Nutmeg can be toxic!

Sunday night Tom and I were in the mood for something sweet. Other than the Smoothies we have been making, we haven't made any desserts for a few weeks. Tom has made a Apple Crisp dessert that is so good made with Oats, Brown Sugar, Cinnamon, Apples, Lemon Juice & more. He changed it up a bit and added strawberries in replace of some of the apples. We were so excited to try it, we went on our workout and came home as it was cooling down. The taste had a very bitter taste, almost not edible, but at the same time some of it was worth eating so we ate it. We thought that the lemon he had squeezed for the juice was just tart. I hate two little bowls full of it and he ate a few also. Then 2 hours later we went to bed.

I woke up SO dizzy and SO out of it. I have had sugar hangovers before when I have had too much sugar, I have ran into things when walking and it affects me a lot. We have been eating so clean with hardly any sugar so I thought the symptoms I was having was from this. I looked in the mirror and my eyes were so puffy and bloodshot. I was SO tired and also felt like I was buzzing from alcohol. I felt drunk in a way. I knew that I could not even drive the way I was feeling. My son was going to work with me, so luckily he was driving. All day at work I felt so bad, so thirsty, so nauseated and the whole day felt tired and that drunk feeling. I talked to Tom and he was feeling the same way. I came home and took a nap and started to feel a little better as he was starting to feel worse because he finished off the dessert that morning. He was telling me over and over how horrible he felt.

I then started to make a batch of porridge for the morning, it takes Buckwheat Groats and you soak them in water for at least an hour, then you drain them and put them in the blender with Almond Milk, Agave nectar, Cinnamon and more. I went to measure out the cinnamon and the smell hit me, I thought this is what our dessert smelled like last night, it was so strong, I turn the jar around and it's Nutmeg! I said Tom is this what you used for the dessert and he said yes, I used 2 tablespoons! I looked it up right away, Side Effects of Nutmeg, and you can have hallucinations and so much more, I think that we didn't get that much of it, but we defiantly got enough to make the next day feel like we were drugged or drunk. I finally today right now feel better, this morning I was still so tired. It really shows when you detox your body of all the bad stuff and then slip and eat something that is too much, the symptoms are havoc on your body. It was a very bad day yesterday for me, I couldn't even workout last night. Here is one link on how bad it can be for you.

One good thing though, Tom made another dessert SUGAR Free and NUTMEG FREE!

This Raw Strawberry Cashew Cake is INSANE! It's SO SO SO SO good and looks so pretty! We need to get a spring-form cake pan to make it perfect but it came out lovely and so tasty! Here is where I got the recipe

I can't wait to make this with blueberries, raspberries and cherries!

Field Roast Frankfurters - SOOOOO YUMMY!

Wow this Vegan hotdog is the best hotdog I personally ever have had and Tom said it was his 3rd, he puts Heid's Hotdogs, Liverpool, NY and Otto's in Portland, Oregon as his top 2 then this one which is Vegan, so that says a lot about these. I don't usually eat Vegan meat because I don't miss meat, but I have had a few Vegan hotdogs and they are pretty much plain and rubbery and not worth eating. The brands I have had are Morningstar (discontinued) and Tofurkey Veggie Dog-both were not good at all unless I put tons of mustard and onions on them.

But this Field Roast brand is remarkable! It taste so good and it's scary how much it taste like a real hot dog. We also had their Apple & Sage Smoked Sausage and Mexican Chipolte Sausage, the Apple one was unbelievable! We are going to stock up on these when we go back to Whole Foods Market. You can check out Field Roast here.

Random stuff this past week and weekend....

This morning Tom and I got up early and went Strawberry picking at Pete's Berry Farm in Clark, PA. It was $4 a quart already picked or $3 a quart when you pick. We picked 8 quarts. We plan on freezing a lot of them and using them for smoothies. I like that this farm doesn't spray them with anything. We had to really look out for holes in the berries from bugs, there were a lot of them.

My youngest son Graham graduated 8th grade this past week, makes me sad how fast my boys are growing up. Gage will be a junior and Graham a freshman.

Last weekend I made Carrot Cake Bread and when I opened the Applesauce it exploded! It wasn't yet expired but the apples must have went bad and fermented causing gases inside. It was an open jar in my refrigerator for a few weeks. When I opened it, it sounded like a gun shot and applesauce went everywhere, on the ceiling, cabinets, all through my eyes. I cried and screamed, not knowing what happened and then after rinsing my eyes out many times I was fine. I still can't believe that happened. Thankfully it was a plastic jar and not glass. The Carrot Cake bread came out so good!

