Sugar Detox Progress (or lack of)

Last week started off well, I felt so steady, I did have some sugar cravings, but I was able to handle them fairly easily...until the car accident. My husband and daughter were in a car accident on Wednesday evening coming home from church, they were hit from the side by a driver who ran a red light. God was merciful and protected them and brought them back home safely to us! We have been praising and thanking the Lord since then, and treasuring every moment we have together. It is sad how easy we can take simple blessings for granted!

Despite all the happenings of last week, I remained sugar free (even though I wanted to rip through a tub of rocky road ice cream) up until yesterday. We had a birthday potluck at a church friends house between services and the sweet, young man of the house made a gluten free chocolate cake for me and another friend who are gluten free. It was the first time he had ever made anything gluten free, I just could not say no to his wonderfully, kind gesture so I had some...and it was gooood! Then things kinda spiraled out of control on the sugar thing, I had reasoned to myself, well since I have had some, why not live it up today and just get back on the wagon tomorrow. So I did, I had a mocha frap from Starbucks...venti, I also had some rocky road ice cream that I had been dreaming about all week along with some more chocolate cake that I took home. I don't know if my taste buds are changing but the mocha frap did not taste as good, let's hope for changing taste buds :)

It's Monday, I'm back on the wagon and being good again, but still having cravings and dreaming about rocky road ice cream and Christopher's gluten free chocolate cake. Will I make it through the next two weeks? I honestly don't know, but I will take it one day at a time and rely on the Lord for strength. What is encouraging is that before I went on my sugar binge, I was starting to see some benefits to my health and I had dropped a pound, therefore I will persevere to the end!

How was your week?

Steph

21 Day Sugar Detox Pictures

As promised, here are the starting pictures of me on Day 2 of the 21 Day Sugar Detox. I am pretty embarrassed to put these up, but I am curious to see the end result pictures and compare them. I fully expect to look radiant!

I ate some delicious Mini Egg Pizza Muffins from Paleo Parents new book "Eat Like a Dinosaur". Made plenty so I have breakfast already made for tomorrow!

I did have some cravings for something sweet so I made some coconut biscuits from the 21 Day Sugar Detox program recipes. Slathered on some grassfed butter and they filled me right up, cravings were gone.

I hope everyone has a wonderful week!

Steph

Starting a 21 Day Sugar Detox today!

The team at Balanced Bites are kicking off a new 21 Day Sugar Detox today and I'm joining them!

I'm looking forward to giving my body the chance to do a little "spring cleaning", I know I will feel much better when it's over. If you would like to join too, head over to their blog for more information.

I'll post my "starting" picture tomorrow and an "after" picture when I complete the 21 days. I am curious to see if there will be a visible difference in my appearance, I am expecting to feel better at least :)


Oh, and after a year of being away, I'm baaaaack!
Steph

Cooking For Isaiah by Silvana Nardone week Day 6.

I have been enjoying  Silvana's cookbook, Cooking For Isaiah as have the rest of the family, we have yet to find a recipe we don't like! Friday morning  I made the Blueberry-Lemon Sourdough Pancakes and my husband loved them, they are light and fluffy with a hint of lemon from the lemon zest...so good!

Thursday evening for dinner we had her Sloppy Joe-Stuffed Potato Skins, another delicious winner! We all loved the flavor of the sloppy joe filling, I'd make it to put on gluten free hamburger buns if I ever find some I like. The roasted, crispy potato skins took it over the top! I don't know about you, but I love me some potatoes, I'd eat them every day if I could :)

Last night I made the Chicken Potpie Soup for our dinner, I substituted two cans of water chestnuts in place of the mushrooms that were called for in her recipe, because several family members do not like them. You will notice in my picture, that there are crumbled, ruffled potato chips on top of the bowls of soup, it's not a mistake or substitution on my part, it's actually part of the recipe, and I love it! The kids thought it was fun having chips on their soup and loved the flavors too. My younger son, Aiden thanked me for making it and everyone gobbled it all up!

