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

Regular Potato...or Sweet Potato?

Days Til the Wedding: 72

Pounds Lost: 10

Happy Friday-Eve friends!

We only have one more day until the weekend! Still, good things come out of Thursdays... Scandal and Grey's Anatomy come back tonight! Who else is excited??

Here is a short and sweet breakdown on my day yesterday

Breakfast: 

1 Cup cut grapefruit
1 Slice Healthy Life Italian Bread 35 Calories 
1/2 T Great Value Creamy Natural Peanut Butter

Lunch:

Asian Salad Jar

Dinner:

Wok N' Fire
Sushi Sampler appetizer  - 463 Calories
Miso Soup - 66 Calories
1/2 Edamame Appetizer - 75 Calories 

Last night I met up with an old coworker/friend for dinner.  It was a lot of fun. It's so nice when you don't see someone in forever but you are able to pick up without it being awkward.  

So I got home from dinner last night fully aware that my right boot had felt tight all day.  Finally upon taking them off my right ankle was swollen.  Tony made me lay on the couch and ice it again with my lovely bag of frozen peas for 20 min.  It does feel a little better than yesterday, but still a dull pain.  I wore flats instead of boots today to let my foot "breathe"...but I honestly don't know if that helps it or not.  

Yesterday I read an article on MSN about the 10 most filling foods for dieters:

1. Baked Potato
2. Bean Soup
3. Eggs
4. Greek Yogurt
5. Apples
6. Popcorn
7. Figs 
8. Oatmeal
9. Wheat Berries
10. Smoothies

When I read this list, all but 2 made sense to me.  Baked potato and Wheat berries.  The Wheat Berries didn't make sense because I've never head them.  So here is my mental note to research them and maybe try them out soon.  So baked potatoes...Ok it makes sense that they keep you full but I thought SWEET potatoes are better for you?  Turns out when you break it all down it's pretty much a tie according to Prevention.com! Like they said the bigger benefit you are getting from sweet potato is the amounts of vitamin A and beta-carotene it contains.  So the choice is yours...Just remember you're probably going to have to work it off somehow.

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On a slightly different topic.  Who's been to Sweet Tomatoes (Or Soup Plantation)?  I found some coupons online that I thought I would share here!  It's a dieters dream  I mean an all you can eat salad bar is perfect! As long as you are making sensible choices the sky is the limit here! Last time we were there I even treated myself to a teeny tiny ice cream cone.  At $11.59 with a beverage included you cant lose! It's definitely a good (healthy) place to go out to eat on the weekends when you might not feel like cooking.  Visit them soon this offer expires 2/4/15! 

Question of the day:  What are some places you go OUT to eat when you are trying to make sensible choices? What do you order? 

Wednesday's Breakdown:

1211 Calories Eaten / 67 Calories Burned (Whoops)/4110 Steps Taken

Catch y'all tomorrow!

xo mandie

Crumpled to the floor like an old napkin....

Days to the Wedding: 73
Pounds Lost:11 (Back on track!)

Happy HUMP DAY friends...It feels like it should be later than Wednesday! Who agrees?

Weighed myself this morning and finally got rid of that pesky pound! Tuesday was a pretty good day.  Tried a new recipe (you will see below) and we received another RSVP, but nothing else out of the ordinary.    Unless you count what happened during my work out? But more about that later. 

Breakfast: 

Chocolate Peanut Butter Banana Oatmeal Smoothie 

Lunch: 

Asian Inspired Salad Jar

Dinner:

Sausage and Quinoa Stuffed Acorn Squash

Tuesday's dinner was adapted from a recipe I found here on the Messy Baker Blog

According to MyFitnessPal the original recipe is 776 calories per serving (1/2 a stuffed squash). 

