Heat Wave!

Hello from 100+ degree temps!  Yep, that’s right, here in South Carolina, we are pushing 106 today (110 heat index)!  It’s pretty crazy to be experiencing these temperatures in June.  Usually this is more like July weather! 

Summer brings the heat, but it also brings lots of fun outdoor activities.  Check out what I got:

a bike! 

I’ve actually been wanting a bike for a while.  Since I posted a picture of me on my new bike on my Facebook page, I have gotten a lot of questions about whether I am thinking about doing a triathlon.  To tell you the truth… I am not sure.  I don’t know if I am ready.  But I am thinking about it.  I have been doing a lot of swimming lately, which I have really enjoyed. It’s something to think about!  For now… I just want to enjoy riding!  You really don’t notice the heat when the wind is blowing around you on a bike.  The only down side is… if you haven’t sat on a bike in 20 years—your butt has to be broken in.  :/

Speaking of swimming, this morning I was able to do my lap swim outdoors for a change. 

(Note: that’s not my stuff by the pool there.  I don’t use any special equipment like kickboards, fins, snorkels, or those mitt things.  It’s just me, the swim cap, and goggles.)

It was nice during the rest breaks to be outside in the sunshine!  I’ve been swimming at our Aquatic Center, which is indoors, but this morning I did my laps at the gym’s outdoor pool.  The only part I didn’t like was how much shallower the pool outside is.  I don’t know why that bothered me.  Weird.  I guess I like swimming in deeper water.  And I never thought I would say it, but I like the feel of the cold pool.  (At the aquatic center, there is a warm pool which is used for family swim and water aerobics, and there is a cold pool used for swim team and lap swim.)

Lately, I have been trying to build up my speed and endurance while swimming.  I’ve been watching YouTube videos to learn better swimming techniques.  You really can learn anything on YouTube!  Here are some of the ones I have watched recently:

It may make me a total dork, but I love watching that video.  I hope one day I can learn how to do Total Immersion Freestyle.  Doesn’t it look so peaceful and smooth?

In this next video, he breaks down some of what happens in TI Freestyle.

My favorite swimming stroke has always been Breaststroke, but I think I haven’t always been doing it perfectly.  I am working on my form.

So there you have it… a look at what I’ve been doing lately. 

Readers: Do you like to swim?  What’s your favorite place to swim?  Do you have a favorite stroke?

What I Ate Wednesday

Happy hump day!  I hope your day is off to a great start!  Exciting news… I am going to be joining up with Jenn over at Peas and Crayons on her “What I Ate Wednesdays” Shenanigans!

Every Wednesday, Jenn and loads of other bloggers show off what they’ve been eating.  I’m excited to show you what I ate yesterday because it was full of deliciousness!

I started the day off with this amazing frittata!

Just between you and me, I may have eaten this off of fine china because I didn’t feel like unloading the dishwasher.

I saw this frittata here on Everyday Paleo.  As soon as I saw it, I knew I had to make it.  I was a little unsure of the sweet potatoes, but it was perfect!  Seriously, make this tomorrow morning for your family.  I had lots of leftovers, so this morning I get to enjoy it again!  (I also think it would make a great post-work-out snack!

Lunch yesterday was very colorful!  So colorful, in fact, that I am thinking about starting another weekly feature soon that you can also get involved in!  More on that soon!

Lunch included Paleo Chili (no beans) topped with avocado, a fresh peach from our CSA box (so sweet and amazingly delicious!), and a salad with romaine, green olives, baby heirloom tomatoes, avocado, and more!

Summer veggies are so great!  I love living in South Carolina where we have amazing peaches!  By the way, if you are wondering about what a CSA is, we had some discussion about this on my Facebook page.  Go here to check it out.

Want to make my Paleo chili?  Go here and find out how!  This is so simple!

