If I survive the day...

It will be thanks to the amazing juice I made last night. I have a sickness in me that's trying to fill my brain space and lungs with snot. But my juice is lifting my spirits and laying the "beet" down on my cold.

We use a basic Jack Lalanne juicer. And keep in mind I made 4 cups, and that's a lot.
3 whole stalks of celery
2 LG braeburn apples cores and all
5 carrots unpeeled
1 beet with stalk
1/4 lemon unpeeled, which I think should've been peeled.

Its beautiful and tart. Usually I add lots of greens, but I don't when I intend to save it overnight.

Final Review of Farrell's eXtreme Bodyshaping

I just finished 10 amazing weeks at Farrell's eXtreme Bodyshaping. I saw results, I feel better, I enjoyed every workout.
The basic set up was 6 days a week, alternating cardio and strength workouts. Cardio days were centered around kickboxing moves. And the strength workouts utilized resistance bands.

Check out the recaps of the first five weeks:
Week One
Week Two
Week Four
Week Five

I bet you're wondering why no reviews of weeks 6-10... Well, I got f-ing busy, so just assume they got progressively harder and I enjoyed them as equally (if not more) than the first 5 weeks.

My results were pretty good. At the end of the 10 weeks I worked off 5 inches (mostly from my gross c-section tummy). I improved my mile from 11:20 to 9:38. I went from 12 to 32 sit-up in a minute. And from 23 to 69 push-ups in a minute. I'm really proud of my mile time and my push ups. My weight went down like 6 lbs but my body fat % dropped like 4%!
People like lists, so I'll give you what I think are the Pros and the Cons of dropping like $400 on a 10 week program like this.

Pros

•  If you go you will see results. Plain and simple, you can't fail if you show up every day.
• It's like a family. Your class and your coach really make it about your success.
• the Coaches  are great. It's personal but not over bearing. And they use EMAIL! It's the 21st century, I'm glad someone is effectively using email to keep me motivated. 
• The strength training workouts are just as engaging and fun as the cardio. I didn't think they would be.
• a 45 minute workout is the PERFECT amount of time. It's gut busting, sweaty, and extreme. But then you look at the clock and you're 10 minutes to finished. 
• It's a group workout that isn't cheesy and it certainly isn't dancing.

Cons

• It's not easy to drop $360+ on anything you're not sure about.
• I was a bit younger than everyone else in the class, sometimes that is awkward for me (oh, I'm 28 BTW)
• The nutrition portion/regime was hard to follow as a breast feeding mother. I kind of wish it was more specific, too.
• My employer wouldn't reimburse me at all because it wasn't a monthly fee; like other gyms.
• oh, and current top 40 pop/dance tracks ALL THE TIME! Egghhhhh...

End summation-- If you want to change your self- Do it at Farrell's. You will love how you feel and you that's worth any cost.

Finished Farrell's 10 weeks, jumped right back into busy-ness

I have about 6 million great things to say and details to give about my 10 weeks doing Farrell's eXtreme Bodyshaping. But at this very moment, I'm busy. I've got tons to do, and I recently became addicted to Twitter-- (Follow me @CrunchieMom) .

Finally getting in the swing of Twitter

So y'all should follow me @CrunchieMom.

I find you totally Encapsulating... Fenugreek !

Milk supply is a big issue for me. I pump 3-4 times a day at work, and I'm just barely getting the 14 -15 ounces my baby needs for the next day. I'm not building up a freezer stash, and I'm fairly constantly stressed about it. This isn't healthy. I've been taking fenugreek for about a month now. 3 pills 3 times a day, and yes I've noticed some increases, but they don't seem to be consistent and don't last throughout the day. For example, I pump at 9am and get 5 ounces, then at my next two pumping sessions I'll only get 2.5-4 ounces each time. Adding in a 2am pumping and a 4am pumping will always help me cover the spread, but that's stressful- getting up 3 times a night for a baby that actually only wakes once!

The 100 pill bottles last a little over a week. $7.99 a bottle, means that I'm spending roughly $25 a month, minimum. I'm too cheap to not seek out an alternative that doesn't involve as much packaging, and all that crunchy biz.

I came to the conclusion that making my own fenugreek capsules was the way to go. Usually I'm a compulsive Googler of process and theory. But this time I just kind of jumped in. Bought a package of capsules, filled up a bag of bulk ground fenugreek, and brought it all home. Total I spent like $6 and I think I'm set for a while.

