A food addict's travels on the road to recovery.

Showing posts with label recipe. Show all posts
Showing posts with label recipe. Show all posts

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Book Giveaway Winners

I had a really yummy pic to show you of some shrimp pasta I made today, but the battery was low on my camera and apparently didn't record my picture....BUMMER.

Anyhoo, I'll just tell you what I did.  I sauteed some fresh mushrooms in a little olive oil and added some shrimp.  I boiled some multi-grain angel hair pasta (3 oz).  When the mushrooms and shrimp were done, I added some 1/3 less fat Philly cream cheese and some reduced fat Breakstone's sour cream to the pan and mixed it in with the little bit of liquid that had cooked out of the shrimp and mushrooms.  Then I sprinkled in some oregano, served it over the pasta, and voila!!  It was soooooo good. 

Two really great workouts in the gym last night and tonight.  My 5th workout for this week will be tomorrow night.  I'm hoping to get the dang scale to budge at least 1/2 of a lb!!  Don't know if I'm going to make it or not.  But I also got to thinking....my cycle is usually good for about a 4-5 lb. bloated gain, so the fact that I'm not showing a gain this week is remarkable in itself.  Thank God I've been in the gym to counteract the snacking I did the first 4 days of this week.  I finally reigned in the craziness and came in at 1500 cals yesterday AND today.  Yay!  Shooting for the same calorie amt tomorrow. 

I've also decided that I want to try to cook some different food this coming week.  I'm doing my grocery shopping at Trader Joe's tomorrow.  I've been following TJ's Test Kitchen, listed on my blogroll, and she's picked up some cool stuff at Trader Joe's lately that I want to see if I can find.  One of the things is whole wheat pizza dough and another one is a spinach sour cream dip that she spread on a Thomas everything bagel thin and made a chicken sandwich out of it.  I also want to use the pizza dough to make calzones like she did.  So things are going ok right now....just holding my breath til weigh day.  :)

The winners of the book giveaway are:

Kyle @ Getting Better and Better...
Sheilagh @ Sixty by Sixty
Jenn @ Watch My Butt Shrink!

Congrats to all of you!!  Email me (listed on my sidebar), and send me your names and addresses so that I can forward them on to the publisher!!! 

Quote For the Day:

"Kites rise highest against the wind - not with it."  -Sir Winston Churchill

Thursday, September 3, 2009

The Silver Lining

The job fair was a total bust. I pulled in the parking lot at 8:40am since it started at 9am. I drove in front of the hotel and looked inside. There were construction workers inside doing drywall. What the heck? I drove around to the back and the same thing. I got out and walked up to the sign by the road that I saw last week advertising the job fair. In tiny little mice type at the bottom it said "Georgia Dept. of Labor Career Center" (a.k.a. Unemployment Office). Oh C-R-A-P. I've been to this ofc several times since I got laid off in February. They don't open til 7:30am, but the people start lining up outside the door at 7am, and that's WITHOUT a job fair going on.

I drove over there to see just how bad it was. I counted 53 people standing outside of the building, and there were probably another 30 in line in front of them inside. I am actually desperate enough at this point that I would have stood in line behind 83 people to apply for a job, however, there was just nowhere to park. Every spot was full...people had parked on both sides of every curb, leaving VERY little room to squeeze my car through to maneuver around the parking lot. There were signs posted saying not to park on the grass. I counted 12 cars parked on the grass. I was feeling down, deflated, disgusted, and I finally made it out of the parking lot and back on the interstate.

As I was driving along I remembered a scenario from years past. I was job searching another time and had applied and interviewed for a position that I really, really wanted. I didn't get it. I called my friend Gregg and told him. He said, "Oh....well.....thank God!!" "Excuse me???", I said incredulously, wondering when my friend had suddenly turned into a moron. He explained that I had prayed fervently for that position, always praying that His will be done in my life, and the same with this job. He said since I didn't get it, then it wasn't meant to be, and I should thank God that I didn't get stuck in a place that wasn't right for me. I would have been miserable.

