So let’s get right into it! Here are my major observations from a week on the 21 Day Sugar Detox:

• Everyone had a few grumpy/moody moments in the first week. I told you I’d give you the real talk- good, bad and ugly- so here we go! The kids had their meltdowns early on. In the first three days, they asked a lot about juice (they typically get a splash of juice in their water cups), about treats and about stopping to eat at restaurants while we were out. I was prepared for that, so I don’t feel like it shook my resolve much. After all, we never really warned them anything major was changing. My husband and I reached our point of contention later in the week (see the next point), where he was not feeling satisfied after meals and I had a few major crying sessions because I felt like he wasn’t on-board with the plan anymore. Not sure if my stuff was more pregnancy/hormone-related or sugar-related, but we reconciled and we’re continuing on with the plan. Which leads me to the next point..
• We’ve noticed our family needs more carbs! We are on the Level 2 Plan with Energy modifications, but I don’t think I added enough extra carbs to compensate for the pregnancy or for my husband’s body type. Kids need extra carbs, too. So we’ve compromised and added in a few of the ‘Limit’ items from Level 1 like rice and quinoa to add to our carb intake.
• I had a few very tired days. I think Days 2-4 were the worst, but I just felt completely wiped out. A few other detox symptoms showed up (runny nose, scratchy throat), but the fatigue was the most noticeable for me. Again, this could be due to the pregnancy or the fact that I have been doing so much more work in the kitchen. Which leads me to..
• There are so many dishes! Get ready to wash, wash, wash.. and then wash again. We don’t really use paper products in our house, so all of our dishes and towels are in constant rotation. I’m also using a ton of pots and bowls and kitchen tools. I’ve mentioned before here that dishes are not my thing, so I guess I’m really committed to this plan to endure all the extra washing!
• Our tastes are changing already. The things that used to taste more sour are now tasting sweeter- I’m getting closer and closer to actually enjoying the taste of a grapefruit! The kids are relaxing their preferences, too- they’re eating a lot more vegetables and not complaining as much about preparations (example- they used to prefer their scrambled eggs and veggies separated, but now they will eat them combined).

Cinnilla Nut Mix and Herb Biscuits, Chicken Pot Pie, Veggies about to be roasted.

So what did we eat?

Breakfasts

• Buffalo Chicken Egg Muffins (p 100, we omitted the buffalo sauce and added cheese instead)
• Eggs with Sausage or Bacon and Veggies
• Orange Coconut Smoothie (p 93)
• Banana N’Oatmeal (p 46 of the additional cookbook)
• Veggie and Egg Scramble or Frittata

Lunches

• A lot of leftovers! (This works well for our family.)
• Salads with leftover chicken or salmon

Dinners

• Mini Mexican Meatloaves with Herb Cauliflower (p 118, p178)
• Cilantro Shrimp Stirfry with Caulirice (p 122 of the additional cookbook, p 172)
• Shepherd’s Pie
• Mustard Glazed Chicken with Sweet Potato Fries and Asparagus (p 114)
• Balsamic Braised Beef, Mashed Butternut Squash (p 128)
• simple broiled salmon with lemon juice
• Chicken Pot Pie (p 66 of the additional cookbook)

Snacks/Treats

• Cinnilla Nut Mix (p 192) or other mixed nuts
• Grain-Free Banana Granola (p 200), with milk or yogurt
• Yogurt with nuts or bananas (my favorite combo is yogurt, banana, almond butter, cinnamon and a little splash of vanilla)
• Full-fat cheese
• Carrots and celery with almond butter or mashed avocado
• Antipasti-type stuff- olives, pickles, cheese, salami, et
• Vanilla Coconut Popsicles (p 196)
• Savory Herb Drop Biscuits (p 188)
• Hard-boiled Eggs
• Kale Chips (p 190)

(Unless otherwise noted, the page references are all from the 21 DSD Book.)

We are already into the second week of our journey and things are continuing to go well. I’ll be back soon to share more details. Please feel free to comment with any questions you may have, I’d love to share any answers I can.

Just thought I might pop in to fill you in on what nonsense we’ve been up to. I know it’s been awhile. But, I still love you guys and I am 30-40% sure you love me/care about my whereabouts. So, let the over-sharing begin!

