Body Revolution

Monday I started Jillian Michaels Body Revolution, I am following the exercise program but not the meal exactly.  I am counting my calories and trying to eat more natural, less processed things.  My hours at my new job are 9 to 6, I started out 8 to 5 for training and job shadowing but this week started my regular hours, I am using the extra time in the morning to exercise.  Sleeping is one of my favorite things in the world, so it was very tempting to just sleep in, but I like to make my husband's lunch and make sure he gets breakfast, so sleeping in really wasn't an option. When he starts summer vacation, he's a school teacher, I'm going to have to make sure to get motivated to get out of bed.  I will be able to sleep in more than I do now.

For the first two weeks of the program you do Workout 1, Workout 2, Cardio 1 and repeat with one rest day.  Normally I rest twice a week, so this is different for me but it's 90 days I can do it.

• Monday, started with getting on the scale and being my highest weight ever so that is enough motivation to get moving, also my engagement ring doesn't fit right now and I'm not paying to get it re-sized.  Workout 1 was enjoyable and I was sweating and sore by the end of the day, but I am very out of shape.  I ate well and stayed within my budget for calories.
• Tuesday, I was very sore starting the workout but I pushed through and finished it.  Workout 2 felt more challenging than Workout 1 but it could be that I was just sore.  I almost fell down the stairs going to work and sitting down and getting up were painful. I had no desire to eat dinner, I had a small snack and I should have eaten more but I just wasn't hungry.
• Wednesday, I cheated and took a peak at the scale, I had already worked out and drank coffee and 32 ounces of water and I was already down 4 pounds!  I really enjoyed the Cardio 1, I had read a lot of blogs were people didn't enjoy the workout, I may feel differently after doing it for a month.  The workout seemed to help with my sore legs, I'm still sore but it's manageable.  

This pattern will repeat for the next 3 days, the weekends will be a challenge for me, I tend to sleep in and get off a schedule.  I also graze when I'm bored, I'm not too worried about getting the workout in on Saturday and in this case Monday for the holiday.  

It's Been Awhile

It has been a really long time since I've blogged.  I was in a funk and not happy with a lot of things in my life and didn't have a lot I wanted to share.  I'm happy to say I've made some changes and I feel like myself again and I want to get back into my blog.  Last month I got a new job, so far so good, it's been a great change of pace.  I've moved form a very corporate environment to a smaller family run technology company.  I really couldn't be happy with the change!

I totally fell off the wagon and gained all the weight I had lost back and more.  My new job has cut back on my stress eating and I've started using the Jillian Michaels Body Revolution Program.  I plan to start posting about my journey through this 90 day program.

I did set a few goals for the year and I've done well working on them.

Goals for 2012:

1. Get a new job, after I had my first long Thanksgiving weekend in my life and the crap I had to put up with to get it, I told myself I am never going to work Black Friday again.  Check!
2. Read 112 books this year.  56/112 ahead of schedule.
3. Lose weight and get in shape.  I'm working on this.
4. Read War and Peace.  
5. Upload more pictures to Mimi's photo frame.  This has been a total failure and I need to work on this. 

I hope to be posting about my Body Revolution journey, books and cooking more often.

Happy New Year!

So 2010 was crazy, some bad and lots of good things happened to us, which kept me from my blog, I defiantly failed that resolution. I did do well on trying to eat well and exercise I lost 30 pounds, the last few months of the year I wasn't great but tomorrow I'm back on full force and hopefully my life will slow down a little bit.

Highlights of the year my BFF and college roommate Amanda had a beautiful baby boy Rowen, my SIL got married, we sold my grandparents house, JT and I bought and paid for two new to us cars in cash, we refurnished our apartment and we had a wonderful holiday season.

So here are my goals for 2011...

1. Eat right.

2. Exercise 4 times a week.

3. Save money.

4. Cut down the food budget especially in regards to snacking.

5. Try to have a baby.

6. Finish my desk and dresser.

7. Read 50 books this year.

8. Blog on a somewhat regular basis.

9. Visit my parents more often.

10. Worry about myself a bit more than how other people feel, I have a bad habit of not telling people how I feel, stretching myself too thin to help others and I am finding more and more I am getting nothing out of this.

