Live Like a Hippy

Cappuccino Chip Cookies!

2012-01-14T12:11:00.002-05:00

This is another one of those altered, basics that I like to make. It starts with your favorite Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe - I like the old reliable Nestle Tollhouse recipe - then we add a few things. The first secret to awesome chocolate chip cookies in my book is always this: Good Vanilla Extract and lots of it. Don't use imitation, trust me it's worth the price to get the good stuff.

Here's what you need (in addition to the basic cookie dough recipe)

1 1/2 cups Crushed or Chopped Almonds

1 1/2 cups White Chips

2-3 Tbsp instant coffee (your favorite)

1-2 Tbsp Saigon Cinnamon (again, good cinnamon is totally worth the money!)

More Vanilla Extract

Prepare the basic dough according to your recipe, up to the part where you would normally add the chocolate (and nuts). Add the coffee, cinnamon and extra vanilla. I like a good strong coffee flavor for this and I love cinnamon and vanilla, so I use lots! Mix well.

Add the Almonds and White Chips and mix thoroughly. Bake according to your recipe instructions!

Enjoy!

My Year in Review!

2012-01-04T10:31:00.003-05:00

Alright, here's the deal. This past year has been great in some respects and not so great in others. Rather than dwelling on the things that I can't help, let's look at the things I can control.

2011 Successes!

I started bike commuting!
I started biking for fun too!
Related to the above, I lost nearly 30 pounds!
I started the MeYou Health Daily Challenge
I started designing again.
I started quilting again.
I told my best friend that I love him for challenging me artistically.
I successfully stopped taking my OCD meds.
I started eating better.

2011 Epic Fails!

I never replaced bike commuting with anything else when I stopped bike commuting because it started getting dark early.
I still haven't gotten the studio organized.
I didn't post on either blog regularly.
I got lazy and stopped doing the Daily Challenge
I only finished one of the quilts I started.
I didn't do any work towards getting the art studio open.
I got sloppy about eating as my work schedule starting getting more hectic and I got less active.

So what have we learned? I need to get organized. I still need to find something to replace my bike commute in the winter-time. Mostly, I need to learn to stick with what works (fitness and eating wise), even when something more interesting comes along. I need to get on a schedule and stick to it. Basically, I need to plan better.

A little Christmas Humor.

2011-12-22T11:26:00.005-05:00

So, I've been playing with this idea in my head for about a week now and here it is: Christmas Carol Fail: Worst/Most Inappropriate Christmas Songs ever. Here they are in no particular order.

1) Baby, It's Cold Outside - I've linked to the Dean Martin recording because I really like it. I love this song, actually. It makes the list because IT'S NOT REALLY A CHRISTMAS SONG! See also: Let It Snow.

2) Jingle Bells - I've linked to a Sinatra rendition. Again, it's a good version of the song. It makes the list because Jingle Bells is not only not a Christmas Song, it's been done badly more times than anybody can count. Seriously, searching 'jingle bells' on YouTube yields over 87,000 results.

3) Over the River and Through the Woods - I've linked to Danny Kaye and the Andrews Sisters. I like this version because it's actually "Over the River and Through the Woods" not the verses of "Over the River" with Jingle Bells for the chorus (see above), but this song was written for Thanksgiving, and singing 'Merry Christmas' over and over at the end doesn't change that.

4) The Little Boy That Santa Claus Forgot - This is the Phyllis Robbins version, a somewhat less depressing version of the most depressing song ever. About a poor boy. Who "hasn't got a daddy." And Santa didn't bring him anything. Isn't this supposed to be the time for Good Cheer??

5) Santa Baby- Eartha Kitt. This one makes the list because she basically says, 'I wasn't slutty this year, so you should bring me a pony and a million dollars." Wow, that's a great way to look at things.

6) My Favorite Things - Coltrane. I love this version of the song. I look forward to hearing it at Christmas, actually. But guess what! Show tune! Not a Christmas song. You may remember it from a little show called "The Sound of Music" which was about Nazis and a nun who falls in love. And about a million kids, wearing clothes made out of the curtains.

7) Every loud, rock, or disco version of Silent Night - I picked the "We wish you a Metal Xmas" version because it illustrates my point perfectly. If I remember the story correctly 'Silent Night' was written by the pastor of a church who discovered that an animal had chewed a hole in the organ bellows. Meaning no music for Christmas Eve, therefore a SILENT NIGHT. It was written for acoustic guitar and solo voice. If you're doing this song loud, you missed the whole point.

8) Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer - because it's AWFUL!

9) The Man with All The Toys - I have a huge soft spot in my heart for the Beach Boys, I really do, but the harmony is a guy going "bop" at the end of every line. Really????

And last but certainly not least:

10) Christmas Without You - Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers. Beautiful song, beautiful sentiment. Their voices are great together. But every time I hear the line "Christmas songs that we knew, and used to make love to" I want to throw up a little inside my own head. Nothing ruins a song like the mental image of Dolly Parton having sex to Christmas carols. Eeeewww!

These aren't necessarily bad songs. I've purposely including the versions that I like quite a bit for most of them. They're mostly just really bad at being Christmas songs, but nobody plays them except at Christmastime.

Green Tomato Soup

2011-10-23T22:41:00.003-04:00

I always use the end of the tomatoes from my garden for this, so we really only get to make one pot a year. It's probably about 2 1/2 - 3 lbs of tomatoes.

Lots of tomatoes - ripe, unripe, anything in between

Hamhock or smoked pork shank

1/2 Stick of Butter

Peppered Bacon (2 or 3 slices)

Fresh Chard (5 or so large leaves)

Wilt the Chard in a frying pan with the bacon. When the chard is totally wilted, separate it from the bacon. Chop up your bacon and throw it in the soup pot, set the chard aside.

Saute the hamhock/pork shank in the butter. (You don't need to worry about cooking these pieces through, they're already cooked, but you'll want to cook off some of the fat.) Pour the drippings into your soup pot. Clean the meat off of your ham pieces. Throw out the skin and keep the bone for other soup.

Chop up the tomatoes and throw them all in your soup pot. Cook until tomatoes break down and the soup starts to take on the consistency of a sauce. When you're happy with the consistency of your soup, stir in the chard. Adding the chard at the end prevents it from cooking down to nothing and disappearing into the soup.

Enjoy! With Peppered Bacon, you likely will not even need to add salt and pepper.

34.6

2011-10-23T22:35:00.003-04:00

I totally earned my day in pajamas today. Yesterday my mom and I went on another Epic Bike Ride. 34.6 miles on the D&L Trail! We rode from Laurys Station to Bowmanstown and back. It went pretty well, although we're both a bit achy today. Also, we're bummed, because the Weissport Segment isn't open yet.

We rode Glen Onoco to White Haven and back over the summer, so we've gotten to see quite a bit of the trail at this point. I'm looking forward to the trail getting finished, it'll be 165 miles eventually.

Today wasn't a total loss though, I did make my annual pot of Green Tomato and Ham Soup! And we added Swiss Chard to it this year.

Also, I got a lot of work done on the next baby afghan I have to finish.

The weather is turning colder.

2011-09-16T09:54:00.003-04:00

This is my favorite season, without a doubt! It's cool enough to work on my bigger projects, like finishing my quilt tops and maybe starting a big afghan project. It's apple picking season, which means homemade apple sauce, and pumpkins are just around the corner for jack o'lanterns and pumpkin butter! A friend has baby #2 due in a couple weeks and another friend is having a Halloween wedding!

With all of the cold weather cooking I like to do, you guys are gonna have to stay on my butt about eating right. And I'll probably need some extra nagging to make sure that I stay active as it starts to be too cold to ride my bike. That's right! Free license to be a pain in my ass! What more could you ask for!?!?

It's been tricky to balance Carl's lowered carb eating with my hypoglycemia, but we're doing pretty good. I've been eating a lot of rice and couscous because they're quick to whip up on the side of an otherwise low carb meal. Carl's heartburn is greatly improved and he's lost about 10 lbs.

We're feeling pretty good about things right now, especially as we, just yesterday polished off the end of the first big ol' pot of winter chili! (It was chili verde and it was awesome!)

Wish us luck as we transition from wild, unpredictable PA summer weather into freezing, unpredictable PA winter. I'll enjoy the fall either way, I'm just not sure about the effect on my waistline.

This Hippy is NOT Amused.

2011-08-28T21:54:00.003-04:00

So, we survived Hurricane Irene. My heart goes out to the families of those who were not so fortunate. Damage was minimal, I suppose, given there was a hurricane/tropical storm, but it was also much worse than we anticipated.

Outside, the only damage was a broken flower pot and it was ugly and empty anyway, so I'm not concerned. We never lost power. All the water that came in the cellar door and the coal bin, ran right out the drain in the basement floor.

But the roof leaked. A lot. We think there's a good chance that our brand new (seriously, they finished it less than a year ago) bathroom may need serious renovations. I'm reasonable certain that the whole ceiling needs to be replaced, as well as a severely damaged corner where water ran down the wall behind the paint.

The paint is just sliding down the wall. By the time the rain stopped the whole side of the backsplash had swelled up and pulled away from the wall. If the backsplash is water logged, you know that the end of the counter top is too.

The pic is sorta upside down but, this is wear paint is coming off of the ceiling. Water also seeped down between the drywall seams in the ceiling in almost the whole room. So much water came in that we have a damaged ceiling tile in the dining room. And did I mention my entire house stinks like wet Sheetrock?

I understand that we're incredibly lucky. I get that. That doesn't mean I have to be happy about my bathroom getting destroyed after the roof was "fixed" last summer. I am relieved that everyone I love stayed safe, even if a few of them still have no power, but I am NOT amused.

Craziness.

2011-08-21T22:45:00.002-04:00

I've not had much free time due to family commitments lately, between the nephew's doctor appointments and birthdays and so on, but we're still plugging along on the "Get Healthy" plan.

I've been doing really good at staying away from dairy and watching my portions. Carl has started eating low-carb. Which, by the way, it's a blast balancing a low-carb diet with a dairy-free hypoglycemic diet. I need carbs, he shouldn't have them. Cheese is an awesome option for him, but I can't have it. It's like grocery shopping for two separate households! I don't know how Lisa does it without losing her mind.

Right now, we're cooking a protein and a veggie, then I'm having a quick carb side, like veggie pasta or whole grain something while he has either a second portion of the veggie or a second veggie. It seems to be working pretty well now that it's starting to be a routine.

For snacks, we hide his cheese in a drawer in the fridge and we hide my crackers and pretzels in a cupboard that up until now wasn't really being used for anything. Again, so far so good.

I made homemade ketchup and some coarse ground mustard as well as making sure we're well stocked with salad dressings. I made a huge pot of meat sauce so I have something handy for my pasta and he's got something different to throw on his eggs for breakfast.

I have to saw that I'm really impressed how quickly he adapted to having a scramble egg wrap for breakfast from the peanut butter and honey that he's used to. He tells me his heartburn is almost gone and he's seems like he's starting to lose a bit of weight.

We're going to have a ton of bumps in the road I'm sure, but it seems as if we've finally found the right path! Wish us luck!

Quarantine? Really?

2011-07-25T09:49:00.003-04:00

So, apparently, we were exposed to MRSA. If you don't already know, MRSA is an incredibly antibiotic-resistant variety of Staph.

So far, neither of us seems to be infected, but we're still waiting to hear about the lab work to see if we're carrying it, and potentially contagious in spite of not actually getting sick. We spent the weekend in more or less of a quarantine - we were allowed out of the house, but no hugging anybody, and no close contact with small children, elderly, diabetics, pregnant women, or people with compromised immune systems.

Needless to say, my plans to go to Maryland for the weekend to visit my friend who's 6 months pregnant and her family got cancelled. We had to miss my grandmother's birthday party, and Carl couldn't go to his gaming group because they have 2 diabetics in the group.

