One Meal at a Time...

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

I'm listening to Mahna Mahna... I love anything muppets, but this particular version is by Cake.  :)  Speaking of cake like yummies... I was bad today and had banana bread at work... too much of it too.  Fell to the temptations... but I won't let it ruin the rest of my day or the rest of the week!  This weekend, I went to the gym both days, which is very good for me, because I'm usually a weekend skipper.  Today, I did not go to the gym though because it was toooooo cold!  I did some Wii Fit instead.  Haven't taken any pictures of recipes because I really haven't made anything new.  Tonight I made Pasta Fagioli (an old recipe that I found last year on Cooking Light, it's in my prior posts from last year).  It was still amazingly good.... I should have taken a picture but completely forgot.  Yesterday we had pork roast with potatoes and carrots, Saturday we had Taco Salad that I made with cubed steak- mmmm, and Friday we had some pasta with sausage.  I have

I get so sick of plain old chicken... every time I bake it, somehow it's too bland or I cook it too long and it gets dry... it's probably because I cook it too often.   This should mean that I get better and better at it, but the problem is, I don't like just plain baked chicken breast.  Now, if it were summertime, and not a bunch of snow out on my grill... I wouldn't mind eating my husband's grilled chicken every night.  For some reason, he just has the knack for it.  Mmmm, can taste it now.  Anyhoo, I was on the Cooking Light website the other day when I was making my menu for the week... knew I had a bunch of chicken breast in the freezer, and brousing the chicken recipes when I came across this one... http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=50400000109612 It's called Chicken Cutlets with Creamy Dijon Sauce...  I love anything mustardy...  my mom taught me to add plain mustard to my plain rice as a child for

As promised yesterday, today I made a new recipe from the trusty cooking light website.  My cousin said last week that he was in the mood for some corn chowder.  He makes a very good corn chowder, but it's not very healthy.  So I decided to make a healthy version for him... unfortunately he wasn't here to eat any, since he is working.  Ohwell, Jarrod and I still enjoyed it very much.  However, it was not my best night of cooking.  First off, the recipe calls for frozen corn...well I failed to read that it should be "thawed" frozen corn.  When part of the recipe asked me to blend the corn with milk... I got frozen milk with corn.... I had to pull out my food processor to get through that, while adding extra milk.  Luckily the recipe asked for only half of the milk in the recipe to be blended, so I'm hoping I put the right amount at the end, because when I was trying to fix the corn milk, I didn't care how much milk was in there ;).  It looked very much like i

After a few days of some unhealthy choices, but staying within calories (with help from exercise on Sunday), I'm back in the grind today.  I did not go to the gym Saturday, Sunday, or Monday, but did some Wii Fit on Sunday.  This morning, even though I did not sleep well at all, I got up to take Jarrod to work and took my butt to the gym.  I wasn't pleased to find out that I had left my IPod at home either, but I still had my headphones, so I put the tv on VHI, took out my book, and hit the Arc Trainer for 30 minutes.  I'm hoping that I'm tired enough to get some sleep tonight.  For supper tonight, instead of cooking some ground chicken or turkey for my taco salad, I used the leftover chili to put in my salad.  Yes, my yummy Cincinnati (Chicken this time) chili.  I put shredded iceburg lettuce, tomato, canned corn, canned black beans, avacado, shredded reduced fat mexican cheese, crushed tortilla chips, and of course the chili!  No dressing needed.  It was delicious! 

It's 11:30 p.m.  I should be in bed.  Instead I'm on here updating my blog, on facebook updating my status, and on Myfitnesspal updating my calories.  We are so connected to the internet these days... and I'm only thinking about that after watching TheSocialNetwork this evening.  It's crazy how things change so quickly with technology.  How we spend our time changes so much with every piece of technology we receive.  For instance, my new phone, with me at all times now, why?   Because it has the internet on it.  Now did I need to get the internet and pay $30 more per month for that service?  No.  Don't I already have internet at home?  Yes.  But in today's world, it's all about being connected all the time.  Does my email ding at me in the morning before I'm ready to get up, and I check to see what the message is?  Of course.  I think we all do.  But is it good for me to be connected like this?  That, I dont know.  Back in college, AIM was the thing, and

