Day Three...back on track

I left the house this morning at 10:00 and didn't get back until 2 or so this afternoon. Between being out and dealing with phone calls I didn't get much else done. Other than wash sheets and make dinner. No time for yoga or anything else today :(

I made some homemade artisan bread when I got home. I love, love, love this bread. There are only 4 ingredients: water, yeast, salt and flour. Unfortunately, it's made with white flour...which I try to avoid. I think I'll try playing around with it and see what I can do with different flours and maybe the addition of flax.

Along with the bread I served a leek and potato soup for dinner, carrot sticks and cheddar slices. I usually make dessert on soup nights and I made oatmeal, chocolate chip and raisin cookies while the bread dough was rising. I also made a chocolate "mousse" (made with silken tofu) to have with raspberries but I forgot to serve it. Ooops! I guess that'll be for tomorrow.

Well, that's it for today. I'm taking my tea upstairs so that I can stretch out with my book and hopefully drop off to sleep early!

Day two...back on track

Despite being out until almost eleven last night and having a heck of a time sleeping due to pain and a stuffy nose, I managed 20 minutes of yoga this morning. Quite pleased about that. I didn't think I'd be able to do it all (gentle or not!). I also dragged my way through the rest of my morning routine and my weekly chores. It's tough today because I'm tired and it's extremely cold and dreary outside.

After a veggie burger and a nap I tackled one of my bookcases. I only managed to cull a few books from it but that's okay at least it's something. Then I cleaned the bookcase out before returning the books, wiped down the walls and entry window and washed the rug. The entry suddenly looks better. And it took me less than 1/2 hour (plus the drying of the rug). We build these chores up in our minds until they are these huge gigantic jobs that we don't want to tackle but they usually aren't that big at all. Tomorrow is a pretty busy day so I don't know that I'll have time to do anything outside of my usual stuff. Thank goodness housework doesn't go anywhere. Lol.

On another note, I spent 10 minutes in front of my meditation altar this morning after the yoga. I felt such a wonderful sense of peace after sitting with the silence and just "being". It isn't always like that. Sometimes your mind won't co-operate or the grocery list plays in an endless loop in your head. But then other times, it really does live up to what it's sold as and you can feel it...Peace.

For dinner tonight I made a pepper and mushroom fritatta, then steamed some chard and seasonned it with a drizzle of balsamic vinegar. I also made roasted rosemary new potatoes, a perennial favourite around here.

There are three of us sick with a cold here. Amazingly, I am not one (so far!). I'm going to go and make sure everyone is on track to get to bed early tonight and get some extra sleep. Bliss!

Day one...back on track

So I managed to follow my new daily routine this morning and have done my Monday chores. Given that this is such a heavy run around kind of day there was no extra de-cluttering happening but there's always tomorrow. I have tweaked my daily/weekly rhythms to better reflect the new school year. If you are interested, you can see it posted on my other blog: http://www.asfarashome.blogspot.com/



I've got some general guidelines to try and follow in regards to diet. I've done some serious backsliding in the healthy diet department and have really got to smarten up. I need to get well and feel better and following a healthy diet can only help. I'll be eating mostly vegetarian with some fish and meat once a week at the most. I'd like to get to the point where I can eliminate it entirely but I unfortunately like it too much, at this point in my life anyway. Who knows what the future will bring? The same with dairy. But what I can do is consciously choose to eat a lot less of these things and eat a lot more of the things that are good for me.



Every day I'll try to include:

~ 2-3 L of filtered water and 1-3 cups of herbal tea. Start the day with lemon/aloe vera and water again.

~ 2-3 pieces of fruit

~ a fresh salad or big plate of crudites

~ 2 cups of cooked vegetables

~ 1 cup of cooked legumes or a serving of tofu, tempeh or fish. Once a week a small serving of meat (if I want it, if not even better!)

~ 2 Tbs. of flax seeds

~ 1/8-1/4 cup of raw nuts/seeds or 2 Tbs nut/seed butter (I want to try sunflower seed butter next)

~ a square or two of dark chocolate



I've adapted these guidelines from the book "Get it Ripe" by Jae Steele, which is an EXCELLENT primer on vegan cooking and living. And she's a Canadian girl :)



I started off this morning with a 1/2 cup of greek yogurt with some grated apple mixed in and some wild blueberries and walnuts on top. It's been awhile since I ate such a healthy breakfast and it felt good. I wish that I could find a soy yogurt that I like but I've tried two so far and they're not been very pleasant. So for the moment greek yogurt it is!



I planned this week's menu with the sales in mind. I also checked what we already had in the freezer/pantry and based some meals around these things. I'm trying really hard to keep our food costs down. By the time we had made our three stops we had spent a grand total of $160.00. Not bad considering that this includes a ten pack of CFL bulbs for $20.00 and a 6 pack of recycled paper towels. We are feeding 7 people for that.





For dinner tonight I made a vegan chili and vegan corn muffins. I have posted about them before during the vegan cleanse. I served these with a quick and dirty tossed salad. I'm having a cup of blueberry white tea and then I'm off to an Al-Anon meeting. I'm in pain and I don't feel well but I really need this, so I'm going to go.



Sleep well everyone. More tomorrow...



Carolyn