21 dsd and why.

Last summer I heard about the 21 Day Sugar Detox by Diane Sanfilippo. I read many blog posts about it and decided to order the book. I tried it in August and failed because I didn't prepare and plan enough. After this past holiday season, I decided to give it another chance and kick sugar to the curb and...

Here's the real reason I was determined to stick with this program the second time around: PCOS.

This may be a little bit of TMI, but I want other women out there to know there's more than taking another drug to "cure" your illnesses. I was diagnosed with PCOS (polycystic ovary syndrome) in early of March 2014 after years of having irregular or no periods at all. This was a huge relief to finally know the cause of my cycle irregularity, but also disheartening when I was told the only "cure" was birth control and, in the future, when I wanted to get pregnant I'd have to rely on "fertility drugs."

After 10 years of dealing with an irregular period, I had tried one birth control pill after another. None of them ever made my body feel good. I always suffered from depression and emotional roller coasters...so I was not about to get on the birth control bandwagon again. Instead, I started doing my own research.

I learned most women with PCOS are overweight. If they follow a diet of high healthy fat, no grains and low sugar, then usually their cycles will regulate. I'm not overweight, but I decided to experiment and follow this eating plan. At this point, I was willing to give up my chocolate chip cookies and froyo. In August, I buckled down by increasing by healthy fat and cutting out sugar. Guys plug your ears. I ended up having a period in August. In September. In October. In November - while training for a half marathon!. In December. And in January. I have never in my life been that regular! And guess what, y'all? I didn't take one stinkin' prescription drug to make it happen. I did it 100% naturally. Praise God for making our bodies so perfectly!!!

Now, you may be wondering why I found it necessary to complete the 21 DSD if what I was eating was already helping me cycle regularly.

Here's why.

I didn't really follow any specific plan or recipes in the fall. I didn't have any accountability and I "cheated" a lot. I wanted to experiment with cutting out sugar for 21 days (and grains and dairy) following an exact meal plan so that I had legitimate proof eating like this works and could give other women with PCOS something to go by!

This is what I learned through completing Diane's 21 Day Sugar Detox.

1. Fat does not make you fat.

2. Cutting out sugar takes away the cravings (seriously!).

3. You have way more energy.

4. And sleep like a baby.

5. Your hormones are in check AND working properly! (PS Menstrual cramps are way less intense!)

Ladies, if you can commit to fueling your body with the real food we were created to consume, then health problems have the potential to be healed. (No I'm not a doctor, but I have experienced this first hand) Filling a car that runs on gasoline with diesel isn't going to turn out well. Neither will fueling your body with Cheetos and Oreos. Make wise food choices. Just do it! Cutting out sugar for 21 days was so good for me I'm doing another round! My girl, Hannah, is joining me again too :)

Here are some recipes I experimented with and loved:

• Primal Jambalaya
• Grilled Salmon with Avocado Salsa
• Chocolate Almond Butter Banana Smoothie
• Banana Bread (omitted coconut sugar & used green tipped banana for 21 dsd)
• Carrot Pumpkin Spice Muffins
• Mexican Tortilla Less Soup
• Meatloaf
• Chicken Soup
• Apple Streusel Egg Muffins
• Pad Thai with Chicken

Here are some blogs where I found some awesome recipes:

• Primal Palate
• Nummy for my Tummy
• Against All Grain

Disclaimer: I'm not saying birth control is all evil and no one should ever use it. I'm saying it didn't work for me and there are other options out there. 

hillsboro & homestead.

This past Saturday Stephen & I had a little date-day. We went to Homestead Heritage & Hillsboro to visit my great Uncle Jeff!

First we went to the Homestead to eat lunch! I literally looked forward to this meal all week long. I've mentioned the Homestead once before, but it has been far too long. We planned to get there after the lunch crowd...but we arrived to find out there was an hour and half wait. And Stephen's stomach was already growling. We (I) decided we had driven all the way there -- of course we were going to wait! So we walked around and went to the new Market. We learned there they now had BBQ to offer! And there was no wait...so we ate BBQ sandwiches in the sunshine and neither of us complained. It. Was. Fantastic.

