I am not really sure what day of quarantine it is but I must say, I am beyond over it. Not that I do not enjoy the extra time with family because I do but being restricted to the house has not been good for us. We have all probably gained a minimum of five pounds and I am sure that is not the end of it.
I understand the severity of the disease, the impact it has had on families, (trust me, our family is feeling the direct effect) and how important it is to stay home. Please stay home so we can gain some sense of normalcy sooner than later.
Since being home, the place of comfort for me during this stressful time is the kitchen. I have had time to cook things I have not cooked in awhile as well as venture out to try new things via Pinterest and my Facebook family/friend’s recommendations.
I recently posted a question on Instagram and Facebook the other day asking everyone what they were cooking because I literally ran out of ideas. I had such a huge response that I decided to compile a list of the recommendations because I had a few people on Instagram requesting me to share what others commented. Below you will find the list of meal ideas as well as a few I tried my hand at in the kitchen.
Below you will find several pictures of the things I have cooked over the past few weeks.
Homemade french fries
Lemon pepper and buffalo wings
Oreo cookies and cream
Philly cheese stuffed peppers
Taco wonton with jalapeno pepper
Scallops in lemon butter
Have you been in the mood to cook more? If so, what are some things you have enjoyed cooking? Care to share? Comment below, I am always looking for new ideas.
November 5th was a day that changed my life in many ways. At around 9:15am, I received a call from my mom telling me that my dad had been rushed to the hospital from church and he had possibly had a stroke. I quickly threw my clothes on and got to the hospital as quick as I could. When I arrived, my dad was in and out of consciousness and I had a hard time processing everything that was going on.
A few moments had passed and the surgeon came in to tell us he in fact DID suffer a stroke and he had a massive blood clot on his brain that they would be monitoring for the next few hours.
Fast forward to the following day while at cheer with Jadyn, my mom called again to tell me that they were going to do emergency surgery to remove the clot. I ran into Jadyn’s cheer practice, ripped her out and burned rubber all the way home. I dropped her off home and went to the hospital to be with my mom, my aunt and one of my mom’s best friend Shirley who is more than a friend. She became family when I was a little girl.
Dad’s surgery went well and his surgeon said the clot was sitting right on the top where he did not have to drill to remove it. Turns out, the surgery was life or death. If we would have decided to opt out, he could have potentially died.
Halloween 2017
A living miracle.
After surgery, my dad was placed on a ventilator and did not look like himself. The underlying factor to my dad’s stroke was high blood pressure. When I found that out, I KNEW it was time to make a change…
In every situation that has occurred in my life, I try to learn something from it. The most important lesson I learned in this situation is that I am in dire need of a lifestyle change.
Back in 2015, I was introduced to the Beachbody 21 Day Fix Program and had great results. I learned to make good food choices and began eating exactly what I needed based on my body. I lost 11 pounds and several inches and overall felt better about myself. As time went on, I allowed life to get in the way and I started skipping workouts and I was not properly meal planning which caused me to have “cheat meals” on a consistent basis.
Fast forward to 2016… I had a physical through my PCP as well as an allergy test. When I got my results back, I was shocked. I was pre-diabetic and apparently allergic to all of my favorite things… peanuts, the “whole egg,” crab, shrimp, walnuts, bananas blah, blah, blah. What you don’t realize is, these are things I eat regularly.
I immediately called my younger brother Chris who owns “Berry Natural” a natural juice shop along with his wife Ashli in Northwest Arkansas. Anytime I have nutrition/diet question, I contact him and he tells me what I should do.
For the past few years, his response to any and all of my questions has always been, “Whole30,” “Whole30,” “Whole30.” Major eye roll. Surely this “Whole30” could not be the resolution to ALL of my health concerns, right? I would research it every time he told me to start it and I ended up talking myself out of it each time. It was too strict for me and how could I ever survive on such a strict meal plan???
The Whole30 is a program that resets your health and takes away all good things, I mean all sugars and processed food. If you have any food sensitivities like I do or health ailments, this program would be great for you to try.
A few things I picked up from the farmer’s market to get me started with the Whole30.
In the past, there never was a perfect time for me to start. There was always a birthday, holiday or celebration coming up and I would put it off until a better time. I am not one to wait around for my health to take a turn for the worse so I have decided to jump right in and start officially the day after Thanksgiving.
I plan to incorporate my Beachbody workouts into the Whole30 and track my progress in my fitness extension pack as well as my meal plans here on the blog. My brother said if they are able to talk his father in law into doing the Whole30, they will all join me along this journey. To be honest, it is a little nerve wrecking to think about all my favorite foods being thrown out the window but the fact that I will be overall healthy and have resolutions to some of my gut issues makes it all worth it.
My father is on the mend and will be transferring to a rehab facility where they will work with him aggressively through physical therapy as well as speech therapy. When he finally makes it home, I will force him into the Whole30 along with my mom and help them with meal planning as well.
Thumbs up was the only way my dad was able to communicate for a few days after surgery.
Have you ever done the Whole30 before? If you have, I would love to hear about your journey… Success stories, pitfalls you ran into, or any other advice you can give me would be amazing.
Through Her Healing 