On the plus-side, this is the closest to caught up that our laundry has been since the fire (we've been slowly rewashing everything his mom washed, because it turns out I'm allergic to her detergent) and I got a ton of sewing done and Carl got some writing in. We also spent quite a bit of quality lazy-time together.

All things considered, it turned out to not be such a bad weekend.

WooHOo!

2011-07-12T22:45:00.002-04:00

We've been making all kinds of stuff! Tonight I threw together a jar of basic Adobo and a fantastic vinagrette with Olive Oil, Basalmic Vinegar and Penzey's Green Goddess dressing mixture. Carl's been learning to make all kinds of things on the grill.

I'm thinking of making Iced Tea with my Lemon Balm to see how it turns out.

We've been making crazy pasta salads with grilled chicken. The other day we make one with mandarin oranges, water chestnuts and shredded Swiss Chard from the garden. For the dressing, rice vinegar, soy sauce and toasted sesame oil seasoned with garlic, ginger and crushed red pepper, and a generous sprinkle of toasted sesame seeds.

Tonight we had one with a bell pepper from the garden, roasted pumpkin seeds and dried cranberries and we used the vinagrette with the Penzey's seasoning. And the star of both salads was the wonderful chicken breast Carl grilled for us.

I'll be making more trail mix this week and possibly some granola bars on Saturday, if it's not way too hot to be boiling honey.

I'll keep you posted with more recipes as I have them.

Pluggin' along.

2011-07-08T23:02:00.001-04:00

I made 80 miles on my bike for June! I was aiming for 100, but I'll take it. I'll try for 100 again this month. This time I know that I need to take a couple significant rides other than the trip to work to get there.

Carl still hasn't gotten into the habit of running, even though he keeps saying he wants to. I've even offered to go with him and give it a shot. Any ideas how to motivate him???

I got a tip from Me You Health about using cucumber to flavor water and I'll tell you what, I'm completely in love with it! Super easy, just drop a few slices in your glass and let it sit a minute.

I feel like I may have lost a bit more, but I haven't been near a scale to check. I'll have to weigh in at my mom's in the morning. Unless I'm not remembering correctly when I think that she has a scale.

I have a bike ride planned with my mom in the morning, so I'm gonna keep this short.

Summer Spinach Salad

2011-06-28T12:23:00.003-04:00

1 packet Good Seasons Italian Dressing

Pomegranate infused vinegar (Basalmic or red wine)

vegetable oil

Fresh Spinach

about 12 Chopped Fresh Strawberries

1/2 cup Roasted Salted Sunflower Kernels

1/2 cup shredded or crumbled Colby cheese

Prepare dressing according to package instructions with pomegranate vinegar and vegetable oil.

Toss all ingredients except the dressing in a large bowl. Drizzle with dressing and Enjoy!

(since I have to eat almost entirely Dairy-Free, I'm going to try this with a few cheeses that are a little friendly to my system and post my results)

A few thoughts on Getting Healthy!

2011-06-24T22:27:00.004-04:00

The Daily Challenge at MeYou Health is built around this idea. Health.com slideshows devoted to it. I was doing it by myself because the bigger goals seemed to intimidating. What am I talking about?

Small Actions. Baby Steps. Mini-goals.

Call them whatever you want, but time and time again, it's been found that this is the best way to make a big change in your life. With weight loss, they may not give you the most immediate results, but they're going to be the things that you stick with.

Swaps are the easiest baby step to take. Here are some that have worked really well for us.

Iced Tea instead of Diet Coke (Carl)
Whole Grain/Whole Wheat/High Protein Pasta instead of Semolina Pasta
Pita Chips instead of Potato Chips (mine)
Edy's Fruit Bars instead of Ice Cream
Seltzer/Homemade Sodas instead of Mass Produced Soda
Trail Mix instead of Junk Food
Jayone Rice Rolls or Ryvita Fruit and Nut instead of Cookies
Kashi Cereals instead of High Carb/Low Protein Options (mine)
Almond Milk instead of Cow's Milk (mine)

Little stuff. When we crave crispy, we eat crispy. When we want pasta we eat pasta. If I want milk, I drink milk. We just make the smarter choice.

Carl is walking and doing more and more of the really nearby (within a few blocks) errands. I'm riding my bike to do the ones that are a little further (Up to 5 mile round trip). We drive if it's too far to walk/ride or if it involves hauling something home, like the case of seltzer I bought last night.

We've both opted to completely ignore the numbers. I look out of curiosity and because Lyam is diabetic and I like to have an idea of carb counts for him, and because I need to make sure I get enough protein at breakfast, but that's it. The only number we're concerning ourselves with is our respective pants sizes.

We don't count carbs. We don't count calories, points or fat. We don't weigh ourselves. We don't even own a scale. We promised not to drive if we don't need to. We promised that every time we light the grill, we're going to add a vegetable too. We promised to support each other and to help each other make smarter eating decisions. And he promised to let me buy new bras and underwear if I can get below 200 lbs.

I'm beginning to see that he's losing weight (in fact, he just told me he's wearing shorts he couldn't fit in 2 weeks ago!). When my Grandma wanted me to weigh myself the other day, I discovered that along with a pants size, I had dropped 16 lbs!

And the best part is, by making swaps instead of sacrifices, the only thing I miss is cheese, and since I've become quite lactose intolerant, there's not a lot I can do with that one, except have 1 or 2 slices of swiss on a sandwich when I can't take the craving anymore. If I have more dairy than that or anything and creamier, I get too sick and it's not worth it.

Screw the numbers. Start small. Eat Smart. Do more. Lose weight. Get happy.

Don't dwell on the numbers. If you do the right thing, the numbers will follow.

Make little changes. Don't say, I'm never going to have pasta again. Instead, say "I'll have pasta less often and when I do it will be whole grain (or veggie pasta, whatever works for you)"

Make smarter food choices. If you have a fast food craving, don't make yourself suffer, get the kids meal. 20 years ago, that was the value meal anyway at most places. Plus, you get free toy!

Get off your ass! Park a row further from the building at work. Take the stairs instead of the elevator. Walk the long way around the building. All that little stuff adds up!

The inches/pounds/sizes will come off. Have faith in that. It may take a little longer before you see results, but you won't give up before you see them like you would on a crazy diet.

The happy happens all by itself. And it multiplies every time someone says you look thinner. Or that what you're doing must be so hard (and you know it isn't!)

One more time!

Screw the numbers. Start small. Eat Smart. Do more. Lose weight. Get happy.

Check-In. And I thought I was inconsistent.

2011-06-16T21:23:00.004-04:00

The biggest downside, to me anyway about dairy-free, believe it or not isn't the fact that it's somewhat more pricey than the regular dairy options. It's not even the fact that in order to get dairy-free you often have to go vegan, or gluten-free. Or sometimes even, gluten-free, fat free, sugarfree, flavor-free.

What never fails to piss me off is the completely random and inconsistent ways that grocery stores seem to stock the dairy-free options. Sure, put them in the organic or natural section, I expect that. Put them in the Vegan section, I can even deal with that. Even better, put them in the same cooler as the organic dairy, I can deal with that. But when they're randomly intermingled with the organic "regular" dairy, it makes me want to cry.

Why is it so difficult to put the dairy-free/vegan all on one or two shelves at the top or bottom of the door and fill the rest with organic dairy? Why do should I have to sort through organic cheeses and spreads to get to the one tub of Better Than Cream Cheese at the back? Why is organic ice cream stocked between rows of dairy-free and vegan desserts? I stock shelves as a large part of my job. It's not like it's hard to put the Daiya shreds up or down one shelf.

And while we're talking about it, why does it seem like the dairy-free stuff is always randomly in and out of stock? Do they order by hand? (Ok, at Sign of the Bear, they do. But they're also way more organized than grocery stores I'm talking about.)

For the longest time, I was convinced that nobody but Sign of the Bear carried Better Than Cream Cheese. Now it seems that (at least our local) Wegman's has an over abundance of it, crammed in the back of the bottom shelf in the last cooler in the natural/organic section. They carried Tofutti Cuties in Key Lime and All Vanilla forever. Tonight I go, all they have is the classic vanilla with chocolate wafers. No sign that they ever even carried the others.

My Giant doesn't have any Soy Yogurt and hardly any natural, organic, dairy-free or Vegan options, even though the next closest Giant to us has an entire organic/natural market in the back and several other Giants in our area have an organic aisle. Nevermind, my closest Giant is on the opposite side of a city park from WEGMANS!!

This is a huge change for me and I'm trying to be good. I really am. Why are the grocery stores making it so damn hard!?!?! You wouldn't randomly change your regular ice cream flavors. Sure they add new and get rid of poor sellers, but the dairy-free stuff seems like it changes from week to week sometimes.

The regular dairy cheeses are always neatly organized, excepting when there's an amazing sale, why is the dairy-free/Vegan/Organic always a huge mish-mash that looks like there was a total free-for-all battle in the cooler?

Come on, be nice to those of us who need/choose to eat a little differently.

Check-In. New Loves!

2011-06-07T23:52:00.004-04:00

A few websites that I've found that have been wonderful for my personal "Get Healthy" movement.

Me You Health - Daily Challenge - you fill out a short questionaire, they give you your well being rating and then everyday you get a Be Healthy Challenge. They range from arm wrestle someone in your house to make a pledge to learn to use the right amount of sunscreen. It's a huge community of people all supporting each other! You can give out Smiles (similar to Facebook "Likes") and post congrats and support to friends and strangers! Tons of fun.

Bike Journal - If I belonged to a Bike Club, I'd get even more use out of this website, but they give you tools to track your bike rides. There's a journal, a great forum, and a huge community.

In other news, I'm proud to say that I've biked just over 25 miles in June so far! If I can keep up with this rate, I'll hit 100 miles this month! Not bad for a hippy chick who didn't even own a bike 6 weeks ago!

I'm settling further and further into the smaller pants size and I'm finding that some of my size 18's are actually way too big to wear outside the house. I'm starting to collect them together, so anybody interested in Hand-Me-Downs??

Except for my closing shifts, where I ride my bike less (Carl picks me up and brings the bike rack, so I'm not riding in the dark.) and get home later still wound up, I'm sleeping much better most nights and have even cut the dose on my OCD meds back down to where it was before our house fire last year.

Carl has given up on Diet Coke altogether and as a Congrats present I bought him a 64 oz water jug that he uses to carry fresh brewed tea or filtered water with him to work. And, he's taken to munching on seasoned nori strips which, as far as I'm concerned, he can eat till he floats, they have 1 Calorie and 1/10 of 1 carb each!

All in all, we're in doing pretty good with the get healthy stuff and when the veggies start to come in out in our little garden, I think we'll do even better!

Check-in. Healthier Choices.

2011-05-17T11:24:00.002-04:00

I've lost nearly a pants size!

We're learning a lot about ourselves through this whole get healthy process. Here's the highlights!

I feel like a little kid when I'm flying down a hill on my bike!
If we have Edy's Fruit Bars or Whole Fruit Bars in the freezer, they're nearly always our first choice when we go for a snack.
The fruit bars have also cut down on Carl's ice cream cravings, while making giving up dairy easier for me.
Keeping chocolate in the house, but somewhere that's a pain to get to, has cut down on chocolate binges for both of us, and has almost completely eliminated my urges to buy a candy bar at the check-out.
Pita chips have solved my issue with not being able to substitute crunchy for crispy.
The 5 mile round trip to work on my bike seems to be what I need to be able to sleep well.
I have a lot of fun battling traffic on my bike. Although I still walk it across the 22 interchange on my way to work.

All in all, I think that we're making a lot of change for the better and Carl is even starting to make plans for what he's going to do to make up for the fact that he can't really bike to work even if he wanted to.

Check-In. Go figure.

