Sunday, SUNDAY, Sunday!!!

Totally a football day today.

So diet or not.. it's football day.  And football demands football food.

What is football food you ask?

It's delicious.  It's at least slightly greasy.  It's American comfort food.

Now, football food is bad for you.  Ninety-nine percent of it is swimming in grease or heavily processed goodness.  Like the beloved Velveeta plus Rotel combo.  Classic.

 

I have no idea what goes into that alleged food product, but I suspect it is either made by the gods or some underground crime syndicate looking to create a new, edible drug.

Anyway..  PIZZA for dinner!

Now, pizza is usually pretty much crap when you look at it nutritionally.  Especially for those of us with a gluten issue of any kind.

Pro-tip: Hell's Kitchen Pizza in Manitou Springs, CO has excellent G.F. pizza.  Only them. Everyone else can only pull off a "meh" pizza or a "guess I'll eat it because they upcharged me $5 to make it GF".

Tonight's dinner and the pizza bell without actually being pizza.  It's got a bit of greasy deliciousness but still manages to add some healthy parts from the ol' food pyramid in.  I'm going to need to research the food pyramid after posting this.  I just realized that I have NO idea what the current one looks like or if it's even a pyramid anymore.  I could get behind a "Food Sphere".  Just sounds fun.

Pizza Bake

INGREDIENTS

• Shredded meat of 1 small spaghetti squash
• 1 lb browned Italian sausage
• 1 C pizza sauce
• 4 eggs
• 1/2 onion, diced
• 1/2 bell pepper, diced
• Italian seasoning/salt/pepper to taste
• Turkey pepperoni (as much or little as you like)
• Shredded mozzarella (as much or little as you like)

DIRECTIONS

• Mix eggs, squash, pizza sauce, and seasoning in a medium bowl until combined.
• Add most of peppers, onions, and sausage to mix (reserving some of each as topping)
• Pour into a greased 9x13 pan, bake at 400F for 35 minutes.
• When done baking, top with remaining peppers, onions, & sausage.
• Sprinkle cheese on top and then layer as much pepperoni as you like on top.
• Broil until cheese is melted and pepperoni begins crisping (about 5 minutes)

Saturday Brunch

We're bracing for some frigid weather.  No, not frigid.  Deadly cold.

Like, freeze and die if you decide to hang out outside.

So of course, we'll be leaving the house to fight through the grocery store chaos.  I discovered a severe grocery list deficiency that simply must be rectified.  I'm out of cauliflower.  In my #FirstWorldProblems mindset... it's desperate.  I have three recipes on the week's meal plan that call for the ingredient.

But before we venture out on a Saturday, it's brunch time!

I love brunch.  Today's was simple but delish.  Not the prettiest meal ever but absolutely tasty and healthy(ish).

Fresh squeezed juice: 

• 1 Cara cara orange
• 1/2 ruby red grapefruit
• 1 Navel orange

Sausage:

• Johnsonville breakfast sausage

Paleo pumpkin pancakes

• 2 ripe bananas, 6 large eggs, 1/2 C pumpkin puree, 1 tsp pumpkin pie spice, 1/2 tsp vanilla
• Mix all ingredients well in a food processor until smooth
• Cook on 350F griddle/pan being careful when flipping as pancakes are thin and delicate.

I Saw the Sign

If you believe in superstition, fate, or a whole bunch of magical stuff...

Today I received a sign.

And yes, I nearly broke out in song when I realized that I saw the sign.
It opened up my eyes...  I saw the sign!

Great!  Now that's stuck in my head again.

Confession time:  I love fortune cookies.
Any fortune cookies.  Novelty, inedible, chocolate, filled, crocheted, giant.. doesn't matter.
I adore the cute little things and the mysteries they tend to hold.

Life is kinda like those little cookies.  Forrest Gump would like you to think otherwise but I disagree with him.

I feel like fortune cookies are always exactly what you need.  Sure, sometimes they're too dry or too sweet or not sweet enough or stale or too crisp or already broken.  And that sucks.  But sometimes they are the perfect palate cleanser after a meal or a much needed sweet that you just remembered you didn't eat after the last Chinese food dinner (BONUS!).

Some desserts or treats are made with a special ingredient: LOVE.

Fortune cookies generally are not.  A lot of them are made in factories in N. Jersey and Brooklyn.  Very few little, old, rosy cheeked grandmothers are involved in the baking process.  But you know what special ingredient they manage to include that can often be in terribly short supply?

HOPE.

I received a little hope today.

Whether that little slip of paper contains some sage truth from the beyond or merely a randomized message meant to fill the four million fortune cookies mass produced each day doesn't matter.

What matters is that I read that little slip and my first thought wasn't regarding the generic nature of the fortune. My first thought was "Darn straight I do!"

I have the ability to accomplish great things.

