Come on....who knew cooking would be so fun!!!

I think I have seriously cooked more, created more, thought more about, experimented more this past month than I have in a long long time....and I'm having a BLAST!

Seriously. Who would of thunk it??? You would think that by eliminating a WHOLE bunch from my diet that would leave me without. Quite the contrary!!! It has actually opened up a whole new world of foods, dishes, spices and experiences. I'm soooo enjoying this.

For lunch today I put together a salad version of last nights dinner!

Romaine lettuce, shredded carrots, spirooli'd zucchini, sliced yellow pepper, threw in some corn, chopped peanuts, remaining Orange Sesame Tofu and Peanut Sauce for dressing!!!

Again. HeavenLY.

Then I got the hankering for something sweet.

I remembered Katie from Chocolate Covered Katie had posted a recipe for RAW chocolate fudge babies. Using only 5 ingredients, these were super easy to make and SUPER DUPER out of this world delicious. Do you think it's still "good for you" when you inhale 5 of them and look longingly at them wanting to eat the rest?????

Here are the ingredients:

1 cup of raw walnuts (I only had like 1/4 of a cup left so I also used 3/4 of a cup of raw pecans)

1 1/3 cup of pitted dates

1 tsp. of vanilla

3-4 T of cocoa

Blended all together and then pressed into ball shapes.

Thai Lettuce Wraps....oh my goodness!!!

Last night I had a DELICIOUS dinner!!! Oh my goodness! I made Thai Lettuce Wraps using Romaine Lettuce I had on hand (Bibb would have been much easier to work with), shredded some carrots, spirooli'd some zucchini and sliced some yellow pepper. I had some left over Orange Sesame Tofu from Eat, Drink and Be Vegan (which if you don't own....run out NOW and get a copy...it's THAT good!)

The tofu was incredible on this dish. LOVED LOVED LOVED it! My husband, he wouldn't come close to the tofu, but ate everything else :) He said that he's willing to eat whatever I serve him with the exception of tofu. Fine. Be the way. More for me! ;)

I had purchased a while back a bottle of peanut sauce from Whole Foods, but it sat on my shelf...until last night! I poured each of us some in a bowl and added some chopped peanuts. Seriously. This is my new favorite dish. I think I'll be eating these quite often now.

More food musings...

So this past weekend I went away on an overnight girls weekend. One of our meals was at the California Pizza Kitchen. I chose the Greek Pizza, minus the mozzarella and the feta cheese. I was wondering how it would taste without that stuff...let me tell you...it ROCKED! But honestly I would have liked it even better if they had doubled the amount of veggies that came on top. I gobbled the whole thing down.

So last night, along with my attempt at this pitiful excuse of Split Pea soup, I tried to recreate the Greek pizza at home. I started with a whole wheat crust, put some olive oil and sprinkled sea salt on the bottom (my mistake here is that I used WAYYYY too much sea salt and it was practically overpowering everything else on the pizza making it not too palatable...hence...in the future, go easy on the sea salt). I chopped up some tomatoes, cucumbers, onions and greek olives. Mixed them together, along with a tad bit of the olive juice and put that on the top of the pizza after it had gotten out of the oven.

I'll definitely re-create this again, sans the salt!!

I workout every morning at 24 hr. fitness. My alarm goes off at 4:45am and I'm out the door by 5am. I typically have never been a "eat before I workout" kinda gal. Several people at the gym had admonished me for this...should I be eating something? Am I wrecking havoc on my body for not?? I don't feel faint or weird. What do you do? Do you eat something pre-workout wise??

When I come home though...I'm definitely hungry! I like to eat something that will stick to my ribs for a while and help me to feel satisfied for quite a while. I've started eating this oatmeal mixture...and it is mmm, mmm, good!
Heaping of oatmeal (LOVE that I no longer measure out how much I'm eating!!)

1/3rd of a granny smith apple, diced

sprinkle of cinnamon, to taste

1 1/2 dates chopped

sprinkle of pure dark amber maple syrup

1 T grated flaxseed

Put everything in a bowl. Heat water up and then pour over the top...don't want too much or too little. Stir and then put a cover over it to allow the oats to "cook". I like it this way sooooo much better than microwaving the tar out of it and ending up with oatmeal mush!