2011-05-14T23:39:00.002-04:00

I was up this morning with plenty of time to walk to work. I was keeping an eye on the weather and it seemed like the rain was holding off. I decided that I was going to spend a little more time on the internet and then ride my bike.

I got my bag together and headed out and I think it actually started raining during the time it took for me to walk away from the laptop and out the front door. And it kept raining. The whole time that I was on my way to work.

From the water thrown off the tires, I basically looked like I fell ass first into a puddle. I do take a change of clothes with me, but I was so soaked that my soggy underwear was starting to soak through my dress pants after I changed.

BLarg! Guess I'll be walking some of the days this week.

Check-In. Slacker!

2011-05-14T07:56:00.003-04:00

Alright, so I've been really slackerly about posting. For about a week.

Here's the run down.

Eating has been really sloppy, but with a family picnic and the resultant leftovers, that one's tough to avoid. At least with my family.

I've found that in very small quantities, I can tolerate Swiss and Extra Sharp Cheddar cheese relatively well. But it needs to be a very small quantity and I can tell from how my belly feels that I cheated. Honestly, it's worth it every now and then because I'm practically going through withdrawal here. I didn't mind giving up milk, butter or ice cream, but not having cheese has been crazy tough.

I bought a bike on Thursday! I made the potentially stupid decision make my first ride my Trip to Work yesterday and it actually turned out great! I got there in about half the time compared to walking!

I had forgotten how much I love tearing down a great big hill! SO much fun. I also love how much more freedom I feel like I have compared to walking. I can get myself to and from work, without begging rides and I don't have to lose almost 2 hours of my day to do it! Plus, I have wiggle room in my mornings again.

I can tell I'm still not in good enough shape to haul things with me on the bike, but I'm getting places and fending for myself in traffic and it's great. I was surprised to find that while not particularly courteous, drivers in Allentown are much more bike-friendly than people in Whitehall. It's almost like hitting an invisible barrier coming into and out of the city.

I have people in the city waiting for me to finish crossing, waving me ahead of them for left turns, etc. In Whitehall, I got cut off and almost plowed into the side of some guys car yesterday, people ride your butt as if you've a car under the speed limit and so on. Of course, I only rode to and from work once. It could have all been a fluke.

Check-In. Day off.

2011-05-05T23:37:00.002-04:00

Was kinda snacky today but I kept it basically to healthy stuff. Sprouts, trail mix, fruit bars, 2 oranges. We had sushi for dinner, I ate probably more than I should have but I stayed away from the spicy rolls, which saved me calories from the mayo at least.

I made homemade ketchup tonight, which makes me really happy. I walked to the health food store and bought more seeds for sprouting, gonna try broccoli and mung beans now. I'll probably do another batch of alfalfa, too, because now that I have the sprouting lids, I can use the lids with any of my tons of extra mason jars laying around.

So far so good, I think I've lost about 1/2 of a pants size so far. My pants are getting saggy in the butt, but I can't fit into a smaller size yet. I'm getting there, though and that makes me feel really good!

Some Like it Hot Ketchup!

2011-05-05T23:04:00.005-04:00

I've been wanting to make my own ketchup forever. Okay, since I found out that Robyn and Dan make theirs. Finally got around to it tonight, and true to form, I gave it a kick.

Here's the recipe.

6 oz. can Tomato Paste

2 Tbsp. White Vinegar

2 tsp. Hot Sauce of your choice (I used Poblano, cause it's awesome!)

1 1/2 tsp. Garlic Powder

1/3 cup Water

1 tsp. Agave Syrup

salt and pepper to taste

Mix all ingredients thoroughly. Heat in a small sauce pot until just hot, adding a bit more water (about 1/4 cup) to bring it all together. This recipe will give you ketchup with enough heat to satisfy the ones in your house that like it hot, without scaring of anyone who prefers mild.

Check-In. Epic Win.

2011-05-02T23:01:00.002-04:00

Tofutti Key Lime Pie Frozen Treats! Awesome. Let's not even talk about anything else tonight except how good these are.

Seriously, typing a real post is proving completely impossible because the cat insists on sitting between me and the laptop, but I had to share about the Tofutti Treats.

Check-In. Trail Mix!

2011-05-01T23:54:00.002-04:00

Can't even remember what I had for breakfast today, so it can't have been that interesting. It may have been clementines, actually.

Clementines and honey wheat pretzels for lunch (11-7:30 is a tough shift for me, mealwise. It's over two meals.) and a candy bar for a snack.

More egg-spinach-meat sauce in a tortilla for dinner.

Made a ton of trail mix tonight for lunches.

I had a pomegranate fruit bar for a snack so I wouldn't pig out while I was making the trail mix, also.

Sprouts are doing really well, in another couple days we can really harvest them.

Gonna try to get a little more work done in the garden tomorrow night. I should have asparagus this year, if the roots took and held up over the winter. It'll be nice to find out.

If anyone wants any mint, with or without roots, let me know, I've got tons. Spearmint and a chocolate mint hybrid.

Check-In. Sprouts!

2011-05-01T01:24:00.003-04:00

I have tiny sprouts in my Alfalfa jar. Actually, I stole one tonight. It was about 1/2" long and it was super tasty! Nothing beats growing it yourself.

Clementines and trail mix for snacks today. Not much of a lunch at work. Had scrambled eggs tops with meat sauce that also had spinach in it for breakfast and the same in a tortilla for a late supper.

Probably will eat like crap tomorrow because I work crappy hours (11-7:30). Gonna try to get over to the steps for our weekly check in tomorrow. Hopefully, I can shave a bit more off my time.

Need to get up a bit early tomorrow. I never changed after work tonight and managed to ruin my last pair of work pants. Oops.

Also, I've discovered that even though I like plain Almond milk, I really don't like the unsweetened vanilla, unless I take the time to sweeten it with agave nectar.

Check-In. Sprouting Progress.

2011-04-29T22:26:00.003-04:00

Sausage Biscuit for breakfast. Trail Mix snack. Hot dog for lunch (I know, crappy!).

Pasta with meat sauce for dinner and I jazzed up the sauce with wilted fresh spinach and cayenne pepper! Pomegranate popsicle while dinner was cooking.

Trail mix to soothe my snack craving.

The sprout jars are mixed results so far. I have tiny little alfalfa sprouts starting! But the chia is a mess. I need to look into that a little more, because with the lids I have I can't get the chia drained. because it turns gel-ly in water, then I realized it might not need to be rinsed. I'll look into it more and start again. Or I'll buy other sprouting seeds.

Gonna have a second clementine to finish up my bedtime snack.

Also, I've walked to work every day for over a week now and my pants are fitting better to loose depending on the pair.

Check-In. Stomach Yuckies.

2011-04-28T22:14:00.002-04:00

Had a good breakfast at Nick's Diner this morning with Dave. Splurged a bit and had pancakes and sausage. Also, had eggs scrambled with spinach, which needed a bit of salt, but were otherwise wonderful, in spite of the funny looks from the waitress. (She's a sweetie, I forgive her.) Edy's Fruit bar for a snack and then spent the afternoon dealing with a seemingly random upset stomach.

Light-ish dinner and then a nap. Had another Fruit Bar tonight,

I got a little bit of work done in my back yard, in between not feeling that great.

Also, I started a sprouting jar of Alfalfa last night, and I'm starting one with Chia tonight. (If you've never seen a sprouting jar, this is one of the ones I have.) I picked of 3" PVC 'T' joints to set my jars on to. They need to be upside down, but can't set on the lid because they need the air circulation. The directions recommend tipping them at about a 45 degree angle in a pot or bowl, but I'm gonna see if this works. I don't really have enough pots or bowls to forfeit them to propping up a Mason jar.

Also, yes, Chia as in Chia Pet. You can buy food quality seeds at most health food stores. They're pretty tasty, behave really strangely when you get them wet and have tons of vitamins and nutrients. Bonus! If you eat Chia gel (chia and water) before a work out, or add it to juice or more water and drink it, it helps you stay hydrated longer!

Let's see how it goes.

Check-In. Been awhile.

2011-04-27T21:00:00.003-04:00

I've walked to work three days this week so far, which is every day, actually, since I had off for Easter on Sunday.

I cheated a bit on my no-dairy to eat some of Gramma's Homemade Peanut Roll Eggs, but it was totally worth it!

We went back to the MLK stairs on Monday night and I shaved about 6 more seconds off my time, 2:54.54! Carl kicked my ass and made it in 2:10.38. BOO!

Eating hasn't been exactly great this week again, but I've been snacking mostly one Edy's Real Fruit Popsicles and Popcorn, rather than anything really crappy. Drinking lots of water, tea, juice.

Also, I got pretty awful sunburn yesterday, so I had to invest in aloe gel and sunblock today.

Check-In. AAARRGHHH!

2011-04-16T23:48:00.001-04:00

We started moving Lisa today. Short a person. During a Tornado watch. I'm gonna just leave it at that.

Check-In. More Chaos.

2011-04-15T11:51:00.002-04:00

I had cheerios for breakfast yesterday. Can't remember what I had for a snack, probably Good N Plenty's with are at least fat free.

Primo's Italian Diablo, no cheese for lunch.

McDonalds Caesar Salad for dinner. And the rest of my Soy Cheese pizza for a snack later. At least I got some exercise on the playground.

I'm having a very had time sticking to a schedule because of helping Lisa move. They keep a schedule that's just different enough from mine that I'm up for a snack at their mealtimes, and vice versa. Also, they stay up later than I've been the last couple weeks.

Today I'm off to a pretty good start, cheerios for breakfast, and 30 minute walk and Health is Wealth Vegetarian, lactose-free spinach munchies for a snack. They're like pizza rolls, but with spinach instead of pepperoni. Oh, and they're awesome!

Check-In. Moving Chaos.

2011-04-13T21:40:00.003-04:00

It's not even my move and I'm getting caught up in the chaos of it. I'm trying hard and I think I did pretty good at eating pretty well today.

Breakfast on the run was an Almond Croissant from Wegmans and Odwalla's Original Super Protein.

Jayone Rice Roll for a snack.

Almonds for a snack.

Tomato Pie and original Terra Chips for lunch.

Trail mix for a snack.

Wendy's Spicy Chicken for Dinner, which was crappy of me, but at least I stuck to the dairy free thing.

Cheerios for a snack.

Hungry again, and I think it's because I've been going since like 7:30 this morning and I'm not feeling well. When my body's trying hard to fight something off sometimes I get a huge appetite. The trick is finding something healthy to eat.

I managed to get about 15 minutes of Yoga in today, too.

Check-In. Last Day Before Vacation.

2011-04-12T22:36:00.002-04:00

Cereal for breakfast.

Almonds for midmorning snack.

Salad with almonds and green bean chips again for lunch. Digging the Daiya cheese now that I'm getting used to it.

Jayone rice bar for after work snack.

Amy's Soy Cheese pizza with Gimme Lean sausage for dinner.

Whole Fruit bar for a snack.

Did about a half hour of yoga tonight.

Dying for something crispy, thinking I'm going to have some pretzels.

Also, I had like about 5 Russian Tea Cookies today at work. But I'm going to say that's Viv's fault because she makes amazing cookies.

Check-In. Singin' in the Rain. Literally.

2011-04-11T21:09:00.004-04:00

So Gimme Lean Sausage sandwich for breakfast.

Missed my midmorning snack.

Salad with Daiya Cheddar, Green Bean Chips and Almonds for lunch, also had a little trail mix.

Finished the trail mix for an afternoon snack.

Hubby and I decided to splurge a bit for dinner, so we WALKED over to Hana for a light sushi dinner. (IE not "all you can eat") He got an entree. I got soup, Kani salad and a sweet potato maki.

Then we got caught in th rain on the way home. I loved every minute of it! Hubby, not so much. I told him "rain makes you beautiful. you may as well enjoy it!"

Pretty good night all in all, it's about a 3 mile round trip to Hana.

Jayone rice roll for a snack, probably will have a Whole Fruit bar or some almond milk yet.

