SSS - Day 20

I have to post before I totally forget my day.

Breakfast - black coffee...that's it.

I was too busy working on a deep clean in the girls' room and a bit in my room as well.

Lunch:  Breakfast salads for everyone!

 

I added avocado to the baby's bowl. I think that made him happy. ;) 

Dinner: Warmed up the last of the Creamy Broccoli soup and had several romaine leaves stuffed with the last of the buffalo chickpea dip.  I also had about 2 peanut butter ball cookies (pb, raisins, flax seed, oats). 

I think I did munch a bit on the spicy peanut mix that was left on the table before dinner.

That was my day.  I missed my smoothie. I could and should have had more veggies.  But, man, when you spend over 2 hours cleaning your kitchen, you kinda don't want to spend MORE time in there making another mess. 

SSS - Day 21

BAH. 

I am not liking this day.

Breakfast: No time for smoothie, ate a green apple and half-caf coffee on the drive to church.

Lunch: salad bar at the grocery store. Which stunk. Lousy selection. Had to buy a bottle of dressing because what they had out was all junk.  Added some spicy peanut mix to the salad.

Dinner:  Buffalo chickpea dip with broccoli, carrot sticks, and tortilla chips. More spicy peanut mix.


Just a stinky day. I wasn't able to follow my SSS plan and it bummed me out. And, of all things, the scale was UP this morning. What the what??  Argh.


One bright spot: our local library has asked us to come back and share our plant-based family presentation again in March.  I'm excited that others are encouraged and eager to explore the benefits of making changes in their eating habits. 

And that helps me take a deep breath and remember, this is NOT about a scale. This is about a life of health, enjoyment, energy, healing, and serving well. 

Lord, forgive me for always getting so distracted with myself! This is about you. How to serve you well in ALL I do.

SSS - Day 22

GOOD. Day. :)

I really nailed it today when I could have easily crashed. 

Nothing available to make a breakfast I wanted before heading out for groceries this morning. I stopped for coffee but resisted the junk food I could have had to eat.

Got through my shopping a little over budget, but the carts were filled with greens and all the other good stuff for the week. 

After getting home, unloading, and unpacking, I was FAMISHED.  I knew I had to get choppin'.  I was SO excited to sit down to this giant bowl of deliciousness. :)

 

 

After a busy day, we had a late dinner and it was lovely.  We tried a new recipe: New England Glam Chowder.  Which, of course, is supposed to taste like a good ol' bowl of New England Clam Chowder. We skipped the nori, simply because I couldn't find any at the grocery store.

 

Personally, I think it's silly to name plant-based foods after a familiar food.  I mean, if you want to eat Clam Chowder, then eat Clam Chowder.  This was a silky, rich, flavorful chowder full of creamy goodness and perfect, chewy shitake mushrooms.  So good.  But, really, don't call something what it isn't. Call it Creamy Shitake Chowder or Melt in your Mouth Mushroom Soup or something like that.  Just be real. ;) 

I also made a Banana Split Smoothie for myself and a few others in the family to share.  The rest of the family enjoyed a new dessert: Maple Apple Blueberry Crumble.  Good stuff. :)

Even though I had a good day, I'll admit I'm feeling rather discouraged.  I stepped on the scale today and I'm pretty much where I was back in November.  My clothes aren't feeling looser. The scale isn't moving.  Sigh.  I don't know. I guess I was just hoping to see more result from the effort.

I suppose I need to stay focused on the other progress besides the physical.  I'm not battling headaches anymore like I was.  I've got a lot more energy these days.  I'm less emotional and moody.  And, well, that's actually pretty good considering we're in the thick of the dark and dreary winter days. 

SSS - Day 23

S  Breakfast was a smoothie....Slim Pickin's Smoothie. I'm running low on produce and almost completely out of frozen fruit.  So, in the blender went two oranges, the last of my frozen cherries, some frozen blueberries, a kiwi, pumpkin seeds, and water.  It was okay. I only drank half of what I normally would.

S  Lunch was a taco salad.


S  Dinner was a bowl of Three Bean and Lentil soup.  I did have some chips and salsa while hanging out with one of my girls tonight.  Nice treat on a Friday night after a good week.

I'm looking forward to getting groceries in the morning.  Especially since I really don't have much for breakfast until I do. 

I spent some time on the menu for next week. I printed off several new recipes to try for the week. Tomorrow will be a busy kitchen day doing some prep work. 