Then I got their famous cookies and cream ice cream. I promise, y'all, it's better than Bluebell. I know this for a fact because the night before I ate a pint of Bluebell's cookies and cream. No comparison. Homestead > Bluebell.

If you ever go to central Texas, you must make time to stop and eat and enjoy an afternoon at Homestead Heritage! There just isn't anything like it.

This was Stephen and I's second time to visit together. The first time was four years ago while I was at Baylor....

That day we never would've thought we'd be dating! 

After lunch at H.H., we headed 20 miles north to Hillsboro to visit one of my favorite people. My Uncle Jeff is a Pawpaw more than anything. He lives way out in the country and the drive to his house is so pretty. Tons of farmland and hills. When you pull up to his house you have to watch out for all of his pet....chickens! They have free roam over the yard. I'm just happy he got rid of the roosters!

I brought him some famous West Kolaches and we munched on those. Then Stephen and I went for a walk on his land.

Stephen: I look majestic. 

It was so great to visit with Uncle Jeff. I just wish I could make it down more often to keep him company.

And a quote from him, "Stephen, now she's a diamond in the ruff. You gotta polish her up. Make sure she can cook before you decide to keep her forever."

Thanks, Uncle Jeff....

And a quote from Stephen on the way home, "Man, he really cares about his food."

Clearly! Still love that man though :)

It was a beautifully, peaceful day & I'm so thankful for the time I got to spend with those two men.

better late than never.

I’m back! I can’t believe I went the entire month of December without writing a single post. This past holiday season was the busiest I’ve ever experienced (Stephen’s family is large!) and I had no time to blog. So here’s to Merry Christmas, goodbye 2014 and Happy New Year!

And y'all, I'm sorry for this really long post.

December started out with our Belvin Family Christmas in Dallas at my house! My sister wasn’t going to be here for Christmas so we celebrated early. My brother, sister-in-law and nephews were able to join us as well! We had the usual Christmas dinner with every casserole imaginable and opened gifts around my tiny tree. After the food coma, we headed to Arbor Hills Nature Reserve with the family and three dogs. Arbor Hills is one of my favorite places in the area because of the trails and trees. I can pretend I’m in the country.

 We had a blast. It felt like we were back at Double Spring Ranch where I grew up. It was an awesome family weekend and we ended it with church on Sunday morning.

The weekend after my family Christmas, Hannah and I ran our first half marathon, the Dallas Metro PCS! The weather ended up being perfect. It was around 50 degrees and cloudy. It was supposed to rain all day Sunday, but luckily, it didn’t end up raining until that afternoon. We had so much fun! Around mile 6, I remember thinking “Oh man I’m not even half way.” But we pushed through and I met my goal of finishing it in 2 hours!

Through all of our training, Hannah and I kept Hebrews 12:1 as our motivation to keep going.

“Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight and sin which clings so closely and let us run with endurance the race set before us.”

Later that week, Stephen and I attended his annual work Christmas party. This year we got a chance to get drawn by the cartoon artists. Stephen looks like Jay Leno! It was so fun!

                                                         

                   

Fast forward one more week and it was time to head back to Louisiana for Christmas break! Stephen’s family is really big and there is always something going on. I went to three family functions with him. We had a white elephant party, a pig roast and one other Christmas gathering. All of his family is so sweet… seriously, every aunt, uncle, grandparent, and cousin made me feel so warm and welcomed. He’s a lucky fella!

As the new girl at all of his family get togethers, I didn’t want to be the one taking pictures and ordering everyone around to line up for a snap shot, haha. So I really don’t have any pictures of all the fun. Hopefully next year I won’t be shy and I can capture these sweet people on camera!

I got Stephen new golf clubs for Christmas and they were a hit! His brother was a huge help with picking them out. He got me a beautiful bracelet and the blender of my dreams!!! Seriously, this thing changed my life when I lived with my parents and now I have one for my own kitchen. He is the best gift-giver!

