Monday, October 18, 2010

Update

I've been a little AWOL lately because I've been dealing with some sort of recurring UTI infection/similar symptoms/we don't know what the hell.

It's been over a month now, and I've taken four different prescriptions including a sulfa drug - and the primary symptom just keeps coming back. And then it will go away again. And then when I'm just feeling smug and free...BACK!!

My approach for today is to just pretend I have no problem. Nothing. Nothing to see here. Move along please. Maybe I can out think the damn thing, or it will go away if no one is paying attention to it.

Spent the weekend at my mother's house in beautiful autumn splendor and her very tastefully decorated home. We had a fabulous dinner of pot roast and three kinds of squash we'd picked up at the farmer's market that day. We also took a detour to check out a thrift sale...

And I got a peanut butter machine FOR A DOLLAR!!!

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It's so cool!!  I couldn't find any cashews to try in it, but I got some pecans and made pecan butter, which was delicious on pear slices. We got some cashews yesterday and tonight I'll give that a try. I'm so excited!!  I thought I'd have to get a whole new food processor if I want to make my own nut butters.....but all it took was A DOLLAR at a thrift sale!!

On the downside, my step-dad really likes to buy doughnuts and leave them sitting out, and because I was feeling sorry for myself about the UTI situation....I had some. (And they were delicious). I don't feel HORRIBLE GUILT over it, but it's clear that my primal induced willpower and lack of cravings are not completely bullet proof and I do need to watch it. I'm also a bit bummed I did that because I've been hoping to break my current plateau and get moving again, and that ain't gonna happen if I'm scarfing crap.

In other news, I'm considering trying out dairy-free for a while and see what that does. I have mixed feelings about that. There are a lot of things I won't have any issue giving up, but eliminating cheese from all my cooking could sting quite a bit. I'm wondering if one can go mostly dairy-free, eating only cheese and only 2-3 nights a week and still reap the benefits of dairy free. I tend to doubt it since that's like saying if you only put ONE drop of red food coloring into the water, it will still be clear.

I might try no-poo again at some point - I cut all my hair off (seriously - pixie cut!!) and now I think I might see some of the "more manageable" results. It's worth a try at any rate.

Wednesday, October 6, 2010

Zucchini Pasta

NOTE TO SELF:

Next time try sauteing the zucchini noodles with a little butter and garlic. Might take care of some of the water and might give more of a noodle like texture.

Monday, October 4, 2010

More experimental cooking

I managed to fit in quite a bit of experimental cooking this weekend. Some of it by design and some of it accidentally.

The planned ones were sweets - I tend to gravitate toward those because they are much more foreign to me in their primal forms and I'm still getting a feel for what things taste like. Meat and veggie recipes I can usually look at and have a pretty good idea what it's going to be like.

I'm also looking for some things that will add a little more variety to lunches. I seem to want a little something sweet after lunch more often than I do after dinner. Dinner tends to be a heavier meal and I'm satisfied when it's done, but lunch leaves me wanting a little something. The dark chocolate is great and I've really grown to love it, but it's nice to have something different.

I've been meaning to try these Almond Butter Pumpkin Brownies for a few weeks now, and I finally got around to it. I used maple syrup rather than honey, and I don't think I used as much. The verdict is that they are a little bland but pretty satisfying. They're reasonably moist, but still taste just a little dry to me (and my son), but they kick ass with a glass of milk.

I also finally got around to trying out Truffles. They are excellent! The ones I made with rum are little strong, but the orange ones are fabulous. These might prompt me to overeat them, so I won't be making them often, but it's good to know I can and they are easy.

The surprise recipe was a German style baked pancake with a lot of eggs that I thought might be very much like my mom's Finnish Pancake that I love so much...but it wasn't.  It was made with coconut flour and was more like corn bread. Not too bad with butter and a little maple syrup, but not worth making again I don't think.

Life's been busy lately so our attempts at meal planning have been kind of dicey, but we've been doing all right. It's always easy to fall back on your basic meat and veg dinner, so staying primal is pretty easy. We HAVE gotten better at cooking a little extra (and not eating so many seconds) so that we have leftovers for lunches.

I also made a fantastic chili for dinner last week and not only got lunch the next day, but froze three more pairs of servings for future lunches.

I think I'm turning the corner on the season change adjustment - I've had an easier time getting up in the mornings again, AND I've had a little more energy for longer and more intense workouts. I'm still sticking to the somewhat lower intensity in general, and I won't be killing myself anytime soon, but I'm back to what I think of as more "regular" workouts. (And I got this fabulous Roller Derby Workout that showed up today and I'm going to do tomorrow!).

Friday, October 1, 2010

So Long No-Poo


I'm okay with that. I was expecting it. We picked up the folks from the airport Tuesday evening, and they were tired and it was late and everyone just wanted a hot meal. They are not primal and so pizza sprang to their minds first, and since they were the ones who'd been traveling and were beat, we went along with it. It's been a few months since I had "real" pizza from our favorite pizza place, so I enjoyed a few slices, and they were fabulous. Also a few glasses of wine.

Also, yesterday a coworker brought in some spice cake with cream cheese frosting and I had a piece. It's the first non-primal eating choice I've made that I regret. It was good, but not THAT good, and I really had no need at all for it...I just kind of fell into old habits and easy justification. So I'll try to remember that feeling and think twice the next time I'm deciding on a choice like that.

In the long run, it's no big deal and I'm already moving on and doing fine.

My workouts have been pretty light the last couple of weeks. A fair few 20-min ones that were low intensity and basic. I did a few Harmony doubles, and a good walking workout. This morning I opted to kick it up a notch and pull out one of my old FIRMs - Maximum Body Shaping. It felt pretty good and I enjoyed it a lot, although my elbow is still bothering me a lot and I'd like to get it healed up.

I'm no longer no-poo. I went back to shampoo out of a need for ease and luxury and I'm still in an evaluation phase. Both methods have their pros and cons and neither one is really remarkably better than the other over all. But shampoo is easier and it smells nice so I'm going that route for now. I need desperately to figure out what to do with my hair and depending on what I do I may go no-poo again. The only part of that experiment I'm sticking with is my face - I only wash it with plain water and a washcloth and it's been very soft and nice. I don't feel the need to use any kind of cream so I know something is good here. Although, I don't know if not using any is a wise choice or not. I probably will as winter creeps up.