Quick Easy Dinner

Here is a quick and easy dinner I made last night with food I had in my kitchen. Just thought it might help someone...

Time: Less than 20 minutes

Ingredients:

• Pasta (I used Ziti, but you can use anything)
• Onions
• Mushrooms
• Olive Oil
• Parmesan Cheese
• Any other veggies you have in the house
  

1. Cook Pasta
2. Saute Onions and Mushrooms in Olive Oil til done
3. Mix cooked pasta, sauted vegetables, and shredded parmesan cheese
   

Solution for our Fitness woe's? I don't think so.

http://www.happynews.com/news/10272007/product-combines-workstation-treadmill.htm

Solved Karens Problem

Blogger has solved Karen's problem of not being able to get back out to the website to read when someone posts a comment on a thread out here!

When you post a comment on a thread look for the checkbox if you would like to know what people comment after you!

It's called:
Email follow-up comments to ...

-Danielle

My Goals

I have not yet hit my goal of working out every other day in a week. I have however went from no working out at all to 3 times the 14 - 20th, and 2 times the 21st - 27th!

Thanks again to my husband for going on walks with me the last couple of weeks and for setting up my treadmill in front of the TV downstairs so I can entertain myself while I work out.

How is everyone else doing on working out?

Anyone else cooked the October dish?

Haven't post forever!

I have some new goals.
To be at 150 by Aug. 12th 2008.
Drink 10 glasses of water a day!


Since I'm having a baby I haven't worked out at all. I have been trying to eat healthy but I'm always hungry because of this little guy. If anyone wants to have a cooking day some weekend we can all cook over at my house.

Meal Ideas

One of the things I struggle with is ideas for meals...seems like I start repeating after 1 week and that is pretty boring. Just to get the discussion started, how about next week we each post what we had for dinner each evening (assuming it is homemade :) ).

My turn to focus

Thanks for including me girls! It is really time for me to focus...and I mean it this time. The recent health scare of my dad with the quadruple bypass surgery has really gotten me thinking about the importance of taking better care of myself now. I am going to need a lot of support from you guys. My first goal is to get back to tracking everything I eat. My biggest challenge is sticking with it, but I am going to go with Jossie and do "one day at a time."

The Gluten-Free Geek

I figure I should at least introduce myself. Hello!

I have been gluten-free (no wheat, barley, rye, and oats) for a year after being diagnosed with Celiac Disease. For someone that has never dieted before in her life, I think I adapted pretty well. I have never cheated, even though I have been tempted. I was one of those sickening people that could eat anything and everything since I was always hungry, and not gain a pound. I'm surprised no one thought I was bulimic. Not anymore. You have gotten your revenge people! Celiac isn't always accompanied by weight-loss, which makes it so hard to pinpoint it in those that don't have the classic celiac symptoms.

Some of the challenges with a gluten-free diet involve time, price, taste, and convenience. It takes a lot of time to shop for groceries, cook from scratch, and do the dishes. Or when in a rush, there are quicker options, but they are generally more expensive and not very healthy. Taste -- well, we're dealing with some new ingredients with different flavors and textures. Sometimes it is hit or miss. Going out always requires planning ahead. I usually plan on failure, so I always stash food in my purse. For the most part it is easiest to eat my meals at home and pack a lunch for work. I go out to eat occasionally, plus I've got some great friends that have taken on the gluten-free challenge and cooked for me too.

I've been pretty lazy for about 2 years since I started getting more sick, then once I was better, I just wanted to give my body time to heal and not push it at the gym. Now I have to push through it and I'm trying to work out more regularly (whenever you ask me, I'm always trying to work out more regularly, its been an ongoing goal that I really haven't been successful with).

Since everyone else has goals, I figured I would share mine.

1. Work out 4 times a week and make it a habit
2. Find fast and easy meals to cook that are still healthy and meet the GF criteria
3. Cook meals ahead of time to have when I'm busy
   
4. Start by losing 5 pounds

Karen, the Gluten-Free Geek

New Authors?

