Moderation

Moderation is the key, my friends.

In July I started on the Weight Watchers diet and for the most part was doing everything right. I also walked almost every day for at least 30 minutes and lost a total of about 15 lbs in about 3 weeks. I didn't work as hard as I knew I could, though. The number of points I was able to use seemed like too many and I always had a ton of points left over and would often think, "Oh, well then I can have a cookie because I have points left." I was not as disciplined as I could be but I certainly did better than I ever have in my life at really trying to diet. There were things about the diet I liked but things I didn't like. This time around I am not counting points, not counting calories, not deciding what is off-limits. I am simply keeping to the philosophy that moderation is the key.

I am definitely striving to eat more vegetables and fruit and less fat and sugar, but I will not deny myself of certain pleasures. My goal is not to lose as much weight as possible, but to transition into a healthier lifestyle. My biggest problem has always been moderation. If I think something is good, self-control goes out the window and I eat as much of it as I can. *Blush blush*. Having one or two cookies a week will not kill me. Having five cookies in one sitting might. Having one soda a month certainly won't harm me, but having one a day (like when we are on vacation, or like I used to do before I got married) will most definitely cause me harm. It's about making good decisions and using self-control. We teach our son daily about self-control and pray with him that God will help him to have self-control and yet I have none myself.

This morning I wanted to have our family's favorite breakfast, potatoes and sausage. We usually make a heaping amount for both of us then smother it in syrup. I used great self-control this morning to only cut up a very small potato and a couple of slices of sausage and to use as little canola oil in the skillet as possible. It was a great breakfast and quite filling.

For lunch I had a veggie burrito, which I told you about one day last week. I used leftover rice from dinner the night before (which was seasoned with home made taco seasoning) and leftover corn. I chopped carrots and broccoli and added fresh spinach. I spread a little bit of ranch dressing on a warmed tortilla, added the rice and veggies then sprinkled it with a little bit of cheddar cheese. It was so wonderfully delicious.

Oh, I also walked 30 minutes at the mall today.

Christmas decorations!

My calves are sore from the brisk pace I kept the entire time. I blew all those old ladies with their fanny packs and hand weights out of the water!

So in closing, it's not all about losing as much weight as possible, but about changing my lifestyle and making better choices. Eating healthier, getting exercise, using self-control, and eating bad things in moderation without denying myself of simple pleasures every now and then. Hopefully this doesn't backfire on me!

Birthday

My Lil' Squirt is 2 years old!!

On Friday my mom and I took him and his cousin to the Mill Mountain Zoo in Roanoke to celebrate his birthday. It isn't the greatest zoo but it was perfect for the little ones because there wasn't anyone else there so they could just run around and check everything out at their own pace. We greatly enjoyed it!

Friday night I made a lion cake for for Lil' Squirt's birthday party:

I used a recipe from my Taste of Home cook book for Moist Chocolate Cake and simply doubled it. I made two round cake pans and filled two muffin pans with the rest of the batter in little cupcake cups. For the brown frosting, I used the Chocolate Peanut Butter Frosting recipe in the Taste of Home Baking Book and for the yellow frosting I used the Bakery Frosting recipe (divided by fourths and using vanilla instead of almond extract) from the same cook book. I had a bit of problem when it came to the round cakes, however. Even though I greased the pans, they still didn't come out well. The first one looked terrible but was still in one piece while the second one just came out in chunks. Instead of making a two layer cake, I decided to just go ahead and use a portion of the failure as a raised part on the cake for the mouth and nose. It worked out really well! It wasn't until AFTER the cake had been made that I received a link to one of my favorite blogs, Lynn's Kitchen Adventures, which stated that sprinkling the pan with cocoa powder before pouring the batter in keeps the chocolate cake from sticking to the pan. Genius! Anyway, it still turned out beautifully despite my limited baking and decorating knowledge, and it sure was a hit!

We had a blast at the party, passing around our new baby niece and watching the antics of a couple of toddlers surrounded by lots of new toys and books. Lil' Squirt greatly enjoyed having his truck driver Gramma and her dogs stay with us but now the guests have left and the festivities are over so we can take a deep breath and get back into our normal routine. We like routine.

Tater Tot Casserole

I know I just posted about accountability and losing weight and eating better, but for one last hoorah I have decided to make tater tot casserole for supper tonight. We have half a can of cream of mushroom soup sitting in the fridge as well as half a pound of country sausage that needs to be used. Those things combined just beg for our favorite casserole and once its out of the way, there won't be any other incredibly fattening items in the fridge. So here is the recipe for this epic, out of this world meal:

If you recall from previous posts, I don't use measurements for my own recipes that I make up so nothing is exact. Sorry about that!