Typical lunch....

I typically am usually in the mood for a salad for lunch! I will change it up here and there, but for the most part this is a very typical salad for me. I did forget to put the corn and the red pepper in it that was sitting in my sink after I cleaned them...oops! It was a rocking salad nonetheless!* Romaine

* Spinach

* Cucumbers

* Avocado

* Tomatoes

* Carrots

* VeggieFarms Chik'N pattie....sooooo good! (this is a special treat when I put one of these in the salad. Even though it is pretty low on sodium for something processed, it still majorly effects me and my hands will swell up a bit with sodium retention whenever I eat one of these patties)

* Organic Oatbran nuggets

* Annie's Organic BBQ Sauce

* Supremely Spicey Sabra Hummus

Healthy Trail Mix

One of the snacks I sometimes snack on, especially if I know I'm going to be in the car for an extended time, or maybe out to the movies with the family, is this homemade granola concoction I came up with!

I open up a bag and grab a heaping handful of this Kashi Go Lean cereal. It is PACKED with protein and fiber!!!

Then I grab another heaping helping of this LIVE RAW granola I got at Wholefoods (or you can order off the internet.) It is completely ALIVE with sprouted Organic Buckwheat Groats, Organic Oats, sprouted flax seed and Organic Raisins!
Then...to make it extra yummy. I add a scoop of Organic Chocolate chips and a scoop of organic dried cranberries!

This is seriously so good, so good for you and not only hits the spot and keeps me WAY satisfied until my next meal but tastes just dang GOOD!

Okay...where do I begin??

Over the course of the last year I feel like I have yo-yo'd and tried everything to lose weight. I've always desired to not only lose weight but to start feeling "normal" towards food. I feel like I've suffered from disordered eating for way too many years. Instead of eating to live (while enjoying it too) food would take on this whole new life of itself. I would "do good" for a while, counting every calorie, or watching my "points", restricting my calories too much or staying away from carbs...you get the point. During this time, sure I may have lost a few pounds here or there, but sure enough they would always come back on whenever I had enough of whatever it was I was doing. It still controlled me.

Even when I was doing the raw diet. It was too restrictive for me as well. I can't do High raw. It doesn't provide enough variety in my foods. I'm sure if I had all the kitchen gadgets AND time that is needed to make a wide variety of satisfying raw meals it would be easier, but lets face it...who does?

So what am I up to now??? About 4 weeks ago I decided enough was enough and I was ready to get this fluff off my body before I outgrew anymore pants! :) I read Alicia Silverstone's new cookbook "The Kind Diet" and really liked what I was reading. I started to incorporate a lot of what I was doing when I was doing High Raw back in my diet, however, I also started to way up my intake of sweet potatoes, oats, and brown rice.

What happened to me last time, happened again...that is when I'm seriously increasing my greens consumption, my sweet tooth disappears, as well as my desire for chicken, fish and meat. Since I wasn't eating those types of proteins I also decided that I would give up other animal by-products (ie. dairy, cheese, eggs). Went back to Almond Milk, got Earthly balance "butter" and use flax/water combo to substitute for eggs when baking.

Let me tell you...this has been the easiest transition. I am no longer counting calories, no longer tracking points, no longer depriving myself of foods I enjoy eating, no starving then bingeing. My body is naturally CRAVING crazy amounts of vegetables, and when I eat fruits the sweetness of those taste out of this world. Everything is intensified.

I've made some AWESOME vegan desserts, that many of my family and friends have LOVED!

The weight seems to be coming right off of me. I've lost 8.5 lbs. in the past 4 weeks.

The most important change in all of it??? How I FEEL! I feel like I'm on top of the world. I don't ever want this feeling to go away!

Later I'll post more about some of the delicious food that I've been eating. It's been a GREAT four weeks of discovering some awesome recipes with incredible food!

Dusting off the cobwebs!!

I know I haven't been here in forever...but I"M BACK!

I'll post more later, but this has been an interesting month and I'm so excited to share more about it! I feel so alive, the pounds are melting off me and I'm so enjoying LOTS and LOTS of really yummy foods!

More later...