Tag: Food

Best Eggplant Parmesan is with Tomatoes!

I know, eggplant parmesan has marinara sauce. That’s not what this is about.  I get a 1/2 share of a CSA.  It’s a local co-op of farms, and you sign up to get a weekly box of fruits and veggies (and other stuff, if you choose to purchase those shares). I get a 1/2 share, because I am single and the amount I get from that is more than enough.

Last week, we get eggplant, which is such an awesome one to get in season.  They were on the small side, but I really wanted to make eggplant parmesan. Its a great dish, and I can container it for lunch for the week.  I went on pinterest and found this great recipe.

Best Baked Eggplant Parmesan

I LOVE this recipe for so many reasons.

  1. It uses 1/2 panko and 1/2 traditional breadcrumbs, which creates a great mixture
  2. It calls for fresh mozzarella.  This makes it sooooo much better than bagged shredded
  3. It recommends fresh parmesan
  4. It also calls for fresh basil

Because I worried about having enough eggplant, I had to find a way to “beef” it up.  I realized I had gotten beefsteak tomatoes in the CSA too, and the recipe had instructions for breading and baking the eggplant on a sheet in the oven.  It’s really similar to a baked version of a fried green tomato.  Eureka!  I did one sheet full of eggplant, and one sheet of tomatoes.

I also used an oven-roasted marinara that I had made prior, which was also full of CSA veggies.  That recipe is here:

Oven Roasted Marinara

I didn’t have any tomato paste to add, and wished I had, after I tried it over pasta, but when I added it to this dish, it came out glorious. I add a quartered bell pepper and a quartered jalapeño pepper to the veggies I roast. I then add 1-2 cans of tomato paste when I throw everything in the processor.

 

 

I will forever make my eggplant parm this way.

Have Taco Bowl, Will Travel

I wanted to go more vegetarian, for my lunches this week.  Taco salads seemed a nice fresh option, so the only challenge was really how to package the parts of the salad. I didn’t want the lettuce getting soggy, and did want to be able to prep everything for the week, at the beginning of the week.

There is very little prep, and the packaging I attempted, seems to be working well.  There is plenty of room to make this vegan or to add meat, so variations are easy to make.

Because there is a recall on romaine, I didn’t want to take a chance on that.  For that reason, I used 1/2 spinach and 1/2 lemon arugula.  That is working well, although I do need to cut it up more. Finely cut romaine would make this wonderful, although the spinach and arugula are laden with nutrients, so I won’t complain too much.  Because everything is pretty much optional and can be substituted with any other suitable ingredients, I will not put optional by any ingredient.

This recipe was aimed at making 4 servings.

On to ingredients:

  • Spinach – 4 cups
  • Lemon Arugula – 4 cups
  • Uncooked rice – 1 cup  (I cook in rice cooker)
  • Black beans – 1 cup
  • Green bell pepper – 1/2 large pepper, diced
  • Black Olives – 1/2 cup, sliced
  • Avacado – 1/2 medium, diced
  • Shredded Mexican cheese – 1/2 cup – 1 cup
  • Salsa – 1/2 cup (desired heat)
  • Sour cream – 1/2 cup (desired light, non-fat or regular)
  • Tortilla chips – about 5-6

Steam rice, and prepare rest, while rice is cooking. Wash, cut and package the spinach and arugula into containers, which will be used as the salad bowl.   In ziplock bags add about 2 tbsp of black beans, 1/4 of the diced green pepper, 1 tbsp of black olives, 1/4 of the avacado, and 1/4 of the cheese. Once the rice is cooked and cooled down, add 1/4 of the rice to each bag.  In a small portion container, spoon about 2 tbsp of salsa, and then about 2 tbsp of sour cream on top of the salsa. Put about 5-6 tortilla chips in a ziplock.

Take 1 salad bowl, fixings bag, salsa and sour cream “dressing” containers, and chips bag, with you. Work, or play, as long as you can keep the items refrigerated they should be fine to go anywhere with you.

Simply dump the fixings bag into the lettuce bowl, and dump the salsa and sour cream on top. Crush the tortilla chips in their bag, and then dump on top. You now have an awesome salad, for lunch or dinner, on the go.

The prep is so easy, you’ll want to make this again and again!

Miso Ramen Lunch Bowls

I post on this blog in a completely random fashion, but since it’s the new year, I decided to post a new “recipe”.  Recipe is in quotes, because you can probably find at least 20 variations of this on Pinterest.  I started there, in an attempt to find what I wanted to make, but then just decided to take some from each and make my own.

