Spaghetti Squash

Jeremy and I made this masterpiece last night.  

It was chock-full of veggies and so delicious!

We browned a pound of ground beef and sauteed 2 red peppers and 2 zuchinnis (sliced and diced) in some olive oil and chopped onions.  I also sprinkled some garlic salt with parsley on the veggies. We prepared the squash according to the sticker that was on it, which was really helpful (cut in half, mircowave in 9x13 face down, water covering the bottom, for 12 minutes, then fork out the squash).  Then we layered it all in the dish: squash, meat and veggies, spaghetti sauce, cheese, squash, meat and veggies, spaghetti sauce, and cheese.  Baked it at 350 for 30 minutes and BAM... done!

I would probably double the spaghetti squash to make it a little more hearty, those layers were kind of weak - or maybe just buy the biggest spaghetti squash. Otherwise I wouldn't change a thing.  We loved it.

We altered the original recipe (here) a little bit to simplify it and add more veggies that we like.

6 months

I got diagnosed with Celiac Disease 6 months ago.  That was a hard day.  I can't believe I have made it half a year doing this gluten-free thing.  It has been frustrating, sad, and lonely, especially when I have to pass up on tasty food.  Kane's donuts anyone?  Wafer cake?  Kit-kats! Twix?! Ugh... it's rough.

Ok, pity party over.

Celiac has helped me try new things.  I now eat 2-3 veggies and 3-4 fruits everyday.  I snack on  peppers, carrots, and cucumbers.  I eat salad!  I eat watermelon, cherries, cantaloupe, apples, and more.  I am much more willing to try new foods and be open to new tastes.  It's been crazy around here.  

It has also made me feel a million times better.  I keep noticing changes in my body.  I sweat more, my hands and feet aren't dry and cracked, I don't feel sick and bloated after every meal, my nails aren't brittle, my stomach doesn't churn and ache, my eczema (which I've had since I was 14) is completely gone, I have more energy, and I'm not obsessed with chewing on ice - hooray for improved iron levels.  It has been quite the eye-opening experience.

Looking back it seems that I was operating in an almost malnourished state.  My body wasn't able to absorb the nutrients I needed.  The doctor said it would take about 6 months for my stomach to heal from all the damage gluten caused in my small intestine and I do feel like I have recently turned another corner.  I'm feeling better than ever these days.  It's crazy... I had no idea that I was sick.  Being healthy feels amazing.

august letters

dear august,
first of all, welcome. second of all... please take your sweet time. no need to rush. let's relax and make sure we enjoy every minute together. 

dear soccer season,
tomorrow you come to a close. i'm pretty bummed about it. you have been the highlight of my summer. i love being on the field with jeremy.  my favorite part is when he gives me a sweaty kiss at the end of the game. i also love that we spend the whole car ride home talking about the details of the plays.  i wish this could last forever.

dear hair,
i made it through july without using a blowdryer on you. i can't even believe it. i am learning to embrace your natural wave, which i have feared since junior high. i feel like i want you to grow a mile long and just let you be wild and free. 

dear vacation,
my paper chain countdown is reminding me daily that you are fast approaching and i just can't wait. i haven't had a real vacation from work since christmas, unless you count the day in march i spent in the hospital. i am ready for a break. i promise to soak it all in.  it will be glorious!!

dear family,
i'm coming so sooooon (2 weeks!). i have been dreaming of late nights, lots of laughter, and endless fun. hope you're ready for me. rest up... we will play hard.

dear spinach,
oh how our relationship has recently shifted. everyone has been trying to get us together for years and i finally gave you a shot. you are my favorite green in a salad, especially with berries and feta cheese. this new thing between us works out well because you are incredibly nutrient dense and interestingly enough... delicious.

dear my hot husband,
you're my very favorite. i will never stop choosing you. i love you with my whole heart and more.

xoxo, katie

salad talk

this is a picture of my first homemade salad.  well as homemade as it will ever get around here.  

i put a "spring mix" in my cart at costco and immediately called my mom to ask what the heck i do with it before i actually bought it.  she told me to add peppers and cucumbers to start or other veggies i had on hand. i totally had peppers and cucumbers at home (which is a miracle in itself), decided maybe i could really do this, and bam! purchased it.  

when it came down to throwing something together, i got nervous and kept adding random things. i'm not sure they really go together.  i ended up throwing in some chicken, cucumbers, peppers, blueberries, and strawberries, with some italian dressing.  some bites were delicious (salad, delicious??...weird and so true at the same time) and some bites definitely clashed.

