Freezer Meals

Stress has tried to get the best of me this week with migraines, trouble sleeping and fatigue.  Due to my stress-induced migraines, I had to miss my Bible Study, a wedding coordinator meeting with a bride, and a half day of work.  This cannot continue, so I have decided to take action.  First and most importantly, I'm doing a lot of prayer and Bible reading.

Then my grandma gave me a book by Dale Carnegie about ridding your life of worry called, How to Stop Worrying and Start Living. Right up my alley. 

 I'm on chapter 4 and so far it's been pretty helpful with giving real strategies that I can apply to my daily life.  I'm also considering letting go of my responsibilities as wedding coordinator for my church.  I think that will help my stress level.  My mom came and helped me with my classroom after school yesterday for 2 hours so we got 4 hours worth of work done.  YEAH!  I feel so much better about my upcoming work week now.  Also, we go to dinner with Tom's parents every week so we decided to change that to every other week.  It was a hard decision, because family is very important, but it's hard to rush home from work, rush to their house, rush to Bible Study and rush home to bed.  Too much rushing in one day.  Finally, I have decided to make better use of my weekends so I can better enjoy my weekdays.  As a result, I decided to take three hours of my Saturday morning to make as many freezer meals as possible.  That is exactly what I did this morning. 

Here's what I made...

8 servings of 3 Ingredient Chicken Tacos

8-10 servings of Mom's Turkey Chili

8 servings of Southwestern Stuffed Peppers

5 servings of turkey and mushroom spaghetti

8-10 servings of 1 Skillet Chili Mac

That equals approx. 40 servings of food!!!  How exciting!  Our week night dinners and week day lunches are DONE for TWO WEEKS!  All we have to do is warm them up.  Praise the Lord for the invention of the microwave! :)

This is what made it so easy...

• I chose recipes that are SIMPLE.
• I used recipes with similar ingredients to make grocery shopping easy (ground turkey, diced tomatoes, chili powder, etc.)
• I only used 3 pans-1 skillet, 1 medium sauce pan, 1 dutch oven (just kept rinsing them out and resusing).  This is SUPER important for not having a hige pile of dishes afterwords.
• I never had to turn the oven on for the stuffed peppers because I just boiled the peppers, pre cooked the meat and rice then mixed the stuffing.  It will all cook together when I warm it up in the microwave.
• Choose one recipe to put in the crock pot so it does the work for you.

**Happy Dance**

Living the dream with TMJD

It's been 10 days since I first started wearing my TMJD appliance.  For those of you who are curious about what this thing looks like, I took a picture.  Sorry if it grosses you out.  I get grossed out really easily and it didn't bother me too much so you will probably be fine. 

I turned it upside down to take the picture so you could see the metal parts and how it fits over my bottom teeth kind of like a retainer.  I have to wear it 24/7 except when I eat or drink anything besides water. 

Top 5 reasons my TMJD appliance is not my friend:

1. It makes me have a serious lysp (sufferin' succotash Sylvester!)

2. It takes up so much room in my mouth that my tongue has no where to go so it is harder to breathe when exercising.

3. It makes my breath smell wicked bad even with multiple scrubbings every day.

4. It cost $3,800. 

5. After it does "it's thing" I will have to either a. get braces again or b. get crowns on my molars. (more $$)

On a positive note, I sleep like a baby with it in.  (Or maybe that's just because I am dog tired from herding 2nd graders all day).  I did have a nightmare about trying to eat chips and not being able to crunch down on them to eat them so I just had to swallow them whole.  I woke up chomping on the thing. 

Seriously though.  I understand that I am incredibly blessed.  We have the financial means to pay for it (it does put a damper on paying off the car loan, but we can do it).  It might take my migraines away (I would wear this thing all day every day for the rest of my life if it actually did that).  So I am going to choose to be thankful and try really hard not to be a wimp about this.
**By the way, I have had 2 migraines since starting to wear the appliance.

Other random updates...

