(ETL) Feasting in February

liapr
liapr Posts: 648 Member
Hi lovelies! Welcome to February. I can't believe it's here already. How did everything think that their January went?

I have been eating lots of veg lately so I'm proud of myself! Or moreso proud that my body is craving the veg again lol. I have still been having too much sugar but trying to get all the veg and fruits in before that so I find the sugar has lessened. My joints are starting to ache a little bit, mostly my back and hips, which sounds like is right on time for my third trimester, so my goal for February is more regular prenatal yoga and getting in more smoothies to guarantee more greens in my day!

Karrie, congrats on the new kitty!!! She is sooo cute. Is she a little devil?
Mihani, how's work looking this week? When is your vacation scheduled for (ahem)?
Carla, you are a bottomless well of creativity, it's amazing! Let us know how that goes. And send photos. I love all the photos popping up in our threads these days hehe
«13

Replies

  • liapr
    liapr Posts: 648 Member
    edited February 2017
    u9aeqgs5ux5c.jpg

    I love seeing everyone's cute pets. Here is my little pouffy dog lazing around with a little onesie I bought to compare size lol. Bro and sis to be! My friend brought her newborn over on Sunday and Cody did not notice or care about the baby at all!! haha. So it'll be an experiment.
  • Mihani
    Mihani Posts: 3,878 Member
    Lia thanks for starting the February thread. Holy crap it's February already? Where did January go? Third trimester... seems like just yesterday you were wondering when you'd get the baby bump lol. Yay for more greens and less sugar, the baby will thank you. Cody is so cute, haven't seen him in a while. His hair looks so fluffy! I am thinking I will take a vacation as soon as the stacks of files on my desk are below eye level? haha!

    Karrie, re: your last post on the January thread, I looked at the app and will likely get it eventually, but I've got dozens of vegan cookbooks and it seems like I rarely cook these days so I haven't committed yet. How was your swim?

    Carla did you already get the loom? Can't wait to see what you create with it.

    My goal for this month, gotta get it together. I am doing okay (usually) during the week, but being so tired all the time makes me want to eat for energy. I concentrated on drinking a LOT more water and a LOT less coffee today and it helped. And I need to quit indulging in alcohol on the weekends. I did leave about 3:30 today though, I was in there until after 6:00 the past two days (I get in around 7:30 in the mornings) and I need to do laundry and get some sleep, I'm beat.

    Treadmill, must commit to treadmill!

    B - oatmeal with almond milk and a few walnuts
    L - steamer bag of veggies and brown rice
    D - roasted acorn squash stuffed with quinoa and black beans
    S - a few blue corn chips

    Still too heavy on the carbs, but at least it's mostly real food!

    I'll have to put up a picture of the boy dog. I still call him "the boy" even though the girl is gone now. Will be a year this month, miss her.

    <3 y'all
  • Mihani
    Mihani Posts: 3,878 Member
    Just looked guess I don't have any pictures on the laptop, I'll have to remember next time I'm at the real computer.
  • Carla_wfpb
    Carla_wfpb Posts: 1,331 Member
    edited February 2017
    Lia, getting to your 3rd trimester went fast (for me)! Are you working part time now? Cody is so cute and look how patient he is with the onsie draped on him!

    Mihani, after days of obsessing on looms and trying to determine which one would be best, I finally made my selection. I guess looms aren't exactly flying off the shelves...I had to do quite a bit of searching to find any site that might have the one I want in stock. All other sites give a 3 to 5 week waiting period for a special order. The nitty gritty details would be boring to hear about, but I'll post a picture of it once I get it set up and ready to go.

    My chana masala turned out good, but a bit spicier than I wanted, and this is after already adjusting the spices down and omitting hot peppers. I think our garam masala blend is unusually spicy and that's making the difference. In any case, we have enough left over for tonight and then probably another meal's worth that I can stick in the freezer. Not bad for a meal I don't need to go shopping in order to make.

    My Vegan Richa's Indian Kitchen cookbook arrived so I'll be thumbing through that tonight. I did a fast flip through and saw some appetizing looking dishes. She has so many recipes online that it probably wasn't that necessary to get it, but it somehow just ended up in my amazon cart and got purchased o:)

  • sloth3toes
    sloth3toes Posts: 2,212 Member
    edited February 2017
    I must say, I am disappointed in all of you, not being 100% ETL, and all... but then, I do have a whine problem. :huh:

    Actually, I'm pretty disappointed in myself, lately. I've backslid so far, I'm back where I started several years ago. I'm trying to take a very moderate approach at regaining some of that health I enjoyed, not so long ago.

