Week 2 Update & Sunday Family Dinner!

We made it through week 2! So I know the burning question is how did it go and has there been any progress….well….

It went great! I'm still motivated and still as excited about this journey! Week 2 went well. Easier than week 1 thats for sure! there are a couple of things I'm noticing more about myself because of the changes I've been making. The biggest is that I have more energy! I'm not as exhausted as i used to be and I'm not constantly counting the hours till bed time or craving that nap once I get home. I'm also just over all feeling better! I'm feeling calmer, I'm feeling well…healthier so clearly I'm going on the right path here. In terms of am I noticing a difference in my body yet…yes and no…there are days (like today where I totally noticed theres been a change) and there are days where i see no difference at all. There are also definite differences I the number on the scale which yes speaks volumes but I'm sure and in a way I'm waiting for myself to hit that plateau…which I KNOW will happen in due time….I know that this constant decrease in number isn't going to be as much each week especially with the fact that I've been incorporating exercise into the mix and yes if I'm being honest with you makes me a bit nervous. I'm nervous about the feelings that will come when the number doesn't drop as much as I've been used to, I'm anxious that feelings of discouragement will set in once i start building muscle which puts on a difference type of weight…but thats where I'm glad i have such amazing support from family, friends, community, co-workers. 

Its really been such a humbling experience sharing all this with you guys with the rest of the world. Please trust me when i say that to put myself out there like this is very hard for me. To be so honest about such a subject thats been so sensitive for me for countless years is not easy at all but I find that by doing this and sharing this part of my life with you guys is really a way to hold me accountable. What i didn't expect at all was the response I'm getting from everyone! I am so thankful for all your support, your kind words, your encouragement to keep going. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for being here with me and for really pushing me to achieve this goal of mine! 

So Im sure you're all wondering did I lose anything during week 2….and the answer is yes…the total I have lost so far is 12lbs! Trust me I was just as shocked my that number as you are! No I am not starving myself, clearly I'm sharing my dinners with you guys so please don't think that this is how thats being done. My goal was to become healthier and to do that you cant cheat and just not eat, its about changing the way I see food, the way I prep it, the way I cook it. Its about making better choices, substituting the bad with the good and a lot of saying no! I've removed a majority of the carbs I used to LOVE…no bread (Ezekiel bread has been the only type I’ve had), no pasta, no extra salts, no extra sugars, no junk food, no pop, no eating after 7pm. So with 12lbs down I’ve only got 12 more to go to reach my first goal! we’re half way there! 

Sunday Night dinners have always had a special place in my heart. Sure we have dinner together all week but there something about diner on sunday nights that just seems a bit more special. Its maybe since I have a little extra time to prep and prepare and really have the chance to try something new and not after a long day at work. Now when it comes to cold rainy nights like tonight I knew I wanted to make something comforting, filling, yummy, and of course something that both my boys can enjoy and something I can tweak in a way that I can also enjoy. So tonight called for mozzarella stuffed turkey meatballs! The recipe I used was borrowed from http://lecremedelacrumb.com/2014/10/slow-cooker-mozzarella-stuffed-meatballs.html  . Although instead of ground beef I substituted it with ground turkey and used a bit more garlic and onion powder in substitution for the salt, also I used gluten free breadcrumbs rather than regular. I did bake them since our sunday nap went a bit longer than I thought it would and totally didn't have time to put them in the slower cooker. 

Super easy, super yummy, and such a fun surprise when Logan bites into the meatball to find ooey, gooey cheese! what was also great about this was that I was able to serve the boys these meatballs with pasta & marinara sauce while I was able to have meatballs with  marinara and a small salad. 

So gather the family, get the conversation going, ask your little ones to help and get ready to enjoy a yummy Sunday dinner.  

