Busy Week(end) and a Menu: Harvest Time!

I feel like life is going full-steam-ahead, but my brain wants to nap in a hammock for a few days. And I don't even have a hammock! Oh well.

This week/weekend I did quite a bit of preserving. I've finally, FINALLY got tomatoes ripening, and a few peppers too. The sweet chocolates are coming along nicely. Nothing else pepper-wise seems to be ready yet. I made 3 pints of pizza sauce, a quart and a pint of lacto-fermented salsa from Nourishing Traditions and 2 1/2 pints of freezer peach jam from farmers' market peaches.

Also, I recently won a $60 gift certificate for CSN Stores from the Green Bag Lady and used it to get a dehydrator. I'm so excited :) Despite my desires for an excalibur, I decided to bite the bullet and use this opportunity to get one that's not quite so awesome, but still great. I got a Nesco American Harvest. I decided to splurge and get the square one. At the CSN store, the round one would have been just under my $60 and shipped for free. But, the square one cost me $12.99 with free ground shipping. It wasn't too hard to convince my Hubby to agree on the extra $$. One word: jerky :) I was really excited too when I got an email telling me that they had upgraded my shipping for free and I got it in just a few days! Awesome! I've already got a load of tomatoes dehydrating. And I promise, there will be pictures soon.

This weekend was also the CornFest in my little village. I didn't get to experience it much though. I played in the volleyball tournament, from 9am until 3pm. LONG day. Oh, yeah, and it rained the whole time. I was soaked, completely soaked to the bone. After the first few games, I had to continue to wring my hair and my clothes out. The sand became concrete by the end. It started out fun, but by the end I was just tired and hungry. It did let up finally after I was home and clean and dry, but by that time my feet hurt so bad that the last thing I wanted to do was walk around! I did get to enjoy a funnel cake during a break in the games though, so I got what I wanted ;)

There was also a sad time this weekend. I had to put my sourdough starter in the compost :( I'm not sure if it was completely dead or not, but I neglected it for way too long. It was starting to smell a little funny, and somehow fruit flies were invading. None of these thing are good. However, I've resigned to start a new starter and attempt to keep it in the fridge and only bring it out and feed it when I need it. It will take a little more planning ahead, but I think it will be better in the long run. I think I'll take pictures this time too!

Now, on to the menu! This week is a not-so-busy week schedule wise, but there is a lot I want to get done. Plus, I think we're having a party at our house on Sunday for our fantasy football draft, so I need to get a little cleaning done!

Monday - hamburger gravy over mashed potatoes. I also cooked up extra ground beef for Wednesday and 2 lbs with taco seasoning to make enchiladas for the freezer. 3 lbs were vacuum sealed for the freezer. I cut and packaged a bunch of chicken for the freezer too, including marinating some for Tuesday.
Tuesday - chicken stirfry with pac choi, peas and carrots and a side of couscous. Make enchilada sauce at least, if not enchiladas for the freezer. Make cookies.
Wednesday - spaghetti with meat sauce. Hubby requests no weird stuff like veggies in the sauce, just sauce...? I'm hoping I can use the tomatoes from my garden and simmer the sauce while I run! Cleaning time! Finish enchiladas if I haven't already.
Thursday -  fried chicken nuggets with butternut squash fries. More cleaning.
Friday - beef fajitas? Not sure what we're doing yet.
Saturday - pizza
Sunday - cookout, potluck style!

Menu Monday

I'm late again. Yesterday was a busy day, and I just didn't get to posting. I DID create a menu plan, just didn't get it up.

Monday - fried chicken nuggets with veggie stirfry
Tuesday - Tacos (& make freezer enchiladas)
Wednesday - Pot roast with carrots
Thursday - BBQ beef sandwiches and corn on the cob
Friday - dinner with friends
Saturday - birthday party
Sunday - Oven fried chicken

Tonight, however, is probably going to be reworked. My cousin who lives in Georgia is in town! I haven't even met his little boy yet, and I can't wait to do so. It's been way to long since I've seen them! So, we'll probably end up going out to eat...

Friday will most likely be grocery day. I plan on going at lunch time maybe, unless I end up meeting my Aunt for lunch.

