I'm Baaaa-aaack!

(What show is that from? Was it one of Urkel's lines? I'll have to look it up.)

One more week until spring break. Lots to do around here, although, admittedly, I can't blame how much there is to do on my lack of posting: I've spent gads of time playing Candy Crush Saga in Facebook. And I discovered how to keep getting free lives. Which means I continue playing beyond just a little break! I'm just really feeling this loooong winter (we've had close to another foot of snow the past few days...) and a need for a break from everything.

Anyhow, my pseudo-niece realized she was feeling blah and we were tweeting about fasts and cleanses. She went for a juice fast and very quickly, was feeling very good. She inspired me to hop back on the healthy food wagon. I thought about joining her for a juice fast, but I don't have a juicer, so that's out for me. So then I was thinking about doing a sort of "green smoothie fast" but the idea of having nothing but green smoothies doesn't feel very appealing and I think I might go crazier with that than when I drop wheat. (Oy, I dropped wheat again for the day the other day--went back to those "I feel like I'm going crazy, what will I eat that will be satisfying?" feelings. I don't like it. And it's a bad sign. I've got to cut out wheat long-term, don't I?)

So, other than planning to start each day with as much green smoothie as I can handle, I sat down and went through my Raw Food: A Complete Guide for Every Meal of the Day book, which is a great book if you are looking for meals for just one person (which I am) and don't have a dehydrator (which I don't), and picked a bunch of recipes to make for lunches this week. Or as a raw food side dish for suppers. I haven't planned everything out yet, which I should absolutely do, especially plan when I'll do the prep required for each one, but have selected the following (I'm going to babble here because then it's all written down and I can come find it when I'm looking for it :D) and made sure to get the necessary ingredients today. I have sooooo much raw fruits and veggies in the fridge now that I absolutely have to make sure I follow through and don't waste anything

*Granola p. 39--this recipe has almonds, which I'll have to not mix in right away since it's always an unknown as to whether I'll react or not; also requires soaking the nuts, which means I definitely need to plan which day I'd like to have it. I don't think I've ever soaked nuts before, although I know many resources recommend it. The recipes I've used didn't require it, so I didn't do it. I'll have to look into that.

*Mango and Pineapple Smoothie p. 43--I actually picked this with my daughter in mind since it's a smoothie recipe that doesn't have bananas. But it sounds tasty, so maybe we'll all share. ;) Doesn't really require much prep since I'm using frozen mango and I'm cheating and using up some canned pineapple that we have.

*Broccoli Salad with Raisins p. 89--I'm leaving out the apple cubes (makes my mouth itch, usually), or might put them in a side dish and serve this salad with a supper and let those who can eat raw apples put them on their salad. There isn't a whole lot of prep for this one, so it could be done easily right before a meal.

*Friday Burritos p. 93 (which I probably won't eat on Friday lol)--I'm missing the alfalfa sprouts (couldn't find them anywhere at the store I was at today), but I think it'll still be fine. There's more chopping to do for this one than some of the other ones; I should possibly actually keep it for Friday when I'll have more time--and the avocado should be ripe by then.

I also bought myself a zucchini to make some raw pasta (I'm pretty sure there's an easy marinara-style recipe in one of my books) and I think I have everything to make the amazing Caesar salad I've raved about before from Mimi Kirk's book. And that carrot, raisin and seeds salad I showed not long ago. And I bought lettuce to make sure to have greens available for each and every supper. (My kids actually like just taking a couple of leaves of green lettuce and eating it just like that!)

What's my plan with all this? Let myself feel the craziness of not getting grains for the first half of the day and some. Green smoothie as much as I can handle, then perhaps granola or the flax seed "pancakes" or fruit to finish off the morning; raw lunch; raw afternoon snack. Essentially, my plan is raw all day (but with that green smoothie to start--best way for me to really get in a lot of fruits and greens) until supper. And I have in mind largely wheat-free suppers for the whole week (I should do up a Make-a-Menu Monday post; I should, but will I?). I'll probably feel like I'm going crazy the first couple of days, but I know it'll be fine. I do have an inkling now about what cigarette and drug addicts must go through! It's got to be sheer torture for them to resist.

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Brief interruption: I just saw a little ad about kids being safest in a booster seat until 4'9" or 80 lbs. My daughter is 15, 4'11 and about 80 lbs. She's taking after my mother and hasn't had a real growth spurt yet--expecting her to end up eventually around 5'1"-5'2". But she was probably 4'9" and 70 lbs at age 13! A booster seat at age 13??? My mother was 75 lbs when she started high school. Anyhow...

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I've been meaning to post my recent (mis)adventures in gluten-free baking. That will have to be a separate post. Let's just say that I had some difficulty and have pictures to show it. lol. The cookies are absolutely delicious though. But I apparently have a sugar addiction, too, because when I have some on Sunday (not a part of Lent!), I don't stop at just one.

I also read The Heavy during my blog hiatus.

I'm going to do a post with a book review. Maybe sometime this week. Maybe next week during spring break. I'll keep my opinion a mystery until then. :D (Oy, that's another thing to plan food for: My brother-in-law and his wife are heading down to Arizona to visit the grandparents during spring break, without the kids, and the kids--a 5yo, an 8yo and a 12yo--will be staying with us!)

I think I'm going to have to keep things simple for tomorrow, so none of the above recipes (except maybe the smoothie). I have an online class to run at 11 and then my in-house class from 1-3, then it's pick up the above-mentioned nieces and nephew from school from 3-4, and then a meeting at 7 for parents who have a child doing the Confirmation prep classes, so time is tight in terms of trying to get school work done with my kids, prep the house and finalize the class lesson plan AND do food prep at any point during the day. Smoothie and a simple salad and whatever I want for raw fruits, veggies and maybe a handful of nuts or something will be fine. And then something super simple for supper.

What have you all been up to? (Even though it's only one of you who ever tends to comment, but I know in the stats there are more of you reading! :D) Are you feeling the effects of a long winter? How are you managing it?