Miscellaneous ramblings

Since my last two posts were related to politics, I'm sticking with it for tonight. I have something on my mind and what better place to vent than on my blog? So... can I just say that I am so glad that this vice-presidential speculation is all but over? It has greatly affected my personal plans (my husband's days off) and I am glad to see it come to an end! And I'm also thankful the Virginia governor is out of the running because that would have really affected my life (no offense to Ry.an who would have welcomed possible travel. Sorry, honey. You would have been gone during my fertile week.)

On a serious note (although I wasn't not serious in the previous paragraph), I am very glad that Tim Ka.ine, a known Catholic, will not be the vice presidential nominee. It wouldn't have been great for the Catholic Church to have one of its members in such a visable position while also solidly pro-choice. Not that there aren't many others like this - we all know who they are - but a presidential race is different. Kai.ne would have been the "Catholic" guy on the ticket. And he would have been the poster-boy for the segment of the Catholic Church who believes it is okay to knowingly go against one of the central-most teachings of the faith. Not that Joe Bid.en isn't Catholic; he is. But "Catholic" doesn't come up in the first few statements about him like it seems to with Ka.ine. Kai.ne touted his "Catholic values" when he ran for governor and would likely have done it again.

The reason I got fired up about this tonight is because I'm watching Gre.ta VanSus.teren and she's talking about how mad "women" would have been if Kaine had been selected. And, why, you ask? Well because they don't think he's pro-choice enough. What? I understand that NA.RAL doesn't think he's pro-choice enough and didn't endorse him for governor. But, come on! If you want to kill babies, how many varying degrees of this can there be? But that's not even what got me fired up. What makes me so sad is to think of all these women that Gre.ta speaks of, who are inundating her with emails because they are so afraid that Ob.ama might pick a candidate who is pro-choice but not pro-choice enough. Probably 99% of these women are mothers. Mothers who want to protect the right to kill their unborn. Mothers. It just seems like it goes against nature. That has always bothered me.

Okay, sorry to rant about this.

On another topic.. I bought a pair of size 6 jeans yesterday! Woo hoo! They are the second pair of pants/capris I've bought in that size recently, but my first pair of jeans. And as we all know, jeans are the real test. I'm also closing in on 30 pounds lost. I'm at 27.2 right now. I truly can't believe it. I'm so thankful that my weight is no longer an issue I stress over. And it's a great feeling knowing that you'll always weigh less next week. Next month I'll be five to ten pounds less, and the month after that even less. I know I might hit a plateau some day soon, but it hasn't happened yet. And if it happens at this point, I can't complain.

I also can't complain about the food I can eat. I can basically take any food I crave and make it low G.I. For instance, tonight I'm having chicken tenders and stuffing. Seriously! My chicken tender recipe is amazing, I must say. And I'm taking my grandma's Thanksgiving stuffing recipe and making it low G.I., substituting light butter for butter, wheat bread for white bread, etc. I haven't done it this way before, so I'm excited to try it. And my chicken tenders? I put them in white wheat flour, then egg, then into a mixture of whole wheat bread crumbs, parmesan cheese, salt, pepper and garlic powder. I then put them in a pan with a little olive oil and brown them on both sides. I then put them, still in the oven-proof pan, into the oven to finish cooking. So good! I then usually allow myself some honey mustard for dipping, even though it's not truly low G.I., because then I really feel like I'm eating fried food!

Since I'm on recipes, I have to post the most amazing low G.I. zucchini bread recipe ever. I made it two days ago and we can't get enough of it!

Zucchini Bread

Dry ingredients:
2 cups white wheat flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
3 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon

Wet ingredients:
3 eggs
1/2 cup canola oil
l1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
1 cup splenda
1/4 cup brown sugar splenda blend
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 cups grated zucchini
1 cup chopped walnuts

Mix dry ingredients together and set aside. Beat wet together, fold in dry slowly and stir just until blended. Pour into greased or sprayed 9x5 inch loaf pans (this makes 2 loaves. If you want to cut it in half and do one loaf use 2 eggs. The other ingredients halve very easily.) Bake at 350 degrees for 35-40 minutes. Make sure middle is done - springs back when lightly touched or clean toothpick extracted from middle.

If you make it, let me know how it turns out! By the way, my husband's workplace has caught the low G.I. fever. Just from seeing him and I, they want to know our secret. So several have bought the book and started it. The weird thing is I don't walk around promoting it and I don't want to be known as the "diet girl" who people have to hide their yummy food from. I've always hated those people! (not really hated, but you know what I mean...) But I guess it's a compliment if they want to do what we're doing just from looking at us.

Alright, that's it for now. Oh - one more thing - I'll be waking up bright and early for an infertility support group meeting tomorrow morning! If you can, join us!