Going Semi-Whole Foods

My gallbladder is having no more of this diet of fast food and butter-rich homemade tastiness.  I'm kind of bummed, but really my only choice is to go semi-whole foods.  I have a few gallstones, and my doctor won't do anything about it unless I'm experiencing symptoms (which I am, moderately).  And by "do anything" she really means put me on a diet and restrict my fat/grease/processed foods intake.  Yeah, might as well do that myself before she mandates it.  I figure if I do it myself, by the time I have my next appointment (in a few weeks), if I have made the change but still have symptoms, then maybe she'll try something else.

So, dear readers, I need your help!  I need ideas of things that I can make!!  I don't want to have to cook separate meals at dinnertime.  There are only 3 of us, so making 2 dinners seems kind of silly.  So, what are some things I can make that are semi-whole foods (I'm still going to eat meat: poultry, pork, etc, only in smaller portions) that my whole family will like too??

Is there a website I should be looking at?  A blog I should follow?  Recipe I should try?  Let me know in the comments section!  I'd really appreciate it! :)

Also, don't forget to leave your comments on my giveaway!  You have until the 31st to enter!

Being Domestic - sorta

One of the pitfalls of renting a tiny split level home (in a 4-plex) is that there is hardly any room for storage.  We'd have food storage, if we had somewhere to put it.  Our kitchen is small.  Our bedrooms are small.  Every available closet shelf is used for storing things we don't need right now but might/probably need in the future.

In fact, Marshall doesn't even have access to his closet.  It is chock-full of crib parts and baby toys, boxes of clothes he doesn't fit in anymore, and other miscellaneous kid/baby-related items.

The sad thing is, I have gone through every closet in our house (except the linen closet in the hall - it's on my To-Do list) and thrown/given away TONS of things in the 2 1/2 years we've lived here.  I am constantly amazed at how much crap I find to through away each time I do it.  But, now we're at the bottom of the barrel.  I've gotten rid of everything I can think to get rid of.  I honestly about killed myself the last time I went through our storage cupboard under the stairs.  It's the hardest to go through.  You have to drag everything out, go through all the different boxes, then rearrange it and hope you end up with a little more space than you had before.

This process explains why every time food storage items go on sale (or Macey's has a case lot sale) Mike says "No, we don't have anywhere to keep it."  It makes sense, but I forget every year.

So, when we saw that corn was on sale for $14 for 48 ears at our local food co-op, I was surprised when Mike said "Let's do it.  We can freeze it for food storage."

What?!

Who are you and what have you done with my husband?

So that is how we spent this afternoon.  We blanched the ears of corn, took all the kernels off the cob, and bagged them into freezer bags.  I made 21 bags with 1 1/2 cups in it, and 1 bag with 2 cups.  33 1/2 cups of corn, and a newly cleaned out freezer, later, I now have plenty of corn to last me through the winter.  No more spending $1.50 on the cheap generic brand of corn that doesn't have a resealable bag and gets freezer burn 5 seconds after you open the thing.

I can't tell you how proud I am that I've finally done something "domestic" in preparation for winter.  If we had the stuff (and space) to can, I'd probably be doing that like crazy too.  Someday, someday.  When I have a house of my own with its own giant food storage area in the basement, then we'll see how much canning I can get done.  Until then, I'm going to have to be content with putting up corn in the freezer.  :)

I made it!!

So, you know that never ending list I thought there was no way in HELL I'd finish?  Yeah, I finished it!!!!!

Living room clean?  CHECK
Presents wrapped?  CHECK
Mom's present made?  CHECK
Quilted 3 quilts for clients?  CHECK
Bound 3 other quilts for clients?  CHECK
Quilted 2 quilts for SIL?  CHECK
Camera/Camcorder charged & ready?  CHECK

So the only things that didn't get done were the friend presents (They will be "New Year's" cards instead of Christmas cards, probably!) and I didn't quilt/bind the Christmas quilt I made....which is no big deal, because I hadn't planned on them getting done anyway. ;)

This weekend should be fun!  Christmas officially in 5 mins (but present unwrapping happens in T-5 hrs 35 mins).  Breakfast at Lola's house at 7.  Presents with Grandma & Grandpa P at 10.  Lunch & presents with Nana & Pop-pop at 1.

