Day 26

These past couple of days I've cheated a little.  I ate a few girl scout cookies, I ate some crackers not thinking about it, I finished my sons' really yummy pizza slice that had pepperonis and bacon and chicken -oh, my. And I felt bad about it.  I knew that this is our last week and I'm started going back to mindless snacking.  But the good news is, I know I can just hop back on track tomorrow with no worries! :)

So I did! 

Day 25

We spent the day loving on each other and spending time as a family this morning instead of going to church. It had been a busy week and we needed to invest in each other....

Did regular morning routine and played with the boys...

Philip had stated weeks ago that he really wanted wings on SuperBowl Sunday, so we attempted to make it work... Using organic, free-range, "happy" chicken breasts (we will never go back... it's so much yummier not even talking about the health benefits...), I cut them into little nuggets, covered them in almond flour and cooked them in coconut oil.  Now, I know it's still frying them, but hey, you gotta please the hubby.  Then we used Frank's Original sauce, but only a little bit! And I roasted up some brussel sprouts with olive oil and vinegar for a side.

We had a light serving (compared to what we USED to eat), and it was good.  But I still felt sluggish afterward and for the rest of the day, really.  Philip felt great... hehe. I think it's our blood type though.  He's an O, meaning that meats do him really well.  I'm A+, meaning that I could easily be vegetarian and they make me feel like a million bucks.  I could have eaten those sprouts all day long...

Feeling fabulous! Philip's pants are continuously falling down! And I put on some pants from a stack of too-small clothes someone had given me... and they all fit perfectly! Woohoo!

Day 24

As the kids grow a little, they're sleeping later, so it's allowing us to sleep in on weekends! So much fun! :)

So we weren't up and at 'em until about 8:30.  Had my IonixSupreme and coffee, then shortly later my shake.

Lunch was leftover WhyTheChickenCrossedTheRoadSantaFeTasticSoup (recipe following)... Oh my, this soup is a staple and it is SO SO good! One advantage of only having to prepare one meal per day is that it lasts us several days! (Sometimes I just reheat what I make for lunch for the boys to have for dinner.)  I added a few organic blue tortilla chips and greek yogurt to top it.

Afternoon activities included shoveling horse manure from a local ranch to bring to my garden.  I'm so excited about the possibility of growing my own organic food, and I've researched what I think is the very best way.  We have an area to the back of our yard that isn't used for anything, so I've laid newspaper, what compost I had... not much (but I did have a TON of leaves!), aged horse manure, and I will lay mulch or wood chips (which the city gives out for FREE) on top of that.  Keep it moist, let it sit, and when time comes to plant, it should be perfect! Yay! I'm brand new at this, so I'm learning practically everything as I go.

Dinner was a chocolate almond shake, and we went to bed (after IsaFlush).

Here's the awesome recipe: Thank you, Rachael Ray.

Ingredients

• Vegetable or corn oil, for drizzling, plus 2 tablespoons -- 2 turns of the pot in a slow stream
• 3 ears corn on the cob or 2 ears fresh-frozen cobs, defrosted
• 1 red bell pepper, split and seeded
• 1 pound chicken breast tenders
• 1 teaspoon poultry seasoning, 1/3 palm full
• 1 teaspoon cumin, 1/3 palm full
• Salt and pepper
• 1 small to medium zucchini, small dice
• 1 medium yellow skinned onion, chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 to 2 chipotle in adobo peppers (medium to hot heat level), chopped -- available in small cans in Mexican and Spanish food section of market
• 1 can stewed tomatoes, 28 ounces
• 1 can tomato sauce, 8 ounces
• 3 cups chicken stock, available in re-sealable paper containers on soup aisle
• 4 cups blue corn tortilla chips, broken up into large pieces
• 1 cup shredded cheddar or pepper Jack cheese
• 1/2 cup sour cream

Optional garnishes:

• 1/4 red raw onion, chopped
• 2 to 3 tablespoons chopped cilantro or parsley leaves
• 1 ripe avocado, diced and dressed with the juice of 1/2 lemon

Directions

Heat a grill pan to high and a soup pot to medium high. Drizzle oil on corn and place on grill. Add red pepper to grill with corn. Char vegetables 10 minutes, total, turning occasionally. Remove to cool, 5 minutes. Remove charred skin from the pepper.

While vegetables cook, dice chicken. Add 2 tablespoons oil to hot soup pot. Add chicken to pot. Season with poultry seasoning, cumin, salt and pepper. Lightly brown chicken on each side. Add zucchini, onions and garlic and chipotle peppers. Cook vegetables with chicken 5 to 7 minutes to soften. Add tomatoes, tomato sauce and stock. Bring soup to a bubble, reduce heat to medium low.

Scrape corn off cob and add to soup. Chop grilled red pepper and stir into soup. Add chips to soup in handfuls and fold in. Serve soup immediately with scatter of shredded cheese and a dollop of sour cream. Top with any or all of the suggested garnishes.

Day 23

Oh my, I'm falling behind...

Let me just get to the point.... It was weigh-in day... here are the results!

Philip-
Total weight loss so far: 17.5 lbs!
Total inches lost so far:  17 inches!

Katy-
Total weight loss so far: 15.5 lbs!
Total inches lost so far: 16.5 inches!

I tell you what, we're having fun!

(Ben and Lacey are taking a week off for obvious reasons. He's doing much better, by the way. :)