Stephen and I had such a great time at home. It was so amazing to both be off of work with no responsibilities getting to spend as much time as we wanted together. Our parents live right down the street from one another so that’s extremely convenient. We got to go back and forth between our momma’s home cookin’. One afternoon we went to his family’s farm and shot my new gun -- definitely one of my favorite days!

                                                                      

                                                   

                                                                   

           

We decided to stay in Louisiana through New Year’s and go to the O’Neals camp again. It sure was a party! Mr. David set up huge speakers with a microphone…. we had a real DJ… Mr. Greg….he was WAY too good at it! I got to have an a-mazing piece of King Cake!! We stayed up until midnight and did fireworks. It was a good time catching up with our friends.

 I am so thankful for every single person I got to share this Christmas season with. My people are the best. My Jesus is the best. 

Louisiana sunset.

P.S. For some reason the font for this post is all messed up. It's driving me insane, but I can't figure it out. 

what's cookin'.

One of my New Year's intentions was to grow and practice in my cooking skillz. I must say I really have stuck to it and have tried a lot of new recipes.

Here are a few recipes I've recently tried, actually succeeded in and liked:

• Cheesy Sweet Potato Chili
• I actually omitted the "cheese" part of this and it was still divine.
•  Pork Loin with Balsamic/Dijon Spread
• This was the easiest and quickest one of all!
• Tex Mex Meatballs with Cauliflower Mash
• You might think the Cauli Mash is weird with a mexican style meatball, but my favorite thing to do is to dip my meat in my "potatoes" so it worked!
• Homemade Paleo Mayo
• This is the one I'm most proud of! For a few reasons...
• It took 4 tries to get it right (it was a real science experiment!)
• It's amazingly delicious
• Now I can eat my chicken salad heart out
• Advice if you're considering making your own: 1. Watch at least 3 youtube videos before attempting. 2. Use all room tempature ingredients. 3. Pour the Light Olive Oil slowly - it should take you at least 10-15 minutes. 4. Do not use an immersion blender.
• The recipe above doesn't explain the process enough so make sure you read other articles. I did follow the ingredients here though.
• Why take the time to make your own mayo? Because every single jar sold on the shelf is loaded with unhealthy oils and chemicals. It's worth the time to make your own!
• Paleo Tortillas (pancake style)
• This recipe was faster and easier than actually having to roll out your dough etc.
• Next time I attempt these I will use less coconut flour. 1/4 C of it makes them a little too sweet, but they still worked for a chicken salad wrap!
• Sweet Potato Mash
• These. Are. Awesome.

Now I realize I have no pictures... click on those lovely links above - all of the foodie bloggers have great pics for ya! :)

strawberry banana muffins.

My number one summer goal (okay, maybe not number one) is to find 5 paleo dinner & dessert recipes that Stephen actually likes.

Welp, I already found the first one. Stephen thought these were awesome. Yay! So that means that if you have a beloved family member that hates healthy food they will probably like these! My friend from work shared a similar recipe, but I made it my own by making it paleo-friendly.

Strawberry Banana Muffins:
*Grain free, gluten free, no artificial sweetener*

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted (if using salted, omit salt)
• 1/2-3/4 cup honey
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 2 ripe bananas, mashed
• 1 cup fresh strawberries, chopped
• 2 1/4 cup almond flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

Directions:

1. Mix all dry ingredients together.
2. Mix all wet ingredients together, including bananas.
3. Pour wet ingredients into dry ingredients. Fold in strawberries.
4. Bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes.
5. Enjoy! (I promise they taste better than they look!! I still have things I need to work on >> appearance!)

Almond flour doesn't allow for a beautiful-lookin' muffin. Yep, I'm totally blaming the flour.

mavs & (lots of) meat.

This past weekend was lots of fun! On Friday night Stephen and I had tickets to a Mavs game in Dallas. Neither of us had ever been to a game so we were pretty excited. Our seats were a little high up (I bought the tickets for him for V-Day), but we could still see the game (thank goodness!). 