Over the weekend I managed to get chicken stock done and pressure-canned, granola made, bread made and dog biscuits made. The granola bars didn't harden, though they're very good. I'm just calling it sticky granola :)

Adventures with Summer Squash: Recipe

I don't have any pictures for this one, but it was very delicious! Hubby didn't care for it so much. He said he was tired of chicken stirfry. Whatever. I loved it. I mentioned it a couple of weeks ago.

1 c quinoa, soaked and rinsed
1 lb chicken, cut to strips
1 3/4 c chicken stock
1 c peas (I used my snow peas)
3 cloves of garlic, minced
3 T olive oil
1 T white wine
2 T tomato paste
1/2 c finely grated Romano cheese
salt and pepper to taste

I found this recipe (or the recipe this was loosely based on) because I had things on hand that needed to be used: chicken, a summer squash, tomato paste and mozzarella cheese. So I added some mozz and only put a little bit of the romano in. I also cut up the squash and added it, along with some fresh basil and oregano. It made it a little more Italian tasting!

The original recipe said to marinate the chicken in the oil, salt, pepper and garlic for about 20 minutes. I didn't really have the time, so I just sauted the garlic with the onion and cooked the chicken after that with the salt and pepper added to it. Deglaze the pan with the white wine (I think I used more like 1/4-1/2 cup, because I had just a little left in the bottle), then add the tomato paste and mix. Add the quinoa, veggies and stock. Simmer about 15 minutes. Mix in cheese and any additional spices. Serve.

It warmed up pretty well for lunch the next two days too.

This post is a part of the Simple Lives Thursday blog hop, The Pennywise Platter, and, because I got it up late, the Friendly Friday blog hop!

Menu Monday

Last week didn't go as planned, but I should plan for that any week!

Things I didn't do:

• make granola bars
• make burritos for the freezer
• blanch and freeze carrots
• eat with friends on Friday - we just ate leftovers instead
• cook on Sunday - we went out for wings
• make icecream
• make buns
• make dog treats
• make peanut butter
• replant the peas - though I did rip out the dying ones
• work on the berry patches

Things I did differently:

• made tortellini on Wednesday, not Thursday
• made chicken Enchiladas on Thursday
• spent Saturday in the basement of my shed cleaning it out (more on that later!) since it was supposed to rain...it didnt.
• painted the fence on Sunday instead. But it is done, woohoo!!

Things that went right:

• Monday, Tuesday and Saturday meal plans
• the fence DID get painted, did I mention that yet?
• made a very yummy chocolate zucchini bread. I will definitely be making this again, maybe in a muffin form for portability. It's very good with a little cream cheese, which is what contributed to the next item
• managed to only spend like $7 on groceries (cream cheese for bread, dip for all the carrots, and 2-liter of Diet Dr. Pepper in a moment of weakness!)
• blanched and froze the broccoli, which is good since that won't last like the carrots will
• soaked and dried the oats for the bars
• I won TWO different giveaways on blogland this past week. Which is awesome. I will definitely be writing about them both when I get the goodies!

Anyway, onward and upward. This Week's menu is as follows:

• Monday - beef stew. It was supposed to be in the crockpot already, but since I didn't get up until almost 7:30 this morning, it didn't happen. I will start it on the stove before volleyball tonight, and then eat when I get home!
• Tuesday - Breakfast! Sourdough waffles and bacon. I plan on making extra waffles for the freezer. I also hope to get some beef enchiladas made for the freezer. Hubby really like the chicken ones, but thinks beef will be even better. Better than the burritos.
• Wednesday - Chicken stew in the crockpot. I'm making a large batch, and the leftovers will go to make some pasty-type things for the freezer.
• Thursday - Chicken nuggets with...probably broccoli since we have a bunch. Maybe some corn-on-the-cob if I get to the farm stand! I will finally have some money in the budget for grocery shopping, so this will happen today. I'm pretty excited! We have a local butcher I have yet to get to and I want to go on my lunch break, then the farm stand, and then the grocery store for a few other essentials...like light bulbs!
• Friday - still up in the air again this week. I will plan on grilling out. Burgers and corn. We'll see.
• Saturday - Busy, busy day of cookouts, etc. Nothing planned.
• Sunday - pizza! My to-do list for Sunday consists of everything on the not done list above :)

That's my menu for this week. Check out more menu's at The Organizing Junkie.