Tom and I have been walking and starting to run now, so we ordered new running shoes. I ordered the new Under Armour RC Charge Storm shoes for both of us. I wear a size 8 in all shoes but with my New Balance running shoes I wear a size 8.5. I called Under Armour and also did an online chat with them to see what they said. One told me my true size the other said 8.5. I went with the 8.5 and Tom's normal size for him. His fit him perfectly, mine felt a little big, they are supposed to fit snug. I went up the outlets in Grove City yesterday and tried on the 8's. I felt like they were too snug for me, even though they were saying the shoe will form around the foot, I just decided I rather have a little room at the toe then feeling like it was going to push through. I love the colors and style, they feel good too. They have an outlet store up there and Tom and I bought some shorts, some pairs were only $7.97 and $9.97, for Under Armour, you can't beat that.

Well I tried for 1 week with a deodorant that is aluminum free and I had to go back to using Secret Clinical. I am still going to try out others. I tried Tom's of Maine Apricot long lasting deodorant. It says it gives you 24 hours protection, I would have to say 3 hours at the most. I had to keep reapplying it before I thought it would wear off. I had used it at home at first and realized the only way I can use this is if I reapply, otherwise it was like I wasn't wearing any deodorant at all, not good. The deodorant smells great, goes on smooth, some-days I felt like my underarms were burning, other days were fine. No staining of clothing. I just can't risk forgetting to reapply it, jeez that would not be good, lol.

I read on another person's blog that they had tried many aluminum free deodorants and the only one they said that worked for them and lasted was Malin + Goetz Eucalyptus deodorant

found here, but $18 is a lot for deodorant. I did spend almost $12 on the Secret Clinical which is the 2.6 oz, so I might give this a shot. I have read so many bad things about deodorants with aluminum in them, I am trying to find replacements, but they have to work for me.


Here are a few of my kitties :)

Haystack just looking pretty :)

Sadie & a chipmunk having a staring contest

Sadie

A little bit about me..............

I thought I would make this post about who I am and a little bit about my life.

I grew up in Sharpsville, PA. My mom divorced my father when I was 3 years old and has been with Mark ever since. My mom had my brother Bill with my father who is 3 years older than me and then two more children with Mark, who are my brothers Kyle 23 and Matthew who is almost 20. I had to visit my real father in Franklin, PA every other weekend growing up. Even though it was a 35-40 minute drive, it felt like I was forever away from my mom. I was always homesick on the weekends and my dad thought it was fun to tell me I wasn't going home, which I believe has affected me somewhat today, meaning I get homesick or worry a lot if I am far away. Luckily, my dad's girlfriend had a daughter that was a year younger than me so we played together when I would visit.

I spent most of my summers in Dallas, Texas with my two aunts that live there. Those 3 months, I was homesick but they kept me so busy everyday. One aunt loved to party and take me to the pool, the other aunt was more serious and strict so they both balanced me out. I believe I am who I am today because of my more strict aunt. She taught be to be cheap with money and she made me do chores every summer that I was there, and she loved to travel. We went to Europe together when I was 16. My mom is very relaxed and laid back so I never did anything when I was at home, which I regret now, but you know how we are when we are teenagers.

I have always loved animals so much, most of all cats! I have 5 indoor cats now and 1 outdoor cat. My heart is so big and I have so much love to give animals. I wish more than anything now that I would have went to school for something that had to do with taking care of animals.

When I was 6 years old, I remember talking to my uncle in Texas on the phone and I remember telling him I can't wait to get married someday! I always wanted a boyfriend who I was with for so long and then get married. I went through so many silly boyfriend/girlfriend relationships that don't even count as serious, but finding someone to spend my life is what I always wanted.

I met Tom in high school. We both went to public schools for grade school and middle school then we met at Kennedy Christian high school, a private Catholic school ( we both aren't Catholic). He was a sophomore and I was a freshman. He was the bad boy type and I was the good girl type. Something about him, I liked. He wasn't snobby and didn't think he was better than anyone else.We were total opposites and that's what I think attracted us to each other. The end of my sophomore year, the last day of school, he took my phone number. I was going to Texas and Europe all summer so we never did talk until I came back my Junior year. I had spent the night at my friend Megan's house and went to school with her the next morning. There was a van that would take them to school and it picked us up at Mister Donuts. That's where I sat across from Tom. From then on out we have been together. He proposed to me my junior year but we married right after I graduated. I got pregnant with Gage on my honeymoon and got pregnant with Graham when Gage was 13 months old. We have gone through so much together and have worked out everything. I believe marriage is something you need to give and give and give. I can't ever imagine being without him.

I went to Thiel College when Gage was 5 months old. I started out with my degree in Elementary Education and the 2nd year changed it to Management Information Systems and Business Administration. I have always been very good with computers, so this felt like what was meant for me.

