"Always Hungry?" Meal Plan - 3 months in.

Erik and I started the "Always Hungry?" meal plan February 1, 2015. We heard an author interview on Science Friday and purchased the book. To date, I have lost 6.9 pounds with a major reduction in exercising.

Exercise - When I am not scheduled for substitute teaching or on the road, I take a brisk 15 - 35 minute walk after breakfast and dinner. We try to run every other day. We are not running the 3-8 miles we used to run. Our workout (sit-ups, squats, t-stabilization, etc) has been few and far between. I am really enjoying the light workout loads.

Food Preparation -  The first 3 weeks we followed the meal plans provided in the book. We had a couple major food receipts at Sam's Club and Wal-mart. Following the two huge shopping trips, the food bills are easier on the wallet, as we have purchased our initial pantry of oils, spices, and nuts.

Preparing the meals, snacks, and sauces is very time consuming. I enjoy making my own mayo & dressings. Three months into the plan, I have become more efficient at food prep. I can chop onions like a Food Network star.

Cooking - Cooking is designed so your main dish at suppertime becomes part of your lunch salad the following day. We enjoy many meals from the suggested recipes and have changed our eating habits and ways of selecting food. 

One of my favorite dishes - Eggplant Parmesan. We have tweaked the recipe to omit the tofu and added chicken breast to make up for the protein.

Ingredients include - Eggplant, squash, ricotta cheese, mozzarella cheese, shredded chicken, and other additions such as onions, mushrooms, bell peppers. I don't even miss the pasta in similar recipes.



The salads are yummy with many suggestions on combinations of protein, salad greens, and cheese topped with homemade dressings.

Mozzarella Chickpea Salad with Sardines.

List of meals - Index to Planning Meals on "Always Hungry?"

Erik doesn't mind taking two lunch bags to work.

I miss the bread and processed sugars. When I come across breads and sugars, I am more mindful to enjoy the meal/snack. Many times choosing not to partake in the meal/snack with bread and processed sugars. We don't eat out as much as we used to and not eating out adds extra money we can spend on better food at the stores.



 

Substitute Teaching

One year ago, the last quarter of the Spring 2015 (who knows how long people will be looking), I got back into the classroom as a substitute teacher. Whoa, what an experience. After 10 months of enjoying my life at home a part time job found me. A different routine in every classroom. Different expectations in every classroom. At least I am in the same building and only substitute at one school.

My substitute days start off the same. I walk into the school building's commons area around 7:45. I make sure to say "Good Morning" to the support staff. If I have a problem during the day, most likely, the first person I encounter is support staff. They will be my resource and often will help me above and beyond what I need to get sorted out. One morning, I even got a piece of banana bread delivered to me by the support staff. Mostly snacks to get me through they day and to do my workout in the evening: cinnamon rolls from breakfast, bag of lefter over popcorn from last nights game. Support staff make every school function smoothly or not.

After my "good mornings," I then check in with the school secretary to fill our paperwork and get my classroom assignments. 

First priority, learn the students names. When you are the substitute teacher, sometimes all you have is the ability to associate a face to a name. Unfortunately, the names you learn first are the students who are not on task. 

My day would go a lot easier if more teachers left an attendance sheet or book out for me to reference. Some teachers print off seating charts with students pictures, these are great. I usually don't have access to the computerized attendance program, but some substitutes do. Those that do may bring along their own laptop or iPad. I'd rather not use my personal devices on the school wifi or for school business. Although, sometimes I do text attendance to the school secretary and let her know if I am carrying my phone. Most of the time, I'll send a volunteer to take attendance to the office.

I enjoy the days I can pick up my book and read. These teachers have their classroom procedures down. Students already have a idea of what their task is going to be, many walk in and get busy. These classrooms run like clockwork because these teachers are there day in and day out or these teachers are frequently gone.

Other days I might be able to peruse a magazine. Short articles and looking at pictures is all the time I have. These students have to monitored to stay on task. They see the classroom teacher is not there and they think they have a day off. Students recognize "busy work" and adjust their behavior to it. Or students are asking for help. I've been subbing for about a year now and the students know they can ask me questions or I will tell them "I don't know, Google it." Since I have had my own classroom, I know to make mental notes on how much or little students are progressing on their task. My task is to make sure the substitute plans get accomplish, no matter how well the plans are written.

Some days, I get to teach. I might have had some heads up on the lesson plans or had a prep period to read the student material. These class periods go by quickly. I enjoy teaching, but teaching on the cuff is different. I am still surprised that high school teachers would expect a substitute to teach their content. I know if the teacher was there, they could bring the topic to life.