I have invited Karen and Kathryn to be authors with us!

Kathryn is interested in our cooking club, and Karen so that she can have blog post comments emailed to her if she wants!

-Danielle

I've already revised my mini-goals a bit. Here they are...


Previous:

1. Cook breakfast, lunch, and dinner myself
   
2. Wake-up on weekdays at 6:15AM to exercise, 8AM otherwise
   
3. Drink 8-10 glasses of water daily
   
4. Cut out coffee completely
5. Don't miss a day - one day at a time

New:

1. Eat home-cooked breakfast, lunch and dinner.
   
2. Wake-up on weekdays between 6:30 - 6:45AM to exercise and 8AM on weekends.
3. Drink 8 - 10 glasses of water daily.
4. Drink at most 2 cups of coffee.
   
5. Don't miss a day - one day at a time.

(what I meant by "cook myself" is eating at home, Brian helps out A LOT and I definitely don't plan or can cook all the meals myself :-)

Tidbit on coffee -
Find it here: http://www2.oprah.com/health/yourbody/slide/slide_yourbody_healthfood_108.jhtml

Coffee actually has been shown to reduce liver cancer and to be effective with (or with symptoms of) Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases," Dr. Oz says. "So there are a bunch of different places where coffee can play a role. The reason it got a bad name is because it does have side effects, for example, migraine headaches and heart palpitations. But if you're not having them, coffee is reasonable."

Did we mention, it's good for those bowel movements, too? Dr. Oz suggests 24 ounces of coffee a day is a rational amount.

Recipe Club #1 October 2007 DUE October 30th

Here is our first official recipe! I have changed its format a bit and included the composite nutritional information. For those avoiding certain foods please try it with whatever modifications you like!

Recipie Club #1 October 2007 Due Date 10/30

Ingredients
* rice (brown, white, wild, basmati, jasmine, black)
* vegies (usually go for a frozen blend with broccoli)
* firm or extra-firm tofu (I like the refrigerated tofu
* about a tablespoon of olive oil, enough to coat the pan
* Bragg's or a soy sauce
* powdered garlic

Instructions
1. Cook the rice.
2. Cook or steam the vegies.
3. Cook the tofu -- I cut the tofu into cubes. Heat the olive oil in a skillet on medium heat. Add the tofu. I put in about as much soy sauce until the tofu is covered (Bragg's is lower-sodium). Then some garlic on top. Stir it up.
4. Cover and stir once in a while to make sure it doesn't burn. It takes about 10 min or so to cook so it isn't squishy/raw anymore. Not sure if that is the best way to cook it, but it gets the job done. ;-)

I like to layer the rice, then veggies, then the tofu in the proportions you like/want on your plate or bowl. The tofu helps flavor the rice. And save the rest for leftovers.

Nutritional Information:
1 cup cooked brown rice
3 oz tofu
1/2 cup cooked broccoli
1/2 tsp Bragg's
1 Tbsp Olive Oil

Calories....: 423
Protein.....: 13.29g
Carbohydrate: 52.8g
Total Fat...: 18.25g (this is counting the whole 13.5 g for 1 tbsp of olive oil)
Fiber.......: 6.5g
Sodium......: 110mg

Superfoods

Last night Karen mentioned the superfoods book that Brandon loaned her, I thought this article fit in well with that conversation.

Fish 2 times a week! Shouldn't be that hard, but for some reason it is!

http://www.health.com/health/article/0,23414,1591547,00.html

I worked out again today. :)

Bootcamp class at 8 pm.

I hurt already and it's 9:30.

Someone else tell me they are working out. ;)

And here's a current weigh-in: Today 209. Talk about sucky. I was at 206 on Saturday. It's PMS -- totally, so I hope that it'll go away just as quick as it came.

Oh yeah - does everyone have a fitday account? I keep mine accurate - do you? It's here...

Blogging from my couch!

Hi y'all. (I really wanted to put in It's Britney Bitch somewhere in here... but since I'm not Britney... well, you get the picture!)

