Long Time No See

Hello, hello, hello blog friends! Long time no see! I have only one word as to why I haven't blogged since September27th...Life! Funny how that happens right! I miss it dearly though!

Today's post is short and sweet, I want to tell you about the new kid in town. The new restaurant in Greenwood that is...Jockamo's


This place was fabulous! Awesome for vegetarians and non-veggies! They have goat cheese pizza, eggplant pizza, pizza with hummus, Greek Pizza, Slaughterhouse(their name, not mine) meat lovers pizza, and everything in between! I had the Greek salad, which was amazing! The atmosphere was great and it's right across from the library which makes for a lovely afternoon with the family!

It's good to be back!

Peace, love, and pizza!

~A

Pumpkin Mumpkin

Today, I am home with this Pumpkin Mumpkin!
Not feeling well!

She is a breakfast girl, so I tried some oatmeal, a peach, and water, all atop of her Dora tray for some breakfast on the couch! Let's see if this perks her up?

Just as I suspected!

She picked out these ginormous organic peaches at The Fresh Market. I was cracking up watching her eat it. Peaches as big as your head!

Mom, I don't feel well! Please no pictures. I want to eat in peace!

We are heading off to the Dr. here in a few. She has been complaining of her ears hurting! Poor baby!

Here are some pictures from my week long hiatus from the blog. Although I didn't have a lot of time to blog, I was still clicking away to capture some photos for you guys. Here we go!

Green Juice and lesson plans!

Notice I am reading Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. No worries here, I have lots of these babies stored away for when I get the urge!

"Texas Roadhouse" sweet butter for Sophia, using these ingredients!

Steamed veggies, marinara and goat cheese, raw sweet potatoes with Dijon mustard and Stevia for me!

Pumpkin pie in a jar, on the drive home.

A trip to The Fresh Market (those are my beet greens hanging out)

Exciting finds @ the market...
Yogurt for Sophia, Hint water and goat butter for me!

Annie's salad dressing, Dijon mustard, and carrots.

And speaking of Pumpkin Mumpkins, check out our fireplace mantel!
Fall is here! So exciting!

Peace, love, and pumpkins!
~A

Bye Bye Diet Head

Hello Beautiful Blog Buds! Wowee, sorry for the delay in posts! It's been a week or so. The new comments didn't work, I got all excited and then let down. I wanted to make it easier for you all to leave comments. I am still working on it though! I'm not going down like that!

So last Saturday was really cool because I got to talk on the phone with my new friend Marlena Torres who is a certified clinical nutritionist and is working with me on an individualized nutritional regimen.



Everything that Marlena emphasizes are things that I truly believe in and have been dabbling in myself.

Such as:
green juice
mostly raw
organic and natural living
cleansing
and quick exit foods

She also has a blog and a new ebook that you should check out!

I am so excited to be working with her and to have her support as I dive deeper into this lifestyle. When we spoke she talked about getting out of that diet head mentality where you are constantly either on or off a diet. This is so me!

She was explaining how diet head= deprivation and all or nothing. Instead we need be thinking, this is my lifestyle and the foods that best serve me! I LOVE that and have had to already remind myself of that a few times this week.

I am really pumped to try out some new recipes this week and to really start feeling great!

Weight is not something that I usually talk about on this blog, but it is no secret that it something that I struggle with. I had a whopping 60 pound weight gain with my daughter and have not been able to find my pre-prgnancy weight since (and trust me, I've looked EVERYWHERE for it) I've decided after talking with Marlena and after years of falling victim to the scale, that I am saying goodbye to it! I am done letting that little glass square tell me what kind of mood I am going to be in today. I am at the point in my life where even though how I feel about myself is HUGELY important, the number is NOT! I know that by following the principles that I stated above that the weight will come off but more importantly I will become healthier, happier, and a great role model for my daughter and Iszler baby #2 (someday)

So here's to falling in love with this journey! I hope you'll continue along with me and fall in love with your own journey as well!

B-well,

~A

New comments

Let's see if this works? I think I added a new commenting feature to make it easier for everyone to leave comments. Let's try it out...

Leave me a comment and tell me one thing you ate today.

~A

Fueled on Juice Today

Today was all about business! Grades are due! Always a busy time. Can you believe it is already midterm for my kiddos?

Since I had a juicing fest yesterday, I was stocked for a juicy day! Here are today's eats (mostly drinks):

• I started the day with 3 huge grapefruits, juiced to perfection! This is by far my FAVORITE morning drink. I Love it on ice!
• Throughout the afternoon I sipped on 2 green juices and water.
• As soon as my kiddos left school I drank some pumpkin pie in bowl drink. This stuff is delicious! I knew it was in my lunch bag and I looked forward to it all day!
• Then it was time for dinner. here's what I did:

I started with a nice sized salad with spinach, tomatoes, cucumbers, and sprouts.

For my dressing, I made this dressing from Angela@ohsheglows.com
it is a balsamic dressing. The only change I made from hers was that I omitted the maple syrup and added NuNaturals liquid Stevia instead.