this salad making thing is truly an art.  an art at which i have zero expertise in, or even any experience with for that matter.  so i have some questions for you... what ingredients make up your favorite salad?  what are some good combinations to try?  any tips or tricks?  i desperately need your expertise... i just bought a "spring mix" in bulk.

cucumber party

things on the veggie front are moving right along.  

i had a burger wrapped in lettuce with bell peppers (no GF buns at five guys, sad face), i survived a salad at chick-fil-a on saturday night, i have been snacking on red peppers the past three days, and yesterday i tried cucumbers at work thanks to my good bud erika.

i told her cucumbers were the next veggie i wanted to try. --this veggie project is pretty much a team effort and since we are experts at working with fear foods, my friends have jumped on the train of exposing me to veggies.--  she had one at work she could slice up (who has cucumbers on hand??) and we scheduled a cucumber party for 1:30.

the first, and only other time, i tried a cucumber was way back when i was a kid at a neighborhood block party in salt lake city.  my friends victoria and rebecca encouraged me to try a slice of cucumber.  i didn't like it much and i probably grabbed more chips or cookies for my plate and ran on my way. 

i avoided cucumbers my whole life based on that one taste, until yesterday at 1:30.  i ventured to erika's office, she cut some slices for me, and threw in some carrots for good measure.  the funny thing is cucumbers don't taste like much - it's like crunchy green water - so i guess it's something i can keep eating.  i will dip them in some dressing next time to jazz them up.  and the carrots are getting a little better, so i suppose i can't write them off yet either.

monumental moment

for the first time in my life, at the ripe old age of 25, i ordered a salad.

true story.

see:

i ate the whole thing and i survived.

it was a salad from chipotle, so it was bound to be about the safest salad i could get since it is covered in delicious meat, rice, beans, salsa, and cheese.  it was overall pretty tasty, and i could tolerate the lettuce because of all the other goodies mixed in.  i would totally get it again.  i'm not so sure i am ready to get just any salad in the world though.  slowly and surely i will get there.

i am starting to turn a serious corner on this veggie adventure.  i'm starting to realize that i can eat things that i don't necessarily like/love because they are good for my body.  i used to only pick the things that tasted awesome and skip all sorts of veggies and weakly flavored fruits.  like watermelon, it seemed so useless because it tasted more like water than any delicious watermelon flavored candy i had ever had, so i would never eat it.  now i understand that it doesn't have to my favorite and i can still eat it and be just fine.  

i can also train myself to learn to like vegetables and new foods.  like my most recent veggie addition: broccoli.  it gets better and better every time i eat it.  i can now eat it without the mounds of shredded cheese and i would say it's almost up there with green beans.  it's comforting to know that i really can learn to like new foods.  the jury is still out on those raw carrots though... yuck!

this is my new project:

carrots.

i had 2.5 last tuesday.  8 on wednesday. and then i forgot about them.  i got back on the wagon today and had a whopping 10 tonight.  with hummus of course.  i almost gagged on the last one, so maybe i will stay at 10 for a while.

they are hard to get through and i am slowly making progress.  i don't really picture myself ever enjoying a carrot at this point - they are just so gross- but i have surprised myself in the past so i guess i will keep at it. 

broccoli

i have had broccoli two nights in a row now.

what?!

even i am surprised. i had to force myself to eat it to earn points for a family competition and we were all out of green beans and spinach (for my spinach smoothies).  if i cover the broccoli in butter, salt, pepper, and shredded cheese and eat it with a bite of potato i can actually manage to get it down.  the first time was rough.  i almost gagged and i was making really interesting faces. it gets a little easier each time though. slow and steady i say.  maybe there really is hope for me.

what veggie should i work on next?

candy is good for my soul

this morning i went to my lovely dietician's office. 

she had me record everything i ate for three days so she could see what vitamins i'm not getting, etc, etc.  well, she was not very pleased with my food choices.  i averaged one veggie and two fruits per day and lots and lots of candy. 

i love my candy.  and since there are so many things i can't have (sooooo many things seem to be glutenous these days), having a stash of candy that i can have gets me through the day.  milk duds, jelly bellies, and cadbury mini eggs make up my current stash. yum yum yum!

needless to say, she encouraged me to increase my fruits and veggies and cut back on the sugar.  on the way home, i stocked up on supplies for spinach smoothies.  that way i'm getting the nutrients and don't have to taste the greens.  i also bought some broccoli to try and cook up. so here we are again, trying to find veggies i can stand to eat.  luckily, i was only planning on seeing her a couple of times to get me on my feet with the celiac stuff and i don't have any future appointments.  i don't want continuous lectures on eating veggies.

fruit update:  i recently branched out to include apples in my realm of foods i eat... gala apples to be exact.  so my fruits are expanding like wildfire!  i will consider it my food victory for the month.

