Tuesday, February 26, 2013

Paleo Stuffed Peppers

I haven't full on started my paleo journey but I did decide to give it a whirl for one dinner.  I was totally winging it and thinking this is either going to turn out great or get me a spot on Worst Cooks in America.   Using all ingredients from Trader Joe's, I started out with browning ground turkey with sea salt, TJ "every day seasoning" and onion.  Then I was thinking what goes in a meatball?  And threw in an Egg.  (Didn't think it through and the egg scrambled.)  Then topped it off with TJ Roasted Garlic spaghetti sauce.  Best sauce I've ever had.
While that was sizzling...I cut and cored my bell peppers.
I really think peppers are pretty.
After making sure they were nice and even, they got stuffed and topped with Feta.  Dairy isn't really allowed on paleo, they suggest you do not eat it for 30 days and slowly add it back in your diet to determine your tolerance. (when I made these I had not gotten to the part in the book that said dairy was a no-no.)
The finished product was pretty darn good if I do say so myself....and I do.

I also tried my hand at a paleo desert.  Chia Seeds are super good for you, high in fiber and swell in liquid.  On the back of the bag it suggested soaking them in coconut or almond milk for a pudding effect.
In my mind it was going to be like rice pudding or tapioca...in reality it was an epic fail.  First off, I'm pretty sure my coconut milk had gone bad.  It didn't taste horrible, but it didn't taste right either.  That's when I noticed on the box "use within 7-10 days of opening".  I had no clue when I opened it, but my gut told me it was around 14 days.  (Mental Note: Mark the date on the next box)  Secondly, I'm not sure if I didn't let the seeds soak long enough or they need to soak in room temperature but they remained sort of crunchy.  I'll have to give it another try eventually.

Lastly, a cute pic of my pup after a long day of playing.  He is my world...you know besides my Hubby =)

Friday, February 22, 2013

Home Sweet Home - Before Photos

This is the house I grew up in, the house we will be moving into hopefully by next weekend depending on the work that needs to be done.
From the front door on your right theres a living room that was converted to a bedroom.  We're going to UN convert it and open the space back up.  We also want to take down the funny stone half wall to widen the entry way.
The Kitchen - New Cabinets eventually
When we remodel the kitchen the pony wall will be knocked out to open the view to the den.
The Den
The hallway:  leads to 3 bedrooms, laundry room and bath.
Left Bedroom: Going to be Hubby's new office
Right Bedroom: Going to be my new scraproom...and then hopefully a nursery.
The Master:  Needed the most work.  Tearing out the old A/C, patching holes and ripping wallpaper.
Updated Photo: start of tear down.
last but not least our cute little patio.
So the carpet's been ordered, right now the delivery date is next Thursday.  If that all goes well we can move furniture in next weekend.  In the next 2 weeks I should have some good after "face lift" photos.

Monday, February 18, 2013

Lab Worked Over

So Fridays lab work didn't turn out quite like I thought. I actually didn't have any blood drawn at all, this is why:

The PA that issued my lab orders failed to tell me my fasting glucose test was going to take 3 hours and that I needed to have a high carb diet for 3 days prior to the draw. (Yea I had a salad for dinner)

Seeing I had to go back to work I asked what else I could get out of the way so the trip wouldn't be a waste. Here's where it got hairy, the remaining hormone and infectious disease tests came up to $900 and they wanted payment up front. Turns out that Quest only takes payments for people who have been approved for financial aid.

I got a little angry at this point and wanted to see what the cost per test was. I also questioned why I had to do these infectious disease test anyway, I was basically told the state mandates it because they don't want any more children being born with HIV or Hepatitis. I both understand this and think its ridiculous, what about all the infected people who get pregnant every day? Can't control that. So the standard HIV test is $40 and then there's a secondary test that tells you what type you have for $400. This is what mad me really angry, I KNOW I have no STDs why on earth would I pay for this extra test??

I basically sat for a hour arguing with the lab on what I would and would not be paying for especially since it had to be up front. I finally got the cost down to $300 and wouldn't you know it my credit card got declined. I totally forgot we used it to buy hubby's flight to Canada.

Totally embarrassed I picked up a form for financial aid and cried the ugly cry in the parking lot.

The PA called and we worked out how to stagger the tests then I pulled myself together in time to walk into my office.

Now I'm back at the lab on Monday morning. I had my first draw done and drank the limeaid sugar water. Toward the end I wanted to gag. I have 2 more draws today, 4 tubes each. Can't. Wait.



Wednesday, February 13, 2013

Hi Ho Paleo

I decided to dive into the world of paleo eating.
 
A week or so ago I got on the topic of diet with a co worker and ending up telling her that my Dr had recommended going paleo. Excitedly she told me she'd been doing the diet for a few months and loved it. After talking about all our ailments, struggles and benefits of eating paleo she sent me a email full of blogs to follow and let me borrow her book.