Confession/Update

I've been a really bad blogger! I guess I really failed on that New Year's resolution, there's always next year. I have been maintaining my current weight and exercising but undermining all my hard work my emotionally eating, there is my confession, I try to fill the void with food and it never works and I should know better by now. I picked up "Breaking Free from Emotional Eating" by Geneen Roth from Amazon, it came in the mail today and I'm really hoping I get at least something out of it.

I've been very busy with the two weddings I'm in starting in two weeks, I hope

all my other friends and relatives elope! My college roommate is going through a very difficult time, she lost her father, had a baby and is dealing with a major MS flare up. It's so hard to see somehow you lived with, partied with and enjoyed your college years with suffering so much, I know this w

ill pass for her but I would do anything to take away her pain including

taking it on myself.

I will leave you with a couple of pictures from the recent wedding festivities! I promise I will blog more!

The first pictures is from my SIL bridal shower in June, the second picture and my friend Alison and I on a booze cruise around Portland Harbor and the third picture is all of us at her party.

Before & After

I don't have a picture from when I started back in November but I'm using my engagement photo, which was my largest ever when I weighed in at 230 pounds (OMG I know).Before:

After: 5/3/2010

So far I have lost 35.4 pounds, almost half way to my goal weight and almost 50 pounds from my before picture. I know I have a long way to go but I am very proud of how far I have come and it's been worth it all! I can now put on a mini gun show!!

Quick Update

I've been a bad blogger but I just wanted to pop in and give a quick update on my progress. So far I've lost 30.5 pounds! The last couple of weeks I've been a little bad mostly on the weekends, this weekend was especially bad. I just ate my way through the entire weekend, my best friend's dad passed away very suddenly on Thursday so it's been a rough weekend to say the least. I did still exercise and really that's half the battle. I'm going to be back on track tomorrow. I am starting the 5th week of training for a 5k ran, with c25k. I signed up for a race on July 11th, I hope I'm ready but I'm going to be so very slow and that's okay!

My friend is also having a baby in less than two weeks, so this makes this even harder. I'm also in two weddings this summer and the business of those is starting to pick up. I promise to be back soon with many food posts!

March: My least favorite month of the year

I'm planning to make this March better, we spring ahead and Spring finally arrives, I've been at my current job for 2 years the end of this month, I really do love my job even though it can be stressful. It's just a really long month with not a whole lot to look forward to.

So I've been doing good with my diet, not great but good, I've been doing great with exercise. Four days a week I go to the gym at work and busting my butt on the elliptical and then doing the 30 Day Shred after work. Saturdays I got and do an hour of intense cardio and weights, I rest Thursdays and Sundays. I'm really enjoying (?) working out and am really noticing a difference.

I've lost 18 pounds since I started watching what I eat in early November, I know I could have lost more but I've sabotaged myself with all the junk in our apartment. So tonight I came home from work and threw away every single thing that was bad or junky away, mostly it was my husband's stuff, but I will eat things I don't even like when I get desperate on a diet. He needs that stuff even less than I do and I've been enabling his bad habits. So all the junk is gone! I'm recommitted to my lifestyle change.

Broccoli Cheddar Soup

Lightened Up Version of Broccoli Cheddar Soup

Source: Allrecipes.com

1/4 cup butter

1 onion, diced

2 teaspoons garlic powder

1/2 teaspoon ground white pepper

1 package frozen broccoli florets

1 quart chicken broth, I used reduced sodium

1/2 cup all-purpouse flour

1 1/2 cups of skim milk

salt to taste

8 ounces of reduced fat shredded sharp Cheddar Cheese

1. Melt butter over medium heat in a stockpot. Cook onion in butter until softened. Add garlic and pepper; cook for 1 minute then stir in broccoli, and stir in chicken broth. Bring to a boil and simmer until broccoli is tender, 10 to 15 minutes.

2. Meanwhile whisk flour into milk until dissolved. Stir into soup stirring frequently until thickened. Reduce heat, and stir in cheese until melted and heated through.

3. Season with salt to taste. I run my immersion blender through the soup to make smooth, you don't have to if you like a chunkier soup.

