Absolutely August!
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magic71755
Posts: 3,826 Member
Here we are...it's August, the dog 
days of summer, the fall season coming up fast...time to put it into gear and make some serious changes that are keepers! Wake up with determination, fall asleep with satisfaction.1
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Back to work today...here is my plan for the day:
coffee
ezekiel panini cheese toast (Follow Your Heart Gouda)
Follow Your Heart yogurt with granola
air fried mini potatoes
baked apple chips (costco, organic)
peach
veggie burrito
Really need more veggies. Hmm. My goal for the month of August is to Lose the Clutter, Lose the Weight. (not the best start with this menu, actually). However, August weekends are dedicated to continuing my mission to get rid of all the junk...I did a major haul yesterday to Goodwill...finally started in my bedroom closet...THERE IS A FLOOR IN THERE. Lordy be.
Ok gang...wishing you all a productive August ...btw, @Mihani I love the line about you not seeing meat and dairy as food anymore. I think that is what you said. I love that. There most certainly is a peace that comes with going vegan...that's for sure. At least, that has been the case with me.0 -
Great title for August, Magic. Thanks for getting it started. I will be continuing to declutter my house in August too so we can cheer each other on!
Okay gang, got my delivery of MamaSezz's Chef AJ bundle. Each package of the various dishes is 2 to 3 servings. They aren't meant to be complete meals, but all I need to add is a salad (and you may recall I have contracted out my salad prep) or some cooked veggies. So looking forward to trying these out. The packages say good through August 16th but I assume that is unopened and once opened you would need to use them up within a few days or freeze the remainder. I would prefer to cook for myself, but obviously that's not happening so much lately and I am tired of going grocery shopping and throwing stuff out a week later. If ordering these will keep me going for a couple months then (hopefully) work will start settling down and I will have time to prep for myself.
The other big big big goal for August is exercise. I am so bad about that. Totally inconsistent and sometimes nonexistent.
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Really excited for you with Chef A J meals @Mihani . And you most certainly do not have to justify to us your reason for going this route. Even if you had all the time in the world, I think it would be great to try. Right now, I have so much food in the fridge and freezer I cannot even think of brining in any more. BUT, I am going to use up everything and by the time I am done, you should have a solid review. If it is tasty and works, I might give it a try. I would like a break from shopping, prepping and cooking and cleaning up. It's a lot of work. I don't mind it...I just would like a break once in a while.
Back to work. Oh. My menu did change slightly.
Will give you details later.
hugs all. -magic aka nanc-0 -
Wow, yesterday was tough for awhile...I wanted my nap that I had been taking daily while on my ten day break. LOL But it passed, and I rallied and made it through my 13 hour shift. Only 12 hours today...8 on Sunday, 7 on Monday...then weekend again.
Carb heavy today...oh well.
coffee
air fried potatoes with no sugar added ketchup
salad from Mad Greens. Rarely do this, but I did not take the time to make my kale salad last night, nor this morning.
oatmeal
bake apple chips (Costco Bare Apple I think they are called...big bag...delish!)
Lara Bar
Time tomorrow morning to make may kale salad. Yay! Also, will prep some raw veggies to nibble on.
Hope everyone has a great day. Later, mates.
side story: I close down the soft serve ice cream machine each night at the end of my shift...I was so close to taking a taste of the strawberry (every keeps talking about how delish it is-new flavor-...when I got back there, I quickly did my job (in my mind I kept thinking I no longer eat meat nor dairy and that caving could be a bit of a slippery slope)...and came back and finished closing down my computer. crisis averted
-the end
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Way to go avoiding temptation, Magic! I remember a few months after I went from vegetarian to vegan I was in the store and saw this frozen naan pizza that I had really liked but had cheese and I considered it. Sort of a "just once" idea in my head, and then I thought... are you vegan or not? If you are going to allow it now and then what's the point? How strongly do you feel about this? Seriously had this whole conversation in my head, and walked away from the naan and never looked back. I did struggle with giving up cheese initially but now the idea of it kind of grosses me out.
Spent most of the day in the office and going back in tomorrow. Hopefully these weekends in the office will become less frequent very soon.
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I am going to remember your story, @Mihani .
Especially the part ARE YOU VEGAN OR NOT?
Case closed!
Hope you get some time to yourself this weekend.0 -
Up...not too excited about cleaning up the kitchen ...but it's the only way I can get that massaged kale salad made. Kitchen is not horrible (like it the past)... the only way to make it happen is to do it...no fooling around. Back later ... I need more veggies... a lot more. Later, mates.
