Paleo Pizza. PIZZA.

You guys. I made pizza tonight and it was Grain free and amazing!! And EASY. I did use store bought pizza sauce, I looked for the one with the lowest amount of sugar though. Today was not a make your own pizza sauce kind of a day. Although it can be done, and done easy enough. Today was just not that day. It was a do a ton of laundry and clean your house kind of a day. Although I'm never sure why I do clean. If you looked at it now, you wouldn't be able to tell that I cleaned it earlier. Kids ya know. I try to clean as we go but I think I may give up altogether. No.....I can't. Even as I type that, I know I wont. I am a clean freak. How do you all keep your homes livable but still play with your kids? Cause I feel like it's either one or the other these days. Avi is still clinging to me like a baby koala. And Drayson has this new passion for eating things he shouldn't and hiding while he's doing it. He comes out of hiding with diaper cream smeared on his mouth saying "I no eat cream mom." Yuck. 

I watched a webinar today about parenting. And how to install a decision and consequence way of learning into your kids heads. I want to start working on it because the way I've been doing it has taught Dray to lie, run, and yell. This other method says I can reverse that all. Crossing my fingers. But it means me changing a lot and ignoring manipulative tantrums. Which is difficult for me. This morning for instance, Dray wanted Toast. So I grabbed a piece of bread and here is how it all went down:

"Dray do you want it in the toaster, or cold?" I said, while motioning puting the bread into the toaster so Dray understands.

"I want it toasted in the toaster." Says Dray.

I go to put the bread in the toaster and he throws his head down on the counter growling and crying "NOOOOOO Toaassttteeeddd." He says.

I pull the bread out and look at him confused.

"Ok here it is cold then." I say.

"Noooooo, toast it now." Says Dray suddenly pleasant again.

So I toast it. Before it is done he yells "Take it out now, it done. NOW MOM!" 

So I take it out and hand it to him.

"Peanut butter Mom. I want peanut butter." Says Dray

I put peanut butter on it and hand it to him.

He throws his head down and growls and starts crying.

"I no want this. I want butter."

I say "No. You said peanut butter, you literally sat there and watched me put peanut butter on it,please just eat it."

Dray lays his head down on the counter and pouts and cries for awhile, pinches two pieces out of the center, and moves on to wanting apples instead. So I put a little Jam on the bread and fold it over to make him a P B and J. He opens it back up, rubs his hand over the jelly and stuffs it in his mouth, and starts licking his hand. He then licks all the jelly off the peanut butter and throws the bread, with the left over peanut butter on it, off  of his plate. 

"I ate it mom. Are you happy?" Drays says.

"Breakfast is Over." Says I.

The End.

3 Hours later, he asks for Toast again. Oy Vey. 

Whenever I give anyone else attention Dray acts out. If I don't hold Avi she freaks. Me thinks my kids need some good ol' one on one mommy dates. They are starving for my attention but I'm not sure how to give it to them at the same time. The struggle is real. How do people have more than two kids?

Here's the pizza: (as always, let me know if  you want the recipe)

Anyway, bed time. Wait...Shower time. Gross/funny story: I haven't showered in almost 2 weeks. Don't worry, I take a quick bath to wash things off some nights. But a real good shower hasn't happened in almost 2...weeks....shudder. My poor husband.

P.S. Doug bought me flowers on his way home late last night.

P.S.S. Dray loves to help cook dinner. We almost had a tapioca flour disaster tonight so I made him cut mushrooms and zuchini for me. Here is his work. 

He loves to feel like he is helping. And yes, sometimes he is actually making things a lot harder. But he sure loves to be a part of whatever I am doing. So it is worth it. Even though something is always spilled or ruined.

Bad Mom Day

Today started out great. We took balloons and a present to my Dad for his birthday at his work. Dray made some new friends at Rowland Hall band class. We visited my Salon lady friends at Salon Loyola in Sugarhouse, always great to see them. And then we drove home and Dray mistook his ten minute nap for his normal 3 hour nap and decided to reign terror on Avi and I for the rest of the day.