    I think I need a few good kicks in the @$$

    I hope everyone is well.
  • whats_her_name
    whats_her_name Posts: 716 Member
    Lia I wish I had been eating healthier when I was pregnant with my babies. You're starting from a position of power - maximize it!! :D

    I just used a 2nd recipe from the OSG app last night. Called Express Red Lentil Soup. It was nice & quick to make, and packs 25g of protein in a serving, but it's a bit bland. I might add some more spices next time.

    Mihani, my swim last night was a good one. I swam 1km. Yahoo! I've worked out every day this week so far. Yay me! I'm going for a swim again tonight, and I'm shooting for 1km again.

    Hey Scott!! I've backslid too. It took me a long time to commit to getting back in the game. It's hard sometimes. Even this week, I'm doing it, but I'm finding that I keep going back to the kitchen for a bad snack. Last night I decided to have 3 glasses of water instead. Glug, glug! But it worked... I stayed away from the food... At any rate, I think you'll find that we'd all like to kick you around and whip you back into shape!! :wink:
  • Mihani
    Mihani Posts: 3,878 Member
    Carla, I do the same thing. I have so many cookbooks, and there are millions of recipes online, and yet I can't resist cookbooks sometimes. I just like them, I like browsing the recipes and putting little post-its on pages that have recipes I want to try. Digital cookbooks just aren't the same.

    Karrie you are doing great. When you get on a roll you really roll!

    Scott? Is that you? Long time no see, have missed our "token male" lol

    Left on time today, my boss will be out most of the day tomorrow so I will have time to do some catching up on things I hope, and he's busy Saturday too so I'll have the office to myself. Sure hope I can make good use of the time!

    B - sprouted grain toast with avocado
    L - Amy's tofu scramble
    D - I don't know yet... probably just some leftover rice with black beans and steamed kale topped with salsa
    S - some blue corn chips (I swear I gotta stop buying those darn things lol)

    I am definitely going to make time to do some shopping and prepping this weekend though. I'd like to have a really great week and see if I can get some momentum going.
  • whats_her_name
    whats_her_name Posts: 716 Member
    I've been giving it all week. So it's good to see some results. 4 lbs in a week? Yes please!! :smiley:

    I swam 1km again yesterday. Feels good. I'm sucking wind though, so I need to get my cardio back. But it will come...

    My hubby made me baby bok choy and mushroom stirfry last night (I was at guitar lessons, and came home to a meal ready to eat - that's nice, because I'm usually the chef of the family). It was delicious! He did a great job...

    For breakfast this morning, I'm all out of smoothie ingredients, so I'm having fresh blueberries and raw almonds - yummy!!
  • Carla_wfpb
    Carla_wfpb Posts: 1,331 Member
    Karrie, great job on the workouts & food. You are on fire! 4 lbs? AWESOME!

    Mihani, we are alike in many ways! The draw of the printed cookbook being one of them. Post-it notes are a much better idea...I use junk mail card-stock to mark all of my spots but it can be too easy for them to fall out...especially if I leave my cookbook out and Ruby gets a hold of it!

    Scott, I miss your comments in our little group. You should post more regularly and we'll help give you that kick in the @$$ you want!

    Lia, is it time to post a baby bump photo? :):)

    My looms ships on Tuesday! I am already having weaving dreams. I am too excited to wait so I bought a "zoom loom" on Amazon. Super portable. It makes 4" woven squares that you can then sew or crochet together to make whatever you want. I hope the UPS driver leaves it in our mailbox...it started snowing here this morning and it is already sticking.

    I'm going to take some time this weekend to come up with another weeks worth of meals and a grocery list. We do so much better when we have a list of what to make each day (and have the groceries on hand to go with it!).

    HAPPY FRIDAY!!!!
  • Mihani
    Mihani Posts: 3,878 Member
    edited February 2017
    Woohoo Karrie!!! Well done. You always inspire me when you get focused, you go all in!