Beef Taco Bake

Beef Taco Bake

Source: Campbell's

Ingredients:

1 pound ground beef

1 can Campbell's Condensed Tomato Soup

1 jar salsa

1/2 milk

6 flour tortillas, cut into 1-inch pieces

1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Directions:

Cook the beef in a 10-inch skillet over medium-high heat until well browned, stirring often. Pour off any fat.

Stir the soup, salsa, milk, tortillas and half the cheese in the skillet, I had to do this in a separate bowl because it just wasn't happening in the frying pan. Spoon the beef mixture into a 2 quart shallow baking dish. Cover the baking dish.

Bake at 400 degrees for 30 minutes or until the beef mixture is hot and bubbling. Sprinkle with the remaining cheese.

This was a recipe my husband found and wanted me to make and I thought it was going to be a serious miss but it was really tasty and hit the spot.

Farfalle with Creamy Wild Mushroom Sauce

Source: Cooking Light, December 2006

Serving Size: 1 1/4 cup

Calories: 336

1 pound uncooked farfalle

1 tablespoon butter

12 ounces presliced exotic mushrooms (I am cheap so I used the cheap salad mushroom that were on sale)

1/2 cup chopped onion

1/3 cup finely chopped shallots (I omitted because I couldn't find any)

1 tablespoon minced garlic

1 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1/4 cup dry white wine

2/3 cup whipping cream

1/2 cup grated fresh Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese

2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley

Cook past according to package directions, omitting salt and fat drain.

Melt the butter in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add the mushrooms, onion, shallots, garlic, 1 teaspoon salt and pepper; cook 12 minutes or until liquid evaporates and mushrooms are tender, stirring occasionally. Add wine; cook 2 minutes or until liquid evaporates, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat.

Add the cooked pasta, whipping cream, cheese and 2 tablespoons parsley, tossing gently to coat, I had to do this in a separate mixing bowl because my frying pan just wasn't large enough.

This recipe was okay, it definitely needs some spicing up and I would have enjoyed it a bit, it was filling for a lighter meal and it didn't taste overly like diet food. I did a lot more pepper than the recipe called for.

Shamelessly showing off my cat

Basket Weave Throw

Source: Lion Brand Pattern

Finished Size: 40" by 50"

Materials

8 skeins of Loin rand Homespun Yarn in the color of your choice

Lion Brand Speed Stix (size 50)

Large-eyed blunt needle

9" square of cardboard

Gauge

4 stitches and 5 1/4 rows = 4", with 4 strands held together.

Throw

With 4 strands of Homespun held together, cast on 40 stitches.

Rows 1-5: Knit 5, perl 5, repeat across

Rows 6-10: Perl 5, Knit 5, repeat across

Repeat rows 1-10 5 more times, Repeat rows 1-5 once. Bind off in pattern.

(I just kept going because I did put the tassels on, I got 2 extra rows of 1-10)

Tassels (make 4)

Wrap yarn around cardboard square 100 times. Cut a 9" length of yarn and thread into large-eyed blunt needle. Insert needle under all strands at upper edge of cardboard. Pull tightly and knot securely near strands. Cut yarn loops at lower edge of cardboard. Cut a 24" length of yarn and wrap tightly around loops 1" below top knot to form tassel neck. Knot securely; thread ends into needle and weave ends to center of tassel. Trim tassel ends evenly. Weave in ed.

Finishing

Attach a tassel to each corner of throw. Weave in ends.

This pattern took me about 6 hours, I'm not the most experienced knitter, I can make a couple different hats, both harry potter scarves and regular scarves.

I made another one for JT's Mimi for Christmas in shades of blue, white, green, purple, she loved it so much she cried when she opened it.

Butterfinger Vanilla Ice Cream

I'll leave you with a dessert tonight, I have about a dozen pictures of things I've cooked for the past few months to update and a few dozen more "winner" recipes I need to share with the world.

Ice cream is another thing I do not buy in the grocery store, homemade tastes so much butter and you know what went into it.

I started with a vanilla bean ice cream from The Perfect Scoop.

