Sweet Potato Black Bean Enchilada Bowl Vegan and Candida Diet friendly

As you saw from my previous post I've had to change up how I cook at home. The hubby and our oldest have some diet restrictions now and doing separate meals is just NOT an option for this family/mom.

This was a creation I made out of desperation and hunger. Hope you enjoy it as much as we did!!

Vegan, Candida diet, Gluten Free, nut free, dairy free

Ingredients:

Brown Rice (as much as you want to make for your family, left overs are good too)

Enchilada inners:

• 4 large sweet potatoes peeled and chopped small
• 2 TBSP olive or coconut oil
• 1 large red onion
• 2 bell peppers chopped
• 4 cloves of garlic
• salt and pepper to taste
• 2 can black beans drained
• 1 small can of enchilada sauce
• 1 can diced tomatoes
• 2 TBSP lime juice
• 2 tsp chili powder (or less if the kids are eating it)
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 1 tsp salt

What to do:

Brown rice takes FOREVER! So start that now, I made 3 cups dry for my family but you can make however much you think you need.

While the rice is cooking start on the enchilada 'guts'. With this recipe you will see that what is normally on the inside of the enchilada is now being put on top of the brown rice when you are all down. The tortilla is not needed, this is just as good if not better.

Put the sweet potatoes in a pan with water just covering them. Bring it to a boil, reduce the heat to medium and simmer for 5min or till the are fork-tender. Drain those and put them on the side.

In a larger pan heat the oil over medium heat. Add the onion, garlic and bell pepper. Saute till onions are tender and bell pepper is softer too.

Add in your salt and pepper and your black beans. Then add in enchilada sauce and stir around till its coated. Then add in the tomatoes, lime juice, chili powder, cumin and salt.

Pour you self a bowl of rice then add in the topping you just made. TADA! Enjoy!!! Add avocado if you like as well

Google Project Fi vs. Republic Wireless

What does this have to do with Running? Being Vegan? Nothing... but being a mom of 3 I'm always looking for a chance to save $$.

Just for the record Google Project Fi and Republic Wireless did NOT pay me for any of this.

VS

First the background, we had phone service with Republic Wireless, two lines for over 1 year. So I felt like this is a good fair review of both services.

Republic Wireless, a great little company that has grown bigger over time caught my attention when they first started a couple years ago (2011). I waited to be in beta testing but never got in, but once it was open to the public we jumped right in. They had a great promise and great deals.

The Phones
The only catch was you had to buy a phone meant specifically for them. So that meant our old Galaxy S3's were not going to transfer over. Once I did some hunting I found a used republic Wireless Moto X 1st Generation on eBay. It was way less then buying it brand new through Republic Wireless themselves. Still at this time they only let us use Moto G, Moto E and Moto X.

The Service
Signing up was very painless and the prices couldn't be beat! At the time their plans cost us about $25 with all the taxes and fees for 1 gig of cell data and unlimited talking and texting, as well as unlimited Wi-Fi data.
They slowly changed it to refunding us for data we didn't use, which was also a great win and our bills varied from $20 to $25 every month. My husband and I both had lines with them.

The Bad
Slowly over time. My hope in them having seamless service from Wi-Fi to cell and cell to Wi-Fi slowly began to die. I kept hoping that with every update it would get better. I contacted customer service multiple times about trying to fix it and no matter what I did, nothing worked. I kept holding off waiting for the newest Android OS update thinking that would fix it. But I began to feel like it was a carrot dangling in front of a horse.

At first it didn't bother me too much, but as time went on and nothing improved I started hunting for new service. I felt like I was being a traitor!! But the delayed calling issue was the last straw for us. When you would hit send for a call it would take you back to the main menu and act like your call was not happening, after you would try again and again it eventually would send all the calls at once and you would have chaos as well as busy signals! My phone would freeze up and I couldn't end one call only all of them and the process would have to start over.

Again Republic Wireless said it was something they are working on but couldn't fix just yet. The last straw came when we had a minor emergency and I needed to call a tow truck as well as our car insurance company and my husband to arrange for him to get towed. The frustration built as my calls would not go through to my husband he was waiting on the side of the road, as well as calls coming in that we're getting dropped as I was running around the house going from cell to Wi-Fi. Once that issue was clear. We decided we had had it. Time to find a new provider.

