Some Real Cowgirl Boots and West Texas Style

So now that I am a Texan it is time to start dressing like one right? 

Rhinestone Jeans

Before you worry, rhinestone jeans shall never touch my butt. Just so so wrong. Here in West Texas pretty much anything goes because 1. Its hot, 2. Its hotter and 3. There are people from all over the country working the oil fields so the "Texas Fashion" gets diluted. I also live in a metropolitan area of 200,000 people so its not like I'm really all that country. So long story short I'm going to wear whatever I want and what Dillard's has on sale.

Mother/ Daughter New Cowgirl Boots 

That being said, I had to buy cowgirl boots because I needed them for a friend's wedding. We are wearing these navy blue lace dresses with boots.

This whole look was not made for my mother of two build, but we do what we need to do for our friends. Even if I never wear the dress again, I will wear the boots again. I got Ariat boots since they came highly recommend by everyone I talked to. Plus they were some of the cheapest I came across so win win. While out shopping I came across some kids boots on sale. Green Beans tried them on and wouldn't take them off. She had outgrown her Payless boots so I went ahead and got her some real leather boots. Turtles will be able to wear them next so I feel like it was worth the investment of $39. Plus they will look super cute with the outfits my mom picked out for Auntie MJ's Bonanza rehearsal dinner.

Poor Turtles will be wearing something other than boots since her foot is so hard to size.

Welcome to the Fred Flintstones Foot Club Turtles

Whole30 Day 15 (Halfway!)

So day 15 was pretty uneventful because I honestly forgot it was day 15. I would have lost track a long time ago had it not been for the blog.

Brekfast-Coffee, hard boiled egg and a pear
Lunch- Leftover Cod and Veggies
Dinner-Chicken Drumsticks with Italian seasoning and Broccoli with Ghee

Southern Meat and Three

I haven't closely read the reintroduction part of the It Starts With Food, so I need to do that in the next week. But yesterday on the Facebook page of Whole30 someone talked about how to end their Whole30. Like eat a special dinner with off limit foods.

This spurred a conversation between Husband and I what would we like to add back in when we are done. The only thing I could think of was dairy products like cheese, cream and butter on occasion. I don't really miss any of that but I really don't see me never making Alfredo sauce or wedge salad again. But for day to day operations I don't see much changing. I have the paleo cookbook Well Fed and there are plenty of recipes I haven't tried yet. Everything has been really good although I have been known to tweak the spices since I'm not as big on the Middle Eastern flavors. There are also several recipes in ISWF that I haven't tried. And there are 100s of blogs devoted to Whole30 meals. Chowstalker is a good place to start. So as I get the itch to make something new I'm sure I can find something that will satisfy the itch. My goal next week it to make some chicken salad with my homemade mayo.

Birmingham's O'Carr's Chicken Salad  (the best hands down)

The Lack of a Garden: What to Grow this Summer

HWY 176

Looks like a great place to garden no? There are 3 reasons I am not gardening this summer despite having a success last year

1. New environment 

2. Water

3.  My gardening expert is 2.5 hours away. 

Last year's sunflowers with squash in background

Since moving I have found that we are only 2.5 hours to the east but the conditions seem to be a bit more extreme. I'm used to the lack of rain, but the wind and the heat seem to be more intense. And the sun!  We are at the same elevation but the sun seems is be much more intense. I'm going to give it one summer before investing to much money into plants that will fail. I will also use the summer to map out where the best position for the pots will be. I'll need protection from the wind but need varying levels of sun. Something out of reach from little hands would also be appreciated.

New Mexico Sun

To Few Rainy Days

Water is hot topic here. We live in the middle of a desert that is having extreme drought conditions (along with wildfires). Top that off with exceptional population growth and there just isn't enough water. Our house doesn't have a drip system which is perfect for water conservation. We also don't have our own well which means we are subject to strict watering rules. Here in Texas neighbors are encouraged to report any abuse witnessed. There are hefty fines ("Any violation may result in a fine up to $500.") and there are surcharges attached to your water bill depending on your usage.  Our grass is a priority this year due to the kids wanting to dig up all the dirt in the back yard and dump it on the patio.

