Spaghetti Paleo / how we get our daughter to eat her food

Yesterday I drove 3 1/2 hours to get my husband. Oh how I missed him. It's been 5 weeks since I saw him. I miss having his guidance and leadership in our home. It's nice to have my best friend back to talk to and not just my 3 year old and one year old. 

Tonight I cooked a paleo dinner which my husband loved. I have kinda slacked off in the last week with my diet but I have every intention to continue it. I cook what I would call paleo spaghetti the only thing missing you guessed it the noodles. I even drank water with my food. I was really surprised at how well my extremely picky daughter ate all her supper. She hate hamburger meat she doesn't eat hamburgers or anything resembling hamburger meat. She loves to help me cook she just doesn't eat what she helps cook. But tonight she did she didn't like the tomatoes that were in the sauce part of the spaghetti but she the her corn and at least she did try a tomato. I even got my husband to eat one tomato. It was nice knowing that after I spent sometime in the kitchen that everyone sat down at the table together and ate. 

You may be wondering how we get our daughter to eat. First of all, all the credit goes to my husband because when he's not around I do have to fight with her. However what he does is if she starts whining or complaining or just plain ole throwing a fit he will take her to her bed and lay her down and tell her when she is ready to eat she may come to the table and eat. She has had to go to early bed because she refused to eat. However that has only happened once. We have tried many rules for instance having to eat their food no matter( example if RaeLynn didn't eat her supper she had to eat it for breakfast while everyone else eats something else) this seem to work a little but it still to her a long time to finish her breakfast. So now I'm trying an your have to try it approach. I will not fix them anything else for supper and if they choose not to eat it they will go to bed hungry. They are allowed to have water. 

Recently I've had to figure out how to try to get RaeLynn to eat without a huge fight however I have failed miserable that is one of the big reason I'm excited he's back. I'm not an expert I will say I'm doing my best to be consistent. I know that consistent is the key to everything when it comes to a child. I want her to try it at the very least and I would like her to eat better. 

The reason behind all of this is because I myself am over weight and have been most to all of my life. I can remember being in gymnastics and I can remember being a cheerleader however gymnastic was by far my favorite. I'm not athletic. I have horrible rhythm and really feel sorry for my friend that was great at basketball and I was the only other child around to play with and I couldn't play basketball or even horse to SAFE MY LIFE. Many time I came home with a black eye from trying to play softball. It not that I'm not a team player it's just I have no player in me. I want my children to be healthy I was the picky eater my daughter had become. As I've gotten older I have opened my doors to eat better even if it means eating things I don't care for. I need to be healthier if I was to life to be old. 

My spaghetti recipe is 

I got a pound of hamburger meat and made meat balls about 6. I put them in a skillet and browned the outside on each side. In a (what I call a deep pan skillet) I put 1 stalk of chopped celery, minced garlic, about two stalks green onion, about a teaspoon oregano and a dash of parsley, salt and pepper. I had a can of tomato sauce and another can of garlic and onion tomatoes. I added all that together and warmed it up as my meat was browning. Them I put the meat balls in the sauce covered and let simmer for 15 min. Then I uncovered I cut all the meat ball in half to see how much longer I should probably cook them and covered and cooked another 5-10 minutes until done. (I added some shredded cheddar cheese on too and let it melt). And then served to a very hungry bunch:) 

Paleo update

Today is day five of my paleo diet. Other than one night I have cooked supper for my parents and grandma. the first night I hated what I cooked but the other 2 nights were ok. I made a chicken blueberry balsamic twist its wasn't the best in the world but it was so much better than the chicken patty stuffed mushrooms.

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Last night I made a roast which I'm not a huge fan of roast in the first place but it was eatable.

Tonight we are having whole chicken cooked in the crock pot. It smells so good my mouth is just watering til I almost drowned.

So in time paleo does get better. I'm an unusually picky eater so this will take time for me to get use to eating veggies and anything that's not pizza. on the best side tonight is Thursday and I am not going to my favorite pizza joint which is killing me on the inside. That's is why I am over weight and why I'm so unhealthy.
Next week my husband comes home and I'm ecstatic but I've really got to have this paleo thing down before he gets back. He's not hard to cook for or anything its just he's like me overweight for the same reason I am we love bad food.
As I've done research about paleo I notice one thing that stands out more than anything. They say how much better they feel. I want to feel better I cant remember a time when I'm not just exhausted or tired. I've always battled depression and bipolar behavior. I want to have energy to chase my kids and the physical ability to do that. I want to wake up feeling energized and refreshed.
This for me isn't a diet its a life change. I want to eat mostly fruits veggies and meat and on occasions eat out or have cookies or cake. I'm human like anyone else. I just want to be a healthier human!

