Our potential winter weather never materialized yesterday. At all. It was just rain. That's the difference between living down south and up north: Here, just the TALK of snow can send everyone into a panic, dashing out for gas, bread, milk, eggs. Up there, they're all "It's gonna snow", and people are like, "well duh, it's January." The up north in me still longs for the white stuff every time they threaten us with it. More often than not, nothing happens. SIGH. We may be due for some tomorrow night, so in order to avoid long lines after work, I'm going to do my customary weekend grocery shop tonight after work. That means I've already picked dinners through Saturday night! And it's only Thursday!
I've been down in the dumps for the past 24 hours or so, and I can't quite shake it. I know it's not diet related, but I had my first full on panic attack last night, and that was the first in a while. I'm not panicky anymore, but I feel just kinda blue, and wish I could go home and sleep all day. But grown-up duties call, so here I am. Hopefully it'll turn around at some point
I went to Trader Joe's yesterday at lunch to pick up the Candida Safe broth I mentioned yesterday. It was $1.69 a carton for the organic free-range chicken broth. There IS a difference in the ingredients, and the non-organic one, which runs $1.49 is NOT safe for our purposes here. I think it would work for just Paleo or Whole 30, though. I also picked up a pack of raw pecans. They're truly my treat each day. I may have eaten half the pack last night before bed. There are worse things. The broth was very tasty and worked great in our Quinoa.
Short post today, as I'm getting a late start, but here's the game plan:
Day 11 Menus:
Breakfast: 2 Scrambled Eggs, 1/2 avocado
Lunch: Leftover Paleo Ginger Chicken, Quinoa with Asian Flavors, Cucumbers
Dinner: Paleo Chicken Enchiladas (halved) made with Paleo Tortillas
Showing posts with label Savings. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Savings. Show all posts
Thursday, January 21, 2016
Wednesday, January 20, 2016
Day 10: I sense some progress!
So, I'm down 7# since I started. 7# in 10 days seems super healthy and normal, and I feel like I'm making progress!
I did have an incident last night - I realized when hubs was snoring next to me in bed that it was 1130p, and I wasn't at ALL tired. It then occurred to me that I didn't take my Zyrtec before bed. The good news is, I had only a very slight itch on my left foot, and I did fall asleep, but I was awakened when hubs got up to pee at around 2, and was WIDE awake. I took a Zyrtec and moved to the sofa.
This is yet another reason I need to get off the Zyrtec. It appears as though I'm a bit sleep dependent on it. I don't like to depend on anything, except maybe coffee, so this is super unacceptable to me, and yet another reason why I'm sticking to this cleanse, and hope it solves this itchy problem.
Let's talk Arrowroot again! I mentioned yesterday, I was only able to find the tiny spice-sized portion at Sprouts, for $4.99 (it may have been more like $4.69, but close enough). I had to run an update on my machine at work, so I went for a quick trip to Whole Foods (aka Hell on Earth) hoping to find it in bulk. They didn't have it in bulk, but they did have the Bob's Red Mill 1# package for $5.99 (and as I'm typing this, I realized I forgot my dang coupon!). So for now, that will do. I'm super excited for all the possibilities, and a little nervous I'm assuming I can do more stuff with this than is realistic.
I'd also like to discuss Chicken Broth! Now, it's been used quite sparingly thus far, but after a convo with a friend, I checked the ingredients in mine, and it contains BOTH sugar, AND MSG! Not good! So I'll be purchasing an alternative to use for tonight's dinner. I did some research, and these are the brands I'll be looking for:
Imagine Foods Organic Free Range Chicken Broth
More Than Gourmet Chicken Stock
Trader Joe's Organic Free Range Chicken Broth
You know me - I'll stand in the broth aisle for like 20 minutes reading all the labels, and will let you know what I learn or if I find another alternative that is suitable. I'm sad to ditch my Mexi-broth though! I loved the convenience of the powder. Oh well.
Short post today, I know, but we may have impending winter weather possible, so I wanted to get this out, and get some work done, in the event we are sent home early to watch it rain (we freak out down here a bit with this winter stuff. My inner Michiganer/Pennsylvanian thinks it's redic, but the reality is that Georgia doesn't have the proper equipment to pre/treat the roads, and it can become a mess very quickly).
