Eating healthy

I've struggled with my weight for as long as I can remember. I never let it get to me, even when my elementary gym teacher pulled us slow runners out to run on the inside circle.  It's not that I ate bad, I watched portions and enjoyed salads, but I was always bigger.  I did weight watchers with some success for awhile, but got bored with it as I lost some weight then didn't see any results.

I began running in May 2013. I hated running, dreaded running the mile in school, knowing I'd be near the back of the group.  When I chose to run on my own, I found out I really enjoyed it.  With that being said, I've been running since. Thus far, I've completed four 5ks and although my times usually stink, I know I'm doing it for myself to prove that I can.  Even though I picked up running, I still wasn't seeing the weight come off. 

February begins, and a friend posted about her success with Beachbody 21 day fix. I heard about it before, but it's another fad. Needless to say, I messaged her about it on a whim and dove in. I just completed the first round and I'm jumping right in to a second. I didn't see earth shattering changes, but change takes time right? I feel better eliminating unnecessary sugars and fats. I traded my beloved $4 iced grande nonfat caramel macchiatto for a $2 Americano that gives me quite the buzz I need. I'm still struggling with water intake, I do really good for a few days then forget I have water to drink. I'm still enjoying foods I like, maybe even enjoying them. The shakes I was leary about, but aren't bad. I picked up protein powder when I ran out and found they give me just the boost and love making them with ice and different fruit combinations. My husband thinks I'm crazy, but we'll see.

I'm enjoying the workouts, which differ each day and then repeat each week, but leave you room to make a few exercise choices of your own. Here are some of my healthy meals that prove eating healthy isn't boring and bland.

Superbowl Sunday

Yes I'm from Pittsburgh, yes I'm a fair weather Steelers fan. Yes, I went to St. Vincent - the summer home of the Steelers - no I did not go for that reason.  In fact, when I had a work study on campus I'll never forget the day I almost ran over Coach Cowher leisurely riding his bike through campus.  Years of watching the games with my dad has done that to me.  I had my favorite players - those which will not be named - I mean of course Bettis and Hines but I mean old school like Bubby Brister, Neil O'Donnell,Tommy Maddox, Kevin Greene.  I'm not ashamed, at one point I thought the Cowboys were cool, used to rock a Seahawks jacket, liked the Texans.  Since meeting my now husband I've slowly been converted to a 49ers fan.  With this being said, regardless of the team I cheer for we always do Superbowl Sunday.  No big party, but it's the one day we tend to really splurge.  Hell even Alan makes something (I'm the cook in the house everyone knows this).  With that being said, here's our Superbowl Sneak Peek! 

On the menu: 

Pizza casserole - made by Alan.  He uses a recipe (I wouldn't). Basically it's farfalle (bow ties), loose breakfast sausage cooked up, pepperoni, ham and a ton of cheese.  Using a 9x13 casserole dish or glass pan generously dump sauce on the bottom then make layers. First the pasta, then the meats, next shredded mozzarella cheese. I think he might put in Parmesan too. Cover and bake for 30 minutes or so. It's basically a baked ziti on steroids.  If you are looking for something healthy this ISN'T it, but it's so good!  I can only eat a little bit because it is filling and rich!   

Buffalo chicken dip - I love this, Alan won't touch it.  I make enough for myself and it will usually last the week if not longer.  1 pkg 8 oz cream cheese softened, your hot sauce of choice - I prefer the Chegg beesting I use, but also love Frank's as well as the generic wing sauces, some ranch (I don't always like the extra calories so I omit the ranch dressing and sprinkle some powdered ranch seasoning in), shredded chicken (or canned chicken) and shredded cheddar cheese.  Mix everything except shredded cheese together - I've made this forever I honestly couldn't tell you the measurements I eyeball and taste to my liking. Sprinkle cheddar cheese on top and pop in oven or microwave until cheese is melted.  Honestly - I'll eat it cold too - whatever floats your boat! 

Chicken wing - love the Philips Airfryer we invested in!  Honestly if you don't have one it is amazing and you will never deepfry the traditional way again - it's healthier for you too. 

 These aren't today's wings, but you get the idea.  Toss the wings in whatever you like - I really like seasoned - just sprinkle generously with season salt and they go in the fryer for about 15-20 minutes - come out crispy and delicious.  Today I'm making these as well as buffalo wings - I'll just lightly salt, fry and then toss in sauce when finished. 