Sunday, church (but who really wants to go to church the day after Christmas?  Yeah, us neither....but we'll probably drag ourselves there for the first hour).

Monday, a little work, then pre-wedding party with the whole fam-damily at my mom's house in SLC.  Dinner at 5.

Tuesday, a little more work, then wedding reception for my cousin at 7:30 at her parents' house in SLC.

Anyone noticing how frequently I'll be driving from Spanish Fork to SLC?  Yeah.....not looking forward to the freeway this weekend, since it's totally ripped up and under construction, but it should be fun once we make it there!

I promise to take lots of pictures and post them!! :)


MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!

Overheard at our house

Munchkin: Dad, McDonald's or Wendy's?
Dad: McDonald's.
Munchkin: McDonald's or Tokyo?
Dad: Tokyo! Of course!
Munchkin: WRONG! You only get two choices. McDonald's or Wendy's, and Wendy's is closed. So.....McDonald's?
Dad: Fine.
Munchkin: YAY! McDonald's!

I'm a Bad Mom.....

We had a birthday party for Marshy tonight.  Do you think I took any pictures?  NO!  Did I have a camera with me?  YES! I had the Nikon. The Kodak's battery was dead, so I got the Nikon out.  I am such an idiot.  I do this all the time. 

He was so cute, too.  He loved opening all the presents....even the clothes!  Buzz Lightyear was definitely the prize winner though.  We got him the little karate-chop-action action figure.  He went to sleep holding him.  yeah, that's a pretty good sign he likes his toy. 

He also got some monster trucks from Nana and Pop-pop (to go with the Monster Truck playmat I made him).  He loved that, too.  So much that he wouldn't let anyone else touch it or be near it or play with it!  Silly boy needs to learn how to share.

I also made 46 cupcakes, and a round cake.  I brought home 10 cupcakes and the round cake.  I figure that's pretty good, right?

Well, I guess I'll just have to take pictures of him playing with all of his presents later.  His aunts, uncles, cousins, and other grandparents all gave him some pretty cool stuff, too.  He's pretty stoked about the birthday haul he got this year.  (YAY!)

Day 2 or "Lunch at the Thai Cottage"

We went to Edmonds today.  Found out that the lady we were going to surprise had actually moved to Idaho.  Two days ago.  Oops! That's what we get for not calling ahead. haha

Then we went to the downtown district and walked around.  We took the ferry across to Kingston, walked around for a bit, then rode the ferry back.  We then were ready for lunch as it was about 1:30.

We decided to eat at the Thai Cottage.  We didn't talk a lot, because the two parties on either side of us were doing plenty talking for us.  The couple behind us was particularly peculiar.  We never really saw the woman's face, but we assumed she was Asian.  The man was white.  Upon being seated he started reading some mortgage paperwork, loudly enough that the whole restaurant could hear it.

When they ordered, he ordered for both of them:

"We'll split a number 15, because you weren't that hungry to begin with, huh?"
she said something we couldn't hear.

Later in the conversation, the man says to the woman:

"Mmm. This is yummy.  You need to get the recipe so you can make this at home. In your wok." and then he proceeded to make the racial steriotypical noice that Bruce Lee makes when doing his karate/kung fu "waaaah!"  It was incredibly loud.  Mike and I were trying not to laugh.

When it came time to pay his bill, the man said to the woman, and the waiter:

"Man that was bigger than I thought it would be.  It's a good thing we only ordered one.  But you understand." (said to the waiter)

They paid, then left.  Now, while all of this was going on, the party next to us was having a raucous time as well.  It was a group of 5 or 6 women, discussing their friend, Celeste.  Mike says he was totally enthralled by the following conversation.

Celeste had gotten bit by a spider below the Mason-Dixon line.  She wanted her friend to see the bite, so she took a picture of the bite with her camera phone.  The friend refused to look at it.  Later, she was at Celeste's house when Celeste pulled her into the bathroom and insisted she look at the bite. 

Also, we learned that one year for Halloween, Celeste dressed up like a Playboy bunny.  If Celeste (who wasn't present) looked anything like her other friends, we're pretty sure we don't want to see her dressed up as a Playboy bunny.....or the spider bite below the Mason-Dixon line.  Yup.