I also picked up an studier ankle support so I can keep walking to work. Because I really enjoy doing that. I need to find my earbuds, and then I can really enjoy it.

*** Found my earbuds and ended up having cereal for my snack last night.

Check-In. Learned a lesson about Vegan Cheese

2011-04-10T21:16:00.006-04:00

Had Cheerios for Breakfast again.

Gimme Lean Sausage biscuit for early lunch.

Taco Salad with Daiya Cheddar for dinner. Also, trail mix. The cheese was great in my salad, but I would not recommend eating for a snack. It's pretty nasty by itself, although it is FANTASTIC as an ingredient.

Jayone Rice Roll for a snack and some almond milk. Also a Whole Fruit Bar.

Feeling pretty good about things, although, still a bit hungry.

Walked with Dave over to the steps. Hit it as hard as I could. 3:00.74! A 20 second improvement from last week.

Then Dave ran them. And beat me. Bad. 1:37.42! Ouch!

I had a bowl of cheerios when we got home and I'm heading to bed a little later than I planned. The steps are still kicking my @$$ but they were easier this time and I made a huge improvement.

Check-In, Got a little naughty today.

2011-04-09T21:47:00.004-04:00

I had Chocolate Cheerios for breakfast again.

Rotisserie chicken for lunch with Purely Decadent Peanut Butter ZigZag for dessert.

I had Taco Bell without cheese or sour cream for dinner, which was not the original plan. Apparently the Quakertown Primo's closed so we had to get something else, kinda last minute.

I had some more of my fake ice cream for a snack.

Spent the day, helping Lisa pack, but I did walk over to Sign of the Bear and found time to get new shoes to make my walk to work more comfortable. Famous Footwear actually carries sneakers in a 4E (men's Extra Wide), so I actually got the right size!!!!

Will probably have a bit of something when I get home.

See ya tomorrow!

Check-In. I still get to eat Mac and Cheeze, sorta.

2011-04-08T22:10:00.003-04:00

Chocolate Cheerios for Breakfast, with Almond Milk, of course.

Almonds for midmorning snack.

Caesar Salad from Wendy's for lunch, only used half the dressing.

Trail mix with organic raisins for my drive time goodies.

Had Amy's Organic Dairy-Free Mac and Cheeze for dinner tonight! Thanks, Josh, for letting me know about Daiya, I found out on their website that Amy's Organic uses their cheddar shreds for mac and cheeze!

Black cherry Whole Fruit bar for snack.

Hippy Tricks! Nair for a Slow Drain.

2011-04-07T23:17:00.003-04:00

I heard this from a plumber over the summer, and I tried it today, and it really works really, really well.

Our bathroom drain gets slow from time to time. We live in an old house and shit happens. So I poured a big blog of Nair, yes, NAIR, down the drain and ran some hot water. And it was awesome.

Here's why it works:

The bulk of the clog is hair. And Nair basically dissolves hair. Ta-da! Cleared Drain!

It also works pretty well in the kitchen, too, because a lot of the material that clogs your kitchen drain is protein, and hair is protein.

Weird, right?

Check-In. That was a really bad idea, apparently.

2011-04-07T20:53:00.002-04:00

Breakfast was the Florentine Omelet from Nick's Diner. Loads of spinach and tomato, with a little feta cheese.

Mid-morning snack was more almonds, like always.

For a treat after my civil service exam, I got a Chai Latte with Soy milk from Starbucks! Yay for me.

Late lunch was the Biancaneve Pizza at Paese Mio, plus spinach. It's a white pie with tomato, garlic and olive oil. However, apparently I can't handle the mozzarella cheese anymore! I've been sick all night. :-(

I finally felt up to having dinner and I had Chocolate Cheerios with plain Almond milk. Yay!

I also made tons of trial mix tonight for snacks over the course of the week.

The Check-In that Almost Wasn't

2011-04-06T22:15:00.002-04:00

Sausage Biscuit for breakfast.

Almonds for my mid-morning snack.

Tofu and almonds (separate) for lunch.

Almonds in the afternoon. (Are you seeing the theme here?)

Pepper Crusted Beef and Roasted Potatoes for dinner.

No Yoga, but with the walk to work this morning, I managed to log 18,796 steps on my pedometer!

Go me!

Gonna have some peanut butter bread for snack.

Tomorrow may be a total wash as far as healthy eating goes, but I'm going to try to not get carried away. I'm driving to Harrisburg tomorrow to take my Clerk 1, 2 exam.

Check-in. I got a pedometer today!

2011-04-05T18:53:00.003-04:00

Sausage Biscuit for Breakfast

Almonds for midmorning snack.

Sausage biscuit for lunch. (I forgot to put something together last night.)

Almonds for an afternoon snack.

Pepper-crusted beef and potato wedges for dinner. (yes, I made it at home.) And I polished off the last of the Almond milk we had.

Walked to work again today (2.4) miles and I racked up over 9000 steps on the pedometer which I didn't even get until lunchtime.

Need to give my ankle and back a bit of a rest, gonna watch TV with the cat for a bit and then I'm going to try to get some yoga in.

***Popcorn for a snack while watching TV and tofu when I was craving some protein. Also, I killed a sweet craving with some peanut butter.

Check-in. Walked to work today.

2011-04-04T18:29:00.005-04:00

So, I had the usual sausage biscuit for breakfast today.

THEN I WALKED TO WORK (2.4 miles). Partly because I'm pretty sure my car died yesterday, but also because I live close enough to walk and the weather was nice enough that I don't really have any excuse not to.

No midmorning snack, didn't have time.

Lunch was pasta, tossed with Ceasar vinagrette and some grated Romano cheese.

No afternoon snack.

I managed dinner at a much better time tonight and I had a small steak with some grilled bell pepper chunks and some bulgar wheat with just the tiniest bit of butter (like less than a tablespoon on the whole pot) and sprinkled with a bit of Romano again. Also, a glass of almond milk.

Will try to do some Yoga in a bit because I'm feeling very stiff today.

*Got in about 20 minutes of yoga tonight before my knee decided I was done. Munched some popcorn while we watched a movie and now a bit of tofu before I head to bed. Good night all!

MLK & S 12st. Giant Staircase!

2011-04-03T19:43:00.005-04:00

I decided that climbing these steps was going to be my way of gauging my get healthy progress.

There are 90 steps that wind their way up a huge hill.

How this is going to work:

I don't believe in tracking progress with just the scale. I don't think that weighing yourself and not tracking anything else does you any good.

Weight can be misleading. If you gain muscle mass while getting leaner, toner, healthier, you can actually gain weight. It's a no-brainer, I know, but it can be really discouraging, too.

So, what we're going to do, is watch our food portions, be more active, and every week we're going to head down to these steps and time ourselves hitting them as hard as we can.

We went down tonight and, while I can't say I'm exactly proud of my time, it's not as bad as I was afraid it might be.

I made up the 90 steps and back down with a time of 3:21.31 and Carl was about 15 seconds ahead of me 3:06 and some change.

As far as I'm concerned, as long as I have a better time than the week before, I'll consider it a victory!

Check-In, Sunday.

2011-04-03T15:55:00.007-04:00

Sausage biscuit for breakfast.

Trail Mix for my midmorning snack.

Almonds when it got way to late for me to not eat, but I couldn't take my lunch yet. Busy day at work with a huge sale and almost no overlap in my department. Went in at 7, got lunch at 1:10.

Salad with homemade corn salsa for lunch. Almond milk when I got home.

Dinner remains a mystery at this point because we're heading up to my dad's.

However, I did bring trail mix with so I didn't end of snacking on something I shouldn't have.

***Dinner at Dad's was pork barbeque, Dutchy-style (no sauce) with pickled cabbage. I had a glass of water and managed to completely avoid the potato chips that Gramma put out. I did however cave and had a cupcake.

***Tofu for an evening snack. However, at this point, I've apparently been up enough hours that my body thinks it needs another snack. I'm having a sausage biscuit.

I did the 15 minute Breath and Body Segment on my Yoga DVD tonight. Would have loved to to more, but my knee was finished before I was.

***10:20, still frickin' hungry. One slice of peanut butter bread.

Saturday Check-In

2011-04-02T19:15:00.004-04:00

Sausage biscuit for breakfast. Again, almond milk, but I did actually bother with a glass today.

No mid-morning snack, that's gonna be hit or miss on Saturdays that I work.

Lunch was more of the Fajita Topped Salad from last night, and some almonds. I was also a little extra hungry because I missed my snack, so I also had about 1/2 a portion of my homemade trail mix.

Finished the partial bag of trail mix on the way home from work. Decided to join my mom for a walk, so I had a second bag of trail mix because dinner was going to be late compared to lunch.

Mom's making dinner now, steak and salad with strawberries!

I WALKED 2.5 MILES TODAY!!!

***Lucky me, dinner also included Fresh Pineapple!! For snack I had the last two of the goodies from my mother-in-law. (I did mention they're bite-sized, right?)

Food Check-In

2011-04-01T18:53:00.004-04:00

Breakfast, a sausage sandwich one the way out the door and a couple swallows of Vanilla flavored Almond Milk. Right the carton. Yeah, I'm like that.

Mid morning Snack, more almonds.

Lunch, leftover Asian salad from last night, and because I got my lunch pretty late, I ate the trail mix I intended for my afternoon snack because I was still hungry.

No afternoon snack, because I ate it early.

Dinner/Supper/the meal I'm trying not to drop on the laptop, spicy, Fajita-style grilled chicken and bell peppers over spring mix with chopped tomatoes, tortilla chips and a small sprinkle of shredded cheese. For dressing, I used the Spicy Chipotle Vinagrette we made last night. Hubby had seconds, I am going to have a glass of Almond Milk instead.

So far, I feel like I'm doing pretty good.

***Evening snack time. Will raid the baked goods from Mom-in-law again. Only having two cookie/bear claw thingies.***

Spicy Chipotle Vinagrette

2011-03-31T21:02:00.003-04:00

This is another doctored up Good Seasons Recipe. I don't always use their mix for my start, but when it's got what you need anyway, why not? Plus it makes the recipes easier to share!

Prepare the Good Seasons mix with White Balsamic Vinegar and Olive Oil.

Then add the following and shake again.

2 tsp Hot Sauce (We love Poblano brand.)

1 tsp Chipotle Powder

1/4 tsp Ancho Chili Powder

1/2 tsp Ground Cumin

1/2 tsp Oregano

1/2 tsp Garlic Powder

A little bit of heat and a great smoky, chipotle flavor. We were enjoying it with raw bell pepper strips.

Awesome Asian-Inspired Salad

2011-03-31T19:27:00.001-04:00

For the dressing, you'll need:

Good Seasons Italian Dressing Packet

Sesame Oil (a flavorful one, like Kadoya)

Unseasoned Rice Vinegar

Soy Sauce

Make Dressing according to package instructions, add soy sauce to taste. I like a lot, but some of you might not enjoy the sodium.

For the salad, you'll need:

More Sesame Oil

McCormick Perfect Pinch Roasted Garlic and Red Pepper

Roasted Sesame Seeds

Sea Salt

Chicken (whatever cut you prefer, about 10 oz.)

Baby Spinach, Spring Mix or whatever greens you like best.

8 oz. can Sliced Water Chestnuts

15 oz. can Mandarin Oranges in Light Syrup

Crispy noodles.

Grill the Chicken in Sesame Oil. I usually cut it into small pieces before cooking to get more seasoning onto it. Season with Sea Salt and Perfect Pinch to taste. Throw in a generous amount of Sesame Seeds. When the Chicken is almost fully cooked, add the Water Chestnuts to warm them up and coat them with seasonings.

Serve the Chicken and Water Chestnuts over the greens and top with mandarin oranges and crispy noodles. Drizzle with your Sesame Vinagrette and Enjoy.