Hmmm...maybe my friend was smarter than I gave him credit for. That was certainly one way to look at it. Always one that enjoys the positive side of life way more than the negative...I decided to accept and be thankful for the silver lining that my friend had found in my cloud of despair. I adopted the same attitude today.

Feeling better, I headed on up to the unemployment office in the new county I just moved to and had my claim transferred. This office is much less busy, with much more pleasant employees. I only had to wait 5 minutes to see a counselor and handle the paperwork. While I was there, I found out that I've been approved for 27 more weeks, should I not find a job, which means my bills are at least going to be paid through the end of March. Praise the Lord!! Now THAT is an answer to prayer. :)

A couple of my lovely followers on the blog asked me to post the recipe for my breakfast casserole that I mentioned in last night's post. I'm happy to do so!

First let me say that I've made several of these and every time they're a little different...it all depends on what meats I have on hand, what fresh veggies were on sale that week, and how many calories I want to spend on breakfast. Here's a list of all the items I've used so far....you can mix and match them to whatever suits your taste:

rotisserie chicken
ham steaks cut into cubes
homemade turkey sausage (way less sodium than store bought; 99% fat free)
Canadian bacon (only 120 calories for 6 slices)

summer (yellow) squash
zucchini
onions
fresh or jarred mushrooms
every color of bell pepper (green, red, yellow, orange)
fresh spinach
baby asparagus
frozen broccoli (thawed)


Kraft Fat Free shredded mozzarella (1/4 c is 45 cals)
Kraft Fat Free shredded cheddar (1/4 c is 45 cals)
Kraft or Sargento reduced fat shredded Colby Jack (1/4 c is 80 cals)
Kraft or Sargento reduced fat shredded 4-cheese Mexican blend (1/4 c-80 cals)

The 2 staples in this casserole that never change are 10 egg whites and 1/2 c. of fat free cottage cheese (I use store brand). Egg whites are 17 calories each and 1/2 c. of fat free cottage cheese is 80 calories.

I use an 8x8 glass baking dish so it's a perfect square and I get 4 even pieces. I spray it with Pam olive oil cooking spray and preheat my oven to 375.

Next I chop all the veggies I'm going to use and sautee them for about 10 mins with a lid on the pan to cook out most of the liquid...this cuts way down on any liquid that cooks out while you're baking it in the oven. I do it on medium high heat, taking the lid off for the last few mins to let all the liquid evaporate.

If you're using homemade turkey sausage, you obviously need to cook that first. Little 2 oz patties cook up very quickly. If you're using ham, Canadian bacon or rotisserie chicken then there's no need to sautee ahead of time.

Layer the veggies in the bottom of the dish. Add the meat on top of that. Add your cheese on top of that, whatever amounts and blends you choose.

Mix 10 egg whites and 1/2 c of fat free cottage cheese in a mixing bowl and stir briskly with a wire whisk if you have one. Add a little salt and pepper to the mixture (I also add onion powder). Pour over the top, making sure to go around the outside edges first then finishing up in the middle. This will seal the top with egg whites and give you a nice browned, slightly crispy top on your casserole. Bake uncovered in the oven for 40 minutes. If you're oven cooks hotter, cook for 30 minutes and check it...but my egg whites are never fully cooked at 30 mins. 40 minutes is perfect in my oven.