Yep, great times at the Thai Cottage. 

Oh, other highlights from today?  TONS of jellyfish in the water.  The boat ran over a whole bunch of them.

Bought some authentic African fat quarters at a shop called Fabric of Life.  Went to the Kingston quilt shop and the quilt shop around the corner from our hotel (Keepsake Quilting? or something similar in name).  Bought the shop hop pattern pack, since I won't be making it to many more of the shops.  Maybe 1 or 2 in Seattle. We'll see.

Speaking of Seattle - Our nav system thinks Seattle is pronounced Seat-le.....like seagul, only with a tuh sound.  It made us laugh.

We had dinner at Jaliscos, a Mexican place.  It was pretty good.  I wanted fried ice cream, but they gave us our check before asking us to order dessert.  In fact, they never asked us to order dessert.  Mike went and paid the bill, then we drove off the the QFC to get me some ice cream (I have a sore throat, it is medicinal! haha)

While at the QFC we also bought some window wipes to wash the inside of our windshield.  While I was wiping the windshield down, the car decided to get back at me for all the abuse over the years and threw the rear view mirror at my face.  My lip bled.  It hurt.  Mike laughed so hard he cried.  I just cried.  Mike said "don't cry."  I cried anyway.  He laughed harder, making him cry more. 

Then we went back to the hotel.  Our hotel has cookies every night.  I got one for me and one for Mike.  Mike ate his.  While I got our room key out, he held my cookie.  NEVER AGAIN!  He ate my cookie!!!!!!! And then he wouldn't get me another one!  RUDE!

So, now we're getting ready to just relax and watch TV/movies all night.  Tomorrow we go to the gem/jewelry show!  YIPEE!

Pirate Island Pizza

We went to Pirate Island Pizza at the beginning of April. I went a little camera happy, but Marshy was just acting so funny I couldn't help it!

This time we got him a high chair and strapped him in good. He was a little bored waiting for his food.


We had to coax a smile out of him.

He was so happy when his drink finally came!

Such a happy boy with his Sprite.

This picture didn't really turn out how I wanted, but you can see him on the slide. We finally gave up making him eat his food and let him go play while we finished our dinner.

He was so afraid of the "big" slide!

He got along pretty well with the other kids in the play area.

He didn't like sharing the wheel with the other kids, though.

He eventually got control of it AND the spyglass.

We had a lot of fun, even though the food wasn't that great. I was disappointed, actually, because the food was so good the first time we ate there. Marshy loves it so much, though, so I'm sure we'll go back again...probably for his birthday this fall.

Food Woes

So I've been freaked out a little lately that Marshy won't eat a lot.

Like, yesterday he wanted a lemon poppyseed muffin (from Sam's), so Mike cut him half. He ate it, and I gave him the other half, but had to practically feed it to him to get him to finish. For some reason I didn't see that a muffin was much of a lunch, so I tried to get him to eat more food, which he wouldn't. I was upset and angry that he was being so "naughty" and uncooperative.


UNTIL I read the nutrition facts label on the bottom of the muffin box. Each muffin has 610 calories. 610 CALORIES I couldn't believe it! It was insane! And here I'd just force-fed him 305 of those 610 calories and tried to make him eat more!! I felt so bad. From now on I'm going to read all the labels before I force the child to eat food! Because, for a kid who's used to only having 300-400 calories per meal, 610 is A LOT!

So behind

So I've decided to start rejoining in the FlyLady system/routine. I did really good last week. My entrance was always clean (it did need to be steamed, but then it rained and snowed so I had to put my rug back down). My dining room table is actually cleared off and that corner is decluttered! I actually folded and put away ALL the laundry, instead of leaving some (or all) of it in the laundry hampers. I even swept my front porch!



This week we're supposed to be in the kitchen. The kitchen is where I spend a good chunk of time now. I make 3 different meals for dinner: 1 for Mike, 1 for Marsh (unless he's cooperative and eats what Mike's having), and then my special HCG meal. I have like seriously no counter space again. If anyone finds a really cheap (like under $50) kitchen cart, please let me know... I need to expand my kitchen desperately!