Greens in the bowl first

Holding myself accountable. Get Healthy Check-in.

2011-03-31T19:16:00.003-04:00

So, I had breakfast at home today. Two ounce sausage patty on a biscuit.

For a morning snack I had whole almonds. They had donuts at the meeting, and I did have one, but I took a smallish one with very little frosting and no filling.

For lunch, I ate pretty lousy, 2 slices of pepperoni pizza, but I skipped the cookies and soda and went for fruit juice and the Cherry Almond Trail mix I packed.

I had more almonds for a snack on the way home.

For dinner, we are having an Asian inspired salad! Spring Mix, Mandarin oranges, chicken, water chestnuts, and crispy noodles with an awesome sesame vinagrette. I'm still a bit hungry, so I'm going to have a bit of my Sesame Marinated Tofu.

For a snack later, I'm going to try to get away with a tall glass of Vanilla flavored Almond Breeze.

***edit*** my snack ended up being a few strips of bell pepper to try out an awesome new dressing recipe i whipped up, and Mom-in-law goodies with my almond milk. If love is an ingredient, do the calories still count?***

By the way, I felt really guilty about the pizza and it didn't sit all that well. That'll teach me, I guess.

Train, Train! Take me on out of this town.

2011-03-30T21:23:00.001-04:00

Ok, it's really more like "Take me on out of this self-defeating, half-assed backwards mindset," but what can I say, I'm sort of a Blackfoot fan.

This past year sucked. Say it with me: "2010 sucked!" But, at the risk of turning into a walking cliche, there's been a silver lining in a lot of it.

Sure, my house almost burned down, but I didn't have to finish painting the 3rd floor and we got a kitchen/bathroom remodel.

Sure, I dislocated my knee and was out of work 3 weeks. but I got like a dozen afghans done for charity.

On the downside, is that all of the upheaval and, let's be honest, boredom, has lead to a lot of really, REALLY lousy eating habits.(And a serious Facebook addiction.) For so long, we were forced to eat based on convenience and now it's become our first instinct. We used to relish a chance to cook together, now we don't bother unless it's 3 days till the next check and there's $10 in the bank account.

I made fantastic Chipotle Corn Chowder for dinner the other night, but not because I had a brilliant recipe idea, it was because all I had left in the fridge was frozen corn, a stick of butter and a little milk.

At any rate, I ran into an old friend the other day, and she looked AWESOME! (Good for you, JuneBug!) Turns out, all she's doing different from my fat ass, is that she's actually doing all the things I keep meaning to do. Regular Yoga, eating the way she needs to, and so on. Basically, not being a useless lump after she punches out from work.

WAIT! That's all I need to do? Really? I swear on all that is holy and good, there really is something wrong with me. I can't even get my prescription filled on time. (Which I was gonna do tonight, I swear.)

And then I was sitting and thinking about it, I know I'm lactose intolerant, why do I continue to eat dairy? Why do I say, "well, I could have a little more milk before I have to worry about getting sick"? When I should be saying "I don't normally eat that, but for your birthday, I could have a smidge of Ice Cream."

I know that I can't eat onions. (Migraines) Yet over and over again, I find myself staring at Scallions or Chives saying "if I'm careful not to eat much of it, I'll be fine." When I should be saying "I should just skip this" or "I need to learn to cook this myself, you know, onion free, so I don't risk puking or missing work."

I genuinely love healthy goodies like dried fruit, nuts and seeds. So why don't I eat them?? I have a huge bag of almonds, could I tell you where it even is? Nevermind, when the last time I actually ate some of them.

I love Yoga. It centers me. It makes me feel awesome, spiritually and physically. If I did yoga yesterday, I can almost guarantee I'll do yoga today. Problem is, if life happens and I have to skip a day, it takes me like a week (or sometimes more) to get around to it again. Why??? What's wrong with me?

I could keep whining and say "I have OCD, I can't help it, I fixate on everything that sucks." Let's be honest, I'm on meds for that (which I still need to get refilled) and I know that I train myself to fixate on the good instead of the crap, I've done it in the past.

I'm not happy at work. Things are finally changing for the better, but it all feels like too little too late. So why don't I fixate on the things that do make me happy, you know, the not work stuff. How about yoga and almonds, cuddling with the cat or the fact that after almost 5 years, I'm still glad I married my husband. This isn't rocket science. It's easy stuff.

I need to just keep my eyes on the prize. No more onions, limit dairy to dry cheeses like parmesan and cheddar or things like sheep's milk feta which doesn't upset my stomach. Eat smaller, healthier snacks. Enjoy my food for the flavor, not the quantity. Pack a lunch, have breakfast at home.

Back to the basics! Need to get it right this time. Aside from the fact that I can't keep up with my favorite 4 yr old any more, I need to not look like a moose in the pictures at my sister's upcoming wedding.

Share with me! What have your "get healthy" victories been? Keep me motivated.

I'm not going to track my progress with weight loss. I'm going to track it in pants sizes. I'm also going to pay a visit to a giant staircase not far from our house (90 steps) and time myself climbing up and back down. Every week I'm going to go back and time myself again. I'm going to post the times here to keep myself honest.

Wish me luck.

Sesame Marinated Tofu

2011-03-30T20:00:00.000-04:00

I know what you're thinking. It's probably one of two thing: "EWW!!! TOFU? EWW!!!" or "Holy Crap! She really is a hippy!"

Trust me on this one, it's way tastier than you think.

Extra Firm or Super Firm Tofu (usually in the refrigerated part of produce or in the Vegan section)

Sesame Oil (like Kadoya)

Fine Ground Sea Salt

Roasted Sesame Seeds

Lots of paper towels.

First of all, I recommend Kadoya Sesame oil because it has a really great toasted sesame flavor. Also, it's actually made in Japan and it's super cheap at Wegmans.

Second, the tofu. Not all tofu is the flavorless, pale, wiggly mush that a lot of people think of. Yes, tofu has a mild flavor, and yes it does take on a lot of the flavor of whatever it's prepared with. This is what you're counting on in this recipe.

***

Open your tofu package, drain out all the liquid and don't look back. You don't want or need that liquid anymore. Cut your tofu into 1/2 inch slices. After you cut each slice, gently squeeze out as much water as you can using paper towels to soak it up. You'll see that the Extra/super Firm Tofu has a pretty solid texture and it will get even more solid when you take even more water out of it.

Cut your slice in half, lengthwise, and soak more water out of it on the newly cut side. Then cut your "stick" of tofu into cubes. You could soak even more water out at this point, but I generally don't bother. It's usually pretty solid at this point.

Extra/Super Firm tofu with the extra water taken out has a pretty agreeable, mild flavor and a palatable texture.

Put all of your tofu into a bowl that will allow enough room to gently stir your tofu. Lightly coat with with the sesame oil, salt to taste and add a generous helping of sesame seeds.

You can eat it now, or refrigerate for a few days. You'll probably be surprised how much you enjoy this.

Cherry Almond Trail Mix

2011-03-30T19:00:00.003-04:00

Whipped this up tonight to encourage the hubby to snack a little better.

Mix (roughly) visually equal parts:

Dried Sweet Cherries (not sweetened cherries)

Whole Almonds (raw, toasted, whatever)

Nestle White Chips

Stir together. Enjoy.

I portioned ours into snack baggies in 1/3 cup servings.

Hardware Store Bracelet

2011-03-17T22:05:00.000-04:00

I bought everything I needed (materials wise) for this bracelet at Home Depot for less than $10.

Shopping List:

Neon Cord - 5/32" Diamond Braid Poly, All-Purpose Cord. I bought blue, but it comes in other colors.
1/4" - 20 Hex Nuts or machine nuts.
1" S hooks

Tools from home:

size N crochet hook
large eye needle
sturdy pliers

Thread about 20 nuts onto your cord. Start off with a slip knot around your hook, leaving about a 4" tail

Slide 1 nut against the knot and work your chain stitch, the nut should fall onto the "back" of the chain.

Slide 1 nut against work and chain 1. Repeat to desired length. You probably won't need all of the nuts, I only needed about a dozen, but extra is always good.

To add your closure, unravel the outer layer of the cord until about 1" from your work. Cut off the inner core. With your needle, weave the unraveled ends back through your work.

Repeat for other end. Slip S hook into one loop, and squeeze closed with the pliers. Leave the other end open so you have an S clasp.

*****

I know I don't generally post things like this on this blog, but it seemed like a hippy appropriate thing, so I'm sharing anyway.

Solid What??

2011-02-28T10:28:00.001-05:00

So, I was over in Historic Bethlehem the other day, and I stumbled onto a wonderful little shop called the LaRose Boutique. They sell natural and organic bath and body goodies - including but not limited to wonderful handcrafted soaps and scrubs. I bought Shea Honey Oat Soap and I haven't had the opportunity to try it yet.

I also bought Solid Perfume for my sister. Saw it, thought of her, that kind of thing. But I'm intrigued. I think I could finally have my Cinnamon Patchouli that I love so much without having to mix fresh oils every few days. (In other words, not a pain in the ass, so I would actually be able to wear it again.)

LaRose is totally worth the stop if you're in the area. The entire store smells wonderful and the woman who runs it is a sweetheart. It's also in a great little neighborhood full of specialty shops, including at least 3 art galleries (I love the Snow Goose!) and a Magick store.

Flavors.

2011-02-26T23:40:00.000-05:00

Made more lipbalm the other night, Honey Almond with a touch of cinnamon. It turned out fantastic!

Then I tried to make Pina Colada. What a mess. The first try, the pineapple turned into a giant gooey blog, and the second try the pineapple powder integrated but I'm really not happy with how the flavor turned out. You can't taste the pineapple over all the coconut. I'm going to have to find a better/different way of flavoring this one.

I'm thinking of looking for a pineapple extract or a pineapple candy flavor and see how that goes.

Homemade Lip Balm = Epic Win!

2011-02-14T12:04:00.000-05:00

I made another batch of lip balm this morning and I decided to take what I learned from using the recipe and just kinda wing it. I used the same amount of beeswax, but used coconut and safflower oils instead of just almond. Kept the Vitamin E, used Sweet Orange again, but I skipped the cocoa and honey.

It turned out good. It's yummy, it's a little more solid this time, and I managed to make a slightly bigger batch of this one.

I'm not sure whether the solidity is owed to the coconut oil (which is solid at room temp, if you've never seen it) or if it's because I left out the honey, but I need to remember that this recipe hardens faster than the other one does. I think I'll need to pour this one without dropping the pot into cold water.

At any rate, I'm having a blast and feeling really good about what I'm doing. Especially after the week with a sling in which I basically sat around and bitched about the sling, because it was something to blame my boredom on. Honestly, even without the sling, there's no way I could have grated beeswax with how my wrist and fingers felt last week.

I think that I'm going to whip up one more batch of balm before I have to pack it in and head to work. I'm thinking Wintergreen this time. I really want to make mint, but everybody does Peppermint. I also need to spend some time working on a list of infused oils I want to make. Definitely Vanilla Bean, because Vanilla Bean + Sweet Orange + Wintergreen = Root Beer! Not kidding, it's an incredibly close approximation. And I can probably get closer if I wait until spring and dig some sassafras root at my grandparent's house.

Any flavor ideas would be welcome, let me know!

Homemade Lip Balm = WIN!

2011-02-14T01:22:00.000-05:00

I made homemade lip balm using one of these Recipes, from Crunchy Betty.com, the Luscious Lavender one. I used a little extra cocoa and sweet orange oil and I've really excited about how it's turning out. It's not even totally set up yet but I stole some anyway to give it a shot.

It's super yummy and seems to work pretty good. And having a recipe to follow for the first batch has totally gotten me over my fear of making lip balm, so keep an eye out for new stuff from your favorite hippy.

Salt and Sugar and Soft Hands, Oh My!

