Life happens

Days Until the Wedding: 59...Exactly 2 MONTHS!
Pounds Lost: 13

Hey Friends! I know some of you have been telling me I've been neglecting this page....I apologize for "abandoning" you all the past few days.  Again, I told myself I wanted to get all this stuff done (including blogging) and then life happens and time gets away from you.  I can't believe we are exactly two months away from getting married! It's all coming up so fast... so it's time to really kick things into high gear.  Today, I'll catch you all up on what I've been up to!

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First off, if you are friends with me on Facebook you may have seen this photo.  This stemmed (haha so punny) from something I had seen on Pinterest (surprise).  I'm sure many of you can relate to needing a bunch of green onions  and you'd hate to go all the way to the store just for one thing (However, if you go to Target just for green onions I guarantee you'll come out with at least 5 things you never knew you needed).  You can save your self the trip and the money by regrowing the tips of your green onions! There are actually a lot of things you can regrow from scraps.  Here is a great article that shows you how to grow a lot of foods from scraps.  As for green onions, all you really have to do cut your onions approximately 3-4 inches above the root end and stick them into a glass of water, place them in a spot with a lot of sunlight, and watch them grow! Also, make sure you change the water out every couple days to keep things fresh.

Look how rapidly these things grow! I put this together on Saturday 2/7/15

Here is a photo from 2/9/15.  

As you can see HUGE growth spurt.  Oh, and I am also trying out celery (small glass). 

This is from this morning (2/11/15)

Onions continue to grow, and celery is sprouting!

The nice thing about the onions is that you can use them intermittently so that you'll always have a supply on hand.  With the celery, I will have to keep you update!

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On Saturday, I FINALLY picked up my wedding dress.  Prior to this, I was a little worried about my dress.  Because of our previous wedding plans, I originally had one week to find my dress so I felt a bit rushed and wasn't sure if I was satisfied with my selection.  This time, when I tried my dress on for the last time before taking it home, I was totally in love with it! Since I lost a little bit of weight, my dress fit even better.  I won't need any major alterations if I continue to lose weight because my back of my dress is able to adjust to my size.  I don't want to go into too much detail because Tony reads the blog, and all he knows is that it's white.  I now have the dress hanging in the guest room with the door closed, trusting him to not take a peek!

My cousin and I saw The Boy Next Door in the afternoon.  I'll admit, I saw it mostly because Ryan Guzman is pretty darn attractive...right?

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Sunday, Tony and I went over to my Grandma/Aunt's house after church for a workout.  Or at least I did.  My Aunt and I did a 12 minute stretch from the Kenpo Karate video on P90X and then we did about an hour of Zumba.  The biggest surprise of all was that she got me my own Zumba set for my birthday! 

Even though the toning sticks are only 1 pound each they totally make a difference! The hour we were doing Zumba FLEW by.  I think that dancing and working out is my thing.  I enjoy it the most because it doesn't feel like working out to me.  Here is a link where you can get your own!

Monday night Tony and I went to the gym.  We go to the Planet Fitness in Bloomingdale... or well, he does.  This was my first visit there with him, but it seems like your typical gym.  We started with 15 min warming up on the treadmill.  I averaged about 3.5mph with a 2.0 incline.  We did some weight training focusing on arms and abs.  Then we did another 15 minutes of cardio before going home.  

Dinner was a Sweet and Savory Spinach Salad and a Cheesey Beef Frittata.  

