Wednesday, February 29, 2012

Healthy Challenge week 6&7 results


The results of Week 6 and 7 of the Healthy Weight Loss Challenge are IN! 

Here are my personal stats:

WEEK #6
MON
TUES
WED
THURS
FRI
SAT
SUN
1 pt: Contact with Teammat
1
1
1
1
1
1
0
3 pts: 64 oz Water
0
3
3
3
3
3
3
3 pts: Stop eating before 9 pm
3
3
3
3
3
0
3
3 pts: 2 Fruit Servings (1/2 cup each)
3
3
3
0
0
0
0
5 pts: 3 Vegetable Servings
0
5
5
5
5
0
5
10 pts: No Sweets/Sugary Treats
0
0
0
10
0
10
10
5 pts: Keep a Food Journal  
5
5
5
5
5
5
5
5 pts: 30 min. exercise OR
7 pts: 45 min. exercise
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
TOTAL POINTS:
(205 possible for the week)
12
20
20
27
17
19
26



TOTAL:  131 and I gained 2 lbs!!! (I think it's from the Red Robin I ate Sunday Night baaaaad)

WEEK #7
MON
TUES
WED
THURS
FRI
SAT
SUN
1 pt: Contact with Teammat
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
3 pts: 64 oz Water
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
3 pts: Stop eating before 9 pm
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
3 pts: 2 Fruit Servings (1/2 cup each)
3
3
3
3
3
0
3
5 pts: 3 Vegetable Servings
5
0
5
5
5
0
5
5pts: No Sweets/Sugary Treats
0
0
5
5
0
0
0
5 pts: Keep a Food Journal  
5
5
5
5
5
5
5
5 pts: 30 min. exercise OR
7 pts: 45 min. exercise
0
0
0
7
0
0
0
TOTAL POINTS:
(205 possible for the week)
25
20
30
37
25
17
25


TOTAL:  184
I lost 2 lbs for the week, bringing me back to my lowest weight!

Tuesday, February 28, 2012

F*R*I*E*N*D*S

Friends used to be one of my favorite television shows.  I didn't watch a lot in high school, but in college, I was a faithful watcher every Thursday night.  A couple of the girls who all lived on the same floor would all go down to the common area of the dorm and watch together.  I even remember watching the very last episode together.    


I was watching a couple re-runs of the show this afternoon (gotta love syndication on TBS) and while it wasn't the last episode, I found myself wondering if the friends all stayed together even after Monica and Chandler moved out of the city with their adopted babies, Pheobe got married to Mike, Ross and Rachel had a baby and decided to stay together, and Joey failed in his spin off.  


In a perfect world, they would still be the best of friends, right?.  But I can't help but feel that in some way, the group would grow apart.  Obviously, a few of them would still be close (after all, Monica and Ross are related), but what would happen to Pheobe and Joey?  Would they still be as close with the rest as they were in the past, or would they have split off and gone in their own directions?


Sometimes I see other people I went to high school with and it seems like their big groups of friends are still just as close as they were 10 years ago (maybe they're not, but it's what I see).  I myself have only a handful of friends from high school, and even then, I talk to very few of them on a regular basis.  And while I have a number of acquaintances from college, I really only talk to a handful of them on a regular basis (by regular I mean once or twice a week).  Many people I was friends with in the past I hardly ever talk to anymore - as there was a natural progression of growing apart.  It's often bothered me, because in many cases I went through the process of chasing people to be my friend, only to be let down time and time again when they proved that they had already moved on.  It's taken me a long time to realize that it's not personal against me, but that people just move in different directions.  And sometimes, it still hurts more than it should.  But these kind of things happen.


So I often take my own personal experiences and compare them to other things - wonder why things are different in my life than those other groups from high school, or wonder if the friends from Friends would still be friends after the show ended.  Are you still good friends with big groups of friends from high school?  Or have you moved on to form just a few really close friendships that mean a real lot to you?

Friday, February 24, 2012

Pizzaaaaaaaaaa!

We've been trying to get together with my brother Michael and his girlfriend Heather for weeks now.  Heather's birthday was in January, and Michael's in the beginning of February.  We haven't been able to get together with them because of all of our schedules.  In any case, they finally had a quiet Friday and came over tonight for dinner (we finally got to give them their birthday gifts and have some cake!)


