Weigh in Day

Two more pounds lost for a total of 15.  Tom was also successful with two more pounds for a total of 20. I have some staples that I eat every morning.  I need a good size breakfast.  Like I have quoted earlier.  Eat like a King for breakfast, a Queen for lunch and a Pauper for dinner. 

I have my usual banana for potassium.

1 cup of 1 percent milk.

One cup of Great Grains, Pecans, Dates and Raisins.  I get so much goodness out of 1 cup.  protein, iron, fiber.  It does have 13 percent sugar, but for the most part it is natural sugars not processed.  Processed sugar was a huge part of our problem and I think the nations. 

1/4 cup of unsalted cashews



Light and Fit Greek Yogurt.  Only 80 calories, double the protein, just the right consistency...not too thick. 

EACH POUND LOST IS INSPIRATION FOR THE NEXT

Tom only has 10 more pounds to reach his goal!
Thanks for checking in. 



fun dogs

I had been on the lookout for some fun lamps.
I found these at Meijer on clearance and couldn't pass them up. 
A little dogbone on top.

A three dimensional metal painted pooch.
I have it lighting the way in the toilet area in the main bathroom.

It's really cute!

Of course there was this second one that I couldn't leave behind.  I have put it in the guest room.

A little green bone on top.

Pink spots on a lime green body.

May you find something fun in today too!

Really Tasty Healthy Recipe

I follow a blog called The Shrinking Kitchen.  It's great because they post a whole weeks worth of menus to use.  This Chicken Tetrazzini was in this weeks and it was really good!  I made it today for the evening meal. 

Here is the finished product, 12 one cup squares can come out of it. 
Here is the recipe inserted from the posting:

One ingredient I used that was different than the recipe was whole wheat linguini and only one cup of the shredded cheese on top..

A delicious comfort food that makes TWO 8x8" casseroles! Eat one tonight and freeze one for later.

Gather

1 (16-oz.) package vermicelli

1/2 cup lower-sodium chicken broth

4 cups chopped, cooked chicken breasts

1 (10 3/4-oz.) can Campbell's Healthy Request cream of mushroom soup

1 (10 3/4-oz.) can Campbell's 98% fat free cream of chicken soup

1 (10 3/4-oz.) can Campbell's Healthy Request cream of celery soup (I omitted and used a 2nd can of cream of chicken)

1 (8-oz.) container light sour cream

1 (6-oz.) jar sliced mushrooms, drained (I personally omitted)

1/2 cup (2 oz.) shredded Parmesan cheese

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon pepper

2 cups (8 oz.) reduced- fat shredded cheddar cheese

Step by step

1. Cook vermicelli according to package directions; drain. Return to pot, and toss with chicken broth.
2. Stir together chicken and next 8 ingredients; add vermicelli, and toss well. Spoon mixture into 2 lightly greased 11- x 7-inch (I used 2 8x8s) baking dishes. Sprinkle evenly with cheese.
3. Bake, covered, at 350° for 30 minutes; uncover and bake 5 more minutes or until cheese is melted and bubbly.
4. Let stand for 5-10 minutes before serving.
5. BONUS: I put one casserole in the freezer before cooking. One 8x8 was more than enough to feed my family of 4. Freeze unbaked casserole up to 1 month, if desired. Thaw overnight in refrigerator. Let stand 30 minutes at room temperature, and bake as directed.
Notes: Nutritional information calculated using the recipe as written, not including my modifications and omissions.
To make Feingold Friendly, I used Amy's Organic Mushroom Soup, 2 cans of Cascadian Farms Organic Cream of chicken (no approved cream of celery), and I also used regular organic cheddar. I made sure that the rest of the ingredients were approved items! Current nutritional information does not apply when modified.

Nutrition

WW PP 8; Calories 305; Total Fat 7.4g; Saturated Fat 3.7g; Cholesterol 40.3mg; Sodium 831.9mg; Potassium 316.7mg; Total Carbohydrates 36.9g; Dietary Fiber 2.2g; Sugars 2.6g; Protein 21.4g;

After I cook I have two really good helpers that clean up.

