Sugar and Spice - wait, no sugar? WHAT?

So after a very fun filled weekend that included a Wegmans Avenger cake, a soccer ball cake, chocolate cupcakes and chocolate chip cookies for Reedster's 5th birthday celebrations, I felt it was time for me to start another round of a Sugar Detox.

Before you roll your eyes at yet another blog post on the internet about doing a detox to lose weight - STOP.  Here are a few things that I want to share.

• I'm not doing this to lose weight.  I'm doing this to get me back on the healthy eating train.  The last time I did the detox, I did lose about 5 lbs, but I attribute most of that to losing bloat.  My scale is broken right now so I cannot comment on my start weight right now but I'd imagine that I'm up 2-3 lbs from my lowest, which is when I finished the detox in March. 
• This isn't your "typical" detox, or at least what I thought a detox was before researching this one.  There are no shakes, or weird drinks (lemon water with cayenne - WHAT?) to consume. I'm eating real food, all day, every day - just NOT eating any processed foods and not eating as much fruit as I normally would. 
• I wouldn't recommend doing this type of thing if you haven't already in the past made changes toward a healthier lifestyle.  I think, if you are currently eating mostly or a lot of processed foods, starting with this is setting yourself up for failure.  Thankfully, I began looking more at what I'm consuming 3 years ago, so I've made baby steps toward this type of lifestyle and this wasn't a huge jump for me.  I started with tracking my food intake and exercise using myfitnesspal and a heart rate monitor.  I even continued throughout my entire pregnancy with G.  Laugh if you want, but I attribute my successful VBAC and getting back to pre-pregnancy weight mucho fast to eating healthfully and exercising nonstop!  Yes, I was the crazy prego woman in Booty Bounce the night I went into labor.  WHAT?  I was TRAINING for labor.  Guess what?  It worked!
• This detox REALLY works.  I completed the first round in March.  I had the support of a few people who did the detox with me.  This time, it's just two of us.  The things I noticed after the first round was done?  
• Increased energy.
• WAY improved mood - as in, I felt giddy.  
• Less cravings for sugar filled foods.

So, what DO I eat while on this 21 day sugar detox?  Here are some of the foods I've been eating this week:

(If you follow me on instagram, you can keep up with me.  I'll try to post at least one food picture a day.  My breakfast meals tend to be the same, and my lunches are similar ingredients during the week, so they can get repetitive.)

Breakfast: 2 organic eggs scrambled with organic chicken sausage, diced red bell peppers with some shredded cheddar cheese, coffee - either black, or plain milk or heavy cream

Lunches: Organic romaine lettuce, avocado, baked rosemary balsamic chicken, cherry tomatoes, yellow bell peppers - or today I left out the lettuce and ate some goat cheese with the rest of the ingredients

Dinners this week so far: Greek salad from Wegmans with olive oil and red wine vinegar for dressing, italian sausage link, red peppers, steamed broccoli and roasted cinnamon carrots, zucchini "spaghetti" with organic marinara sauce and leftover sausage and/or chicken 

Snacks: baby carrots or a cut up apple with my fave almond butter, veggies, almonds, pecans, cheese

I'm doing a combination of Level 1 and 2 and since this is my second round, I am being a little more lenient with cheese.  And I'm going to admit right now that I've been asked to do wedding cake taste testing with my middle sis this weekend and you better bet I'll be there.  I just plan on getting back on the detox train right after.  :)

So, is the detox something you would try?  What would be hard to give up?

Happy birthday Reedster!

I had the BEST morning today with my birthday boy.  Way better than the morning 5 years ago spent recovering from an unexpected c-section after a night of labor and 3 hours of pushing.  :)  After a super healthy breakfast of a mickey mouse chocolate chip pancake with syrup, chocolate ice cream and bacon, (eggs benedict for me), we headed to party city to get goodies for his party bags, and then to the mall where we bought him some new sneakers.

I dropped him off at school for some fun with friends and cake for their snack and I kid you not, every single kid yelled, "happy birthday" when we walked in the door.  Reed was in HEAVEN as everyone in his class gave him hugs and I teared up thinking of how grown up my little man is.

