RECIPE: Warm Cinnamon Apples (in the Crock Pot)

These are SUPER EASY to make and they taste delicious!  They really good by themselves, but you can also spoon them over ice cream or top pancakes or waffles with them... plenty of ways to eat them! 

Warm Cinnamon Apples

3 lbs. apples, peeled and sliced  (about 8 cups)
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 Tbsp. Minute Tapioca  (make sure you get the Minute tapioca)
1/2 tsp. cinnamon

Combine all in a slow cooker, and toss to combine. Cook on low for 3-4 hours, depending on how soft you like the apples.

Makes 8 servings, a little over 1/2 cup each

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RECIPE: Quick Bean Soup

This has become my new favorite lunch. It's so easy to throw together (just open a few cans), it's healthy, filling, and it tastes great.

Quick Bean Soup

1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 can fat-free refried beans
1 can corn
1 can tomatoes
1 cups water
1 Tbsp. reduced sodium taco seasoning

Combine all in a pot and cook until heated through.  Makes 8 servings (about 1 cup each). I like to serve mine with a little bit of chopped avocado and/or baked Tostitos.

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RECIPE: Breakfast Cookies

This is a recipe that I got from a book called "Lickity Split Meals" by Zonya Foco. Once in a while, I make a huge batch of these and keep them on hand in the freezer for a quick breakfast. They're cookies, but healthy enough to be called breakfast (don't expect them to taste like your average cookie, however--they're not nearly as sweet as regular oatmeal or chocolate chip cookies).

If you can't find the whole wheat pastry flour (I have no trouble finding it, but just in case...) then you can use half whole wheat flour and half white flour.

Breakfast Cookies

1 cup of oat bran (find this next to the oatmeal in the grocery store)
3/4 cup orange juice (I squeeze an orange or two for this after grating it for the orange zest)
1 Tbsp. orange zest
1 cup + 1 Tbsp. unsweetened applesauce
1 Tbsp. canola oil
1 cup honey
1/3 cup firmly packed brown sugar
3 eggs
1 1/2 Tbsp. vanilla
3 cups whole wheat pastry flour
1 Tbsp. baking powder
1 1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 cup non-fat dry milk
3 cups old fashioned oats (quick cooking oats are fine, too)
1 cup walnuts, chopped
1 cup raisins

Preheat oven to 375. Combine the oat bran and orange juice in a small bowl and set aside. In a large bowl (preferably a mixer) combine the applesauce, canola oil, honey, brown sugar, eggs, vanilla and orange zest.

In a separate bowl, combine the pastry flour, baking powder and baking soda, then slowly add it to the mixer. Add the soaked oat bran, dry milk, oats, nuts, and raisins and mix or stir just to combine.

Drop by tablespoons onto a cookie sheet sprayed with cooking spray. (I use a spring-loaded scoop--like an ice cream scoop, but it only holds a tablespoon--to scoop it, level it off, and then drop it onto the cookie sheets. It makes all the cookies very uniform in shape and size).

Bake for 12-14 minutes. By using a level tablespoon of dough for each cookie, I got 84 cookies out of one batch. (I put them in little baggies of 3 and throw them in the freezer--you can take out a bag whenever you want them and put them in the microwave for 10 seconds to thaw). Sometimes I'll make large cookies instead of small ones.

Nutrition info for 1 small cookie:
Calories: 65
Fat: 1 g
Fiber: 1 g
Carbohydrates: 12 g

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RECIPE: Barbecue Chicken Pizza (single serving)

I was craving BBQ chicken pizza for the longest time, and the frozen lean cuisine one I tried was terrible. I played around with tortillas to make them seem more crust-like... and discovered that pre-baking them makes a fabulous pizza crust! Don't skip the pre-baking... it's what makes it more like a pizza instead of like a soggy tortilla with toppings ;)

The type of barbecue sauce you use can either make or break this recipe. Pick a sauce you love, otherwise you probably won't enjoy the pizza. I use Sweet Baby Ray's Hickory & Brown Sugar.

