It's a New Year!

Well, folks, I'm back! I decided to give this blog another shot. My life seems to have slowed down a little since I last posted. Hard to believe that was over 2 years ago. My girls have grown so much over the last two years. All 3 of them are now in middle school! I've got two 6th graders and an 8th grader. Boy that makes me feel old!! I'm still married to a great man. We've been married for 15 years now (will be 16 in June). We've added a second dog to our family - and a couple of goldfish. Other than that, not a lot has changed.

I have decided to make 2017 the year of me. For so many years, my life has been about taking care of my family and helping others. This year I need to focus a little more on caring for myself. I went on a diet 2 years ago and lost 60 pounds! I was so proud of myself. I got more compliments than I could imagine. However, life got busy and I had to put things like working out on the back burner. I gained about 40 pounds back. I was so disappointed in myself. This year I'm determined to lose that weight again (plus more) and keep it off for good! I may look to you all for encouragement and prayers as I begin my journey again. I hope to inspire some of you as well!

Included in caring for myself is growing closer to God and improving my spiritual life. In 2016 I joined a new church. I was raised in the Church of Christ. It was the only thing I really knew. There was a new church opening down not far from us and my oldest daughter and I decided to try it out on opening day. I am so glad we did! I feel closer to God now than I have in a long time. I learned that sometimes you have to step out of your comfort zone to find what you're looking for. I want to be a good Christian example for my family.

2017 is just beginning. It's full of opportunity and hope. I can't wait to see what is in store! What are you looking forward to in 2017?

Eggroll in a Bowl

I've mentioned before that I am trying to lose weight. As of this morning I'm down 58.8 lb! I'm feeling so much better. I still have more to go but I've got more faith than ever that I can do this. I've been looking for healthier meals for our family to eat during this time. To make things harder, my husband was diagnosed with diabetes and has to watch the amount of carbs and sugar he eats.

One of our favorite types of foods to eat was chinese. Sesame chicken, fried rice, and egg roll! Love it! Unfortunately, this is not very good for the diet - for me or my husband. Recently, I found a recipe on Pinterest for Eggroll in a Bowl and decided it looked interesting. Basically, it's all the filling of an eggroll without the greasy crispy wrapper. I had to give it a try.

It was delicious! The recipe called for beef, pork, or turkey, but I went with 99% lean ground chicken. To make things even easier on myself, I used the Dole bagged coleslaw (cabbage & carrot mix) instead of chopping the veggies. So much easier to open the bag and dump it in but still fresh veggies! It called for coconut aminos but I used lite reduced sodium soy sauce instead. I also used water instead of chicken broth.

My husband loved it! He even requested I make it again. To top it off, when I put all of my ingredients in Myfitnesspal it came out to 178 calories, 7g carbs, 3g fat, 29g protein, 653 sodium, and 6g sugar per serving. (Made 4 servings). It was filling too!

This can be adjusted for those who follow the THM diet (I do not.). Thanks to Big Taste, Trim Waist for this great recipe!

Egg Roll in a Bowl- S, E, or FP

 

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Author: unknown

Recipe type: Dinner

Cuisine: Asian

Serves: 4

Ingredients

• 2 teaspoons sesame oil (or oil of your choice if you don’t have sesame, but the sesame really makes the dish!)
• 1 lb. ground pork or beef (S) or lean ground turkey (E or FP)
• 6 cups finely sliced cabbage (about 1 medium head)
• 1 cup shredded carrots (4g carbs per ¼ cup serving so fine for this S meal)
• 1 medium onion
• chopped 3 cloves garlic
• finely chopped or minced 1 teaspoon ground ginger/ginger powder
• (if you choose fresh ginger for this recipe, you’ll need to use quite a bit and be sure it’s grated/minced very fine; I love fresh, but ground really works better in this recipe)
• ¼ cup coconut aminos (soy sauce alternative) or Bragg’s Amino
• Salt and black pepper to taste
• Chicken Broth
• Optional: 2-3 green onion stalks, finely chopped
• Optional: ¼ tsp red pepper flakes adds a nice kick!

Instructions

1. Brown the ground pork (or beef) in large frying pan until fully cooked.
2. Turn heat to medium-high and add chopped onion (not the green onions yet) and sesame oil, increase heat to lightly brown the onions.
3. In a small bowl, mix together the garlic, ginger and aminos and add to pan, and then immediately add the sliced cabbage and stir.
4. Cook for a few minutes, stirring often, so that it doesn’t burn and so all cabbage slightly wilts and reduces in size.
5. Then add shredded carrots and cook for another few minutes.
6. Turn off heat, add chopped green onions, salt and black pepper to taste, stir one last time and serve warm.
7. Same great taste you’ll get in an eggroll, minus the deep fried wrapper, so MUCH healthier!

Notes

To make it E: Use extra lean meat instead (like 99% lean ground turkey, or skinless chicken breast – ground, chopped, or shredded) and because of the lack of juiciness (fat) from the meat, add ¼ cup of fat-free chicken stock (or water). To make it E: You may want to also add a bit more of the aminos and ginger, and feel free to add extra carrots too! Serve over brown rice. To make it FP: Use extra lean meat instead (like 99% lean ground turkey, or skinless chicken breast – ground, chopped, or shredded) and because of the lack of juiciness (fat) from the meat, add ¼ cup of fat-free chicken stock (or water). You may want to also add a bit more of the aminos and ginger. However, with the above said, it’s by far best as S using ground pork (not sausage!) or ground beef. ENJOY!