2011-02-12T23:07:00.000-05:00

So about 2 weeks ago or so, I put together a Peppermint and Tea Tree salt scrub to go with Auntie Age's Best Foot Soak Ever. It still needs some tweaking to perfect the formula, but I was pretty happy with the results, given that it's only the second scrub I've ever made from scratch and the first one turn out to not have a very good shelf life even though the results were pretty awesome.

Tonight I tried another new scrub. This one is a Orange Spice Sugar scrub and I'll going to try it tonight before bed. (I'm nervous about the idea of trying a new scrub and then sitting down with the laptop, just in case it turned out too greasy.) I will post the outcome after I've tried it.

I'm thinking that if I can get the formulations right, I just might start to package and sell them. Any takers?

So I Guess I'm the Ice Lady now.

2011-02-12T16:13:00.000-05:00

I stopped into to one of the places I grab lunch from sometimes and the clerk called me the ice lady. Great. Not only was I stuck in a sling for a week after I fell in the alley, now I've earned a nickname for it. On the plus side, I've gotten some good brainstorming in and have been working on collecting the ingredients for some new hippy treats.

I will be working to perfect my salt scrub formula as well as working on a sugar scrub base. And I got a great link from my cousin (Thanks, Manda!) for some homemade lip balm recipes, so I'll be playing with that over the next week or so.

Hopefully I can get back to crocheting before too long, but in the meantime, without the sling, I am one happy hippy. Even if I am getting called the Ice Lady.

One thing this hippy can't live without.

2011-01-29T12:17:00.001-05:00

There's a lot of things that this hippy will gladly give up. I will divide food into single servings myself, rather than buying prepackaged snack, because it saves on packaging. I gladly gave up using pads or tampons in favor of my Diva Cup.

I'm in the process of learning to totally give up potato chips in favor of healthier options like multigrain crackers. I'm actually looking forward to getting organized enough that I can give up fast food. I happily gave up soda for flavored seltzer.

But there's one thing that I cannot live without and that is technology. I have been having a serious difficulty handling not having a laptop and I have finally gotten a new one! We broke down and bought a new Toshiba Satellite and I love it.

So get used to having regular doses of your Favorite Hippy. The only problem now is that since our router died, my laptop is the only computer that can access the internet. Which means trying to work out all the bugs of sharing it with my husband.

Toasty Delicious Pepitos

2010-11-05T00:25:00.001-04:00

raw pumpkin seeds
2-3 Tbsp butter, melted
1/2 - 2/3 cup brown sugar, not packed!
cinnamon to taste (I love cinnamon and used like 1 1/2 Tbsp

When you pull your seeds from your pumpkin, clean them thoroughly and let them dry completely (3 or 4 days, usually). This is always the hardest part for me, finding the patience while they dry, I want to enjoy them NOW, dammit! Stir the seeds around a few times a day so they can all dry. Once they're dry, the seeds will no longer stick together, and if you've never handled raw pumpkin seeds before, you'll notice they feel a bit soft compared to the toasted ones you're used to.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Place seeds on a cookie sheet or sheet pan. Pour melted butter over the seeds, stir until coated and spread into a thin layer. Sprinkle with cinnamon and brown sugar and stir a bit.

Place in oven for approximately 15 minutes or until seeds are just starting to darken in color. The brown sugar-butter mixture should be bubbly and gooey looking. Stir the seeds until well coated with the melted sugar.

Enjoy warm, or let them cool and enjoy them later. If any seeds survive long enough to cool, make sure you stir them occasionally as the cool to keep them from becoming one solid brick of pumpkin seeds.

My Review of Bob's Red Mill Creamy Brown Rice Farina

2010-11-03T23:41:00.001-04:00

Originally submitted at Bob's Red Mill

Brown Rice Farina Cereal is freshly milled from the finest California whole grain brown rice. Rice is non-allergenic and therefore an excellent cereal for youngsters. Bob's creamy rice farina cereal has a very special flavor and quality of its own. Try some today!

Great Morning, Noon and Night.

By the Tilghman Street Hippy from Allentown, PA on 11/3/2010

Pros: Easy To Make, Flavorful, Tasty, Unique, Healthy

Cons: Cooks over in microwave

Best Uses: breakfast, Snack, Cooking

Describe Yourself: Simple Tastes, Likes to personalize dish

I love this cereal. I first bought it for a fast, hot breakfast option for fall and winter. It's great, because you can change it to suit your mood. I like it best with pumpkin butter, apricot butter or cinnamon and agave syrup. The only trouble I have with it is that it tends to cook over in my microwave, but I'm not convinced it isn't the shape of the bowl I use.

(legalese)

Taco Soup

2010-11-03T23:18:00.000-04:00

This is a quickie recipe with lots of canned ingredients, but it turned out great. We'll be making it again soon.

1 lb. (roughly) ground beef, browned, seasoned with salt and pepper to taste
2 - 15 oz cans diced tomatoes
1 - 6 oz can tomato paste
1 medium bell pepper, chopped
1 jalapeno, chopped finely
1 small can black olives, drained
1 packet Taco seasoning of your choice
Chili Powder and hot pepper(s) to taste (I also used Ancho and Chipotle)
Salt and Pepper to taste
Shredded Cheddar
Sour Cream (optional)

Combine all ingredients, except cheese and sour cream in a 6 quart stock pot. Add water until broth is desired thickness. Boil until flavors are well blended and peppers and tomatoes are cooked.

Serve topped with cheese and sour cream. Enjoy the hell out of it!

This soup would also be very nice with fried tortilla strips floated in it, and would adapt nicely to a vegetarian dish by substituting something like Boca Ground Crumbles for the ground beef.

Um, wow.

2010-11-03T23:09:00.000-04:00

I signed on tonight because I wanted to brag about my awesome homemade pumpkin butter I made on Halloween and the super good taco soup I made yesterday, I'm seeing that a few posts seem to have gone missing.

I've very confused by this, although, honestly not all that concerned, because I don't really remember them having been anything important. It's more that the two month gaps between posts makes me look like I'm an ass who doesn't bother to update.

Well anyway, the pumpkin butter was made from an actual pumpkin, not the canned crap. We steamed/baked it and then boiled the crap out of it. (Sarah helped keep an eye on this part.) Then I split it in half and made one half into a "No Sugar Added" with some Splenda and the other half got Dark Brown Sugar.

I borrowed Lisa's boat motor (immersion blender) to break up the pieces that I was too impatient to wait for. You know, the one's that were done but hadn't fallen apart yet. Then we added Saigon Cinnamon, Cloves, Allspice and Grated Ginger.

Awesome stuff. I'm actually eating some now mixed into Bob's Red Mill Brown Rice Farina.

Then there was the Taco Soup, which I'm going to post separately as a recipe.

The Hippy's Energy Bark

2010-08-27T08:23:00.000-04:00

I love this stuff. It's an amped up, salty-sweet, crunchy-chewy, kick in the pants version of Almond Bark!

Here's what you need, but I'm warn you, some of the measurements are kinda fast and loose.

16 oz Semi-Sweet Chocolate (I use Baker's - it's cheap and good quality)
2 oz Whole Almonds (46 almonds or a handful)
1 hand-full of 3 out of 4 Dried Cherries, Dried Cranberries, Dried Currants or Raisins. (remember, you only need 3 of these)
1 hand-full plus some Roasted Salted Sunflower kernels
2 Tbsp Chia Seeds
2 Tbsp Poppy Seeds
2 Tbsp Teff (I use brown, I don't think Ivory would make a different in this recipe)
2 Tbsp Hulled Hemp Seed
2 Tbsp Hawaiian Spirulina Powder (if you can't find a jar of Powder, get the capsules and open them up.

Melt the chocolate by you preferred method (microwave at 1/2 power or double boiler). Add the larger ingredients plus the Spirulina, stir until coated. Add the little stuff, stir until coated. Press flat in a wax paper lined cookie sheet or right on the table. The almonds will prevent you from pressing too thin.

Refrigerate until chocolate is set up. Break into smaller pieces. Enjoy. Store in the refrigerator because Hemp Seed can go rancid pretty easily at warmer temperatures.

About this stuff.
Because of the abundance of seeds and the spirulina, this bark has well over 100 different nutrients including Omega 3 and 6. The chia helps your body hold on to hydration. Almonds are great for you. The darker the chocolate, the more anti-oxidants it has and the more capabilities it has as a natural anti-inflammatory. The spirulina gives a natural energy boost. It's got lots of protein to help keep you full.

Plus, it's chocolate!

Another Awesome Popcorn Sprinkle

2010-07-25T21:53:00.001-04:00

So, I found another awesome popcorn sprinkle. And this one isn't a recipe. McCormick has a line of spice blends called Perfect Pinch and the Parmesan Herb is amazing on fresh popcorn. Trust me. It's also good (with a little olive oil) for tossing with pasta!

Firecracker Popcorn Sprinkle

2010-07-19T22:42:00.000-04:00

So, one of my favorite spices, no question, is Hungarian Hot Paprika. It's got a great heat, and a really good pepper flavor. It's good in Mexican, on popcorn, in place of regular paprika, anywhere that you want a little kick.

Firecracker Popcorn Sprinkle

3 tsp Himalayan Pink Salt or Fine Sea Salt
3 tsp Garlic Powder
3 Tbsp. Hungarian Hot Paprika

Combine all ingredients in either a spice shaker or a small bowl. Mix or shake until evenly distributed. Use with caution until you're used to the heat of the paprika.

Chile Lime Popcorn Sprinkle.

2010-07-19T00:29:00.001-04:00

I love popcorn. I mean, LOVE popcorn. But I'm finding I'm not a huge fan of movie theater butter microwave popcorn anymore. Not like when I was in college. I don't know if it has something to do with have a Dale & Thomas shop over at the mall or what, but I'm getting more and more interested in unusual popcorn seasonings/toppings. There's a couple more popcorn recipes coming down the pike, but for now, enjoy this one!

Chile Lime Popcorn Sprinkle

12 packets of True Lime or equivalent measure of True Lime Shaker
3 tsp. Himalayan Pink Salt or Fine Sea Salt
2 Tbsp. Chili Powder

Combine in small storage container or spice jar. Shake well. Sprinkle liberally on your popcorn and enjoy.

Notes:

If you can't find/don't have/won't buy Pink Salt, use the Sea Salt. For things like this, I prefer the Pink Salt because it doesn't actually have a distinctive flavor different from other salts.
Bed, Bath and Beyond carries glass spice jars with a shaker disc for $ .99 which work great for storing this.
If you want to make this for one batch of popcorn at a time, use 1 True Lime Packet, 1/4 tsp of Salt and 1/2 tsp of Chili Powder (roughly). Not everyone's "batch" of popcorn is that same size as mine.

Wasabi Mustard!!!!

2010-07-09T22:27:00.000-04:00

So, those of you who know me personally might find this hard to believe, but today when I made wasabi mustard, I actually MEASURED the ingredients.

Wasabi Mustard

1 3/4 - 2 oz Ground Mustard
3 Tbsp White Vinegar
3 Tbsp Water
1/4 - 1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp powdered wasabi
salt and pepper to taste

Stir all ingredients in a small bowl until well blended. Cover tightly and keep refrigerated.

Use with Caution.

Totally Loving This Stuff!

2010-07-07T10:54:00.000-04:00

Just wanted to note a couple of things we're totally loving at our house.

Living Intentions Salad Booster, The Original - seeds, spouted grains, seasonings and super foods - including spirulina. Oh, yeah, and it tastes great. It comes is a cheesy vegan flavor, too.

Twinings Cold Brew Tea - we're loving the mixed berry and the mint green tea. It brews in cold water in a minute or two, so there's no need to boil water and then wait for things to cool off before you enjoy your tea. Plus one box will do two 3-qt. pitchers of tea.

