Thank God it's Friday. It's been so hard to wake up in the mornings here lately. The weekends are what keep me going.. haha! I can't wait to sleep in on Saturday and Sunday, even though usually my husband wakes me up on "accident" because his body is crazy and wakes up early. Last weekend he woke me up simply because he was bored. He's lucky to still be alive is all I am going to say about that. You do not wake the dragon.
In case anyone is wondering; I am happy to report that I am feeling much better today as far as the debbie downer mood goes. I feel more hopeful, more like myself. However, I am on day 20 of my period and today it's picking up. I called my Dr on Wednesday to find out if my feelings of despair and prolonged period were a normal thing for noobs on birth control. Turns out, it's not okay for either to be happening. I was advised to stop my current pill, which I happily agreed to do, and go in for an appointment on Monday. Hopefully I get some answers and relief. Being a woman sucks sometimes. Men are just living the dream, childbirth, blood and hormonal free. Douchebags.
Today marks day 12 of Whole 30. I feel like my taste buds are definitely changing and that I am enjoying whole foods much more than before. I would be lying if I said that I didn't miss homemade brownies, blueberry muffins, and lemon poppy seed muffins. That's what I really would like in my life right now. Before I started Whole 30, I bought Brittany Angell's cookbook - Every Last Crumb. There are so many baking recipes that I want to try, so I am patiently waiting until the Whole 30 is over so that I can try some. My outlook so far is that I think the program is great for resetting your mind and body, but for some of us who enjoy baking, much too restrictive. I saw a recipe for sugar free grainless brownies and thought - oh I can have those on Whole 30 - then realized that I couldn't, as the rules are clear on no baking. Le sigh.
Tuesday night I made some delicious salmon cakes, homemade tartar, and homemade mayo! I was so excited because I have failed on two previous attempts at making mayo. The salmon cakes were delicious!! I will post the recipes below for the salmon cakes and 30 second mayo.
Last night I made Chiptole style salad bowls - pork shoulder that I had let cook in the crockpot all day with an array of spices, over romaine lettuce, tomatoes, onions, cilantro, and fresh guacamole. It was really good, but I did miss cilantro lime rice. There was a recipe for cauliflower rice that I had originally planned to try, but I didn't have cauliflower and on my last two attempts at that kind of "rice", everyone hated it. LOL. We will see if the third time is a charm or not at some point in this Whole 30.
Here are the above stated recipes;
http://theclothesmakethegirl.com/2014/11/10/oven-fried-salmon-cakes/
http://theviewfromgreatisland.com/2013/06/minimal-monday-30-second-mayonnaise.html
~ RGB
Friday, January 16, 2015
Wednesday, January 14, 2015
Debbie Downer
The weather has sucked ass the last few days. It's been dreary, cold, and wet. I'm trying not to let that effect my mood, but I think that it is. I need a good load of vitamin D.
That being said, I may be suffering a bout of the blues. I am 85% sure that the cause may be my new birth control - Her Quartette. I've never been on hormonal birth control until now and I am almost two months deep into this pack and I feel that it may be affecting my moods.
I feel extremely irritable, vulnerable, inadequate, and just plain down. My face is broken out with a quite a few painful pimples - my husband assures me that I am beautiful still, which is cool since I've irrationally convinced myself that he no longer wants me. Also - did I mention that I am on day 18 of my period? Because yeah, I am. I know that I can not be alone in being the only woman to suffer from mood swings due to birth control. OR, is it my period and just my hormones overall being off balance currently?
I've been doing a lot of research on birth control and have read that it is very common for women to feel emotional/sad, depending on how their body reacts/adjusts to the hormone levels. Some take time to level out. I'm not really sure how long I will allow myself to feel crazy over the sake of birth control. Hopefully this slump passes quickly or I'll be calling my Dr to switch birth controls. Crazy that a little pill can make you feel so much, eh?
At first I assumed that my blues were contributed from the lack of all forms of sugar - honey, palm sugar, maple syrup, etc, but I am now on day 10 of my whole30 and should be past the withdrawal part. I do however wish that I could make a pan of chocolate brownies. They'd make me feel better for sure. Which is a reason why I decided to do whole30 - my mental connection to food. Will brownies honest to God make me feel better? No, but my mental connection to food makes me think they will.
