It’s Been A While… But The Hiatus Is Over!

I hate to admit that it’s been quite a few weeks since I’ve sat down to write a blog. Sadly, I know it’s been way too long.

Honestly, my blog isn’t the only thing that has suffered over the last few weeks. I haven’t been on Facebook, Twitter, or Pinterest either. Aside from posting my Instagram photos because I hit the buttons automatically.

I would love to say that I’ve been doing great this whole time I’ve been away, but I haven’t. I had a lot of things happen that made it really difficult for me to care about what I’ve been eating. Mainly, the one year anniversary of my dad’s passing. We decided early on that diet would not take place because I was making his favorite dinner. Which is my home made lasagna. It comes in around a whopping 900 calories per serving, not to mention the garlic bread. Plus we also had cheesecake (his favorite dessert) Samantha brought brownies, and we had a glass of wine to toast him.

That was an extremely hard day for me, and although my two best friends were there with me and my family (dad considered them his own daughters so they’re family by his standards) I still had a hard time dealing with it all.

I’ll be the first to admit that I am an emotional eater so I ate my dinner, a piece of cheesecake, several brownies, and had wine, soda and would have gone back for more… I did do a workout but didn’t burn nearly as many calories as I had taken in.

The next day I was still upset so I didn’t care what I ate, which included more cheesecake, another brownie, a piece of lasagna for lunch, had dinner, more soda, it started that vicious cycle that I have a terrible time getting out of.

My brother’s birthday was the day after that so that meant cake, he asked me to make bacon cheeseburgers and French fries. Using real bacon and hamburger. While I don’t fry French fries I bake them, it was another high calorie dinner.

Once I started back on the unhealthy road it quickly took over and I went back to old habits. Fast food, cookies, ice cream, processed boxed food.

I’ve eaten like absolute crap for a few weeks and had no energy, didn’t feel well, and I was too ashamed of what I was doing to write, blog or even show myself on social media.

Finally I woke up yesterday and decided enough was enough. I went on my Facebook support group, A Foodies Support Group, and did what I should have done weeks ago. I asked for help, advice, and support to get back on track. Thankfully it took a matter of moments for Samantha to respond with what I knew I needed to do and with a plan that was doable.

I went over to her apartment (I was supposed to get a bed from her for my spare room) but since the weather decided not to cooperate and Kyle’s stomach started feeling queasy, we weren’t able to get the bed, we were however able to work out, have a Visalus protein shake, and talk out my emotional problems. Ultimately getting me back on track. I watched what I was eating the rest of the day, including my own version of drunken chicken that I will post in a while, I was able to make up for my Taco Bell breakfast, and came out on top.

This morning, I have done much better, I had a Visalus protein shake for breakfast, a salad for lunch, and I’m making spicy hummus pita pockets for dinner. I will post that recipe later tonight when I take a picture.

This post was really just to explain why I haven’t been around, and get some things off my chest, and also to let you all know that I’m back! So get ready for more recipes, workouts, and a lot more blogs coming you’re way. I hope you’re with me!

Zucchini Pizzas

Since I wasn’t very good for a few days due to a few unforeseen setbacks that made cooking impossible I decided to make tonight very healthy!

I decided on Zucchini Pizzas which are great if you’re cutting out bread, and calories. I really just like the flavor and wanted something quick and healthy! It is Friday after all, and if you’re anywhere near me you know it may be a little warmer today but it is still FREEZING! So I wanted something warm, but didn’t want to have to go to the grocery store to get it.

I had Zucchini, Turkey pepperoni, and fat free Mozzarella (I didn’t pay attention at the store, I never buy fat free cheese but it actually wasn’t too bad) in the fridge and I had pizza sauce in the cupboard. This recipe serves 4.

