Aloha!!

My monsters kiddos heading to school

I really love that Aloha has two meanings...of course, as most people know, it means hello.  But it also, thankfully, means goodbye.  So in the case of today I say Aloha with the alternate meaning of goodbye.

Now you may be wondering what I'm saying goodbye to.  See those adorable little children in the photo above?  Well I said goodbye to them this week as they headed back to school...which was awesome. 

I also say goodbye to this handsome man several times over as he has been diligently training to become a Chief.

The hubby doing Chiefly things like washing cars

But what I would REALLY like to say goodbye to is this...

In full on tantrum mode...please note clenched fist slamming ground

Yeah, for those of you who don't know the joy of children...this is known as a tantrum.

There have been several this week.  One so bad from my older child it kept me up for hours into the night with screaming, kicking the wall, tears (on his part AND mine). 

It's been awful.

Sleep has been limited.

But now I say Aloha to it.

Sounds simple, right?  Say aloha and it's gone? 

I know, not that easy...but luckily daddy came home for a day and laid down some law (and substantial threats)...and things have been a bit calmer.

Plus, I get to escape to work for a few nights...and earn some holiday pay to boot!  I'm not complaining!

All this Aloha-ing though had me dreaming of Hawaii.  We are headed there ourselves in 37 days (not that I'm counting).  We will be oogling half naked people volunteering here and then chillaxing on the Big Island for 2 glorious weeks!

So in order to bring myself to a more zen-like state I started reading some of my favorite blogs and was inspired by Ms. Lindsay Cotter and her steel cut oats in a rice cooker to pick up some of this yummy L&A juice...

Which then made it's way into some oats reminiscent of a warm Hawaiian day...make them...I swear, you can feel the ocean breeze on your skin...

Or that may just be the fan on full blast to combat this heat wave. 

Either way, they are pretty tasty if I say so myself!

Aloha Oats

by Jaclyn Trosper

Prep Time: 5 mins

Cook Time: 20 mins

Ingredients (Serves 4)

• 1 C steel cut oats
• 4 C L&A coconut pineapple juice
• 2 C raw cashews soaked overnight
• 1/3 C agave
• 1 mango diced
• Almond milk to taste (or desired consistency)
• Could also use coconut milk

Instructions

Soak cashews overnight in just enough water to cover them. Set aside.

Place oats and juice in rice cooker (if you don't have this amazing, cheap piece of equipment cook oats according to package directions using juice instead of water...but really, I recommend the rice cooker).

Meanwhile place cashews and agave into food processor or high power blender (e.g. Vitamix or Blendtec). Mix until creamy...you can add small amounts of soaking water in order to blend better, but don't overdo it!

Once oats are cooked place in bowl. Mix with almond milk to reach desired consistency (some like it thick, some like it runny). Sprinkly mango pieces on top. Dollop with cashew cream...mix and eat! ALOHA!!

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Things I Love Thursday

 

Let's talk about things I love...besides these two crazy kiddos!

I have noticed lately that all my blogger buddies have specific days devoted to specific types of posts...What I Ate Wednesday (WIAW) was a common theme and one I plan to implement eventually.

But when I really thought about it I knew that Things I Love Thursday (TILT) was a much better place to start!

I have recently run into a few wonderful ladies that are either now on the gluten free path or highly considering it for themselves or their children. They have no idea where to start! I remember that point...completely.

4 years ago.

Gluten and I don't get along.

Ok, now what?

There is freaking gluten in EVERYTHING!

I mean everything...bread, pasta, pastries, muffins, cake, sauces, gravy, pie, Kit Kats (yeah, that matters), croissants...well the list goes on...and it's daunting.

I wish I could have had someone to help me through the maze of gluten free offerings. Cause frankly, some of them suck. Like cardboard might taste better kind of suck.

So here I am...years later...I've made my way through the maze and found truly great products. I am now in a position to help someone else through.

And so TILT was born. Every week I'll feature some of my new and old favs in the gluten free world. Some are for me, some for my kids (yep, they are GF too), some are vegan, and some aren't. But they all are tested by myself and my family...and they all rock. Seriously. So here we go!

Bread was probably my first issue...I searched high and low for my fav...and here it is! Either Rudi's or Udi's are great (but the commissary...for my military folks...carries Rudi's).

