Surprising Heartburn Remedy

I don't often get heartburn, but when I do it's like there is a fire going on inside me...

I had horrible heartburn on Sunday.  I mean just awful.  And at the same time I had a craving for dill pickles.

I just so happened to have bought a gallon size jar of JUMBO dill pickles at the store on Saturday because I needed the jar. 
 

So I got to munching.

And ya know what.... in about 5 minutes my heartburn was gone.

Then, I had heartburn again LAST night while I was at the gym working out.  (If you have ever done a Kayla Itsines BBG workout you know that heartburn is the last thing you need to get!)  I got home, ate a pickle and 5-10 minutes later, my heartburn is gone!   

So I did a little research, and some to find out some sources say that vinegar is a home remedy for heartburn....and what is the primary ingredient needed to pickle pickles....?  VINEGAR. 

Now, I don't know if this worked so fast for me because the pickles I had were GIGANTIC and had more juice in them or not....I'm just saying it worked. 

It's a win win.  I have an excuse to eat a pickle....and my heart burn goes away!

Barbocoa-Style Beef Tacos {Crockpot Recipe}

I'm a big fan of new recipes.  I see so many recipes floating around on FB on a daily bases, but most times I don't have a good way to save them!  I really want to try this recipe, and maybe you have seen it floating around the Facebook world!  I tried to pin it, and the link didn't work....so I'm blogging the recipe so I can pin it for later!

 

(Pic Source)

I haven't tried this, so I have no idea if it tastes good!

3-4 lb Beef Chuck Roast
4 chipotles in adobo sauce - chopped
5 cloves garlic - chipped
1 Tbsp. ground cumin
3 tsp oregano
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1/2 C. beef broth
1/4 C. Apple cider vinegar
1/4 C. fresh lime juice
3 Bay leaves
Salt
Pepper

Cut the roast into approximately six to eight large chunks.  Season well with salt and pepper on all sides.
Heat Oil in a large skillet and sear the beef chunks on all sides until browned.  Transfer to slow cooker.
In a medium brown combines chipped chipotles, garlic, cumin, oregano, cloves, beef broth, vinegar, lime juice, and additional salt and pepper (to taste).  Mix well, the pour over beef in the slow cooker and add bay leaves.  Cover and cook on low for 8-10 hours, or until meat shreds easily.

Remove bay leaves.  Removes and shred beef.  Return beef to slow cooker to marinate for at least 10 more minutes, or until ready to serve.

I will personally be serving this over lettuce wraps.  Probably with some salsa, homemade quacamole, chopped red onions, and cilantro.  Or I might serve it over cauliflower rice for "taco bowls".  But you could easily make this into a traditional taco meal with flour tortillas and all the non-paleo fixin's!

Now I just need to figure out how to make this isn't a freezer meal for when I have surgery.....  Thoughts?  Leave me a comment!

Paleo Teriyaki Chicken {Crock Pot Recipe}

I am a SUCKER for a good crockpot recipe.  Throw everything in a pan, turn it on, go to work, and come home to a hot meal...?  Yes Please!  What makes it even better is if you use a crockpot bag.  Throw everything in a bag, tie it in a knot, and put it in the crockpot.  When you are done, you pull the bag out, open it up, pour it into a bowl, and throw the bag out!  The crockpot will be left with a little moisture In it that you can just wipe out!  Voila! 

You could probably turn this into a crock pot freezer meal easy enough.  Throw everything into a Ziplock bag and freeze it for later!  Which is a great idea if you are giving freezer meals to a new mom or someone who just had surgery!

Ok, here we go...

You will need:

2 lbs boneless, skinless chicken breasts
4 cloves garlic,
1/2 cup chopped white onion
1/2 cup honey
1/2 cup coconut aminos (or soy sauce if you aren't paleo, or tamari if you are just avoiding gluten and not soy!)
1/4 cup rice wine vinegar
1 T. chopped fresh ginger
1/8 tsp black pepper
To Thicken:
1/4 cup cold water
3 TBLS Arrow Root powder (or cornstarch if you can have corn!)

