Lazy

:Ever have a certain time in your life where you're going so full force with everything that you don't have time to breath, let alone work out?  And it make you feel like a slug on the log?  Yeah that's me right now.  We have so many jewelry shows coming up and the computer shop is so busy with this stupid FBI virus that I've only been able to work out with Lauren one time in the past two weeks.  It's been like that for the past month and a half.  NO BUENO!  I've been getting my workouts in at home at like -9:30-10 pm but it's not the same.  I knew it last night when I visited my family for a Wii-lly fun time (yeah...thank my sister for that bit of shenanigans) lol.  Even though I remained the undefeated champion of Wii boxing, I realized that I feel like I'm not kicking my own ass enough in my home workouts.

I can't wait for this to change.

On the plus side,  the jewelry is selling like hotcakes and the Monster has never been better (except for one incident last week were I believe I may have just confirmed to her father that's she's gluten intolerant as well and needs it cut out of her diet.)  They let the kid have 4 rolls with fake butter and Alfredo in abundance at a wedding!!

After that super nasty belly, I explained to her in 4 year terms why normal bread and noodles make our belly's hurt and why Mommy has to eat special Mommy food.  She, being my normal information gobbling little munchkin, has made it a point to start asking her Grandma, Daddy, and others not familiar with this eating style "Is this glutanin-three?" lol  OK well we might have to work on her pronunciation of gluten free but it's definitely a start.  They have now started checking the labels on all non-whole food items.  This is a ginormous step for them because they used to think I was full of shit when I told them about the way and reasoning behind Paleo/ Gluten Free.  It's also been hard to try to keep her eating like she does at my house when she's at her Daddy and Grandma's houses.  I'm not there.  I can not control them.  However, he will do anything that makes his baby feel better.  I asked him just to TRY and get the snide thinking of normal food eaters out of his head for one second and look at the facts.  We cut out gluten all together at my house and she's probably 75 % paleo, if I had to guess.  She sleeps better, better digestion, less mood swings, less issues at school...etc.  You know the story.  She's at her Dad's for his time with her and they let her eat "normal" food like sandwiches, mac and cheese, McDonald's, etc. and she crashes more and has listening issues, her belly hurts, and she has pooping issues.  Finally got him to agree to try this.  His argument was that he couldn't afford to pay for the "special" groceries.  I said what special groceries?  Everything I get you can get at a produce stand or grocery store and it's veggies, fruit, dead animal, and milk?  (I have not completely cut out dairy for either of us)  The only "special" stuff I get is almond flour and coconut oil when you get right down to it.  So when you cut out the 3 boxes of Nutri-grain cereal bars, there's the $10 you needed to buy the 1-2 lb bag of almond flour.  Not that hard! :)  I think I may have gotten through a little.

After that horrible belly day and some wonderful snuggles, I decided that on our Mommy/Dooz lazy Sunday we were going to make a "special breakfast."  The little sous chef got her chair and brought it to the counter to start helping.  We made Mommy style blueberry-chocolate chip pancakes and bacon with steamed Sweet Dumpling squash.  Odd combo I know but mucho tasty!  Hey...I let the 4 year old pick. LOL.

Sweet Dumpling Moosh:

1 squash (I like acorn, or sweet dumpling)
2 TBSP honey
2 TBSP butter
1 tsp cinnamon

Cut 1 squash in half, gut it, and put in a large microwave safe bowl or tupperware.  Place it outside down.  Fill the bottom of your bowl with about an inch of water and pop in the microwave for about 10-15 minutes.
When it's done, scoop out the cooked squash into a bowl, add 2 TBSP butter, a drizzle of honey and about 1 tsp of cinnamon and mix together.  This gets rid of your craving for pie, or something sweet by taking care of it with a good-for-you item.

Once I can remember what all I put in the pancakes I will have that recipe up as well.   Now, it's off to go pick up the munchkin and go play!!!

Have a good rest of your weekend everyone!

OMG Delish!

Hey boys and girls?  How's you're Friday going so far?  Mine...not too shabby.  Better than yesterday, of that I'm certain!  I was having "a day" yesterday.  Went to the doc to see what the test results brought in.  The verdict?  More testing....Yee Haw!   (<--Sarcasm).  I basically got told NOTHING in my body was working correctly except my stomach and my heart.  Awesome.  What to do now?  Fix it...plain and simple. I did it to myself.  No pity party.  No excuses.  Just fix it.

