"Mom why is that hotdog green?"

I made the Pesto with the whole wheat pasta last night, it was awesome! I sliced and sauteed that pesto turkey sausage/hotdog from T.J. and whole mushrooms with it. My kids always give their opinions about these dinners, and this time there were a lot of comments about the unusual color. The Pesto recipe I used had a lot of lime juice in it, which was totally yummy, and it called for walnuts along with the pine nuts. Is that common?

I think I'm going to ask for that shake blender you bought at Costco for my birthday. My blender stinks, and the hotter it gets the more I just want fruit shakes(with a little spinach).

We need to think of something great, that we can actually eat, to bring on Saturday to the Ward picnic. Let the brainstorming begin!

Everyone's happy

It's funny how I always use to say that I make treats for my family. Since I've been strictly making healthy things my kids haven't complained once or even noticed and Travis seems so happy about it all. I made those peanut butter cookies again today but I burned half of them. They're so good and I made some more whole wheat bread. I've been paying more attention the last two days to the alkaline/acidic ratio. I figure if I eat something normal (acidic food) I need to eat four servings of fruits or veggies. I just am not sure I can possibly do that. I've been doing a 50/50 ratio the last two days and even that's hard. I'll try even harder tomorrow. I need to go hit the farmer's market again to stock up on the alkaline foods.

I made some Tilapia fish for dinner seasoned with Lemon Pepper. It was super yummy. And I'm munching on frozen blueberries right now which are a favorite treat of mine.

I'll meet you at the track tomorrow. Let's hope the kiddos cooperate!

My Ultimate Test

Last night my sister brought over some huge fresh, sticky "Cinnabons!" Can you believe that, I was so mad at her. Have you ever heard that hilarious bit Jim Gaffigan does about getting a cavity from just smelling a Cinnabon? But I passed the test, and made myself a banana strawberry shake instead. Is your energy level ok still?

Hey I'm going to be at the track at 9:20 am tomorrow. I'm feeling so great about this diet, I think I'm ready to add some exercise into the mix to really make myself feel successful. It's all mental for me! We'll see if Quinn cooperates.

Mmmm Smooth Yogurt!

I went today and picked up some of that European yogurt and had it with pure Maple syrup tonight and it was sooooooo yummy! I'm glad you liked the cookies. Maybe a little too salty? I can't bring myself to try the bananas and peanut butter. I'm not really into bananas or peanut butter. But I did like those peanut butter cookies and I like the peanut cookie lara bar. I made scrambled eggs and veggie sausage for dinner and just had a little bit and a big spinach strawberry smoothie. I ate more veggies today than yesterday and I feel good about that. I think tomorrow I'll do fish for dinner. I'm dreading making cupcakes that I can't eat or even stick my fingers in the batter and taste! I'm thinking about making whole wheat bran muffins instead...j/k.

Peanut Butter Is A Divine Food!

I only have a second to blog, but I have to say those cookies were amazing! I loved them. Thank you so much, I took them to Folk Life Festival with me, which was such a life saver among all the "Elephant Ears", "Kettle Corn" and "Strawberry Shortcake". There was less there that I could eat then I would have thought. Where are all of those Seattle vegans/ vegetarians?

I am going to have to make those for sure!!! My other favorite is just smothering that same peanut butter over a banana. That's been my dessert the last few days. By the way I picked up some of the yogurt we couldn't find, "European Style plain nonfat" right? IT IS GOOD!!! I'm going to put frozen strawberries in it tonight. YUM!

Camping Gourmet

I am so proud of us for camping and eating so well! My favorite moment was when we tricked the men into loving vegetarian sausage patties. I really wasn't expecting such a positive reaction!

With so many good things to eat I ate too much today. Everything was healthy and diet approved, but I didn't stick to the 20/80 plan very well. I made some peanut/almond cookies that I think you will really like (they taste like peanut butter cookies). I'll give you some when you come to get the backpack tomorrow. I made that Asian salad again tonight for dinner with chicken that I marinated and then grilled and I made whole wheat bread to go with it. I normally wouldn't have done all of that, but I was taking dinner to the Nichols.

Here's the recipes I made today and the recipe for the pancakes... (I would love for you to post how you do the balsamic chicken and the recipe for the cottage cheese cucumber salad).


Gluten/Dairy Free Almond Cookies (makes about 24 1 inch cookies)
1/2 Cup Almond Butter (I used the creamy salted peanut butter from TJs.)
2 Cups Almond Meal
6 Tbsp Honey or Agave Nectar
1 Tsp Vanilla Extract
Salt to taste
Slivered Almonds, for decoration
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.2. Place all the ingredients in a bowl and stir to thoroughly combine.3. You can either roll the dough by hand into 1 inch balls and lightly press down with a fork or your fingers OR you can pat into a large square and cut into smaller 1-inch squares.4. Place the cookies on a parchment or silpat lined baking sheet.5. Bake 10-12 minutes or until golden. The cookies will crisp as they cool.6. Allow cookies to cool and store in an airtight container.


Whole Wheat Pancakes
1 1/4 cups whole wheat flour (I like the white wheat flour from TJs)
1 Tbls. Baking Powder
1/2 tsp. salt
2 Tbls. oil
1 cup milk
1 egg
2 Tbls. Sugar

Mix and cook.

Super Easy Whole Wheat Bread
5 cups hot water
5 cups white whole wheat flour
1/2 cup honey
2 Tbls. Gluten or dough enhancer
2 Tbls. Yeast (heaping)
1/2 cup oil
1 1/2 Tbls. Salt (add this after the yeast has a little time to work )
Add more whole wheat flour until the dough holds together. Knead for 6 minutes.

Preheat oven to 250 degrees. Then turn up to 350 degrees when the loaves go in the oven.

I only do half of this recipe so that it will fit in my kitchenaid and half of the recipe makes 5 or 6 mini loaves or 2 regular sized loaves.

A Whole New World

I'm really amazed at how easy this diet seems after those initial 3 days of eating only apples. I haven't really been tempted once (at least not too badly). And I'm feeling really great! I sure enjoyed those whole wheat pancakes and aquave syrup yesterday! I need the recipe.

Today after church I had a yummy cottage cheese and cucumber salad! And I think I'm going to make balsamic chicken breast tonight again, I'm really on a kick right now.

Trader Joe's really is the way to go, at least for snacks, I'm going to make another run tomorrow.