Paint!!!!

OMG, I had a whole day of crafts and painting and projects the other day and it was delicious!!!!!
  Sometimes I forget how much I love doing that stuff. I am going to share one of my projects with you, don't worry I will share more in other posts!!!

But today is a canvas painting I made. I got the idea from Pinterest and just did my own version of it so I can't claim full artistic credit. But I sure as heck painted this one.  It's a simple canvas and painters tape. I ran out of painters tape and used masking tape but the paint bled so don't do that!

Here it is.......I call it "trees" cuz I am super clever like that

Channeling My Inner Summertime

The other night I made one of or favorite summer meals, maybe yours too. Ours was made with tofu and you may have chicken but we enjoyed the little glimpse of summer it inspired. We had BBQ tofu, dill potatoe salad, baked beans, broilled pineapple and sauteed veggies. In the summer it would be grilled but with all the snow still on the ground that style of cooking is on hold!
I had several people ask me how I make BBQ  tofu so I decided to share how I do it. My kids like it so much they ask for it!! Even my still partially carnivoric husband likes it!

BBQ Tofu

Marinade:
1 pkg extra firm organic tofu
a bit of liquid smoke
sea salt and pepper
garlic powder
bottled BBQ sauce watered down to easy to pour stage


I mixed it all together in a bowl and marinated the diced and pressed tofu for an hour or so. Drained it and put it on a cookie sheet sprayed with cooking spray.

I poured bottled BBq sauce over it and sprinkled it with cornmeal. Breadcrumbs would be a good option but I am doing GF and didn't have any. Then I gave it a quick spray of cooking spray and baked until the edged started to brown and the sauce was bubbly and thick.

That's it! Fast and easy!

Pet Peeve Tuesday

Ok, so this may offend some but frankly my dear I don't give a damn.

Today I did a 30 minute Body Transformation circuit video. It incorporates, weights, cardio and strength and endurance training. In a nutshell, it kicks your ass for 30 minutes of your day. Then I did weighted squats and lunges until I thought I would cry then I did about 30 more of them. To finish it off, just so my abs wouldn't be jealous of the beating my ass just took I did plank oblique twists and side planks until I could see my own sweat wetting the carpet under me.
This was a single workout day. An easier day for me because I had errands to do. Tomorrow after I finish my body transformation beating and my squat challenge excercises for the day I will do a Fitness Pilates workout and finish with some stretches. My point is, I work hard. I dont take a week off here and there. I get up 6 days a week and bust my ass to look like I bust my ass!!

I tell you this because it all leads up to a huge pet peeve I have. This is my weight loss/ fitness journey. I am at goal weight so I am working hard on building muscle and trimming my body fat percentage down into the teens. I work really hard.I work really hard 6 days a week on it. That is my choice,

no excuses.

my goal!

Cue someone who doesn't respect the work involved.
   "Well, you can eat a whole cheese cake if you want because you are so tiny. It must be nice to be so little and eat whatever you want. Why are you eating carrots, have some chocolate. You are so skinny! I wish I were so skinny so I could eat whatever I wanted to"  Here is the problem I have with this.

I don't eat whatever the hell I want or I wouldn't look like this!! I don't think I am skinny. I think I am fit.

No I am not being vain, because I have earned it. No I don't think I am done because being fit takes maintenence and hitting my goals is going to take plenty of hard work. Work I am not afraid to put in to get what I want.

So the next time someone sitting on their well fed ass complaining about how skinny I am and stuffing their mouth with dessert has the nerve to tell me to just stop obsessing and eat a cheesecake I am going to tell them to shut the hell up!! If they are unhappy with their life, their size or their choices that is all on them. Not me, not my problem. So kiss this girls ass, the one I am doing killer amounts of squats with so it is nice and high and tight!

3 Days of Effort

Well, for 3 days I have been working on the next menu plan. 17 days of gluten free and vegan dinners. And a couple extra just in case I don't get  to the store or run out of ingredients for something on the plan. I really wanted to have different meals then the last 17 days. I get so tired of eating the same things! So here it is!!!
Feel free to comment with suggestions or other recipes or meal ideas!!!

