Coping With Type 1 Diabetes

As most of you know I am type I diabetic.  Much different than type two, which is the one you almost always hear about in the news.  I can not cure myself.  I will have this for the rest of my life.    For those of you who are new here I was diagnosed at seven years old and I am now 27.  You can read about my diagnosis story here.  I was very blessed to be able to have 2 healthy boys and I continue on a daily basis to try and maintain the best control possible, because it is so important for me to be healthy for my family. I want to live a long healthy life and I do not want diabetes to hold me back or hinder any of my goals or aspirations ever.  I am very strict with what I eat and I exercise daily, not because I am vain (well I am a little vain haha) but because it is so important for my blood sugar control.

I receive such a wonderful outpouring of e-mails on a daily basis from other type 1 diabetics wanting to know what I do, where I wear I pump and wanting words of encouragement because they may be struggling with this disease, which can sometimes leave you feeling like you are all alone.  Being a mom of two crazy little boys sometimes makes it impossible to respond to everyone and I am SO sorry if I have not gotten back to you but it does not mean I did not read your e-mail and was not thinking about you. 

So today I wanted to reach out to everyone, type 1 diabetic or not and let you ask me whatever questions you may have, right here in the comment section.  I will respond to every question in a follow up post. 

Delighted Momma Turns Two!

 Source

Today marks the second birthday of Delighted Momma.  Two whole years.  I've actually shocked myself ha!

When I first started blogging I made a commitment that I would always stay true to me and my writing style no matter who or how many people started reading my blog.  I have been tempted at times to use words like "lovely" and "ambrosial" and it just felt weird.  So I have stuck with who I am, which is a gal (felt strange to type girl) who loves to talk about wine and overuses the word awesome.  I have learned over this past year that you can not take yourself too seriously, especially when it comes to blogging.  When you start taking yourself too seriously you ultimately stop having fun.  If you are not having fun why continue doing something right?  I have realized that the world is not going to end if I can not get up a certain amount of posts and being a little more relaxed with my blog has made it such a joy to continue.

I have loved sharing my sometimes crazy journey of motherhood, my adventures in the kitchen, little life snippets and more throughout the life of my blog.  I can not thank you all enough for coming back to read, leaving sweet comments, kind e-mails and encouraging me to keep on choo-chooing.  

The Two Minute Paleo Blueberry Muffin

I am usually am not a huge breakfast person.  My morning breakfast routine almost always consists of a a cup of coffee and a green smoothie, but the other morning I woke up craving a blueberry muffin like nobodies business.  Morning time is crazy time around my house and there was no way I had time (or felt like) making a big ole batch of muffins.  I wanted just one.  I did a little experimenting and used my mug cake recipe as a base and WOW!  Is it weird to say I blew myself away with this recipe?...Ya probably.

What you need:

• 3 tbs of almond meal
• 1 tbs of honey
• 2 tbs of unsweetened applesauce
• 1 egg
• 3 tbs of bluberries
• a dash of salt
• 1 tsp of vanilla
• 1/2 tsp of baking powder

Directions:
Mix everything up together in a microwave safe bowl.  Microwave for 2 minutes.  Enjoy!

*For those of you who are going to say you hate the microwave (there is a whole clan of microwave haters) you can try baking this for 15-20 minutes.

*If you are allergic to almond meal you can use coconut flour.  Keep in mind the consistently will be slightly different.

This totally hits the spot.  It was good...so so good.

Please come back and let me know how you like this if you make it.

The carb count for this is approx 22 grams.

Things That Make Me Say Yeay

Woa that's some crazy hair!  My husband and I did a mud run last weekend called a "Love Mud Run."  It was intense but such a blast!  At the end you got sud-ified with a bunch of soap and then sprayed down by firefighters.  Not a bad way to end the event :)

Roasted Coconut Chips from Traders Joe's.  I ate the whole bag in a day. 

What a typical  morning looks like... Ronin in my bed, baby toys everywhere, and all of Max's stuffed animals next to me and I do not mind one bit.  I am still trying to get Ronin to sleep through the night, but he still refuses even with all my effort.  I have dreams about what it is like to actually get a full 6 (that's all I'm asking for) hours of uninterrupted sleep.  One day. 

An adorable coffee cup cozy made by my friend.  I love it.

Max all set up in the Kelty Pack on our hike the other day.  This thing is awesome especially since most toddlers want to get carried anyway after hiking for about 20 minutes. 

Have a wonderful weekend!

The winner of the Sinless Cocktail Mixer is: Natalie W.  Please e-mail me Natalie at lindsay.kujawa@yahoo.com with where you would like your mixer shipped to.