My goals, for this meal:

  1. I wanted a miso soup, for my work week lunch meal
  2. I wanted it to have noodles, whether ramen or rice noodles
  3. I wanted it to be portable. Soup is a pain to transport to work.
  4. I wanted the prep to not be an all day endeavor
  5. I wanted the ingredients to be simple enough, that I wouldn’t have to buy 50 ingredients and never use 47 of them again

So, I picked out the ingredients, that I wanted in my soup.  I then figured I could just add hot water at work.  That way, I’m just prepping containers for the week, with all the fillings. The broth can be made right at the end.

First, the ingredients list. You can certainly add and remove, based on what you like.  I also note the 1 switch, that will take this from vegetarian to vegan.

  •  Ramen noodles – pull out the noodles, and ditch the high sodium seasoning packet. I did not use a name brand, but found one in the Asian aisle of Wegmans, which was a little narrower than the name brand squares of dried noodles
  • Eggs – hard boil and shell one for each soup container. To make this recipe vegan, nix the egg, and bake some tofu. I didn’t want to do a lot of cooking, so I didn’t include tofu, but it would be a great addition or substitution
  • Shitake mushrooms – I picked out 2 for each day, in the bulk section, instead of getting a whole container
  • Scallions (green onion) – a small bunch will do
  • Corn – a small can (8.75 oz) is more than enough.
  • Miso paste – I also get this from Wegmans, in the Asian section. It’s in a clear tub.  When I got some for this recipe, I found that there was a red and a white. Seems they are fermented with different things, which give it a corresponding view. It looks like this: https://www.wegmans.com/products/international-foods/asian-foods/miso/soybean-paste-shiro-miso.html
  • Wakame seaweed – Also in the Asian section. In a bag, and looks like dried flakes. It balloons up in water! https://www.wegmans.com/products/international-foods/asian-foods/soup/soup-seaweed-instant-wakame.html

See the picks below, to see how I assembled the bowls.  I got ziplock medium bowl shaped containers, which worked really well.  On the bottom of the container, I placed 2 chopped up shitake mushrooms, a hard boiled and peeled egg, 3/4 TBSP of miso paste, 1-2 TBSP of corn, and approximately 1 TBSP of diced/sliced scallions.

 

Then I placed a piece of wax paper on that, to separate the “wet” ingredients from the “dry” ones.  That is simply the dried noodles and the wakame seaweed.  Keep in mind that the seaweed is an acquired taste.  It also will blow up, and can consume your bowl, if you add too much.

Finally, I used a hot water machine, in the office copy room, to fill up my soup (after removing the wax paper, of course.  Make sure to put the lid back on, and give it a couple of minutes, so the noodles can get noodle-y.  Now that I’ve tried the recipe, I will say that it is pretty great.  The hot water isn’t as hot as I would like. I may need 1 secondary container for microwaving water, so I can get it more thoroughly hot.

Check out all that wakame!

I’m looking forward to having this for my work lunches for the week.  I just need to figure out hotter water, to steep and prepare the soup.  Definitely a keeper.

 

Buffalo Ranch Chicken Salad – The Lazy Way

I found this recipe on Pinterest:
http://www.thepinningmama.com/buffalo-ranch-chicken-salad-recipe-paleo-whole30-compliant/

and thought it sounded fantastic.  Because I had a lot going on, I didn’t want to spend a lot of time with the prep.  I did these swap outs, and it made the whole recipe incredibly simple. The result was fantastic, and there was more than I needed for a week’s worth of lunches.

  • 3 cups chicken breast, shredded or chopped
    • Substitute = 3 cans of chicken in water
  • 1½ cup celery, chopped
  • 1 cup carrots, chopped
  • ½ cup green onions, chopped
  • ¼ sweet yellow onion, finely diced
    • Substitute = 2 small containers of mirepoix instead of the above veggies
  • ½ cup mayonnaise {homemade if you are Paleo or Whole30}
  • ¼ cup Franks Hot Sauce, original
    • Next time I will add more – It has flavor, but not much heat or kick with this much
  • 1 Tbsp Ranch Seasoning Mix {use this one if you are Paleo or Whole30}

Just follow the recipe, to mix the mayo, redhot and seasoning separately, so it will mix with the chicken and veggies well.

That’s it!

Veganized Tater Tot Beef Enchilada Bake

I found this recipe on Pinterest, for Tater Tot Enchilada Bake , and was able to veganize it pretty easily.  This recipe is incredibly easy, delicious and not hard to make vegan.

