Sorry!

So sorry everyone that I haven't posted in a while!!! Things have been CRAZY!!! I leave Sunday! WOHO!!!!  As far as eating goes I've been eating kinda what you've already seen so I haven't posted new stuff haha.  Another place I've been eating at is Spoons, which is only here in Fort Collins, but it's super good!! It's a soup and salad place and everything is always fresh!!! It's FANTASTIC!  Anyways I just wanted to stop by and say hello, and hope all is going well with everyone out there!!!! Have a good day!!

McDonalds

So I went to McDonalds for lunch today and got a McDouble and a fruit and yogurt parfet, along with a large iced tea.  It was supper yummy and just enough!! If you tend to be more hungry than that then go for a salad but be careful because a lot of their dressing has a lot of calories in it!!  My meal was 550 calires, I know a lot for just those two things, but the McDouble sounded sooooo good!!! haha

Anyways other than that things have been going well!  I lost 3 lbs!  Could be from all of the packing and really not eating that much, I know bad for me but I am really just not hungry!! So it's ok for me to have 550 calorie meals!!  I hope everything is going well with everyone out there!!  I never hear from anyone so not sure if anyone is reading any more!!!  Anyways, I'll chat with all of you later!

Taco Bell

So I tackeld Taco Ball for my fast food eating out adventure and it wasn't too bad!!  I got the fresco ranchero chicken soft taco, a side of mexican rice and a strawberry fruista freezer!  Total meal was 500 calories!!  Now it was filling for the time, but if I would have been hungrier I would have done 2 burritos instead of the burrito and fruit freezer, but I really wanted something nice and cool!!  Taco Bell is an excellent choice for eating out healthy!!  Their new drive-thru diet menu is fantastic so I highly recommend it!  Not to mention their salsas have very little calories so use what ever you want!!

Glee!!

So I did it, I auditioned for glee haha!  This was a huge jump for me cause I don't like singing infront of people too much haha, but I have vowed that this year it's going to be a new me, so I did this!!  go check it out and PLEASE vote for me!!!

http://www.myspace.com/gleeauditions?link=7838894

Snack time!

So yesterday while I was out and about doing laundry I got kinda hungry but not hungry enough for a full meal.  So I looked at the options around me and the only place really was McDonalds.  So sat and thought about what I could get just for a snack form there....french fries = bad, McDouble = bad (for just a snack), cookies = bad, apple pie = bad....Then the thought came to me!  They have the fabulous fruit and yogurt parfait!!!!!  160 calories = Not bad! haha!  And not to mention the great nutritional value that yogurt haves for your digestive system!  So I got that and a Large iced tea (non sweetened, if you want to sweeten it do so with equal or splenda!).  Now if you really want some sort of pop/soda go for the diet coke, but I really hate diet coke haha.  Also, not to scare you away from it, but in several of my classes I have learned that your body just does not metabolize aspertaine and it stays in your system and yuck, don't wana deal with that haha.  So this total snack came to $2.13  so not bad at all haha!  Today I"ll prob have another one of those sub sandwiches that I got from the store the other day and play it up like I did then too...So have a good day everyone and healthy eating!!

*Side note!  I did 2 whole pushups today!!  I know it doesn't sound like much but that's the most I've been able to do since my hand/wrist surgery back in December so it's deff a step!!*

Eating out challenges

So since I'm going to be doing this whole eating out thing for the next few weeks I did some investigating at different fast food places on their nutritional information.  Right now I'm mainly looking at the calorie count - I'll pull my hair out if I try to look at everything right now!   So I really plan on printing all of these out while on campus this week because I still have like over 200 pages left of free printing in the botany/zoology building!  So I'll put it to good use! haha! Anyways, my healthiest options that I found so far was subway and surprisingly taco bell.  Now I'm really not a fan of taco bell but I guess I gotta do what I gotta do haha!

Today I ran to the grocery store because I needed some milk and I decided to look in their prepared food section to see what they had to offer.  I found a pack of 3 sub sandwiches - 2 turkey and one roast beef - for $5!  I had to jump on this because these sandwiches are equivalent to that of subway's!  Sure there was no lettuce on them or anything but in my fridge I have a thing of salad!  So I had one of these sandwiches tonight and found out that the trio comes with packets of mustard and mayo!  So I used one of each - that little bit of mayo is fine!  Then I added some of my salad mix to it!  It was yummy!  Deff a good purchase! How many calories are we talking about?  Prob around 450-500 calories, which I know is more than my meals that I make on my own, but that's the range that I'm going to be shooting for during this whole eating out thing.  I'll just cut down on other's during the rest of the day and it should work out just fine!!  Anyways take care everyone and I'll post later!!

Going in a different Direction

Ok guys, so I'm going to have to go in a new direction with this blog for a little while so stick with me haha.  Since school is so crazy right now with finals right around the corner and I'm getting ready to move to Florida I need to start packing.  So this weekend I"m planning on packing up most of my kitchen...scary I know!!  So I'm going to be eating out now - but I"m going to try to do it as healthy as possible.  I'll blog about that and the different things you can do with eating out.  I'll be mainly doing to go and fast food, so good luck to me haha!  I can actually start with today

So for Dinner tonight I didn't want to cook cause I had a lot of studying to do so I went by McDonalds and looked over the various choices in food and tried to pick out the most healthy thing I could.  So I went with the bacon ranch salad.  When I got home I looked up the calories - the salad with out the dressing is 260 - not bad!  The dressing though is 170 calories for the packet - YIKES!  But I still ate it haha.  so all in all the calories came to 430 calories for my dinner.  Ok so that's not too horrible!

I'm still trying to finish cleaning out my pantry so my plan is to eat out once a day, and then the rest of the day try to finish up what I do have that doesn't need to be cooked.  So we're talking like slimfast shakes for breakfast or cereal, and who knows what else the rest of the day.  I'm going to leave out a couple of bowls and some silver wear and cups.  My biggest thing I wana get packed is my pots and pans.  So yeah, I hope you all enjoy these new posts!

Turkey potato casserole and Breakfast burritos

Hey guys sorry I haven't been on here much, things have just been hectic haha!  I have a new blog now for my Disney College program so please go check it out as well!  http://codisneygirl.blogspot.com  I'm having a lot of fun with that one and it will be even more fun when I make it down to Disney!  As far as this blog goes I'm not sure how much I'll be able to post on it.  I'm hoping to still be able to come up with a few recipes each week, we'll see!  If anything maybe I can talk about the different healthy foods that Disney has to offer as well as my recipes just to keep it going!
This week I haven't really cooked much, just haven't been in the mood to do it because been so busy with school, and my allergies are taking a good toll on me haha.  But don't worry I've been pretty good with my food choices...for the most part.
My two food posts today are both comfort foods with a healthy twist.  The first is a healthier rendition of Tatter-tot Casserole. My mom use to make this while I was growing up and I always enjoyed it!  My best friend absolutely loves it as well.  The traditional one is made with ground beef and tatter-tots, so I sat down and tried to figure out how I could make it some what healthier haha.  I came up with the idea to use ground turkey in place of the beef, and then just some shredded potato in place of the Tatter-tots.  So here you go hope you enjoy!  Calorie count - 333

Turkey Potato Casserole



3 oz ground turkey (93% lean)
1/4 C low fat cream of mushroom soup
1/4 C low fat milk
1/4 potato (shredded)
1/4 C shredded sharp cheddar cheese
1/4 C corn



Preheat the oven to 375
Brown ground turkey in a pan over medium heat.  Season with salt, pepper, onion powder, and garlic powder.
In a separate bowl combine milk and cream of mushroom soup - whisk together.
After the turkey is done put down in a casserole dish along with the corn.  Top that with the cream of mushroom and milk mix.  Then top with shredded cheese followed by shredded potato.  Salt the potato.
Bake for 30 minutes, then turn the oven onto broil and broil for 5 minutes to get the potato nice and crispy.
Enjoy!