And dinner… oh dinner.  It was a disaster… sort-of.  I have been wanting to make Paleo Pad Thai for quite awhile.  I underestimated the amount of prep work involved here.  Have you ever tried to keep up with someone who runs (or walks) much faster than you?  You feel like you’re trying to catch up the whole time.  That was me cooking this meal.  Constantly looking at the recipe and going, “Oh shucks!*”  I forgot to chop up the ____ (insert any ingredient on the list here)!”  I was thinking to myself, “This is going to be a flipping* disaster.”  But… in the end… it actually turned out pretty good. 

*it’s possible that a curse different word was actually used in these situations.

I’ll probably make this again. 

In about 5 years.

Just kidding.

Nope, not kidding.  It will probably be 5 years before I do this again.

So there you have it!  That’s what I ate on Wednesday!  If you’re a blogger and want to join in on the WIAW fun, you can click on the WIAW button at the top of the page and learn more!

A Day of Eats and Accomplishments

It’s Monday again!  The weekends always seem to pass by so quickly.  And on that note… the summer seems to be passing by extremely quickly!  :(  Boo.  I love my job.  But summer is just so nice.

Today was a pretty busy day in the Confessions house.  This morning, I got up early to get Sadie off to school.  She didn’t get to go all last week and she really missed her friends and her teacher.  She was so excited to go today!  Once I dropped her off, I came home to make breakfast and coffee, and to prepare my grocery list.

Breakfast was an egg-and-spinach scramble with almonds on the side.  Nom… have you tried this out yet?  It’s seriously a power breakfast.  While I ate, I planned out my grocery list.  This involved looking at a few websites like Nom Nom Paleo and Everyday Paleo.  I’ve spent the past few nights looking at recipes and thinking about what we might eat this week. 

Then I hit the stores.  I had to visit 2 stores today: Harris Teeter and Earth Fare.  I did most of our shopping at HT, but I had to get some Kombucha at Earth Fare.  (Harris Teeter doesn’t sell it.)  I really don’t drink soda.  Most of the time, I drink water.  But occasionally I need something different, and Kombucha does the trick: fizzy, tart, and refreshing.

By the time all the shopping was finished, it was lunchtime.

Leftover chicken, watermelon, carrots, and Sunbutter for carrot-dipping.

Then I did something amazing.  I made mayo.  I attempted this once before (prior to owning a food processor), but it didn’t work.  I got a sauce instead.  But now I am the proud owner of a food processor, and I made this amazing light, silky mayo. 

Can you believe oil and an egg turn into this?

(Yes.  My mayo is stored in a holiday jar.  Note to self: get some plain, clear jars.)

Want to make your own mayo?  Click here to find out how to make it yourself.

And this mayo made my lettuce wraps extra delicious tonight. 

\

I’m not the only one who did something amazing today… check out what Miss Sadie did for the first time today…

 

 

Another proud mama moment.

A couple of notes to the readers:

I did more photo editing tonight than I usually do.  I love editing, but I’ve gotten lazy about doing it lately.  How did you like tonight’s food photos?

Also… did you notice the new header?  What do you think?

She Swims and He Cooks!

Hello again!  We are home from our beach mini-vacation.  Even though it is always hard to finish a vacation, it was actually nice to be home.  It was nice to be in our own beds!  We were in sort-of close quarters on our trip, so it’s nice to have more space!

Since we’ve been back, we’ve been fighting the swimming battle.  Sadie actually started swimming at the tail end of last summer.  However, we didn’t get to swim as much as I would have liked over the summer.  So we have had a rough start to swimming this summer. Every time Ryan or I would go to get her to practice, we’d get a lot of whining and crying.  “I Caaaaaaan’t do it, Mommy!  I’m SCAAAAARRRED!”  Luckily, we had booked some lessons with a great swimming teacher.  After 4 lessons, we’ve turned a corner.  Today at our pool, she swam and swam.  We honestly couldn’t get her to stop.  We even got her to jump in the water and then swim!  I was a proud mom today!  Check it out:

And here she is swimming back to the wall.