Sweet and Savory Spinach Salad -203 calories per serving

1 1/2 cups of torn spinach leaves

1/3 cup pomegranate seeds

1 T chopped pecans

1 T crumbled feta cheese 

2 T light honey mustard dressing

Combine all ingredients and enjoy

Cheesey Beef Frittata - 287 calories per slice (8 Servings)

1 lb lean Ground Beef

5 eggs

5 egg whites

1/2 onion chopped

1/2 c mushrooms chopped

1 green pepper chopped 

10 grape tomatoes halved

1 cup low fat shredded cheddar cheese

salt & pepper

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees
2. Brown your ground beef and season with salt and pepper in a oven safe pan, drain and set aside
3. n the same oven safe pan, saute the onions, mushrooms and green pepper until tender.  
4. Return beef to pan and combine well with the rest of the ingredients
5. Beat eggs and egg whites in a bowl, then pour over the ingredients in the pan.  Make sure that you spread the egg evenly around the pan.  
6. Place tomato halves on the surface of your frittata then sprinkle the cheddar cheese evenly over the top of the egg mixture.  
7. Place the whole pan in the oven for 20-30 min or until your fritata has set.  
8. Slice into 8 pieces and enjoy! 

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Tuesday night, we had the same dinner as the previous night because we were in a hurry to get to boot camp.  That's right.  Boot camp.  In the past, this was Tony's go to workout routine.  So when they opened a location right down the street from our house he was eager to check it out.  It's called Heaven and Hell Bootcamp, and it definitely was a mixture of heaven and hell for me.  Our friend Caitlin attends sessions here occasionally so she put a word in for us with the instructor and we got to try a session for free.  It is basically a 45 minute HIIT workout.  Here is a little sample of what I went through.  

What I really liked about this was how the instructor told me not to kill myself on my first day.  He told me to go at my own pace, rest when I needed to, drink water, and modify.  Tony thinks I pushed myself a little harder than I should have.  I'm not going to lie, I am sore, but a good sore.  After finishing my first session, I wasn't sure if I loved it...I mean, I wasn't even sure if I could move.  The  more I think about it though,  I think I like it enough to go back.  I think that it will really help me lose inches and tone up.  AND the best part is that there is a Groupon for either One month of unlimited boot camp for $20 or Two months of unlimited boot camp for $35!  I am in no way affiliated or trying to plug them for personal gain.  I just think that it is a great alternative option for anyone that wants to try a new work out!  

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I feel like last week I was in some sort of slump, and I have been kicked back into gear.  I feel motivated again and anxious to really make a greater effort in my physical activity.  Lets hope this feeling lasts for the next two months!!

Oh yeah and my birthday is tomorrow!... the big 29... yay?

Question of the day:  If you could meet anyone in history, dead or alive who would it be? Where would you go? What would you do?

This is such a tough one for me... I could easily say Joseph Gordon Leavitt....and we'd elope to someplace warm where he'd serenade me with his guitar and charm.

But since he's married now and I'm getting married in 2 months...I'd have to say...Maybe Coco Chanel? She's the name that stands out in my head.  She would take me around Paris and tell me where she got her inspirations from, maybe make me a signature suit, talk over chocolat chau and croissants....

See you soon, my friends!

xo Mandie

ohmandieblogs@gmail.com

Short & Sweet

Days Til the Wedding: 64
Pounds Lost:13 

Happy Friday Friends!

I know I missed you yesterday, we had 2 busy evenings and I was unable to take the time to write a quality post.  So I'm writing something short and sweet for you all on my lunch break.

Wednesday night we met with a photographer who happens to be one of my maid of honor's cousins and decided we would be having her take the photos at our wedding.  Then we had to trek out to my aunt's apartment to water the plants and do some household things for her.

Last night, we had our last Precana meeting with our sponsor couple.  Another late night meant waking up groggy this morning wishing it was Saturday.  I only have another 4 hours left in the work day.. c'mon 5 o'clock!!!

With us being busy the last two nights, I may have not made the best choices, but again it's all part of the journey.  A lifestyle change takes time.  It's hard to give up old habits cold turkey but I know I have made a vast improvement on what my habits used to be.  For example would I have ever thought after already being in bed and realizing I only needed 1500 steps to complete my step goal I'd get up and walk around the room til I completed my goal? Nope! Small changes make big differences!

Question of the day: What's a small change you've made in your life that's made a big difference?

Expect a post in the morning!
xo Mandie

ERMAHGERD POMEGRANATES!

Days til the wedding: 66
Pounds lost: 13!

