Baking Failure :(

Hey Guys,
Good morning. Hope you guys had a great day yesterday! Thanks for all the encouragement yesterday about my feelings on the meals of other healthy bloggers. As silly as it was, it was wholehearted honesty. It really helps to know that you guys are listening and are willing to offer your words of wisdom! So keep reading! I always like to know who is reading and would love to follow you, your meals and your thoughts! Making new friends for me is what my blog is all about, and I am so grateful to have made a faithful few (Christina, Sarah, Haphazard Inspiration, Laurie and Kelsey) in the last few weeks! :-) You guys rock!

So onto my yesterday...

Notice that I have not been posting many meals on my blog this week like I did last week. That is because I work one heavy week (70 hrs) and a light week (10 hrs). When I work a heavy week, all of my meals usually take place right before work and during work. It's easy to photograph all of them when they are grouped together like that, and I am still getting used to blogging and developing my own style. When I am on my light week, I tend to make dinner every night as well, and usually (very badly) skip lunch....which is something that I need to work on! And when I do eat lunch, it's usually, yep you know me well now...leftovers from dinner. I decided to shake things up a bit! So this week you guys are seeing my experiments with healthy foods at dinner time with my husband!

Yesterday though, I decided that I was bored midday, and wanted to bake something. Lo and behold, Tina had a recipe for Sweet Potato Blondies around lunch time that I decided to try, sounds great, huh?....epic fail.

I got all my ingredients together from her list: EXCEPT that I only had white flour.

Then I looked around and realized that I didn't have the right pan that her recipe called for, so I decided to double the recipe and make kind of a bread of sorts instead of bars (because this pan was waaay bigger).

into the bowl they went...

swoosh, swoosh, swoosh, mix, mix, mix...

into the bundt pan...looks good so far, right? you just wait...it's comin'

yuummy? not quite, hold tight...this is only what it looked like right out of the oven.                    fluffy, doughy goodness...

...then it happened...it fell dramatically in the ten minutes that it was cooling

...and turned into this weird kinda flat doughy thing that fell right out of the pan, and was pretty much uncuttable...I had to rip it up in pieces.

looks ok, but tasted verrrry funky.

I guess the flour choice really does make a huge difference. Lesson learned. On to more tasty things: Dinner!

I had been weirdly craving hot dogs lately (nope, not preggo yet, but thanks for thinking of me), and I literally have not had a hot dog in years and as an adult coming to know what they really are, have grown to be quite disgusted by them....but cravings are cravings...so I decided to try something new for our meatless options: Veggie Dogs!

...and with only 45 calories, no fat and 8 grams of protein, how can you beat that?

I split one for myself on a whole wheat bun, half with mustard and relish, and the other half with some shredded cheese. I paired the dogs with a side salad and some roasted butternut squash. This was the first time we had this also, and surprisingly they tasted a lot like sweet potatoes, with waaay less calories! More bang for the buck, sign me up!

The dogs tasted like a light version of a real hot dog, and smelled exactly like one. So we were very happy, craving satisfied! :-)

This was a nice and light dinner, and a happy ending to my cooking disaster of the day!

My Question for You: What was your biggest cooking disaster? ;-)

Free Cheese!

Hey Guys,

Okay, so if you're anything like me....and you are because you are reading food blogs...you have that one thing that is just so decadent to you and amazingly wonderful that even if it is not healthy, you wonder if you will ever have the courage to give it up. Well folks, my one thing is cheese.

I have been doing so amazing lately in not having cheese very much, if at all because my husband is trying to cut dairy completely out of his diet (more on that later). However, when something like what happened this morning to me happens, it is literally impossible for for me to resist. Literally.

I went into the grocery store for my weekly trip, and low and behold, there is a sample lady. What does she have sitting there as glorious little cubes of heaven on a toothpick? Cubes of cheese. That's right. Cubes of cheese. I love, love, LOVE cheese. You don't even know how much. My thighs sure do know, but well, you get the point. My pounds have been on a steady decline for the past few weeks; which is great! I haven't even been buying real cheese, which makes me want it less. So there she was, free cheese, whatever kind that was on sale. Get your free cheese sample, right here! I mean really how does she sleep at night knowing she is delivering drugs to innocent thighs like mine?! Really. So guys....I HAD to have just one....how many of you know I didn't just have one? Right....I had another and another, and oh, one of the ones that were baked and covered in a sinful peach glaze...and another....So granted they were only like a half inch cube each, but I am sure she wishes that I never got off work this morning and came to her cheese department. I mean who takes 5 (yeah, 5) samples from the poor grocery store lady? I guess I do. Pathetic.


Oh well, I gave in. Such is life...and this morning, for about 2 minutes...it was very good. ;-)


Yesterday's Eats!

the snacks were a banana, a brown rice cake with peanut butter, strawberries and pineapples

...which included this awesome new better peanut butter

then I made this yummy friend, which was a multigrain flaxseed wrap with spinach, kidney beans, red pepper and a little rice cheese

...it was one of my better ideas ;-) pretty dang good.

...more on the rice cheese topic to come...

so of course I added that to the leftover veggies from last night

then I had 2 multigrain waffles with agave and 2 egg whites...yeah I know, at 9pm...I get a little crazy with it sometimes. It's all good, luckily my body has no idea what time it is :-)

My Question for You: What is your one thing?