V8

we started a competition with my family for the new year.  one of the things we earn points for is eating a fruit and vegetable every day.

jeremy wanted to get some V8 so he could easily get his veggie in (i went the route of spinach smoothies and lots of green beans).  i told him it was gross - i haven't tried it, but veggie juice... it just has to be gross.  jeremy insisted that it wouldn't be that bad and if it was, he would choke it down.  i didn't believe him and we bought it anyway.

the next day, he went for it. there was gagging, coughing, and "that's terrible!" from the kitchen as he tried to get a whole glass down.  he had to chase it with milk.  lots of milk.

he has been slowly chugging away at our hefty 46 oz jug of V8 (go big or go home!).  he says it is getting a little easier - he has a gulping technique to minimize the contact between the juice and his taste buds.  i have been pretty impressed.  i couldn't do that.

(i had to have some one night to earn my point and it was awful stuff, like tears coming out of my eyes awful.  not doing that again.)

giving thanks #21

i'm thankful for spinach smoothies.

(oj, frozen fruit, spinach... yum!)

because then i don't have to eat veggies!  hooray!

wednesday lunch

all semester long i have been having wednesday lunch with my good friends from school in between our classes.  we all met in our clinical practice class back in september of 2011 and we have grown so much over the last two years.  they are incredible people that i feel blessed to call my friends.  this was the first wednesday we didn't have class, but we couldn't bear to let go of the tradition just yet.  so we met up at the paris creperie to do what we do best: chat and eat good food.

 

 

i enjoyed a cheddar and chicken crepe for my lunch, the cashier, an older man, declared his disapproval TWICE for building a "create-your-own" crepe without veggies before he let me pay.  i told him my mom doesn't approve either.  he suggested adding broccoli, but that would have ruined the whole thing.  after my delicious "quesadilla" crepe, we all shared a s'mores crepe for dessert.  it was good stuff!  i have loved having lunch with these ladies.  we have been quite the support group for each other.  i will miss seeing them every week, but we already have plans for our next party.  good thing, because good friends make the world go round.

we are planners

my momma and i... we are planners.

we have vacations planned for years out sometimes.  so today, while we
 were chatting on the phone, we booked flights for my spring break. it's never
too early to nail those puppies down.  i can't believe this will be my last spring break ever! 

 so where am i going for a whole week in March? i am going to hang

 out with my parents of course!  they are the bomb.com and 

we will have so much fun! jeremy has a different week off for spring break 

than i do, so hopefully he has tests to study for that week while i'm gone.

 i promise to leave you lots of love notes, sweet boy!

on a different note... 

 i had two bites of salad today.  and it wasn't terrible.

grapes

guess what team??

i have discovered that i like grapes.
yes sir!

i know they aren't vegetables, but i still think it is something to celebrate because now i like eight fruits instead of just seven. (count 'em: strawberries, bananas, oranges, peaches, pineapple, raspberries, blackberries, and GRAPES)

i have tried grapes a few times over the last couple of weeks and when i had eaten about six of them i realized that maybe i like them. so i bought some of my own to eat. they are pretty good. the juice inside is delicious... but i really don't care for the skin. how do you get past that? it's the worst when i have enjoyed and swallowed the delicious part, but i'm still gnawing on the skin. yuck! i'm still eating them though, i think i just need to get used to the skin because i'm not going to take the time to peel my grapes.

stuff to work on

i am so sad to see 2011 go. is anybody else? it was such a good year.
2012 better be just as fun... or else! here are some goals to keep me focused.

keep working out
i got back on the bandwagon in mid october. and i love it! regular exercise keeps me sane. so i am just making it a goal to keep working out. it makes me happy and it keeps my body healthy! i am also toying with the idea of running another 1/2 marathon sometime this summer. but that seems like a lot of work. so we will keep it at exercising at least 30 minutes, 5-6 times a week for now.

