I'm back!

Last week I had blood drawn for my first physical in a few years. I was worried that my weight was going to put me on the borderline for diabetes.  The office called. My sugars are fine! Woo Hoo! But my cholesterol is elevated. She prescribed diet, exercise and a fish il supplement.  Yea.

So, I have started my fish oil. I am now going to change our families eating habits. With both my mom and Dale's mom having heart issues, it's not looking good for the kids.

Tomorrow we start our daily family walks. The dogs will get some much needed exercise as well!

I went to the library today and read through the 8 week cholesterol cure. It has some great info. We are going to add more fruits & veggies, cut back on the amount of butter we use. I ❤️ Butter!
Shooting for at least one night a week where we go meatless for dinner. I even checked out a vegan cookbook!
Tomorrow I shop for the high fiber foods that are so helpful in lowering cholesterol.

Not sure how often I will post, hoping to post my meal plan on here each week. If you ask, I'll even post a shopping list! I will for sure continue to review recipes and post photos along the way!

Monday is Day 1! Oh, and since I don't have a scale, you won't get a weekly weigh in, sorry. I refuse to be a slave to the scale. Every day is different. I will however give updates as to when I need to buy new clothes, and take donations to do so 😜, as I travel on this journey!

Breakfast Sticky Bun Ring...

FAIL!

 So, I found this awesome recipe on Pinterest. A friend added the photo on FB and I searched it and found the original recipe here.

It looked great! I wanted to try it yesterday morning but I couldn't find my Bunt pan...I think I threw it away when I realized the non-stick coating was coming off...Or I will find it in some strange place one day, like my bedroom closet.

I got have a tube pan. I decided to use it.

I used 2 can of biscuits, well, 10 biscuits, actually.

I bought Honey Butter flavor, couldn't hurt to add more sweetness, right?

I followed the directions, mixed the butter and syrup:

Melted them together and stirred to get a yummy looking "sauce". Combined the nuts and cinnamon and brown sugar, I used dark brown because that is what I had.
Then I layered: Sauce, Brown Sugar mixture and the biscuits!

It looked great!  I added the second layer:

Oh, so yummy! Into the preheated oven they went...
I baked them for 25 minutes, 5 minutes longer than the recipe called for...
Took them out of the oven. Called the kids in to eat this amazing breakfast I had prepared. I flipped them over onto a serving plate...They fell right out (Thank you cooking spray)...They were RAW on the bottom!  (I forgot to take a photo!)
What to do?!?!?! We needed to leave in 20 minutes for school and VBS...I slid them into a 9x13 baking dish and put them back in the oven.
Since I had 6 extra biscuits, I tossed them on a cookie sheet and baked them on the same rack as the ring. They were done so the kids ate those with the fruit I had cut up.

The sticky buns baked for 15 more minutes and looked nicely crispy when I removed them from the oven the second time.

Then we left for school and VBS.

When I got home they had cooled quite a bit but I tried one, so did Dale, that is why there is not a "full ring" in this photo.

They were VERY sweet. Tasted too much like pancake syrup and the buns didn't "pull-a-part".  The part of the buns that were overlapped had no saucy goodness on them!
I don't think I will make it again. I am a HUGE fan of monkey bread. I will make that instead.

I guess if you have time to make it, and let it bake for 45 minutes, than this may be the recipe for you. I would also swap out the pancake syrup for regular corn syrup.

Oh, the kids will get to eat them tomorrow since they were not ready today!

My scale is not my friend!

This week has been a rough one. I got on the scale this morning and did not like the result. While I did not gain any weight, I also did not lose any weight.  I am at a stand still.

Dale thinks we need a new scale. Ours is the kind that has a dial on it. It is nice to watch it move up and down. It likes to lie to me as well. I will get on in it and depending on how I stand on it, It will tell me if I lost weight or not.

If I lean a little to the left I weigh a bit more than if i lean to the right. Why would I lean to the left??? So, I need to go scale shopping.

