Healthy Alternative to Chips...

Okay it's crispy and healthy! Full of nutrients, and minerals and antioxidants (remember - eat the rainbow!) and low cal and carb!:)

So it may not be a chip - but it tastes great - and you can dip it in greek ranch dip (greek yogurt like FAGE and ranch seasoning).

All you need is a container of sweet peppers - a mix of colors is good for antioxidant properties. Cut off the top, clean out the seeds, and slice length wise.

If you MUST have something more like a chip - try Soy Crisps (google it) they have them in barbeque and nacho flavors. They aren't bad - but personally I dont like them. A little too crunchy for me personally.

***And yes, my board is burnt...dont' ask...Im not as graceful in the kitchen as you would expect...***

Bulgar Wheat and Soy Breakfast...

You can find this next to the Malt-o-Meal on the hot breakfast isle. It's very high in protein and fiber and fairly low calorie! I like to make according to the directions with a pad of butter (cardio butter) and some dried cherries and raisins. To sweeten you can add some splenda plus.

Peanutbutter Oatmeal Protein Cookies (No Bake!)

INGREDIENTS:

1 cup Toasted Oats

1/4 cup Unsweetened Coconut

1/4 cup Creamy Peanut Butter

1/4 cup DaVinci Sugar Free Syrup (Vanilla)

1/4 cup Chocolate Protein Powder (we used Isopure)

DIRECTIONS:

1. Mix together the peanut butter and vanilla syrup.

2. Add all other ingredients and stir together till every bit is moistened. If too crumbly add a tiny bit syrup. If too wet add more coconut.

3.Roll into balls like playdoh and refridgerate for 2 -3 hours.

**We only use Isopure in our baking. Mainly because I already have it - but think it's pretty freaking nasty to drink. But it tastes good in baking recipes and has much higher protein concentration than my other protein powders. Plus it's crazy expensive so I GOTTA use it now that it's paid for. But luckily once it's gone - it's gone! Haha!

***Thanks Michele again! I had tried this recipe once before on my own but was too crumbly and was bummed. I saw your recipe and saw that I was just missing the syrup!

What I cooked for Dinner tonight!

Just saute/wilted some fresh baby spinach with one clove garlic chopped. Then placed about half cup of cauliflower rice on top, sprinkled dried cranberries, some boneless skinless chicken breast and about 1tbsp Honey Mustard!

Breakfast Bites

INGREDIENTS:

5 eggs (I use eggbeaters)

1/3 cup Diced Tomatos

1/2 package of Oscar Myer Turkey Meat cut up

1/2 onion chopped

1/2 cup Shredded 2% Cheese

Salt and Pepper to Taste

Any herbs you would like

DIRECTIONS:

1. Saute onions and turkey together till slightly cooked

2. Let them cool and then add to egg beaters and stir in all ingredients

3. Lightly coat a mini-muffin pan with cooking spray

4. Spoon into the little cups and place in an oven preheated to 350 F.

5. They are done in about 30 min!

This yeilds 24 bites and a serving is roughly 3-4 and should pack about 18gr protein per serving.

I like to top it off with a little greek yogurt (Oikos) to boost my protein and because it tastes like sour cream!

**Thanks Egg Face for the ideas!

Spaghetti Squash

(Image courtesy of google images)

Ingredients:

1 large Spaghetti Squash (HEB has them and occasionally Walmart)

1/2 cup Water

DIRECTIONS:

1. Cut squash in half and place into a baking dish cut sides down. Add water to this dish. Stab squash all over the side facing you.

2. Place it into the oven at 350 for 45 min or until you can lightly scrape the cut side with a fork and it will string up for you.

3. Use a fork to remove all the "meat" in strings and then proceed to use in your favorite pasta recipe.

Nutritional WoW: This not only gets the benefits of veggies into your non-veggie family members, but is also a great low calorie and low carb dish!

The Daily Plate

Im making 2 posts today because I want to share with you about http://www.thedailyplate.com/ . This is an awesome website that is customized to you. You go in and type in your weight and height, the lifestyle you live (active, sedentary) and it will tell you how many calories you can consume in order to lose 2lbs a week or to maintain your weight.
They have a food log that I have been using for nearly a year there. It's all FREE. The food log has EVERY food you can possibly think of including the nutritional facts. You can also type in the excersize you do (they have everything from treadmill, to shopping, and even sex) and it will deduct the calories your body burned from your daily caloric intake.
To show you how indepth this is - I will post a screen shot of MY daily plate for today so far.

Dressing Skinny...

After walking around the Grocery store this morning - I have made an important observation that I felt needed to be talked about.
The way you dress can really make you look a LOT bigger than you are,  or it can make you look smaller. A lot of people when they are overweight, will wear big baggy clothes. Im not sure why we do it (yes, I said WE because I too was obese before), maybe we think if we wear baggy clothes then it will look like we are shrinking out of them?? Or maybe we think we are cleverly hiding the fact that we are fat from others (yeah right, like they can't see it??).
Im not advocating wearing tight clothes either - as those can make you look gross too (especially if they are so tight they cling to rolls, or worse, CREATE rolls). But dressing in properly fitting clothing can make a huge difference! In fact - to illustrate this for you - I have taken a picture of myself in baggy clothing and properly fitting to SHOW you just how big the difference is!

I know that a lot of people (myself included) often bought too big clothing for myself because I felt that nothing that fit my stomach would fit my breasts (and this was a problem for a while) but there are clothes out there that will work - and if nothing else - spend a little more to feel better about yourself!