Menu Monday - Eating from the Pantry

I usually keep a very well-stocked pantry and buy my groceries according to what's on sale. Then, I use what I have to create meals, not necessarily what I've purchased. (Other than fresh veggies that is!) However, for the next two weeks, I will be attempting to do pantry-only cooking. This will be make a little easier by our garden, which is currently still providing us with Pac Choi and snow peas (though I believe the peas are going to come to an end this week. There haven't been many to pick the last couple days.) I also replanted some lettuces and spinach that should be ready to start eating soon. I also have an abundance of carrots and broccoli left from this weekend. My brother-in-law was married and I provided relish/veggie/cheese trays. I over-estimated on these two items, but better safe than sorry!

Why the grocery boycott? Well, to put it simply, money. Hubby and I are finally, I believe, on the same page with money and are really trying to buckle down to pay down the mountain of debt we face. I will try to post monthly totals so we can be accountable to someone other than ourselves. Totals are better than they were earlier, but we haven't made much progress due to a lot of things.

This past week has seen us pay out $800 to fix Hubby's truck, which was barely drivable due to brakes that didn't work and I will be receiving a medical bill shortly for $350. I love it when you get the explanation of  benefits denying a claim a full month before you get the bill. The suspense is killing me!

Anyway, on to the menu!

• Monday - Chili in the crockpot. This time I used more beans and only 1 pound of meat. I usually double the recipe and mix 1 lb ground beef with 1 lb cut up stew meat. I didn't this time, and I don't think he noticed! Need to make pulled pork for lunches from the leftover pork roast and soak and dry oats for granola bars.
• Tuesday - BBQ chicken pizza on the grill. It's gonna be about 92 tonight, not factoring in the humidity. I'm trying to avoid using the oven or the stove if I can. Pizza on the grill is delicious, in case you didn't know! Need to make granola bars and assemble some freezer burritos for hubby. If it's too hot to make meat...I'll put it off until the weekend. I also need to blanch and freeze a bunch of broccoli (and maybe carrots?) left from this weekend. I'm also hoping to get out and tie up the tomatoes. We had a LOT of stormy weather this past weekend, and being away at the wedding the whole time, I haven't had a chance to get them upright!
• Wednesday - Crockpot chicken and dumplings. I'm also hoping to make some icecream if I have time.
• Thursday - Tortellini with meat sauce and yellow squash. This will be my LAST jar of tomato sauce from last summer. Thankfully, my mom has given me some of hers, so I have a few left, but she uses cinnamon in her sauce, and Hubby doesn't really like it all that well. I usually use it in things, like the chili, rather than as a stand-alone red sauce. I would like to get some zucchini bread and hamburger buns made. I've also got some more chard to harvest as well as basil, stevia, oregano and probably some other herbs.
• Friday - Not sure yet, I'm thinking hamburgers and sweet corn with the neighbors.
• Saturday - chicken stirfry with pac choi and snow peas. I need to make some more dog treats, probably a triple batch this time! I also hope to make some peanut butter. In the garden, the peas will get pulled and replanted for the fall and the fence will, I'm praying, get it's second coat.
• Sunday - I'm thinking I'll make a lasagna to have for lunches next week to. If the painting gets done Saturday, Sunday will be the day to get to work on the berry patches. One side will be raspberries and blueberries and the other will be strawberries. I'd also like to work on some chicken pot pie/calzone type things for Hubby's lunches next week.

Looks like a busy week. Hopefully I can get it done!

For more menus, visit The Organizing Junkie!

Strike That, Reverse It!

So, what's the only thing worse than planning leftovers that don't get left over? Anyone, anyone? How about planning those leftovers on a pot roast in the freezer that turns out to be soup bones! Ugh. And there's no way I can promise my Hubby and his friend pot roast and potatoes as he walks out the door for to have him come home to...nothing in the crockpot! What's a girl to do?

Pic courtesy of Flickr Photo Commons, from the Library of Virginia

Well, I am very thankful that there is a Kroger in town. At 6:30am I threw on some yoga pants and put my hair in a ponytail and went grocery shopping. I found a beef brisket on Manager's special for 6.66. That'll do. Dinner was saved. Not my most proud moment though. They at it up, and even saved me some. I asked how it was and they said it was a little dry. I'm not sure how something with that much fat cooked in red wine and chicken stock all day in a slow cooker can be dry, but whatever. I didn't think it was dry!