Last night I cooked the last bag of pasta in my house. I've slowly been riding my house of carbs and grains as I'm reading the paleo diet book. Principles seem simple enough, no processed foods, dairy, carbs and sugars. If it comes from the earth/doesn't have a label it's A OK to eat baring a few things like legumes and starchy potatoes.

I have to do a little more research on sweet potatoes, starchy and yet a super food. I'm also not ready to give up my hummus! My absolute favorite snack with veggies. Ms. co worker said she had a paleo friendly hummus recipe; I'm leery but I'll give it a try before I knock it.

There's also the little matter of doing a 21 day sugar detox. While I totally see the benefit in this, I think I may just go bonkers giving up carbs, dairy and sugar in one shot. So hubby and I decided to cut the carbs first then move on to dairy and sugar. Also being in the middle of moving this is the best I can do.

After long debate on what to do about getting my blood tests done I decided to bite the bullet and go through with it, I scheduled a apt to be drained on Friday.  Quest Diagnostics will allow us to make payments...because by my count the lab request looks like 12 x $70.   When the results are in I'll be able to start a new prescription of metformin along with the paleo diet and see how my body likes it.  Apparently on this new dose if I even smell a carb I'll get really ill, hoping that will work as a nice deterrent.

From there, when we're ready we'll start booking the ultra sounds/xrays (somewhere around April/May) are really get this pony show on the road!

Counting down the days till we move, starting to pack this weekend and meeting with the painters tomorrow.



Friday, February 8, 2013

30 is the new 20

I know I've been dormant for a while.  Mainly nothing momentous to share and partly still resonating on the load of information from my last post, but here's a little fun from last week.

These ladies are the core of my youth.  My childhood bestie's and my sister.  These day's its FAR and between that we actually can all be together in the same room, but last Thursday some things shifted in the right place and we were able to have a nice girls night out.  (I say far in a quite literal term, as we are scattered between San Clemente and Los Angeles)

I had bought some concert tickets as an anniversary gift for another friend.  We were supposed to go on a double date, but that quickly fell apart when Hubby had to go back east for work and the other couple couldn't make it because of a non-bottle-taking-baby situation.  So I found myself with 3 open tickets and couldn't think of 3 people I'd rather take then these.  I felt very "sex in the city" getting the girls together.  Ironically in our 18 year friendship we've NEVER gone to a concert.


We started out the night at a swanky West Hollywood restaurant called the Fig & Olive.  One of the girls had a coworker who's husband just happened to be working and was able to get us a table.


It was a interesting set up, kind of like a patio but inside.  We sat in wicker chairs that pulled up to a coffee table and all ordered an assortment of crostini's and a salad. 


We have this a inside joke where you have a "moment" with your first bite of something new. Something you know is going to be good but surprises you on just how good and its "food-gasmic". Each bite was divine, I didn't want this evening of good food and friends to end.  But at the same time I kept glancing at the clock thinking we have somewhere to be.


And that's when the waitress comes up and asks if we just have 10 more minutes to spare because the manager would like us to have a desert.  How could we turn that down?  Behold the "moment" giving chocolate lava cake with the surprise citrus semifreddo.

I considered taking an after shot but we basically licked the plate clean if that gives you any indication on how good it was.

We left the restaurant saying why don't we do this more often?  We should do this once a month!  Would that realistically happen, probably not because lets face it LIFE happens but it's nice to hope. 

It was only a 5 minute drive to the concert venue so I really had nothing to worry about we got there in plenty of time.  The concert was Tristan Prettyman (mentioned in this post)


This would be my third time seeing her in concert and she just keeps getting better.
Fun Fact: the first time I saw her 6 years ago was with one of my besties and now we were seeing her again together.


I thought I was pee in your pants excited before... I think I literally turned into a 15 year old girl when Joshua Radin came out to do a song with her.


All the music was beautiful, emotional and raw; a genuinely Great concert.  I'm super happy I got to share it with my sister.  Although theres only 3 years between us, we've had a gap in our social scene the past oh I don't know 8 years lol.  Now that she's a married lady and almost 30, I see that gap is closing.  I would have NEVER thought we'd go to a country bar together, let alone try line dancing. 


The evening was full of reminiscing, remember whens and where did the time go?  And then there was the interesting conversation of age, discussing how 30 isnt so scary afterall  (we range from 29-31)  At what point are you a adult?  In my mind I'm still 23! Although some days my body feels 63. When I look at my peers some with children some without and we're just "the girls".   My sister made an interesting point, "our 30's are to redo the 20's but BETTER."  We're more mature, have more money and can appreciate things differently than 10 years ago.   Funny and true.  I bet we'll be having the same conversation in 10 more years.