Here is my recipe rehab:

4 Servings | Total time: 1 hour

2 Acorn Squash, halved and seeded
1/2 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup chopped celery

1 clove minced garlic
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes

1 T dried thyme

1/2 cup diced apple
1/4 cup raisins

2 cups cooked quinoa

2 T Olive oil

1/2 lb Jeannie-O Mild Turkey Breakfast Sausage Lean

1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Salt

Pepper

1. Preheat your oven to 400 degrees F
2. Place your acorn squash halves on a baking sheet and drizzle each half with 1/4 tsp of olive oil and season well with salt and pepper.  Roast them for about 45 min until the squash is fork tender
3. Meanwhile, as your squash roasts, heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a large saute pan.  Add your turkey sausage to the pan and brown.  
4. Add the onion, celery, garlic, red pepper flakes and a pinch of salt & pepper.  Cook this for about 5 min until the onion is tender and translucent
5. Remove your pan from the heat and add your chopped thyme and rosemary.  Stir in the quinoa, apples and raisins.  Season your mixture again with salt and pepper to taste.  
6. Scoop the mixture into the roasted acorn squash halves.  Top with Parmesan cheese and bake for 10 min.
7. Serve immediately

And the final reveal.  1 serving of my rehabbed recipe: 404 Calories!

The bold ingredients above are what I substituted or reduced: 

• 1/4 Raisins vs 1/4 cup Cranberries - 123 cal vs. 92 cal...

...In this case, this was purely a "what I had in the house" substitute.  

• 1/3 c Parmesan vs 1/4 c Parmesan - 144 cal vs 108 cal

...That's 36 calories saved!

• 2 T vs 3 T Olive oil = 358 cal vs 239 cal

 ...That's 119 calories saved!

• 1/2 lb Pork Sausage vs 1/2 lb Turkey Sausage Lean - 800 cal vs 275 cal

 ...  That's an incredible 525 calories saved!

For a grand total of...372 calories rehabbed per serving!

This was my first time having acorn squash.  I love all other squashes I've tried, so it's not a surprise that I loved acorn squash as well.  Tony also enjoyed the dish.  I know this because he put it in the "Definitely making this again" category.  Funny side story though... Tony's was eating it and kept saying it tasted "buttery".  I didn't understand why he was saying it when finally I asked if he knew it was acorn squash...the whole time he said he thought it was butternut squash.  Hence "buttery" -__-

Anyway, butternut squash has some great benefits besides being delicious.  According to livestrong.com one serving of acorn squash boasts 37% of you daily value for vitamin C.  Not only that, it is also a great source of potassium.. 26% of your daily value!

I will definitely have to find more recipes for this scrumptious squash!

Exercise:

Zumba: 20 min  - 278 Calories burned

I did a 6 min warm up on my own to loosen the muscles and get my heart rate going.  Then I did a previously shared Zumba video again.  About 2 min before the end of the video I jumped and landed wrong on my ankle.  I crumpled to the ground like an old napkin.  Fortunately, Tony was home.  Unfortunately, he fell asleep in the basement.  So here I am hoisting myself up onto the couch nearly in tears yelling for him.  Finally he wakes up and retrieves a bag of frozen peas to relieve my clumsiness.  After resting for the rest of the night, nothing looked swollen and it was a little tender to walk on, so I think I'm ok! This morning this is still a dull pain, but I'm not limping or anything.  I Might have to take it easy for the rest of the week and stick to arm and ab workouts or things that don't require too much standing and definitely no jumping! 

Due to resting, I did not get around to measuring myself.  I want to get this done by the end of the week!

I found an article on All Womens Talk that shared 7 metabolism boosting breakfast foods.  Here is their list:

1. Eggs
2. Oats
3. Green Smoothies
4. Berries
5. Protein Shakes
6. Ezekiel Bread 
7. Avocado

Much to my surprise, this is mostly what I have been eating for breakfast since I've started my diet! I love berries so I think maybe we will pick some of those up this weekend if I see them on sale and I think Tony said avocados on sale for 49 cents at Valli Produce this weekend! 

Question of the day: What are some blogs, sites, resources you use to help you stay on track? I'd love to check them out!

Tuesday Roundup:
1190 calories eaten / 350 calories burned / 5020 steps taken

I've forgotten to leave u with inspiration and motivation! 
xo mandie

NO you cannot have the kids meal!

