I am weighing in at 255.7 today. Not bad at all considering I ate lunch out a lot this week, as well as not really having a menu plan this week.

My goal for this week is to not drink any soda, I am going to work on drinking only water or crystal light.

Have a good week.

I will be adding to this throughout the week so stay tuned.

Which brings me to GAG Today was our first weigh in. I was very good all week except yesterday, when I was mostly good. I changed a few scheduling things around the house for this challenge. I have found that both the kids and I do better if we eat our main meal in the middle of the day rather than at the end of the day. So I will be cooking what I would normally cook for dinner for lunch. My metabolism seems to do better when I eat my largest calorie meal in the middle of the day instead of in the beginning or at the end of the day. I am not sure why this is, but I decide to just go with it instead of fighting it. The only downside it that when my husband is working he ends up with a reheated meal at the end of the day instead of a fresh one. I have not figured out how to overcome that obstacle yet, but I am working on it. I also started using the Slim quick cleanse this week, as a jump start. Specifically to help jump start my metabolism, since it is horrible. Before I started this challenge last week, I had been working my but off, exercising, eating right, everything, and I only gained weight. I was getting very frustrated. So those were the two big things I did this week. The Slim quick, and changing the times that I eat my big meal.

And guess what, it seems to have worked. I weighed in this morning at 261.0. That is 11 lbs. that I lost. I was actually worried about losing that much (I still am) for several reasons. That is a lot of weight to lose so quickly, I worry that it isn’t healthy, and that I am doing something wrong. I am also worried that people are going to think I am cheating, but I promise I am not. I actually weighed myself several times this morning so see if the scale was wrong. I just keep telling myself that it can’t be right. My wonderful husband keeps reminding me that I probably lost a lot of water weight and that the next few weeks, I probably won’t lose anything. He is right I am sure.

Our point challenge this week is going to be a difficult one for me.

For every 8 oz of water you drink, you will give yourself 10 points.
For every 15 minutes of activity (NO house cleaning and “normal” activities should be counted here) outside of your normal routine give yourself 10 points.
For every day that you track your foods whether it be on your blog via in text or photos, give yourself 20 points.
For every evening you sleep for a minimum of 8 hours, give yourself 20 points!

I am horrible at keeping track of what I eat and drink. I just get busy doing whatever I am doing that day and forget to write things down and by the time I remember I have forgotten what it was I ate or drank that day. As for additional activity, I am going to try to get up in the mornings and walk again, but I get very grumpy when I don’t get enough sleep, so early morning is hard. The sleeping part is the easy part, like I said, I get grumpy if I don’t get enough sleep so I have always gone to bed early and tried to get in at least 8 hours of sleep a night.

On a side note, I have fallen in love with strawberries all over again. I love that they are so low in calories, (I forget who, but somebody once told me that it takes more calories to digest a strawberry than you get from eating the strawberry). They have become my new snack food. Plus they are sweet, so they help with my horrible sweet tooth at the end of the day.

Well I think I got in everything I wanted to say.

Have a great day.

Heather

After I posted my menu plan on Monday it occurred to me that because I used the links this week instead of adding my recipes I didn’t show my substitutions for our diet. I will probably be using the links more often, especially for breakfast so I thought I would write up a post about how I make our diet dairy and soy free.

When I first started cooking this way I looked high and low for easy  recipes that my kids could and would eat. I had a very hard time. Typically when you cook without dairy you use soy as a substitute, mostly in the form of margarine, oils, etc…  When you are cooking without soy you use dairy as a substitute. So where did that leave me. My biggest difficulty was fats. I needed to use something but I found it difficult to substitute a liquid fat for a solid fat. I just didn’t like the way it was turning out. Then I found out a few things.

1. You can use bananas or applesauce measure for measure in place of a solid fat like butter or margarine.
2. Clarified Butter  or Ghee has no Casein (milk solids, what my kids can’t have) and can be used measure for measure in place of butter or margarine.
3. Rice milk can replace milk measure for measure
4. Many items packaged as “Heart Healthy” use canola or olive oil instead of vegetable oil.