So tonight I head to Shaws for the last day of this week's sale.  Or so I thought.  Last Saturday I got a great deal on Jennie-O ground turkey and stocked up.  Grant it, I still have 2 in my freezer, but I knew that I was going to need a bunch for this weekend.  I'm making the Cincinnati Chili (without the spaghetti) for Sunday's Woodbury Christmas (Jarrod's mom's side of the family) and Football later that afternoon.  I get to Shaws and there's ONE package.  The deal last Saturday was buy 1 get 1 free... so if I bought this last one, I didn't have any free.  I was discouraged and left the meat aisle.  I then wandered over to the organic frozen section, and was tempted to buy some vita tops.  I haven't bought them before but Hungry Girl says they're amazing.  I pulled them out, looked at the nutrition, was about to put them in my cart, scanned back at the price, and did a "whaaaaaat"(think Dispicable Me) and put them back in the freezer.  I

Today was a snow day for me.  I did not go to work because of the crazy snow in the morning. We have gotten over a foot here in Westbrook, and luckily it wasn't too heavy when I was shoveling.  I spent the entire day cleaning, shoveling, and cooking.  I ended up sitting down to relax around 7pm.  So even though it was a day off from work, it wasn't totally a day off... and I believe this has to do with the extra energy I have from the exercise I've been getting in and the healthy foods that I've been eating.  Before I would have gone right back to bed, and just watched movies, and I would have felt lousy.  The only time I felt lousy today, was when I overdid it shoveling and my heart rate was probably too high.  But I stopped, went inside and relaxed.  I did a lot of dusting/decluttering today, no real heavy, heavy cleaning. It's so nice to have a nice clean house!!!  :)   Hopefully it can stay this way!  I just need to attack my craft room soon in anticipation of m

Tonight was Taco Night Tuesday is Taco Night... ok, not sure if it will become a tradition or not, but sounded good for tonight!!! :)  I've made these Tacos before and every time they come out delicious.  I took the trick of grilling the tortilla and adding cheese and meat and covering until melted from Loco Baja Grill (formerly Costa Vida) and the place that is no longer :(.    It was probably our favorite restaurant and we would get a salad there at least once a week.  I miss it very much, so I must substite with my own mexican, which sometiems can be almost as good ;).  Chipotle Grill just opened up in South Portland, but it really isn't the same.  I was disappointed when we went a couple of weeks ago.  It might have been the fact that we waited in line for about 40 minutes, there was no room to sit, so we had to bring it home to eat, but probably most importantly was that the salad was small, and we had to ask for the tortilla on the bottom... silly, chipotle, don't

Baked Spinach and Mushroom Omelet (354 calories) This morning Jarrod and I went to the gym when we got up around 8:30 a.m.  We did 40 minutes on the elliptical and headed home.  When I got home, I decided to use the extra spinach and mushrooms I bought to make a baked omelet.  I love going to Becky's Diner in Portland and getting a similar omelet that they make...  but I'm sure my omelet had less calories ;).  Baked Spinach and Mushroom Omelet 10 eggs 1/3 cup of 2% milk salt and pepper Whisk ingredients and set aside in a bowl. 1 package of mushrooms 1 package of pre washed spinach (was only $1 a bag at Shaws this week!) 1/2 cup mozzerella 4 tbsp half and half 2 tbsp butter Melt butter in a skillet and add the mushrooms... When cooked, add spinach to the pan... let the spinach reduce and cook Add 4 tbsp of half and half and let cook for 3-5 minutes.  Add salt and pepper. When finished add mixture to a small baking dish.  Add egg mixture, and then add cheese. Bake i

