I Like it Spicy these days!!

I've been such a busy girl!! Vacation, weekly day trips to Columbus for work, leading an Exercize class, Band practice.. I don't have time to be this busy!  In my haste, I haven't been such a good person in the eating realm.. and I have been hungry for Mexican food. So tonight, I made my Stuffed Banana Peppers. OMG wonderful goodness and my belly likes it. I am in heaven!

Stuffed Banana Peppers

1 small onion, diced

2 small banana peppers, diced

5 mushrooms, sliced

1 garlic clove, diced (or 1/2 t garlic from a jar)

6 cherry tomatoes, split

1-15oz can pinto beans, drained

1/2 packet of taco seasoning

1c chicken broth or water

6 medium banana peppers

1/2 c shredded mozarella cheese, divided

Preheat oven to 350.  Spray an 8x10 baking dish with cooking spray, set aside.  Cut the tops off the medium peppers, and slit down 1 side. Remove the seeds and membranes. Set aside.  Spray a medium saute pan with cooking spray.  Add in onion and saute 3-5 mintues or until onion is transluscent.  Add in the diced banana peppers, mushrooms and garlic.  cook 3 minutes or so, then add tomatoes, taco seasoning & beans, cooking until beans can be mashed with the back of a spoon.  Mash beans, and cook 3 minutes additional minutes.  Add in the chicken broth stirring until smooth.  Add in 1/4 c of the mozzarella cheese.  Remove from heat.  Stuff mixture into the banana peppers and place stuffed peppers in the baking dish.  Bake 20 minutes and then top with remaining cheese. Bake 5-10 minutes or until cheese is melted.  Serve with your mexican favorites, salsa, sour cream, guacamole, etc.

Makes 3 servings.

Lazy Day at the Homestead

Today was just one of those, rainy, stay in your jammies, kind of days!! After the busy week we've had, it was nice to just be lazy.

Here's a recap of highlights of the week:

Monday (Labor Day):  We went to the Mud Hen's game (our Local AAA basball Team).  It was the last game of the season, and Hen's won!  Good way to end a very pitiful and bad season.  The best part was after the game! We got to be part of a major motion picture movie, tentatively named "Home Run Derby."  We got to be extras in the final movie sequence.  Watch for us, I'm wearing a bright orange top and Steve's right next to me. :) No release date was given, so we'll have to see when it's out.  Dinner was so easy, I don't even remember what I made.. LOL

Tuesday:  Back to work, short work week yeah! and Boo! Those short weeks get ya!! Dinner was crockpot Fajitas.  I will post the recipe as soon as I perfect it.. it was pretty yummy though just the way it was.

Friday:  Football Season!  Went to see the Otsego Knights play against Anthony Wayne.  Our Knights didn't win, but they made a good show.  Tonight's dinner was leftover Fajita with some shredded cheese on top. Love it.. it gets better every day. Too bad that was the last of it..

Saturday:  Back to today.. sleepy, lazy.. worn out. I don't know why, so I am trying to baby myself and see if that will help.  I did do some cooking today...

• Crockpot Turkey Soup (and noodles for Steve)
• Pumpkin Bread (for Grandparents Day gifts tomorrow!)
• Chicken Salad (for lunches next week)
• Strawberry Swirl Cheesecake (Recipe below)
• Taco Turkey n Beans (Recipe below)

Taco Turkey N Beans (makes 8 ~ 1/2 cup servings)

1 small Onion, chopped or sliced into rings

1/4 c sweet red pepper, chopped

1 lb Lean Ground Turkey

1 - 15oz can Pinto Beans, drained and rinsed

1 t Chili Powder

Pinch ~ Onion Powder

Pinch ~ Crushed Red Pepper Flakes

Pinch ~ Black Pepper & Sea Salt

Pinch ~ Garlic Powder

Pinch ~ Oregano

Pinch ~ Paprika

1 c shredded Reduced Fat Cheddar Cheese

Greek Yogurt or Sour Cream (optional)

Tortilla chips or Taco Shells (optional)

Spray frying pan with cooking spray.  Saute onion and pepper until onion is transluscent. Add in turkey, smashing turkey into crumbles as it cooks about 5 minutes or so.  Drain any liquids.  Add in pinto beans and cook 5 mins or so until beans are easily smashed with a potato masher.  Add in spices, mix and cook for 3-5 minutes until everything is smooth.  Dish into individual servings or you can make tacos or nachos.  Top with Cheese and yogurt if desired.