Being the first Friday of Lent, I made a meat-free dinner consisting of Spaghetti Aglia Olio (Spaghetti with garlic and oil) with Broccoli, Spinach Pie and Pizza.  I have to admit, it was pretty good - my whole condo smells like garlic (but that's really not a bad thing, is it?).  The spinach pie was mostly bread with a little bit of spinach in it (I realized I only had 1 package of spinach and really should have used two), but the pizza was awesome and so was the spaghetti (which is so easy to make - brown 4-5 cloves of garlic and red hot pepper flakes in olive oil, add in as much or as little broccoli/cauliflower as you want, let it simmer for 15-20 minutes, covered.  Save a few cups of the boiling liquid and add into the garlic/oil/broccoli mixture with spaghetti.  Add more liquid if needed.  Serve with grated cheese!).


Here are a few pictures of the pizza process for your viewing pleasure!


The Process of the Pizza

About a pound and a half of pizza dough, spread into the baking pan (which was previoulsy greased with crisco - if you try to grease with oil, the dough will shrink - crisco helps it stay in place).  Let it sit for a while if you can before you fix it.

I use a full 28-ounce can of Pastene Peeled and Crushed Tomatoes spread onto the uncooked dough...You can use less if you don't like a lot of sauce...

The crucial pizza ingredients - salt, pepper, garlic powder, oregano and crushed red pepper (and grated cheese, which isn't shown here!)

Don't forget to drizzle some Olive Oil over the pizza before putting it into the oven!

Ready for 25-30 minutes at 425* - at the end, shredded Mozzarella added to the top will be delicious, just stick it back in for a few more minutes to melt the cheese.

Fudge Brownie Ice Cream Cake

I love dessert.  I especially love ice cream.  In found an amazing recipe on Pinterest for "Fudge Brownie Ice Cream Cake" posted originally by Peppermint Plum.  It is basically the most delicious looking cake ever - It looks like it was originally made with mint chocolate chip ice cream - I decided on my first try to go with Vanilla since I'm not a huge mint fan.  I will walk you through the particulars and how I did it....


What you need


1 half gallon of ice cream (I think they're actually 1.5 quarts)
1 package Oreo cookies
1 family sized brownie mix
1 jar hot fudge (the think delicious kind, Smuckers is great)


The Method


In a spring-form pan, bake the brownies for about 20 minutes.  I used an 8" pan, and would recommend 25 minutes instead (NOTE:  I put a piece of foil over the base of the pan so that when I take the form off, I can pull the foil off of the base and not cut on the base).


Cool completely and once done, line the Oreos around the edge of the pan, pressing them into the brownie a bit.  This will help them stay vertical.


Spread half of the softened ice cream into the brownie, making sure that it keeps the brownies in place.


Crush up all of the remaining Oreos and put half of them over the ice cream.  Top that with the hot fudge sauce.  Spread out the fudge as best as you can.  I bought Smuckers fudge that comes in a squeeze bottle, but would recommend buying the kind that comes in the jar - it's much easier to scoop out rather than squeezing it out of the bottle.


Put the rest of the ice cream on top of the cookies and fudge, and add the rest of the crushed cookies onto the top.  Here's where using a spring-form pan bigger than 8" will come in handy - the 8" was almost just too small...It was practically overflowing.


Put back into the freezer and freeze for at least 4-6 hours, or overnight.  Be gentle removing the spring form!


Cut and ENJOY!!!

Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Sweets, Lent, and Homemade Cinnamon Buns

If I have any weaknesses at all, it's food.  Specifically sweet food.  I think we've all realized this now, having seen my progress on the weight-loss challenge (I hardly EVER get my points for avoiding sweets).  I honestly haven't lost as much weight as I was hoping, even with the challenge.  So I've decided to give up sweets for Lent.  I'm usually pretty good with whatever I give up (except for the year I tried to give up swearing...that didn't go well at all).  Since this year I'm going to go for sweets, I decided to blog a recipe that I made a few weeks ago - the epitome of delicious (and sweets).  I'm actually making a batch today (since I'm working from home) as a little "Fat Tuesday" treat.  They're 6 points plus a piece (for the big ones), so I'll definitely be using up my quota of extra points....But to start out the 40 days of no sweets, this is a great beginning!