Fun Fact: As I so casually alluded to in my title, I am pregnant with baby #3! Surprise, world! (Surprise also, self and husband!) We have known for a while, but as these pregnancies keep coming, I am getting lazier and lazier with announcing them. Not that we’re not excited, just lazy. I am 14-15ish weeks right now, due at the end of May.. so probably June if my other well-baked babies are any indication. Here’s a crazy/awkward/very flattering photo I sent to a friend after I found out (no bump yet to show you) and the 10 week ultrasound photo:

Enough of that? Yes. In other news,

Though I have all but quit writing here, I have still be writing at Modern Parents Messy Kids. I just posted up a fun ice cream sandwich bar for the holidays (shown above). I love the idea- totally switches things up from your typical holiday cookie spread. Check out the post at MPMK for more details and recipes. I also shared my list of holiday baking essentials that I keep on hand this time of year.

My evening sickness (I typically do better in the mornings, I am a weirdo) has been crippling at times (over-dramatic much?), I am still managing to turn meals out of the kitchen. Dishes are going days without being washed… but everyone is still well fed. Can’t say the meals have all been paleo or GAPS or even gluten-free, but they’ve been meals and I’m thankful they made it to the table. Some phone pictures of our escapades:

top: my grandma’s recipe mac & cheese, a sweet potato with BBQ chicken and avocado, my kid carbing up. middle: swedish meatball recipe i wish i would have written down, sweet potato totchos for Halloween, cranberry sauce explosion. bottom: kids downing some green juice, Thanksgiving-ish salad, early Thanksgiving spread from last week.

I feel like I have lots more to say, but this is all I can handle right now, you guys. Baby steps! Maybe I will share some foodie gift ideas with you soon? My head is swimming with holiday ideas but I can’t seem to get it all on paper yet. I’ve been keeping up with Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest, so be sure to follow me there if you want to keep up with me while I am an otherwise delinquent blogger. Slow blogging for the win!

And of course, enjoy your Thanksgiving holiday! We all have so much to be thankful for.

In honor of Passionfruit opening their Marketplace today (that’s my page in the Marketplace above), I am offering $5 off ALL Oven Love ad spots!

That means large ads are $20, medium ads are $10 and small ads are just $5 – that’s a steal, seriously.

Use the promo code “iloveovenlovers” to take advantage of this discount before it expires!

This is not an April’s Fool’s joke, either- it’s 100% real.

For more information about sponsoring Oven Love, check out my Passionfruit Ads page or the Advertising page here on Oven Love.

In the interest of keeping it real, I just wanted to tell you what goes on behind the scenes of this jam-up blog of mine, lest you believe that I am churning out perfect recipes day in and day out.

• That chocolate cake up there? Looks so yummy, right? I experimented a bit with the unsweetened chocolate I had on hand and some honey.. and it didn’t turn out so well. It was like fudge, but not in the good way. The original looks great, though- check it out at Gimme Some Oven.
• I have been baking lots of muffins lately (apple cinnamon, pumpkin streusel) with coconut flour. I enjoy the taste and texture, but I am having the hardest time getting them to pull away from the muffin liners. Is it just me? Is it the liners? Has anyone else had this problem with coconut flour muffins?
• I already told you I can’t fry eggs on my stainless steel- help, please! How do you fry your eggs? I need a tutorial. We eat a ton of eggs, so I am not above buy a new pan specifically for egg-frying.
• I wish I could photograph a Larabar and a few spoonfuls of peanut butter and call it a lunch recipe. It’s tough to pull lunches together without planning in advance. That’s a reason there aren’t too many lunch recipes on Oven Love.

Just wanted to make sure it’s out there loud and clear that all my meals aren’t picture perfect and neither am I- far from it! Now I’m off to figure out what to make for dinner.. any suggestions?

The new Oven Love is finally here, darlings. (!!!!!!!!!!!)

That is a smile of excitement and anticipation (but mostly relief).

Come on in! Have a cookie.

I’m sure you will join me in my relief now that there is no red background. Everyone should be able to read the new blog. (Hallelujah! Miracle of miracles!) I appreciate the concern from all of you and you are the reason that I decided to take the plunge and invest in ovenloveblog.com.

To say that it’s been a labor of love might not be accurate. There has been plenty of labor, but I haven’t always loved it. I am baffled by people who choose to do things like write computer code or sit in front of the computer all day- kudos to all of you. It’s a miracle that I can handle regular blog posting!

So now it’s time to update your RSS feed and your readers and explore the new site! Check out the helpful recipe and special diet tabs, the about me section, the search bar.. my little blog looks so grown up!

