The Report of New

"Mommy wasn't the only
one who was busy; I spent
a few minutes catching a
fly. BAM."

And, this is how the majority of my Summer usually goes ... it goes away! Fast! And, if I'm not paying attention, I'm going to miss it! I was so in tune to the day yesterday and not letting details get away from me that by the time I thought to jot some thoughts, I was exhausted! The humidity/heat index pushed me over the edge; it totally sucked the life out of me while we were at the pool! So, by evening, I had not one, single coherent thought to put together.

Perfect evening to watch The Bachelorette, amiright?

Today was almost equally busy and almost equally hot-humid-nasty, but I have more brain cells in tact. So, I wanted to share a bit of an update on how the food changes have gone around here because -- like everything else in life -- that's something that has changed, tweaked, retweaked and reinvented! With such a process comes some trial and error, and, now that we're deep enough in our own amazing journey (whoops -- The Bachelorette just slipped in there) process, I wanted to share a bit of what's happened around here.

Earlier this calendar year, I knew I needed to do something nutritionally to better support my running. Even after a good run, I found myself sluggish which is not to mention the fact that more runs than not seemed to require more effort than they used to. I immediately accepted something needed to change, and I quickly stumbled upon what has become the foundation for improvement. 

All of our changes came straight out of the Trim Healthy Mama book, their website and/or Facebook page (holy moly, that's the mother load of their information, support and links to reference) or other sites committed to the THM principles in their recipes. We started converting to these principles in February. Spoiler alert: Both of us feel way better, our blood work numbers are great and we have both shrunk back much closer to ideal in terms of clothes we can wear. That's my round-about way of saying we've slowly but surely dropped weight and have been able to do some shopping within our own closet. In short, this change totally works for us in every way and then some!

Most of the changing we did was not so much what we ate, but in what combination we ate different foods (check out their info for specifics). But, THM introduced us to some ingredients we would not normally have even noticed much less bought and tried. So, here are some of our choices and what we think of them:

First, nutritional yeast:

This was one of the first special-to-me ingredients I bought. Pit Crew #2 and I love putting it on our eggs so much that I bought double the amount when our first bag was gone. It is delish! Kinda nutty, kinda cheesy ... just a good little punch of flavor!

Then there's this:

Coconut flour is a staple in many of the baked products supporting THM (and other healthy alternatives to regular baked goods made with white flour). We tried. And, we tried. And, then we tried some more. And, we're done. All of us find it disgusting. It totally takes over the flavor of anything we try to use it for, and, even worse, we don't like the flavor it brings. I often just use whatever other flour called for in a recipe in its place, and I've yet to have a problem doing so.

Almond flour, oat flour and oat fiber have become my go-tos. This coconut flour stuff sucks. Although, we use coconut oil without any taste issue whatsoever. Go figure.

This particular flour is a huge winner around here:

This is what we found and use to make bread. You may or may not remember Aaron started using this in March, and he's become quite the whiz at making loaves with it. I admit it took me a short while to switch my taste buds to embrace this, but, once I did, I'm all getouttamyway!

I now have a new favorite breakfast:


That's about to become an egg white sandwich ... Toast the bread before doing anything with it because it helps it not crumble. After toasting, I spread a light wedge of Laughing Cow on the pieces, then I sprinkle with some skim mozzarella cheese. When the mozz melts, I just slap on the salted and peppered egg white (see it back there keeping warm while the cheese melts?). Commence to making yummy noises.

I fully admit it was difficult to make even a small one for Aaron to try because, selfishly, I didn't want him to like it very much so I could have it all. I'm like that sometimes.

Before I paint myself too terrible, I did buy him a new loaf pan
for his two-loaf ventures. You see above -- which you also saw
in March -- that having one pan makes for loaf number two to
be something of a blob. Yummy, but a blob nonetheless.

Okay, one more different-to-us ingredient that I would have never found and still can hardly pronounce is this:


Glucomannan is a thickening ingredient. The more you use, the more it soaks up. And, it takes very little to do a lot of soaking! In my first couple of attempts, I used too much, and things got a little gummy. Whoops. Eh, I was still learning. I have a good handle on it now and have used it masterfully if I do say so myself. For me, the shaker is key to make sure the amount going in is controlled. I'd rather have to shake a lot than use too much by spooning it because there's no going back once it's in the dish! This little gem of an ingredient has made for an outstanding Asian Chicken sauce!

But, I've also kept it out of some recipes, even when it's called for, because it can really make things dense. I make that decision based on our trials and errors, so, I have no concrete advice about it other than to be patient with it when you start. You will get a feel for your personal knack with it!

New ingredients and ways of doing things can be scary, annoying or both. I'm thankful I was in a really good spot to have an open mind and some patience because it's totally paying off. And, have I mentioned how many more yummy noises take place around here since rearranging and/or adding to what's on the dinner plates?! We tried a number of new things at the same time, but it's not necessary -- with this or almost any new venture in your life!! It took me almost 6 months to train for my first 5K, just sayin'.

With new ingredients and recipes came a resurrection of some of our old kitchen gizmos that collected more dust than saw use, namely the bread maker and the crock pot. And, as of today, thanks to our new kitchen ventures, we have something brand-spankin' new:

It's the cutest ice cream maker I've ever seen (better only if offered in purple ...). It came just in time for National Ice Cream Day which is tomorrow if you're needing to know!

Yeah, you know I'll have a report on that, soon! Before, though, PC#2 and I have some running to do! We'll each have a water bottle tomorrow and will be taking it slow, but we'll get it done! Enjoy the start to your Wednesday, and I'll see you after the morning run!