Just to add: I know it's easier to clean as you go when you cook...but sometimes my knees do not last that long and I end up with a mess. I have to try harder. Later.0 -
Alrighty then...did the dishes to have a clean sink to wash the kale. BTW, I bought the kale maybe last Tuesday...used Debbie Meyer green bags to keep it fresh...and a paper towel to collect the moisture. It worked. Fresh, green kale, STILL.
I cancelled the cutting board rinsing tub since it was taking too long to get here. It was a third party through the Amazon site...AMAZON rep was really nice and refunded my money. Still like the idea but will order from someone that ships amazon prime.
Made my kale salad...also added vermicelli noodles. So my menu is:
coffee
oatmeal
massaged kale salad
Lara bar
HOME: making stir fry veggies for dinner. Well, that is the plan...hoping I have something still in the tank to get that done.
Have a good one everybuddy.
Very proud of myself that I made my salad. My kitchen needs just a little cleaning up. Yay.0 -
Sounds like a great day Magic! Enjoy your stir-fry.
I had a good ETL day:
B - chickpea scramble (MamaSezz) which was good but not oh wow good, sliced tomatoes
L - big ol' salad and an apple
D - I'll try another MamaSezz entree and some watermelon
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Stopped at Trader Joe's on way home from work...picked up fresh stir fry...knew I was too tired to clean and chop veggies when I go home.
So I had fresh, hot stir fry with brown rice for dinner. Really good.
Also, I made a batch of almond milk. New milk bag. UN REAL! Works so much better than my last one. Worked fast and made the milk creamier ... and more of it. Weird, I know. This is the link:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00KLT6X9W/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o03_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Seriously, this bag is AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAaa mazing.
My Friday:
black coffee
oatmeal and wonderful almond milk
left over stir fry and brown rice
kale salad
more stir fry and rice for dinner
nice cream
HAGDE!0 -
August! Gosh that came quick. Catching up on all of your posts and feeling lucky to be here.
Mark - Sounds like you are on an incredible health journey and things are going well. I'm so happy for you and inspired by your progress! Also, WTG with the chia! I take an algae based Omega 3 supplement (nordic naturals algae omega) and IDK about how they count in ETL but Greger recommends 'em. Lawnmower pin - hahahaha!!!
Magic Nanc- Your cleaning is incredible and I'm going to join you - August is for de-cluttering and taking care of excess in all forms! I've started using the affirmation "I have everything I need" and aside from being true it puts me in a good mental space. My bedroom is the hardest to tackle. Things really pile up, especially when I've been traveling. The travel toiletries are kind of everywhere... "Ant it is the room that must be made sweet and tidy and calm." I like that! I once was told that the bedroom is for the three S's ONLY. Can you guess what they are? Sleep, Sick & Sex. Not storing a thousand small travel toiletries and papers and random charger cords that I'm not even sure what they're for! I just got one of those collapsible over the sink colanders - (added later - Now I see you cancelled that so maybe you'll like this one?) Going to leave cutting for the cutting board for now but that should make our lives much easier. "Wake up with determination, fall asleep with satisfaction" <- i like that. I am very into cleaning as I go when cooking because when I don't I look at the piled up dirty dishes and feel hopeless. That said, last night we had a lot of dishes to do and I was going to dive right in and then my husband asked if I wanted to go walk the dog and watch the sunset and I have to say that was much better than doing the dishes right away. As a bonus, he ended up doing them after
Mihani - Let us know how Chef AJ's bundle goes! After going vegan, I also felt tempted by dairy at times, especially if it was in a baked good but then I reminded myself where it comes from and that there's puss in it and that handled it. Great story! "ARE YOU VEGAN OR NOT?" haha And yay to beans of all kinds, canned, fresh, whatever! I recently heard from Dan Buetner (Blue Zones author) say on a podcast that adding a cup of cooked beans to one's diet every day could lead to 3-4 more years of life as that's what the healthiest longest lived people eat. Something like that - Don't quote me! The website says beans are "the cornerstone of every longevity diet in the world..." Great august goal for exercise - me too! What kind of exercise do you like doing? Sometimes I like to trick myself to exercise by pairing it with a movie -- Over the weekend I was on the row machine watching First Wives Club and it was actually pretty great.
Austin - How are YOU?
Quick Q for the group: Do you put away out of season clothing or keep everything in the same place year round? I'm thinking of rotating so in-season clothing is most handy. I don't need winter coats and scarves handy in the front hall in the summer - that's for sure.
B - Apple pie overnight oats - a variation of the Food Faith Fitness recipe. My husband and I both love it! He's trying to gain weight so I give his more of the topping.
