Sweet potatoes, turnips & Grandma

I LOVE SWEET POTATOES! I always have. As a young girl, it made me very sad that we only ate sweet potatoes twice a year, Thanksgiving & Christmas. I always thought they were so yummy they deserved to be eaten more than twice a year. Luckily, my Grandma Allison loved them, too. She was such a great cook. I would sit on her kitchen counter & watch her cook. That is where I ate my first sweet potatoes without brown sugar and marshmallows. Grandma sliced those sweet potatoes & fried them in a skillet! I sat there drooling. As she pulled them out of the hot oil to cool off, I could not wait, I was eating them & they were burning my mouth, but it was one the best things I had ever tasted.

For several years, I have baked sweet potatoes and put butter & cinnamon on them. But the last couple of years, I have seen all the chefs on Food Network roasting sweet potatoes (along with lots of other yummy veggies). So now my favorite way to eat them is to slice them in circles, place on foil lined cookie sheet, drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with salt & pepper and roast in 375 degree oven for about 45 minutes. After about 20 minutes, turn them over. Absolute YUMMINESS!!! I actually like to use the same technique for almost all veggies. Kevin's favorite combination is potatoes, zuchini, yellow squash & onions.

Last night I roasted turnips & sweet potatoes together. YUMMY!! If you have never roasted your veggies before, give it a try. It makes all veggies taste better. I just wish Grandma was here to eat my roasted turnips & sweet potatoes. I know that she would have loved them, too. She passed away my senior year of high school and I still miss her terribly. She lived down the street from us & I would walk to her house everyday after school. She raised 5 boys, I have 2. She loved her boys fiercely, just as I do mine. There are so many things I want to tell her & share with her.

Fall is here. The weather is fantastic. Roast yourself some sweet potatoes. Hug your loved ones. And make great memories.

Lori

Healthy spagetti & meatballs....AND 37 pds gone

Happy October 1st! We are getting into my favorite time of year. Cool, crisp mornings & evenings and comfortable afternoons. I wish it could be Fall all year long.

Drum roll..... I have now officially lost 37 pounds! Praise God! I could not be doing any of this without His help. My pain is decreasing. I am moving more freely than I have in years. And I am just feeling better & stronger than I have felt in years. My feet still hurt, but at least it is tolerable & I don't cry myself to sleep every night because I'm in so much pain. Now that I'm moving better & the weather is so beautiful, I am going to try to start walking on my lunch hour. My hiney & legs are shrinking rapidly, but my belly is still not shrinking like I want. Hopefully once I start walking on a regular basis the belly will shrink also & now I need to tone up my hiney & legs.

Tiffany LOVES pasta. Any kind of pasta. Last weekend I made healthy spagetti & meatballs. On Saturday, I made a batch of meatballs. I used organic 90% lean ground beef to which I added a thawed box of frozen spinach, bread crumbs (I had been taking left over bread & putting in ziploc bag in freezer. I took 3 pieces of whole grain bread & 2 croissants & soaked them in milk then tore them up into the beef mixture), garlic salt, paprika, basil, oregano, parsley, 2 eggs, 2/3 cup oats & a cup of freshly grated parmesan cheese. Mixed that up together real good with my hands, made into balls, placed on foil lined cookie sheet & baked at 375 for about 50 minutes. After meatballs cooled, I put in ziploc bag & placed in refrigerator.

Sunday morning I put the meatballs in a crockpot. Poured 2 jars of Ragu spagetti sauce over them, then added a small can of tomato paste, a few tablespoons of minced garlic, basil, parsley & oregano & a little water. Turned the crockpot on low & went to church. After church, all I had to do was cook the organic whole grain spagetti. Everyone ate it up! Tiffany loved it. I wasn't going to tell the guys that I put spinach in the meatballs, but Tiffany noticed. But by that time, the guys were already hooked. Kevin & Cole don't even care for spagetti that much, but they loved it & said they definitely want me to keep making it. Who ever said that healthy food doesn't taste good is WRONG.

I hope you all have a wonderful Fall day and always remember that God is good and faithful... ALL the time.

Lori

Pasta & pizza

Just had a nice lunch with a sweet friend that I don't get to talk to often enough. We had lunch at Luigi's which reminded me that I have not shared about what I found I can eat at an Italian restaurant. As I've said before, there is not a doubt in my mind that white flour & white sugar are my enemy. The last several times that I ate them, the inflammation & pain were almost unbearable. Now, I have learned that since I eat clean and white-free most of the time, that once a week if i want a white roll or biscuit, then I eat it without any side effects. I have been to lots of weddings and showers lately & allow myself to eat just a few bites of cake. I think I have detoxed my body sufficiently enough now that it doesn't throw it into shock when I stray just a tad bit.