My Process
I spoon some out onto a plate. I use a little butter spreader to tap in the powder, then i repeat with the other side of the capsule. I admit, it's not scientific. I'm not measuring or weighing..

Fairly simple stuff.

Seitan- The Wheat Meat, 1000 possibilites

Fake meats creep me out. My husband's vegan sausages, meat crumbles, and chick'n nuggets are all gag inducing. Oddly enough, I've found seitan to be palatable. We've tried a few different brands and styles. So far, I like chicken style strips the best; Westsoy strips to be exact. The problem is, I'm a Googler, which means I found like a gagillion recipes and uses for seitan.

Seitan Recipe

• 1 cup vital wheat gluten
• 2 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1 tsp onion powder
• 3/4 cup of any vegan broth (I used vegan chicken broth)
• 6 cups of vegan broth + 1/4 cup soy sauce for boiling the seitan

Mix all ingredients

Let it rest for a few minutes, then knead the dough for about 2 minutes. The Internet told me to let it rest again for about 15 minutes then knead again. I didn't.

I pressed it as flat as I could then cut it into strips about 2 1/2 inches long.

Boil the strips/chunks/loaf in the 6 cups of broth for about 45 minutes to an hour. It'll expand quite a bit, so go extra on the sauce.

After an hour, pour it out into a colander in the sink. Kind of press it out. Don't go crazy with the pressure, but give it a good squeeze.

I stored mine in a ziploc bag in the crisper drawer.

Failed Cookie cups with Oreo Filling

The theory was good, the imaginary taste was amazing- the reality was not so perfect. But, it's still worth tell you about. Maybe you can take this idea and make it work.

• 1 bag oreos
• 8oz cream cheese
• tube of sugar cookies
• muffin pan

I put the whole bag of Oreos and cream cheese in a food processor, ran it until it was fine. I bake the cookies in the muffin pan at 350 degrees for 13 minutes.. The cookies actually turned out alright. I was going to pipe the cookie mix into the cookies all cute like. But the mixture was WAY to thick. I think a half tub of Cool Whip mixed in might have been needed.

Oh the joys of Halloween

This is our first Halloween that she cares about. I'm excited to are if she has the courage to ask strangers for candy. 

Vegan Lactation Cookies

I've been making lactation cookies for myself for the last few weeks. I feel like they give me a little boost throughout the day. My poor vegan husband looked at my cookie jar longingly and with sad puppy eyes. So this time around I decided to make the few changes to make them vegan friendly.

Vegan Lactation Cookies

1 C soy butter
3/4 C sugar
3/4 C brown sugar
4 Tbsp water
3 Tbsp flaxseed meal

3 tsp Egg Replacer mixed with 5 Tbsp water
2 tsp vanilla
3 C whole wheat flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
3 C Thick cut oats
2 C Chocolate chips (box of dates, raisins, toffee chips, butterscotch chips, etc)
2-4 T Brewers Yeast or Nutritional Yeast

                                               

1.   Preheat to 375  degrees
2.   Mix water and flax seed meal in small bowl and set aside.
3.   In large bowl cream butter and sugars
4.   Add Egg Replacer mix and Vanilla; mix well
5.   Sift together flour, baking soda, yeast, and salt- mix into creamed butter and sugar
6.  Fold in oats and chocolate chips
7.   Scoop medium size balls on well sprayed cookie sheets, kind of squish them down a little.
8.   Bake for 9-11 minutes.

Vegan Apple Butter- Slow Cooker heaven

Tonight I canned some apple butter. It's like a 24 hour process, but so simple and completely worth the wait.
Yes, apple butter is inheirently vegan- but labels are important.

• 5 1/2 lbs apples  (I use winesap or honeycrisp)
• 2 1/2-4 cups sugar
• 1c apple cider vinegar
• 1 1/2 c apple cider/apple juice/water
• palm full of cinnamon
• quarter size of ground cloves
• nickel size salt

1. Peel, core, finely chop the apple.
2. Toss all ingredients in a crock pot; it may be too tall for the lid but it'll go down after a few hours.
3. Cook on high for about two hours, stir occasionally (stir occasionally throughout the entire cooking process)
4. Turn down to low and let it cook for 15-24 hours. You'll know it's done when it's a deep brown and holds its form. It should have lost all of it's loose liquid.
5. The more you stir or whisk, the smoother it will be. I like mine pretty smooth. 

