Today it was 57 and sunny in my neck of the woods, which means it is almost Summer weather (slight exaggeration, but not really). While I recently complained about the lack of warm weather, you would think I would be outside all day today. I can lie and say I was and even went for a hike, but in true non-Adirondack fashion, I was home in the kitchen. Do not fear, I did get some Vitamin D by taking a walk and watching Andrew burn the leftover Christmas Trees (we chucked them in our backyard in February waiting for snow to melt from in front of the outdoor fireplace). While this morning I hit the gym, Andrew cooked up a delicious breakfast, and then I got to cutting items for our stir-fry, a pizza and a butternut squash soup (I don't have much faith in this soup simply because I don't do soups, plus I have been eating the cooked butternut squash off the pan so I don't believe I will have enough for the recipe).

Post Cleanse I have been incredibly conscious of the food we are eating and making sure I control as much of it as possible, which means nothing pre-packaged, if I can help it, and no eating out. Our grocery bills have been a bit higher than usual due to all the trips, but I figure we even out since we are not eating out and eating everything in the fridge (which means no waste, yay!).

Last weekend at my moms I made some freshly squeezed orange juice for Easter, which then parlayed into me making my own this week. We did a simple orange only, and then a few days later orange, grapefruit, & lemon. I highly recommend adding a few grapefruits into the mix as they are definitely in season right now and give you a lot of juice. Super delicious, especially when served cold. Also, while I am not typically a huge fan of pulp, knowing that the juice as made with my washed hands on the fruit and a citrus juicer from my kitchen, I do not get grossed out by it.

Sweet treats are still very much present in our lives. We are still treating ourselves simply because that is a realistic diet plan. I will never give up sweets (unless I get another cavity or lose another tooth, which is not unheard of). Like I mentioned before, we are not eating the way we do to lose weight, we do it to have control of what goes in our body and to be as healthy as possible. While dessert does not translate to healthy, it does make me happy when making it and eating it, and happiness is healthy). So, we made mojitos from freshly squeezed limes, decadent dark chocolate souffle and impromptu whole wheat apple & almond cupcakes from scratch. Andrew claims he is cutting himself off from sweets for the next 6 weeks while we do one last push at the gym, (since we waive our membership for the Summer months), but I will probably only respect this decision Monday - Thursday. If I am in the kitchen Friday - Sunday and we do not have any trips planned, I will most probably try to whip up a new dish (and if I put chocolate in it, its guaranteed he will eat it).

A recap of some of the items made in the kitchen .

Sharing the recipe for our favorite breakfast item tomorrow....PANCAKES!