My life is a black abyss currently. My sinus drainage has been on a terrorist level as of this past Friday, causing a cough and me choking often. I finally gave in today and bought some allergy & sinus decongestant medicine. Allegedly it's non drowsy, we shall see. The good news is - my sinus surgery that I had in November seems to have worked, as usually my nose is completely congested, it's not at all - Just draining freely like a waterfall down my throat. *face palm*
So, now that I've semi bared my heart on the internet, and expressed things that are difficult to talk about - have any of you guys had issues with birth control?
"Happiness can be found, even in the darkest of times, if one only remembers to turn on the light.”
~ Albus Dumbledore
That being said, I may be suffering a bout of the blues. I am 85% sure that the cause may be my new birth control - Her Quartette. I've never been on hormonal birth control until now and I am almost two months deep into this pack and I feel that it may be affecting my moods.
I feel extremely irritable, vulnerable, inadequate, and just plain down. My face is broken out with a quite a few painful pimples - my husband assures me that I am beautiful still, which is cool since I've irrationally convinced myself that he no longer wants me. Also - did I mention that I am on day 18 of my period? Because yeah, I am. I know that I can not be alone in being the only woman to suffer from mood swings due to birth control. OR, is it my period and just my hormones overall being off balance currently?
I've been doing a lot of research on birth control and have read that it is very common for women to feel emotional/sad, depending on how their body reacts/adjusts to the hormone levels. Some take time to level out. I'm not really sure how long I will allow myself to feel crazy over the sake of birth control. Hopefully this slump passes quickly or I'll be calling my Dr to switch birth controls. Crazy that a little pill can make you feel so much, eh?
At first I assumed that my blues were contributed from the lack of all forms of sugar - honey, palm sugar, maple syrup, etc, but I am now on day 10 of my whole30 and should be past the withdrawal part. I do however wish that I could make a pan of chocolate brownies. They'd make me feel better for sure. Which is a reason why I decided to do whole30 - my mental connection to food. Will brownies honest to God make me feel better? No, but my mental connection to food makes me think they will.
My life is a black abyss currently. My sinus drainage has been on a terrorist level as of this past Friday, causing a cough and me choking often. I finally gave in today and bought some allergy & sinus decongestant medicine. Allegedly it's non drowsy, we shall see. The good news is - my sinus surgery that I had in November seems to have worked, as usually my nose is completely congested, it's not at all - Just draining freely like a waterfall down my throat. *face palm*
So, now that I've semi bared my heart on the internet, and expressed things that are difficult to talk about - have any of you guys had issues with birth control?
"Happiness can be found, even in the darkest of times, if one only remembers to turn on the light.”
~ Albus Dumbledore
Tuesday, January 13, 2015
Seafood Chowder
My family and I are on Day 9 of Whole 30. The rules are hard and simple - no grains, sugar, dairy / baked goods for 30 days. Just whole foods. We binged like fools over the holidays so we felt we needed to reset our bodies and get our sugar monsters in check.
Did I think in a thousand years that my husband or son could go this long without all of the above? Hell no. My daughter threw in the towel quickly. She eats what I pack her for lunch and what we do at home, but when she is at grandmas, she eats the junk. Her resolve sucks, haha!
Last night I made this extremely delicious clean seafood chowder. Everyone in my family gobbled it up like they've never eaten before. Tristen is one of the pickiest eater's that I've ever seen and even he ate this meal happily.
FYI: I did not use heavy cream - instead I used coconut cream out of a coconut milk can. I also did not use oysters, Blake despises them, and added cut up red potatoes. I topped our bowls with green onions and fresh made crumbled bacon. It will be our leftovers tonight - that's how amazing it is.
Believe me when I say that my family and I hate pureed cauliflower. I've made it 10 different ways as a cauli mash, but we just do not like it. So, I was very unsure about using that in this chowder. You can NOT, I repeat, can NOT taste it. Side note: I seasoned mine very well. It's got a little kick to it.