These 4 things completely changed the way I cooked. Now for things like muffins and cakes and batter breads, I use a traditional recipe and just substitute unsweetened applesauce in place of the butter or margarine. When I make icing I use the clarified butter. It has made it so much easier to find recipes that the kids will eat without having to go out and buy hard to find and expensive ingredients.

For the few prepackaged items that I buy, things like spaghetti sauce, pancake mix, etc.., when it is packaged as “Heart Healthy” they typically use canola oil instead of vegetable. Vegetable oil almost always contains soybean oil.

There are still a few things that substitutions don’t work for. I have found that bread is one of those things that I needed to find a dairy and soy free recipe for. No matter how many recipes I tried, both with and without the bread machine using substitutions just didn’t work. The recipe that I finally settled on works great and doesn’t use a solid fat, so I can easily substitute canola oil for the vegetable oil that the recipe calls for.

There are also times that I can add something later after dishing up my kids plates. This usually is the case with cheese. When I make eggs for the whole family my husband and I like to have some cheddar cheese on our eggs, but I can’t put it on the kids eggs. In that case I make the eggs first and then after I dish up the kids food I sprinkle on the cheese and let it melt for my husband and I.

That is how I keep our diet dairy and soy free. Any time I post a link that uses dairy or soy in the recipe, now you know how I am able to use that recipe.

So I am trying something new this week. I made up a week long calendar for all our meals this week. I am still working off of the 12 week plan for breakfast and Lunch, I just put it all on a calendar that is on our fridge. I did this mostly so that I can see at a glance what I am making that day, in order to prepare through out the day. If I see in the morning that I am making hamburgers that night, I know I need to start the rolls in the bread machine in the morning. That type of thing. I haven’t figured out how to get my calendar on here yet. Maybe next week. I am still putting our breakfast and dinner plans down.

As usual if you want any of the recipes, just ask.

Week 3: Breakfast Meal Plan
Meal 1:  Banana Crumb Muffins
Meal 2:  Alphabet Pancakes
Meal 3: Waffles
Meal 4:  Biscuit Breakfast Sandwiches
Meal 5:  Hash Brown Sandwich
Meal 6: Cereal with Fresh Fruit

Week3: Dinner Meal Plan
Day 1: Blt’s, Curly Fries, Apple Slices
Day 2: Sliced Ham, Sweet Potatoes, Corn
Day 3: Hot Ham and Cheese Sandwiches, Chips
Day 4: Grilled Pork Tenderloin, Long Grain and Wild Rice,  Grilled Veggies
Day 5: Chili, Cornbread

Have a great week.

Wow, it is another week. And it is almost April. March flew by for our family. We are enjoying the warmer weather and are out and about more. This week is week 2 in our 12 week plan. A lot of the recipes that I have this week are from various places on the Internet. I am enjoying finding new things for breakfast. For the most part the kids are enjoying the new breakfasts as well. Although I haven’t been able to convince them that oatmeal is good yet. I figure it is a work in progress. I also use the same rules at breakfast that we have at dinner. I cook one meal and if you don’t want to eat it, that is fine, but I am not making anything else until the next meal. One of these days, we will be out of the picky toddler and preschooler age, and they will eventually be good eaters.

I have also switced to an all organic diet. We did this to help with some of Alex’s hyperactivity and innatention behaviors, and I have to say, he has made a complete turn around. He is a different child. We are still dairy and soy free, as well as no raw bananas.

As usual if I didn’t add a recipe that you would like, just leave me a comment and I will get it to you.

Week 2: Breakfast Meal Plan

Meal 1: Amish Baked Oatmeal

1/3-cup butter
2 large eggs
3/4-cup brown sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
1-teaspoon nutmeg or cinnamon
1/4-teaspoon salt
1-cup rice milk
2 tablespoons rice milk
3 cups oatmeal (regular or quick)

Melt butter. Grease 1 1/2 quart baking dish and drop in eggs and beat well.
Add brown sugar, baking powder, vanilla, nutmeg or cinnamon, and salt. Mix well, no lumps. Whisk in ghee and both measures of rice milk, and then add oats. Stir well, and refrigerate overnight. Bake, uncovered, at 350 for 35-45 min, or until set in the middle. Serve hot with warm rice milk poured over.