paleo supper #1

Last night I fixed chicken patties stuffed portabella mushrooms. My husband is off working right now so I fixed it for my parents and grandma. I wont lie I hated. It was so nasty however my whole family loved it. I think I had way too much seasoning. My dad tried my piece of chicken and said mine tasted different than his. so I don't know if I got the flawed stuffed mushroom or what but it wasn't good. I couldn't even make myself finish it. I still really want to do this paleo thing. I want to live healthy. I also know that not everything that I cook I will like. There are things my mother cooks I don't like. Its a process.
Tonight however I am making a chicken with blueberry balsamic twist. I'm excited to see how this turns out. I love cooking always have however I don't always like eating what I cook. I love fixing supper its my favorite meal of the day. I have never been a big breakfast eater. My husband on the other hand is. He wants a full meal for breakfast and I am the kinda person that could go to lunch only having a cup of coffee.
I still haven't found an exercise routine that I like. my children wake up as soon as I do. It doesn't matter if its 6:00am or 9:30 am when they hear me up no matter how quiet I think I am they are up! so I need something I can include my three year old in and something that doesn't take forever but gets the job done. One hurtle at a time. Food is my first step exercise is the next.
I have noticed that I am having pizza withdraws. I love this pizza joint we have here called Johnny's pizza its by far my favorite food ever I could eat it all the time. I had it on Thursday doing my normal for mid week service at church but now its killing me.

The Start of the Paleo Diet

Over the last six months I have realized I need to do something about me being overweight and unhealthy. Like most parents I want my children to be healthier than I am and I never want them to be over weight. So I have searched for a new lifestyle change that I could include them in. I didn't want to just diet because then I would just be dieting all my life and lets face it I love food its how I became over weight. I wont lie I still will go out to eat some and I'm not going to be perfect and that's ok. I love johnnys pizza and I love chile verde those things will never change however I will need to give them up for a while.
I have decided to go paleo because for one I am a hunter. I love deer meat call me what you want but that is the way God intended things (Genesis 9:3). I love the idea of natural things. So eating meat, fruits, vegetables, with spices makes total since to me. I do believe that God intended for us to eat bread and that we should have milk but I also believe that todays food industry has severely messed that up. so later on after I start my diet I will add back some homemade bread and consider my dairy very carefully.
I have sat down for the last two days and gone through a lot of my ebooks that I've gotten and wrote out some of the recipes I think my family would enjoy. I have ordered a book called "Everyday Paleo" by Sarah Fragoso. It also has some exercise routines in to also which makes me happy. I'm excited to try this new way of life. I'm taking my daughter and son along with my nephew and mother to the store to go buy all the things we need for the next week of paleo. This should be interesting.
I have always been over weight and I've always been a picky eater and my see my daughter has turned into a picky eater and I'm trying to avoid that with my son. he at least tries everything. Now he wont eat eggs to save his life, and that how I found out I was pregnant again. I looked at the eggs my husband had wonderfully cooked for me and started gagging. I knew!
I'm excited to share my journey to my new life!!!

Old fashion shampoo

I have always had the most horrible hair. I couldn't even finish a bottle of shampoo before my hair would start to reject it. By reject I mean breaking, frizzy, damaged, and. greasy looking. I mean the whole 9 yards. I tried everything from cheap shampoo to expensive. I tried anything that was for my "symptoms" I literally tried it all.
One day surfing the Internet I don't remember what I was looking for I came across this "no poo" method of washing hair.  The first one a came across was just washing your hair with hot water then washing it with cold and once you got out of the shower your brush it with a bore bristle brush. I tried that for a while. About three weeks and after that I couldn't take the nastiness in my hair. It warned that at first your hair will be greasy from getting rid of all the old chemicals and damage your shampooing had done to your hair. But I could just about put a Mohawk with no gel. It was getting bad. So I gave up and when back to the drawing board. (And jumped in the shower and use my husband shampoo)
I soon found another homemade shampoo and conditioner. The best part was I could find everything I needed in my kitchen cabinet. The shampoo was baking soda and the conditioner apple cider vinegar. What? Oh yeah!!! So I read more and more. I got a a little down when it once again told me that I would have to give my hair some time to adjust and it may be greasy. I almost gave up right then and there. Well thank God I didn't. For about four months I would take a little baking soda put it in my hand add a little water and massage that into my scalp and wash it out. Then I had a spray bottle that I took and sprayed the vinegar into the bottom of my hair all over.  Then I continue with my regular routine of bathing and shaving and wash the vinegar out right before I got out of the shower. Sometimes I blow dry my hair sometime I wouldn't just all depends.
I became very sad when I saw my hair starting to go back to its old habits. I loved this routine. My hair was soft and shinny and for the first 3 months healthy looking and just beautiful. I was only having to wash my hair every four days which is also a huge plus. About month four is when it started acting bad again. Which it was also starting to become summer. It was pretty and soft for about 2 days and after that it was frizzy and untamable. I kept going anyway. I started cutting my own hair so I did cut it once in the fourth month but we were about to be going to Nashville to see my grandpa and I didn't want my hair to look so bad. The other thing was I knew there water was messed up and I wouldn't have a lot of time in the shower. So I gave up my homemade shampoo when and bought some that I liked and my hair took well to for the longest time.
Now once I'm back I was looking to go on a diet and I chose the paleo diet it's the only one that I believe would fit my lifestyle the best. However when I was on youtube I found a channel that the girl had gone paleo and I like her video so I looked at some other videos she had. Low and behold she had a no shampoo video. Come to find out I was doing it all wrong. She showed me that your suppose to add a cup of water for a table spoon of baking soda and and cup of water for the table spoon of vinegar. I'm so happy. I started my no shampoo journey again hoping for better results. I really love the way my hair acts when I use the homemade shampoo and conditioner. The only thing is last night after I washed my hair with the vinegary had brewed up some peppermint tea and I washed my hair in that. And once again my hair is soft and shiny and I love my hair again!
Here's a tip. If your wondering if your hair will smell like vinegar the answer is no. It shouldn't if you use too much vinegar it will however I've never had that problem. However your bath room may smell like vinegar for an hour. For me it's well worth it. That's my way of keeping my husband out of the bathroom while I finish getting ready for bed ;) I also try not to blow dry my hair because of the heat damage it can do to your hair but sometimes I still have too. I want to go get some dr bronners for my children I'm not quite sure my daughter or son would appreciate the process and they take bath now showers so I'm not how that would affect their bath or how bad it would hurt to get in their eyes.