Go Mavs!

We left a little early to beat all the traffic and on our way to the car we passed one of the life size B & G letters that are all around Dallas. You are supposed to stand in the middle and be the life size I and then post it to social media (of course) with hashtag BigDallas. Interestingly enough, at this particular location, there was this person dressed up as a bull and a girl handing out fliers. Before we knew it we were posing with the bull in the middle of B & G and the girl was taking our picture. It all happened really fast and I’m still confused as to why there was a bull. Haha. That awkward moment when…

Us & a bull?

Then on Saturday sweet Stephen surprised me with a dinner date to Texas de Brazil. We had previously been talking about the fact that we had never eaten at a Brazilian Steakhouse before so I guess he decided it was time for us to try one!

Really there are no words to describe the amazingness of this restaurant. Once we were seated our waiter explained that we could help ourselves to the salad bar, but this wasn’t just a salad bar. It had sushi, salmon, shrimp, lobster bisque, grilled provolone… who has ever heard of grilled provolone? I could go on and on about the salad bar, but that isn’t even the cool part. At our table, we had these little cards -- on one side it was red and the other green. When you wanted meat you flipped it to green.  Then there were all these waiters that walked all over the restaurant with these huge skewers of meat. Every kind of meat you can imagine. Lamb, beef ribs, pork ribs, sirloin, flank steak, filet mignon, filet mignon wrapped in bacon, and the list goes on. The waiters would just come right up to your table, ask you if you wanted that particular cut of meat, and then cut you a slab! Basically, it was heaven on earth or as Stephen would say “GOAT” (Greatest Of All Time).

Oh yes, of course, there was dessert too! He had the cheesecake and I had the chocolate mousse cake. Needless to say, we rolled out to the car… If you have never eaten at a Brazilian Steakhouse, I would highly recommend Texas de Brazil.

5 stars!

As if that wasn’t enough meat to last us until Christmas, I had Natchitoches Meat Pies on the menu for dinner on Monday! The past two times I’ve cooked for Stephen, it’s been healthy food and he hated it. So I really needed to prove myself in the kitchen. Haha. Luckily, the third time’s a charm! He loved them. I got the recipe from OurBestBites. It was extremely easy to make. No, I did not make the dough from scratch. I bought the box of Pillsbury piecrusts (found at Wal Mart in the canned biscuit section) and they worked perfectly. Also, I'm freezing the leftover pies which makes for an easy future-dinner.

Bon Appetit!

It was the perfect weekend to kick off Spring Break. Excited for some time to relax and catch up on chores!

super bowl supper.

This is definitely not your typical Super Bowl Sunday menu. I just happened to pick this recipe and cook it on SBS. I'm really working on my new year's intention "cook more!"

Chicken & Bacon (Paleo) Alfredo

Ingredients:

• 1 large spaghetti squash
• 2 lbs boneless chicken thighs
• 8 slices nitrate free turkey bacon
• 1 can coconut milk
• 3 tsp dried basil
• 3 tsp dried parsley
• 2 tsp garlic powder
• 2 tsp dried oregano
• 1 head fresh chopped broccoli
• salt and pepper to taste
• olive oil

Directions:

1. Place squash on a cookie sheet and bake for 1 hour on 375.

2. While squash is cooking, chop chicken, turkey bacon, and broccoli.

3. In a large sauce pan, add olive oil and cook chicken for 10 minutes. Season with oregano, salt and pepper. Remove chicken and place to the side (leave all the yummy juices).

4. Add turkey bacon and cook until crispy. Then add coconut milk and all seasonings. Cook for about 5 minutes.

5. Add cooked chicken and broccoli to the sauce mixture. Cook for about 3-5 minutes.

6. Once squash is finished cooking, cut in half, remove seeds and scrape the spaghetti into a casserole dish. Add the chicken/bacon/broccoli mixture to the squash and mix together.

