Back on track

I’ve been doing pretty good about what I’m eating lately, but not starving myself either.  I didn’t weigh myself this past weekend since I was at my parents house.  I need to stay motivated though, just a year until I need to be in a bridesmaid dress for my sister’s wedding.  We went shopping for a wedding dress while I was home, so that helped get me remotivated.  I’m going to post some pics as soon as I get them up loaded.I didn’t try on anything for bridesmaids stuff, I have no desire to try to get my fat butt into a dress right now.  I work today and tomorrow.  I will get back here at least one of my days off to work out.  I promise!!! Right now that is my biggest hurdle, getting motivated to get out of the house and work out on my days off when all I want to do is lay around in my PJ’s.  Here’s my menu for today.

B-Banana Oatmeal w/ 1/2 tbsp peanut butter stirred in.  (YUM!) (4pts)

L-Smart One’s Quesadillas (2 of them for 8 pts), Pretty good, but they were in the microwave for twice as long as the box said and still not quite hot.  Maybe it’s because the microwave here at work is older than I am. Pretzels (2), broccoli (0) and maybe 100 calorie pack later for a snack (2)

D-Left overs. Probably baked Mac’n'cheese or pot roast.

Sausage & Marinera Pasta

This is our favorite pasta recipe. I use hot Turkey sausage. You will also need speghetti, garlic, basil, pasta sauce, onion, green peppers.

Heat just enough olive oil to coat the bottom of a large skillet. Place the sausage links in the hot skillet and brown. While the sausage is browning chop up an onion and place in the skillet with the sausage. Also get your water boiling for the spaghetti to cook in.

Then chop up a green onion and place in the skillet.

Once the sausage is browned on all sides remove it from the skillet and slice. It’s OK if it is still pink in the middle, it will finish cooking. Once the sausage is slice add back to the skillet. Pour in one jar of pasta sauce. Add basil, oregano, and thime. You can also add salt and pepper as needed also. Drop your speghetti into the boiling water now also.

Once the speghetti is done and the sauce is hot serve along side garlic bread. Yum!

Weigh in Day

So, it was weigh in day today. I was down half a pound. Not a lot, but considering I was expecting a gain, I’m happy.  I’ve lost seven total in three weeks.  I ate so much junk this week between Super Bowl and Fat Tuesday there was junk everywhere all week. I did really well yesterday. I didn’t eat anything that I hadn’t planned for. I ended up not working out because my class went until after 3:00 and I hadn’t eaten lunch yet. So much for the class only being an hour long. I have to work from 3-7 tonight, so I’m going to try to get in some exercise here at home. Oh, and yesterday I threw away my left over birthday cake.  It killed me since that thing cost $20, but I’ve been picking at it, so in the trash it went.  Here is my plan for today.

B-Oatmeal (2)

L-Chicken Breast (5), Shrimp (2), 3 pirogies (3), Black Beans (2), Tortilla Chips (2), Weight Watcher Ice cream (2)
D-Lean Cuisine Panini (6), Tomato Soup (2), Pudding Cup (2)

I’ve started looking at home workout equipment. I’d like to have some sort of cardio equipment to have here at the house to do in front of the TV while I watch my shows that I record. I would like to have a treadmill because of it’s more versatile. But, I need something more low impact. One of the nurses I work with has a Gazelle at home and really likes it. They are pretty cheep, and I think it would a good piece to start with. I really want an elliptical, but to have a nice one it’s thousands of dollars. I’m also going to check out Play It Again Sports to see what they have.

The weather around here has been crazy. Two days ago it was so warm that everyone was walking around in short sleeves, that night we had tornado watches and the sirens were going off, today we have snow.

Have a good day everyone and make it count!

Back on track

Well, I gave myself yesterday off from counting points and being good.  Well, that turned into me not doing so hot all weekend.  Saturday I didn’t eat breakfast, but then we had fast food for lunch while running around getting groceries.  Then I had a frozen pizza that had veggies and chicken on it, but still high in points for dinner.  We won’t even talk about yesterday.  I’m going to take the jalapeño poppers to work and see if I can get rid of them today.  I work today, tomorrow, and Thursday this week, so I won’t get in much exercise.  Well, besides being on my feet 13 hours each day.  I’m going to try to do something light on Wednesday.  I’m scared of the scale this week.  I’m just hoping that I don’t gain.