GLUTEN FREE AND VEGAN DINNERS
1) BBQ tofu, dill potato salad, baked beans and sauteed veggies(corn, peppers, mushrooms, zucchini)
2)gluten free spaghetti and chunky veggie red sauce. Green salad heavy with veggies and gluten free cherry turnovers. GF beer or lemonaid
3)lemon spaghetti squash, spinach salad with cranberries and black bean brownies. White wine
4)hummus with gluten free crackers, carrots, grape tomatoes, olive medley, couscous with parsley, cilantro and roasted red pepper and garlic.Stuffed grape leaves. Chocolate dipped apricots. White wine
5) sun-dried tomato, mushroom, artichoke pizza with basil on zucchini crust, tomato and cucumber salad and banana chocolate cookie. GF beer
6). stuffed portabello cap with cheese, artichoke and spinach, served with roasted rosemary potatoes. strawberries with coconut cream. White wine
7)crockpot beans, spinach enchiladas and mexi rice. Mexican corn and pepper salad and pico de gallo on shredded lettuce. Lime water
8)tofu fried rice, cabbage, carrot mushroom veggie broth soup with fresh ginger. Cucumber lemon water
9) cornmeal mush with blackberry syrup, coconut bacon-new recipe, potato cake and mixed fruit. Dandelion tea
10)taco soup and baked corn chips, cinnamon crisp with tofutti cream cheese and GF crust. Lime water
11)split pea soup with home made  garlic GF croutons, fresh pears, with strawberry drizzle. Lemonaid
12) tofu chili cheese fries on home made fries with soy cheese, tofu sour cream and jalapenos. Spinach and kale salad with radish and grape tomato.Roasted Parsnips. apple slices. GF beer
13)chickpea (tuna substitute) salad with soy pepper jack cheese on polenta and baked plantain fries, potato fries for the boys,broiled pineapple. Cranberry water
14)Breaded, broiled tofu squares with italian seasoning, sun dried tomato salad with olives, sauteed onions, green peppers and mushrooms served on wilted spinach. GF lemon bars. White wine
15)pan fried smokey tempeh, sauerkraut, cheese on open face  GF bread with horseradish sauce, pickles and GF breaded onion rings. Spinach salad with onion, mushroom and radish. GF beer
16)bean burritos (corn tortillas) with mexi salad and salsa, lemon/stevia sorbet lemon/lime water
17)roasted onions and mushrooms over lentils. With balsamic vinegar glaze and a sprinkle of olive oil. tofu chocolate mousse and strawberries White wine or cranberry water

EXTRAS: corn chowder with roasted red pepper and garlic, loaded baked potatoes with black beans and salsa,tofu curry in simmering sauce with rice and roasted broccoli,stuffed green pepper(rice and veggies) protein pancakes and toasted tempeh
mmm I am getting hungry!!!

Gluten free Pizza Gourmet Tasting Goodness

hey y'all,
I made the yummiest most amazing pizza tonight!
I started with Pillsbury gluten free thin pizza crust from the refrigerator section. It comes in a tub. I used about a third of it since I was making a small pizza just for me. It says it makes 2 11 inch crusts though. I patted the crust out on my pizza pan and prebaked it according to the directions on the pan. I threw a handful of sliced mushrooms on the pan with a squirt of my handy dandy home made Pam mix. Then I sprinkled it with olive oil and the mushrooms, some bottled roasted red pepper, a handful of sun dried tomatoes I dried last summer and froze in freezer bags. a bit of minced garlic, I sprinkled it with basil and then some mozzarella soy cheese. I baked it till the mozzarella has hot and melty.
I don't know about you but I love sun dried tomatoes. Anyway, I didn't think it was gonna be so awesome or I would have photographed it for you!!! It was AHHH-MAZZZ-ING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
It was better then some of the vegan ones I have been making lately and totally knocked the socks off zucchini boats, lol

Wash Day Agonies!!!

What do you think is the all time most hated household chore?? What's yours?? Mine is absolutely laundry. I don't mind the washing and drying but I'd rather repaint my garage then fold and put away the clothes. No idea why I hate it so much, I just do. At this very moment there is a mountain of laundry clean and fresh in my bedroom that is probably the same height I am, waiting to be folded and put away. That is not even counting the 2 full baskets folded but not put away yet.


I was curious if other people hate laundry as much as I do so I found this chart

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                I AM NOT ALONE!!!!!!!!
Lots of people hate laundry the most! Nothing else even comes close! 