Baked Mozzarella Stuffed Turkey Meatballs

ingeridents: 

1lb ground turkey

1teaspoon onion powder

2teaspoons garlic 

1/2 teaspoon salt 

1/2 teaspoon pepper

1 1/2 tablespoons of italian seasoning 

1 cup breadcrumbs 

1 egg + 1 egg white

4 cheese strings diced up (each stick will give you about 6-8 pieces of cheese)

how to:

• preheat your oven to 400 degrees 
• now this part you can have your little ones join in on the fun! make sure their hands are well washed though! take your ground turkey, onion powder, garlic, salt, pepper, italian seasoning, breadcrumbs, egg and egg white and put them all in a large mixing bowl. ok time to get a little messy! with our hands mix everything together really well until every last bit is incorporated.
• once everything is all mixed in together you're going to take a small handful and begin forming a ball, take a piece of the cheese place in  the middle and cover up and continue to roll into a ball. continue to make the meatballs then placing each one on a parchment paper lined cookie sheet. 
• pop into the oven for 20 minutes till the meat balls are browned and cooked through. 
• while their in the oven you can cook some pasta to serve with the meatballs. 
• 20 minutes later you have delicious turkey meatballs filled with yummy gooey mozzarella cheese! again i enjoyed them just with a little marinara and the boys with pasta and marinara and a side salad! 

This Weeks Favorite Recipes & A Little food for thought

OK so I'm totally getting the hang of eating well and I'm loving this change. Not only am i learning to cook great, healthy delicious meals for my family, but I'M feeling a difference. Im more energetic, I'm not as fatigued, I'm not getting any urges to snack on things I shouldn't be having (oreos, chips & dip, chocolate, super sweet coffees), I'm just feeling like I'm better, I'm becoming the best version of me and part of that I'm realizing really has to do with not allowing myself to overdo it with the unnecessary treats. Now don't get me wrong I totally treated myself the other day to 2 ferrero roches, it was a really crappy day and needed a pick me up, cause we all need that from time  to time but what i didn't do is I didn't let myself buy a whole pack I just bought two. Whats really been working for me is limiting myself and keeping track of everything that I eat and changing my mindset. 

Another huge realization that I've come to and I regret not having done so sooner is really understanding what a gift our bodies are from God. We only have ONE thats its. This is the body that my God has blessed me with and He doesn't make mistakes He has made me with purpose, with love, He thought about me and knew my name before I was even born. So shouldn't my body really reflect that, shouldn't I be doing all I can to take care of myself the best that I can? But its like that say its never to late to start changing for the better. Trust me I know that this is an uphill battle and that its not going to happen over night but I'm more motivated than ever for this change and I'm so beyond excited that I'm doing this and there are so many other reason to what lead me to this change and those are all topics I'll share later on...cause well this whole blog thing is new too...and it takes a lot to really put everything out here for you guys to read. Whats so great is that each of you really do keep me going, keep me wanting to work harder, keep me motivated and its because of this that i do really feel a sense of accountability and thats JUST what I needed so THANKS!!! YOU GUYS ARE AWESOME & WE'RE DOING THIS!

So this week I'm sure you've all seen a lot of pictures on Facebook of a few new recipes I've tried. Ill share two of our most favorite dishes from this week and these are the two that  not only did logan eat ALL of but Moe actually asked for more of! 

The First was the Chipotle Turkey Burgers I made cause guys I WAS NEEDING a burger this week! What was great about these was the fact that I made the patties form scratch I knew exactly what was in them! I also love love loved that they were finished in less than 30 minutes. I can't rave enough about these turkey burger so Ill stop here and share the recipe, try it for yourselves trust me you won't regret it! 