BBQ Chicken Pizza
1 tortilla or flat bread (shown in the picture is white lavash bread)
3 oz. cooked chicken, torn into chunks (I bought a bag of frozen chicken breast strips)
2 Tbsp. good barbecue sauce (I love Sweet Baby Ray's)
1-2 paper thin slices of red onion, roughly chopped
1 oz. cheddar cheese

Preheat oven to 375. (While it's preheating, I usually prep the other ingredients). When it's preheated, put the tortilla on a baking sheet (no oil or anything) and put it in the oven for 5 minutes. Flip it over, and heat for another 5 minutes. It'll be stiff and crispy, but still a little pliable. Meanwhile, combine the chicken, barbecue sauce, and onion in a small bowl and microwave for about 30 seconds just to heat it a little and soften the onion. 

When the tortilla is ready, spread the chicken mixture on the tortilla--it may seem skimpy, without enough sauce or something, but don't add more sauce. It'll be TOO saucy.  Top the whole thing with the cheese. Bake for another 5 minutes or so, until the cheese is melted. Cut into quarters.

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RECIPE: Garlic Green Beans with Parmesan Cheese

When I first started losing weight, I was not a very big vegetable eater. I started looking for ways to make them tastier so that I actually wanted to eat them. I made these one day, and my family was sold. They are SO good--if you like garlic and cheese, you will love these green beans. Even my husband, who is a complete "meat & potatoes" guy, told me to make these much more often.

Garlic Green Beans

1 Tbsp. butter
3 Tbsp. olive oil
1 head garlic (yes, a whole head!)
2 cans green beans, drained
1/4 cup parmesan cheese

In a skillet over medium heat, add oil and butter. Peel each clove of garlic (it takes some work, but trust me, it's worth it!) then slice into very thin slices. Add the garlic to the oil and sauté until the garlic is BARELY golden (you don't want to burn it, so keep the heat at medium/medium low). Add the green beans and stir to coat the beans with the oil/butter. Cook until the beans are heated through, just a couple minutes. Sprinkle 1 Tbsp. parmesan cheese over each serving. Makes 4 servings.

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Anniversary

I (obviously) made changes to the design of my blog... what do you think? I love the font, but is it hard to read? I was in a binge-mood last night, so I wanted to distract myself by messing around with the blog. And it worked--no binges!  I wish I knew more about Photoshop, though. It took forever to make the title banner for my page. Do you like the pic of my Garmin? ;)

Yesterday morning, I decided to get up at 6:30 when Jerry got home from work, and go for a run outside before the kids woke up. I only had a 3-mile easy run on the schedule, and the weather was a PERFECT 60 degrees. I left the iPod at home (I rarely run with it anymore) and enjoyed the weather. I was trying to keep my pace at about a 10:45/mi. It was really hard to do! I started too fast, and then when I tried to slow down, I was going TOO slow. It was kind of annoying to look down at the Garmin constantly. Maybe I'll set the alert function to let me know when I'm not in the right "zone".

Speaking of the Garmin, I had an idea that I wanted to run by my readers. Many of you have expressed interest in buying a Garmin, but you weren't sure if you wanted to spend the money. I actually have TWO--a 205 model and a 305. They are the same except the 205 doesn't have the heart rate function. You use it to see how far you're going (running/walking or biking), your pace, average pace, calories burned, etc.

So here is my idea: What if I were to get a list of readers that are interested in trying it out for a couple of weeks, and make that happen? I could mail it to someone, let them use it for, say, 2 weeks, and then I will give them the address of the next person, and they can pass it along. Continue doing this until everyone who wants to try it out has done so, and eventually, it would make it's way back to me. This would all be on the honor system, and hopefully nobody would take advantage of that. Right now, the Garmin is just collecting dust, because I've been using the 305.

Is this something that would interest any of you? Let me know and maybe we can make it happen :)

So anyways, yesterday was mine and Jerry's 8th wedding anniversary. We had no plans whatsoever, which is fine with me. He had to go to work at 5 pm, so we didn't get to go out. I think I'll consider our trip to Madison our anniversary celebration. We just ended up playing cards and drinking coffee before he had to leave for work. After he left, I felt lonely and just wanted to EAT. So I spent pretty much the whole evening making changes to the design of my blog.

