Our new healthy recipe

I am so bummed that I missed hearing the updates tonight from everyone. I just woke up from an unexpected nap. :)
We are doing well with our adjusted goals but need to be better at actually writing down our points.
I made this recipe this week for lunch wraps and we loved it! It has lots of beans, some tomatoes, corn, brown rice, and cheese ( which you could decrease if you want or possible even substitute some for yogurt). They are very good and super easy. I substituted one of the cans of black beans for a can of kidney beans and we put salsa on ours. It is a good recipe to make ahead and freeze too and then pull one out when you are hungry.
http://allrecipes.com/recipe/make-ahead-lunch-wraps/detail.aspx

We love you all!

Lemon Basil Spinach Pasta

Here is the delicious recipe that DJ and I mentioned in the last conference call.  We love this recipe!    

  whole wheat bow tie pasta (enough noodles to feed your family)

         2-3 Chicken Breasts cut into cubes

         1 tsp lemon pepper

         2 TB butter

         2 TB olive oil

         2 cloves garlic, minced ( I like to add more garlic :) )

         1/4 cup white cooking wine (I boil mine before to cook out all the alcohol....hopefully)

         2 cups Plain Greek Yogurt

         1 TB chopped fresh basil or dried

         1 Lemon, zested and juiced (using the rind of a lemon gives so much more flavor and nutrients)

         1/4 cup shredded Parmesan cheese

         1 TB chopped fresh parsley or dried

         Fresh Spinach

Directions

1. Cook your noodles in a pot of boiling water.  Drain.

2.Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C) and season chicken with lemon pepper.

3. While noodles are cooking, melt the butter with the olive oil over medium heat in a skillet.  Place the chicken pieces in the skillet until they are no longer pink in the center. Add more lemon pepper while cooking.  When cooked, remove the chicken pieces, and place them at the bottom of a casserole dish.

4. In the same skillet, add the garlic, white wine, greek yogurt, basil, lemon zest, and 1/2 of the lemon juice. Bring the mixture to a light boil, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and stir in the pasta. 

5. Spoon the pasta and sauce mixture over the chicken. Then layer fresh spinach, parmesan cheese, parsley flakes, and remaining lemon juice over the top. Cover with foil or a lid and cook for 10-15 minutes until heated through.  Remove cover and bake for another 10 minutes until cheese is melted.

This recipe feeds about 4 people. 

We love you guys soo much!

Grandma Linda's Banana Bread

What can increase the protein and fiber of a dessert bread?  Melissa suggests that everyone try Grandma Linda's Banana Bread recipe with whole wheat flour from the awesome cookbook Aunt Sheryl put together a couple years ago.  Whole wheat flour is a little heavier than bleached white flour, so it may take a pinch more leavening (baking soda or baking powder).  Plain (or vanilla) Greek yogurt is also a perfect substitute for sour cream.  Thanks Melissa! 

This is Nathan celebrating 100 days of school.  They dressed up as if they were 100!  Are you loving the creativity of tin foil and duct tape?  His hair is covered with tinfoil!  His bus driver took a picture he was so tickled by it.  We bought the cane at Goodwill.  The cane is a mouth eating a marble.

A couple others wanted to try the beard and mustache.  he he
We are loving the Vitality Vikings blog!  Keep up the effort toward good health fellow Vikings!

What we ate last night

This family blog has inspired us to be even healthier.  The last time Phineas and I were at Costco, they were out of spinach, so we bought kale.  Since Phineas feels like it was his idea, he loves it, but not spinach.  He will drink kale and blueberry shakes in the morning, but yells "Don't put spinach in mine!"  Personally, I like spinach better, but I can stomach kale just fine. 

To use up the last of our kale, I made this Winter Pasta Recipe last night.  Ruby loved it, too.  Yes, that is kale on a 6-month-old's face.  Go to that link to read the recipe.  I didn't have goat cheese so I used a combo of Greek yogurt and cream cheese.  It was really yummy!  We ate it all.

Pain

Pain

I am going to tell you my experience.  I realize that is all I have.  I tried to make an article of sweeping generalizations of pain and realized it has been at least 32 years since I would describe myself as having average pain.  I hope my experience with pain eventually makes me more empathetic and compassionate, but mostly right now I am awfully attached to it.

On a physical level pain is exhausting.  At any given day, on a scale of 1-10, my average is a 7.  If any of you have been to a hospital recently they have a smiley face chart that corresponds to a pain scale.  0 is happy face, 10 is crying,  7 is definitely frowning.   That frown also may indicate what my face would rather be doing.  But, here comes the other part of why pain is exhausting: I try not to let the pain dictate my mood.  It is a constant mind game to be as aware of my pain as I need to be to function, but not so aware of it that I take that pain out on other people in forms of impatience, snappishness, grumpiness, or sarcasm.  The best way I can describe my pain is this: take the day or two after a really good workout.  You know when your muscles have that nice ache-y burn when you know you have built awesome muscles because of anaerobic exercise.  Now add to that feeling, the flu.  That is what my muscles feel like 24-7, with no pay off of building muscle.  Only the fatigue, the fever like symptoms, and the ache that never goes away. 

So I manage the symptoms with the following therapies: non-narcotic drugs, exercise and sleep.  I have taken a variation of 2-10 medications and/or vitamins at a time.  For me, the family of anti-seizures drugs seem to work well enough that I haven't ventured too much into the anti-depressant family which work for other people. Over the last decade I have been able to use my swimming lessons to swim 20 minutes at a time for various amounts of distances, depending on the pain levels.  And, for the most part I have been able to sufficiently sleep well, which isn't always the case with chronic pain.  This year I am really trying to add to my therapy diet control as stomach pain is one of my complaining areas. 

It is hard to answer the question "how do you feel today"? as in compared to what? yesterday? in general? overall? cuz mostly, it is always-- I don't feel good.  In fact, it is hard not to answer with mom's favorite "S" swear word, because that is really most accurate.  But, what good does that answer do?  I try to hear in that question " I care about you, I am thinking about you and I love you" and yet, because I am so attached to my pain...I may either act annoyed you asked, or say "fine" and not mean it.  I apologize sincerely for this. 

Then I go about managing my world.  I live on the main level of an apartment complex because stairs KILL me.  I join a gym that has a hot tub, steam room and sauna because I LOVE them!  I haven't worn jeans in 20 years because they hurt my already hurting stomach (even before I was "this fat").  I make sure things that are on the "heavier to lift" category are at my height or below, i.e. laundry detergent, pots and pans.  I don't use step stools or ladders because if my muscles have a fatigue moment while I am on one, I want to avoid the consequences of falling.  I have routines and procedures for things like going to the gym, getting ready for the day, days of the week, because pain doesn't always allow for "what do I feel like doing" or worse it makes me forget what I have scheduled to be doing.  I don't/can't hurry.  I show up to family gatherings.  I don't show up to most church functions outside of the three hour block on Sunday.  I ask for help from Trav.  I am a work in progress.