It Was a Productive Friday and How Long Have I Been on WildFit?

I had a very productive day in the kitchen yesterday, and also managed to purchase groceries and buy two gift cards for DH. DH always gets double things - his birthday is so close to Christmas that they almost merge. It makes celebrating a birthday difficult because everyone is still hung over from the Christmas sugar rush. We'll probably head out to Target on the day after Christmas and see if they have the white cake with white frosting that he enjoys so much. I have gift cards for his birthday, but really, it's not much for a milestone birthday. *sigh*

He prefers it without the sprinkles, but he 
really likes Target's white cake with white 
frosting. He likes it better than the offerings 
at CUB or at our local grocery's bakery 
department. 

I spent the rest of the day in the kitchen, as I mentioned. First, I made my "Ogre Juice" for the upcoming week. I always give my poor blender a serious workout when it's making that for me, but as usual, it came through the test like a champ. Then I got to work on the rest of my kitchen agenda. 

I have a Wolf Professional Blender 
that was HORRIBLY expensive (and 
still is). But I had burned out three 
different blenders, two of them top-
of-the-line Ninja blenders, within three 
months of starting WildFit. I determined 
it just didn't make sense to keep buying 
new blenders every 4-6 weeks, spent 
some time in intensive research, and bought 
my Wolf. I love it. It's a workhorse and I 
take it to it's max every week. 

I roasted a butternut squash in maple syrup (SO GOOD!), then I baked up some thick-cut bacon (I am a firm believer in cooking bacon in the oven - so easy and it turns out perfectly every time). After that, I started work on what my Mother-in-Law used to call a "hot dish". It's not a casserole that others might link with the name, just a mish-mash of things thrown together. I had a pound of ground beef and some mushrooms that I wanted to use, I added a bit of this and a bit of that and a bit of the other, along with an onion and garlic and spices, mixed it with a package of my faux rice, and voila! It's REALLY tasty and I'm looking forward to eating it as soon as my stuffed peppers are finished in a couple of days. 

I like adding a strip of bacon to my nightly salad every 
day or two, and the easiest way I've ever found to 
cook my bacon perfectly is to cook it in the oven. 
It's SO easy, it works perfectly every time, and it's 
totally no-fuss. My basic recipe is found on-line at 
"How to Cook Bacon in the Oven (Easy & Crispy)" 
and I highly recommend it. 

So my side of the refrigerator is now stuffed with lovely things to eat that will keep me well fed for a week or so. Success! I always enjoy my time in the kitchen, and this time things seemed to move smoothly from one recipe to another, seamlessly. It isn't always like that - LOL. There are days when nothing I try actually works out well. Fortunately the Gods of December cooking were looking after me and everything worked.

I started the WildFit 90-Day Challenge in February of 2021. 
So, I'm in my third year of WildFit, and still just as happy 
with it as I was initially. It was a radical change of cooking 
and eating, but I haven't regretted it at all. As with anything, 
you take from it what you want and discard the rest. I found 
what worked for me, and it is a bit extreme - no dairy, no 
caffeine, no refined sugar and no gluten works for me, but 
I know it won't work for everyone. 

I had thought I was in year 3 of WildFit, but DH said I was only in my second year, so I grabbed my workbook for WildFit this morning and double-checked dates. He was wrong - I'll be starting year four in February of next year. I'm really close, and just as happy with it now as I was initially. I'm comfortable with what and how I eat these days. I'm really not missing dairy, refined sugar or gluten, and I feel fabulous, am active, and am pushing my way toward retirement. 

Many of my holiday cards have already been 
received, and people are emailing or Facebooking 
(if that's a word at all) images to me of happy, 
colored-in, Gnomes. I'm delighted. So many 
different ways people are coloring them in for 
me. It's interactive cards - LOL. 

One weird thing, however. One of my holiday cards, for a local friend, was returned to me yesterday telling me that I was $3.73 short of postage on it. NO, I'm not short on postage. I know. I took one of my domestic pieces to the Post Office and had them weigh it to tell me how much postage I needed on them. But, I'll have to print out another envelope since this one is trashed, and mail it again. I know cards have been received, I've been getting comments, thank-you's and photos of colored gnomes for several days now. It's been GREAT! I love seeing what people have done with this year's card. 

Time to wrap this up and head out for my day. I hope your 
day is fabulous and filled with positive interactions 
and things to view. The only way to keep the negatives 
in the world at bay is to remember the positives - the 
smile of a child, the sun on a flower, the hug of a 
loved one, the adoration of a puppy or kitten. 

Anyway, I'm going to wrap this up and start my day. I hope you have a truly wonderful Saturday. Tomorrow is my final open Sunday and I'm torn between hoping I'm busy and hating the fact that I'm working on a Sunday. But, it's my last one, so I'll tough it out. Enjoy your weekend and I'll be back on Monday. Slava Ukraini and חיים לישראל.