A Colorful Endeavor

So this meal was very good but may have been a bit more intense than I anticipated.  What was great about it was how colorful it ended up being and for anyone who has really tried for lifestyle change around food, you will know the rule of thumb is to make your dishes colorful.  That way, you know you're getting your veggies!

So tonight, the food delight was Guacamole Chicken & Spanish Rice.  I did my own modifications to it, mostly adding more veggies and bulking it up.  It was great but I think that next time I will try to make the guacamole the day before so I don't have to do so much chopping.  A trick I've done before is to spend the weekend chopping up veggies so that when I'm ready to make whatever I am making I don't have to spend as much time during the week.  I also think that the lettuce I used (red leaf) didn't really work for the wrap...I just can't find lettuce that is big enough!

I definitely recommend this one, but just be prepared for at least an hour of cooking/chopping/creating and I would also recommend cutting the recipe a bit unless you want leftovers or have enough people to feed...it made a ton!

Guacamole Chicken
10 servings (1 wrap = 1 serving)

Ingredients:
3 avocados
1/4 onion
3 roma tomatoes
1/2 cup black beans
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 cup chopped cilantro
1/2 lime
garlic powder, to taste
salt & pepper, to taste

Directions:
Season the chicken with garlic powder, salt and pepper and put in a preheated oven at 350 degrees for 20 minutes. 

In the meantime, peel the avocado into a bowl and mash it up. Dice the tomatoes and onion and add to the mixture. Add the black beans, garlic and cilantro.  Squeeze the lime juice into the mixture and add spices.

When the chicken is done cube it and add it to the guacamole mixture.  Place mixture in lettuce or tortillas for the wrap you prefer!  (w/lettuce it is only 5 points on Weight Watchers, with tortilla it is more!)

Spanish Rice
(? servings)

Ingredients:
1 cup long grain brown rice
1 bell pepper
1/4 onion
1/2 cup black beans
2 cups water/chicken broth
1 10-oz can of diced tomatoes w/green chiles
garlic powder, to taste
onion salt, to taste
cumin, to taste
salt and pepper, to taste

Directions:
Saute onion, bell pepper and black beans in a skillet with a small amount of olive oil.  Once slightly browned, add the cup of uncooked rice and brown rice well.  Add watr or chicken broth and can of tomatoes.  Season with spices and let simmer for 20 minutes or until the rice has soaked up the water.  Enjoy!

Black Bean Brownies

Okay, I swear I ran this recipe through the Weight Watchers recipe builder a couple times but it comes out as being a zero point brownie.  Score!!!  This recipe is an alternative to making brownies with the oil and the eggs and adds a bunch of fiber and goodness to them.  They might be slightly different texture but are not much different and are a great way to sneak in good stuff to your kids diet...seriously, they can't even tell.  If Justin will eat them, you know they work! 

Try them, they are really good a little heated up with some fat free whip cream, too!

Ingredients:
Any dry brownie mix
1 can black beans, pureed
1 egg white
1 tsp vanilla
a dash of cinnimon (if desired)

Directions:
Mix all of the ingredients together until the dry mix is completely stirred in.  Bake according to the package instructions and enjoy!

Yum!

Shrimp and Veggie Mini Skewers

We ate these so fast that I didn't even have a chance to take a picture, they were that good!  I think the only thing I might have done differently is add an additional side or make more of the skewers because it didn't fill me up as much as I would have hoped.  A tossed greens salad or greek salad would be really good on the side. 

Shrimp & Veggie Mini Skewers

Ingredients:
1/2 lb peeled raw shrimp
1-2 bell peppers
1/2 onion
Italian dressing/marinade
quinoa
mini-skewers

Instructions:
Put the shrimp in a container and cover with the marinade about 1-2 hours before cooking the skewers.  Chop the vegetables into larger chunks and start constructing the skewers by alternating different vegetables and the shrimp.  Place skewers in a heated skillet or grill.  Cook the quinoa by the box instructions.  Take the skewers off the grill or skillet once the shrimp is pink.  Put skewers on a plate over the quinoa and serve!