I have reintroduced sugar into my diet, sparingly over the past month.  I had 8 peanut butter m&ms earlier this week and a fudge bar yesterday.  It was great.  My weight is being maintained and I am still tracking on www.loseit.com.  I need to measure myself again because I've been lax about that lately.  I weigh in again on Monday so I'll let you know how it goes.

I will be auctioning off another painting next weekend so keep an eye out for that.  Bidding will begin on Friday and end on Sunday night as it did last time.  The last painting went for $20 and the proceeds went towards The American Cancer Society.  Super cool.

I have been crossing off more and more things on my 30 before 30 list!!!  Check out by 30 before 30 tab at the top of the blog.  The most exciting thing is being able to do a Bible Study with college women.  I LOVE college people.  They are way cool.  Our first night was last Tuesday and I get to co-lead it.  We are studying Phillipians, which is awesome. 

That's about it.  It is 6:00pm on Friday night and I am going to sleep.  It has been one doozy of a week and I am spent. 

Realizations.

Oh wow...so by now you know that I love to talk about myself blog as much as possible so you know it's been a rough week when I go rogue.  The reason?  First week of school.  I know, I know some of you who work "normal" jobs don't get the luxury of "teacher hours" and may be thinking well yeah she is finally going back to work and is just tired and busy because she isn't used to it.  Oh friends.  I really hope that is not your thought process, but if it is, I invite you to my classroom for one day.  In just one day you will understand the complete amazement of watching children fall in love with the wonder and possibility of books and you will have a full understanding of the fall on the floor feeling of exhaustion of getting kids to that point.  I love my job, but I do not love the politics that go with it.  I love my kids, but I do not love some of the choices they make.  Growing up, I had no clue what being a teacher was all about.  I honestly thought it was making kids smile, reading them books, giving them hugs, giving them compliments, making them happy, giving them assignments and teaching them how to get along and they actually would.  Yes, teaching encompasses all of these.  However, it is more.  It is hard.  It is the hardest thing I have ever done.  One would think that the 8th year of the first days of school I would have it under control lickety split.  Nope.  It's hard every year.  I just get better at accepting it.  I was defeated these first few days, but I still have almost 180 days to change that.  As I look back, I wasn't defeated.  The kids do listen to me.  They do want to please.  They don't want to hurt one another...they just CRAVE attention.  I will give them what they need in a positive way.  Overcoming failure is what grows us.  That's why I love teaching.  Each day is a new day to try again.  I am so thankful that I have the opportunity to spend 7 hours each day with these little ones.  God has entrusted each of them with me for a purpose.  That's heavy stuff.  It's a huge responsibility.  I am thankful that it's my responsibility.  I am currently writing this at 11:20am on Saturday morning and Tom walked into the room and said, "Wow, you look out of it. You are still exhausted aren't you?" I replied, "Yep, I feel like a huge pile of exhausted mush."  That feeling of mush is worth it though because I don't want to feel this way.  I am going to overcome this extreme feeling of defeat and exhaustion.  It pushes me to be a better educator.  It pushes me to think of better ways to break through the walls of my students.  It pushes me to push my students harder to be their very best.  It pushes me to love them for who they are.  It pushes me to be creative in ways to light a fire under them.  It gets me past the poor behaviors to know that I could plant a seed in their lives that will grow.  This morning I started reading a book called, Educating Esme.  It's a diary of a woman's first year of teaching.  She impresses the socks off of me.  So bold.  So unafraid.  She stands up for what she believes in.  She knows what she wants and she gets it (most of the time).  She lifts her students higher than they ever thought they could go.  I can do that.  I know I can.  It's going to be hard, but it's going to be worth every exhausting moment.  This blog originally started out in my head on a completely different topic and I appreciate you coming along with me on my thought process today.  I guess I just needed to write it all out.  These were my realizations about my job and I hope that maybe you understand me a little bit more because of it.