Tension

Good morning Friends,

Ok, let me just say that blogging everyday (my goal for the week) is very rewarding this week, but WOW am I getting some serious neck and shoulder tension from being on the computer for so long every morning after work! I am not sure if it is the slouching or the combination of the fact that I have been awake all night + the slouching. Either way, I'm pretty sure my shoulder blades are on fire.

In other thoughts, I am running low on snack options that are "real food". You know how you hear that you should not eat as much fruit because it has too much sugar, hence more calories than veggies....or maybe that's just me hearing this nonsense? Then of course you know that the sugar in fruit is much better than the sugar in processed sugary snacks. So, I am at a loss. I am kinda worried about what I will eat snack-wise in the winter of Illinois because I worry about everything a million light years before they actually happen because what is in season in the dead of December in the midwest? 

Snow.

That's what's in season. I have been seriously trying super hard to eat as many whole foods as I can, but in this day and age, working and schooling take up so much time, that who has time to chop veggies and wash fruits, and go to the grocery store several times a week so that your stuff doesn't go bad faster than you can eat it (a problem we have around here).  Every single day Sometimes I really wish that I lived in an all year round state that I can get local fresh fruits and veggies from!

Have an amazing day!

Yesterday's Eats!

some snacks...a banana, plum, clementine, granola and Greek yogurt

the breakfast usual...oats and almond milk

 then I tried something new from Caitlin's eats...a sweet potato with vegetarian baked beans! DElish!

 ...added that to a basil butter frozen veggie mix

then I ate the last of the can of baked beans for dinner before heading off to work....
(in my rush of mad hunger, I forgot to take a pic)

My Question to You: What are your usual fast go-to snacks when working? Help me out! I need some ideas! :-)

Happy Hump Day!

Today will be short and sweet, as I am a bit fuzzy in the brain. I did not get enough sleep yesterday, and now I am most certainly paying for it. I have heard the many theories behind weight loss and adequate sleep...or in my case, lack thereof. Sometimes it is a bit tough to work the overnight shift, and I think that you never really get used to it. It is also a time when I start to crave crazy things. Today I think I am doing pretty well with that, so I should congratulate myself I guess. (shrug)  Anyways....

I had better get to bed before I pass out! Have a great day, you normal daytime workers!

Yesterday's Eats!

a banana, clementine, grapes and some triscuits for snacks

almond milk and oats for the morning

then I used this new yummy deliciousness....

to make this yummy deliciousness...a whole wheat English Muffin with hummus, red pepper, cucumber and spinach

I then added that to leftovers from yesterday

...and packed it all away, ready for my shift!

after that, I ate the last of my leftovers from yesterday for dinner

My Question to You: I am currently trying to eat the very last crumb of everything in my house before moving onto the next box, container or recipe in an effort to save money and feel less wasteful in general. What are your habits with leftovers?

Starting Fresh

Good morning Peeps!

Well, I guess I should let you in on a little secret. It's not morning for me, it's really nighttime because I work from 10PM to 8AM. So, I shall post and yawn at the same time flexing those multitasking skills!

Today I wanted to reflect on starting my journey just recently to lose 60 lbs. My husband and I tried Jenny Craig about 2 years ago. It worked wonders, and then it didn't work anymore once we were not eating their food. I swear the food is like magic. No joke. You eat it and you lose weight. Here is the most magical part about it....the way the money disappears from your wallet while you're eating it. I lost about 30lbs in 6 months. We had to quit for financial reasons obviously, and I kept not a single pound of it off for not even half of that time. This year I tried Weight Watchers, lost about 12lbs and decided that I could do it on my own without the meetings because after you learn how to count points, I started to feel like it was getting expensive to just go and weight in. I lost 12lbs in about 6 weeks. I have kept that off, but got tired of counting points. So....we arrive at my conclusion. The thing that they both have in common is calories and portion control. I decided that I should just count calories, basically because it is free. It is going ok, yet it is pretty time consuming and kinda hard to do combined in an attempt to eat whole foods. I know this is going to sound silly, but fruits and veggies have no label! I am always sitting at the kitchen table with my head buried in a calorie counting book trying to add it all up. I know it'll be worth it someday soon, and it's kinda fun and educational in a way! :-)

The other thing that has changed besides me trying diet plan after diet plan is my eating habits. When I found food blogs, I immediately began to try new foods! It is super fun to me, and my husband has jumped on the band wagon. I am pretty excited about that, as it is a huge step for him to give up certain things. We no longer have to buy Baked Lays and Coke Zero. My Sweetie is just fine now with carrots and hummus. Thank God that changed, cuz the prior habits get pretty expensive!

One of the first new health food things that I tried was a Green Monster recipe from Caitlin that I modified just a little because of what I had. 

Here is the finished product...not very green, too banana-y...must've done something wrong. there's always next time!

Something else that has changed is my lunch. I am gone from my house for almost 12 hours a day, so I need proper fuel for the entire time. Obviously the bulk of my calories must come from my lunches.

I also tried out shopping at Trader Joe's. Have you ever been there? I immediately loved it, because they have an enormous amount of things that I have never tried. And around here, it's much cheaper at Trader Joe's to try and buy organic than anywhere else. So I have been on a weekly crusade to try one thing new every trip! 

Verdict: pretty good, not super buttery or greasy.

Verdict: Not quite so sure trying eggplant for the first time frozen was the best choice. Need recipes.

My Question For You: What diet plans have you tried, if any? What did you change first in the beginning of your journey?

Have an amazing day!

   ~Monique