Last night I had one of the worst work outs in a very long time.  For whatever reason while on the elliptical I started getting dizzy (due to my adrenal issues my blood pressure likes to bottom out.  It's neat.), then while doing a plank and getting up from it I got so dizzy I had to sit down. And the good times just kept on a rollin'.  Luckily I have one of those awesome trainers that tends to see it on my face before I say it a lot of times and she keeps me in check.  She knows how I eat, how I work out, my ethics, etc.  She knows I don't like to have an excuse to back out.  Unfortunately sometimes I have to do it.  Last night was one of those nights.  So on top of all the other shitake going on I told her the jist of the day and was on the verge of tears (this generally does NOT happen.  I am not a crying type of chick).  We gave it a rest and got onto the bike so that I could stay in motion and not stop completely.  While on the bike we got into one of those conversations that goes in 5 million directions.  Love those conversations.  They make me smile and end up getting stuff off my chest that I needed to, get ideas,  get motivation from unlikely sources.  It was what I needed and didn't know it.

We also got to talking about living out dreams and passions.  She told me that she could see that my passion is in cooking and helping other people through cooking.  I told her my lifelong dream is to own my own restaurant and to be on Diners, Drive-in's, and Dives!  I would love to have one of those cool hole-in-the-wall, fantastic eats type of places where everyone is welcome, everyone is treated the same,  I can charge minimal prices for great food so not only could the lawyer with tons of cash come in and have a great meal but so could the single mom working two jobs and the family trying to make ends meet.  I've been there and currently am still there.  It's nice to be able to go out once in a while and not have to spend your entire paycheck to take out your wife and kids.  With that in mind I'm going to start doing my research and see what I need to do to make this happen.  And with that in mind...research means testing recipes too.  What does testing recipes mean?  It means you guys get some tastyness to try at home too!  Like this posts recipe: Caramel Brownies (paleo-ish)

Caramel Brownies (Caramel Sauce used is the recipe from Eat Like a Dinosaur)

Brownies:
1/2 C maple syrup
1/2 C Coconut oil
2  large eggs
1 1/2 C almond flour
1 C coconut flour
1 tsp baking soda
tsp salt
1 C mini chocolate chips
1 tbsp chilli powder

Melt your coconut oil then in a good sized mixing bowl whisk together the syrup, C-oil, and eggs.  Once these are incorporated then add everything else but the chocolate chips and mix till most of the lumps are out.  (This is using non-traditional flour...you're gunna have lumps.  It adds character...and moral fiber *for you Lauren lol*)  Once these are mixed then fold in the choc chips,  the mini ones are SOOOO much more fun but if you only have regular, hey it works.  It's still chocolate right?
Grease (with butter or C-oil) a 9x9 pan (I personally love the Pyrex dishes) and dump your Brownie goo into the pan.  You will be baking this at 350 degrees for 20-30 minutes depending on your oven.

Once done, let cool, then slice your sections...you'll see why...

Caramel Sauce (a.k.a. sugar science experiments gone awry.  So. Much. Fun.)

1/2 C Maple Syrup
1/2 C Raw honey (duh it tastes better and better for you)
1 tsp baking soda

To a pan or even your electric skillit ( I use my little one for this...remember I have no traditional stove/oven) add the syrup and honey and bring to a low boil to where it just starts bubbling.  Then add the baking soda, stand back and watch as you whisk continuously.  It will bubble like crazy and it's so cool!  Peanut Monster loves this part.  Continue to whisk for approx 2 minutes then turn the heat off and whisk until mostly cooled.

Remember how I told you to pre-slice your brownies in the pan?  Now drizzle the ooey gooey caramel sauce down over the brownies (only half of the caramel will suffice) make sure to get in the cracks where you just sliced.  Some will get all normal caramel-y on top of the brownies and some will sink in to the brownies keeping the moist and so non-carboard like (which happens a lot with paleo/gluten-free baking).

You can add other toppings like nuts/coconut/apple slices/use your paleo imagination!!!

Hope these taste as good for you as they do for me and the Monster!

Have a great weekend y'all.  I'm off to go start setting up our tent at the Lake St. Louis Oktobefest and start selling some jewelry!!!