Lipton's Larger Sizes of Tea Bags - Lipton makes their tea bags in Family and Gallon sizes. They're awesome for the Mr. Coffee Iced Tea Pot. It makes brewing a cinch, and the gallon size ones are big enough that you can use the tea bag itself as a filter if you're adding things like Fresh Mint or dried herbs.

I also love my new bathtub, my Super Sharpie, and Ricky - because he's fixing my hardwood floor!

Seventh Generation

2010-07-04T23:23:00.000-04:00

Just wanted to make a quick comment. The other day we picked up Seventh Generation's Free and Clear Dish Soap. It's non-toxic, and has no dye or frangrance. Also, it's hypoallergenic and biodegradable. Oh, and it works really well, and costs essentially the same as the major brands.

We're taking baby steps but we're getting there.

Super Citrus Vinagrette

2010-07-04T21:44:00.000-04:00

1 Good Seasons Italian Dressing Packet
1 packet True Lime
2 packets True Orange
Vegetable Oil
White Balsamic Vinegar
Water

Prepare according to package directions with vegetable oil and white balsamic vinegar. Shake well, add the True Orange and Lime and shake again.

Enjoy!

Your Favorite Hippy is Back Online

2010-07-03T18:41:00.000-04:00

So after all this time, we're finally getting settled back into the house. We've been living in it for almost 3 weeks, but it's only now starting to feel like ours again. All the damage from the fire has been repaired at this point but we haven't started to unpack yet because the bathroom remodel isn't done yet and repairing the living room floor and redoing the kitchen come after that, as well as the touch up painting in the whole house. When things are finished up, I'll post some pictures.

I haven't been totally lazy while I haven't been online, although admittedly, my dislocated kneecap is slowing me down quite a bit. But... I do have a few recipes to get posted, including two for awesome salads, both using variations on Good Seasons dressing mix packets.

I have my follow up with the orthopedic on Thursday, wish me luck.

Thoughts, Prayers, Vibes

2010-05-03T18:23:00.000-04:00

Please keep our neighbors in your thoughts and prayers tonight. An arsonist struck our neighborhood early this morning. If you don't know, we live in row homes, so the whole thing was pretty scary for us, since it was the house next door to ours that burned.

We're fine, just temporarily displaced. Everybody next door got out, some with the help of the fire department some on their own. The house that burned was converted into 2 apartments. The family downstairs got out pretty safely, although their little guy was taken to the hospital just to make sure he was ok.

The upstairs family was not as lucky, the fire department had to force entry and all four of them were taken to the hospital. Their 5 year old daughter is in critical condition, but from what I've heard they think she'll be ok.

Please keep these to families in your thoughts, send vibes, add them to your prayer list, whatever it is that you do. Also, please think of the family on the other side who only closed on their house last week.

Progress Report.

2010-03-23T00:47:00.001-04:00

Well, let's see. I've pretty much completely given up soda in favor of Polar, Naturally flavored seltzer - no carbs, no calories, no sodium. I was drinking strictly water, water with True Lemon, Lime or Orange, or tea (unsweetened or sweetened with either agave syrup or Sun Crystals-half stevia, half sugar) but I realized I really missed having something fizzy.

At any rate, that's a huge source of sugar totally gone from my diet and Polar's Vanilla Seltzer is kinda like Vanilla Cream Soda for grown-ups.

Even Hubby is loving the soap nuts and is taking a handful to his parents tomorrow, we managed to talk them into trying them.

We're both packing lunch nearly everyday and I'm even having breakfast more often than not.

We're getting there.

This past weekend we did a ton of planting in the garden(s). Pansies and Daffodils out front - which gives the added bonus that we can add the pansy petals to salads if we want. And we put in Asparagus roots and Onion sets out back. Not sure what other veggies we're planting yet, but we're thinking of hanging strawberries on the fence.

It's been almost a year, and I'm still loving the Diva Cup although I did pick up a Glad Rag the other day for "those" days.

I've always had a hard time making myself eat yogurt, but StonyField Organics seems to be the answer to that one. They have awesome flavors like Strawberry-Pomegranate and a French Vanilla that's so creamy even I love it plain (although it's good with Cinnamon graham crackers) and my personal favorite and every chocolate lovers dream yogurt Chocolate Underground. It's their same awesome Vanilla yogurt, but with a layer of chocolate hidden under it. Not chocolate yogurt, CHOCOLATE.

I still haven't needed to replace my Crystal Deodorant, although I did buy a second one because Hubby started using it too, and I got tired of sharing. I like to put it one when I'm wet, but since he showers at night, but likes to put on deodorant right before leaving in the morning, he was wetting the deodorant crystal. Totally valid option, but I got tired of freezing cold water dribbling down my side in the morning.

I'm totally natural for treating my allergies for almost a year now also. Stinging Nettle daily and sinus rinses as needed are taking care of me better the traditional prescriptions ever did.

All in all, so far, I'm still kinda fat, but I'm happy. We're living better, eating better and saving lots of money in wacky little ways. I haven't bought new deodorant in almost a year and couldn't tell you the last time that I bought pads. We're off to a good start. If only I could actually remember to take my reusable shopping when I leave the house, we'd be awesome.

Soap Nuts.

2010-02-19T09:59:00.000-05:00

Yes, I said Soap Nuts. Actually, they're the dried berry of the Chinese Soapberry Tree.

Anyway, had to go to King of Prussia the other day and while we were that far, we decided to pop over to West Chester to go to Senora's Authentic Mexican (I don't how to do the thingy on the 'N') for lunch. Then we thought, while we're here, let's see if the Great Pumpkin Market is still open.

I had heard about Soap Nuts before, but I hadn't seen them in a store, at least not that I can remember. The best part, they had them in a trial size. Which meant I didn't have to buy the 80 load huge box, just to try them. So we've got the first load in the wash right now. Wish me luck.

Here's the deal about Soap Nuts. First thing, if you want all the info go to Maggie's Pure Land Products website. But I'll summarize it here. Basically, they're a natural source of Saponin which is a natural cleanser. It's been used for something like 2500 years and is low sudsing and safe for high efficiency machines.

You take like 5 of them and put them in a cotton pouch and toss it in the washer (use less for hot water). It's fragrance free and works naturally as a fabric softener, which is great for me because I'm allergic to fabric softener. And you get to reuse them. Once the saponin's gone you toss them in the compost pile or turn them under in the garden.

I'll let you know how it turns out, but everything I can find online says that everyone who uses them loves them.

This Hippy Has a Plan

2010-01-04T22:12:00.000-05:00

So, things have got to change at this hippy's house. We're disorganized at best and it shows almost more than anywhere else in our eating habits. And we both ought to get it under control, because we need to get our weight maintained better for our health. I have arthritis in my spine and really bad knees and he has acid reflux and apnea. It's all aggravated by excess weight, which let me tell you, we have plenty of at this house.

So, we have a dear friend who also needs to make some major changes for health reasons, and she has a diabetic son. So, our family is going to support her family and vice versa. We have some similar hurdles, like a tendency to skip breakfast, and not eat as regularly as we should. We all need to get our portions under control, especially for snacks.

Our plan is not the same as hers, but they're similar enough that we can help each other a lot. As steps of the plan become habit, we're gonna add new things, until we're doing what we need to do.

So here's the plan:
No more high fructose corn syrup.

No "regular" pasta where it's avoidable. We're gonna use whole wheat and high protein whenever it's possible. (Try finding whole wheat Acini de Pepe in this area.)

Eat breakfast everyday.

Smaller snacks more often. (Not one huge snack late at night.)

Pack a lunch.

Plan out a whole week's meals at a time so we can shop more effectively.

Wish us luck.

More cocoa recipes. (pt 2)

2009-12-24T00:18:00.001-05:00

Oh, my. Mocha Cocoa

combine:

3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa
1/2 cup superfine sugar
1 1/2 Tbsp powdered vanilla
2 packets Starbucks Via Extra Bold Italian Roast

in a mixing bowl.

To enjoy, mix 2-3 Tablespoons into 1 cup of hot water or milk.

Just a heads up, if you're sensitive to caffeine this cocoa packs a bit of a kick. You might consider using the Decaf Via instead of the Italian Roast.

More cocoa recipes.

2009-12-24T00:10:00.000-05:00

Plain Jane Classic Cocoa

combine:

3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa
1/2 cup superfine sugar
1 Tbsp powdered vanilla

in a mixing bowl.

To enjoy, mix 2-3 Tablespoons into 1 cup of hot water or milk.

My friend Ann told me she doesn't like fancy cocoa, and it occurred that I never posted the basic recipe that all my fancy cocoas start with.

Another Convert

2009-12-21T12:14:00.000-05:00

A while ago, I bought my friend Lisa a stick of Crystal Rock Deodorant. I gave her some time to give it a try and asked her the other day what she thinks of it. SHE LOVES IT. That is all.

I spent my snow day on Cocoa (pt 3)

2009-12-19T22:45:00.000-05:00

Candy Cane Cocoa

combine:

3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa
1/2 cup superfine sugar
2 Tbsp finely crushed (almost to powder) peppermint candy

in a mixing bowl.

To enjoy, mix 2-3 Tablespoons into 1 cup of hot water or milk.

Crush your candy canes or starlight mints in a coffee grinder, or food processor to get to a powder quickly. I did mine with a mortar and pestle and it took forever. (My coffee grinder make everything taste like cloves from using it to grind spices a few too many times.)

I spent my snow day on Cocoa (pt. 2)

2009-12-19T22:39:00.000-05:00

Gingerbread Cocoa

combine:

1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa
1/2 cup superfine sugar
1/4 cup Sugar in the Raw (crushed to powder)
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp powdered vanilla

in a mixing bowl.

To enjoy, mix 2-3 Tablespoons into 1 cup of hot water or milk.

Sugar in the Raw comes as rather large crystals and will need to be crushed down somewhat for this recipe to make sure it dissolves completely. It's added for it's molasses content and could be replaced with superfine sugar without sacrificing much taste.

I get my powdered vanilla at Kitchen Krafts in Quakertown.

I spent my snow day on Cocoa

2009-12-19T22:32:00.000-05:00

First off, any day spent creating and sampling homemade gourmet hot cocoa recipes, automatically qualifies as awesome. Plus the snow was gorgeous and hubby was home to share it all with me. Or I should say, I was home to share it with him. It's unusual for me to have a Saturday off.

Anyway, here's the cocoa recipes.

Deep Dark Cocoa

Combine

1/2 cup dark cocoa
3/4 cup superfine sugar
1 Tbsp powdered vanilla
2 Tbsp grated dark chocolate (70% or so cacao)

in a mixing bowl.

To enjoy your cocoa, mix 2-3 Tablespoons in 1 cup of hot water or milk.

I like to use the side of the grater normally used for cheese to grate my chocolate. Something like Ghirardelli's Twilight Delight (72% cacao) works great for this.

If you're local to the Allentown area, I got my powdered vanilla that Kitchen Krafts down in the Quakertown Farmer's Market (Q-Mart) I haven't seen it anywhere else.

Ecos Natural Detergent

2009-12-07T12:43:00.000-05:00

So a while ago when I was at Sam's Club, I saw a bottle of natural detergent with soy based fabric softener, fragranced with Lavender oil. It's by a company called Ecos, and it was about the same price that all of the other detergents. Since I'm allergic (sneezing, watery eyes, etc) to the perfumes in a lot of laundry detergents, and whatever chemical they normally use to make fabric softener, I thought we'd try it.

It's been awesome. No laundry-related sneezing. The laundry smells good, it's really clean, and it seems to be pretty gentle on our black workpants. Definitely worth checking out.

Ecos Liquid Detergent

Super Easy Body Mist

2009-11-15T22:22:00.000-05:00

Distilled water
Fragrance or essential oil of your choice

Pour water into atomizer bottle, add oil. Shake well and spray on. If you don't use an essential oil, please to be sure to purchase a fragrance oil meant for soaps and body products. Many "room" and "home" type fragrance oils will irritate your skin.