Place chicken in the bottom of you crock put in a single layer.
Mix together the remaining ingredients, except the water & Arrow Root Powder.
Pour mixture over the chicken & Cook on High for 4 hours.  (I actually did mine for 5, and my chicken was over cooked.  If you have made this into a freezer meal, and it is frozen still, I would cook on low for 8-10 hours!) Or until the chicken is cooked through and shreds easily with a fork.  Overcooked chicken is not so good...

When the chicken is done, remove the chicken, leaving all the "juices" in the crockpot.  Shred the chicken with a fork. 

Pour the "juices" into a medium sauce pan. 
In a separate bowl, measure out your arrowroot powder.  Slowly mix in 1/4 cup cold water, whisking as you pour.
Turn heat to medium high and bring liquid to a simmer.  Slowly pour in arrow root mixture, whisking as your pour (you don't want lumpy sauce!).  Continue to simmer until your teriyaki sauce thickens.

Side note:  I own this wonderful thing called an instapot.  It is a crockpot, pressure cooker, rice cooker, soup cooker, "sauter", yogurt maker, and more, all in one.  It's great.  So I took out my chicken, then poured the liquid out of the bag right into my pot, and turned it on "sauté" to bring it to a simmer.  So for me, this was a 1 pot dinner!  Clean up was still a breeze!

When sauce has thickened, pour over shredded chicken & mix together.  Serve with lettuce wraps!  Or, if you are one of those people that eats rice, this would be GREAT over rice.

Optional:  I added some red pepper flakes to my teriyaki sauce to give it a little kick! 

Paleo Korean Beef {Recipe}

I have been meaning to try this recipe for a while, but I just never got around to it!  I finally made it, and boy have I been missing out!

The best part is that the sauce can be used for more than just ground beef...  Like Korean Glazed Pork Chops.  You'll understand when you try it!

You also definitely need to make the Asian Slaw to go with it.  It is the finishing touch and adds so much to it.  Plan ahead, because you'll want to let it sit for about 1 hour before eating so that the flavors can marry together.

*Disclaimer...I printed this recipe off a while ago and can't remember who the source was...so if this is your recipe, forgive me!*

Asian Slaw

12 oz veggies slaw
2 Tbsp  rice wine vinegar
1 Tbsp  Honey
1 Tbsp  Sesame Seeds
1 Tbsp  Sesame Oil
3 Tbsp  coconut cream (if you aren't dairy free you can use greek yogurt)
1/4 tsp ground ginger
salt and pepper to taste

Put the slaw in a bowl.  In a separate bowl, mix the remaining ingredients together.  Pour the dressing over the slaw and stir together.  Put in fridge to chill.

Korean Ground Beef:

1/2 white or yellow onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 T extra virgin olive oil
1 1/2 lbs ground beef

Sauce:
1/4 c. coconut aminos (if you aren't gluten/soy free you can use soy sauce here!)
1 Tbsp sesame oil
1/4 C Honey
1-2 tsp crushed red pepper (omit or use less if you don't like spicy!)
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1-2 tsp sriracha


In a bowl, mix all of the ingredients for the sauce together, mixing well, and set aside.

On medium, heat Olive oil in a skillet, and sauté onions until translucent.  Add in garlic, and sauté until fragrant (a.k.a. you can start to smell it!)  Add in ground beef and cook through. 

When the beef is browned, drain the liquid from the pan.  Pour the sauce over the beef and bring to a simmer.  Reduce heat to medium low and simmer until the liquid has been cooked down.

Serve over lettuce wraps, topping with the Asian Slaw.

Here is where it gets interesting.  That sauce is ah-mazing.

So on Friday night I cooked up some pork chops.  When my meat was about 70% cooked, I added that same sauce to my skillet and cooked my pork chops the rest of the way.  The sauce turned into a glaze and it was delicious. 

Infertility update

So just to fill in a little back information...

My husband and I stopped trying to NOT get pregnant around January of 2014.  We weren't trying to get pregnant but we weren't trying to not get pregnant either.  I was always hopeful every month that we would get pregnant though!  We found out in February of '14 that I had hashimotos, and that's when everything started falling apart!

