Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Day 31 and Butterburgers




OMG! Dollar Butterburger Day at Culver's today!   But I managed to stay away. :-(  Managed to keep to a decent food plan despite the call of those Butterburgers!


Now I think I'm getting obsessed with fun and healthy lunches....






and....




and....





Then I came across this....sigh...want one....





Will be dreaming of warm bubble baths in a bathroom like that....and since I'm dreaming, I'll be indulging in that bath after a 10 mile run....I did say I was dreaming.

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Monday, January 30, 2012

Day 30...and back on track



So I had a mushroom omelet for breakfast with iced tea....not a bad start. Starting to get back on track food wise at least. ;o)

For lunch I had hungarian meatloaf with a small salad...








And for dinner I had leftover chicken soup from Sunday...and made chicken waldorf salad. YUM.




And to feed my soul...I searched for the perfect electric fireplace for our house....




To add to a feature wall kinda like this...




Adding to the dream for when we will redecorate this place a bit. :o)


And some facts about sodas that are just plain distrubing.....


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Sunday, January 29, 2012

Day 29 and we have food for the week...




Well, I now have a fully cooked whole chicken in the fridge, along with a pot of chicken soup, with carrots, parsnips, onion and celery and noodles, and the fixins for chicken salad, chicken soft tacos and turkey sloppy joes, and turkey meatloaf with potatoes. Whew. And all of that only required about half an hour of real work. I am really fairly new to this whole cooking healthy thing, and I am surprised to find it a lot easier and less time consuming than I thought. I'm still amazed that I made something edible, much less something that actually tastes good. I am not, nor have I ever been the cook in the family. But I decided that we should eat healthier, so I'm making the effort to be sure we have good healthy food in the house.  The chicken soup is a whole fresh fryer, rinsed and salted and peppered. Three large carrots, peeled and cut into three inch pieces. Two large parsnips peeled and cut up, one stalk of celery cut up , and one medium onion, quartered.  I got a 64oz carton of unsalted organic chicken broth and added water to fill the crock pot. I piled the veggies in the bottom, put the chicken on top and poured the chicken broth over it all and added water to cover as high as it could go. Then I left it overnight for ten hours.  It was not easy rescuing the chicken out of the pot because it was falling off the bone it was so tender.  For dinner tonight we shredded some chicken added some cooked vermicelli and a few veggies and warmed the soup up for dinner with some fresh rolls straight out of the oven. YUM.





And all of that only cost around $60 dollars. Another big surprise. Whole fresh organic chicken was on sale, most every veggie I got was organic and on sale, I'm really getting a better feel for which stores have what and where the best produce and prices are. Again, not something I've been in charge of for quite a while.





So I'm off to sleep, dreaming of a bed this nice. ;o) Ours is nice too, bet not this neat ever. I'll also be dreaming of the cool stuff I want to do to our house....






or...






Sweet dreams.


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Saturday, January 28, 2012

Day 27 and 28....and chicken soup



So I have big plans for making food this weekend for the coming week. I am getting a whole chicken which I will use to make a BIG pot of chicken soup. When the soup is done, the chicken can be portioned out into other meals. I want to make chicken salad.




And barbecue chicken burritos...




Lemon Chicken Stir Fry...




Phew....we'll see how far that one chicken really goes.

I'm also doing some early spring cleaning around here. It's good for the mind, body and soul to come home to a clean house. It would be better if the house was, say, self cleaning, but meanwhile, I'll get some cleaning done.



So everyone have a great weekend.

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Thursday, January 26, 2012

Day 26.......and donuts



Thought I'd start today with a healthier recipe. Barbecue pulled chicken. A great and easy meal in your crock pot. A nice whole grain roll and some lite slaw and it is comfort food at it's best.



But you can't forget desert! Chocolate cake is always a good choice. A whole lot of us looooooove chocolate, and this is a healthier version of our favorite.


So PMS is rearing it's ugly head and I want junk food something awful! So back to the balancing act of trying to tweak the diet as we go along. For me the trick is to replace the bad for me version of things with a healthier version. It does take a while to reprogram decades of eating habits though. One step at a time.....

So to entertain my brain, I've been searching out new paint colors....I find that as get older, my tastes are changing. I used to like everything to be really neutral and plain, but these days I cannot get enough color into the house. :o)

For example, these are things that are catching my eye.....




and...




and this....




and even this...





