Well - Whole30. I didn't finish it.

One of the hardest things about the Whole30 program is it is either all or nothing.  I felt, for sure, that this is what I needed to get me back on track after the summer splurges.  HOWEVER, after 10 days I realized it was not.  With the fear of failure, I set out to do this.  And I failed this Whole30.

I made it to day 10.  Days 2-4 were really tough - I was tired, I wasn't hungry, but I had the junk clearing my system and I knew what positives were coming.  Day 7 and 8 I had the energy I wanted back!  The aches and pains were beginning to subside and I didn't want to sleep all the time.  This is what I wanted all along!! I knew I could do it again!

Then came Day 10.  I made a choice to have a bit of wine with my friend and her extended family.  I didn't eat crazy things, I didn't drink a whole bottle.  I had a tasting and a few sips more.   And socialized and it was fabulous.

I don't think I needed a Whole30 to get me where I needed to be.   Instead I needed to commit myself to planning meals, food choices, not eating or drinking out of boredom or habit.  I needed to know that those choices give me the good feeling and energy I needed.  I needed to know that I can do this again without going crazy - that I'm not completely out of control.

So I came home, after being out with friend...and I made a healthy dinner.  And the next day, I got up and made all healthy choices and I've continued that.   It isn't that I won't be compliant or that I am a failure, but instead, I learned what lesson I needed to learn.

I failed at this Whole30, but I'm not a failure.

Zoodles!!

One of the recipes I have read most about in this Paleo world is Zoodles!  "Noodles" made from zucchini!  I always had an excuse (I didn't buy the spiralizer, I didn't have the vegetti, I can't cut them thin enough)

Last week I saw an article about using them with a Julienne Peeler.  BINGO!  My mandolin (a $3.99 mandolin from Aldi) has a julienne attachment.  I cut a medium size zucchini with this attachment and then boiled for just a few minutes in water and lemon juice.

Last night for dinner I had two pieces of cracklin chicken, zoodles with tomato basil sauce and shredded brussels sprouts and cabbage sauteed in coconut oil.  Yum!

Whole 30 Again!

So this summer, I really indulged in a lot of treats... I enjoyed myself, but between the lack-of-exercise and the treats, my clothes are tight again and I feel not-so-good.  I am missing my endless energy and the feeling that I can accomplish anything!  My joints are aching again (pretty sure that is from my occasional glutening and the loads of sugar I've had) and this is not where I want to be.  I'm sleepy early in the evening and struggling to get out of bed each morning.  This is how I used to feel all the time, but it's not ok with me.  Now that I know HOW good I can feel, I want to feel that way again!

So I am in for another Whole30!   Whole 30 is simple - eat real food (meat, veggies, fruit, nuts and other healthy fats), prepare it yourself as much as possible and avoid a few non-negotiables (gluten, legumes, sweeteners of all kinds, alcohol and dairy).  Move daily and stay off the scale.  Eat 3 full meals and don't snack!

I have a few goals I am setting for myself and I am adding them here as an extra bit of accountability!

• Eat breakfast every day.  This means planning ahead and getting out of bed.  I hope this helps me get back on track in two ways...out of bed on time AND starting the day with a healthy breakfast which will lead to less snacking/poor choices later in the day.
• No drinking - even though this is one of the rules, I want to state this as my own personal goal.  We have been visiting lots of wineries and enjoying a lot of local Virginia wine, but that comes with a lot of empty calories AND leads me to snacking on things I know I shouldn't eat.  :)   So here it is.  No drinking.
• Plan meals and shop with a purpose - throwing all the things in my cart is when I throw in the junk.  :) Adding a meal plan will help me make better choices too.  This also means cooking in bulk/larger portions and having leftovers on other days.   Today I am making NomNom Paleo's Cracklin Chicken to have some ready-to-go protein for a few meals this week.  Also, it will be delicious during football tonight for dinner instead of going out for wings! 

So there it is - stay tuned for lots of food photos as I move through the next 30 days! 

Icy Fruit Pops!

Earlier this week I was at HomeGoods and found these ice pop molds on clearance for $6.  I couldn't pass them up since they were so cute and there is so much yummy fruit that is local and ripe now!

First I chopped up some fresh fruit.  Today I choose peaches, strawberries and blackberries. I tried to cut them into small, diced chunks of about the same size.