It's a really good deal.
I hope you like the recipe!

Valentine cards

Here is Sam's valentine card.  Couple little cars with hearts exhaust. 

Kevins teddy bear with heart balloons.

Toms card a cute couple.

lily

I wanted to show you these pictures of my pretty Lily.
She will come in the bathroom with me when I am getting ready in the morning.
Next thing I know she is up on the new cabinet watching me put on makeup.
She seems to be a girly, girl. 

I love her little points of hair on her ears. 
She has lots of names....silly lily....willy lily...green eyed lady. 
She has beautiful markings and color. 
That's my gal! The only other girl in the house. 

Weigh In Day

We lost none this week and we are thankful we did not gain any.
It was a big weekend with visiting and a baby shower and a birthday and eating out for valentines day.  We watched very carefully and say "just think what we would have eaten had we not been careful". 

We are back on our regular pattern now so check back next week, there should be good news.

Thanks for stopping by!

UPDATE--I was able to pull out a pair of pants from the archives-I don't know how many years it has been since I wore them....possibly 4 or 5.  They are simple black pants so they are not out of date.  Woo Hoo!

Book Review:The Wives Tale by Lori Lansens

This books setting was in Canada about an hour east of Detroit.  What I enjoyed was the mention of the sports team, Tiger and Red Wings that the characters were fans of. 
This book was about a woman who had been married for 25 years.  They were having a little anniversary party get together with their friends and the husband never came home.  The woman was hugely overweight and they had not had an intimate marriage for at least 6 years.  The woman worked part time, had a mother in the nursing home, loved her husband fiercely but had many, many hang-ups and sadness.  She is in her 40's and it is an awakening for her when her husband doesn't come home.  It follows her trail of her search for her husband and herself.  She discovers herself after all those years and realizes what she has been missing. She lost weight because she wasn't hungry anymore, meets new, interesting and very nice people on her trip to California. 
It was an immensely enjoyable book. 

Happy 19th Birthday to our Kevin

Today we celebrated his birthday.  We went to his favorite places...A Japanese Steak house and Gander Mountain.  I like to show the age on the pictures so there is no confusion when we look back years from now. 

He looks quite dashing in his new camo robe.  It's just the right fit. 
We love ya Kev!

Building a 3-D card

I needed to make a sympathy card recently.  One of my favorite flowers is the poppy and this stamp is a Hero Arts Cling.  That means that it clings to an acrylic block. The tricky part to this stamp is getting the background to stamp completely.  I stamped the image 3 times on regular white card stock.

I chose the one that covered the most background then decided the colors.  I have 36 Prismacolor
Watercolor Pencils which I am going to use for this project.  Watercolor pencils just melt and blend so nicely it is unbelievable. Since this is for a woman, I chose mostly pinks for a more subtle effect. 

When I was done coloring I took a #1 round brush and water and blended it in. 

On the other two images I colored in the parts that are going to be 3-D and blended those and let them dry.

I cut the pieces out and put little pieces of two sided foam tape on the back of each piece.  Two or three pieces on the larger ones. 



I applied them to the areas that they match up to.

Here is the finished card.  A light pink base card and then some subtle printed paper and a white border around the image.  I tried black and hot pink but I felt it was too bold for a sympathy card. 
The "with sympathy" stamp is by Stamps by Judith.

Hope you enjoyed and thank you for stopping by!

Tuesday Weigh In

2 1/2 pounds lost

 

 

 

Making a total of 13 pounds. 

 

 

 

Still feel better, my legs are getting thinner because I walk everyday. 

 

 

I am sorry there are no pictures.

 

My computer died and I am breaking in a new one. 

 

 

Tom has lost 16 pounds so far...I can sure see it. 

 

 

Remember at 20 pounds lost, I will post a picture.  

Tuesday Weigh in

One half of a pound this week. 
for a total of 10 1/2 pounds.
Tom lost another pound making his total 12.
We just have to keep plugging along.
It was something...and that's great!
Better than going backwards.