Meal 2: Breakfast in a Mug

1-tablespoon ghee
1-tablespoon rice milk or water
1-2 eggs
1 dash pepper
1 dash salt
1 slice bacon, cooked (optional)
Shredded cheese (optional)

Place ghee in 12 oz. microwave safe mug or small bowl. Microwave on High 30-45 seconds, or until melted. Add egg (s), rice milk, salt and pepper. Stir or whip with a fork.
Microwave one egg on High 35 to 45 seconds; two eggs 1 1/4 to 1 3/4 minutes, or until eggs begin to set, stirring with fork to break apart after half of the time. Remove eggs when they are still soft and moist. (You may have to play with the time depending on your microwave) Let stand about 2 minutes. While eggs are standing crumble bacon and add to eggs. Eggs will firm up while standing. If desired sprinkle with shredded cheese during standing time.

Meal 3: Apple French Toast Casserole

Apple French Toast Casserole
4 tablespoons butter
3 large apples, peeled and sliced thinly (I use Cortland or Empire)
3/4 cup brown sugar, packed
2 tablespoons water
1-teaspoon cinnamon
8 slices Italian bread, 1 inch thick
4 large eggs
1 1/4 cups rice milk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Melt the ghee in a large skillet and add apples. Cook and stir for 5 minutes. Add brown sugar, water, and cinnamon and continue to cook and stir for 10 minutes until apples are tender. Spoon mixture into 13×9 baking dish. Cover apples with bread slices, making sure to cover the entire surface. Trim the bread to fit if you must. Beat eggs until foamy, then beat in rice milk and vanilla. Pour egg mixture over the bread slices. Cover the dish with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight. In the morning, remove the dish from the refrigerator and let it stand while oven is preheated to 375 F. Bake uncovered for 35 minutes, or until bread is golden and firm. Let sit 10 minutes before serving. To serve on a platter, run a knife around the edges of the casserole, place platter on top of casserole, and carefully flip. To serve individually, use a spatula to remove serving, place serving plate on top of serving and carefully flip so apple side is up.

Meal 4: Everything Breakfast Bar

4 cups oatmeal
1-tablespoon baking powder
1-teaspoon salt
1-tablespoon cinnamon
2 eggs, beaten
1-cup pumpkin
1-cup rice milk
1-tablespoon maple syrup
1 cup Splenda sugar substitute
1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
1-tablespoon vanilla
1-cup raisins

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. In large bowl combine oatmeal, baking powder, salt and cinnamon. Mix in remaining ingredients. Spread in greased 9×13 pan. Bake for 40 minute.

Meal 5: Smoothies
Meal 6: Cereal with Fresh Fruit

Week 2:  Dinner Meal Plan

Day 1: Corn Chowder, Poppy seed Muffins

Corn Chowder
1 10oz package frozen sweet corn
1 potato, peeled and cubed
½ cup diced onion
½ cup water
2 tsp. chicken bouillon granules
Dash salt and pepper
1 ¾ cup rice milk
1 Tbsp. Margarine
2 Tbsp. flour

In a saucepan, combine the corn, potato, onion, water, bouillon and salt and pepper. Cook over medium heat for 15 minutes, until the potato is tender. Stir in 1 ½ cups milk with margarine. Mix the remaining ¼ cup milk with the flour and add to the chowder. Cook and stir until thickened.

Variation: Toss in some diced, cooked chicken or ham during the last few minutes of cooking.

(Serves 4)

Poppy seed Muffins
2 cups flour
¾ cup sugar
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
½ tsp. salt
2 Tbsp. poppy seed
2 Eggs
1-cup rice milk with 1 Tbsp. lemon juice
½ cup margarine softened
1 or 2 Tbsp. lemon juice

Combine all ingredients. Spoon the batter into a greased 12-muffin tin. Bake at 400 for 15 to 20 minutes.

(Serves 6-8)

Day 2: BBQ Chicken, Baked Rice Pilaf, Green Beans

BBQ Chicken
1 lb. Chicken Breasts
1 or 2 cups BBQ Sauce

Marinate Chicken in BBQ Sauce for at least 1 hour. Grill chicken until done, basting with additional BBQ Sauce as needed.

Green Beans
1 bag fresh or frozen green beans

Steam Green beans for about 5-10 minutes or until they are tender.

