Then & Now

Nov 2008 

 Dec 2010

Sauteed Bok Choy

I went to the Asian Store last Saturday and they had bags of yummy looking baby bok choy. I had had some Garlic sauteed Baby Bok Choy at a sushi restaurant last month, and it was delicious! So I decided to get them and they were only .89/lb! The total for it came to slightly over a dollar.

Aren't they cute?

 I put some coconut oil in the pan along wit some crushed garlic. I LOVE my garlic press, I use it every time I use garlic in cooking.

On my plate, soon to be in my belly.

I added a little salt after this picture.

Delicous.

Coconut Oil "Candies"

 They may not be the prettiest, 

but they certainly are the yummiest!

Courtesy of Holly, from my last post:

Coconut Oil "Candies"
1 cup cold press coconut oil, melted
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1-2 Tb. raw honey (I've made these without honey, it's not going to taste good unless you're used to no sweets)
1/4 t. sea salt (it was 1/2, but Holly said it was pretty salty, so I changed it to 1/4)
2-4 Tbl. unsweetened cocoa powder (I used 3)
Flaked coconut - add to or roll the candy in it. I just added about a cup of coconut to mine.
(optional - 2Tbl. almond or nut butter) (do yourself a favor and ADD the PB! SOOO good

Mix until smooth. Drop by spoonfuls on waxed paper. Or put in mini muffin pan. Refrigerate. Eat.

What can whole foods eating do for you?

Well, a lot. It can help you have more energy, be more focused, and lots more. You'll never know what all can be achieved until you try it for yourself! Whole foods is what our family eats - whole foods, as unprocessed as possible, cooked from scratch and good, nutritious ingredients. If man made it, I try not to eat it - chemicals, food colorings (not food based), etc.

This is my dear, sweet friend, Holly's story. She's the one who first introduced the idea of whole foods to me, and she gave me permission to share this story that she wrote in 2008 about her family and their whole foods journey.

My name is Holly. I'm the mother in a family of recovering bariatrics.

On Dec. 23rd, 2007 my dear adopted son had an intense, obsessive, ranting reaction about what my in-laws served for dinner. Basically, it wasn't chicken nuggets! So he didn't eat and then demanded dessert. Needless to say, dessert wasn't granted. So he stole some truffles and ate them in the back seat while we began our four hour trip back home.

That night the camel's back broke in two! We ranted/cried/argued and then prayed. Then we discussed how to respond in a way that might having lasting effect without instituting further useless punishment on our very damaged (reactive attachment disorder) and very ill (bipolar) son.

The shocking conclusion to that conversation was our decision to drop sugar and processed foods from our diet... PERMANENTLY! I finished my final COKE and drove home to a new life.

John
I'll have to go back and look at my original posts but John became stable for the first time in only a couple of weeks. He began occasionally having dry nights. He began to show interest in relationships and activities. He is a completely different child than he was a year ago.

John is on lower doses of all his medications and is more stable than I have EVER known him. Most people who meet John nowdays have no idea that he has very serious special needs.

Due to excess calcium in his bloodstream, John requires extra vitamin D to remain stable. I believe that is why he has always had more difficulty in the winter. This winter is our best ever thanks to the extra D/sunlight I'm trying very hard to pump into his system.

We've also discovered that his bedwetting and daytime wetting is directly related to wheat intolerance if not gluten altogether. And the joy of whole foods is that when you find an unacceptable food, it is simple to eliminate.

I used to have to make John's pants for him because we could not squeeze him into size 20 huskies at 8 years old. And the adult pant legs were so long I had to hem at least 18 inches off of them. Size 10 boys pants now fit him perfectly, even in length. We aren't certain of his top weight but we believe him to have lost over 40 lbs.

Oh, and remember the huge fit over not having chicken nuggets? Well, now, he jumps up and down with excitement when we serve brussells sprouts!

Dear Husband: Theo
Theo topped out at 301 lbs. He has lost just over 60 lbs and has reduced some of his blood pressure medication and some allergy medication. (We've discovered sugar affects the immune system and increases allergies.) His eyesight has improved and he's hoping he'll lose enough weight to stop using his c-pap machine.