I worked and went to school full time and raised two little boys, I don't know how I did all of that back then. My great aunt and my mom helped watch my boys while Tom worked and I was in school. We were lucky to have them to help us. Tom and I both worked our way up from 3 apartments to our third house 4 years ago. We have been lucky to travel to many places over all of these years. We take our sons with us on almost every trip. I want them to see as much as they can of the world. Time goes by way too quickly and I want to treasure every moment with them.

I am now Vice President at Paramount Ticket in Wheatland, PA. We print and produce tickets of all sorts for events all over the United States. I love my job, it never gets boring. The stuff we do is very cool, but also very private, so I can not talk about it on here.

My personality is very somewhat shy at first, I am getting better as I get older, but always have been shy until I get to know you and then I can talk forever. I get very hyper and act silly, but am very mature when I need to be. I care so much about people's feelings, in fact I get taken advantage a lot for the way I am. I can't seem to stay mad at all, I cry easily but get over things very quickly. I find that to be a bad thing only because people hurt me and I seem to forgive. I don't have any real girlfriends, too many have back-stabbed me so it's hard for me to trust women. That is a sad thing, I see so many people with great friendships,which I used to have when I was younger, but now it's hard when you have a family and I want to spend all of my free time with them. I do miss having a girlfriend to confide in and talk to, but again I have had a lot of issues with this. As I said before I love animals and want to hold and cuddle them,this can be bad when I want to hold and cuddle a wild animal lol, I don't but I want to :)

That's all for now :)

YUMMY FOOD :)

Tom and I got up really early this morning and drove to Cleveland to go to Trader Joes and Whole Foods Market. It's about 1.5 hours drive, but it's well worth the selections of food compared to around here. Now that Tom is eating completely vegan also, there are so many things he wants to try. He said if he can figure out a way to make his favorite foods vegan style, he will be happy to continue this for the rest of his life. I still can't believe he switched, I am so glad, it's just hard to believe when someone says I will never give up meat or dairy and then right there after watching a movie, he was ready and now with the way he feels he doesn't want to go back. 

When we got home we immediately made this smoothie. It was incredible! It's made of 100% pineapple juice, 2 frozen bananas, 2 large handfuls of fresh strawberries and 2 tablespoons of flaxseed ground meal. It had so much flavor and was so good, especially right now with the hot weather, this was perfect.

 When we were at Whole Foods Market, Tom found these Vegan Sausages and Hot Dogs. I myself do not miss meat at all and usually don't choose vegan substitutes. Every once in awhile I will have a bean burger or vegan hotdog, but it's not something I crave. Tom on the other hand just went from the biggest meat eater I know to this new lifestyle, so I understand. He wants to try to create all of his favorite foods in a vegan version. I told him, most things I will try, but there are just some I don't even want to try because I never even liked meat that much. He grilled the Mexican Chipolte Sausage on the grill with Onions and Green Peppers, and also made homemade Wheat Hot dog buns. These were so good, had a nice spicy kick to them but not too spicy. We put some homemade mustard relish on them. You can check out the ingredients here. They are $5.00 for a pack of 4.

For dinner we bought 2 packs of Vegan Pizza dough. My son Gage loves to make homemade pizza from scratch, but we picked these up for $1.19 at Trader Joes, might even be cheaper than making the dough. My boys eat cheese so Gage made a Cheese pizza with Basil, Italian Seasoning, Minced Garlic and Hot & Spicy Seasoning. Tom and I had the Garlic & Herb Pizza dough and he put olive oil and minced garlic instead of sauce, then he put Red & Yellow Peppers, Mushrooms, Red Onions, Fresh Basil, Oregano and Thyme that we are growing, Nutritional Yeast (we just found out about this on Rip Engine 2 and now on a lot of Vegan sites) I only sprinkled a little bit on because I wasn't sure if I would like it. It's said to have a cheesy taste, but completly Vegan. It's also packed with nutrients and vitamins and protein. The pizza came out so good! We sprinkled some red crushed hot pepper on afterwards.

Well it's storming out right now so we are all taking turns doing the treadmill. Tom is down 22 lbs in almost 3 weeks. He has been eating so much food too, just all the right foods.

So thankful it's FRIDAY :)

I am so glad the weekend is here and also that I have Monday off. We don't really have any big plans but sometimes it's just nice to stay home. Sunday we are going to drive to Cleveland which is 1.5 hours away so we can stock up on food from Trader Joes and Whole Foods. I love the selections there. I have been reading so much and also watching more documentaries on organic plant based eating.