Texas kolaches - no they are not cookies!  I fell in love with these when I lived in Houston.  There is a small kolache shop about an hour north of here that makes them and they are almost identical - other than that the nearest chain kolache store is 5 hours away in Cincinnati.  That being said, I'm trying my own. Silly me did not read the recipe to it's entirety and knew it used yeast and had to rise, but didn't realize first 1-2 hours then supposed to be over night (does say at least 4 hours) so hopefully the dough will be ready before the game starts. Anyhu, kolaches you may be familiar with are a sweet pastry dough filled with a fruit filling like cherry, peach, apple etc.  These kolaches are a slightly sweet dough, but filled with sausage, ham, cheese, even egg. The ones you get in Houston often have jalapeno.  Dough was easy to make - 1/4 cup hot water, 2 1/4 tsp yeast on top.  Let sit for five minutes to get foamy.  Next add 1 cup hot milk, tsp salt, two eggs and 4 tbs. melted butter.  Gradually add in 5 1/2 cups of flour.  I use the Kitchen aid with the dough hook - does all the work.   Mix until just incorporated.  Dough should have a little tackiness to it.  Cover with plastic wrap and let sit for 1-2 hours.  I'm impatiently waiting for this magic to happen! 

I'll share the final results later on.  Good thing I ran 6k last night to make up for the day of junk I'm gonna indulge in.  

Last but not least, I started the morning off with awesome walnut cinnamon rolls. My topping wasn't as sticky was I would have liked it so I'll have to perfect that a little more, but it was an awesome and easy breakfast - yes even I take shortcuts from time to time. 

Sprayed 8 cups of the muffin pan with nonstick spray. Pop open a can of your favorite cinnamon rolls.  In a bowl combine walnuts, butter and brown sugar.  In the bottom of the muffin cups, place generous spoonful of walnut mixture top with a cinnamon roll pressing down.  Bake according to package - think mine said 12-16 minutes think I had them in the oven for about 14 minutes on 400.  I ate mine sans icing, but put the icing on for Alan.  They were tastylicious! 

 

Meatless Mondays

Every month I create a monthly dinner calendar.  No, we don't stick to it 100% (if there are unplanned days we are running late or don't make it to the store or go out to eat etc.), but for the most part we follow it fairly well.   I've heard the rave on the cooking shows about "Meatless Monday."  We eat a decent variety - not too much red meat, some pork, chicken I do seafood, but Alan does not. I decided why don't we give it a try.  Okay, to be honest we are trying to cut back on the meat so we're starting with baby steps and just not making meat the big portion.  Last week I made the most amazing, easiest potato cheese soup ever! The first time I made it in the crockpot it turned out awesome. The next time, horrible.  With that being said I looked for an easy recipe.  I was excited when I found this one using our favorite - Steam N Mash!  No peeling, no cutting no boiling WOOT WOOT!  I grabbed my dutch oven and got to work.  I'm in the process of recovering my vanished pics, so when I do I'll share because this was a winner!

Next up, haluski, a Polish favorite. It is one of the meals my gramma made that I actually enjoyed.

In a pot, boil package egg noodles according to directions and drain. I boil them for about 5 minutes since they will cook a bit more once you add to cabbage.

Core and cut up a small- medium head of cabbage. In a medium pot - I used same one I made noodles in, melt 1/4 cup of butter. Next, add minced garlic and diced onions. Alan isn't a big onion fan so I leave that out. Cook until garlic is fragrant. Add cabbage - season with salt and pepper. Since I left onions out, I used onion powder too. Cook over medium for about ten minutes.  Add noodles and cook for another five minutes.  Yes it is Meatless Monday, I may or may not had a side of kielbasa :)

Good thing I didn't make any resolutions

It's been 18 days since my last post - opps.  Sometimes life happens and that's all I got.  No excuse for not doing things, my time management is poor and I find myself procrastinating more and more. Okay, okay I'll blame winter.  With that being said, let's get down to business.  My last post was about goals I wanted to reach this year rather than resolutions.  How are you doing with your resolutions or goals?  I hope you fell off the bandwagon too. Great if you kept to them though!  I will go through and tell you about my goals -  maybe you can help me stick to them.

~Believe that anything is possible.
     Final edits for the romance novel I'm co-authoring are taking place.  They will be done by the end of the month and we will publish!  Looking for beta readers to give honest feedback and constructive criticism - let me know if you're interested!
 

~Start each day with goals
     I make a checklist each day using the notepad on my phone of the top five things I want to accomplish.  Writing them down makes you want to cross those items off more. At least for me I can physically see what I want to do.