Hannah
Hannah has an allergy to milk and soy. Her allergies are a cinch to manage on a whole foods diet. She, too, was becoming addicted at the ripe age of one to processed foods and starting to snub her nose at healthier offerings. But today she is also a lover of brussells sprouts and nearly anything she can put in her mouth! At 2 years old, she can name all the ingredients for guacamole, a particularly favorite food!

She's the only one in the family who is gaining weight. And actually, she's really leveled off, until her next growth spurt, that is.

Myself
Hmmm, who knew this solution to John's behavior would change my life? I've lost 75 lbs. I'm now a runner! My feet don't have big, bleeding crevices in the heels anymore. My PMS is quite mild now (though, my DH does remind me it is there). My cycle included a short luteal phase which I believe contributed to at least one chemical pregnancy and some difficultly in conception. My cycle has lengthened on average about four days. My vision has also improved. We all had a bout of colds/flus in the first couple of months after switching to whole foods and now we've all been healthy longer than ever before and when someone does show symptoms, they are gone in only a day or so as opposed to weeks before.

I have more before and after photos on the original thread but here is our family before and now.

Quiche, or if you want to be technical - Frittata

Mornings are hard for me, getting everyone fed, clothed, changed, etc and getting started on the day. Eating breakfast myself can sometimes be a problem. I do the Insanity workout when E3 goes down for a nap around 9, so I really have to make sure to eat something asap after waking up and have enough fuel for the day, as well as my workout.

Last night, I decided to make something I've been wanting to try for awhile, but wasn't sure how to do it. I finally took the plunge, posted "Quiche is basically eggs and veggies, right?" on Facebook and got some helpful replies. "Add milk", "spinach & tomatoes", etc. I learned that a quiche typically has a crust, cheese and bacon with the eggs, so what I made was a frittata. Frittatas are also usually whipped more, incorporating more air than quiches, to make them fluffier.
I grew up calling it quiche, so forgive me if I use "frittata" and "quiche" interchangeably. ;)

My experiment worked great! I baked it last night, put it in the fridge, after it cooled some, and heated up pieces for breakfast. E1 & E2 weren't too sure about it, but E3 and I were quite enthusiastic. I also sent some along with EDaddy for his breakfast at work. The eggs I have are local, free range, so some of the yolks were a vibrant orange. I purposely didn't completely whip them together, because I wanted the varying color to come through. It looks like there's cheese on it...

I liked having it ready so much, that I made another after breakfast, ate one piece and put the rest in the fridge. I left out the leeks and added thawed, cooked mini shrimps without tails.

Frittata aka Quiche in Maryland
8 eggs
1/4 cup almond milk (try to use unflavored, I didn't realize I had unsweetened vanilla until it was too late, but it turned out fine)
1/2 cup broccoli, chopped (I used frozen)
some leeks (put these on half)
4 Tbsp coconut oil
1/2 tsp salt
1/8 tsp pepper
Opt. shrimp, tomatoes, hashbrowns, other veggies or meats

Put chopped broccoli, leeks and any other veggies or meats in the bottom of the pan. I used a circular cake pan.
Sprinkle oil on top of the veggies.
Mix eggs, milk, salt & pepper in a bowl, then pour over veggies.

Bake at 350 for 30 minutes or until done.

Easy Chicken Broth

A friend just asked for my chicken broth recipe, and I reallized - I haven't blogged it yet! So here you go :)

Cook a chicken, either in the crockpot or the oven. Take most of the meat off the bones, saving the drippings and carcass. Throw it all in a pot and add some carrots, celery, bok choy, whatever veggies you have, for vitamins. I'm going to start adding Chicken feet and some raw drumsticks, but have to wait until next payday. You're probably not going to want to pick the veggies out, so don't fill the pot up. Add a splash of raw apple cider vinegar, fill pot with water. Simmer for 12-24 hours. Twenty-four hours is best.
Strain and fill jars or ziploc freezer bags with broth. If you have a pressure canner, you can preserve the broth by canning.

Use in recipes, as a tummy settler, or to make chicken soup (add chicken, veggies, and, if you desire - noodles)

Motivated Moms

This isn't about food, but it's made such a big impact in my life, that I wanted to blog about it here.

I bought and started using the Motivated Moms Chore Planning System with Bible Reading. It has what chapters to read every day listed on the daily list.