I'm blogging from my couch while watching my children play play-dough. How cool is that!? I finally got my wireless access set up again in the house. If I had known my router was so nearby, I would have done it months ago!

I'm currently reading a book called The Beck Diet Solution: How to Train your Brain to Think like a Thin Person. Week 1 is all about getting ready to diet. No dieting involved yet, though. It's just preparing and making sure that you have the tools to be able to resist temptation. Week 2 is about getting ready to diet. I'm somewhere in the middle of week 2 even though it's been 3 weeks since I started reading the book. :) So far I'm down 6 lbs. 6 lbs in 3 weeks is SO SLOW compared to what I'm used to, but if it stays off, who gives a rats ass, right?

My goal is to be down to 170 lbs (hopefully a nice solid size 10-12) by my birthday Feb 11. I love that Mrs. Schulz gave me a 10 day buffer zone in my goals!

Here's my workout schedule currently:
Monday: Boot amp class - I did the first one last week. It was painful, painful, painful. I was sore until Wednesday!

Tuesday: Off. Walk with kids -- if I can after that damn Bootcamp Class!

Wednesday: Yoga class. It is so wonderful to have that night of stretch after having a day to recover from Susan's (the instructor for the Bootcamp Class) brutal class. Allison, the Wednesday night teacher does a good 10 minute ab set at the end of class. Eventually I'm hoping to do Step at 7 and then Yoga at 8 on Wednesday. We'll work up to that. :)

Thurday: Off.

Friday: 45- 60 minutes on the elliptical + weight lifting

Saturday: 9am Yoga class. Kathy teaches this. It's far more relaxing than the Wednesday night class. She does things slower and more methodically than Allison. :)

Sunday: Still up for debate. I'm trying to decide between taking Step at 6 or just having another day off!

My Mr. Wonderful likes the fact that I'm working out, so he's watching the kids for me while I hit the gym.

Meanwhile I'm trying to eat more balanced meals more often. Lately I'm kind of stuck eating home made breakfast burritos (3 egg whites, 1/4 cup shredded cheese, turkey sausage in a 8" whole wheat tortilla) for breakfast at 7. I eat a snack at 9. It's usually a handful of homemade trail mix (toasted almonds, unsalted cashews, peanuts, dried cranberries and some chocolate chunks). Lunch is a sandwich and salad or soup at about 11. There's another snack between 1 & 3 - sometimes popcorn, sometimes yogurt. It all depends. :) Dinner is something very, very low carb. I'm trying to stay away from carbs after 5. My body just holds onto them. It sucks. I'd love to eat bread without problems!

While I'm eating all of this I try to drink 4 liters of water a day. Yes, you read that right - 4 liters. I've got a 2 liter pitcher on my desk. My drawer is full of crystal light because there comes a point where I can only drink so much water flavored water. :)

Jossie - welcome. I probably should have put this at the top, but well - I was just so excited! :)

I actually made this great recipe the other day and it was SO easy. Now - you think I can remember it? It had whole wheat pasta, ground seasoned turkey, brocolli, dried aprocots and peacans. It was fabulous.

Oh - the other thing that is my go to fast food is 1 Morningstar Farm's Black Bean Burger on top of my salad with 1/4 cup shredded cheese, refried black beans and a couple of tablespoons of salsa. I sometimes crumble some tortilla chips over the top like they are crutons (is that speled right??!)! It's so good! I've found that the key to the tofu stuff is to cook it the right way. Well, I didn't really find on my own, I was told, but ya know - I know it anyway. :) The Black Bean burgers work really well in a frying pan on each side for 6-7 minutes until they carmelize and get a little crunchy. And I TRULY adore the damn tofu chicken patties. They remind me of Elementary School Lunch. :)

And to Anonymous - no, we do not have another bride yet. She's picked out the dress though. LOL I'm just waiting for the very large diamond ring. He was asked about when he was going to marry me by one of our customers last week. He said he figured I wouldn't live with him in sin forever. I told him he'd better have a more solid answer then that. I told him again that I wouldn't wait 6 years for my ring like he made his ex-wife wait. Hopefully that's enough of a hint. :)

Ok - did I cover everyting? Gosh - I hope so.

