One Meal at a Time...

Despite the snowman picture above, Spring is here.  That snowgirl melted quickly, thankfully!  April is one of my favorite times of the year, because we can finally get outdoors and enjoy some fresh air after being stuck in the house all winter.  We've been going for lots of walks! Leftover bananas in the freezer means banana muffins.  I took a banana bread recipe and substituted the oil with applesauce (left about 1 tbsp of oil in the recipe) and also substitued the milk with almond milk and the sugar with splenda.  Simple substitutions in your favorite recipe can make a low calorie, delicious subsitute.  These muffins were only 107 calories each :).  Jarrod's 30th Birthday was on April 7th.  Jarrod wanted his favorite cake (yellow cake with peanut butter frosting) and I came up with a healthy version for his birthday.  What I did was made the box cake mix (the sugar free kind) with diet cream soda.  The cake was still very moist and yummy, without using any added calories

Here is the promised picture of the craft project that I had been working on.  This is a baby quilt that I made for my long time friend, Laura.  She is due to have her first baby (a boy) in May.  Throughout the years of our friendship (since Kindergarten) we have made each other gifts for birthdays and Christmas.  So, when I found out she was having a baby, I figured I would try to make her a baby blanket.  With the help of my Mother-in-Law, Ginny (a lot of help- Thank you, Ginny!), I finished this quilt in about 2 months.  I waited till I found out she was having a boy and a theme to their nursery (airplanes)... I found a couple fabrics with airplanes and went from there.  I didn't follow a pattern, because I was mostly just learning to quilt and sew... I cut each of those blocks individually, which took a while.   I've already started on my next quilt.  :)  It's been a while since I've posted on here...  been sick this last week with a cold, so I haven't exercise

I have to be honest, I totally went over calories last night at Tranchemontagne's...  we had the catfish again!  Still really good, but didn't taste as good... the corn cakes were thin and didn't really taste like corn, plus they added onions in it, not just the jalepenos.  The catfish and coleslaw still tasted amazing though.  I also had house chips and catfish fingers as an appetizer.... *cough* cheesecake *cough* and some alcoholic beverages, I haven't even gone on myfitnesspal to check out the damage, but the scale definitely showed me this morning, 2 lb gain.  UGH!  It's just not worth it!  I didn't have to overdo it, but I did, and now I regret it.  Unfortunately I got up too late this morning to hit the gym, we're heading to Bangor in an hour...  but tomorrow and Monday, I will put in 90 minutes at least!  This is my vow! 

Spaghetti Squash = YUM! Tonight we had a couple small spaghetti squash in the fridge to use up from last week.  I didn't really feel like spaghetti sauce, so I decided to make it with some pesto sauce.. plus it's Saint Patty's Day and pesto is green ;). I roasted my squash in a 325 oven for 45 minutes (or until fork tender)...  meanwhile I got my veggies ready.  I fried a whole head of cauliflower, then added some mushrooms... cooked till tender.  I added a few sliced collassal green olives, scallions, and about 1/2 cup of classico pesto sauce.  I took the spaghetti squash and scraped some of the squash strings, and then topped each one with the veggie mixture.  I topped with some reduced fat mozzerella cheese and broiled in the oven for a few minutes.  It was delicious!  :)  Yesterday was Wednesday Weigh In and I'm happy to say that I lost 5 lbs this week!!!!  My wonderful husband lost 4.2 lbs!!!!!!  We are on a roll!!!  :)  So happy that what we're doing is wor

A few weeks ago, the hubby and I went out to Tranchemontagne's, a new restaurant here in Westbrook that just opened up.  We decided to have the catfish special, and it was probably one of THE BEST things I've ever put in my mouth.  Silly old me, thought I could recreate it at home.  Well...  I think I need to go back to Tranchemontagne's and give it a few more tries, because mine, not as good...  The meal is blackened cajun catfish over coleslaw and corn cakes with some guacamole on top.  The corn cakes were delicious, but could have had a bit more grittiness to it... maybe more cornmeal then flour in the ratio would have helped.  I used a mandoline to cut up some jalepenos in the corncakes, and I think they were a little too thin because I barely tasted them.  Cornbread Pancakes 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour 3/4 cup cornmeal 1/4 cup splenda 2 teaspoons baking powder 1/2 teaspoon salt 1 1/3 cups milk (I used unsweetened original almon milk) 1/4 cup vegetable oil (