 Pasta was another early issue.  Finding one that had the same taste and texture of it's glutinous counterparts was difficult...and required lots of taste testing (let's just say my dogs eat well).  I finally found Ancient Harvest quinoa pasta and was sold...plus it's also sold at the commissary!

Snacks were an early concern and luckily I quickly found these little gems of a snack in Glutino pretzels...I dare say they even outshine regular pretzels (and are now available at the commy as well!).

I did however have to go a long time without my fav snack, Goldfish.  I finally recently found these Schar cheese bites and I'm in love!  I've only found them at the Eastlake Sprouts but I'm sure they are available elsewhere.

As for my kiddos, they had a few requirements as well.  On the top of their list was waffles...the love waffles...with a kid like passion.  We were fortunate to find Vans waffles really early in our GF journey.  They come in many flavors and are available at the commissary as well.

Also a childhood staple is chicken nuggets...after searching for a while we settled on the Ian's brand and have been happy consumers ever since...sadly they are not available at commissary but widely available elsewhere.

My kids also really missed pizza...while there are multiple brands of premade crusts and frozen pizzas, my little chefs like creating their own pies.  Luckily my buddy Bex found this Bobs Red Mill crust mix and we've been making our own crust ever since.  It takes a bit more work but the outcome is totally worth it!

Lastly, our family's favorite breakfast staple...sausage links.  I abhor artificial ingredients and preservatives...and GF obviously.  These Jones sausages have none of the above and taste fantastic!  They are also uber cheap at the commissary (like $1 a box!).

I think that's a good start for now...there will be more TILT to come next week!

You didn't think I was going to leave you without a recipe, did you?

In keeping with the TILT theme I offer up one of my favs...vegan (can be vegetarian) enchilada casserole.  It's easy to make and heavenly to eat! 

It also includes a few more of my favorite products like Daiya cheese and all natural tortillas (again, I hate preservatives...and yes I'm aware they pic is upside down but I'm tired of fighting the darn computer!).  Hope you like it!

 

Vegan/Vegetarian Enchilada Casserole

by Jaclyn Trosper

Prep Time: 20 min

Cook Time: 20 min

Ingredients (6 servings)

• 1 large red onion
• 2 small green bell peppers (any color will do)
• 2 zucchini squash
• 2 cans organic black beans
• 2 whole tomatoes
• 1/2 cup fresh cilantro
• 1 tsp sea salt
• 2 tsp cumin
• 1 can enchilada sauce (I use mild for the kids)
• Daiya chedder cheese to cover enchiladas (approx 1 package) or regular shredded mexican cheese
• Corn tortillas

Instructions

Dice all vegetables into small pieces. Cook in large saucepan with drained beans until tender. Add cilantro, salt, cumin, and 1/2 C of enchilada sauce. Spray baking pans with cooking spray. Layer corn tortillas along bottom of pan. Pour vegetable mixture over top. Layer another layer corn tortillas over vegetables. Layer Daiya cheese (or regular cheese over top). Pour remaining enchilada sauce evenly over top. Bake at 350 for 20 minutes until bubbly.

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Jump for JOY!

 

 

Literally...I'm kind of jumping for joy.  My two nights of work are done (with no crazy mishaps) and I have two nights off (I've been doing only 1 night off for a while and it's exhausting!).  Annnddd...my juice cleanse is done!  I will admit I'm not a total fan.  But I feel lighter and a bit "cleaner."  It was an experience for sure but doing it while working was hard...except I did have the company of these two beautiful ladies to help me!
 

Showing off our white tongues as we detox...yum!

 

I may do a 24 hour juice cleanse monthly though just to keep things clean and detoxed.  Kris Carr in her book Crazy, Sexy, Diet advocates this idea as a way to periodically "clean house."  She does it weekly but I'll take baby steps.  As you may remember I have reason to keep things clean internally and not let the little cancer bugs back in my life...

 

Anyway, here is a little juice "porn" of the mixes I had for the past few days...

 

So much loveliness going into the juice!



