SpoonFullofJelly

Today my husband's family will lay to rest a beautiful soul. At a young age of 32, Mr. Mind's cousin had a heart attack. It was a devastating loss to everyone. While most are still walking around in disbelief, I am trying to be Mr. Mind's strength. I did not push him to speak about his cousin, but let him bring him up when he felt comfortable. I slept so lightly for the first two nights just in case he didn't want to be lonely when he couldn't sleep. Yesterday Mr. Mind thanked me for being the best partner when times got rough. Selfishly, I was happy to hear that because life doesn't prepare you for this. For newly engaged couples, this is an example of "for better or worse"! I pray for understanding and strength for his family. No mother should ever bury their child. It's against nature! There wont be a dry eye tomorrow as we say out last goodbyes...

Ready to get even crunchier? Let's look at your Kitchen. This is the heart of the home. The place that everyone gathers, and eats. It houses all the changes you made so far. Take a look at your pots and pans. Are you cooking with nonstick and coated pans? Check out how bad those pans are for your heath here . Don't get me wrong, there are plenty of websites out there that will boast about the goodness of nonstick pans, but the goal is to be crunchy right? The goal is to limit all the extra mess that is added for convenience and ease and stick to basics even if it requires extra work. Because who is afraid of extra work? Change Little by Little but Lasts Time After Time Stainless steel pots and pans        *Target, Khols and JC Penny run sales a couple times a year. I have a full set that is 3 years old and looks great. Cast Iron pot and pan.       * I have a cast iron dutch oven. I am working on the pan. Going Plastic Container Free      *This is challenge #10 on

Dear Co-worker, I am so proud of you! It takes strength and courage to change your family's eating habits and change their diet. Heck, it's tough changing your own self. So coodles to you for working so hard for the past few months. My journey consisted of the understanding of a gluten allergy, you can find that post here , then we attempted to eliminate pork (lasted a month) and we successfully cut out canola in a post here and finally made changes to our guts in a post, here . We were on a mission to feel better and be healthier. We ran into some trouble though. Families doesn't always support your decisions especially when it goes against your past. But with some explanation and trials, they will jump on board. For example, my dear sweet mother made both a regular sweet potato pie and gluten free pie at Thanksgiving! She and my father also gave up Canola Oil, MSG and HFCS (high fructose corn syrup) after learning about them from me. So I challenge you my co-worker,

If you are just now joining us, this post is a continuation of "How Crunchy Can She Get!" My co-worker has to change he daughter's diet to a Gluten Free and Dairy Free one and she was wondering how we did it. Check out Topic One and Topic Two. Stay tuned because we have more changes to go! Make your Own Mixes Not only does changing what you eat changes your health, it also changes your expenses and your way of thinking. Today let's focus on saving some money on typical things that people will buy this summer, over and over again. Barbecue Sauce 1 1/4 cups   Water 1 6-oz can   Tomato paste 1/2 cup       Honey 1/2 cup      Molasses 1/4 cup      Apple Cider Vinegar 2 tbsp        Worcestershire sauce 2 tsp          Paprika 1 tsp          Garlic Powder 1/2 tsp       Chili Powder 1/4 tsp       Onion Powder 1/4 tsp       Cayenne Pepper (optional) 1 tsp          Hot sauce (optional) 1 tsp         Liquid Smoke (optional) 2 tbsp       Bourbon

Replacement Time! After my co-worker had thrown out everything, it's time to start replacing the food in her home. Together we went on a shopping trip. Before we began, I had to figure out how she cooks so i see how to shop. There are two mind frames to use when one shops in a grocery store: 1.) Homemade cooking 2.) Semi-homemade (Helloooo, Sandra Lee). We will start with the gluten items  If you were a flour leveling, baking soda measuring, broth simmering cook, then learning the proper replacement ingredients is what you will need. However, if you were a box opening, 2 egg cracking, heat up in the oven kind of cook then you will need to learn about the companies and it's products to buy. The first thought most people have is to go directly to the "Natural" section of the grocery. This section is over priced and often a repeat of other cheaper products. Our local grocery stores do an excellent job labeling items gluten free with a bright green tag next to

My Co-worker's daughter has aversions to gluten and dairy (no surprise to me) and was advised to avoid them for a couple months. So lesson number one for her was: 1. Change out the Cows milk for Almond, Goat, and if she had to, Soy.  I told her this isn't an easy task if people in her home are use to drinking glasses full of cow's milk. If milk is just an additive to baking or on top of cereal, this change wouldn't be too hard. 2. Get rid of all the obvious gluten and milk products. Obvious meaning cookies, cakes, ice cream, milk, etc. Since 4 out of 5 people can still consume it, I advised her to at least keep it out of site of her daughter until it has been consumed by the others. 3. Now investigate the hidden gluten and dairy in your home . The American food industry has allowed and not monitored  added gluten and dairy to products that you wouldn't even think would have it. For example, if you buy precooked sausage, gluten is usually added for thicken

After listening to a co-worker about her and her family's health, I began to explain my "Lifestyle Changes One Day at a Time" plan. I told the co-worker, I didn't want to get caught up in the hype of commercialized, fake, unhealthy, media promoted, emptiness that my generation is being offered. I read everything I can get my hands on and I am constantly trying as many things as I can. I explained that traditional practices have gone out the window in placement for convenience. She shook her head the whole time. I'm not sure what she was thinking, perhaps "This is way too much!" or "I'm not doing all that!" But she finally spoke up and said "How did you get started? My husband is not exactly on the band wagon." I informed her that I took the bull by the horns and didn't ask my husband a thing. Back in 2011, Mr. Mind told me that he was glad that I was trying to change our health by implementing new ideas, and concepts. We beg