I have huge, gigantic thank you for Andrew Sterling Photography for the new photos- check out his work on his blog or on Facebook, especially if you’re in the Atlanta area. He’s a great talent!

Another thank you goes to Heath from MissioTech, Inc.- a dear friend who agreed to help me get the new site up and running and unknowingly agreed to answer all of my silly questions. Email heath@missiotech.com if you’re web-illiterate like me (and even if you’re not). He’s your guy.

Many thanks go to the lovely Shay Bocks for my new header, as well. I love the softer look.

And most importantly, thank you to my wondrous husband. He’s the best and he knows why.

Thanks for coming to visit me in my new little corner of the interwebs!

• Clean, readable design. My apologies to you if you’re one of the many folks who have trouble pulling up the blog and reading it because of the background. There really is a white background there, I swear! It is typically a browser issue, but I’m sorry none-the-less. Here’s a screenshot of what it really looks like if you’ve never been able to read:

 

• New recipe card format. This is going to be awesome. The recipe will be save-able, printable and set apart from the post. It’s about time, right? I will have to go back and reformat all of the old recipes though.. so have a little patience with me on that part, okay?
• Searchable archives. Finally, we can get rid of that tag cloud! There will be an easily accessible search bar and an archive page so you can find your favorite recipes quickly.
• Social media tabs. Facebook, Twitter, RSS, and Pinterest will all be just a click away. (And maybe Instagram?)
• More about me. Maybe you want to know more about me, maybe you don’t.. but now at least you have the option. You can find out why I started this blog in the first place and why I like food so much. (Note to self: remember why I started this blog and figure out why I like food so much.)
• A new domain and a WordPress theme. I have had a great experience with Blogger, but we are moving on to an actual website with a WordPress theme- this will make responding to individual comments easier, among other things.

• How yummy does that sandwich look? I just finished working on a fun little sandwich post for MPMK and that’s just a preview. Hungry yet? That’s a whole wheat english muffin with spinach, sliced ham, avocado, a squeeze of lemon juice and salt/pepper. Can’t wait to show you the rest on Tuesday.

• I just got an iPhone! (I am SO not an early adopter. haha) The whole thing is pretty cool, but I think the thing I’m most excited about is using Instagram (you can follow me @natalieherr). Can’t wait to share some Instas with you.. once I figure out how to do that. Ha! Anyone have an iPhone tips to share or favorite apps to recommend? I’m all ears.

• I’m loving this geometric necklace (above) on Etsy. I have lots of jewelry wishes but I never pull the trigger. This one is very affordable so maybe I will!

• Does anyone else hoard ripped-out recipes from magazines? I am in the process of going through my stash and pinning dishes I actually like. I found this recipe of Dorie’s in Food & Wine for Chocolate Cayenne Cocktail Cookies (below). I love the cocktail cookie concept- we should really start adding cookies to everything.

• Also- a momentary ‘boo hoo’ that I’m not at BlogHerFood this year. Hope everyone is having fun out there in Seattle! I’ll be here trying not to mope.

• We’re throwing a Cinco de Mayo party this weekend! I can’t wait to cook up a Mexican feast and enjoy it with friends. Smoky pork tacos, guacamole, Mexican brownies, and make-ahead frozen margaritas are on the menu. YUM. (Check out my other Mexican recipes if you’re looking for some inspiration.)

•  Potty training has begun! As you can see, we’re doing much better with #1. haha! Anyone have any tips to share? He is doing great when I take him to the potty, but he isn’t telling me on his own too often. It’s a start, though- a few steps closer to only having one baby in diapers!

• We bought a backyard pool this weekend because it’s been crazy hot! Maybe the little guy will learn how to swim this summer, maybe not.. but at least we have a way to stay cool during the long, hot summer.

•  This little food market is my favorite recent Pin. Isn’t it the cutest?? It inspired me to get rid of all the hand-me-down plastic junk food we got with our play kitchen and upgrade to more real looking fruits and veggies. Wouldn’t it be great if the kids kept their playthings this organized?

• I did some experimenting with the spent grain from Nick’s latest homebrew this weekend. I created some spent grain pancakes and made some bread, too. The pancakes were yummy, but the bread left something to be desired- it was pretty heavy. I waited almost all day for it to rise and finally just threw it in the oven! I’m hoping to try these spent grain chocolate chip cookies next time.

Lots of love and best wishes for a great 2012!

Lightened Up Chili