My visiting teachers came over and he decided to "show off" for them by going wild child style, the remix, part 2. He was biting me, kicking me, jumping on me and Avi, sneaking food from the pantry, talking back, spitting, hitting, etc. And then when they left he just continued on with that. Told me I was naughty and I bang bang die. Lovely. I cooked a healthy dinner for me and the kids. Avi ate some. Dray didn't touch his. He demanded snacks. I said eat your dinner. Tantrums. He usually eats so well. Nothing tonight. I thought it was good. Asian style spaghetti Squash with shiitake mushrooms and green beans.

Dray was on a MAJOR snack kick today. All he wanted all day long, NON STOP, was snacks. SNACKS. SNACKS. SNNNAAACCCKS. And if I didn't give him snacks he threw himself on the ground and screamed. My favorite part.

Last night, I fed my kids what I thought would be a healthy good meal. Whole wheat, greek yogurt, and spinach mac and cheese. I threw in some leftover balsamic beef from the other night too. So yummy to me. Not so good for Avi.

=

Avi's bum has been paying for it all day today. Super rashy and raw. Lots of sad diaper changes.Wheat is a no no for her still I guess. Lesson learned. (**Side note: Avi is very clingy to me lately. She wont let me put her down or let others hold her. Sometimes not even Doug. It's cute....but difficult at times too). After dinner I soaked Avi's bum in the bath for a minute. Dray poured water over her face. She freaked out. Pulled her out and let her air dry and applied lavender and coconut oil. Let her run around naked for awhile to let that soak in. Pretty sure she peed in the carpet once or twice. I decided I needed to go to walgreens to get jock itch cream to mix with some hydrocortizone cream (great diaper rash fix) for her. Dray fought me the whole way into his car seat. I realized we had no gas. Went to get gas. Dray screamed the whole time about wanting to get out. Got to Walgreens, Dray grabbed suckers and took off running. I chased him through the entire store. Bought the cream, asked the check out lady to take my son home with her. She said no. So I dragged him to the car with Avi and I. ***I said some not good things during all of this too. Not good.

 Got home, walked into Avi's room with her and shut the door. Don't know, don't care what Dray was doing. Went looking for him after Avi was sleeping. Found him eating more of Avi's happy puff snacks that he had hid behind his bed for safe keeping. Changed his diaper, put him in bed, and said goodnight and shut the door. No teeth brushing. No Songs and reading. Couldn't do it tonight. Should have? Probably. In the right Mommy mind set to follow through with it? No. Not at all. I am now eating the remainder of the healthy paleo cookies my mom gave me the other day while I type this out. Eating to escape stress again. At least it is healthier than Oreos. But I still need to find a better outlet for stress relief.

My house is a disaster, my car is a disaster, my laundry needs to be done, I have a headache from the stevia sweetened cola, and I am tired.

Today was a bad mommy day. The good news:

*I still LOVE my Drayson.
*I don't think Drayson will remember today (I HOPE).
*We will start over tomorrow and start it out with a good solid prayer.
*I will not forget to do my scripture study tomorrow. I swear that usually makes our days go better, nap or no nap. Go figure. Put God first and everything else seems to work out just a little bit better.
*I am listening in on a webinar tomorrow morning about parenting 2.5 year olds and how to not yell so much but still get your kids to listen. Sounds like witchcraft to me.
*Dray went to bed after I shut his door. No more shenanigans for the night.

Final days of Detox, 20 and 21

I have no pictures to post for the last two days of the Detox because basically every meal was leftovers, until tonight's dinner. But we had friends over and ate it up fast and I forgot to snap a picture. I made Indian Butter Chicken and it was good stuff! I also made a Paleo dessert that had honey in it to celebrate our Detox completion. So I guess we cheated at the very very end. But a reward paleo lemon tart cheat is better than a pile of oreos cheat any day. After only two small bites of the lemon tart my head was hurting. Lol. Sweetness overload. And it was just honey! I can't imagine what a bowl of ice cream would do to me right now.