Next I added them to the ice pop molds - filling them up as full to the top as I could.

  

Next, I added some juice.  I found this yummy Pom Hula on sale today at Aldi, so I filled them up right to the top of the container with Pom Hula.  I read a recipe earlier this week that says to use coconut water for an icy delicious treat.  I've also read about using coconut or almond milk for a creamy pop.  Yum!  So many choices!

Snap on the tops and let them freeze solid for a few hours.  

To unmold, run under warm water for just about 3 seconds.

ENJOY!

These are fabulous ice pop molds.  The base is larger than the ice pop and the "cone" is hollow to catch all drips. Yum!  Perfect on a hot afternoon. 

Woven Bacon Pizza

I made the most delicious summer dinner tonight!  The other night I saw this recipe for a bacon crust pizza.  I couldn't wait to try it!   My basil plant has been producing lots of basil - giant leaves!   Yum!  So it was a perfect evening, after the storm, for bacon crust margherita pizza!

First, I wove the bacon into a sheet and followed directions for the Ketogenic Pizza and baked it.  While it was in the oven I made my sauce.

I used a pint of Tomato Basil sauce that I canned last year, added 2 cans of clean tomato paste and a handful of fresh basil plus a Tbsp of balsamic vinegar.  I simmered it until it was thick.  Yum!

Then I prepped my toppings.  I tore the basil into medium chunks. I sliced tomatoes thin and chunked up the mozzarella.

After the bacon crust was finished baking, I transferred it to the pizza stone and added the toppings: first a layer of sauce, then the basil, then the tomatoes and finally the cheese.  I stuck it in the oven under the broiler for just a few minutes until the cheese was starting to brown.

DELICIOUS!

I served it with a tomato, basil, mozzarella and balsamic salad.  With Pom Hula Sun Tea and a Meritage from Cobbler Mountain Winery.  Delicious dinner!

Flavors of Summer

One of my favorite flavors of summer is sun tea.  My mom used to make sun tea just about every day in the summer.  We had a big, glass jug sitting out on the porch, brewing in the heat.  It has a nicer, fuller flavor than hot brewed tea made into iced tea.  And it's SOOO easy.

Honestly, the hardest part is finding a glass (not plastic) jug.   I like black tea - no particular brand favorite here, usually whatever I can find without tags.  If they have strings and tags (and tiny staples) I worry about that in my tea in the sun..

Put 8-10 tea bags in a glass jug of water.  Cover (use a lid if you can, foil if you don't have a lid) and set it outside.  Sun is optional, mine is usually in the sun a bit of the day, but shady on the porch the rest of the time.   It's the heat, gradual heat that matters. Let it sit outside for 3-5 hours then bring it inside.  Pour over ice, add mint or fruit if desired and enjoy!

I found this jug at World Market on Monday ON SALE!!  It's blue glass, mason jar look-alike and has a metal lid.  The only part I would change is the spout - I wish it were metal, it's plastic that looks like metal.  :)   However, I paid $13.35 for this 2.2 gal jar so I'm not complaining about the plastic spout!  This glass jug is a perfect fit in my fridge, so every couple of days I will brew a new batch and drink fresh sun tea!

Second taste of the summer - fresh berries!   I wanted a grain-free berry shortcake.  One of our favorite restaurants around here has a fresh mixed berry shortcake with ice cream that is my boyfriend's favorite.  However, I can't have the flour and I don't like the sugar and dairy necessarily.  So I tried a new recipe.

Cook, Eat, Paleo has a recipe that I started with.  I made a half batch of the shortcakes.  I attempted to make the cream, but it didn't set up.  I think it's the brand - unfortunately I didn't get the kind I like to work with since I went to a different grocery.

I also made a mix of berries (blueberries, blackberries and strawberries) that I mashed up last night with my pampered chef mix n chop and let them sit overnight in the fridge.  The flavors blended perfectly!

While my cream was more of a liquid than a whipped cream, this was still delicious and tasted perfect!

Plus, the berries look perfectly patriotic with ice cream.... just a great USA treat to have while watching World Cup Soccer!   I think I'm going to keep a container of smooshed berries ready all summer long! 

Converting a halter swimsuit...to a two strap suit!