Baked Rice Pilaf
1 ¾ cup water
2 carrots, peeled and shredded
¾ cup white rice
3 Tbsp. parsley
2 Tbsp. margarine
2 Tbsp. chopped onion
1 Celery Stalk, diced
1 Tbsp. chicken bouillon granules

Melt the butter in a saucepan, and briefly sauté the diced onion and celery in it. Then combine sautéed mixture with all other ingredients in a 2-quart baking dish. Cover and bake at 375 for 45 minutes, stirring halfway through cooking time.

(Serves 6)

Day 3: Spaghetti with Meat Sauce, Garden Salad, French bread
Day 4: Chicken Quesadillas, Spanish rice
Day 5: Hamburgers, Baked Beans, Chips

Have a great week.

I found a great group of bloggers who all post their menu for the week. Since I am trying to be better about not only menu planning but actually cooking what I planned for the week, for that matter cooking at all during the week, I thought I would give it a try. So every Monday I am going to be posting our menu for the week.

So welcome to my world of learning to cook Casein and Soy free. If you didn’t already know both the kids are Casein and Soy intolerant. Which has posed quite a dilemma for me with dinner. I found that when I meal plan and stick to it the task is not quite so overwhelming.

This week we are having,

Day 1: BLT, Curly Fries, Apple Slices

BLT’s
1 package bacon
Lettuce leaves, torn
2 Tomatoes, sliced
8 Hamburger Buns (or 16 slices of toast)

Cook the bacon slices according to package directions. Assemble the other ingredients. Make the sandwiches yourself, or serve ingredients separately so that everyone cam make their own sandwich.

(Serves 4-6 )

Curly Fries
4 Medium Potatoes
1/8 cup canola oil
1 tsp garlic powder
½ tsp. onion salt

Peel, core, and slice the potatoes to make long spirals. (Slice the cores and use them too.) Place the  potatoes in a large shallow baking pan. Combine the oil, garlic powder and onion salt and drizzle over the potatoes. Then bake at 400 for 45 minutes, stirring occasionally.

(serves 4 )

Apple Slices
3 or 4 apples, washed, cored, and sliced.

Serve sliced apples on a plate  so that everyone can help themselves.

Hamburger Buns
1-cup warm water
1 package active dry yeast
1 Tbsp. sugar
¾ tsp. salt
2 Tbsp. canola oil
About 2 ½ cups flour

Pour the warm water into a warmed mixing bowl, sprinkle the yeast over the water, and then sprinkle the sugar and salt over the yeast. Let set a minute or two to proof the yeast. Add the oil, and stir in as much of the flour as you easily can, about 2 cups.  Work in enough of the rest of the flour to give you dough that is easy to handle, turn it out onto a floured counter top and knead until the dough is smooth and elastic, about 5 minutes. Round the dough up into a ball, cover it with the upturned mixing bowl, and let set in a warm place to rise until double in bulk, about 45 minutes. Divide the dough into 8 equal parts and form each part into a ball. Set the balls of dough slightly apart on a greased baking sheet and let rise until doubled in bulk, again about 45 minutes. Bake in a preheated 350-degree oven for about 20 minutes, until done.

(Makes 8 Hamburger Buns)

Day 2: Sliced Ham, Sweet Potatoes, Corn

Sliced Ham
One precooked ham, 3 lbs.
1 tsp. dry mustard
1/3 cup brown sugar
½ tsp. ground cloves
½ cup coke

Combine the dry mustard, brown sugar, and ground cloves in a small bowl. Add 1 Tbsp. of the coke to moisten the dry ingredients. Rub the entire Ham with the mixture, then place the ham in a crock pot, and add the rest of the coke. Cover and cook on low for 6-10 hours, or on high for 2-3 hours .Slice before serving.

(Serves 10 )

cube any leftover ham and freeze in zippered bags, 1 cup cubed ham per bag, for future recipes.