7:00 Shut Down

So tonight I was thinking about how many hours I've logged online just in the last week.  The thought really made me stop in my tracks.  What am I missing out on by staring at a screen for hours on end?  How much more could I be getting out of life if shut down a couple hours early every night?  A lot.  Some people have 6:00 shut downs, and props to them because that's just a little too early for me especially during the school year.  By the time I get home it's time to fix dinner, eat dinner, clean up, etc.  7:00pm is a good goal for me because that would give me about 30-40 minutes to be online, which really, is plenty.  I'd much rather spend the last two waking hours of the day playing games with my husband, enjoying the great outdoors, catching up on some reading or just hanging out with friends. 

I researched this issue and there is an overwhelming number of people who are doing their own shut downs at various times throughout the day.  Some shut down in the afternoon, only in the morning or after a certain time like I intend to do. 

Are you finding this an issue in your life? 

I'm commiting to this starting Monday.  Keep me accountable please!!  If you see me hanging out online after 7:00 give me a virtual kick in the caboose!  Seriously.  Are you with me?

Shut it down, live your life.

Can't say I never won anything...

That's right!  I recieved a blogger award!

I was awarded The Liebster Award from my fellow blogger Mary over at

 http://walks-in-the-woods.blogspot.com/

I'm so excited!!  It's a great way to share some things about yourself and learn from others in your blogging community!

So what is the Liebster Award:

The Liebster award is given to upcoming bloggers who have less than 200 followers.  The meaning: Liebster is German and means sweetest, kindest, nicest, dearest, beloved, lovely, kind, pleasant, valued, cute, endearing and welcome.

Rules for receiving this award:

1. Each person must post 11 things about themselves.

2. Then answer the questions the tagger sent for them, plus create 11 questions for the people they've tagged to answer.

3. Choose 11 people and link them in your post.

4. Notify the people you have tagged.

5. No tag backs.

Here are 11 little things to share with you about my life...

1. The best thing that's ever happened to me is marrying my husband.

2. The scariest thing I've ever done is finding out my mom was diagnosed with cancer.

3. The greatest news I've ever recieved is that my mom's cancer is gone.

4. The proudest thing I've ever done is being hired as a teacher.

5. I love driving my car.

6. I hate flying in airplanes.

7. I used to play the organ.

8. I am an only child.

9. My favorite color is purple.

10. I really want to take karate lessons.

11. The best decision I've ever made is to follow Jesus.

Here are the 11 questions Mary asked me along with my answers...

1. What inspired your blog name? I want to spice things up in the kitchen, in my art, in my teaching, and in my life so my blog is all about spicing things up and getting the most out of life.

2. What do you like most about blogging?  I love to write and journal.  It's a great way to sort out my emotions, document my life and be a part of a wonderful community of people.

3. What was your dream job when you were a child?  To be a teacher.  I made it!

4. Where is the furthest place you've ever traveled?  I did a J-term in London junior year of college :)

5. What is the strangest or most exotic food you've ever tried?  And did you like it?  Frog legs would probably be the most exotic and I love them!

6. What is your favourite film?  Oh this is tough.  It's a toss up between My Fair Lady, Christmas Vacation and Bridget Jones' Diary.

7. Who is your favourite TV show character?  Lenard from The Big Bang Theory

8. Do you have a crazy, far-fetched ambition and what is it? To be an author.

9. If your friends could describe you with one word, what would it be? Nice.

10. If money were no object, where would you live and why? I would live right where I am now because money does not buy happiness and this is where my family and friends are.

11. What is your favourite book of all time?  Gone with the Wind

And now my questions to all my lucky recipients:

1. Who has been an inspiration in your life?
2. What is a dream of yours that you've been holding back from achieving?
3. What is your best attribute?
4. What is your favorite memory from childhood?
5. If you could rewind your life, what is one thing you would do differently?
6. What was your proudest moment?
7. What is your favorite quote?
8. How did your life turn out differently than you expected?
9. What is the quirkiest thing you do?
10. What is your richest blessing?
11. What do you hope to accomplish with your blog?

Now I get to pass on the award :) 

So here are my lucky recipients...you have all inspired me in one way or another.  Thank you.

Step by step, bit by bit

Running? Really, what was I thinking?

Eat Teach Blog

Virginia Cooks!

Square Zero

A Mother's Journey...