***I didn't edit these images at all but to crop and place on here for you to see. Notice how with the baggy clothes I seemed to gain about 30-40lbs instantly***

A Peep At My Grocery List This Week....

Here is a peep at my grocery list this week. Why on earth am I posting this? What do you care? Well, Im posting it so you can see what kinds of foods we keep around out house - AND because Im thrifty and would like to show you that eating healthy isn't as terribly expensive as most think. Thereby, erasing your excuse of eating crappy food just because it's all you can afford!

Shopping List:

Old Orchard 100% Apple Juice (on sale at HEB 5/$5 64oz - stock up on this great price and get all 5!)
Hill Country Fare Sliced Cheese (on sale at HEB 5/$5 6oz - stock up on this great price and get all 5)
HEB Premium Tea Bags (on sale at HEB 5/$5 20ct. - stock up on these great price and get all 5)
HEB Herbal Tea Bags (on sale at HEB 5/$5 20ct. - stock up on these great price  and get all 5)
Starkist Tuna in Water (on sale at HEB 5/$5 5oz. - stock up on this and get 10 if allowed)
HEB Bake Shop Whole Wheat Round Top Bread (on sale HEB 5/$5 - stock up - if you have freezer space and get 5!)
2lbs Ground Turkey
2.5lb Pork Roast
1 lb Carrots
Fingerling Potatos
Onion
Kale or Spinach
Strawberries
Greek Yogurt (Fage/Oikos)
2 Heads Cauliflower (if you can find a pretty head)

This will probably feed me for nearly 2 weeks since hubby isn't home and Riana will not eat anything healthy-ish. LOL!

Lenten Season...

Tomorrow begins the Lenten Season. Tomorrow is traditionally "Ash Wednesday" and the start of my giving up my Diet Coke and Coke Zero which I LOVE LOVE LOVE but shouldn't. In my faith, we choose to fast from something that gives us a lot of pleasure and that we do a lot - in order to remember Christ's suffering leading up to his death, and to practice self control. A lot of us choose to give up something that we would like to stop anyway - but maybe dont have the self control NORMALLY to do on our own.

I chose these soft drinks because I literally drink probably...4-5 a day. Yep - bad stuff not only for my body (did you know that even diet sodas are highly acidic and eat away at your teeth, AND they have been shown to cause more cravings and more caloric intake in a day?) But they also leech the calcium from your bones.

So tomorrow I will begin my fast and hopefully longterm recovery from that addiction.

In order to do this - I will have to now find something to replace them . I aim to get in about 80oz of fluid daily - so Im planning to have more bottled water (I love Ozarka) and either propel drop ins, or Crystal Light drop ins. These are both very low calorie (10cals) and sugar free, carb free! Im also going to drink more tea here at the house. 

Pina Colada Protein Shake

Pina Colada Protein Shake

INGREDIENTS:

8oz can refrigerated dole pineapple in natural unsweetened juices

1 tsp of coconut flavoring

½ cup crushed ice

1 packet Splenda Plus Fiber

1 scoop vanilla protein powder.

6oz Borden Hi- Protein Milk (2%)

DIRECTIONS:

Combine in blender and blend for 2 minutes on high. Place in a daquiri glass, and garnish with pineapple wedge and maybe a sprig of mint!:)

 

NUTRTION FACTS (guesstimate):

 

140 calories, 4gr Fat, 6 Carbs, 25gr protein

A Few Reasons I Do Things The Way I Do....

Why Whey Protein Isolates?

I choose to use Whey Protein supplements for many reasons. Some of them are personal preference and some of them are research related. Whey protein is better than other proteins because it has the highest Biological Value (BV) of any known protein. This means that the proportion of protein that is absorbed and incorporated into your body's proteins is higher from whey protein than from other protein sources. It's important to know that you CAN get your protein from eating a high protein diet - but I choose to supplement daily because some days - several a week actually - I will fall short without the shakes/bars. So while Whey Protein Shakes are not a nessesity for most - they have worked for me in my weightloss journey.

Why Not Soy?

Two major reasons I don't do soy protein: 1. Soy is known to have estrogen in it. I dont need the extra hormones and my husband ESPECIALLY doesn't. I also don't want to alter my daughter's body with it either. We do eat Edamame occasionally - which are soybeans and do have the estrogens - but that is not a daily thing. 2. It's not as bio-available as a whey protein is. Your body uses whey better, more efficiently than soy.

How Fast Will I Lose Weight if I Eat Like You?

Every body is different and you are not guarenteed to lose weight if you eat like me. Im not really eating to lose weight any longer but to maintain my weight. Besides - this is not really a weight loss plan. This is not a diet. You dont do this for a month or two and then quit. This is a totally new relationship with food. Broadening your horizons and trying foods that maybe you haven't before. You certainly will not lose weight with this if you do not excersize. I work out roughly 5 days a week doing an hour of cardio each day - and 30 minutes of weight training. I recently began running.

I will add to this as often as questions come up. I make up some of my recipes and some of them I get from other websites/books and then alter them. If I give you an exact copy of someone's recipe I will also link to that person - or give them credit in some way. I have done a lot of websearching for these and may have lost some of the links - so if you see YOUR recipe on here and would like acknowledgement - PLEASE email me and let me know! Im greatful for the recipes and love to give credit where it is due!