OH! I do want to say last night's Crock Pot Thai Beef Stew was SO good. Mike said he thought it was salty, but I've been CRAVING salt lately, so it didn't bother me any. I'm actually wondering if it was the Red Curry Paste that was salty, but I actually added double the coconut milk the recipe called for, so I would think that helped some. At any rate, if you find it to be too salty for your taste, chop up 1/2 a zucchini and toss it in when you add the broccoli. That should take some out (the way a potato does, but we all know potatoes are no-no right now).
Day 10 Game Plan:
Breakfast: 2 Scrambled Eggs with Tomato
Lunch: Leftover Crock Pot Thai Beef Stew and Celery
Dinner: Paleo Ginger Chicken, Quinoa with Asian Flavors (Assuming I can find suitable broth)
I did have an incident last night - I realized when hubs was snoring next to me in bed that it was 1130p, and I wasn't at ALL tired. It then occurred to me that I didn't take my Zyrtec before bed. The good news is, I had only a very slight itch on my left foot, and I did fall asleep, but I was awakened when hubs got up to pee at around 2, and was WIDE awake. I took a Zyrtec and moved to the sofa.
This is yet another reason I need to get off the Zyrtec. It appears as though I'm a bit sleep dependent on it. I don't like to depend on anything, except maybe coffee, so this is super unacceptable to me, and yet another reason why I'm sticking to this cleanse, and hope it solves this itchy problem.
Let's talk Arrowroot again! I mentioned yesterday, I was only able to find the tiny spice-sized portion at Sprouts, for $4.99 (it may have been more like $4.69, but close enough). I had to run an update on my machine at work, so I went for a quick trip to Whole Foods (aka Hell on Earth) hoping to find it in bulk. They didn't have it in bulk, but they did have the Bob's Red Mill 1# package for $5.99 (and as I'm typing this, I realized I forgot my dang coupon!). So for now, that will do. I'm super excited for all the possibilities, and a little nervous I'm assuming I can do more stuff with this than is realistic.
I'd also like to discuss Chicken Broth! Now, it's been used quite sparingly thus far, but after a convo with a friend, I checked the ingredients in mine, and it contains BOTH sugar, AND MSG! Not good! So I'll be purchasing an alternative to use for tonight's dinner. I did some research, and these are the brands I'll be looking for:
Imagine Foods Organic Free Range Chicken Broth
More Than Gourmet Chicken Stock
Trader Joe's Organic Free Range Chicken Broth
You know me - I'll stand in the broth aisle for like 20 minutes reading all the labels, and will let you know what I learn or if I find another alternative that is suitable. I'm sad to ditch my Mexi-broth though! I loved the convenience of the powder. Oh well.
Short post today, I know, but we may have impending winter weather possible, so I wanted to get this out, and get some work done, in the event we are sent home early to watch it rain (we freak out down here a bit with this winter stuff. My inner Michiganer/Pennsylvanian thinks it's redic, but the reality is that Georgia doesn't have the proper equipment to pre/treat the roads, and it can become a mess very quickly).
OH! I do want to say last night's Crock Pot Thai Beef Stew was SO good. Mike said he thought it was salty, but I've been CRAVING salt lately, so it didn't bother me any. I'm actually wondering if it was the Red Curry Paste that was salty, but I actually added double the coconut milk the recipe called for, so I would think that helped some. At any rate, if you find it to be too salty for your taste, chop up 1/2 a zucchini and toss it in when you add the broccoli. That should take some out (the way a potato does, but we all know potatoes are no-no right now).
Day 10 Game Plan:
Breakfast: 2 Scrambled Eggs with Tomato
Lunch: Leftover Crock Pot Thai Beef Stew and Celery
Dinner: Paleo Ginger Chicken, Quinoa with Asian Flavors (Assuming I can find suitable broth)
Tuesday, January 19, 2016
Day 9: Been slacking on the TMI...
So let's talk #2! Now, if you know me in real life, you know that I'm not really one to talk about stuff like this. Poop, periods, peeing, any of that stuff just grosses me out. But given that I'm a 37 year-old woman (REALLY? How did I get so OLD?! I still feel 19!), let's be adultish and talk about some TMI.
I noticed last week that my trips to the bathroom for #2 had decreased to only once a day! I figured that had to due to the diet changes I made, but I have to say, that all went out the window after I had that popcorn on Saturday. Fiber? IDK. But I assume it'll continue to even out as I progress through the diet.
Got that shit out of the way. GET IT?!
Let's talk Coconut Chicken and Eggplant Fries!