7. Bake casserole on 375 for about 30 minutes. Top with parmesan cheese, if desired! Enjoy!

*Side Note*
If you or whoever you're cooking this for doesn't normally eat paleo entrees, it might take some getting used to! I loved it because I eat clean, but Stephen, on the other hand, did not. Haha.

january highlights.

January. I was happy that January had a hand-full of warm, sunny days which allowed me to read in the park, run without my fingertips freezing, and sit outside for dinner. It was a laid back, fun first month of the new year!

This month I...

• Got talked into going to the Josh Abbott band concert after church one Saturday night. Really glad Jenny ended up convincing me it was worth it to stay up late -- I had a blast!
• Booked a trip to Italy this summer!!!! Yes, my sister, Katelyn & I are actually going. Cannot wait.
• Ordered my first pair of Warby Parker's. Extremely pleased with their product!
• Had dinner with that beautiful gem above! Celebrated Hannah's birthday over some hummus, pita bread & Yia Yia's chicken at one of my fave Greek restaurants.
• Cooked spaghetti squash spaghetti (see recipe below) for Stephen for dinner one night. He was fascinated that the squash actually looked like spaghetti noodles. I was fascinated the first time too! He insisted upon adding the hat, remote control, and wine bottle to the photo. 

Dallas really feels like home now. Happy heart.

Spaghetti Squash Spaghetti:     serves 5 to 6

• Ingredients:

1 spaghetti squash, at least 3 lbs
1 lb ground beef
1 onion, chopped
1 jar spaghetti sauce
olive oil for cooking
salt, pepper and Tony's to taste

• Directions:

1. Bake spaghetti squash on 350 for 45 minutes (this softens the squash so you can cut it in half).

2. While squash is baking, cover pan with olive oil and brown meat with onion.

3. Take squash out of oven, cut in half, remove seeds. Place back in pan face down, add water in pan to avoid it being too dry and cook for 30 more minutes (or to your satisfaction).

4. Add sauce to meat and stir on low.

5. Remove squash from oven, scrape the "spaghetti" out and add it to meat/sauce mixture. Salt, pepper and Tony's to taste.

6. Enjoy!

harvesting memories.

This is how you know you're an adult: everyone comes to your house (that you own) for Thanksgiving!

Okay...maybe there are other circumstances that make being an adult evident, but this is one... My family and Skye all came here for Thanksgiving. We had such a wonderful time. Skye (hasn't made an appearance on my blog because I hadn't seen her in a year!!:() arrived on Tuesday and my parents and sister arrived on Wednesday. Skye and I were in charge of desserts. We baked a chocolate pumpkin bundt cake. We wanted something pumpkin & festive, but also chocolate. This cake ended up being the perfect combo!

Katelyn: MK attempting to be Aunt Jemima.

 
Our TG couldn't have been more perfect. The sun was shining and the skies were blue. Katelyn's friend Erin also joined us along with the four dogs, Skyler, Chloe, Pita, and Brody. It was a dogsgiving as well as a Thanksgiving.  My momma did a fantastic job on our meal. Complete with ham, corn casserole, mashed potatoes, dirty rice, and rolls. Mmmmmmmm. Thanks momma!

And of course we had to get "holiday pictures."

             

 

After our food coma, we took the pups to the park!

After these past few days, I am overflowing with thankfulness. I am most thankful for my Jesus, my family, my close friends, my home, my church family, my job, and my salvation. Jesus has given abundantly to me this past year. Today I make the choice to be thankful for what He has provided and blessed me with, instead of comparing myself to others and what I don't have. I choose to eat from all the trees in the Garden of Eden, instead of focusing on the one tree Jesus has not provided me the freedom to touch. 

He is so gracious! 

P.S. Skye and I found the most affordable Nativity scene the other night after we ate IN-N-OUT BURGERS (it was Skye and I's first time to eat there>>>"harvesting those memories"). 

Skye: I'm waiting on some guys to come ask us out.
Me: Skye, we are at In-N-Out & we just stuffed our faces. 

Me: Isn't baby Jesus so handsome?!
Skye: I can't see him.
Me: Neither can I.