Here are my alterations. Note that anything I changed, I put a –> for what the change is.:

Ingredients

  • 1 pound ground beef –> 2 packages of Trader Joe’s Meatless Beef
  • 1 medium yellow onion, finely chopped (about 2 cups)
  • 2 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • ½ pack taco or fajita seasoning (about 2 teaspoons) –> 1 package of Trader Joe’s taco seasoning (use 1/2 a package first time, as this will make it quite spicy.  You may not want a whole package, if you don’t like a lot of heat).
  • 2 cups tater tots (enough to cover dish)
  • 1 can enchilada sauce –> Trader Joe’s enchilada sauce (1 bottle)
  • 1 cup Mexican blend cheese (or mozzarella) –> Trader Joe’s Soy mozzarella shreds
  • ½ cup sliced black olives
  • Scallions or cilantro to garnish
  • salt and pepper to taste

 

 Instructions

  1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
  2. Sautee the 1 onion, in a large skillet.  I do medium chop (using vidalia chopper) with olive oil
  3. Add 2 packages of meatless beef, and break apart, mixing with onions.
  4. Add taco seasoning (start with less, you can always add more) and enchilada sauce
  5. Pour into a greased 9×13 casserole dish
  6. Top with tater tots
  7. Top with cheese shreds, olives and cilantro
  8. Bake for 30-45 min

Enjoy, and share!

Stuffed Peppers a la Me

Here is my promised blog on my first ever stuffed peppers recipe.  I liked how they turned out.  I am a fan of using veggies as a base, rather than as a side or part of the recipe. It is a way of making my recipes healthy and still hearty. That is what Weight Watchers has taught me.

So here is the recipe, as I made it on the WW site.

MY WW Stuffed Pepper Recipe   – It appears Weight Watchers gets rid of recipes, if the members leave.  Opps! Good thing I put it below.

The following are the ingredients.  I don’t list things like seasoning, because that is generally up to your tastes, but I will mention them here.

Ingredients:

Instructions…

 
Set the rice to cook, so you can be prepping everything else in the mean time.
If you don’t add any oil or butter, then make sure to stir once in a while, to ensure it doesn’t over-cook or stick to the pot.  I used brown rice, so it looks dryer. It does also take longer too cook.
Set the chicken to bake in the oven at 350, or until baked (leave oven on for the peppers).
You can use any kind of chicken, marinated or not.  I used Wegman’s mojo, because I had it.  I use my bread pan for baking chicken…
Dice up all ingredients into a bowl.
I use the Vidalia Chopper and it saves so much time! Makes everything perfect size.
Shred the chicken, using 2 forks, pulling in opposite directions.
Mix cooked rice and shredded chicken with rest of diced veggies.
Mix in seasoning such as black pepper, garlic powder, minced garlic, chalula sauce (or any kind of hot sauce), etc.  This is important, because this will decide the over-all flavor of the mix inside your peppers.  You can go sweet, hot, tangy.  I went for a little kick, with some good garlic undertones.
Cut the tops off the peppers and hollow out.
Place in a foil lined pan. (notice I used a spring form pan – yep resourceful!)
Fill the peppers with the filling mix from the bowl.
Top each pepper with 1 Tbsp of feta cheese.
Bake until browned on the top.
 
Enjoy!
 
 

You can obviously add more or less of stuff, and use different kinds of rice, veggies etc.  Changing ingredients or amounts of them may change the WW points.  Each stuffed pepper is only 3 PP, but still feels like a good lunch.  2 would be 7, but I don’t know if I could eat 2.  I do think the seasonings and hot sauce really give the dish needed flavor, but everyone likes different flavors, so some experimentation may be in order.

If you try the recipe, let me know what you think!

What’s Gained is Lost, What’s Lost is Gained

So a couple of weeks ago, I went to a conference and gained 5 lbs.  Last week, I stayed on track like a champ, and lost 7 lbs.  Great comeback, if I do say so myself.  I mentioned that my ultra fit friend has told me about going on vacation and gaining 5 lbs.  She also has told me that she will lose it the next week.  It’s so great to accomplish this myself.  It’s a huge confidence builder that I can have a “vacation week”, where I may not be perfect, and bounce back.

Some may or may not know that I have been here before.  I did Weight Watchers a few years ago.  After losing 85 lbs, I started to get sick all the time and fell off the tracks.  The reaction seemed to be that it was all in my head.  I was getting lazy.  I knew something else was going on.  After fighting with my doctors (and finding new ones), I finally got some answers.  Raynaud’s, Fibromyalgia, Osteoarthritis, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, and Non-Complete Lupus.  Those are the big ones.  Big and small, I have a bunch of autoimmune issues which drag me down and tire me out.  Not knowing that something was causing this, made me very frustrated.  I finally moved forward, and knowing what can hold me back has allowed me to face it head on and not let it stop me.  Now if I fall, I know why I did, and I will get right back up.

