Very Easy Fudge Bites

Regina (9) loves to make new recipes. She put together this fudge recipe!  She calls them Smudge Balls or Smudged Fudge.

50 chocolate chips. 1-2 tbls coconut milk

Pour into small bowl

Microwave about 25 seconds.

Pour off obvious excess of liquid. Stir well.

Use spoon to drop the mixture onto a paper plate. And freeze for about 20 minutes.

Take out of freezer, and let it sit for five minutes. Serve!

School Lunch

If you prepare enough protein from last nights dinner, you can use it for a great lunch the next day.

The kids loved this lunch:

Steak. Yellow peppers. Grapes. Green beans. Chocolate raisins.

 

 

One Skillet 15 Minute Dinner

Take beef and place it in a hot skillet with melted butter. Don't forget to salt and pepper the meat!

Once both sides of meat are browned, throw in brussel sprouts (halved).

Remove beef (takes about 12-15 minutes for Med) and leave sprouts to soak up all the delicious meat juices.

Give a quick squeeze of lemon over the brussel sprouts, mix, and serve hot.

A Not So Primal Post, but... a hopefull one

So on Tuesday I first went to my chiropractor. She did some sort of muscle relaxing thing with this weird machine she has... didn't seem to help much, but worth a try! I immediately went from there to physical therapy across town. The PT was really great, but I felt like I was going to die by the time I left the office.  THEN I drove an hour to the the naturopath (MD who tries to treat holistically, but will also give "real" meds if needed) Dr. Klug. 

Let me just start by saying that Dr. Klug is my new best friend!  She has one receptionist/secretary, and a small, two or three room office, and is amazingly friendly and warm without being patronizing. 

Her first question was "What can I do for you?"  I had to pause because no doctor has ever asked me that question. Ever. 

So I told her my symptoms (you can refresh your memory by clicking on My Story) and how I seem to have fallen into a senseless depression these last few weeks, and I just can't function or deal with it anymore. 

She looked me right in the eyes the whole time. Didn't check her watch, clickity-clack on a laptop, or review papers while I was speaking.  I felt like crying. Some one was not only listening but also *understood* what I was saying.  I didn't get a speech of "just get over it." "If you stopped eating so much..." "if you would just talk a walk."  or any other of the various idiotic things I've been told. She said "I know. It's so hard. Well, the good news is I know what's wrong with you!"

Wait... what.. you do?  Tell me tell me tell me!  

"Your body is screaming out "hormone deficiency!"   Oh, well, yes, I've thought that for years... but what kind of hormone?  

"You are severely lacking in progesterone. When one lacks progesterone one becomes depressed, lethargic, muscle can't relax, you can't get to sleep, you typically cannot lose weight, and a whole host of other things [most of which I have], but there is good news, I can give you a compounded prescription for progesterone, and you should be able to tell a difference the first time you use it, and a major difference within a few months."

Uh. Wow.  I thought I had estrogen dominance, but I never suspected low progesterone.  She says I do have too much estrogen by the fact that I have little progesterone.  Also, did you know that if you are constantly in a state of stress, your body cannot make enough cortisol to keep you functioning, so your adrenal glands take progesterone to convert into something it can use for stress?   Very cool, but not so cool at the same time.  

She said given that I lived in a chaotic situation as a child, that getting my cycles so early (age 11), and then pregnancies on top of it all has caused adrenal fatigue. Yes! I knew that one too, but the doctors wouldn't listen. 

Annnnnd, I have an enlarged thyroid. "Did any doctor ever let you know about this?"  I laughed. I only asked four different doctors to check out my thyroid. Surprise! Not one doctor ever touched or looked at it. They wouldn't even check my thyroid hormones/levels.  

So she says "I am strongly suspecting that you have a thyroid condition on top of a progesterone issue. And probably a few more issues that we can't see yet...."

I have to start taking progesterone and see what effect that has. Hopefully that gets everything working like it's supposed to and I won't need to do much else. I am also going in for lab work to check a lot of things like hormone levels, Vit D levels, a completely full panel on thyroid levels, and all that jazz. She says most likely I'll have to be on a T3 supplement, but we need to see the blood-work before we can determine how much.

I still can't quite believe it.  I have answers. I have a plan. And I have hope.

Stay tuned for some more food photos from our cooking this week!

...that is, if I can find my camera cord.

Cooking and muscles

Tom did me a huge favor and went through the Primal cookbooks and found a few recipes. Then he made up a grocery list. I am pretty sure he is an angel in disguise. Anyone who has to make up the weekly dinner menu knows what I'm talking about. ;)

So I forced myself to the grocery and now I have a fridge full of great ingredients. The only problem is I can't seem to make myself cook anything. For whatever reason, the entire right side of my body has been going into muscle spasms and hurts like heck, so the thought of standing and moving around as much as cooking requires sounds like anything but fun.

