On the Sweeter Side

Back in January, I posted the way I make real salad dressing. I told you that you can change up the spices and herbs for a variety of tastes. The other day I wanted something a bit sweeter. I took the base of olive oil, red wine vinegar, salt, pepper and sour cream and added dijon mustard and honey. I tossed the dressing with lettuce, pumpkin seeds, raisins and feta. OMG it was yummy!!

Give it a try!

Real Salad Dressing!

I stopped buying salad dressing 2 years ago when I changed the way I eat. I have yet to find a bottled dressing that contains ingredients I am willing to consume myself, let alone feed my family. We've been sticking to oil and vinegar, using a variety of vinegars, but still...it gets kind of old.

On Christmas eve, Freckle invited Princess and me for dinner and festivities. I stood by and watched very carefully as she made dressing for the salad. Wow! That's it? That's easy enough. Of course, I made some of my own adjustments, but MAN! is it good.

I don't think it's a secret, but I'd better not share unless she comments and says that it is okay. Of course, my recipe isn't exactly the same as hers, but the base is the same. So Freckle...is it okay to share? If it is, I'll post in the comments so be sure to comment and subscribe.

Oh...a quick update on the workouts. Today is the 5th and I have officially worked out for 5 days! The EA Sports Active 30 day challenge works you for 2 days and then you get a day of rest. Well, my day of rest is walking on the treadmill while watching Netflix Instant on TiVo. Thanks to Sherry over at Living and Learning and Secret Mom Thoughts and another show suggestion from Lisa over at 5 Orange Potatoes. Thanks, ladies!

Healthy eating and living to you all!

Get up off your a%#!

Who knew that eating crap all day, every day could do this?! Oh...wait...I did. I don't like New Year's resolutions, but yesterday I got on the scale for some bizarre reason. I knew I had gained some weight because my clothes weren't fitting quite right. How did this happen?!

It seems my food intake went to hell hasn't quite been pristine since the Lizard King left the country. Okay, fine. I need to get back to my healthy Weston A Price/Nourishing Traditions way of eating. Done. Maybe it's even time to pull out my copy of Eat Fat, Lose Fat. Done.

Now to figure out how to incorporate a workout into my daily life. You see, I have this love/hate relationship with exercise. First off, I hate to wear shoes. Putting on big, clunky sneakers is a big deterrent to my working out. Going to a gym is out. That takes even more motivation than putting on sneakers. So not going to happen!

So that leaves a home workout. Perfect! I've got lots of fun workouts here. I have this awesome, gym quality, treadmill that I got for free (thank you Law of Attraction). I have the Wii Fit, but that started to get boring. I hated having to choose each exercise and wait for the annoying bitch narrator to finish talking. So what else is there?

I was out on my new favorite shopping site, Amazon (Amazon Prime rocks, by the way. Two day shipping!) and discovered EA Sports Active. The reviews were great, so I decided to give it a try. It was FUN! There are workouts, continuous workouts, that are put together and are customizable. You can create your own workout. And there is the 30 day challenge with 3 levels.

I did one pre-designed workout and loved it. Then I put the box away and hadn't touched it since. That is until today. I put new batteries in the Wii Balance Board (not required for this workout), pulled out the EA workout box and decided to try the 30 day challenge. I loved it! It was really fun and no annoying bitch narrator! Yes, you have a "personal trainer", but I wasn't annoyed by her at all. The music is cool and you can even choose what type of music you want in the 30 day challenge. The scenery changes and, for working out in cartoon world, is pretty. You'd think that would be enough to inspire me, right? Right?!

Unfortunately, no. I have even been known to work out for a year and then suddenly stop for five years. So people, I know you workout fanatics are out there, motivate me! Inspire me! Help me find a way to keep going! Ready, set, go!

Monday Gardening Club

Last week I learned some things about gardening. I planted the onions the way they came. I just loosened the roots a bit and plopped them in the garden. Apparently, you are supposed to separate them into individual onion plants so they actually have room to turn into an onion. Oops!

I also learned that my lettuce was ready.





I also learned that it is yummy!

My new desk job

It's not what you're thinking. I'm still a SAHM, but we've had some changes in our lives. My daughter has a rather unusual eating issue. Unusual in the fact that up until less that three weeks ago she didn't eat. Not really anyway. Her intake consisted of milk (unpasteurized/raw whole milk), prune juice (to keep her regular) and the occasional carb (pasta or bagel) in very limited amounts.

We have seen numerous experts with no change. Nobody really knew what to do. All the experts kept telling me that I shouldn't talk to her about our concerns around her eating. They told me that I shouldn't tell her why she is seeing all the professionals. They told me she was too young to comprehend. A dear friend gave me the confidence to talk to our daughter. And she understood. On her level. But she understood. I told her that we are going to try new foods and eat healthy & nutritious meals. She understood and she was okay with it. Wow! Trust your instincts mom. You know your child. You talked and she got it!

Well here we are almost three weeks later. She eats a very limited diet, but is eating so healthy! She tries new foods everyday. The challenge is speed. Now, I am not looking for her to eat fast, but she eats really, really slowly. Breakfast (two scrambled eggs) takes about three hours. Lunch takes about two hours and dinner about the same. I have tried encouraging her to eat faster and swallow sooner only to discover that she has some gagging issues. So, here I sit at the dining room table for hours on end while my child eats - my new desk job. On the up-side I'm getting a lot of knitting time which is good since I am just learning...and I get to post to my blog. The bottom line is that I am ecstatic that she is eating and I need to focus on the joy of that.