So last year, at the end of the season, I found several tankini suit tops on sale...and they were fine, but they are all halter tops.  These don't give me the support I need AND they hurt my neck.   But with three suit tops...I can't justify spending money on another new suit.

So I decided to convert one of them to a two strap suit!  Here's how it started.

I checked the suit straps....getting a good idea of how to far in fro the sides I needed to go and how tight the straps needed to be.  I pinned them with safety pins so I could try this on without worrying about stabbing myself with straight pins or pulling them loose.

 I tried two different widths to see if I liked one better than the other.  In fact, I liked the one that was closer to the edge than the center.  I measured with a ruler and pinned them both again, tried on once again to be sure.  

I hand stitched these down - using a backstitch across the width of the strap. Then I used a whip stitch to secure the strap down against the top of the suit.  I wasn't sure about whether the placement was perfect, so I wasn't ready to cut the last bits off the straps till I wear this a few times to be sure.  I think you could machine stitch and be perfectly fine.  Make sure you secure the ends and stitch this down tight - nobody wants an unfortunate swimsuit accident :)

I can't wait to convert the other two suits the same way now that I know this works! 

Update: Patio Garden and my ON-GOING battle with the Squirrels!

So I hate squirrels.  I've wavered on this a bit, but the longer this battle continues, the more sure I am that I absolutely hate them!

After my plants were repeatedly knocked off that very cool pallet garden....knocked down, dug through and even eaten, I had to move them.

Remember this?

It happened OVER AND OVER AND OVER!  These squirrels are finding joy in annoying me!

So I took my plants off the shelves.  I happened to find these fabulous old apple crates at my parents' house, hiding in their garage.  This was a perfect alternative.

The plants are in the center of the crates, making it harder to knock them down (though I'm sure these rodents will find a way) And I only stacked them two crates high to cut down on the temptation for the little pests.

And even with all that frustration, my plants are growing!

My tomato bloomed its first tiny yellow blossom this week.  My lettuce is growing out of control.  And the KALE!  See the two kale plants on the top of the crates?  Those were once tiny little kale plants with hardly any green leaves!

I think I'm MOST excited about my rosemary right now because this weekend I plan to make Rosemary Blueberry Ice Cream from The Paleo Kitchen, a new cookbook from PaleOMG and Civilized Caveman!  The cookbook comes out in a couple of weeks, but this sneak peek recipe from PaleOMG has me convinced that I must have this book!

I've harvested lettuce and cilantro and rosemary and basil and mint more times than I can count!  I can't wait to get some peppers and tomatoes and kale on my table!

The squirrels won the battle of the peppers (ate both my jalapeno plants), thai basil, one strawberry plant (and they have nearly killed the other), 5 of the 6 daffodil bulbs, one hosta.   But I am winning this war!

I bought two 2-gallon pepper plants, hoping that a heartier plant would withstand the torment of these creatures.  However, after the first day, this is what I found:

That little bugger was digging in my brand new pepper plant!  He broke off one stem (that had a bloom already!) and exposed roots on the other, in addition to making quite a mess.  

So far I've tried cayenne pepper, chili powder, human hair.  All of them work for a day or two, but after watering they stopped keeping critters away.

Up next is some dog hair (luckily one of my friends has a really hairy dog that sheds a TON of hair) and dried blood (mixed reviews on this one, you buy it at lowes...so no worries about me butchering something).

I also found an ultrasonic noise machine that is supposed to keep them away...but I'm nervous about using it since I live in an apartment.  I don't want to drive my neighbors dogs and cats nuts! 

Wining Adventures!

Northern Virginia has sooo many wineries!  Lots of beautiful wineries, many delicious wines and lots of crazy experiences!

(Chester Gap)

Just over a year ago, two of my girlfriends and I started our Northern Virginia Wine Tasting Adventures.  We picked up a map and set a goal to visit all of the Northern Virginia Wine Region.

http://www.virginiawine.org/

(Stone Tower)

We started out with the 2013 Virginia Wine Map and started planning our weekends.  Usually on Sundays, we would visit 2 or 3 wineries.  We'd pack snacks, enjoy a tasting, sometimes spend some time in the sunshine or near the fire (during the winter months!) and take some notes.  We developed our wine tasting abilities.  We refined our likes and dislikes and quickly figured out what kind of wineries we like!