2 cups heavy or whipping cream

1 cup whole milk

3/4 cup sugar

pinch of salt

1 vanilla bean, split in half lengthwise

3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

Pour 1 cup of cream into a medium saucepan and add sugar and salt. Scrape the seeds from the vanilla bean into the saucepan and add the pod to the pot. Warm over medium heat, stirring, until the sugar has dissolved.

Remove from heat and the remaining cup of cream, milk and vanilla extract. Chill the mixture completely in the fridge.

While the cream and milk mixture is cooling, freeze 2 king size Butter-finger bars, it makes it easier to chop/crush them. Then churn according to your ice cream maker's directions. While the ice cream is churning, crush/chop the butterfingers the best you can. About 2 minutes before the ice cream has set I add the crushed Butterfingers to the mixture.

Chill the mixture thoroughly in the refrigerator. When ready to churn, remove the vanilla bean, and then freeze the mixture in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s instructions.

Pulled Pork

This is one of the many reasons that I LOVE my Crock Pot, this recipe is simple and delicious.

I use a Boston Butt, just large enough to fit in your Crock, I've made the mistake of buying a hunk of meat too big for my Crock pot and no one enjoys cleaving meat at 6:30 AM before they leave for work.

I cover the roast in garlic powder, salt and pepper and place in the the Crock, then I cover the meat with a can of root beer, you can use coke or whatever you have on hand. I cook on low for 10 hours. When I get home from work I turn the Crock up to high drain and shred the meat and pour in BBQ sauce to your taste. We prefer Sweet Baby Ray's but I will be trying to make my own even if my husband disapproves. Serve over hamburger buns or however you like.

Buffalo Stuffed Chicken with Twice Baked Potatoes

My husband picked what we had for dinner tonight, we had buffalo stuffed chicken, with leftover twice baked potatoes and French style green beans.

Buffalo Stuffed Chicken

I did get this recipe from someone's blog but its been so long I've forgotten who (is that credit?)

2 chicken breasts, butterflied

1/2 cup shredded jack cheese

1/2 cup panko bread crumbs

3/4 cup ranch dressing

1/2 cup hot sauce

1/3 cup shredded jack cheese

Preheat oven to 375. Spray baking dish with Pam. Mix ranch dressing and hot sauce together, marinate chicken for 30 minutes.

Stuff chicken with cheese, I used a jack cheese but the original recipe called for bleu cheese and we're just not bleu cheese people. Dip chicken into dressing mixture and then coat with bread crumbs.

Bake for 35 minutes. Turn oven up to 400 and top w/shredded cheese. Bake until cooked through.

Twice Baked Potatoes

Our New Year's Eve plans got foiled by snow, we were going to get Chinese and watch movies, instead I went to the store and spent the night in the kitchen making a roast beef and twice baked potatoes. My husband's mother makes great twice baked potatoes and I didn't want to step on any toes so I went in search of a different recipe, because I am a smart woman. The potatoes reheat very well, for tonight's dinner I put in the toaster oven for 15 minutes.

Source: Allrecipes.com

5 medium baking potatoes

8 slices bacon

1 cup sour cream

1/2 cup milk

4 tablespoons butter

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon pepper

1 cup shredded cheddar cheese, divided, I used a Mexican blend I had on hand

8 green onions, sliced, divided, I omitted these because I didn't have any on hand

Preheat oven to 350 and bake potatoes in oven for 1 hour, in the mean time cook the bacon, allow to drain and cool and crumble.

Let potatoes cool for 10 minutes, slice in half lengthwise and scoop flesh into the bowl of your mixer, reserving skins. Add sour cream, milk, butter, salt, pepper and 1/2 cup cheese. Mix until well blended and creamy. Spoon mixture into the potato skins, top each with cheese and bacon. Bake for another 15 minutes.

White Bread

My awesome parents bought me a bread machine for Christmas, I'm very excited about not having to buy bread anymore, its highway robbery for the good bread. I've used it three times in the week since I got it! I've made this King Arthur flour recipe twice now and yesterday for dinner we had BLTs, which I make way too much for dinner but how can you go wrong with a good BLT? This one may just have been the best BLT I've ever had.