This weekend was no exception to getting things done.  Friday I went out and spec’d a new hybrid bike.  I need one for the Tour de Cure in June.

 (please see my site to sponsor me!! http://main.diabetes.org/goto/grandgirl ).  

After that, I wanted a drink, so I met up with some friends, had some wine and dinner.  Saturday, I picked up my bike, and then took it for a quick ride.  Had to test it out!  After that, I picked up my nephew to celebrate his 5th birthday.  It was a few months ago, but I had totally forgotten that his older sister got a special day, when she turned 5.  With 2 nieces and a nephew, everything has to be equal!  I had seen the forecast that it was going to rain,

so I took him to the new Lego store at the mall, 
and to Build a Bear.  
That place is so cute!  It is totally hands on, and I think the prices are very reasonable.

We went to see the Lorax, and I was impressed that the little man was able to sit through the whole thing.  He did start getting concerned towards the end of the movie.  I had let him know we would go to Red Robin for dinner (his favorite place), and he was getting anxious that it would close if we didn’t get there in time.

I reassured him that it was only 4:30 and that they would be open well past his bedtime.

As for Red Robin, I really appreciate that they have an iPhone app, which lets you customize your meal.   You can trade stuff in and out, and then see the nutritional content.  Of course, when you do that, you find that even their salads can contain over 60 grams of fat.  I am not kidding!  I ended up getting the bruschetta chicken sandwich, but with lettuce for the bun.  I also had the quick thinking to confirm if that came with fries.  It wasn’t obvious on the menu, and the app doesn’t account for them.  It did, so I asked for steamed broccoli instead.

Way to rock the healthy choice!

That’s what my friends in the WW community would say lol.  For those interested, that meal is 12 pp.  I know!  Good luck finding something healthy there. If you do, I would totally be interested in low point meals there.  My nephew loves that place!

When we got back to my place (little man was spending the night.  Sleeping bag and all), we watched some of Star Wars I:  Phantom Menace.  He wanted to bring it with him.  Of course, by 7:30 he asked “I’m tired, can I go to bed now?”  Not used to kids wanting to go to bed.  More fighting it.  Of course he did skip his afternoon nap.

The next morning was my weigh-in day, so once my nephew woke me up I had to weigh in.  Psyched with my loss, I knew the day would be a productive one.  It usually is when I have a loss.

We went to a nice diner for breakfast, and then I brought him home.  

We played a game of war and then I played Just Dance with my nieces.


After that I made a lofty to-do list.
And since then, it has just kept growing!

I added the fun time I spent with my nieces and nephew, because then I could check some stuff off and it was just fun to make those something that was a priority in the day.

Digging into my list, I wanted to get back to working on my stairs.  A few months ago I took the carpet up from my stairs, in my house.  There are nice hardwoods, but they need significant clean up.

 This is what they look like right now.
This is the sanding that I got done on 1/2 the stairs on Sunday.

That night, I also made a new recipe, which I found on Weight Watchers.  It was a recipe for Fish and Curry.  I customized that one to put Chicken instead of fish, add more veggies, and substitute some of the ingredients.  Mine is Chicken and Vegetable Curry.
Check the finished product!

I feel like my version is missing something.  Not sure if the coconut milk is the difference.  It is still good and I have been having it for lunch this week.  My house wreaked of curry! Good thing I like that smell.  Fortunately, it doesn’t seem to be taking over my cube, at work.  At least no one has said anything…

As I finished items on my list, I kept adding more, in my head.  One of those is that I have been wanting to clear the weeds out of my back yard for a long time (since I got the house).  Just like last year, every weekend seems to call for rain.  I think this weekend, I will have to suck it up and do what I can.  I know how nice my yard will look when the weeds are cleared out.

This week has been one glitch after another, and I am just pacing myself to get through to the weekend.  Saturday, I am volunteering for a highway pickup with my firm.  On the 29th I am running my first 5K, and really excited.  Beyond that, I have the tour de cure (please sponsor me!  My Sponsor Page!!! ).  I am trying to figure out how to fit in training for the 40 miles, which is my goal.  I know I need to train for this big of a commitment.  I work out at the gym Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and now Friday.  I used to work out on Saturdays, but if I switch that to Friday, I thinking Saturday can be more open for that bike ride, yard work, taking on the world etc.