Doug and I plan on continuing to eliminate refined sugars from our diet. I want to continue with less bread too. I'm not a big bread fan anyway. This next week we are also not eating meat. Because we are a little bit sick of meat. Fruit/veggie smoothies in the morning instead of eggs too.

Here are some lessons I have learned from doing this Detox:

1. I can do hard things.
2. I CAN have treats to help me through hard days, just healthy treats. I don't NEED refined sugar.
3. I have the control, not my cravings.
4. I can ease the stress of cooking during the week with thorough preparation during the weekends.
5. I want to cook and eat healthy to encourage my kids to do the same.
6. I have amazing support from friends and family.
7. My body and I are a team. I need to support it, so it can support me.
8. I don't like pancakes.
9. How to make mayo
10. How to boil eggs and bake bacon
11. My mom is a SAINT (I already knew this...but I just know it even more now)
12. I need more alone time to stay a good Mom.

I know there are more. I am just crazy tired and I have a headache from eating honey. Lol.

I have loved blogging about this Detox adventure with ya'll....whomever ya'll are. Thank  you for helping me stay accountable to my goals. I might continue to blog about random stuff here and there. Maybe I will post whenever I try new healthy recipes that I think people might want to try. Or I might post about the crazy that is my life being a stay at home mom. Or how I try to overcome my struggles in life. Or maybe I will create a blog devoted to a journey trying to find pancakes I actually enjoy. Who knows. Goodbye for now though.

P.S. BECKY YOU DID IT!!! Never doubted you though. Super woman right there.
P.S.S. Doug...thank you for doing it with me and for your support and for saying yes to buying me an ice cream maker so I can make healthier ice cream :)...xoxo

Day 19...

For breakfast I had eggs, sausage, and something else detox approved but not new or worth taking a picture of. I honestly can't remember what it was. That was so long ago.

For lunch a giant yummy salad:

And for Dinner I made that super yummy balsamic roast again because I LOVE IT. And it was so so so easy. We went swimming today with Funcle Madison so I threw everything in the crock pot before we left and it was ready for dinner around 5. And it was just as amazing as the first time (that's what HE said). You want this recipe guys. So easy. So tender. So good. Let me see if I can remember it without going upstairs to get the book. Or the page from the book rather. My detox book spontaneously cumbusted earlier this week. The pages are all over the house. Oh wait, I have kids. That's what happened to it. oh well. 

Put a 3 lb roast in the crock pot,

top it with one can of diced tomatoes, an onion cut up into larger pieces, a bunch of carrots, 1/2 C balsamic vinegar, 1/4 C water, 5 cloves of crushed garlic, salt....annnd ya I think that's it. Let it cook on low for 8 hours. Done. I'll double check the recipe later if anyone really wants me to, haha.

I can't believe we will be done Sunday. This was so much easier than I thought it would be. There were moments when I definitely wanted lime sherbet and pizza. But those moments passed and I conquered on. My family has been amazing and has put up with me during withdrawal crazy lady moments. My mom has supplied me with endless amounts of knowledge and encouragement and healthy foods and flours. I am excited to continue to eat healthy this year. I want to continue to not eat processed sugars as well. There are so many healthy and YUMMY alternatives out there. And when I go shopping I will glare at the Oreos and donuts. I will laugh at you Captain Crunch and Trix Rabbit, you sugary, tear my mouth apart, and destroy my body bastards. hahahahaha. It's definitely time for bed.

 Night ya'll.