Google project Fi

I had heard rumors of Google starting their own cell service and was instantly tempted to find out more. Once I did research and signed up to be on the waiting list I had lost all hope of be able to be a tester. It sounded like exactly what Republic was, but Google powered. But when our experience with Republic Wireless started going downhill I got an email from Google project by inviting us to join.

The Phones
You have to get specific phones but not so proprietary like Republic Wireless. Google wants you to get either a Nexus 5 X, Nexus 6 or Nexus 6 P. All of which could be brought over from other carriers. So finding one on ebay or craigslist was a breeze. You can buy them brand new from Google but being as cheap as I am I didn't want to spend that kind of money, so eBay was my answer. I got a Nexus 6 for under $200.

The Service
We have currently only switched my line over to Google and my husband currently has Republic. But my experience with Google has been amazing! Project Fi is able to do what Republic wants to do but can't seem to figure out how. They definitely have the seamless Wi-Fi to cell hand over, that Republic wishes they had. No configurations on my phone, no contacting customer support, just pop in the SIM card and you're good to go. I've had projects Fi for 1 month now and love it! I wish I had switched over sooner. I'm actually using less data with project Fi, I'm not sure if it's because the Wi-Fi radio inside the phones is stronger or it's just a better phone, but either way less data means less money. To me its almost as if the phones from Republic are to 'slow' to do what they need them to do.

With Project Fi they refund you any unused data as well just like Republic. It's a base $20 unlimited talk and text and unlimited Wi-Fi for data and $10 for one gig on top of that. With last months bill I used .7 gigs and they refunded me for the unused portion they put the credit on the following month's bill.

While both services have their pros and cons my experience with Google Project Fi has been excellent! They have done in a few months what Republic has taken years to figure out how to do. I'm all about supporting the little guy but when it comes to having reliable phone service in case of emergencies it's worth a couple more dollars every month to have that.


If you have any questions about either service feel free to ask!!

Candida Diet and Being Vegan

In this house we eat healthy or so I thought... I buy organic when we can afford it, whole grains, no processed foods etc. But when the hubby starts feeling tired all the time, feeling 'fuzzy' in the brain, and a load of other symptoms, then its time to call someone. There is a local natural doctor that came highly recommended so off we went to him. The diagnosis? Candida and to much of it!!!!

If you have ever read much about candida you can see we all have in in our systems, but to much of something isn't good. My hubby had an over load of it! So much so that his adrenals were shot and thyroid too. That explained why he was tired and fuzzy in the head for sure. So what to do?

The doctor gave him some drops to help kill it off but he had to change his diet. Woah... what now? We eat healthy! So I'm sure this was not a big deal.... but it was.
He had to get rid of some main things: Soy, sugar, peanuts, dairy and starch. There was a huge list he gave us of can and can't foods, I was at a loss. All my great recipes and menu planning for the week went out the window. (Side note: I am the vegan one he will eat vegan most of the time but will eat meat when we go out to dinner. But since I cook all the meals he essentially is vegan by association :)

Soy was a shocker to me, no tofu??? I love my tofu scramble and tofu in my Indian dishes. What now?? Substitute for beans or lentils, ok for the Indian food or other recipes but the tofu scramble was just gone. He was eating eggs instead and since they came from a local farm that was better then no eggs at all for him.

Sugar, it is in EVERYTHING!!! Really people?!!?!? A jar of tomato sauce, SUGAR. Pita chips, SUGAR. Crackers, SUGAR. Almond butter, SUGAR. And the list goes on....  I read labels before but this was crazy. It make me realize how much sugar we are ingesting and don't even know it. Its scary. My shopping trips were longer and more expensive then ever.

Peanuts, this was new to me. I was buying 2 giant jars of the beloved stuff at BJ's every 2 weeks and it was gone often times before that. Now he can't have it at all, no shakes with it, nothin! Why? They have a fungus. Did you know that? I didn't! So now we had to buy Almond Butter. It was way more then the peanut butter but if it helped the overall health of the family then I consider it an investment.