A couple things about the chicken: It was really bland. I added salt, but I think it needed even more. It also needed twice the time listed in the recipe, and turn them over halfway through (I'll add that to the recipe notes). Hubs dipped his in a sweet/spicy condiment we have at home, and I was tempted to try it, but the first ingredient listed was sugar! No ma'am! I think I will save this recipe to try again when we're not sugar restricting, and add some sugar and salt to the batter. I got this AWESOME coconut from Sprouts that worked out perfectly for it, and now I'm DYING to make a coconut cake. It's like the perfect consistency to use on the outside and the inside. Coconut cake is my FAVORITE.
Speaking of Sprouts, you know I was on a mission yesterday to find two things: Almond Flour that was less than $12.99, and Arrowroot powder. I stopped at the Walmart Neighborhood Market on my way to Target, and found they carried Almond Flour for $10.48! I had it in my paws to purchase, but alas, they didn't carry Arrowroot, so I elected to keep shopping.
This is of note about Walmart Neighborhood Market: The same brand of Red Curry Paste that I purchased at Publix for $4.50 sells for $2.50 at Walmart. I shall be doing a trip to Wally from now on, for packaged items, before I go to Publix for meat and produce. Every penny counts!
A new Sprouts market opened in our area just last week, so I took yesterday as an opportunity to check it out. I LOVED it. LOVED IT! However, I was less than pleased with the people shopping there. Weirdly, they're the same group of asses that I normally shop with, however, this kind of organic, hippy-shit brought out a level of impatience and pretention I just couldn't handle. I realized I live in one of the snobbier parts of town, but Jeezus, these people really like to sniff their own farts. You know the kind of people that couldn't be bothered that they're taking up an entire aisle to pick out which kind of gluten-free chip to purchase? Or to wait in line while the cashier rings up my THREE items? If I ever go again, it will be at 8 or 9 in the morning, as I cannot handle the snobby asses that I ran into on a more frequent basis. Note: The same reason why I won't go to the Trader Joe's in my neighborhood.
Sprouts had that LOVELY coconut I mentioned above, but I was also able to get almond meal for $5.99! And I'm pretty sure they have it in bulk, which I will check out the next time I go. I also got Arrowroot, however, I wish I'd paid closer attention to the amount I needed for my recipe. I got a spice-jar size, and really, I need to get like a pound of it. I'm going ot make a trip to Whole Foods at lunch today to see if I can find in bulk there (Read: another one of my least favorite places to have people be pretentious asses). I paid around $4.00 for that jar, and I'm hoping I can find it at a better price point, but will do what I have to.
I should also mention that the Eggplant Fries were GREAT. Not great as in my hubs liked them - he still didn't. He doesn't like it when foods try to masquerade as other foods. I get it, but really, I like a lot more foods, especially veggies, than he does. I LOVED the "breading" on the outside. Although they didn't really get crispy, I think the almond flour breading gave them a fantastic consistency. I dipped them in some leftover sauce from the meatloaf, which tasted a bit like ketchup, and all in all, it worked for me. Call it Fancy Fast Food?
And I ate breakfast, which is a rarity when I'm at home. I do SO much better when I'm at work. Scrambled eggs with Tomato has become my favorite breakfast of late. I've never really been the biggest eggs fan, but I've always loved tomato. Look how cold it was in my house when I took this picture! I forgot that the thermostat was on the weekday mode, and we've had quite the cold snap lately! We may even get "winter weather" tomorrow!
Finally, I also made the Paleo Tortillas I've been talking about, and what I needed the Arrowroot for (Though the eggplant fries also called for Arrowroot). I think it's a bit of a stretch to call these tortillas, but I'm interested to see what they add to the enchiladas on Thursday. It's quite a versitle recipe actually, depending on how thick you make them. The recipe claims to only yield three tortillas, however, if you make them smaller (picture below, upper left), I think you could easily get 6 out of the recipe. If you do them bigger/thicker, (like the upper right below) you'd only get 3. If you do them thicker, they'd EASILY pass for pancakes, or crepes. She even says you can modify the recipe to add vanilla, for a sweeter treat (though you need to get non-alcohol vanilla extract, for our purposes). I definitely want to try to make these again, and if I'm able to score some bulk arrowroot, I will! I'd love to wrap my egg scramble in one of these bad boys some time soon.