Ingredients:
4 Zucchini
40-60 pieces Turkey Pepperoni (5 per piece of zucchini)
1 cup Mozzarella Cheese
4 Tbsp Pizza Sauce
2 Tbsp Olive Oil
2 Tsp Italian Seasoning
2 Tsp Salt
2 Tsp Pepper
2 Tsp Garlic Powder

To Make:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Cut Zucchini, mine were small so I just cut them in half, if you have larger ones you can cut them in three. Season the zucchini with salt, pepper, garlic and Italian seasoning, Sauté in olive oil until almost cooked through. Place zucchini on a baking sheet, top with sauce 1/2 Tbsp each piece you can adjust to add more if you like a lot of sauce, top with pepperoni. If you cut them in three you can get a whole serving on pepperoni, but since I put 5 pieces per slice and only cut them in half I only had room for 10. Bake pizzas until cheese is melted and pepperoni is hot, about 3-5 minutes. Serve.

One piece comes to 227 calories, I was too full to eat my second piece since I had a late lunch. But even with both pieces its still only 454 calories. I served mine with a side of broccoli with a little butter bringing mine to 282 or 509 for everyone else.

I hope you enjoy this recipe, it was a great meal and is great for all of those carb conscious dieters out there.

Cheat Meal! My Anniversary Dinner…

So as I said before yesterday was my anniversary with Kyle, my husband, 3 years of marriage and 10 years together!

First he surprised me with a new charm for my Pandora bracelet.

Then we decided to go all out for dinner. I was really good for breakfast and lunch but I went over what I was intending on calories with my meal… But for this one meal I’m not going to beat myself up about it. I’m not going to be under every single day of my life I just have to make sure I don’t do it often and I do better afterwards!

So for dinner we went to Cariera’s Cucina Italiana, it’s a little italian restaurant here in Michigan, It has a great mood (candle light, low mood lighting, a live singer of Italian music) although it looks bright in the photo below it’s actually very romantic, and on top of that, man is it delicious!

For starters, I was starving when we got there so I dug straight into the bread and olive oil dip… but I did order water, so I had a few glasses of that to curb my appetite a little, otherwise I would have eaten the entire basket!

It was half eaten by the time I got my phone out for a picture. Haha.

Then came along our appetizer, calamari fritti. (Kyle caught on to what I was doing with the pictures and wanted to help, but his flash was on so some of these pictures are a lot brighter than others.)

After that was our soup, we both ordered Minestrone, which is my favorite!

Main course as next, I ordered the Linguine Carbonara it’s my absolute favorite and while I’m sure it’s insanely unhealthy it’s the reason I was SO good earlier in the day. Plus it’s so filling that I didn’t even make a dent in it… I ate maybe a half cup at the most. I’ll probably be working on it for a few days, unless Kyle takes it for lunch. Kyle ordered cannelloni but I didn’t get a picture before he devoured it.

I thought I saved room for dessert by stopping so early into my meal so i ordered Tiramisu. Which looked and tasted delicious! But I was so full from dinner that I only made it two bites in and gave it to Kyle.

Kyle enjoyed it along with his cannoli, but again, I didn’t get a picture of his food before he dove in. Haha, he was a little too excited for it.

After dinner, we needed to get moving or we were going to fall asleep! Not only were we so full but all those carbs and all that sugar! So we decided to head back towards home and find something to do. We ended up going to Target and walking for just over a couple of hours, well until the store closed on us, but at least we got some form of physical exercise. We debated about going to a 24 hour store and walking some more but he was tired and wanted to go home.

Once we got there we took a couple of pictures together (we didn’t have time before we left) and curled up and watched a movie to end our night. it was wonderful! Just a relaxing simple night is exactly what I needed to celebrate with the man I love!

Do you go all out for anniversary’s or do you keep it low key and simple? Sound off and let me know how you spend your special day!

Spinach & Berry Salad with Walnuts and Bleu Cheese Crumbles!

I’ve been doing a lot better with my eating since I my last post. I received my visalus kit in the mail so I’ve been shaking it up for breakfast, having healthy lunches and dinners. Well with the exception of tonight. It’s my anniversary so I’m going out to dinner with my husband and for this meal all bets are off! Haha. We’re going to this little Italian restaurant that has amazing food and fresh made Italian desserts. It’s a big year for us. I mean we’ve been married for three years but we’ve been together for 10 years today! (We got married on our 7 year anniversary.)

Either way I’ll post about that tomorrow when I get pictures and tell you all how it went.

So yesterday I made tuna wraps for lunch. I’ll post that recipe later when I take a picture of it, I was hungry and my phone was in the other room so it didn’t happen. Haha!