(Pearmund Cellars)

We found wineries were opening and closing all the time!  The map kept changing, just when we thought we were finished we found new ones!   Plus we kept going back to some of our favorites over and over!

(Leaves of Grass)

Today was our last big planned weekend to finish our goal of the Northern Virginia wineries.  We have a few individual wineries that have hours that are difficult to get to, open on an intermittent basis or appointment only or opening this spring/summer.

Where have we visited?  * by some of our favorites!

1. Cana  
2. Quattro Goombas *
3. The Winery at LaGrange
4. Hunter’s Run Wine Barn
5. The Barns at Hamilton Station
6. Bluemont Vineyard
7. Phillip Carter Winery of Virginia
8. Chester Gap Cellars  *
9. Rappahannock Cellars  *
10. The Winery at Bull Run 
11. 868 Estate Vineyards *
12. Breaux Vineyards 
13. Crushed Cellars 
14. Desert Rose Winery
15. Leaves of Grass Vineyard  *
16. Tarara Winery
17. Fabbioli Cellars *
18. Sunset Hills Vineyard 
19. Cobbler Mountain Cellars  *
20. Miracle Valley Vineyards
21. Aspen Dale Winery
22. Willowcroft Farm Vineyards  
23. Zephaniah Farm Vineyard
24. Stone Tower Winery
25. Chrysalis Vineyards
26. Fox Meadow Winery
27. Barrel Oak Winery 
28. Casanel Vineyards
29. Dry Mill Vineyards Winery 
30. Bogati Bodega 
31. Marterella Winery
32. Mediterranean Cellars
33. Naked Mountain Winery and Vineyard 
34. Delaplane Cellars
35. Three Fox Vineyard
36. Cardamon Family Vineyards
37. Maggie Malick Wine Caves.
38. Granite Heights Winery 
39. Molon Lave Vineyards 
40. Gray Ghost Vineyards 
41. Narmada Winery  *
42. Vint Hill Craft Winery 
43. Pearmund Cellars  
44. Chateau O’Brien 
45. Winding Road Cellars 
46. Vintage Ridge Vineyard & Winery
47. Hidden Brook Winery
48. Lost Creek Winery
49. Notaviva Vineyards
50. Hillsborough Vineyards 
51. Doukenie Winery
52. Loudoun Valley Vineyards
53. 8 Chains North 
54. North Gate Vineyard
55. Glen Manor Vineyards *
56. Linden Vineyards
57. Horton Winery
58. Barboursville Vineyards
59. Blenheim Vineyards 
60. Trump Winery
61. Jefferson Vineyards
62. Stinson Vineyards
63. Grace Estate Winery
64. White Hall Vineyards
65. Glass House Winery
66. Greenhill Winery and Vineyards
67. Boxwood Estate Winery 
68. Hidden Croft Vineyards
69. Corcoran Vineyards
70. Village Winery
71. Capitol Vineyard
72. Unicorn Winery
73. Paradise Springs Winery
74. Potomac Point Winery
75. Rogers Ford Farm Winery 
76. Hartwood Winery
77. Otium Cellars
78. Carroll Vineyards/Leesburg Vintner 
79. Lake Anna Winery 
80. Mattaponi Winery
81. Old House Vineyards
82. Morais Vineyards & Winery
83. Wilderness Run Vineyards
84. Sharp Rock Vineyards
85. Ducard Vineyards
86. Little Washington Winery
87. Gadino Cellars

(Otium)

Still trying to get to these this spring and summer:

• Quievremont Wine - not sure if it's really open. We've had a hard time finding information!
• Creeks Edge Winery - open now, Taylorsville
• Berry Hill Vineyards - closed Sundays, Flint Hill, Appointment only
• Two Twisted Posts - open every other weekend as of Spring 2014
• Winery 32 - opening June 2014
• Blue Valley Vineyard - Opening Summer 2014
• Catoctin Creek Winery - appointment only
• Catoctin Creek Distillery - closed on Sundays

(Morais)

What have we learned over this past year of wining adventures?

We like small, family owned wineries

We dislike most places that welcome buses and limos and cater to big groups.

We dislike places that feel "corporate" or too commercial.

We like drier wines rather than sweeter wines, with the occasional port-style as an exception!