L- Vegetable bean soup & baby carrots & hummus.
D- IDK Yet. Maybe big salad & beans...
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So impressed with all your experiments in WFPB cooking and prepping, Magic. I still have never tried making my own nut milks.
Liz, I don't rotate clothes because I wear the same things really. Our office is a historic area home converted to an office. In the winter it is cold and in the summer the A/C keeps it cold. I always have sweaters on hand year round. But I would rather be a little too cool and throw on a sweater than be too warm. As to exercise, I mostly either use my treadmill or I'll do a video but I get bored with videos pretty quickly. I have a TV with built-in DVD and a ROKU right in front of my treadmill and it sure does make the time go fast when you have a movie or some (no commercial) TV shows to watch. If I watch regular TV then I find myself looking at the time during the commercials and that's not good. LOL
Busy busy at work today and it will continue to be a busy week. Totally struggling to stay out of the snack cabinet at the office. Stress and fatigue are my worst enemies. I've been trying to get back to mindfulness and breathing when I feel overwhelmed which helps a lot.
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Mihani - Understood re: office. I keep sweaters and even a blanket in my office because it can be way too cold from the A/C and the heat isn't great in the winter either although new windows means better insulation so here's hoping this year will be different!
Stress & fatigue are my worst enemies too. I'll eat a healthy B, L & D and then end up snacking on whatever is at hand if I'm stressed - office bagels, chocolate sunflower seed butter cups, cookies... If it's vegan, I'll eat it when I'm stressed. I'm doing the Mindful Eating Headspace meditation pack right now and it has been useful to have some more resources in my toolkit to combat mindless eating. It reminds me of this post. Trying to cut out evening snacks especially! Taking the dog for a walk right after dinner has been useful to signal to my body that eating is over & we're onto another activity.
B - Protein Smoothie w/ Protein Powder (using Garden of Life right now), canned white beans (drained, rinsed), frozen cherries & water. Simple and actually really good!
L- brown Rice, sauteed kale & mushrooms, roasted potatoes & peppers & Uptons Naturals seitan
D- IDK yet - Hopefully big salad & beans!1 -
Morning all...my weekend. Thanks God.
Liz, the colander I was looking at was collapsible and seconded as a cutting board. Will continue to look. Amazon does have a few that are prime.
I live in the Phoenix area...hot (have AC in car, home and work so no complaints) now, cold (no complaints) in the winter...spring and fall, yummy. NO snow...cept in Flagstaff. Clothes...blouses and something warmer to put over in the winter...shorts most of the year...jeans when it is cold...not at work, but at home. Easy peasy dressing in my 70s. My knees are shot and only shoes that help alleviate pain are my Skecher tennies so being a fashionista is limited.
Making carrot apple juice now. Then later, green juice.
Today's Menu:
Black Coffee
Oatmeal
Carrot/Apple Juice Had 5 HOT HOUSE ORGANIC cukes...used them, too!
Stir Fry Veggies NO starch
Dinner Same stir fry but with Rice Noodles.
Dessert: Nice Cream PB cup
HAGDE!
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I'll have to check out those mindfulness tips, Liz. Thanks! If I can redirect my thoughts at work I am okay. I don't really snack at home, which is why I feel like it's mostly stress that makes me want to munch on the crunchy salty stuff. I've done a good job this week of avoiding, but it almost feels like "cheating" when I think about it. Like my head isn't in the right place or something.
Magic, I bought my first pair of skechers a couple years ago and that is pretty much all I wear other than my New Balance shoes when doing serious walking on the treadmill or outside. Some of the styles are really cute and look like dress shoes, at least in my office they are sufficiently dressy. I should get commissions from Skechers... I have converted a number of people to the joys. (I am almost ashamed to admit that I probably have 15 pairs of them now!)
B - oats with the usual additions (blueberries, chia seeds, a few walnut halves, turmeric, black pepper, cinnamon, blueberries)
L - chickpea stew, cucumber and onion salad with tomato slices
D - quinoa with veggies and black beans, watermelon
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Stopped at Trader Joe’s early afternoon and the demo lady was serving up the following ( except the Ezekiel tortillas. ... I got those at sprouts)...
Just making it now for dinner!
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I cut the tortillas into quarters and ate the concoction as a dip, kinda. I used 3 teaspoons of the taco seasoning...and kept adding 1/4 cups of water at a time...probably ended up with 3/4 cup. I sauteed the mirepoix first...added water to that to get it going. The lady at Trader Joes did not use the mirepoix. That was my idea...thought it was a good way to get in more veggies.