Today, Jarrod and I got up late and did not go to the gym.  Which was probably naughty on our part, but it's been a long week and we VOW to go tomorrow.  I did however, just finish an hour of Wii Fit Plus and burned 350 calories!!!  I had to do something after eating all the carbs I just devoured.  I'm still under calorie too!!!  :) This morning we had some French toast, scrambled eggs, and a yogurt.  Three french toast each made with the 35 calorie wheat bread, and one egg with a splash of milk for the dredge each... drizzled with some 20 calorie sugar free syrup (1/4 of a cup) and 2 scrabled eggs.  Total calories for the breakfast was 466 calories.  Booyeah!  The syrup had a weird aftertaste but satisfied my syrup craving. For lunch we had some leftover chicken salad in a sandwich with cheese, pita chips, carrots, hummus, and a pickle.  Total calories for lunch was 510!  :)  Now dinner, I had found a recipe a week ago on cookinglight.com that sounded pretty good, so I put

These poor little crock pots are not used enough!   Especially when French Onion Soup is such a great meal!!!!  Plus I made it extra low calorie by substituting ingredients I usually use with low cal ingredients, and taking out the butter I normally use.  Unfortunately, I was in a rush, and I did not cook the onions long enough, so they were a little crunchy... didn't make the soup horrible, but next time, I will make sure they sweat longer in the pan.  Here is my recipe for french onion soup... 3 cups of chopped onions I can't believe it's not butter spray (as much as you'd like!) 3 tbsp soy sauce 9 cups of beef broth 1 can beef consomme 6 slices of 35 calorie wheat bread (toasted) 1.5 cups mozzerella (1/4 cup each crock) The end result is about 6 crocks of soup at about 200 calories each!  YUM!  We had these last night with some veggies and hummus (and pita chips). Start by cooking the onions in a pan on medium heat.  I like to spray the pan with some PAM

Today I actually took out the camera while cooking dinner so that I could post some pictures on my blog of the meal I was making.  Tonight I made Pork Stir Fry with Brown Rice.  Recipe Below... 3 cups brown rice (rice cooker measuring cup which is smaller than a regular cup) w/ 4.5 rice cooker cups of water and a tsp of chicken bouilon paste. 4 boneless pork chops cut into cubes 1/4 cup of stir fry sauce 2 bags of Frozen Stir Fry Veggies 1/2 bag of Frozen Corn I first started the rice in the rice cooker.  May I just say that I used to HATE cooking rice, I always messed it up on the stovetop... however, rice in the rice cooker is fool proof.  It's so easy, set it and forget it!  And Brown Rice is pretty good for you.  :)  I decided to add some of the chicken bouilon to give the rice a little flavor, you could also have added chicken broth instead of water to the rice cooker for flavor.  The book that the rice cooker comes with mentions adding olive oil... but I didn't wa

My friend and I have been doing weekly weigh ins on Wednesdays for a while, but got off track the last few months.  We started again this week.  I had weighed myself on Sunday, and since then have lost 4 lbs (mostly water weight I'm sure), but still feels good!!! :)  Jarrod has decided to start in on the weekly weigh in as well, and lost 7 lbs! I didn't go to the gym today because I had to get to work early for a meeting.  I had planned to at least do some Wii Fit tonight, but I didn't...  So I BETTER get up in the morning to go to the gym!  Everyone reading this should hold me accountable ;).  Last night for dinner, we had shredded beef taco salad made with the leftover beef roast I had made in the crock pot the night before.  So good!  I put shredded iceburg lettuce, tomato, sweet corn, black beans, avocado, cheddar cheese, shredded beef that I reheated in taco seasoning and water, and some crushed tortilla chips.  Dressing was the Bolthouse Farms Ranch Yogurt dressin

Okay People, I'm Back!  This blog is one of my New Years Resolutions to help with the Number One Resolution of WEIGHT LOSS!  I did so good last year, lost over 50 pounds... then I pulled a calf muscle, summer came and it was too hot to go to the gym and so busy all the time, and finally complete and utter diet disaster set in.  I gained 17 pounds!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Argh!  Ooopsy... it's just going to take a little longer to take off the weight, but that's ok, I CAN DO IT!  But can we just say, NO MORE EXCUSES!  I did hit a wall in May for my weight loss that was pretty hard too, no matter what I was doing, I wasn't losing weight, and I got pretty discouraged, so any advice for these times to come would be extremely helpful.  So the plan is to get up early every morning to go to the gym for an hour.  I'm starting out slow right now, only doing a half hour this week so I can get used to it again.  When I do too much at once, I sometimes give up, so I know this about