I sure am hoping to see some progress soon in losing the weight. I know I've started feeling a lot better. More energy, though I've been really tired at bedtime.  That's a good sign, though. I'm glad I've been able to fall asleep at a decent hour. 

I got my first pp cycle this week.  No cramping or discomfort, which is a relief.  I wonder how this shift in hormones will impact how my body is working right now.  I'm pretty certain it's the main reason I've been so sleepy this week.

I've also been working to decrease my decaf and increase the herbal tea.  I think that's also helping me get better sleep.  And, truthfully, as long as I've got a pretty cup full of something hot, I'm happy. :)

 

SSS - Day 24

Busy day. Full day.  Productive day.  Good day.

I got in all my goals.


S   Smoothie for breakfast.  I'm leaning toward the chocolate orange smoothie as my favorite these days.  I increased the orange since I was a little low on berries. (2 oranges, frozen strawberries, raw pumpkin seeds, cashew milk, cocoa powder, vanilla)


S   Salad for lunch. Just your basic, huge, lovely, crunchy, delicious breakfast salad.  I look forward to that bowl every day. :)


S   Soup for dinner.  I tried a new recipe tonight from my Vitamix recipe book, Acorn Squash Soup.  I didn't love it.  I served it over the leftover roasted radishes, sweet potatoes, and broccoli.  I still didn't love it.  I'm just not crazy about squash or the soups that are real sweet.  But, it was worth trying. :)

 

 

I'm not sure how tomorrow will play out. I'm out of frozen fruits and low on fresh fruit for smoothies.  Out of berries for breakfast salad.  I'll need some serious creativity to make it through to grocery day. 

 

I haven't been on the scale.  Still looking for a change in my clothing to make me want to see what those numbers might be.  I honestly don't want to see any numbers until they are in that next decade I'm aiming for.

 

David is finishing up his juice fast. He's down 10 pounds.  Amazing.  He's thinking to join me on my SSS plan now.  It'll be nice to have some company. 

SSS - Day 25

Another fantastic day for me, though I realized as I was heading to bed...I forgot the SOUP!! Argh!


S   Smoothie: Breakfast was a Banana Split Smoothie (cashew milk, frozen strawberries, raw pumpkin seeds, cocoa powder, ground flax, bananas, vanilla)


S    Salad:  Breakfast salad, a few carrots sticks and celery with peanut butter and a few raisins

 

 

S    Salad: Dinner was a bowl of chopped romaine topped with some leftover taco style lentils and rice and hot sauce.  I was heading out for a drive with my guy and needed a quick, grab-n-go meal to eat in the car. This worked!

But it just occurred to me that I didn't get in any SOUP today. Bummer!  But, really, it wouldn't have worked well at all to try to eat soup while cruising in the jeep. ;) 

Tomorrow will be CAH-RAZY so food is going to need to be SIMPLE.  I am pretty sure I can make that happen. :)

I'm tempted to try the scale tomorrow.  Probably won't, but it's starting to tempt me.

David is down another couple of pounds. He's pretty happy about that. He's trying to decide how long he wants to go with the juice fast. He is finishing day 5 tomorrow.

SSS - Day 26

Another good day.

S   Smoothie for breakfast. Yummy new one with kiwi and raw pumpkin seeds added.  I've been adding more seeds and nuts to my S's to help me not feel hungry between meals. It's working pretty well.

S  Salad for lunch. Breakfast salad, that is, with cocoa powder.  Mmmm, so good I'm craving another
one as I type. :D

S   Soup for dinner for me. :)  I reheated a huge bowl of Three Bean and Lentil soup for dinner.

I had a few roasted radishes with the soup. I've been dying to try cooked radishes ever since my friend told me about them this summer.  They are interesting. I want to try cooking them on the stove in vegetable broth and see if I like them better. They were okay. Not bad, not amazing. I've got two more packs in the fridge so I'll try them again this week. 

David is doing well on his juice fast. Three days down and he was down about 6 pounds this morning.

I'm drinking a large bottle of water tonight. I had a lot of decaf coffee today trying to keep warm.  The tea just wasn't doing the job for me.  I don't like that I'm drinking so much coffee these days. I know it's not my best choice. 