CHIPOTLE TURKEY BURGERS

Ingredients 

• 1lb of ground turkey
• 2 chipotle peppers in adobo sauce diced up very small (save about a 1/2 tablespoon of adobo as well)
• 2 cloves of garlic
• a small pinch of salt

How To

• put the ground turkey chipotle peppers garlic and a pinch of salt in a mixing bowl and with your hands mix everything together really well. Yes use your hand you'll get everything incorporated better that way. 
• once everything is mixed together well take a good handful and form a patty (really this is where you can decide how big of burger you want, I used about a handful and a little more). once formed place them on a parchment paper lined plate. 
• at this point you can either cover them up tightly and put them in the fridge till your ready to cook them or you can cook them either out on your grill or in a pan on the stove. I did ours inside in a pan on the stove only because i really didn't want to be out in 25 degree weather scrapping the grill clean and cooking outside.
• cook the patties till cooked through about 4 minutes or so on each side. 
• once done you can literally top them with what ever you'd like, i did mine with homemade guacomole, turkey bacon american cheese, tomato and onion and instead of a bun i wrapped mine in lettuce! 

side note: this was a great way to make something that the boys would love but i could also enjoy without all the bread. 

one more thing this was a recipe i used from the following blog: http://domesticate-me.com/the-dude-diet-burger-bust/

Ok our second favorite meal of the week was actually tonights turkey tacos which we will have tomorrow as well since we had left overs. This was a meal that I actually also served my brother-in-law and nephew who come over for dinner form time to time, which we love having them over for! They are awesome recipe taste testers! This dinner actually ended with them giving me the BEST compliment it was when my brother-in-law said that this dinner "tasted like home". Yup this ones going into our book of favorite dishes for sure!

We love southwest food in this house. Its always so full of flavor and spice and just overall goodness so with this whole new eat clean and healthy lifestyle change I had to find a way to take tacos and turn them healthy. So when one of my go-to blogs had Turkey Taco Lettuce wraps I just had to try them myself! Huge thanks to DamnDelicious.net for an a great week night taco dinner! Here's the link guys http://damndelicious.net/2014/04/28/taco-lettuce-wraps/ .

Go ahead and give them a try for "Taco Tuesday", "Taco Thursday",  "Taco Any-Day-That-Ends-With-The-Word-Day" day!

Taco Thursday Turkey Tacos

Ingredients

• 1 lb ground turkey
• 1 cup of you favorite salsa (i used rick baylass frontera roasted tomato salsa)
• 1 can of black beans rinsed and drained
• 1 cup of roasted corn 
• 1 tablespoon of taco seasoning 
• 1 can (4oz) of chopped green chilies 
• 1 tbsp of olive oil

How To

• heat up your oil in a large skillet or high edge pan. 
• add the turkey and cook through. once its all cooked drain all the extra fat. 
• mix in the salsa, seasoning, and green chilies. stir and let cook for about 3 minutes or so
• mix in the corn and black beans. 
• stir the great mixture together and let it all heat through. go ahead and take a whiff of the amazingness coming from your pan right now! 
• once done...go ahead and build your tacos guys! add your favorite toppings, sour cream, onions, cheese, tomatoes, salsa, cilantro, guacamole, you name it. if your trying to cut back on carbs like me skip the tortillas or hard shells and build yourself a lettuce wrap! Enjoy!!! 

Also FYI weigh-in day is tomorrow! Excited to see what progress I've made!! 

Oh and this is the after 30 minute fast paced kick boxing workout I decided to try today! My form may have sucked but hey at least I can say I  finished!!! I didn't give up and thats whats important! 

Week One Update

Week One: 

So yes we've made it past the first week and you know what I feel pretty good! Has it been easy...ummm no not at all but am i sticking to it of course! In the one week since I've gone water only plus keeping count of calories, low carb and cooking at home (which I'm loving by the way!) I've been able to drop 6lbs! Sure it may be water weight for now cause thats what always come off first but 6lbs is 6lbs none the less. 

Im realizing more than ever its all about choices and what I have to be sure to do is make the right choices. So when were out grabbing lunch it means that instead of enjoying that burger, fries and coke, I'm choosing the salad with dressing on the side. When I'm needing something sweet at the end of the day its no longer that bar of milk chocolate with hazelnuts its a bowl of fruit. I am in charge of my choices and its really something that I can control and the fact that I'm learning how to make better choice for myself and my family is pretty amazing. Its also because of these better choices that I'm seeing these changes and if I'm completely honest I'm liking what I'm seeing and even more what I'm feeling. 