Today I have been channeling the lessons that alcoholics have to practice.  One day at a time.  I don’t know much of any other way to live our lives, whether we struggle from addition or not.  Getting ahead of ourselves will inevitably lead to a crash and burn scenario.  I came home, got some work done, packed my gym bag for the morning, did my dishes, packed my breakfast and lunch, caught up on emails, and got this blog done.  All-in-all, I focused on today and now, and just focused what was in my control.  Now I feel better about now, and the rest of the week.  I am getting excited for the weekend and all the things I can work on.  My yard, as long as the sun is out.  My stairs, if it rains.  Anything I can get my hands on!

Tonight, I was catching up on my DVR, watching Glee.  I heard the greatest line.  Mercedes was talking about her dream to go to LA and her fears that she wouldn’t make it.  She said “I might be cream here, but what if out there, I’m skim milk?” Later Sam had posted her performance on Youtube and wanted to show her all the positive comments.  He said…

“You ain’t no skim milk, baby.  You cream rising to the top.”

Taking Life on The Road

I travel every once in a while, for work.  Last week I had to go to Florida for a conference.  I know, what a hard life!  It is a great opportunity, but not everything people like to think it is.  Oh, I’m not complaining, but for someone working to lose 124 lbs, it can be a death trap spiral of conference food, eating out, room service and late nights, resulting in a bad week of will power etc.

Let’s see if I can recount the week with as much “color” as possible.  Friday night, March 30th, I went to see Hunger Games, with my friend and her son.  It was great.  I really felt that they didn’t change much more than 1 fact, and I thought that actually helped the story on the big screen.  We went out to eat at a dim sum place, which had some great food.  Shumai is probably my favorite dim sum dish, and wasabi shumai is not to be passed up!

My fortune, how opportune, seeing as I would be traveling the next day!

I packed that night, when I got home, and flew out the next day.  I had packed some fruit, and had breakfast for cereal.  I know boring, but it is important to account for my making intelligent choices going into the trip.  I was trying.  I had also packed some 100 calorie packs, so I would have healthy”-ish” options at the hotel.  My initial flight was delayed, but luckily I was on my connecting flight.  I had to get off the plane with everyone else so the crew could clean and change shifts.  That was fine with me, because I wanted to pick up lunch.  It would help me avoid the plane snacks (potato chips or cookies…) My layover was at JFK (Jetblue terminal 5).  They have these great Cibo Express shops, which have some really healthy options.  At least, some of them look healthy!

I checked this one salad, which had so much fat, I wondered why they bothered with the lettuce.  Just give me a burger!

 Cobb salads are deceivingly bad!!
Then I found this awesome Asian salad.
It was 7 pp on WW and it was sooo good!
 And notice, I got a smart water.  So smart!  
When I arrived at the Fort Lauderdale airport, I had to go grab the rental car, and then ended up back around at the terminal, just as my colleague was coming down the escalator.  We went to a DD, while we waited for our other colleague.  I got a small skim coolata, and was kind of proud of myself for ordering the small.  I always order bigger.  It was a good thing I did, because it was 16 oz!  Since when is that a small????
After we got to the hotel and checked in, we ended up down at a sports bar for dinner.
 
 The lobby of the hotel/resort.  Incredible!  Not my best pic, but a year ago (and 60 lbs more) would have been worse!
 I ordered a mango martini, (bad choice!)
  and we all ended up switching drinks, so I ended up with a cosmo.  Still not good!
 Don’t forget the dirty beefeater on the rocks, with olives, after that….

Then we got calamari, and another app (can’t remember).  I ordered fish for dinner, so at least I tried to be good! 

Sunday I weighed in for the previous week.  Yes, I brought my scale to Florida.  I always take it with me if I am traveling on a Sunday, so I can still weigh in.  No excuses!  I had only lost .4 lbs, but I have learned to always be happy when the direction is down!

We had a 6 hour seminar from 10:30 – 4:30.  It sucked to be stuck in a room getting ready for a certification exam, when we could go out on a balcony during breaks and see people swimming in the pools and in the ocean.  Such torture!  The class was good though.  The instructor is an attorney.  She was really knowledgeable and keep the material moving.  If  it weren’t for her, I might have not been able to stay awake for the full class!

The  buffet style lunch featured all sandwiches, with carb heavy breads, chips and cookies.  It’s like an obstacle course for unhealthy eating!


 Spot the fruit bowl in the middle.  
I did grab an apple.  I did not grab any cookies or chips…. Until the end of the conference.  They had a table with coffee and leftover cookies.  I grabbed a piece of a cookie that was on the tray. I couldn’t resist!  I was about 1/4 of a cookie, but we all know everything adds up!
 After the seminar that lasted all day, we stopped down by the beach and got a drink.  
I started with a margarita, and then had a red stripe.  Please note, this isn’t to take note of anything more than all the obstacles for someone trying to lose weight.  It is so hard to go out and be around all of the food and drink, and not give in to ANY of it!
That night we ventured out and ended up at a Turkish restaurant.  Yum!  Middle Eastern is my favorite cuisine!
Appetizer tray we split.  Yum!
 My dish with some of the yummy food.  Such art!
 We split a chef’s combo, with lamb, chicken and beef.  
It was yummy and probably not very healthy.  We also split a bottle of wine.
Despite the long day, I was still up the next morning at dawn (5:30), to go for a run!

