Things have been a little crazy here with the holidays coming, and then my family will be out of town for a few weeks and I likely will not have much internet access during then. So you won't be hearing much from me until about mid January but it'll be nose to the grindstone once I return!
This whole situation just keeps bringing home the idea to me that if you want something in your life, you need to make time for it because otherwise something always gets in the way. I haven't had as much time to blog as I would have liked, so all the ideas I want to share have gone unwritten.
Perhaps my New Year's resolution should be to make time for the important things in life.
To all my readers: I hope you had a very happy holiday season and that Santa listens to your prayers this year (I heard this from Facebook). "Dear Santa, please bring me a fat bank account and a thin body this year- and please don't get them mixed up again like you did last year!"
Tuesday, December 27, 2011
Sunday, December 18, 2011
Feelin' Groovy!
With Christmas coming, I just haven't had much time lately to blog I'm afraid! But the good news is, I've definitely had enough time to eat properly. I was down another 3lbs this week!
I really will try to get some recipes posted this week; I've got some delicious ones to share. I just need more hours in a day! Hope you are all enjoying your holiday season (but not too much!)
I really will try to get some recipes posted this week; I've got some delicious ones to share. I just need more hours in a day! Hope you are all enjoying your holiday season (but not too much!)
Sunday, December 11, 2011
Slow & Steady
I was a little disappointed when I stepped on the scale this week and saw that I had only lost 0.8lb but on the other hand, my husband and I did go out for a romantic lunch at a creperie, and let's say the meal (while delicious), was decidedly not weight loss friendly. So I'm counting this one as a victory and just have to push harder this week.
It's tough during the holidays. Normally, I think I would relax a little bit and enjoy some treats, but we're leaving for a cruise the first week of January and I'm already feeling uncomfortable about my weight again, so the last thing I need is to collect a few extra pounds before we go. I know I can't lose a lot before then, but it would be nice to take off another 5lbs or so before we leave so I don't have to worry about indulging on board!
I do have some more great recipes coming, so check back soon!
It's tough during the holidays. Normally, I think I would relax a little bit and enjoy some treats, but we're leaving for a cruise the first week of January and I'm already feeling uncomfortable about my weight again, so the last thing I need is to collect a few extra pounds before we go. I know I can't lose a lot before then, but it would be nice to take off another 5lbs or so before we leave so I don't have to worry about indulging on board!
I do have some more great recipes coming, so check back soon!
Friday, December 9, 2011
Great Southwest Favourites!
I've always thought that Nutrisystem did a great job with their Southwest style entrees, which is why I was so disappointed when I heard that they were discontinuing their Southwest Style Wrap as well.
Fortunately, with the help of Garlic Gold's new Southwest Style nuggets, I can still recreate one of my favourite dinners.
Mexican Pizza (Take Two) (Dinner):
1 pkg Nutrisystem Grilled Chicken breast (or 4oz boneless skinless chicken)
1 whole wheat pita or tortilla
1 tbsp Roasted Red Pepper hummus
1 tbsp taco sauce
1 oz shredded cheddar cheese
1 tsp Garlic Gold oil
diced onions, green peppers, tomatoes
2 tsp Garlic Gold Southwest Style nuggets
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Slice up your chicken and fry it in the Garlic Gold oil until fully cooked. Add vegetables and taco sauce and cook until soft. Spread the hummus on your "crust" and add the chicken/veggie mix. Top with cheese and bake in the oven until crust is crispy and cheese is melted. Sprinkle Garlic Gold Southwest Style nuggets on top and enjoy while it's hot!
The nuggets give this a great zesty flavour and I really enjoyed my dinner. This counts as a dinner entree plus dairy/protein, fat, veggies (depends how much you use), and a free food.
I was chatting with a friend about the food served in a particular restaurant, and she told me how amazing their nachos are. That gave me such a craving so I decided to try and make my own.
Beefy Nachos (Dinner):
1 pkg Nutrisystem Beef Taco or Chili with Beans or Vegetarian Chili
1 pita or tortilla, cut into "chips"
Garlic Gold Sea Salt nuggets
PAM spray (or Garlic Gold oil in a mister)
sour cream, diced green onion (optional)
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray the chips with PAM olive oil spray or else mist them with Garlic Gold oil. Sprinkle the Sea Salt nuggets on top. Bake for 5-7 minutes or until crispy and golden.
These are delicious and taste exactly like tortilla chips! They have that slight salty flavour, a great crisp, and a nice garlicky touch. Top the chips with your dinner entree of choice and use salsa or sour cream for dipping if desired.