Fluent in Sarcasm

10 things you may not know about me:

1)  I LOVE honey, it's an unnatural obsession really
         ...worse than my obsession with dill dip

2)  I'm fluent in sarcasm, so when you read this blog read it like you have sassy pants on lol

3)  Monday mornings are always busy in the shop which most people hate, but I happen to enjoy because of
         the pure crazyness that ensues due to my customers :) This means it's never lacking in the W.T.F.?
         department.

           Monday's Computer Public Service Announcement:
                      -You may like to get drunk but your laptop does not
                      -There are idiots out there trying to scam you for money.  If you give them your money, don't            
                                  get mad at me.
                      -Please delete all nasty-assed porn from your machine before bringing it in.  I don't want to
                                  see it pop up in my face, granny porn is not my thing....sorry.


4) I have a hidden weakness for Jerseylicious.  It's my guilty pleasure of the reality TV world.

5)  I thought I could fly as a child.  Broken arms and many MANY sprains just might have happened.  I don't fly anymore ;)

6) The Peanut monster has more sass in her left arm than I have in my whole body.  God apparently thought paybacks were necessary.

     This is what my mother tells me.

     Please dear sweet Jesus don't let there be any stair rails with ribbons knotted from head to toe...
   
     Or permanent marker/white front door debacles in my future...

    Or flying... flying would be bad!

7)  I love to cook.

It makes me happy.
It makes my friends even happier.
They are my little guinea pigs.  (insert evil laugh here)  Muah ha ha ha

8)  My goal by the end of this year is to be able to run 1 mile without stopping.  Please keep in mind I've never in my life even attempted such an atrocity.  Running has always been a bigger curse word than the F-bomb.

9)  I love love love the Big Bang Theory.  There's so much nerdy insanity in the show that I can't help myself.  I feel like the little girl in Despicable Me when she says "It's so fluffy I could DIE!"

10)  I'm constantly in the middle of a book.  The current obsession you ask?  Anything by Phillipa Gregory.  Currently reading "The Constant Princess"  it's historical fiction about the early life of Catherine of Aragon.  Yes I'm a history freak and YES I might indulge slightly (only a little) in my love of all things Tudor.  Who wouldn't love to go back in time to something as life-changing as Anne Boleyn's rise and fall from grace and see how it changed English history?

It's BBQ time

  This past weekend was so much fun. A long weekend was definitely needed.  They "family" got together at one of the houses and had a day full of food, drinking, H.O.R.S.E., horseshoes, and washers and the previous night we had a bonfire after the parish picnic. I would definitely consider these active rest days.

Of course we go potluck style and my friend Karey and myself seem to be perpetually trying to outdo each others recipes without knowing we are doing it.

 Sidenote:  We have contemplated starting our own cooking show entitled "Shit in a pot" lol.  This is how we both cook! Throw stuff in a pot, baking dish, foil pouch, etc. and away we go!

I decided to make bacon wrapped asparagus.  Totally yuuuummmmm!!!!  To make:

Ingredients
Two bunches of fresh asparagus
1 lb of bacon (your choice but I usually go for thick cut maplewood smoked),
Onion powder
garlic powder (or fresh)
pepper

Take about 3-5 spears (I usually get the thinner asparagus because in my mind it's more fun and tastes better) then wrap 1 slice of bacon around it.  Get about 3-4 of these delicious bundles and put them on a good sized piece of aluminum foil.  Repeat until the asparagus and bacon are used up.  Next sprinkle each of the foil pouches-to-be with onion powder, garlic powder (or minced garlic) and pepper.  I used a good couple of pinches of each in every pouch.  Then wrap up the foil pouch and toss on BBQ.  Ours only took about 15-20 minutes to cook even with other stuff on the grill.

This little bacon wrapped present ended up making the quote of the day too!  We were sitting around eating our other ooey gooey items and decided that we always eat like gluttons when we're together.  I decided to pipe in with " Well at least I brought a veggie....it might just be wrapped in bacon"  LOL.  Their brains however are still stuck in the bacon-is-bad-for-you mode though.  I'm trying to get them away from the dark side, however the force is still not strong enough.  Oh yeah, that's right,  the inner nerd just jumped out for a quick Star Wars reference "hello".

Well onto some more recipe testing and getting that overwhelming amount of laundry going.
P.S.  How does a 4 year old create more dirty clothes than her mother?

Good night all!