It's AMAZING. I love it! My house is much more cleaned up regularly! And things I never do of my own volition are getting done - read fridge drawers cleaned out. We must have gotten the fridge we currently have when E2 was a baby (almost 4 years ago) because I found a stick of Blue Bonnet Light margarine behind the drawers, and that's about the last time I used it. *embarrassed*

Things I love about it:
-daily checklist
-includes monthy, biannual, and annual cleaning things like changing smoke detector batteries, cleaning fridge drawers, changing sheets (yes, I need a reminder for this), etc.
-not overwhelming, just one sheet for the week
-includes exercise, taking vitamins, reading to kids, etc.
-has extra spaces to add things, I added washing diapers and blogging to mine
-has awesome little boxes to check off when the task is complete
-if there's something you don't need to do, like wash the entryway rug, just cross it off!

It was only $8 for the whole year, plus a menu planning sheet. Totally worth it. I LOVE it and I'm so much more productive and focused!! If my home is chaotic, then I feel chaotic inside. I'm a much more pleasant and peaceful mother, with the direction I have from this list.

Salad

While I was talking on the phone to my dear friend, Holly, I made an amazing salad.

Amazing Salad
Organic baby spring greens mix from Costco
Avocado oil
Red Wine Vinegar
Organic chicken, roasted and pulled off the bones, chilled
green olives
salt & pepper
Opt. tomatoes, sunflower seeds, onions, etc.

Mix to your heart's content

SNOW CREAM & Brownie Sundae!!

Yesterday it snowed. A LOT. But all that snow is good for something!

So we made snow cream today! My friend, Holly, posted it when they got snow a few weeks ago. I changed the sweetener from sugar to maple syrup, which was her idea after she made it. It was delicious!!!

Snow Cream
bowl of fluffy white snow (don't get yellow!!) it was probably around 8 cups
1 cup almond milk
1/8 cup maple syrup
1 tsp vanilla

mix all together and enjoy!!

 It's after supper now, and I made the snow cream again. I also made Brownies, so we are having brownie sundaes! Delicious! If you didn't think I ate well before, surely you do now! :)

Black Bean Brownies
1 can black beans, drained and rinsed (or 2/3 can refried black beans with jalepenos from Trader Joe's, bc that's what I had ;)
3 eggs
3 Tbsp Coconut Oil, melted
4 Tbsp Cocoa powder
sprinkle of salt
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup honey
I added a couple half dropperfuls of Vanilla Creme Stevia, as well

Puree with blender/food processor/hand blender.

Bake at 350 for about 45 minutes, keeping your eye on it the last fifteen minutes.

Top with snow cream for a delicious sundae!

Now I better eat some green salad before I turn into a snowmama!

Thin Pancakes

One of my favorite childhood foods were Thin Pancakes. I remember when my dad taught me the recipe to make them. I was homeschooled at the time, and I was over at his office (he's a pastor at the church next door to my parents' house). He wrote on the white board a little visual aid, so I'd remember the proportions. We spent some time with me memorizing it, and I said it all the way home...now I kind of wonder why he didn't just write it down, but it gave me a fun memory! LOL

The picture looked something like this, except my dad's a better artist:

When I was a kid, we sprinkled white sugar on them, out of the classic Tupperware sugar pourer, and rolled them up, but I don't like to use white sugar, so we used maple syrup, then rolled them up. They were yummy!

The recipe, as the picture clearly shows, is 1 egg, 1 cup of flour, and 1 cup of milk. I used a local, free range egg, 1 cup of Gluten Free Mama Flour mix, and 1 cup of Almond Milk (original). Mix it all together, and pour some on a hot pan, greased with, you guessed it! Coconut oil. Move pan to make circle. When it's no longer shiny on top, flip it. You can also serve with fruit preserves!

Egg Crepes or Pancakes

I saw Keeper of the Home's recipe for Sweet or Savory Roll Ups and just had to try it!
It was very good, and all three kids loved it! I tried putting salsa on them, as well as ranch dressing (dairy free, post to come!), and also jelly that is only fruit, fruit juice and pectin.
They use a dozen eggs per batch, however, so I can't make them every day, but definitely if we're going to be on the go, it's an easy way for the kids to get a healthy breakfast or snacks!

This is a terrible picture with my phone of a crepe with salsa, they looked much nicer in person ;)

More posts to come soon! My card reader wasn't working, so I couldn't upload the pics of food, so I have a few I hope to work on tomorrow.