Sweet Potatoes
3 yams, peeled and cubed
2 Tbsp. margarine
2 Tbsp. orange juice
2 Tbsp. brown sugar
½ cup marshmallows

Bake yams in a covered 2-quart casserole dish at 350 for 45 minutes. Drain off about ½ of the cooking liquids, then add remaining ingredients, layering the marshmallows on top. Bake an additional 10 minutes at 350

(Serves 6 )

Corn
1 10 oz. bag frozen corn or 4-5 ears fresh corn

Steam frozen corn in a stove top steamer for approximately 10 minutes.
Boil Fresh corn for approximately 10 minutes.

Day 3: Hot Ham and Cheese Sandwiches, Chips

Hot Ham and Cheese Sandwiches
1 lb. deli ham, sliced thin
4-8 slices cheddar cheese
4 hamburger buns

Layer each sandwich with several slices of deli ham and one or two slices of cheese. Arrange the four sandwiches on a plate, and cover with a kitchen towel, and microwave on high for about 90 Seconds, or until heated through.

(Serves 4 )

Chips
1 bag favorite chips

Open bag and pour into a serving bowl. Place on table for everyone to help themselves.

Hamburger Buns
1-cup warm water
1 package active dry yeast
1 Tbsp. sugar
¾ tsp. salt
2 Tbsp. canola oil
About 2 ½ cups flour

Pour the warm water into a warmed mixing bowl, sprinkle the yeast over the water, and then sprinkle the sugar and salt over the yeast. Let set a minute or two to proof the yeast. Add the oil, and stir in as much of the flour as you easily can, about 2 cups.  Work in enough of the rest of the flour to give you dough that is easy to handle, turn it out onto a floured countertop and knead until the dough is smooth and elastic, about 5 minutes. Round the dough up into a ball, cover it with the upturned mixing bowl, and let set in a warm place to rise until double in bulk, about 45 minutes. Divide the dough into 8 equal parts and form each part into a ball. Set the balls of dough slightly apart on a greased baking sheet and let rise until doubled in bulk, again about 45 minutes. Bake in a preheated 350-degree oven for about 20 minutes, until done.

(Makes 8 Hamburger Buns)

Day 4: Grilled Pork Tenderloin, Long Grain and Wild Rice,  Grilled Veggies

Grilled Pork Tenderloin
1 Tbsp. Kosher salt
1 Tbsp. brown sugar
1 Tbsp. ground black pepper
1 pinch cayenne pepper
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
3 Tbsp. olive oil

combine all ingredients and rub on the surface of the tenderloin about 30 minutes before grilling.
Grill the tenderloin for approximately 10 to 15 minutes per side, then broil for another 5 to 10 minutes per side (until the internal temperature reaches 160) Slice crosswise to serve

(Serves 8 )

Long Grain and Wild Rice
Cook according to package directions

Grilled Veggies
1 Pepper
3 Carrots, peeled
1 yellow squash
8 Cherry tomatoes
1 – 2 cups mushrooms
1 bunch green onions
2 garlic cloves
2-3 Tbsp. olive oil
2 tsp. kosher salt
2 tsp. seasoned salt

Wash and cut all the vegetables into bite-sized pieces. In a mixing bowl, stir them
together with olive oil, kosher salt and seasoned salt. Wrap the vegetables up in an aluminum flil pouch, with tow ice cubes, then fold to seal the pouch. Set the pouch on the grill along side the meat; cooking times will depend on the grill heat, so check every so often, until the vegetables are crisp-tender. These can also be cooked in the oven (375 for about 40 minutes) or stir-fried in a skillet

(Serves 6 )

Day 5: Chili, Cornbread

Chili
1 lb. ground beef, browned and drained
1 can red kidney beans
1 can tomato sauce
1 10 oz. bag frozen corn

Combine all ingredients in a crock pot and cook on low for 6 – 8 hours.

Cornbread
Cook according to package directions
I plan for 5 days rather than for a specific day. That way I can mix and match days if I need to. For the most part I start with day one on Sunday and go in order, but not always. If I forget to take some meat out of the freezer I may push that day back by one and pick another day. This is what seems to work the best for us. We usually have dinner out one night a week. Most days it is Friday, but not always. Last week we went out on Tuesday because of a Fundraiser at Chick-Fil-A. Saturdays we almost always have leftovers or Jason and I order something in after the kids  have gone to bed and have a semi date night. That leaves five nights that I need to have something planned.

Enjoy

Heather