Dairy, not a problem! We never had cheese or milk products in the house anyways so this was a no brainer.

Starch, no white rice or potatoes or starchy/yeast filled breads. This was tough.... All my bakery fresh bread I bought became a no no. Now we are spending $5 a loaf on Ezekiel bread or food for life bread. There was no option. Brown rice was already in the house so that was not a big deal. I love my potatoes tho!!! Oh french fries how I have weakness for you! The poor hubby was now banned from the deep fried goodness.

In the middle of all this happening our oldest son (5.5yrs old) started throwing up on a regular basis, not the stomach flu I thought it was. It would come and go, he felt nauseous almost all the time. We were constantly on alert for him to vomit and never knew what kind of day we would have. It was frustrating for him and us and we didn't want to see our poor guy so miserable. He was skinny enough, thank his genes from me and his dad for that, so this was not helping that. After doing a food diary I realized it was a food allergy. But to what?? We took him to the same natural doctor that the hubby went to and he did some allergy testing on him. The conclusion? He was allergic to DAIRY and APPLES. Go figure!!! He told us to get him on pro-biotics and to kick out the dairy and apples in his diet. As well as limiting his sugar and peanut intake. Poor guy he loved his mac and cheese and his apples and peanut butter. So it looked like the whole family should just be on the Candida diet.

What has been the result? 
Hubby has never felt better! He has so much energy now and comes home ready to play with the kids instead of wanting to take a nap. His mood has improved and over all it was worth every penny.

Our oldest is back to his normal self, no throwing up and not a bit of nausea. Again worth the visits to the doctor and worth the diet changes.

I find the grocery bill to have changed but not so much that it breaks the bank, I am finding ways to get the things we need cheaper by buying online.

Since I do the cooking and making separate meals for the family is so much work I have just switched us all over to a candida type diet but vegan version. Can it be done? YES! All you need is to think 'substitutions'. "How can I change this recipe to match the candida diet?" You will see in my coming recipe posts the way I changed the recipe to be candida diet friendly. If you have any questions about any of this leave me a message below :)

Running Postpartum: How to get back without hurting yourself

Every time I have a baby I feel like I start back at level 0 with running and exercise. Let me start by saying that I may not be the model of the typical "I just had a baby and can't lose the baby weight". For the most part my body bounces back pretty quickly with all 3 kids so far. So this is NOT about weight loss, this is more about getting my stride back and getting my routine back and regaining my running muscles back and restrengthening my core.

Lets be real here for a moment, women's bodies are amazing, they take 10 months (40 weeks) to grow and support another human life, your organs shift and take new places, your rib cage expands, your core muscles separate and you then give birth to this new life. So if you don't feel like you can go running 5 days postpartum, THAT IS OK!

Then once we have had the baby we are healing a wound inside us the size of a dinner plate. Yes I see you measuring that with your hands right now. Oh and we are then feeding this new little life with the milk we are producing. So our bodies are doing a lot!! Here are my tips on running postpartum.

Be easy on yourself!

Don't feel like you HAVE to get back to running, go back when you know you are ready. If you want to wait till your 6 week visit with your midwife or doctor to make sure you don't have diastasis recti, that might be wise. Any damage you do is harder to repair as opposed to just waiting for your body to recover. 

Enjoy the 'baby moon'

Your little squishy baby is only a newborn for a few weeks, you can't get that time back. The pavement will always be there, your running shoes aren't going to wither away. But your newborn baby will be little and need you for such a short time, enjoy it!! Cuddle, nurse, sleep and be a mom. Running can wait. 

Find your core...its in there somewhere

Strengthen your core muscles before you lace up your shoes. Your pelvic floor and core muscles have been through  A LOT! They need some help going back into place, some good tips on that can be found here. 

Do a plank everyday for just 1 minute a day to help regain your core. There are a TON of other exercises to do, but start out small. If the baby is napping you can plank for a minute, then do whatever you wanted to do. Sleep, eat, take a shower... ahh the simple things in life...

You know.. squat!
For those pelvic floor muscles, I love the quote from Ina May Gaskin “Squat 300 times a day, you’re going to give birth quickly.” 
So true!!! Granted you already gave birth by this point, what she is saying it build up those pelvic muscles and they will do their job. Post birth we can't see them like we can our flabby stomach or stretch marks on our thighs. But the are so very important!! You don't want to worry about running and realizing you can't control your bladder, or worse.

