Dinner

My dinner tonight was yummy. I used what I had in the fridge. I love those kinds of dinners:easy! I made a quinoa salad. I cut up avocado, red onion, tomatoes, green onion, red and orange peppers and mint. I had it in the fridge. (I love mint and is totally under used in my kitchen, so I added it for a wonderful fresh taste) Then I mixed it all together with my standard homemade salad dressing of olive oil, balsamic, lemon and black pepper. Yummy!

I also had a portobello mushroom and yesterday I made homemade pesto (thanks for the recipe, Dorothy) so I marinated the mushroom in oil and balsamic with black pepper then baked it at 425 for 10 mins then I took it out, covered it with the pesto and sprinkled a blend of asiago, parmesean and mozarella cheese and returned it to the oven for another 10 mins. I also sauteed fresh asperagus, my kids even ate that, it was so good.

For dessert I had fresh berries: blackberries, blueberries and raspberries which I topped with almonds. A really great, healthy, satisfying dinner. Eat well.

So I am off sugar again! I am really going to make it stick this time. I feel so much better when I eat this way. I just cannot let the sugar addiction get to me. I have been doing a ton of reading lately about sugar and how it affects the body. I am amazed that the human body is addicted to sugar. We crave it and shortly after we eat it, we get a low and crave it all over again. It is as bad as any drug including nicotine. It has been 5 days now since I have had any sugar and already my stomach feel thinner. Exercising is definetly helping too! I am incorporating vegan meals from my favorite vegan Alicia Silverstone. Most of them I made when I was eating vegan and really they are not that hard to make. I just want my kids to eat more of them so I do not have to keep making 2 dinners. Right now I am super motivated so I do not mind making two meals but shortly I am sure it will annoy me so when that happens I do not want to slip and eat sugar. So I have to get my boys on board! I put some collard greens and char on their plates under a honey mustard chicken breast. They ate the chicken but not the greens! That did not surprise me.

I went to the grocery store yesterday and saw some great foods with no sugar in them and was amazed at foods that claim to be sugar free but really do have a ton of sugar. (i.e. sugar free jam) The good foods were the almond butter, the pastas with whole grain or brown rice flour. But I am not buying that stuff yet. Right now I am not eating any bread because I am also not eating any white flour or whole wheat flour which are equally bad for my blood sugar level. But when I will start eating bread again, it unfortunately will not be the French Bread variety but more like the brown rice flour version which I admit is not as appetizing but much better for me.

The other thing I am doing differently this time is that I am eating cheese. I am not eating tons of brie but giving up cheese and bread is too hard for me so I am eating some cheeses. It makes eating the quinoa flour pasta more appetizing!

Well I am off to yoga! If someone had told me 20 years agao that I would be eating veganish (the ish) because I am eating cheese and meats occaisionally and doing yoga I would have laughed in their face. I was very anti both! Just goes to show you (in this case show me) never judge and never say never and do not knock it until you try it. I wish I had been eating like this for the past 20 years!

Blessings and keep eating yummy foods!
Carolyn