Needless to say, we've been having take out a lot. . . but Tom being as awesome as he is, has been keeping it as Primal as possible. 

I have done my best to keep the kids' lunches Primal as well. The lunches are a bit easier since I don't really need to cook anything. A lot of vegetables, nut butters, fruits/nuts, and whatever leftover meat we have, and a bottle of water seems to keep the kids interested. Now that we've used the Bento boxes for lunches for a few weeks now, I can honestly say that it is more than worth the money. My kids have not been teased ONCE since they started using them. Kids are weird. I don't know why what the lunch comes in makes a difference as to what they eat, but ... whatever.  I had to listen to so many sad stories about what kids were saying to my children about eating healthy stuff, it was really wearing on everybody. So I am ecstatic the my girls don't have to deal with it anymore, and would gladly pay double what I paid for the Bentos. 

 I'm going to the doctor, a massage therapist, and the chiropractor next week. Surely one of those things is bound to help. THEN I can finally get back to cooking. 

Blah

Tom and I went out of town this weekend. First he gave a speech at a Ron Paul rally in Tampa. And then we thought we'd get some beach time in... that didn't work out though, thanks to Tropical Storm Issac. We ended up at the Salvador Dali museum. Scary, I know. I had to turn a research paper about Dali when I was in college. It was very ... scary.  However, they few books I read, and my professor, never talked about Dali being a "normal" painter. Some of his paintings are genuinely breathtaking and masterpieces. Don't get me wrong, there was a bunch of weird stuff too, but interesting all the same. 

Anyway, this week the whole family has suffered from a Summer of only eating partially Primal. I'm not gonna lie... Eating Primally is super easy if you are only thinking of yourself. It because exponentially more difficult with each person you add. So not only was trying to balance a crazy summer with six family members already difficult, but add in extra family while on visits, and traveling constantly... I would say it was impossible. There are the hardcore people who will shout out "shoulda just packed a cooler."  And we did when we could, but nuts and jerky can only hold you over for so long. 

I suppose anything is possible as long as you are determined to make it work. Still... I think food should be apart of life, not an obsession. Something had to give. I chose to fall of the wagon here and there. For you, that may not be an option.  One thing I really hate is when people say "try this, it's the easiest thing, really!"  And it turns out to be rather difficult. They seem to think admitting that going and STAYING Primal is hard at times, it must mean it invalidates their entire argument. Odd logic. 

Anyway, it is very, very difficult to stay Primal when you are not on a set routine and you constantly have other people coming in and out of the picture. I'm not ashamed of it. It is what it is.

In any event, we are really trying to get back on track now that we have a set schedule again.  The kids aren't sleeping as well. Tom's stomach issues came back. And I feel tired a lot. We've also had to deal with some emotional issues with a couple of the kids. Fun times. 

On the upside: Every one in the family has said they prefer to be Primal because they feel so much better.  Now that we're home from trips and back to school craziness, I'm hoping to start making up new menus. 

This week or next I'll have a post on the perfect turkey. Stay tuned!

Home at Last and Back to School Lunch!

Hi all!

Thanks for not giving up on me.  We are FINALLY home from all trips, have our house mostly in order (still waiting on furniture), and school supplies bought, labeled and kids sent off to school. 

Now I need to sit down, go through our Primal cookbooks, and come up with a delicious menu. Any ideas?

I bought a new lunch box system for each of my girls. I think it makes lunch more fun. I'm hoping it cuts down on the teasing --"Weird, what is that?!"--and makes my girls feel more excited about the food. It's called the Bento System. Check it out!  A little pricey, yes, but I had to buy three or four lunch totes last year, because the girls kept spilling food, and mold would grow in all the crevices, and this system comes out to about the same price (as last year) but it is durable, dishwasher safe, and fun! 

Here is what we made for the first day of school lunch:

Nitrate-free ham and mustard. Grapes/melon/cherries. Carrots/tomatoes. And a snack of dark chocolate chips and sunflower seeds. Plus a water bottle.

  It came home empty! And the girls said nobody made fun of the food. I think it looks much more appetizing than when it's in ziplock bags. 

It did take a while for it to ship, FYI. It does work so well, and the carrying cases (I'll have to find a photo of those somewhere) are so colorful and fun... we didn't mind waiting.  

Gotta run for now, but I'm hoping to get back to regular blogging now.