    Yay for the loom on the way Carla. I have little post-its that are maybe an inch by one and a half… they work great for marking cookbooks.

    Like Carla was saying, I did some planning last night. I left the office at 3:00 and ran to the store, I haven’t done a serious shopping trip in ages, mostly because I haven’t had any time or inclination to prep and cook, but I committed to doing it this weekend. Going to get my salad stuff ready to go for the week on Sunday, and I have ingredients to make Oh She Glows glowing spiced lentil soup and chili. Angela’s recipes are so easy to modify to ETL just by leaving out the oil and they are always so good. I haven’t made her chili recipe yet so I’m looking forward to trying it.

    And the grocery just happened to have really good sales on Bush’s beans, Hunt’s diced tomatoes, and organic veggie broth, so I bought a ton of them to restock my supply. It was like a sign from the ETL gods!

    So I will take time on Saturday or Sunday to do some cooking and salad prep. I really wanted to make the gumbo from the fat free vegan website but the grocery only had a few okra so I will have to make that next week. I even found an employee and asked if they had any okra hidden in the back lol. This stuff is really good and I had forgotten about the recipe until I recently saw something about okra and went ohhhh… gotta make that gumbo! blog.fatfreevegan.com/2006/08/black-eyed-pea-gumbo.html
  • tdh1991
    tdh1991 Posts: 511 Member
    HI All,

    Sorry MIA. I messed up after my fast and did not up my thyroid medication fast enough :( ended up with my TSH over 10 and no energy. Gained a little weight back :(. But I am feeling better and will get the weight off I am sure.

    Despite my last spas my fasting trip was a success. I have figured out most of food sensitivities. I am just allergic to most of Dr. Fuhmans diet; night shade, cruciferous vegetables, and I have to watch my nut intake. Oh well, I will still follow the spirit of the eating plan. Get my 2 lbs of veggies in daily.

    Congrats Leah! When is your due date?
  • Mihani
    Mihani Posts: 3,878 Member
    Hi Terri! Great to see you. Sorry about your thyroid issues, and glad you are feeling better now. Has to be difficult to avoid so many foods.

    Got some food prepped for the week. Ran beets and carrots through the shredder on the food processor ready for salads. Made maple ginger baked tofu, a batch of red quinoa, roasted some mushrooms, a pot of glowing spiced lentil soup, and a huge skillet full of garlicky kale. Should be all set for several days, then I'll make the OSG chili that I want to try out.

    The kale recipe was from Wild About Greens, a Nava Atlas cookbook. It is really easy and tasty. I did use a tiny bit of oil, but not anything close to the 1 to 2 tablespoons in the recipe. I found the recipe online vegkitchen.com/recipes/simple-garlicky-greens-kale-collards-or-chard/. I just added some balsamic when they were done but in the cookbook she suggests a lot of things you can add... balsamic or apple cider vinegar or lemon juice, toasted nuts, capers, olives, dried fruit, caramelized onions, etc. There was also a suggestion to puree the cooked greens and use them on baked potatoes or as a garnish for squash based soups. Which reminded me I haven't made the butternut squash pear soup in ages and now I am craving it.

    Planning on oatmeal with fruit and a few walnuts for breakfasts and getting back to my BIG salads at lunch. I've been too inconsistent the past year or so and I'm really unhappy with how I look and feel. I'm also going to try out hitting the treadmill in the mornings. I've never liked working out in the mornings, but I need to get something in every day and with working late so much these days I can't guarantee getting it done in the evenings. I'm usually worn out by the end of the day and lack motivation.


  • Carla_wfpb
    Carla_wfpb Posts: 1,331 Member
    Hi Terri! Good to see you! I'm glad your fasting trip was a success. I hope you can find some good replacements for the foods you can't have. Are you able to eat avocados?

    Great job on the prep work, Mihani! The garlicky greens look good. I saved the recipe.

    We have 10 inches of snow here and there is more forecast for tomorrow and the next day. We were without power for 14 hours today! Our fireplace isn't safe to use right now. The inside needs to be repaired or we need to switch to gas. Anyway, no power and no fireplace = no heat. Luckily, our water company had power, so we had cold running water. We lit candles in the main living space and huddled under blankets most of the day. We shoveled a space for the chickens to go outside if they wanted, but they declined.