Stats (with out tortillas or Taco Shells): Cal 190, Fat 9g, Carbs 10g, Protein 19g 

Dessert You Say? I made this for the church dinner tomorrow:

Strawberry Swirl Cheese Cake Bars (makes 12 servings)

Crust:

20 sugar Free Chocolate Chip cookies (I like Murray's Brand)

1/4 c margarine, melted

1/4 c almond flour

Filling:

3/4 c Splenda

1/3 c lemon juice, divided (fresh from 2-3 lemons is best by far)

8oz reduced fat cream cheese

16oz non fat, plain Greek Yogurt (you can make your own.. see note below)

1 large egg

1 t vanilla extract

2 T flour

4 T Sugar Free Strawberry Jam

2 T SF Maple Syrup

Preheat oven to 325. 

Place cookies in blender/food processor and process until crumbs.  Add in melted butter and almond meal.  Press into the bottom of a 9x6 glass pan.  Bake at 325 for 10 minutes or until edges are browned. 

Combine Jam and 1 T lemon juice in a small bowl. Nuke for 1 minute and set aside.

In a medium bowl, beat cream cheese and splenda until smooth.  Blend in the yogurt, flour, remaining lemon juice, vanilla and maple syrup.  Mix well.  Beat in egg until well mixed, but don't over beat.  Pour mixture into crust.  Place tablespoons of strawberry sauce across the top of the mixture and use a knife to swirl. Bake for 35-45 minutes, or until cheesecake slightly jiggles in the center.  Cool completely on cooling rack, uncovered.  After it's completely cool, transfer to refrigerator, cover and chill 2 hours or overnight. If cheesecake isn't completely cool, you'll get soggy cheesecake.

Stats: Cal 202, Fat 12g, Carb 19g (3g of sugar & there are some sugar alcohols to subtract, but my calculator doesn't say how much), Protein 8g

Making Greek Yogurt:

Place 1 large container of plain non fat yogurt (any brand will work) in a fine mesh sieve lined with paper towels or a coffee filter.  Drain overnight in fridge. VIOLA! Greek yogurt.. now wasn't that too easy?

Hope you are having a great weekend!! Go Buckeyes!

Been too busy to blog! It's Canning SEASON!

It’s that time of year for me... I love it so much it ranks up there with Christmas! It’s canning season! It’s the time of the year when I tuck fruits of the harvest into gently sealed jars or freezer bags to sleep until it’s time for wintertime consumption. Yep. It’s lots of work. Hot and Sweaty.. lots of burned fingers but, to me it’s worth it. I love knowing EXACTLY what I am consuming… I think that my OCDness is coming out.. sorry.


Thanks to my friend Denise and her generous family, I have hit the motherload on the fruit and veggie front.. lots of things I never have canned/frozen before. Let’s see… she gave me corn, carrots, cucumbers for pickles, apples for applesauce, peaches, zucchini, yellow summer squash, green beans. Those are just the things that I am freezing/canning. She also has blessed me with eggplants, celery, peppers. My flowerbed garden is producing the most wonderful banana peppers and more tomatoes that I know what do with (I only put in 1 plant and wondered if that would be enough, now I am glad it’s only 1!) Holy cow, I am in heaven.

This year’s canning project is a little bit different.. see, Steve has decided that he likes veggies now.. some.. Corn.. carrots.. zucchini.. yellow squash..green beans.. SWOON!

Wednesday night, I was busy, I made applesauce, canned the peaches, froze the corn, carrots and squash. Steve helped me out too. He did the stuff like loading the jars into the dishwasher, husking the corn, (even taste testing the kernels after I cut them off the cob) and he even packed peaches into jars for me! Friday Night and Saturday morning I am doing the pickles and green beans… making zucchini cake from Here.. Eggplants will be turned to Eggplant Parmesan and Almost Lasagne. I even froze them.. who knows the skys the limit.. I’ll be cooking all night! I am so psyched.

What have you been doing to keep busy these days? Drop me a line and keep in touch!

It's Fair Time!!

A few weeks ago, in early July, Steve and I went to the Three Rivers Fest in Fort Wayne.  The morning paper had a whole section on the festival and as I was browsing I noticed that there was a section on food.  I am always interested in reading about food.. less calories, same enjoyment in my book... until I read about the new sensation this year... DEEP FRIED BUTTER. (I think i just threw up a little bit). Ok, when I was heavy, I did not care for fried food, so now, I don't even miss it.  I had heard of deep fried twinkies.. even deep fried candy bars, but butter? That's way over the top for me... The thought alone made me gag.. but, the investigative reporter wanna be in me made me go and see what it was.. NO I DID NOT EAT it.. gag.. ugh.. gag again.. but I digress.


SO Steve and I went to the festival and sought out the booth selling these obese making gems.. you know to see what they looked like.. LOL they were breaded "sweet cream" butter balls that were deep fried.. That doesn't sound good to you.. they also sold deep fried twinkies.. deep fried choc. chip cookie dough.. deep fried snickers & milky ways.. OMG.. I was walking away gaggin..
 
