Lunch for kiddos and myself yesterday:
"Breakfast for Lunch!"
Fried eggs. Strawberries. Bacon. Milk.
For me, I added a slice or two of flaxseed bread.
Not completely optimal, with a lot of cholesterol and fat, but still: MADE OF INGREDIENTS. YAAAY!
See? I tried! Kids ate fine, so did I. Easy, healthy-ish (if you don't count the fat). Not bad. I'll give it a solid B.
Dinner:
Pork chops (pounded flat, with lots of spices and some olive oil; baked)
Homemade scalloped potatoes (thin-sliced potatoes, some half-n-half, some flour, garlic, and a few dabs of butter, then baked)
Steamed French-cut green beans
At daughter's request, a few potato-and-cheddar pierogis (frozen), sauteed in oil and garlic
Well, not horrible. The potatoes had half and half AND butter, and the pierogis were frozen. But -- could have been worse. I wish I had another color of vegetable, like carrots or squash, but did not. Too much in the carb category.
I give this meal a low B-.
UNFORTUNATELY, I fell prey to the siren song of the leftover Chinese food in the fridge. In its little Asian voice, it sang "Kaaaate. Come. I ruuuuuve you! Eeeeeat! There are DUMPRINGS! Nooodles. MSG!"
My after-dinner resolve failed and I ate goopy Chinese food. Delicious but deadly, if you will. Also white wine. Who knew that a dry Riesling could be so nice with Hunan Beef?
That "meal" gets a D-.
Today, I took my dear friend Cindilouwho for breakfast/brunch to a CRAZY awesome restaurant here in town, where we both splurged. I had corned beef hash and ONE blueberry pancake, and she had some scrambly thing. DEE lish. Of course, completely NOT clean eating. But there were blueberries in it, and they are SUPER foods, so perhaps it helped?
--------------------------------
The key seems to be in the shopping. When I was clean-eating before (a few months ago), I was really buying LOTS of good, healthy ingredients. Avocados. Bright veggies, easy grains. Legumes and pulses. Yogurt, nuts, seeds, and ricotta. Olive oil, cool condiments, herbs. When you have all THAT on hand, preparation is easy.
My next step is to get me to a good grocery that carries piles of good stuff. I'll slow down, meander a bit, and buy some yummies.
Monday, November 21, 2011
Sunday, November 20, 2011
Allie's Words of Wisdom About DADT
My daughter is 10, and is full of wisdom. It surprises me from time to time.
When "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" was repealed recently, she and I were discussing it. She is very up on current events, and just couldn't get past why DADT had ever been enacted.
Her concise, brilliant comment was this:
"The US is supposed to be the Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave. You can't be free if you have to lie about who you are, and the government isn't being very brave if they're afraid of gays."
That's my girl.
When "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" was repealed recently, she and I were discussing it. She is very up on current events, and just couldn't get past why DADT had ever been enacted.
Her concise, brilliant comment was this:
"The US is supposed to be the Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave. You can't be free if you have to lie about who you are, and the government isn't being very brave if they're afraid of gays."
That's my girl.
Clean Eating vs. Sloth: My Dilemma [Journey From Sloth and Despair, the Beginning]
Oh, what a sloth I devolve into.
I am very lazy and self-indulgent by nature, and I really have to psych myself up in order to get ANYTHING done.
My dog Teddy is really living the life I would enjoy.
Waking up to go potty and have breakfast, and then lay down in a patch of sunshine for a nap, waking up again for a potty break, and then some scritching behind the ears and maybe some snuggling. Then a quick drink and another nap. Repeat as needed. Insert occasional trips in the car to the bank or the park, and perhaps a random episode of wild running around and barking at the wind or squirrels.
So, with the additional activities we've had of late (concerts, out-of-town trips, parades), my slothlike identity is making itself known. I've been eating (and -- horrors -- feeding my children) pre-packaged food, fizzy drinks, and sugary desserts. Pizza. Pierogis. FROZEN DINNERS. Toaster Strudels. Ice cream.
Ugh. It's horrid. I've FELT it. It's so gross to think of what I'm doing to my digestion, my health, THEIR health, my weight, and all those blood tests (cholesterol, sugars, etc.).
In the newspaper this morning, there was an article about "Whole foods" (not the store, the idea), and eating clean. I remember back a few months ago when I devoted myself to shopping well and eating only real food.
It made SUCH a difference in how I felt, how I looked, and the pride I enjoyed as a result.
