Why do I even start with a recipe?

I found a recipe in Cooking Light magazine. I wanted to try it but decided I would make some of my changes. In the end, it was WAY different than the original recipe. Here are the ingredients I used.

8 oz chicken breast

8 oz elbow macaroni

2 Tablespoons of flour

2 Tablespoons of light butter

3 cups of skim milk

2/3 cup reduced fat cream of mushroom soup (undiluted)

1 teaspoon chopped fresh dill

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 cups shredded multi-cheese blend (like 4 Mexican blend)

3/4 shredded Colby jack cheese

cooking spray

1/2 bag of frozen peas

head of broccoli

I had some leftover grilled chicken breast (already cooked) and some smoked chicken and pork (thanks to my husband). I chopped that up and threw it in a pan with the chopped up broccoli and 1/2 bag of frozen peas. I also cooked the macaroni according to the box directions. When it was all cooked and hot I mixed it up in a big bowl.

Meanwhile, I made the sauce. I started with the butter and flour. I cooked it in a sauce pan for 2 minutes. In a bowl I mixed the cream of mushroom soup and milk. I slowly added the milk mixture to the pan and brought it to a boil for about 3 minutes to thicken it. I removed from the heat for 4 minutes. Then stirred in the garlic powder, salt, dill and the 1 1/2 cup of multi-cheese blend. It turned into like a white cream/cheese sauce.

I poured it over the meat, veggie and macaroni mixture. I put the mixture in a 8 inch square baking dish (after I sprayed it with PAM). I topped it with 3/4 Colby jack cheese. I put in under the broiler for about 5 minutes.

It yields 4 humongous servings. I am guessing it is about 600-650 calories each. I was not too specific in my measurements and I deviated from the recipe quite a bit. But it is still pretty healthy and very hearty.

Verdicts

Me: Yum, yum. I liked it alot. It was like a creamy casserole. Normally I do not like that sort of thing but this one was good. I kind of want to call it "crap in a pan." But good crap.

Hubby: "This is even better than the last one. If we owned a restaurant this would be on the menu." Cleaned his plate.

The original recipe did not have any veggies in it. I have to sneak them into hubby's food. Most people have to do this for their children. I have to do it for my 37 year-old husband. Okay, I have procrastinated long enough (like ALL DAY), I need to work on some report cards. Hope you all had a great weekend!

I know you've never met me....

I know you have never met me but if you cannot tell, I like to be entertained. All the time. Perhaps that is why I got fat, entertaining myself with food. There is not much I will not do to make myself giggle. Including trying to dress up like the peeps I saw at BodyJam last weekend.

This picture was taken yesterday before my 5:30am workout. I look super retarded because I am laughing while striking a BodyJam move.

Don't worry, no one had a seizure while looking at me but we did laugh pretty hard. Especially because I proceeded to workout in this get-up. It was a little warm. Imagine a room of tired people all wearing gray and black clothing....and then there was me. I even sported a side-pony. There are holes in the back of the shirt and I wore a lace cami underneath to show off the holes.

All I have to say is that exercise is so much more fun when everyone is enjoying it. So go ahead....entertain yourself. Or others. They will appreciate it. Exercise can be fun(ny)

Fatty, fatty 2X4

Friday weigh-in. Big gain. I am up 4 pounds. I added in some calories to my diet. Guess I am still adjusting. I am not too ashamed. They are healthy calories. Although I do feel roly-poly. I am still exercising everyday. Maybe this is my "motivation" to stay on track (or pay closer attention to the track).

In related news, I made my first ever banana bread this week (thanks to a recipe from Best Bud). It is yummy (not low calorie)! My mom used to make it all the time. When I pulled it out of the oven, I was transported back to childhood. I guess this means in some way I am becoming my mother. Soon I will be buying all kinds of crappy workout equipment from infomercials. Hide the VISA cards!

Well I am off to body attack. Need to burn off a super delicious turkey burger I ate last night (I did not make it so I am sure it had fatty goodness to make it taste better). Hope you all have a super day!

I have not been this sore since fat camp!

I am not all that sore but I may take the day off from working out. A rare occasion for me.

Remember this summer when I made my own version of fat camp (well, if you are new to my blog I am sure you don't)? I was working out 3 or 4 hours a day. Well yesterday was a bit like that.

The classes I love to take at the gym (body attack, bodypump, etc) were created by a dude called Les Mills. He has many classes. They are awesome. Well, yesterday the Les Mills company held its quarterly event. This is where all the trainers get to preview all the new releases. I think there are 8 different programs. This is the first time the public was invited to come. So I signed up (for a small fee of $100 - good lord) and went with the trainers from my gym. It was held at the convention center. Why? Because there were supposed to be about 650 people there.

There were a lot of people but way less than 650. All those people were exercising in one room. And the room? It was set up like a night club. We were pretty much in the dark and there were some colored lights flashing around and smoke machines. A very interesting way to exercise. Imagine hundreds of people exercising, in the dark, all day. It was fun, but a long day.