I'm looking forward to tomorrow. Feeling like seeing how creative I can be with my smoothie again.  Sure am having fun with my Vitamix.  Boy, do I love that machine. :)

SSS - Day 27

I did well today. Stuck to my plan. Even when I didn't want to. Even when I was STRESSED.  Even when that mac n' cheeze looked so good and, technically, a few bites wouldn't hurt because it really is made with some great ingredients...and, it's pretty hard to say no to such a lovely chef. ;)

But I stuck to my plan. :)

S  Smoothie for breakfast: cashew milk, orange, frozen strawberries, vanilla, cocoa powder, kale


S  Salad for lunch: head of romaine, roasted chickpeas, raisins, nut-based Italian dressing

 

Ss   Soup and Salad for dinner:  Creamy Broccoli soup, small salad with romaine, roasted chickpeas, raisins, and brown mustard

And fruit for dessert.  Frozen cherries dusted with cocoa powder.

Good eating day. I sipped herbal tea until this afternoon. I'm sipping decaf coffee now with my dessert.

Tomorrow should be easy to stick to the plan. I've got a fridge full of leftovers that make it easy.

Did I mention David is juicing? He started a juice fast yesterday.  He felt pretty awful yesterday but is much better today. 

SSS - Day 29 & 28

Day 29....

Smoothie for breakfast.
Spinach salad with roasted chickpeas and mandarin oranges for lunch.
I had a snack that afternoon.  It started as tortilla chips and salsa. Then a green apple. Then I loaded a lavash bread with  mustard.  Sigh. Binge snacking.
Dinner was a bowl of Vegetable Chowder.
Then my boy shared two of his chocolate filled oreos with me. *wince*

Day 28....

Feeling really frustrated today.  My clothes are NOT feeling loose. I know I haven't been on plan but I haven't been so OFF plan that my I shouldn't be seeing some kind of progress, right?

Breakfast was a smoothie.
Lunch was a bowl of Three Bean Lentil Soup.
Snacked on a green apple.
Dinner was a head of romaine leaves, some carrot sticks, three apple slices, and a serving of cookie dough hummus.

Today I ate well. Today was totally on plan. 

And I guess I'm deciding I need to just push for being totally strict in the coming weeks if I'm going to see any real progress.  Total SSS.  ONLY S for each meal. If I'm hungry, I add more raw veggies or a piece of fruit. 

And, well, it's time to figure out how to add in the exercise.  Not sure how it's going to work but I need to figure a way to add in something. 

Here's to a good start to a great new week.

SSS - Day 30

Okay, so not as great a day as I hoped. 

Breakfast was good....

Then I munched on roasted chickpeas through the morning during lessons.

Lunch...well.....

We ended up going out for lunch. I had a veggie burger with mushrooms and fries.  With some bread as an appetizer.  Total carb-fest.

Dinner I skipped.  But I did munch on a bowl of chopped romaine and some roasted chickpeas while watching a tv with my oldest.

Very little veggies.  Too much starch/grains, and salt.

Tomorrow I begin again. 

I'm glad for new beginnings.

SSS - Day 32 & 31

AHHHH!!!!

Man, I'm having a hard time keeping up. The last two days have been so nuts and so hard to keep up with.  I haven't had time to log my food but I also haven't been able to keep totally on plan.

Here's where I detoured. That's all I have time to report for now.

Last night for dinner we ordered pizza for the kids.  I planned to have a smoothie and reheat some soup.  I was able to get the smoothie made to take with me to my meeting but I didn't have time for the soup. So I caved and grabbed a half piece of pizza and the baby's crust.  Sigh.

Today I didn't pack a dinner to bring with us to karate. We stopped at the corner store and I got a coffee (with flavored creamer) and a bag of Cajun peanut mix to share. I also had a few pita chips that David got.  When we got home I made a sandwich with toast, romaine, and brown mustard. 

So, no soup for me today.  Bummer. I just wasn't hungry for soup tonight. 

I'm still working to stay on track, though.  I did skip all the snack foods at my meeting.  I did decide to come home to make a sandwich instead of going out for something at a restaurant tonight.  So, while I'm not making the *best* choices I am making choices that are good for the circumstances.  They are also much better choices than I've made in the previous weeks.

Okay, so, tomorrow is another new day. I'm almost done with this week. And, while I didn't rock it like I could have, I'm still on track and still determined to finish strong.  This will still be a good week. Simply because I'm progressing in building better habits.

SSS - Day 33

It's late. Here's a quick run-down of my day.

Breakfast: Smoothie (pom juice, swiss chard, mixed fruit, orange, lime, ground flax, water), big breakfast salad

Lunch: Out of romaine so a plate of baby spinach, cauliflower, carrots, and broccoli with hummus, mandarin oranges, pecans, pumpkin seeds, and a cup or so if Indian Spiced Lentils

 

For dinner I had a chickpea bean burger, mushrooms with green beans and peas, and a reheated bowl of Kole's Creamy Cauliflower soup.  

