Clean Eating

I read about clean eating a while back, but just recently researched it, and figured out what was all about.

Clean eating, in a nutshell, is eating REAL foods. No preservatives, no pre-packaged, no white flour, no words in the ingredient list that you cant recognize, etc. There are a few exceptions that I make, and I drink regular milk, and eat cheese. I think milk and cheese are "real", right?

I originally wanted to do a 7 day clean eating challenge, but quickly realized clean eating at every meal is a seriously hard challenge. So, I am going to eat 2 clean meals a day.

I have some pictures of my meals, but I have a phone that is just waiting for an upgrade, and I can't access the internet, or figure out a way to get the crappy pictures onto the internet! I'll have to see if the hubby's iphone can get my pictures on here.

My 2 favorite and effortless clean meals so far:::::

1) Grilled cod (cod in aluminum foil, with lemon juice and cilantro), brown rice with sauteed mushrooms and asparagus, and spices like parsley, oregano. This meal made me seriously full- and I didn't eat too much either. I guess clean eating is really good for you :)

2) Plain yogurt with frozen berries(thawed a bit), and cinnamon (helps raise metabolism), and honey (to make it a sweet treat).

ANNNNNDDDDD since my clean eating ( 1 week ago I started)- I have lost about 3 pounds! ((official weigh-in tomorrow morning)) But wow, who knew eating real foods would let you lose weight with out feeling hungry and diety all the time!

Homemade Laundry Detergent

I had been seeing posts on pinterest on how to make your own laundry detergent- so I decided I needed to try it!

 A few months ago (sometime around thanksgiving), I made my first batch and it has worked pretty well. We use the homemade for clothes, towels and bedding- pretty much everything. We have a front loading HE machine, and after about a month of using the homemade detergent, I noticed water building up in the tray where you put the detergent. I googled, and found out there is an ingredient in store detergent that cleans the lines, so once a week I do our work uniforms with the store bought detergent, and the lines get cleaned out. Since I started that, there has been no water left in the trays! Lines are clean!

The basis of the recipe is from the duggar family website((and I tweaked it a bit)).

You will need:::

Borax

Super Washing Soda

a bar of Fels-Naptha

and a bucket of some sort- that holds about 5 gals

Grate a little more than half of the fels-naptha bar (I used a cheese grater and it worked pretty well).

Put the grated fels-naptha in a pot along with 4 cups of water. Stir until the soap has dissolved.

Fill the bucket with about two gallons of hot water.

Add the dissolved fels naptha.

Add 1 cup of the super washing soda and a half cup of borax to the bucket.

Stir until dissolved.

Add warm water to fill up the bucket. Put a lid on her, and wait til the next morning!

The next morning it should be gelled.

 The easiest way I found to transfer is to stir the top layer, about two inches until its more liquidy((great term, I know)).

Then, fill up a container of somesort- old laundry container, or milk jug about a quarter full of water,

and then add the gelatinous mixture into the rest of the jug. I haven't had any luck using a funnel- so I fill my little jug over the big one, and just laddle the soap into the jug. It gets a bit messy, but everything that doesn't make it's way in the jug, just goes back into the bucket.

You're done! The hands on part only took about 40 minutes. So easy! And so cheap- about 1cent per load!

I normally wait a day to use the detergent that I just put in the jug, because it needs time to gel up again.

Then, shake the jug once or twice before you put it in the washing machine, and voila!!

Enjoy your laundry detergent for months! (my last batch lasted about 4 months) :)

Weight Loss

Two months ago I joined two of my friends Danielle and Danielle in a "Danielle Sandwich" weight-loss competition. One of the Danielle's and I joined Shape-Up Fitness Competition at the gym. I have been less than par on my motevation this week, or actually this month. I need to get back into "shape" for the summer. What does that even mean? The D's and I have decided that  "in-shape" to us, means bathing suit ready. Which I am defnitely far from. I am ready for the summer on the shore, and where there's boats and water, there's bikinis! EEEK!

Sooooo, in order to keep myself on track, I am going to weigh-loss update y'all every week.