Tom has lost 20lbs since May 5th! He looks incredible, his skin is glowing, his heartburn is completely gone! He was on prescription heart burn medicine for years and years and now takes no medicine at all. He has so much energy! He even gave up tobacco and can't believe how much easier it is this time. He did buy the fake tobacco to mix in with real so he could slowly stop, but he has been doing it without it. He swears that also is from being on a plant based diet. He is so motivated and feels so good. I am so happy for him. I haven't seen him feel good like this for so long.

Tonight we went for a long walk again, it feels so good to be outside. The weather has been really hot, today was 88 degrees! We have been walking and running almost every night. It feels good and my body is loving it.

We also have been watching more documentaries and wow I learn so much every time I watch them. The latest ones we have watched are Food Matters, Gerson Miracle, and Rip Engine 2. All of them were so good!

35 more days until we leave for our vacation. I am so excited!

Some good food I had this week :)

Tom made homemade Raviolis with the filling made out of the textured vegetable protein that we used for the Sloppy Joes and he made homemade sauce with tomatoes, zucchini, onions, peppers and more. It was So delicious. He took the leftover wheat buns and made garlic toast which was incredible.

Just plain corn on the cob-it was so sweet it didn't need anything on it.

Dinner tonight was stuffed tomatoes (leftover vegan meatloaf made from Vegetables, oatmeal, TVP, spices), baked then grilled Sweet Potatoes, grilled Asparagus and purple onions-SO GOOD and SO much flavor!

Great Weekend! Perfect Weather and Yummy FOOD!

This weekend was great, I got so much done and we stalked up on so many fruits and vegetables. We really bought a lot of groceries this weekend, went to so many places including B&K Farmers Market in Warren, Ohio where we got so much of our fresh stuff. 

Notice the visitor that happened to walk by in the above picture? I have 3 mommy raccoons out there now.

I planted Basil, Oregano, and Thyme in my empty steel cut oatmeal tins. They worked perfectly for this, I put some holes in the bottom to drain the water out.

I also planted some pretty Red, Pink and White Impatiens in the Raccoon planter that my mom got me last year and also in the flower bed and around the outside of house to brighten it up.

This weekend Tom made one of the BEST meals ever, we both were So happy with how these Vegan Sloppy Joes came out. Since eating a vegan/plant based diet he was thinking about what things he would miss most and Sloppy Joes were one of them. He started looking online for recipes and found this one. The only thing he did different was instead of the chili powder he used his own Memphis Rub which is a mixture of Salt, Pepper, Cayenne, Paprika, Garlic Powder, Onion Powder, Chili Powder, Cumin, and Cinnamon. I have never seen him happier about something he made. He made everything homemade including the whole wheat buns which came out PERFECT. He had tried a recipe last week that didn't work out so he tried this one and replaced the egg with 1 tablespoon of ground flax seed and 4 tablespoons of warm water These had SO MUCH flavor! I can't get over how good they were and wish I could share them with everyone that loves sloppy joes. Tom said this is the best Sloppy Joe he ever had! I agree completely.

this is the main ingredient that replaces the meat and is packed with nutrition including a lot of protein! ALL VEGAN and NATURAL. I bought a 4 pack case of these on Amazon for $8.13 under the subscribe and save, I already ordered more.

 

I could go on for days how incredible these are, the flavors and texture and just everything were out of this world!

I have been buying a lot of the Bob's Red Mill items on Amazon, I use the Subscribe & Save to save even more money and free shipping, You can cancel it anytime! I bought Chia Seeds, Unsweetened Coconut, Golden Flaxseeds, High Protein TVP, Blue Cornmeal and Buckwheat Groats.

Today we went to Sam's Club and bought the Clif Bar Fruit Ropes above for my sons, Gage loved the Nature Valley ones but we can't seem to find them anywhere except Sheetz. I love that the Clif bar ones are Organic. And I figured these out they are cheaper. You can 24 for $10.58 and 2 of these would make the Nature Valley long ones at Sheetz for $1.00, so this cost $.88 and it's better for you.  We bought one case and then in the car my husband and I tried them and loved them so we went back and got 4 more cases.

Tonight we made a different smoothie. We just threw in a bunch of stuff and hoped it would come out good. 

1 head of Romaine Lettuce

3 handfuls of Spinach fresh

1 Banana frozen

1 Gala Apple frozen

2 large Carrots shredded first

1/2 cup of orange juice

It was very thick, I could have added more orange juice but I didn't want extra calories. The flavor was a lot better than I expected. You can not taste the Spinach or Romaine Lettuce. This REALLY fills you up too. I figured the cost to make 2 full large cups (probably about 4 cups total of liquid) it cost $5.42, so $2.21. I also figured out the calories to be approximately 536 total, so 218 for a huge large cup full as pictured.

I am off to take a long walk with Tom, last night Gage came which was great, (Graham was at Kennywood) so we are going to get our boys walking with us every night also.