But, alas, there is not enough left for bbq beef for 6 people. So, I still have to rethink that. And I'm pretty sure my idea of chicken stirfry tonight will not be looked positively by the rest of my household (that's just Hubby...the animals don't really care what I make for dinner. Though I'm pretty sure Tex just hopes I drop some of whatever it is!).

We've got lots of ground beef in the fridge, I'll probably do something with that. Or maybe the cauliflower soup and ham that's been in the freezer for a few months now. Soup doesn't usually sound good when it's 90+ outside and so humid it may or may not be drizzling. But, right now I'm drinking tea, so you never know!

Menu Monday (again, on a Tuesday!)

I really was going to post a menu yesterday, but I figured I had already posted enough and I should stretch it out! Visit The Organizing Junkie for more Menu Plans!

This week, as usual this summer, I have volleyball on Monday and Wednesday nights. These are very busy nights. I get home about 5:45-6pm and games start at 6:30pm. I finally got the tires on my bike pumped up, so being able to ride my bike helps. It takes me about 3 minutes to ride there versus almost 10 to walk. But it's definitely not enough time to make dinner, or even eat! I usually just grab a small snack to tide me over. That means I'm make dinner at about 9pm at night. Ugh.

Monday: Chicken and Quinoa "stirfry" with summer squash and peas (recipe to come soon)
Tuesday: Pork chops with patty-pan squash and salads
Wednesday: Beef roast with potatoes (crockpot!) and green beans (canned, just need to warm up!)
Thursday: Chicken stirfry with pak choi, carrots and peas
Friday: BBQ beef with rutabaga and corn (from the freezer)
Saturday: homemade pizzas on the grill
Sunday: leftovers or chili

Looks like a great plan, huh? But last night, I ran into a few hitches. First, I thought dinner last night was delicious. It was awesome, and I will definitely be sharing the recipe I concocted, but it wasn't really picture worthy. However, Hubby wasn't impressed. He ate the chicken and left the veggies, and he didn't eat much at that. He said he was tired of chicken stirfry. The thing is, this wasn't even really a stirfy. I would almost classify it as a goulash! Also in the mix, was that he stopped at Kroger on the way home and picked up a Managers Special deli chicken and a box of White Castle Burgers (ewwww!!). So he may not have even been hungry really. So should I still plan to stirfy on Thursday?

Secondly, Hubby's friend is coming over tomorrow to change the oil in his cars. I invited him for dinner. If he eats dinner, will there be enough roast left for bbq beef on Friday for 6 people? Hmm...I don't know. I may have to get another roast. I'll see of there's one on sale.

So many factors! Oh well. It'll all work out.

Menu Monday (on Tuesday)

Here I am, late again! Spring has almost sprung around here and my mind is going in a million different directions. It's so exciting, but so busy at the same time. Should I just resign myself to the fact that I'm an intermittent blogger, or keep beating myself up over it every time I realize I've been remiss in my duties? I'll let you know what I decide. In the meantime, here's my menu for this week.

Monday - leftover night!

Tuesday - Beef and broccoli stirfry

Wednesday - bbq chicken in the crockpot & spaghetti squash

Thursday - pork chops with creamy dijon sauce (spaghetti squash)

Friday - dinner at our neighbors

Saturday - ham roast

Sunday - homemade pizza

I'm a little at a loss for sides this week. The veggies in my fridge/pantry pretty much consist of broccoli and a few squash. There's plenty of yummy corn in the freezer...but that's not exactly on the low-carb plan. But then again, I'm not sure if I'm exactly on the low-carb plan still...so we'll see. Life's a jumble right now!

I've got water kefir brewing (I LOVE the stuff!!), sourdough going and a freezer stocked with homemade burritos for Hubby. He wanted them for when he gets home from work (about 3:30) and he's hungry (he doesn't always get to take a lunch). He says they're better than the frozen ones he wanted me to buy :) Progress!! He also said I could make PB&J sandwiches for him to take for lunch, as long as I used white bread. He's doing me a favor and using all the jam I have in the freezer :) Even more progress! Bit-by-bit I will clean up his diet.

Anyway, that's my menu. For more Menu Monday posts, visit OrgJunkie.

Menu...Wednesday?

Oh what a week. I really need to change some things in my life. I'm increasingly stressed out and really want to spend my time at home...but I can't yet! Ugh.