Working It Out

Whew, I'm spent.  After a grueling 60 minute strength and cardio workout I know I'll be feeling this tomorrow.  And the next day.  And probably even the day after that!  But what's great is that I can feel muscles again that I haven't felt in a very long time...kinda sad, really.  Lately, I've been having flashbacks to the days when I worked out every day and pushed my body to it's limits.  I remember my arms and legs and how toned I was at that point and can't wait to get there again!  Here's a pic of me around that time:



It's a little small, but this was about 50 lbs ago at least, maybe more (boy I'm being honest here...), and I really miss that time!  I think about how much energy I had, the confidence, the ease in my body and it's great motivation to reflect back to that time.  It's so easy to forget how much the exercise was a part of my life and how great it is to do that again.

This week, the goal is to go to the gym at least 4-5 times and to mix up the cardio and the strength.  The trainer at the gym told me to get at least 45 minutes cardio in when I do that and to start with 3x per week with the strength exercises.  I'm looking forward to getting that body back, but the most important thing, too, is to make sure it's something I can sustain.  It has to be a commitment.

Here's to feeling the burn! :-)

My Weight Loss Resume

Okay, this is kinda silly, but I thought it was a good exercise in positive self-talk.  I've been a member of WeightWatchers for several years and have had some success with the program.  I committed to continuing to go the last time I signed up and so far I have been doing great with that goal.  I may be losing slowly, but I am still losing!  And beyond that, this process is absolutely about lifestyle and health and not as much about the weight.  I want to make sure that I am learning how to eat and live so that I am healthy and passing on good habits to Kaela especially.

Last week in our meeting the leader asked if we were to make a resume to reflect our career in weightloss what would it include as our achievements, because that's what a resume highlights.  It was fun to hear other people's ideas and what they would include and I thought it would be fun to do one just for me.  It's important in the process of trying to change a habit to also stay positive.  It takes time and energy and it is so easy to go to the bad place where you feel depressed because you haven't achieved your goal yet.  So here is my weightloss resume and all the things I am proud of!


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Amy McGreevy

Objective

To effectively establish a healthy lifestyle through diet and exercise

Experience

2009-present                         Weight Watchers                                    Fort Collins, CO Member ·     Identified needed changes to personal health habits. ·     Established a healthy grocery shopping ritual. ·     Increased planning for daily healthy eating habits. ·     Increased positive self talk for maximum success. ·     Joined and attended a gym for improved exercise regiment. ·     Identified personal goals and stuck to them. ·     Learned how to cook in creative and new ways. ·     Experimented with new routines and ways to approach weight loss. ·     Attended regular meetings and committed to the on-going process of weight loss. ·     Established social connections and relationships with other members. ·     Experimented with new types of food and cooking. ·     Identified and implemented increased consumption of fruits and vegetables. ·     Rewarded positive efforts of both self and others in the goal of establishing a healthy lifestyle. ·     Engaged in the on-going process of focusing on self-achievements rather than setbacks.

Breakfast Mini Egg Souffles

Okay, so they aren't quite a souffle but I just can't bring myself to call something an "egg muffin."  Sounds not as tasty, right?  Anyway, these are a very good breakfast food that I whip up in bulk once a week and keep in ziplocks in the fridge.  They keep well and microwave up easily for a breakfast on the go, which is usually how I do it!  Kaela and Justin both love these and it is another good recipe to get veggies into without being too obvious.  Little does my silly family know but that they are eating a ton of veggies!

Something you will find if you continue to read about my cooking is that I do not always measure the ingredients (if I'm baking, I absolutely measure!).  I tend to estimate spices and measurements to just keep in mind that the following recipe is based a little bit on my estimations.  I think the best if you aren't comfortable with spices is to play around with them without measuring and just try to get comfortable.  That's how I did it!