~Eat more real food
     I know this means more "whole food" organic blah blah blah - I'm game but I want to eat real food. Experience hibachi, enjoy fresh seafood at the coast. I admit I love food :)

~Buy good books and make time to read them
     I have a book problem, I'll be the first to admit it.  I do own a few books that I feel like I should have read and haven't.  I'm going to set aside time once a month to do that.  I also need to read Black Beauty.  I had to read it for language arts class in 6th grade, for whatever reason I didn't read it I skimmed it.  Even though I was a good bullsh***er, it was the one project I ever received a low grade for.  I think I owe it to myself and Mrs. Dvorsky to actually read it!
   
~ Drink water
    Of course I drink water don't be silly - but I definitely need to drink more seeing as coffee and tea consumption doesn't really count  - even though they are both made with water.

~Exercise daily even when it sounds like a terrible idea
     I was doing really good taking the dog for a walk every day - even thought that might help curb his bad behavior.  Even the coldest day I was out, but then it snowed and well so much for that who wants to walk in the snow?! The dog would but I always worry about his paws.

~Shop for quality not quantity
     I do a pretty good job of this already.  I don't feel  I have to work on this much.

~Purge the unnecessary and decrease clutter
     One of my favorite activities. I don't do it as much as I should, and it's especially difficult to get others to do this.

~Hug the ones I love
     I do pretty well at this one too - just ask the cat and the dog!

~Find the best in others
     I try to give people the benefit of the doubt and not be so judgemental. Sometimes the shoe just really fits some...

~Show others the best in me
     Pay it forward!  I was so excited when I did this for the first time at Starbucks.  The barista was a little confused - which I thought was odd because I feel like I always hear about this being done at the drive-thrus somewhere.  Nonetheless, I was excited to pay for someone's coffee addiction that wasn't mine!

With this being said - Happy New Year - haha I told you the New Year can be started at any time - and I choose now! PS. Working on fixing the missing pics from the blog. My OCD got the best of my Picasa and my blog pictures vanished - eep!

Happy 2015

I hesitate to say the cliche, "Happy New Year," because although it is a new year numerically, you may find yourself starting a new year at any time. (Sorry that's the wonderful philosophical and psychological side of me :)  Nonetheless, I hope you had a fabulous evening ringing in the new year.  I spent the day editing a project that WILL go into publishing this year. We cuddled on the couch with the furbabies and watched the disappointing Dick Clark's Rockin New Years Eve show.

I remember sitting at my gran's the news would only be on for maybe 15 minutes, but would quickly cut back to NYC and the excitement building there.  The commercials were few and far between, great musical acts and monologues.  I guess times have changed and we change with them.  Alan was rattled by the lip singing performers and I was distraught over the commercials.  I freaked out as the clock said 11:57 and they were still showing commercials.  We had a relaxing, low key evening for once.  It was nice, but I missed the company of friends.  I think I hold such high expectations because granny always made a big deal about ringing in the new year.  Most years relatives would be over all day and early into the next morning, while other years there was just a few of us.  I ate crackers with cheese, pepperoni bread, hot dogs, kielbasa and sauerkraut until I thought I would puke.  We would put on the 50 year old deteriorating party hats and grab the clanky 50 year old noisemakers and run out onto the front porch hooting and hollering.  I think that's why I like entertaining so much because she always had a house full of people. It was usually nothing fancy, often whatever she had or we could walk to the store for, but being with family and friends was all we needed. 

Reminiscing complete, onto business!  I have so much to be thankful for and blessed with upcoming year - it's all a little overwhelming.  I began a new job in October to pursue my research and writing.  I loved teaching. I do find myself missing the 20 plus hugs and worldly little conversations daily but I needed the change for a number of reasons.  I'm thankful I still get my kiddo dose weekly, but I'm also less stressed and find myself pursuing my dreams of writing in more ways.  I also have a dream of opening a cupcake shop so we'll see how that pans out in the future. 

A recent chat with my writing supervisor led to us talking about goals. He said he likes to setup goals rather than resolutions because of the negativity that often surrounds resolutions and they are often followed at first, but dwindle after the first month.  I like this idea a lot.  Although they are similar you do tend to focus on obtaining goals more. They can be short or long-term and often easier to handle than a resolution. 

I'm off enjoy this delicious breakfast sandwich of egg, Gouda and ham created with this awesome Hamilton Beach Breakfast Sandwich maker and create my goals for the year - of course I'll share them when I'm done. 

I leave you with this mantra I found on Pinterest and will expand on it in future posts.  Happy 2015! 