Furthermore, I once made a soup with coconut milk and it was awful. All we tasted was the sweet coconut milk. I swore to myself that I would never use that in a soup again. Well, I am doing whole 30 so heavy cream isn't an option. The recipe calls for 1 can of coconut milk if you don't do dairy. I almost did not make this chowder for that reason. However, I decided to give it ONE more chance. Instead of using an entire can of coconut milk, I worried the coconut water part would give it a sweeter flavor, I scooped out only the coconut cream and used that. Again, let me state that you can NOT, can NOT taste the coconut cream. Blake despises coconut and was clueless. He asked me not to tell him what was in it. LOL!
Did I think in a thousand years that my husband or son could go this long without all of the above? Hell no. My daughter threw in the towel quickly. She eats what I pack her for lunch and what we do at home, but when she is at grandmas, she eats the junk. Her resolve sucks, haha!
Last night I made this extremely delicious clean seafood chowder. Everyone in my family gobbled it up like they've never eaten before. Tristen is one of the pickiest eater's that I've ever seen and even he ate this meal happily.
FYI: I did not use heavy cream - instead I used coconut cream out of a coconut milk can. I also did not use oysters, Blake despises them, and added cut up red potatoes. I topped our bowls with green onions and fresh made crumbled bacon. It will be our leftovers tonight - that's how amazing it is.
Believe me when I say that my family and I hate pureed cauliflower. I've made it 10 different ways as a cauli mash, but we just do not like it. So, I was very unsure about using that in this chowder. You can NOT, I repeat, can NOT taste it. Side note: I seasoned mine very well. It's got a little kick to it.
Furthermore, I once made a soup with coconut milk and it was awful. All we tasted was the sweet coconut milk. I swore to myself that I would never use that in a soup again. Well, I am doing whole 30 so heavy cream isn't an option. The recipe calls for 1 can of coconut milk if you don't do dairy. I almost did not make this chowder for that reason. However, I decided to give it ONE more chance. Instead of using an entire can of coconut milk, I worried the coconut water part would give it a sweeter flavor, I scooped out only the coconut cream and used that. Again, let me state that you can NOT, can NOT taste the coconut cream. Blake despises coconut and was clueless. He asked me not to tell him what was in it. LOL!
I highly recommend you making this meal if you are looking for something different and soul warming. You can find the recipe here: https://www.facebook.com/CaveMommasQuest/photos/pb.465557710133058.-2207520000.1421169740./573403896015105/?type=3&theater
~RGB
My return.
My sister's have been pushing me to fire back up the old blog, so here I am. It's been two years since my last post - jeeze, that's embarrassing. I've been to Disneyworld, Yellowstone, Chicago, and then some and back since my last post. It only took me 28 years to see the our country. No big deal.
We visited Universal Orlando and Disneyworld in December before Christmas and had a great time.
Universal was amazing, but with a lot of scary rides - specifically Harry Potter and the forbidden journey. We waited in line for 45 minutes for this 3D ride. Now - I've ridden many 3D rides before, so I was not thinking it was going to be bad at all. 3D rides are fun to me. This 3D ride - not so much. I should've known that things were going to get critical with all of the warning signs, but I just assumed that Universal was being overzealous. We got to get on this ride and it latches over our chests, while we are on a track. Suddenly, the track under our feet disappears and our feet are dangling, chair is moving forward and backward and we are in the air. It was one of the scariest rides I've done in years. I'm basically scarred. Needless to say, we were a lot more cautious of 3D rides before we rode them at Universal.
I found it pretty interesting to see how much my kids have changed since our last visit to Disney two years ago. Bonnie was a fearless rider, riding every ride with her dad. While Tristen, was much like me, cautious and nervous about any ride and unwilling to ride something crazy. This year, it was the complete opposite. Even rides that I wanted to ride, Bonnie was hesitant about. Tristen? He rode everything fearlessly. We rode every roller coaster except for Expedition Everest, which I plan to ride when we go back. We took zero regard to our diets and ate whatever we wanted, whenever we wanted. And let me tell you, Disney has superb food. One of my favorite meals was a quick service lunch at Be Our Guest - Disney's newest restaurant for Beauty & The Beast. The atmosphere was amazing and the food was great. I had a roast beef sandwich, fries, and an eclair stuffed with orange cream. The stuff dreams are made of. All in all, it was a great trip where we made wonderful memories.