I made whole wheat angel pasta and steamed veggies for Matt and Sophia

Of course I used Mr. Newman for the sauce (actually this kind was not my fave) Wasn't he such a handsome man? My family is huge racing fans, so we miss Mr. Newman.

Rather than pasta, I just had the steamed veggies with the pasta sauce over them. I have been doing this a lot when I make pasta for the fam. It is a much better choice for me, but since I get the sauce I don't miss the pasta at all. Truthfully, I am not a huge pasta fan. I'm a sucker for Mexican food though!!

And of course the man of the house and I had to polish this off! Oh, how I do enjoy a glass or 2 of wine at the end of a hectic day!

Hope everyone had a fantastic day!

Be well,
~A

Juicing Jubilee

Yeah, we are over the Monday hurdle! I REALLY am not a big fan of Mondays. I hope yours was good though. I wanted to show you some recent finds at the store and do some explaining on my recent eats.

On Sunday, I went here and got:

This for me. I saw Jenni McCarthy talk about these in Shape Magazine. They are pretty high in calories but good for a treat.

This for Sophia. I am trying to gradually get her off of dairy because it is so mucus forming and she has asthma. This is a coconut Keefer. She wasn't impressed. I think it is wonderful!

This for Sophia. She won't eat regular peanut butter, but loves chocolate peanut butter on strawberries! It is a great healthy snack for her!  This stuff is kickin'

Then I stopped here:

And got this: Vegetarian nachos- Yikes! I felt so gross after eating this. WAY too heavy. I prefer Qudoba!

Tonight was a grocery night for me so we had this. This is my favorite pizza, I've talked about it several times on here, but here is a picture of the box for you visual learners!

Afterwards Sophia had a healthier version of a fruit roll up.

These are called FruitaBu's and they are 100% real fruit with no added sugar. Here is the box.

The rest of the evening was pretty much a juicing jubilee for me! I have been eating a lot of packaged foods the last couple weeks and boy can I feel it. I feel sluggish, grumpy, and bloated. It is amazing how much lighter and happier I feel when I am juicing. It has been a good lesson for me taking a few weeks to eat less than ideal food because I realized just how good the juice makes me feel, and how bad the packaged stuff makes me feel.

Cut

Wash

Partaay! They are like my little cheerleader pyramid! G-O Let's go Green juice, G-O Let's go!

Ok, sorry!

Carrot juice for pumpkin pie in a bowl.

Sophia drinking the pumpkin pie drink! She loves this stuff! Never mind the bad picture and the dirt all over her face! Point is even three year olds like veggie juice!

What I am realizing right now in my diet is that I am feeling the best when I am eating mostly raw, mostly vegan. Notice I am NOT saying all raw and all vegan because I do still liked to eat cooked things at dinner and I am really enjoying goat cheese and salmon (sometimes) salmon grosses me out sometimes too. I am still learning what works for me. This is still all part of my journey.

I have some exciting stuff coming up next week! Will share soon.

~A

Comfort Food

Hello blog buds! Today was a day full of comfort food and laziness!

I started the morning with a bowl of VOO (vegan overnight oats) except they weren't over night, I made it all this morning.

These oats were:
1/3 c. oats
3/4 c. almond milk
1 scoop chia seeds
1/2 scoop of Sunwarrior protein powder (best protein powder I've ever had)

All of those ingredients were mixed into a bowl and put in the fridge to soak for a little over an hour. (usually you would do this part the night before)

Then you make the delicious ice cream banana soft serve:

Mix a frozen banana and a little almond milk (or milk of choice) in the blender. This morning I drizzled maple syrup over the top!

SO GOOD!

SO GONE!

Sophia wanted her own ice cream banana soft serve for breakfast. I'll just let her think she is having ice cream for breakfast.This makes me a really cool mom! This is a great dairy free ice cream alternative for kids or grown ups!

We had a nice relaxing day that included naps for everyone!  Before I knew it,  it was on to dinner. I drank this while fixing dinner, it is sweetened with Stevia. It was just ok, nothing earth shattering.

WARNING- You will not see any veggies in this dinner. I know shame, shame!
It was NOT an alkaline dinner tonight. It was all about comfort food! Mama needed comfort, and to use up some things from the freezer! We had 2 kinds of pasta:
Mushroom Ravioli from a Local Farm and family business

Mushroom Goodness!

And Sophia's favorite, whole wheat Rotini

Smothered with this: ( I love Paul Newman brand anything, it's usually all natural or organic and all proceeds from all his products go to his charity for kids)

Rolls on the side with Earth Balance Butter (vegan) Can you say carb overload!

Meat for the man!

And the final product:
His

Hers

And Little Hers

She takes her pasta eating serious!

Forget the fork!

Cleaned the plate of pasta! (fake smile)

 Then this arrived at our door, so we are back on track with our fruits and veggies tomorrow! Thank goodness!

And I can't wait to juice this baby with a little ginger in the morning!

Now, we are going to be lazy some more, this time with bellies full of pasta! It's been a week!

~A