Hello Fitness...We Meet Again...

Sexy Mother Runner

Mommy Meltdown

Will Move for Cake

Just Between You and Me

30 before 30

I was inspired by a fellow blogger, Hannah over at http://willmoveforcake.blogspot.com/ to compile a list of 30 things I want to accomplish or do by the time I'm 30.  I've got 8 months before I turn 30. 

Here's my list...

1) Get pregnant.
2) Eat ice cream without getting a migraine.
3) Sell 3 of my paintings.
4) Learn how to french braid my bangs.
5) Sign up for a mission trip.
6) Start a journal.
7) Read through the entire Bible again.
8) Volunteer somewhere outside my comfort zone.
9) Make my own bread from scratch.
10) Run/walk a 10K.
11) Read Gone With the Wind again.
12) Write a poetry book.
13) Make my own laundry detergent.
14) Make my own hummus.
15) Run 5 miles straight.
16) Go horse back riding and be comfortable with the horse trotting and galloping.
17) Go to a local winery.
18) Be a mentor.
19) Make a snowman with Tom.
20) Drive my SUV out of state.
21) Go kayaking.
22) Watch a sunrise with Tom.
23) Watch a sunset with Tom.
24) Learn to sew.
25) Start a Bible Study for college students.
26) Write a thank you letter to my 1st grade teacher.
27) Go to a fancy dinner and eat out of the bread basket without getting a migraine.
28) Bake a turkey all by myself.
29) Make my own Christmas cards.
30) Be thankful that I get to turn 30.

Teacher Guilt

So I want to know if I am the only one who experiences what I like to call, "teacher guilt".  Let me explain...first of all, I work my tail off from August through May.  Second of all, at some point over the summer, I am usually participating in some sort of professional development.  This year I co-facilitated our district's Comprehensive Literacy Model conference for grades 2/3, which included months of planning during our lunch breaks, a week of planning when school go out, and a week of faciliation at the actual conference. 

Then I'm planning to go supply shopping (Our school buys ALL of the school supplies the children will need for the year.  Parents give a donation and students just bring gym shoes and a backpack.)  I do kind of love going school supply shopping except when I get the stink eye at Wally World for lugging two huge carts busting at the seams with folders, notebooks, glue, pencils, crayons, markers, erasers, pencil boxes, etc. I see it as a challenge to get as much stuff as I can for the $200 limit.  Yeah, $200 for all the supplies needed for 30 kids (we have a lot of move ins/move outs).  But if you are smart with your limit, and the supplies you are purchasing it's doable.  Anyway, supply shopping starts August 1 for me.  Then after that I spend most of August setting up my room, organizing, lesson planning, copying, making templates, putting together binders, folders, labeling EVERYTHING, etc. 

So.  Here's my issue.  I get about 6 weeks off this summer and I feel SO guilty when I'm not working on school stuff.  For one thing, I want to get better at my craft of teaching so I have motivation to research and read prof. dev. books, but I know the school year is always so stressful and anxiety filled that I need to use this time to relax.  I put in a lot of time during the school year, and even in June with conferences, am on my 3rd professional development text and am in the first day of August, but I am having trouble giving myself permission to have a "lazy day" where I just lay on the couch and read and watch movies all day.  Maybe I have difficulty with this because for instance, today Tom's working all day from 6:00am-5:30pm and I feel guilty about that.  I know I shouldn't but I do.  He doesn't give me a hard time and he even encourages me to just relax because he knows how stressed out I get during the school year. 

How can I relax without the guilt??  Fellow teachers how do you do it?? Or should I feel guilty and be working on school stuff all summer??  HELP!

On losing a marathon...

As most of you know, my friends and fellow Sole Sisters, Jess and Heather have come up with a challenge...to lose a marathon.  That's 26.2 pounds for those of you who were wondering.  That's a lot of pounds!  Well, this is week 5/13 of the challenge and I've lost 0.8 pounds.  I lost 0.2, then lost 1.8, then gained 1.8, then lost 0.6.  At least I'm going in the right direction, collectively. 

