Yesterday...

One month ago yesterday, we started on this new way of eating. It's been a great eating experience, and we've loved losing the weight! Although our weight loss has slowed, we are still shedding pounds. 

Lawrence and I both had "cheat days" - Lawrence going out with friends and then church members, me not being able to hold back from a donut.
I've also had times that I've been tempted - when I walk into a convenience store, I want to grab a soda or bottle of tea. Or a candy bar. Or a bag of chips.
But I refrain. And I have almond flour cookies.

I made some today. Actually, I made seven dozen.
They're for my training class... we're having a potluck tomorrow. I'm also making a zucchini salad for myself and the girl who is a vegetarian in the class. Hopefully that's all I'll eat. I'm going to bring a lunch for myself as well... there are going to be plenty of dishes there that I'm not even going to look at... and a few that I might want to peek into. 

Lawrence also has a new recipe! The photo doesn't do the dish much justice - it was amazing! The pork was so tender and juicy... I can't wait until he makes it again! But if you want to make it now - here's the recipe! 

Apple Date Pork Loin Chops

Ingredients
1/2 medium apple - diced

1/2 cup dates - finely diced

1/2 cup sweet onion - finely diced

1 cup apple cider vinegar

1 tsp salt

1 tsp cumin

Mix all ingredients well, let stand at least 30 minutes. Marinate 2 - 3 lbs pork chops for at least one hour. Broil or grill chops until desired cooking level reached (medium to well done). 

As I always say, if you try a recipe, let me know how it goes! 

Chicken and a rock

That's all Lawrence needs to create a four-course meal.
Yes, I'm exaggerating, but he has a great gift of looking at random ingredients and making a delicious meal. Even when we don't have much, he can still make an interesting and tasty meal. 

Tonight was no exception. Serrano-lime chicken and shrimp over zoodles.

He had his with avocado... of course. 

Unfortunately, there's no recipe.

Zoodles??

Yes, zoodles. Or zucchini noodles. They're made with this gizmo we purchased on Amazon for Christmas one year - and just pulled it out today. It makes these great curly spaghetti type strips. I think I'm going to use it to make spaghetti noodles out of squash and not use spaghetti squash next time. 

I also made very easy muffins today. I don't have a blender, so I just used my mixer. Worked just as fine. I did leave the muffins in a little longer than they should have been left, so they turned out a little dark, but they were good. I liked the chocolate chip ones better than the plain. They're very versatile.

                                      

The recipe is from Happy Healthy Mama. They really took 20 minutes max to make. Good, easy snack. 

I have to sleep now... 5:30am gets here rather quickly.

Have a good night! 

There's another me out there.

And I'm not happy about it.

I had my identity stolen. Someone used my name, address, and SSN to file a tax return. I don't know who - I was applying for small business loans and jobs. I don't know when - had to be before 2/3/15.
What I do know is I've completed paperwork to make sure the person is prosecuted for it. I don't care if it's my mother... I'd just visit her in jail. I just hope it wasn't overseas... and no, it wasn't Turbo Tax.

Anyway, this is a warning... file as early as possible, check your records, and keep your paperwork close to you. And save your money so you won't need a loan.

Now, onto food. Today was Lawrence's "cheat day", so he went to a restaurant called Bacon, Inc. in Gastonia with a few friends. Other than the service being slow, he said everyone loved the food. I was with Janiyah and her friend for a late birthday outing. We went to the mall. The girls had pizza while I ate a fruit cup and had an unsweetened iced tea.

For dinner, I just had leftover almond flour pancakes from this morning. Crappy eating today. I haven't had enough fruits or veggies in the past few days. Although I did eat the fruit cup this afternoon and the mango this morning, I haven't been eating enough. I'm going to change that.

Last night, Lawrence made a great dinner - spicy ginger blood orange glazed pork loin, and coconut curry cauliflower. It was amazing! He even posted the recipe...

Spicy Ginger Blood Orange Pork Loin

Glaze/Marinade
Ingredients:
4 blood oranges juiced (approx. 3 cups)
3 tbs ginger
3 tbsp minced garlic
2 tbsp vidalia onion finely chopped
2 tsp cayenne pepper
3/4 cup honey

Directions:
Mix all ingredients except honey until well blended. 
Separate 1/2 of the mixture, and wisk in 1/4 cup of honey (marinade).
Pour remaining mixture into a small saucepan, heat on low medium until mixture begins to boil. Reduce to 1/2 original volume, and add 1/2 cup of honey, and simmer until glaze begins to thicken.

Marinate 2-3 lbs pork loin for at least 30 mins. Grill or roast pork loin until internal temperature is 160°. Cover roast with 2/3 of the glaze. Grill/roast until caramelized. Let rest, slice, and drizzle with remaining glaze.

Coconut Curry Cauliflower

Ingredients:
1 can coconut milk (full fat, approx. 14 oz.)
1 head cauliflower cut into bite sized florets
3 tbs curry powder
1 tsp sea salt
2 tbs vidalia onion chopped
2 tbsp minced garlic
4 tbsp butter

Directions:
Refrigerate coconut milk for at least 1 hour to allow coconut cream to separate, and thicken.
In a large saucepan, melt butter, add onion, garlic, and cauliflower. Simmer untilfrlorets begin to become translucent, stirring often. Add curry powder, and stir until well incorporated. Stir in coconut cream, and allow moderate melting before adding the remaining coconut milk. Let simmer, stirring occasionally, until cauliflower is al dente.