I am at the weight that my body is most comfortable. I am getting to the hard part now.

Tomorrow I will spend the day baking a cake with my sister. Yes, that is a good idea, bake a cake. I will also take my dog for a walk.

I did realize that while I am outside on Playground duty, I can get in 20 minutes of walking! I walked around the black top while the kids played basket ball the last 2 days. So, I get points for that too!

This is a busy week. I need to get moving!

I lost how much???

So in the last month I have started my new job, joined weight watchers and cut back on my portions.

With weight watchers my weigh-in day is Friday. This Friday I got on the scale and it read 25 pound LESS than it did on January first! I lost 25 pounds!!!!
I am 1/4 of the way to my goal!

Today I was going through the fridge and found some spinach that needed to be cooked. I googled
"WW chicken and spinach recipes" and it came up with this site:
Skinnytaste.com

I had been on the site before but forgot that she lists the WW points+ for every recipe! I have a new favorite site to look for recipes!

Tonight I made:
Grilled Chicken with Spinach and Melted Mozzarella

I took this photo!!!

and I made:

Easiest Pasta and Broccoli Recipe

I took this photo too!!

Both were amazing! I wanted to eat more but I didn't.

I followed the recipe using measuring cups and spoons. If you have ever seen me cook, I do not do that EVER while cooking, only while baking.

The kids are eating the same things, but ate theirs with out the spinach. Neither of them really like it.  They asked for seconds. I told them NO. Portion control is one of the biggest things we face in this house. I am glad that the recipes were both made for 6 portions. Dale got a bit more, since he is allowed more points in a day and the kids got a bit less since, well, they are kids!

Here is what our dinner plates looked like:

See how all the food fits inside the inner circle of the plate...that is what you call portion control!

I even use a food scale!

Now, the only change I made was to use 100% whole wheat pasta instead of the regular pasta that her recipe called for. I have not yet put it into the recipe builder but even at 8 points, It was delish!

Fast Food???

So I have a new job! I will be leaving the full service restaurant business! I am making the move to Fast Food!
What? Fast Food??? Why would a person who is blogging about trying to lose weight and get healthy move to a fast food establishment???

Why, because this is a new twist on Fast Food. No one said Fast Food had to be bad for you! How many time have you finished soccer practice and wanted to get some quick dinner? What are your choices? A taco or burrito bowl? Wouldn't it be great if you could go some place that had fresh salads? You drive up, order and go! That is what this new place is all about!

Salad and Go!


They are about 2 miles from my house so until the weather is unbearable, I will be biking it to work every day.

I am looking forward to this new innovation in fast food! I hope you are too!

CHRISTmas Leftover Soup!

For CHRISTmas this year we had Steaks and Roasted Veggies. It was WONDERFUL!

True to form, we had WAY too much food! There was left over steak, veggies and bread (Homemade by ME!).

My sister made the veggies. It was a combo of Onion, Colored Bell Peppers, Baby Eggplant, Brussel's Sprouts, Carrots, Mushrooms, Zucchini, Yellow Squash, Broccoli, and Cauliflower! All tossed with salt, pepper, and whole cloves of garlic! And don’t forget the Olive Oil!

She roasted them until they were soft and delicious! We ate 1/8 of what she made.

I took them home in a baggie. I thought they would make an amazing soup!

There was a whole steak leftover too, seasoned with garlic and salt and pepper. We like our steaks cooked Medium Rare, MMM, now I want a steak!

Did I mention I made homemade bread? Well, it was Fantastic too! I think my opinion of it was raised when my sister’s boyfriend said he wanted to take some home! He is a chef and is not a fan of leftovers. Score one for me!

What else would you do with left over veggies, cooked till soft, medium rare steak and bread? The first thing that came to mind was Soup! It was a frigid day here, 59 degrees for the high.