But for dinner I decided to do something light and healthy. So I opted for a spinach and berry salad with walnuts and bleu cheese crumbles.

This is super easy to make and takes no time at all. I mainly make it in the summer when the berries are in season, I have more available from the farmer’s market, but if you’re looking for something flavorful and easy. If you just can’t bring yourself to not have a “meat” in the salad you can substitute the walnuts for chicken breast. My recipe serves 4.

Incredients:
4 Cups Baby Spinach
4 Oz Bleu Cheese Crumbles
2 Cups Strawberries
2 Cups Blueberries
1 Cup Chopped Walnuts
Dressing of your Choice (I leave that off and let everyone get their own.)

I chose a strawberry poppy seed dressing for 140 calories it may be a little high but it’s delicious! With the calorie count of this salad there is room for a splurge on some yummy dressing.

To make:

Combine ingredients (except dressing) in a bowl.
Serve and top with dressing.
Before dressing it comes to 175 calories, with 2 Tbsp of my dressing mine came to 314 calories! You really can’t go wrong!
That’s it! And it is delicious!

If you feel you really would rather have chicken in lieu of the walnuts I just cut boneless skinless chicken breast into small strips and pan fry in a little olive oil with some garlic and onion powder.

I hope you enjoy it!

Guilt Free Loaded Baked Potatoes!!

Hey everyone! So sorry that I haven’t posted much lately, between moving the last of our things into our new house and some personal issues, I haven’t made it down here to write anything. Plus it’s FREEZING in the basement and my laptop is broken!

I started this week with making a menu for the meals I will prepare throughout the week. Not only to help with the grocery shopping but also to ensure that I don’t have a “I don’t know what to make for dinner so let’s just go out..”

All in all it has been working with the exception of last night, we were in the middle of getting the last of our stuff moved into our new house and it got too late to make anything, so we went out to dinner. I did NOT behave myself… I went over calories for the day, shared and appetizer, had a burger and fries, and dessert…

Today I started fresh, I had a bagel with cream cheese and strawberries for breakfast, and for lunch I made loaded baked potatoes. This recipe makes three potatoes, you can easily adjust for more or less.

Ingredients:
3 Russet Potatoes
3 Strips Turkey Bacon
3/4 Cup Broccoli Cuts (I used frozen for this recipe)
3/4 Cup Shredded 2% Sharp Cheddar Cheese
3/4 Cup Skim Milk

To Make:
In a pot cook the broccoli until soft and heated.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees, place the turkey bacon on a cookie sheet and bake for 25-30 minutes, it should be crispy but not burnt.
Rinse Potatoes and cut an “X” in the center and place on a microwave safe plate, heat in the microwave for 11 1/2 minutes (my microwave has a button for potatoes, I hit the button and set the number of potatoes to 3)
Once the potatoes are cooked, the broccoli is hot and the bacon is crispy you start to assemble.
Tear the bacon into bite size pieces, place in medium sized bowl, drain any liquid out of the broccoli and add to the bowl as well.
Now for the fun part.  Cut the potatoes in half, take a large spoon and scoop out the cooked potato from the skin into the bowl. You don’t have to get it all just try to get most of it while keeping it as in tact as you can.
Mash the ingredients in the bowl with a fork to incorporate them adding the skim milk so it’s not so dry, then scoop the mixture back into the potato skins and pop back in the over for 15-20 minutes until thoroughly heated.
Top with shredded cheese and enjoy.

Serving size is one whole potato (both halves) which comes out to 119 calories!
I hope you enjoy them!

 

Greek Chicken Salad

Last night we went out for dinner… I was outvoted on the restaurant by pretty much everyone so we ended up at a little whole in the wall Mexican place. It is authentic Mexican and delicious, but everything there is fried! Even the salads are unhealthy… I decided to go ahead and splurge knowing that I can’t ever finish my meal there so I ordered the chicken chimichanga. It’s 310 calories for one, with a side of rice and beans, and served with guacamole and sour cream (my weaknesses). My total dinner would have been just over1400 calories. And while I ate my beans and rice I only ate about half of my chimichanga… so it was still quite a bit at 1044 calories but I ate well in the morning/afternoon, and I went for a two hour walk so I still came in under my total for the day.

