Creamy Mushroom Pasta, Berry Banana Ice Cream & Homemade Pizza

Sundays used to be my least favorite day of the week because it meant that I had to wake up to an alarm the next day, but now they are my favorite day of the week.  It's a day I get to spend the day with my hubby going to worship at church, go grocery shopping, get some good cooking done, read the newspaper, and most importantly, put my feet up and just relax. 

Unfortunately, last night I started to feel "migrainy" and woke up with a big start to a migraine. 

I was desperate for it to not turn into a full blown migraine so I took Tylonol and busted out the ice pack.  It took me through church, but on the way home I started to feel it coming on stronger.  When I got home I took more Tylonol, but to no avail.  It was a migraine.  However, I am thankful because I was able to take my medicine and it worked within an hour. 

Three migraines is way better than ten so I'll take it!

So the Great Migraine Battle continues...

Laura : 26  Migraines : 3

I have been trying to figure out what the trigger was and I haven't had any sugar, got plenty of sleep, exercised regularly and I've narrowed it down.  I think it may have been the huge increase in dairy I have been eating the past couple of days.  The anti-inflammatory research claimed dairy was an inflammatory food, but I didn't want to believe it because I feel milk's calcium and Vitamin D benefits are so important to a healthy diet.  However, I had LOTS of sour cream and butter on my baked potato at Tom's work dinner Friday night plus my fish was swimming in butter. 

I also ate 1/3 of a block of cheese these last couple of days as my snacks.  Then yesterday I made a new recipe...Creamy Mushroom and Shrimp Pasta which has 10 tbsp of butter and 3 oz of cream cheese and washed it down with a nice big glass of milk.  Yeah.  I think the dairy did me in.  So when Tom and I went grocery shopping I got some almond milk to try.  I've heard good things about it so we will see.  It has calcium and lots of vitamins in it and I will continue to eat cheese but will be eating it sparingly.  I will continue to try to figure out these triggers.

Here's my creamy shrimp and mushroom pasta from last night.  Had the leftovers for lunch after church today it was even better the second time around.  I don't even have to convince you to try this because the picture says everything. :)

Here's my afternoon snack...blueberry banana ice cream.  Frozen banana + frozen blueberries + milk + Magic Bullet = yumtasticness (no that's not a word, but it totally describes this concoction)

So I've been telling you all about Tom's famous Sunday night homemade pizzas and I kept forgetting to take a picture before we cut into it and started eating because it's so darn good!  Tonight Tom reminded me to take a picture as soon as it came out of the oven.  His side has pepperoni and Italian sausage.  My side has fresh pineapple.  The crust is Jiffy Pizza Crust and has no sugar :)

We found some great snacks on our grocery shopping adventure this afternoon. 

These are delish and sugar-free!

I got to eat cookies for dessert tonight!!!

On another note, I am wanting to do something different with my hair.  I'm thinking about getting a body wave.  I'm trying to grow it out and the last time I got my hair cut, my hair dresser cut REALLY short layers and I want to do something simple and easy with my hair while it grows out.  A body wave might just do the trick.  Wash, gel, scrunch, go!  Any other suggestions??

The Wonders of the Pineapple Corer Demo

 I want to share with you my favorite kitchen appliance...well besides my Magic Bullet and my orange peeler.  Well I really do love my oven too.  Okay okay it's in my top 5 favorite kitchen appliances.  Some of my friends have asked how to use it so here's the demo.

This is what the pineapple corer looks like.

Here's the demo:

Cut off the top of the pineapple with a knife. Line up the blade on the top of the pineapple and begin to twist while holding onto the rind.  Be sure to put it in a bowl.  It's gets pretty juicy.

 Once you hit the bottom of the fruit, pull up and out of the rind.  The core will be inside of the corer and the spiraled pineapple will be around the corer.

Remove the core and cut up the spiraled pieces into little slices.

Ta da!

Tom put this pineapple on my half of his homemade pizza tonight.  Yum.

Ice cream temptations, homemade pizza and shrimp scampi

Today was a good day, no it was a great day.  It started out with a foggy drive with a frozen turkey rolling around on the floorboard of my car and ended with a relaxing night at home with my hubby.  A rolling frozen turkey you ask?  Well, my mom is being a sweetie (this is nothing new...she is awesome) and fixing a family dinner that I can have to celebrate my cousin coming home to visit so I brought her the turkey we had in our freezer before work this morning.  It always makes me smile to get to talk with her.  The kiddos were really on their A game today too. 

 One of my students even brought in ice cream cups to celebrate his birthday....ooooh ice cream cups...I love those things.  They remind me of being a kid at my great-grandparent's house eating out of a tiny cup with a little wooden spoon.  Why of course I would like one!  Thank you!  ERRRRRRRRT!!!!!!  STOP!  What are you doing Laura?  That's ice cream and ice cream has sugar in it.  Sugar = migraines (possibly).  Oh man...what could a little tiny vanilla cup hurt?  You think I caved don't you?  Proud to say I didn't.  I gave it away to another teacher.  YESSSS!  Score 1 for Laura.  The day got even better with another successful dinner.  It only took about 15 minutes too! 

Here it is:

Shrimp Scampi (adapted from the Barefoot Contessa) Serves 6

8 oz. whole wheat pasta
12 oz. pre-cooked medium shrimp
1/2 stick (4 tbsp.) unsalted butter
3 tbsp. minced garlic
3 tbsp. olive oil
dash black pepper
dash salt
1/2 c. lemon juice (4 lemons squeezed)
1 tsp. parsley
1/4 tsp. red pepper flakes

Boil noodles while melting butter and olive oil over medium heat in large heavy bottomed pan.  Add garlic and saute for 1 minute.  Add the shrimp and stir often for 5 min.  Remove from heat, add parsley, lemon juice and red pepper flakes.  Toss shrimp mixture together with the pasta.  Enjoy!

Tom made pizza yesterday for lunch and here's his recipe:

Tom's Homemade Pizza (It's supposed to serve 4, but we usually eat the whole thing between the two of us because it's just that good)  ;)

1 Jiffy pizza dough mix according to directions (super cheap...less than 50 cents a box)
1/2 jar pizza sauce (check the label to make sure it's just tomatoes and spices)
1/2 bag Italian cheese
Toppings of your choice

Preheat the oven according to Jiffy box directions.  Make the pizza dough and spread on a greased pizza pan.  Add the pizza sauce onto the raw dough.  Put toppings of your choice on top of the sauce.  My half got fresh pineapple.  His half got pepperoni.  Top with cheese.  Bake according to pizza dough box directions.  Yum!!

Oh and the updated Migraine Battle is:

 Laura 8 : Migraines 1...YAY!

I also weighed myself this morning...lost 0.2 lbs in a week.  Honestly, I was really disappointed but I'm not eating this way to lose weight, but it would be a nice bonus.  I've increased my work out to 40 minutes 5-6 days a week for the past month.  Maybe I'm building muscle tone...let's think positively :)