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!

Another Step Forward!

I couldn't write this in my regular status post on FACEBOOK but I wanted to jot this here.

I've been exercising and eating "mostly vegan" for a while now.  I have had many medical issues pertaining to hormone and endocrine issues. PCOS, Hypothyroid, Type II diabetes, hyper-prolactinemia, fertility issues, etc. etc. etc.

The past two months I've been getting my menstrual cycle. Something I haven't had since it stopped when I was about 16 years old. I was told I'd had PCOS, but at the time it was such a new diagnosis that Dr.'s didn't really know what to do with it. So he put me on The Pill to regulate the menstrual cycle and when I got off it because I felt awful 2 years later, I found myself with full blown type II diabetes and hypothyroid disease. It masked the cause but covered the symptoms.

Like clockwork I got my menstrual cycle yet again.  I don't remember EVER having a regular menstrual cycle that came when predicted. I was told we could never conceive for YEARS because I never had an actual period. The Dr.'s just assumed if I didn't have one, I couldn't ovulate to get pregnant. BOY were they ever wrong! In 2009 without fertility meds we conceived Jackson on a mini vacation. I thought I had rectal cancer (no joke, later I found I had a tipped uterus and my left ovary was literally somewhere close to the sphincter)! Most close to us know that our son later passed at 22 weeks gestations just 25 minutes after he was born prematurely to what I later researched was an Incompetent Cervix. 2 years later after we conceived through IUI fertility treatment we had our little rainbow baby.

I'm sure you must be laughing by now. It is funny, but I can assure you that it's NO LAUGHING MATTER for my husband.  I get lower back cramps and I'm worse than a witch to deal with! I have been sick to my stomach, have had the munchies which is abnormal for me and just undoubtedly off emotionally and physically then...SURPRISE!  Holy Cats!  I knew I was hormonal and figured it "could" be but counting the days between the last cycle it was literally shall I say predictable?!

I'd imagine some of you ladies are wondering what all the big deal is but when you go for YEARS without any cycle at all and then have two predictable cycles though I will say I should be quarantined so not to raise hell with those around me for being too forward and too moody.  One gets excited that maybe all the hard work has been paying off.

I WILL say this though.  I am bloated. I wore typical cotton pants, I hated walking out in public feeling bloated but I didn't give a hoot! I feel a ton and it doesn't feel all that great.   Whoa Nelly! Someone help my cranky mood swings and don't look at me the wrong way or my evil looks will haunt you for months!

So, I'm guessing this is a sign that the hard work of eating healthy and exercising is working. Right now however, I am moody, I'm tired, I'm bloated and get the heck outa my way if your on the roads or look at me wrong! Hahaha

Happy Weekend Everyone! Go have some peace and joy. I'm going to find my happy place!