Real Food: Chicken Something

We are in the midst of our 2nd Advocare 24 Day Challenge. The first 10 days is a "cleanse" so the idea is to not eat anything processed. 

You eat whole food meals. Fruits, vegetables, lean meats, and complex carbohydrates.

That means eliminating particular foods (but not limited to):

The Truth about Honesty

Under the thumbnail of my picture for this blog I have a quote:

"Even if you sugarcoat shit... it's still shit"

I believe that; with every ounce of my being. 

By nature I'm a truth seeker. I don't believe the paint is wet, I don't believe shit stinks, I don't believe it's raining... these are things I have to find out for myself. Plus a multitude of other less trivial things that occur in my life. 

It's not that I don't trust people - I just need to know I've gotten the full truth so I can validate the statement. I could save myself some time if I believed people at their word.

It's a lifestyle: CocoNUTS!

You already know the mantra: 

New Year - New Me 

I say it all the time and I am living it every day. 

I'm owning this shit. 

I have to. I owe it to myself and my family to be the best person I can be. That includes my physical well being. 

Somewhere in time when I crossed the "40's" threshold, I began to see wrinkles. Laugh lines around my mouth, some crinkles across my forehead, some bagginess on my eyelids.

It's a Lifestyle: Is that Bacon?

If you've been following along, you know that we did the Advocare 24 Day Challenge that began on January 7th. 

Basically what the challenge does is it acts as a "Lifestyle Adjustment Tool". 

IT IS NOT A DIET. Like, I can't reiterate that enough. We are NOT ON A DIET. 

Change is derived from the word chaLLEnge (in Terri-Town) and we took the 24 Day Challenge to start the path for a lifestyle change. The food, tools and supplements that you use during the challenge prepare you for living a healthier lifestyle; to prepare your body to accept the nutrients you receive from real food. There are supplements to help keep you on the path. Think of them as tools to help build your foundation. 

Make sense?

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We were almost 2 weeks into the challenge. Literally the no dairy, no unhealthy fats, and definitely no bacon part of the challenge. We were on our Saturday shopping trip to Trader Joe's and then to Whole Foods to pick up our weekly food supplies. 

Trader Joe's went great. We picked up our fresh fruits and vegetables. Aboy picked up organic coconut water and some healthy chips and other things for the road. I like their Brown Rice Pasta selection and also picked up some frozen fish.

On to Whole Foods. 

So, before I take you through that experience... let me set the stage a little clearer. We usually go on our shopping adventure right after we leave the gym. We have a piece of fruit or a healthy snack before shopping so we don't go in the store "starved"... and then have a nice lunch when we get back from shopping. 

Well, it was a Saturday morning and Whole Foods parking lot was jam packed. The Whole Foods we go to has an extensive deli type setting with seating and food to order. We walked in and were overcome by the smell of bacon. Like yummy, fuck the challenge - smell of bacon!! And the closer we walked to the restaurant area - the stronger the smell. 

We needed some coconut milk and yogurt - so, that brought us to the perimeter of the restaurant area. 

I wish I could show you the look on Aboy's face as we got closer to the smells perpetuating through the air. I have to admit - it was very enticing! 

We could have succumbed to the pressure, but to that point had really stuck to meal plan and decided once we got through with the challenge we could have some bacon as a treat.

So, we won that challenge!

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In the world of nutrition and daily eating, bacon will be our treat. It tastes great but offers very little in the way of nutritional value. 

North Carolina is famous for it's bacon. We will always eat bacon. 

We just choose to use it as a treat and not a staple in our meal plan. 

It's a lifestyle: One Pot Zucchini Mushroom Pasta

I'm all for easy. One pot easy is an even bigger win.

I found this recipe on Pinterest last week and told Aboy I was going to make it this weekend. 

I picked up the fresh ingredients after we left the gym yesterday. 

Yous know we prep the week of food the day before Aboy has to go back out - so, this seemed like a nice dinner (meatless), plus given the amount of ingredients, some extra for the rest of the week. 

It was simple, but I tweaked the recipe a little bit because Aboy is not a huge fan of peas. 

The original recipe is here 

I beat to my own drum - so this is what I did...