Homemade Cinnamon Buns (recipe from King Arthur Flour Cookbook)
The Dough
3 1/2 cups flour
2 tsps instant yeast
3 Tbsp sugar
1 Tbsp granular lecithin (Optional - and I didn't use it.  I don't have it in the pantry)
2 Tbsp nonfat dry milk (I didn't have this, but I did have dry buttermilk, so I used that instead)
1 1/4 tsp salt
1 large egg plus enough water to make 1 cup
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 Tbsp soft butter

The Filling
1/4 cup soft butter
3/4 cup sugar mixed with 1 Tbsp cinnamon
1/2 cup nuts, raisins, or chocolate chips (optional)

The Icing
3 Tbsp heavy cream, or 2 Tbsp water (I don't usually have cream in the house, so I usually use somewhere between 2-3 Tbsp Milk)
1 cup confectioners' sugar

The Method
Mix and knead together all of the dough ingredients (yup - throw it all together and mix it in the mixer.  Once it comes together (I added a tiny bit more water to make it come together better), switch to the dough hook and knead it for a while.  Once it is formed into a soft, smooth dough, place it in a greased bowl, cover and let rise in a warm place for 1-1 1/2 hours to double in bulk.

Turn out the dough onto a floured work surface and roll into an 11x20 rectangle.  Spread a thin layer of butter over the dough.  Sprinkle with the cinnamon/sugar/nut mixture.  Roll into a log (the log way) and use a serrated knife to cute into 12 equal pieces.

Place the buns in a greased 9x13" pan, pressing down slightly.  Cover and let sit again for about 45 minutes to an hour, until puffy.

Preheat the oven to 350* and bake buns for 20-25 minutes, until golden brown.  Remove from the oven and cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then take them out of the pan and let cool to just slightly warm before frosting (I actually take one out of the pan immediately, pour some icing over the top and eat immediately.  Yes, they're that good).



ENJOY! - I know I will!  Hello comes 40 days of no sweets!!!




Frosted Cinnamon Buns - the epitome of deliciousness!

Friday, February 17, 2012

Homemade Salsa

My friend Katie and I always joke around that we might have been Mexican in a past life.  We're both in love with Mexican Food - Any kind of Mexican Food.  There's a restaurant right near my   condo in Providence called Tortilla Flats and it's my FAVORITE.  Any time Katie comes out to visit, we usually hit this place up (they have really good Margaritas and Sangria, too!) 

One of the staples in many Tex-Mex places these days are the chips and salsa.  While we occasionally get a batch of [somewhat] stale chips, the salsa is always A-mazing.  

I never really thought much about making my own salsa.  I've made dips galore, but when it comes to salsa, I've always just bought a jar, and then complained because it really wasn't what I wanted.  SO....I found a link on Pinterest to a "Chili's Copy Cat Salsa" and decided to try it.  The result - IT TASTED LIKE TORTILLA FLATS!!!!  So exciting!

The Recipe:
2 cans (14.5 oz each) whole tomatoes, drained (I used 1 28-oz can of whole San Marzano Tomatoes, because that's what I had in the pantry)
1 small (4 oz) can diced or whole jalapenos (not pickled)--about 4-5 jalapenos (or less if you don't like a lot of spice) (I sent my husband to the market for jalapenos, and he bought 3 different kinds....I have no idea if they were all jalapenos or not....But I cleaned out all the ribs and seeds before dropping them in the food processor.  It was fairly mild with 3 peppers, definitely add more if you want it hot)
1/4 c. yellow onion, cut into quarters (you can also use dried minced onion)
1 tsp. garlic salt
1/2 to 1 tsp. salt (depending on how much you prefer) (I put in the whole 1 tsp)
1 tsp. cumin (I put in a little less than 1 tsp....I not a huge cumin fan)
1/2 tsp. sugar
1 tsp. lime juice (I used bottled lemon juice.  That's what I had)

Place all of the ingredients together into a food processor or blender and puree until smooth. Serve with tortilla chips.

We had this the day of the Superbowl with some Tito's Chips.  SO GOOD!!!  I REALLY think you should try this!!!