I canned mine, filling about 4 pint jars.  But Tupperware and freezing it is also an option. Don't be afraid to go heavier or lighter with the cloves and cinnamon, it's all about personal taste.
We picked our own apples this year at the Arbor Day Farm in Nebraska City. It was fun, we got to take the girls on a hayrack ride. And the fresh apples only cost us $1.50 a pound.

The itti bitti awesomeness

I've had one itti bitti in my stash for quite a while now. It was a door prize at my favorite diaper store's grand opening (Top To Bottom Baby Boutique). I got one bitti tutto and a pack of the ultimate wipes in a luxury wet bag.

For about 2 months it seemed like the odd ball in my stash, the novelty amongst solid go to diapers. But in the last month or so I've really come to love it. I haven't had any leaks. It dries quickly. And once I YouTube'd the snap configurations- I love the soaker options it gives me. I even use it at night with no issues.

I really appreciate that it is so slim and good for my taller baby. The minky outer is nice, it's not vital to anything but who doesn't love soft fuzzy fabric? The feature I REALLY appreciate about my bitti tutto is the snap spacing. Some diaper snaps are horribly spaced and the cross over snaps never match up right.  This diaper has perfect snap spacing.

Obviously- I reccomend these diapers.
I love the wipes too. Super soft. My only complaint- they are a little too big. Oh my only other complaint- the wet bag doesn't have any kind of loop, handle, or strap.

Half Way Done, 5 Week Testing at Farrell's

This is fabulous week 5 of my 10 week program at Farrell's eXtreme Body Shaping. We did initial testing during week one, we do this mid way testing, and again at the end of ten weeks.

I improved on EVERYTHING (except weight). I'm 100% confident that my measurements and strength more than justify the static weight. My stats thus far, are as follows:

Weight	185	185
Body Fat %	33.6%	33.0%
Push Ups	20	57
Sit-ups	9	20
Mile Run	11:19	10:29

So, as you can see- I've gotten faster, stronger, and more flexible. This first 5 weeks has gone by so quickly. I love my 5am class. I love that it's loud and full and even entertaining.

Farrell's mid week 5

Today Was 1 of those cardio day Where you work your ass off I love it. Now my arms are killing but I can't wait to get on with my day.
I should apologize for the odd capital letter placement. I'm actually doing this from my car with speech to text. It may sound dangerous and dumb. But I'm a busy mother and I have no free time except in my car.

I'm really excited about 5 weeks testing I know that I've gotten stronger I'm really excited to see if I've lost any inches. But even if I haven't I feel fantastic everyday!  We're doing sit ups and pushups during the week. And on saturday we run the mile.

Speaking of the mile. I'm doing the beer and bagel run at quarry oaks on November 9th. I had convinced a few buddies to run with me. We'll see if they actually do. It's 4 miles if golf course, and after are the aforementioned bagels and beer.

Week 4 Farrell's eXtreme Bodyshaping Recap

Week 4 has been tough.
 We introduced several new exercises and started doing drop sets (6 reps, 8 reps, 12 reps- each one getting faster).
I did end up missing one class (no way I was getting out of bed). So I did a make up class at 6:30 pm. It had a totally different vibe, very mellow. End of the day classes are not for me. I need the big class at 5am- I LOVE my 5am buds

I haven't lost any weight. That might surprise you, but it's not a big deal for me. I know I feel stronger. I can tell my push-ups are better, I can actually do sit ups, and my planking kicks ass. So the weight will come off, right now I'm super excited to be getting stronger.

I'm getting pretty excited about the 5 week testing. Seeing if I've made any progress, well- I know I've improved I just want to know how much. I am totally drinking the cool-aid at this point. I think this is the way to get fit, stay fit, and live a happier life.

Nipple Jar

There are some ideas I am more proud of than others. This one is one of my favorites. It serves multiple purposes. I hate having missing, odd little bits lying around. Bottles are a big hassle to clean and keep all together. My solution was to toss the caps, nipples, and flat tops into a jar in the window sill. Sunlight is amazing, so why not? That's when inspiration hit....

1. A little dish soap, warm water, and a splash of vinegar. 
2. Shake or agitate with a bottle cleaner
3. drain, refill, drain
4. dump out on a towel to dry

Saga of a terrible mother? Or tales of ultimate momming?

Tonight my dinner choice was sloppy Joe nachos and green beans. Was I clever and managed to work in veggies, whole grains, and lean protein --- or was it feeding my child carnival food because I'm lazy? 

Week 2 of Farrell's Extreme Body Shaping.

First of all, I'm loving it. I get pushed to work harder than I've ever worked.