Here's the specific ingredient list for the casserole I made this week that was 211 calories per serving:

6 oz. rotisserie chicken breast
2 c. yellow squash
1 c. red bell pepper
1 4.5 oz. jar of sliced mushrooms
1/2 c. vidalia (sweet) onion
4 c. fresh spinach
3/4 c. fat free shredded mozzarella
1/4 c. reduced fat shredded colby jack

Total calories: 844
Cals per svg: 211

It's a bit of work to sautee the veggies and get it all baked, so it's a good thing to do in the evening if you're just sitting around watching TV...it frees up your time in the morning, and especially if you have to go to work or get kids to school. I just pop a piece in the microwave for 40 seconds and Voila! :)

My weigh-in is tomorrow morning. I am holding my breath. Whatever it is, I'll deal with it, and start working on the next weigh-in. :)

Quote For The Day:

"Shallow men believe in luck, strong men believe in cause and effect." -Ralph Waldo Emerson

Saturday, July 11, 2009

Lazy Days of Summer

Today has been incredibly lazy. I did absolutely nothing productive today except my 20 minute walk on the treadmill. Nothing else. Not even a load of laundry, lol. Well, I did load the dishwasher but that doesn't really count since it has to be done every day.....kind of like breathing. I had originally planned to get up and go to Mom's, borrow the truck, come back, load up, haul it back and unload it into the new house. Didn't happen. I just did NOT want to go out in that heat today. I kept trying to make myself, but to no avail.

So....that left plenty of time to catch up on some people's blogs....go back to where they started and see the difference in where they are now. I enjoyed navigating through their trials and tribulations, finding out what worked for them, and gathering some good advice for my own travels.

I also went back and read the first several posts on my own blog. Wow! What a difference one month makes! Things are still hard...a lot of the days are still a struggle...but not every single day....not every single hour like when I first started. I no longer think of bolting out to a fast food restaurant every 2 hours, like I did on the first day of my post. Yes, they're still a temptation...one of my biggest issues, actually....but things are getting easier. I also noticed that although I ended up at Subway in a couple of bad situations....in the entire month I have not had one single binge. I haven't had a double bacon cheeseburger. I haven't had one single french fry. I haven't had one single chocolate milkshake. I haven't had any fast food past a couple of times at Subway, and one time at Taco Bell. And even those weren't horrendous. Are you believing this??? Yeah, me neither. Simply amazing. I haven't had another single 3-4,000 day since I started. Now that's progress, folks. That's what it looks like when you finally get your mind in the right place...when you finally say "NO MORE"....when you finally start caring about your health and your future and everything you want to do in life. THANK GOD!!

I was reading along through my posts and finally got to the one labeled "Free Day". As we all know, I eliminated this Thursday night as part of my new plan to do better. After reading the post, I remembered why I started it in the first place....all of those parties/celebrations/cookouts/birthdays/holidays/family reunions where you're undoubtedly going to be surrounded by bad food....food that you didn't prepare and you have little to no idea how many calories are in it. Special days that you cannot avoid or "get out of".

As a matter of fact, before I eliminated Free Day, I agreed to meet up with all of my girlfriends and Dwayne for "Friends Night Out"next Saturday night, July 18th. This is where we meet at either Los Reyes or Bailey's Pub and Grille and catch up on everyone's busy lives. Because of everyone's hectic schedules, we haven't had a friend's night out on the town in about 6 months. We are due. I suggested Los Reyes, thinking it would be a little easier to figure out the calories there than it would at Bailey's...a restaurant filled with greasy bar food. Even though it was going to be on Free Day, I still didn't like the thoughts of going completely crazy. I gained 4.4 lbs. last weekend from not caring. I paid for it on the scale this week.

The weekend after that is my birthday. I already knew that Dwayne was going to set something up with our friends for my birthday and it always includes a restaurant with good food and good beer. This year, I told him I want to skip the restaurant. It just wouldn't jive with my lifestyle changes, and could we set something up somewhere to grill out. That way I would have a little more control over making sure there were some healthy options there for me (i.e., grilled chicken, fresh fruit, etc.) Today I realized I've got 2 events coming up 2 weeks in a row and I got rid of Free Day. Hmmmm......now what?