    Somehow the door got unlatched to the coop the other day and Ruby was inside and had one of the chickens cornered, the others were huddled against the other wall. She hadn't hurt any of them, just scared them. That's the second time she's had the opportunity and not hurt them. On the other hand, she catches mice and eats them, and today she killed a wild bird that flew into the garage and got trapped :( We tried to open the door quickly and move Ruby out of the room but she was lightening fast. Very upsetting.

    Joe and I keep grinning from ear to ear as we flip on lights and catch up on our computer-related stuff. Electricity is important! Oh, one good outcome...while we were sitting around with nothing else to do, we came up with a list of stuff we need to buy and gather together for emergency kits. We're going to follow through tomorrow by picking up what we can while this experience is still fresh on our minds.


  • Mihani
    Mihani Posts: 3,878 Member
    Yikes Carla, 10 inches??? That does suck being without power. Glad you got it back fairly quickly. I had 3 days out during an ice storm years ago and I spent a lot of time in bed covered in multiple blankets and pets piled around me lol. I remember doing the same thing when the power came back, turning lights off and on, and especially standing over a heating vent waiting anxiously for the furnace to kick on lol.

    Oh dear, yeah it could be tough to keep the chickens safe, I have had dogs who liked to hunt/kill rabbits and squirrels, and it always made me so sad.

    Heading to the office, but I slept in.

    Plan for today:
    B - oatmeal with almond milk, banana, walnuts
    L - BIG salad (spring mix, shredded beets and carrot, chickpeas, sunflower seeds, grape tomatoes, balsamic)
    D - small portion of the glowing spiced lentil soup, bowl with quinoa, greens, tofu, mushrooms
  • liapr
    liapr Posts: 648 Member
    Hi guys!
    Oh no Carla that's awful!! I can't believe that. My parents just finished 3 weeks without a furnace... it died on them and their technician was SO SLOW getting them a new one. They still had electricity and a working fireplace so they had to buy a bunch of heaters and that made it bearable. But my gosh, to lose both!!! It's so hard to function when you're so reliant... just thinking that even my toothbrush is fueled my electricity! Lol. At least it makes you appreciate it when you have it again. We are expecting a giant freezing rain storm so I'm bringing work home tonight just in case I don't want to risk the drive tomorrow. I wish it was summer.... I swear I appreciate it when it's here!! Also, poor chickens!! Glad they were okay. I've been lucky.... I have an old dog who can't be bothered to actually chase much and our old cats (when they were around) were fat and only caught mice on rare occasions. Sometimes I find the whole food chain thing so disgusting lol.

    Mihani, glad to hear you've had a few little lights at hte end of the tunnel! Did you get some catch up sleep in at least? Your meals look great! I thought of you and Carla yesterday when I whipped up some red lentil cauliflower curry for the first time in maybe a year! Lol.

    Yay Terri, nice to see you!! Sorry to hear your thyroid was giving you trouble but you always sound like you're still doing so well with your plan. How are you feeling otherwise? How are your kids? I'm due May 9th!!

    Yay Scott too!! Nice to see you still haunting the place. I seem to be on a rollercoaster of good days and bad days food wise, but I'm surprisingly unstressed about it. I am finally craving good things again. I'm sure you'll get sick of the junk stuff too. Or just hang around and read about all our delicious recipes we stumble on lol. How's your boy?

    Karrie on fire!! Woohoo! How is the guitar coming along? great job swimming. I've been saying this for awhile but I think I'm going to try some swimming. Apparently feels great when you're a swollen pregnant ball? Lol. How are you liking the OSG app? I didn't end up buying it, but I keep thinking about it.
  • Mihani
    Mihani Posts: 3,878 Member
    edited February 2017
    Hiya Lia! glad to hear you are craving the good stuff. I am too! The weather warmed up and the sun has been shining, seems to make me less of a hungry grumpy bear lol.

    Worked a long day, and just finished a little bit of stuff I brought home to do, but I have got a lot done the past few days and feel like I'm making some progress at least.

    Second day pretty on track, I'm not striving for 6 week plan strict, just real food strict.

