It’s Official: I’m Fat

I was brave enough to step on the scale today – knowing it wouldn’t be good.  I was right – 267.8 pounds. Sometimes, I hate to be right.  Half of me wishes I hadn’t stepped on that Number Bully, but the other half is grateful.  I have a starting place now.  I have work to do, but I know I can do it.  I’ve done it before – several times, as a matter of fact.  It’s the whole “maintaining” gig that I have trouble with.

For me, the easiest thing to do is just start.  Start fresh.  Start new.  Not focusing on what’s behind me, but focusing on what’s ahead of me.  I’ve taken baby steps this week – just by cooking at home.  Which brings me to the reason why I’m thankful that our freezer broke down over Christmas break.  I  cooked.  A lot!  We still lost some stuff, but we did a lot of bulk cooking and I’ve re-energized my love of cooking and my love of reading & collecting recipes.  My love of creating delicious foods and having people enjoy their meal.  I’ve missed that.   My thing though is that I don’t really like measuring things out.  I come from a long line of dumpers that are blessed with just knowing what tastes good.  That being said, in order to be accountable for what goes into my body, I really do need to be more accountable about what goes into my meals.

I did South Beach Diet several years ago and lost over 100 pounds.  I felt great, I had more energy. I smiled a lot.  Then my heart got shattered and I just……….stopped.  Before I knew it, the weight was back – all of it, plus an additional 30 pounds.  I know it wasn’t “literally” overnight, but it truly feels like it.  I wasn’t really aware, if that makes any sense.  And when I realized what I’d done to myself, I was shattered all over again.  I cannot describe the level of self-loathing and embarrassment that comes from gaining back everything that I’d worked so hard for.  I just gave up. It feels like just yesterday, but it’s almost been a decade since I successfully decided to change my life and followed through.

What’s different this time around is I do have several medical conditions, some of which cause me to be in chronic pain on a daily basis.  Others, however, I think can be corrected with mindful eating.  Mindful living.  Exercise though, will have to be on the back burner.  I can walk – and I plan to, Anything more intensive probably won’t be in the cards for awhile.  I’ve had the talk with my doctor and she agrees with me, for now.  Right now, we’re focusing on the food and what I put into my body.  For me, I think tying in the fundamentals with the original South Beach program, along with Weight Watchers is the best course for me.  So that’s the route I’ll go.

To start, I’m just eating as normal, but I”m tracking my foods.  I want a realistic idea of what I’m doing to myself.  The thing is, even as I’m cooking the instant oatmeal, I know it’s crap.  I know I should just make a batch of homemade and go from there. Or even better yet, forego the carbs all together and make a batch of scrambled eggs!

I love collecting recipes and meal planning.  Currently, I’m addicted to Plan to Eat and am enjoying planning our family meals and using the site to create shopping lists that I can either print off, or check off on my phone.  It’s easy and so convenient!

Tonight’s dinner will be this Butternut Squash & Apple Soup recipe I found at Simply Recipes.  It’ looks delicious and will be something new for me – I’ve never tried making or eating a squash soup before.

I think I’ve rambled enough for today.  If you’re visiting for the first time, or revisiting me – thanks so much for stopping by!  Hopefully, you’ll come back and see me again. I’m planning on making updates at least a few times a week, so keep popping by 🙂  You’re always welcome!

“Don’t wait until you’ve reached your goal to be proud of yourself.  Be proud of every step you take toward reaching that goal.”  ~~ Unknown

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Dev’s Cold Weather Soup

I don’t have a picture – but here’s the soup that I made last week and ended up eating all  week long….and I STILL have leftovers.  They are currently in the freezer awaiting the next time I think I’m in the mood for soup. Essentially, this came about because I had bags of veggies in my fridge that were on the verge of going bad.

Dev’s Cold Weather Soup:
1 onion, chopped
1/2 bag of baby carrots
2-3 stalks of celery, chopped
1 bag of chopped cabbage (coleslaw mix)
1 bag of broccoli slaw
1 can diced tomatoes, with juice
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 packet of Hidden Valley Ranch mix
1 cup of lentils
enough water to fill the pot
chicken bouillon to taste

Cook the onion until translucent.  Add the remainder of the ingredients and simmer.  (PS – How easy is that??)