Thanks to being able to take the time to catch up on all of those blogs today, I finally found the solution. After all, EVERYONE has days like this that they can't get out of. Somebody had to have figured it out by now. I found the answer on my new buddy Sean's blog: http://www.losingweighteveryday.blogspot.com/. I started reading his blog from the beginning, and found out that the first cookout he was faced with, he decided to allow himself an extra 1,000 calories that day. He has a 1500 calorie a day limit so that gave him 2500. At first, I was appalled at that amount. How am I ever going to lose weight eating 2500 calories a day, Sean?!?!

I had to really sit and think this through to see if I thought it would work for me. When Sean first started, he weighed 505 lbs. I was thinking he could probably stand to eat a lot more calories than me and still lose gobs of weight. I wasn't sure I could afford it. I surely didn't want to implement something into my plan that was going to cause me to go backwards. So....I went back to before I started losing the weight. I have already established that I was eating around 4,000 calories a day. And that was a normal, ordinary day. On a day that I would splurge, (birthdays, cookouts, and let's not even talk about the family reunion back in May), that was easily 5,000 calories...possibly more.

So, fast forward to now and my 1550 limit per day. Giving myself an extra 1,000 calories and allowing it to climb to 2500 is still WAY less than what I was eating just a month ago. Providing I don't have more than one 2500 calorie, event-filled day in one week, I started thinking this might be okay. Then I broke it down a little further. I was challenged to keep my calories strictly between 1350-1550 a day for this entire week. I've been eating at the 1550 mark for the last 2 days. If I dropped it to 1350, there's an extra 200 calories a day there that was already "ok" to eat....so technically, that extra 1,000 calories can break down to the extra 200 a day over 5 days. Suddenly, the idea of allowing myself the extra calories seemed very doable. And I like the fact that you're making yourself count the calories. If I didn't, and just left it as Free Day, I'm betting an extra 2,000 calories could slip by me without even noticing. Thanks Sean!! (Of course, if I show a gain the next weigh day after I do this...I'm hunting you down, lol).

Goal Stats:

Calories 1550
Carbs 250
Fat 60
Protein 136

Today's Stats:

Calories 1530
Carbs 120
Fat 51
Protein 160

Here's my food intake for the day:

Breakfast casserole
2 c. coffee w/ sugar-free creamer

2 homemade chicken soft tacos on wheat tortilla w/ shredded lettuce

Jambalaya Confetti Casserole ( I made up this recipe tonight and it was AMAZING!...although I did steal the word "Confetti" from Pam's Confetti Chicken recipe :))

2 oz. Boar's Head 42% lower sodium ham
7 crackers w/ 2 tbsp. of roasted red pepper hummus
1 pc. Russell Stover Sugar-free 60% cacoa dark chocolate (I'm really diggin' this stuff)
1 protein water
64 oz. regular water....NO TEA...NO COKE!!

I plan on working my butt off tomorrow moving some boxes. I haven't moved any in 3 days...time to get busy!! Due to this and knowing how worn out I'll be when I get done, I'm going to do the treadmill in the morning before I leave, and I'm also taking Pam's advice and throwing some chicken and veggies in the crockpot before I head out so I don't have to cook when I get home. See there....I do pay attention. :)

Quote For The Day:

"Failures do what is tension relieving, while winners do what is goal achieving." -Dennis Waitley





Given by 266

Given by 266 and Bearfriend

Given by Jen

Given by Bearfriend

Given by Sheilagh & Kathleen

Given by Brittany, Michelle, Irene, Melanie, Sean, Amy, Sheilagh, Francesca & Christa

Given by Kristina, Amy & Auburn

Given by Sarah, Brittany, VRaz60, 266, Rebecca & Auburn

Given by Brittany

Given by Kelly

Given by Dawne & ETL

Given by 266, Sweettooth, Kelly & Brittany

Progress Photos

Progress Photos
232 lbs. ~ Size 18/20 outfit

232 lbs.

242.0 lbs. ~ Size 22/24 outfit

242.0 lbs.

Start Weight 06-12-09

Start Weight  06-12-09
272 lbs. ~ Size 26/28 outfit