We like quieter places - although sometimes listening to live music is a great way to spend an afternoon.

We like places where the people are nice, know about the winery and the wine, and where they really take the time to chat with us, not just recite a speech or read the tasting notes to us.

Most importantly we love hanging out with each other and spending time learning more about Virginia Wines!

(Greenhill Winery)

First food from my garden! Tomato-Basil-Mozzarella-Bacon Salad!

Well, this might be an overly optimistic title (most of these basil leaves were ready to eat when I planted them) but it still makes me super happy to just pop out on the porch and get some basil when I want to cook with it!

I made a YUMMY salad for lunch this week.  

• Bacon Lardons - basically really crispy bacon bits that take the place of croutons (get it, crout-ons...lard-ons)  These are from NomNomPaleo's cookbook and something I add to a lot of salads.  I added them to my deviled eggs earlier this week!
• Pearl Tomatoes on the vine (from Trader Joes) - quartered.  I cut up about 8 or 10 tomatoes.
• A small amount of Trader Joes Mozzarella - chopped into chunks.  I probably used about 1/5th of the log of mozzarella.
• BASIL!  I tore up about 8 leaves for this.  I like to tear instead of cutting since I think it bruises the leaf more and releases more scent and flavor.
• Aged Balsamic Vinegar  - this is from Aldis and is part of their private label collection.  They don't carry it all the time but it comes in a beautiful little square bottle.   

Add it all to a bowl with a lid and shake.  For best results (if you can!) let it sit in the fridge together so the flavors all blend.  I made this in the morning before I left for school and by lunch time (let's be real, I couldn't wait so I ate it mid-morning) but it was perfect! 

This tastes like summer to me!  I would eat this every day if I could!   So fresh and so yummy!

Squirrels and my Garden!!

When I lived in rural WV, we struggled with gardening because the deer would eat everything before it had a chance to grow and be harvested.

I thought planting a patio garden on my porch in this little suburban area would be much safer from the "wildlife."

I was wrong.  Very wrong.

 I am so mad at these squirrels!  I caught one in the act!  So, all of this happened THE FIRST DAY that I planted my garden.  I came home from a relaxing night away with my ❤️ to find the devastation in the pictures above.  LOOK at that jalepeno plant!  BOTH plants were dug up and eaten off at the soil level.  No peppers for this girl.   My pots were knocked off the shelves and dumped all over my porch.

Those little rodents even dug up all the daffodil bulbs that I brought back from my mom's house in West Virginia AND TOOK THE BULBS WITH THEM!!!

I want to kill these squirrels - no lie.  I looked into poisons (but don't want to endanger neighborhood dogs and cats) and if I was in WV I'd just shoot them. Hah, not an option in the neighborhood.

I cleaned them up...and I noticed that the only plants not touched were the lettuce, tomato and lavender.  I've read that lavender could keep deer away, so I'm hoping it will keep squirrels away.  I picked some sprigs of lavender and rubbed it on all the cleaned up and re-potted plants.  I also put little bits of lavender in the soil.

I also read that cayenne pepper will keep the critters away so I dumped ground cayenne pepper on the top of the soil.

For three days this worked.  On the third day I caught that little gray rodent at it red (gray??) handed!!  The little thing tried to slink away like if he got really low to the ground I wouldn't see him.  GRR!  I yelled at him, but he didn't seem to care.  He knocked the strawberry pot off the top shelf again!

I put more cayenne everywhere - all over that strawberry plant and even on the pallet itself.  Hopefully that helps!


I honestly don't know what to do about this.  One variety of hosta is completely destroyed, the other two have many damaged stalks.  Peppers are all gone.   I'm not sure my herbs are all going to make it.  Daffodils are gone (all but one) and impatiens have been rooted around in so much, they might not make it either.

Anyone have any (safe) suggestions?  Help!  

Spring Break Porch Makeover - Part 2: Pallet Herb Garden

Now it is time for step 2 of the porch makeover!  A pallet project.   I found inspiration for the project here at PinkWhen.com and I'm excited to see what I can do.   Her directions are great - only I don't have a lot of the tools she mentioned (like a kreg jig) so I had to do some improvising.  I'll explain that part as we go.

Need to see part 1 of the porch makeover? 