I calculated the WW Pts based on 8 servings – but like I said……I ate on this all week and still had leftovers, so I know there’s more than 8 servings there.

I like to eat this w/ 1/3 cup shredded mozzarella cheese & a few spots of sriracha sauce.

Down 2.8

Another successful weigh-in this morning!  I’m down -2.8 pounds, which brings me to a total of -8.8 pounds so far 🙂

The trainer at my gym still hasn’t called to schedule a time to do a walk-through so I plan on giving them a call today.  In the meantime, I may start doing the Walk it Out on Wii….the only problem is you use the balance board and I have to hunch a bit so the board feels my steps (not good for the DDD).  Will see.  Otherwise, I do have the Biggest Loser power walk I could do.

Food plan for today:
B: Good Value LF Orange Dreamsicle Yogurt w/ 1/4 c. Grape-nuts (4 pts)
S: Apple w/ 2 Babybel cheese wedges (2 pts)
L: Dev’s Cold Weather Soup (3 pts)
S: Grapefruit (0 pts)
D: Gina’s Asian Chicken Drumsticks w/ salad & ranch dressing (9 pts)
S: Skinny Cow Ice Cream Sandwich (4 pts)

Looking at my points I need to figure a way to add more food to my day.  22 pts is only about 2/3 of my daily allowance

Food F(Ph)oto Friday (2) ~ Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

J got to carve her very first pumpkin tonight – so we made roasted pumpkin seeds when we were done.  Again, I’m a dumper, but pumpkin seeds are pretty hard to mess up…even without measurements.

Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.

Put your cleaned pumpkin seeds in generously salted water.  Bring to a boil and then simmer for approximately 10 minutes.

Drain the seeds and then spread them out on a nonstick baking sheet (if your sheet isn’t non-stick, be sure to coat it generously with oil or Pam)

Bake on the top rack for approximately 15 minutes (shorter for less browned; longer for more browned).

Let cool and then enjoy!

Food F(Ph)oto Friday ~ Taco Soup

Taco Soup

1 14.5 oz can diced tomatoes
1 14.5 oz can stewed tomatoes
1 14.5 oz can black beans
1 14.5 oz can kidney beans
1 8 oz can green chiles
1 packet ranch dressing mix
1 packet taco seasoning mix
water (to preference)
1 lb. turkey sausage, ground turkey, rf pork sausage, or lean ground beef (I sometimes will use 2 pounds of meat – depending on my mood)

I really wish I could give you step-by-step instructions, but I’m a dumper.  I rarely measure…although I tend to be better at it when I’m trying to “be good”.  Essentially, you brown off the meat and then add the rest of the ingredients (I rinse the beans) – I’ll add 2-3 cans of water and then let it simmer for awhile so that the flavors can marry (usually an hour, but it really doesn’t take that long). I suppose you could serve this with the sides that you would use for chili, but I don’t.  It tastes great right out of the pot.

You Know You Want Some

Lunch Today:

It looks more sinful than it is, really.  Grilled chicken breast, 1/2 cup marinara, 1/4 cup lowfat mozzarella cheese, and broccoli.

Hungry?

In My Mailbox

Beefy Orange Stir-Fry

* Exported from MasterCook *

Beefy Orange Stir-Fry

Recipe By : Inspired by a recipe I saw in Everyday Food
Serving Size : 6 Preparation Time :0:00
Categories : Beef

Amount Measure Ingredient — Preparation Method
——– ———— ——————————–
2 oranges
2 cloves garlic — minced
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoons rice vinegar
1 tablespoons agave nectar
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1 1/2 pounds sirloin steak, trimmed — cut into 1/2-inch-thick strips
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1 tablespoon sesame oil — (1 to 2)
1 pound broccoli
1 red pepper, sliced and cut into large chunks
4 scallions — green parts only, cut into 1-inch lengths

Into a small bowl, finely grate zest and squeeze juice from 2 oranges. Add garlic, red pepper flakes, agave nectar, soy sauce, and rice vinegar. Set aside.

In a medium bowl, toss meat with cornstarch until coated. Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a large nonstick skillet over high heat. Add broccoli and cook until bright green in color 3 – 5 minutes. (All I had was frozen broccoli, so I nuked it in the microwave, sans the oil for 3 minutes) Remove broccoli and set aside.