Ok, I have taken a lot of flak for this story.. I understand that we all make choices in our lives.. before surgery some people might like this kind of thing and it's maybe what got you to the point of having to have surgery to loose the weight.  THEN when you have this gut changing surgery, your choices are now made for you.. mostly...within reason.  Some of us still crave this kind of thing. Not me. I hope not ever. The smell of greasy food makes me faint. LOL
 
Now.. what have I done to combat this fried butter and fair food phenomenon? I have cooked up food that is not only yummy, but looks good on the plate.  I got this recipe out of an old low carb cookbook and tweaked it a bit to suit my palate.  Like strawberries? try this..
 
 

Stuffed Strawberries

 

4 oz fat free cream cheese

1/2 t vanilla extract

4 packets of Splenda

1/4 t cinnamon

1/2 quart of strawberries, cleaned

 
Mix together cream cheese, vanilla, Splenda and cinnamon. cut the bottom tip off of the strawberries so that the strawberries can stand up. Hollow out the top of each strawberry and then put 1/2 t of filling in each one.  Cover and refridgerate until time to serve.
 
 
as Julia used to say Bon Appetite!

4th of July Fun ~ and a new recipe!

This year, the 4th was a bit more fun that last.. although the heat still makes me feel like poo.  Last night we went to see our beloved Mud Hens lose their 10th straight game. Before the game however, we had a nice picnic with my parents and sister, Abby (inside of course, it's 90s here!) where we had Taco Wings, potatoe salad, baked beans, and a new dessert  that I invented..

Red, White and Blueberries
1 box (4 serving size) Jello Vanilla Pudding
2 cups skim milk
1lb fresh strawberries, cleaned and sliced
1 c fresh blueberries
1 c sugar free strawberry pie filling
1 package of 8 individual Sugar free Angel Food cakes (optional)

Directions
Mix together milk and pudding, refridgerate. Clean berries, place in a mixing bowl and add the pie filling, mixing gently. Place 1 cake on plate, add in 1/4 c vanilla pudding. Top with berries mixture. Serve immediately.

Makes 8 regular servings, more for WLS patients
Stats (without the cake):  Cals 70, carbs 14.7, fiber 1.6, sodium 199.6, protein 2.5

Hope your 4th was great.. now it's off to the pool to swim!!

I am in love...

I have been looking for a new protein shake to replace my beloved Caramel Latte Inspire that is out of stock.. Today I made this shake and it's wonderful!!

It's Like a Mocha Freeze (like Starbuck's Mocha Frappuccino)


4 oz. unsweetened Almond Milk (I used plain, but chocolate would be divine!)
4 oz. water
1 sleeve instant coffee crystals decaff
1 oz. Torani Sugar Free Vanilla Syrup
1 scoop "Gosh That's Good" Chocolate SF powder (or sub 1 Tablespoon Hershey's Sugar Free Chocolate Syrup?)
4-5 large ice cubes

I put it all in my Magic bullet and whirred it up. If you have some, a dollop of SF whipped cream might be nice too.
I had today off work, but we were out and about running errands. Off to Columbus for work tomorrow, back in BG for Thursday and off again on Friday.
See ya soon!

Busy weekend, busy life

I can't believe how busy I am these days. My house has been a mess.. hubby has been eating out of boxes (frozen pizzas, boxed mac & cheese..etc. all the good stuff) I haven't been cooking at all, even for myself, which is a bad thing.. BUT.. it was All for a good reason, I have been busy, but is that a real reason or a cop out? (OK, cop out.. I agree!) Last night, I had enough of the mess.. and I cleaned like a mad woman, the counter, the cupboards, heck, I even cleaned the oven (thank goodness for self cleaning ovens!! LOL). Today when I got out of bed, I treated myself to a cup of Joe and started cooking.. it's amazing what a clean kitchen will do to motivate you! Today's concoctions are:

1. SF Peach Cheesecake Yogurt

• Trader Joe's plain Greek Yogurt
• SF cheesecake pudding powder
• sliced canned peaches

2. Cottage cheese salad

• Small curd cottage cheese (large container) mixed with..
• Orange SF jello powder (small box) then add...
• SF Cool Whip (half a container) and finish with...
• Mandarin oranges (small can, I used about a half of can)

3. Crustless SF Strawberry Pie for the hubby (ok, I might sneak some too.. I did clean the ENTIRE kitchen ya know)

• 1 small tub of SF strawberry pie glaze mixed with..
• 1# container of strawberries (washed, cleaned & hulled.) and then topped with
• 3 T graham cracker crumbs mixed with 2 T melted margarine.

I am pooped now, and have to go to the grocery store so I can cook some more.

Life is great, when you lose all the weight!!

Love you guys!

1 year later... what a difference a year makes

Ok, I have been really lax in updating my blog... but I have been really busy enjoying my NewLife!

