Recipes

Lately, I have been trying to be much healthier with our eating habits and working out etc. I mean let's face it I am 29y and 10m; it isn't gettin' any easier to stay my current size and apparently I can NOT eat my weight in chocolate chips any more and expect to fit into last year's short/jeans. Just sayin'. Stupid 30 and stupid metabolism. And let's just ice the metaphorical cake with the fact that we aren't millionaires so to do this with tight purse strings, you need to be smart about it.

Insert vegetarian meals.
Yeah, that is the same response my husband gave too, but it isn't that bad. First up we had Black Bean, Sweet Potato Quesdillas. {found on the Lean Green Bean's blog, which I linked}I could eat these daily. Even the hubs like them and they were surprisingly filling--even for Chad. The kids did ok, they are getting pickier day by day it seems, so their opinion counts very little to me. :)

The Recipe in case you don't want to jump over:

Black Bean & Sweet Potato Quesadilla

1 c black beans
1/2 a sweet potatoes diced, microwaved until soft 

{cooked mine in a crock pot in foil 2-3 hours, just to do several to use in other recipes}
1/3 c green pepper, diced
1/4 c onion, diced
cayenne pepper, to taste 

{didn't have so didn't use}
2% shredded Mexican cheese
2- 8 in whole wheat tortillas

Saute onion and green pepper until crisp tender.
Add black beans and sweet potato and heat through.
Spoon mixture onto tortilla, top with cheese.
Cook in a pan, oven or panini press.

———————————-

This made 2 quesadillas with enough filling leftover to make one more.
I cooked them on a hot skillet.

We also tried Lentil Almond Burgers---they were "ok" but they will not be making a comeback. I over cooked the lentils for another recipe so this was me trying to salvage them. But surprisingly the kids seemed to like them...go figure.

And for my final recipe, is my favorite breakfast treat. Sweet potato pancakes! {Are yo seeing a theme for sweet potatoes?! They are such a rock star food how can you not just stuff them in all your recipes?!}

Sweet Potato Pancakes:

1 1/4 C Flour

2 1/2 tsp baking POWDER

3 TBSP sugar

3/4tsp Salt (I usually just put a tiny pinch in--you know less sodium and all)

1 egg

1 C milk (I use 1%)

3 TBSP melted butter

1/4 C of mashed sweet potato (who am I kidding I don't measure that stuff, this is just my best guesstimate)

And then spoon onto hot griddle/pan however you make pancakes and viola yummy breakfast. These turn out nice and moist. Probably my favorite pancake "flavor."

So anyway I am going to try and let you know how my vegetarian meals go and what we are trying to do to eat better. Every one can always use a good recipe right? Sorry for the lack of pics...I never remember to take pictures of my food before I stuff it in my face. Next time?!?!

Miscellany Monday

click on the icon to link to Carissa's blog to check out other miscellany monday peeps.

1. I am one of those that doesn't follow her own advice. I am a dietitian, eating right and healthy should be what I do. However, with this new job I work 4 hours straight over lunch (because the goal is for me to observe their lunches.) So needless to say I have skipped my lunch 3x now.
Do you know that doing that makes you OVER eat?! Most people don't sadly. They think if they are going to "splurge" tonight then skip lunch, or worse breakfast! After "experimenting" this theory on myself I can say with 100% complete confidence that by doing so you will gorge yourself the rest of the night...I have become quite good at it.
Here's hoping I can figure out some sort of lunch break for myself...

2. We have a bird dog. His name is Toby. And yes, he is a 6# toy poodle. Go figure. He has captured 2 baby birds and the 3rd he found, well, let's just go with survival of the fittest wasn't this little bird strong point.


3. I get to see my sister, bil, and niece SOON!

This pic is a bit old, but it is all I have of the THREE of them together.

4. Eclipse here I come! Tues night at 1201 AM I will be surrounded by teeny boppers enjoying this 3rd installment. What can I say I guess I am an official "Twihard." Thanks to my little sis who hooks me on all this great stuff!


