'Three Question Diet' Family of Four

Gluten Free Smurfs Party

2011-12-03T17:29:00.000-08:00

We just finished our Smurfs Party! What a great time! The kids had a wonderful time coloring and watching clips on the iPad.

One of the guests did not know the Smurfs, but we quickly filled her in and had her watch some clips. She remembered them a little bit from childhood but that was it.

Another of the guests described them as little blue people that represent an extenuation of little quirks in personalities. I thought that was a great description myself.

It was only supposed to last an hour and a half, but ended up lasting 3 hours.

I had some great snack laid out (as you can see in the pictures) but the best part was the moms cracking open a bottle of wine!!!

What a wonderful night! Everyone enjoyed themselves and I think everyone is a little bit more excited about the release of the movie! Although I saw the movie in the theatre, I am excited about seeing the new Christmas Movie!!!

Amazing Environmental Giveaway

2011-04-16T08:37:00.000-07:00

I came across this blog Environmental Booty http://shaneshirleysmith.blogspot.com/ and couldn't believe my eyes. Over $1000 in prizes! Well, so I looked through it, cause honestly people can have $1000 dollar store prizes and I don't want them in my house. But seriously, these are awesome, natural, environmentally friendly products. Everything from shoes to cleaning products and so much in between. It even includes a full home assessment if you live in a participating area. (Sadly Manitowoc is not one of them). My favorite part? The shoes are Naya shoes....how cool is that? I think I need a pair of Naya shoes eh?! lol. But really, I'm probably most excited about the little things like tea bags, home cleaning products, and a romantic bath kit.

So go check this out. One little comment will get you entered into her contest and there are so many other ways to earn entries. If nothing else, she's got some interesting things to say. Go check it out!

It's HERE! Win Over $1,000 in Green Living Treasure in The 2011 Great Green Earth Day Giveaway from.
shaneshirleysmith.blogspot.com

Join Saving Dinner's Crock Cooker Contest!

2011-02-21T06:37:00.000-08:00

Join Saving Dinner's Crock Cooker Contest!

Saving Dinner

2011-02-21T06:25:00.001-08:00

Leanne Ely from SavingDiner.com is very 3QD friendly. Although she doesn't do gluten free 100%, she agrees that it is the best way to go. She endorses low GI and real food. She even has a video on youtube mentioning Paleo! I love listening to her show on blog talk radio each Wednesday. If you want she even prepares weekly menus complete with shopping lists to help you put dinner on the table for your family every night. (She has gluten free versions).

http://savingdinner.com/c/dangerrory

SuperBowl 45!

2011-02-07T08:12:00.000-08:00

I am not a football person. In fact, other than attending one football game (and having no idea what was going on) I have never watched a game start to finish. However, moving to Wisconsin and landing in the heart of Pack Nation, I felt I didn't really have a choice. You are either a Packers fan or an outcast. So...these past few months I have watched more Football on TV than ever in my life. To everyone's amazement the Packers not only had a great season, but won the Championship to make it to the Super Bowl. There were more decorations for the Super Bowl than for Christmas. No, I am not kidding. I even have a picture of someone spray painting "Go Pack Go" in the snow in front of their house. Yup...I live in Packland! After a healthy visit to Lambeau Field to commerorate the game we came home to watch the game in the comfort of our living room. So this is my creation for our little party...

So, I can not take credit for this idea. A friend posted it on facebook. I simply made a few changes. Technically this is gluten free. However, it is not low gi nor would I consider any of the "fans" real food. But, here it is in a nutshell.

Field Grass: Homemade Guacamole
Steelers Zone: Refried Black Beans
Packers Zone: Queso Dip
Lines/Writing: Sour Cream
Players: Vienna Sausages
Helmets: Cheese
Stadium Walls: Carrots
Seat Partiitions: Grapes
Steelers Fans: Blue and Yellow Corn Tortilla Chips
Packers Fans: Green and Yellow Bell Peppers
Other Fans: Cheetos and Fritos

So yeah, lots of fun. Took about an hour total. Abut 40 min of that was cutting veggies and figuring the best way to arrange the carrot walls. Once that is set it goes together pretty quick. A lot of effort for a couple of pictures, but it was good practice for future parties. Hope you enjoyed watching the Packers win the Super Bowl as much as we did!