    B - oatmeal with half water/half almond milk, a few walnuts, a banana
    L - BIG salad (romaine, shredded beets & carrots, chickpeas, grape tomatoes, balsamic)
    D - bowl with leftover quinoa, greens, tofu, mushrooms, small cup of soup
    S - apple

    I'm going to try this recipe for when I want a little sweet treat chocolatecoveredkatie.com/2013/10/20/chocolate-peanut-butter-brownie-bites/ ... need to restock my supply of dates first, all out.
  • tdh1991
    tdh1991 Posts: 511 Member
    HI all,

    Nice to see everyone is doing so well.

    That's a lot of snow Carla we are due for a good nor'easter. We usually get one or 2 good storms of 15-24 inches. But so far this winter has been really mild. Not that I mind.

    My husband bought me a hot tub for Christmas. I am so grateful. This old body needs the hot water.

    Anyway, now that I am feeling better my New Years resolution was to start a food blog. So I finally got it up and running. http://territhyme.blogspot.com/

    Or you can just use Terri Thyme

    I just put up the Valentine's Day Dinner I Planned. Did a test run last Saturday. It was a hit.

    Leah; so excited for you. I can't believe my baby is tuning 24 in March. Both of my children are doing well, thanks for asking.

  • whats_her_name
    whats_her_name Posts: 716 Member
    liapr wrote: »
    Karrie on fire!! Woohoo! How is the guitar coming along? great job swimming. I've been saying this for awhile but I think I'm going to try some swimming. Apparently feels great when you're a swollen pregnant ball? Lol. How are you liking the OSG app? I didn't end up buying it, but I keep thinking about it.

    Guitar is fun, but I don't seem to get enough time to practice; but my DH bought me a brand new classical guitar for Christmas, and it's beautiful and sounds so much nicer (richer and fuller) than my children's 3/4 size beginner guitar. I'm playing Romanza (Spanish Romance) for my spring recital. My guitar teacher says I'm progressing very quickly, at a pace that would make other guitar players who are in their 4th-5th years jealous. That was nice to hear. (But I have played at least half a dozen instruments in my life; maybe more, so I had a bit of a head start).

    You should TOTALLY go swimming. Your body will thank you for it! Just take it nice & slow because your joints are very loose from your pregnancy and you don't want to injure yourself.

    The app is ok so far, but I've only tried 2 recipes. The pictures are gorgeous, as always... I'll let you know when I've tried more of them.
  • Mihani
    Mihani Posts: 3,878 Member
    Nice Christmas present Terri! Your Valentine's menu looks really good.

    Karrie what does the app do? Congrats on your new guitar!

    I think I might be on a bit of a roll here, but tomorrow will be a test. Going out with a friend after work and telling myself I will just have club soda, but it's going to be hard not to have a margarita! We'll see. At least I can avoid the tortilla chips. I am starting to feel better and have more energy after a few days of eating better and want to keep it going.

    B - smoothie (amazing grass, banana, as much spinach as I could stuff in the blender, 1/2 cup almond milk and 1/2 cup water (I don't seem to like all almond milk in oatmeal or smoothies that much so I started doing 1/2 each)
    L - BIG salad same as yesterday
    D - tofu scramble with onion and red pepper, leftover quinoa and garlicky greens, roasted mushrooms
    S - cup of glowing spiced lentil soup

    I have leftover tofu scramble and the last of the quinoa and greens to eat tomorrow. Thursday I will be making this ohsheglows.com/2013/03/05/roasted-buddha-bowl/ I've had the lemon tahini dressing (it's in the protein power goddess bowl recipe) and it is soooo good. I use half the oil that's called for in the recipe, but I don't think I'd try to completely omit it.

    I've been going through my Wild About Greens cookbook by Nava Atlas, I hadn't really looked at it for a couple years, and I have bookmarked a lot of recipes to try. Need to up my consumption of greens. She uses a fair amount of oil in many recipes but easily modified.
  • Mihani
    Mihani Posts: 3,878 Member
    B - smoothie same as yesterday
    L - big salad same as yesterday except red pepper instead of grape tomatoes
    D - bowl of leftover greens, quinoa and tofu scramble, a couple roasted mushrooms
    S - glass of red wine, cup of lentil soup

    I've been taking a small portion of the soup I made last weekend to work and eating it mid-morning, then my salad later. Seems to help keep the snack cravings away. Enjoyed seeing my friend after work, but I had a bit of a headache from the day so it was easy to stick to one glass of wine. Going to be early tonight.