The reason I like to use the (discontinued) Beef Taco for this is that I can simply throw away the taco shells and use this as my carb serving; for the other entrees you do need to add a carb to enjoy this. However, it's easy to eat a lunch like the tuna or chicken salad with a salad and skip the included carb to look forward to a decadent dinner like this one!
I really enjoy cooking with Garlic Gold. When I received an email asking me if I wanted to review their two newest seasoning nuggets (watch for a recipe soon using their new Herbs de Provence nuggets!) I said yes definitely, and asked if they could please send me some more oil as we've gone through the whole bottle already! My husband loves it- one of his favourite quick fixes is to add 1 tsp to his tomato soup and he says it tastes fantastic like that. I find their products add so much flavour.
Disclosure: I received this product mentioned above for free in the hope that I would mention it on my blog. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers. (And I really, really love Garlic Gold and plan to continue writing about their products!)
Fortunately, with the help of Garlic Gold's new Southwest Style nuggets, I can still recreate one of my favourite dinners.
Mexican Pizza (Take Two) (Dinner):
1 pkg Nutrisystem Grilled Chicken breast (or 4oz boneless skinless chicken)
1 whole wheat pita or tortilla
1 tbsp Roasted Red Pepper hummus
1 tbsp taco sauce
1 oz shredded cheddar cheese
1 tsp Garlic Gold oil
diced onions, green peppers, tomatoes
2 tsp Garlic Gold Southwest Style nuggets
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Slice up your chicken and fry it in the Garlic Gold oil until fully cooked. Add vegetables and taco sauce and cook until soft. Spread the hummus on your "crust" and add the chicken/veggie mix. Top with cheese and bake in the oven until crust is crispy and cheese is melted. Sprinkle Garlic Gold Southwest Style nuggets on top and enjoy while it's hot!
The nuggets give this a great zesty flavour and I really enjoyed my dinner. This counts as a dinner entree plus dairy/protein, fat, veggies (depends how much you use), and a free food.
I was chatting with a friend about the food served in a particular restaurant, and she told me how amazing their nachos are. That gave me such a craving so I decided to try and make my own.
Beefy Nachos (Dinner):
1 pkg Nutrisystem Beef Taco or Chili with Beans or Vegetarian Chili
1 pita or tortilla, cut into "chips"
Garlic Gold Sea Salt nuggets
PAM spray (or Garlic Gold oil in a mister)
sour cream, diced green onion (optional)
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray the chips with PAM olive oil spray or else mist them with Garlic Gold oil. Sprinkle the Sea Salt nuggets on top. Bake for 5-7 minutes or until crispy and golden.
These are delicious and taste exactly like tortilla chips! They have that slight salty flavour, a great crisp, and a nice garlicky touch. Top the chips with your dinner entree of choice and use salsa or sour cream for dipping if desired.
The reason I like to use the (discontinued) Beef Taco for this is that I can simply throw away the taco shells and use this as my carb serving; for the other entrees you do need to add a carb to enjoy this. However, it's easy to eat a lunch like the tuna or chicken salad with a salad and skip the included carb to look forward to a decadent dinner like this one!
I really enjoy cooking with Garlic Gold. When I received an email asking me if I wanted to review their two newest seasoning nuggets (watch for a recipe soon using their new Herbs de Provence nuggets!) I said yes definitely, and asked if they could please send me some more oil as we've gone through the whole bottle already! My husband loves it- one of his favourite quick fixes is to add 1 tsp to his tomato soup and he says it tastes fantastic like that. I find their products add so much flavour.
Disclosure: I received this product mentioned above for free in the hope that I would mention it on my blog. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers. (And I really, really love Garlic Gold and plan to continue writing about their products!)
Sunday, December 4, 2011
Confidence Boost
For some reason I had this irrational fear that even though I was doing everything right, that it wouldn't work- that I'd messed everything up and was destined to stay fat forever.
The scale this morning shattered those illusions and gave me a boost to see that I'd lost nearly four pounds this week! I still have quite a ways to go just to get back to where I was, but at least I've gotten some reassurance that I will get there!
Like I always used to say to myself; just keep putting one foot in front of the other and it's amazing how far you'll go. I am sure the old, fat me could never have visualized myself even now, just the way that I can't see myself at my goal. I can't wait to put up that photo on my About Me page, no matter how long it takes!
When you aren't ready to make a change, nothing can make you really want it. But when you are ready- nothing will stop you! I think in a lot of ways, weight loss really is more psychological and physical.
How did you do this week?
The scale this morning shattered those illusions and gave me a boost to see that I'd lost nearly four pounds this week! I still have quite a ways to go just to get back to where I was, but at least I've gotten some reassurance that I will get there!