Here is my kitchen in a nutshell. It is so tiny that when the dishwasher is open, you can't open the fridge more than 2 inches. Once I managed, somehow miraculously, to get a gallon of milk out while the dishwasher was open. Once.

So, back to the kitchen. On the left side of the sink live the Kitchenaid stand mixer, the blender, and the crock pot. On the right side of the sink lives the rotating spice rack, the knife block, all of the cutting boards I own, and the George Foreman grill. On the counter between the oven and fridge lives the microwave.

I would like to note that with all of the counters there are small cupboards below and above. There are 2 small cupboards above the fridge and the stove. The cupboards on the long side of the kitchen (side with the sink) don't go to the ceiling, so I have a lot of stuff stored up on top, like the griddle, the rice cooker, the deep fryer, the other crock pot, and some oversized bowls that don't fit anywhere else.

So, back to the FlyLady thing.... we're supposed to clear our counters off COMPLETELY and wipe them down. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Unless I want to trip and kill myself by putting the stuff on the floor, this one isn't getting done anytime soon. Also, scrubbing the faucet with a toothbrush? I don't know about you, but the only non-electric toothbrush I own is the one I got from the periodontist because I can't brush with an electric one yet (still having gum issues).

So the odds of getting this week's flying done are slim to none. Plus, I don't have a lot of energy this week. I don't know why. I'm super excited about starting Phase 3 of the HCG, which means that I'll be cooking even MORE, but I can eat EGGS, and natural Peanut Butter, and CHEESE!! I'm so excited!

I'm more than willing to accept any advice/tips you might have for me on solving my kitchen problem. Did I mention that on the other side of the tall cupboard is the garbage can, then the dining room table (which is really a card table) that hides the food processor, which is still in its box because there isn't any room for it on the counter or in a cupboard? Yeah....HELP ME PLEASE!!!

And don't suggest I dejunk my electronics/appliances, because I already got rid of a SLURPEE machine, a fondue set, a waffle iron, and a broken blender. :)

Chuck E Cheese's

Yesterday Mike was watching Marshy while I worked late (huge quilt...like, seriously MASSIVE... that needed to be finished). Well, Marshy wanted a string cheese. Mike got him one, and he said "YAY! Chuck E Cheese!" Mike didn't understand. He looked at the label, and realized the cheese was a Chuck E Cheese brand. He said "Yes, it is Chuck E Cheese." Marshy smiled and said "Chuck E Cheese for my birthday?"

Ummm.....yeah, he must've seen the commercials on the TV. Unfortunately he has to wait until September, and we won't be going to Chuck E Cheese.....maybe Pirate Island though (like last year). We'll let ya'all know in September! haha

IKEA and toast

We LOVE Ikea. But, we haven't been there for a long time.

This weekend we went to Ikea. The whole drive up, Marshy kept talking about how excited he was to do things and see things there. What the?? We honestly haven't been there for about 6 months, and he remembers everything about it.

Of course, the boys wanted to eat lunch there. I couldn't eat anything they had, so I got a water and watched them eat. Then we went to Texas Roadhouse and they watched me eat some steak and broccoli. I've had better steaks. I was really disappointed and sad. :(


Also this weekend, we discovered just how smart Marshy really is. While I was at work on Saturday, Mike was watching him. He made him a PBJ sandwich before going upstairs. A few minutes later, he heard Marshy yelling "hot bread! hot bread! Owie owie owie! hot bread!" Mike went downstairs to discover that Marshy had gotten bread out of the fridge, put it in the toaster and made toast ALL BY HIMSELF! What the?? He helped me once, the other day, make toast.

Oh yeah, and he can also print stuff off of the computer by himself after watching me do it once. He's a smarty. :)

Veggies... REALLY?

I'm doing the Hcg diet (track my progress here). As part of the diet, I can only eat certain veggies. I've been stumped as to what to do with the veggies that don't quite make up 3.5 oz. Tonight I decided to steam some leftover cauliflower and zucchini and give it to Marshy with his dinner. HE LOVED IT.


Seriously? The boy who only eats chicken nugget kids meals and PBJ sandwiches (with dinosaurs stamped in them) was actually eating VEGGIES?! WOO WOO! I'm so excited! I never thought the day would come that he would eat any veggies willingly, let alone something that wasn't corn or peas. I'm so happy :)

Congrats, Good bye, and Good luck!

