Paleo for the first time

Today was a day of firsts.

Dr. Ryan (who owns Crossfit Cornerstone) is also a kick ass chiropractor. I've talked with him a couple of times before and this week we got to talking about my knee which lead to my hips and my posture and so on. I decided to go ahead and schedule an appt and get checked out today. As we thought, it appears that my hips are misaligned and could potentially be causing some of my knee and back pain. We took some xrays of my hips, neck, and spine and I go back tomorrow to see how the xrays looked. Before I left though, I got hooked up to a machine that pulsed electricity through my knee and stimulated my sciatic nerve. Also an ultrasound on the inside of my knee to hopefully help out with the inflamation and swellling. I'm excited to learn more about what is going on with my body and how everything is connected.

I also made a trip to Jungle Jims and completed the healthiest shopping trip I've ever gone on. I bought a metric ton of produce and picked up some paleo supplies so that I could cook tonight. On the menu was Paleo Orange Chicken and Fried Rice from Health-bent.com

I was worried that I wouldn't like it and would need to finish off the bag of Doritos afterwards but surprisingly enough, it was pretty good! I made a huge mess in the kitchen but it cleaned up easily and I have leftovers for probably 2-3 more meals. I think I may have liked it better had I used chicken breast instead of thighs. The chili-garlic sauce was spicy but super delicious! My oranges unfortunately weren't that sweet so I added a little bit of honey to the sauce. It was still good but I feel like it could have been more "orange-y." Overall it was a success.



The box is hosting a challenge that starts on Monday. It's 30 days of eating using the whole30 plan. I don't think I'm quite down for that to go cold turkey, but I'm definitely up for cleaning up my eating. All the hard work just to fuel myself with crap is starting to get to me and I know that is the missing piece. I'm not sure that Paleo is for me and likely not whole30 because that is even more strict. I'll find the right balance for me.

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My First Thanksgiving

It started out so well. I got up early and everything was going my way. .

But I suppose it wouldn't be a holiday without a freakout and some tears. The roaster I used is apparently on loan from Satan in the center of the earth and cooks with molten lava because my turkey was completely done by 9:00am. (less than 2 hours to cook a 16 lb turkey??? ::cue tears::) Terribly sorry to the Mr. Buckeye for having to deal with me- and on his birthday no less! But I was able to salvage it and keep it moist until lunch at 1.*

All in all it wasn't too bad, a tad dry but not nearly what I envisioned.

And we had way too much food but it was delicious!
For the record, I actually did eat my Aunt's Sweet Potatoes without gagging AND asked to keep a small bit for leftovers that I DID eat too! This is a huge deal.

 Mama had every number candle except the 2 we needed... so we settled for the ?

And Sky wanted in on the pyrotechnics as well.

Then Saturday up to Columbus to see our favorite little people. They are getting too big, make it stop!

and see the 2 newest members of the family!

We are in full holiday swing down here now so bring on Christmas!

*Wrap the whole thing in foil, wrap the whole thing in bath towels, keep in cooler till ready to serve

Food Revolution

So this week I have embarked on a Food Revolution if you will :)

In a last ditch effort to redistribute the spare tire around my waist I've taken to eating many fruits and veggies to rid my body of toxins. Plus, I'm not going to waste those fruits and veggies I picked up on Sunday!

Monday's breakfast consisted of egg omelet and clementines- with a glass of milk. Yes, the omelet had a little bit of cheese but c'mon. It was just a little bit. Moderation. See? I'm already getting better!

Monday's lunch consisted of a turkey, swiss, grey poupon, lettuce sammich on multigrain sandwich thin (Sidenote- these things rock! I've never had them before but I don't miss the bread!) Along with grapes, carrots, light ranch, and some tomatoes.

The lunches I've had the rest of this week have mimicked this- only with some pretzel sticks thrown in.

And that brings me to last night's dinner. Remember me saying I bought leeks? Well, I used them last night. In the BLT pasta. They were super easy to cook and I'll definitely use them again. Mild onion flavor is spot on. The pasta itself was okay but I halved the recipe and sort of eye-balled it but I think I used the same amount of mustard in the cheese sauce so it was a little dijon-y for me but I ate it. And the grape tomatoes, leeks, bacon was so tasty! I should have left that normal and just halved the sauce and pasta! I also used Cheddar cheese instead of Gruyere. I'd probably make it again with a few adjustments.

And I've almost got Secret Project finished but since I've not shared a bit of knitting in a while here is a new pair of socks I started last week. (They are much further now but no pic yet)

Happy Hump Day everyone!

ETA: To answer Mandy's question- I always have place settings and centerpiece on the table. I put the paper plates on top just for the pics :) (Our everyday dishes are the white china at the bottom. I don't use the green ones- there are only 2 and they grace my table from April-August!)

Columbus Easter in Review

Anna and Maya ready to go!

What can we say? He loves green! (and insisted on wearing the headphones!)