Anyway, on to the menu!

Monday - homemade pizza (we didn't eat it this weekend)

Tuesday - pulled pork (from the freezer) on homemade buns with rutabaga french fries.

Wednesday - crockpot sausage soup

Thursday - homemade beef-a-roni

Friday - dinner at our friends house

Saturday - oven fried chicken with rutabaga/turnip au gratin & roasted asparagus

Sunday - stir fried chicken and fried "rice" (really cauliflower :)

I'm hoping to have a few minutes to get my act together and get the rest of the 28-Day Challenge update out to you guys. Happy Wednesday!

Menu Monday - late again

I haven't done much in the way of menu planning this week because I really won't be home!

Monday - cauliflower soup

Tuesday - taking my sister out for a quick dinner (she's in college and I'll be in town :)

Wednesday - crockpot pulled chicken & mashed rutabaga (Hubby has practice and I have volleyball, so this will just sit and we'll eat it when we can!)

Thursday - I have an event to go to, so Hubby will have to fend for himself. There will probably be leftover soup. I put 2-1/2 quarts in the fridge last night!

Friday - Dinner at our house! Beef and broccoli stirfy (I think I may actually try and pin down a recipe for you guys this time!)

Saturday - homemade pizza

Sunday - dinner out for Mom's birthday

I'm not quite sure when we are going this weekend for my Mom's birthday, so that may be a little messed up in the end, but oh well!

And I know I still owe the noodle recipe, I have to find my camera cord!! I know it's not gone...I just can't find it right now :)

Menu Monday...really late!

My menu so far this week has been spotty at best, and that is why I'm just posting now. I managed to get off the couch yesterday and actually made it back to work today!

• Monday - I stayed home and felt miserable, so I made spaghetti. Easy, simple spaghetti. Only three more jars of sauce left...eek!!
• Tuesday - Hubby was hungry at 4:30 and decided he wanted tomato soup and grilled cheese. Good for him, he made it himself (but left a big mess in the kitchen!) I made some yummy beef and broccoli thing. Lots of garlic and ginger to clear up whatever evil is lurking in my respiratory system. I also used about half of the beef stock I made. The stock is wonderfully delicious, and so rich in gelatin that it gelled at room temp! I've got about a pint left. And it still didn't get very dark...oh well. Better than my first attempts!
• Wednesday - I still haven't decided whether I'm venturing out to volleyball tonight or not, but either way, I have to make dinner because nothing made it to the crockpot this morning as I usually try to do. I'm think chicken nuggets and a nice big salad are in order for tonight!
• Thursday - Pork chops with broccoli and cheese sauce
• Friday - Dinner at our friends' house
• Saturday - Dinner out for a friend's birthday
• Sunday - Pizza

I just realized looking back at my calendar that I have had pork chops for the last three Thursdays! Oh well, they're in the freezer and I need to use them!

The entire menu is contingent upon my feeling better. I feel somewhat better now, but I'm not convinced it's going to last. Soup may be in order. There is shredded chicken in freezer, as well as some smoked sausage. Both make a delicious soup :) And I made some low-carb egg noodles. More about that coming up!

Menu Monday

Yeah! I got it up on a Monday again :) I spent a total of about $15 at the grocery this weekend, eggs, rutabagas, cauliflower and pop. That evil beverage my husband and I seem to still be addicted to!

I'm hoping to get a soda machine in March when I get my bonus this year. In the mean time, I want to start water kefir, but I'm still trying to figure out what the final sugar content would be on that. The jury still seems to be out. I think I'm just gonna jump in and try!

Anyway, back to the menu.

Monday - Oven-fried chicken with baked asparagus and mashed rutabagas

Tuesday - Beef/broccoli stirfy

Wednesday - Roasted cauliflower soup

Thursday - Pork chops with roasted asparagus

Friday - Dinner at our place with the neighbors! I'll be putting a pork butt in the crockpot in the morning and we'll be having pulled pork sandwiches with homemade wheat bread (I didn't get a sourdough starter started yet...and I don't think I can get one ready to make bread on Friday!), corn from the freezer, applesauce and probably something else that I can eat...maybe leftover soup

Saturday - We'll be traveling out of town for a birthday, so we'll probably end up eating out as I'm not sure when we'll be getting home. If we are home in time, we'll eat up some leftovers!

Sunday - Homemade pizza.