What a difference a year makes! One year ago, on March 11, 2009, I was in the hospital having life changing surgery. Today, I am living proof that this surgery works... if you follow the rules. I am still very very very strict, but I do indulge is something sounds kind of good, and even then occasionally. The rules.. yep, there are still rules that have to be diligently followed. Those weren't just for the weight loss phase of this journey. Yep, they can be hard to follow, but if the weren't hard, they wouldn't be called rules. I have changed my eating to include mostly clean, unprocessed food if at all possible. I cook from scratch as much as humanly possible, and I have instituted a weekly cooking day where I spend 2-3hours cooking wonderful concoctions for the week. Usually this cooking day is Saturday, sometimes Sunday. Scratch cooking isn't as hard as you think, but I guess i have always enjoyed cooking. Every couple of weeks, I start cooking day by making a batch of homemade sugar free applesauce in my crock pot. While that cooks, I usually make some sugar free jello or pudding for weeknight snacking. My favorite snack is protein pudding.. I always like to kill 2 birds with 1 stone. I always cut up a small block of cheese into 1oz portions and sometimes I bake some sort of sugar free treat for Steve to take in his lunches. While those are cooking, will I start planning for the weekly dinners. I peruse the grocery ads and whatever is on sale is usually what we are going to eat.. we eat ALOT of chicken.. ask Steve! I love to surf the internet and look for WLS friendly recipes... and I have found a few that I really love, you're welcome to love them as well.

Try:

The World According to EggFace http://theworldaccordingtoeggface.blogspot.com/

Elana's Pantry (Gluten Free stuff) http://www.elanaspantry.com/

Healthy Indulences http://healthyindulgences.blogspot.com/

And of course, my all time fav recipe site: BE! http://bariatriceating.com/BEhealthnutrition/recipes.php

OK enough about food, it's making my hungry! (HAHAH... I never get hungry.. i just know what time I have to eat!) Keeping with the 12 theme, here are 12 things I can now do because I had weight loss surgery.

1. Cross my legs.

2. See my collarbones, ribs, and hip bones? I have those?

3. Run in place with the Wii for 3 minutes.. and not die!

4. "Feel" my tailbone.. ouch.

5. Do 3+ flights of stairs and not be out of breath! (100 stair steps)

6. Buy my clothes in the normal section of stores.. you know, where you buy them.. Missus and Juniors!

7. ... in a size 10

8. Sit on my hubby's lap comfortably.. for both of us.

9. Give up taking drugs.. for insulin resistance you silly goose!

10. Play with my niece and nephew and not be out of breath.

11. Did I say anything about buying cute clothes?

12. Lose 1 shoe size, 4 1/2 ring sizes, and 16 clothing number sizes... all in one Year!

Here is the link to my pictures from the last 12 months.. I can't believe the changes. I can finally see her in the mirror.. you know, the woman that I have always seen in my mind. http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=68770&id=529697772&l=939565e3d4

So, here is my year in review... what has changed for you in the last 12 months?

9 months in.. posting it a bit late..

Today is December 11th. To most of you, it's "Just December 11th, nothing special here, 14 days until Christmas. But to me, it's my 9 month anniversary or "rebirthday." As of today I lost a whopping 167 lbs. I also wanted to reflect on 9 months...

9 months can be a long time (ask a mommy to be) or a short time (ask a cancer patient who's been given 9 months to live.) It's all in your perspective. For a baby, 9 months is about the time (give or take a few weeks.) to bring a new baby into the world. In March, I got a new baby tummy and I have had to learn and grow as the months pass, just like after a baby is born it begins to learn and explore new territories that are foreign to him or her. For me, it's learning to eat a new healthier way. Giving up things that are bad for me (refined sugar for example) and finding new "legal" replacement are a way of day to day life for me. Planning is key!! I knew this journey wouldn't be easy, even though I have heard numberous times that I took the "easy way out." Rest assured friends, this was not the easy way out. But for me, it was the only way out of the fat prision I had put myseld in. But, this experience has helped me grow. I now appreciate simple things like sugar free popscicles instead of full sugar ice cream when it's hot out and fitting into those size 12 pants.

I went shopping with my sister's on Black Friday and I was able to squeeze thru a very skinny pass thru (carts against a wall...) I would NEVER EVER been able to do that before, I would have never even attempted it. It was great and it was liberating! I now feel like I can do anything. Growing thru this process has been an eye opening experience for sure. There are so many things that I appreciate daily that I couldn't do before surgery and I can now. Things others take for granted that for me were not even possible until now (think 4 flights of stairs and still not out of breath!)

I found this quote by John Maxwell the other day and I hung it beside my computer at work. It continues to inspire me each and every day. The quote says "If we are growing, we're always going to be out of our comfort zone."

I've shared my story of rebirth and growth with you each month so I have a question for you...

How are you growing??

Merry Christmas!