A Lesson And Lentil Soup With Lemon & Dill

I went to several appointments today thinking I was going to hear some very bad news. I thought I could just get up and go back to eating meat. Instead, my blood labs confirmed what I knew myself. That I cannot eat meat if I want to feel better or live to see my daughter grow or have any grandchildren. My weight has stayed consistent at least. Hasn't gone up, hasn't gone down though. I think we may have found a good combination to lower my sugars...FINALLY where meds are concerned. Maybe I'll actually see the scale go down and have more energy to get through a workout and my day.

I started a new Reboot. Today I've eaten all plant based and the best part is Doug has made my favorite soup. Lemon-dill lentil soup. I'm happy!

LENTIL SOUP WITH LEMON & DILL

PRINT PREP TIME 10 mins COOK TIME 25 mins TOTAL TIME 35 mins Author: Amanda Maguire 

Additions in parenthesis made by my husband, Papa Bear.

Recipe type: Soup Serves: 6-8 INGREDIENTS 3 C. Dried Green Lentils 8 C. Vegetable Stock 2 C. Water 6 Garlic Cloves, thinly sliced 1 Tbs. Dried Dill 8 Carrots, roughly chopped 8 Stalks of Celery, roughly chopped Juice of 2 Lemons Salt & Pepper to Taste

INSTRUCTIONS In a large stock pot, combine lentils, garlic, carrots, celery, and dill. (I put them in an Instant Pot pressure cooker) Add vegetable stock and water. Cover and bring to a boil.(In the Instant Pot, press the Soup button and let it cook for 20 minutes) Reduce heat to simmer, and cook uncovered for 25-30 minutes, until lentils are tender. Stir in lemon juice and season with salt and pepper.(I added 2 more cups of water at the end because it was too thick for our taste. Also added 2 tablespoons of Better Than Bouillon No Chicken Base) Serve with your favorite crusty bread. NOTES Fresh dill would be excellent in this recipe instead of dried. If you're using fresh, I'd recommend about 1 C. of roughly chopped dill as a garnish, rather than adding it in with the other ingredients. I ended up not using any oil in this recipe, but I think a drizzle of olive oil just before serving would be awesome.

Yummy Mummy Chia Pudding!

1 cup of Chia seeds

 3 3/4 cups of soy milk

 1/4 cup of vanilla coconut creamer

1/2 cup of date syrup (the secret ingredient wink emoticon).   

Let it set overnight. I added raspberries on top and Aldi's 85% cocoa vegan dark chocolate which I grated at the top. I believe you could get 6-8 servings of this recipe.

Hell Yeah It's Vegan Zucchini Bread WITHOUT the oil!

• 6 tbsp ground flax seeds
• 1/2 c warm water
• 2 c turbinado sugar (or light brown sugar)
• 1/2 c oil (I omited the oil completely and doubled the apple sauce)
• 1/2 c applesauce (I used 1 C. in place of oil)
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 2 to 2 1/2 c grated zucchini (~3 medium-sized ones)
• 2 c all-purpose flour (I used 3 C. of Whole Wheat Pastry Flour)
• 1 c whole wheat flour (3 C. instead of 1)
• 1 tbsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1 tbsp cinnamon
• 2 tsp nutmeg
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 c chocolate chips or raisins, optional

Add the Flax to the warm water and let it sit.  While waiting for it to thicken add your sugar, oil if your using it, applesauce and vanilla in a separate bowl and mix it together then add the flax mixture in.  Add the grated zucchini and mix together.  

In another separate bowl, mix all the dry ingredients. Slowly add to the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix together completely.

grease your pan with coconut oil, add sugar to coat it and then fill your loaf pans half way.  

Bake at 350 degree's for 50 minutes. Let it cool and eat OR wrap it in parchment paper then put it in a freezer bag until you need it. It's just as good!

Maple Baked Beans by Oh How She Glows

2 small cans of grandma browns baked beans or 1 big can. e. 

1 large sweet onion chopped and sauteed until see-through

3 TBS of blackstrap molasses

3 TBS of local maple syrup

2 TBS of mustard

2 TBS of apple cider vinegar

1 8oz can of diced tomatoes

pinch of sea salt

small handful of cranberries

mix all ingredients together and bake for 30 minutes or until you see the beautiful bubbles. Cool and serve. Oh Yummy!

****Note:  If you don’t have grandma browns in your area any navy beans or baked beans will do but I HIGHLY recommend Grandma Browns if your able to get them or purchase them online. 

1 large sweet onion chopped and sauteed until see-through

This recipe in it’s original form came from Oh how She Glows 

Comparison of where I was to where I am.

Wow! I feel so self conscious right now about the weight I still have. Mainly the belly fat that seems to take forever to lose. 

I decided to compare where I was with where I am right now. I'm glad I did! 

It's amazing what 270lbs, some courage and determination will do. I'm not where I want to be, but I'm so much further than where I was physically, emotionally and spiritually.  This winter has been a tough one. It's given me a run for my money and played with my head at times. Whether I was sick or had symptoms from the side effects for a drug I am since off of or whether it was the many feet of snow paired with longer, darker nights I just figured I had gained and felt awful from the battle playing in my head. Looking at this comparison has given me joy and courage to keep moving forward. I must be doing something right. I just have to tweak a few things.  Thanks friends for the encouragement.

60 more pounds to go. 25lbs to finish my short term goal which has been the hardest 25 pounds to lose. Hopefully after that, the big apron belly will start to shed. Be gone belly, be gone!

Starting from Scratch or so I feel...

It's been a while since I posted.  I was sick from Thanksgiving until the beginning of January (no joke!).

I also am coming back from a vitamin D deficiency and SAD from the longer-darker season. I LOVE the snow but this winter has kicked my bum!

Y membership starts up in a couple weeks (I've been waiting PATIENTLY for flex spending to get their act together). I've been doing some HIIT workouts but holy cats are they hard! I feel like I'm starting from scratch again. I'd like to enter another Tri this year but it's been too hectic and there are simply other priorities we need to catch up on financially. My heart aches though as I see friends updates and see how hard their working and the camaraderie growing among the group. I can't stop though. If I can't do it in the group I was in last year, then I HAVE to use what I learned here at home. The only backside is I'm continuing to tweak meds. I'm not feeling the greatest lately. My knees are acting up again and I just feel utterly frustrated. Back in the water I go soon. I've been looking forward to the Y to gain momentum and just start feeling energetic again without putting too much weight on my knees.

Struggling

I have to say that I am feeling quite icky. I'm not sure if it's hormones, or the fact that I have a tipped uterus or even a multiple of issues but I'm achey all over including my knees that I have issues at times with running. I have pretty bad headaches, my lower back is extremely bad and man am I depressed!  Moody just isn't describing the way I feel right now. I know that getting a regular menstrual cycle is a good thing but maybe not having had it regularly for years is making up for lost time.

To top things off I feel HUGE. I'm not sure if I've actually gained 60 pounds or just feel like it but man do I feel like a lead balloon!

I figured I'd jot this down so that I can look back and see how my body is changing and what I'm going through.

I don't have a whole lot to say. I'm taking things minute by minute, hour by hour and day by day.  By the grace of God!  I seem to be functioning for the most part and am keeping myself busy so I don't get too stagnant.

If anyone out there is reading this. I pray you have a day filled with blessings in Jesus name.  Keep on keepin on!