At the end of the day, I leave some notes about the how the class periods go. I don't know if my notes go unread or the teachers have some sort of follow through. But I will tell the teacher what happened during the day. Which classes I felt were well behaved. Which classes seemed like they wanted to goof off. I also leave a list of students who have left the classroom; I sign students in and out and have to remind them to tell me when they return to class. Just basic information about how my day went.

Teachers are busy, leaving their classroom for a day often takes as much time to prepare and time to catch up as being gone for the day.

After BrewDay

5 gallons of an all grain IPA ready to be bottled. Weights @50 lbs, so I get my hubby to place the bottle on a step stool (you only see the legs) on the counter.

In this post, you'll see pictures with captions describing the fermentation, bottling, and conditioning process.

*The pictures are not meant to describe each step of the process.

FERMENTATION. My brews condition in a glass carboy for 4 weeks, 2 weeks for primary fermentation and 2 weeks for secondary fermentation. Homebrewing allows me to determine what comes in contact with my beer. I chose glass and metal, not plastic (just have a plastic graduated cylinder as glass ones are pretty pricey). I might take a gravity reading during fermentation, to make sure the yeast is doing it's job. But only if I think something is wrong.

To stabilize the brews temperature, I use a crude thermal blanket made out of reflective insulation and packing bubble wrap. I top it off with an aluminum cake saver, it works. It also protects the brew from sunlight.

I monitor the temperature of the brew by using a surface temperature attached to the glass carboy. Some brewers have an elaborate monitoring system. I monitor max and min temperatures on a daily basis and taper off towards bottling day.

BOTTLING. I have been brewing beer since Fall of 2014 and have bottled each batch. Bottling is one of the most complicated processes of brewing beer. Bottling is meant to preserve my homebrew for enjoying at a later date. I have learned that the amount of hops in the recipe determines how long the beer will be stable. IPAs utilize the most hops and Pilsners and Porters the least.

Once primary and secondary fermentation is complete, as monitored by gravity readings. The brew is ready to be bottled. On bottling day, washing and sanitizing the bottles takes up most of my time. The bottles also take a lot of storage. Many homebrewers keg their beer. By doing so, kegging eliminates the bottling and priming procedure. I prefer to make investments in the ingredients, which means more beer.

Bottle drying in my crude drying rack; an old bicycle rack I picked up at an auction. As I mentioned before, more money for ingredients. After the bottles are washed I then sanitize them. Yep, the bottles are processed twice. Once with soapy water and the next with a sanitizing solution.

On bottling day, I prepare a primer to carbonate the beer. A non fermentable sugar boiled in water for 5 minutes, cooled to room temp then added to beer. I have been experimenting with priming with organic sugar, honey, and agave.

Foamy beer maybe the result of such experiments. This 32 ounce beer mug is barely holding 12 ounces of beer & foam. I messed something up in the priming process. The batch was still drinkable out of small mixing bowls and large mugs. I celebrated when I drank that last bottle out of the foamy batch.

Gravity readings are taken throughout all processes. If I remember, I take a gravity reading. One reading before I pitch the yeast and one prior to adding priming sugar. The difference between the two readings will allow me to calculate the beers ABV. If the gravity reading is off, I let the beer sit a week or so in the glass carboy for the yeast to do a little extra work.

All bottled up, the beer resting at holding station on stove.

CONDITIONING. The beer bottles sit for another 2 weeks to condition. The flavors of the beer mature, some flavors minimize and other flavors maximize in the bottle. Before I crack a porter, I let it sit in the bottle for about a month. The best flavor in my porter is 3 months from brew day. IPAs also mature longer in the bottle, but do not take quite as long as a porter.

My palate can easily differentiate types of beers. I still need more practice in identifying subtle flavors in beer.

Beer boxed up to rest a couple of weeks. Keep at about 65-70 degrees in the dark. Sunlight can create off flavors in the beer. Depending on the style of beer, most beer is ready in 2 weeks. Porters & IPAs benefit from extra time in the bottle.

Homebrew by product - Spent Grain

Caution - Pictured is the by product of 2.5 gallons of Vanilla Porter. This spent grain is added to my compost pile. When you visit a local Brewery, look for the by product. How is your  local Brewery getting rid of the spent grain? Do they have equipment to get rid of the by product? Are they sourcing the by product to animal husbandry operations?

When I am enjoying a brew at a brewery, I look for the Spent Grain. Some breweries use a malt extract in their brews to boast the ABV level. Typically an all grain porter will have and ABV between 3.5% to 5.5%. Extract brewing, on brew day, is quicker than all grain brewing. Although a malt extract brew cost more than an all grain brew. The cost is for simplicity and a more reliable result. Think of this difference in buying a frozen pie crust and making a pie crust from scratch.