Back to School

It's finally here! Time for the kids to go back to school. Well, actually, my kids started back last Monday, so I'm a little late. Between school starting and our "vacation" the week before, I'm a little behind on this blog! I don't know why, but the start of a new school year is always crazy. There's supplies to buy, registration nights, new clothes to get, and so on. It seems like there's always something that needs to get done!

That's why i said we had a "vacation" the week before. My vacation consisted of doing all of these things, plus getting my oldest child to the dentist as she prepares to get braces in about 3 weeks. I felt like I needed a vacation to recover from my vacation!

Anyway, as I said, school started for us last week. Thanks to the elections, my kids got to go to school 3 days, be out for one day, then back to school on Friday. It was a little odd but I think it helped them. They were able to take in all the new stuff going on and then have a day to relax before jumping back in again. My middle and youngest child were super excited for school to start. In fact, they met their teachers the week before and both asked if they could start school right then! The enthusiasm has since dropped off some, but, overall, they are still pretty excited.

My oldest is still waiting to get her locker. They were supposed to get them yesterday but it got delayed until today. She's had to carry everything with her all day. Why would they make these kids do that? I don't get it. I would think lockers would be one of the first things they assign. Oh well. While she is happy for school to start so she can see more of her friends, my oldest is not as excited as the other two. She was even less excited to learn that in case of a weather emergency most of her classes have to go to the boys' bathroom. She thought this was totally disgusting and the worst thing that could ever happen. Hahaha. I think she'll be fine.

All in all the start of the new school year has been a success. Have your kids started the new year? If so, how is it going? Are your kids ready to go back? What is the start of a new school year like at your house?

Tween Girls

As the mom of three girls, I know the teen and tween years are going to be rough. The other day I read an article that sums it up pretty good. It's called The 7 Completely Baffling Personalities of Tween Girls. It was an article from the Huffington Post. It's funny but so true! I hope those of you with teen/tween girls can relate as much as I did.

What to Wear

I have never been a fashionista. When it comes to clothing, I stick with the basics. I'm not good at mixing colors and prints. I'm not up on all the latest trends. Now that I'm losing weight I've decided I want to improve my wardrobe too.

One of my favorite things to do is look for ideas on Pinterest. The other day I found an outfit and looked at the blog it originated from. The blog is called J's Everyday Fashion. This lady is incredible! She creates outfits for the everyday woman on a budget. She finds outfits from celebrities, magazines, etc. and recreates them with items anyone can find. She posts the original picture along with herself in the outfit she created. She also gives information about each piece she is wearing and links to similar items so you can recreate the look yourself.

Let me just say, this is one of my new favorite blogs! There are ideas I would have never thought of. It's great to have one place to go for inspiration. Check it out when you get a chance! Where do you get wardrobe inspiration from?

What's For Dinner?

This week I gave my kids a week off from helping cook. We have several things going on and having dinner as a family every night this week will be difficult. Last night was one night we could be together and I decided to try something new. A while back, I found a recipe on Pinterest for a chicken enchilada casserole. Of course it had all the yummy ingredients that would not help me with my weight loss. I needed to make some adjustments.

I wanted this to be easy. I started off by cooking up some boneless skinless chicken tenders. After they were cooked and shredded, I began assembling. First, I poured a little bit of red enchilada sauce on the bottom of my dish. Next came 2 and a half fajita size flour tortillas. (I used the half tortilla to fill the gap between the other two.) Next came a little more sauce, a small sprinkle of shredded mexican blend cheese, and then the shredded chicken. I drizzled a dab more sauce on top of the chicken and sprinkled a tad more cheese. Continue the layers ending with cheese on top.

I baked this at 350 F for 20 minutes. I wish I had pictures to show but I forgot. Our family ate it up! I was going to put onion in but forgot that too. (Didn't sleep well the night before and I think it was affecting my brain.) I think next time, I will cook the chicken in the crockpot with some onion and peppers.

I divided this into 8 servings. Based on my ingredients, there were only 234 calories per serving. Not bad. I think this will be one of our new staple recipes.

Hot Dog Pizza

My kids love pizza! Have I mentioned that? Of course, who doesn't love it? This weekend a friend shared a simple idea for making pizza and I just had to try it. After it passed the kids taste test, I decided to share it with you all. It's so simple, and it all begins with leftover (or new) hot dog buns.

Simply cut the buns in half and lay them out. Add some pizza sauce, cheese, garlic powder, italian seasoning, and whatever toppings you want. (pepperoni, ham, veggies, etc.). 

Bake at 435 F for 10-12 minutes. It's that easy! I chose to let mine cool after baking and then stick them in a gallon size freezer bag.

I put them in the freezer for the kids to eat for lunch this week. All they will have to do is heat them in the microwave! Thanks for the great idea Christy. Quick, easy, tasty, & cheap! I have a feeling this will become a regular at our house.