The hotel had 2 routes to run.  One was 3 miles and the other was 5.  Since I am doing a 5k at the end of April, I was committed to taking the opportunity to run outside.  I was so surprised that I ran 4.82 miles on Monday!  I was shooting for the 3 miler.  
The cool thing about both routes is that they take you to this boardwalk. 

P.S. this is all in Hollywood, FL.  The resort was Westin -great place!  The trick is that you have to run 1 mile before you get to this pretty boardwalk.  If you are doing the 3 mile route, you only go down it for 1/2 a mile and then turn around.  Hence the inclination to keep going.
The view from my hotel when I got back to my room.
View looking straight down, to infinity pool, and another pool that went underneath, perpendicular.  I was on the 26th floor!

Pretty much every morning, I got an egg white omelet with veggies and turkey.  One morning I forgot to ask for egg whites and ended up with real eggs.  I was never good about the toast, and used butter.  Usually jelly/preserves too.  The breakfast came with breakfast potatoes.  Once I  broke down and ask for hash browns.  So bad!

Lunch the first day was not healthy.

Of course the obligatory roll with butter.  I have no will with these temptations!
The lunch was a chicken cordon blue.  
Lesson to self – I saw that another person at our table let the waiter know “I ordered a vegetarian option.”  I’m having lightbulb!!!  In the future, I need to remember to choose vegetarian for any conference type foods!  It will always be less likely to be unhealthy, and help me to control my points!
I did resist this cheesecake-ish  dessert, thanks to my colleague who quickly thought to turn it down.  This encouraged me to do the same!
We did get time at the end of one day to go jet-skiing, which was so cool!
I had never been before and it was so fun!
Of course we had to go back up and get dressed again for cocktails and networking, not too long after.  (read here – more drinks, apps, etc)
The next morning (Tuesday), I was up again and did 30 minutes on the elliptical, and the Abs challenge (which I discussed in a previous post).  For my normal workouts this is abysmal, but I was at least satisfied that I got up and did something.

My dress for the next day, pretty!  lol
 
Tuesday’s lunch featured salad and seafood in a vinaigrette sauce.  Much better!

 My Tuesday outfit.
Colleagues surprised me with dessert at the place where we went for dinner, as my birthday was the next day (Wednesday).
Birthday present to myself?  Why getting up at 5:30 and going for that 5 mile run, of course! I did it, too.  My time on mapmyrun was really bad, because I stopped a lot.  Potty break, more water, and my brother and his kids called to sing me happy birthday. Best way to start your birthday, in my book!  All the kids kept saying “I love you”, and then one chimes in with “I love you most!”
You can’t help but smile.
Best birthday present ever!!  
Conference ended at noon, and I got to meet up with my Uncle!  Doesn’t he look good??  We went sight seeing and to dinner.  It was great to catch up, as I haven’t seen him in a couple of years.
We checked out a shop just for small dogs, with costumes and jewelry and pampering for them.
Jeb Bush is apparently a customer there…
Pretty clouds on the way home.  
And guess what? The plane did not go down when I took this picture.  In fact, nothing at all ever happens even though I never turn my phone off on a flight. Huh.  Weird. 
The conference was awesome, all in all.  Exhausting.  Over 30 pages of notes that I am working to make into something useful for my firm.  I am a dork and a geek.  I have charts and drawings that I will put to use from this conference! 
As much as these conferences are so difficult for losing weight, I have to learn to navigate all work travel, so that I don’t back slide every time I have to go out of town.  I need to really re-enforce that it is not a vacation, for eating, exercising, or otherwise.
Of course, as I was so tired Thursday, I slept from like 5 til the next day.  I didn’t pack breakfast or lunch.  No worries, my IT group had planned a party for one of our team members (having a baby).  I think I had about 8 chocolate chip cookies, who knows how much monkey bread, etc.  There was no will, just id (ego/super ego).
Saturday, my friends and I went out for tapas (yum!) and then bowling.  Awesome Wegman’s fruit torte (yum again).  Then for a drink at the local watering hole.  It was great to see everyone and celebrate my 34th with them.  Some wonderful presents!!! A beautiful bowl from Key West, a wine rack, bulbs to plant, a Rochester Public Market recipe and story book (I love the market!), and more!
Sunday I weighed in, and alas the week had caught up with me.  I gained 5 lbs.  My friend had said last night that she can gain that much on a vacation.  This person has a masters in PE Administration.  She works out like a maniac and is totally fit.  I had to accept that if she can gain 5 lbs from a week of rich food and excessive eating, I was not going to be immune.
Onward and upward!
On Sunday, I set out to do some yard work.  This is the before…
This is the after!  
I used a Home Depot gift card to get dirt and mulch, as well as those Japanese pieris’, and I planted the bulbs.  Irises and lilies.  Can’t wait for them to come up!
Now I’ve got a non-profit endeavor that I am focusing on, the Flower City 5 K, Tour de Cure, and my friends’ bridal shower and bachelorette parties to plan.  Oh and friends are coming over next Sunday to work on my yard with me.  More pics to come as that unfolds!!!