In August of '14 I started having 4+ month cycles...a.k.a I was going 160 days without a period.  Not Good.  When I saw my old OB/Gyn in December '14, he told me that my long periods were from my thyroid and I likely had PCOS and to go home and google it.  I fired him. 

I started seeing Dr. P in January of '15.  He also suspected I had PCOS and put me on the list to see a Creighton Fertility Instructor to teach me how to chart my cycles.  I started meeting with her in April or May of 2015.

Between August of 2014 and June of 2015 I had a total of 4 periods,  that last of which was a force start with progesterone.  The next 3 cycles I supplements with Progesterone for 10 days starting 3 days post peak (post ovulation).

In September of '15 I started a Hormone Profile that spanned over the course of a month.  And let me tell you what, they took a BUNCH of blood.

I finally saw Dr. P to go over my lab results last Thursday (10/29/15).  Where I had a minor meltdown. 

This was my Instagram post from that experience:

 

"When you're at the Doctor's office to find out why are aren't getting pregnant...

And you are surrounded by pregnant women...

Then you finally get back to a room, and you can hear the Doppler in the room right next door,

And you hear that Precious little heart beat.

And then the tearsstart to fall.

I just want to hear that heart beat for myself, so badly.

And I know that God has a plan,

And I believe He is going to give me babies,

But the fear creeps in.

I see women on fertility support gourps that have been trying for 5 and more years.

They use the same Creighton method that I am using.

There are women all over the world that are not able to get pregnant.

And those are scary thought. 

And baby heartbeats make me cry.

And I'm okay with that.

Because this is real life."

 

Dr. P came in at the end of my meltdown, who knows what He was thinking.  He did end up telling me that I was the third person to cry that day, so maybe He is used to tears.

 

We went back to his office and he compared my charts against my labs.  Basically I have zero progesterone. 

 

Just a little hormone lesson.  At the beginning of your cycle your ovaries produce estrogen.  As your body prepares to ovulate your estrogen spikes.  When you ovulate your estrogen levels decrease and your progesterone starts to rise.  My Estrogen did great.  My Progesterone didn't get above 2.9.  It's suppose to get to around 18, which is a sign that I am probably not ovulating, just going to an ovulatory phase. 

 

 

So, we are scheduling surgery for sometime in January.  My cycles will decide when.  I could have done it in December.  But if I'm going to meet a deductible, I would rather it be in 2016 where I'll have the whole year to enjoy having a deductible met :)

 

Surgery!?!?!  It sounds kind of extreme.  I know.  He will go in and check out my fallopian tubes and make sure that nothing is blocked.  He'll look at my uterus and make sure there isn't any endometriosis going on.  Then he'll look at my ovaries, and since I have PCOS he is 99% sure that he is going to find Polycystic Ovaries.

 

So what does that even mean.  Basically the outer tissue of the ovaries gets really thick so that the eggs can't release, and the cyst that releases the egg can't do it's job properly to be making progesterone.  So He will preform an Ovarian Wedge Resection and cut my ovaries to a normal size.

 

Yes.  He's cutting out part of my ovaries.  You know the thing that stores all my eggs and future babies.  Yikes.  Thankfully there are two parts to the ovary (I'm sure there is more to it than this, but I'm just making it simple here!), the core and the outer tissue.  The core holds all the eggs.  That part gets left alone.  All he does is cut away some of the thick outer tissue so that my ovaries can work like they are suppose to!

 

The question has been asked, "what about clomid?".  In women with PCOS, clomid only has a 15% success rate of ovulation and a pregnancy.  This surgery will give me an 85% success rate of ovulation and normal cycles.  If I am one of the 15% where the surgery doesn't fix it, then the Clomid success rate skyrockets because I don't have all that excess tissue in there.  Plus, the ovarian wedge resection actually fixes the problem, so it's a long term solution, and my health should improve!

 

So yea...that's about the gist of it!  Here's to hoping for a baby in 2016!!!! 

 





Paleo Skillet Cabbage

I'm trying to pull recipes that I liked and can still have off my old blog..... The Mr. loved cabbage.  Cabbage isn't my favorite thing to eat, and I don't normally cook things I don't like, but sometimes I still make it for him. 