My next recipe I use to make all the time with another best friend of mine for breakfasts.  The breakfast burrito!!  mmmm just thinking about it now I might have to go eat one haha.  Since I live on my own now it's kinda hard to just make one of these babies.  So I came up with making several and just freezing the others.  This makes it quick and convient for on the go mornings.  All you do is wrap them in a paper towel and heat on high for  a minute in the microwave!  Fantastic!!  Along with my other comfort food I made this one a little healthier haha.  So here we go! Calorie count - 264

Breakfast Burritos

2 oz Chorizo 1/2 potato 1 T butter 3/4 C. all egg white 1/4 C shredded mexican cheese

Cook chorizo over med high heat for about 7-8 minutes. remove and drain off grease on paper towel. Peel and shred potato and cook in same pan as the chorizo. Season with desired amount of salt. Brown for about 10 minutes. Add chorizo back to pan and add egg whites. Cook until egg whites are no longer runny.
Heat up tortillas in microwave for 20 seconds. Starting with one tortila add about 2 T of cheese, then 1/5 of the mixture. (Then I like to top with hot sauce) and roll up. Repeat for rest of tortillas. Enjoy!

I dont have a pic of the breakfast Burritos cause they're just wrapped in plain tortilla, noting spectacular haha.

5 whole wheat tortillas

Turkey Meatball Stew

Well everyone, I know it has been a while since I've done a low cal recipe!  So sorry for that but things have just been kinda crazy!!  I leave for Florida in 37 days!! SO ready for it!!  I just want this semester to end already!  I have really no motivation do to anything school related right now! haha!  Oh well, guess I'll just suffer through haha.
So I go a sample in the mail the other day for Kashi cereal - it was their berry one (like the only one with out almonds haha)  So I decided to try it yesterday for break fast.....yeah didn't like it very much haha.  Not to mention one serving has 190 calories in it, then you top it with the calories in milk...yeah no.  I'll stick to my Special K - with milk it's 190 calories.  That way I can eat some type of fruit with breakfast as well with out over doing it with the calories!!
As far as my weight goes it hasn't budged, but I've lost a few inches.  1 1/2 around my belly - which is my largest part on me,  1/2" in my neck, about an inch in my arm, one inch around my chest, 1/2" around my hips, and 1/2" in my thigh.  So woo!!  That's good news haha!  Good to see some of my effort is doing something haha!
My weak spot is still the whole working out thing :-p  I still am doing the barn work twice a week, prob 3X a week now so I can be out there for shorter times.  My allergies are so bad right now - darn you spring time!  But maybe doing it 3X a week will give my body a better work out?  Who knows haha.  I still do sit ups and all that sometimes; I need to be more consistant with that one haha!  Bathing suit time is right around the corner....I am not excited for that one haha!  Oh well though right?
Ok so I'll get on with last nights dinner!  Turkey Meatball Stew!  So good!!  The recipe that I"m going to give you makes 2 servings of 422 calories each - I know one of my more calories dinner but it was so good!  It's still a good amount of calories though!!  Ok so on with the recipe!

Turkey Meat Ball Stew


6 oz ground lean turkey meat
1 egg
1/2 C bread crumbs
1 T onion powder
1 T garlic powder
1 t salt
1 t peper
1 T extra virgin olive oil
1 can beef broth
1 carrot
1 celery stock
1/4 yellow onion
1/2 potato
2 cloves garlic

Ok so we start out with making the meatballs.  In a bowl mix the ground turkey meat, bread crumbs, egg, garlic powder, onion powder, salt and peper.  Best way to mix it is to mix it with your hands.  If it seems too wet still add some more bread crumbs.  Then form the balls into about 1/2 inch diameter balls. Take and put oil in a pan and heat on medium heat.  Add meatballs to the pan.  Make sure to turn meatballs as they cook to get an even golden brown color on all sides.  It takes about 10 minutes for them to fully cook.
While the meatballs are cooking, in a crockpot (slow-cooker)  pour in the beef broth.  Chop the carrot, celery, onion and potato into bite size pieces and add.  Mince up garlic and add to the pot.  Turn the pot onto low (if you have 6-8 hrs to let it cook) or high (3-4 hrs to cook).
When meatballs are done cooking take out and drain on a paper towel.  Let sit for about 1/2 an hr.  Then add to the crock pot!  Let cook and meld together for several hours depending on the temp you set the slow cooker at.
Then just serve up and enjoy!!!

This was such a good meal for a cooler day, or a day that you are going to be busy all day cause you can always make the meat balls the day before then just add to the stew the day that you want it.  So easy and simple!!!



*Just as a heads up, I'm getting ready to start a new blog on top of this one.  It will be about my Disney College program and the adventures that I have during it.  So I'll post the link for it here soon as soon as I get it all set up!

Easter Cake (ok ok I know not low calorie!)

So today is Easter!! Happy Easter to everyone!! Sorry I haven't been blogging much things have just been so inane!! My mom had told me last weekend that she was planning on making a carrot cake for Easter and was wondering if my sister and I wanted to decorate it. I love to decorate cakes! such a stress reviler! So I jumped on the opportunity and immediately came up with a plan to have the cake look like a basket and that I would attempt a rice krispy bunny to put on top to make it look like it was peaking out over. Now last year for my mom's b-day my sister and I did a basket with flowers in it, and I had taught her how to do the basket weave. So she did that part of the cake while I worked on frosting the bunny. The day before is when I made the actual structure of the bunny and then it sat over night. So with doing all of this I decided that I would blog about how to make one! Once again I know that they aren't low calorie but oh well! haha!

Rice Krispy Bunny

6 cups rice krispies
4 cups mini marshmallows
3 T butter
1 tsp vanilla

Take and melt the butter over medium heat and add vanilla.  After melted all the way add the mini marshmallows and melt over medium heat until they are a smooth constancy.

Then turn off heat and add rice krispies and mix all together.  Then take and put in a pan lined with foil and sprayed with non stick spray. 

Now for the molding portion.  I put on two pairs on non-laytex gloves and sprayed the palms of my hand with non-stick spray.  Then I took and molded the head of the bunny, the ears, the torso, and two paws.  I placed skewers in the ears, and paws for assembly later.

This is all the pieces of the Bunny.                                                             This is the Bunny assembled

Then I took a small tip and with white frosting added the eyes, and for the pupils I used a small chocolate chip.  As far as the frosting goes my mom actually already had some made so that worked nicely!  You can use really any kind! As long as it's a good frosting that holds shape.  Then I also added the nose and insides of the ears.  After I did this I took a large star tip and covered the rest of the bunny!

Then skewer it into your cake!!  We colored some coconut with green food coloring to make an Easter grass look that was edible!!  This was just so much fun to make and such a stress reviler that now I think I'm ready to get going again for this week and hope to have some good recipes for all of you!

No I didn't forget about this!

Hey everyone sorry, I haven't forgotten about my blog I promise!! Ive just been extremely busy, and actually haven't been home much! So how's the weight loss going?? I'm some how stuck right now...NO FUN!!! It seems like maybe things calm down some here in the next few weeks, so hopefully I can jump back on the bandwagon! Anyways I"m out for today to run around....see you all later!

