you are still too busy during the normal hours of a day, Anytime Fitness in London is literally open 24/7, with crazy good membership deals right now -- so what is the excuse now?! 

Have a safe and healthy holiday season!