clean and strong

Well friends. We're doing it. We started Monday and it was not as hard as I had expected. Sure there were some moments of weakness, but I didn't give in. Because the result will be worth it: Clean and Strong. That is the motto for May. To let you know how serious we are, Abby and I are using the bathtub and bicep emoticons to encourage each other this month - get it? Clean and Strong :) We're proud.

So what is this journey we are taking? In a very small way, it is a journey back to the basics - away from processed foods and toward healthier living. No dairy. No meat. No white flour. No alcohol. No sugar (well except fruit). Similar to The Daniel Fast but with a few changes of my own. For about 2 milliseconds, I thought about enforcing the "No coffee" rule and then I laughed and decided I would just drink it black and see how it goes (it's going well, thank you). We are using few spices and seasonings and working to enjoy food the way it is naturally. I'm not gonna lie - I did grocery shop at Walmart this week for my fruits and vegetables, but it was 10:30 on Sunday night and let me just tell you that the shopping options were limited...
Enter Lesson #1: Planning ahead. Eeeesh. I know I'm not a great meal planner, but the last few days have shown some serious needs for improvement in this area. For the last (little ish) while, I gave up planning ahead and decided that running through Taco Bueno or Chick-fil-A was going to have to do. Doing this every once in awhile is great - I am definitely not anti-fast food, but I want it to be the exception, not the rule. So I will be training myself to plan. (Yes, Ali, I will be taking any advice you have to offer, oh wise and thrifty meal planner extraordinaire...)

Growing up, my mom always said that it takes 21 days to form a habit. So that's what we're doing: Changing our habits. For 21 days, we are simplifying and refocusing and fasting. We are learning and hopefully these lessons will stick (ish - I'm not hoping to become crazy - just smart. And clean and strong :)
I guess really this all started because of reading Jen Hatmaker's book, 7. I love the way this book is written: She is not saying that everyone should do her "experiment", but she is encouraging people to look at their lives and see where they've missed the point or gotten off track. Basically her 7 experiment was to focus on a different area for each month of 7 months and fast and dig deep to the root of all of the excess. For example, during food month, she only ate 7 different foods; then in stress month, she paused 7 times each day to pray; during clothing month, she only wore 7 items of clothing and so on. The book is convicting and hilarious and absolutely not judgmental or pointing fingers. She admits we're all apart of the never ending cycle of more until we stop it. I so appreciate her take on all of this. So, when Abby asked if I wanted to simplify for a little bit, I easily said yes...
Today it's fine. Tomorrow maybe, maybe not :)
But there will be grace and encouragement along the way...

jar salad caution

So I found a great pin on Pinterest a few weeks ago: Jar Salad. Jar Salad! How has this never been invented before?! Am I right??? The idea is so simple and looked like it would really ease the stress of work week lunches so I jumped on board. I made four jar salads on Monday evening for the week. Typically I do not re-use recipes. I make things one time and then move on to others. Of course there will always be the defaults: spaghetti, burrito bowl, roasted vegetables, but most of my recipes are one hit wonders and never appear on stage again. And not because I don't enjoy cooking them or because they are just too big of a pain, but mostly because I just don't want to do it again. The jar salads, however, would be different. I decided that this was a genius way to pack lunch for the week once and then not have to think about it. I got all my ingredients together, made quinoa (I know, impressive) and the whole process took less than 30 minutes. I was so pleased. And my jars were so pretty! LOOK!

So I went on my merry way to work on Tuesday and loved lunch. It was so easy and cute and fun. And it tasted great! The dressing goes in the very bottom (point being it doesn't touch the lettuce until you are ready to eat it) so it didn't get wilty or anything. Gold Star for this recipe :) And clearly, I enjoyed it...

But then the week happened and it was a busy week for all of us. I brought the salad on Wednesday and Thursday and even Friday. Yay me! Gold Star for Katie :) On Friday, however, the salad looked... well... different. And I was concerned so decided that I just couldn't eat the salad again. I'm sure it would have been fine and I'm sure this is not because of my extreme concern with food going bad or my despise of leftovers, but something was happening to the onions throughout the week as they sat in the dressing and it was not pretty. The beautiful salads I had made had turned questionable at best and I just couldn't.
So I threw it away :( I think maybe the oil in the fridge was a problem too... The only word I can think to use is that it was congealing... (ew. insert medical mask emoticon here).

I still think you should try this method. Maybe without dressing in it? Or maybe only making 2-3 jars at a time. Don't go nuts like I did... Use Caution- with food prep, it'll be one of your best allies...