Category Archives: challenges

Jan 8

Day Seven… Gado Gado Inspired Salad

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Feeling uninspired I was mentally whining about having salad for lunch … Yet again! But then a post by a friend on FB mentioned her attempt at Gado Gado and I was caught! I love Gado Gado and we had some peanut butter and toasted sesame oil and eggs handy …

It was fabulous! I used two very heaped tablespoons if crunchy peanut butter, a squirt or three if line juice, sweet chili, sririacha chili sauce, toasted sesame oil and about half a cup of water to make the satay sauce. Love it!

I still want to tweak this recipe though… I think I can make it better!

Jan 8

Day Six … Friends and Food

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Every Monday night we have Family Night, which is when my extended family all come to dinner. This had been going on in one form or another for years and years now, and this incarnation has lasted almost two years.

All of these people are so very dear to my heart. I couldn’t live without their live and support, and there’s always two people missing (well, three if we include their daughter!) and yet all good things eventually have to grow and change. This period of our lives is drawing to a close, and in the next few weeks will be parts of a closing dance.

Our loves for one another wont change but the forms our loves are going to take will grow and change as we learn to cope with the vast distances between us. Having said that, with Skype, Twitter, Email, and Facebook, just how much will things actually change? Hopefully? Very little indeed.

Jan 6

Day Five … BBQ Breakfast!

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BBQ Breakfast again today! I thought I would try something new. These are field mushrooms with a slice taken from the cap and while BBQing I cracked an egg into each one. I think I timed it badly. They took longer than everything else so in the end I flipped them over to finish cooking. Yum!

Cleaner menu is working beautifully. I have a bit of a headache but that’s from today’s heat. So hot! Hope it shifts soon!

Jan 5

Day Four … Wine, Carbs and Dip

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Last night was party time! No that pic is not from last night :) a girls gotta have some secrets, right??

So last night included a few shots of random booze and a couple of glasses of wine. Plus French onion dip (my favourite!) and some bacon and onion dip. I was pretty happy with all this since I seemed to balance it well enough that today I had no cravings! Yay!

Alcohol sugars are the first sugars used in your body as they are toxins, and after that your body returns to whatever fuel your body was using previously. I was wondering if drinking so early into the clean up would reset my body back into carb cravings but YAY this wasn’t a problem. I also didn’t overdo things!

This step gets easier every time. I don’t imagine I will ever be able to guarantee myself to be wheat free permanently but I can keep cutting it back and cutting it back, and its good to know the end to carb cravings is only a couple of days away. I was so over the constant eating! Every two hours I’d start looking for food … I am no longer obsessed about food and eating. This is just like the last times we’ve cleaned up our diets and I am so glad to be here again. :)

Jan 4

Day Three … Cravings are Settling

Yay! The cravings are starting to subside. I’d really like to drink tonight but I can’t remember if the alcohol sugars will bring the cravings back. Hmmm what to do what to do what to do. Unfortunately to make lifestyle changes that stick, you have to make these sorts if decisions that seem small but the implications can be huge.

It only takes me two bad days in a row and the cravings will come back. So if I want to drink tonight I need to make sure tomorrow is clean. Time to check my calendar!

Have a great Friday night peeps! This pic is from dinner last night – satay beef and broccoli with fried cauli-rice. Delish!

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Jan 3

Day Two … Gah The Cravings!

Yesterday was a day of cravings. I dreamt of chocolate! To try and combat cravings we’re trying to stay hydrated and have ‘safe’ foods on hand.

My cravings are for the carbs and sugars. I dream of chocolates. I can’t satisfy this need… So glad that I know this eases off in the next two or three days. I’m blogging one day behind, so I am in the middle of Day Three while talking about Day Two! :)

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Dec 31

A Cleaner Menu

“Diet” is a word that has become loaded with implied meanings which really are hard to navigate. Diet should just mean the food we eat but of course these days the word diet buys into a whole belief system of what is good and bad, beneficial, nutritious, delicious…

Tomorrow we start on a new menu. How is that for a phrase much less loaded?! My menus lately have been full of Christmas cheer (read wheat and sugar!) and it’s time to kick that habit again.

Wish us luck peeps! I bought a half a cow and we’re poorer than we’ve ever been on NYE but we’re happy and there’s food in my freezer and I’m actually a teensy bit excited about the challenges coming our way. Yeah I’m a bit weird like that! Regardless, I will be using my 7 Steps to A Mealplan Your Family Will Love workbook to keep myself on track.

Watch out 2013, here I come!

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Mar 1

What Did You Think if my Month of Harcombe?

And now February is over!

And I have posted photos of my food for most of the month. It was a funny month, as the car absorbed all our spare money, so a lot of the decisions about food reflected the priorities of both health and cost. I hope you enjoyed this month, and we’ve got some exciting ideas for the next Month of … Pictorials.

So how does every one feel for having made it this far with us? Did you enjoy seeing what we had for dinner? Were there too many photos? Would two or three times a week have been better, or perhaps once a week and interspersed with some actual posts?

Let me know what you think! Comment below and tell us! Thanks for keeping us company this month – I had a ball!