Saturday, February 5, 2011

The painful truth about retaining water

I am starting to believe I am not nearly has heavy as I am. I've changed my diet, eating mostly vegetarian and seafood. I have been stretching and doing core and back excercises, walking and doing Wii Fit. My silhouette is visibly different and my self esteem is improving.
The last couple of days I've had some hard arguments with my ex-husband about our daughter. Normally when this stuff happens I'm a comfort food snacker. I have been fighting it like crazy, but last night I did decide to drink a beer. OK, I had a few french fries and a Veggie Whopper too. I can just imagine how much salt I had, compared to the very fresh and saltless food I have been eating this month.

Until today I had lost enough weight to wear my wedding ring comfortably. I was able to slip it on and off without the use of water or lotion. This is HUGE. I was 5 months pregnant with my two year old when I wore it last.

Last night, I didn't think to take it off. This morning I could feel it on my finger. I was unable to remove it without running it under icy cold water, and it still hurt to pull it off. Two hours later my finger is still red and I can feel pulsing in my feet. Here's the kicker: I'm 2.9 pounds heavier than yesterday, according to the Wii.

I am positive it's the salt, which led to water retention. So today is water, water and more water day to flush the salt out, and hopefully my hard-earned weight loss will go back to where it was yesterday -- quickly

Friday, February 4, 2011

Last Sundays Dinner

Crab Quiche

Recipes is courtesy of //allrecipes.com/Recipe/Crab-Quiche-I/Detail.aspx

More to come the closer dinner time we get.



















Ok.My first ever quiche is cooking. Wish me luck???? Here are some prep pictures.






The final product. Doesn't look bad. Looking forward to Warren's review! (Warren's review can be found on the This Sunday's dinner page)

We're starting our seeds




Early this week Joey and I went to the hardware store to look at raised flower beds and kitchen composters. The flower beds were close to sold out and they tried to sell me a trash compactor. Joey and I decided to buy the last two flower beds at $5 each.

When we reached the checkout, the last minutes stacks of stuff you really don't need near the register had a seedling greenhouse complete with little dehydrated dirt pellets and a lot of seeds for the plants we actually wanted to grow -- for the low low price of $5. SOLD. Joey also bought the funniest little cactus, called a Peurvian Old Lady.

We hurried to preschool to pick up Thing 1 and 2 and came home to start seeding. Sonny and Joey were my helpers. I poured the water in half of the seedling cells and the boys took turns poking holes and planting the seeds for lettuce, cucumber, sweet bell pepper and tomatoes.

This was Tuesday. Wednesday I had a few minutes to kill before physical therapy and I picked up some eggplant and bok choy seeds. I chose to plant those without children. I was suffering back spasms and didn't want the extra work of having to monitor them. We still have mini green houses and dirt pellets from last year and more seeds to plant.

Today, Friday, the 36 tiny pots of seeds already have some sprouts. Yay! Cucumber, lettuce and bok choy are cute little plants. My boys come into the kitchen every so often to look at the plants and there are always new sprouts or mesurable growth of the exsisting ones.

There is nothing like watching seedlings grow to get you excited about spring. We are still deciding how this garden will look. The raised beds need building and I'm thinking some containers would be fun. More to come as the plan unfolds.

Monday, January 31, 2011

Part of Warren and I resolution this year is no.......



Yes we went mostly vegetarian. We eat sea food. Leaving us the need to get creative. Tonight's menu is Vegetable Hash. This will torture at least two of our kids. Oh well. They will be offered healthy meal and my hope is eventually eat it. Long ago I took a nutrition class for children, in the class I learned You provide the meal, the child decides if and how much they will eat. It usually takes 13 offers of a new food for a child to like it. Let the test begin.

Vegetable Hash
3 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons butter
8oz slided mushrooms
1 medium purple onion chopped
10 fingerling potatoes cubed
3 full size carrots peeled and sliced
1 Japanese eggplant sliced thin
3 green chopped onions

Couple dashes of onion powder, garlic salt,black pepper and sage

Combine in pot and cook over medium heat for 25 minutes. Stirring occasionally until veggies are tender.

Learning to Compost

Who'd have thunk composting would be so complicated. Like everything else there are a million ways to achieve the same results. I suppose finding what works for you is the key.

I want to use compost for our family garden, but there are several different ways to compost. From composting kitchen scraps, doing it with worms, even using pet waste. I like the idea of composting with worms, but apparently not just any old garden variety night crawler will work. Different worms like to eat different things. The red wriggler seems to be the compost worm. You'll have to keep checking back for my progress, but I'm going to start on a much easier project and build up to worms.

I'm going to start with the kitchen compost method: a composting kit with a filter and activator and a canister under the sink with a tight lid. The tight lid is important as I can't imagine rotting food under my sink smelling that great.

Some of the composting methods I have found are not allowed in all cities. According to the California state website, some cities require compost to be covered. I have also read it can take up to a year for some of the methods to produce anything worth using.

From what I gather, you can compost only what came from a plant. Colored paper, inks and bacon grease will poison your compost. Weeds are iffy; they say weeds are OK before they seed. I however am not educated in weed seeds so I'll pass. Egg shells crushed and coffee grounds are OK. Pet waste should not be added to compost for your vegetable garden.

The methods all include layers. If it's a pile in the back yard, in a bin or a tumbler, they all say to start with a layer of twigs on the bottom. After you add household waste you should add a thin layer of yard clippings. Leaves are better if dried and crushed or added as a compost tea. Moisture is important. Most of the blogs/websites I read say rain will do the trick but to not let it get soggy. Covers on piles or containers will help keep in moisture. Occasionally this will also make the compost steam. This is good. It means the compost is doing what it should.

The preferred compost methods depend on the size of garden. The kitchen canister is good for apartments and smaller gardens. The three-sided, outside compost bin or pile is better for large gardens. For a medium sized garden, a tumbler or a bin with holes should do.

Compost can be done a couple of ways. Some people will aerate it by turning it once a month or every six months. Some do the lazy method and just let it sit. Some add chicken or livestock manure. No matter how hands-on you are at stirring your compost, it will happen, and it will not smell like rot but sweet and earthy. Only one blog mentions it can take up to a year before you will get anything usable.

I am excited to try. Come back later to learn about compost tea; I am still learning about that. I hear it's great for lawns and will help your soil restore to an organic condition in about three years.

Links I read for my info:
http://www.simplegiftsfarm.com/compost.html
http://eartheasy.com/grow_compost.html
http://www.composting101.com/what-to-use.html
http://www.composting101.com/compost-bins.html
http://www.composting101.com/worm-composting.html
http://www.calrecycle.ca.gov/Organics/HomeCompost/#BinPile
http://www.ehow.com/how_3541_begin-compost-pile.html

Sunday, January 30, 2011

If your looking for something I used and it works well check out my Amazon Store

On the right of this page there is a link. If anything has peeked your interest and it's something you wanted to try it. I'm trying to post it.

http://astore.amazon.com/blefamof5-20

  • My roaster is up there along with other kitchen goodies that make my life just a little easier.

  • Books me and my children read and love. Highly recommend Raindrop and Peek a boo. A good friend of mine wrote it.

  • Toys that keep my kids attention for more than a few minutes. A must for large families or parents who want their kids to have minimal time watching TV or playing video games

  • Video Games I think are alright for my kids to play.

  • Lastly I had a lot of babies. I try to live fairly natural and these are products I've used and some I still do.

I'm will be adding things we use and like in our garden and music we like.

If you have a product your are trying to sell and have it on Amazon.com Please let me know. I'm happy to help out a small business.