Final thoughts. Excellent. Quick. Next time I would make my own mirepoix...I just didn't have the energy today.
Also, would make tacos instead with crunchy, cold romaine and fresh tomatoes. Really did not miss and cheese or sour cream. But there is vegan products of both. And I think Lauren Toyota (Hot For Food) makes a cashew cream that would work.
Kinda fun to have something different. The meatless beef is NOT gluten free. Found that out when I got home. Duh.0 -
Sounds good, Magic! I use the OSG cashew sour cream recipe https://ohsheglows.com/2016/03/13/cashew-sour-cream/ but when I'm making mexican food I swap out the lemon for lime juice and add fresh cilantro before blending. Turns it green but such a good flavor.
Plan for today...
B - oatmeal with the usual
L - big ol' salad with a variety of veggies topped with leftover quinoa/beans/veggies
D - roasted broccoli and cauliflower, cheezy chickpeas, watermelon
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Oh, thanks, Mihani! Just printed out recipe. Also, I like your subs for Mexican food. Yum. Also, a great resource. She has great recipes. Thanks.
HAGD...hope not too busy at work. How is the new girl working out?
Today's Menu:
black coffee
fresh carrot/apple/cuke juice
oatmeal
stirfry veggies with jasmine rice
kale salad
Mexican Stuff I had yesterday...made into tacos.
HAGDE! We kinda are missing some of youz peeps. Where the heck are you?
Later, mates.0 -
Howdy, howdy! And happy August!
I am sorry to have been quiet. The event I was working on has happened. I am still working on post-event items, but the dust is settling enough that I am starting to emerge! ⛏️ 😎 Woohoo!
@magic71755 - I have been meaning to say how much I liked your kickoff of this thread. "Wake up with determination, fall asleep with satisfaction." I am a yes to that!
And wow -- your menus and shopping adventures are fun and inspiring!
So, something I am super satisfied about from this first week of August is that I kept with ETL all week and during the weekend! I meal prepped and took stuff to the hotel and ate my beans and greens and gigantic salads. I actually lost a bit of weight during the week, not something I was aiming to do. I think it was just all the running around.
@Mihani - I love your focus on meditation and mindfulness. How is that going? And are you fitting in any little bits of moving in your crazy schedule? You said you wanted to do more. Maybe start by just adding a minute or two of walking here and there? I wear a step counter (Garmin Vivosmart), and get all happy by meeting my not-very-high step count goals (7500 steps/day).
I have been meaning to try the OSG Sour Cream, and I love the cilantro idea, especially as Mexican/TexMex is a regular part of home cooking at our house.
@LizLovesVeggies - I love your MFP handle!
As far as rotating clothes -- I do that, but not in too formal a way. Coats go to the back of the closet, but I need to keep long sleeves out, as I run a little cold sometimes. I had to be sure to wear long sleeves and have a layer at the hotel all weekend. So I don't put up long sleeves. That said, living in central Texas, I deal with winter by adding layers, and all those are still wearable singly much of the year once you include cold indoor environments!
General comment -- Skechers for the win! I don't own many pairs of shoes, but my 2 everyday pairs are both Skechers!
@00markw - You have been quiet, too. We miss you! How are you doing?
I loved that Sylvia Plath poem.
On a food and art-related note, I have been meaning to give a shout-out to an old Talking Heads album -- More Songs About Buildings and Food. It includes the song Stay Hungry: "Stay hungry... Move a muscle... Make a motion...
Pull it tighter... " So dance around the room to the Talking Heads song Hungry, if it moves you, and burn a few calories!
And since you like both poems and potatoes, have you found Jane Kenyon's poem "Potato?!"
https://poets.org/poem/potato-0
ETL plan for today
- Food prep! I am off schedule from the weekend, and need to catch up. I roasted beets and made pickled onions yesterday. Today: Savory Spice Mix, Savory Baked Tofu, Mexican Pintos (a request from the kiddo!), Cabbage Mango Slaw.
- B - green blended drink (spinach, cauli, almond butter, blueberries, turmeric, pepper, cinnamon), handful of goji berries, coffee
- L - steamed turnip greens with diced turnips; red lentils and cooked mushrooms; big dish of steamed squash with cherry tomatoes and pickled onions; steamed butternut squash and apple (I am SO looking forward to this!)
- S - apple slices, almond butter
- D - big salad (massaged kale, romaine, tomato, beet); homemade tarragon-lemon-avocado dressing; big dish of steamed squash with cherry tomatoes and pickled onions; steamed butternut squash and apple (those last two are currently my crave-the-taste dishes)0