Anyway, here's the recipe:

Breakfast Mini Egg Souffles
(makes 36 servings, PointsPlus value = 1)

Ingredients:
12 whole eggs
14 egg whites
1 red pepper
1/2 large white onion
1/2 cup frozen chopped spinach
4 servings Jimmy Dean Turkey Sausage links
1/4 cup 2% milk (or whatever you prefer)
1 cup fat free shredded cheddar cheese
garlic powder
onion salt
salt & pepper
olive oil cooking spray

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Chop onion and red pepper (or any other veggie you wish to add!) into small bits (not a very technical cooking term :-)).  Add these along with the chopped spinach to a heated skillet with some olive oil spray and heat the veggies until they are warmed but not browned. 

Remove from the heat and cool for a few minutes.  Crumble the sausage links into smaller pieces and heat in the skillet, remove after a few minutes and cool.  While veggies and sausage are being cooking a bit, mix up the uncooked eggs.  Add salt and pepper to taste as well as a tsp (or dash) of garlic powder and likewise of onion salt.  Mix in the cooled veggies, sausage, milk, and cheese to the raw eggs and stir.  

Using the cooking spray, coat a regular sized muffin tin.  Evenly distribute the egg mixture in the muffin tin, only filling the individual cups about 3/4 full.  Cook in the preheated oven for approximately 12-15 minutes or until the egg is cooked.  Let them cook on a paper towel or rack and then you can bag them up for later!

Feel free to add or modify the veggies or additions to these.  I put a lot of veggies because I like how unobtrusive they are in this, but these would be equally good with potatoes or other types of meat.  Next time, I think I might try to make these with green chiles for a little kick and I've also thought that asparagus would be good chopped up in these.  You can also put cheese on top of them but I mixed it in because the fat free cheese can be weird sometimes in how it cooks.  There's a lot of versatility to this recipe so have fun with it!

Cheesy Tuna & Tomato Melts

This was crazy good.  Seriously easy.  Completely low-fat.  And totally cheap!  Success!  It's a variation on an old recipe we used to have as kids called tuna cheese boats but much less fat.  See below for the recipe and the picture. 

Oh, and Justin and Kaela both ate these up like crazy.  I think Justin might have had five of them and didn't realize how low fat they were!  And talk about sneaking in a vegetable...hehe.  :-)

Cheesy Tuna & Tomato Melts
(PointsPlus Value = 3/serving)

Ingredients:
2 cans tuna in water, drained
2 tbsp light mayonnaise
2-3 roma tomatoes, sliced
1 cup fat free shredded cheddar cheese
Eating Right Sandwich Thins

Directions:
Set the oven to broil to warm up.  On a baking sheet, open up the sandwich thins.  Mix up the tuna and mayo and spread an even amount over all the sandwich thins.  Slice up the tomatoes and put them on top of the tuna and finish by putting cheese on each one so that it will melt evenly.  Put the cookie sheet in the oven and let it cook until the cheese is slightly browned.

BEFORE

AFTER

Yum!

Don't Grocery Shop Hungry

Best advice ever.  Seriously.  I've now completed my plans for dinners over the next few days and it's time to be off to the grocery store but I'm hungry!  Looking at recipes and planning meals for the last hour has really made my tummy growl...

Anyway, thought I would share some of my upcoming meals!  I will take pictures and put recipes up as I make them and let you know how I will cut calories and modify to fit the diet.  The most fun of cooking is the modifying and teaching myself how to cook and grocery shop differently.  And I figure if my grocery list has more veggies and fruits than cookies and candies, I'm on the right track!

Here's the line-up (in no particular order):

Turkey Veggie Meatloaf Cups
Shrimp Kabobs w/quinoa cranberry salad
Honey Garlic Pork Ribs
Tomato & Tuna Pita Melts
Guacamole Chicken Salad Sandwiches
Breakfast Sausage Egg Muffins

Everything here includes ingredients on sale and most of them are super fresh so it won't be difficult to stay healthy!  Next is to just get the ingredients I don't have and start cooking!