Tater Tot Casserole

Brown 1/2 to 1 lb hamburger or country sausage with chopped onions (we prefer sausage but it depends on what you have on hand...we also use smaller amounts of meat to help save some moola).

Mix 1 can cream of mushroom soup or cream of chicken soup with 1/4 cup milk, a few scoops of sour cream, 1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese, 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder, salt, and pepper.

Mix strained hamburger or sausage with the creamy mixture then dump into a casserole dish.

Cover with a layer of tater tots then sprinkle with more cheddar cheese.

Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes or until tater tots are slightly brown and cooked thoroughly.

Goals and Mashed Potato Casserole

I'm not really a new years resolution kind of gal, but I am in desperate need of some lifestyle changes. I've gotten too lazy in the past months and this simply won't do. So here are some of my long- and short-term goals for 2011.

• Finish Reading "The House that Cleans Itself" and be inspired to turn my house into one that cleans itself! Don't worry, I haven't gone crazy and I don't actually think I can have a house that cleans itself, but check out the above link and see what Mindy Starns Clark is talking about.
• Eat smaller portions and walk EVERY day (except maybe Sunday, the day of rest). I've never felt the need to lose weight just to lose weight, but I do want to be healthy. I want to have lots of babies and I want to live well into old age and meet my grandchildren and maybe even my great-grandchildren.
• Have dinner earlier in the evening. Now this will be a tough one, since my husband gets off work at 10:00. I used to eat dinner by myself and just leave the leftovers for the hubby when he got home, but lately I've gotten into the routine of just having a light snack at dinnertime and eating with Sonny when he gets home. It's so pleasant to have dinner with him every night but I don't like to do it because I've heard that it's unhealthy to eat right before bed. I need time to work off my food!
• Be more encouraging and uplifting to my husband
• Be more attentive to learning opportunities for my son and expanding those opportunities
• Prepare more wholesome meals
• Read at least one book a month that will encourage me to be a better child of God, wife, and mother
• Also read at least one book a month for pleasure. I always mean to do this one but end up starting so many different books at once that it's difficult to finish even one!
• Watch less TV. We don't have a TV but over the last couple of years I have started to watch more and more shows online. What a waste of time! *blush blush*
• Combat laziness in general (I'll expand on this one in the near future). That's a BIG one.

I will add more to this list at another time, but for right now, I need to tell you about my latest attempt at a new meal. I know how good sweet potatoes are for you. Yes, I even know they are a superfood, but I just don't like them! Maybe if I eat them in small, disguised doses, I will eventually acquire a taste for them. So, tonight I made a Mashed Potato Casserole with a mixture of sweet and white potatoes. It was good, as long as I had bites that were primarily white potatoes. Sonny quite enjoyed it though. At least someone was happy with it! The only substitution I made was adding my new favorite casserole ingredient: cream of chicken soup, in place of the chive and onion cream cheese. I think it would be a yummy Thanksgiving dish.

Joy to the World...

...the Lord is come!

Well, Christmas has come and gone. The decorations are still up and Christmas music is still playing in my mind, but we don't have the anticipation of Christmas day to look forward to any more. Happily, this joyous season continues for our family until at least January 8th. First comes New Years, then our anniversary on the 3rd, then Sonny's birthday on the 8th. After taking down the Christmas decorations the second week of January last year, my husband told me that I was a scrooge. I promised him that we could always leave the decorations up until after his birthday but it seems that he wouldn't be satisfied unless we leave them up all year long!

On Christmas Eve I made a ham that was given to me by a dear friend. It was the first ham I had ever made and it turned out delicious, however, I had a bit of trouble in the cooking process:

I mistakenly used a recipe for a 12 lb ham and didn't think to change the cooking time to match my much smaller one. If I had been home to baste it frequently like the recipe called for, I would have noticed that it was starting to get too done but we had a couple errands to run and we took MUCH longer than anticipated. We came home to that black thing! We believe that perhaps the outer black shell kept the inside nice and juicy, making for the most wonderful accident I could imagine! I would post the recipe on here for you, but I'd like to keep that a secret. It's something you would never expect so I'm not going to tell you! Haha! I've never had a food with a "secret ingredient" before, but this ham recipe will be it! We also had alfredo noodles and lima beans with corn. We ate by Christmas and candle light with my pretty table cloth all the way from India!