Here’s the plan for today:

B-Cheerios (2), Banana (2) , FF Milk (1)

L-Frozen Dinner (6), Broccoli (0), Pretzels (2), FF pudding cup (2)

Do you see a pattern to my lunches on days that I work?

D-Something quick since I will get home late.

Superbowl Snacks

A few of our favorite recipes that I made for the game.

Three- Cheese Fondue

This is from a cook book I have called “All New Slow Cooker” by Easy Home Cooking.

I usually already have everything I need for this recipe on hand.

1 Tbsp butter, 1/4 cup finely chopped onion, 2 cloves garlic minced, 1 tbsp all-purpose flour, 3/4 cup 2% milk, 2 cups shredded cheddar cheese, 1 package cream cheese, 1/2 cup crumbled blue cheese (I don’t use this), 1/8 tsp ground red pepper (sometimes I use cayenne pepper), 4 to 6 drops hot sauce

I make this is a small snack size crock pot. Spray it with cooking spray to keep the cheese from sticking.

Chop the onion very finely, you shouldn’t notice any chunks of onion in the cheese once it has cooked.

Keep chopping

Once it is chopped up really small put it in the crock pot.

Cut the cream cheese into cubes and place it into the crock pot.

Add all of the other ingredients into the crock pot also and stir together. It doesn’t have to be stirred together perfectly. It will be hard to stir since everything is not melted yet. Just stir it enough to get the flour incorporated.

 

Cook on low for 2 to 2 1/2 hours, stirring every once in awhile. My little crock pot only has an on and off switch so I have to stir it pretty often to keep it from burning on the sides because it gets really hot.

I like to serve them with these yummy pretzels, tortilla chips, veggies, and crackers.

Oh, if you hadn’t figured it out already, this dip is not diet friendly.

Enjoy!!!

(A little cooking tip: If you don’t need to use the entire onion that you’re choping leave the other half in tact but peal off the outer paper layer.  Place in a Ziplock bag and put into the fridge until you’re ready to use it).

Brian’s Sesame Chicken Wings

I can’t even tell you how many times Brian has begged me to make these recipe from his mom. We finally got the recipe from his mom this week and I made them for the game tonight. I didn’t take a lot of pictures because, well, my camera sucks. Every picture I take comes out dark and blurry. Anyway, here’s the recipe for these yummy wings.

Brian’s Sesame Chicken Wings

3 pounds of chicken wings

4 TBSP flour

8 TBSP cornstarch

4 TBSP sugar

1 1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp accent (this is a seasoning mix, I had never heard of it)

8 TBSP soy sauce

2 eggs beaten

3 stalks green onion, chopped finely

2 garlic cloves, minced

3 oz sesame seeds

If your chicken wings did not come cut apart at the joints already go ahead and do that by cutting them into three pieces at the joint. The smallest piece can be thrown away, it doesn’t really have any meat on it. The bag that I bought was 4 pounds and already cut into pieces (AWESOME!). There was enough sauce for the extra pound also.

Now, mix all of the dry ingredients together in a large mixing bowl. Then add the rest of the ingredients and stir together. After it is all mixed together dump in your chicken wings and stir until they are coated with the sauce. It is best if you cover the bowl at this point and let them marinate over night in the refrigerator.

The next day heat about 1/4 inch of vegetable oil in a hot skillet or electric skillet. Once the oil is hot (around 350 degrees) stir the chicken up really well to coat with the sauce and place the chicken in the oil. Make sure you spread the chicken apart so the pieces aren’t touching or they will stick together. Once the bottom side is a nice dark golden color flip it over and let the other side brown. Drain on a paper towel covered place. Chow down! YUM!!

Now I know why Brian wanted me to make these. The batter is nice and crispy and YUMMY!

(Sorry this post looks all smashed together. WordPress won’t save the post correctly)

Food Find

Have you tried these? They are La Tortilla Factory’s Smart & Delicious tortillas. For a while I couldn’t find them at the store, but that’s because they have changed their package and the store moved them to a different aisle. I use to find them up by the deli, but now they are back in the Mexican aisle. These tortillas are so good. They are big burrito size tortillas. Here are their stats. Are you ready?!? For one big tortilla 90 calories, 3 grams of fat, and THIRTEEN grams of Fiber. Now, if you follow the new Weight Watchers system that is 1 point. But, if you follow the old school Weight Watchers were there is no limit to how much fiber you count, they are ZERO!!!