Biggest Looser

So tonight was the first night I've actually watched this show...I know I know where have I been?? haha. And it was actually a really good show. It's kinda inspiring I must say haha.
Anyways, I'm back from Spring Break! Over break i wasn't too good....but I didn't gain any weight so that's a plus! Watching this show reminded me that I made a pledge in the pound for pound challenge! I pledged to loose 30 lbs so I must do that!!!!!! I really do need to get on working out! No more excuses! Another thing that is inspiring me to loose weight is that I got accepted into the Disney College Program!!! WOOO!!!! I"ll be going to Florida for 6 months starting the end of May! I"m so excited!! I do want to loose weight for it! Another thing is that I got the victoria's secret catalog the other day and I love their summer clothing!! I know that they come in my size, but I want to loose weight and look absolutely fabulous if I am to get them!
So the weather here is insane!! it was near 70 degrease yesterday and now there's 8" of snow of the ground and still going! Gotta love spring time in Colorado!!! The biggest problem with our spring snows is how heavy it is! But it's also good becasue it means a lot of moisture!
So I have two recipes for you all tonight, but no pictures of either. Both meals were kinda bland looking so I didn't take the pics haha. :-) Trust me though they were both delicious!!!

Ranch chicken nuggets

chicken breast (cut into bite size pieces and skinned)
1 cup corn flakes
1 T ranch powder mix
1 egg (white only)

Heat oven to 425
crush cornflakes and mix with ranch dressing
whip up egg white slightly
Dip chicken pieces in egg mixture and then in cornflak mixture.
Place on cookie sheet that is prepared with foil and a cooling rack.
Place chicken on cooling rack and spray with cooking spray (this makes them crunchy)
Bake for 20 minutes
enjoy

Everyone loves chicken nuggets!! and these were really good! There was about 252 calories in these and I paired them with some mashed potatos that were about 100 calories. So there's a 352 calorie meal not bad! Now I would have done green beans or something like that as well but I"m working on cleaning out my fridge and pantry before I move out in less than 2 months!!

Basil Salmon and Rice

Salmon filet

4 T butter (I use I can't believe it's not butter fat free)
2 T basil (can use fresh as well)
2 T lemon juice
1/4 t onion powder
1/4 t garlic powder
1/4 t salt
1/4 C rice (uncooked)
1/2 C water

Turn broiler on. Combine water, 1 T butter, 1 T basil and 1 T of lemon juice in a sauce pan. Bring to boil, add rice, cover, and turn on low - cook for 15 minutes
Melt remaining butter, add rest of basil, and lemon juice. Add onion powder, garlic powder, and salt to mixture.
Lay salmon in a small baking dish (just big enough for the salmon) and cover with the butter mixture. Broil for 10 minutes.
Place salmon on top of rice mixture.
enjoy!!

This was really good and refreshing! I just love the combination of lemon and basil! Such a good taste!! This meal is prob close to only 300 calories or less. So really good for you. Not to mention the benefits that salmon has!! It's great!!

Guest Blog!

Hey everyone!! Since it's my spring break and I haven't really been writing I asked someone to write a guest blog for me and it's awesome!!  Chen has a blog on picnic ideas and so he has written an article for you all on low cal picnic ideas. So here it is!! ENJOY!

Low Calorie Picnic Food Ideas
Picnics are great, but if you are on a low calorie diet, it can be torture. All those fried foods, delicious desserts, and mouth-watering meats can wreak havoc on someone’s diet with all the calories they have in them. That can turn a good time into a dismal experience.
It doesn’t have to be that way, fortunately. You can (and should) have a low calorie picnic of your own, complete with foods that lack fat but not flavor. You can even grill out without having your entrees loaded down with calories. This article will give you three low calorie picnic ideas : one appetizer, an entrée, and a dessert.
Low Calorie Picnic Food Ideas: Spinach Artichoke Dip
For this appetizer, we are making spinach artichoke dip with low-fat tortilla chips. To make your dip, you will need:
- ½ cup of light sour cream
- 12 ounces of thawed spinach
- 1/3 cup of grated Parmesan cheese
- 12 ounces of artichoke hearts
- 1 teaspoon of garlic powder
- 10 ounces of softened cream cheese
Preheat your oven to 375 degrees. Mix together the sour cream with the artichokes and the cream cheese with the sour cream. Add the Parmesan cheese and the garlic powder. Mix this into a creamy sauce and place into a baking dish that you have sprayed lightly with non-stick spray. Then, stir in the spinach (that has been squeezed dry). Bake for approximately 25-30 minutes. I’d stir every 10 minutes.
Low Calorie Picnic Food Ideas: Grilled Salmon
This dish is fairly easy to make. Just take slabs of salmon and fire up the grill to a moderate heat. Remove the skin and place on the grill. Spritz the top side with lemon juice and throw in some cracked black pepper. If you want, you can prepare a mixture of soy and brown sugar to get a salty-sweet combination going, and coat the salmon with the mixture while grilling. Cover both sides and continue to flip until the salmon is nice and grilled (about 6-8 minutes per side will work, or until the fish begins to flake.)
You can apply the soy-sugar glaze to the salmon overnight to marinate it if you would like.
Low Calorie Picnic Food Ideas: Caramelized Pear Delight
For this delightful treat, you will need:
- 2 whole pears
- Strawberry sauce
- 1 tablespoon of softened cream cheese
This dish is pretty easy to prepare. Peel, core, quarter, and slice your pears lengthwise into thin slices. Coat each side lightly with sugar, and place the slices into a sauté pan along with a ¼ cup of unsalted butter over low heat. Flip until both sides are caramelized. Once you have caramelized them, arrange the slices in an attractive pattern on a plate, with a dollop of cream cheese in the middle. Drizzle with strawberry sauce. If you want, you can place quartered strawberries on the plate for an added garnish.
You can substitute other flavors for the strawberry sauce. Raspberry sauce also works very well, as does cherry, apricot, and blueberry.
This entire three-course meal should come in right under 350 calories per person – and still taste delicious!
This article is courtesy of Chen from Picnic Food Ideas

Spring Break

Hey everyone just wanted to stop by and say hello and no I haven't forgotten about my blog haha, just have been on spring break!  Things have been going good, haven't been cooking cause I"m home and my mom does the cooking here haha!  But I haven't been too horrible for this week.  Lets just say I haven't gone above 1800 calories so I think that's pretty good haha.  I hope everyone is doing well and having a good week!!!!  Take Care!

I know, I owe you 3 recipes...

Ok ok ok, I know I haven't blogged at all this week!  SO SORRY!  I got caught up studying hard core for my ornithology exam that I have later today!  I'm ready to rock it!!  But with all of the studying I didn't forget to eat, cept this morning now that I mention it...Hold on I"m going to get some breakfast real quick.  Alrighty! I'm back! Not that you would ever know that I was gone haha!  So I did my tae bo on Monday and whew it wore me out!!  It was a good work out but I was sore on Tuesday!! haha.  Wednesday was suppose to be my second day of doing it, but I didn't because I had to go out and do my barn work which burns more calories than anything haha.  So today is suppose to be another rest day, but I think I"m going to do some ab exercises since I didn't really get that yesterday, then tomorrow is another session of Tae Bo, and I gotta go out and do a little barn work before my spring break!! 
I"m not really doing anything for spring break but going home to my parents and relaxing all week.  So not sure if I"ll be posting next week...we'll see haha.  We may be having a guest posting here soon, I'm so excited!! 
Ok I'll get onto the recipes that I missed, and keep this part short.  So here we go!

Balsamic Chicken and Couscous

1 chicken breast
2 T balsamic vinegar salad dressing
1/2 C cole slaw mix (or just a green salad)
1 serving of couscous (cooked according to package directions)

Marinate chicken breast in dressing for 5 hours.  Cook on med-hot grill, about 8-9 mins on each side.  Mix your salad with some of the dressing (not too much) and slice up chicken and place on top of salad.  Serve with side of couscous

Ok so this one is really easy, but not many people ever think of marinating their chicken in some sort of salad dressing.  You could also do Italian dressing if you want!! ENJOY Calorie count - 290

Chicken and Shrimp stuffed pita

1.5 ounces of already cooked chicken (I used my left over from the balsamic chicken)
1.5 ounces of already cooked shrimp
2 T low fat mayo (I use the olive oil mayo)
2 scallions
1 celery stock
salt and peper
2 small pitas

Finely chop chicken, shrimp, scallions, and celery.  Mix all together with mayo and salt and pepper.  Stuff pitas with mixture.  Enjoy!!