So heres to a fresh start as we begin week 2. We got this!

Lemon & Dijon Baked Salmon

We are most definetly the quintesetial chicken for dinner kind of family. I love finding new ways to cook it and its always been my safe go to source of protein. But like everyone else sometimes you get tired of chicken for dinner everynight. 

So the other night I thought it be fun to try something new. Salmon! Usually I make salmon during the summer snice its easy to just pop it in some foil with veggies and throw the packet on the grill . during the winter months this would not be my go to source of protein but I needed a change! 

The whole day while moe was at work I was thinking of  a super heathy salmon dinner and couldn’t wait to run to the store to get this meal started…cause well I much rather have spent my day with logan at the library than dragging him to the store with me 2 weeks in a row.

Moe gets home and off to the market I go on the hunt of some great salmon…this was actually not hard to find…and I love that our local store has fresh cuts of fish.  

Now salmon and any type of fish sometimes makes me nervous…how do you know its fully cooked…what if what you think is fresh really isnt so fresh….what if this meal is a complete bomb of a meal and makes the whole house smell like fish and doesn’t even taste as good as I thought it would…these my friends were the thoughts that go through my head before cooking last nights dinner. 

I wasnt just gonna plop these cuts of fish onto a pan and pop it in the oven to bake, nope were gonna marinate these babies. One think you need to know about our house is we LOVE garlic, so for this repcie I took about 4 cloves of garlic minced them up real nice and combined them FRESH parsley, a little olive oil and about a tablespoon of dijon mustard, and the juice of ½ a lemon.  This marinade alone smells amazing! By this point the fear of screwing this meal up is subsiding…cause well I cant imagine this marinade being bad on anything, probably even go well my beloved chicken. 

So once this marinade is all mixed up I took a cookie pan one with the edges not a flat one covered it with aluminum foil (for easy clean up, this mamma would rather play legos then spend her night scrubbing dishes) place your salmon on the pan and lather on that marninade. Popped that tray into the oven for about 15 minutes at 450….finished up the brown rice that was cooking and broccoli that was steaming…and cleaned up the counters….DING done…

Seriously I have no idea why I get so nervous about new dishes cause this one came out amazing! Not a crumb was left on our plates and the hosue didn’t smell like fish! Success my friends! Not only was this meal good for us but it was a step outside our dinner time comfort zone! Like ive said before if I can cook this type of delicious meal so can you!

BAKED LEMON & DIJON SALMON

Ingredients

1 lb Salmon 

2tbsp of FRESH chopped parsley

1tbsp of HONEY dijon mustard 

2tbsp (or so) of olive oil 

Fresh lemon juice from ½ a lemon

4 cloved of minced garlic (more or less depending on how much garlic you like) 

HOW TO:  

Preheat your oven to 450 degrees 

Line your baking tray with aluminum foil for easy clean up

For your marinade: 
Combine garlic, parsley, lemon juice, olive oil, and dijon mustard. Whisk it all up together. Also I didn’t use any additonal salt we’re trying to cut down on our salt intake and the djion mustard did the trick but feel free to add salt and pepper according to your taste.

Take your salmon and give it a goor rinse dry it and place it on your aluminum covered tray. 

Now slather on that marinade get it all around and don’t be shy. 

Put it in the oven and bake for 15 minutes till the salmon is cooked through and no longer pink. 

You can serve this with your favorite veggies, mashed potatoes, rice, or brown rice like we did. So good! 

FYI: this recipe was adapted from the following blog: http://natashaskitchen.com/2015/05/07/baked-salmon-with-garlic-and-dijon-video-recipe/ 

Making Changes

2016 is a big year for me. Its the last year in my 20's and with that I figure its time to get serious about getting healthy. Not only for me but for Logan, Moe and the rest of my family. Mom has been on me for some time to go get a physical done and with my super irrational fear of doctors I've always said "yea ok sure ill go..." but never make that appointment. 