1/4 stick of ghee or coconut oil
1 medium onion, diced
1 medium head of cabbage, chopped
1 lb sausage, sliced into round pieces (get the paleo-est kind you can find!)
1 can rotel
Salt & Pepper to Taste

Melt ghee or coconut oil (or your paleo fat of choice!) in skillet.  (I used a large sauce pan!) 

After your oil is melted, add in onion and cabbage.  Cook for about 5 minutes, stirring often so it doesn't stick to the bottom.  The oil will coat the cabbage nicely!

I chopped up the sausage while the cabbage and onions where cooking!

Add in sausage, rotel, salt & pepper.  I found that this required quite a bit of salt.  So, start off with a teaspoon or so, then as it's almost finished, test it and see if it needs more. 

Put a lid on your pan and let it cook away.  I didn't stir it much, just here and there so it cooked evenly.  It will take about 20-25 minutes to cook through.  The cabbage should be soft, but not mushy!

Serve it up and Enjoy!!!!

Paleo Beef & Broccoli {Recipe}

 

Ingredients:

 

1 lb meat (boneless round steak, deer meat, chicken, whatever floats your boat.  I used deer meet)

1 Bag Frozen broccoli florets (I usually buy by broccoli from Aldi, but Kroger had theirs on sale, so  I tried them out....more stems than florets, so I'll be switching back to Aldi!)

1 onion sliced

1 red bell pepper

1 container mushrooms, sliced

1 clove garlic

1 tsp ginger

1/2 c. water

1/2 T Coconut Aminos (Here's the catch, if you're not going for gluten free, use Soy Sauce!)

2 T Coconut Oil

Sea Salt & Pepper to taste

 

Of course, this recipe gets served over ..... BRUSSELS SPROUTS!  Before last night you couldn't have convinced me to try those mini cabbage looking things, but......they are pretty good!

 

1 1/2 lbs Brussels sprouts (I may or may not have use just a bag of frozen ones!)

2 cloves of garlic

Sea Salt and Pepper to taste

Paleo Cooking oil (Coconut Oil, Ghee, or just use some butter, ya know, whatever!)

 

I think one of the best parts of this dinner, is that it a 1 pan dinner! 

 

In your cast iron skillet...(If you don't have one, go get one and stop using those Teflon Non stick pans!) ... warm your Paleo cooking oil, add the minced garlic and sauté for 2-3 minutes. Make sure to not get your skillet too hot, or everything will start to burn, medium usually does the trick for me, sometimes medium high!    When the garlic has browned toss in the Brussels Sprouts.  (If your like me and used frozen ones, make sure to thaw them first!).  Season to taste with salt, and pepper, and cook until they are soft, (approx.. 15 minutes.) Remove the sprouts from skillet and set aside.

 

 

Melt the coconut oil, or other paleo oil, in your skillet and cook your meat.  I always season my meat a little bit when I'm cooking it as well!  When the meat is cooked to your liking, remove the meat from the skillet and set aside!  (If you prefer to have a thicker sauce, before you set the meat aside, sprinkle 3-4 T arrow root powder over the meat and mix it around.  When you cook the vegetables and add the meat back in the arrow root powder will serve as a thickening agent and you'll get a thicker sauce that stick to everything instead of a watery mix!)

 

In the same skillet, cook onions, broccoli, red bell peppers, mushrooms, and sauté until broccoli is soft.  While this is cooking, mix together water, coconut aminos (or soy sauce), ground ginger, garlic, salt and pepper to taste. 

 

When Broccoli is done, add the meat back in and pour the liquid mixture over the stir fry, cooking for an additional 2-3 minutes.

 

Serve the stir fry over the Brussels sprouts and Enjoy!

 

This recipe is pretty easy to play around with.  If you know me at all, you know that I rarely follow a recipe as is, and I'm always tweaking it a little bit here and a little  bit there, and very rarely do I measure while cooking.  But always remember when tweaking.  You can always add more...but you can't take it back out!

Here we go .... again.

I have some how managed to lock myself out of my old blog, A Whole Awful Lot.  I was trying to change my log in e-mail, and now I can't log in with any of my e-mails.  Genius.  I know. 

