Liszak, Party of 3

One thing we get asked A LOT is "How do you do it?" or other similar variations "I don't know how you do it," or "I could never do that!" If you would have asked me at the beginning of 2018 if I would like to add 3 children to my household by the end of the year I probably would have had a similar mindset. "I don't know if I could handle that." Thankfully no one asked and it all just kind of happened because I wouldn't change it for the world! I love our large family and even though I'm not sure how long our foster kiddos will be with us, I'm enjoying their presence while I can.  Honestly I don't really have a short answer for "how do you do it?' We just do. But, I do have some tips and ways I do things that certainly make life a little easier. Do we do life the same way we did when we only had 2 children? Absolutely not. I'd probably go insane. Adjustments had to be made, expectations had to be changed, and...

It's been a while since I've written a blog post. Five years, but who's counting. I'd completely forgotten this blog even existed until about 30 minutes ago, but I had been recently toying with the idea of starting a blog, so here we are. Honestly, my life has changed so dramatically since the last time I wrote anything in here that I'm not even sure where to start. The last time I was here I'd recently given birth to a beautiful baby girl. That baby girl turned 5 a couple of months ago. It's so hard to wrap my head around it. Especially because she's so smart. She handles conversations with adults like a pro. And don't even think about taking her to a museum and have this idea that you're going to teach her tons of awesome new things...she already knows. Yep...I made that mistake. I could probably thank PBS and the fact that she catches on to things quickly, for that. The title I gave this blog was "Liszak, party of 3." Since origi...

I hit my one month mark last Monday.  I've been meaning to post a final "My Vegan Experience" post, but hey, life happens.  So here it is, only a week late.  Through eating this way, I've definitely felt like I had more energy and so does Michael.  Michael especially because he always felt tired before switching his eating.  I ended up losing a total of 8 pounds....I definitely won't complain about that! Through this I've learned that if you tell someone you're vegan it comes with a stigma (although it did stop this guy who was selling steaks from harassing me).  Typically, I'd get a weird look and probably hear one of a few questions.  One of the more popular questions being: "Where do you get your nutrients?" and typically what people are really wanting to know when they ask this question is "where do you get your protein?"  So what I decided to do in this blog post is respond to questions or comments Michael and I received the ...

It's been a little over half way and I'm not tired of it (surprisingly). The only thing I have really been craving is a milkshake and I got the vegan version of that yesterday.  It was pretty steep in price, though. A whopping $8!  However, this place puts all of the ingredients on it's menu so I'm sure I can make it at home for much cheaper.  Even though the "milkshake," or as the restaurant refers to it "smoothie" was a little pricey, I still HIGHLY recommend Luna's Living Kitchen if you're in the Charlotte area. Also, after 2.5 weeks of eating vegan, I've lost a little over 6 pounds and I feel great.  I absolutely hate being hungry so I love that I can eat any time and anything I want (as long as it's vegan) and I don't have to worry about how I'm going to work it off the next day. Every few days I try to make a new vegan dish.  This week I made vegan cornbread.  My husband let me know it was the best cornbread he...

It's been 1 week without meat and all I want is a milkshake.  So being that I am who I am, I will still attempt to get my "milk" shake and not break any vegan "rules." Since I've been wanting one for a few days I decided to google vegan ice cream recipes.  To my surprise there were TONS.  Ice cream flavors such as cake batter and peanut butter chocolate chunk.  I can make those and add in some coconut milk or soy milk and VOILA milkshake. Honestly, meat does not even sound appetizing to me.  But meat hasn't sounded appetizing since I watched that documentary.  Now, I would very much like some cheese or yogurt, but I am surviving. I absolutely love the new things that I am trying, though.  I've made black bean hummus and black bean burgers.  Both are ABSOLUTELY amazing.  I love that my refrigerator looks extremely healthy and I can grab any snack that I want and not make a "bad" food decision. On a side note, tonight is our nigh...