Yes, another pound demolished!

This was me after I weighed myself this morning

Yesterday was fairly uneventful.  I feel like the snow is making us feel lethargic and lazy.  

Breakfast:

Oh. Em. Gee.  Seriously. Best breakfast ever.

 +  =

So just about every flavor I've had of Yoplait Greek 100 has been awesome (Love the Whips too!), but yesterday's mix of it with pomegranate seeds was amazing.  After the first bite I was like 

If you've never had pomegranate seeds (arils) before you're missing out.  I think I can only describe it like little juicy kernels with a crunchy seed in the center.  Tony and I saw some on sale this past weekend at Valli Produce and bought 2.  I had purchased a small container of the seeds before and thought they were tasty, but I'd never deseeded one on my own.  Tony had never had them before, period.  So began my pomegranate deseeding adventure.  The only method I'd ever seen was submerging it in a bowl of water and it just looked so labor intensive, so when I'd heard of an alternative method from my aunt I turned to YouTube and found this method.  72 calories per 1/2 cup. I documented my pomegranate adventure for you guys too...

Our 2 beautiful pomegranites

Score around the middle

Insides

Lay it seed side down on your palm over a bowl and whack it with a wooden spoon 

(You can see my spoon an bowl in the background. I'd already did some work)

Pomegranate carcass

Amazing breakfast - 172 calories

Lunch:

Grabbed something as I was heading out the door.  I love Progresso soups, you can find lots of low calorie choices, you just have to be aware of the sodium content.  1 can 180 Calories.  I had a little halor orange and also munched on a rice cake.  I know these things get a bad rep, but I really enjoy the buttered popcorn rice cakes.  I think at 35 Calories a cake they're satisfying and you get that popcorn feel without being THAT PERSON in the office who makes popcorn and stinks up the place.

Dinner:

So much guilt.  But we fell to the fast food fix again.  I think I could have done worse...

In all my daily round up ended with 

1242 Calories eaten / 0 Calories burned / 2863 Steps taken

House Walking

As you all have seen, my calories burned has been pretty sad lately.  SO even if I don't work out, I feel like I need to start getting my steps up again.  The fitbit excitement has been fading and I have to remember that these steps I am taking really do translate to calories burned.  My cousin shared this article with me a few weeks ago on how easy it is to get these steps in.  I did do this a few weeks ago, it's something you can literally do anywhere.  Brushing your teeth, washing your hands, on the elevator at work.  Granted people might give you funny looks, so I tend to do this when people aren't around.  They add up quickly! 

Question of the day: If you could pack your bags today and go anywhere in the world for a week where would you go? -- I would pick someplace warm.  Anyplace warm. :p

I think that's all I have for today...We're halfway through the week!

xo Mandie

Recipe Bonanza

Days Until the Wedding: 67
Pounds lost: 12

Happy Tuesday friends! What a rough couple days it has been.  I spent most of yesterday resting and napping and sleeping and I feel 100 times better than I have in about a week.  Since I've skipped a bunch of days, this post is going to seem rather long....but hope you read the whole thing because it is packed with some good recipes!

Friday: 

I started my morning with a Egg White Delight from McDonald's (300 Calories).  I substitute the Canadian Bacon for regular bacon because I think it tastes better that way.  

For lunch I had some leftover Turkey and Quinoa stuffed Acorn Squash of which I couldn't even finish 303 Calores (recipe).

For dinner, Tony and I didn't feel like cooking, so we decided to go out.  I had a craving for a local spot called Village Tavern and Grill.  Every Wednesday and Friday nights they have an 'All You Can Eat Fish Fry' for $9.95.  It definitely isn't the healthiest thing to eat, but let me tell you, the 45 minute wait was worth it. This place is always packed on the weekends and for good reason! Just because it is all you can eat doesn't mean I had plate after plate.  In fact, all I could eat was about about 3/4 of the plate, if even that.  I still had 2 pieces of fish, at least half the french fries and one hush puppy leftover.  My meal also came with a bowl of corn chowder....clocking in my dinner at 610 Calories