Needless to say I was still feeling a little guilty over the splurge after logging it on myfitnesspal… So I decided I was going the healthy route for dinner tonight. I talked to my mom and we decided we would go for a Greek inspired salad.

We decided to burn some extra calories by walking up to Kroger for our needed groceries. After dropping a gallon of milk on the side walk… and having to go upstairs and immediately change my milk soaked pants and socks, I got to work marinating the chicken.

Chicken marinade:
1 pkg Boneless Skinless Chicken Breast Tenders
3 Tbsp olive oil
3 Tbsp lemon juice
2 tsp minced garlic
1 tsp rosemary
1 tsp parsley
1 tsp onion powder.

Cut chicken breast into bite size pieces put in zip lock bag with ingredients,  let sit for at least one hour.

Salad Ingredients:
2 Romaine Hearts
1 small container Baby Spinach
1/2 cup Low Sodium Olives (I used Spanish olives with pimentos) Quartered
1/2 cup Feta Cheese
5-6 Grape Tomatoes

To Make:
Place chicken in skillet on medium heat until thoroughly cooked ( I dumped the whole contents, marinade included and cooked the chicken in all of that flavor.)

In a separate large bowl, preferably with a lid, tear romaine hearts and spinach. Mix thoroughly, and cover. This is a LOT of greens so there will be leftovers, but you can always store it in the fridge for salad throughout the week. ( Always tear the lettuce and spinach, don’t cut it. If it’s cut with a knife it never seems to stay fresh as long. I’m not sure why but it’s from experience)

In small bowls (1 for each ingredient) cut tomatoes in half. quarter olives, and crumble feta. ( You may need more tomatoes depending on how many people eat them… I hate grape tomatoes and so does my husband, so they were only cut for my mom and brother.)

To serve:
Fill bowl with one cup of the lettuce/spinach mixture, top with seasoned chicken, and toppings of your choice.

Without dressing this salad came to 131 Calories. I used 2 Tbsp Greek Dressing for an extra 130, bringing mine to 261, but you could easily save with a little lemon juice in lieu of dressing or a lower calorie dressing.

I’m not usually one for salty but I was tonight and this hit the spot. It was that perfect hint of salt, from the olives and feta, and tang, from the lemon and dressing, that I was looking for. I hope you enjoy it!

 

Turkey, White Bean And Pumpkin Chili

Tonight I decided to try a new recipe I found on skinnytaste.com, it was for Crock Pot Turkey White Bean Pumpkin Chili. The only problem was I didn’t have time for 4-8 hours of cook time, I didn’t have 99% lean ground turkey and I needed a LOT more herbs and spices than this recipe called for…

That being said, I improvised and came up with my own version. The original recipe can be found at http://www.skinnytaste.com/2011/10/crockpot-turkey-white-bean-pumpkin.html

My Turkey, White Bean & Pumpkin Chili

Serves 9

Ingredients:

• cooking spray
• 1 lb 85% lean ground turkey
• 1/2 tsp olive oil
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 2 tbsp chili powder, to taste
• 2 bay leaves
• 2 tbsp cumin
• 1 tbsp oregano
• 2 (15 oz cans) white northern or navy beans (I prefer      Goya) rinsed and drained
• 15 oz can pumpkin puree (not pumpkin pie filling)
• 4.5 oz canned chopped green chile
• 2 cups low sodium, fat free chicken broth
• chopped cilantro and chives for topping
• salt and pepper to taste
• low fat sour cream for topping (optional)

To Make:

Spray a medium sized skillet with cooking spray and brown up the ground turkey while breaking it into crumbles. Continue to cook until completely done and pour into large pot.

In that same skillet add oil, onion and garlic to the pan. Sauté until they become translucent, about 3-4 minutes, stir in the cumin and add to the pot with the meat.

Add beans,  pumpkin puree, green chilis, chicken broth, chili powder, oregano, and bay leaves to the pot with the meat, onions, and garlic. (Note: make sure that you stir your ingredients thoroughly until combined before adding the bay leaf. Otherwise they could break and make for a pain to remove.)