In my mind, there are three main categories food can fall into. Well, four, I guess.
1: REAL food. That's where the food is made of ... only itself. Chicken. Oats. Carrots. Strawberries. It is what it is. Nothing has been done to it. Now, I must admit that you can take this category MUCH further than that by going organic, cruelty-free, local, non-pesticides, etc. But for my purposes, I'm going to just allow myself to say "real" has no ingredients. They ARE the ingredients.
2: NEARLY whole food. This is where the food is ONE step away from being itself. For instance, cheese. Used to be milk, but has gone through one change. Also, whole wheat pasta. Not the 'faux' stuff, but where whole wheat was turned into pasta. Or maybe whole-fruit jam where it was cooked and maybe pectin was added. Salsa -- the fresh kind. Chicken broth. You get the picture.
3: NASTY food. This is where you don't know what's in it, but it still resembles food. Like frozen dinners, frozen pizzas, Chef Boyardee crap, "Box Dinners," chikin nuggets, etc. Most fast food falls into this category, as well as most boxed or plastic-bagged foods.
4: FICTIONAL food. This is stuff that bears no resemblance to food, but is still marketed as edible. Cheetos. Fruit roll ups. Kool-Aid. Pretty much anything with a cartoon character on the label falls into this category.
I rarely branch into the Fictional Food category, because even I, at my most slothful, realize that this is unacceptable. It's like trying to tell yourself that it's o.k. to eat Play-Doh because it's non-toxic. Crayons in tacos! Newspaper smoothies! Um. Don't think so.
Lately, as I mentioned above, I've been hovering in the "Nasty food" category due to ridiculous slothfulness. I can feel the difference. My digestion is ... crappy. (Ha! get it?) My energy is around my ankles. Ugh. And I have The Shame that I have allowed my darling children to eat this junk. Sigh.
My resolve is to move back up the ladder. I want to get to 70% from Category 1 (Real food) and 25% from Category 2 (Nearly whole) with a smattering from group 3 and even group 4. (Cool Ranch Doritos, why do you taunt me so? Reeses Cup? Foul temptress.) Wait. Did that math add up?
I want to try to write a series of posts describing my journey back from Sloth and Despair. What shall I call this? "Journey From Sloth and Despair" you say? Well, then there it is.
Now I must go make lunch for my kiddos. Sigh.
 |
| 'sup? |
I am very lazy and self-indulgent by nature, and I really have to psych myself up in order to get ANYTHING done.
My dog Teddy is really living the life I would enjoy.
 |
| My doggie, Teddy. He had a paw bandaged because of a minor incident. He's fine now. |
Waking up to go potty and have breakfast, and then lay down in a patch of sunshine for a nap, waking up again for a potty break, and then some scritching behind the ears and maybe some snuggling. Then a quick drink and another nap. Repeat as needed. Insert occasional trips in the car to the bank or the park, and perhaps a random episode of wild running around and barking at the wind or squirrels.
So, with the additional activities we've had of late (concerts, out-of-town trips, parades), my slothlike identity is making itself known. I've been eating (and -- horrors -- feeding my children) pre-packaged food, fizzy drinks, and sugary desserts. Pizza. Pierogis. FROZEN DINNERS. Toaster Strudels. Ice cream.
 |
| Oh, the shame. |
Ugh. It's horrid. I've FELT it. It's so gross to think of what I'm doing to my digestion, my health, THEIR health, my weight, and all those blood tests (cholesterol, sugars, etc.).
In the newspaper this morning, there was an article about "Whole foods" (not the store, the idea), and eating clean. I remember back a few months ago when I devoted myself to shopping well and eating only real food.
 |
| Mmmm. Veggies. |
It made SUCH a difference in how I felt, how I looked, and the pride I enjoyed as a result.
In my mind, there are three main categories food can fall into. Well, four, I guess.
1: REAL food. That's where the food is made of ... only itself. Chicken. Oats. Carrots. Strawberries. It is what it is. Nothing has been done to it. Now, I must admit that you can take this category MUCH further than that by going organic, cruelty-free, local, non-pesticides, etc. But for my purposes, I'm going to just allow myself to say "real" has no ingredients. They ARE the ingredients.
2: NEARLY whole food. This is where the food is ONE step away from being itself. For instance, cheese. Used to be milk, but has gone through one change. Also, whole wheat pasta. Not the 'faux' stuff, but where whole wheat was turned into pasta. Or maybe whole-fruit jam where it was cooked and maybe pectin was added. Salsa -- the fresh kind. Chicken broth. You get the picture.