5. This past weekend was fun. I got to go to a HS friend's lingerie shower. It is a nice change up from baby showers! Unfortunately, I forgot my camera. :( But this was probably the best shower I had been to! I don't know when I have every laughed so hard in all my life. Thanks girls for all the laughs! (and stories ;) ).

6. For those of you interested I finally updated my shutterfly account with summer pics and ALL of Lo's One Year pics taken by Ginger! Click HERE to check it all out.

7. I love the 4th of July, it ranks as one of my top holidays to celebrate. I do not however enjoy the week preceding the "big" day. Why and who has the money to buy boat loads of fireworks to shoot off every. single. night. through the 5th?! Seriously. Some of us enjoy sleep!

And that concludes another edition of Miscellany Monday. Brought to you by Carissa.

Hungry Girl 200 under 200

A week or two ago I won my FIRST ever giveaway from this great blog The Life and Times of a Dietetic Intern (she is in the process up updating her page, so the link may not work right away.) Most of you know I am a RD by trade, so when I stumbled upon her blog a few months ago I was super excited to meet a fellow (soon to be) dietitian! I find it interesting to compare her internship to mine because it is a completely different program. This is what I love most about blogging, "meeting" new people with common interests.

ANYWAY she hosted a giveaway for this AWESOME book!!

I saw it featured on Rachel Ray several months ago and was very intrigued. There are so many delicious recipes for all your favorite "junk" foods that are all 200 calories or less! While I like to consider myself Rachel Ray because I seldom follow a recipe exactly or ever, I am extremely excited to try these out. I have high hopes of posting about some of them in the future!!
Thanks Jessica for the great giveaway!

Show Us Your Life: Diet/Wt. Loss Tips

Friday means "Show Us How You Live" over at Kelly's Korner.

Let me start out by saying I am a Registered Dietitian. I spent 4 years in school for this and one year long internship, followed by a comprehensive exam to gain this status. Anybody can call themselves a "nutritionist" because the read a book or lost 20#, but R.D.s WORKED for this and have not only the knowledge but the science to back us up. So be careful who you listen to and if it sounds too good to be true: IT IS!

It is hard for me to read and see what others "advice" is because everyone is looking for the "quick fix" drop 20# in two days diet. Guess what it DOES NOT exist. Losing weight and being healthy is a LIFESTYLE choice. Those who truly lose the weight and keep it off took years that's right YEARS to get it off and they continue to make lifestyle choices to keep their weight off.

With that said weight loss is simple calories in vs. calories out equation. You cut out 3500 calories you lose 1#.

Here are a few things that I believe sabotage people's "diet" attempts.

• Drinking your calories (i.e. sodas, coffees LOADED up with creams, sugars and syrups, milkshakes etc.)
• Using ginormous dinner plates. The smaller your plate the LESS you will put on it and you will find you got just as full as if you used the larger one.
• Eating out...enough said.
• Skipping meals (i.e. namely breakfast...this sets you up for failure)
• Banning yourself from the "bad" foods. You CAN have an Oreo, but notice I said A Oreo not entire sleeve. If you don't allow yourself some of the things you enjoy you will just quit or give up because of all the unrealistic rules you place on yourself.
  
• Not exercising

I could go on but you may be surprised how those few little changes can make a HUGE difference. I will end with some ideas to hopefully get you going!

• Try making a food journal...you will surprise yourself on how much you put in your mouth a day.
• Look for ways to exercise. Exercise is cumulative. Park your car further away from the store. Walk around your building at lunch. Take the stairs.
• Look for ways to swap out calories. Try some of the Lo-cal stuff (ie Skim milk, Crystal Lite, Splenda, Sugar-Free Jellos and puddings) you might like it. Even if it is just swapping out to a couple of those items it again adds up.
  

And remember it isn't going to change over night. Don't kill yourself trying to do everything at once. Build up to it. It all starts with ONE small change.