Turn heat on low and cover, heat for 15-20 minutes until hot, stirring occasionally while being careful not to break the bay leaves. Once hot remove the bay leaves and salt and pepper to taste. Serve with chives and sour cream (optional)

Because I opted out of the sour cream, 1 cup of my chili was 271 Calories.

Spring Dreaming…

So I’m a little early in wishing for spring at the beginning of January… But it’s only because if I reach my new goal then I can reap the benefits.

I bought two dresses from Deb (for all of you that don’t have one it’s a reasonably priced clothing store ranging from size 0 – size 24) I bought them at a 1X which is a little too small, they fit but not well. My goal? Is to fit into them nicely by the time it gets warm enough to wear them.

(Please don’t mind the mess in the background, these were taken in my mom’s room right before we moved so it’s a little unorganized.)

I’m hoping that my love for cute sun dresses will help me stay on track, I’m trying to find small rewards for my short term goals. And if dresses and a new haircut do the trick then who am I to deny what works.

I always look for things that make it worthwhile when I achieve a smaller goal. And things that make me feel better about myself usually help me stay on track the most. I’ve tried in the past to think of blood pressure, or easy pregnancy when I’m ready for kids. But to be honest it never stuck. There wasn’t something in my face that I could hold on to and know that if I work hard this will be attainable.

Sometimes you just need that physical proof that there is something to look forward to, I’m not saying that I HAVE to have something new every time I lose 5lbs… That’s not the case at all. In fact I haven’t replaced any of my previous wardrobe outside of hitting up the salvation army for a new pair of jeans when mine just didn’t cut it anymore. Everything else has been something that was already mine or my friend Samantha’s that was something I used to fit. This is my first motivational purpose and so far so good, I’m down 4lbs, and I’ve been tracking my meals everyday this week. On top of getting my workouts in around the house, I have kept up with all of my resolutions so far. I made it past the 7 day mark! I’m not kidding when I say I’m in it for the long haul. This weight is not welcome here anymore and I can’t wait to see it go!

New Year, New Resolutions!

So it may not be my first post of the year but I thought I would do something a little more visual with my new years resolutions and it took a bit of time… I’m a few days late but at I’m so excited for this post because of all of the hard prep work it took.

New Years is the perfect time for starting over, thus, our reasoning for having new years resolutions. Everyone has them, and almost no one sticks to them… I’m going a step further with mine by showing them to all of you, this way I’m forced to take responsibility for them. Granted these are my resolutions that have to do with this blog. My goals for my health and where I want this to go. Going on a dream vacation has nothing to do with that so these are all relevant resolutions that I personally really want, but are things that if I stick to my plans and keep up my blogging will eventually happen.

Feel free to pin these buttons to your Pinterest boards, share them on your Facebook and Twitter pages and even print them out if you have the same goals.

I’ll be referencing back to these throughout the year and this time next year I will do a post on the ones I’ve failed and the ones that I have succeeded at (hopefully I wont have any failures… 😛 ) Either way I will by completely honest about what I’ve done to better myself and this blog for 2014.

I hope you enjoy them!

 

What are some of your resolutions? Let me know in the comments below. Hopefully together, we can break that nasty cycle of not following through on our resolutions! 

Progress Report!

Hi everyone!

Happy New Year!! I hope you all had a wonderful time ringing in 2014, I had a great night with some of my closest friends and family. It was at my best friend Samantha’s house. We had a dress up/ fondue night. Very low key but so much fun! We played Mad Gab and Euchre all night, watched the ball drop, and enjoyed each others company. It was Samantha, her boyfriend Brian, my husband Kyle, myself, my mom, my brother, and our friend Carrie. The same Carrie I mentioned earlier that made it difficult to walk after painting…

Anyways, whenever we get dressed up pictures are to be expected with us. I will update with more of the pictures once I get them from everyone, my phone was dying so it wasn’t used for pics. I was able to get one for the purpose of this post so I can show my one year picture. I wore the same outfit that I wore last year so I could really get a true before and after. The dress was a little big, but because it was a stretchy fabric I was able to make it work for this year as well. Next year will definitely warrant a new dress and I’m not complaining about that!

Without any further delay her is my first official blog worthy before and after!