Beet, apple, cucumber

 

Carrot and ginger (my fav)

Greens (kale, spinach, cucumber, celery, parsley, romaine) and apple, plum on top of carrot 

But now it's back to real food as I wind down with some green smoothie love and some veggies...luckily my kids wanted in and had some smoothie love with me (they specifically requested lettuce in theirs)

 

Tomorrow is a full day off and I'll spend it training to my little hearts content and then cooking up a storm as I whip up some new recipes I've been thinking over...let's just say I've been super inspired lately by the fabulous woman behind Sprint 2 The Table and her amazing recipes...so look for some carrot loving coming your way soon (not in this form...more of a muffin, but inspiration is inspiration)...

 

Speaking of inspired, I was majorly inspired recently as I gazed longingly on an Almond Joy bar that I couldn't bring myself to eat...so much crap included.  I KNEW I could improve on that...so I threw some things together...

 

 

...and VOILA!!!

 

Jump For (Almond) JOY Bars!!!

 

It's a revelation for me!!  I LOVE Almond Joy bars and these are a great substitute...they even got the hubby's seal of approval.  Enjoy until next time!

 

 

Jump for (Almond) Joy Bars

by Jaclyn Trosper

Prep Time: 10 min

Cook Time: N/A

6031646

Ingredients (10 bars)

• 1/2 C coconut flakes
• 1/4 C dried tart cherries
• 2 tbsp unsweetened carob chips
• 1/2 C raw almonds
• 1 tbsp raw coconut crystals
• 1 tsp maca root powder
• 1 tbsp chia seeds
• 4 tbsp agave
• 1 tbsp coconut oil

Instructions

Mix all ingredients in a food processor until well mixed.  Keep scraping sides of bowl to thoroughly mix.  Use extra coconut oil to well grease sheet of parchment paper.  Roll out mix onto sheet and cut into 10 small bars.  Place in fridge to set.  Devour as needed to feel amazing!

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Ctrl-Alt-Del

Kale, spinach, carrot, apple, cucumber, romaine lettuce, and ginger

You know when your computer freezes up...won't work...and you have to reboot it?

CTRL-ALT-DEL

Yeah, that's what I'm going to do with my body.  Summer is over...I had some dietary fun over the last few months and it's time to clean house a bit.  I was also uber inspiried by this to embark on this challenge.  To start that I'm going on a 3 days juice cleanse (though I messed up already and made 1 smoothie!!).  No more...straight juice...for 3 days.  Wish me luck.  I'll complain blog about it when I'm done for sure!

For today though it was another life milestone in our family...like I said...summer is over...

The kids went back to school!!

Shanne (my big 3rd grader) and Addy (my whittle kindergartner)

Not only that, but my baby...my Addy...started kindergarten!!

Not gonna lie, I shed a few tears.  But I'm also super excited to be able to have entire free days to train, shop, cook, blog...whatever I want!!  Holy cow that's exciting!!

Today's free time was utilized properly with a 3500 meter swim as I prep for Nautica Malibu Triathlon on September 15th.

It was a great swim on a beautiful sunny day...but now it's nap time as I prep for 2 more nights of work (and hopefully no more mishaps!).

But first I'll leave you with a new recipe created yesterday as I had 2 little children clamoring for different meals for breakfast...Addy wanted a PB&J sandwich and Shanne wanted pancakes...what's a mama to do?  Make PB&J pancakes of course!

Quick, easy, tasty.  I semi-cheated and used Bisquick GF mix (kiddos are GF too).

And I finally got to use my new PB2 that I found at the commissary of all places!

But the end result was still fabulous and eventually I will make it from scratch...but for now this works!  Enjoy and have a fabulous beginning of your week!

PB&J Pancakes

by Jaclyn Trosper

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Cook Time: 10 minutes

 

6031512

Ingredients (Serves 2 hungry kiddos (8 smal)

• 1 cup GF Bisquick mix
• 1 tbsp flax meal
• 2 tbsp warm water
• 2 tbsp cooking oil
• 2 tbsp agave
• 1 cup almond milk
• 2 tbsp PB2
• Fruit preserves/jelly (I used organic strawberry)
• Warm water to thin

Instructions

Mix bisquick, oil, agave, almond milk and PB2 in a large bowl. In a separate small bowl mix flax and warm water. Add flax mixture to large bowl. Mix until well blended. Spoon onto hot griddle coated with cooking spray or coconut oil in dollops. Flip when bubbly on edges.

Meanwhile mix preserves with warm water until desired consistency is reached. Serve over hot cakes.

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