In the same skillet and working in batches (adding more oil if needed), brown beef on all sides, 3 to 5 minutes; transfer to a plate.

Pour juice mixture, broccoli, red peppers, and scallions. Cook until sauce thickens, approximately 2-3 minutes. Serve hot. You can top with sliced fresh oranges and chopped scallions, if desired.

– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –

Per Serving (excluding unknown items): 302 Calories; 18g Fat (53.7% calories from fat); 23g Protein; 12g Carbohydrate; 3g Dietary Fiber; 71mg Cholesterol; 416mg Sodium. Exchanges: 0 Grain(Starch); 3 Lean Meat; 1 Vegetable; 1/2 Fruit; 1 1/2 Fat; 0 Other Carbohydrates.

***Well, what can I say. This was good, but I’ll need to work on it to make it better. I’ll try again at some point in the future. I was going to eat this with brown rice, but even though I’m a fairly decent cook I have yet to make a good batch of rice. So I had a sweet potato with sugar-free maple syrup instead.

Apricot-Ginger Chicken

Apricot-Ginger Chicken

This was dinner tonight along with a side salad and homemade sweet-and-sour dressing (recipe below). The chicken was good, but could have been better. I used 2 T of fresh ginger, so next time will cut that in half. It could have been that I was just so excited to try this recipe that maybe I imagined it to be much better than it really was. Ah well. It’s something to play with. I love to tweak recipes 🙂 I think tomorrow I’ll slice up the chicken, use a little bit of the remaining sauce and mix it with salad greens & the sweet-and-sour dressing I made tonight. That sounds like it might be good.

Apricot-Ginger Chicken
Yield: 4 servings

Sauce:
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons low-sod chicken broth
1/4 cup light reduced-sugar apricot fruit spread (I used the NSA Smuckers brand)
1 tablespoon rice vinegar
1 tablespoon reduced-sodium soy sauce
1 tablespoon fresh ground ginger

Rest of Ingredients:
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 pound boneless skinless chicken breast, cut into 8 equal pieces and pounded 1/4-inch thick
1 tablespoon canola oil (I used a small spritz of olive oil)
3 tablespoons thinly sliced scallions

Place all of the sauce ingredients in a medium bowl and stir to mix well. Set aside. Combine the garlic powder, pepper and salt and sprinkle both sides of the chicken pieces with some of the seasoning.Place the oil in a large nonstick skillet and preheat over medium-high heat.Add the chicken and cook for a couple of mins on each side, until nicely browned and no longer pink inside. Remove the chicken from the skillet and set aside to keep warm.Pour the sauce into the skillet and cook stirring frequently, for a couple of mins or until sauce is reduced by almost half and is syrupy.

To serve, place 2 pieces of chicken on each of 4 serving plates. Drizzle each serving with some of the sauce and top with a sprinkling of scallions. Serve hot.

Source: Unknown

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sweet-and-Sour Dressing
Yield: Makes 1 cup

1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup sugar (I used splenda)
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
1 tablespoon low-sodium soy sauce
1/4 teaspoon pepper

Whisk together oil and remaining ingredients.

Source: Southern Living, January 2002

Peanut Butter Banana Bread

* Exported from MasterCook *

Peanut Butter & Banana Bread ~ TNT (P2)

Recipe By : southbeachfriends.net
Serving Size : 4 Preparation Time :0:00
Categories : Breads, Muffins & Rolls Breakfast & Brunch
TNT

Amount Measure Ingredient — Preparation Method
——– ———— ——————————–
3 bananas
1 large egg
1 cup oatmeal
1/4 cup natural peanut butter
3 tbsp whole wheat flour
3 tbsp splenda
1 tbsp baking powder
1 tsp vanilla

Preheat oven to 350F and spray a glass 8″ square pan.

In a medium bowl-mash bananas. Stir in egg until combined. Stir in rest of ingredients until well-mixed. Pour into prepared pan and bake for about 25-30 min, or until bottom and sides are a light brown and it’s pulled away from the sides of pan.

Cut into six pieces and serve warm or cold. Like the Big Oatmeal Cookie, two pieces should make a serving-correct me if I’m wrong. This comes out very moist and light.