Over a month ago I committed to making cake pops for a friend's gender reveal.  Well now that I've changed my eating habits, that means cake pops are out of the question, right? WRONG! It took a few google searches and a little bit of planning, but I actually did it. I made vegan cake pops and surprisingly...they were REALLY good. In case you're interested in making vegan cake pops yourself, this is how I did it: Ingredients: 1 cup white sugar 1 small avocado 1/2 cup apple sauce 2 teaspoons vanilla extract 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour 1 3/4 teaspoons baking powder 1/2 cup vanilla rice milk Combine all ingredients and bake for 20 minutes at 350 degrees.  I use a cake pop pan for this. And then for the "icing" coating.  I bought "allergy-free" semi sweet chocolate and combined coconut oil to help it melt and then dipped the cake pops in that mixture. End result: ABSOLUTE DELICIOUSNESS! Photos by Kristin Marie Dustman Photograph...

Day 1 and I have my first issue.  What's for breakfast? "Typical" breakfast foods are all animal products.  No sausage, eggs, milk, pancakes, etc.  I could do peanut butter toast, but that'll get old after a while. Time to get creative! So I did some research (what would I do without google) and apparently there are some interesting, vegan-friendly ways to make toast. Option One: Toast, with olive oil, crushed red peppers and garlic salt. Hopefully Michael doesn't mind my breath after that one. Option Two: French toast, with tofu and soy milk....not a huge fan of tofu Option Three: Toast with hummus or guacamole Looks like an open mind is needed for this journey. And as promised, starting weight: 170.0 (no judgement, I did have a baby recently and have had to have a sedentary lifestyle due to complications) Disclaimer: Due to nursing, I have decided to drink one glass of soy milk in the mornings to keep up my calcium and vitamin D.  ...

I know I created this blog to blog about my pregnancy, well I managed all of 2 blog posts. On the bright side, I now have a beautiful baby girl. Now, I bet you're wondering why I titled this "My Vegan Experience."  Basically, my husband and I have decided to go vegan for 1 month. Why would meat-lovers go vegan, that's absurd!  Recently a friend of ours was diagnosed with a lot of food allergies so we decided to (starting on Monday) support her by eating the way she does. This means no: dairy, soy, tree nuts, hops, peas and lima beans.  AND about an hour after we decided we were going to support her in this way, we had the bright idea of watching the documentary "Forks over knives" and unfortunately it made some very compelling points. Starting on Monday, we're giving up ALL animal products for 1 month.  I mean, we were already giving up diary, right?  Which also means I'm giving up my 3 favorite food groups: chocolate, milkshakes and Chick-fi...

I've hit the 6 month mark, which is pretty exciting.  I know I hear a lot of people telling me how fast my pregnancy is going for them, however, I think I'm just so excited for October that it is going incredibly slow.  Here's my 6 month baby bump: It's been a pretty exciting week!  Michael and I did our infant safety and CPR class.  We absolutely love learning different ways to care for our baby.  I definitely feel more comfortable to react in an emergency.  It's also interesting to see and hear about the ways safety issues have evolved over the years.  For example, when I was a child, laying a baby on their stomach was the best thing to do when being put the sleep.  Now, that is a no, no. Another thing that excited me this week is we received our purchase of cloth diapers.  They are so cute and I cannot wait to use them.  I love the BumGenius brand as well.  I love the All-in-One aspect of them.  Cloth...

I've been meaning to start this blog weeks ago to document the growing life inside of me, amongst other changes going on in our lives.  For those that haven't heard, we're having a little baby girl and we're ecstatic!  I still have 16 weeks to go, but I cannot wait to hold that little girl in my arms. You'll probably hear a lot about her, plus a few other things we have going on.  I might throw in a few recipes here and there, as well.  Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy! Progress: 8 weeks vs 24 weeks How far along: 24 Weeks Total weight gain/loss:  16 lbs Maternity clothes:  Some maternity, some regular clothes, but those are becoming few and far in between. Stretch marks:  None, so far Sleep:  Sleep is okay.  I typically wake up about 3-4 times a night to go to the bathroom. Best moment this week:  Spending Sunday trying a new restaurant and checking out local shops with Michael.   Miss anything:...