So here we go ... ... again.

Life lately....

Infertility.  It's such a scary word.  But it's one the Doctor's have been using for the past year.  I was diagnosed with PCOS in January.  My Obg/yn uses NaPro technology, and I have using the Creighton method of fertility tracking since March.  I started a low carb diet in the middle of July and lost 30 pounds in less than 2 months.  My cycles also started to regulate themselves out.  I finished up a complete month long hormone profile last month.  My progesterone never got about 2.9, and it should have been upwards of 17, which is indicative of not ovulating.  I go to the Doctor TODAY to get the rest of the results of my hormone profile and hear what his treatment plan is from here.  2 years is far to long to not have a baby in my arms.

Hashimotos.  No idea what that means?  I didn't either until 2 years ago.  Basically I have an immune system that beats up on my thyroid.  This causes my thyroid to be SLOOOOW... Not having enough thyroid hormones causes everything else in my body to go all out of whack, like my hormones, weight, energy levels, sex drive, memory, ability to focus...and the list goes on for about 294 more symptoms.  I have a GREAT Primary care physician that has my thyroid numbers in a pretty optimal state.  I still struggle with some of the symptoms though. 

Diet. Lifestyle modification.  So, my cycles were CrAzY.  They had me on progesterone because I would go 3-4 months without a period, and I was having continuous fertile cervical mucus, which is not a good thing, especially with having to chart it.  I basically follow a Low Carb Paleo lifestyle.  I try to keep my carb intake under 50 grams, but closer to the 30 range.  I don't eat fruit, other than berries.  No Diary.  No grains. Grains people, not just gluten.  No Rice, Wheat, Corn, Oats, etc.  No Eggs.  I am actually allergic to these puppies, and Duck eggs are EXPENSIVE!  No Legumes.  This includes Peanuts. No Potatoes.  However, once in a while I will cheat with some sweet potatoes!.  No Almonds.  Again, I'm allergic.  NO SOY.  I already have hormone problems, why add something that your body sees as estrogen and throws your hormones more out of whack???)  No sugar.  If I really need something sweet I use Honey or Maple Syrup.  I did fall off the bandwagon in September.  I remained gluten free....but just about everything else was game on.  Popcorn & Coffee Creamer are my worst transgressions. 

Exercise. Did you just start laughing?  Cause I did!  I am terrible at being consistent with working out.  I did great from July 15th-the end of August.  Then my Grandpa died and I was in Florida for a week.  Then we went back to Florida for a vacation in Destin.  And I completely fell off the band wagon.  With my eating and my exercise. 

Husband.  My husband decided on Saturday that we was ALSO going to go paleo.  If you aren't laughing, I laughed enough for both of us.  I have been TRYING to get him to cut out some of his grains for MONTHS, and every time I do it causes a fight, so I just gave it up.  Then, he goes on his bi-yearly trip to the NASCAR races in Talladega and comes back decided that he is going to start being paleo.  He said he saw all the fat people down there and decided he needed to make some changes.  He's done really well for the past 2 1/2 days. 

Address.  My address is changing.  Again. This will be my 11th move in 10 years.  We put my house on the market last week.  We will be moving back to the "little house".  It's a 900 square foot house that his parents own.  They are giving it to us, and we are going to add on to it.  It's a huge blessing.  Now my house just needs to sell so I can get rid of the mortgage payment.  Don't mistake this move as I didn't like my house, or we couldn't afford it.  We are doing fine financially.... but I want to be at home when we have babies.  So the house has to go.  I'm over the sadness of it, and now I just want it to sell so I don't have to look at it anymore.  Whenever I think about what I'm giving up I get so sad! I have to remind myself of what I am gaining in it's place.

My Life is just a whole bunch of combines pieces that all tie together.  You take out or add one piece and everything else shifts.  This little blog of mine isn't just about one aspect of my life, it's about all of them!  I'm hoping to blog a little more consistently.  At the end of the day, this blog is really for me anyway.  Well, I guess it's for you too.  Maybe someone out there is searching for answers to infertility, or thyroid problems, and they will stumble upon my little place on the internet, and they will find something that will help them.