And to leave you with some interesting info, Looking Inside the Twinkie.


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Wednesday, January 25, 2012

dAY 24 & 25



So I went completely bonkers food wise the last couple of days.....SIGH. Meatball sandwich for dinner last night, and ......dun dun dunnnnnnnnnn....




But tomorrow is another day....right?????

Source: google.it via Kate on Pinterest



So to leave you on a positive note....




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Monday, January 23, 2012

Day 23



Recently, I have become really aware of what people think of as portion sizes. I happen to like small portions, but that's just my preference. I have never been able to eat a lot at once. For those of us trying to drop a few pounds, portions should be scrutinized a bit. I have been looking into getting a lunch box type thingie that has small portion containers. I was attracted to Bento boxes, but most are waaaaaaaay too expensive. I found some cheaper and fun alternatives. My favorite one is at the Container Store.



The above lunch actually looks a lot like what I had for lunch today. I had homemade egg salad on wheat toast, broccoli, yogurt with blackberries, and some mixed nuts. Here's a great idea for a kids lunch.....




How cute is that? A sandwich, carrots, cheese, fruit and yogurt with sprinkles! I'd eat that.

But in our supersized world, we've lost track of what decent portions really are. I hate going out to eat sometimes, the portion are so ridiculously huge, I have never finished an entire entree. Some places are actually starting to offer smaller portions, probably not for those of us who can't eat that much at once, but more for the dieters among us. :o)

Smaller portions, I think, are a key to regulating your weight and staying healthy. Keeping your blood sugar steady as opposed to going up and down all day helps keep your metabolism working. Five to six meals a day help to keep your body ticking the way it should.

I am also going to bed early tonight, just because we had thunderstorms here last night, and our 70 pound doggie is terrified of storms and came bounding into bed to burrow under the covers with us. YAWN. So I'm kinda extra tired. I am also dreaming of what wonderful update I can do to our bedroom......



or.....

Source: amazon.com via Kate on Pinterest



Wall colors?




or...




Off to dream about redecorating.....


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Sunday, January 22, 2012

Day 21 and 22



I am slowly getting into the swing of feeding my body better. I am packing healthier lunches, which means I'm actually eating lunch. My grandma was always a big believer in everything in moderation, and she made it to 92, so she was doing something right. I am eating fewer carbs, and trying to add more protein, fruits and veggies. I happen to love salads, so that was never a problem, but I can tweak those salads and make them even healthier. Better dressings, more veggies, less cheese and croutons, etc. So I am also always on the hunt for good recipes that I can make for us either in th crockpot or on Sunday for the rest of the week. For example, slow cooker stout and chicken stew. Yum.



This time of year I am also feeling the need to spruce up our living space. Fresh paint, cleaning the carpets, rearranging furniture. I'm an interior decorator at heart, but my taste runs toward upscale lodge decor and furnishings. So I have been searching the interwebs for inspiration. Hey, looking doesn't cost anything, right?
This nesting urge feeds my soul. I want to make our home as pleasant as I can. The planning and budgeting keeps my mind working overtime, especially since we don't want to spend much doing it. Requires me to get really creative. :o)




What inspires you in your home decorating? What inspires you in the kitchen?


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Friday, January 20, 2012

Day 20



Well today has been what they call a "character builder" around here. Our little corner of the universe turned into a winter wonderland during the day today. We got around 8 inches of snow today. I went to work super early so I could leave at 2:30 today to avoid sitting in traffic for hours. I left work at 2:48 and got home at 5:17 pm. And my drive time was tame compared to a lot of others. Into each life a little snow must fall, right?



I did well with breakfast, egg on an english muffin, then had an Atkins snack bar later on. Note to self: Atkins bars make me HUNGRY! Bizarre side effect, because I never seem to notice that I'm hungry, but today, my stomach was growling so loud, they could hear it three blocks away. Jeez! Will not be having any more snack bars made with sugar alcohols, etc. Not for me. Then we had chinese take out for dinner, cuz who wants to do anything after spending over two hours trying to get home after work?!? Oh well, it was good for the soul if not so much the body. :o)




So we are spending a rare evening eating chinese and catching up on tv shows we have dvr'd. Very good for the soul after a loooooooong day.



Back to normal living tomorrow. :o)



Feed your body.
Feed your mind.
Feed your soul.
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