A few Dishes

2011-02-02T12:54:00.000-08:00

Brown Rice Pasta w/ Chicken and Spicy Tomato Sauce covered with cheese and parsley

Almond Crusted Meatballs on Garlic Butter String Beans

Almond Crusted Baked Chicken with a Citrus Sauce and Green Beans

Taco Salad

Ground Beef & Pea "Pies" (rice paper mixed with tapioca flour)

Eating Eating Eating and Weighing

2011-02-01T12:46:00.000-08:00

Ok...it's February. We have come to the end of that first month where all those New Years Resolutions are dropping off. Are you one of them?

I don't make New Years Resolutions. Why? Cause even I admit I won't keep them! In fact, I know I can't keep anything up 100% for a year. Plus I'm one of those that if I make 1 little mistake then I just give up. Food...oh my. How many people do this with food?

3QD is a lifestyle not a resolution. My family lives this way year round. Yes, we "cheat" sometimes. One day when we move to another planet and have to plant all of our food and there is no offer of "crap" around us then we won't cheat. Until then, we will have our moments. But you know what? I can jump right back into it because it's not a "diet" its our lifestyle. It's how we live our lives. It makes us feel better, healthy, wonderful, energetic. I have friends that work at gyms and they are relieved that the New Years Resolutioners are giving up. They can get back to the norm.

Even my husband, a work out enthusiast, crossfit trainer, & developer of 3QD said that you can't just say "I'm going to work out more." Unless you grew up doing it and its a part of your life you just won't do it. Working out is an addiction for him. Not so much for me. I go to the gym for "me" time, not to work out. It is a little bit of time by myself and I happen to be moving while I'm there. So working out isn't my lifestyle. But eating healthy is. I hate the way I feel the day after I eat wheat. HATE IT! So it makes me not want to again. I wake up wanting to eat healthy so that I will feel good that day and the next. I hope you feel this way too.

Have I taught him nothing?!

2011-01-25T10:52:00.000-08:00

My 3 year old made his first purchase today. I am so proud of him but at the same time so upset with myself!

Coming home from school yesterday he kept saying "noodles." I told him we didn't have any and continued home and offered him lunch, which he ate. Today again when I picked him up from school he said "noodles," so I asked if he wanted to go buy some. He proudly exclaimed "yes!" So we went to the Piggly Wiggly, I got him and his sister out of the car and let him walk into the store. We found the soup/pasta aisle and I asked what he wanted. He went right for the Dora the Explorer Spaghetti O's! Well, this was his trip so I wasn't going to tell him no, but I asked him if he was sure that's what he wanted. Again, "YES!" So we walked to the counter and he put the can (ahh...a can!) on the belt then gave the cashier the 3 quarters I gave him to buy it. He took the bag and we walked out of the store.

We came home and he ate those Spaghetti O's like it was something amazing. (His sister kinda liked them too!) After they finished the can they both asked for more. Thankfully they were happy with some grapes and water to go with it. Oh my, such a proud day that my little boy bought something yet I guess we need to practice grocery shopping more often so that he knows that we in fact do not walk down the aisles!

My 99 cents

2011-01-17T17:05:00.000-08:00

So this is the ad I keep seeing. My 99 cents at Wendy's. It just drives me crazy!

I know so many people that go to pick up a "cheap" meal at drive through. "But I order from the dollar menu rather than the value meal menu so it must be better." Really? Really?!!!! Let's think about this for a minute. If I talk about two people, myself and my husband. Say we go through and get 2 things of fries, 2 sandwiches, and 2 drinks...at the very least we are spending $6. Let me tell you from experience...that will NOT fill up my husband. In fact, he could eat all 6 of those items and still want something else. Not only would he not be full but he would have taken in tons of toxic food that would drain his energy, add lbs to his body, and make his next workout that much harder.