Days Until the Wedding: 74
Pounds Lost: 10lbs

Well, we made it through Monday and  we're one step closer to the weekend! Today's blog is packed with recipes.  Every single meal I had today I've provided a recipe for, but before we get into that... 

Let's talk about how excited I am that I am starting receive RSVP cards in the mail!! Anyone who has received my invitation might not have noticed something about the RSVP card that is unusual.  Yeah... I forgot to put a line for declines... Whoopsies.  So either I'm forcing everyone to come, or I'm going to have to make some phone calls! 

For anyone who is asking what is the chicken dish, and what is the vegetarian dish and what is the kids meal?  Here it is: 

Chicken: Chicken Toscano - Chicken breasts topped with roasted peppers and onions in a white wine sauce, with asparagus, carrots and garlic smashed potatoes

Vegeterian: Pasta Primavera with a tomato cream sauce

Kids (12 & Under): Chicken fingers with french fries

And for the MILLIONTH time. NO you cannot get a kids meal unless you are a kid.  Sure it was funny the first two or three times I heard it...but apparently all my friends and family have the same sense of humor.  -__- Plus If you want the kids meal that also means you're foregoing the open bar. Just saying.

Alright here was yesterday's food adventures...

Breakfast:

Chocolate Peanut Butter Banana Oatmeal Smoothie - 448 Calories
This is the best smoothie I have made yet. So delicious and though it is 448 calories there is 23g of protein and kept me full all morning to lunch. 

Here's the breakdown:

1/4 c Rolled Oats

1 T Chia Seeds
1 C - Skim Milk

1/4 c Light & Fit Vanilla Greek Yogurt
1 tsp Cocoa Powder

1  medium banana
1 T Creamy Natural Peanut Butter

1. Ground the oats and Chia seeds into a fine powder in your blender.  The finer you grind it, the smoother you drink will be.  

2.  Add the rest of the ingredients and blend until smooth.  

3. Chill in the fridge for a couple hours, or even better, over night.  

4.  Shake when ready to drink, add a straw, and enjoy.  

Lunch:

Asian inspired Salad Jar - 285 Calories

Ingredients in layer order:

1 T Chopped peanuts

5 chopped baby carrots

1 chopped stalk of celery

1/3 chopped green pepper

2 T chick peas

3.5 oz Sauteed Chicken 

2 Cups Spring Mix

Dressing - 18 Calories (1 Tablespoon at the bottom of the jar)

3 Garlic Cloves

1 chopped green onion

1/4 cup chicken broth

2 T Rice vinegar

1 T Low sodium soy sauce

1 T sesame oil

Put everything in you blender and blend until smooth and emulsified.  I actually used my immersion blender.  Incredibly flavorful dressing-- but you will definitely need a piece of gum after lunch!

Dinner:

Miso Swai with Cauliflower Mash and Sauteed Eggplant
Miso Swai Fillets-160 Calories per serving

Ingredients:

2 - 4oz Swai Fillets defrosted

Glaze:

2 T Trader Joe's light Miso

1 T Soy Sauce

1 T Sesame Oil

1 T Honey

1. Mix all glaze ingredients in a small bowl.  

2.  On your swai fillets use a basting brush or spoon spread the glaze on one side of each fillet.  

3.  In a lightly oiled pan/skillet heated on medium high heat, place your swai fillets glaze side down and cook about 3-4 min.  

4.  While one side is cooking spread glaze on the uncovered side of the fillet

5. Flip the fillets and cook another 3-4 min until done

Swai is an awesome mild white fish to try and cooks up SO fast.  It's very inexpensive too! 

Cauliflower Mash - 64 Calories per 1 cup serving

Ingredients:

1 head of cauliflower

1/4 cup Parmesan cheese

1 tsp garlic powder

salt and pepper to taste

1. Steam cauliflower until tender 

2. Transfer cauliflower to a bowl and add remaining ingredients

3. Use immersion blender to blend your cauliflower until smooth or desired consistency

4. Serve

If you are using a regular blender, you will probably have to blend the cauliflower in batches and then add in the remaining ingredients at the end because you don't want it to explode out of your blender.  