Like I always used to say to myself; just keep putting one foot in front of the other and it's amazing how far you'll go. I am sure the old, fat me could never have visualized myself even now, just the way that I can't see myself at my goal. I can't wait to put up that photo on my About Me page, no matter how long it takes!
When you aren't ready to make a change, nothing can make you really want it. But when you are ready- nothing will stop you! I think in a lot of ways, weight loss really is more psychological and physical.
How did you do this week?
Friday, December 2, 2011
New Ideas for a New Start
While I think it's great that all my old familiar recipes are still here and available for me to use when I don't feel like innovating, I find that I am really looking forward to learning about the new meals that Nutrisystem is going to release. It just opens up even more possibilities for recipes for me to create!
I've started doing a little tinkering again and my breakfast today was so sinful that I couldn't believe it was good for me. Seriously. If you see this product in your store, definitely give it a try!
Buttered Cinnamon Apple Toast (Breakfast):
1 pkg Nutrisystem Apple Strudel Scone
2 tsp Derlea Foods Cinnamon Raisin Spread
Quick and easy- just slice the scone in two to make two slices of "toast" and then pop them in the toaster until they are crispy. Then spread 1 tsp of the Cinnamon Raisin Spread on each half and enjoy.
This tastes so buttery and decadent... it made a great breakfast and I still had my dairy/protein and fruit serving to have later as a midmorning snack! The Cinnamon Raisin Spread counts as a fat serving, with 50 calories and 5g of fat- and it's well worth using it at breakfast, believe me!
I've also tried their Garlic Spread, with similar stats. I really like it melted over steamed veggies like green beans or broccoli. This company did not ask me to write about them- I just really like their products and wanted to share this one with you.
For snack today, I made myself a very filling snack that satisfied the crunch and munch craving. I'm not sure if I've written about it before, but it's worth another look anyway even if I have.
Veggies & Dip (Dairy/Protein Ideas):
Just slice up your favourite veggies along with a dairy/protein serving of plain yogurt (something fat free and high protein like a creamy Greek yogurt), and blend some dry seasoning mix into the yogurt to make a great dip. Hidden Valley Ranch makes a powdered mix that has only 5 calories per tsp, so you can use quite a lot and it's still a free food. I have also found some great mixes at Farmer's Markets- I had a salsa flavoured one today that was so spicy I could hardly eat it. Great way to get flavour without fat! (Note to self: try mixing salsa in with the yogurt as a dip!)
Two veggie servings equal a fruit, so go ahead and try this for your afternoon snack when you want something bulky that will take a while to eat, but still have enough protein to keep you going until dinner. It's 4 hours later and I'm still not really that hungry yet!
I've started doing a little tinkering again and my breakfast today was so sinful that I couldn't believe it was good for me. Seriously. If you see this product in your store, definitely give it a try!
Buttered Cinnamon Apple Toast (Breakfast):
1 pkg Nutrisystem Apple Strudel Scone
2 tsp Derlea Foods Cinnamon Raisin Spread
Quick and easy- just slice the scone in two to make two slices of "toast" and then pop them in the toaster until they are crispy. Then spread 1 tsp of the Cinnamon Raisin Spread on each half and enjoy.
This tastes so buttery and decadent... it made a great breakfast and I still had my dairy/protein and fruit serving to have later as a midmorning snack! The Cinnamon Raisin Spread counts as a fat serving, with 50 calories and 5g of fat- and it's well worth using it at breakfast, believe me!
I've also tried their Garlic Spread, with similar stats. I really like it melted over steamed veggies like green beans or broccoli. This company did not ask me to write about them- I just really like their products and wanted to share this one with you.
For snack today, I made myself a very filling snack that satisfied the crunch and munch craving. I'm not sure if I've written about it before, but it's worth another look anyway even if I have.
Veggies & Dip (Dairy/Protein Ideas):
Just slice up your favourite veggies along with a dairy/protein serving of plain yogurt (something fat free and high protein like a creamy Greek yogurt), and blend some dry seasoning mix into the yogurt to make a great dip. Hidden Valley Ranch makes a powdered mix that has only 5 calories per tsp, so you can use quite a lot and it's still a free food. I have also found some great mixes at Farmer's Markets- I had a salsa flavoured one today that was so spicy I could hardly eat it. Great way to get flavour without fat! (Note to self: try mixing salsa in with the yogurt as a dip!)
Two veggie servings equal a fruit, so go ahead and try this for your afternoon snack when you want something bulky that will take a while to eat, but still have enough protein to keep you going until dinner. It's 4 hours later and I'm still not really that hungry yet!
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