They come in different flavors, so you can get plane for your tacos, Spinach for your wraps, bake some up for some healthy tortilla chips, and so on. I’ve served them to friends with tacos and one of the guys commented that they were really good after being suspicious that they’re “healthy” food. Your family will never know the difference!

Click the picture to link to their website. They have some yummy looking recipes there too.

My husband sucks

Because he can eat whatever he wants and not really gain weight. He just baked a loaf of cinnamon streusal breakfast bread. It’s like 5 points for 1/14 of the loaf. So, I’ll sit here and eat my little bowl of cinnamon & sugar oatmeal and pretend I’m eating that bread and try to be happy with it.

I’m really happy with the work we got done up stairs last night. My closet is finally organized and there’s nothing on the floor. I still need to get my old twin trundle bed from my parents for that room, but at least I can walk to my closet with out stepping over stuff.

I think I’m going to have to give in and go to the grocery store for a few essential items today before we go for a big shopping day this weekend. I wish we could go for a big trip today while everyone else is at work, but I need to wait until I get paid before I spend that much at the grocery store.

I don’t really have a plan for today until I come up with a grocery list. I’m going to try to get in some sort of exercise today. Here are my thoughts so far.

B-Oatmeal (2)

L-Maybe left over taco salad or something from the store.

D-Spaghetti and meatballs??

Have I mentioned that they’re doing construction in front of our house?? They’re replacing all of the gas lines or something like that. Which equals them destroying the street and making tons of noise from 7AM to 5PM every day. Today our entire house was SHAKING from the bull dozer banging around out there. UGH! I just want to sleep in until like 8AM on my days off. Is that too much to ask? It’s bad enough that I have to park like 2 blocks away. Not that the walking isn’t good for me.

Diet Challenge

Today is the first day that I will be home while trying to diet. At work I barely have time to eat, let a lone think about being hungry. Plus, I’m on my feet for 12 hours straight, so I’m burning tons of calories. I’m going to work out while Brian is still asleep. I have already done 100 each of sit ups and push ups. I would never have thought that I could have done 100 push ups, especially with my bad wrist from years of cheer leading and gymnastics. I’m also going to do a work out DVD that I got from my sister but haven’t tried yet. My other challenge of today is that we’re going on a date night tonight. We’re going to use a gift card that we have for Fridays. I found a website that lists points for some of their food. Here’s my food plan for the day so far. I haven’t decided for sure what I want at Fridays yet for sure, so I’m giving myself tons of points to play with.

B-Oatmeal (2)

L-1 can of Progresso Light Veggie Soup (1), 10 saltines (3), 2 Fish Files (2), Broccoli (0) Total: 6

D-That leaves me 20 points for dinner.

OK, I need to get exercising if I’m going to work out before Brian wakes up! Have a good day everyone!

Apple Sour Cream Pie

First of all, I got this recipe for someone else’s blog, but for the life of me can’t find it again to give them credit. If you happen to know where i got it let me know so I can give credit where it is due.

The cast and crew:

9″ pie shell (store bought or home made), 1/2 cup flour, 1/2 cup packed brown sugar, 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon, 5 tbsp chilled butter, 5-6 medium or 7-8 small Golden Delicious apples, 1/4 cup sugar, 3 tbsp flour, 1/8 tsp salt, 2/3 cup sour cream, 1 egg beaten, 1 tsp vanilla.

Preheat oven to 350.

Make the cinnamon streusel topping by stirring together 1/2 cup flour, brown sugar, and cinnamon. Work the butter into the dry ingredients either with a food processor or by working it like you would into pastry: either way, when you’re done the butter should be in tiny pieces all the way through the flour mixture. Set aside.

Peel, core, and slice the apples. I usually pour the apples into my pie plate when I think I have enough to make sure I don’t need one or two moor apples, then dump back into the bowl. Mix the 3 tablespoons of flour, granulated sugar, and salt together and then toss with the apples.

Stir together the sour cream, egg, and vanilla. Add to the apples and stir together so apples are thoroughly coated. Place pie crust into shell and pinch the edges. Pour apple mixture into pie shell and tweak the slices if need be so that they lie flat.

Cover the top of the pie evenly with the streusel topping and put it in to bake for an hour and fifteen minutes to an hour and a half. The pie is done when the crust is browned, the apple juices begin to bubble under the streusel, and the apples yield to the point of a knife.

This is so good with cool whip or vanilla ice cream.