Cardio/Kickboxing in week 2 was much the same as week one, just that I knew the lingo better. I felt like the exercises moved pretty quickly so that you were tired and working hard, but not drilling away at the same thing all the time. Being on the mat (when your partner is doing the kickboxing bag) is the real killer. I've never before worked like that before. My planking (the real kind not the YouTube kind) is getting WAY better. And I even did real full sit ups the other day. My day 1 testing, I only managed 4 full sit ups with someone holding my feet. Now I can knock out two sets of 16  pretty decently.

So I am seeing improvement. I haven't lost any weight, but I certainly feel stronger and I can see a little change in my muscles.

The strength training is also GREAT. I was worried it would be tedious and dull. How could anything compare to kickboxing, right? Well, dull it is not. It's a challenge every time and I work up the same sweat I do on cardio days. It's not easy and it's up to you to really push yourself to level 10. There bands we use are color coded yellow to purple... Well in week 2 I've started uping my bands to green (one above yellow)!

The nutrition is still my weak spot. I'm improving.... Aren't we all though? Seriously though, I'm trying to balance a moderately vegetarian diet (with NO success) and a breast feeding diet- toss in trying to get 14-17g Protein and 30g Carbs per meal-- 6 times a day! Lets just say, I'm improving and striving for more protein and fewer carbs.

I apologize for not having pictures--Vegan Monkey Bread

Let me just start by saying I did something naughty in my pants after my first bite... It was that fucking good....

I stole this recipe from a very wonder blog, featuring some sweet recipes. I veganized it with soy butter and tofu cream cheese- but that was all.. I am going to forward you to FoodThoughtsOfaChefWannabe's recipe for Monkey Bread.

When you've made it yourself you can thank me. I took some into work today, let desk neighbor try it- I think she died a little and went to cream cheese frosting heaven.

But like I said, it's basically vegan except for the butter and cream cheese. And those are very easy switches.. My husband made me swear to not let him eat anymore (this was at 10:30 last night). His will power for my kitchen prowess was weakened by the ewwwwy goooey goodness.

Week 1 of Farrell's

Week one was many things- none of them were disappointing.
The format is Cardio/kickboxing MWF and resistance strength training TTHS. A lot of this week was establishing a working vocab and understanding of the exercises. Although, that doesn't mean we took tons of time with form. Saturday there was an extra "techniques" class- that my daughter's soccer game prevented me from attending.

I am in the 5am class, which I really dig. There early but then the rest of the day is ahead of me and there's no big dreaded workout looming over me all day. I like the cardio kick boxing a little better than the strength days, not because they are any easier but because I like learning new 'moves'. Their big thing is working out at your level 10, which is as hard as you an go for each exercise. I definitely felt level 10 on my strength days, felt is like a slap in the face.... I didn't know I was so weak, well I did know I just didn't have to feel it for a very long time. The intensity level of the instructors was perfect for me. Intense but fun loving. They want to be there and like what they're doing, but they aren't super buzzed or in your face yelling.

Now, where I did struggle was nutrition. Don't we all? Yes, I struggled but didn't fail. This week I really focused on increasing the protein and decreasing the carbs. I tried to eat 6 times a day with mostly success. I did pretty well about logging everything I ate, it was just recording the carbs and protein that I slacked on. But, I plan on improving in this area too. It's all about awareness and improvement for me.

I'm really looking forward to week 2. I am looking to improve the quality and quantity of my crunches and sit ups, as 3 c-sections have left me flabby and with no muscles in my abdomen. I'm going to do more green bands on the strength days (that's the next harder band in the world of resistance bands). And I can't wait to have more of the moves incorporated into the work outs.

My only complaint- The classes are supposed to be 45 minutes. And each one has gone a little over. Throwing off my 'home by 6' plan of getting 2 girls ready each morning and out the door by 7:30. I'm sure it's the first week explanations that are making us go over. Hopefully that will change.

Fluff again!

On my way to the most exciting diaper consignment sale of the year. Fluff Again is on the UNO campus, check it out!  Today we are looking for medium sized fluff of all types

Tip for keeping large amounts of rice

My love for Indian food, and my vegan husband means we go through a lot of rice. Buying from the bulk bins helps manage that cost. I got tired of those flimsy produce bags breaking, and my rice spilling all over the floor.  
My solution: a big juice pitcher from Walmart. The cereal saver things were too big to fit in my cupboard, the juice pitcher was a bit stouter and therefore perfect. Plus it means I can buy LOTS more than I could before.