All I can say is it was wonderful! I put the sliced bread in the oven for a few minutes to heat it up and get a bit of toast on it. 

The soup was more like a puree not really a soup. I took some to my sister who made the veggies and to my mom. My sister ate it as soon as I took it over to her house. She was impressed too! My mom never got to the soup so I can’t give you her opinion but she said it looked good!

Of course you can make this soup with different veggies, with different meats, without bread. The up side of it was that the only “extra” ingredient I needed was broth. I am not a wasteful person, I use as much of the food I buy as I can. I save the ends of veggies to roast for stock; I save the fatty parts of meat that I cut off before cooking and store them in a baggie. I use these items to make “free” broth and stock, but that is another post!

So dinner this night cost me NOTHING! It was all made from leftovers!

Here are the recipes: Oh, and a few more photos!

Roasted veggie soup

8 cups roasted veggies, cold and divided

8 cups chicken or veggie broth

Sliced steak, cold

Bring broth to a boil. Add in 6 cups of the veggies. Using a hand blender, blend until as smooth as you like.

Return to a simmer for 10 minutes.

To serve: Place ¼ cup of cold roasted veggies in bowl, top with sliced steak, Pour soup over veggies and meat. 8 servings.

Romano’s Macaroni Grill Rosemary Bread

via food.com

Ingredients

1 tablespoon yeast

1 tablespoon sugar

1 cup warm water

2 1/2 cups flour

1 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons rosemary (I used fresh!)

2 tablespoons butter

Directions

Place yeast, sugar and water in large bowl or food processor and allow mixture to become bubbly.

Mix in 1 T butter, salt, and 2 cups of flour.

Add one tablespoon of the fresh chopped rosemary.

Knead for about 10 minutes by hand or in food processor about 5 minutes until smooth and elastic.

Add more flour if necessary.

Oil a bowl, put dough in it and cover with a towel.

Let dough rise in a warm place for one hour until doubled.

Punch down dough and divide in half.

Let dough rest about 5 minutes.

Spray baking pan or cookie sheet with cooking spray.

Shape the dough into 2 small rounded oval loaves.

Sprinkle remaining 1 Tablespoon of rosemary over the loaves and press lightly into the surface.

Let loaves rise again until doubled, about 45 minutes.

Preheat oven to 375°F.

Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, until lightly browned.

Carefully remove from oven, brush with remaining butter (and salt if desired.).

Slow Cooker Mac N Cheese

Brian's class had a party for his teacher. He is a HUGE Wisconsin ! SO I made Crock pot Mac n Cheese for the class party. There was only a bit left after 22 seventh graders attacked it for lunch! I had some of it cold and I can say it was pretty good! The only thing we did differently was to add the macaroni an hour after starting the cheese sauce. Also, they did not add the cheddar, they thought it was cheesy enough with out it!
Oh, and since I was making it for 22 kids and a few adults, I doubled the recipe. I don't think 3 cups of pasta would feed that many!
Also, I have NO IDEA where this recipe came from, I found it online but can't for the life of me remember where!
OK, a google search revealed it is from Hillbilly Housewife


Slow Cooker Mac and Cheese
3 cups pasta, uncooked
3 Tbl butter, unsalted
8 oz. Velveeta cheese, cubed
1 ¼ cup sharp cheddar cheese, shredded
1 tsp Dijon mustard
1 cup milk
½ cup heavy cream
1 tsp. salt
¼ tsp. pepper
Cook the pasta in salted boiling water for 5 minutes or until it is just under al dente.  Drain and place in the slow cooker.  Add the remaining ingredients to the pasta and stir until well combined.  Cook on high for 2 – 3 hours stirring about every 30 minutes. 
Note: Some people have mentioned their mixture finished cooking after 1 1/2 hours on high. It really depends on the type of slow cooker you have. So it wouldn’t hurt to check for doneness at that time.  The pasta should still hold its shape and the cheese is completely creamy.  This makes about 6 servings as a side dish.