Cauliflower mash is amazing.  I think it tastes SO similar to mashed potatoes that I don't feel like I'm depriving myself.  Like mashed potatoes you can add in or top it with whatever you'd like but it's way less calories! I encourage everyone to try it.  Cauliflower is SUCH a good substitute for some of my favorite carbs, and it's become one of Tony's too.  He didn't even like cauliflower before I started cooking it! 

Sauteed Eggplant - 84 Calories per 1 cup serving

1 Medium eggplant cubed

3 cloves of garlic minced

1 T Low sodium soy sauce

1 T Sesame oil

1 Green onion chopped

1.  Add garlic to a lightly oiled pan and saute on medium heat for 2-3 min until fragrant and lightly browned.  

2. Add eggplant, soy sauce and sesame oil.  Saute stirring occasionally for 15-20 min until eggplant is tender.  

3.  Add green onion at the end and saute another few minutes

4. Serve

I just read an article that said Eggplant is a low calorie food that keeps you full.  It's a great source of fiber, vitamin B1, copper and potassium.  I honestly prefer the Chinese eggplant rather than the Italian eggplant.  I just feel like it's more tender and cooks much more quickly.  Of course I also love it when it's dipped in egg and fried...hmmm maybe I can try to do a low calorie tortang talong (my Filipino readers might appreciate this).

How am I doing on my goals?

• Do 45 min of Cardio and 15 min of targeted training - AT LEAST 3 times a week

Ok, so yesterday I started doing some jumping jacks...I did 100 to be exact. And then I was going to do abs... And again. I got lazy.  I know, boo on me.  TONIGHT. I promise you guys I will get a workout in.  Or...Someone suggest some sort of "punishment" for me.

• Find alternative post-workout snack/smoothie *The one I have now is only 155 calories with almond milk, but I've seen others that are less.  Also, I have to research more on this whole "multi-release" protein deal.  Someone said if I'm only have one shake a day that's what I need...  I don't know what it means... Maybe someone can elaborate on this for me?

Have yet to research this.... anyone out there have suggestions?

• Take body measurements to enter into MyFItnessPal

Also will do this tonight!

• Research metabolism boosting breakfast options

This will be on a blog this week!

• REALLY try to get 8 hours of sleep a night

Sunday night I got 7 h 20 min, last night I got 6hr and 57 min....I'm doing better than last week!

• Try not to stress about the wedding

All my bridesmaids have their dresses! Now we have to work on the church stuff!

Question of the day: 

If you were a shoe...what kind of shoe would you be? Where would you go...where have you been? What would be stuck on the bottom of you?

Monday's breakdown:

1204 Calories Eaten / 64 Calories burned / 4111 Steps Taken

Catch y'all tomorrow! 

xo mandie

Junk Food = Weightloss

Days til the Wedding: 75
Total Pounds Lost: 10

Happy Monday Friends! Hope everyone had a great weekend! Well... I'm not sure how successful, or unsuccessful my weekend was... but I managed to get rid of one of those pounds I gained?

Saturday: 

Breakfast: Tony and I started off our day with a veggie omelette, grapefruit and some low calorie toast.  I don't think I have to share any recipes here...It was a one whole egg one egg white omelette with tomato, mushroom and onions.

We did some cleaning around the house and then we headed to my apartment.  Even though I've moved to Tony's, much of my stuff still lives up north.  Tony brought his dad and a friend to help move my bed over to the house.  And finally, after maneuvering a queen sized bed down the twisty stairway of a two-flat, we parted ways. I picked up some friends for lunch before we went on to Frozen on Ice.  We went to Buffalo Wild wings and I didn't make the best choices.  This was supposed to be my cheat meal this week, not the Jimmy John's I had the night before.  

Lunch: 4 Asian Zing and 5 Desert Heat Wings and a side of Buffalo Chips.  

At Frozen on Ice I got the Snow Cone and the souvenir cup I wanted.  I never realized how messy those things are...I felt like I kid again.

When I got home, I planned on having a salad for dinner, but then we decided to just order a pizza and watch Guardians of the Galaxy (which I loved).  

It was a pretty packed day, but so much needed girl time!  AND I made my step goal!