Do over December

So I ran a 5k last month - yay! Err, not. I really have learned to enjoy it over the past year and a half. However, when it comes to competition times - I suck! I was running a 25 minute 5k the month prior to the 5k and was so confident. The weather was perfect, I felt good and it took me 49 minutes ugh. I wasn't the last to finish, but I sure felt defeated. So that ended and I continued running the week after. Fast forward three weeks I fell off the wagon. It's time to kick start before the holidays.

I'm a firm believer in breakfast is the most important meal of the day and I'm totally okay with anything you wanna eat - yes even junk! You've got all day to burn it off and breakfast should be the highest caloric intake for that reason. I just wish I could make my mind realize that as I still feel I need to eat a well balanced dinner to keep me full til morning.

Anyways, as I spent time on Pinterest this weekend I came across some refrigerated overnight breakfast oatmeals. I just so happen to have a big ol container I need to start using so I figured I'd give them a try. I basically used up a few things I had leftover so it worked out perfectly. We shall see how they actually turn out.

I measured out half a cup of oats in each container.

Next, I added half a cup of milk. You can use any milk you have. Now comes the fun and experimentation part! 

First I used leftover pumpkin puree, pumpkin pie spice and honey. The next is pumpkin puree, chocolate chips and walnuts.

I had leftover brownie mix from a dessert I made so why not. One is just brownie batter and the last  one is peanut butter brownie.

I put lids on tight and popped into the fridge. December 1 Day 1 eating better here we go!

On the road again

I'm heading to Jersey to visit the bestie for the weekend and run my 2nd 5k at Valenzano Winery (some of my favorite wines come from there) 

No roadtrip - especially one out east - is complete until you have Wawa - "Gotta hava Wawa"

In honor of my roadtrip, I thought I'd post about some of our great findings while traveling! 

First from our honeymoon in Vegas. I wish I would have taken a picture of all the great food we had but I didn't (no I wasn't drunk I didn't have one drink while we were there - that will happen on girls retreat).  Anyhu, we stayed in Mandalay Bay and Citizens restaurant was right downstairs.  I would have been content eating there every day. 

Fabulous eggs benedict and tater tots with tomatoes and peppers the best I ever had! 

Most amazing vanilla latte. I had these our first morning.

 Shout out to A Slice of Vegas!

Decadent and melt in your mouth gelato from Bellagio

Ladles - Springdale, PA 

We used to go for lunch and dinner all the time when it was right up the road.  We honestly haven't been there for lunch or dinner since we discovered their breakfast!  

Alan tried the breakfast burger. 

But this is what he usually gets the country breakfast complete with big (delectable) pancakes,eggs,choice of meat (he always gets sausage) and toast. 

These pancakes are amazing! 

However, there's this....

This is my absolute favorite you can see how many different times I got it chicken and waffles with spicy syrup! 

Riveria Pizza - Lower Burrell, PA. 

Not only do they have amazing pizza (which they serve with buttermilk ranch) we got these bad boys fried dough balls.  It was like a funnel cake, but not. They were just amazing! 

Shop n Save - Pittsburgh PA 

Antipasta salad.  Again it takes me back to something my granny always had in the house. Vegetables, cheese and meat marinated in an oil sauce of some sort.  Mmm little bite of Italy. 

Around Back - Lower Burrell, PA 

Amazing Oktoberfest eggs benedict.  I mentioned this in a previous post but it was so good I'll mention again.  Potato pancakes topped with kielbasa, poached egg and topped with beer cheese! 

We have two favorite appetizers there.  One of them is the potato skins that has broccoli, cheese and bacon and is amazing.  The other is fried cheese sticks nom nom nom 

Oakmont Bakery, Oakmont, PA

 Our amazing wedding and penguin groom's cake. 

Doughsant - a cross between a glazed donut and a croissant - so delicate, light and airy!

Chicken or the Egg (CHEGG) LBI, New Jersey

I love the beesting sauce (you can get it on wings or chicken or whatever or buy a bottle or two or have it shipped to you yes amazing! I love this) 

When we were there over the 4th of July Alan was so excited to try their chicken and waffles. 

Mom and I took a trip to Ocean City, Maryland last year and we had the best crab at some hole in the wall places. (If I remember the name of them I'll let you know). 

First the light and crispy hushpuppies 

Awesome crab, shrimp and corn

And softshell crab sandwich! 

Lastly, we hit up Hershey for chocolate tasting.  If you haven't done this - you really should. Some of the chocolate was so bitter and the rest I wanted to lick the glass - I'm sure that would have been frowned upon.