The only bad thing that I have to report was that a bag got taken from our room. We didn't realize it until the night before we were leaving, as we were loading up. The bag had various items that we had purchased at Disney and my Canon Powershot camera with all of my memory cards from the past 4 years in it. It was extremely upsetting to lose such an invaluable item, as well as expensive. We filed a report with the hotel manager, Disney claims department, and police. Turns out, there is no point what so ever in filing a report with Disney hotel or claims, because they will tell you that they will "investigate", but they will not do a thing. 3 weeks after we left, the claims department contacted me to tell me that it was a criminal matter and needed to be handed over to the police. It felt extremely reassuring to me that "they handled the situation seriously." So, needless to say, we will never stay at the Disney All Stars Sports resort again. I would love to say that we will never visit Disney again because of the case of my stolen bag and the way that they handled things, but that would be a lie. It's Disney. However, it taught me a great deal on how I will handle my future hotel visits.
In conclusion, is the happiest place on earth still the happiest place to me? Yes, however, the hotels and management there? Not so much.
~ RGB
We visited Universal Orlando and Disneyworld in December before Christmas and had a great time.
Universal was amazing, but with a lot of scary rides - specifically Harry Potter and the forbidden journey. We waited in line for 45 minutes for this 3D ride. Now - I've ridden many 3D rides before, so I was not thinking it was going to be bad at all. 3D rides are fun to me. This 3D ride - not so much. I should've known that things were going to get critical with all of the warning signs, but I just assumed that Universal was being overzealous. We got to get on this ride and it latches over our chests, while we are on a track. Suddenly, the track under our feet disappears and our feet are dangling, chair is moving forward and backward and we are in the air. It was one of the scariest rides I've done in years. I'm basically scarred. Needless to say, we were a lot more cautious of 3D rides before we rode them at Universal.
I found it pretty interesting to see how much my kids have changed since our last visit to Disney two years ago. Bonnie was a fearless rider, riding every ride with her dad. While Tristen, was much like me, cautious and nervous about any ride and unwilling to ride something crazy. This year, it was the complete opposite. Even rides that I wanted to ride, Bonnie was hesitant about. Tristen? He rode everything fearlessly. We rode every roller coaster except for Expedition Everest, which I plan to ride when we go back. We took zero regard to our diets and ate whatever we wanted, whenever we wanted. And let me tell you, Disney has superb food. One of my favorite meals was a quick service lunch at Be Our Guest - Disney's newest restaurant for Beauty & The Beast. The atmosphere was amazing and the food was great. I had a roast beef sandwich, fries, and an eclair stuffed with orange cream. The stuff dreams are made of. All in all, it was a great trip where we made wonderful memories.
The only bad thing that I have to report was that a bag got taken from our room. We didn't realize it until the night before we were leaving, as we were loading up. The bag had various items that we had purchased at Disney and my Canon Powershot camera with all of my memory cards from the past 4 years in it. It was extremely upsetting to lose such an invaluable item, as well as expensive. We filed a report with the hotel manager, Disney claims department, and police. Turns out, there is no point what so ever in filing a report with Disney hotel or claims, because they will tell you that they will "investigate", but they will not do a thing. 3 weeks after we left, the claims department contacted me to tell me that it was a criminal matter and needed to be handed over to the police. It felt extremely reassuring to me that "they handled the situation seriously." So, needless to say, we will never stay at the Disney All Stars Sports resort again. I would love to say that we will never visit Disney again because of the case of my stolen bag and the way that they handled things, but that would be a lie. It's Disney. However, it taught me a great deal on how I will handle my future hotel visits.
In conclusion, is the happiest place on earth still the happiest place to me? Yes, however, the hotels and management there? Not so much.
~ RGB
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)