My Sisters

Angie and Anita,
 I want you both to know how much I love and admire you. I am so grateful for the love, support, and laughter you regularly bring to my life. You each inspire me to be a better and happier person. I am grateful for the opportunity to support you in any goals that you have to make yourself healthier and happier. Your greatest fan and cheering section is right here typing away.

Out of the shadows and letting the love shine!,
Chrissy

Anita's sugar withdrawal!

If you search sugar withdrawal or sugar addiction on the internet you get mixed results. Some believe it doesn't exist, others believe it is real.... let me tell you sister, IT IS REAL. I have cut out sugar and I am being punished for it hahaha! Last night I felt if I didn't get a cookie or a nice bowl of chocolate ice cream I was going to start doing my best Queen of Hearts impression and start shouting "OFF WITH THEIR HEADS!" To anyone and everyone that crossed my path. But I snacked quietly on my toasted butternut squash seeds instead. The rather depressing episode of Wallander (A very well acted but depressing BBC TV detective series that is on instant watch Netflix) that we, Kevin and I, were watching last night didn't help (Kenneth Branagh's character makes me sleepy and depressed! And who knew that Loki had such a lovely mop of blond curly hair?) But I am determined to work my way through the withdrawals. I've read that it takes about three weeks to work through the withdrawals. So one week is almost down. I can do this! Right??? YES! I can! And I'm determined to go cold turkey. I'm not going to slowly wean myself from sugar pffft. I'm over weight, I don't want to be, so the solution is simple. So tonight, I have exciting plans. I'm going to watch another episode of Wallander and munch on some more toasted butternut squash seeds. Full of Win!
And Off With Their Heads! (I just had to throw that last bit in there to make me feel better;) )

Anita's dinner meal plan for 1/28-2/1

I'm big on left-overs. I love left-overs. I try to avoid as many processed foods as possible, which means cooking meals from scratch. It takes a lot of work and a lot of time. So when I cook, I cook enough to make it last for a couple of meals. Other wise I'd become chained to my stove/oven. This week (Monday through Friday) I've planned three meals. They are:
Meal 1: Rice and Beans
Homemade "refried" beans (dry pinto beans made in the crock pot)
My friend Lili's Spanish rice recipe (made with brown rice)
And Kevin's homemade salsa (I love his salsa!)
This is one of our favorite meals. It is great because we can make a ton of it and it is so tastey!

Meal 2: my Qi Balancing soup
Made with lentils and vegetables- with the main vegetable this time being one of our butternut squashes. (we still have a few in the garage from our garden! yay!) I make this in my 11 quart pot so this lasts for about 2 meals. The recipe is on my other blog:
http://familystuffandjunk.blogspot.com/2011/03/qi-balancing-soup.html

Meal 3:
Poison Chicken (Chicken "Spaghetti")
lol! This is a dish that Kevin invented and it is so yummy that we sarcastically named it Poison Chicken.
I'm so glad that Costco started carrying organic chicken again. They sell it for so much cheaper than the regular grocery store.
This is 2 or 3 chicken breast (for our family of 6) cooked and diced. Home made spaghetti sauce with a lot of garlic added (we love garlic lol) mixed together with the chicken.
It is served over Spaghetti Squash "noodles." Spaghetti Squash is one of our favorite squashes because once cooked it becomes perfect noodles and can be substituted for anything you would use noodles for.
This dish usually only makes enough for one meal.

Happy Eating!
Love and healthy, yummy food,
Anita