 

But BEFORE dinner I did munch on corn tortilla chips with salsa. I was hungry and, well, gave in to a bad habit of eating while waiting. 

 

AFTER dinner I also gave in and had two truffle chocolates with my husband.  Sad how one "giving in" leads so easily to another.

 

I will be happy that I did NOT have any concession foods at the movies tonight. :)

 

Long day. Another one coming tomorrow.  Need to get to bed and hope I get to sleep the whole night.

 

It could happen. ;)

SSS - Day 34

The tasty side of my day...in pictures!

Breakfast: Smoothie and a breakfast Salad (not pictured, but it was a big one. I didn't finish it until almost lunch time!)

 

Limes??? YES!!! Limes and pom juice in my smoothie?? Oh, the deliciousness! :D

 

Lunch: Taco Salad with a celery stick with peanut butter and carrot sticks and a bit of hummus

 



And my dinner on Pasta Night:  Minestrone Soup with broccoli, mushrooms, and a small salad. (the kids had their soup over elbow macaroni)

 

I attempted to make orange creamsicle sorbets tonight for dessert. They didn't turn out right. Tasted mostly like banana and it was too much liquid. Everyone loved it though. Except me. I'm not a fan of the actual taste of bananas.

 

 

After a few bites I gifted mine away.  It wasn't hard to do. ;)

 

Good day food-wise. I'm sipping some Sleepytime tea right now and hoping I'll actually be sleeping very soon.

 

Tomorrow I begin again.  Good thing I have such great food to look forward to. :)

SSS - Day 35

Started a new week! I don't feel like I was 100% last week and, even today, I was off plan a bit. But, I still got in all the SSS's and am determined to do well in the week ahead.  School is starting and, in a crazy way, I'm feeling like having this plan and controlling my food will help me face the scary days ahead. This term feels daunting. 

For breakfast I had a smoothie in a quart jar: cashew milk, frozen mixed fruit, Swiss chard, ground flax, vanilla, and an orange. 

At lunch I heated up some leftover cabbage soup, a corner of my 3yo's scone (ETL compliant), and then I enjoyed a whole wheat bagel with peanut butter and a decaf coffee with almond milk while out grocery shopping with my son.

For dinner I had a bowl of cole slaw (I'm pretty sure the recipe is on my tab at the top), an orange, and a handful or so of potato chips. (not ETL compliant. *eyeroll*)

Now I'm sipping some sleepytime tea and battling a fierce headache.  Not sure if it's a detox headache due to all the coffee I've been drinking lately or if it's because of the chips, but it's pounding.  Could be from the lack of sleep and water. I haven't been drinking enough water, that's for sure. 

Even though I've completed a week on this 6 week challenge, I'm not weighing in. I've decided I want to wait until I start to *feel* and notice changes in my body and clothing before I step on that scale. I don't want to defeat myself by seeing any scary numbers right now. ;)

Also, as I mentioned above, I'm not feeling like this week was "reward worthy". I did well, but I can do better. 

SSS - Day 37 & 36

Two days in one post! I got to bed late last night. I knew I needed sleep. ;)

Day 37 (Friday)

We headed out on New Year's Day to have some fun with friends. My morning was rushed packing gear, food and family so my breakfast had to be FAST.  I whipped up a DELICIOUS new smoothie creation. 

Frozen mixed fruit, frozen swiss chard, cocoa powder, an orange, vanilla, and cashew milk.  Oh my! I already knew chocolate and orange together were a lovely combination. But, well, this was simply Delight in a Jar.  And mobile too!

For lunch I had a wrap filled with a large helping of salad (romaine, carrots, broccoli, purple cabbage, roasted chickpeas, homemade ranch dressing), carrot sticks, a few corn chips, and some Buffalo Chickpea dip. 

While sipping my coffee, I also savored a lovely piece of dark chocolate my friend kindly shared with me. :)

At dinner I got to try those trendy new "Zoodles" that everyone is raving about.  You know, the "noodles" you make out of zucchini using a spiralizer?? Yeah, those.  Amazing! They really have the exact texture of a pasta noodle and don't even taste mushy like cooked zucchini usually does.  I was impressed. :)  I had mine topped with delicious spaghetti sauce. I also had another half plate of salad topped with our own Italian dressing and a bowl of my Cinnamon-Cocoa Chili. 