A great article I found on squats and how to do them propperly is here

Stop Doing Kegels: Real Pelvic Floor Advice For Women (and Men)

So, don't be intimidated by those moms who go running at 5 days postpartum, they are not you! You only have this baby once enjoy it. When you do go back to running take the baby in the stroller or leave them with dad, up to you! Just make sure your core and pelvic floor are tightened then hit that pavement with the confidence that you just gave birth to a baby so you can do anything!!!

Homeschooling with a toddler and a newborn

Yes you read that right! I am homeschooling our oldest who turned 5 in May and have my 3yr old underfoot and a newborn baby. Recipe for crazy? Maybe...

The good thing about all this is that I am not the first one to do this, other moms have done it and will do it in the future. And guess what? They lived! Granted the timing of having a newborn and it be the first year I start homeschool is not ideal, but we will make it work. I really loved reading about Raising Arrows experience on her blog, this lady is a pro! 8 kids and homeschools them all! I got some great ideas from her.

You may be asking:

How??
We have a relaxing 'life is school' approach to school. Can you imagine having a five year old sit at a desk all day everyday and be asked to do book work? That is a recipe for disaster! As we all know boys have a ton of energy, asking them to bottle it up all day in our mind just seems stressful for the parents and torture for the child.

We do a lot of hands on activity work for the oldest. For example: we did a day at the local park brought frisbees, balls, excetera.. and while we were there we did some exploring. We found two snakeskins, cicatia shell and a ton of other bugs. Allowed them to touch, question and investigate these on their own, Science. We estimated the length of the snake skin and then measured it for real to see if their estimation was correct, Math.
When we got home we pulled out our animal encyclopedia and looked up all the things we found, Reading.
Watch videos online about snakes shedding their skin and that concluded our school day. Stressful? No! Educational? Yes!

We do some book work and hand writing too but I try to make it as enjoyable as possible for all. Along with that we use Reading Eggs for the 5yr old and ABC Mouse for the 3yr old.

But when the oldest is working on something that he can do on his own, like writing words or Reading Eggs. I focus on the younger one, maybe doing a puzzle or having him paint.

Keeping a 3yr old busy:
The busy box was one of the best ideas I saw! It's a collection of things that the younger kids can play with and keep busy with while I help the older one. This special box is only pulled out when it's school time, he thinks of it as his school box.
He also is learning how to write and read at the moment. I find that we can combine learning like they did in the days of the one room 'school house'. More on that later too...

The newborn:
We all know new babies sleep alot, I think it's a way to help the moms get used to managing the new dynamics in their family :) I wear the baby in a wrap or sling when I can. As he is getting bigger I can put him on a play mat in the school room too. There have been many days I'm nursing the baby while doing school! Hey its a science lesson!

We bake:
I like to cook if you could not tell.. Baking is my first love in the kitchen though. Once a week I do a baking project with the kids. They have to read the ingredients, follow the directions, measure, mix and I put it in the oven. I will be sharing those recipes soon....
I make them help with clean up too ;)
One day we measured everything in metric!! Talk about a well rounded education.

Why?
Why do we homeschool? This is strictly our thinking so please don't be offended if you don't share this thought. We are the parents, who better to teach them. We know them best, how they learn, what they like, what would motivate them. We constantly learn new things everyday, so do they. That is school, life is school. As they get older we will be adding  more structure into the school day,  making it longer if need be. But basically filling in where they need help and helping them excell in what they love.

And my favorite question...
"What about socializing?" 
We do! I promise!! These kids are far from socially awkward. We do play dates, have friends and do our ministry work too. So they get exposure to ones older and younger, knowing how to talk and interact with ones of various ages is important.
We also have a local homeschool group that we do field trips with. It's a large group of families that at least once a month we get together and do an educational field trip. They get to associate with ones that are older and younger than them in that group as well. Plus being able to be part of a school group and all wear matching t-shirts makes them feel special :)

Is homeschool for everyone?  No. But it works great for us and maybe will for you as well.