P.P.S.  I'm brainstorming on a pumpkin spice cake/breakfast cake for the next post that is paleo friendly!!  Are you ready for this stuff?? hehe

No more meds

As you all have been aware I kinda fell off the face of the earth for a while :)  Sowwy.  During this time I have been going crazy with all the stuff in mine and Peanut's life, plus catching up with my "family" of friends which has been a very near and dear experience.   More on those people later!  During this hiatus I have become...oh I'd guess about 80% paleo.  I say 80% because when I'm out with said friends on the weekend I may sneak one bite (literally one because more will make me sick as a dog) of something not approved or have some wine or alcohol.  The hard core paleo-ers would have a conniption fit over that.  It's my way of not full on cheating.  So deal with it (said with a super cheesy smile on my face).

Lauren has continued to be my most wonderfulest trainer and works with my ridiculous schedule and has even been so kind as to create more mini-Lauren workouts for when I can't get into the studio and boxes with me on incredibly frustrating days.  Dear lord almighty does that boxing ever make my day better!  Between her and the ResFit team and Dr. Jake we have been working to find out why the weight hasn't been coming off.  Even though that hasn't happened to the effect that we all would like I will have to say I'm half OK with it considering I don't take anything but a multivitamin daily now!! YEE HAW.  The list of crap that I had to take before was growing to 8 pills a day, two for blood pressure alone.  No more, no more, no more... Oh, sorry I got lost in my happy dance for a moment.  Back to the blog.

The WOOMD (Workout of MY day)
**
Ladder Workout (go till you hit a half an hour)  You start out with #1, then #2-#1, then #3-#2-#1, you get it

Plank Rows - 20 (Total - 10 each side)

Squats/Press - 18

Push Ups - 15

Dips - 15

clam style sit-ups -12

Resistance Band Curls/Calf Raise - 18

Jumping Jacks - 25

Recipe o' the Day   Green Bean Cassarole

If you're anything like my bunch...this is a staple at pretty much any family event.  Come to think of it...I think I might make this for our BBQ this weekend!

1 sticks butter sauté 
1 bell pepper diced
1jar artichoke hearts
Onion diced
Garlic diced
Cremini diced about 2 cups
Cremini sliced 1 cup
Heavy cream large container
S and p

Green beans
Cook down
Put in oven to bake at 375 for 20-30

**If you're not hard core paleo you can add about a 1/2 cup of parmesean cheese in there too.  I love it without.

She's Cheesin in her new Hello Kitty hat :) (back to school clothes shopping)

our weekend activities on rainy days :)

Hope you all have a fantastic day and I promise to come back to life much more often!

Hello Kitty Day and Pumped up Kicks

 That's right you heard me.  Yesterday, according to the Monster, was new "Hello Kitty Day."  We went to West County Mall with Aunty My Carol (what the kiddos call her), Mamia, Lissa, and the 3 little ones:  Maddy, Ali, and The Monster ;)  Aunt Carol promised them a girls day out for X-mas that included a you- get- to -pick trip to Build a Bear. I had never heard three little girls squeal a few decibels below God before that night!  Maddy (also known as Monkey) picked....you guessed it....a monkey (SURPRISE!), Ali picked a peace sign bear that was purple, purple is her absolute fav and last but not least mine picked a (again no surprise here) red Hello Kitty.

after she put the heart in and did the squish test

She and the other girls somehow or another convinced Carol that they all needed 2 outfits and accessories to go with their new babies. Needless to say Carol might have spent more money than I ever would have.  Mine needed P-jamas just like her. lol.  Kid would stay in p-jamas all day if she could.  Not a promising start for her.

Then after the girls got their shopping in the big girls got to do a little of their own ;)  I was in desperate need of some new shoes so my pick was Kohl's on the way home.  Totally dig them for shoes.  They have the best prices especially when I collect the coupons hehehe.  These I got for $25!!

Of course they were tested out for my workout du jour last night.  Mighty comfy I might add.  Jogging without knee pain= friggen awesome!

