The On-going Battle

We've had an on-going battle with Aubrey her entire life. That is trying to keep that child in her bed all night and out of ours! Now I am not opposed to co-sleeping with your children. People and cultures have had family beds for centuries with much success. However, Aubrey happens to be a very restless sleeper and we end up getting kicked and punched all night long with her in our bed. I have a hard time falling back asleep once I am woken up, so Aubrey in our bed means very little sleep for me. And that I am very much opposed to!

It's been a cycle with Aubrey. She'll start coming in to our bed at night and we'll start taking her back until the habit stops. Then she'll begin the cycle again. Throughout the years she's tried to trick us as well. She started falling asleep on the floor next to our bed. I found her there one night as I was stepping on her on my way to the bathroom. That was a big scare for me. This last cycle she learned that she could climb up the middle of our bed and fall asleep undetected by us. That is until she started kicking and punching us. But, by then she was asleep and we were too lazy to carry her back to bed.

Well a few weeks ago, Jeff decided enough was enough. He told her that every night she slept the whole night in her bed she would get a bean to put in a jar. Once she had collected 20 beans we would take her to the store where she could pick out a $5 reward. She was extremely excited about this. That girl loves to get new toys! She ended up getting her required beans in 21 days. Only one relapse is pretty good. A few nights she came into our room claiming to have a scary dream. We'd give her a kiss and a hug and ask her if she wanted to get her bean the next morning. She would respond "yes" and easily return back to her bed. That bean jar worked like a charm!

Tuesday was the day that she collected all of her required beans. That evening after dinner we all went as a family to Dollar General where she could pick out her prize. They have a ton of $5 toys that she could choose from. After filling up the basket with possible choices, she finally decided on a ceramic pony that she could paint and sticker and decorate her hair with beads.

 She was excited to make her pony!

Here's her completed pony masterpiece!

The little cutey with her pony that she is very proud of!

Of course when Brookie heard about Aubrey collecting beans for staying in her bed, she wanted in on it. Brooke hasn't had a problem staying in her bed, but we figured we couldn't leave her out. So she began collecting beans. As it turned out, she snuck into our bed one night too and ended up collecting her 20 beans in 21 days as well. So she got to pick out a prize on Tuesday too. She very quickly found a package with a Rapunzel and a Little Mermaid doll that she just had to have. Thankfully it was $5!

 Over the next few days she would come up to us and ask, "Say Rapunzel, Rapunzel let down your hair." Then she would lay Rapunzel on whatever surface was nearby with her hair hanging down and tell us to grab her hair and climb up to her tower. What a little cutie she is!

 Brooke had to have something to paint while Aubrey worked on her pony.

We decided to let the girls have one more round with the beans, but this time they have to collect 25 in order to get the prize. We hope that after this one more round they will have established a pattern of staying in their own beds. At least we hope very much that this is the case!!

Clean, Whole Wheat Cinnamon Rolls

I grew up eating my Mom's absolutely delicious and completely sinful Cinnamon Rolls. For several months I've been dying to try and make some clean cinnamon rolls. However, cinnamon rolls take some time to make and I didn't want to waste my time if they weren't going to turn out very good.

This last week I bit the bullet and decided to make them. I had considered looking up a recipe online, but I haven't really liked any of the clean eating wheat bread recipes I've found. (Except for the pizza dough - which is very good.) I also wanted them to taste similar to my Mom's. Since I had great success converting my Mom's crescent rolls and french bread I figured it just might work. Well they turned out delicious! They were very similar to the sinful ones I used to make and were gone in less then 24 hours! (I did give some away to the neighbors.) 

After all of the success I have had turning my white flour recipes into whole wheat flour, I can't figure out who decided to process, refine and take all the good stuff out of our grains in the first place. Maybe it's because I haven't had any white flour in 9 months, but everything wheat tastes just as good to me as the white stuff. Seriously, if you haven't tried switching to whole grains, you really should give it a try, the food is still really delicious and is so much better for you!