I noticed a pile of pallets outside behind ACE hardware this morning on my way back from plant shopping.   So I popped in and asked if I could have one.   They told me to help myself to as many of the un-painted ones as I want. One for now...:)  I picked what looked like a good one and loaded it up to haul it home.

Then it was on to youtube to find out how to break down a pallet.   This was going to be harder than I thought!  I wish I had a sawzall...that makes it look easy!   There were a lot of great ideas, but I didn't have the tools.  So I followed the directions on this video, but instead I used a large flat screwdriver (a stand in for a crowbar) and a hammer to pry up all the boards on the back and one of the middle boards on the front.    Whew!  It was a lot of work, but well worth it.  I will say I worked my shoulders in a way that they aren't used to...as they were screaming the next morning!  I am pretty sure I also pulled a muscle in my neck/right shoulder that is still hurty.  Ouch! This was by far the hardest part of the job! 

(looks like I need to clean up the floor again!) 

After a quick trip to Lowes for some more 

• 1 1x4x10' cut into 4 18" pieces (shelves) and 2 16.5" pieces (one side has a separate brace, so it makes it much shorter.  The leftover piece was about 8 inches so I used it for a foot.
• a pack of screws.  I got #8 2.5 inch screws.  I have no idea why...they looked like they were a good fit
• a pair of bolt cutters (an expense I'm not proud of, but I'm done fighting with those nails!!)  $13.50

Total spent at Lowes $25

I bought 12 plastic pots at the Dollar Tree.  They came in 4 colors, so I picked up 3 of each to add a bit of color.

  They needed a hole in the bottom for drainage, so I drilled the bottom.  It was really easy.  They have little indentations, but just needed to be drilled through.

 AND I got a pair of work gloves.  All that work yesterday without gloves.  I ended up with one splinter (got it out!), two smashed fingernails (not from the hammer...but when I was prying, something came loose suddenly and I smashed my fingers into the board/nail), and one scraped up wrist.  The $1 for work gloves was totally worth it.

Total spent at Dollar Tree $14

Next it was time to cut the nails - you have to use your muscles.  I pulled and pulled and pried and tried to hammer them in but they won't budge.  So I got the bolt cutter and cut them off as close as I could to the boards.

Attach the shelves.   I used the level in the compass app for my iphone to make sure they were really level.  You can see in the final pictures that they don't look level because the original boards on the pallet aren't square. It adds to the charm, right? :) I drilled the holes then put the long screws through.   In PinkWhenJen's  original planter she used a kreg jig to drill angled holes and that seems like it would be a great idea, but way beyond my ability.  My shelves are also staggered a bit because once you put one in, you can't put another directly beside it.  :) Do the best you can - they don't have to be perfect!  

Attach feet - again, I used what I had.  I had one leftover piece of wood from the long 1x4 I bought and it was about 7 or 8 inches.  So I screwed that on one side.  I had another piece from the wood I pried off that was in pretty good shape and about 9 or 10 inches, so that became my other foot.  :) This step could be skipped if you want to lean the garden or attach it to a fence/wall.

Finally!  Time to plant!  One more trip to Lowes and Walmart to see if they got healthy little herbs and veggies after the frost.  Success!  Plus I found another pot in my storage closet AND bought two types of tomatoes.

• 1 more jalepeno pepper plant
• rosemary
• cilantro
• spearmint
• lemon balm
• 2 sweet basil plants
• purple basil
• thai basil
• 2 types of strawberries
• 4 tiny kale plants
• 2 types of cherry tomatoes
• another bag of miracle gro potting soil

Total spent at Lowes (21) and Walmart this morning (33) = $54

After potting everything and sweeping up the porch, I am very excited about my Spring Break Porch Makeover!  I think the only thing I need now are a couple of cute outdoor pillows for the porch chairs.   

Now, fingers crossed that I can grow all of these plants!!

On the blue table: bibb lettuce, tomato plants (2) and lavender.  On the floor: impatiens and daffodils (from my mom's house!) and 3 kinds of hostas.  On the big table: jalapeno plants (2), a candle and a citronella candle holder.

Top row:  Strawberries (2), Lemon Balm, Spearmint.  Middle row: sweet basil (2), thai basil, purple basil.  Bottom row:  kale (2), rosemary, cilantro.