Okay, let's talk plan! That's what you're here for, right? We're on day NINE! Can you believe it? Only 3 weeks left! I think the no-booze piece is going to be the hardest part. Friday night hits me like a ton of bricks. Only 3 more sober Fridays left, and then my liver will be back to work!
Day 9 Menu:
- Breakfast: Scrambled eggs with Tomato and Garlic. Breathing Fire.
- Lunch: Leftover Chili Salad: Added diced green pepper and 1 TBSP Salsa (non-vinegar).
- Dinner: Crock Pot Thai Beef Stew (I halved this recipe)
- Omit Carrots, Jicama, and Fish Sauce
Have a great, short week!
I noticed last week that my trips to the bathroom for #2 had decreased to only once a day! I figured that had to due to the diet changes I made, but I have to say, that all went out the window after I had that popcorn on Saturday. Fiber? IDK. But I assume it'll continue to even out as I progress through the diet.
Got that shit out of the way. GET IT?!
Let's talk Coconut Chicken and Eggplant Fries!
A couple things about the chicken: It was really bland. I added salt, but I think it needed even more. It also needed twice the time listed in the recipe, and turn them over halfway through (I'll add that to the recipe notes). Hubs dipped his in a sweet/spicy condiment we have at home, and I was tempted to try it, but the first ingredient listed was sugar! No ma'am! I think I will save this recipe to try again when we're not sugar restricting, and add some sugar and salt to the batter. I got this AWESOME coconut from Sprouts that worked out perfectly for it, and now I'm DYING to make a coconut cake. It's like the perfect consistency to use on the outside and the inside. Coconut cake is my FAVORITE.
Speaking of Sprouts, you know I was on a mission yesterday to find two things: Almond Flour that was less than $12.99, and Arrowroot powder. I stopped at the Walmart Neighborhood Market on my way to Target, and found they carried Almond Flour for $10.48! I had it in my paws to purchase, but alas, they didn't carry Arrowroot, so I elected to keep shopping.
This is of note about Walmart Neighborhood Market: The same brand of Red Curry Paste that I purchased at Publix for $4.50 sells for $2.50 at Walmart. I shall be doing a trip to Wally from now on, for packaged items, before I go to Publix for meat and produce. Every penny counts!
A new Sprouts market opened in our area just last week, so I took yesterday as an opportunity to check it out. I LOVED it. LOVED IT! However, I was less than pleased with the people shopping there. Weirdly, they're the same group of asses that I normally shop with, however, this kind of organic, hippy-shit brought out a level of impatience and pretention I just couldn't handle. I realized I live in one of the snobbier parts of town, but Jeezus, these people really like to sniff their own farts. You know the kind of people that couldn't be bothered that they're taking up an entire aisle to pick out which kind of gluten-free chip to purchase? Or to wait in line while the cashier rings up my THREE items? If I ever go again, it will be at 8 or 9 in the morning, as I cannot handle the snobby asses that I ran into on a more frequent basis. Note: The same reason why I won't go to the Trader Joe's in my neighborhood.
Sprouts had that LOVELY coconut I mentioned above, but I was also able to get almond meal for $5.99! And I'm pretty sure they have it in bulk, which I will check out the next time I go. I also got Arrowroot, however, I wish I'd paid closer attention to the amount I needed for my recipe. I got a spice-jar size, and really, I need to get like a pound of it. I'm going ot make a trip to Whole Foods at lunch today to see if I can find in bulk there (Read: another one of my least favorite places to have people be pretentious asses). I paid around $4.00 for that jar, and I'm hoping I can find it at a better price point, but will do what I have to.
I should also mention that the Eggplant Fries were GREAT. Not great as in my hubs liked them - he still didn't. He doesn't like it when foods try to masquerade as other foods. I get it, but really, I like a lot more foods, especially veggies, than he does. I LOVED the "breading" on the outside. Although they didn't really get crispy, I think the almond flour breading gave them a fantastic consistency. I dipped them in some leftover sauce from the meatloaf, which tasted a bit like ketchup, and all in all, it worked for me. Call it Fancy Fast Food?
I also did all my prepping for the week yesterday. I was fortunate to have the day off, because otherwise, I'd have had to do it all on Sunday, and there wouldn't have been movie time. Got my snacks (not SNAKES, WTF?!) for the week made: 
And I ate breakfast, which is a rarity when I'm at home. I do SO much better when I'm at work. Scrambled eggs with Tomato has become my favorite breakfast of late. I've never really been the biggest eggs fan, but I've always loved tomato. Look how cold it was in my house when I took this picture! I forgot that the thermostat was on the weekday mode, and we've had quite the cold snap lately! We may even get "winter weather" tomorrow!