Once again another simple meal!  I wanted to use my left overs that I had in my fridge.  I had the chicken from the night before, and the shrimp was frozen from my shrimp scampi last week!  You can also do the same thing with some tuna and shrimp or what ever you want!  Once my mom had some left over lobster and we did this with lobster and shrimp!  OH so yummy!!  Calorie count - 330

Fajita Pita

3 oz steak
1 T taco seasoning
1/2 C sliced onion
1/2 C sliced bell pepper
2 T butter
splash of soy sauce
2 T sour cream
2 T salsa

Cover steak in taco seasoning and let sit for about 5 minutes.  Grill or pan sear until desired temp.  I like mine med so about 6 mins on each side.  Let sit for about 5 minutes after grilling.  Slice up thinly.
In a separate pan melt butter and add the splash of soy sauce (trust me best way to do this!) Add bell pepper and onion to pan and cover, let simmer for as long as the steak cooks. 
Smear sour cream and salsa on the inside of the pita.  Add sliced steak and veggies.  ENJOY!!

So these can also be done with chicken!  Just so good!  I love fajitas so much!  If you really want you can add some cheese to this as well, just keep in mind that will add calories.  This has 430 calories in it, prob one of my highest calorie dinners but I needed some extra calories for the day!

Whew we made it through all of those!  haha!  I will write tonight on what I'm making for tonight!!  Be ready for another mexican dish!  So until tonight!!

Lemon basil butter pasta with stuffed clams

Ok so hopefully that title drew you into today's post haha!  That's right, that's what I had for dinner and it was AMAZING!! Now your prob thinking to your self, that has to have like thousands of calories!!!! NOPE!!  One serving has *drum role please* 250 calories!!  Yeah you heard me right 250!  I think this is my lowest calorie dinner I have come up with so far!  Go me! haha!
So before I give you the recipe I shall ramble on about my day, I know you love it haha.  Today I got to sleep in and it felt amazing; I have gotten to do that in a long while!  After I finally got up I went and did my laundry at the laundry matt then got groceries for the week ahead.  At home I dusted, cleaned my fan (it was so full of dust that it needed done) cleaned my kitchen and finished my physics homework.  Wow what a productive day!!  Then I made my amazing dinner and am watching the Oscars!  I wish I had a thing to dress up for like that haha!  Wouldn't that be great?? 
So my major goal for the week: start doing my tae bo dvd that I have!   It will be a good push for my work out routine!  I really want to push my weight loss!  My best friend and I are planning a road trip to vegan then to cali at the end of May so I want to look fabulous for it! 
I weighed in this morning and I'm back down!  Remember that I gained some weight when I first started working out ( prob a result of some muscle build) so now that I got it back down I'm ready to keep dropping!!  I'm doing my second week of the Special K challenge which I have grown to love doing becasue it's so easy to do on the go!!
Ok ok ok, so on to tonight's dinner! 

Lemon butter pasta with stuffed clams

3/4 C Whole wheat pasta
3 T butter
1 T flour
1/2 C milk (low fat 2% or lower)
1 T lemon juice
2 T basil (fresh or tubed)
1/2 t salt
2 stuffed clams

Cook pasta according to directions. 
Melt butter in a sauce pan over medium heat.  Add flour and whisk together.  Let cook for a couple of minutes on a soft simmer, be sure to stir to keep from burning.  Add milk and whisk until smooth.  Wisk in lemon juice, basil and salt.  Let simmer for 5 minutes.
If you pre bought stuffed clams and need to heat them up:  Add the clams to the milk mixture and cover with lid.  Let simmer in there for 5 minutes while heating up the oven on broil.  Take clams out of sauce and place in a baking pan and broil for 5 minutes.  Your sauce will be fine during this time if you turn it down on low and just let it be. 
After clams and pasta are done, place the drained pasta in the pan with the sauce and toss.  Take out and place on plate, and place clams ontop. Enjoy!

This made enough for two serving and I can't say enough how amazing it is!!  My biggest thing I have to say is that I love tossing the pasta with the sauce then putting it on the plate, instead of pouring the sauce over the pasta.  this keeps you from using too much of it!  And trust me that you will most likely not use all of the sauce for the two servings!!  When eating it I would take out some of the stuffed clam and get some pasta and eat it all together!  The mix of the lemon and basil with the clams is just spectacular!
If you don't like stuffed clams, you can also use: shrimp, scallops, plain clams, or any type of fish.  I guess you could also do this dish with chicken if you really wanted.  Any of these choices are still really healthy and great for you!!
I hope you all enjoy this out there and I look forward to the rest of the week becasue like I've mentioned time and time again, I have an amazing menu planned out, and this is just the start of it!!

Getting ready for a new week

Whew my back hurts tonight from my barn work.  Since it's spring everything is thawing now which means more work for me haha!  It'll only be a few times that it will be real bad until I get everything scooped up that was frozen.  So I spend 2 1/2 hours working today, but it was a good time to work on the tan! haha!!  It felt like spring today, so nice!  If your curious out there 2 1/2 hours of barn work equals about 1300 calories burned!  I would say well worth the trouble haha!!
Yesterday I delivered a car to Glenwood Springs for my dad and it was a lot of driving haha.  Don't worry I was still pretty good.  I brought a protein bar along with me and a special k snack bar.  Also my water bottle.  Now while driving I couldn't help but think of ideas to get a work out in while driving.... There's always the simple ab work out of sucking your gut in so that your pulling your bellybutton to your spine and hold for ten seconds....then repeat haha.  I also did some arm exercises using my water bottle, but don't worry I only did those while the weather was nice during my drive haha because I could only use one hand at a time on the wheel.  Another good leg workout would to life your toes off the ground while keeping your heels on the ground and do several them, then switch and lift your heel off and keep your toes on the ground.  Great leg workout for while in the car haha.
Boy I sure have a great menu planned out for this week, I'm super excited!!!!  Once again I'm doing the special K challenge this week.  Its actually really easy to do and great for on the run!  I haven't weighed in yet for the week, plan on doing it in the morning!
So today I did not each much during the day, but for dinner I had Mexicali, thank you Alex and Ken!!  I calculated it up and that burrito had about 1040 calories! YIKES!! Oh well, I totaled up my calories for the day and I'm at 1,200 calories which is great haha!  I can't go higher than 1500.  Honestly I should be hitting about 1200 each day, but it's so hard for me to do!! I"m lucky that I'm hitting over 1000 and I see that as a good start to healthy eating, one step at a time!!
Well I feel like I"m just rambling so I will sign out for the night.  Be sure to check back for all the great recipes this week!! I'm So excited!!!!

