Archive for the ‘Healthy recipes’ Category

Let’s start with the update first. We are CLOSING on our home next Thursday morning! YAY!! It will be then that I can officially say that I am a short sale success story!

I have been organizing, cleaning and packing. We have accumulated so much stuff since we moved in to this place over two years ago! No really. It’s amazing how much you can accumulate in 2 years! Needless to say, Goodwill has been getting much of the stuff that we no longer need. I would rather give it to charity than hang on to it and have a garage sale in the spring. Too much work. And I have never been one to feel that my things have a price tag on them. We have been blessed with so much. I want to pay it forward any way I can.

So, if you haven’t seen me around much, it’s because I am packing. And organizing. And cleaning. In a couple of weeks things will get back to a better-than-normal state, and I can’t wait!

We have also been looking at truck accessories for my younger brother. He just got a new truck. I love helping him out when I can! So all of this running around has me a bit tired but also a lot pumped!

Here are my fabulous food finds:

1) Black beans — best. food. ever. I put black beans and salsa on anything that I can! It’s such an easy and tasty way to make a meal “southwest-ish”.

2) Chuck and Dave’s Salsa — they sell this stuff in bulk at Sam’s Club and Costco. I recommend it! It’s fresh tasting salsa with fresh ingredients. You can also get it at the local grocery store (it comes in smaller containers but might cost you more in the long run).

3) Sweet Potatoes — Buh bye starchy white potatoes… Hellloooo sweet potatoes! Last night I made oven baked sweet potato chips. I sliced them up to a medium thickness (circular shaped), sprayed Pam olive oil on them and smattered them with a bit of sea salt. Bake at 400 for 25 minutes and wahlah! Delicious and healthy potato chips!

4) Snickers Marathon Bars — I use these bars as meal replacement. They have 10g of fiber and 20g of protein. It’s guaranteed to make you feel full for at least 4 hours! 1 bar is 6 WW points. Oh and I eat one in the morning usually before I workout! The extra protein has seemed to help with muscle soreness.

Well, that’s about it for now! I’m off to go and read your blogs and comment on them! I’ve missed you guys!

On a bad week, I would push for fast food dinners (and sometimes lunches as well) about 5 out of 7 days of the week.  I knew those meals weren’t good for my family  but we ate them anyway and I pushed for them anyway.  Of course I could say that I chose wisely about what I put in my mouth on those weeks, but the truth is, I didn’t.  Not even a little.  On the nights I went for broke (uh 2 Big Macs, please?) I promised myself that it would be the. last. time. ever.  It wasn’t the last time though.  Because I hadn’t changed patterns and behaviors.  Just saying it doesn’t make it so.

On a good week, I would push for fast food dinners (and lunches) about 2-3 out of 7 days.  So that still means that almost half of those weeks were filled with weight climbing, heart-attack and stroke inducing foods.  I would see my kids eat it and my heart would break.  But I felt like I just couldn’t stop.

This next thing I mention… I would like to hammer home.  Because everytime I think of this… my determination for good health for not only myself but for my family as well, grows.

With all of the fast food that we were consuming…. there came a point where I felt like I was killing my kids.  I felt like I was handing them an invisible cloth with all of my failures and weight-humiliation on it and forced them to wear it.  They’re kids.  They eat what we eat.  They mirror the patterns that we set.  The risks for obesity for them is that much greater because I am obese and because my family has obesity issues.  If they see me eating crap food and couch-potato-ing it up… they are going to think that it is acceptable.

Of course, the reality is that they may not find it acceptable and may try desperately not to live that life.  But still.  Why put them through that if I don’t have to?  Why make them try to undo the mistakes that I handed to them on a platter?  Their psychs are so delicate right now.  And parents, we are the best teachers our children have.

On this whole journey, that is the one thing I keep reminding myself.  I’m not just doing it for me and for my future…. i’m doing it for them and for their futures too.

We are learning to eat differently as a family.  It hasn’t been easy.  My oldest is really kind of resisting the food changes.  I let him pick out a couple of meals a week.  I actually found a great book by Jessica Seinfeld called; Deceptively Delicious: Simple Secrets to Get Your Kids Eating Good Food.    So, instead of McDonalds Chicken Nuggets, I actually make the book’s recipe for chicken nuggets.  This involves chicken breast strips, pureed broccoli and a sesame seed/cornflake coating on the outside.   I dip the chicken breast in the broccoli puree and then roll it in the cornflake crumb mixture and bake them.  They love them!  Most importantly, my son feels empowered because he gets to pick a favorite meal and I don’t have to freak out about the meal being unhealthy.

When I cook at home, I feel empowered and in control of my own health and of my families health.

I decided that I am going to write down some super healthy (but yummy) recipes that you can make for the holidays! That way, you will have something healthy to choose if you are worried about the calorie/fat content at holiday parties and such!

My first recipe comes from the Hungry Girl book: Hungry Girl: 200 Under 200: 200 Recipes Under 200 Calories!
This one is called:

Fluffy Speckled Peanut Butter Dip:

1 Jell-O Sugar Free Vanilla Pudding Snack

3/4 cup Cool Whip Free, thawed

1/4 cup Reese’s Puffs cereal (original)

1 tbsp reduced-fat peanut butter, room temperature

1/4 tsp vanilla extract

1 no-calorie sweetener packet

Place cereal in a sealable plastic bag.  Use a rolling pin or potato masher (or anything heavy) and crush the cereal until crumbs.

In a mixing bowl combine the rest of the ingredients until well mixed.  Stir in cereal crumbs and refrigerate for 10-15 minutes.

Serve and enjoy!

Serving Size:  2 heaping tablespoons

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

The Math:

49 Calories

1.5g Fat

64mg Sodium

7.5 Carbs

2g Sugars

.5g Protein

WW Points: 1