For dessert I made baked apples with blueberries but skipped having any. I'm not crazy about cooked apples but I was glad everyone else enjoyed them. :)

On the way home (long drive) we stopped for coffee. I had a bit of flavored creamer in mine and David and I shared a cookie. :)

All in all I was thrilled with the day.  Great fun, great food. No guilt. :D

Day 36:

Breakfast was my usual: Breakfast salad and a smoothie. I had a smaller serving of that same Chocolate-Orange yumminess using the same ingredients from the day before.  Breakfast salad was a pretty small bowl. I'm having less salad since I'm having a smoothie with it.

 

Lunch: Buffalo Chickpea salad with home made ranch dressing, and orange, and some leftover movie popcorn that David brought home. *ahem*

Dinner: Mushroom Barley Soup with Irish Soda Bread

For dessert I enjoyed frozen cherries topped with a dollop of this amazing Chocolate pudding made with avocado...bananas...and...mmmm.....peanut butter. :)

Rich and creamy, right?? NONE of my kiddos guessed it had avocado in it. Last time I made this, they turned their noses up. Tonight, they raved. :D 

 

The recipe is here.  My dd used date paste as a sweetener in it.

 

So, I know you all (I imagine there is a small army reading this every day. A VERY QUIET, small army ;) ) think I'm loopy for taking photos of my food.  Thing is, there are days when I wouldn't even remember what I ate if it weren't for these photos. 

 

Today was one of those days. :/

 

So, bring on the pics!  Besides, food this good is too pretty not to see. :D

SSS - Day 38

Breakfast was a good sized breakfast salad and a small glass of smoothie, same as yesterday.

For lunch I asked David to go out for a little quiet. It was nice. We go to a local diner and I order their home fries with spinach, mushrooms, and broccoli.  It's cooked with oil and lots of salt, but it's a great way to enjoy a meal out and still stay close to plan.

This is the little bit that was left on my plate when I remember I forgot to take a picture. ;)

For dinner I made a pot of Kole's Creamy Cauliflower Soup.  I added mushrooms and cut the onion in half. There is just no way I can imagine putting FOUR cups of onion in a pot of soup. And I replaced the tamari with Bragg's aminos cause that's what I had. 

I poured my soup over some roasted Brussels sprouts.  I also had a large plate of salad (romaine topped with raw broccoli, carrots, and seed-based Italian dressing. 

I have been snacking while we ring in the new year. We've got chips and buffalo chickpea dip and that's just too hard to resist.  I also had two date balls. 

I'm feeling awfully full tonight. Even more, I'm awfully tired.  I'm trying to stay up with my older kids but, man, I'm really feeling those midnight feedings tonight. 

Such is the life of a mom of many to love. ;)

SSS - Day 39

Breakfast was a medium breakfast salad and a small glass of smoothie (frozen grapes, melons, strawberries, ground flax, cashew milk, vanilla, and an orange) that I made for the children. They LOVED it. It was pretty good. Reminded me of an Orange Julius creation. :)

 

 

 

Lunch was two helpings of an amazingly simple and delicious new soup recipe my dd made today, Cream of Broccoli.  We added a can of navy beans to the blender while processing.

 

Really, it was so good I was afraid there wouldn't be leftovers. ;)

 

 

Dinner was a Double Bowl Delight! I made myself a salad of romaine, cauliflower, carrots, purple cabbage, raisins, raw pumpkin seeds, and stone ground mustard. I had that with a bowl of green beans sautéed with mushrooms, dried shallots, minced garlic, and vegetable broth.

 

I ate every bite. ;)

 

 

Almost forgot about dessert! Chocolate-Cherry Nice cream! (frozen bananas, frozen cherries, cocoa powder whipped in food processor)

 

So, this was fun today. A very special friend phoned me over the weekend and said she wanted to come and be a blessing to me this week. She offered to come and help me in the kitchen!! BFF!!!!

 

We worked on prepping some Soup Bags and Bean Bags for my freezer. Yep, more of those babies. They are one of my favorite time savers I ever thought up. 

 

We got to chopping, utilizing my food processor, and then set up the assembly line to fill bags. Easy peasy and really fun when you have someone to chat with while you do it. :)

 

 

And now I have a drawer of Ready to Dump bags of veggies for soup starters and G-Bomb beans.  Yay!