Michele

March 4th

So you may be asking your self why I put today's date as the title.....March 4th is a day that stirs up many emotions...First off it is my mother's birthday so happy birthday to her!! I love her so much!!  I consider my mom one of my best friends and I owe so much to her! I love my whole family, it's with all of their support that I am where I am today....
March 4th is also an emotional day on the other spectrum because 7 years ago today I lost my best friend to a car accident.  That event turned my world upside down.  I was lost for months and didn't know what to do with my self, but with the support of my family and other friends I made it through a stronger person.  Now I look back on the event as sad, but I thank God that I am a better person that I was then and I owe some of it also to Ryan because I got a real chance to look at the way that he lived his life....to the fullest each and everyday, no regrets.  And ever since I have tried to live my life that way and I pass that motto onto all of you out there!! 
Anyways with all of that aside, I was bad today, I got McDonalds for dinner.  I was on the run because I had to drive to Denver after my last class and didn't have time for anything else to eat.  I was going to eat one of my breakfast burritos but it had mold on it, so oh well haha.  Tomorrow I am driving up to Glenwood Springs to deliver a car for my dad.  I brought my special K stuff to eat on the road, so I'm planning on being good during the day!!!
So last night I had an awesome dinner!  I got a bison steak that was amazing.  I also fell in love with mashed cauliflower!  It was soooooo good!!!!!!!  I also made low cal coleslaw to go along with it.  So it was good over all and just so tasty.  I eat way too well to be a college student haha! 
Anyways, I've rambled enough for today, take care everyone and I will post later!!!!

Michele

Shrimp Scampy

So today was my 2nd day on the special K challenge and it went really well!!  I enjoy the special K foods, from their protein shakes to their cereal so that makes all of this easier.  Other than that it was a beautiful day here in Colorado!  It was 50* out and the sun shinned all day long!  I twas awesome!!  tomorrow is suppose to be even warmer at 57*!  WOO haha.  With the warmer weather I went out and did my barn work, but there was more to do because things were starting to thaw out.  So my arms are nice and worn out, and I might be feeling it in my back tomorrow.  Oh well!  It was good exercise haha.
So for dinner tonight I decided to do a shrimp scampy and oh man it was sooooooooooo good!! It was really refreshing!!   And of course it was healthy!  So here's the recipe!

Shrimp Scampy

3 oz cooked shrimp
1 serving whole wheat pasta
1 fl oz rose wine
1 Tbs lemon juice
10 spear tips of asparagus or broccoli crown (about 5 if you do the broccoli)
2 cloves of garlic
1/2 Tbs olive oil
1/2 Tbs butter
salt and pepper to taste

Cook pasta according to directions
Sautee garlic and onion in olive oil. After it's cooked for a little add asparagus and cook for only about 5 minutes.
Take out and keep oil in pan. Add shrimp to pan and sear just enough to heat up the shrimp. After done take out of pan. Add wine to the pan and let the alcohol cook off.  Add butter and melt into the wine. After that is done add lemon juice and the garlic, onion, asparagus mixture and add shrimp. Toss with pasta and enjoy!

 

I would have done the asparagus but my local grocery store didn't have very good looking asapragus so I opted to use broccoli instead!

The pasta I used was the same as the one from the other night with my beef stroganoff which is fantastic haha.  Once again this is a lot to eat!!  But it only has 320 calories in it!!  Remember all of the inexpedience are for one serving...  Also with the wine you can use what ever type you have...I had some rose wine so that's what I used haha.  Also with the sauce you don't want to make too much, just enough to coat the rest of the dish, you don't want soup!!!!  Anyways enjoy this dish!  I know I did!!!   I can't wait to enjoy the weather tomorrow, I'm thinking about going bird watching for my ornithology class tomorrow.  It'll be good to get out and walk around!  Anyways that's it for today!  

Michele

Special K Challenge

As I mentioned in my earlier post I'm doing the Special K Challenge these next two weeks.  I figured good time to do it!  2 weeks till spring break and I'm staying home this weekend so I can focus on it!!  Also I'm planning on working out again.  Today I didin't get around to it because I'm studying for my Ornithology Lab Practicle that I have tomorrow morning and I have to do well on it!!  I'll prob get some crunches in before bed but that's about it.  Oh well!  The Special K challenge went alright today except I met with my cousin and aunt for lunch because they were up in town.  So I ate pretty bad for lunch haha.  Oh well right!  I did well the rest of the day! 
I don't really have much to say today except for that I"m excited for the rest of this week food wise because I have some good dinners though up for the week!  So stay tuned for those!! HAHA!  Anyways, hope everyones' weekend was good and have a good week!!!

Michele

Weekend time!

So glad that it's Friday!  Getting ready to go take my physic exam, it's my 4th exam this past week so it's been a busy one!!!  I was really not good this past week with the whole diet, but oh well right?  I went out this morning and did my barn work.  That's my exercise on Monday and Friday haha.  I'm heading down to Littleton this weekend.  Going with my sister tonight to see her high school's musical at Columbine.  They're putting on Guys and Dolls.  I get extra credit for going for my theater class so it works for me! haha! 
Today I've been busy this morning.  I got up and went out and did my barn work, then I groomed my dog and gave him a bath.  He looks so good now!  Then I got my house all straightened up for the weekend.  Ready to rock and roll! 
As far as eating goes today I prob haven't been eating enough.  I had special K this morning, then I've had 1/4 C of my trail mix and an apple.  I need to eat something else but I really don't have anything around to eat.  I need to go to the store when I get back on Monday. 
Well I didn't have much to say today, but I just wanted to check in and let you all know I haven't forgotten about my blog haha!  I'm so excited that I have more people following!  Next week I plan on being really strict and back to my diet and workout!  Thinking about doing the special K challenge just to jumpstart everything.  I researched it today and I would get the right amount of calories with it, so I think I will!!  Anyways have a good weekend everyone!!!!

Healthy Eating!
Michele

Beef Stroganoff (healthy style :-) )

So tonight I actually cooked something haha.  And I found my camera so I have decent pics of it!!  Tonight I used my left over pot roast from the other day to make beef stroganoff.  Such a good comfort food for a cold night!  Before giving the recipe I just have to say that I was better today about eating right, although I really didn't eat enough today.  I got caught up studying.  I have 2 more exams to go this week!  Then the weekend, where I get to study for Ornithology.....Spring Break can't come soon enough!! 
On another note I have a phone interview next Thursday with Disney!!!  I'm hoping to go do their internship program from June-January.  Should be so much fun!!  Just another incentive for me to want to loose weight!!  FLORIDA!! haha!  Ok well I really don't have much else to say today, so here's my recipe!

Healthy Beef Stroganoff

4 oz left over pot roast (or you can cook it through the day, mine also had cooked carrots with it)
1/2 C chicken broth (or if you have beef broth, I just had chicken broth)
1 serving of whole wheat pasta ( mine was about 1 C)
1 T flour
4 T water
salt and pepper to taste

Cook pasta according to box directions.  In pot bring chicken broth to a boil.  When it's boiling add pot roast so the flavors can meld together.  let simmer for about 10 minutes.  In a separate bowl mix water and flour together this is called a rue.  Take and mix the rue and chicken broth together, continue to simmer for about 5 more minutes.  Salt and pepper to taste. 
Mix pasta in with the gravy and beef and enjoy!!

The first pic is the pasta I used, the second is the rue, and the third is the finished dish.  I know it's not so pretty but it sure is good!!! I hope you enjoy it!  Just to let you all know that this makes a lot for one serving, I couldn't finish it all!!!!  Total calorie count is about 420, and I know this is more than my usual dishes but I made up for it during the day by cutting down on calories there, I just planned a head for it!!  ENJOY!