One of the gifts I received is a book called "The House that Cleans Itself: Creative Solutions for a Clean and Orderly House... in Less Time than You Can Imagine!" by Mindy Starns Clark. It is so helpful and fun to read and I can't wait to start implementing some of the steps detailed in this book. I will consider it my new challenge for January and will post about it soon! In the meantime, I'm still working on trying new, healthy recipes that I've never tried before. Last night I made polenta for the first time. I was going to use it with spaghetti sauce but my mom didn't like it, so we had noodles instead. I'm going to find a new way to have it other than with pasta sauce so we will all enjoy it!

Two Tales of Woe...and Chicken Stew-ish Stuff

Let's just say that today has not been the hottest day, in more than one sense. First of all, it's still frigid (I'm currently wearing my snazzy blue striped winter hat indoors)! Secondly, I made many blunders today and am in need of some venting. A blog is a great way to vent! Another great way to relieve ventation (yes I just made that word up), is to watch Cops on Hulu and remind myself that no matter how many blunders I make, I'm not as dumb as those people! "Do you have any weapons on you?" "None that I know of." ~~~~ "I was not driving!" "What were you doing on this side of town?" "I was driving my friend home."

First Tale of Woe

I locked myself and my son out of the house in the great, freezing outdoors! I had a spare key in my wallet but guess whether or not it worked. NO!! Of course not! There was supposed to be a spare key for the car but guess whether or not it was there. NO!! Of course not! I tried to call my landlord but guess whether or not I had his number in my new phone. NO!! Of course not! I do have a truly heroic husband, though, and he came to our rescue! Luckily one of the car doors was unlocked so we were able to sit in the car with blankets while we waited for him to get there.

Second Tale of Woe

I recently bought these rather hideous looking stove burner covers from Goodwill and so far they have been a delightful addition to our home. However, they don't do any good if you forget to cover the burners all the way! I turned on the wrong burner (a common occurrence in this house, for some reason) when trying to cook some rice for dinner and melted part of the lid of one of my nice plastic storage bowls. The lid shouldn't have been anywhere near the burner, but the one time I don't nudge the cover back into its rightful place, I melt something!

Ah, I feel better just getting that out there. As you will come to learn about me, I am very accident prone. It's probably due to my lack of observation skills, which I definitely need to work on. All righty, now that I have embarrassed myself for life, let me tell you about my second new meal this week. At least I didn't burn any of it.

Chicken Stew-ish Stuff

I have no real name for it because I don't really know what to call it.

3 carrots, chopped into rounded slices

1/2 onion, chopped

1 can low sodium cream of chicken soup

2 cans of water (I just used the soup can)

Lemon & Pepper seasoning

Pepper

Garlic powder

1 chicken leg and thigh

I added all of the ingredients in a crock pot and cooked on high for 3 hours. After 3 hours, I took the chicken out and pulled all the meat off the bones then placed the meat back into the crock pot and let it cook on low for an hour. I don't think the last part was necessary but that's what I did anyway. I served the chicken on brown rice and poured the stew-ish stuff on the rice as well. I also made broccoli & cauliflower and bread.

So tell me, what are some of your recent blunders?

Freezing with Tuna Pasta

Since I failed to get three new meals made last week, I HAD to make one last night. I was prepared to use the now thawed chicken that prevented me from getting my third meal last week, but alas, the cold was just another hinderance. I spent all evening like this:

In light of my time spent in the tundra, I was able to do some more searches on Allrecipes.com, which by the way is the best recipe website in the world! You can do searches based on specific ingredients, which is how I found the Tuna Pasta. This was one of the first recipes I have found in recent memory when I had everything I needed to complete it and I didn't have to make substitutions! I will admit, it is a very simple and quick recipe, but let's face it, I was freezing!

I usually make my own alfredo and buy the occassional Ragu, but this time I had two coupons for Classico alfredo sauce and it was so good! I also never expected tuna to go with alfredo but it did, to my pleasure and delight!

Tonight: Chicken stew of some sort. It's probably one of those meals where I'll just throw a bunch of ingredients in and hope for the best. What are YOU making for dinner?

EDIT- The link to the tuna pasta is not currently working, so here it is:

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Tuna-Pasta-with-Peas/Detail.aspx

Thuccotath! I Mean Spicey Christmas Delight

Whenever I hear the word, succotash, I think of Daffy Duck and his major lisp. Succotash turns into Thuccotath, or as Lil' Squirt repeats proudly, "Gagattth." I had leftover beans from our beans and rice meal last night so I did a search on Allrecipes.com for ones with kidney beans, red pepper, and peas and found this delicious meal. I call it Spicey Christmas Delight due to it's beautiful red and green coloring, but it's actually called Zesty Succotash.