I just have to shout out to Karen. :) I read your blog all the time girlfriend. You, Jossie and Dani should come up some time and we have a girls night watching chick flicks or going out and drinking or something!

K - Done now.

Aideu mis amies.

My view

Hi Ladies,

Like Danielle said, I have been invited as an author to this blog so I can post now.

I'll start with a bit of my background. As a teenager I was very active and never had to worry about what I ate because my mom always cooked healthy, delicious, Spanish meals and I never learned how to cook because I didn't have to. Since I was active, I never thought of "being healthy" but then I went away from home for college. I had no clue how to cook so I'd call my mom to help me make a grocery list and talk me through cooking the meals I would eat for the next 3 days. I didn't always have time for that so I ended up buying a lot of frozen foods, like pizza. I started gaining weight and my activity level greatly decreased.

Then I got married to Brian (which you have all met I'm sure) and he IS an amazing cook. That worked out great because I didn't know what I was doing in the kitchen. Well, it turned out that it wasn't so great because I kept on gaining weight. I took notice that my clothes wasn't fitting me anymore and tried a couple diets that worked, until I stopped doing them :-)

To make the long story short....I've grown up and figured out that it's important to be healthy for other reasons than just appearances. My father has diabetes and so does everyone else in his side of the family. Chances of me getting diabetes are huge, but I am 26 years old and ready to prevent ever having to deal with that.

My ultimate goal is to never ever feel like I'm on a diet or that I'm restricting myself from eating anything yet still live a healthy life. If it wasn't for my jeans feeling tighter and my shirts smaller, I wouldn't worry about my appearance...I don't want to spend tons of money in new clothes when I know that I'm working towards a goal that will solve that.

I'm very far away from my ultimate goal, but I have milestones, which I like to call mini-goals, that will help me get there. Here they are in no particular order...

mini-goals

1. Cook breakfast, lunch, and dinner myself
   
2. Wake-up on weekdays at 6:15AM to exercise, 8AM otherwise
   
3. Drink 8-10 glasses of water daily
   
4. Cut out coffee completely
5. Don't miss a day - one day at a time

I'm sure there are more mini-goals that I'm forgetting, but these are the most important ones to me right now.

The most difficult one is #1. I have to admit that Brian has learned to cook healthy and even though he complains, I think he's OK with it. Since this is the most difficult one for me, I need help in this area and that's why I want to propose to you to help me begin a virtual recipe club. I was hoping that you all can help me figure out all the details, but it will require commitment. It shouldn't be difficult because you have to cook at least once a week (or month?), right?

I was thinking that each one of us could post a healthy recipe once every month, this will change later I'm sure. Ideally the recipe should be hearty and contain carbs, vegetable, and protein. Since it's only 3 of us, we will each have 2 recipes to try out in that month and we can then comment on it. That's it, easy isn't it?

Let me know of your ideas :-)

I promise this will be the only post that is this long!!

~Jossie

The new me

Posting as the new me!

Weeks goals:

• Pack and be ready for departure 6 AM Friday morning (going to ND)
• Start Thank you Notes from Wedding. (eat that frog, so do the hardest ones first).
• Make progress on changing my name.

I added Jossie as an author to this BLOG, Jossie feel free to create your own posts!

I'm probably going to scrap our tracking pictures, are they accurate for anyone? The little slide ruler things?

You may ask why I didn't start working out this week... or at least why I'm not reporting that I worked out..

This weekend I got a well needed break from the world with a couple of rainy days, and this week am focused on getting things done at work so I can earn my Friday flex day. My weight is holding steady at 170 lbs.

Anyone else starting exercise or healthy eating plans? Give us an update (as anonymous said we need some inspiration out here !).

-Danielle