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Going that extra mile

Despite the gorgeous weather yesterday, I did my run on the dreadmill. Jerry is back to working midnights, so he was sleeping all morning, and I didn't want to wait and run mid-afternoon when it could be super hot outside, so I just sucked it up and hopped on the dreadmill. Again, I set the speed at 5.6 and left it there to keep my heart rate in the "easy" zone. I ran 5 miles, feeling really great. When I got off and went to mark my running schedule (I keep it on the wall so that I can highlight the runs I've completed), I noticed I was only supposed to run 4 miles. Oh well, better to do an extra one than not enough.

I started the intermediate 10k training program yesterday, because the 10k that I'm registered for is 8 weeks away. I had to switch the days around so that I am doing my long runs on Mondays instead of Sundays. It'll be easier that way when the kids are in school. I really want to focus on doing it "right" this time--going very easy on my "easy runs" and "long runs" and then busting my ass on the speed work. I'm also going to do the strength training and cross-training that he recommends. My last 10k race time was 55:05, so I'm hoping to finish in under 55:00, but I'd love to finish in under 54:00.

Remember how I made an appointment with a plastic surgeon for the end of August? Well, it's a week from Friday already! I'm super nervous. Jerry called the insurance company again yesterday to ask about the coverage, and the person he spoke with said that if it's for a medical reason (which it is), it is very likely that the tummy tuck will be covered. She said there is a much better chance it'll be covered since I lost the weight without surgery (I'm not sure why that matters).

She just said I need to create a paper trail with my doctors about the medical issues I'm having from the excess skin. I can't believe that this is a real possibility--when I made the appointment, I was very doubtful about the insurance covering the surgery, but it sounds like they will. If not, then I won't be getting it. There is no way we can afford it. I would LOVE to be able to run pain-free without my flabby stomach bouncing up and down.

You can see in this picture below where I've tucked the loose skin into my running capris:

I have an appointment for a physical with my general practitioner on Thursday. I'm dreading that, because the last time I was there was when I was at my lowest weight of 128. I need to just look at the positive, that I've managed to keep off 100+ pounds for over a year now. I'm also going to be doing my first once-per-month weigh in this week (on Friday). I don't FEEL like I've lost anything from last time. Maybe because I'm not running as much as I used to? I don't want to worry about it until I see the number on Friday.

I can't wait until my kids are back in school and it will be easy to establish a routine! I will be able to get them ready for school and put them on the bus, and then I can do my run or bike ride in the morning. Take a shower, clean up my house, run errands or whatever needs to be done, and get the kids off the bus in the afternoon. I love routines, and I am a much happier person when I have a routine. It's going to feel weird having both of the kids in school full-time though!

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Do you dread going to the doctor? Does your weight play a part in whether you dread it or not? I ALWAYS hate going when my weight is up from the last time. My OB appointments were the worst. I gained 70 and 90 pounds during my pregnancies!

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Smells like fall

I woke up this morning and opened the windows. To my delight, it totally felt like fall outside. I LOVE fall. The weather has been gorgeous lately, and it makes me in such a happy mood. I decided to make Pumpkin Oats for breakfast and eat it from my leaf bowl.

It tasted like pumpkin pie. You can find a trillion recipes for oats like this online, but here is how I made it this morning:
28 g. oats (about 1/3 cup)
1/3 cup skim milk (I would have used almond milk, but I'm trying to save money, so we don't have any)
1/3 cup water
1 1/2 tsp. brown sugar
10 g. raisins
dash of salt
dash of maple extract
a whole lotta cinnamon (about 1/2 tsp)
dash of pumpkin pie spice (about 1/8 tsp)
1/3 cup canned pumpkin

Combine all (except pumpkin) in a small pot on the stove and bring just to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer while stirring for a couple of minutes. Stir in the pumpkin and heat through.
Calories: 215  Fat: 2 g. Fiber: 7 g. Carbs: 46 g. Protein: 9 g.

I was trying to keep the calorie count down, but if you have some to spare, then I would double the raisins and add chopped walnuts. Yum!

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Last night, the boys were playing outside when I saw Eli limping home, crying. I brought him in the house and he said his feet hurt so badly that he couldn't walk. This scared me, because Eli would sell his soul to be able to stay outside for one more hour--he NEVER comes home until I threaten to punish him for not listening to me. He was barefoot, and carrying his socks and shoes. When I got him inside, I looked at his feet, and they looked TERRIBLE.