A (Wo)Man With A Plan

One of the things I'm teaching myself about is meal planning, because planning ahead for your eating is one of the components of a healthy diet and weightloss.  I find that the weeks I am able to spend some time planning my grocery list and the meals I will eat, I do 150% better than the weeks I do not.  It's kind of a no-brainer if you think about it...if I plan my meals then I know there will be food around to eat and I won't be as tempted to eat out or grab something that is fast.  When I don't plan my food, especially my breakfast or lunch, I make much worse decisions about what I eat.  I also find that if I don't look at my days and plan out my weeks for activity, it follows that I'll be a couch potato, but that's a topic for another day. :-)

So on the topic of meal planning, here's how I do it.  Usually it occurs on Sundays when I have a chunk of time to spend working on our meals.  I start by surfing the grocery store websites to find the best possible deals for the week.  We also have to be budget friendly with what we eat, so whatever is on sale, is what we eat!  And usually I'm most concerned about what the meat is going to be and then I build the menu around that.  So once I know what's on sale then I usually go to allrecipes.com and do a little searching.

I don't like to cook the same thing all the time, so allrecipes is a great website to find that variety.  I also have to be aware of how difficult or time consuming the recipe is and how many ingredients are going to be involved.  I like to keep it simple, cheap and varied.  This week, it looks like we will be having some yummy shrimp, chicken and pork...I'll be back with recipe ideas soon!

Ginger-Orange Glazed Shrimp Stir Fry

Can I just say, yum!  This was probably one of the best things I have ever eaten in my life, and I made it!  I got the glaze idea from another recipe but it worked great for this.  It was a very light, very flavorful sauce and the ingredients were very easy to work with.  My goal with a lot of recipes is to make them easy but fun to cook.  For this one, if you don't have fresh ginger then I'm sure powdered can work.

Here's the recipe and a picture...it didn't last very long, I can say that and I thought Justin was going to finish it before I could swipe some for my lunch.  We're definitely going to have to re-do this one. :-)

Ginger-Orange Glazed Shrimp Stir Fry over Quinoa

Glaze:
1/2 cup orange juice
1-2 tsp minced ginger
1 clove minced garlic
1 tsp balsamic vinegar

Stir Fry:
1/2 lb shrimp, shelled and deveined
1 bag frozen stir fry veggies
quinoa

Directions:
Add the orange juice to a sauce pan over medium low heat.  Cook and stir 10 to 15 minutes until reduced by 1/2 and thickened.  Remove from the heat and cool.

Begin cooking the quinoa, follow package instructions.  Add olive oil to a non stick pan and heat veggies over medium high heat for about 15 minutes or no longer frozen.  While it is cooking, stir in the ginger and garlic to the orange juice.  When the veggies are heated enough, add the shrimp to the mixture.  Cook until they begin to turn pink and add the sauce.  Do not over cook, it should only take a few minutes for the shrimp to be ready.

Once finished you can add some quinoa and stir fry to your plate and enjoy!

Accidentally Gourmet

So I realize the idea of a food blog is not a new one, but here's to hoping this adventure is a positive one.  In an effort to not be narcissistic or self-important, this all comes down to my health.  I am and have remained very overweight since the birth of my child (and maybe before that, wink, wink, but everyone needs a good excuse!) and in the past year of dieting and trying to learn a whole new lifestyle, I feel there is still something missing.  I've definitely gotten better at this process, but it's still a process.

I love food.  That's the barest fact there is and I have figured out that I am in love with cooking, playing with recipes and trying out new things.  I've also learned over the past few years that in order to get to where I want to be with my health and my weight loss, it's going to be important to try new things and learn an entirely new way to cook my food.  And if I can have some fun along the way, well great!

So this blog is really just all about me and my learning new ways to cook, a new way to live and if it works then I'll be on my way.  I hope to share recipes, both good and bad, and all the ridiculous little challenges that pop up when we try to change our habits and live differently.  I hope you enjoy the read!