1 month down!

So it's been over a month now since I went gluten free. The changes are quite amazing. I feel like a different person. I hardly drink Mountain Dew anymore, yet I still have so much energy. I used to drink Mountain Dew all day long to try to stay awake and functioning at work. Some days even that wouldn't work. I'd find my eyes constantly closing & would have to make a bathroom trip to splash cold water on my face to try & wake up. It was horrible!

Now, as long as we make some every few days I am taking tea to work with me. Granted it is still caffeine it's no where near as much as Mountain Dew. Plus, I don't even chug it, I just drink a little here & there when I'm thirsty. Yet I still have so much energy. A few weeks ago I actually was going through a crazy energy spurt. I was bouncing off the walls. You would have thought I'd drank a gallon of Mountain Dew.

Last week we got lazy & didn't make anymore tea so when I ran out I started drinking Mountain Dew. Well Friday my husband wanted breakfast from this little cafe in town we liked to eat at. So I got a large Mountain Dew, at lunch I added a can to it. I still had quite a bit left at the end of the day but just that little bit had me super hyper by 5pm haha.

The custodian at work has been giving me a hard time lately too. My trash can is empty half the time now when I usually always had trash in it. I told him that's the difference in eating out for breakfast & eating at home. He commented that I probably am more awake & have more energy because of it. Donuts & other things like breakfast sandwiches will make you sluggish & tired. I hadn't thought of that before but that's a good point too.

So today wraps up another week. We only cooked once during the week & that was on my husband's day off work. We had chicken and rice that night. This weekend however was the cooking weekend. My husband went through some of the recipes on www.liveglutenfreely.com and picked out some he was interested in. Then I went through them & we decided what we wanted to cook soon.

We had planned to start cooking yesterday but we ended up going out later to shop & spent quite a bit of time doing that. By time we were half way done shopping we were starving so we ate lunch out around 3pm so it ended up being dinner. Our son was overdue for a nap when we got back so he went down & that night was the opening of Christmas Tree Lane in town & we wanted to take him to see the lights. So about an hour or so later we ended up picking my mom up & heading out there. Before I start myself on a rant, I'll just say that we had a good time.

So since yesterday ended up getting messed up we started the baking today. I feel like I've been working hard all day. I finally got to sit for a while starting an hour ago. I think this is the longest I've sat all day. On the menu? Apple Crisp, Banana Muffins & Oven Baked Chicken!

First we had to clean up the kitchen. There will still bags of groceries all over the counter, the dishwasher was full of clean dishes, the sink was full of dirty dishes & the dishes from breakfast (eggs, potatoes & bacon) were still on the table. I started on dishes, hubby started on groceries.

Once that was done he started preparing the mix to pour over the apples while I started slicing the apples. My son woke up shortly after we got started cooking so he ended up munching on apple slices while I worked. I got the apples all done & spread out in the pan and while I cleaned up that mess some my husband started spreading the topping on. I took over and he went back to the banana muffins he had started.

By the time I had finished the apple crisp the muffin mix was ready to go in the pans so I filled all the little cups up while he started cleaning. Our first tray of muffins went in & we took a break for the 18min that it took to cook.

Once they were all done my husband started on the frosting while I emptied the dishwasher once again & put more dishes in. Then I fed my son & myself while hubby snacked on things. By time I was through eating it was time for me to start frosting the cupcakes so I got to work on that while my husband started preparing to do the oven baked chicken.

I frosted the cupcakes, he finished the chicken shortly after. Another round of cleanup & running the dishwasher followed. We took a break for a bit until we were ready to put the chicken & apple crisp in the oven. We all enjoyed our dinner but then it was cleanup time again. I emptied the dishwasher for the 3rd time today & put the leftovers in containers.

Problem is that our fridge was a mess. It was full of leftover food from Thanksgiving & different things had leaked & it was just grossing me out. So I proceeded to empty two shelves at a time & wipe them all down. I tossed all the expired stuff. I think we had something in there from March! We had almost no room in there before I started but by time I was done & reorganized it was looking real good. The dishes from dinner still needed to go in the dishwasher but my feet & back hurt too bad I had to take a break so my hubby finished up.

Dessert followed later & I cleaned that one up. Unfortunately sitting here I realized what all still needs to be done. The whites need to go in the dryer, the dishwasher probably needs to be turned on again & I don't think the trash got emptied since I cleaned the fridge so that needs to go out.

Gah it never ends! At least I have the energy to do all this now. I just wish I didn't have the pain though lol. Still I am pretty pleased. If you took a video of me during any given day a year ago, you would think I had been body snatched or something now. Not many people would believe that I would be doing so much.

Guess I better get back to it! I did take pictures all day & I do intend to post them with the recipes, it will just have to wait for another time though.