Salt of the Earth Bath Soak

2009-11-15T21:48:00.000-05:00

A pair of recipes at the same time! More pamper yourself goodies. I'm gonna post them separately to make them easier to search from the recipe box.

Salt of the Earth Bath Soak
1 cup Epsom Salts
1 Tbsp ground(powdered) Kelp
approx 10 drops of Tea Tree Essential Oil
3 drops Cinnamon Leaf Essential Oil
5 drops colored dye (I like green for this one)
a few drops of Patchouli Essential Oil to your tastes

Add all items into a zippy bag and mix until color is consistent.

To Use: add desired amount to a hot bath and enjoy.

Bee Sweet Honey Scrub

2009-11-15T21:03:00.000-05:00

A pair of recipes at the same time! More pamper yourself goodies. I'm gonna post them separately to make them easier to search from the recipe box.

Bee Sweet Honey Scrub
1 cup clover honey
1 cup Sugar in the Raw
2 droppers full of Sweet Almond Oil
a dollop of Vitamin E

Mix thoroughly. With no water, this should keep relatively well in a sealed container.

To Use: Take a generous handful and scrub wet hands or feet. Because this is thick and sticky, it works best with a bit of warm water added when you use it. It rinses off really well, exfoliates mildly and leaves your skin pretty darn soft.

Wicked Hot Pumpkin Seeds

2009-11-01T19:43:00.000-05:00

Ok, so the pic's not fantastic, and the recipe's a bit overdue, but I only make these this morning. With all the humidity, it took days for my pumpkin seeds to dry.

Ingredients:
Fresh pumpkins seeds (rinsed well with all the stringy crap removed)
Table Salt
Hungarian Hot Paprika (or ground cayenne)
Vegetable Oil

Once your seeds are completely dry from the rinsing, preheat your oven to 300 degrees. While the oven preheats, pour a couple tablespoons of vegetable oil over the pumpkin seeds and stir until coated. Don't use any more oil than you have too.

Sprinkle with salt to taste and add paprika generously. Stir to coat. Spread seeds in a thin, even layer on a cookie sheet and bake for 30 minutes, stirring twice along the way. Let cool 5 minutes or so and enjoy.

***

My seeds are different sizes and colors because I carved my jack o'lanterns from a few different varieties of pumpkin. Some on them had small seeds and one even had seeds with no hull (that's the green ones).

Lotion in the works.

2009-11-01T09:18:00.000-05:00

I've been reading up on handmade hand lotion and scrubs and stuff. There are a couple of recipes brewing in my head. Will let you know when there are new additions to the recipe book.

I'm looking forward to it.

Auntie Age's Best Foot Soak Ever.

2009-10-03T10:24:00.000-04:00

Add the following to a zippy bag.

1.5 cups of Epsom Salts
8 drops of Peppermint Essential Oil
6 drops of Tea Tree Oil
a healthy dollop of Vitamin E oil (make sure it's just Vitamin E, many are diluted with Soybean or some other oil)
a few drops of dye (I use liquid soap dye)

Close bag tightly. Knead bag until color is consistent throughout mixture. (That's what the dye is for - the oils are very transparent and it's hard to tell if you've mixed well without the dye.)

Yield: 25 amazing foot soaks.

Directions for use:
Add 1 Tablespoon of Foot Soak to a basin of hot water. Soak feet and enjoy.

If you're soaking in the bath tub, I would double the amount of soak, so it's not too dilute to work it's magic.

Info about ingredients:
Epsom Salts: great for a relaxing, skin softening soak. Also good for soaking minor sprains and sore tired feet.

Vitamin E: softening nourishment for your skin.

Peppermint Oil: the scent is great for mental clarity and stress relief. Plus it has a cooling effect when applied to your skin.

Tea Tree Oil: know for it's antiseptic and deodorant properties, the inclusion of this is a must for a foot soak. Also, it's scent blends well with peppermint, softening it and adding an earthy note.

Greener Clean

2009-09-27T21:41:00.000-04:00

So I went to the grocery store tonight cause I needed new scrubbies since the dishwasher isn't working. And in the scrubbie section I found Scotch-brite Greener Clean Products.

The scrubbies are made 50% from agave fibers (renewable), the sponges are biodegradable, the cloths are made from bamboo fiber (highly renewable) and the soap pads are made from recycled soda bottles. And they're roughly the same price as the 'regular' products.

So I thought I'd give them a shot. I figured they're from Scotch-brite, they have to be half decent, right? I bought the soap pads, the sponges with the scrubbie thing on the back and the regular scrubbies. I've only tried the sponges so far and I have to say, they're awesome. Probably the best scubbies/sponges I've ever used.

**EDIT**
After further use, I'm still completely in love with the scrubbie sponges, not so much with the soap pads, of course, like Brillo pads, they have sort of a limited range of what they're meant for.

I don't love my canvas tote as much as you think I do.

2009-09-25T20:49:00.000-04:00

So, a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away. Ok, it was like 4 years ago, in NYC, I bought a couple of things at SoHome and they gave my a little unbleached canvas tote instead of a plastic shopping bag. Out of convenience - I loved the size of it - I started carrying it. A lot.

When work changed the dress code, and I had to start wearing dress pants (which if you don't know, means I no longer had pockets), it was fantastic. Just big enough for wallet, keys, cells, and a small craft project.

Well, at any rate, my cheaply made, not meant for daily use tote finally started to give out one me. One of straps finally tore off. Apparently, everyone thought that I adored this little tote bag.

I went up to my sister and she said "I have a couple of canvas totes if you want them." I thought, sure, why not? and took them. Then I was at my mom's and she said, "oh, I have a canvas tote you can have."

I said to her, wow, does everyone think that I love canvas totes or what?

"Well, the strap tore on that little one that you carried all the time, and we felt bad that your favorite bag tore, so we decided to give you ours."

Wow, I never realized that anyone thought I liked that little bag so much. Weird.

Gotta get back on track.

2009-09-06T13:28:00.000-04:00

This week, when I get paid, there will be a hard-core, fill the pantry farmer's market trip. I need to make granola bars. I have an idea for almond bars. I'm out of zippy bags. I need veggies. (All i have is mutant cucumbers from my garden.)

I might try to make some popcorn bars, also.

In other news, I made amazing Wasabi mustard this past week. I'll measure next time and post the recipe. Which brings me to the next item - Robyn is going to teach me to can, which means healthier eating (with no Onion - yay) and reusable packaging (ball jars).

This all makes for a very happy hippy. Now if only my house would clean itself.

Back on Track

2009-08-21T11:20:00.000-04:00

Mom is back home and I have off from work tomorrow. I think that this calls for a shopping trip so that I can get back on track with all the stuff I've been trying to accomplish.

Reusable bags + Farmer's Markets = Win.

In other news, Rothschild Farms will not be making oils anymore. I'll have to start making my own garlic oil. This could be fun.

Epic Failure

2009-08-08T10:28:00.000-04:00

So for the last couple of weeks, I've been taking care of my mom's cat. What does this mean? It means a lot of fast food, and grabbing crappy snacks and eating at stupid times of the day.

It means epic failure for creating less trash and trying to eat healthier. But, mom comes home on Tuesday and maybe we can get back into the swing of things.

All nettle is not created equal.

2009-07-20T10:13:00.000-04:00

I've learned another something new about the stinging nettle. Freeze dried whole leaves work great for me. Powdered extract in a capsule - now so much. In fact for me, not at all. Plus it costs more. A lot more. Ouch.

I'll keep buying from Sign of the Bear, thank you.

Stinging Nettle - Failure due to User Error

2009-06-18T00:54:00.000-04:00

So, the stinging nettle is fantastic. Except when I forgot to take it. Duh.

More Granola Bars

2009-06-16T00:14:00.000-04:00

So the other day, I was at Lisa's house and I made more granola bars. With some help. The 6-year-old across the street helped. And had a ton of fun. Then he was afraid to try them. About what I expected, honestly.

We made tropical flavor bars - dried pineapple, papaya and coconut, and crushed macadamias.

Then later, I made another batch with Raw Chocolate and Sweet Cherries.

Put it to the Test

2009-06-08T12:14:00.000-04:00

So a while ago, I decided to switch to an all natural deodorant. I bought Crystal Body Deodorant, which is a mineral salt, aluminum free "chunk" of deodorant. (also, you can use it on your feet.) I feel like it's not as good an antiperspirant as Mitchum, but I don't think anything is, and it seems to be, for me anyway, a better deodorant. **edit** I checked, Crystal Deodorant isn't an antiperspirant at all, duh **

The reason I looked into this in the first place was because I was getting huge pimples in my underarms. I mean, pimples that felt like I was sprouting a 2nd, evil, head from my armpit. And nothing, not even a prescription borrowed from a friend seemed to clear them up. It hurt like there's no words to apply deodorant over them or even touch them, and going without deodorant seemed to make them get even worse.

Well, this Crystal stuff seems to be doing the trick. No break outs, it keeps up with me in spite of my hyperhydrosis (excessive sweating) and I don't stink. A winner all around. Of course with summer getting here, we'll see if this stuff continues to keep pace.

So far, so good.

2009-06-03T08:38:00.000-04:00

So, I took the stinging nettle yesterday, and I felt really good. Better than I have in a long time, but I was thinking that the morning would make or break it. This morning was much better, even without the added benefit of a sinus rinse. I'm excited. Although, honestly, it still remains to be seen if this continues working. I seem to build up a tolerance to allergy meds awfully quick, but I'm hoping that this is different what with being a natural remedy and not really an antihistamine.

A very tasty fix, and a not quite so tasty one.

2009-06-02T12:04:00.000-04:00

So, since the doctor has nothing helpful to say about my allergies at this point other than "if you find something that works, stick with it," I'm pretty much willing to try anything. Yesterday, I saw an article in Woman's World that recommended Stinging Nettle as an alternative to things like Claritin and Zyrtec. So, I stopped at Sign of the Bear today to pick some up and we'll see how it goes.

This is where I'm at for allergy fixes.

Claritin - useless unless I take 3, then I can't function
Zyrtec - useless if I take if more than 2 days in a row
Allegra - works, but makes me unconscious
Benedryl - makes me groggy AND gives me night terrors (that's an awesome combination)
Clarinex - way too expensive for what little relief it provides
Xyzal - helped a bit, but nothing significant enough to be bothered with the Rx.
Flonase - useless except for when I'm severely congested
Alavert - see Claritin
Astelin - doesn't stay in my sinuses no matter what I do, therefore not helpful

Sinus rinses have helped a lot so far, but not enough. So the new plan is all natural - Stinging nettle once a day and sinus rinses as needed.

Now, the tasty fix - in order to keep exercising the way I need to, I need to keep my asthma and knee pain under control. My asthma's basically under control, that is, I rarely if ever need my rescue inhaler and we decided to take me off of the maintenance meds (Singulair) because I didn't seem to need them since I lost a little bit of weight.

My knee on the other hand, goes in spells, related to both the weather and my level of activity. Here's where the tasty fix comes in. Chocolate is a natural anti-inflammatory! The darker the better, it needs to be at least 70% cacao to work. Dagoba Chocolate makes a bar called Eclipse - 87% cacao - which I love! So, I'm going to be adding Extra Dark chocolate to my daily routine. (don't twist my arm!)

Wish me luck.

So, um, that was bad.

2009-05-24T21:06:00.000-04:00

Well, I'm convinced it's user error, but apparently I am incapable of emptying my DivaCup in the bathroom at work. I'll leave out the gory (not kidding) details, but let's just say crime scene and leave it at that.

Granola bars - another failure

2009-04-28T22:00:00.000-04:00

So the second batch of granola bars is a failure too, but at least it's an edible failure. They're just really sticky. Apparently, in my effort to make sure they'd be sticky enough, I over corrected. I have tasty but messy granola bars.