Toast & Sandwich Bread

Source: King Arthur Flour

2 teaspoons instant yeast

2 tablespoons sugar

1 cup lukewarm milk

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

3 cups unbleached all purpose flour

2 tablespoons butter, melted

Place all ingredients in the pan of your bread machine, I have a Cuisinart bread machine, I set it to white regular, 1.5 lb loaf and choose light crust and pressed start.

Happy 2010, let's hope you're a better year!

It has been a very long time between my blogs, I haven't been in the best place the last few months. Most of my summer was spent working on the house my brother and I inherited and it was very time consuming and costly and we haven't seen any reward for our hard work and let's me honest my brother is difficult at best to work with and he's lazy. It's time like that, that make me wonder how we were raised by the same parents. We did get an offer on the house this fall, we accepted went through the inspection and a month before the closing date, our buyer backed out due to her personal financial situation. I turned 27 in October, I am now the age where my mom had me, so I really started to thinking about starting to conceive a baby especially with the house sale pending and when that fell through I was heart broken.

With the decade and year ending, I started to think about all the things that happened to me over the past decade. In the past ten years, I have graduated from high school, lost all three of my grandparents, lost my aunt, graduated from college, gotten married, paid off my car, and gotten a big girl job. It's definitely been a rocky decade but there were definitely some shining moments in there. It gets hard to focus on the positive when you are surrounded my difficulty and struggle.

So that brings me to a new decade and a new year. Here's a list of things I plan to focus on in the year...

1. Be healthy, get in shape and get to my goal weight.

2. Make more things myself, this was on my list last year and I was pretty successful at it but I would like to add a few more things to that list.

3. Be greener, also a on my list last year and I was successful at buying more organic, making my own things, using reusable grocery bags, filtering our water and being mindful of our electricity use. This year I want to be more mindful of my water usage in the kitchen and switch to green cleaning products and not using those prepackaged ones, making my own.

4. Make a budget, make better weekly menu plans, cut

out the excessive spending on useless crap that we don't need whether it be shoes, food, clothes, etc.

5. Save money, we don't even have a savings account and that's just pathetic, setting a budget will definitely make saving easier. I do try to look at the positive, we do pay extra on student loans every month and we always buy things in cash and we have barely any credit card debt to speak of, and we both put money in retirement savings with every paycheck, so its not all bad. We just need to get in the habit even if its a little bit.

6. Quit drinking soda again, I do so good with this and then I fall off the wagon.

7. Organize our man room, purge a lot of the junk we do not need and get a spare bed in this room.

8. Go meatless one night a week, my husband isn't going to like this one but he's going to just have to deal with it.

9. Blog a lot more.

10. Finally, try to be more positive, focus on the good, try to not get jealous of other people's station in life and focus on improving my own, and let shit go.

If I was depressing I apologize buy I'm feeling good about my plans and I hope I can stick to them! I leave with two of my furbabies, Juno and Cayden who were watching me cook, there will be many upcoming foodie updates, I have a ton of pictures and recipes to upload and many more I've tried but did not post.

So I've gotten fat (yea the one with the F)

I'm hoping that by going public about my weight loss struggle it will help me through this. Yes I've gotten fat, I've struggled with my weight my whole adult life. I did really well a few months ago about loosing weight, I lost about 25 pounds in 3 months, I was great about exercising and I was eating the right things, not denying myself anything I really really wanted.

Fast forward to two weeks ago, my best friend calls me and says she (finally) got engaged and wants me to be her matron of honor, of course I say yes but the first thought in my head is shit I need to go on a diet, because I REFUSE to be a fat in a bridesmaids dress. Last week I "tried" to go on a diet and I did well until Friday when I had an awful day at work, so I drank a 6 pack, went to the movies and had popcorn and candy, and was just bad all weekend.

Monday I hop on the scale and I had gained 2 damn pounds, enough is enough, no more excuses. I've been better about what I have eaten this week and I have taken a walk during my lunch break two days in a row. Tomorrow I am going to the gym with my friend, who better to be your gym than a bride to be, no excuses. So I need to loose 74 pounds to get my goal weight of 140, yea you do the math.