Okay, let's talk plan! That's what you're here for, right? We're on day NINE! Can you believe it? Only 3 weeks left! I think the no-booze piece is going to be the hardest part. Friday night hits me like a ton of bricks. Only 3 more sober Fridays left, and then my liver will be back to work!
Day 9 Menu:
- Breakfast: Scrambled eggs with Tomato and Garlic. Breathing Fire.
- Lunch: Leftover Chili Salad: Added diced green pepper and 1 TBSP Salsa (non-vinegar).
- Dinner: Crock Pot Thai Beef Stew (I halved this recipe)
- Omit Carrots, Jicama, and Fish Sauce
Have a great, short week!
Monday, January 18, 2016
Day 7 / 8: The weekends are HARD!
I knew this weekend would be a challenge, in more ways than one, but I managed to make it through, and I'm STILL down 4# from when I started. This week is a super special one because I'm home from work today (Monday), so I have time to do stuff at home! Don't worry - I have a list of stuff to keep me busy all day today, and the jury is out on whether there is derby practice tonight. If not tonight, then I will go Thursday for sure. Our first bout is in two weeks, and I need to get more skate time in before then. Get my "land legs", or in this case "track legs" back after off-season.
I did get this week's menus through Friday done, and made it to the grocery store, but I still have a couple of things I need to get today, so I can fully prep for this week.
First, I found Almond Flour at my Publix grocery, but it was $12.99!! Now, I'm fully aware that eating well cost more than eating poorly, but I figured since I paid $5.99 for the Coconut Flour, the Almond Flour would be around the same price. WRONG. I did print a $1.00 coupon from the Bob's Website, but I got home, and did some research and found that I can get it at my nearest Target for $9.79, then, dollar off coupon, and my 5% Red Card discount, and that puts me at $8.35. That's a savings of $4.64. I call that a win.
Next, I'm on a mission to find Arrowroot Powder. I thought it would be with the Bob's Red Mill stuff, but, alas, I couldn't find it. After researching the Almond Flour online, I did the same for Arrowroot and it turns out you find it with the spices! Durf. Lesson learned.
One of my fun things for today, after I get the appropriate supplies, is to make Paleo Tortillas. I've been using the heck out of my Coconut Flour, but I was wondering if I would get a better result, especially from "baked"/pastry items if I used Almond. So, I'm going to give tortillas a shot today for enchiladas on Thursday.
Yesterday I went to the movies with my friend. I ended up sharing a large popcorn with her, no butter. I know it wasn't my smartest move, but I also felt like I deserved a treat. It was worth it. Though, I have to say, my left hand, middle finger, broke out in a rash last night, and I couldn't help but wonder if it was due to "feeding" the candida. I took my Zyrtec a little early last night, and applied a coating of cocoa butter before bed, and it's not itchy anymore, just sore from the feelings last night. So weird.
As far as Menu for yesterday, I really just ate leftovers and seeds/nuts to snack on. I put together the entire plan for last week here, so you can see what Sunday was like for me. You'll see I'm finishing off the chili today for lunch. I hope you can make your leftovers go as far as we apparently can!
A note about salsa: I stood in the "Ethnic" aisle at the grocery store for 10 minutes looking for a salsa that doesn't include vinegar. That's nuts, right? I think I'm going to challenge myself to make a homemade, vinegar-free salsa recipe that holds up. In the meantime, the Herdez Salsa I found does not contain vinegar. It DOES contain Citric Acid, which is also not allowed on the Candida diet. I'm going to pick my battles and again, rely on my supplements to counteract any negative issues with the citric acid in the salsa, of which I'll use about 1 TBSP. I think I can allow myself this small joy.
I'm also excited for Dinner tonight, though I'm hoping not to be let down. No Spoilers. Keep reading
Here's what's up for today (which I need to get a jump on!):
Breakfast: 2 Scrambled Eggs with Diced Tomato - This has become a favorite
Lunch: Chili Salad - Chili over Lettuce, with NO-VINEGAR SALSA
- Use Coconut Milk instead of heavy cream
- NO GOAT CHEESE DIP! But you knew that, right?
One week down, and three to go! And this all ends in our epic Valentine's Day Weekend! YAY!
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