Food

Sometimes I feel like all I do is cook! But it has been such a blessing eating healthy and prepack food. Last week one of my employees called in sick and it was a RUSH to get out the door. If I had not had my food prepacked… I would have been in trouble. The extra time, work, and energy to be prepared really pays off.

Being with friends this weekend I did not prepack food. I instead threw a quick meal together of broccoli slaw, pineapple, spicy chicken sausage, garlic, and some coconut aminos at their home (while I made acorn squash covered in butter and brown sugar for Uncle Les). I think my “niece” and her boyfriend were shocked the healthy food could taste good too.

I also made lettuce cups with ground chicken, garlic, ginger, onions, water chestnuts and a sauce made from rice vinegar, coconut aminos, almond butter, sesame oil and chili sauce. I topped it with cilantro… because I love cilantro… and scooped it in Boston Lettuce cups.

Lately I have been craving pesto sauce. Most pesto sauce in the store has Parmesan cheese in it. Yesterday I took Paula grocery shopping and could not find basil. Today I went back to the store… to many stores… Carpinitos, Nature’s Market, Fred Meyer’s, Target, Safeway, Trader Joe’s. I was starting to think satisfying this craving was not worth the effort. Thank goodness Trader Joe’s delivered (And thank you Leslie for suggesting it!)

In my ninja I put a 4oz package of fresh basil (stems removed), 1/2 cup pine nuts, lemon juice from one lemon, a squirt of minced garlic, and some olive oil… and a little cilantro (because as I have already mentioned… I ❤️ it!). It tastes so good! I also baked a spaghetti squash, mixed 1/3 of the pesto sauce with it and topped it with fried chicken and pine nuts. My Chicken was easy to make and tasted pretty good… Paula will agree! I mixed 2 eggs with 2 tablespoons spicy brown mustard and mixed it well. I twice dipped my chicken in the egg mixture and a mixture of coconut flour, dried parsley, dried oregano, dried basil, paprika, sea salt and garlic powder and browned it in the wok with a little olive oil. I then finished it off on the George Foreman Grill. Because I will be staying at Tracy’s house tomorrow night, I packed two days worth of lunch and dinner… and a chopped RX Bar for Thursday morning.

Downside to all this cooking… I still have to finish the dishes…and clean the kitchen…

Finding Humor

Just wanted to share a photo of dear Bob. He is such a loving and trusting dog and after this, I am not sure why he loves me so much.

I had a great laugh with Emese, my health coach, this week. I am finding it hard to get up or stay late to get my physical fitness in. I know this is something I need to get on because eating healthy will only take me so far. And our laughing was over something so silly. We have been talking about doing things on the go… like pushups on the wall, or lunges in the hall…. or squats in the shower. We have all done it, right? I sometimes feel like in the shower is the perfect time for my squats. What made us laugh is the shampoo and conditioner bottle weights I have been using. I am so grateful my roommate sleeps through me dropping them… at least I hope she does…. some mornings I have butter fingers (maybe I should call them soap fingers) and drop them multiple times… oops.

Fall

I have been absent in my blogging for a few days. Not many people know this nor do I speak of it very often, but I have severe anxiety. I have had a very anxiety filled week. I really do not have a reason. I am not under extreme stress, but my mind sometimes plays tricks on me like it has this week. This past week I have just wanted to lay in bed and be all by myself. I have just wanted to isolate myself. It is a fight sometimes to get out the door on days I am not working because being around people makes me anxious.

This past week I did spend some time with my other family… IN A LARGE CROWD… on a day off and was okay. I fought through it and although I was only at the pumpkin patch for a short time, I enjoyed it. I also enjoyed that I could walk the long distance to and from the car in heeled boots and my feet never hurt. That is what I call a Whole30 non scale victory. The lack of joint pain is reason enough to eat healthy!

I love fall! I love boots and sweaters and the decorations. I especially love the front doors at work right now! They make me happy… and the hay everywhere doesn’t give me anxiety!