print pictures
this was my goal last year... and i printed ONE picture and that was a couple of weeks ago. so it must be my goal again. i cannot be defeated. so this year i will print my favorite pictures and make a collage of some sort. what's the point of taking pictures if they just sit on my computer?

learn to like at least one vegetable
(besides my one and only green beans) vegetables are just terrible. but alas they are good for you. how inconvenient. i attempted to try numerous veggies in 2010...and it didn't work out very well. so i am at it again. since i am aiming to learn to like only one vegetable this year maybe i can do it!

enjoy every moment
last year i wanted to "be brave" with all the changes that i knew were ahead. this year my motto is to enjoy every moment. i know school might get hard and i might hate it every once in a while... but i signed up for this. if it wasn't hard then i would be mad that it costs so much. the hard times help me grow. so i will learn to enjoy every moment this year, not just in school, but in life as well.

paint my nails every week
why? because i always need a random goal that makes life more exciting and painted nails are WAY more fun than the natural sort. i bet i will have quite the nail polish collection when the year is through.

spend new years eve in new york city
wouldn't that be AMAZING! i dream of doing it sometime, so why not officially make it a goal. i would love to be in times square and count down with millions of my closest friends. i HAVE to do it if i am this close to new york city. maybe we can make it happen this year.

any new goals for you? do you have a motto for the year?

salad lover

not quite... but i ate three bites of salad last night at dinner.

yes!! and i didn't even gag. this is a big step for me. the new found motivation came when i was reading one of sheena's health posts about how to get your kids to eat vegetables (i need all the help i can get before i have kids to feed). she had great suggestions and i especially love one idea i found in the comments. it was about a "no thank you portion" which is when someone (usually a kid) doesn't want to have any of something (always a vegetable) from the table and they have to be polite and take three bites. this way they either realize they like it or they learn to like it.

we all know i need a serious intervention when it comes to my eating habits, so i decided to make this a rule for myself and then forced myself to have some salad at olive garden. it wasn't terrible either.

who knows... i just might learn to like salad (which would be a total miracle).

smoothie recipe

i am loving my fruit smoothies!

it's the best way to get lots of fruits and even veggies into my diet - which i desperately need.

today i have my trustee recipe for you.
i just throw things in the blender and let it whirl! but here are the approximated measurements.

4 ice cubes | handful of spinach | 2 spoonfuls of plain yogurt
1 cup-ish of frozen berries | 1 cup-ish of orange juice | 1/2 of a large banana

this is a pretty basic recipe for a thick smoothie, it makes a little more than one glass. you can subsitute the frozen berries for any kind of frozen fruit to change up the flavor. sometimes i skip the banana if i don't have any. i have found that orange juice makes a HUGE difference in the taste factor. it's delicious! just watch out for the fruity mustache that always seems to follow! or is that just me? :)

leafy greens

leafy greens in a fruit smoothie taste delicious

thanksgiving!

we headed to park city for thanksgiving this year... it's cold up there.

we met my family there and our good friends from our years in wyoming (missed you chris and sammy!). we had a GREAT time! we had our traditional pumpkin waffles with homemade syrup on thanksgiving morning. they are so delicious!


then us girls made some ribbon wreaths while the boys were out skiing in the cold. we love easy crafts!


then we made our traditional thankful tree.


and we had our thanksgiving dinner at the tackiest cafe we could find open on thanksgiving night (another tradition we have for thanksgiving every other year). we have a good time together! three of the nine had the turkey dinner... i had chili and a grilled ham and cheese. oh and i tried some butternut squash from jeremy's plate... NOT good.

we went back to the condo for dessert, the pumpkin deliciousness, and played games late into the night.

friday we did LOTS of shopping, went out to dinner, played some fun games, and i finished knitting my hat! here is the pattern so you can make one too.

this morning we went out to breakfast with everyone, gave lots of hugs, and then we moseyed on home visiting family along the way. now we are home and all unpacked. what a great thanksgiving!

another one

today at work i tried a cucumber.

and whew... that thing was naaaaaasty. the initial taste was good (ranch dressing is always tasty), but it went downhill fast. my coworkers laughed at the faces i made (half in disbelief, half in amusement) and then quickly offered me the garbage can. i passed and went for kleenex instead. they asked what i didn't like about it. they are funny people. ummm... how about everything but the ranch- yeah. they suggested that maybe i would like cucumbers peeled... and... i don't know about that.