Last Monday we had a BBQ up the canyon for one of the nephews. Nephew Jase was ordained an Elder last Sunday, and is leaving this coming weekend for SUU.

Marshy LOVES Avery ("Aerie is how he says her name. It's cute. But better than Jessica, who is "Assy". haha)

Congratulations, Jase, on your ordination! Have fun at school! Good bye and Good luck with everything!

Does this make me a bad parent?

These are from last Sunday (although, strangely, he is wearing the same outfit today. Hmmm....)

Anyway, I have been so stressed and totally freaking out about the quilt show that I haven't had a chance to upload any of my pictures from the last week.

Marshy fell asleep while eating his lunch last Sunday. I guess it was like 6 PM, so that makes it dinner, huh? Anyway, it was way too early to put him to bed, so we tried to wake him up. He was stubborn and stayed asleep, so Mike and I laughed and took pictures as proof.

He is seriously totally out. He isn't even drinking the milk in his sippy. It is just sitting there in his mouth.
This is mid-chew. We had to shake him to get him to swallow the chicken nuggets.

And mid-bite. This was our favorite. It's hard to believe that the boy who mooches food off of everyone he knows was actually more tired than hungry at that moment.

Speaking of Expired....

Bonnie the Boss, whose blog I read frequently, posted about a recent camping trip. It reminded me of the can of PAM that we found while on vay-cay. You seriously have got to look closely at the date on the sticker. It's awesome!

If you look closely you will see that the PAM is from Kmart....and the date is 4-30-82. I wasn't even born yet! Mike wasn't even born yet! It is THAT old! Needless to say, we threw it in the garbage.

Totally Bummed

I went to pop a bag of popcorn tonight. I was so craving popcorn. I put the bag in the microwave, put in the time, and pressed start. Nothing happened. The timer counted down, but no noise came on. I cancelled out, unplugged the microwave, and tried it again. Yep, no noise. My microwave is broken. I am so sad!!! Now I have to buy a new one. I'm looking at cheap models, under $75, because I just need something to get me by until we build our house.

Grr.. I really wanted my popcorn! It's sitting there on the counter, taunting me. It's saying "Ha ha! You wanted to eat me but now you can't because your microwave is broken!! he he he" Rude, stupid microwave.

Mud pie

I bought the new limited edition Dreyer's Mud Pie ice cream.

The picture made it look so yummy.

I went home and opened it up, excited to taste the yumminess.

Didn't know mud pie was coffee ice cream.

YUCK!

I am so disappointed!

The picture made it look like vanilla.

But it was coffee....light....like the light makes a difference.

Stupid ice cream.

Things we ate...

MONDAY: Lunch - In-N-Out Burger.
Dinner - Cheesecake Factory....Service...not so great, but it could've been worse (keep reading). The server disappeared 30 minutes before we got our check. It took him so long, in fact, that Mike had to take Marshy outside into the Forum Shops at Caesar's to look at the fish in the aquarium to calm him down.

TUESDAY: Breakfast - Jimmy Buffet's Margaritaville. Mmmm.... Yummy.
Lunch - ??? Don't think we ate lunch! :S
Dinner - Carnegie Deli. We ordered the Corned Beef sandwich (seen below) and a slice of plain cheesecake. Mmmm.....the cheesecake was heaven.

WEDNESDAY: Breakfast: Breakfast buffet at the hotel.

Lunch: Jimmy Buffet's Margaritaville. Mmmm.... Cheeseburger in Paradise-alicious! :)

Dinner: CPK. AWFUL! The didn't have an access ramp so we had to carry Marshy upstairs in the stroller. They don't have a kids menu, so we ordered Marshy a cheesey-bread bruschetta appetizer. The service sucked so bad that we didn't leave a tip. Yeah, it has to be bad for us to not leave a tip. Our server walked past us at least 5 times within a 30 -minute period while we were finished, empty plates, waiting for her to give us our check.

Oh yeah, and Marshy didn't like the cheesey bread. He was content just eating the butter pats. (see below). We try to get him to eat real food. I promise!