The roundup:

1213 Calories Eaten / 0 Calories burned / 3201 Steps taken

Saturday:

Tony and I woke up early and I made breakfast of our leftovers.  We reheated my fish and his chicken tenders in the oven and I made hash browns of the leftover fries.  YES. Save your leftover fries people! Here is how I make them:

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French Fry Hash Browns:

You'll need:

• Leftover french fries
• Green Pepper (optional)
• Onion

1. Dice up your French fries, green peppers and onions separately

2. Saute your onions with a little oil until translucent

3. Add the peppers and saute for a couple min with the onions until slightly soft

4.  Add your diced french fries to the pan and heat until desired crispness and serve.

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My breakfast clocked in at about 321 Calories

We took a trip to the grocery store to stock up the kitchen and get the ingredients for the highly anticipated ...

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Lumpia Shanghai (Shanghai Egg Rolls) 

Stop drooling.

You'll Need:

• 1 Package spring roll wrappers (30 wrappers/package)
• 1 lb ground pork 
• 1/2 Package of shredded carrots minced
• 4 Green onions minced
• 2 Eggs
• 1/4 cup soy sauce
• Black pepper to taste 
• Oil for frying

Directions

1. Place the pork, minced carrots, minced green onions, eggs, soy sauce and black pepper in a bowl.  Mix with your hands until well combined.  Chill the mixture in the fridge while you separate the wrappers. 
2. Carefully separate the wrappers layer by later so they are no longer stuck together, cover with a damp towel to keep from drying out. 
3. Spoon about 1 1/2 tablespoons of filling  on to the wrapper and spread into a thin line. 
4. Roll up your wrapper and seal the edges with water
5. Heat a large pan with about 1 inch of frying oil to about medium-high.  You can test the oil by putting a wood chopstick or  small piece of the wrapper into the oil and you should see tiny bubble form around it.
6. Place egg rolls in the pan seam side down.  Don't crowd the pan to ensure even cooking.  My pan was large so I was able to fit 6-7 egg rolls.  
7. Fry until golden brown, turning half way to ensure even cooking.  This take about 2-3 min per side depending on your oil temperature.  Be sure not to have your oil too high or the outside will cook faster than the inside. 
8. Drain the egg rolls standing up in a paper towel lined strainer
9. Once cooled cut in thirds with a knife or scissors
10. Serve with sweet chili or sweet and sour sauce 

These are the wrappers I used

Make sure you mince them up, so your lumpia has a good texture!

Here is the big bottle of soy sauce we bought.  Tony doesn't believe that we will actually use all this...

This is what my bowl looks like for a double batch (notice 4 eggs)

Get in there and mix it up good!

It should resemble something like this....

I have my rolling station 

Your wrapper and filling should look like this... you then fold the bottom corner up, the sides in and roll until you get to the top point.  

Dab your hand into the water, and spread on the top corner of the wrapper to help seal it.

Here is your completed roll.

Shallow frying egg rolls

Turn half way through cook time to make sure they're evenly cooked

Drain them standing up so the oil can pass through the bottom

I find using a pair of scissors is the easiest way to cut you long rolls into thirds

My favorite dipping sauce

Enjoy!

Estimating with the frying oil, these are about 40 calories a piece.  Which isn't half bad! Good luck only eating a few though...

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Later that afternoon my cousin and I went to Ulta and I picked up a couple items that I will be sharing in a future blog.  I haven't had time to even open what I bought!  

I took Tony to a place near my parent's house called Pita Inn.  They have really good Mediterranean food...Like one of my favorite "fast food" places in the area.  We both got the Beef shwarma sandwich, a falafel and shared a side of baba ganouj.  This was the first time Tony had been there and he wasn't too impressed at first.  Then he tried the falafel and loved it.  It's probably the best falafel I've ever had, and many of my friends and family say it's the best in the area.  I'd like to try making baked falafel in the future, I've saved some recipes for it on my Pinterest.  In all our dinner cost me 693 calories.