For more Monday Menus, check out The Organizing Junkie.

Life continues to be crazy and my blogging time is minimal, but I do hope to get a Challenge update put together soon!

Menu Monday - really, really late!

I've had my menu planned, I just could get it posted! Life's been busy and a little hectic lately, and blogging is unfortunately not at the top of my priority list. I need to move it up though, I have GOT to get back into writing if I ever want to make it as a freelancer in the future. And establishing the routine and discipline to do it won't hurt either :)

Okay, here's my menu:

Monday - Chicken Nuggets & butternut squash fries. I am now in love with the nuggets I made!

Tuesday - spaghetti with meat sauce. I'm running out of my home-canned tomato sauce, I definitely won't make it through the end of the summer. I'm going to have to buy canned tomatoes and make more or break down and by canned sauce. Booh. I'm trying to stretch it out some more.

Wednesday - crockpot chicken thighs with broccoli (not really a recipe, I just through stuff together!) Hubby will be eating with egg noodles. If it's good, I'll try to remember what it was and post a recipe:)

Thursday - Shredded chicken (leftover from Shower on Sunday) with broccoli

Friday - dinner at neighbors

Saturday - creamy dijon pork chops with asparagus. I'll make Hubby a baked potato too.

Sunday - Chili (want to make some bread with this too)

Additional goals for the week include:

• make breakfast sandwiches for Hubby
• bread
• cookies
• low-carb crepes
• low-carb hazelnut spread!! :)

For more menus, visit The Organizing Junkie!

Menu Monday (on Tuesday)

Quick post from my iPod today!

Monday - low carb fried chickenchunks & butternut squash fries. Delicious! Recipes soon!
Tuesday - chicken & broccoli stirfry with noodles (I won't eat noodles). Friends will be coming over so we will also have applesauce & I'm hoping to make some low-carb icecream too!
Wednesday- beef stew (with leftovers)
Thursday - beef stirfry with asparagus
Friday - dinner at our house! Roast chicken, corn, butternut squash & hopefully some homemade bread
Saturday - out of town at a cousins baby shower
Sunday - homamade pizza if we get home before dinner!

For more menus visit orgjunkie.com



- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Menu Monday & Our Eating Habits

It's that time again already, I can't believe it! Last week flew by for me, and so did the weekend unfortunately.

Monday - spaghetti with homemade meat sauce. (I am trying Dreamfields pasta tonight, only 5 carbs per serving. I'm not exactly sure how they do it, but I'm willing to try it!)

Tuesday - crockpot greek chicken. (We did get to do this last week because we ended up going out on Friday for a birthday.) If I have time, we'll also have some roasted asparagus with this. But, we may be going to a movie with friends, so I might not get a chance!

Wednesday - crockpot Pot Roast with turnips

Thursday - chicken & broccoli stirfry

Friday - dinner at our neighbors

Saturday - leftovers

Sunday - homemade pizza (I've made one on a l0w-carb tortilla. It's not the same, but it works! Hubby doesn't care for tortillas, especially if they're wheat, aka "poison", so I'll make a real crust for him.)

For more Monday Menus, visit orgjunkie.com!

In case anyone is wondering about our other meals, it's really simple!

For breakfast nearly every day I have a sausage, egg and cheese scramble. I freeze the sausage into portion sizes so in the morning I just pull a puck out, defrost it for a few seconds and scramble it all up!

Hubby gets a sausage and cheese biscuit in the mornings. I've been buying a big pack of Jimmy Dean premade sandwiches from Sams for convenience. I feel bad about it, but he asks for them. Recently, however, he's been asking me to take the egg off b/c he doesn't really like the texture of the egg. So, I've decided to make our own. Each Sunday I will make up some sausage patties and some biscuits. Then in the morning I will just warm them up and add a slice of cheese! Perfect.

Lunch for me is usually leftovers or some kind of salad with seasoned meat. I like to make up a big batch of taco meat on the weekend and then just eat off it during the week.

Lunch for Hubby makes me cringe to think about. He eats out of the machine at work now. I hate it! But he says he doesn't have anywhere to put a lunch if he takes it and doesn't always have time to eat. On days when he doesn't have time, he just comes home and fixes himself a sandwich or something. I try to keep sandwich fixings around so he can. He likes deli meat and chips. For all that I try to make things from scratch and keep things healthy and whole foods, my husband loves processed foods. Little Debbie snacks, pringles and deli ham. It kills me. I am trying little-by-little to convert him.

