Greenling!

Look what I found on my doorstep today!

My first Greenling box!

Thanks to a referral from a friend, I got a great discount on my first box, filled with organic produce from local farms.

Escarole, Arugula, Red Leaf lettuce, amaranth, sweet onions, cucumbers, zucchini, yellow squash, potatoes, elephant garlic, and blueberries.

I don't know what time it arrived (my delivery is scheduled from 2-9pm), but when I got home at 6.30 the produce was cold and looked great.

The box included recipes for the ingredients which is a nice touch, and I'll try to use the recipes when they accommodate the whole30 program.

My favorite touch is the list of ingredients, with the storage suggestions! I was going to leave the onions on the counter and not refrigerate them until I saw this guide. Most of us probably don't know the best/proper way to store fruit and veggies for longevity. The Greenling website offers a great Produce Storage Guide.

Out of curiousity I did a quick Google search on the nutritional benefit of amaranth. Also I was curious to read about eating the leaves and stems because I only ever knew about the grain.

According to the Natural Farmacy, Amaranth is "the perfect food for weight loss, it makes you feel full longer, and helps the body to process fats. Drinking the fresh juice of amaranth leaves as well as applying directly to hair has been used as a long time remedy for hair loss and premature graying. Native to the Americas, where the Aztecs considered the grain sacred and thought it brought immortality."

This is awesome: According to Linda Runyan, and this article on Your Edible Landscape,

Amaranth is known for its high protein count, vitamins, and minerals, and just a half cup will give a person immense energy. All part of the plant are edible including the seed, stem, and leaves. The plant is a perfect substitute for lettuce and spinach, freezes well, is super high in calcium, AND, the seeds can be ground up and made into a flour.

Awesome! I wonder if
Dr. Oz knows about this....? I'm excited to try it.
Amaranth tastes pretty great, and the purple leaves are beautiful. We made a salad tonight with the amaranth and arugula (both from My Father's Farm), kale, escarole (from Acadian Family Farm), and blueberries (from Berry Best Farm).

Topped with some feta and Lime Riesling Olive Oil this salad was a big hit!

Just for fun, here's a picture of Grady enjoying the super sweet blueberries, from Berry Best Farm.

Did you get this week's Greenling Local box? What did you think?

Interested in trying Greenling? Here's a referral link for you!

Catching Up

Well, it's now Monday June 17th, and I think I only made it 4 days this month on the program.

We got to Oregon on Tuesday and for lunch ended up at a Vegan restaurant. If it's not Whole30 compliant, it's at least Vegan and healthy. Right? Maybe?

If you're in the Portland area try Native Foods. Between the three of us we had the Twister Wrap (Salad greens, fresh avocado and cucumber salsa, creamy chipotle sauce and blackened Native Chicken in an organic whole wheat wrap), the Rockin' Moroccan Bowl, (Native Chicken marinated in homemade Moroccan sauce with grilled veggies and quinoa), and the crispy sweet native fries. It was all beyond delicious and I don't think we were able to finish it all. The daily made from scratch lavendar lemonade and watermelon fresco drinks were awesome. Honestly, my FAVORITE things, were the desserts. Sorry. I have to admit it. The desserts were free and who can pass up Peanut Butter Parfait and Oatmeal Creme Pie? Just thinking of it now is making me drool a little... It was so decadent and delicious... seriously.

On Wednesday we ate breakfast in the hotel restaurant and I got the veggie omelet, but did have coffee with cream, no sugar. For lunch we went to Applebees and I had a the grilled shrimp salad with no dressing. Dinner was micro-brew beer, and more beer. I was tired and stressed and, did I mention we were in Portland!? We love Oregon. Beautiful, lush, green, healthy... I don't remember what we ate on Thursday or Friday, but I know it was not Whole30. And every day since we returned has been bad bad bad.
So here we are, Monday, June 17th. Day 1? I could wait and start again next month. July 1, Day 1, but that seems crazy. I really want to succeed at this. I need to make this work regardless of traveling and work and a busy lifestyle, and I don't want to wait anymore.