Review of Vegan Richa's Indian Kitchen by Richa Hingle

Review of Vegan Richa's Indian Kitchen by Richa Hingle

Let me just say first off that no one 'gave' me this book or was I funded to write this review, this is purely my own investment of funds to get it.

First the look: A very comfortable book, I loved the pictures and how inviting it was. I liked how each recipe was marked with a 'GF' for Gluten Free and 'E' for Easy, etc.... I of course went to the 'E' ones first on my first recipes that I tried out. It is a very comfortable and not pretentious at all.

The food: I have been looking for a Vegan Indian Cookbook for some time, but the idea of curry everything was a but much for my husband. I quickly learned that 'real' Indian cooking does NOT involve those jars of curry! The list of spices I would need are neatly found in the front of the book as well as list of other ingredients that would be good to have. Very convenient for when I went to the Indian store, walked in and handed them the page and said "I need these please". Most of those spices I dared not pronounce. Side note... 3 huge grocery bags full of spices only cost me $60!!

Mali Kofta

The recipes: I decided to try out 6 varying recipes and made sure they all were marked with a green 'E' for easy. I was pleasantly surprised at how easy they truly were! Most of the recipes in this book are just one page long for instructions and the ingredients list. Being a busy mom of 3 kids this was right up my alley, simple, delicious and healthy food for my family and in under an hour. All of the recipes I tried out came out fantastic! Her level of spices were just right, not to much and not to little. I think the true Indian spices made all the difference too. 
I liked how she suggested substitutions for ingredients too, that helped out a lot for days when I ran out of Tofu or other things. 

Indian Pot Pie

 Our family loves Indian food and eating it out all the time would make us go broke! But this book makes anyone happy to stay home and eat Indian whenever they want. If you have been looking for an Indian food cookbook and you are vegan then get this cookbook! You will be licking the Mango Curry off your lips before you know it and come back looking for more. 

The tale of our OP home water birth baby (AKA baby #3)

I have been MIA for a while I know... but its all with good reason. We had our newest little one August 19th 2015. So here is his birth story and some pictures as well..... baby #3 was truly a different birth that is for sure, as you will see...

It all started the day before with a visit to our midwife Kaleen, from Tree of Life Birth Center. I was 39 weeks 3 days and so so ready for this baby to come. I had been trying to walk him out, since running was off the table. Spicy food, pressure points, chiropractor visits to make sure he was in line. Yet... nothing... I would get some strong contractions but nothing that stayed. This was my longest pregnancy too and my 5 foot 3inch frame was getting tired of the extra 30lbs I had put on. The other boys came at 38 weeks 6 days and 38 weeks 1 day, so to me this was torture. His head was hitting my pubic bone and I knew it! Every step was like a bowling ball hitting my pubic bone and it was getting to me, I. Had. Enough. So when we went on the Tuesday to visit Kaleen she asked if I wanted to be checked. I told her "Normally I say wait and the baby will come when he is ready, but yes go for it!"
Very quickly she started to chuckle "His head is RIGHT THERE! +1 station and 3cm." "Oh good!!" I said, "So anything we can do to speed this up?" She offered to sweep the membranes a little, this was not painful so I don't think it was as bad as everyone makes it sound. But she just did a little sweep and told me to go home rest and call her when it was time.

So we went home, and waited.... and waited.... and waited.... she send me a text that night around 6pm "Anything?". "Nope nothing significant" I replied, More waiting. I sent a text to a friend that had just had her baby a few days before and had her midwife do the same thing. "How long till you went into labor after you saw your midwife?" "about 3 hrs" she said. Here I am 6hrs later and nothing!!! Come on baby!!!

After dinner at my parents we went home, by the time we were going to bed I was getting uncomfortable and had some lower back pain. But nothing that made me think I was in real labor. So I was tossing and turning all night, but deep down I knew this was the beginnings of labor but I wasn't ready yet. My sister had to drive 2hrs to get here, it was 1 AM and I wanted to just sleep, nothing seemed lined up for this baby to come tonight. So I got my headphones, sat on the couch and listened some relaxing magazine articles and fell asleep. I woke up at 3am still with the back pain, and just tried to lay down or sleep on the couch recliner and wait to see what happened. Thankfully I fell back asleep till 6:30AM and woke up knowing this was it. It was a feeling of relief and excitement and joy that we would finally meet this baby, and soon. Bring it on!!