 

 



SSS- Day 40

Breakfast of Champions at my window seat: Chocolate Green Smoothie (frozen melon/grapes/strawberries, swiss chard, cocoa powder, cashew milk), decaf coffee

Lunch was a little late and I was HUNGRY.  Lovely salad of romaine, broccoli, corn, raisins, raw pumpkin seeds, stone ground mustard, and carrot sticks, orange for dessert

Dinner was supposed to be soup. David wanted to take me and our boys out so I picked Uno's Grill because they have a low-fat vegetable soup that I like.  I checked the menu because last time they were phasing it out. It was there, but then it wasn't. The store menu doesn't match the online menu and I was stuck. :/ 

I scrounged the menu and couldn't find anything I really wanted.  I ended up ordering their special of a salad and pizza. I had a ceasar salad, no cheese, dressing and croutons on the side and a 5 grain flatbread pizza with broccoli and mushrooms, no cheese.  It wasn't great.  Oh, I also had two onion rings for an appetizer.

So, when we got home one of my guys warmed up the leftover tomato soup for me. So, I'm happy because I was able to finish my day sticking to my SSS plan. :)  Thank you, dear boy.

 

Did I tell you how I made this soup? It's the recipe from the Vitamix recipe book for Tomato Onion soup, only I replaced the cheese with cashews and nutritional yeast.

 

I'm pretty bummed about dinner, but I did my best with what I had to choose from.  I'm feeling so great this week, though. So good to be back to eating normal again. 

SSS - Day 41

Food:

Brunch was a berry, kale, flax seed, cashew milk, cocoa powder smoothie and a smallish breakfast salad.

Dinner was a taco salad and a bowl of Tomato Onion soup made in my Vitamix. So cool!!  I also had some slices of pita and pita chips/crackers with hummus. 

We hosted a party tonight and I didn't do a very good job skipping the treats. I had a rice crispy treat and, later, had a couple of chocolates that a friend gifted to us.  Honestly, though, I don't feel guilty about enjoying them. Maybe I should but I'm just being thankful for the treat and moving on. 

Overall, I feel great about how the day went with eating. I loved my salad and smoothie at brunch and was pretty excited about how the soup turned out at dinner.  I want to adjust the flavor but I think it will be a good, quick go-to soup for crazy days. My guests and the family members that tried it also liked it.

We are getting snow tonight and all day tomorrow. Will be another great day for the SSS!!

The SSS Plan

Okay, so I think I've devised my plan for the next 6 Week Challenge.  I'm titling it, SSS.

Simple
Simple
Simple

Which translates to...

Smoothie
Salad
Soup

That's it. That's my daily plan for the next 6 weeks.  Bonus? I'll be using my Vitamix for nearly every meal. Yay, me. :)

I started well today. I had a simple smoothie made with a frozen mix of berries, cherries, and kale. I added some ground flax and used water to blend. 

My salad was lovely. Chopped romaine, purple cabbage, broccoli, and shredded carrots. I added sunflower seeds and raisins and topped it with a strawberry poppy seed dressing I made earlier this week.

(this was for myself and three of my girlies. In fact, I'm just realizing now I forgot to even eat my fruit with lunch. *oops* )

For dinner I mixed up a pot of Winter Lentil Vegetable soup. The recipe for that is on my Recipe Tab at the top of my blog.

I used my Vitamix to chop some of the veggies. I wanted to play with that feature.  It worked pretty well for the celery and onion but I wasn't crazy about how the carrots and cabbage turned out. I prefer the food processor or hand chopping for those.  But, it was still fun to try. 

And, even if the cuts weren't how I like them, the soup turned out beautiful.

 

Now that my kitchen work is done, I'm sitting with a cuppa and working on a new SSS menu plan for the week.  You can check that out here or click on the menu link on the left side bar.

I will still be serving other foods with the S...S...and...S...to make sure the fam has enough to fill their bellies. But I'm eager to try some new smoothie, dressing, and soup recipes throughout the week. I'm really excited about the soups, chowders, and stews. Perfect for the cold weather that is moving in. 

As for my reward, I need to check with upper management to see if I can make this happen, but, what I'd like to do is plan to enjoy 2 hours of ALONE time each Sunday afternoon.  I'm telling ya', I will work HARD to earn that each week. :D

So, that's my plan. Anyone else care to join me? It's going to be a crazy start to the new year. Activities will be starting up soon, new adventures await, and the Flu and Cold Season is already upon us.  I am eager to keep the basics Simple while still nourishing my body, mind, and soul with the best of the best!