Workout:

2 min walking at 3.7 at 5% incline

30 tricep extensions with 40 lb barbell

30 sumo squats with 30 lb kettlebell

30 pushups

30 rows on the death machine at 40 lbs

2 minute plank

2 minute jogging at 4.5 mph 0% incline

20 tricep extensions with 30 lb barbell

20 sumo squats with 30 lb kettle bell

20 pushups

20 rows at 30 lbs

2 minute plank

2 minutes jogging at 5 mph

10 tricep extension

10 sumo squats with same kettlebell

10 pushups

10 rows still at 30 lbs

30 eagle sit ups with 15 lb plate weight

2 mintue jog at  4.5 mph

5 minute cooldown walk at 3.0

Today as exciting as this is we get to tackle the massive amounts of clothing that needs to be washed.  Yeah, we are girly girls when it comes to clothes ;)  I'm sure we will get in some Zumba and Just Dance for Kids in there too

Peanut playing Just Dance in the dark lol

So, on a completely separate note, next weekend I'm going over to a friends house for Super bowl Sunday and as they have dubbed me the Betty Crocker of our group, I never go anywhere empty handed.  I was thinking about making the Paleo Stuffed Mushrooms from Sara Fargoso's "Everyday Paleo" book only downsizing from the portabellos and making them in button mushrooms instead.  I can't make my Pop's rockin stuffed mushrooms becuase they contain all kind of non-paleo friendly ingredients.  Here's the recipe...Do you all think this is a tasty choice?

Cook Time: 20 minutes

6 giant Portobello mushrooms

 ½ green bell pepper, diced 

1 red onion, diced

 3 celery stalks, diced 

6 garlic cloves, minced 

1 pound spicy Italian pork sausage—casing removed 

1 pound ground beef 

1 teaspoon paprika

 ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper

 2 tablespoons dried basil

 1 tablespoon dried tarragon

 Pinch of sea salt

 Black pepper to taste 

1 egg

 ¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil 

¼ cup coconut flour 

  1. Preheat oven to 400°F

. 2. Use a moist paper towel to gently clean the mushroom caps. Gently remove the mushroom stems with a small knife and set the stems aside. 

3. Using a spoon, carefully scoop out the gills from the insides of the mushrooms. Ruboutsides of the mushrooms with extra-virgin olive oil and place each cap down into a large glass baking dish. 

4. Dice the bell peppers, onions, celery stalks, and mushroom stems, and mince the garlic

. 5. In a large soup pot, brown the sausage and ground beef, add the bell peppers, onions, celery, garlic, and mushrooms, and cook until the veggies are tender

. 6. Move the meat and veggie mixture from the pot into a food processor and add all of the spices, the egg, extra-virgin olive oil, and the coconut flour. Process until the mixture is finely chopped but not mushy—it should be chopped fine but still chunky

. 7. Scoop the mixture evenly into each mushroom cap – make them really full. Spoon any remaining mixture around the mushrooms and cook your

Fragoso, Sarah; Wolf, Robb (2011-10-11). Everyday Paleo (Kindle Locations 1523-1531). Victory Belt Publishing. Kindle Edition. 

Fragoso, Sarah; Wolf, Robb (2011-10-11). Everyday Paleo (Kindle Locations 1508-1523). Victory Belt Publishing. Kindle Edition. 

Let me know what you all think if you steal the recipe and make it.  Like I said, there's going to be a few modifications like mushrooms and I think maybe some different spices in there too.

Have a great rest of the weekend all.

Zumba 2 for Wii...I'm in love!!!

Hi all!  Sorry to be writing while all sweaty and what not but I could not wait any longer to tell you that I am absolutely IN LOVE!!!

LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE

I just got done doing a "class" in my living room after putting the Monster down for bed!  Still feels party like ;)
No you will not be seeing a video, if you want to see me dance come out to a club with me!  hehehe

Today was acutally pretty nice :)  Got up and had a dinner for breakfast:
Amylu Chicken sausage and home made applesauce!

Then got up and started the day,  went shopping, went to lunch with a friend, got the Tink and came home and played Just dance for Kids 2 (since it's too cold outside to play) and got mucho snuggles then to bed for the munchkin, Zumba for me, and blogging for you :)

Yesterday was good stuff too.  Last night I was kid-less so I had a girls night in with a good friend that I haven't seen for a while.  She made deer chili for dinner and of course wine was involved.  No drunken Mario cart though...sorry Charlie!  We got to watch Friends with Benefits and if you haven't seen it DO IT.  This movie is hysterical!  It's my type of chick flick with massive amounts of sarcasm and dirty minded-ness involved ;)  Yeah, I'm a little not right in the head but it makes me...well me.  Take it or leave it man because I'm not changing anytime soon.  Except maybe definitely lots lighter.  I have a serious feeling that Zumba is going to be playing a major part in that again. 

Well now that I'm coming down off of my excersise high ( Don't you totally dig those?) I need to get stuff ready for tomorrow and tackle the pile of laundry over here that about the size of 6 children, yeah I roll like that. 

Night