Kids with their loot

A little swing time with my BFF Emme :)


I made a trifle... and a first time attempt at Rainbow Cupcakes.

This one was reversed but they were excellent!

Paint and Tile and Toast Oh My!

It was a very productive weekend at the Buckeye household. We got so much done! (I use the term "We" very lightly.... it was actually all the Mr. and his dad while I watched all the DVR and Olympics that I could.)

Lots! of tile was laid this week. All the tile in fact. Grouting is being done this morning.

Mr. and his dad were so meticulous! I'm amazed at the work that they have done.





At least the tile went somewhat smoothly. There was a bit of drama regarding the paint though. Drama being me of course. We had ultimately decided to go with Polished Pewter. We though that Artic Stone did end up looking too blue, and yet Silver dust looked too purple. so Polished Pewter it was. Luckily, P's dad had the primer color matched so I got to see what the room would look like with the primer on the walls. O.M.G. It was a "mood ring" kind of shade. One minute it's gray, the next it's this pastel shade of lavender. That was most definitely not going to work. We went back to the Depot and bought a sample of Pebble Gray. Convinced this was the color I said let's roll with it. Only to find out the next morning it was terribly dark and had a greenish tint to it.



The walls here are Polished Pewter and that rectangle is Pebble Gray... you can't tell in the pics but they are pretty much green and purple. Yuck.

I got so terribly upset at my inability to pick a color that I had to call in for reinforcements. My mom came over and calmly got me to reaccess the color situation. Looking through the color swatches we have now decided on Repose Gray. A Sherwin Williams color that the Depot was able to match with the formula. The walls have now almost been painted and I'm much happier. If anything the new color has more brown undertones but it is warm and I think the tile and the bar will really bring it all together. Oh yeah, and it doesn't change color on me. Gray all the way.

One bright happy spot is the bathroom. I'm in love. I feel terrible that it's already taken 4 coats of paint but seriously. I am totally in love. And the tile. It looks just awesome. The bathroom may be my favorite part of the basement as of right now.



So for all of their hard work this weekend I rewarded the guys with Emily's Best French Toast on the Planet Recipe. It did not dissappoint- They both had seconds.



You should make this for breakfast. But plan on wearing sweatpants the rest of the day.

Happy Monday!

White Chili

Had 3 of my 4 best girls over for Girl's Night last night. Unfortunately, mom couldn't make it. She certainly missed out! I made an awesome White Chili/Chicken soup/ bowl of deliciousness. And I had just enough leftovers so that I oculd bring for work!

I kid you not, this recipe was so incredibly awesome and easy. (made even easier by the fact that I used a can of chicken!) Whipped it up in less than 30 minutes and let it simmer away till we were ready. Served with some shredded Monterey Jack cheese and Sour Cream. It was unbelievably delicious and I have proof. Vickie, who doesn't like beans, went for seconds! And she didn't pick the beans out!

So now that I've got you al salivating and wishing you had a bowl of white chili I'll share what I did. I sort of mixed 2 recipes. The Pioneer Woman and a good friend's recipe. And come to find out there was another similar recipe on the back of the bean can.

My recipe had approx 10 1 cup servings.

1 can of chicken breast (it's what I had- I cut it up into chunks) or you can use about 1 lb of chicken cooked whatever way you want.
1 Large can of chicken broth (Mine was a 6 cup can- low sodium)
1 can of Cream of Chicken Soup (Healthy Request please!)
1/2 large yellow or vidalia onion (or a medium one)
1 can of green chiles- you can used diced but they are more expensive and hey, you'll have your knife out so just run it through the chiles too!
4 cloves of garlic- minced
Olive Oil- just enough to cook the onions and chiles and garlic
2 cans of Great Northern Beans
1/2 tsp Cayenne Pepper
3/4 tsp Oregano
1.5 T Cumin
couple shakes of red pepper flakes

Dice the onions- Mince the garlic. Cook together in about 1-2 T of olive oil until onions are translucent. While they are cooking, dice up the chiles (or open the can of already diced ones if you went that way) add to the pan and continue cooking another couple of minutes.

Add chicken broth and chicken soup to a pot (or crockpot) stir together. Add Cooked Chicken. Open beans and rinse thoroughly. Toss those into the pot. Add the Onion/Garlic/Chiles. Stir together. Now season as you'd like! I used the above amounts (give or take) of the spices. If you like it a little spicier, you could chop up a jalepeno and cook when you add the chiles.

I let it cook together for about 45 minutes on the stove.

Served with (grated by me!) Monterey Jack cheese and Low Fat Sour Cream.

It is so delicious! I swear! and not heavy like regular tomato/beef chili. Not terribly spicy, just warm you up, fill you up, bowl of excellence.

Please try it. You'll love it!

Disclaimer- This is probably not really even chili- I'd almost argue it's more of a chicken soup since it's not thick and has broth (but the broth- oh! it's fantastic!) but it's my blog and I'll call it what I want :)