Clean, Whole Wheat Cinnamon Rolls

Dough

7 C Whole Wheat Flour (finely ground white wheat or whole wheat pastry flour)

2 Tbsp Yeast

1/2 C Warm Water

1 1/2 C Warm Milk (Skim, Almond, Rice or Soy)

1/4 + 1/8 C Coconut Oil

3/4 C Honey

2 tsp Sea Salt

1/8 tsp Baking Soda

2 Eggs

Center

1/2 C Coconut Oil

1/2 C Honey

Cinnamon to taste

Glaze

Honey

Milk

Coconut oil

Dissolve yeast in warm water. Let stand undisturbed for 10 min. Meanwhile in a separate bowl combine warm milk and 3 Cups of Whole Wheat Flour. Stir with a wooden spoon. Combine both bowls. Beat and add in a new bowl (or a Kitchen Aide) Coconut oil, honey, sea salt & eggs. Combine both bowls. Mix in 4 Cups of flour and baking soda. Knead for about 5 min. Let rise covered in a kitchen towel until doubled in size. Punch down and let rise again until doubled in size. Roll dough into a long rectangle. Melt the 1/2 coconut oil and spread on the rectangle. Next spread the honey over the rectangle. Last cover the rectangle with Cinnamon. I give it a good solid coat of cinnamon. Roll the rectangle into a long log. Take a piece of thread (about 12 inches) and slide it under the log about 1 to 1 1/2 inches in on one side. Hold the thread with both hands on each end. Lift the thread up and over the log and then cross hands and bring it back down to the counter. This slices your rolls without squishing the entire log. (Here's a tutorial) Then place your roll onto a baking pan. Continue until the entire log is sliced. Bake at 350 degrees for at least 15 minutes. Start checking the rolls from there. You want the center rolls to not look doughy. I would pull the pan out and press into the middle section and see if it would spring back instead of just sink in. While they bake beat some honey with some milk. I didn't measure at all. Basically you want a little creamy sweetness to pour on top of your cooked rolls. Pour on top immediately after your rolls exit the oven. Then enjoy your clean and 100 % whole wheat cinnamon rolls!

I hope you like these as much as we did!

Weeks 36, 37 & 38

I had some pretty bad last few weeks. We had a lot of colds and flu's in our house and I just felt exhausted for weeks. Which means very little exercising occurred. I also had a very strange and strong craving for dairy. The problem is I am lactose intolerant. Lactose pills and probiotics help so I can have a little dairy, but apparently they are not strong enough for massive amounts of dairy! I ended up being bloated and sick to my stomach for a couple of weeks, which added to my general feelings of exhaustion and blah! So, no weight loss occurred. I even gained a couple of pounds (but possibly that was due to the bloating.) Anyway, I finally started feeling better last week and got back into my exercise routine. But on Friday I started getting a cold again! I was not very happy about this. It looks as though I was able to fight it off with my essential oils, netti pot and home remedies, because it never got very bad and I feel much better today. Anyway, I was hoping to have a little weight loss this week (which I probably would have had if I hadn't felt sick again this weekend) but no luck. However I am back on track to where I was before and can hopefully stay well enough to keep on track!

Something I've been thinking about the last few weeks is how in many ways I was set up for this transition to Clean Eating long before the change took place. I believe a loving Heavenly Father was helping me out to get me all set up so the transition wouldn't be so hard. For one thing we (especially Jeff) has been very interested in Emergency preparedness. So many years before I started cooking with Whole Wheat flour, we had a year supply (or more) of Wheat in our pantry. Not only that but we also had a very nice wheat grinder (that was hardly ever used) all ready for me to break out and actually use. Several years before, I was talking to a friend who has my same model of wheat grinder and she explained that it has the ability to grind wheat really fine so that it is about the texture of white flour. She also sent me an awesome wheat bread recipe that I had made a few times before my life style change. So when I transitioned over to Clean Eating, I had plenty of wheat, an awesome grinder and a yummy recipe (that I only had to replace the sugar with honey to make it clean). This made the change so much easier for me. Imagine if I didn't have wheat or a grinder and had no experience baking with wheat. I think it may have felt much more like an uphill battle for me.

 I didn't cook much with rice before the change, but now we eat whole grain rice much more often. A little before the life style change my friend just happened to give me her old rice maker. I took it thinking I wouldn't use it much, but it might be nice to have anyway. Turns out I use it quite a bit and it has been so helpful to throw the rice in and run errands and know the whole grain rice is ready and waiting for us when we get home.

My Mom has been interested in healthy eating for a while and so for many occasions has given us some really pure and healthy cooking items. I already had in my pantry before the change, Organic Virgin Coconut oil, expensive Olive Oil and other vinegars. Of course those have all been used up and replaced many times, but it made it nice when trying a recipe for the first time to have these items already in my pantry.

Jeff has been very big into gardening for many years. The Fall before the transition I finally bought a canner and attempted canning tomato sauce for the first time. Jeff must have like that, because this year he tackled the task himself making a whole cupboard full of jars of clean tomato/spaghetti sauce that will last us until next fall. It has been nice to be able to make a quick an easy whole wheat pasta dinner with this very healthy sauce.