In the pot:

About 6 cups of water (because there was so much food in the pot)

2 garlic cloves (minced)

1 lb of Spaghetti (I used brown rice pasta - I think the next time I will use wheat)

8 oz container of cremini mushrooms (sliced)

2 sprigs of thyme

1 lb chopped spinach (frozen)

2 large zucchinis

Salt & Pepper and a couple shakes of Sazonador Total (which, BTW - is my new favorite seasoning)

Sauce:

Parmesan Cheese (I didn't measure this - I'm Italian... we don't measure Parmesan)

1/4 cup of heavy cream

Just like the instructions said - I threw it all into the pot - let it boil down until it had reduced to hardly any liquid. 

Then I added the cheese and cream, stirred it up - let it cook for another 2 minutes and turned off the heat. 

We took out Mahi Mahi earlier, so I baked that (with a pesto glaze) and Waa-Laa!!! Sunday Dinner!

Indoor Crafts: Loom Knit Hat & Scarf

Many of you that know me personally or if you have been following along with my blog understand that I have a need to stay busy. I multi-task for a living. It is my nature to have multiple things going on at one time.

"Idle time is the devil's play." - Mark Dayton

So, I keep busy. 

All the time. 

Something else that I have discovered about myself over the years - I have an equal Left and Right Brain. This just means that I have an analytic side and a creative side... equally. I can write technical manuals, but then I can illustrate them and add visual content. I don't know if it's a gift, genetic or learned - but, I embrace it. A lot of people are either one or the other. 

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It's winter. The house usually stays pretty clean (because I'm in it all day long)... but, I need other things to do, too. 

Over the vacation - Michaels had a great sale on yarn. 

I picked up A LOT of yarn.

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I am from New York. I don't talk to strangers. I was taught that from a very young age. 

I live in North Carolina. Southerners are social people. They will just spark up a conversation about the most random shit, just because. 

So, while I was in the yarn aisle (MINDING MY BUSINESS)... a native sparked up a conversation about the yarn. 

In my head, I had my own internal conversation:

"Oh boy! Here we go!... She's probably going to end up asking me what church I go to."

I nipped on the bait and my external voice participated. During the conversation, she mentioned that her church loom knits hats for cancer patients and that is why she was filling up her "buggy" (that's what southerners call a "cart") with yarn. A very noble cause, to say the least. 

Then... she asked me "What church do you go to?" 

I changed the subject back to yarn and asked her how to loom knit. 

She pointed out the looms she uses and said YouTube had a lot of videos and it was so easy to just follow along. 

I had a 50% off coupon for any regularly priced item and picked up the loom kit. 

This is my latest creation:

Pretty cool, right?

Hopefully I can crank out some more hats before summer gets here!

Law of Attraction

In the craziness of life I try to take time out to reflect on how blessed I am and how much I've accomplished.

As I'm growing older, with everyday - I try to become more optimistic. I like being happy. I like how I feel when there is no drama in my life. I like laughing.

Most importantly, I love my life.

By no means is it perfect. Shit, I thought because I survived teenagers - the rest would be smooth sailing!  No one warned me about adult children!

But, it's all good. I try to take each challenge and make it into an opportunity to learn and gain from it. There is no need to dwell on things I can't control. There is no need for me to worry about things that inevitably will work themselves out.

So, I wanted to put down on "paper" all the things that I am grateful for...

1.   My health
2.   My ability to think and verbalize the thoughts that cross my mind
3.   My humor and being able to laugh at myself
4.   My family (including my pets)
5.   My job with ***
6.   My bed & TV - both give me a way to relax
7.   My ability to coupon which also encompasses my talent to make something from nothing
8.   My computer & the internet - including facebook and other social media, which is not ideal - but it is a nice way for me to stay connected with family and friends and keep up with daily life
9.   That I am not perfect - it gives me something to aspire to
10. That I can do things for others and use my expertise to help them improve their lives

I invite you to do exactly what I did.

Things may not be going great for you. You might be in the middle of a shit storm... but, if you sit down and list out just a few of the positives that you have in your life - the Law of Attraction will open up the door for other things to start looking up.

I promise.