Penne with two tomatoes and fresh mozzarella

Words cannot express how delicious this meal is, I've always wanted to try sun dried tomatoes to see what the hype was all about. I was really afraid to make this meal because I thought JT would think it was too weird and hate it, he actually really enjoys it; especially now that I added some grilled chicken to it.

Penne with two tomatoes and fresh mozzarella (Martha Stewart)

6 ounces fresh mozzarella, cut into 1/2 inch pieces

Salt and pepper

12 ounces of penne

1 T olive oil

1 pint of cherry or grape tomatoes

1/2 cup sun-dried tomatoes, sliced

2 garlic cloves, minced

1/4 cup snipped chives

2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

1. Place cheese in freezer. In a large pot of boiling salted water, cook pasta, reserving 1/2 cup of pasta water; drain pasta and set aside. I cooked my grilled chicken during this time, adding a little olive oil, salt, pepper and garlic powder for flavor.

2. In pasta pot, heat oil over medium-high. Add cherry tomatoes, sun-dried tomatoes, garlic and pasta water. Cook until cherry tomatoes soften, two to 4 minutes.

3. Add pasta, chicken, cheese (I left the cheese in the freezer until right before I needed and then cut it, it was much easier to cut that way), season with salt and pepper, and toss to combine.

I omitted the chives that last time I made this, I just forgot and I served with a yummy salad of "weeds" as JT likes to call them.

Salsa

I love Chili's salsa, often times I want to go there just to get chips and salsa. When I saw a recipe for it on What's Cooking I knew I had to try it, I literally went to the store on my lunch break to get the ingredients. I have made it four times now and have adapted it finally to my liking.

I work with my father-in-law and I brought him a little sample about a week ago, when I went to his office he said "Oh you didn't have to bring me chips too, I'm going to bring this home to share with Gina." My phone was ringing when I got back into my cube, we work in different building, it was him raving about how great that salsa was and how I needed to give him the recipe and he was going to go share some with his neighbor who I work with fairly closely. The phone rings again shortly, it was Brie raving about how great the recipe was and how she needed the recipe too, I love hearing that people enjoy the things I make. Tomorrow is John's birthday so I made him a batch of salsa to bring to his birthday get together, he was very excited to hear I was bringing this.

"Chili's" Salsa by Jenn T. (Source: Recipezaar.com)

1 small can of green chilies

1 can of Jalapenos (not pickled)

1 large can of whole tomatoes (28 oz. size)

1/2 cup of chopped onion

1 14.5 oz. can of stewed tomatoes

Salt (to taste)

Cumin (to taste, I put a lot in)

Garlic Powder (to taste, I've made this salsa with raw garlic and I've since found that I can't stand the taste of it)

Splash of lime juice

I begin by processing the jalapenos, chilies and onions in the food processor. I have to process things in small batches and mix in a bowl since my food processor is so small. Next I process the stewed tomatoes and whole tomatoes. I mix all the veggies in a mixing bowl and add spices to taste. Refrigerate for several hours to combine flavors. Serve with your favorite chips.

Peanut Butter Bars

In an effort to get back into trying new things and blogging I was perusing foodgawker or tastespotting and I saw a recipe for peanut butter bars and it reminded me of home. You cannot go to a function on Vinalhaven without peanut butter bars being there and this recipe held up those yummy ones of the ladies of Vinalhaven. It was surprisingly easy to make and I only dirtied two dishes.

Peanut Butter Bars (http://stylishcuisine.com)

1/2 cup butter

1 3/4 cup confectioner's sugar

1 cup peanut butter

3/4 cup graham cracker crumbs

1/4 c. butter

1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Line a 8 x 8 pan with foil.

Melt 1/2 cup butter on low hat. Remove from heat and stir in confectioner's sugar. Add peanut butter and graham cracker crumbs, stir until creamy. Spread mixture into pan and even out.

In same pot, melt butter again on low heat. Add chocolate chips and stir until chips are almost melted. Remove from heat and continue stirring until chocolate is smooth and shiny. Spread over the peanut butter layer. Refrigerate for 30 minutes, remove the bars by the foil and cut into squares. Store the bars in the refrigerator.