Sand/Dirt Patio Dump

I am also a very bad gardener. Had I not had help last year I'm pretty sure everything would have been under watered/over watered and died. Thanks to technology I have a camera phone and email but my expert just had a baby so I think she will be busy for the next few months.

My Role Model 

But I am not giving up completely on my budding green thumb. I have tried to do herbs in the past and the only thing that worked was rosemary and I cheated and got a baby plant from the nursery  It now has grown into a nice large plant and could be moved out of the pot into the ground since rosemary does well in dry climates. So here is what I will try:

1. Dill. I love fresh dill
2. Basil
3. Parsley
4. One cherry tomato plant (Green Beans can eat her weight in cherry tomatoes)

All that is left from last summer. Geranium, Lantana, and Rosemary.

My plan of attack to buy the herbs as baby plants and grow them inside the kitchen or on a stand on the patio. I'll also set the tomato plant behind our shed where it gets morning light and wind protection. I'll just have to use a watering can but I think I can commit to a few herbs and one tomato plant. I'll get a start after the May wedding of MJ and Esq. Can't leave my plants for 2 weeks!

Whole30 Day 14 and a Tarter Sauce Disaster

As far as Mondays go, this was a pretty good one. We all got out of the house and had a fun day and the cravings to cheat were pretty low. Green Beans and Turtles are starting to slowly change their eating habits too. They both were starving by the time I started to cook dinner and they were more than happy to sit there with me munching on raw bell peppers and tomato slices.

Breakfast-Eggs with Salsa and Coffee
Lunch-Leftover Hamburgers
Dinner-Lemon Dill Cod with Sauteed Squash, Bell Peppers and Onions

Leftover red pepper and Green Beans' baby doll in the kitchen

 Lemon Dill Cod

Cod 

EVOO 

Dill, Garlic Powder, Salt and Pepper

Fresh Lemon Juice

Put the Cod on a lined baking sheet, drizzle some EVOO over it, dust with dill, garlic powder, salt and pepper. Cook at 400 degrees for 22 minutes and then squeeze a lemon over the cod. You could also slice the lemon and cook on top of the cod, I just didn't want such a strong flavor but its good if you are in the mood for it.

 

Ready to go in the oven

Before I got the Cod ready to go, I diced up some onion and got it cooking in a pan. I then diced up yellow squash, zucchini and green and red bell peppers. After I put the Cod in the oven I added the squash and bell peppers in to the pan and cooked over medium heat until it was tender. It took about 20 minutes since the pan was so full so it all worked out perfectly. 

Finished Product

The Whole30 page on Facebook had posted a picture with Whole30 tarter sauce on it. Well I thought I would give it a try before I realized I didn't have half of the ingredients. So I then went on to try to make a dill sauce but it was an epic fail. It was so nasty and I didn't want to waste more spices by trying to fix it. Next time I will be better prepared and hopefully it will turn out better. But a nice creamy sauce on top of this cod would have been very satisfying and the extra fat would have made it more filling too. 

Fail

Whole30 Day 13

Sundays are always a little crazy trying to get everyone ready to go to church. We still choose sleep over breakfast but by the time we come home we are starving. Thankfully we had steak leftovers today and I just made a big batch of eggs with tomatoes. We finished the day out with some hamburger wraps.

Breakfast-Skip
Lunch-Eggs with tomatoes and leftover steak
Dinner-Hamburger Wraps

Husband sporting his new NASCAR shirt 

Whole30 Day 11 & 12, Beef and Broccoli, Strawberry Fields Cafe and Meat Market Steals

The post root canal haze is starting to lift and life is looking a little more bright. Or it could be because I ate 3 square meals today including two with red meat.

Day 11
Breakfast-I think it got skipped by both Whole30 parties.
Lunch-Husband had leftover wings and an orange. I had water and lortab.
Dinner-Beef and Broccoli with Onions


Day 12
Breakfast-Strawberry Banana Smoothies
Lunch-Leftover Beef and Broccoli
Dinner- Sirloin Steak with Sweet Potatoes

The dinner of Beef and Broccoli came around by accident. I had some cubed steak I was going to cook up with onions. I gave Husband a choice of frozen green beans or frozen broccoli and he wisely chose broccoli.