Late-night snack: Ben & Jerry's ice cream. Cost us $20 for 2 ice creams. What the? AND! (this is the kicker) they only took cash, so Mike and Marsh went to find an ATM. 3 ATM's, and 4 security guards in the casino later, Mike shows up with a $20 to find out that it's like $20.34 or something like that. I only have $0.04 in change. Yeah. Sucky. They were nice and gave us the $0.30 free. Nice. Thanks a lot. Jerks.

THURSDAY: Breakfast: Buffet at the hotel.

Lunch: Outback Steakhouse. Not as good as we were told it was.

Dinner: Mickey D's. Yep. Kids meals were ordered, all food was cold. BOO to McDonald's! :(


FRIDAY: Breakfast: Jack and the B-fish (box)

Lunch: In-N-Out...Oh yeah, we need one up here.

Dinner: McDonald's.

Tuesday

Went to Jimmy's for breakfast. Mmmm yummy! Then we bought some shirts. 2 for me, 2 for Marsh. Mike wanted to buy a Hawaiian shirt, but they were like $100! YIKES!
Stopped at Build-a-Bear. It's tradition. Marshy picked the "dinosaur" - he can't say turtle for some weird reason. Or maybe he chooses not to! Yeah, that's it.


Blew out my flip flop....just like the song. Yes, I am serious. On the elevator flashing in the Coke store. Bought some new ones. They are comfy :) Also tried the Flavors from around the world. 16 different drinks for $7. Not too bad. Wanted to try it last time we were here, but Lola and I were pregnant, and not feeling so up to trying new things. TOTALLY WORTH IT. Lola - I'm dragging you down here to make up for not doing it last time we were here! haha :)

Went to M & M world. Marshy threw his sippy full of Sprite and it exploded everywhere. Yes, kind of funny....but not so much. Mike laughed. I was so embarassed! I think the lady who cleaned it up understood though.

Back at the hotel now. Marhsy is tired. Hopefully he'll take a nap. That would be nice.

Oh, yeah, and I umm...kinda didn't finish my class I've been working on for 6 months. Yeah, I know. I'm such a failure! I studied for 20 hours on Sunday and didn't even get close to finishing. Tried to study last night, but it just didn't go too well. Class was due today. Yeah, I'm so not done. Oh well, right? It was only $65.....and a bazillion hours of hard work!

EASTER!

Look what the Easter Bunny left! WOW! He left a lot of fun stuff for Marshy!
He hid eggs in really easy places, cuz he knew Marsh wouldn't find them if they weren't obvious.

He thought it would be funny if he hid some in Marshy's shoes.

And on the steps.

Marshy slept through the Easter Bunny's visit. Sometimes he likes to sleep on his couch or the floor instead of his bed. We'll start him off in bed, but when we go to check on him before going to bed ourselves we'll find he's moved everything to the floor.

Marsh had loads of fun finding all of the eggs.

He was really excited to see all of the Dora and Diego games the Easter Bunny left.

A couple of the easter eggs popped open spilling m&ms everywhere. This disturbed him, and his OCD kicked in. Seriously, he has a little bit of OCD because he had to put everything back into the spilled eggs before he could get another egg.

See? Told ya so!

Putting easter eggs in his easter basket.

Again with the spilled candies.

More Easter eggs.

Marshy smiling for Mike, who was videotaping the whole thing.

Taking a candy break.

Finding the eggs in the high chair.

And getting the eggs off the piano.

And off the bookshelf.

He was funny when he got them off the stairs, because he counts every time he goes up or down them, "One, Six, Nine, Seven, Two" We're working on getting them in the right order now.

Another candy break. (Please disregard the unpacked box behind Marshy...it's all of my desk things, and I still don't have a desk. Really need to find one soon so I can unpack that stupid box!)

Finally! The Easter eggs are all found, and we get to play with the Easter Bunny presents! Mike, the good example he is, stuffed both of Marsh's water balls up his shirt. Marsh wanted to be "girly" again, so he tried to do it himself.

Still trying to get that ball up his shirt!

Later in the afternoon we went over to Grandma P's and had a hot dog roast and another Easter egg hunt (in the rain!). It was lots of fun, even if it was raining pretty hard!