I guess I finally decided that enough was enough I have to go get it done and I have to make sure I'm healthy so I decided to start my 29th year with that dreaded physical. So I nervously waiting to meet my new doctor who I actually picked due to great reviews on Yelp....yup Yelp....and you know what I LOVED her! She made me so comfortable and helped me realize that theres no reason for this fear of mine. So anyways I finally got all my tests done and thank the Lord everything came back within normal ranges! So this then made me realize that its time to make other changes to help me get healthy! 

I want to become the best version of myself. I want to have more energy.  I want to be able to look in the mirror and truly love the body that God has given me. Now don't get me wrong losing weight would be great and getting down to a smaller jean size would be awesome, but its more than just that its about being healthy, truly honestly healthy. Looking good is just a bonus that comes with these changes. 

So I started with cutting our pop from my lifestyle. I know its horrible for you and I can tell you first hand just how addictive it is and the only way I was going to be able to stop was to get rid of it cold turkey. No more coke, no more dr.pepper, no more shirley temples that Moe makes so well. None of it! So its been about 2 weeks now and you know what I'm still alive! Playing with different flavored water combos has become tons of fun, my favorite so far has been strawberry cucumber basil!  No joke I feel better just by getting rid of all that extra sugar I was putting into my system! I regret not cutting this out a long time ago! 

Next was not going out for lunch at work...yes famos makes the best spicy sicilian sandwich I've had...woodgrain pizza just opened down the block...and sure its easy to make a wendys run at lunch too...but is that all really the best choices for lunch? Probably not. So I started prepping my lunches for the week. This has not only given me a push to eat healthier since I know what I'm putting in my body because well I'm the one making the meals, but its also saved me time and overall money! I'm not as tired or groggy after lunch, I'm able to socialize at lunch instead of just jetting off to grab lunch and get back within our 30 minutes...I can actually enjoy my food instead of scarfing it down. 

We've also cut back on going out or ordering dinner...yes I LOVE to cook. Its something I wish I could do all day long. I love to test new recipes and have a great meal prepared for my boys but to be honest with you being a working mom makes cooking at home tough. After working a full day there are times where I just don't feel like coming home to be in the kitchen for another hour or so (with clean up time) I just want to relax and enjoy time with Logan. But this is a year of changes and with that I am making a point to cook at least 5 times a week. Home cooked dinners are something special. We come together at the end of the days and enjoy family time. This has been something I wanted Logan to understand from early on that at 630pm we come together around the dinner table. Now I'll be the first to admit in the past the meals I would choose to cook were amazing, but probably not the best for you...lots of pastas, delicious cheeses, carbs upon carbs, again delicious but not the healthiest. So this is also changing with this new year. I'm working on cooking healthier more balanced meals. So far things have been going well...no complaints from either of my boys and bellies are still full.

Im excited to share this journey of getting healthy with you! I know it won't happen over night and that there will be dips in the road bit its going to be a good one with a positive outcome! This is going to be a great year! 

2016 Lets Do This: Last year in my 20's 

2016 Lets Do This!

Happy New Year!!! 

I don't know about you but I always look at January 1st as chance to start fresh. It's a clean slate and as I'm sure most of you have already laid out your resolutions and goals for the year so have I. 

So heres a list of what I hope for this year:

• I have decided to make it my year of simplifying my life, getting back to the basics.
• I want to DE-CLUTTER THE WHOLE HOUSE!!
• I want to be happier this year.
• More patient. 
• I want to worry less and enjoy life more.
•  I want to bring my focus back on making christ my true center. 
• I want to try new things, learn new crafts, and continue to come up with yummy recipes 
• I want tot make more memories with old friends and new.
• This year i want to read through the entire bible and understand it in ways I haven't before, for god to speak to me through his word this year in ways that I've needed now more than ever.
• I want this year to be one where I grow as a mom, wife, daughter, friend.
• I just really am hoping for 2016 to be a happy year. 

I'm super excited to share this year for you! and as listed my goals for this year and laid out a game plan for what I would love to accomplish for this year I pray that your year is a great one! So lets make 2016 our year!