I feel very grateful that the ball was already rolling and things were set in place for me to begin this transition. I am certainly not saying that one would not be able to transition to healthier eating without the above things already in place. But possibly for me it would have been impossible. I really do not enjoy daily cooking and spending time in the kitchen. That was the big hindrance for years on cooking healthier. So when I finally made the change and realized I already had many of the tools that I needed, the transition was no where near as hard as I thought it would be. It was a smooth enough transition that I have been able to stick with it and not feel at all overburdened by it.

I am grateful for the knowledge of a loving Heavenly Father who is looking out for me. That when it was time for me to make a change, he not only let me know, but also had made sure the transition would not be too hard for me to accomplish. My experience has furthered strengthened my testimony of  a great scripture: 1 Nephi 3:7 "And it came to pass that I, Nephi, said unto my father: I will go and do the things which the Lord hath commanded, for I know that the Lord giveth no commandments unto the children of men, save he shall prepare a way for them that they may accomplish the thing which he commandeth them." 

I know the Lord prepared me in many ways to accomplish this change in my lifestyle prior to commanding me to make the change.  I am so grateful to my Heavenly Father for all of the guidance and help and preparation that I have been blessed with throughout my life.

Talent Show

Tonight was the Ward Talent Show. When I heard about it I knew I would not hear the end of it if I didn't let Aubrey perform in the show. My friend Rachel's dad is a song writer and wrote the most fun song. He was willing to play the guitar and sing while the girls were the background singers and dancers. I decided that would be something Brooke could do as well. I'm so glad I let her participate because she was soooooo excited about it all day. It's all she could talk about - she even set up all of her toys to be in a talent show. I thought Brooke might be a little shy on stage, but I found out that she is in fact an even bigger Ham then her sister! Anyway, they were completely darling in my very unbiased opinion!!

Here it is: Gonna Build me a Rainbow by Larry Krause

Could there be any cuter background singers and dancers?!

Enjoying every single minute of dancing on stage!!

Singing their little hearts out!

Brooke was the only one who remembered to bow at the end and then she didn't want to leave the stage!

 

 The "Rainbow Singers"

Sweet little sisters!

It was so much fun tonight, not only watching my girls but seeing all of the performers. Aubrey was mesmerized the entire time! Brooke liked it too, but got tired half way through. I always loved being in ward/stake shows when I was a kid and now it's even more fun watching my girls enjoy performing!

Whole Wheat & Clean French Bread

Last night I was making spaghetti for dinner and decided it was a must to have french bread to go with it. A few weeks ago I found a whole wheat french bread recipe online, but it didn't turn out that great. (Probably because it took hours with multiple rises and I didn't have enough time. So I took some short cuts and it didn't turn out so well!) Anyway, for years I've been making my Mom's really yummy white french bread recipe. I decided to convert it myself to a whole wheat and clean recipe, since I now know enough about clean eating to do so! It turned out absolutely divine and the house smelled delicious! The recipe makes 2 loaves, so one loaf I made into clean garlic toast to go with our spaghetti!

Whole Wheat & Clean French Bread

2 loaves

2 1/2 Cups Warm Water

2 Tbsp Yeast

2 Tbsp Honey

2 Tbsp Olive Oil

1 Tbsp Sea Salt

6 Cups Whole Wheat Flour 

(Consider using whole wheat pastry flour if you do not have a grinder that can grind the wheat really fine.)

1 Egg White

Sesame seeds (optional)

Dissolve yeast and honey in warm water. Let sit undisturbed for 10 minutes. Add oil, salt and 3 Cups of Flour. Mix well. Add the rest of the flour and mix well. Let rise for 10 min. and then punch it down. (Do this 6 times which makes a total of 1 hour rising, punching down every 10 min.) Roll into 2 long, thin loaves. (I just form the loaves with my hands covered in wheat flour.) Let rise for 30 min. covered with a towel. Carefully cut 3 slices on the top with a very sharp knife. If you are not careful your risen loaf will fall. Baste the top of each loaf with egg white. Sprinkle on sesame seeds if you like. Bake at 350 degrees for 25 to 30 min.

Clean Garlic Toast

1/4 Cup Olive Oil

1 Garlic Clove minced

1/4 Parmesan Cheese finely shredded

Mix all of the above ingredients in a small bowl. (I estimated the amounts because I did not measure when I made it. Add more garlic if you like a stronger garlic flavor - this version was more mild.) Slice your French Bread and baste each slice of bread with the mixture. Place on a baking sheet and bake in 400 degree oven until the cheese has melted. (I didn't time it, but I believe it was about 10 minutes.)