The last class was hilarious. It was called bodyjam and it is the hip-hop dance class. It did not start til 6 at night so there were not many people left by then. In fact most of the people I went with left right after that class started. This class was awesome for the people watching. People dressed like break dancers from the 80s. And not just the instructors. And they wore glow sticks. There were also confetti cannons. Cheesy and funny. I am a poor excuse for a hip-hop dancer. Oh well, I had fun.

Body Attack (my fav) had a poster that I really liked. It said "Smiling is optional, finishing is not." This is how I feel about exercise.

This morning is pancakes and recovery.

I also must apologize. My last post was #200 for me and I asked you a lame question. Maybe I can think of something better to make it up to you. Just not today. Sorry. If you can think of something I should write about, let me know. By the way, I have been trying your suggestions. So far the winner is something called Crystal Clear. I found it at Kroger and it is carbonated, flavored water. No caffeine, no aspartame, no calories.

No weigh-in this week. I feel bloaty and fat and I think a weigh-in will make me shut down a bit so I am giving myself a break from the scale (also a rare occasion).

I want to leave you with a quote. I know, quotes can be lame but when I read this, it stuck with me. I am reading The Jean Nidetch Story (she is the creator of Weight Watchers). "Those who are successful with the program are the ones who tell themselves that they are not going to let anything stand in their way. People who say they can't succeed spend the rest of their lives proving it."

I think of this in terms of general weight loss, not the weight watchers program. But isn't true?

Challenge question

I need your expertise. Since we are all focusing on health, I know you peeps have the knowledge I need.

Let me start by telling you that I love Diet Coke. Love it. I only drink one per day, but it is true love. That said, I am trying to quit it for a while. Here is where your challenge question comes in.

Is there a soda (I am from Michigan and really call it 'pop'), that is caffeine free, has no aspartame and is not loaded with empty calories? P.S. I do not like things that taste like ass.

I only want to drink one per day but still, I do not want to drink 120-140 empty calories and loads of sugar.

I drink tons of water and skim milk everyday. But you know how after awhile, you want something different. I do like Propel but I like the bubbliness (yes, I make up words) of soda.

Tell me wise ones, does such a soda exist?

So much for the weekend!

As soon as I hit "publish" on my last post Thursday night....the power went out. I got it back last night at 5:30. I was without a voice and power for about 3 days. Talk about irritating. No internet, no heat, no lights, no tv, no heat, no hot water, no heat. It was sucky. I spent Valentine's Day (which I think is stupid anyway) at the laundromat with best bud who was pretty sick. Hubby went to the NBA all-star game.

Thank goodness the weekend is over. Although, I am not ready to go back to work tomorrow. I am tired still. We have to have our Valentine's party tomorrow. Kids are always crazy on those days. Oh well. They will have fun.

I finally weighed-in today. Same as last week. I am okay with it. I am bloaty but that maybe because I had to eat a little off my regular routine because....I had no power.

So this week will be a week of convience foods. No recipe. I will work on one for next week. Sorry. Hubby took off today and we actually got to go out to lunch together (which he never wants to do). It was nice. But still too cold. Man, I can tell it has been a long time since I lived in Michigan. I am getting really wussy in the cold. I think the loss of over 100 pounds made me super cold to start with. Yesterday morning my house was 56 degrees. With 5 shirts on (no exaggeration) it was doable. Getting naked to change for the gym? Brrrrr.

Hope you all had a good weekend! I will try and catch up on some blogs. Sorry for slacking!

Craziest week ever!!

Holy cow it has been a crazy week! I cannot even it put it in a post. I am in awe of life. Today I have no voice. I mean absolutely NO voice. My throat hurts and I cannot even complain about it (at least out loud). I am tired.

When I woke up this morning, there was snow everywhere. I live in Texas, it never snows. At present we have received 9.3 inches and it is still snowing (big time record for a year not just a day). I was sad when I realized I had to go to work in the snow and teach 1st grade with no voice. The kids thought it was the best day ever because I gave them word searches and had them take turns reading to the class. Oh yeah, and I took them out and we had a huge snowball fight (because seriously? when will they ever get the chance to do this again...it is awesome packing snow). We stayed out until one girl cried that her hands were burning (oops!). Don't worry we let them warm up under the hand driers.

But happy day...they already announced school is cancelled tomorrow. I need sleep. Major sleep. The gym cancelled my classes for tonight and tomorrow. Boohoo. At least I did a double workout yesterday and I have the Wii for tomorrow. A four day weekend my friends!!! Love it, love it, love it!

Looking forward to more snowball fights (I also nailed my teammates but have yet to get my hubby) and lots of sleep. I "heart" my bed. And reading. Like a surprise vacation.

Hope you all are doing well. Looking forward to reading more blog entries on my vacation!

FOOD - Fried Rice Recipe

I went to the store today (after the super bowl started so it would be less crowded). Here are some of the foods I am craving lately (I am kind of proud based on the fact that I used to be a fruit and nut hater). I am pretty sure they will last me the week but you can never be too sure with me.

And since I have been so snacky lately I decided to make a veggie tray to keep in the fridge this week. Maybe I will eat less almonds this way. I don't count vegetables so load me up!
Hubby loves dessert (and me too lately) so I made the chocolate mousse again and portioned it out to eat through out the week.