Beef and Broccoli

Cubed Steak

1 yellow Onion

1 bag of frozen Broccoli

Salt, Pepper and Garlic Powder 

I had a 3 pack of big cubed steak. Probably about 1 lb.  I set them out on the counter for 45 minutes before I was going to cook them. I rubbed them with sea salt and let them sit. After sitting for 45 minutes I sliced them into thin strips, sprinkled black pepper and garlic powder, and fried them in coconut oil. I also cooked an onion in another pan. It was soft but not caramelized throughout.  I cleaned out the cubed steak pan and put in a tablespoon of Ghee and tossed the steak and onions together. I then warmed up the broccoli and added a tablespoon of Ghee and tossed. I served separately but next time I will toss it altogether in the pan since it ended up that way on the plate. 

Strawberry Fields Cafe

 This is the 2nd healthfood store I go to in town. It has an organic cafe attached to it which serves really good food. They also have Whole30 compliant smoothies which are made of fruit, ice and 100% fruit juice. Now I know it isn't the best idea to eat an 8oz cup of concentrated fruit, but I figured the lack of intake from the tooth issues warranted at least one smoothie. I also had to share with two little girls so I'm not sure how much I actually got to ingest. It was enough to give me an energy boost to make it to the farmers market and Albertsons. 

Downtown Farmer's Market

(not today, but wanted to show set up)

I've been wanting to get down here the past few weekends so I was really excited to go today. As you can imagine there isn't a lot of produce for sale yet but I wanted to get the lay of the land. The best surprise of the day was there was a local rancher who sells grass fed beef  at market store prices! I didn't plan to buy anything but now that I know they are there, I plan on stopping back by. There are also green house tomatoes that looked great. I'm excited for the summer produce to start rolling over. If you are close to the Pecos Valley you must try Pecos Watermelons and Cantaloupe  They are the most amazing fruit. I really can't wait for those to come in towards the end of the summer.  

I do not normally like to shop at Albertsons but I had two girls who were about to lose patience with me shopping. HEB was going to take to long so we all ran in to grab a few things (EGGS!). We hit up the meat aisle and they were having a huge sale. I got 

1. Two family sized chicken leg packages on sale with an added in $3 dollars off. Making what was over $7, only $3. 
2. Two packs of pork chops, 50% off
3. Two packs of sirloin steaks, 50% off
4. 6 lbs hamburger $6 off

Overall we saved $43. Not to bad for an unplanned grocery store trip

Whole30 Day 10 and a Root Canal

I got a root canal! Half of one technically.  Normally someone might not be happy about that but after all the pain I have had I was more than happy to get rid of the nerve in that tooth. So yay! Hopefully I'll be back to eating raw veggies and meat in no time!

Breakfast-Apple but most of it was stolen by Trutles and Green Beans
Lunch-Leftover Quiche with Salsa on top
Dinner-Buffalo Wings and sauteed asparagus

Now I only cooked the wings, but Husband said they were really good. I forgot to take a picture because I was laying on the couch trying not to think about the pain in my mouth. We all know what wings look like so just use your imagination.

Ingredients: Aged Cayenne Red Peppers, Distilled Vinegar, Water, Salt, Natural Flavor and Garlic Powder

Buffalo Wing Sauce

1 cup Frank's Red Hot

2 T Coconut Oil

Mix in a sauce pan and simmer until it thickens (about the length it takes the chicken to cook). Pour Over Baked Chicken. 

I know I have put the recipe for this chicken before. So let me cut and paste for you just to make it easy. 

Chicken Drumstick Non-Spicy Rub

1 part Garlic powder (or crushed garlic)

1 part Onion Powder

1/2 part Salt

1 part Pepper

1-2 part Italian Seasoning (optional)

I rubbed the wings all over with EVOO and then tossed the seasoning on. I left off the Italian seasoning since I was doing wings. Baked at 400 degrees for 30 minutes. They turned out really nice and crispy. If you have a roasting pan or a rack for a cookie sheet I would use that. I can't wait to get one and try it out for even crispier baked wings!