This week, I am getting back on the drink-water train. For a while I had been drinking a gal of water every day, but slowly I started drinking less and less. Starting tomorrow (I know, I know- why not start now?, well its almost 5 pm and I don't think there's enuf time for all of that water!) Stay tuned for next week, when I let you know how I did!

10 weeks til June 1st- and a goal of 10 pounds to lose.

Here goes nuthin'!

My own little paradise

We've had a very warm winter this year- and while it is definitely welcome in my book- it is making me want spring or summer even more! Last year my parents bought a little vacation home on the Eastern Shore of Maryland, and its waterfront! I think about it, and dream about it ALL THE TIME!

Here's the view from our pier- with my pup enjoying the sunrise.

K and I were going to go down there this weekend, but it's supposed to rain... so we are postponing our little getaway. And I don't think Harlie(pup), is happy. She loves the shore, and the first thing she does is run to the pier.

She's lovin life on the boat.

Which reminds me- I need to buy her a legit doggie life jacket before boating season rolls around again....

Cakes

Since I wrote last I've been busy trying different kinds of cakes. I made my own margarita cupcakes from a recipe I thought up of in my head- but they turned out like a limey cornbread! Although, not bad.

My baby belly cake turned out great, although I would do a couple different things next time. This time I bought the fondant- but it was very tough to roll it out. It was heavy and hard. I found a super easy recipe for homemade fondant that I used for my second cake. It ended up only being marshmellows, a little bit of water- put in the microwave until they get big and puffy, and add in confectioners sugar until its no longer sticky.

I would also color the fondant before I put it on the cake- which I tried the second time around and it is easy- but if you are using a lot of different colors it is pretty time consuming.

I've been in a whirlwind of cake making- and I am going to stop making cakes for now- until I have a reason to make one. The belly cake was a practice- and I can do it so that's enough of that for now. I did a firefighter helmet cake for K for Valentines Day- and it was a few days late, and turned out LESS than perfect- but I finished it, and it tasted good! Homemade icing, and fondant included. But wow, it took me forever to finish!!! Next time I try this, IF I try it again, I will change the brim and make it bigger and thicker- but I ran out of this yellow fondant, and did not feel like making more. Plus K was ready to eat it and had the knife out and ready while I was taking these pics.

My dad coaches rec basketball, and has been for a while, even though my brother is in college and definitely too old to play the 13-15 league! But, his team ended their season and I think only lost one game. They had their annual pizza party- so I decided to make a basketball cake and a few cupcakes. I had 6 cupcakes until Harlie decided she was going to grab one off the counter :( The cake and cupcakes were from one box of funfetti cake batter. This was fun because the cupcakes had some fondant, but the basketball cake was just buttercream icing. And it really had to perfect my icing technique- which I really hadn't done before.

Now just waiting for the next holiday when I can make another cake. Off to another 2 week hobby, I'm sure!

Cakes

Yesterday I got a brilliant idea to make a pregnant belly cake for my friend's baby shower. So, I went on to amazon.com, bought some cake pans after researching which pans I should buy and then trying to find the best price. I ended up getting the wilton soccer ball pan for the "belly", and the wilton mini cake ball pan for the "boobies".

While they were in route from Arizona, I went to my local Michael's and really wanted to get started on something. I realized the belly cake will only feed about 10-15 people, so I am going to make cupcakes as well. Now, mind you, I haven't told the Grandmother-to-be, and host of the shower that I am doing this, because there always is a chance it won't work out and then I won't be making a cake for the shower.

I hit up our local Shoprite to grab some cake mixes- and yes, I'd like to try to make my own cake from "scratch", but not right now. I am watching what I eat, so I am going to get rid of these cupcakes to whoever will take them. But, I do want to see if I can decorate them well. First things first!

I will post some pictures when I figure out how this works :)

Very First Post!

I've been wanting to blog for a while now, although I am not sure who will be reading this, if anyone!

My name is Stefanie, and I have two week hobbies.

Now that my little secret is out in the open, I will start to share with you some random(and not so random) hobbies of mine. I seem to get really involved in something, but in approximately 2 week I get bored with it, or more excited about a new project that I end up ditching the old one.

I am not sure if I should be telling you all of this, because you might think I will be ditching this blog in 2 weeks. And I might. I make no promises. But, here goes nuthin'!