So Long 2012

As we say goodbye to 2012, Trevor and I hope to also say goodbye to some excess pounds that have slowly but surely taken up residence on our bodies.  With my teaching/Vanderbilt class schedule and with Trevor's work/church schedule, we have severely neglected to eat healthy or work out in 2012...I mean hardly at all.  It is sad.  We also come home late and exhausted and usually collapse on the couch with some kind of comfort food - not a recipe for good health.

For those of you who don't know us personally (or all that well for that matter), let me take a second to say that I played sports all through high school and have been reasonably fit and active since and Trevor played college basketball and has also been reasonably fit and active since.  We used to pay a lot of attention to our eating also, so it's not that being healthy is something we don't know how to do.  Over the past year, it's just something that we haven't given proper attention to because we're always busy and running to the next thing.

While checking Pinterest one night (sitting on my couch when I could have been up moving), I came across Whole Living's 21 Day Cleanse.  I liked the look of it because the emphasis is not on crazy food combinations or on drinking some sort of crazy potion 6 times a day.  The premise is that everything is stripped down and the first week is only fruits, vegetables and nuts.  Then things are slowly added back in each week.  I liked the idea of eating real, whole food and concentrating on exactly what we are putting in our bodies.  It also is gluten-free, something we have been wanting to test to make sure neither of us is intolerant.  I asked Trevor if he would ever want to try something like that and he agreed that we should look into it.  We knew we couldn't start while I was still in school (quite a bit of prep involved), so we decided we would wait until we got back from our Christmas travel and use the week before I went back to school as a springboard to kick start our renewed emphasis on our health.

Saturday we went to the store to pick up a few things and just decided to do all of our cleanse shopping while we were there.  $149 later, we loaded up the car with all the ingredients for week 1.  $149, ya'll!  That is about half of our usual monthly budget, but I kept having to remind myself that it was worth it to splurge and spend more this month on healthy food.  We don't buy convenience food usually, and we cook mostly from scratch which is how we usually keep things under budget.  So tip #1 for starting this cleanse: prepare your wallet.  I would say of that $149, about $120 was all produce.  We have so much produce for this week that there is not room for it all in our fridge.  Crazy.

A big part of the cleanse is focusing on how food makes you feel.  We know that it is a bit more restrictive than what we are used to and we know that not all our feelings will be positive, but we are excited to try.  We will use this blog as a place to record our feelings about the cleanse as we go.

We will also use this blog as a source of accountability.  As hard as it is to admit that we haven't been very disciplined and have let our health slip from our priority list, we will be very open and honest about our successes and struggles as we go.  Once it's out there in the blogosphere, we have to continue on, even if it is not fun.

So, without anything further, here goes nothing!  (Did I mention that I'm hungry already?)   :)
Cheers!

And We're Back...

I know this little blog has been sorely neglected as I (Jamie) pursued my Masters in Teaching over the course of the past 18 months.  Good news: I am done!  Officially. :)  I'm teaching at an elementary school in Nashville and I couldn't be more excited.  Also, big news since our last post here, Trevor and I are adopting!  For all the details on that little endeavor, check out our adoption blog.

Now that we're all caught up, I can't promise that this blog will get as much attention from us as it used to, but check back from time to time if you're interested in what we're up to next.

The main reason for this post is because we have had a fantastic food week at our house and can't wait to share what we've been eating.  So let's get to it, shall we?

Tuesday night, we ate Mediterranean Portobello Burgers.  They were, in one word, incredible.  Healthy and delicious too (okay, that was three words but I could seriously go on all day).  This is one recipe that I hope will be in heavy rotation at our house.  I think we'll make them again this week.

Thursday night, we made pizza with pesto, tomatoes, and feta.  Again, fantastic.  Our grill is out of propane and it's not exactly prime grilling season, so we just made it in the oven.  I made the whole wheat dough but we used store-bought pesto.  We served it with spring greens and a homemade red wine vinaigrette (that we made up on the fly).  It was really good.

This morning, I spent some more time in the kitchen. I made my grandma's banana bread and some fresh naan.  Naan is an Indian flatbread.  I improvised a little and just threw everything into the bread machine  dough cycle while my banana bread was baking.  I wasn't sure how it would come out but I was pleasantly surprised.  It came out of the oven soft on the inside and a little crispy on the outside.  It paired wonderfully with the spinach feta hummus I made earlier in the week.

I wish you could have joined us as Trevor and I had a little dance party in the kitchen eating the warm naan fresh from the oven with our hummus, drinking iced tea and listening to Rend Collective Experiment on Spotify.  It was a seriously wonderful 5 minutes :)

Alright, so this was a pretty random first post back.  We are glad to be settling into our new routine, so perhaps you'll be hearing more from us soon.  Until then, what have you been eating at your house?  Any recipes you're dying to share?

Menu Monday

Another Monday has arrived, can I get a collective, "WOOT WOOT!"  No?  Okay, one tiny woot then? Whatever.  It's Monday nonetheless and Trevor and I are one week in to our consious effort to eat less meat during the week.  Last week was great!  We tried new things and ate lots of good fruit and veiggies.  I think we're going to like it.  Here's what this week looks like:

Monday: Dinner with our accountability group
Tuesday: Lentil Sloppy Joes and sweet potato fries
Wednesday: Bulgar Wheat with Fried Chickpeas, Roasted Red Peppers, and Spinach

Thursday: Leftover Lentil Sloppy Joes
Friday: Dinner with the Youth Group
Saturday: Macaroni and Cheese with Cauliflower
Sunday: Popcorn, Apples, Grapes, and sharp cheddar cheese!

Life and Death

Do Yourself a Favor

...And make this chili.  It was delicious and perfect for a Tuesday night at home.  I don't believe you will be disappointed. 

Alyvia the Christmas MerLady

It's official: We have the CUTEST niece ever.  Sadly, she lives with her parents in Idaho, which is a long way away from here.  BUT here's a video we took in Nampa at Christmas as proof that she is, indeed, THEE CUTEST little Lubiens there ever was!

Nashville+Snow=Insanity