Outlets on the Walls, Filling in the Chips and I Challenge Thee to a Duel

First thing is first.

Outlets on the walls – my last post dealt with the strawberry banana bread, which was very tasty. I used to be a sous chef and have a love of cooking. The hard part is having the results sitting in my kitchen. I have no will power and will eat anything bad, if it is around. Well, that bread turned out a little high in the WW points to keep in the house. I brought it in to work and put it on the IT bench. By noon, most of it was gone.

People said they liked it, which was cool. It’s fun to get to make something new and yummy, but not have to worry about the aftermath of not eating it. I work in an IT group. They will eat anything!

So on with filling in the chips – I get Groupons for myself, so that I can have rewards as I lose weight. Losing 124 lbs is a huge goal, and just working toward that would be way too overwhelming. Weight Watcher’s community is so supportive in this respect. Many advocate mini-goals and mini-rewards. Focus on 5 or 10 lbs. Commit to getting x oz of water in, every day for a week or a month. Challenge yourself to x min of activity every week, every day, etc.

I was looking through my Groupons last week, and noticed that I had a manicure one. Since my nails were green from St. Patty’s day, and starting to chip, I figured it would be a good opportunity to get them done. Made an appointment for Monday (yesterday). This is not the normal type of nail place I frequent. I go to places that have names like “Star Nails” or “Nail Pro”. They are in every plaza in big areas, and it’s about $15 for a french manicure. This place had a groupon for $25 for a manicure. That is the Groupon price! They offered me wine, and were totally nice. When I was done, the nail tech said “your nails are wet, but you can leave.” I could kick myself for not saying something. My nails ended up all messed up by the time I got home.

 Called them and the only appt I could get to get them fixed this week, was tonight. Well, when I went tonight, the (new) nail tech mentioned that she had gelish on her nails. For those not familiar, gelish nail polish does not crack or chip. It stays perfect for about 2 weeks, which is way better than nail polish, no matter how well it is put on. It cost an extra $15, but it was worth it!

So I got that done, packed my breakfast and lunch for tomorrow, and made dinner. Yummy horseradish salmon with french cut green beans. My Tuesday ritual, having salmon and veggies, while I watch Biggest Loser.

I have been very anxious this week, because I have a lot going on.  I don’t want to get overwhelmed, run out of energy, not get everything done.  Now that I have gotten done everything up to this point, a lot of that anxiety has subsided.  I feel happy and confident that everything will get done.

So onto the challenge.

 One of the great parts of the Weight Watcher’s community (and there are many), is the challenges. Anyone can create a challenge. I created one to not use your snooze button. It has a long time range, as I set it up as an experiment. Not a short term challenge, but building a habit. Right now I am not fairing so well, but every day I don’t use snooze is one more. The hope is to build this habit, so it happens more often over time, til I am not using the snooze more than I am. At least that is the hope!

The challenge I want to discuss is the new one I created. It is an Ultimate Abs Challenge.


135 participants already!!! That is so cool!

I actually found it on another blogspot blog. The post is here, if you want to check it out: 2012…My last fat year!!: The 300 Challenge [Ab & Core Workout] There are 11 exercises and they are insane!! The challenge is to do 25 of each every day for a month. Because I am so not there, and neither are a lot of people in the WW community, I customized the challenge a bit.

So here are my challenge rules –

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The exercises came from here:
Click Here For Ab Core Challenge Examples!!

There are 11 Ab exercises, and the goal is to do 25 reps each.  The site link above has great pictures and tutorials, but I will list them here. 

