Smatterings by Nicole

I had several blogs to write, but didn't want to put the energy into making one blog, so I'm going to mix it up and give you part (smatterings) of all the blogs I was thinking about writing. :)

-Have you ever kept track of the amount of calories you put into your body and work out of your body? I never really have, but I am now. I'm learning a lot about myself through it and hoping to shed some unwanted & unnecessary pounds. I can see how people get really obsessed with calorie counting though. I mean, when you write down (in my case, keep track of it in an awesome ipod application) everything you eat, you find yourself writing down a lot, or at least frequently! Doing something so frequently can easily lead to an obsession (or at least something you are passionate about)! Trent and I have been going through it together as well, and today I found myself (after 2 days of this) eating less and making better choices, and working out harder. Trent is an encourager, and I love that about him!

-The other day Ila found a piece of white yarn on the ground and picked it up. Then she started using is as one would use a q-tip to clean out their ears. It was pretty cute and funny, until she tried eating it. Then I thought it was kind of yucky, because it made me think of eating earwax, and we all know (don't we?) how terrible that stuff tastes.

-Trent and I are both pretty tired of teething and we are certain that Ila is SICK of it as well. It really has been a rough couple of weeks (or month) and we are not seeing the fruit of her gums labor yet. She still only has one molar through, and so many on the cusp. We're doing what we can for her discomfort (which is not much) and playing lots in hopes to distract her. She is currently pushing around laundry baskets and a very large Tupperware and making HILARIOUS faces. Now that I watch more closely, it appears as though she is attempting to make a fort, as she is desperately trying to get a large blanket onto the tupperware.

-I've been thinking about cutting down on our cheese intake around here. We all really love cheese and I love to cook things with cheese in it. So, in efforts to cut down on the cheese intake I made all of our meals this week cheese free. It was fun giving myself an extra challenge in meal planning, and so far it's been pretty good. Here are the 5 meals I planned (I usually only plan 5 because we always need a leftover night to make room in the fridge and I don't cook on Sundays).

-Tomato Basil Soup with French bread and salad

I made this last night without the salad and we just ate some regular white bread i made a few days ago. It was tasty, but Trent and I both agreed it would have been AMAZING with some grilled cheese sandwiches and I need to cut down the acid in the soup as well.

-Greek chicken and rice with spinach

Currently in the oven.

-Mulligans Stew

We got half a cow, and we are testing out the stew meat with this one! The ground beef was awesome

-Veg. Spaghetti & French Bread

We love this spaghetti recipe loaded with veggies! Really good with Parmesan cheese on top, but not this week!

-Slow cooker garlic mashed potatoes (without the cheese) Broiled Scallops and a side of broccoli I've been wanting to get scallops for MONTHS and I they FINALLY were on sale, so i got some. Thanks to Yoke's Fresh Market for the awesome sale!

-We got half a cow (actually a steer). It was a 4-H steer of a co-worker of Trent's. If you are going to eat meat, I really think this is the best way to go about getting it! It was really cheap compared to the store and it is so lean and delicious! Plus, we know where it came from.