I told my husband that this was it and we are a go! He called my dad who he was going to work with that day and told him change of plans, baby is coming. I called my sister who for once in her life had a dead battery on her phone. Timing huh? So once I called her hubby's phone I told her "you may want to head on out here, this seems to be happening". They thankfully had bags packed weeks ago so they headed over on their 2hr trip. My labors before had a good record of being quick! So the need for speed was a real thing for them!!

The next phone call was to my midwife, who thankfully lived only 10-15 minutes away. She quickly dropped her kids off at school and came over. Once she got here I was sitting on an exercise ball to help the labor not come on as quickly, the moment I stood up or walked around all I could do was stop and focus on the pressure. So sitting it was. Kaleen checked for baby's position while I sat there. "I feel legs and knees, I think this is an OP baby" she said. OP means his back is against my back and not butt sticking out towards the front, the whole pregnancy he was in 'perfect position' with butt out and now you go and change?? She assured me he will come out either way so no need to worry about it. I quickly got on hands and knees to see if gravity would bring him around. But in looking back I think it was to late, I was in full on labor, he was in position and head was beyond engaged. But can't blame a girl for trying :)

My other boys were in 'butt out' position the for their birth, so with baby #3 he decided to be different. But it also explains why I was  having back pain! Back labor! Hello!!

My hubby got the tub blown up and ready before the midwife got here and once she was here I could hear the water going in while I labored on the ball in the living room. Once my mom and dad got here I was just getting in the tub. My sister was stuck in traffic! The major highway was shut down! Of all the days!!!! I tried not to let it bother me and just went into labor mode. Mind you this whole time I was talking and fine between contractions and was starting to doubt myself if this was really it. It was not that bad at all! I was eating, drinking, laughing and talking, like it was no big deal! There came a point though that a 'serious get down to business' hat came on and this was a go. My sister finally got there in time for me to really push.

With the last 2 labors I was able to 'breathe' the baby down and out. No real big pushing till maybe the last bit with the head. So I was doing the same thing for this one... but nothing was happening. I changed to hands and knees, tried again... nothing. Squatting... nothing. What is going on?? I remember asking at one point "Can you see the head yet?" "No, not yet." My midwife replied. What?!?! 

Thank goodness I had a history with my midwife and she knew me and how I normally labor and deliver. This one was going to be different, a tougher baby, and she knew it. After my unsuccessful changing of positions and nothing happening. She suggested I lean back on my hubby and pull my knees to my chest. That sounded so uncomfortable! But if it got him out and going then lets try it. His head needed to go under my pubic bone, all this time I had felt him hitting it but not going under. So he needed some direction on where to go. Once I got into the new position he was coming! My bag of waters were bulging and to get things moving my midwife offered to pop them with her fingers. Pop! All the fluid was clean! Good lets keep going. 

The pushing I had to do was the hardest I've ever had. I had those horrible thoughts run through my head 'He is not coming out' 'You will need to be transferred' ... I told all those negative thoughts to jump off a bridge!! Instead I told myself "you have done this before, you can do it again" "Your body was made to do this" "Trust your instincts". And I'm glad I listened to my positive thoughts! The crazy pushes and intense pressure was like nothing I'd had before. But I knew it was worth it. 

He came out facing up! OP baby for sure! It was head, forehead, face, and then he shot out facing up the whole way. Never turned or moved from that position at all! The crazy part was that with OP babies the widest part of their head it was comes out first, not the top crown of the head like most babies. I have a history of big kids too, he was no different, 14.5 inch head, 14 in chest, 9lbs and 22 inches long. This was NOT a small baby. No wonder he was a tough guy to get out! An hour of pushing total, but he came in 30min from the bag of waters being broken. 4 hours of labor total. My longest labor and longest pushing phase too. 

He came out crying and alert too! A beautiful baby boy covered in vernix and a nice little indentation on his forehead of where he kept hitting my pubic bone. It went away quickly though. We are so happy he is here and healthy :) He latched on right away and hasn't stopped eating since.