Sinless Margarita + Win a Free Bottle of any Sinless Mixer

Who likes margaritas?  I do!  But I almost never order one because of all the sugar, artificial ingredients and calories that come along with it.  I am also not a big fan of low calorie mixers that use artificial sweeteners..blehh.  If I do make or order a cocktail, it is usually pretty boring to avoid all the crazy amounts of sugar.  

So when Sinless Cocktails recently sent me a few mixers to try I was floored with how good they were!  Nothing like I have ever tried before.  All of their mixers are made with completely natural ingredients and are sweetened with stevia.  You do not feel like you are drinking a fraud cocktail at all.  Plus they contain only 5 calories per serving.  Can I get a woop woop!  My husband, who is really critical when it comes to "low calorie" mixers and alcohol in general, loved it too!  He actually took a sip, paused, raised his eyebrows and said, "WOW I'm impressed."  I even caught him reading the ingredient label to see exactly what was in it, since it was so delicious.

So what makes Sinless mixers different from other low calorie cocktail mixers?  My favorite thing is that they do not add any artificial preservatives to keep their products shelf stable.  Instead, they opted to go with completely all natural ingredients, which is why their products must be chilled at all times.  I absolutely love that.

This is what we made: A Sinless Margarita

• 3 parts Sinless Margarita Mix
• 1 Part Tequila
• Pour Over Plenty of Ice 

*69 calories

And now the fun part for YOU...

Sinless Cocktails is giving away a bottle of whatever mixer you would like to one Delighted Momma reader. 

All you have to do is visit the  Sinless Cocktails mixer page and leave a comment below letting me know which mixer you would like to try.  For an extra entry (leave an extra comment) you can pin this recipe to one of your Pinterest boards.

I will pick a winner at random and announce it in my Friday's post, so make sure to check back on Friday to see if you won.

Flourless Strawberry Chocolate Cake

I mentioned this cake in my Friday's post and on Instagram.  Many of you wanted to hear the recipe so here ya go!  Let me start this post by saying I am pre-warning you.  If you have a self control problem when eating cake maybe you should just make a single serving chocolate mug cake.  This cake is moist and chocolaty and oh so good it's almost impossible to have just one slice.  I may or may not have stayed up after everyone had gone to bed on Valentine's Day and sliced myself a (few) pieces.  I sound so awesome I know.  This recipe was adapted from Paleo Effect.  I made a few tiny changes to make the consistency just a little bit more rich and it turned out perfect. This will definitely be a recipe regular come birthday or celebration time.  We had our cake with a side of this ice cream and it was so so good.

Oh and the really awesome part about this recipe is it is perfect if you are in a time crunch.  All you need to make this is a blender.  No fancy mixing tools needed other than that.

Flourless chocolate cake recipe:

• 1/2 tsp of sea salt
• 1 tsp of baking soda
• 1/2 cup of unsalted ground cashews
• 1/3 cup of cocoa powder
• 5 eggs
• 1/2 cup of honey
• 1 and 1/2 tbs of vanilla
• 1/2 cup of melted coconut oil

* I topped the cake with sliced strawberries and I really recommend adding them on top.  The combination of everything is so delicious.

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
2. Place all of the ingredients into a blender and blend until you have a smooth somewhat watery consistency.  You might wonder at this point how this will turn into cake but trust me it will. 
3. Grease an 8 inch cake baking dish with coconut oil and sprinkle a little cocoa powder on the bottom.  Pour your batter in.  
4. Bake for 30 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.  

If you want to top it with chocolate (paleo) icing here is the recipe:

• 3/4 cup of cocoa powder
• 1/2 cup of coconut oil
• 1/4 cup of honey
• 1 tbs of vanilla
• 6 tbs of coconut milk
• 1/2 tsp of sea salt

Directions:
Mix everything together in a blender.  Once the cake cools apply.

Enjoy! 

Things That Make Me Say Yeay

A super soft 100% cotton tank c/o Wildlife Works.  Have you heard of this company before?  All of their products are fair trade organic and eco friendly, which I love! This company is awesome.  Every t-shirt that is sold goes directly to sustaining over 400 local Kenyan jobs with full heath benefits.  The company also helps preserve local forests and threatened wildlife.  You can check out their new spring line here. 

Signs of spring all along my street.

A much needed kid free ladies afternoon...and I promise all those wine glasses are not mine.

Our Valentine's Day treat that Max and I made.  A chocolate strawberry cake.  It was completely Paleo (flour and dairy free) and seriously delicious.

Stenciled baby leggins for Ronin, which makes for the perfect rainy day craft.

Have a wonderful weekend!