 

 

We feel like the Little Engine that Could.
We keep inching up to the top of the hill and it's a slow go to get to the top so we can go over that hill and be on our way for the next 10 going down.

I think I can....I think I can....I think I can....I KNOW WE CAN!
It will work.
Thanks for checking in.

Tuesday Weigh-In

More Pounds.

That makes 10 total!

My Fitness Pal thought I should revise my daily calorie intake, I feel good about that and went down 200 daily calories.

Tom has lost 11!  It's been fun to do this together for support. 

When we hit 20 we will post before and 20 pounds lost pictures. 

I am amazed at how much better I feel.  I got down on my knees the other day and they did not hurt!  I did not have a pad under them at all. 

I take a water pill for blood pressure and even with that my pressure is usually 123/83.

I took it the other day and it was 111/73.  It hasn't been that low in a long time.

I made a simple chicken noodle soup to take for lunch this week.  I like a tasty broth and this one turned out well.  I baked 3 chicken breasts and tore them apart.  I added 4 cups low sodium, fat free chicken broth.  Two mini onion cubes and 3 chicken bouillon cubes. 4 cups of water and a can of small green peas and 3/4 of a bag of whole wheat noodles.  That's all. Simmer it together for a hour or so. 

This last Sunday we had what we called appetizer Sunday.  The guys helped me make appetizers.

Kevin did Rumaki with chicken breasts instead of chicken livers. Shown two pictures above.
Sam did potato skins with olive oil and seasoned salt. 

Tom did Buffalo Chicken meatballs.
Here he is spooning on the sauce.

Then with our appetizers we sat in front of the t.v. and watched a movie.
Trouble with the Curve-Clint Eastwood and Amy Adams.
It was really good and we had a fun time. 

more organization

My earrings were a jumbled mess inside a box.  I kept picking the same ones over and over because I couldn't find the matching set.  I set out looking for little compartment boxes.  I finally discovered these in the beading section in a craft store.  They are perfect and the compartments can be sized smaller or bigger.
I bought 3, one for gold, one for silver and the other for the colored earrings. 

I think these will work out just fine.  

Bathroom Storage

I had been looking for a cabinet for the bathroom to hold towels and linens and overflow of toiletries.  I found one from the Pottery Barn on sale.  It is so handy and I am really enjoying the organization.  

I also found this neat wicker chair so we can sit and put on our shoes, etc.
It's very comfortable with a nice wide seat and a nice unusual design.  

Tuesday weigh in (on Thursday)

I apologize for being two days late with my update.  I was trying to download a program for a class I am taking this semester (Quickbooks for Entrepreneurs  and it wouldn't work.  After much trial and error, and emailing the company I finally figured it out.  I got error messages that no one could understand.  The bottom line was that I needed to update a few things and after 15 times of trying to load the darn thing....it worked.  I needed to get that taken care of since I had some homework due.  It will be a useful and interesting computer class.

Two is the number for the week.  Two more pounds lost making it a total of eight, which is like losing two four pound bags of sugar! Speaking of sugar, both my husband and I feel so much better by watching that intake.  He has arthritis in his back and I have it in my knees and they don't give us nearly the problems as before.  Sometimes he would have a three day "spell" that he would just have to put heat and ice on his back.  It is so much better now.

I don't have any new recipes.  I tried a couple and they did not get rave reviews from the family.  Personally I thought they were too much work too.  We just eat one small serving, like a cup of meat, 1/2 cup of vegetables, etc.  We measure and document on My Fitness Pal and it works.  Our plates look like what they used to serve in the 50's and 60's till everything was supersized.  I used to think...how do people survive on that amount of food? Now I know it is possible.

I don't have cravings, or sugar drops where I am shaky.  I do get hungry, which is good, then I know I didn't eat too much.

Last night I walked 30 minutes on the treadmill at 3.0 mph.  I walk everyday.  On thursdays I walk to class and back 3 times, which ends up being an hour of walking time.

My goal for next week is 3 pounds...till next time.....

