A Feast Made from Love

I believe that one of the ways that I show my family how much I love them is by making them meals, snacks, treats... DESSERTS. There are of course times when something as normal as pork chops, peas, and mashed potatos just aren't going to cut it, Valentines Day is one of them! Now here's the kicker with Valentine's Day... is it me, or is it a very very hard day to shop for men for? I decided this year rather than giving him something he probably wouldn't use I wanted to make a really great dinner, something extra special!!

Enter the lovely Tesi Weimer of Pampatike Hill Farm. I have been purchasing beef from Tesi since last summer, as Pampatike has 3 of the qualities I really have come to look for in my food.... it's local, it's humane, and those cows are never ever given anything yucky! One of the best things about Pampatike Hill that makes it extra special to use is that many years ago, a section of it was a very large dairy farm, where Bob grew up! I shot Tesi an email and the result, along with my normal order, where some of most delectable filet migons I've ever had. It came in a large piece that I was actually able to get 4 filets out of. (There are 3 of us.... the mustached bandit snuck into the kitchen and ate the other one!!)Meat like this doesn't require alot of fuss, or dress.... I simply heated my grill up til it was piping hot, seasoned the filets with salt, pepper, garlic, and thyme, and put them on for a few minutes to sear on each side. All and all, they probably cooked for about 4 minutes on each side. I once again felt that those babies where the shining star here, so I kept my sides very simple with just a ceasar salad and a hunk of whole grain bread that I had buttered and warmed up on the grill for the last few seconds that the filets were cooking. Dinner was very quiet with the exception of a few satisfied sighs.

I cleaned up the kitchen that night knowing that I had served a couple of things near and dear to my heart.... satisfying my sweetie and giving him a phenominal dinner, feeding my family the absolute best I could in terms of both taste and where it came from and supporting a local farm that has become the only place I will ever buy beef products (and some pretty darn tasty Kiwi!!)from.

Share the love.... visit Pampatike Hill Farms website and learn more!
http://www.pampatikehillfarm.com/

Fad Dieting

Gluten Free... yeah, call me weak, but I just couldn't do it! I wanted to, but what was my reasoning? I was not gluten intolerent and the few days I did try it, I skipped my oats for breakfast and I was absolutely starving, which led to some major overeating, thus defeating the whole purpose! So... another diet idea lies in the dust, along with low carb, low fat, grapefruit, the points one, etc. etc.

I decided to just listen to my body. It was smart, it will tell me what I need, and what I don't ( case in point of how your tummy feels after hitting your local drivethru). So, here we are, back on just clean eating, asking myself a few simple questions before every meal.
1. Do I recognize all of the ingrediants in this?
2. Would I eat them alone, if I do?
3. Would my great great grandma have eaten this?
4. Is it really a good choice?

By answering these few easy questions, the majority of the time, you can figure out if this is really what you should be eating. Reward for doing this? A happier, healthier you. Take the time, plan it out, and really think about what you are eating. Failing to do so can only have bad results most of the time. I'm not saying that you can't have some quick go to meals and snacks, just take the time to know what they are.

A work in Process

I have a working recipe in process... I'm calling it Hippie Chick. Bear with me over the next few hours or so as I work it out in my head and hopefully by this weekend, I'll be able to test and photograph it. I would say if you're looking to try this recipe out, wait until about Wednesday for the final recipe.

1 cup of shredded cabbage
1/4 cup of bean sprouts
1/2 c sliced "shrooms".. whatever kind you like is fine, for test purposes I'll be using Crimini
1 cup of grilled shredded chicken
1/4 c. of chopped celery
1/4 c. of shredded carrots
1/4 c of peeled diced cucumber


Dressing
1/2 c, of organic crunchy peanut butter
1 tblsp of honey
2 tblsp of rice wine vinegar
1/4 tsp fresh minced garlic
1/4 tsp of fresh ground ginger
Red Pepper Flakes to taste

It's a Breakfast Thing....

I love breakfast... pancakes, french toast, yogurt,OATMEAL, you get the picture... all things breakfast, with the exception eggs. EWWWWW.

I'm getting ready to try the whole gluten free/paleo kick for 30 days, starting on Monday. Cliche, I know, however the only reason I'm waiting until Monday, is that I buy very specific things at the grocery store for our week. This weeks menu, just happened to include oatmeal and potatos.

So, here's the sweetest little bowl of oatmeal I could find. I'm excited to enjoy it!
It's a pretty simple litle mix.... 1/3 c. of steel cut oats, 1/3 c. water, 1/3 c. of unsweetened almond milk, 1 tsp of chunky peanut butter, 1 small banana, and a sprinkle of cinnamon. Yumm, it's like a little bowl of dessert.

Well, I'm off to brave the skating rink that is my back deck to go cut the car on to get toasty warm and unthawed. Have a great day!

I tweeted!

I tweeted!! I know that it's sad to be excied about it, but I was excited. I tweeted about kale chips, which is just plum crazy, but it's a start.

I also had this yummy snack because after dinner I was seriously still hungry!!! I tookan apple, quartered it smeared about 1 tsp of peanut butter on it, sprinkled some cinnamon and dark chocolate chips. It was so yummy and still kept me in under my calorie goal of 1700 a day. Yay me!

It's a New Dawn

I've spent the last few weeks laying the ground work... doing my research... driving my friends crazy. I finally came up with some cold hard facts. First and most important. I came to the realization that it was truly unfair for me to nag my husband, daughter, mother, etc. to work out, eat better! When in fact, I was not eating as good as I could have been, or making it to the gym like I should have been. Ouch, backhanded slap in the face sister.

Lesson 1: Lead by example. You can only control you, and only you. To try and do more would just be bad for everyone involved. It was very hard for me to admit this, but when I did, I felt like a huge weight had been lifted off of my shoulders!! Huge, huge, huge.

Lesson 2: Look closely at your life... write it all out.. what's going on? I made the very personal decision to set aside some things in my life for the time being and to take this time to focus on being the best me possible. Writing everything out gave me accountability. I knew where I needed to focus more energy and attention to, and where I needed to maybe cut back for awhile. Turns out, I was wearing lots and lots of hats (I love hats!!!) and unfortunately none of them looked good.

So, I'm here, and I'm ready to keep moving forward.

The Make-Over

I suppose you thought that I was going to start out with something clever and catchy... Well, this blog is dedicated to everyone out there who has the dream of making their lives better. It's not a get rich scheme, so if that's what you're looking for,just google something else.

Over the last few months, I have taken a hard hard look at my life. I am almost 35 years old, and I kept telling myself "I thought I would be so much further..., thinner, richer, better.. etc. etc." I've prayed about it, thought about it, journaled about it. I realize now, that the changes that I'd like to make, are more personal, more deep, and more important than the superficial ones I had dreamed about, but by working on what was really important, I might accomplish some of those goals along the way.. like going to the gym with the goal of getting healthier, not because I wanted to be a size 6, and improving my family's financial situation not because I wanted to be rich, but because I wanted to be debt free, and some much deeper spiritual knowledge, not because I wanted to be the next Joyce Meyers, but because I was inspired and deeply in love with the Lord.

I will also try to do a daily tweet with some type of tip, idea, etc. I hope that you will give me your comments, ideas, feedback, etc.! Welcome aboard, it's going to be a long journey.