However, needless to say, I've got a LONG way to go.  So I was getting a little down on myself because there's no way I will be losing a marathon with only 8 more weeks to go.  But then I started thinking...wait.  I have already lost a marathon since January!!!!  I have lost almost EXACTLY a marathon of pounds since the beginning of the year.  And...a total of 34 pounds since I broke my foot three years ago at my all time highest weight.  Now that is an accomplishment :) 

So here's my big realization.  It's taken me 28 weeks to lose a marathon in 2012.  Not 13 weeks (the length of this challenge).  So why do I think I would lose the same amount in less than half the time?  Plus, it gets harder (for me at least) to lose the smaller I get.  What an "aha!" moment for me. 

But that doesn't mean I am stopping or giving up just because I've lost a marathon. 
I am not done yet.  There's still 25.4 pounds to go to reach my goal weight. 

So every week Jess sets a challenge for us.  This week: Photo Journal EVERYTHING you eat. 

Whoa.  I like that idea. Take a picture of every teeny tiny bite or sip before you eat or drink it.  That's going to keep me accountable.  I know this because whenever I take a picture of one of my dinners to post on here I'm sure to make it look colorful, full of veggies, and a balance of carbs/proteins.  I might just think twice before diving into some "Pirate's Booty" snacks.  If I were to eat some "Pirate's Booty" goodness, I could just take a picture of the packaging, but I'm going to step it up and take a picture of my SERVING.  I think that will keep me even more accountable to you.  Now I don't have a smartphone so it's going to be a little bit harder, but I can go "old school" just like I have been doing and use my awesome pink Sony Cybershot.

I'm planning to make a Facebook photo album of everything I eat for the next 7 days.  I think this is going to be really good for me and I'm excited.  You don't have to make yours public if you want to join in the challenge, but I encourage you to at least take a step back and assess your food and drinks and really look at it. 

Ask yourself some important questions...Is this going to be good fuel for my body?  Is this going to make me feel gross after I eat it?  Does this help me reach towards my goals?  What is the purpose of eating this?  Will this taste good or am I just wanting to eat it because it's there?

So much of health and weight loss is food.  You can exercise like it's your job, but if your food isn't nutricious, filling, and tasty, you won't see or reap the full benefits of your hard work.  And face it, if you are going to go to all the trouble of walking, running, biking, Zumba, yoga, pilates, weight lifting, swimming, tennis, etc, then make sure it counts!  Don't spoil your efforts by eating all those calories you just burned and don't spoil it by eating a bag of cheetos after you've done a few miles on the treadmill because you "earned it".  Don't you think you "earned a healthy life" and not some food that's going to cancel out everything you've done??  It just doesn't make sense.  You are not a dog, so don't reward yourself with food.  Reward yourself with the self confidence, self assurance, and pride that you earned this healthy body of yours...even if it doesn't "look" healthier you know that if you made healthier choices your body most certainly is too. 

I think it's all about knowing why you are eating.  If you want a sweet treat or a second helping of dinner and you are okay with the calorie/fat content and will balance it out with the rest of your meals then go for it.  If you are eating it because you feel you deserve it or you feel "naughty" and just want to break your own rules then that's an entirely different issue.  Food is not supposed to be used in that way.

I too need to listen to my own rants.  I am pretty good at not seeing food as a reward for being "good".  I really dislike when people say they were "good" or "bad".  It's not all "bad" if you had a couple scoops of ice cream.  It's not all "good" to eat all veggies and fruits with no fats at all.  Our bodies need fats like those found in salmon or olive oil or even nuts.  Plus, you are not going to gain 5 pounds if you eat a candy bar.  You will not ruin your entire day or weight loss journey if you eat a candy bar.  If you eat a candy bar every day, the weight probably won't come off as quickly, but if that's what is going to keep you sane and on your plan for the rest of your meals and snacks, then do what you need to do. 