Let me offer you an alternative. Go buy $3 worth of ground beef and $3 worth of veggies. Seriously, do you know how much food that is? Add some spices to the ground beef and brown it. Throw in the $3 worth of frozen or fresh veggies...doesn't matter what they are...just throw them in. Cook it all together, maybe add a little oil. Now split that in half between two people. Talk about a filling meal! Oh yeah, and because you need something to wash it down go grab a glass of water. Can't stand the water? Fine...buy $2 worth of veggies and $1 worth of water flavoring (i.e. crystal light or better yet green tea bags.) Either way, its a much more filling meal, no guilt, and most likely you'll have seconds for the next night.

So next time you are thinking..."I'll just go cheap tonight"...go home and open your fridge!

$10 Challenge Fail

2011-01-13T10:14:00.000-08:00

I had a friend challenge me to clear out my cupboards and only spend $10 a week on the stuff that doesn't store well like milk, fruit, and veggies. Now, I knew from the start that this would be impossible, but I was amazed at how right I was. Just think...many families do this a couple of times a year. They stock up on all sorts of pantry items, things in boxes, pastas, frozen dinners. Then they are able to go an entire month and only go out once a week for some milk and fruit while they empty their pantries. Does that seem odd to you?

I HOPE SO!!!!

I was given this challenge and immediately made a list of what was in my pantry, fridge, and freezer. The sad part is that I made this list right after our holiday company left. So I actually had things in my pantry that I NEVER would, like pancake mix and things to make holiday cookies. But even with those few items, I could barely go one week. Why???

Because my kitchen is always filled with fresh food. I NEVER have anything other than a little cereal for the kids (rice cereal that is), beans, rice, and almond flour in my pantry. Everything else I buy has to be refrigerated or frozen. I buy meat from a local butcher that comes frozen so I throw it in the freezer. I buy frozen berries and veggies. I buy some natural peanut butter, apples, oranges, and a little bit of heavy creme that go in the fridge. Other than that, I got nothin! This is how we eat. And because we eat like this, I can't "stock pile" food. It would go bad...even in the fridge. So I buy week to week on a regular basis. And when I took pictures people were amazed that I had so little.

So how badly did I fail? Well we had a guest the first week so I spend $15 on chili ingredients, snacks, and drinks. Week two I spent $20 on fruit, eggs, and veggies. Week 3...well I'll be out of meat, veggies, and fruit so unless we're going to fill our tummies with nothing but water...which would probably be ok for a week to be honest but not very pleasant...I have to do my usual weekly run. A box of meat that will last us a couple weeks, some veggies, eggs, cheese, and fruit. That will be my regular trip. But it will cost way more than $10.

Sorry friend, I have failed the challenge...but I've never been more happy about failing a challenge!

A New Move

2010-09-21T07:57:00.000-07:00

So we have bought our second house...well almost. We close on Friday and are trying to literally eat our selves out of house and home. We just bought some wonderful grass fed steaks and are going through those. Chris has made a few "comfort food" types of things. He made a dish with lots of extra juice and since I just happened to be trying my hand at gluten free bread, we sopped up the juice with the bread. Super comfort food and something I haven't had for a VERY long time. Now, I am not big on substitutions. I made the bread only because we got some dipping oil that we wanted to try and didn't have much to try it with. But the gluten free bread (although good) had sugar and corn and all sorts of things that I try not to have in the house. It was nice to have such a treat. I urge you to think when you "cheat." Go for the wheat and sugar free. Don't make "cheating" a habit either. Do as I say...not as I do! :)

Our Party Anniversary

2010-09-10T11:15:00.000-07:00

Today Chris and I will celebrate 4 years from our wedding date. Not quite the day we got married, but the day that we celebrated with our family and friends our marriage. To celebrate we are grilling to T-bone steaks with some simple salt and pepper. Chris learned a salt technique where we completely coat the steaks with salt and allow them to marinate for about an hour. Then you wash the salt off and grill. It makes them very tender and perfectly salty. A little pepper for spice an yum! On the side we will have some fresh string beans with olive oil, salt and pepper. Not much to this, but with good olive oil the taste the amazing.