3: NASTY food. This is where you don't know what's in it, but it still resembles food. Like frozen dinners, frozen pizzas, Chef Boyardee crap, "Box Dinners," chikin nuggets, etc. Most fast food falls into this category, as well as most boxed or plastic-bagged foods.
4: FICTIONAL food. This is stuff that bears no resemblance to food, but is still marketed as edible. Cheetos. Fruit roll ups. Kool-Aid. Pretty much anything with a cartoon character on the label falls into this category.
 |
| "food" |
I rarely branch into the Fictional Food category, because even I, at my most slothful, realize that this is unacceptable. It's like trying to tell yourself that it's o.k. to eat Play-Doh because it's non-toxic. Crayons in tacos! Newspaper smoothies! Um. Don't think so.
Lately, as I mentioned above, I've been hovering in the "Nasty food" category due to ridiculous slothfulness. I can feel the difference. My digestion is ... crappy. (Ha! get it?) My energy is around my ankles. Ugh. And I have The Shame that I have allowed my darling children to eat this junk. Sigh.
My resolve is to move back up the ladder. I want to get to 70% from Category 1 (Real food) and 25% from Category 2 (Nearly whole) with a smattering from group 3 and even group 4. (Cool Ranch Doritos, why do you taunt me so? Reeses Cup? Foul temptress.) Wait. Did that math add up?
I want to try to write a series of posts describing my journey back from Sloth and Despair. What shall I call this? "Journey From Sloth and Despair" you say? Well, then there it is.
Now I must go make lunch for my kiddos. Sigh.
Giant Bonsai: who knew they were so popular?
I was o'erlooking this blog's statistics (since I just figured out how to do that), and noticed that yesterday THIRTY-TWO people searched the term "giant bonsai."
There is NO SUCH THING as giant bonsai, people. They are just TREES.
Is there a sudden rush of Giant Bonsai fans? Maybe thinking ahead to Christmas? Is Christmas "Giant Bonsai" season? How did I miss this? Curious.
There is NO SUCH THING as giant bonsai, people. They are just TREES.
Is there a sudden rush of Giant Bonsai fans? Maybe thinking ahead to Christmas? Is Christmas "Giant Bonsai" season? How did I miss this? Curious.
Saturday, November 19, 2011
"Spit On the Bad Guys" -- a Simonism
Yesterday, the two kiddos and I went to our community's holiday kick-off party, "Silver Bells In the City." It's a downtown electric light parade, fireworks, lighting of the state Christmas tree, and many downtown events.
It was kind of fun, if you overlook the moment where I accidentally started driving the wrong way on a CLOSED one-way street -- right in front of a cop. Whoops.
After the fun and festivities, we dropped by the grocery store to pick up some egg nog and frozen pizzas (dinner of champions, you know). The Salvation Army bell-ringer was ding-donging away on the sidewalk. In the spirit of the night, I handed Simon a dollar to put into the bucket.
After some shuffling and poking, he managed to get it through the slot in the bucket. He asked me, as we walked into the store, "what kind of army are they?"
I explained that they consider themselves an army of a sort, and their enemies are hunger and homelessness. They provide food, shelter, clothing, and other help to those in need.
Then Simon gave me one of those head-to-the-side looks, and exclaimed, "OH! I thought they were an army of people who went up to the bad guys and SPIT on them."
I paused, mid-step, and gaped at him. "SPIT on them?"
"Yeah! You know. The Salivation Army!"
It was kind of fun, if you overlook the moment where I accidentally started driving the wrong way on a CLOSED one-way street -- right in front of a cop. Whoops.
After the fun and festivities, we dropped by the grocery store to pick up some egg nog and frozen pizzas (dinner of champions, you know). The Salvation Army bell-ringer was ding-donging away on the sidewalk. In the spirit of the night, I handed Simon a dollar to put into the bucket.
After some shuffling and poking, he managed to get it through the slot in the bucket. He asked me, as we walked into the store, "what kind of army are they?"
I explained that they consider themselves an army of a sort, and their enemies are hunger and homelessness. They provide food, shelter, clothing, and other help to those in need.
Then Simon gave me one of those head-to-the-side looks, and exclaimed, "OH! I thought they were an army of people who went up to the bad guys and SPIT on them."
I paused, mid-step, and gaped at him. "SPIT on them?"
"Yeah! You know. The Salivation Army!"
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