January 1st - It doesn't get more "Day 1" than this...

You ready to do this?

No really!  Are you ready?  Because I'm only barely ready.  I seriously need you.  I don't care if you think you'll just bring me down.  You won't.  I've been quite successful the last few years at bringing myself down all by my lonesome.

I'm not gonna let that happen anymore.

So don't worry.  If I can't hurt me, you can't hurt me.

We can just support each other.

Maybe virtually cuddle when times get rough.

OR

Do a long-distance happy dance when things totally rock!

OR

Just be totally weird with you!

I'm also a fan of using my belly like a drum set.

I'm pretty darn talented.

Um.. yeah...  That's a little true too.


Anyway...

Hi.

I like you.

and...  um...

Oh yeah!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

I'm going to try to start this year off right.  By right I mean that I'm going to keep doing what I've been successfully doing, add in a few things that might be a great health boost, and try to stay on track with my exercise and food plans.

No more of this just because I have a long day on my feet and rack up 8 miles at work:

It's so tempting sometimes!

Only this is allowed:

I don't think I'll have too much of a problem since I DO know I need to be in shape for some of the trips planned during this season's hiking season. It's not gonna be an easy one.  I foresee many switchbacks and sore feet.

I HAVE PROOF THAT I'M READY FOR THE NEW YEAR!

LOOK!

I DID A MEAL PLAN!

That's not the amazing part, the amazing part is that I did it early.

The recipes are all tested previously by myself or trusted others, don't have a smidge of gluten anywhere (as I've resolved to not torture myself this year), and are hearty but not as meat-heavy (in general) as a lot of gluten-free diets seem to be.

Until tomorrow....

Worse than the plague, natural disasters, and hormonal skin...

Well.. not really.  But due to my unreasonable body hatred, I feel sick to my gut on an equal level with thoughts of plague, disasters, and waking up to find the skin on your face has become a horrific, hormonal mess a la stereotypical teenager.

What's got me sick?

SWIMSUIT SHOPPING.

Did you feel it?  That twisting in the pit of your stomach?

I'm all about people feeling good in the body they have.  I will not judge you for your swimwear choice provided you keep everything legally required to be covered, covered, and don't stick your boobs right in my husbands face (you skank).  BUT.  Remember.  I hate my body.  That nagging voice is still there.  That fat chick telling me:

• I'll look ridiculous
• Nobody wants to see that
• Someone will make you feel ashamed
• Fat people should dress for their size
• They're all gonna laugh at you

How do I deal with that?

I want to look cute and be able to wear a bikini so badly but I'll likely go for a full coverage/slimming/flaw hiding one piece yet again.

Weight Shaming

Where the hell do we get off? No really? Who died and made Americans the final word on what is right and proper? Who told us we had to regulate the world? We are so darn opinionated and eager to fix the lives of other people. But who made us the boy scouts of the universe? If we don't like it, it must be wrong. That's the impression I get from acts like cutting french fries from kid's meals at fast food places, regulating how many ounces of soda is "too much", and blatant weight shaming. Both under and over weight people get it but the fat shaming is ridiculous. Even in jest, it can hurt. People think that's a good thing because it "motivates to change." Well damnit! Maybe I don't want to change! But I will. Because America makes it hard to feel beautiful when everything seems to be saying otherwise. Have you seen something about weight that's really gotten to you? Wanna vent?

There are a Lot of Liars

Scales lie.



*They can lead you to believe that all your hard work was for nothing since you gained instead of lost.  It rarely mentions that a handful of muscle, being much denser than fat, weighs more.  It doesn't mention that when you overdid it in the gym/dance/treadmill activity, your muscles got hurt so your brain sent a protective layer of water bloat to cushion the area until it repairs itself.

Our brains lie.  





*Have you ever seen a person out in public wearing something ridiculously wrong for their body?  Like a 400lb woman wearing day-glo pink spandex with a fluffy sweater that looked liked she killed Chewbacca?  Know why she likely wore that outfit?  She thought she looked GOOD!  It's the same mechanism that causes a girl you may think looks perfect, to think she's grossly fat.

Our loved ones and friends lie.





*Good friends love you no matter what.  But it's their love for you that causes them to blatantly lie to your face.  I've known a person or two to behave otherwise but most people when confronted with the "does this make me look fat?" question, would never just say "yes."  Not wanting to hurt you they suggest that maybe that outfit just isn't your color or that the pockets are cut weird and therefore it looks odd.

You know what doesn't lie regularly?

Our clothes.





If your clothes don't fit.  There is a problem.  Sure, it could just be temporary. Maybe all those salty foods or gluten or alcohol over the weekend are causing you to bloat for a bit.  No big deal, but you notice the problem because your pants don't fit quite right.  

Moral of the story:  Listen to your pants.  The others all lie.