After a week and a half of eating poorly again, I'm feeling a plethora of ailments. My plantar fasciitis is acting up, my ankles are swollen, my pants are tight, I'm "hungry", I'm tired, I'm craving sugary creamy chocolate. My back has been hurting at night, which causes me to incessantly wake up and slowly and painfully roll over. I'm probably snoring again and I think my blood pressure must be up because i'm having random bouts of insane sweating. Or maybe that's just the 100 degree Texas heat coupled with my guilt-induced-stress?

Anyway, I'm looking forward to these issues alleviating again, like they did in May I when succeeded in following through with 10 days of the whole30. Imagine following through with whole30 for 30 days, or even 60 days, and not even having these issues alleviated, but completely eliminated. Gasp, that would be amazing! And of course a couple hundred pound weight loss would be ideal as well.

So back to the plan, last night we marinated pork chops for dinner tonight and lunches this week. I also made eggs, ground turkey, and veggies, added a ton of random spices (cumin, seasoned salt, pepper, cayenne, and turmeric) and divided them up into 10 Ziploc small bowls so that we'd have breakfast ready. The containers stack really well in the fridge, hold a 1/4 cup of meat and 2 eggs perfectly.

Tonight I'll need to take inventory of the fridge and freezer and figure out meals for the rest of the week. Seems so simple, but I've lived in the moment for so many years that preplanning meals doesn't come naturally and in the past couple months I've had a bad habit of forgetting to do this.

Whole30 - Day 3

What a crazy busy day.

Took my toddler (Grady's 19 months old) to the eye doctor first thing this morning for an exam and didn't have time (or make time?) for breakfast. Then grabbed a fast food burger on the way to work (no bun or cheese sadly), and then ran around work like a chicken trying to get travel arrangements organized for a last minute work trip to Oregon tomorrow!

Dinner was turkey meatloaf and sweet potato fries that I picked up from Sprouts. Again not the most ideal meal, but it's all Sprouts had and I was pressed for time. It sure beats fast food fries and soda?

This evening has been crazy running around packing and doing laundry trying to get ready for the trip tomorrow. And then I thought I had lost Grady's birth certificate and had a slight meltdown panic attack. Now it's 10pm and I need to actually work and prepare for the week ahead.

Thankfully the family is going with me to Oregon!!

I keep thinking that life will slow down and then I'll be able to focus on healthier eating and planning meals and cooking at home more, but the reality is, that this is my life. One reason I gained this excess weight is all the traveling for work and fun.

I need to learn how to better prepare for these busy days. Like filling the freezer with lots of meat kabobs that are precooked and easy to grab and defrost... Maybe also freeze fun dipping sauces too?

Any other ideas?

Who am I, and why the heck am I doing this?

Dear Diary,

I'm crazy busy sporadic and all over the place with my interests and hobbies and wants. Working full time, toddler, 7-year old step daughter, boyfriend, house, home, trying to get healthy, stay healthy, be active, have a career... It's craziness. We're traveling all the time for work and for family and trying to be as spontaneous and full of life and adventure as we can be, all while trying to find and maintain balance.

In April, I created a blog through myfitnesspal.com and began documenting my whole30.com daily challenge, which sadly lasted less than 30 days. Twelve I think? I jumped in without any planning, and then between work meetings and travels out of town, I really struggled to stay on program. Having the blog calling out to me every day helped keep me accountable tho. As did a couple close friends who have also been doing the challenge with me; and they have been very successful and will hopefully post on here as well from time to time!

Anyway, here I am starting fresh. New month, new blog to document the journey, and a cute name too! The Daily Keystone. What's a keystone? It's that center stone in the arch, the foundation, the one that holds all the others in place. As women or mothers, regardless of whether we work or stay home, don't we feel often like we're that keystone that keeps the family in balance? All the while wondering what that keystone is that keeps "us" in check and from crumbling? Maybe it's our exercise regimen, our to-do lists and planner, our supportive spouse, or our blog? Maybe our keystone changes daily?