Before getting pregnant with Reed, I never really gave much thought to having a son.  Growing up with two sisters, it never really even dawned on me that I would have a boy.  When he was born, my heart was immediately taken by him.  I used to yell at EMX telling him that we had too many matchbox cars, but I often found myself in the car aisle at Target, or even Wegmans looking for cars that we didn't have yet.  I found myself buying 3 matchbox cars at Wegmans just today in fact.  It's a disease apparently.

So tough

We like to make weird faces.  WHAT?  

I know someday Reed won't want to give me hugs and kisses like he does now.  So any time he asks for ONE MORE hug and kiss, I never decline that request.  It won't be long before he's in Kindergarten, riding the school bus, and then going to elementary, middle and then, GULP, high school.

Someday they will hate me for this pic.

So for now, I'm going to enjoy every single hug and kiss from my "baby" boy, every snuggle, every "I love you mommy."  And right THIS second, I'm going to reminisce and look at pictures of Reedster from his early birthdays.  :)

2008

2008

2009

2010

Chelle's Chilly Weather Chili

OK, so it's "Spring."  But it's still freezing outside, so I figured I'd share my favorite chili recipe with you.  My "recipe" does change from time to time, but the basics are easy and you can substitute ingredients as you like.  My family doesn't like super spicy chili, so I stick to bell peppers, but you could certainly add some heat by adding jalapeno peppers to this!

Chelle’s Chilly Weather Chili
Adapted from Paula Deen's Chili in a biscuit bowl recipe

Printable Recipe
Ingredients:
2 lbs ground beef
2-3 bell peppers, any color you like
2 onions
4 (14 oz) cans diced or stewed tomatoes
4 tbsp chili powder
cumin to taste
dash cinnamon
cayenne pepper to taste
2-3 cans beans (kidney, black, pinto)
salt and pepper

Brown ground beef in a stock pan. Add diced peppers and onions and cook for a few minutes until vegetables are tender.  Drain most of the liquid from the pot.  Add canned tomatoes, canned beans (drained and rinsed), and seasonings.  I usually add the 4 tbsp chili powder and then just sprinkle in the cumin, cinnamon and cayenne pepper.  I use more cumin than the other seasonings.  Stir together, cover, and simmer on low for 45 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Serve with tortilla chips, shredded cheese, plain greek yogurt (in place of sour cream), fresh avocado.

NOTES: I’ve made this with Rotel as some of the tomatoes too and it is DELISH!  The tomatoes that I used today were what EMX picked up at the grocery store for me last night.  :)

Enjoy!

Happy Halloween!

The boys are carving Reed's pumpkin while Giselle and I watch.   :)

From the mouth of R...

Mommy: Get in the car Reed.

Reed: OK School bus driver!  Hey, school buses don't have seatbelts.

M: They don't?  How do you know that?

R: I learned it from the Berenstein Bears book!

M: Oh... hmmm interesting.  I wonder why they don't have seatbelts...

R: Because they don't get into car accidents.

(We watched the news last night.  There was a story about a school bus accident in Brighton.  After the news, there was a show like ET and they showed stories about weddings gone bad - including one where the bride was arrested and there was footage of her in the jail cell.  Apparently Reed was watching.)

M: They DO get into accidents though sometimes.  There was a bus accident yesterday!  No one on the bus got hurt though thankfully.  We saw it on the news, remember?

R: Oh yeah.  I saw that.  Did the bus catch on fire?

M: NO!  Why do you think that?

R: Because the firemen came!

M: No, the firemen came to help out and make sure everyone got out safe.

R: And then the police came and arrested them?

M: No... they police came to help out too.

R: Then why was that lady in jail?

M: What lady?  ohhhhh the lady in the dress?

R: Yeah!  That lady!

M: ummmm.  I don't remember why she was in jail Reed.  I think she made some bad choices.

R: What kind of bad choices?
M: I don't remember.

R: Mom.   Listen.  You need to start remembering things.  You need to pay attention to why that lady was in jail and when I ask you about it later, you need to try and remember.

M: laughing under my breath.... um. I'm sorry Reed.  I'll try to be better.  I was cooking dinner at the same time!  

R: Ok - but next time, you need to remember.