Why did I create a blog

Why did I create a blog? I ask myself that quite often. I'm still not quite sure why I decided to create a blog. For the most part I think I want to try to keep up with my new progress.
 I always knew I was different. My mother raised me to be independent and to rely on no man. And yes I did have a great daddy. My mother had been married 2 times before meeting my dad. I believe that she was terribly hurt and that once he left she was just going to do everything herself. Years later she met my father and yes they got married and had me! However I think my mom wanted all of us to be independent and to never rely on anyone. I understand why she raised us the way she did but something always felt weird or off or I was just different.
I knew from a very young age my goal in life was to marry and bear children and guide the house. I've always wanted to do that. I went to church but not the kind that really taught that that was the job of the wife. My mom work on and off when I was a child. When I was about 8 I guess not really sure she started to work for this guy Moose and he allowed her to bring me to work after I got out of school. Which was awesome if you ask me. My dad is a mechanic and my dad had had a son before he met my mom. My brother Aaron always was mechanically inclined. I was very envious. I always wanted to spend more time with me dad I always want and still find myself wanting his approval. My brother would go with my dad and work on transmissions(my dads specialty) and I would want to go but as a child I don't remember going much. I think it was normally dark when dad came home to work on side jobs and mom would have given us our baths and getting ready for bed.
When I was a teenager I wanted nothing more than to be a mechanic like my dad. I was a wild child and I did a lot of things I'm not proud of. It wasn't until I was sixteen in a relationship with this emotionally abusive boyfriend that I realized what I wanted in life. I was very fragile in that time in my life. In 2005 my brother Aaron died and in April 2006 I met my boyfriend. I remember in December 2006 I started praying that if God would give me the strength to leave him I would. I know this sounds silly I was 16 I should have just broke it off. I don't think my parent knew about the abuse until the end of the relationship. However my brother committed suicide and my boyfriend always told me if I left him he would too. And his mother confirmed he was sucideal a lot. So I was afraid to leave. I didn't want he's death on my conches. In march of 2007 my friend told me about this guy I had to meet and I was a firm believer that you should never cheat. However somehow she talked me into it and this guy ended up being my husband 3 years later. He was the answer to my prayers. I thank God for him everyday.
Up until last year around this same time of the year I was a alright wife. I have two beautiful kids I plan on homeschooling and I stayed at home he didn't want me to work and I don't want to. However there were things I didn't do right. I always fought him on leading the house and I clung to my parents more than him. I wore pants even though he told me and showed in the bible I should wear skirts. I thank God he stuck with his stubborn wife and I'm sure prayed hard for me. When I was on vacation with my parents to see my grandpa it hit me like a ton of bricks. I was doing everything all wrong. So I prayed and I asked for forgiveness. I called my husband crying asking for him to forgive me and when I get home we needed to talk. I knew I was wrong. I wanted to be a better wife. He said "Dana I love you everything is okay and we can talk when you get home" it was the biggest comfort.
Once I came home I showed him all I learn while I was away and asked him to help me find out the right way to be. I told him he's the head and I will follow him anywhere.
Now a year later I have improved a lot and I love my life I didn't know just how miserable I was until I chose to do right. And now I am on a journey to go back to the old paths because that is where I feel normal. I am the person that wants to hang cloths up to dry, and I have chickens so I can have eggs, I want to homeschool my kids, I want to cook 3 meals a day, I want a farm with cows, chicken, and horses, I love the King James Bible and read it every day ( even though I never have read it through) I love wearing skirts and being modest, I AM AN OLD PATHS KINDA GIRL. However I have a lot to learn. I wasn't raised on a farm or even know a lot about a farm. I can get a four wheeler and get muddy in a heartbeat. I also want to start a journey of eating better (paleo mainly) and a good exercise  routine. With a 3 year old that is a very picky eater and a 1 years old this should be fun.
I started this blog so maybe I can help keep track of it all and maybe just maybe there is someone like me that wants to go back to the old paths and has no idea how. I pray this will help.