A Lasting Impression on My Girls or My Waistline?

This is not a diet blog. But I do remember when I was a kid….

When I was a kid my parents would sometimes get on a diet kick. They were into health and fitness and would try new fad diets now and then. Like the fruit diet. Nothing but fruit before noon!

It is through my parents trying to start healthy habits that taught me to make healthy habits and I am hoping that these will be passed down to my own kids. So far it seems to be working. Somewhat. My kids will eat salads, brown and wild rice and it's really not very often that they get white bread. Although they do love it.

I have followed in my parents footsteps and have read a fad diet book or two. In fact, I tend to enjoy health books more than a good novel. And I love a good novel! But I wonder what impression this is making on my own girls. I have seen the ugly part of diet and food obsessions first hand through roommates and friends. I myself have never had a poor self image. Until now.

After each pregnancy I have worked really hard to get my body back in shape and to my post pregnancy size. I was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis (MS) long before we started having kids and I knew from the start that diet and exercise was critical to my bodies ability to fight for itself, against it's self.

Spring 2010

But after the third child, I went bonkers to get in shape for our 15th anniversary trip to the Caribbean. I wanted to be able to wear a bikini. Which I did. And I looked great (for having 3 kids).

Now, this was 2 years after I had given birth to Bear. I worked hard for 2 years to get where I was. But I can't stop hating myself now, a year and a half after having the fourth kid, for not being bikini ready. Even though I am not giving myself the same time frame as before. Nor am I working as hard… if at all! It's harder to give myself the time to workout with the number of kids around here.

This has made me worry, after all, I have never been so hard on myself. But I also worry for my girls. I remember my parent's fitness and diet efforts. They still work hard in their 70's to be in shape, fit and healthy. So how much of this self loathing are my two Tweens picking up? And what affect is it having on them? My parents weren't about the skinny. It's always about health. As it really is to me too. So why am I being so hard on myself?

Adventure Man and I have always been very careful. We love to workout but have only referred to a diet as "A Program" and it has always been for the sake of being healthy. Not to be skinny. Although that result is nice!

Now I have a new program. I have been looking into the concept that my food can affect the reaction my body has to the MS. This concept makes perfect since and I can feel the results almost immediately. But the changes this program suggests are more lifestyle changing than I have ever dealt with and that has brought on a whole new rang of emotions.

The Veggie Diet. No Gluten, no dairy, no eggs. Oh My!

This morning I was morning the loss of the egg. Something I have always had each morning. Is it really a trigger? Well, for now I am eliminating all so I can reintroduce and test. We shall see.

And right now. I'm not even hungry. So I'm going to quite complaining, and remember how blessed I am to be healthy. Even if I am still a few sizes away from my goal.

My kids don't care what I look like in my skinny jeans.

No, this is not a diet blog, or even a fitness blog. But this is something that is going on. And it's changing everything. SO I guess I can't really help it if I talk about it.

Accidental Cajun Turkey Soup

This is a follow up to yesterday's post. You know, where I burnt the turkey breast?

 So I cut off all the crispy outsides of the turkey breast and simmered these in a pot. This was the part that had all the seasoning on it, I couldn't just let it all go to waste!

The inside of the breast was still quite tinder and good so that got chopped up to add later.

 I used:
 About a cup of barley, washed, picked though and simmered in a few cups of water. Until it was big and yummy. (see! I'm so NOT a chef! I can bearly tell you what I did!)

Chop: Some carrots, a small onion, celery, some cabbage and a bell pepper.

I prepped the barley in a separate pot while the stock was simmering. This made it easier to remove and discard the outer parts of the meat. I also added about 2 or 3 cups of chicken stock to the burnt Cajun turkey. The breast was seasoned Cajun style, not that the turkey was Cajun. I just wanted to be clear! (I used homemade stock that I had in the freezer.) 

Once the broth looked ready (I'm so helpful!) I used a ladle to remove the turkey. I added the barley and veggies (but not the bell pepper or the good turkey yet) as well as a can of chopped petite tomatoes with the juices, salt & pepper to taste and let it simmer untill the veggies were just getting tender. About 10 minutes... I would guess?

Then add the meat and peppers and cook a little longer. This keeps the meat from getting chewy, which was amazing that it wasn't already! And it keeps the pepper from over cooking and turning to mush. Plus the pepper stays green. Don't over cook soup, I hate mushy vegetables!

 Now this was easy because I used breast meat that was pre seasoned. It would have been even better if the seasoned part got to stay because it would have been much more spicey!

If you are doing it from scratch you would need (I think): salt, garlic powder, paprika, ground black pepper, onion powder, cayenne pepper and red pepper flakes. Or something like that! But this is the Internet, so I'm sure you could find someone who actually knows how to cook and doesn't rely on happy accidents!

 Enjoy! We all did!

This is NOT a Cooking Blog

There are some great blogs out there with wonderful, step by step instructions to get you though even the toughest of recipes. They come with fabulous photos of mouth watering meals, that, if I could pull off, let alone tried, would send my family to dinner ecstasy and back! Two of my favorites are Our Best Bites and How Sweet It Is. Reading these blogs might make me a better cook, if I applied myself. What they really do is make me hungry!

This picture has nothing to do with the story
I just saw this in a market and had to share!
Perhaps we will try buffalo bergers
when the in-laws are here?

 I have some things I can make. Most of them are things I've been making since I was in high school. My mother was so proud that I showed such potential in the kitchen. To bad my cooking repertoire has pretty much stayed the same for 20 years!

 A few weeks ago I bought a turkey breast at Sam's Club that was preseasoned. It was actually a two pack as that's the nature of Sam's. I threw it in the freezer to pull out on a particularly uninspired day. I forgot about it until yesterday when I went out to the garage to get milk. We freeze our milk so we don't have to go into town so often. I was really digging in the freezer because I wanted to be sure this really was the last gallon. That's when I spotted the turkey. It's Cajun! I was so happy I had a plan for dinner!

 Jenny 'O was all defrosted and in the oven in time for a 6:30 dinner! I was so proud. Then Darling Adventure Man came in and informed me he was eating with the guests that night. If I had known that I would have just made roman! The kids were acting hungry and like they weren't going to make it until dinner, so that's what I did. We all had roman. It was fast and if I add green onions and chili oil, I can even stand it. I figured I would simply reheat the turkey tomorrow when we can all be there to enjoy it. (I know, what a wonderful example of health and nutrition I am!)

 Darling Adventure Man got home about 8:30 as I was wrangling up jammie clad half pints. He's better at bedtime patience then me so I was grateful it wasn't a late night for him. Not to mintion the fact that he goes in to work at 8 am, so it was only a 12 and a half hour day! It was at this moment that I walked past the kitchen and smelled a very well done Cajun. I had forgotten to take the bird out of the oven! I don't recommend making turkey jurkey out of an unsliced breast! Amazingly, even after 4 hours of roasting, the center of the gal is still good and I'm thinking a nice Cajun soup will be on the menu tonight. As long as I don't burn the water!