Squint your eyes and look closely, under those green beans are some fiddleheads... no it's not fiddlehead season yet, but I was lucky enough to have family who picked some for me last year and still had some in my freezer!  Yum!  :)  Can't wait for the warmer weather to come along so we can eat some yummy fresh ones!  The above meal I made this week... Baked Split Chicken Breast with some Indian Seasoning (Cumin, Curry Powder, Garlic, Basil, salt and pepper), and some Brown Basmati Rice that I cooked in the rice cooker with the same seasonings.  Yum!  Made enough to have this meal twice.. but with different veggies the next night.  On Wednesday, in honor of Ash Wednesday, I took some haddock from the freezer that I bought a couple weeks ago at the fish place.  I wasn't sure what I was going to make with it, but headed to Shaws to find something yummy... on my way, I thought of what I had eaten last Wednesday (THAI food with my best friend) and thought, hmmm, fish curry m

Yeah, I'm a day late, but I wanted to post Jarrod and I's Wednesday Weigh In Results! Jarrod lost 4.6 lbs this week and I lost 4.4 lbs this week!!!!  WOOHOO!  Total weight loss for me has finally gone past the 50's and total weight loss is now 60 lbs!  :)  So happy.  I have 9.6 more lbs to meet my March goal of 14 lbs lost in March.  Yesterday I overdid the calories when I went out with my friend for Thai and *cough* cold stone *cough* creamery *cough*...  But I had to bring her to the airport early this morning and put in 90 minutes at the gym... so I think I made up for it!  I've been a pretty lazy cook this week...  Sunday I made cabbage rolls which came out really good, and made a sloppy joe sauce out of the leftover sauce and meat/rice filling... so Monday we had sloppy joes, Tuesday I made seafood salad sandwiches for dinner, Wednesday I went out, and tonight I made veggie burgers (the pizza kind- yum!)...  So no new recipes to post, since I forgot to take p

I need to stop taking these long breaks from my Blog!  Ok, so this long stint away from my blog was not entirely my fault.  Our laptop had been acting funny for a little while and then got completely taken over by a virus.  Luckily, my cousin got it running again and it seems to be doing just fine.  Therefore some of the pictures of yummy food did not make it up on this blog.  Plus you got to skip my last few weeks of weigh ins... I didn't lose any weight the week before last, and last week I gained a little over a pound.  Time to get back to it!  I set a goal for March of losing 14 pounds.  Not sure if I can do it, but worth a shot!  :)  First off, I'd like to share a picture of some of the beautiful Gerbera daisies that my hubby got me for Valentine's Day, aren't they beautiful!  I'm such a lucky girl! Speaking of my hubby, here's a picture of him in the new Superman shirt I got him for Valentine's Day before our night out at Frog and Turtle!  Yum! 

Leftover Rice and Chicken?  Why not make a chicken fried rice!!!!  :)  I sauteed onions, mushrooms, and Jicama, added the mixed veggies - warmed those up.  Added chicken.  In a separate pan i scrambled some eggs, added them to the veggies.  Then in that same pan fried the rice with some soy sauce, and added the rice to the veggies!  It was yummy!  I had never had Jicama before either, it had a texture like water chesnuts, but I dont like water chestnuts because there isn't any flavor.  The Jicama was sweet and nutty, with the same texture.  It went pretty well with the stir fry. 

It's been a while since I've posted.  I was sick last week (awful cold) and kind of been busy just trying to stick with watching my calories.  I haven't tried too many new things that I've taken pictures of to put recipes up on the blog, hence why I haven't really blogged.  To keep you updated on Weigh Ins, last Wednesday I lost a total of 5.6 lbs, but this week I didn't lose any weight.  Which is to be expected since I did so well last week.  Jarrod didn't lose any weight last week, but lost over 2 lbs this week.  Yay for him!  We both have been slacking on going to the gym.  This morning I wanted to get up and go but I hit my snooze for a solid hour.  Yikes.  Maybe tomorrow morning?  Maybe if I write about it, I will feel like I need to keep to my goal!!!  I have been doing Zumba and Wii Fit practically every day.  I got Zumba for the Wii and it is so much fun!!!  :)  I'm tempted to try out a real class, but I'm going to practice some more on the W

Deidre's Birthday was Sunday, and I made her a new apron!  I got the sewing machine out that Sally gave me, and did it in only 3 nights!  :)  I got the kit from Mardens... I really did this last week, but couldn't post the picture until Deidre had gotten her gift in the mail, in case she read my blog.  Super cute!!! For dinners this week, we had a bunch of yummy things, but didn't make too many new recipes.  On Wednesday I did make the Mushroom Cheese stuffed chicken, which was yummy, but not the funnest to make.  They suggested I cut a slit in the chicken and stuff it that way, but it was such a pain to bread, everything was falling out, so I suggest that you pound the chicken flat, stuff the chicken, roll the chicken, THEN bread the chicken.  Here is the recipe from cooking light... http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=10000001973652 Serve with 3 cups cooked egg noodles tossed with 2 tablespoons butter and green oni