Ratings : Excellent 10 – – – – – – – – – – –

Per Serving (excluding unknown items): 325 Calories; 11g Fat (30.3% calories from fat); 10g Protein; 47g Carbohydrate; 6g Dietary Fiber; 53mg Cholesterol; 463mg Sodium. Exchanges: 1 Grain(Starch); 0 Lean Meat; 1 1/2 Fruit; 1/2 Fat; 1/2 Other Carbohydrates.

Nutr. Assoc. : 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Chicken Chili

* Exported from MasterCook *

Chicken Chili

Recipe By :Ina Garten
Serving Size : 12 Preparation Time :0:00
Categories : Soups

Amount Measure Ingredient — Preparation Method
——– ———— ——————————–
8 cups chopped yellow onions — (6 onions)
1/4 cup olive oil — plus extra for chicken
1/4 cup minced garlic — (8 cloves)
4 red bell peppers — cored, seeded, and large-diced
4 yellow bell peppers — cored, seeded, and large-diced
2 teaspoons chili powder
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon dried red pepper flakes — or to taste
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper — or to taste
4 teaspoons kosher salt — plus more for chicken
4 28-ounce cans whole peeled plum tomatoes — in puree, undrained
1/2 cup minced fresh basil leaves
8 split chicken breasts — bone in,skin on
fresh ground black pepper

FOR SERVING
Chopped onions, Corn chips
Grated cheddar cheese, Sour cream

Cook the onions in the oil over medium-low heat for 10 to 15 minutes, until translucent. Add the garlic and cook for 1 more minute. Add the bell peppers, chili powder, cumin, red pepper flakes, cayenne, and salt. Cook for 1 minute. Crush the tomatoes by hand or in batches in a food processor fitted with a steel blade (pulse 6 to 8 times). Add to the pot with the basil. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer, uncovered, for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Rub the chicken breasts with olive oil and place them on a baking sheet. Sprinkle generously with salt and pepper. Roast the chicken for 35 to 40 minutes, until just cooked. Let cool slightly. Separate the meat from the bones and skin and cut into 3/4-inch chunks. Add to the chili and simmer, uncovered, for another 20 minutes. Serve with the toppings, or refrigerate and reheat gently before serving.

Serves 12

Source:
“Barefoot Contessa Parties!”
Copyright:
“2001 Clarkson Potter/Publisher”
– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –

Per Serving (excluding unknown items): 109 Calories; 5g Fat (38.6% calories from fat); 2g Protein; 16g Carbohydrate; 3g Dietary Fiber; 0mg Cholesterol; 637mg Sodium. Exchanges: 0 Grain(Starch); 0 Lean Meat; 2 1/2 Vegetable; 1 Fat.

***My notes: I forego the oven and cook the chicken in the pot first with a small spritz of olive oil (barely any ~ just enough to brown the chicken). I then add the rest of the ingredients (yellow & orange peppers instead of red, because I figure there’s enough red from the tomatoes) and let it slow cook all day long. This is very yummy and I serve it with green onions, lowfat sour cream, and lowfat cheddar cheese.

Light & Easy Chicken and Veggies

Light & Easy Chicken and Veggies

3 boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut in half
Garlic cloves, minced (to taste ~ I used 1 per breast half)
onion powder, to taste
salt & pepper to taste
1 large red onion
1 red pepper
2 small yellow squash
fresh basil, to taste
fresh chives, to taste
olive oil or non-stick spray, for spritzing

Preheat oven to 325F.

Cut a slit into each chicken piece. Add garlic into each slit (I used 1 clove per breast half). Sprinkle onion powder, salt, & pepper to taste. Spray frying pan with just enough olive oil to coat, or use non-stick spray. Brown each side of the chicken (approx 2-3 minutes per side).

In a 9×13 pan, spray with nonstick spray or drizzle with olive oil. Cut onions, peppers, and squash into large pieces. Sprinkle with salt & pepper to taste. Add a fresh basil chifinade (I used approximately 6 leaves). Place the chicken on top of the veggies. Cover with tinfoil and bake for 40-45 minutes until veggies are to desired tenderness. Sprinkle with fresh cut chives and serve.

Serves 6.