Sorry, back to Luigi's.... they have the BEST pizza in Ardmore. Before, I would eat 1/2 of a large pizza from there easily. One day I was craving their pizza so bad & then remembered they have eggplant rollitini and it is GOOD. Eggplant stuffed with ricotta cheese, smothered in marinara sauce & topped with gooey cheese. And I have them add mushrooms. No white pasta! I can eat the whole thing and it does not cause me any pain. Praise God!! I realize that this is not a low calorie dish, but it makes me very happy. :)

I have also found a frozen pizza that I can eat. Amy's Organic has a pizza with a whole grain crust, no preservatives & all organic ingredients. I had the veggie pizza last night and it was absolutely delicious. I am so thankful to be finding good tasting foods that are healthy and don't cause my body harm & most importantly for me, pain.

Earlier in the week, I made shrimp fettucini alfredo using organic whole grain fettucini & frozen shrimp. I made my own alfredo sauce using butter, garlic, basil, parsley, REAL parmesan cheese & low fat milk. It was really good, but it was a little too thin. Kevin actually really liked it. He just said to make twice as much sauce next time. Lol. I'm going to have to play with it & see if I can thicken it up a little then I will share my recipe with you.

FYI - have you read the ingredients on some of the packages of shredded cheese? Hint - it's not just cheese. Most of them have added oils & preservatives in them.

The triple digit temps are finally gone. Fall is in the air. And God is good...ALL the time.

Lori

Grant

Things have been crazy! But, what else is new, right? Grant got his driver's license on July 18th. He passed on the very 1st try. Praise God! Kevin made a deal with a guy (swapped some stuff) for a 2000 Dodge Ram 1500 ext cab pickup. It is black & has the pipes that go "vroom vroom" (which apparently is a BIG deal to guys). The engine was locked up, back glass was shattered, missing tail lights, etc. It's been a great project for them (and Ricky). They put a good used engine in it, replaced the glass, lights, etc. and it was a good looking truck. It's pretty scratched up like the previous owner drove it through the woods all the time or something. Grant was proud of it & LOVED driving it. The fact that he had no job & the truck gets 13 mpg didn't slow him down in the slightest.

Then on August 3rd, 3 weeks after he got his license, I got the dreaded phone call "Mom, I just had a wreck". He & his friends were not injured, other than sore from the impact. Praise God! It totalled the other guy's truck. Grant got his first ticket for failure to yield to oncoming traffic. And here we go............

Luckily the bed of his truck took the biggest hit. Kevin hammered it out the best he could but it looks like crushed metal (which is what it is). He's still driving it & we are in no hurry to fix it. Kevin says that maybe when people see it, they will be afraid to get too close him. Ha ha!

I will never understand how 2 people can come from the same parents, be raised in the same home with the same rules & be sooooo different. Cole has always driven like an old man. Grant drives like.... a 16 year old boy. Cole was never very social & preferred just staying home. Grant wants to be everywhere, al the time, with everybody. He is so afraid that he's going to miss out on something. He was blowing through $$$ (MY $$$) like there was unlimited supply! I've always had a hard time saying "no" to anybody, especially my children.

But, Praise God, he is now an employee of Homeland. He got his first paycheck last weekend. And between church, school and working about 20 hours a week, he's too busy and too tired to be running around too much. God is so GOOD!

Lori

Summertime & ants

First of all, in case you didn't know this about me, I HATE SUMMER! I despise being hot & sweaty and I don't like bugs. That is what summer is to me.. staying hot & sweaty and fighting bugs. YUCK! The last couple of months here it has been over 100 degrees & absolutely miserable. Even the bugs are miserable. Everytime we open the front door, spiders, grasshoppers, etc. would literally come running inside. It also hasn't rained in I don't know how long, but we are in a very serious drought.

So, praise God, yesterday we got a nice soothing rain and the temps dropped into the 70's. It was wonderful! I was happier than I had been in months... until I pulled in my driveway yesterday evening and stepped out of my car. I did not even have time to shut my car door before my feet were covered in ANTS! I look down and there were millions of them. Big red ones, little red ones, black ones, any kind of ant you could think of all working together. I screamed & ran to my front porch. It felt like I was in a Science Fiction movie! There were so many of them and they were moving so fast that it looked like the ground was moving. Grant let our little weinie dog out (she weighs less than 10 pounds & is over 18 years old) and I was scared to death that the ants would eat her alive! I grabbed her & put her back in the house.

When I went to leave this morning, they were already awake, but not all of them. So I made it to my car safely before they could get to me. However there were enormous mounds everywhere. Kevin is supposed to ask the agricultural scientists at his work what they recommend we do to stop these nasty creatures.

Fall can not get here fast enough! I love Fall and winter. No sweating. No bugs. Bundling up with a cup of hot cocoa or sitting by a campfire roasting marshmallows is sooooo relaxing. I love the colors of Fall. I don't do a lot of decorating, but I have lots of Fall decorations. I usually bring them out in August. Kevin laughs at me. He says that will not make it get here any sooner. I tell him that at least I am doing my part. I am anxiously waiting for Fall to get here and I will embrace it with open arms.