Michele

Whew what a day

Sorry for the earlier post, I was just so full of emotions at the time.  Anyways, today I wasn't so good this afternoon...I ended up eating some homemade chocolate chip cookies that I made over the weekend.  I prob shouldn't have eaten them, but with all of the stress of the day whatever! haha.  We got about 7 more inches of snow over the weekend so that made the whole barn work a lot harder to do yesterday.  I sure got my extra work out in haha.  I plan on doing my sit ups before going to bed tonight, that way today isn't a total loss.....
I guess I can't really say today was a total loss becasue I prob ended up hitting about 1500 calories which is good, but with all the wrong foods!!  haha!  Oh so early today I was in class and waiting for it to start when I over heard a girl talking to her friend.  She was telling her she's trying to loose weight so she's eating healthier and eating snacks through the day.  Thinking to my self, hey that's what I'm doing I got a glimpse of her first snack of the day....and all I wanted to do was look at her and go oh man, that's way too much food!  She had a trail mix, which is full of protein and really good for you, but in small quantites.  She probly had about 2 C's worth.  I first thought to my self, well maybe she's only going to eat part of it... no she ate the whole thing.  It's things like that that really make me want to write this blog...to help educate...Being a zoology major I"ve learned a lot about the way the body process food, and honestly the best way to loose weight, consume less than you burn...nuff said haha.  The whole concept of eating several SMALL meals through the day is to help out your metabolism and keep it going.  If you skip breakfast and eat two large meals your body may think your starving and just store all the food as fat to help it survive.  But then why should everyone eat above 1200 calories if I'm saying that it's better to eat less calories....that's because your body does need a certain amount of food to fuel it.  And that includes a wide varriety of carbs, lipids, proteins, fats, and minerals.  Your body needs all of these!! Trust me, I just took a physiology exam on it haha.  But too much of one thing can be really bad for you!
That reason alone is why some of these fad diets are not good for you!  Like the atkins one with no carbs....carbs are needed for energy storage and to help transport nutrients across your cells!  You cannot survive well with out carbs.  Also your adding a lot of extra fat that your body can't use and just ends up storing it, usually around your stomach area causing belly fat. 
One other piece of advice to everyone out there is if you take a multivitamin take it at lunch instead of early in the morning.  Most vitamins in a multivitamin are water soluble, so they need plenty of fluid for your body to absorb and use them efficiently!  Just make sure throughout the morning to drink plenty of water, remember your suppose to be getting 8 cups of water a day!   Not only will this help with your weight, but skin and everything!!
A theory I'm working with right now is body temp and metabolism....I have a very low body temp naturally and I alos have a slow metabolism....but with both of these I have b-12 deffiencey so I'm I'm on a b-12 sublingule and I'm seeing what my temp does...so far it does raise up to close to 98.6....that's from about 96, so that's an interesting thing.  If you feel like it see what your temp is like in the morning when you get up, then like 10 mins after you eat!  See what it does!  Let me know so i can kinda see if this all correlates with each other!!
Anyways, I know this was a long post, but I think it was good to help explain my knowledge of eating healthy and how to loose weight!  Now I just need to apply all that myself haha!!!!
good luck out there and I will post later!!

Michele

Stirring up Old emotions

So there was a shooting today at Deer Creek Middle School in my home town of Littleton, CO.  2 kids were injured before the suspect was tackled down by teachers.  The two who were injured are going to be alright.  This shooting just hits way too hard because this is the same town where the Columbine Shootings happened 11 years ago.  This time it wasn't kids who went to the school but an older male with a rifle.  This just makes me question humanity and what the heck!!  This is our third shooting at a school in Jefferson county over the past 11 years.  I have a combined emotions of wanting to scream, cry, or I just don't know!! UGH!!!!!!  Please play for the kids, families, and teachers of that school!  One of my good friends' sister attends that school.  She is alright just shaken up I"m sure.  Just makes the whole town remember back to the horrible day of the Columbine shootings and how scary that was.  I was in 6th grade during the time of that and it was so scarry, I'm just sorry that these kids have to go through it as well.  Sorry this is rambling I just needed to get this off my chest

Good Morning!

Good morning everyone!!  It's Friday! WOOO haha.  We got about 3 inches of snow last night so it's cold out, but pretty haha.  So I did my weight in this morning and I seem to have gained like 3 lbs.  But I looked back over my week and remembered that I started my work out / weight lifting this week.  So it's natural to gain muscle weight before starting to drop lbs of fat.  So next week I should see some drop!  But good news!  I did loose 2 inches around my waist, .5 inch around my chest, 1 inch around my bicep, .25 around my forearm, and .75 around my calf.  So add all of those together and I lost 4.5 inches this week!  That in its self if exciting!!  I was bad yesterday... I gave into having McDonalds for dinner.  The reason being is that it was late when I got out of class, it was snowing, and cold.  So I knew my drive home would be a long one and I was starving!! So I just stopped by and got chicken nuggets and fries....I know I know, bad Michele!!!  But today is a new day, no living in the past haha.  I have to get out and do some barn work today which will burn some good calories, also with my work out.  I'm heading down to Littleton this weekend to celebrate one of my best friend's birthdays.  He is turning 23, we are all getting so old!! haha.  Anyways have a good weekend everyone and keep plugging along!

Michele

Busy Busy Busy

Whew what a busy day!! Tuesdays are always busy!  I'm on campus from 8-5 and only one hour break in there from classes!  So with this comes challenges of eating!!  Before starting all of this, with days like this I would be lucky if I would eat at all.  So I had to get creative on simple things to bring with me to campus.  One thing is trail mix!  Now I had to make my own because I"m allergic to almonds and most trail mixes have almonds in them!  So I just got raw cashews, sunflower seeds, walnuts, coconut, and yogurt covered raisins.  It really good!!  So along with that I brought an apple with me, half a turkey sandwich, a baggy of carrots, and a babybel cheese.  Sounds like so much to eat and it is!! But trust me is' only like 1,000 calories for all of that!!  Another accomplishment is I actually ate breakfast!  Special K with 2% milk. 
Also knowing that today was going to be busy I decided for dinner just to put a pot roast in the crock pot.  I just seasoned it up with garlic powder, onion powder, salt and pepper.  I also added carrots and small red potatos to the pot and like a cup of water.  Turned it on low and let it simmer all day.  Oh it was so good then I got home, and I even have left overs to do something else with tomorrow night! 
So this morning before running out of the door I happened to notice my pedometer sitting on my desk.  So I thought why no I'll put it on for the day.  The current count is at 10,147 steps.  That's crazy!! Especially before putting it on I had already been out in the barn feeding the horses and everything!!  That just tells you how much running around I do on Tuesdays haha.  So that's about 5 miles of walking today! 
Still not quite done for the day, going to do some ab exercises that I found in a magazine that looked really good.  My calorie count fell below what I want it at, at about 1300 calories for the day.  And i"m full!!  Harder than I thought it would be to get to 1500! 
Anyways I hope I didn't ramble too much and healthy living to everyone!

Michele

Sorry no pic today of my food, I was too excited to eat it and totally forgot!

I'm back with Firey Fish Tostadas!!

Finally I am able to eat again!!  Haha!  Thank goodness, I can get back on track with my loosing weight!  Still a slight cough so I can't really go run a mile, but I can do at last some stuff haha.  So this past weekend was an alright weekend; stayed at home with my little sister while my parents left town to celebrate Valentines day.  So I can say that my weekend eating was not very good...oh well right? 
Well since this past weekend was Valentines day I got the chance to really look at the day and instead of despising it like I usually do because I'm usually single over the holiday I attempted to take a new out look on it.  I saw it as a day to celebrate love, not only of a significant other, but family and friends.  I would not be where I am today without their love and support and I'm very thankful for all of them.  
Anyways on from that subject I won't bore you with a sap story haha.  Tonight I got the idea to make fish tacos healthy.  And it really turned out well!!  I called it Firey Fish Tostadas! Here's the recipie for you at home:

3 oz salmon fillet
1 T taco seasoning
1 small whole wheat tortialla
2 T sour cream
3 T black beans
1/4 C salsa
Small hand full cheese
Cole slaw mix (no sauce) 

Cover salmon fillet with taco seasoning and let sit for about 3 minutes. Grill Salmon filet either either in grill pan or on grill. Grill on each side for about 4 minutes each.
Crisp up tortilla in pan by spraying cooking spray on either side and toasting on med heat for about 2-3 mins on each side.
Heat up black beans in microwave for about 1/2 a minute
Assembly:
Place tortilla on plate, put black beans on top of it. Top with cole slaw mix, sour cream, salsa and cheese. Top with salmon fillet. Enjoy!!
 This only has about 300 calories in it and trust me it's plenty to eat!! I couldn't finish it all!
Now just keep remembering that this is only one serving.  A tip if your making it for more than one person you can take your tortilla and spray both sides with cooking spray.  Place on a cooling rack on a cookie sheet and place under the broiler.  Just be sure you keep an eye on it so that they don't burn!!  Also if you do not like black beans you can use any type of bean that you want.   Also instead of salmon you can use tilapia or even chicken.  I guess you could even use beef.... What ever you want!! Enjoy and stay healthy!!!  Also the red splotches on the fish are just added hot sauce because I really wanted spice!