We are spoiled. We buy just what we need for meals. We don't tend to keep "snack" food around. This allows us to splurge on things like really good olive oil. Have you ever been to an olive oil tasting? One where they give you a small "cup" of olive oil for you to sip? If you haven't, try it! Don't think about calories, just think about all the good fat you're taking in. No bread for dipping, just sipping. Chris found Temecula Olive Oil company and did just this. He now has it shipped to us and let me tell you...it makes a HUGE difference! The smallest drop of this on a dish just makes it amazing! I can't describe the flavor. You have to try it for yourself. Splurge on a bottle of olive oil that costs as much as a bottle of wine and you'll see! I promise the bottle will last you longer than the wine will. It is so worth it!

As we celebrate tonight, we raise a glass to all of you who are eating and living healthier!

Getting Started...Again

2010-09-09T12:57:00.000-07:00

Our lives have changed immensely. After travelling across the country twice by plane and then half way by car, we are ready to settle in for the long haul in Wisconsin. All the while we have kept our Three Questions in mind. Chris is no longer in the military so his need to be as lean as possible is no longer an issue. Now we simply want to be healthy, have energy, and make sure that we live long happy lives. Although I have many many recipes, I am going to concentrate on posting pictures of what I am eating. This will keep me on track and hopefully encourage you to come up with easy ways of answering the Three Questions!

For lunch today I had full fat cottage cheese, some frozen blueberries, and a handful of almonds. I woke up early to go watch the sunrise over Lake Michigan, so by lunch time I was very tired. I though the almonds would help boost my energy.

For dinner we are having an altered recipe I found in a magazine. It is macaroni and cheese with brocoli. Now, I am using gluten free pasta shells, made with brown rice. The brown rice has a lower gi. I forgot to take a picture of mine before I scarfed it down, but here is a pic of Wyatt's. The kids liked it, but then again Lorelai will eat any and everything.

Fresh Start

2010-03-16T08:45:00.000-07:00

Hello Friends,

It may have been too ambitious with two young children to think that I could write something new and exciting everyday. Plus, I just can't imagine that any of you think what I have to say is that important. But I am going to try to post once a week with anything new and interesting tha tI have tried. We still live by the 3QD code. We are a gluten free home. Our GI threshold has gone up a bit because none of us are trying to lose weight, but some days it's higher than others. We binged this weekend and clensed on Sunday. We are now trying to clense our bodies completely. Yesterday and Today we are drinking berry shakes that consist of blueberry, raspberry, and marion berry (costco frozen fruit blend) along with a scoop of vanilla protein powder (gnc brand), and water for me, whole milk for chris. I simply put about a cup of berries, a scoop of protein, and a cup of water and blend in my Vitamix. You'd be surprised how it can fill you up. After a few hours when I was hungry again I just blended myself another. I don't really recommend this on the diet as the idea is to eat what you want, but for us, we wanted to empty ourselves. I haven't gone "hungry" for a while because I'm nursing and I am always hungry. But my stomach has felt very heavy, so I needed to lighten it. I tried greek yogurt last week and I got to say I wasn't as much of a fan as I was hoping. I ate it with the berries for lunch, but really, it just was a weird texture. I have been eating some cottage cheese though. It's hard to find the 4% in the big containers though and I don't want the 2% since they add sugar for taste. Today is the last day of my fruit/protein shakes. Two full days should be enough to reset my stomach. Tomorrow (wed) I plan to adapt a recipe I got from Tracie Moss from Living Well Ministry for a Spagetti Casserolle. Here is my adaptation for 3QD (keep in mind that we have a high GI threshold right now).
ground chicken
salt/pepper
1 tomato
2 cloves garlic
sour cream
onion
cream cheese
rice noodles
mozarella cheese
start by cooking all ingredients that need it (brown the ground chicken, boil the noodles). Layer ingredients starting with noodles and ending with cheese and bake until melty. It sounds yummy.
A second new recipe I am going to try is pizza burgers. I'm sure that this is nothing actually new, but I found some mini pepperoni (actual little round ones) at costco and though I would try something new.
ground beef
sausage
mini pepperoni
marinara sauce
mozzarella cheese
egg
I am going to cook the sausage first as I don't want to risk it being undercooked, and then mix the ground beef, sausage, mini pepperoni, a tiny bit of cheese and egg together and form burgers. Then broil them (or grill, but our broiler is in the house and easy), top with marinara then cheese and let melt. Should be super simple and hopefully yummy. I might mix in a little parm and/or red pepper since my husband tends to put these on top of his pizza anyway.