 I remember my grandma washing clothes and hauling them wet and heavy up from the basement to dry on the line.  All the time it would take her to hang each piece with the clothes pins. But how much I loved running underneath and pushing them out of the way. Laughing and carefree. It never occured to me then how much work was required to put them up there. In fact not until I had children of my own and lived in a house where I could string a line between 2 trees and hang our sheets did I understand. But oh the smell of fresh line dried sheets and the crispness you just can't get another way! The delicious feeling of sliding in between the cool crisp fresh sheets  on a hot summer night! Nothing else quite like it. I loved hanging our cloth diapers on the line and letting the sun do it's own anti-bacterial treatment on them! Nothing freshens diapers the same way!! 

I do wonder if there is a break down of men vs women and what chores each sex hates most. If laundry would still be the most hated. 

 What is your most hated household chore? What would you trade someone to do it? I would totally trade a handful of beloved Oreos if someone would go fold the laundry right now!!!

Gluten Free or Energy Free??????

During my research to prepare for the gluten free challenge I read that the transition can cause symptoms like fatigue, irritablity, mental fog, even depression! Wow, all that from giving up wheat! It's kinda crazy to think about the incredible impact food has on our bodies, health and even mental stability. So I knew it was POSSIBLE to experience those things but I doubted I would.

Day 4: I woke up feeling completely fatigued and so tired I felt like I was swimming thru cement all morning. I ate a protein rich soy  and spinach scramble for breakfast hoping to shake it. It didn't help so I gave in and took a nap this afternoon. I woke up after 40 minutes or so and felt a little better. I got thru dinner prep, a little cleaning and even cleaned out my email inbox, which frankly felt like a huge success! It's 11 pm as I write this and I am tired but not miserable and well, hopefully this is making sense and I am not experiencing mental fog.

The change in what to cook and what to snack on is challenging just as any lifestyle change like this would be. That was expected and I tried to plan for that as much as possible. So far this week we have had tacos with soy meat, beans and corn tortillas and the usual fixins. I made a delicious vegan gluten free mac and cheese and tonight I scored with a fabulous coconut sweet rice and black bean balls with a variety of delicious fresh salsas!!! Tomorrow for breakfast I am making pumpkin pie oatmeal...mmmmmm.


I am hoping when I wake up tomorrow I don't experience any more side effects from the change except good ones!!

Tigers and Cookies

Me: Put down the cookie and eat some fruit instead
18 yr old child: You can't tell me what to do my whole life
11yr old child: Yeah, Mama, you can't tell us what to do.
Me: (pulling t-shirt up and exposing stomach covered in stretch marks, I point to them. ) See these? I paid for the right to boss you around. I earned it!
Both children cringing: Ok Ok, you are right! You get to boss us!
(child puts down cookie and gets an apple)


And so order is re-established in the House On Clover Ridge!

Snuggling Is Good For The Soul

I am a lazy lazy girl today. I stayed up late with my favorite husband last night and then struggled to get up with the kids this morning. Once we got everyone ready, fed and put on the bus or dropped off where they needed to be for school I made a big batch of spinach and tofu scramble and then I crawled back in my warm bed with the same reason I stayed up to late last night. We spent the morning cuddling and napping.

 <<sigh>>>>

 So delicious to have those opportunities with him. It really makes the days when he is gone for a long run easier knowing when he comes back we can do that. I believe that one of the best things that has happened to our relationship over the years was the kids going to school. It gives us alone time together we would not otherwise have! And no baby sitter has to be paid! We can sneak away for lunch out or go see a show or just do like today where we spend the day lazing in bed. Love, love, love that.

No worries though, I squeezed my workout in when he went to do the pick-ups and before I had to make dinner. Got about 2 hours of isometrics, weights and cardio in today. I am still trying to push my workouts harder and harder....2014 is going to be my bikini year!!! Or I may die trying, lol.


Now I am lazing on the couch with kids that have school canceled already for tomorrow watching old episodes of The Voice on Hulu. Please hold the jealous comments...I know I lead a glamorous life!

Come back for updates on the gluten free effort going on here!

I MISSED IT!

 HOW DID I MISS IT!?!!??!!

We hit 100 posts! This is a big milestone! It means 100 times I have posted my thoughts, opinions, projects and whatevers for the world(the family members and few friends) who read my blog to view!
Somehow I managed to post number 100 and not realize it till last night!
So we will celebrate number 101! Cuz that is just how we do it here in the house on Clover Ridge!!!

 So pop the top on your favorite drink and cheers to us!!! Thank you to all who have spent a few minutes with us reading one, two or oh, oh oh even 3 blog posts!!!!