My friends have often said "just don't buy it. If it's not there, he can't help but eat the good stuff." Wouldn't that be nice? My husband instead will stop at the gas station in the morning and get fast food on his way home. Or, he will just not eat. Most people will say that he's a grown man and let him do what he wants. The problem is that my husband has an ulcer. Not eating is not good for him. He doesn't care most of the time, but as his wife, I feel that I've done him wrong by not providing food for him that he likes and will be good for him. So I'm taking baby steps.

Wow, that was a much longer post than I intended! Sorry!

Menu Monday: I'm Back!!

After basically ignoring my blog over the holidays (though it was with guilt), I am going to try and make a much more enthusiastic effort to keep blogging a part of my routine. My goal is to blog at least three times per week and to do so in a more refined manner than I have in the past.

I usually just get on here, upload some pictures and type away. No editing, no outlining, no research. Just me and my thoughts! For someone trained as a journalist, that means I can usually get away with a pretty coherent message that way, but it also kills me and goes against everything I have been taught!

In an effort to get back into more structured writing, I'm going to try and practice my writing style here. I make no promises, but I will try.

And now for the menu:

Monday - Chicken tacos

Tuesday - Pot roast & salad

Wednesday - Beef Stew with Turnips & green beans

Thursday - BBQ beef sandwiches with butternut squash fries (Hubby will have a sandwich, I will have a salad!)

Friday - Our friends are coming for dinner! Crockpot Greek Chicken from the low-carb slow cooker cook book. If it goes over well, I will post a recipe!

Saturday - leftovers

Sunday - homemade pizza (on low-carb tortilla crusts!)

I have a lot of pics and a lot of thoughts that I will hopefully get caught up on. But for now, just getting back to blogging my menu is a start!

I am also trying to eat from my pantry/freezer this month as much as possible. I am not taking up the challenge though, because eating low-carb doesn't really mesh well with my pantry stock! I'm also struggling because I can't eat all of the corn and jam Kira and I put up this summer. What am I going to do? Anyone want some yummy delicious frozen corn? I'm hoping I can start to incorporate small amounts into soups and stews soon at least.

I hope to take stock of the freezer tonight, but it's so darn cold I may not get to it.

There's nothing like rooting around in a freezer to make you chill to the bone.

For more Menus, visit orgjunkie.com.

Adventures in Low-Carb eating

image from lovefoodhatewaste.com

I've made it five days without really cheating, woohoo! I don't see any real change yet, other than I fell a lot less lethargic. I also tried to stop drinking soda at the same time. That didn't work out. I am too addicted to sweets to do both. I have managed to really cut back on the diet soda, but not entirely. That'll be a next step. I am drinking lots and lots of water and trying to ignore the headache I have right now.

It has really gone a lot better than I anticipated. The hardest part so far has been chocolate. I want it badly! I did make a nice concoction of whipping cream, cocoa powder and stevia that was pretty tasty. I think I whipped a little too long though, because after I finished I felt a little like my tongue was coated in butter! Last night, however, was killer. We had friends over for dinner and afterwards I served up small dishes of icecream with my homemade chocolate syrup. That actually wasn't the problem. The problem was the three little drops of syrup that ended up on my cutting board. It killed me. I so badly wanted to just whip them up with my finger and lick it off! The jar of syrup I was holding in my hand didn't bother me, just those three little drops. I guess I'm not ready to make cookies yet...

Anyway, I don't really have any recipes yet because I'm still in the induction phase and it is VERY low carb, like under 20g a day. So I'm basically eating meat, cheese, lettuce, broccoli and asparagus. I'm sure I'll start to expand soon, but for now that's it.

I did, however, make my own taco seasoning. I had previously just bought a big container from Sams and used a little bit when I needed it. Unfortunately one of the first ingredients in that is flour. So I made my own. And I don't think I'm going back! Hubby likes it and our friends like it last night. It's good. I used a little chipotle powder in it, yum :-)

I don't have the recipe with me, as I'm blogging from work right now. But I will try and get it up soon.

On a bit of another note, I am really glad I decided to go this route right now. After reading Dr. Atkins' book, especially the chapter on Candida yeast overgrowth, I am convinced that I am struggling with this issue and have been for some time.