They were extremely pale (almost white) and they looked extremely waterlogged. I felt his shoes, and they were dry. His feet felt dry, too. But the only way to describe them was that they looked waterlogged.  I was afraid he somehow got a chemical burn or something, so I took him in the bathtub and washed his feet. I was debating whether I should take him to the ER because I'd never seen anything like it. I figured I'd put lotion on them and dry cotton socks to see if that helped before I took him in. Almost immediately, they started to look better.

This picture is after I started taking care of them, so it doesn't show the extent to how bad it was... but it gives you an idea:

See how the color is so pale? And this was AFTER I worked on them a bit.

His skin was hard and dry, and the wrinkles wouldn't smooth out

Eli is only 5 years old, so his feet aren't supposed to look like this! But his socks were wet, so I think that he actually did get waterlogged. This morning, they were back to normal. I know it's a weird thing to freak out about, but I'd truly never seen anything like that before.

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I had a dream last night about Weight Watchers, and it kind of made me want to try an experiment. Just for a week or so, I would weigh and measure everything I eat like normal, but I would write down the calories, the WW Points, and the PointsPlus values... just to see how it all compares. Either that, or count calories for a week, count Points for a week, and count PointsPlus for a week and do the comparison that way. I even got out my WW materials--and then I saw something that made me realize yet another reason that I dislike the program.

On the back of one of the booklets, there is a section that applauds a member for earning a "Bravo" sticker. This one particular member earned her sticker because of the following:

"At a restaurant, I ate my salad, waited for the breadsticks to get cold, and then sampled one-third of a breadstick and was satisfied!"

Are you fucking serious?!  She earns a "Bravo" sticker for letting breadsticks get cold so they wouldn't taste good?  Eating a third of a cold breadstick does NOT sound like fun (or success!) to me. Why not work a whole, WARM breadstick into your plan, count it, and enjoy it?!!

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I'm really in the mood to bake something with pumpkin right now. Anyone have a GOOD pumpkin bread recipe that doesn't have a trillion calories per slice? Oh, and that does NOT contain Splenda or any other artificial sweeteners. And no, 1/24th of a loaf is NOT considered a "slice" in my book. I get about 10 slices per loaf ;)

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A very long day

Yesterday started at 6:30 in the morning. Jerry set the alarm clock for us to get up and get out the door by 7:30 for his softball tournament. I'd never gone to his tournaments in the past years, so I was actually pretty excited to go yesterday. On Friday, I apparently picked out the wrong color of pink shorts for Jerry, so we ended up going to Dunham's to buy the right color--his team color was a pastel pink and I was picturing hot pink.

I took a quick shower and ended up wearing very little pink. I wore a pink bra with a gray see-through-ish top, jean shorts, and I put hot pink laces in my shoes. We headed out at 7:30, and on the way there, Jerry wanted to stop and buy doughnuts for everyone. I got a whole grain bagel, because contrary to what you may believe, I'm not a big doughnut fan.

Jerry's team was a co-ed team called Chix N Stix, and his first game was at 10:00. However, the "Misfits" team had a few people that didn't show up, so they asked Jerry to fill in, and he played with them at 9:00. That team cracked me up! They were super laid back and were solely out there to have fun (unlike most of the other teams). Most of them were still drunk from staying at a hotel the night before, and they continued drinking in the parking lot at the tournament. Anyway, it was super fun to watch them play. Jerry told me it'd be a quick game, and he was right. The Misfits were mercied pretty quickly.

Then it was time for Jerry's team to play. I took a couple of pictures beforehand:

Chix N Stix (Everyone got a kick out of Jerry's shorts)

Jerry's team won their game, and then we had like 3 hours before they had to play again. We went to the parking lot to hang out with the Misfits. We realized that we didn't have any cozies for the beer cans (to be discreet) so Jerry and I drove around forever looking for some. After going to about 7 different places, we finally found some at Aco.

We hung out in the parking lot, having a couple of beers and eating the lunch that was catered.  The teams played again, and the Misfits were out of the tournament (after two losses, you're out). They stayed to watch the other teams and just have fun. Jerry's team was doing really well.