For dessert last night, I made the Chewy Chocolate Chunk Cookies, but substituted semi-sweet chocolate chips instead of chopping up a semi-sweet chocolate bar into chunks...I'm lazy that way :) If asked what my favorite dessert is, I would have to say a good chocolate chip cookie. Sure I like pies and cakes and other goodies but I always seem to make chocolate chip cookies the most! These did not disappoint, they were crisp on the outside and tender, chewy on the inside and gooey if you ate it warm out of the oven...yum! Perfect with a tall glass of cold milk or dairy free milk!

This morning for breakfast, I made the Griddled Corn Cakes with Strawberry Syrup. Wow, these are good! Very easy to make and they come out light and fluffy with a hint of sweetness. The Strawberry syrup pairs perfectly with the corn cakes, I had my doubts as did my kids, but we trusted Silvana, she hadn't let us down yet :)  I happily watched my picky husband clean his plate and thoroughly enjoy every bite.

This wraps up Cooking For Isaiah by Silvana Nardone week, I enjoyed her recipes immensely, they were easy and tasty and all of them winners with my family, you can't ask for more than that! I wholeheartedly recommend her cookbook and encourage you to check your local library to view her book before deciding to purchase it, also please mosey on over to her website and try some of her many free recipes. Silvana's Kitchen

Cooking For Isaiah by Silvana Nardone week Day 3.

I had meant to post again yesterday, but we had an ICAP field trip to the San Diego Safari Park (formerly called The Wild Animal Park) and were gone all day. I had completely forgotten about this field trip and thankfully my husband reminded me Monday evening. I had just enough time to whip together some Mom's Banana Bread from Silvana's book Cooking For Isaiah. We like to take snacks and drinks with us when we go to amusement parks, the food there is just too expensive for our family of five. Well, I can honestly say, we were not deprived! This banana bread is so good, my picky husband who does not like bananas but enjoys a good banana bread, liked this one. It's so moist and perfectly sweetened, it was hard not to eat more than one slice!

Monday evening I made the Macaroni Salad with Sun Dried Tomatoes and Olives from the cookbook. I knew I was going to love this recipe, sun dried tomatoes, celery, black olives (substituted for the kalamata olives) and pasta together make yum! I did use penne pasta in place of the elbow macaroni her recipe calls for, just because it's what I had on hand. I was not disappointed, the result was a delicious, creamy, crunchy, tangy pasta salad, another winner!

I hope you are enjoying my review of Silavana's cookbook, Cooking for Isaiah! I know I am :)

Cooking For Isaiah by Silvana Nardone week!

I'm starting something new on my blog, I hope you like it. I will be dedicating a week of posts to a particular gluten free cookbook and sometimes I will feature a non-gluten free cookbook if the recipes can easily be made gluten free. My first week will be all about Cooking for Isaiah by Silvana Nardone. I wrote about her pizza and brownie recipes a couple posts back, be sure to check it out if you have not already!

This morning, the kids and I enjoyed her smoothie recipe, Isaiah's Fruit Smoothie. The ingredients complimented each other perfectly, it tasted like something you would buy at Jamba Juice, it was so good!

Smooth and creamy and full of flavor...Spring in a glass!

Thumbs up from the kiddos

Watch out for brain freeze :)

Stay tuned for more mouthwatering posts this week! Do you have Silvana's cookbook? If so what recipes are your favorite?

Wanted, dead or alive...mostly dead!

As my oldest son was getting ready for bed last night when he spotted a bug, but when he left (screaming) and came back with his father, it was gone. So he made this sign and posted it on the wall by my desk hoping that I (or anyone) would be on the lookout for the missing bug, probable species: Earwig.

Unfortunately, Mr. Earwig is still evading capture, but we are still on the lookout and hopeful :)

I love my silly kids!!