Mother's Day and Peanut Butter and Pickle Sandwiches

I woke up to the sound of things happening in the kitchen...

Things that I wasn't supposed to be a part of, so I stayed in bed as long as I could.

I think I already said in a previous post I didn't want sugar today.  And I knew they weren't making smoothies.  This was their creation:

My healthy crêpe recipe...

With Mickey Mouse ears, "just like Dad makes."

With strawberries and whipped cream, which I also requested.  (I make whipped cream with stevia instead of sugar, so there's no sugar on that plate.)

And I love the homemade gifts on Mother's Day... 

Here are some pictures of just a few:  

A very cute pop-up card.

And my very own award...

A paper flower bouquet colored with scented markers so the flowers have a real scent...very creative.

And the real flowers they all gave me yesterday.

They also wouldn't let me help much today.  Every time I tried to do something they made me plant myself on the couch.  

Torture.

Tim asked earlier today what I wanted for dinner...

Then after close to forty-eight hours of not sleeping, he finally fell asleep.  (It's shift work, not Tim who gets blamed for the lack of dinner at our house this evening.)

Then out of the blue Joie asked if she could make a peanut butter and pickle sandwich...which is funny because a friend just posted on my wall on facebook a few days ago that she remembered making peanut butter and pickle sandwiches at my parent's house when we were in college.

But Joie learned it from her mom (my sister)

Who learned it from our mom.

And suddenly I was craving peanut butter and pickle sandwiches also, so in honor of the peanut butter and pickle sandwich being passed down through three whole generations of moms, that's what we had for dinner.

And chips, because that's what Gabby wanted (Lay's Natural...check out the ingredient list here... probably not considered health food, but that's not a bad ingredient list.)

"And everyone grab some carrots or peas out of the refrigerator," I said, but I don't think they listened.  (It may very well be that pickles were the only vegetable my children ate today.)

And the healthy crêpe recipe just in case you're dying to try it... 

(I have said before I'm not a talented cook, correct?)

Healthy Crêpes:

I put 8-10 eggs, 1 1/2 cups of oats, and about 1 cup of almond milk in the Vitamix and blend it beyond recognition (the oats become the only flour).

Heat butter or oil in a frying pan or skillet and pour in batter and cook.

The recipe was created out of desperation last year to feed a allergy-ridden child, and we continue to use it in place of pancakes.  Adjust the ingredients to get the taste and texture you want.  If you use vanilla almond milk you don't have to add sweetener.  

Toppings we love:  strawberries and whipped cream, 100% pure maple syrup, fruit spread...  I suppose peanut butter and pickles could also work.

Hope your Mother's Day was a good one!

Nuts About Nutrition

If you know me, you know in the past few years I've gone a little nuts about nutrition.

Part of that is my own journey to find a healthier life, and part of that journey is compelled by the nutritional needs of my children.  We hate allergies, but it forces us to think creatively about food, and even though I've never loved the kitchen, I'm feeling more and more at home there.

At the same time, having children who are adopted keeps me from being completely compulsive about food...

But the refined sugar issue drives me to insanity some days.

(Me screaming into a pillow)

There are also times Tim knows to preface his choice of a dinner menu with, "And it ain't healthy, so don't ask." 

(Me getting out the almond butter and veggies...  Who says mom can't have a PBJ dinner too when she doesn't like what's on the table?)


Everyone knows I'm obsessed, and they humor me.  Here are some recent examples my family likes to site as proof I've gone over the edge:

• Disguising green things in smoothies.  The kids are on to me and carefully watch what goes into their smoothies, but I'm creative...that's all I'll say.  And my own smoothies are loaded with almost 100% of my daily intake of everything from fiber to protein and really obscure vitamins.
• Celebrating that our hotel in Nebraska was next to a Whole Foods, and long searches in airports to find healthy food choices (mostly for me on that one...impossible to do for everyone).
• Carrying a bag of almonds and a few apples with me everywhere I go to avoid coming up against choosing between processed foods and hunger.
• Stocking our kitchen with every possible natural sweetener alternative to processed sugar and modifying recipes to include only whole food ingredients.

And the list goes on.  Thankfully everyone has a sense of humor, and if you want to know the truth, they're my built-in personal trainers.  When I broke down and bought diet coke, Nate hid it, and just the other day Gabby told me, "Mom, I'm your Jillian."  

So imagine my joy at discovering how healthy Indian food can be, and that most of our family loves it...and it isn't that difficult to prepare.  Tim makes Pav Bhaji and Egg Curry by the pot, and stores it in the refrigerator for when our vegetarian daughter doesn't like what's on the menu.  And he loves to point out to me that the ingredients are all whole food ingredients.

(Me silently cheering that I might be rubbing off on the family.)

So about those spicy Cheetos Gabby loves, loves, loves...  Most people don't believe me, but we actually have allowed Cheetos in the house.  Recently they became a bonus item rather than a general snack item.  Four bonuses earns a bag of Cheetos.  That's four days of doing chores and homework with a good attitude.  And I force myself to not read the label and all those words I can't pronounce that are going into my children's bodies.

It's just Cheetos.

(Me breathing into a bag...)

And at the end of the day, whole foods still win, so we're all good.

A Day of Firsts

Today I ate at In-n-Out Burger for the first time ever.  In-n-Out has been in Draper, Utah for almost a year and I haven't eaten there until today.

This was also the first fast food meal for me in a year.  I'm kind of proud of that.  Thirteen months ago I started a nutrition journey, and 70 pounds later, I feel great and (mostly) don't miss fast food.  


Analysis:  All year I kept hearing how great their fries are...  Jeran and Megan finished mine.  A third of the way through I wondered why I was wasting calories on something that didn't really taste that good.  If I'm wasting calories on fries, I've had better.  The hamburger rocked!

Then about 20 minutes later my stomach ached.

Will I eat there again?  I might.  (Maybe next year.)

At the end of the day, nothing tastes as great as healthy feels.

Cookies or Playdough?

Lately we're on a bit of a health kick at our house. Actually, it's more than a kick...we've been making a lot of changes, and the kids have been troopers, jumping right on board. Tonight Megan wanted to make cookies for lunches. We figured out the recipe using agave nectar instead of sugar, and whole wheat flour. Whole wheat flour is kept along with a lot of other baking items in our pantry in a clear plastic container. Have you ever noticed how much gluten looks like whole wheat flour? Maybe not so much, but looking through a clear plastic container the differences between the two really narrow. Megan held up a container and asked if it was whole wheat flour. I said, "Yes." The end result was cookies that looked a lot like they were made of stretchy plastic. They were a lot of fun to play with, not much fun to eat. The verdict is still out on whole wheat, agave nectar chocolate chip cookies.  We'll be sure to let you know how they turn out!

"Mom, this cookie won't break."

"Look, Mom! Playdough!"