Spaghetti....Or Is It?

Yesterday was quite the poop day for me, but today is a new day and I will not let anything steal my joy!   (small group went great, God revealed some major things in my life....more on that later)


For some of you, this may officially mark the day I dived into the deep end...but, for others....maybe I'll show you how simple little changes can make a huge difference!!!


This February marks two years since we kicked pretty much all processed items to the curb...limited sugar....rare breads and grains..even rarer still...potatoes (mmmmm....potatoes!)


What does a family do when their old staples involved such delicacies (maybe a better word would be deficiencies!)?   Spaghetti...oh, the way the pasta rolls on the fork...mmmmm...sopping  up sauce with your hunk of garlic bread..oh yeah.....


Hungry?


Why not try spaghetti squash?  A What?!?

I should have taken a  before picture (and sorry for the poor cell phone on a cloudy day pics, but it is what it is!).....basically spaghetti squash is the big yellow oblong one in the barrel of squashes ;)


Wash it...Poke it....Bake it at 350 for an hour and 15 min.


Let it cool a bit, cut it in half lengthwise, and de-seed it.   You'll probably notice that the flesh is pretty stringy.....just use your fork to help it along...it's freaky how similar it looks like spaghetti!!!

It doesn't taste like anything...much like regular pasta.....


Homemade sauce is super easy.   When we cut out pasta, there really wasn't a reason to make it.....oh Yum!!!

We obviously have a big family....3 boys can plow through anything in about 2 seconds so here's my recipe....feel free to addlib....seriously, You Can't Mess Up Sauce!!!   Originally, I was going for a roasted tomato type deal.  But after roasting 3 lbs of tomatoes and only getting about a quarter of the container worth of sauce, I had to make it work.   Feel free to use all roma tomatoes...if they grew weren't a million dollars a pound, I sure would!!!!  BUT, they did add a nice roasty sweetness to it..so make sure to do what you can :)


Easy Everything in the Fridge Marinara:


3lbs roma tomatoes, halved
4 cloves garlic, not peeled


preheat oven to 400.   put your halved tomatoes on a baking sheet-cut side up, drizzle with olive oil and toss on some salt and pepper.   wrap the garlic in aluminum foil and put it on with the tomatoes.   roast for around an hour (thank you smitten kitchen for this first part!!!!!).   the tomatoes will be browning on the tops.   let cool a bit so that you can handle them without burning your fingers off.   at this point you can core and de-seed them or just take out the little core part...whatever you like...no biggie.   I chopped mine up a bit.


while the tomatoes are cooling, saute an onion, mushrooms, and a bell pepper (if you like...or not...).


put tomatoes in the same pot as your veggies, squeeze the roasted garlic cloves into the tomatoes.   add your seasonings....woodman's carries a little herb pasta pack with bay leaves, basil, parsley, and thyme....but do what your family would like.   at this point, I needed more sauce pronto....so I used 2 big cans of crushed tomatoes and a small can of sauce (or paste).   add probably 1/2 tsp of baking soda to cut the acidity of the tomatoes.   the roasting process really gave these a nice sweetness so that's it..no sugar.....but, if you want go for it and add some.   we are also a spicey family so a good shake of pepper flakes, some more salt and pepper and then you're good to go!


Here's what's for dinner (and yes, all of our boys chowed down without batting an eye...but it could be that they forgot what real pasta tasted like!!!)

Yum!  And super healthy....no refined carbs...ya got the good fat from olive oil....lean protien...oh, yeah...(also....that plate is a Heck of a lot of food!!!  this new plan that I'm on is killing me with how much I'm eating....more than I've ever eaten before...but it works in some bizzaro Alice in Wonderland twist!)


Let me know if you make this---go for it---you know that you want to try it!

The Crying Game

I feel like as of late, all of my posts start with some form of wow...so why switch it?

WOW!

what a day!

Grey drippy skies, red drippy eyes (and no, I don't have a sinus issue)

I feel like I'm on a bigger emotional roller coaster than my preteen....gak!   I'm not an outward crier (I know that some of you who know me personally think that's a load of bull...but you're special and get to see the sloppy, loud tears).

Today is a beaten down, sob fest of a day.   

Am I manic? eh, who knows ;)   I'll blame a piece of it on my diet and my body changing to a normal rhythm....but most of it, I'm squarely pointing my finger at that sneaky clump of dirt Devil!   See, so  there...I see through it...why don't ya just go take a flying leap back into that old lake of fire!

I'm refusing to fall for it.   I know who I am---a daughter of the king!  I know that Jesus sits up in heaven on his throne and everything else is underneath him..that means you, Satan.  

Through the Holy Spirit, the same Great Power that raised my Jesus from the dead, lives in me!

I can do Anything In Christ Jesus who strenthens me!

God has traveled this path before me...and even when I don't feel it, when I am weak and down trodden..He is there, holding me up, helping me, giving me just enough make it through this day.

And one day, when I look back on it all...I'm not even going to think of you and your schemes Devil, because All That I Will See Is The Glorious Way My Savior Came Through For Me!

So, with that...I'll leave you with a line from my new favorite song, Breakout by Jake Hamilton...To hell with the Devil, heaven's all I see.  Got no time for distractions when I'm living in glory....

And..So Are The Days of My Life......

Wow....seriously, where does the time go?!?


Schooling the boys is going great this year....so much easier than the previous years....could it possibly be because everyone can read directions on their own!!!


Small group is going fantastic!   I'm really enjoying getting to know these ladies better....still miss my sisters from Lori's group, but I know that they've got my back!!!


This weekend my friend Kim tied the knot with a super great guy!   I was honored to stand up with them as they said their I do's.......and found a fabulous dress at David's Outlet for $30! 


After losing 20 lbs, I had to have the dress taken in big time...thank you Joyce!!!!  (and thank God for safety pins...or else I would have never been able to keep the crazy thing up!)

As I uploaded this wedding pic onto facebook, ..a picture from a year and a half ago caught my eye....wow...I'm close to 50 lbs lighter!!!

I'm totally in tears.....


When you're in the midst of such a long journey, it is really hard to see progress....really hard...


I'm not posting this to get pats on the back, just...well....no matter what you go through, little steps lead to big accomplishments....one day you feel like you're going no where fast and then the next you look back and see how far you've come.


Don't lose hope.  Don't get discouraged.   God has made us for so much more!!!!