We decided to reward her with fro-yo afterwards.  She gobbled it up and then this is what happened next:

 

We know how to wear a kid out.

Sometimes I like to do look-backs.  Here’s a little look-back from the end of last summer.

She has come a long way!  I’m really excited that she is swimming so well in June, and we still have a lot of time to keep practicing this summer.  I can’t wait to see how she is swimming in August!

One other great thing that happened is this fabulous dinner that the hubby made for us yesterday!  I was very surprised when Ryan said he felt like cooking.  It took a little while for him to decide on WHAT to cook, since there are a lot of things I am not eating.  The conversation went like this:

Ryan: I saw this thing in a magazine.  You use a pouch of mashed potatoes…

Liz: I don’t eat potatoes in a pouch.  It’s too processed.

Ryan: Oh yeah.  What else do you not eat?

Liz: Grains and wheat especially.

Ryan: What about pasta?

Liz: No, honey, that’s wheat,

Hehe.  It is weird to try and explain the Paleo way of eating to other people.  I do eat some dairy (like fro-yo occasionally and sometimes cheese but not that often) but for the most part, I am close to Paleo.

So after some thinking, Ryan cam up with his own idea for dinner and he did a great job!

 

He sauteed some onions and peppers in EVOO on the stove while grilling some steaks.  He seasoned the steaks with salt, pepper, and some McCormick hamburger seasoning.  When the steaks were done, we topped them with the onions and peppers.  I would not have thought to do this, but it worked really well.  Very delicious!  He did a great job and was very proud of himself!  It was very nice to sit back and relax and have dinner just appear!  :)  Thank you, hubby!

Hope you all are having a great weekend!

Last Beach Days and Hamburger Joe’s

It’s always sad when you have to pack up and leave the beach.  It’s even harder when it is a beautiful sunny day and you have to pack up and leave.  Am I right?  Luckily, this is not our last time to visit the beach this summer.  We’ll be back again. 

 

One fun thing we got to look forward to was seeing what kinds of sculptures we would see each day.  There was a family that sat in the same area of the beach as us, and the dad was a Landscape Artist.  Every day, he created the coolest sculptures!

Snowman, penguins, and igloo…

treasure chest, skeleton, and dragon…

It will be nice to get home and be in my own house… my own bed…and have my own cooking utensils and appliances.  Our room was pretty small and the kitchen items were very few.  We had to be inventive.  I really missed my knives!  I also only brought salt, pepper, and EVOO as condiments.  I really missed having access to more items.  This lack of utensils, spices, and condiments led to Cheez-It Chicken Tenders. 

(Nothing but class all the way.  Ha!) These were a hit with the husband, but not the kiddo. 

I did manage to make some chicken salad, also.  This was better than the Cheez-It Chicken.  :)

Thank goodness we went out to eat a few times.  Last night, we visited another one of our favorite places that we have been coming to for years: Hamburger Joe’s.

I don’t think the North Myrtle Location has a website, but here is a link to a site that has lots of reviews… and as you will see, it does not disappoint!

Location Information:

712 48th Avenue
North Myrtle Beach, SC
(843) 272-6834

(Look at the prices!)

If you are in the MB area and are looking for a casual family spot to eat that is VERY easy on the wallet and very laid back, this is your spot.  We met some friends for dinner who happened to be beaching this week, too.  Sadie enjoyed having a friend to talk to at dinner.

I recommend the burgers here.  That’s what they are known for.  Here’s mine…

… topped with cheese, chili, lettuce, tomato, and pickles.  Fabulous. 

Since changing to Paleo, I have usually eaten my burgers sans bun… but I thought for vacation ir would be ok to have a bun.  It’s hard to eat a burger with all those toppings and NOT have a bun.  I’ll be detoxing next week.

It’s been so nice to get away, enjoy some family time, and be at the beach. 

 

Goodbye, beach… we’ll see you soon!