Stating the obvious...

Stating the obvious can be really rude sometimes. It sounds like this:"Wow! You're eating MORE cake!" Or a little like this: "Your shirt is bright yellow."  These kind of statements make people uncomfortable, uneasy, and just feel plain bad.

Other times stating the obvious can be completely neutral, like stating a fact.  Example: "It smells like coffee", or "It's windy out here!"  Not necessary to say these things, hence that is why we call it stating the obvious.

However, there is one statement that we often times consider to be so obvious that we do not say it enough. As long as it is considered to be an obvious statement, or "stating the obvious" we will never start saying it more.  Try it.  Say it.  See what happens.  Pretend like you've never said it before.

"I love you."  Never can that be said enough.  It is why in the middle of playing with my kids I'll randomly say "hey guys, I love you."  Guess what, they always say it back (except for Skyelynn, she says it with her smile!)  I say it to my husband everyday, every time we get off the phone with each other, every morning as he leaves for work, and sometimes just at random, yet still probably it's not enough.  I even say it to Guapo sometimes...I think he likes it. :)  

It's still the start of a new year, try stating the obvious!

Hop on...

You know you want to! Get on the sugar free train. My sister told me she'd join me if I made her some sugar free brownies, so I did.  I've lost 3 pounds since cutting out sugar.  Pretty good, I'd say!  Now, if I'd just add in some exercise... ;) I will, SOON.

Since becoming a mom, I've gradually started learning more about food.  The things I've grown up loving to eat are really bad for us! Sugar, white flour, McDonalds (any fast food, really)...ALL VERY UNHEALTHY.  I want my kids to learn to love food from scratch and grow up eating it.  Unfortunately, cooking from scratch takes time, and a lot of it.  Thus, I've made goals to stock our freezer full of home made meals so we don't feel the need to "grab a pizza" or go through a drive thru for dinner.  One stop shop in our freezer makes live easier!  Kinda rhymes, doesn't it?

Last week was great for my freezer cooking goals.  On lasagna night, I made two lasagnas, one for dinner and one for the freezer.

Another day, I took out some leftover, frozen taco meat and some leftover taco soup, and  mixed it together with some sour cream and cheese. I filled tortillas with the mixture to make burritos to freeze for lunches.

So easy to pull one of these out and microwave it for a quick lunch and even easier to send in my husband's lunch for him to heat up and eat at work!

 I also made meatloaf on another night (4 small loaves) and I froze two of those and we ate the other two for dinner.  The green stuff?  Not pickles...frozen broccoli.  My family ate it without commenting on the broccoli..Darrell didn't even notice!
Our freezer is getting stocked up with meals and it feels good!  The best part is that it is all home-cooked.

Last night, I made vegetable beef soup, almost all from leftovers from dinner the night before.  I shredded the pot roast, added in leftover noodles and broccoli, chopped up carrots and onion, put it all in a pot of water and tossed in a beef bullion cube and some spices and there was dinner! I also made italian bread sticks and froze some of the dough from the batch so we'd have some to pull out and bake for other meals. I'm getting better and better at this!

I find that if I take a few extra minutes in the kitchen, I can always find a way to make something to throw in the freezer for the days that are too crazy to make dinner.  This was the best New Year resolution I've made.  Now my biggest debate is whether or not to keep up the no sugar thing after January 31st passes.  I'm not going to lie, I miss having a cinnamon roll for breakfast once in a while. :)

Today I tried a new sugar free recipe--it's for oatmeal cookies.  The verdict? Pretty good! My kids have been asking for cookies, and because I haven't been eating sugar, neither have they.  So, today I told them I'd have cookies for them after nap.
The recipe below is what I used, but I altered it a little.  I used closer to a cup of honey rather than just a 1/2 cup, I added extra cinnamon, a dash of ground cloves, and about a 1/2 teaspoon of molasses.  Enjoy!
New no sugar recipe (uses honey instead of sugar)

Raisin Oatmeal Cookies (makes 3 dozen)

1/2 Cup Unsalted Butter, room temperature
1/2 Cup Honey
1 Large Egg, room temperature
2 Tsp Vanilla Extract
1 Cup All Purpose Flour
2 Cups Old Fashioned Oats
1/2 Tsp Baking Soda
1/2 Tsp Salt
1 Tsp Ground Cinnamon
1 Cup Dried Raisins

1. Preheat oven to 350 F.
2. Place the butter and honey in a bowl or standing mixer and beat for 1 minute.
3. Add the eggs and vanilla extract and beat for another minute on medium speed or until smooth.
4. In a separate bowl, mix to combine the flour, oats, baking soda, salt and cinnamon.
5. Slowly add the dry ingredients into the wet and mix to incorporate.
6. Stir in the raisins then drop 1 tbsp of dough for each cookie onto a Silpat or parchment-lined baking sheet.
7. Bake for 12-14 minutes.
8. Cool and serve.

Au naturel...

When I'm really craving a sugar fix, I wonder what I got myself into saying yes to my cousin's challenge.  Giving up sugar is hard, January 31st can't come fast enough...but I've found ways to have sweet snacks that are sugar free and that do not use fake sweeteners.  I hate fake sweeteners, so bad for you.
I've gone the all natural route.  I have been cutting up apples and sprinkling them with cinnamon. REALLY yummy! I also made brownies sweetened with applesauce and honey.  They took some getting used to, but now I actually like them, and want them as my after dinner treat!  The kids loved them from the beginning and beg to have some "cakes" as Easton calls it.
It's been 7 days without sweets, besides my morning coffee. Do I miss them? Yes.  But to be completely honest, it's getting easier day by day to not want desserts.  I've been tempted.  The other day there was a fun sized Milky Way in our pantry taunting me, but I held strong! I think it really helps that I wrote my sugar free plans on Facebook and in this blog.  If I don't follow through, a lot of people will know!
Another bonus to this is my kids are eating less sugar too, because mommy isn't baking, isn't buying it, and isn't eating it!
Ever given up sugar before? If you have, tell me what helped you keep away from it! What snacks did you find to eat to keep from giving in to sugar? And, any all natural, sugar free cookie recipes out there that taste good???