Here is my own version of this recipe:

1 Tbsp butter

2/3 bag of frozen 3 pepper and onion blend (I picked through the bag to get more red peppers than anything)

1/2 bag of frozen peas

1/3 bag of frozen lima beans

1 can of corn

1 cup dried kidney beans, cooked and drained

1 tsp chili powder

1 tsp crushed red pepper

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 cup mild salsa

(in the future, I will also add fresh onions to the sautee at the beginning, it would have added so much more flavor)

Melt butter in large skillet on medium-high heat, add peppers and onions. Cook until thawed, add peas and lima beans. Continue cooking about 5 minutes then add corn and cooked kidney beans. Add chili powder, crushed red pepper, and salt. Continue cooking for another 5 minutes, or until all ingredients are cooked through. Serve alone as a side dish or with rice.

This is a very delicious yet cheap and nutritious meal! I decided to serve it as the main course on brown rice with cornbread since it is so filling. You should definitely try it!

Note: We use frozen and canned vegetables because we have found that it is cheaper and more convenient for this time in our lives. The more I experiment with cooking, the more I come to realize that fresh really is the best way to go but that will come at a later time. So for now, frozen it is!

I Challenge You...

Actually, I challenge myself! After inventing the delicious Chicken Enchilada Pasta the other night, I thought it would be fun to try to make something new that I've never tried more often. My husband and I are creatures of habbit and like to stick to what we know. We rotate between different versions of chicken and rice, beans and rice, stir fry, and mexican flavored dishes with taco seasoning. So I challenged myself to make a new dinner 3 times a week for the rest of December. If nothing else, I can learn to add more variety to our diets and our lives. Let's step outside of our comfort bubble!

The Rules:
1. The meal has to be something I have never made or attempted.
2. The ingredients must already be on hand. I may not go out and buy items for a specific meal.
3. At least one of the three meals a week must be meatless but have a protein substitute, such as beans.
4. I may use any means necessary to find a new recipe.

To start us off, last night I made Baked Penne and Smoked Sausage Casserole. http://http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Baked-Penne-and-Smoked-Sausage/Detail.aspx



I didn't have french fried onions so I sauteed half an onion with 2 small chopped cloves of garlic and the sausage. I also added salt and pepper before baking, which the recipe does not call for. It was good, but definitely not the most exciting meal I've ever made. I look forward to my next try! I think tonight I will just make some good ol' beans and rice and save my creativity juices for my next attempt at something new!


How often do you try new recipes? I challenge you to take this adventure with me and try it yourself!

Welcoming a New Blog with Chicken Enchilada Pasta

All righty, so this is my second attempt at a successful blog. I am still throwing around some ideas as to what constitutes non-boring posts and I hope that writing about my new recipe discoveries and my adventures as a new mother will be insightful yet entertaining as well! I am definitely not saying that I have extensive knowledge to spread to the world, just that I want others to learn with me.

As you walk with me, I will introduce you to Lil' Squirt, my 1 year old son, and my husband of 2 years, Sonny. Please learn, laugh, and grow with us!

So to get us started, I want to tell you about my newest recipe discovery. Just to warn you, I don't really use exact measurements when I'm cooking and I'm sure my food would turn out much better if I did, but I usually just throw ingredients in and hope for the best. I make a taco casserole that my husband LOVES but it's a little different every time. So for those who are very precise cookers, I hope I don't annoy you too much!

The last couple of nights have been pretty hectic and I have had to throw meals together very quickly. Thursday night we had stirfry, which I will post about some other time, but last night I discovered Chicken Enchilada Pasta.

1/2 -2/3 of a 12 oz bag of whole wheat egg noodles
1 can of cream of chicken soup
2ish tablespoons of sour cream
1/2 cup medium salsa
A few pinches of shredded cheddar cheese
Chili powder (I just dumped it in until it looked right, that's how I do most of my seasoning, so I have no idea how to tell you how much...just use your own discretion)
Dash of garlic powder

Cook the noodles according to package directions and drain. Add all ingredients and let simmer on medium-low for about 5 minutes or until hot. I added corn to mine but Sonny made his into a wrap and added more cheese. It needed some chicken, so in the future, I will make this when I have some leftovers already cooked. It was very simple and quick and we can't wait to have it again!