Sound familiar EMX?

The Double D

OK.  So this post isn't about cooking - and it isn't even really about "food."  But I'm feeling very hilarious today (or as EMX calls it, corny) and felt the need to write and share.

If you are a mom, and have breastfed, and have had the devil infection called mastitis, you can totally relate.  If you are grossed out by nursing, you may wish to close your browser window now.  :)  That was your warning.

So I've been proudly nursing Giselle for 6 months.  Actually - 6 months today!  My original goal was 6 weeks.  Which is one week longer than Reed drank breastmilk.  During the first 6 weeks this time, I was lucky enough to get mastitis twice.  AWESOME.  (Sarcasm!)  The first time was actually not bad because I caught it SUPER quickly.  I knew what to look for having had it once with Reed, just a mere week into his life.  The second time, however, was probably one of the worst few weeks of my life.  I won't get into details about it now, but I literally thought I was dying.  I got past that (THANK GOD) and continued to breastfeed semi smoothly until this past Sunday.  I woke up tired, but felt fine, and then a few hours later - BAM.  I knew I had mastitis.  Went to urgent care and immediately got on antibiotics.  It took a full 48 hours for me to feel human again, however, the nasty little (big) blockage has decided to keep on keeping on.

I've tried compressions, massage, heat, no heat, pumping, nursing.  You name it, I've tried it.  Nothing is working.  So yesterday, I gave a call to Dr. Google to see if other moms had some suggestions.  That is when I came across this advice... which I wish I could say worked for me, but it hasn't yet.  It has however provided me with some laughter over the past 24 hours.

A few moms recommended letting gravity work with you, and said to do the following:

Get on all fours and place your baby on the floor.  Position yourself over the baby and let the affected breast "dangle" over the baby while she nurses.  That should hopefully help dislodge the blockage.

So.  Cut to me last night.  I had to go away from my other loving family members so that I could concentrate (read: not laugh).  Another tip I knew about was to position the baby's nose toward the blockage to help drain it.  So our position was me on my knees and left elbow, with Giselle's toes near my head, and my right hand compressing the heck out of the dangler.

It was like some kind of weird yoga pose, involving balance and strength.  So, to commemorate the pose, I decided to give it a yogatastic name.

The Downward Dangle.  Or - the Double D.

I hope you laughed.  I know my cousin K will when she reads this.  She gets me.

You're welcome.  :)

What is the weirdest thing you have found yourself doing since having kids?

G.O.

I figured I would give a little background on the chosen name for the baby formerly known as "Kid B."

My paternal grandmother's name was Gisela.  She was one of my favorite people in the world.  We were fortunate enough as kids to live upstairs from my paternal grandparents.  Nothing was better than going downstairs to see them, hang out, help them, make playdough, etc.  We remained close even after my parents moved to a suburb and my grandparents moved to an apartment, and then ultimately decided to stay full time in Florida.  I used to go and visit them a few times a year.  When my grandfather passed away suddenly on New Year's Eve 2001-2002, it was a huge blow to our family.  My grandmother remained in Florida, due to her chronic emphysema and MS.  It was much easier on her body to stay in the warmer climate.  We continued to visit as often as possible and I spoke with her on the phone weekly.  Even through my college years, I would go and visit her during my "spring break."  To me, spending time with her was more important and really more fun than partying it up in Cancun.  :)

My grandma was one of the strongest women in the world.  My grandparents used to tell the story of going to a wrestling match where one of the opponents was playing dirty.  My grandpa said that all of the sudden, he saw a little woman climbing the ring, hitting the dirty opponent with her handbag.  When he went to point it out to my grandma, he noticed that she was gone.  It was her!  My sisters and I LOVED that story.

My grandma survived WWII, living in Germany, hiding in the basement during air raids.  She also told us of a time when her mother and grandmother dressed her up as an old woman so when the basement was checked, they wouldn't see a young girl and take her.

Because of our close relationship, I have always wanted to name my daughter, if I were ever fortunate to have one, Giselle, as a tribute to my Grandma "Jay."  It makes me smile every time I think of Giselle, knowing that she is named after one of the most awesome people ever.  :)

ps - how cute is she?????