Michele

Note: Sorry the pictures are such bad quality, I take them with my phone.  I really need to get out my camera and start taking really good pictures of my food haha.

Blah

Well I'm back to not feeling well and now it's really my stomach not accepting any food what so ever.  So I haven't forgotten about my blog just have nothing to write really.  Been drinking Gatorade, and little bit of soup.  That's really all I can take in.   I hope it passes soon because only taking in like 100-300 calories a day is not good! haha.  I'm starting to feel kinda weak but the Gatorade helps keep me hydrated and going alright.  I just hope this stuff passes soon!!  Anyways I hope everyone is doing well and I'll be back and strong after I get better!

Michele

Feeling better

So I'm starting to feel kinda better, not 100% yet but not like I was.  I'm down home at my parents for the weekend and haven't really eaten much since I'm not feeling too good.  But there is good news to all of this, I'm down 2 more pounds!! Woo haha.  So now I"m down 7 lbs, 43 more to go.  My goal for this upcoming week is to start exercising some, hopefully I'll be feeling better so I can do so. 
So tomorrow is Super Bowl Sunday!! WOOO!  Who are you rooting for?? I'm going for the Colts.  So then the big thing comes down to food for the big day.  I am going to be completely honest with with you all....I'm not going to be really calorie counting tomorrow.  I'm just going to have fun with my family and not worry about it for a day.  I know I know I'm terrible, but I figure it's one day.  And with how much I eat anyways it won't be too bad.  Remember that when trying to loose weight I'm having to force my self to eat more haha.  It surprises me how much food it takes to reach 1500 calories with only eating healthy food! Crazy!!!
Well I'm out of here for the day, I gotta run to the store to get stuff for tomorrow and then going to my sister's color guard comp later today.  I will talk to everyone later!!  Happy weight loss!

Michele

Sick

Well I have managed to catch a bad cold...yay go me haha.  During all of this those I have been trying to think of healthy eating still, even while your sick.  So I went to the store looking for something that would feel good on my throat while being easy on my stomach.  I thought soup, that would be a great option!!  So I found Campbell's light chicken with rice condensed soup.  I was afraid at first that this would not have much flavor to it, but I was pleasantly surprise!  It was actually very very good.  It only has 70 calories in it!!  So I had a couple of crackers along with it and it was a great dinner for being sick.  Also for breakfast I had toast with peanut butter which is full of protein and still soothing on the stomach!!  Another good option if your throat is sore is Ben and Jerry's Froyo!!  mmmm it's so good, and not too horrible for you either, better than ice cream!  So give it a try!
So since I have decided that this year will be a new start for me not only with the loosing weight am I trying to change but other aspects of my life...I actually took a chance on Tuesday night and tried out for the acapella group on campus.  Unfortunately I had managed to loose my voice that day and did not make it in.  I was though, very proud of myself for even trying out.  The old me wouldn't have even tried because of fear of rejection.  I know it's not related to weight loss but it was a pretty big step for this new me!! 
Well everyone, I think I'm going to go have some soup and relax and maybe do some reading for classes.  Have a good day everyone and stay healthy!!

Michele

Pound for Pound challenge

Hello everyone!!  So I was watching the Rachel Ray show this morning and they were talking about this new program called the pound for pound challenge.  Pretty much what you do is go to this web site http://www.pfpchallenge.com/ and you pledge to loose a certain amount of weight.  For every pound that you say they donate enough money to buy a pound of food to donate to your local food shelter!  I challenge all of you out there to do the same.  I pledged for 30 lbs because I know this is a very realistic number for this challenge!!!
So I do want to share with you what I had last night for dinner because it was super good, and not to mention super healthy!!  We're talking about like 350 calories at most!!  So what got me to thinking about making this meal was thinking about how healthy sweet potatoes are for you!  One prob though, I"m not a huge fan of them!!  So I got to thinking about what I could do to make these yams edible for me haha.  So I decided to make baked sweet potato fries!! Here's the recpie for you all!!

Sweet Potato Fries
1/2 sweet potato
1 Tbs butter
1ts seasoning salt

Preheat oven to 425, line a cookie sheet with foil and place a cooling rack on top of foil.  Peel and cut the sweet potato into strips, about 1/2 inch wide.  Melt the butter in the microwave and add the seasoning salt to the butter.  Toss the potatoes in the butter mixture and space evenly on the cooling rack.  Baked for about 15 minutes and check on them.  Then if not quite crispy enough bake for a little longer.  I had to bake mine for about 20 minutes all together!!

Now remember that this recipe is enough for only one person, so double, triple, quadruple depending on how many people you are feeding!!
To go along with these wonderful fries I grilled a 4 oz steak in my grill pan with some simple steak seasoning, and had some coleslaw along with it!  The coleslaw I got as a mix and I'm sure I could cut down on calories by making my own sauce for it, which my mom knows how to make a really really really good one but I need to get the recipe from her for it.
Well I will leave you with a pic of the meal and I really hope that you too join the challenge to loose weight and donate to your local food shelter!!

Michele

2nd week of school

 Well hello everyone!!  I know it's been about a week since I've written but just a lot has been going on.  To start, good news! I'm 5 lbs down!! WOOO 45 more to go!! I can do it!  I sat down and re-evaluated how I was going about loosing weight.  I calculated up my calories and everything and realized that I was not eating enough.  I've lost weight before by eating about 5 small meals a day, about 350 calories per meal.  So I sat down and made my self a menu for the week making sure that I get in enough calories.  This method gets your metabolism going and helps you burn fat!  So for each meal I'm making sure that I"m getting protein in, and 3 times a day I'm getting my dairy!!  Veggies and fruits are also an important part to it all. 
So today I had a breakfast burrito, which is nice and small, prob like 200 calories, then I had a banana, and some milk.  I think I might even be under my 340 there...oh well...if I"m a little under it's better than waht I was doing!!  Then for my mid morning snack I had a home made trail mix.  Now I had to do homemade because most of the trail mixes that sunflower, or whole food markets offer have almonds in them, and I am allergic to almonds.  So I made a mix of cashews, sunflower seeds, walnuts, coconut shavings, and yogurt covered peanuts!  Lots of protein!!  I was going to eat 1/2 a cup to meet the calorie intake, but I was way too full and only ended up eating about half of that.  My body is going to take a few days to getting use to eating so much, so often haha.
For Lunch I'm going out with my best friend of 18 years!! Don't worry, I"ll make sure I make smart choices about what I eat!!  Another good thing to have if your trying to loose weight is tea!! Weather it's black, green, white, or what ever, it's so good for you!!  So I'm having a glass of it now with my mid morning snack so I can get those anti-oxidants!! 
So for afternoon snack I am planning on carrots and a little thing of cheese from baybell.  Dinner I'm having chicken and asapragus...haven't quite decided how I"m going to cook either but I"ll let ya know!  I'll come back and write down what I did for it!! 
So that's it for this morning, I just thought I would update everyone on my progress of the new me!!  Have a good day and I'll write later!