By mid-afternoon, I decided to just hang out with the Misfits instead of going to Jerry's game. Some of them suggested to play a game on an empty field just for fun (bringing beverages and playing "opposites"--batting left if you normally bat right, etc). I was just going to watch, but by this point, I decided to try out hitting a few balls. WAY out of my comfort zone--I haven't played softball since 7th grade!

I bat right handed, and no way was I going to try it lefty. I actually did really well--I hit everything that was pitched to me and the guys were commenting "How come you're not playing instead of Jerry?!"  ;)  It kind of made me want to think about playing next year, but I don't know.

After that, I was in a really good happy mood. I went and watched Jerry's game again, and spent the rest of the afternoon like this:

And like this:

During the FINAL final game (Jerry's team had made it to the end) there was lightening, so the umpire called off the game for 30 minutes. Then it got really windy and the tornado siren went off. We all sat in our cars while the storm came through. It was pouring rain and super windy. The umpires ended up canceling the games, and since the other team was in the lead, they ended up being the "champions" which I thought was stupid.

After that, it was about 8:00, and everyone went to Buffalo Wild Wings after getting permission to use the company credit card for dinner and drinks there. Dinner was a lot of fun! There were 30 of us and we sat outside, despite the weather. It had stopped raining. I really enjoyed getting to know Jerry's co-workers and their wives/girlfriends.

It was a super fun, albeit LONG, day.  Back to the norm this week!

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Are you a sports fan? I HATE sports--you'll never find me watching sports on TV or checking scores or anything like that. But watching Jerry's softball league is super fun for some reason!

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Pink shorts

Tomorrow is Jerry's softball tournament, and he sent me on a mission today--to find pink shorts. For him. He's going to be on a co-ed team tomorrow, and their team colors are pink and black. Their team name is "Chicks & Sticks" which I think is funny, but their first choice was rejected: Racks & Sacks.  Hahaha, I love that one.  I went to some garage sales this morning and found the perfect shorts, but they were too big :(  They were Victoria's Secret pink shorts with "LOVE PINK" on the butt. Obviously they were women's shorts, but they were probably the largest size VS carries--maybe 2X or 3X? Nothing at the thrift store either, so I had to settle for Wal-Mart (and I've mentioned before that I hate to buy *new* new clothes). I bought a pair there, so hopefully they fit him ;)  It was kind of interesting to see the looks I got when I held up pink shorts (in the ladies section) and asked my kids, "Do you think these will fit Daddy?"

I've been trying to put together a pink and black outfit for me to wear as well, but I'm having problems coming up with something. I can't wear shorts unless they are knee length (because of my loose thigh skin). I was thinking maybe I'll just wear jean shorts and a pink top and pink knee high socks. I don't know, I'll come up with something I'm sure.

My whole schedule feels so "off" this week because of the kids going to Vacation Bible School again. This time they are going from 6-8 pm, and normally we eat dinner when Jerry gets home at 6:30 pm. So I haven't really been cooking this week. Instead, we have something simple like cereal or PB&J for dinner and I take them to the church. I can't wait to get back to normal next week.  I'll try to get back to writing regularly too, along with my food logs.

Facebook just reminded me that my anniversary with Jerry is on August 16th. Does anyone remember the big "Northeast Blackout of 2003"?  Well, that was my wedding weekend. I was making wedding favors on Thursday afternoon when the power went out. We waited for it to be restored, thinking it was just a little glitch, but we learned it wasn't just local. My rehearsal was on Thursday night, and we had planned on having a nice rehearsal dinner at a local restaurant. Instead, we were sweating to death in the church for the rehearsal (no air conditioning!) and then we went to my parents' house and cooked hamburgers and hot dogs on the charcoal grill. When the power was still out on Friday, I cried. A lot of weddings were canceled that weekend, and I was sure that my wedding was going to suck--no music, no food, no AIR CONDITIONING in August?! Thankfully, the power was restored on Friday night, and my wedding went off without a hitch on Saturday :)

August 16, 2003

It rained on my wedding day... but held off just long enough to take pics at my parents house!

So anyway, our 8th anniversary is on Tuesday. We have no big plans.

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If you are married, how long have you been married? Do you celebrate anniversaries? Jerry and I never really have done anything to celebrate, but I think we may do something big on our 10-year.

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