Lori

Quiet time & raspberries

Good Monday morning! Why does it seem the weeks get longer & weekends keep getting shorter? The boys were gone to Lake Texoma last week so I was home by myself. I love them dearly, but it was so nice to have some peace & quiet. Monday night I went to bed at 8:15 & didn't get up until 6 a.m. I guess my body needed that rest. I had some great alone time with God. I desperately needed that also. I get cranky when I've gone too long without my quiet time with my Heavenly Father. Of course, I pray everyday, actually I just talk to God off & on all day long. And He is the first one I talk to every morning. I spend at least 20-30 minutes with Him each morning, but sometimes I just need to sit still in His presence. Just spending time telling Him how much I love Him & Him telling me how much He loves me. That time is so special to me. When I go too long without having that special time, I get cranky & get a bad attitude. After last week, I feel refreshed in my Spirit & ready to continue the battle. This life will be one battle after another until we are called Home. We have to cling to the Father & have our spiritual armor on at all times so that we are ready for whatever the enemy throws at us.

It was so easy to eat healthy last week with the boys gone. I feel lighter & stronger each day that I nourish my body with God's healing foods instead of filling it with junk. However, yesterday was a bad food day. I have been allowing myself one bad meal a week, which doesn't affect me too much. But, yesterday Cole was home so we had French toast made with white bread & I haven't had syrup in several months, so I used a little syrup. Then I had been craving pizza all week & had not gotten any, so we went to Pizza Hut after church. Last time we ate there they just had the really thin cracker type crust, but yesterday was nothing but the thicker crust. Oh, I LOVE the thicker crust, but I knew it was not going to be good for me. I only ate 2 pieces & a salad, which is not bad, but I guess combined with the French toast it was too much white bread for my body in one day. I hurt so bad last night that it took me 3 hours to get to sleep & I took pain pills before I went to bed. I am in terrible pain this morning. I can literally feel the inflammation in my body. My face is puffy, my fingers & all my joints are puffy & stiff. I am learning that my body just can not handle white flour.

I read on Livestrong.com that raspberries are one of the best anti inflammatory foods. I have been eating more raspberries & taking a raspberry liquid extract each day. I usually take it in the morning & evening. I think I will try it a couple of more times today & see if that gives me any relief. Today is definitely a detox day. Lots of veggies, fruits & distilled water. Got to flush all that white flour out of my body.

Keep praying for rain & cooler temps. May God bless you all.

Lori

Healthy Mocha Caramel Frappucinos

My friend & co-worker, Lana's, birthday is today. She & I share a love of mocha caramel frappucinos from Starbucks. But we are both trying to eat healthy so we have not had one in several months. I decided to try to make her a low fat, low sugar, healthy frap for her birthday. I found a caramel sauce made with Splenda. It has a few more ingredients than what I like, but since I was only going to use a teaspoon or 2, I went with it. But, could not find a low calorie, low sugar chocolate sauce without aspartame. So, I made my own.

HEALTHY CHOCOLATE SAUCE
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup Agave nectar
2 teaspoons natural vanilla extract
1-2 teaspoons of Splenda
Just mix all ingredients together & put in covered container in refrigerator. It's really thin at first, but thickens up a little after sitting in refrigerator several hours. I tried it without the Splenda, but Kevin didn't think it was sweet enough, so I added the Splenda & he liked it better. He has a major sweet tooth. I think it would be even better with Truvia. I will try it & let you know.

I took a couple of cups of strong coffee, a couple of cups of Braum's skim milk, about 1/4 cup of homemade chocoate syrup, 2 tsps of caramel sauce, 2-3 tsps Splenda, added a couple of cups of ice & blended away. I had to throw out 3 pitchers before I finally got it right. But, it was worth it. Lana & I got our frappucinos & don't have to worry about the fat & sugar.

I'm not having a lot of luck cooking with Agave. It takes a LOT of it to get things sweet enough for Kevin & it's pretty expensive to have to use so much. So, I'm going to start trying to use Truvia. It is all natural & is supposed to be easier to cook with & is low glycemic.

A little info about milk. I know that some doctors in this area are recommending their patients drink only Braum's milk. Braum's cows are not injected with hormones & antibiotics, so their milk is much cleaner & healthier than other milk. I read an article a couple of weeks ago that was saying that they didn't start injecting cows with hormones until the mid-90's. AND that the United States in the ONLY country that injects hormones in their cows. Other countries refuse because they don't think it is safe for their citizens. But the good ole USA & FDA just see $$$. When they give the cows hormones, the get sores that get infected, so they have to inject them with antibiotics. Then our children are drinking milk loaded with hormones & antibiotics. Since the USA began doing that girls in the USA now get their periods sooner & more people are getting resistant to antibiotics. I buy as much groceries as I can at Braum's. I feel their products are safer & healthier & it is an Oklahoma based company. I use their milk, butter, cheese, etc. Also, their eggs are from free range hormone free chickens. Most of their products are actually cheaper than what you buy at the grocery store.

Thank you for reading. Have a blessed day!
Lori