I have some ribs that I plan to make probably Friday or Saturday night. Other than that, I don't plan on doing anything super special. We are still our normal easy going selves. Wyatt eats what we eat and Lorelai is starting to. She eats our veggie cut up and I have pre-cooked ground chicken, turkey, pork, and beef in the freezer that I heat up for her at each meal. Her food is all unseasoned and simple...meat and veggies. She eats some dried and mashed fruit, but she doesn't like it as much. Since I was gone this weekend I was going to buy some baby food for her dad to feed her so that it would be easy, but looking at all the labels, baby food is so sugar filled that I just couldn't bring myself to give it to her. However, her dad was happy to feed her the homemade baby food even though it takes a few seconds more to prepare.

So this is my post for the week. I hope that everyone has a wonderful week and stays well!

On to my health

2009-07-08T17:21:00.000-07:00

So it's official, we are not pregnant and will not get pregnant again for at least a few years. What does this mean? It means I can work on me for a while. I'm still nursing so I have to eat for two for a while, but an empty stomach means that I can www.crossfitmiramar.com my heart out and not worry about damaging any growing babies. Yeah!

I started last week doing about 10 min of rowing a day. It's a start considering that I haven't "worked out" for over two years now due to being pregnant, nursing/husband being deployed, then being pregnant again. I do about 15 rounds of 20 seconds on 10 seconds off. It doesn't exhaust me but it's all I have time for. I'm going to see if I can up it to twice a day on the days when we are home the most. We'll see how well we do.

I've also started a food blog that just puts what we ate that day. I think this will help me keep from snacking out of boredom. My biggest problem with the Three Question Diet is learning when I'm really hungry vs when I'm bored. I have to work on that. I think I can mostly tell the difference because when I'm just hungry out of boredom I look at the healthy stuff and think "nah, something more snack like" vs when I'm really hungry I want the fruits, veggies, or meat we have. It def makes it easier that I only buy good stuff. That way I'm not tempted by sugary treats or typical wheat filled snacks. I also am trying to replace my boredom snacking with drinking instead. If I'm gonna sit on the couch and nurse it's better for me to have a drink than a snack anyway (need to replenish the fluids).

Tonight my husband has "mandatory fun," so we are just eating some fruit and lunch meat. Tomorrow night I think I'm gonna try the mustard pork...and then Friday night I'm gonna put together the bluecheese bacon stuffed burgers. It should be yummy. I'll let you know.

Breakfast bake

2009-07-06T13:16:00.001-07:00

Chris put this one together this morning since he didn't have to be at work until noon

9 eggs

1 cup milk

1/4 cup cheese

6 slices bacon

3/4 cup broccoli pieces

Start by frying the bacon until somewhat crispy. Beat the eggs with the milk and cheese. Break up the bacon into pieces then mix with broccoli into egg mix. Pour everything into a 9 inch round baking dish and place in the oven at 350 for 15 min. Pull it out and sprinkle cheese over the entire top. Let it melt and dish up.