Sunday: 

I weighed myself in the morning because I figured my bad choices on Saturday would effect me for the worse.  Turned out I lost a pound...Maybe the steps paid off?  

On our way to church we stopped and got some coffee at Dunkin Donuts.  I hardly ever drink coffee because sometimes it gives me bad acid reflux and caffeine headaches.  But it was delightful this morning.  

We ran some errands and stopped at Portillos for lunch.  I ordered some onion rings (and only ate 4) and also got a Charbroiled chicken sandwich.  I took the top bun off, and tore any of the bottom bun off that wasn't touching the chicken (I estimated I only ate 1/3 of the bun).  I was kind of disgusted that they put mayo on the top AND bottom bun.  Don't get me wrong, I love me so mayo...but it just seemed excessive.

Tony's dad came over for dinner tonight and here comes the recipe I wanted to share:

Biscuit Chicken Pot Pie:

I was trying to figure out what to make for dinner based on what we had in the house.  I found this recipe and modified it a little to make it somewhat healthier.  I think I have to make a couple more tweaks because there was A LOT of sodium in it.    

We didn't have all the vegetables it noted in the recipe so instead my version used the following ingredients: 

2 T Vegetable oil
1 Onions finely diced
1 cup Carrot - Chopped
1 cup Celery - Chopped 
1 cup Peas - frozen
Salt
Pepper
4 T Butter - Unsalted
1/2 cup AP flour
1 1/2 c Skim milk
2 cups - Reduced Sodium Chicken Broth
1/2 tsp - Thyme, dried
1 Can - Low-fat Condensed Cream of Mushroom Soup
1 lb sauteed boneless, skinless chicken breast
1 Can - Homestyle Buttermilk Biscuits (8 biscuits)

All together this came out to 412 Calories per serving.  Not the best...but not horrible and one serving totally filled me up.  The guys loved it so much they had 2 servings.

I spent the rest of the evening prepping breakfast and lunch for the week...New recipes to be shared this week! :) 

Weekend Roundup:

Saturday 1580 Calories Eaten / 391 Calories Burned / 7383 Steps Taken

Sunday 1299 Calories Eaten / 238 Calories Burned / 4943 Steps Taken

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Beauty Break

Alright, off topic from food and exercise, this portion of the blog is for my makeup loving readers.  I purchased a new lip product on Friday and thought I'd do a short review.

Rimmel London's Provocalips in Little Minx

This product boasts 16 hour kiss proof color.  It comes in 8 beautiful colors.  Of course I chose the brightest hot pink hue. 

My initial reaction: Incredible color payoff and REALLY kiss proof (If you apply it correctly)

I didn't see any instructions on the tube, so I had a little bit of trouble with the first application.  The dual applicator in each tube of the products were doe foot style.  There were 2 steps for application. Step 1: Intense Color.  I applied the color.  It's much thinner than I expected, but went on easily and evenly.  The mistake I made is that I did not wait for this layer to dry out before I went onto the next step.  Had I waited (Like I did on my second try) I'd notice it would feel slightly tacky but not drying like other 2-step long lasting lip products I've tried.  Step 2: Lock & Shine.  Again, a smooth application and a subtle shine.  This product was supposed to last 16 hours and to remove you are supposed to use an oil based makeup remover.  I think a true test of this product on Saturday was that I ate wings, a snow cone and pizza.  I also gave Tony a kiss on the cheek to test that it was kiss proof and there was no evidence at all! In fact, come Sunday morning, I still had a hint of color on my lips. 

Do I recommend this product? Yes! In fact, I am going to purchase this product in at least 1 more color.  

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So, here is to a new week!  We're going to the gym tonight.  Oof. I'm going to try my best to achieve the goals I set for myself in my previous post and to keep sharing my journey with you all! 

To my readers:  Having people to help hold me accountable during my journey has been truly helpful.  Seeing how many people view my blog and give me words of encouragement on different social media outlets has also been incredibly motivating.  Bill shared  that using a graph to track his progress helps him see the bigger picture.  What are other strategies have you all use to stay on track? 

Until next time! 

Mandie