Something I really need to work on is not eating my exercise calories.  That's most likely why the weight isn't coming off quickly.  I do get really hungry when I'm working on consistantly and I tell myself that it's okay to eat an extra helping or have a "before bed" snack because my stomach is truly growling. Yes, it is okay for me to eat something extra, but not a half a bag of tortila chips or 2 EXTRA slices of Tom's homemade pizza.  I need to make better choices when I'm hungry, which all goes back to my photo journaling goal.  I hope and believe this is going to help me a lot.  This turned into a really lengthy post!  Congrats for staying with me til the end!

It's time to keep on keepin' on.  Won't lose hope...just pounds.

Check your pulses...

Today reminded me of the John Mayer song "Great Indoors."  I encountered situations where kids didn't want to go outside and play.  What the heck?  They were excited to go home and play video games but there was no mention of being outside.  Some kids even prefered to stay in at recess instead of go outside and play and to that I say no way, go out and play

(yeah that rhymed but I didn't mean for that to happen.)

What is going on with this not playing outside concept?  Today I escaped outside on my lunchbreak for five minutes of heaven.  Tonight I went out for another bike ride and was surprised by the lack of both kids and adults enjoying the extra dose of amazing weather.  Now I wasn't always this gung ho...(is that how you spell that phrase??)  Anyway, I wasn't always all about being outside.  I spent too many of my summer vacations indoors wasting countless hours watching t.v.  Now my day just doesn't feel right without at least moving my body in some sort of exercise.  Maybe I'm just getting wise in my old age.  ;) 

I wonder how we can make the change for kids.  Technology is great, don't get me wrong, but I think it's really hindering the appreciation we can have for the great outdoors.  Have we forgotten that there is fun to be had beyond the flawless megapixelled screens?  It begs the question, "What can be done about this?" I want to know can I make a big enough impact on my students begin to make a change, to bring up a new generation of people who appreciate, love, care for and enjoy the beauty of simply being outside instead of a generation who becomes increasingly dependent on electronic stimuli.  I don't have the answer, but I hope to find one soon.

Here are the lyrics to John Mayer's song..."The Great Indoors"

Check your pulse it's proof that you're not listening to
The call your life's been issuing you
The rhythm of a line of idle days

Scared of a world outside you should go explore
Pull all the shades and wander the great indoors
The great indoors

Lamplight makes the shadows play
And posters take the walls away
The T.V. is your window pane
The view won't let you down
So put your faith in a late night show
I bet you didn't even know
Depends on how far out you go
The channel numbers change

Scared of a world outside you should go explore
Pull all the shades and wander the great indoors

Though lately I can't blame you
I have seen the world
And sometimes wish your room had room for two

So go unlock the door
And find what you are here for
Leave the great indoors
Leave the great indoors

Check your pulse it's proof that you're not listening to
The call your life's been issuing you
The rhythm of a line of idle days of idle days

----------------

 

**So next time you have the chance to go explore this great big world God made to enjoy, don't hesitate.  Go for it and grab some sunshine.  You won't regret it.

Lasagna Roll Ups

Yesterday began as an uneventful day...we ran some errands, did some work around the house, relaxed, made lasagna roll ups and then I decided to go read on the bed while Tom watched t.v.  All of a sudden I feel a thump and some creaks underneath me.  Hmmm...I tried to peer over the edge and heard "crrraaaaack" again so I hopped off and checked it out.  The jucture of the side rail and the footboard had completely split.  Good grief!  Now I know I'm no skinny minny but I'm not the Hulk either.  That metal part is supposed to be secured into the wood with two metal pins.  Clearly, the metal pins were no match for me reading atop them.  Great for the self-esteem I tell ya.

So we didn't trust this to hold us both as we slept last night so there was much mattress moving to be had before going to bed.  First, we moved the full sized mattress along with all the bedding out of the guest room and into the 3rd bedroom (apparently I'm a bit of a bed hog and Tom was not going to be sharing a full sized bed with me for who knows how long...hehe.) Then Tom adjusted the full frame to a queen frame slicing his wrist in the process so I promptly and unsuccessfully put gauze and tape on the wound.  We then proceeded to move our queen sized mattress from our room into the guest room.  Can I mention we had just washed the sheets and just made the bed a mere 2 hours before??  So we got to completely unmake and remake the bed twice in one evening.  Ahhh well.