Detox days 17 & 18

Yesterday for breakfast we had leftover quiche because I totally didn't feel like prepping another breakfast the night before. For lunch we had left over wedding soup. Why do they call it wedding soup? We call it meatball and veggie soup here. It was difficult for Drayson to eat because this happened:

He was attempting to jump into Avi's crib and fell and bit his lip pretty bad! So much blood. I was cleaning it up and he coughed in my face. And it looked like a horror movie scene. Blood splatter all over my face. haha. He's all good, don't worry. He ate ice for lunch mostly. The first time Dray ever got hurt and blood was spilled I bawled my eyes out and felt guilty for a week. It's funny how you progress as a mom. This time I was like let's wipe it off and put some ice on it. You're good. We did still cuddle a lot though. Cause I love them cuddles.

For dinner we made Thai beef. It was very yummy. I didnt have red curry paste like it called for, so I used a yellow curry paste. Sugarless of course! This recipe we got from another paleo book. Let me know if you want the recipe. It was pretty easy and super yummy. I love crock pot dinners. We ate it over a 1/2 C. of brown rice. I didn't make a side of veggies....because I didn't want to and I needed to get the Helsinki Finland out of my house as soon as my husband got home. Sometimes mommies need a break. This is what Doug and I told Dray as I ran out of the house screaming hallelujah. Doug watched the kids while I went to Target, Hobby Lobby, and Tj Maxx to pick out Bunco prizes. I am hosting next month and I am so excited. I love it. And it was beyond nice to have a small break to go do things without temper tantrums and snacks in my pocket to calm crazy babies. THANK YOU DOUG!!! Here's the beef, I managed to snap a picture real quick before I ran out the door:

When I got I home and felt calmer and much more like a real human being again, I prepped the breakfast that we had this morning. Breakfast casserole. Hash (turnips and carrots), eggs, bacon sausage, bell peppers, almond and coconut milk, and onion. Cooked in the crock pot all night and was ready in the morning. It was good. We all gobbled it down. For some weird reason I felt like it had a coffee taste to it. Only I was experiencing that though....so....go figure:

This was it the night before

This is what it looked like this morning 

For Lunch today we had left over Thai beef over rice and some baked sweet potatoes/squash.

For Dinner we whipped out some Greek Meatballs and Salad. It was good but not like....great. Doug and I are kind of food snobs though. The salad was honestly my favorite part. I didn't know I loved artichoke hearts until I ate them on pizza. But this was ok too.

Bring on tomorrow!

Detox day 16

I can't believe I've been doing this for 16 days. The first week was probably the most difficult. But now I find myself thinking things like: "I never need to buy mayo again. I can always easily make my own." And: "I am enjoying eating things that are good for my body. Except those darn pancakes. Ewe."

Today for breakfast we ate the quiche that I had prepped last night. It was really hearty and filling. It had chard, zuchini, mushrooms, bacon, etc. Totally left me satisfied. That's what she said.

I also attempted a hollandaise sauce. I didn't have a very good double broiler set up. And the babies needed my attention. So it turned out lumpy and weird. I added too much lemon too. And that is saying something. Cause I LOVE lemon.

For lunch we ate leftover chili verde. Still just as good as when we had it for dinner on Sunday.

For dinner tonight I was going to make a thai beef stew but realized I should have started it cooking 5 hours earlier in the crock pot. So I chose to cook a Wedding Soup from another Paleo Cookbook. It was good, but I added some extra stuff to it to add a little more depth of flavor. It's a brothy soup with veggies and meatballs. Very filling but still tasted pretty light. I was going to make a salad too but it was just me and the kiddos tonight and making a salad felt like more work than it was worth. If anyone wants this recipe let me know.