There is a lot of information out about Candida, so I won't go into a lot of detail. But basically, Candida is a yeast that lives in your gut. Sometimes, due to overuse of antibiotics or steroids, among other reasons, it becomes overgrown. This can cause a number of symptoms, including craving sweets and starches, feeling tired and "spacey", being prone to itchiness and rashes and having nasal congestion and drainage. The list is very large, but many of the symptoms describe what I've been going through perfectly. So I am trying to control this.

One of the first places I heard about it was from Shannon at Nourishing Days.

The good news, one of the best ways to treat Candida is to remove all starches and sugars from your diet, something I'm already doing. I'm also supposed to limit my intake of caffeine, moldy cheeses, vinegar and fermented condiments. Oh, and no nuts, smoked or cured foots, wine, beer or spirits.

Some of the last things mentioned are going to be very hard for me. I'm a recovering ketchup-aholic. Since I can no longer eat ketchup, at least the kind purchased from the store, I've been using cheese and other yummy sauces (usually based on vinegar or fermented soy sauce) to stand in for ketchup. Without these, I'd be in trouble. So, we'll say I'm taking baby steps.

I'm not completely off caffeine yet, I'm working on it. And I do love good stinky cheeses, though I am trying to stick to mozzarella and cream cheese. I haven't had nuts yet on this new diet plan, though I was looking forward to introducing them back into my diet in the future. And I don't drink, so I have that part covered. I've also ordered a probiotic and hope to start taking that soon to speed the process along. Getting rid of a Candida overgrowth can take quite a while, especially one that's been hanging around for a while, like I'm pretty sure mine has.

Hopefully, all these changes will help me to feel better again. We'll see. And in the meantime, I may just lose these extra 40 lbs I've gained recently too!

Menu Monday

This is my unofficial menu for the week:

Monday - leftover baked chicken quarters with homegrown roasted root veggies

Tuesday - grilled chicken and ceasar salad

Wednesday - Baked potatoes and chili from the freezer (Hubby might end up making chili dogs, he usually does with chili in the summer)

Thursday - Pork Loin Roast from the crockpot

Friday - Dinner with the neighbors! Funky asian chicken and noodles. (This is a new recipe, if it goes over well I'll post it!)

Saturday - Kira and I are heading to Amish Country bright and early and won't be home until late. The men-folk will most likely fend for themselves. I may leave some instructions for dinner (or pizza money :)

Sunday - homemade bbq chicken pizza!

For more Monday Menus visit orgjunkie.com.

Homegrown Dinner

Well...not completely, but close to it! While making dinner tonight I realized it was almost a 100-mile diet meal. (and no, this isn't what was supposed to be on our menu tonight, but I was using things up!)

Beef stew of sorts with my first potatoes, my green beans, beef stock I made, beef from a local butcher and local meat, noodles from local Amish, some spices from my garden and a carrot from God-knows-where. Like I said...almost. The garlic was also from GKW, but the onion came from a local farm stand :) The butter and olive oil were also not local. I'm half-way there I guess!

Menu Monday

Once again, I'm here for Menu Monday. I have been menu planning right along, I just don't always have the time to post!

Monday - homemade chicken bbq pizza

Tuesday - grilled chicken, corn (from the farm stand) and green beans (from the garden!)

Wednesday - pork shoulder roast

Thursday - spaghetti

Friday - dinner at my place! grilled chicken, corn (from the farm stand) and a big salad from my garden

Saturday - pulled pork sandwiches (from leftover roast)

Sunday - homemade pizza

Menu Monday is hosted at the HappyHousewife this week. Check out the other menus!

I forgot to set out the pizza dough Sunday before we went to church, so we didn't have pizza last night. I set it out in the fridge before I went to bed hoping it would be thawed by dinner tonight. If it's still frozen, we'll have chicken tonight and pizza tomorrow.

And, Hubby has a tentative job through a temp agency, though he doesn't have a start date yet. He also went to two interviews today and said they both went well. I am so very grateful that we've been blessed with multiple opportunities already AND that we are in a good enough position right now that he doesn't have to take whatever he can get first. He's had a couple opportunities at jobs doing mostly commissioned sales, but we've chosen to hold out for something a little more stable in this economy. Thanks for your prayers everyone, and keep up the good work!