Jana's Radical Weblog 3

Hello hot cocoa!

This cocoa recipe I found on the back of my carob powder mix was a gamble. Usually the kids prefer corndogs to any "healthy alternative" I try and cook up. However, I have found the exception. We are forever ruined from drinking powdered cocoa from a mix after drinking this. I can no longer keep this secret to myself, here is the recipe.

In a small saucepan, combine 1 cup of milk (this is the only way I can get my kids to drink soy, rice or almond milk), 1 tablespoon carob powder (I have Chatfield's carob powder), 1 tablespoon of honey and 1/2 teaspoon of pure vanilla extract. Heat until hot (do not boil.)

Add delicious, over-processed transfat laden marshmallow to the top and you'll have a happy, happy day.

10 Most Dangerous Foods?

These kind of articles make my head explode. http://www.sprig.com/10_Most_Dangerous_Foods Is this for real? Is this list telling me I should opt for a bag of Doritos over non-organic strawberries? Let's face it, I'm a busy mom and my family and I are highly likely to ingest a rotisserie chicken from the deli section. Would that more "dangerous" than opening a box of Kraft macaroni and cheese with some little smokies? I'd like to see a real ranking of the most dangerous foods. I wonder if any of the food from this article would make the list? If you have an opinion on this list of dangerous foods let me know.

My scientific experiment: ME

I've spent the last few weeks cleansing my body of wheat, dairy, sugar, peanuts, caffeine, alcohol, citrus, dried fruit, corn, tomatoes and potatoes. (Disregarding the occasional six shots of tequila because a girl can't be too boring you know.) And you know what, it has been a good thing. I feel better. My energy level is up. Afternoon headaches are gone. My skin is looking great. I feel better than I have in years. But really now, it is time to add some stuff back in. Supposedly I should be able to run some tests on my body now that it is all cleaned up. I should be able to be like a infant child where you feed three servings a day of the same thing and then wait three days to see if there are any reactions. I was encouraged to stay on the diet just for the sake of running my own experiments. However I realized it is hard to know if other things are going on, like not enough sleep, or hormones, or a cold coming on. Experiment #1 was citrus but I stayed up so late the next day and the next day and I felt so tired and congested that I drank a bunch of coffee. Let's just say that didn't go over so well on the cleansed body. Citrus test rendered null. Experiment #2: dried fruit. Tried three servings in one day, waited three days. Nada problemas. Now I eat dried fruit again. I didn't realize how much I would miss bits of dried fruit. Anyway, the diet has made the whole family eat a lot better. Sunday morning I made some pumpkin pancakes according to Karsten, "they were the best pancakes ever." . I didn't mention they had pumpkin in them until after they were full digested. Then I had to think quickly and call them "special Halloween pancakes." On Friday I roasted some vegetables for dinner. With the leftovers I added rice, a banana, oats, wheatgerm, flax seed, and an egg. Once again, my picky ass eater said, "DELISH!" So no matter what the outcome on my body is, I feel like the whole family is eating much healthier and we're trying new things together so for now I'll keep at it.

Diet: Day 25. I cheated.

Winging it
Originally uploaded by B-TownMom.

I can't even blog any more. My sense of humor was most likely fueled by processed food and sugar highs.

But tonight I cheated. And tonight I might just blog again. I made some cookies for the kids and you know, I had to have one. And a bit of dough.

But I didn't go on a bender. I figured once I had a cookie that would be it. There'd be no stopping the sugar inhalation, processed food gulping or fried food frenzy.

I guess I should be proud that I have some damn incredible will power.

My liver is crying out for a bender. Being so healthy is boring as hell.

Week 2 of Diet: Dieting and Roadtripping Do Not Mix

Week one of dieting left me five pounds lighter and feeling dizzy. Not good. Week Two I called the doctor to figure out how to not lose more weight on my diet (does this not sound right?). Turns out if you only eat fruits and vegetables you're gonna lose some weight. I ended up adding more calories with hummus and rice cakes for some snacks and more protein. Now I've added a few pounds back. My mom, the kids and I headed to the suburbs of Portland to see my Grandpa. (I couldn't resist adding the photo of the kids playing with Gramps.) I packed a cooler in the car and ate from there when the rest of the family was eating at fast food places or mini-marts. You know, road trip food. For our dinners we ate at Heidi's, a fake chalet. I was able to order salad without the croutons or cheese. What a sorry situation, but I am proud to say the only cheat was the Scooby Doo orange sherbet push up pop I ate in an emergency on the car ride back up. Seriously, it was an emergency. The day after the roadtrip we went to Andy's parent's house for a few meals. I passed up a homemade blackberry pie. How do I have so much will power? I ended the week not happy about dieting but I was feeling so good that I knew I had to keep going. I hit the PCC hard on Sunday so I wouldn't feel deprived for Week 3.

The Sinking Ship with Nothing to Throw Overboard Diet

Not so bad, huh? Fancy flank steak from the PCC (best flank steak ever), blanched green beans with olive oil and garlic. Green leaf lettuce with spicy pumpkin seeds and apples with an apple cider vinegar dressing. Notice the lone glass of wine though.

Chewey-ooey gooies (yummy and makes a lot)

Emergency! We're out of cookies. I'll share with you readers one of my idiosyncrasies: I am leery of processed food and especially of cookies that have a shelf life. Chips Ahoy in my house? Never. So now that I'm a mom I bake my own cookies so my kids will never be subjected to cookies made in a factory and packaged in bags with plastic. I've tried out lots of recipes including the one from The Best Recipe but I've never found one better than my mom's. In fact even though I use my mom's recipe I still like hers best. After much research I discovered it is probably because my cookie sheets are insulated. Enough rambling. Here's the recipe so you never have to eat factory-made cookies either. Chewey-ooey gooies Mix: 2 c. flour (I use whole wheat) 1 t. baking powder 1 t. salt 1 t. salt Cream: 2/3 c. butter 3/4 c. sugar 3/4 c. brown sugar Add: 2 eggs 2 t. vanilla 2 c. rolled oats (in a pinch I've mixed in other cereals) 1 c. chocolate chips Add: couple drops of water (1/2 t.) Mix until blended Drop on ungreased cookie sheet Bake at 375 12-15 minutes (sometimes longer -- must be my insulated cookie sheets) Mine just came out of the oven. YUM.

My favorite potato salad

To tell the truth, I never liked potato salad until I had my mother-in-law's. I finally got my hands on her recipe. Here's my effort in changing the world's potato salad recipe for the better. She doesn't put any of the usual weird things in it like pickles, celery or olives. Ingredients: 5-6 potatoes 3-4 hard boiled eggs a few green onions 1/2 c. mayo squirt of yellow mustard salt and pepper to taste Directions: Boil potatoes with skin on until tender to fork. Peel potatoes when hot. Cut up and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Spread out to dry. In another bowl combine mayo with a squirt of mustard. Combine all ingredients. Potato salad may need more salt the next day. Enjoy.