"My game, my castle, my rules!"

So, I think my family is starting to get used to our new lifestyle changes!!  Every week I'm trying something new on a culinary level and trying to spend more quality time with my loved ones.  My kids are becoming more accepting of the food put in front of them - granted there is still some grimacing and squirming, but in the end they eat it and realize things aren't all that bad after all!  Case in point - brussel sprouts!  Yes, brussel sprouts, my "mini cabbages" made a return appearance on Wednesday night accompanying a lovely salmon!  Every last morsel of brussel sprouts was ingested!  (I didn't even need to insert an evil laugh here!!).

John called me from work the next day to tell me that he went out for lunch, and I can't remember what he ordered for his main dish, but the vegetable that was served with it was.....none other than our new family friend, the brussel sprout!!!  (I may actually insert more of a cackle here instead of an evil laugh!!!)  How funny is that - and he ate them all willingly!!!  That's karma baby!!!

Thursday night, we had homemade pizzas again (dough and all!!!).  Afterwards I went to Leigh's house to stamp some cards with my friends.  Leigh's daughter made us a chocolate cake that was wheat free and delicious!  Instead of wheat, it was made with chick peas of all things!  I have never bought a chick pea before, but I'm thinking I may in the future!  Both Leigh and Kelly have recently cut wheat out of their diet with great results.  Kelly recommended a book called "Wheat Belly".  I thought it might be worth a read since a few years ago I had some blood allergy testing done with a Naturopath and wheat was one of my many dietary intolerances.  The truth of the matter is that people can find something negative to say about nearly any food item.  But, I'm on a mission for health and taking no prisoners!

Friday night I made another new concoction - Chicken Parmesan Burgers!  Yummy!!!  Instead of buying frozen, processed and likely precooked chicken burgers, I used ground chicken and added some finely chopped mushrooms and chives, then added a dash each of cilantro and oregano.  I also added a splosh of Worcestershire sauce and barely a pinch of salt.  I then formed the mixture into patties and added them to the frying pan in a bit of sesame oil.

 
Once they were browned on each side and cooked through, I topped them with mozzarella cheese.  Once the cheese melted, I added the burger to a roll and added some heated organic Pomodoro sauce.  They were super delicious!! 

My kids were skeptical at first since it didn't look like the chicken burgers they've been accustomed to.  None of them added the sauce to theirs which is part of what makes them taste so good!  But, as Lionel tells King George (Bertie) at the beginning of their session in "The King's Speech", "My  game, my castle, my rules!" - I'm buying the food, cooking the food, and they will eat the food!!   The rest of the night I spent working on a cake order for a baby shower and chauffeuring my son and his friend to Youth Group at our church.

It was an early start on Saturday morning to take Jake to his 8 am soccer game.  Afterwards, I went to Curves and I am proud to say that I'm holding strong at 149 lbs!  I even tried some Zumba while I was there - but I feel I am too uncoordinated to do it effectively!  Jake is my middle child and he tends to suffer from what has been labelled as "Middle Child Syndrome" from time to time, where he doesn't feel like he fits in.  He's been really good lately and we thought it was time for some of what we call "special time" with him!  He wanted John and I to take him to see the movie "Frankenweenie" and go to McDonald's for dinner.    I literally deflated upon hearing his preference for McDonald's!  I behaved though and ordered a spicy Thai salad and a water to drink.  I'm not going to lie to you, I did have some of John's french fries - but I refrained from ordering my own.  Especially since I was planning on having a treat at the movie theatre.   When we got to the theatre, I ordered just a small Coke and agreed that I would just have some popcorn out of John's bag which worked out fine.  I waited for him to eat all the popcorn at the top that had most of the butter on it.  I normally don't care for 3D movies but "Frankenweenie" was a great family flick and we all had a great time.  After the movie, we went to Indigo to look at books and that's when I picked up my copy of "Wheat Belly".

This morning, we went to church and can I just say, that I am really loving life right now.  When you take care of yourself physically, mentally and spiritually - it just makes you feel full and happy!  Following church, we braved the cold rain and headed to the country to pick pumpkins for Hallowe'en!  We bought a couple of fruit pies as well.  And to top it off, I finally got a chance to sit down today and watch my new movie, "The King's Speech".  It was even better than I remembered it!  I had to pause it to go to my soccer game this afternoon and John wanted me to turn the TV off so that the image didn't burn onto the screen in my absence....um, John - I really don't have a problem with an image of Colin Firth permanently burned onto the TV screen!!!  I mean, what if there was a power outage?  I could still be motivated just by looking at the inanimate screen!  By the way, we won our soccer game 3-1!  When I got back home and showered, I started on tonight's dinner.  We had pork chops and a broccoli/rice dish I made for the first time.  This veggie dish called for broccoli, rice, mayo, olive oil, yogurt, chives and ranch dressing (which I have never had before) and I made a homemade version.  Not bad! 



After dinner, we all played a game of Skip Bo and then put the kids to bed - well 2/3 anyways!  My oldest, Matthew is a baseball fanatic and stayed up late to watch the World Series game.  Once the two little ones were in bed, I came down to recommence my viewing of Colin!!!  He truly is a phenomenal actor!

Hallowe'en is on Wednesday and the loot the kids bring home will be gravely tempting I'm sure so I'll need to unearth some will power this week!  On the plus side, I'm looking forward to some Shepherd's pie for dinner tomorrow night (Kristen's fave!) and brewing some of Jackie's delectable Cinderella soup!!!

Goodnight Colin!! "However this turns out, I don't know how to thank you for what you've done!"