Navigating Noodles

I love cinnamon tea.  My favorite by far is Harney and Sons Hot Cinnamon .  I get it from Wal-Mart and Target.  I know Barnes and Noble carries it too.  I have been experimenting with hot tea for a while and found that I really don't like hot tea except my Hot Cinnamon.  Trying to make my mornings a little healthier, I decided to try my hand at making a hot drink similar to THM's Shrinker.  I don't like The Shrinker and I don't like hot tea but, amazingly enough, I like my Hot Cinnamon Oolong. Hot Cinnamon Oolong Tea You need: 2 oolong tea bags 1 cinnamon tea bag 1 3/4 cup water 1/2 tsp cinnamon couple sprinkles cayenne (to taste) 1/2 cup Cashew Milk 1 tsp collagen 1/4 tsp sunflower lecithin 3 tsp Pyure   Steep tea bags in boiling water until cool enough to handle.  (often I let them sit too long and have to rewarm them..silly me!)   In a blender add the rest of the ingredients.  Pour in hot tea and whir.  (Be sure to follow safety practices for blending hot it

Last week went very well considering the holiday!  I kept to the menu through Thursday.  I knew I would be eating wonky on Thursday and added that into my meal plan.  However, Friday through Sunday I was completely free styling.  I am happy to say that I stayed almost completely on plan.  Woot-woot! Today I have a Dr. appointment.  I am sure I will hear all about my weight and blood pressure.  Oh the joy!   I notice that last week I didn't include Saturday and Sunday on my menu.  That is silly because the days I am at home are the days I really need it. I get bored and want to eat.  If I have a menu to go from it would make the snack cravings a bit easier I think.  So this weeks menu will include the weekend. Monday Pumpkin Oatmeal, coffee with collagen Singing Canary GGMS Buffalo Chicken Salad on bed of spinach, raw veggies, white cake with strawberries Caramel Apple GGMS Orange Yogurt with homemade cocoa krispies Bacon wrapped turkey, broccoli salad Tuesday Detox

GGMS or Good Girl Moonshine.  A drink made of apple cider vinegar, water and sweetener.  Pearl and Serene of Trim Healthy Mama coined the phrase Good Girl Moonshine  as an all day sipper and made it popular, but drinks with apple cider vinegar and ginger date back to at least the Laura Ingalls Wilder days. In those days Laura called it Ginger Water.   In the first chapter of  "The Long Winter", Laura talks about Ma sending them ginger water to drink.  A little Prairie Moonshine if you will! If you are adventurous, you can try the "ginger water" recipe below that was in one one of my kids workbooks back in the day. I love my moonshine but I think that the 2 cups of vinegar called for in that recipe might be a little strong. You could also try one of the recipes  here or here  or here .  I have never tried a version with  brown sugar but it is on my to-do list. Let's talk about the vessel for GGMS. Glass quart canning jars are the preferred vehicle for ho

I love pizza!  I really love the deep dish crunchy, buttery crust and the thin and crispy crust and the hand tossed chewy crust.  OK, I love the crust.  However, since following the THM lifestyle I have limited my crust intake.  I do on occasion, sink my teeth into a decadent piece of chewy, crispy crust but for the most part I pass and just eat the toppings.  I like toppings but I really love crust. Yep, I have tried the cauliflower crust, the Fat Head crust and the cream cheese crust.  In my opinion, the cauliflower crust is way too much work for what it is.  The fat head dough is pretty awesome but I like to use that for bagels or rolls and not pizza crust in which you put more cheese on.  The cream cheese crust is really good for things such as taco casserole.  THM has a really good crust called Perfect Crust (pg 211 of the THM cookbook) that I sometimes make.  It comes out crispy and very pizza like.  It is also very simple.   Then there are those nights when I don't wan

Usually for Thanksgiving we make turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, cranberry relish, scalloped corn, pumpkin pie, pecan pie and mock eclairs...we eat so much we are stuffed almost to the point that we feel sick.  Last year, because I was on THM and thought the whole house should be too, I decided to make things healthy.  In addition to the turkey I made mashed cauliflower...NOT a favorite around this house,  stuffing from cauliflower...ummm also NOT a favorite with a vengeance, no corn and made sugar free pies using nasty tasting sweeteners and no eclairs.  To say I still haven't lived down that meal would be a complete understatement.  My oldest didn't come home for Sunday dinner for months after that AND now every time he comes here he asks if there's cauliflower in it.  Mashed potatoes are my daughter's favorite food in the whole world and I ruined that for her.  My middling kinda goes with the flow for most things and even he said it was the worst Thanksgiving ever

C hicken Parmesan from Olive Garden is one of my absolute favorites...along with the salad and bread sticks!  Unfortunately, Chicken Parm from Olive Garden and their bread sticks are not conducive to the THM lifestyle.  I have been making this little gem for years.  It is delicious and I found out this past week that it goes terrifically on top of a salad!  (It is also very, very easy-stupid easy as I usually say) Chicken Parm                (Click for printable recipe) 1 bag chicken tenders (I buy mine from Aldi) 1 can sugar free Hunts spaghetti sauce 1/2 cup parm cheese (I used a combination of parm and romano from the can) 1 cup shredded cheese--any combination you want is fine (I used co-jack on this batch--although pepper jack gives it a wonderful zip!) salt, pepper, garlic powder and onion powder to taste Heat oven to 350º.  Lay thawed chicken tenders in a 9x13 pan.  Sprinkle with salt, pepper, garlic and onion powders to taste.  Pour the spaghetti sauce over the t

Since I am just in the beginning phases of starting this blog I am not sure what direction I want to take it.  Part of me wants to have this be a cooking/food blog.  I love cooking and I love food.  Another part of me wants this to be a goal blog where I keep myself accountable.  And yet another part of me wants this to be a forum where I can share all my stories and write in hopes that someday my family can look back and say, "Hey...she wasn't so bad at writing after all."  So what the heck, I think this blog post will be a little of each.  😎 I have been on and off the Trim Healthy Mama life style for the last few years.  The first two years I was on full time and lost 70 pounds.  After I lost my grandmother in 2016 I kinda fell off the wagon part of the time.  The beginning of this year I fell off of the wagon almost full time and gained back those 70 lbs and then some.  I can tell you THM works for me.  I can tell you I feel MUCH better when I am on "plan&quo

OK, ok, in 3 years I'll be 50.  But that's like half a century.  Half. A. Century.   Seriously, when did I get this old?  In my head I am still in high school rocking out to Whitesnake, Meatloaf and Bon Jovi, singing to Billy Joel and Dan Fogelberg songs, dreaming that one day I will meet Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton and knowing someday I will be a roady for Van Halen.  In real life I am a wife of 22 years, a mother of three grown children, I own a house, have two jobs and, in case anyone is interested, I am not nor have I ever been, a roady for Van Halen.   I am not going to dwell on this but we have had a rough few years.  At the end of 2015 we said 2016 would be a great year.  Nope.  That was a misnomer.  At the end of 2016 we said 2017 would be a great year.  NOPE!  January 11 of 2017 rocked our world and to say the least, it has not been a great year.  I can only hope 2018 will be better. However, the information I have at present is leading me to believe it wont be.  Bu