Milestones at MamaEatsClean - Thanks for stopping by 10,000 times!

What an exciting weekend for Mama. I hit 10,000 page views on my blog. And I'm almost at 100 followers on Pinterest. Exciting stuff for a stay-at-home mama jotting down her culinary adventures and pursuit of health as a maternity project. Us accountants love numbers and milestones.

I know I just lost all credibility on health and diet related matters by finally admitting that. Yep. I'm an accountant.

I don't have any particular goals for views or followers but it is fun to watch the stats anyway. I'm not making a penny doing this (what kind of accountant am I anyway?). I really started blogging in January as a way to start documenting my recipes for our family. But it turned out to be a great creative outlet. I love writing. I love editing pictures on PicMonkey. I love experimenting in the kitchen. And maybe I've helped a few people. I hope I at least gave a few people some meal or snack ideas.

And it turns out that journalling is great way to try and work through a problem. I didn't really think I had a problem when I started this. I was full of energy on my new low carb way of eating and loving it. 

But my adrenal fatigue snuck back up on me over the winter. I got a severe case of low iron. And now I have low white blood counts. And I have a Candida overgrown. 

So what started out in January as a way to document recipes has evolved into a way to document, ponder, question, probe and try to cook my way to better health and figure out what the heck is wrong with me. 

And health is a finicky thing so my ingredients and diet keep changing as I go. And my symptoms, moods and general outlook might change from day-to-day. Its a bit of a roller-coaster. 

To those of you faithfully coming back here sorry for the ups and downs but thanks for stopping by. I have learned so much in the past four months - about diet, detox, clean eating, clean living, shopping and cooking. Hopefully my ups have inspired some of you to clean up your diet. And hopefully my downs haven't turned anyone off of clean eating. 

I have also learned that there is a sea of information out there and each of us has to figure out what works for our own bodies. I started out on a bit of a "wheat is the devil" crusade. And I still am not fond of wheat and don't eat it anymore but I have learned that there are lots of different views out there on food. Some raw vegans probably think my diet is pretty "dirty".

I'm just trying to listen to my body and adjust what I eat based on what is right for me at each point in time. What is right for me might not be right for you and that's okay. What's right for me today might not be right for me tomorrow. So that means my blog can be a little all over the place. My definition of clean keeps evolving. I'm learning. I'm trying to fix me. And I'm trying to do it while still eating delicious, tasty, satisfying food. Because I LOVE food.  

So I have some issues to deal with. Yes. But I am sleeping better than I can ever remember (in between wake ups because that little 10 month old sure does miss me during the night) and my digestion is working better than ever. And I owe that to cleaning up my diet. 

For the next little while at least my focus will be on fighting my Candida overgrowth. So my diet won't include any sugar (none, zip, zilch, nada), yeast, mushrooms, vinegar, fruit (seriously) or pork (ouch). Plus very little dairy. This is hard. I am struggling. But I am doing it. Some of my recipes might not be that exciting but I am working with a super restrictive list of ingredients. And doing my best to make them into something filling and satisfying. 

So as I do every Sunday - here is my week in review. A sampling of some of the clean and Candida friendly food I made to try and keep my constant hunger at bay.

Thanks again for stopping by...........and keep eating clean.........at least some of the time!

My girlfriend brought me these yesterday and they brought joy to my heart and a smile to my lips. I don't get flowers very often (hint, hint, nudge, nudge hubby) and I am too cheap to buy them for myself but i LOVE them so much. And she brought pink - I am partial to pink. Nothing to do with clean eating but they made me so happy that I had to share them with all of you. And its kind of a celebration post so why not. 

Eggs Scrambled in butter with some spinach. I used almond milk instead of cow's milk so they were Candida friendly and just as fluffy. Its nice to get a serving of veggies in before 8 am. Less pressure the rest of the day. Although servings of veggies is not a big issue on the Candida diet since I can't eat much else. 

Organic Grass fed beef meatloaf. I made it with egg, ground golden flax, shredded zucchini and spices. I used tomato paste as a topping. It was very tender. Almost too tender.  A bit of a weird texture. So I didn't share the recipe.

I am seriously addicted to Chocolate Vega One smoothies with ice, cacao nibs, coconut, nut butter and ground Chia. I have one or two of these everyday. I think it is because the Vega One has a healthy dose of Stevia so its a bit sweet. And my sweet tooth WILL NOT DIE. Do you think it means I shouldn't be eating them? Sometimes your body craves what it shouldn't have. Hmmmm. I hope not. They are saving me.

Leftover meatloaf with roasted beets and roasted cauliflower. And a small smidge of white rice. 

Almond flour breaded chicken breast with tomato sauce and mozza cheese. Served with roasted cabbage and steamed broccoli. Cabbage was the best part of this meal. 

I did some baking experiments this week. I'm on a bit of a coconut flour kick. For dessert and so there is something to snack on because I am ALWAYS hungry and snacks are tough. This was a maple walnut coconut flour cupcake I made. It was pretty good. 

I had started eating oatmeal last week and then discovered it was slowing my digestive system  way down to the point my stomach was distended, bloated and I started feeling rotten. So my brief love affair with oatmeal came to an abrupt end. It was fun while it lasted. This overnight oatmeal ended up down the drain rather than being shared as a recipe.

I have to pack salads every time I'm not going to be around the house for a meal. This was a delicious oriental salad but what a pain in the butt to not be able to eat any fast food. How am I going to keep this up when I go back to work - PANIC.

Coconut flour  Chocolate cupcakes with coconut cream icing. Recipe to come. Sweetened with Stevia. Really not so sweet for a cupcake but you gotta do what you gotta do. Its partly psychological.

Devilled eggs. I used avocado for creaminess since condiments are out of the question these days. I have been eating a ton of eggs. Free run and antibiotic free of course. 

More eggs, this time my spinach, onion and sundried tomato basted eggs with Italien seasoning. I like this breakfast. Its yummy.

This is my usual smoothie cup. It a kids cup from some restaurant they let you take home. Don't be fooled by my pictures. We don't always eat on white plates and drink out of nice glasses. I eat off Dora plates when I need to. 

Asian Grilled Chicken Thighs.  I used coconut amino's, sesame oil, ginger, garlic, lemon juice and olive oil as a marinade. They were good. 

I tried roasting green beans in a casserole on the bbq. It didn't work. They were super crispy. But cauliflower done the same way is amazing. I also made a pot of chicken chipolte soup with black rice and spinach. It was good and I seem to be able to tolerate small amounts of rice. 

Some pumpkin chocolate chip muffins I made for the kids. I'm so used to coconut and almond flour baking now these looked ridiculous when I opened the oven. They were so fluffy. Wheat may be the devil but it sure does work well for baking. I didn't get to eat one bite of these but the kids loved them. I 

Another salad for lunch. I added a bit of mozza on top this time to change things up. I'm allowed 2 or 3 servings of mozza a week (just 2 or 3 ounces). This was one of them.