Garden Update

I looked back at my pictures of the garden and realized how much has changed in the past two months! The flowers have gotten big, vegetables growing, and the trees have even gone through a growth spurt.

Here is a nice head of lettuce! It kind of reminds me of the cabbage patch kids because of the shape.

The corn is up and growing taller everyday!

No ripe tomatoes yet, but there are many green ones!

We have been enjoying artichoke...well....until I tried to harvest some last night and I had to deal with the earwigs that had crawled in it!  I just couldn't do it and am not sure if I have the stomach to eat more of them after seeing how many bugs take residence inside.....

The cilantro did not do well and it is cheaper to buy it, but it sure looks pretty now that it is flowering!

Pretty flowers....

This is actually a green onion that regrew from last year! It camouflaged itself with the daffodils earlier in the spring.  I think the flower for the green onion is really unique!

A baby cucumber is growing!

Carrots nestled between radishes.  The radishes protect the carrot seeds since carrot seeds take 3-4 weeks to germinate.  By the time the radishes are ripe, the carrots are up and ready to stand on their own!

Clean Eating

Melinda asked me recently what I meant by trying to eat better, so I thought I would share on my blog! In my quest to continue to be healthier and to reach a healthy weight I decided to go back to Jillian Michael's book Master Your Metablism. I read her book a few years ago and made some healthy eating changes then. This was a good wake up and reset reminder. I wanted to try some of the recipes I had not in the past and I also purchased a recipe extension book. I am also trying to follow the Mediterranean diet and the part I struggle with the most is the seafood. I am finding that there is actually really good seafood to eat when it is prepared well. I mostly just have a mental issue against it.

 My main goal with the diet is to start making a lifestyle change that will help me be healthier and curb my cravings. I have heard many times how yo-yo dieting is bad and worse than if you just stayed heavy in the first place. I have slowly incorporated aspects of the diet over the last few months that have shown me that it is beneficial to try taking this type of eating more seriously. Take chocolate for example. I can get such huge chocolate cravings that I would often buy a big bag of M&Ms and find that I finish the bag just within a day or two if I let myself. AND in the end, my craving wasn't curbed. I began buying organic chocolate that doesn't have all the chemical and artificial compounds that regular chocolate has. Just a small piece and my craving is fixed. I don't keep wanting more.

Here's an example of how I am modifying the diet to work for me right now:

Breakfast: Greek Yogurt & Organic Nature's Path Strawberry Granola Bar(Best granola bars ever!) Snack: Homemade hummus dipped w/bell pepper & cucumber and Sun Chips
Lunch: Left over chipotle beef sandwich & veggie salad w/Drew's Italian Dressing
Snack: 3 pieces Organic Newman's Own Orange Dark Chocolate
Dinner: (New recipe I tried tonight! See below!)Lemon Garlic Shrimp w/Veggies
Dessert: Yonana! (Frozen banana & berries blended into soft-serve style ice cream)
Total Estimated calories for all that food: 1500

 

Blogger has changed since I last made a post and all my pictures keep going sideways.  Anyone know how to fix that?