I've been reading blogs for years. Pasta Queen was probably my first blog, then there was my addiction to the weddingbee.com and lately it's been every homemaking housekeeping blog that I can find. I thought it would be so much fun to write my own blog, and honestly, I'd love to be able to provide an inkling of support to others, as I have received from the blogs I read.

and there's a sense of accountability with writing a blog, and documenting every day of this danged journey. It's easy to fail or quit or give up, when no one knows what we're doing. And it's also easy to forget the struggles and the accomplishments when there's no documentation to look back and review. Like a baby book... we all remember being a baby, but it sure is fun to look back and see ourselves and read about the little funny things we did, and then reminisce about the people who visited and cared for us. This blog may be my baby book... my pre-40 (gasp!) baby book...

Perhaps writing this blog will help me to unload and defrag in an organized fashion, to become a better person. Maybe I'll write a book some day? Maybe I'll learn somethings about myself. Maybe I can even inspire others?

Are you writing a blog? What inspired you to start? Did you feel slightly awkward at first… as if you were publishing your diary?

Whole30 - Day 2

Ah beautiful San Antonio... waking up on an air mattress at the sister-in-law's house at 7am with my 19-mth old toddler climbing over and jumping on me. Gotta love vacations!

Breakfast consisted of two chorizo egg breakfast burritos, sans the tortilla. Plus one bite of a lemon filled donut. No coffee for me.

Note to self, next time I travel, bring Almond milk. Or prepare to like black coffee?

Lunch was a huge salad and stack of sliced cucumbers at Super Salad.

Dinner was two (not very big) bowls of beef and chicken stirfry's at Genghis Grill. The first time through the line I got the teriyaki sauce (which I'm sure had sugar and soy), but the second time through the line I discovered I could use the garlic water instead of the sugar/soy ladened sauces.

Today was a fairly successful on plan day. I did have a couple large diet cokes because I felt like I needed the caffeine to safely navigate back to Dallas on little sleep.

Tomorrow's plan: eggs for breakfast. I have no idea what to eat the rest of the day. I must go figure that out...

Whole30 Day 1 (Round Two)

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June 1st, Day 1, Round Two

Why Round Two? Because I began the 30-day Whole30 challenge on May 1st and didn't survive the month (But I did lose 8.3 lbs in the first 7 days and felt GREAT and never felt deprived). With better planning and more disciple I could have (would have, should have) managed to stay on program for the entire month, but lack of planning along with too much traveling, and too many work events with catered lunches got in my way...
If you don't know about this Whole 30 cleanse, you can read it about on their website or through the book It Starts With Food: Discover the Whole30 and Change Your Life in Unexpected Ways . This isn't about losing weight, although that is a fabulous side-effect. Nope, this cleanse is about clean eating and eliminating foods that can cause leaky gut syndrome, inflammation, and other negative reactions to our bodies. But we're only eliminating for 30 days. Easy... right?

The Plan: Eat Meat, Eggs, Vegetables, Fruit, Nuts, and Healthy Oils (Avocado, Coconut, etc). and Don't Eat: grains, dairy, soy, legumes (including peanuts), or sugars of any kind.



I put off starting this plan for a couple months because it never seemed like the right time to do it. Every month this year we've traveled for one reason or another. It's never an easy ideal time. But I guess that's how life goes and we can't put off life until life gets easier, we just need to decide what we want and make it happen? Even now, I'm starting off June 1st while out of town on vacation and visiting family we haven't seen in a long time.

The day started off with Breakfast in Austin at Kerbey Lane Cafe, and boy was I hungry, and a bit angry... I really wanted the peanut butter pancakes with bananas and nutella and a huge coffee with cream and sugar. But, since the BF agreed to do this challenge with me, and I really do want to do this challenge successfully, I skipped the bad stuff and got a veggie omelet hold the cheese and potatoes and english muffin. Served with two fruit bowls this was a delicious breakfast! Tim (the BF) raved about the egg white omelet with salmon.

After breakfast we explored the Nature and Science center at Zilker park. The kids had a blast seeing the coati, raccoon, and porcupine, and personnally I loved the owls! Definitely a great place to let the kids burn off steam and explore.

Since we had a late breakfast we figured we'd skip Lunch and have dinner with family in San Antonio once we got there, but we ended up visiting with some cousins in Austin, and couldn't turn down their organic lattes and banana bread... so yummy.

Dinner at the end of the day was beef and chicken fajitas, peppers and onions, guacamole, and tons of watermelon.