new ideas

2009-07-06T12:53:00.000-07:00

-pork with brown mustard, heavy creme, and garlic

-meatloaf with peppers, cheese, onion

-turkeyloaf with olives, basil, pine nuts, sundried tomato, and garlic

I'm also going to start working on my snack bar recipes again. wish me luck

New Roast

2009-07-05T17:43:00.000-07:00

My husband complained that in my attempt to find a really good roast recipe that he's tired of roasts. The last one was not bad, but we ended up not eating it. The past couple of days we've been mixing it with other things. We added the meat to chili, which was very good. This morning I added it to scrambled eggs and that was pretty good too. For dinner/lunch I put leftover ribs, chili, and some water in the crockpot. I let it all cook on high for 5 hours then I removed the meat from the ribs and it was pretty good. None of us are really "hungry" so no official dinner is being made.

I have some leftover beans in the fridge and some ground beef in the freezer, so I think I'm gonna put together a pot of chili to cook overnight in the crockpot. Other than that, we have a lot of leftovers in the fridge so I'm gonna try to use all of that up in some way or another.

pineapple beef roast

2009-07-03T06:42:00.001-07:00

Things changed a little because my husband decided he wanted to go to bed early and apparently we are out of cinnamon. But here is the recipe I used

1 beef bottom roast

2-3 cups pineapple juice

worcestershire sauce

1 tbsp pepper

1 tbsp garlic powder

1 tsp salt

5 cloves garlic

2 chopped sweet potatoes

2 coarsely chopped onions

I placed the onions, sweet potatoes, and whole garlic cloves in the bottom of the crockpot. I but in the beef bottom roast and poured the pineapple juice on top of it until the juice sat just at the bottom of the roast. I then sprinkled the pepper, garlic powder and salt over top. Next I sprinkled enough worcestershire sauce to coat the roast. I put it on low for the night (12 hours). We'll see how this one turns out.

new roast

2009-07-02T11:50:00.001-07:00

The last roast I made I left off the bbq sauce and it was dry and terrible and not all wonderful and flaky. I think it needed the sugar in order to break down that much more. I am going to try a new recipe with pineapple juice. I am going to make my own version of a hawaiian roast. I am going to put the roast in the pineapple juice for about 2 hours then place it in the crockpot on top of a layer of onion, whole garlic cloves, and cubed sweet potatos and just fill with pineapple juice to the bottom of the roast. I'll then put worcestershire sauce, cinnamon, garlic powder, and a little brown mustard. Since the crockpot tends to let off enough heat to warm up our whole condo I'm gonna do this one overnight to be ready for a lunch time thing. I'll put up the full recipe once I actually do this.

2009-07-01T16:03:00.000-07:00

The chicken was really good. just kinda fell apart scooping it out. a little salt and pepper and yummm. my husband added some cheese to the top.

so my friend said the chili needed more chili seasoning and maybe more tomato, but she admits that she likes lots of tomato taste (she also puts ketchup on a lot of stuff). i thought a bit of salt pepper and cheese on top, as intended went a long way.

tonight we are just having leftovers but i have a couple of ideas for future recipes.

-burgers stuffed with bacon and blue cheese.

-pork, apples, and garlic in the crock pot

-pizza with peanut butter crust

chicken thighs

2009-06-29T13:57:00.001-07:00

I just kinda tried something random...

2.5 lbs chicken thighs

1/2 onion coarsely chopped

1 tomato coarsely chopped

1 tsp basil

1 tsp oregano

1 tsp sea salt

1 tsp pepper

1 tbsp cinnamon

2 cloves garlic

2 tbsp olive oil

water

I placed the chicken in the crockpot and sprinkled cinnamon until all pieces were coated. I then layered in the tomato, onion, and garlic. I drizzled olive oil on top and poured in just enough water to almost reach the top of the chicken. I then sprinkled in the salt, pepper, basil, and oregano. I put the crockpot on high for 5 hours and we will see what it comes to!