But amidst the unexpected inconveniences we decided that we have so much to be thankful for.  We are thankful that we have a house to sleep in, a guest bed, a 3rd bedroom to put all the extra mattress and bedding things in, and most of all, we have eachother. 

The technician is supposed to come tomorrow so hopefully things will be back to normal in no time.

Anyway, prior to the whole bed frame debacle, I made a yummy dinner. 

Here's the recipe...

Lasagna Roll-ups

8 lasagna noodles

1/2 pound lean ground turkey

1 T olive oil

1 clove garlic

1/2 onion

1 can crushed tomatoes

1 egg

1/2 cup ricotta cheese

1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

1 1/2 T fresh basil, chopped

1 1/2 T fresh oregano, chopped

1/4 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

1/2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Heat a large pot of water to boiling over high heat.  When it reaches a boil, salt liberally and drop noodles.  Stir occasionally and cook to just al dente.  You want to leave them slightly more firm since you'll be baking the pasta.  Drain noodles and set aside.

Meanwhile in a large skillet, heat olive oil over medium heat.  Add garlic and onion and saute for 2-3 minutes.  Add turkey and brown.  When almost cooked through, add tomatoes and reduce heat to medium low.   Add 1/2 of the basil and oregano, then add the crushed red pepper flakes and stir to combine. Simmer for about 15 minutes. 

In a small bowl, lightly beat egg.  Add ricotta, Parmesan and remaining basil and oregano and stir together.  Spray pan lightly with cooking spray.  Add enough sauce to lightly cover the bottom of the pan.  To assemble, on a drained noodle, add a spoonful of ricotta mixture.  Top with a spoonful of meat sauce and roll up.  Place seam side down in pan.  Continue until you've used all the noodles.  Top each with a little more meat sauce and sprinkle with mozzarella.  Bake approximately 25 minutes until cheese is melted and bubbly.

Have a great and blessed Sunday!

Never say never

This morning I happened to see a website linked on a friend's FB page.  http://www.whole9.com/ At first I was really into it because the program has incredible testamonies on the improvement of health, cures of diseases, etc.  Then I began reading about the program.  No dairy.  No grains including whole wheat.  No sugar.  Nothing to drink besides water.  No processed foods.  No soy.  Many people have lost weight, become healthier and feel like a different person on the program.  That leaves meats, fruits, vegetables. 

Ok great, but how do you sustain that type of eating?...the thing is, a person could probably do it for a month, even two, maybe three, but it's not sustainable as a lifestyle for most of us.  At the end of the month we would most likely go back to our normal eating routine and then what do you have?  The weight back, the disease back and less energy.  Now don't get me wrong.  There are people out there who can do this in a sustainable way that would last a lifetime. The whole9 program says you can't slip up at all or ever allow yourself to have something not on their specified list because it upsets the "reset" of your body.  That's just unreasonable to live with.  I know that everything you put in your mouth is a choice.  However, food is such an intrigal part of our lives.  It is fuel but for many of us it is more than that.  It's memories. 

Never eating one of my grandma's famous sour cream cookies again?  Yeah it might be great for my body, but for my whole being...not so much. It's not just the taste, or the sugar high, but the memory of her teaching me to mix them, use my hands to slather the butter, sprinkle them just so and bake them according to her mother's recipe.  Each time I take a bite of one of her cookies I'm reminded of my love for her with those warm irreplacable memories. 

I think whenever you say, I'm never going to have a sip of milk or sweets again or I will never eat spaghetti again you are simply setting yourself up for failure.  Right now, I'm taking out as much sugar, preservatives, in  processed food as I can for the next month to see if it will decrease my migraines as the research says, and if it works then I will keep as much sugar, white flour and preservatives out of my mouth as I can. However, that doesn't mean I'm giving up these things for the remainder of my life. For example, I plan to have a piece of cake for my birthday and a grandma cookie or two at Christmas time.  It's okay.  It's the eating sugar every day-day in and day out that is the issue.  Thoughts?