  1. In N Outs
  2. Bicycles
  3. Reverse Bicycles
  4. Crunchy Frog
  5. Cross Leg/Wide Leg Sit-Ups
  6. Scissors
  7. Hip Butt Ups
  8. Heels to the Heavens
  9. Roll-up /V- Ups
  10. Leg Climbers
  11. Kayakers

For each exercise, do as many reps as you can.  For each rep, you get 1 point.  The max is 25 points per exercise, per day.  So if you do 5 reps, of each exercise, in a day, then you have earned 55 points for your team.  Keep track of them on your own.

At the end of each week, you must report your totals into a google docs spreadsheet.  The Spreadsheet will be posted once registration has closed on March 31st.

Bonus:  If you finish at least 1 rep of each of the 11 exercises in one day AND you do the two stretching exercises, you earn 2 points for each stretching.

  1. Cobra Stretch
  2. Child’s Pose

If you do all 11 exercises and both stretching, you have earned the max of 279 points for the day.  If you get this perfect score, then you earn a bonus 121 points for you team – a total 400 points! 

Every Sunday, results need to be posted to the google doc.  Because we have enough to keep track of, I will likely not post any mini-challenges.  You are welcome to post your stats on the walls and discussions, but they will not be added to the doc for you.


Each person is responsible for keeping track of their numbers and posting weekly totals on 4/7, 4/14, 4/21, and 4/28.  I will total and determine winners after the 28th postings. 

Please let me know if you have any questions!  Remember, this starts on 4/1/12!!
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So that is it. Its is a 30 day challenge, to absault our abs! Yeah, I went there. Since so many people tell me that I inspire them and motivate them, I thought I would post this challenge as a public blog post. Feel free to take part in this challenge. Anyone not on weight watchers (and participating in my challenge) call yourself the blue team, and post your results in the comments here. My mom asked me what the winning team wins.  If you have to ask that, do the challenge and find out for yourself.

 I challenge you!

Happy Woman Baking

Watching Mad Men, and for the fun of it, I am happy, not mad. I have a surplus of bananas and strawberries.  I have never had old bananas and just decided to make bread.  So today, I thought I would.  I looked on WW site, but didn’t find one that was the point range I wanted.  Turns out, there’s a reason.  I didn’t know this until I finished, but it was a good learning experience in cooking.

Found 2 recipes on pinterest:
This one –

And this one –


My final recipe is gone. Once I ended my membership with Weight Watchers, it seems they deleted the link to the recipe I made on their site.

This is how I start – take out all ingredients and line them up – helps me to make sure I have everything!  As I add each ingredient, I put them away.  That way, when I’m done, I don’t have much of any clean up except bowls and measuring/mixing tools.
Strawberries.  If I worked with cutting up strawberries more often, I might just want a huller.  It’s kind of pain to cut out the stems.
This is how I diced up the strawberries.  Just wanted to give a picture.  I didn’t leave them big at all.  I also didn’t want them pureed with the banana, yogurt mixture.
 Dry mix.  Pretty dry.  Pretty straight forward.
 Batter all together and ready to bake!
 
While it was baking, I used the timer to see if I could get the rest of my stuff done.  Cleaned up the dishes.  I programmed the coffee for 5:00 am, and made my peanut butter dip for the rest of my strawberries.  Here is how easy that is:
 
 Above are the ingredients.  Plain chobani yogurt, 2 tbsp of peanut butter, and 2 tbsp of confectioner sugar.  This time I also added 1 tsp of cinnamon.
 Doesn’t that look yummy?  No?  Well, we gotta mix it! 😀
 Makes 3 servings.  Package up some strawberries, and you will be excited for your afternoon snack!  2 PP on WW.
 I also packed my breakfast, which I have after the gym at work.  I know, it’s just cereal, but on WW I find that we often get ideas for a way to change up our meals, by what others post.  This is 1 serving (3/4 cup) of Fiber One Honey Squares (2 PP), 1 serving Special K Fruit and Yogurt (3 PP), with 1 cup of skim milk (2 PP).  Totals 7 PP on WW.
 For lunch, I packed a salad.  It is a little pointy, but lots of veggies!  5 PP for the chicken.  I package it separately, so I can microwave it and put it on the salad, hot.  The salad has olives (1PP), 1/8 cup feta (1PP), and 3 tbsp Wegman’s Light Peppercorn Ranch dressing (3PP).  Total of 10 PP.
Ok, folded the laundry and got this blog done.  Here is the final product of the strawberry banana bread.  Very tasty, but turned out at 11 servings, 5 PP each.  A little high for me, as a snack.  Going to bring it in to IT tomorrow.  Those guys will eat it up.
Hoping to get another blog up soon on the abs challenge I started in the Weight Watchers community.  Should be fun!!!