Daniel Fast is over!!!

So the Daniel fast came to an end at 12:01am Saturday morning! We had originally planned to go to Marietta to the farmers market and a breakfast place on the square, but at 10:00p Friday night Mike said "Do you want to stay up until midnight and go to ihop?" It did not take much arm twisting to convince me!! I had 2 pancakes, half an order of hasbrowns, 1 slice of white toast, 1 egg, and 2 slices of bacon.....seriously!!! I followed this with a horrible case of heartburn ALL NIGHT LONG! It felt like a piece of coal was sitting in my throat all night! Horrible! Mike had a big thing of hashbrowns with cheese a japs and 2 nutella crepes with strawberry pie filling on top!!! We were out of control!

When we got up for breakfast that morning, neither of us were hungry so we waited for lunch to eat anything! It was a beautiful day. Sunny, a light breeze, 82 degrees. Amazing! We went to pure and sat on the rooftop patio and had chips and salsa, carne asada tacos, beans, rice, and of course margaritas! It was such a fun day. We felt like we did when we were dating and I had just moved here. We used to sit on patios and drink margaritas a lot back then. It was so nice to just relax!

For dinner we had Mellow Mushroom Philosopher's Pie! It was so dang good! Mike stuffed himself and couldn't sleep all night!

Sunday it was back to the clean eating! We got up to late to eat before church so we went out to eat afterwards. I had a salad and Mike had a whole wheat wrap with egg whites, smoked turkey, and crushed avocado. It was really good. For dinner we went to our neighbors and had more salad, salmon, squash, and potatoes! Super yummy.

So here are the things I took away from the fast.....

1. The ONLY reason I was able to get through 21 days was because of God.

2. I NEED God!!!

3. After eating like that for 21 days then eating like crap (like I used to), it will be easy to go back to clean eating. I just felt horrible after eating....heartburn, no sleep, sluggish! It really opened my eyes and that is why I did it, I needed an eye opener and it was happening.

All in all it was a great fast and I know we will do it again!

Easter Decorations

St. Patrick's day is over so it's time for Easter decorations. I love Easter. I always have. I think it has to do with what Christ did for us, peanut butter eggs, getting huge Easter baskets from my grandpa when I was a little girl, getting a new dress, the colors, and hunting down those dang eggs. I really never believed in the Easter bunny. I couldn't figure out what a human sized bunny that hid eggs in your yard and left you a basket full of goodies had to do with Jesus dying for our sins. All I knew is that I loved it. I know that sounds so terrible. I really do love the commercial side of Easter....don't judge! Even though I love the commercial side of it, I NEVER, EVER forget the reason we celebrate.

This weekend was a BEAUTIFUL! I was able to plant some flowers on my porch and decorate for Easter. I gave up Pinterest for lent so it was really nice to do something creative and to know I can still do creative things without the help of Pinterest LOL!!! I took these pictures with my phone...I have been doing that a lot lately since my camera card has been in the back of my computer from editing photo sessions. But you get the idea even though the quality of the photo stinks!

Spaghetti Squash

I took this picture with my phone and it's a horrible picture, but you get the idea!

Tonight I attempted spaghetti squash. We are on day 13 of the Daniel fast and I needed a change big time! I have always seen stuff about this type of squash, but never wanted to try it since I don't really like squash very much. I have to say I was quite impressed. I fully expected to just hold my nose and swallow it whole, but I would make this again for sure. In fact I might even trade all pasta we cook at home for this and save the real pasta for when we go out to eat at Mirko (Best pasta I have had in the states. Tastes exactly like Italy!). It was easy to make and saved us about 180 calories per cup and roughly 35 carbs per cup. You can't beat that!

The sauce I added to it was a simple tomato sauce. I can't have anything with sugar right now and most sauces call for sugar so what I did was swap the water I was planning on using for some 100% organic sweet apple juice. It did the trick!

Spaghetti Squash with Tomato Sauce

1 spaghetti squash

1 can of tomato paste

1 large can of crushed tomatoes

1 1/2 cups of Martinelli's Apple Juice

2 cups of baby spinach

2 cups of baby bella mushrooms

1/2 cup of kalamata olives pitted and cut in halves

2 garlic cloves crushed (I use my microplane and it works wonders)

2 table spoons of italian herbs (basil, oregano, thyme, rosemary)

Salt to taste

Pepper to taste

Add all the ingredients above except for the squash to a sauce pan and cook on med-low for about 30 minutes. Stir often. Once you have the sauce going, cut the spaghetti squash in half lengthwise. (this takes a big knife and some muscles!). Remove the seeds just like removing them from a pumpkin. Lay the cut side up and microwave for 10 minutes. When it's done pull it out and let it cool until the sauce is done. Once you are able to touch it, take fork and pull down lengthwise. You will see the strands start to come out. Put that on your plate, add sauce, and there you go!

Missing My Meeka

Well yesterday turned out to be a pretty horrible day. When Mike came home from work he shut the garage door like he always does. Apparently our cat, Meeka, ran out while it was shutting. She didn't make it and it squeezed her and killed her. Mike found her about 5-10 minutes after he came home when he went outside for something. I am not sure I will ever get that image out of my head. She was laying there and just looked like she was sleeping. We both pet her and kissed her good bye. I really can't remember the last time I was this sad. I just can't stop thinking about her which means I can't stop crying.

Meeka used to annoy the crap out of me. She used to meow to go out and then within 5 seconds she was meowing to come back in. She stole my hair ties all the time. She would play with them all over the house and then would flip them under the fridge. When we moved the fridge to get new floors we found over 25 hair ties courtesy of Meeka. With that said, she was the sweetest, friendliest cat I have ever been around. I really did love her a lot. She slept with us every night. She would sit by me all day while I worked. She was so amazing with kids. Mike and I have had several conversions about how awesome she would be with our future kids and how we just knew she would live for so long. I can't imagine ever finding another cat like her.

My heart is totally broken right now. I have made it through the hyperventilating crying and throwing up. Now I am on to the sad and pissed off crying. I just don't get it. It doesn't even seem real. I HATE THIS.

My Fitness Pal

I have to admit I haven't been using this lately, but should be. It's such an awesome website and app. I have it on my phone and computer. It's called My Fitness Pal. Basically you tell it what you weigh now, what you want to weigh, and it gives you the calories you need to eat each day to achieve it. You log all your food each day and it calculates what you have left. You can also track your exercise. The coolest thing about it, IT'S FREE!!! Nothing beats FREE!

The Daniel Fast

Daniel 10

² At that time I, Daniel, mourned for three weeks. ³ I ate no choice food; no meat or wine touched my lips; and I used no lotions at all until the three weeks were over.

Last weekend my husband, Mike, and I started the Daniel Fast. Basically it's Vegan with no sweeteners. No honey, agave, stevia....NOTHING!!!! That has been the hardest part so far (4 days). We have been juicing a lot to get something sweet in!! The first day I made oatmeal with peaches, ginger, and cinnamon. It tasted like slop. Ugh, but the juice I made to wash it down was great! I made it with 5 large kale leaves, 2 apples, 2 carrots, half of a pineapple, and one huge cucumber. It was very good. I had leftovers and had that for lunch. It's going to take a lot of planning to get through 21 days, but I think we can do it. So far the sugar and caffeine headaches have been the worst!

We have been eating clean so basically we are only removing meat, agave/honey, and a small amount of dairy from our daily routine.

I have been told that if you are not praying for something then it's not a fast, it's a diet. So during this fast I am focusing on praying about my diet and exercise and how hard it's been for me. Hopefully this gets me over the hump! Pray, Pray, Pray!!!!