Please let me know if you try it. You won't be disappointed!

That's it for tonight. Have a great one!

A waste of ingredients

Well, not a complete waste. Lawrence says it's not too bad. I, on the other hand, can't even think about being happy about this dessert.

What is it? A raw carrot cake.
I found the recipe on Pinterest. The blogger who posted it said it was really good. So... why not try it?

First issue I had was there was no pre-heat setting. Then there was no cook time. I should have stopped right there, but I really wanted to try it. I haven't had much dessert lately, and Snicker bars at work are starting to dance around my head, so I need something I can take with me to fight off those evil candy bars.

I made the "batter". As I was mixing everything in the food processor, it didn't seem right... but hey, I didn't think it was too bad. The batter didn't even taste too bad...

Then I put it in the pan - that's when I got nervous. I mean, who is going to eat something that looks like this:

Okay, so yes, there are things that don't look great before they're baked, but this was really interesting. It was mushy... but, why waste the ingredients... off it went into the oven. 

And came out like this:

To be fair, it didn't have a piece cut out of it - that was me.
It was still mushy. After 40 minutes. The edges started getting brown, so I thought it would be time to take it out.

I tasted it.
It's gross. 

It's bad tasting carrot mush. I can't even use it to make something different.
Well, maybe I can mush it up again and put bits in a real cake for the kids... 

The recipe? It's from Gimme Some Oven. Maybe I made it wrong. Maybe I didn't mix it correctly. I don't know, but I'm NOT going to try again.

If you try it, please let me know. 

I'm BACK!

Hi all!
My goodness! Who would have thought waking at 5:30am, sitting in a long (and sometimes boring) training class, and not going to bed until after 11pm would wipe a person out (hehe)!! Not to mention cooking and running errands in between. I am BEAT!

But it's not bad. And other than a couple of small bumps in the road (crackers and fig bars), I've kept up with my diet.

I don't have much to post today - just that I'm still here, and I'll be posting daily again.

Missed you guys!

Yesterday's food.

I didn't post yesterday - mostly because I was trying to get ready for my temp job today.
And I didn't take pictures of my food today because I only made one dish, and it was a repeat dish.

Yesterday's food was good, though.

Before the pictures - like I said, I started a temp job today. I work for a temp agency for an overflow company that's contracted by a large company. Yeah. If this was a totem pole, I'd be underground. Or is it that the bottom figure on the totem pole is the strongest? If that's the case, I'm the dust on the top. Whatever...
The day wasn't bad. I already know who is going to ask 10,000 questions, the class clown, and the one who may go first - as he slept through most of the orientation today.
With this new position, I'm out the door very early, so breakfast is going to be interesting. Lunch will mostly be leftovers from dinner, but I don't know what I'm going to do when everyone wants to eat even the pan after dinner.

Also - I was bad today. I didn't take breakfast, and there were no good selections in the vending machine. I couldn't starve, so I had...
CRACKERS! With peanut butter! Oh, the horror!!
And I had coffee - but black coffee. If I didn't, I'd be listed as the second person fired for falling asleep in class.

Yesterday morning, I made almond flour pancakes and strawberry and honey "sauce". I didn't get a picture of after, but I have a picture of them being made -

I got the recipe from Elana's Pantry. These were very good. I even made some of them darker than I like my pancakes, but it didn't matter. They tasted great! 

Lawrence liked his fish dish so much, that he made it again. 

For dinner, Lawrence thought he took pork chops out of the freezer, but it was actually the ends of the loin he cut up. Since it was already thawed, he cut it into strips, added carrots, cabbage, and a few other ingredients, and made a stir-fry!

                                                

Tomorrow, I think I'll be home in enough time to make some chili...
I also think I successfully made the ice cream more creamy and not mushy. I'll try it again tomorrow, and if successful, I'll post the recipe!

Okay, I'm going to bed. Gotta be at the office at 7am.

Thanks, all!

Avocado, anyone?

I do not like avocado.
Well, let me change that statement... I love guacamole. Like I can eat guacamole with a spoon. I don't like plain avocado. I feel the same about tomatoes. And okra.

Lawrence on the other hand, LOVES avocado. He'll eat them breakfast, lunch, and dinner. So this morning, I made him an avocado salmon and egg bake. He loved it - of course.
I scooped out the avocado and mixed it with the salmon, along with some seasonings. I added some in the bottom of the avocado, scrambled an egg with a small bit of coconut milk, carefully poured them in the avocado, then added the salmon mix on top. I baked it for about 20 minutes.
If we were eating cheese, it would be perfect.

Lawrence made a quick lunch. Pan fried fish and salsa. He had avocado (again) with his... lol! 

Dinner was bbq chicken with homemade sauce and broccoli spaghetti squash bake. I got the sauce from My Natural Family. I had to tweak it a little - add a little more spice and give it a kick. 

Everyone loved it! I loved making it.

I do have to say, all of this cooking is getting crazy, I don't know what I'm going to do next week... I start my temp job on Monday. I'm going to have to plan meals for the week... I can't even plan what I'm going to wear the next day. I change my clothes at least 3 times in the morning. And don't get me talking about going on a trip! I take half of my closet and my entire underwear drawer...

If you want, send me easy Paleo recipes for dinners... please!