We went over to our friend's house on Saturday evening to watch the UFC fight (which was disappointing) but we had a good time with friends.  I over indulged a little on snack food, but not too worried about it.  

Saturday round up:

1893 Calories eaten (Ouch) / 463 Calories burned / 7698 Steps taken

Sunday

We stayed over at Jen & Ryan's and enjoyed some home made waffles with them and the kids.  We tried to leave, but Snowpocalypse 2015 already started.  As many of you know some parts of the Chicagoland area got over 20 inches of snow clock in at the 5th largest blizzard we've had in 20 years.  Needless to say, we finally made it home at about 3pm after a painful 2 hour drive accross the treacherous expressways.  

Unfortunately due to the snow storm we all decided to stay home instead of attending a planned Superbowl party at a friend's house.  Tony dug out the walk ways when we got home while I fried up another batch of egg rolls and made a frozen pizza and called it a night. 

Sunday Round up:

1207 Calories eaten / 47 Calories burned / 2990 Steps taken

Monday

As you all know it was kind of a snow day for us here.  I initially drove to work in the morning despite the conditions (The roads and my terrible cold) and ended up taking half a sick day to rest. 

When I got home I decided to whip up a batch of Arroz Caldo (Filipino Rice Soup).  The recipe I referenced is here, but I improvised  because I didn't necessarily have all the ingredients and I've made it before so I know how I like it.  Estimated at about 346 calories for 2 cups.

So warm and cozy

Tony made dinner tonight also.  He cooked us up some Turkey Sausage and Peppers in the crock pot and we ate it over spaghetti squash.  All he did was throw a jar of pre-made sauce, the sausage and cut up peppers and onions in the crock pot and let it cook on low all day, or about 8-10 hours.  Here is our favorite way to prepare our spaghetti squash from Laura Vitale.  She rocks! A delicious dinner for 413 Calories.

So yummy and so easy!

We were craving dessert and I had seen some recipes for a "3-2-1" mug cake on Pinterest.  

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3-2-1 Mug Cake

Here's what you need: 

1 Box Angel Food cake mix

1 Box ANY other cake mix (We used funfetti)

Water

That's it! 

mmm cake

Here's what you do:

1. Pour the dry mix from both boxes into a zip lock bag and shake it up until its well combined.  Keep this mix in this or another air tight container for future cakes. 
2. Grab mug and put 3 tablespoons of the cake mixture into it with 2 tablespoons of water and mix it up
3. Cook it in the microwave for 1 minute and voila! You have yourself a mini cake

You can eat this right out of the mug or invert it on to a plate.  I topped mine with 1 tsp of chocolate frosting (22 Calories).  According to MyFitnessPal this mug cake clocks in at 128 Calories making this dessert 148 Calories! Amazing

Monday roundup: 

1099 calories eaten / 98 calories burned / 3641 steps taken

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So I was pretty worried about weekend weight because I splurged a little here and there.  My aunt posted this article  entitled "How Much Weight Can You Gain From One Day of Terrible Eating?"

I'm not saying I can splurge all the time, but I was surprised to find this out:

"It’s virtually impossible to gain weight overnight, even if you really blew it on bar food," says Cassetty. "The reason comes down to calorie math. Though it’s not 100% precise, the basic principle stands true: In order to gain weight, you’d have to eat 3,500 more calories than you typically eat and burn off to maintain your figure." So let’s say you eat 2,000 calories per day on a normal day. You’d have to eat 3,500 additionall calories, totaling 5,500 calories, to gain a single pound. And that's not even taking any physical activity into account."

So really, when you splurge don't sweat it.  Or do sweat it, and make sure you are burning off those additional calories! The most important thing to do is to stay aware and stay motivated! Keep your eyes on your ultimate goal and remember your health depends on it!

Question of the Day: What’s the biggest personal change you’ve ever made?

I think mine would be this. My dedication to being healthier and happier.

Catch you all tomorrow!

xo Mandie