Michele

*Insert good title here*

Ok so I didn't have a good title for today's post....oh well.  I'm so ready for the weekend and then school starts back Tuesday!! Yes I'm excited about it because I need something to do haha.  I don't have anything to do tonight...I vacuumed the whole place and cleaned up everything.  But that only took like 20 minutes total...So now I find my self sitting here watching house and playing around on facebook haha.  I'm excited because Saturday night I get to go to the Mammoth game!! Woho!  I love going to those games.
Well tomorrow is weigh in day, think I lost anything?  I guess we will find out!  I feel pretty good though cause I've kept active and have watched what I've been eating.  Speaking of eating, I'm looking forward to breakfast because I'm making breakfast burritos!  I said burritoS because I'm making a few and wrapping up the ones I don't eat and keeping them in my fridge for next week!  YUMMY! 
When I went to get the stuff for them at the store I found pork chorrizo!  I figured this was a fantastic choice, less calories!  Made me even more excited! 
So I"m applying for an apprenticeship position that the Denver zoo has open!  I so hope I can get it, it would be great!  I don't want to go back to my job so bad, I want some real experience, not just cleaning out dog poo and cleaning rat cages.  Anyone can do that!!  I want to put my degree to use!  Cross your fingers that I can get it!!
Anyways I"m out today, so I will write later!

Michele

Mountains

Well good evening all, I hope you had a good day!!  I certainly did.  Got up this morning and had some coffee with sugar free creamer, that was my break fast and I loaded up Max in the car and drove up to the mountains.  I decided to go up there to enjoy the nice weather that we have been having here in colorado and just to get out and do something!! 
So I drove up there and it was beautiful!  Blue skies with the snow on the mountains, so gorgeous!! I came back down into town and looked around at stores for some rubber boots because I'm going to start working in the barn tomorrow!  I finally found some at target!  I also got some new heads for my sonic care, and got home and they are the wrong ones :-(  So now I need to return them and get the right ones haha.  I went to subway for lunch and had a subway club with lite mayo, spinach, banana peppers, olives, pickles and salt and pepper.  It was so good! Just hit the spot!
I came home and unpacked some more, almost done!! one box left to go, and some decorations to hang up!  You know what the greatest thing in the world for decorating is?  Command velcro!! They are awesome!
For dinner I had a simple chicken and cheese potato dish.  All you do is cook up some chicken in small pieces, be sure to season nicely.  Have a baked potato, I did mine in the microwave.  And then I make a simple cheese sauce using a beshemel sauce and cheese.  Take and open up the potato and mix the cheese and chicken together and put it on top of the potato.  Very yummy and fast!!  And not bad for you either!!  A lot of people seem to be scared of potatos when trying to loose weight and I'm not sure why...They are full of vitamins!! Very good for you!!
Anyways I"ll leave you with a picture from the mountains and I hope you have a good evening and a good day tomorrow!!

Michele

 

Home

So I'm all moved into my new home!!  Just a few boxes left to unpack.  Oh man I love it here!  I thought at first that I would be really lonely living on my own, but it's really not that bad :-)  Today I started on my weight loss!  I had special K for breakfast, a grilled cheese for lunch, and then an awesome dinner!  Oven baked coconut chicken and rice.  I'll leave the recipe at the end of this!  I also took max on a good 30 minute walk around the new neighborhood.
Last night when I let max out, I stopped and noticed the stars.  Out here in the country they really are something else.  It was so beautiful!  After noticing that I came inside and had a fire in the fire place which was so nice and cozy.  I was extremely relaxed last night it wasn't even funny haha.  would have been even more nice if I would have some one to cuddle up with on the couch...but oh well.  Someday right?
I got my aquarium all set up today :-) I can't wait to get some fish for it but it needs to sit for a little to get the PH in balance.  I also got my movies unpacked and my dvd player working.  Let me tell you that's not an easy task because the connections on my tv are broke so you have to bend them just right to get it to work haha.  Well I guess I'm rambling on here.  I'll leave the recipe for ya!

Boneless, skinless Chicken (thighs or breast) strips
coconut
bread crumbs
egg white
milk
flour

Preheat oven to 400. 

Take egg white and whip up with some milk, about 1/2 T for one egg white.  Mix one part coconut and one part bread crumbs on a plate.  Take the chicken and dredge it in flour.  Then dip it in the egg mixture followed by the coconut mixture.  Put on a rack on a cookie sheet.  Bake the chicken for about 25 minutes or until done. 

I also made a dip for it that was interesting, but good haha.  I'll put it as well and you can attempt it

3 T of mayo (lowfat)
1 T of orange juice
1 t of pinaple juice
2 splashes of hot sauce
Whisk all together and enjoy haha :-)

(ok so doesn't look the best but trust me it tastes aweosme!!)

Take care everyone!

Windows 7 part II

So yeah I know I haven't written in a couple of days, but things have been crazy haha.  I finally got windows working on my computer but I had to completely wipe out my whole computer then reinstall everything.  The windows 7 that I got was for an upgrade and not full install.  Well this was a problem since I had never had windows on this computer.  So what I ended up doing is installing windows 7 upgrade, didn't have to put in the key, then put the disk in again and installed the upgrade.  So pretty much windows 7 upgraded it's self, then the key code worked!  haha! Take that windows 7!!  so good deal! I got that for $30, compared to the $200.
So the weight loss is on hiatus until I get moved, it's just so hard to loose weight when you live in a house where no one else is doing it and your food depends on them haha.  I did get some special K for breakfast though.  I usually don't eat breakfast, but I know I need to to get my metabolism going for the day.  So this is a good start to it all haha!
I am heading up to Fort Collins tomorrow for physical therapy and post op.  I'm also going to stop by my new place to take some measurements and drop of some stuff.  I'm still on a hunt for a couch or futon.  A futon would be ideal because then I would have somewhere for a guest to stay the night.
Well I guess I'm out for the night!  Have a good night everyone!

Michele

Windows 7

So microsoft has this big promotion out for students that you can get windows 7 pro for $29.99.  When I saw this I thought this was perfect! See I have a mac, which I love, but sometimes there are things that I need to run window for.  For instance my phone is windows based and if I want to sync my contacts I need windows to do so.  Also with sims3 you can create your own world, but need windows to do so, not mac.  So anyways, I jumped on this oportunity!  This was a download from the internet so I had to download it to my parents computer as an ISO then burn it to a DVD so I could bring it to my computer and use it.
Everything went great, and I started up bootcamp to install my new system.  I decided to give windows 15 GB of memory and leave my mac system with 32 GB.  I got going on the installation and everything went great untill I had to put in the product key. When I put it in it said that it was invalid.....This made me pretty angry. 
So I searched around on posts by people and came across one that said the download from the internet was infact the upgrade, not full edition, but had a fix for that.  I got to pass by the product key and get to windows with out it.  Now I had to upgrade my windows 7 onto it's self.  I know doesn't make much since but in theory my product key would now work. 
So I go to do this and it turns out that I didn't give my windows enough memory to do so....CRAP!  So I decided to get back into my mac operating system and delete windows all together and start again, this time giving it 20 GB.  Should work right?  Well I go back into boot camp and have it partition my space for windows and this stupid error message keeps popping up saying that it can't partition the disk and that I now need to restore my operating system...uggggg
So yeah that's the big pain of my night...Anyways, went and saw "Did you hear about the Morgans" which was a good funny movie.  Just a good hour and a half of laughing.  Ate at Red Lobster, and spent way too much on way too little of food.  Note to self, don't eat there again.  I"m still in search for a couch, and now looking for bedding.  Yay for moving.
Anyways tomorrow starts my day of really eating well so lets hope it goes well!!  Until next time

Michele