turkey chili attempt #1

2009-06-28T19:37:00.000-07:00

Here is yet another chili attempt

1 cup of each

-black beans

-small red beans

-kidney beans

1 onion

4 cloves garlic

1 tbsp each of

-cinnamon

-paprika

-ground mustard

-garlic powder

-salt

2 tbsp each of

-black pepper

-crushed red pepper

-chili powder

1 tsp

-ground cumin

-coriander

hot sauce to taste (I used about 1 tbsp tapatio)

1.25 lbs ground turkey (1 package basically)

1 can tomato sauce

2 sauce cans of water

Start by rinsing the beans and boiling on high for about 15 min. This is especially important for the small red beans. Once boiled, rinse the beans well again. Coarsely chop the onion. Begin layering in your crock pot. I put the chopped onion and then used my garlic press on the garlic cloves. I broke up the ground turkey with my fingers and then layered with all of the seasonings and hot sauce. I put the beans in next and poured the tomato sauce and water on top. I turned the crock pot on high for one hour. I then opened it and mixed all the ingredients together and put the crock pot on low for 8 hours overnight set to turn to "warm" until the morning. I will let you know tomorrow what it turns out like.

(Note-I plan to serve with cheese, pepper, and probably a bit more hot sauce)

mozzarella Chicken w/ tomato

2009-06-27T08:32:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I made a snack of tomatoes, mozzarella, olive oil, and basil. I ate a little and my husband was taking a nap. When i got tired of waiting for him to get up to make dinner, I decided to use the snack for dinner. Here's what I did.

about 2 cups cubed chickedn

2 sliced tomatoes

1/2 log of fresh mozarella (basically equal to the # of slices of tomatoes)

olive oil

basil

salt and pepper

I spread the chicken cubes in a single layer in a baking dish

Put it in the oven for 15 min at 400

I then took it out and put a layer of tomatoes and topped with a layer of mozzarella

I sprinkled with pepper and basil and put back in the oven for about 5 min

I then took it out and salted to taste

We ate it with a side of lima beans and it was really good. Super simple and very good.

new chili review

2009-06-25T07:29:00.000-07:00

This chili was much better. i will probably add some hot sauce for a kick next time. but the meat was a lot better.

last night i simply cut up some strip steak and mixed it into stir fry veggies. simple and really good. my in laws liked it too. a few sesame seeds on top...

in laws are heading to LA tonight so i'm not sure what we are going to do for dinner.

chili and mexican

2009-06-23T11:03:00.000-07:00

Last night we ended up making mexican instead. We ate carne asada, with avocado, sour cream, cheese, and salsa. not the best, but good and special for his parents.

the chili went in the fridge for later i guess. here's the basic recipe.

1/2 bag black beans

1/2 bag kidney beans

1/2 bag red beans

1 can tomato paste

1 can tomato sauce

water

1 onion

4 garlic cloves

chili powder

garlic powder

red pepper flakes

cinnamon

paprika

pepper

2 lbs ground beef

Basically I threw everything but the ground beef in the crock pot on high for about 5 hours. then i browned the ground beef in a skillet and then added and mixed into the chili and left it on for another few hours. then we decided not to eat it so it got put in the fridge. I'll let you know what we think later.

return from vacation

2009-06-22T08:52:00.000-07:00

We just got back from a hard 10 days with my family in DC.

The second pot roast was no where near as good as the first. My conclusion, beef bottom roast makes a better pot roast.

My inlaws are coming into town today. We are going to treat them to chili tonight. I'm going to make it the same way as before, but I'm going to brown the ground beef and put it in later. That should help a little with the texture.

Chili and Pot Roast #2

2009-06-08T07:48:00.000-07:00

The chicken was ok. I put garlic on top and a layer of mozzarella. I would def make again. Of course I always LOVE mashed sweet potatoes with butter and cinnamon.