A little thank you

I made some thank you notes on watercolor paper.  The stamp is from Impression Obsession and it is one that the tree needs to be built with different sizes of  branches.  I made 3, I will get them out to the recipients on tuesday.  

Hand Quilting/ Hand Applique/ Hand Embroidery

As I work on this little quilt I am reminded how much I love to hand quilt.  I am not interested in getting this done as quickly as possible.  I really enjoy the feel of a hand quilted quilt in the times of machine quilting.  Machine quilting is so tight and close and somewhat commercial.  I usually leave a bit of myself on each piece, with an accidental prick of my finger with that number nine needle.  While hand quilting, I just think and go inside my brain and hop from one subject to another.  It's enjoyable, it's downtime but still being productive.  I remember reading about one quilt shop owner that said the focus is on hand quilting. I thought how wonderful, that's how I feel also!

I also love hand applique and needlework.  Not applique with the bonding underneath but the real, turn under the and stitch with almost unseen stitches.  It's sturdy and the design will stay put.

Don't get me wrong because it all is beautiful and something to be proud of.  I am a very tactile person and enjoy immensely the feel of the softness, and the time invested and the love put into the whole.
It's just the best.

Week Two-Weigh in Tuesday

The weigh in loss number today.
That makes a total of 6 pounds in two weeks.
My pants are more comfortable already.
I keep documenting it on My Fitness Pal and also walk everyday.

We read that you should:

Eat Breakfast like a King
Eat Lunch like a Queen
Eat Dinner Like A Pauper
So that your body can work on breaking down what you eat during the day.
This works well for me because I need a bigger breakfast.

It usually consists of A Dannon, Lite and Fit Greek Yogurt.  It's just the right consistency, 80 calories, 6 grams of sugar, no fat.
3/4 cup Great Grains cereal
1 cup of 1 percent milk
a banana
1 slice of BrownBerry whole wheat bread, toasted
1 T peanut butter

I want to share two good recipes I found in the Loonyspoons Cookbook this week.

The Way We Stir

Ingredients
(I changed a few from the recipe)

2 tsp. olive oil
1 pound of lean sirloin steak cut into thin strips
1 cup thinly slice red bell pepper
2 cups frozen peas
1 tsp onion powder
1 cup reduced sodium beef broth
2 tbsp reduced-sodium soy sauce
2 Tbsp peanut butter
1 Tbsp grated gingerroot
1 Tbsp cornstarch
1 tsp sesame oil
1/2 tsp crushed red pepper
4 cups cooked brown Jasmine Rice.

Heat oil in a large skillet over medium high heat.  Add beef until no longer pink about 4 minutes.  Remove, keep warm.
Add red pepper, peas. and onion powder.
Cook and stir until vegetables are tender crisp 3 to 4 minutes.
Whisk together broth, soy sauce, peanut butter, gingeroot, cornstarch, sesame oil and re pepper flakes.  Add to vegetables along with the beef.  Cook and stir until sauce is bubbly and has thickened.
Serve  over hot rice.
.

Slimply Orange Chicken

Ingredients
4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
salt and pepper
1 tbsp olive oil
1 can (10 oz) mandarin oranges in lite syrup
2 tbsp honey-dijon mustard
1 tbsp corn starch

Pound the chicken breasts with a rolling pin or meat pounder to make the breasts thinner so they will cook faster.
Heat olive oil in non stick skillet
sprinkle on both sides salt and pepper
Add chicken and cook for 3 to 4 minutes on each side until lightly browned and no long pink in the middle.

Remove and keep warm.

Add mandarin oranges to blender and blend quickly to leave pieces then add to the skillet along with the mustard.
Whisk together the cornstarch and equal amount of water and add to the orange mixture. Cook and stir until mixture is bubbly and thick.
Return chicken to the mixture and Reduce heat to low.  Spoon Sauch over chicken.  Cover and simmer for 3 to 4 minutes until chicken is hot and cooked completely through.

Hope that you like these.
Thanks for stopping by!