Happy Memorial Day

Happy Memorial Day, y'all! It's so easy to forget the sacrifices being made all around the world so the least we can do as a nation is take a few days out of the year to remember those whose bravery protects us. So, today especially, thank you to all service members who made the ultimate sacrifice. Thank you not only to those who died in battle but those who have passed away after their time on the battlefield. I can't imagine making such a big commitment to your country.

Last week had some ups and downs but I've got a pretty good attitude about it. I started off great as usual but also as usual, things got rocky towards the end. I did meet all of my fitness and water goals, though. I have a whole new set of goals this week and I've loaded my fridge with healthier foods and purged the temptations. It's all about WHAT I'm eating so if I eat too much broccoli, I won't feel nearly as guilty about it.

Since it's Memorial Day, I wanted to give a shout out to the grill. I don't really have a recipe to share but I wanted to personally give my parents a shout out and huge thank you for buying me a grill! I've been wanting one and I'm so glad they sent one my way because we have already used it several times. I love how quick the process of grilling is and how you can pretty much grill anything. I have all kinds of ideas and plan to make veggies and pizza and anything else I can get my hands on. In addition to the pictures, we've also made burgers a couple times. Ian and I are fighting over who gets to do the grilling. So, have fun today and thanks again to my folks for the grill.

Have a great week, y'all!

De-Funk

Hey y'all! In the past, I gave myself a lot of freedom in May to eat and drink what I wanted. I deserved these treats because I had behaved so well in the months before that. Things are not the same as they used to be. I have been in a diet funk for awhile. I don't know if other teachers experience a summer funk but when I have nothing to do, I'm miserable. All I seem to think about is how I'm stressed about money and gaining weight. So, this week, I set some do-able, yet challenging goals for myself. I am staying away from the scale since it's been kind of negative. Instead, I'm going to take a weekly picture of myself in a dress I haven't been able to get into in a while. I don't think I'm willing to share those pictures at this point but I will keep them for myself to track my progress. I'd love to wear it on the first home game day in T-Town for football season. That's my long term goal. My short term goals are things like cutting out fast food this week, using the grill, making sure I get my water, making sure I count calories, etc. I've also set creative goals and goals to be productive around the house. Maybe next week I can share some positive take-aways from smaller, weekly goals. I am a happy and extremely lucky person! I have great friends and family that made my birthday special and Ian and I had a nice time on our little vacation.

So, after all the eating and drinking over the past couple weeks, I'll be honest, today hasn't been easy. It's not what I've eaten so far, it's this looming feeling that I'm going to get hungry and run out of calories. It's all a mental game as usual. For lunch I had some avocado toast and it was so good. I have a guacamole problem. I could eat a pound of chips and guacamole from Chipotle. This was an excellent alternative. It's filling and tasty.

Ian and I have been guilty of eating junk. Well, Ian loves the hash browns at Waffle House with cheese and chili. As we all know, Waffle House packs a ton of butter on their hash browns so I told Ian I would try to make it at home. I made yummy, meaty chili (I always add a beer to it) and then prepared the frozen hash browns in a skillet with just a little light butter spread. Those hash browns are my go to diet side dish. They are 70 calories per cup and super fast. I know, I know, they aren't natural but they are my sneaky way to fill up my belly fast. I can make them with zero added fat. I didn't this night. We added thinly sliced cheese and fresh, homemade chili and quite frankly, I liked it better than the Waffle House version. I'll be back next week y'all!

Patting Myself On The Back

Hey y'all! I'm not patting myself on the back because I've lost weight or been well-behaved. That's not the case. In fact, in spite of exercising mostly ever day, I've been pretty bad. I didn't weigh last weekend. I'm waiting until the end of the month. I didn't see a point in punishing myself. I'm just trying not to go crazy. My birthday is Friday and then I am going on a little Mobile/Gulf Shores Alabama vacation with Ian on Sunday. I'm excited and plan to try and relax and not spend so much time beating myself up.

I hit the crock pot up last week and made quite possibly the best meal I've ever made. I made pinterest inspired recipes that included pork roast and a tomato tart. The tart is not healthy. It was flippin' decadent and DELICIOUS. I'm in the process of thinking of ways to tone down the fat and calories but I'm glad I tried the straight up version first. You can make your own crust but I bought a store-bought, frozen pie crust. I baked it a bit in the oven before I put in the filling. The filling is 2 cups of ricotta cheese, 2 cups of grated parmesan combined with garlic powder, salt and fresh basil. I plopped it all in the crust and then baked it for about 15 minutes at 350. When it came out of the oven, I topped it with freshly cut slices of heirloom tomatoes and more fresh basil. I don't think it could be any easier and y'all...wow. It was amazing. It tasted like a savory cheesecake. My mouth is watering thinking about it. For the roast, I took two roasts equaling to 4 pounds, plopped them in the crock pot and covered them with a mixture of honey, parmesan, garlic, soy sauce, olive oil and oregano. Then I cooked it on low for 5 hours. When it was done, I removed the roasts from the pot, put them on a plate and poured the juice into a sauce pan. I added two tablespoons corn starch to thicken it up for a sauce. I devoured my plate of food. The pork was perfectly tender and the honey added the perfect sweetness. With the leftovers I made a Cuban inspired sandwich with the pork, swiss cheese and stone ground mustard. I also made scrambled eggs for breakfast with some pork and some of the ricotta cheese from the pie. I'm glad it's all out of the house now. The pork wasn't too bad health wise but the tomato tart was a little devil calling my name.

I won't be posting next Monday because I will be on vacation! I look forward to filling y'all in and getting back to business on Monday, May 23rd.

Until next time, y'all!

Happy Everything, Y'all!

First, I wanted to give a belated shout out to my parents. Yesterday was their anniversary of 34 years. Happy Anniversary, y'all! Thanks for all you do!

Also, another very important date is May 3rd! Tomorrow is Jordan's birthday! Happy Birthday Jordan! I am so grateful for our friendship and pretty much think you're the best thing since sliced bread. Have a great day tomorrow and I'll see you Thursday!

I wanted to say CONGRATS to my brother's girlfriend and my friend, Lisa. She is graduating nursing school on Wednesday and I am so proud of all the work she has done! Way to go!

 Finally, I wanted to give a shout out to one of my very favorite holidays, Cinco de Mayo! It's happening Thursday night and I can't wait to celebrate.

As you can tell, this is a week of celebration. When I weighed on Saturday, I was down four pounds from the previous week. I know I should be happy but I am so confused by my body. I gain and gain every single week then randomly lose four?! WTF?! It will be very difficult for me to maintain that big of a loss this week, especially with all the celebrations but I'm going to try not to go crazy. I'm wrapping up the school semester this week but I'm still incredibly busy which means I haven't had time to cook. I did make some chicken breasts for food prep and threw together a yummy stir fry. I love doing that. I am cooking this week though, so look forward to some actual recipes soon!

Thanks for being patient.

I'm about to have much more spare time...at least for a couple months.

Until next week!