Saturday night we made our first attempt at chili in the crock pot. I made awesome chili on the stove a week or so ago, but my hubby wanted to try in the crock pot. I can't really say all of what went into it because myhusband kept playing with it too. But It was basically 2 lbs ground beef, 1/2 bag black beans, 1/2 bag kidney beans, onion, garlic, and a load of spices. My husband added in some bacon and a rib bone from us BBQing ribs for lunch. The chili wasn't too bad. The meat was a little spongy, not sure how to fix that. The taste was ok, but was better with lots of tapatio.

Tonight I am making another roast. This one is beef eye of round roast. I trimmed the fat off of the side, laid it on a layer of onions with some water and beef boulon. I covered with salt, pepper, garlic powder, and then BBQ sauce. It's in the crock pot on low set for 12 hours. I have high hopes.

Mozzarella Chicken

2009-06-05T06:42:00.000-07:00

So last night was not bad at all. The beans did not cook completely, but they weren't bad. I think Chris liked the italian sausage a lot.

Tonight I'm not going to cook. I am going to mix the leftover beans and the leftover roast from the other day.

In case I don't get to this, tomorrow I plan to make chicken stuffed with spinach and mozzarella. It should be fairly good. I will also make mashed sweet potatoes. This is to share with our neighbors upstairs because they just had a baby.

My husband and I seem to have "healthy" digestive systems right now. Things are fixing themselves.

Bean Soup

2009-06-04T07:50:00.000-07:00

Last night's dinner was ok. It tasted like a roast. I added some salt and pepper when it came out and Wyatt and I had some sweet potatoes to complete the meal for us.

I also made some primal snack bars. Basically they are a mix of coconut, walnuts, peanut butter, almonds, craisins, sunflower seeds, milled flaxseed, olive oil, and 2 eggs. i baked it for about 20 min (plus a little after i turned the oven off). It is good...tastes like a "healthy" food though. Chris seems to like it a lot. We both agree that a layer of peanut butter on top would make it really good. I also realized after making it that I was supposed to put in honey (I stole the idea to throw stuff together from mark's daily apple). Honey might help a lot also, but would raise the GI.

Although not very primal, tonight we are having easy to make 15 bean soup with onion, smoked sausage, and garlic. I'm making it in the slow cooker again and the 15 beans soup came out of a bag with cajun seasoning.

side note-woke up early this morning with a horrible stomach ache after having a splitting headache all day yesterday...not sure what that's all about. Because of this, this morning i just put some of Wyatt's protein powder in my coffee for breakfast.

another side note-I am currently getting myself un-addicted to sugar again after a few weeks of treats. These things will probably taste better to me once my sweet tooth subsides. But withdrawal really sucks!

Steak and Potatoes & Pot Roast #1

2009-06-03T07:25:00.000-07:00

Dinner from the other night...eh. A lot of salt helped. Probably won't make that exact recipe again.

So yesterday I cut up two sweet potatoes, an onion, and some steak and threw them in the crock pot for about 5 hours. It was very good. Chris thought the steak was a bit dry and added some mustard. I liked it and Wyatt ate it.

Today I have a beef bottom round roast on top of two cut up onions with salt and pepper and bbq sauce. The bbq sauce has a lot more sugar than I would like, but should add a lot of flavor.

The idea...

2009-06-01T08:41:00.000-07:00

My husband and I have created www.threequestiondiet.com . It would take a book to fully explain all of these, but basically we eat fruit, veggies, fat, and meat while keeping in mind the sugar content of fruit and veggies. I have not only had a ton of success losing good body weight, but my husband is able to maintain a very muscular body while fighting some genetics. We feed our 1 1/2 year old the same food and I am also nursing a newborn. My main reason for starting this is because with two under two we just got a crock pot and I am going to try to create meals within our budget that will feed us for a couple of days so that I'm not always in the kitchen with a crying baby. A lot of this will be experiment. I plan to post the recipe and then our response. Last night we mixed a pound of ground turkey, lima beans, red beans, an onion, water, and italian seasoning in the crock pot. It smells ok, but I haven't tried yet, so we'll see how it turns out. My husband took some to work, so he'll have the first opinion.