Here are the ingredients for tonight's fried rice recipe.

Fried Rice

Ingredients:
4 or 5 cups cooked white rice (prepared according to box)
6 eggs (for less calories remove 2 or 3 yolks)
3 tablespoons of oil
1 or 2 crowns of broccoli (chopped in small pieces)
¾ cup shredded carrots
½ red bell pepper (chopped small)
½ green bell pepper (chopped small)
½ package of snow peas (they look like pods) chopped
1 cup frozen peas
1/3 cup of low-sodium tamari (an aged soy sauce I find in the ethnic aisle at Kroger)
Directions:
1. Cook the broccoli with a little Pam in a small pan because it takes longer to cook.
2. Cook rice in a pot according to the box directions.
3. Heat the oil in a large skillet. While it heats, scramble the eggs in a bowl. Add them to the oil and cook like scrambled eggs.
4. Add the bell peppers, carrots and snow peas to eggs and cook for 3 to 4 minutes.
5. Add in the cooked rice and tamari sauce. Stir and cook for about 2 minutes.
6. Add the frozen peas and broccoli and cook for another 2 to 3 minutes.

It is ready to serve but will be pretty hot. The calories on this can vary. I think it is about 180 calories for a 2/3 cup serving. This has lots of veggies and protein and is very good for you. I have tried it with brown rice but we like the white better. I usually serve with Chung’s eggrolls (from the freezer section) or grilled chicken.

This recipe makes a TON of food. Best bud and I change this recipe from time to time. We love it but she makes it far more often because it is the girls' favorite. I now feel prepared for the week ahead. Hopefully you do too! Good luck to you, you big LOSERS!!

Should I Skip Weigh-In?

I seriously considered skipping weigh-in. I have been in eating mode since last Friday and I did not want to be all "well that sucks for me....bring on the food!" I have yet to do that but it has been a weird week. No telling what I will do next.

I did weigh-in. 177.2 that is a 2.4 pound gain. Sucky, sucky. Oh well. I don't really care what the scale says (too much anyway). I think I am going to go ahead and call my goal weight 175 and goal size 10. That is the weight I have pretty much been maintaining since Thanksgiving and I am okay with it. It is healthy for me. I feel good at this weight and size. Really good actually.

Confession - last night was not super healthy. Nope. No chicken and salad for me. This week was the 100th day of school. I always have my class make a snack with 10 ingredients. 4 of them are varieties of cereal. I was telling my husband how this year I gave them Cookie Crisps. He got so excited so I decided to bring home the leftovers so he could eat it. I normally do not do this but he is like a kid and it is fun to watch his face get excited.

So for dinner he ate toast and 2 bowls of Cookie Crisp. I ate 3 bowls of cereal. 3 different kinds - Pops, Honey Nut Cheerios and Fruit Loops. Oink, oink. Over my calories and minimal nutritional value. Boy was it good too. Like I said, this week is sooooo out of character for me. And tonight is happy hour with more delicious foods.

I did however go to my turbo kickboxing class. I just cannot stay away. I am now leaving for another body attack class (4th one since Monday **body is tired**).

I hope you all have a great weekend and better luck on the scale!

Winner, winner chicken (soup) dinner

Thank you all who entered. You can be quite clever. I enjoy it. I have some other questionable pictures (not of me or the babies) that I think would be fun (yet tacky) to post for your captioning. Um....I will ponder that.

So the soup winner is A Thinner Katie. If you have not checked out her blog, you should. She just hit 60 pounds lost! Woohoo!!! Inspirational. And she has 2 small children. Amazing. Not sure how you all do it.

This week has been weird to say the least. I must confess I had 3 cheat meals last weekend. Yup, 3. I ate well during the day it was just 3 dinners but then again that is a bit much. I have been in eating mode ever since. Not bad things really just like some extra baked chips here, handful of almonds there, etc.

I have discovered almonds. Yum. I used to be a nut hater. Not anymore. Especially the honey roasted almonds. Addictive.

I also have not been feeling great this week. I am still working out a ton. In fact, Monday I did 2 hours of body attack. My body has been tired ever since. I want to take a day off from work to sleep. When you teach it is not really worth a day off but I want to. I even got a big wave of nausea yesterday. I had ask the kids a few times to back away. Not enjoyable. At all.

I am thinking it is sinuses or lady troubles or a combination. Lucky me! If I still feel yucky after school I might just not workout (I cannot believe I typed that) and take a nap.

Yesterday before I worked out I had to stop at the store and buy some almonds and strawberries to eat. This is how I know I have changed. I am a fruit hater too but man I had to have some strawberries (and a few almonds). I only ate a few but after my killer workout I ate more. Didn't count those calories either. So not like me.

This week may see a huge gain on the scale. Oh well. Maybe next week I will feel like my old self. I am not disappointed in this week though. I guess you just have to deal with feeling different sometimes. This is new to me as I usually always feel the same. I look forward to the weekend and some extra sleep.

Have an enjoyable day!

Soup, Soup, Soup!

Don't forget to check out my previous post and enter for your chance to win some soup on these chilly days!