Tonight was hectic. Dray is in a phase. A yucky phase. He spits, and runs away from me when he has dangerous things in his hands like knives. He rolls his eyes at me, says no, ignores me, pushes kids around, etc. All pretty normal toddler boy stuff I think. But it's really getting to me. Patience is something I have yet to master with kids. I love him to Jupiter and back, but that doesn't mean I don't want to tackle him when he spits at me or yells no and runs. So after a crazy evening yelling more than I should have at him, I will admit, I wanted a small utah mint truffle. Some piece of sugar to tell me it was all going to be ok. haha. But I brushed my teeth with Avi and got over it quick enough. In the future, during moments like this, I plan on a small portion of paleo lemon curd ice cream. Can't wait to make some. Although I will need an ice cream maker.......Doug? Here's a link bellow for you to look over....hee hee. 

http://www.amazon.com/Conair-Cuisinart-ICE-21-Frozen-Yogurt-Ice/dp/B003KYSLMW/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1453261706&sr=8-1&keywords=small+ice+cream+maker

Detox day 14 & 15

For breakfast yesterday I was excited to try another kind of pancake. But yet again....I am left never wanting to eat pancakes again. Even when they were a kneaders buttermilk pancake covered in wonderful stuff, I wanted to stop eating it after 3 or 4 bites. My body rejects pancakes. And my body super rejected these ones we tried Sunday morning. Ok, so my mouth and mind rejected it. My body probably liked it. Butternut Squash pancakes. Bleh.

Once again, Dray loved them. Once again, I felt like I was eating squishy cardboard.

For Lunch, leftovers.

For dinner, pure Heaven. It's called crock pot chili verde and it is amazing.

I prepped it in the morning and threw it in the crock pot and then we feasted on it for dinner. Just smelling it makes your taste buds go insane. So easy, so good.  We will definitely be making this again to smother over burritos or eat in tacos. 

Recipe here: http://www.mynaturalfamily.com/recipes/paleo-recipes/crock-pot-chili-verde-recipe/

Also, Doug helped me prep all day for the week and tat was fun. Thank you Doug!

For Breakfast today we had egg and apple sausage biscuit sandwiches. FABULOUS. I used the same pumpkin biscuit recipe I've used before and the same apple sausage recipe from the book. Remember, if there is anyone out there actually reading this blog who wants these recipes, just PM me or text me or call me. Whatever. I can get it to you. 

For Lunch I was at my mom's house and I attempted to eat an amazing soup she made but I am a full fledged gringo and can't handle super spicy (that chili verde up above? Not spicy...but you can make it spicy if you want). So I ate the chili verde (I brought some to her for her to try, but then ate it myself...Gobbled it up like a greedy Gollum....my precious) in a paleo tortilla like a taco and was in heaven. Definitely making those paleo tortillas soon too. 

For dinner tonight I made a curry chicken salad and some sweet potato nuggets drizzled with lemon. No recipe for this one. Just threw in stuff like homemade mayo, chicken, sliced almonds, green apple, green onion, curry powder, onion powder, and some garlic powder. It was mighty tasty and very simple. I love simple. 

Ok anyone reading, so, mom and Becky. Lol. I am feeling good. I am feeling excited to try more healthy recipes. I am feeling less weighed down by cooking (when I am totally prepared and planned out on Sundays). I am enjoying sharing my journey with you. Thank you Mom for all your help with...EVERYTHING. And Becky my friend...you are an inspiration to me. You have a lot on your plate but still manage to fight the good fight against processed sugar. You are an amazing strong individual and I look up to you tons! I can't wait to continue to share recipes and ideas and thoughts with you on food and life in general. Let's set up a day where we actually hang out too. haha...I want to hold your cute Kaiden!!! 

To anyone else who may be reading, your health is important to more than just you. You are loved and needed. So if you feel sick, or like you may be out of control in the sugar department, or eating out department, or whatever your vice may be. You can change if you really want to. You can do it. And the people you love will take notice and buoy you up.You can do hard things. And it's important to do hard things. Life is nothing without growth and learning. And life is also worthless without the ones you love. Think long term...how are your bad habits now going to impact your future? Respect your mind and body now so you can be here to love and support the ones you love later. I am saying all of this mostly for me. But for anyone else who needs a pep talk too. Eating to live can be just as rewarding as living to eat. I am still wrapping my mind around that. Take care of yourselves people....much love!