My Roomates Boyfriend...

Is a very healthy guy. Like for real. Very regimented when it comes to his food intake and his workouts and everything. Yes he has the occasional apple pie that I make but other then that he is on point and I am so in awe. Last night my roomie decided she wanted to start to get healthy so he came over and laid it all out on the table of what she needed to do. I was in the living room lying on the couch with my plethora of candles lit and my relaxation Pandora station going and listening to the whole thing. Of course I gave my two cents every 5 seconds just to be funny because hello that's me. But I was really taking everything in and to heart.

I know that everything comes with time and if you just change one aspect of your life at a time eventually it will all work together.

So for lunch today I am making Skinny Tastes, Chicken Thighs with Artichoke hearts (and sundried tomatoes)
I found the recipe HERE looking through one of my favorite sites online for healthy recipes.

My mouth immediately watered and I knew that I needed to make this so I went out and got all the ingredients and made it happen.

Here are the progression pictures as I prepared it.

Have you ever seen this beauty right here??

My boss uses this stuff all the time, perfect for when you want some rice but don't have 1800 years to cook it. Basically you pull the cup out, pop open the top a tad and put it in the microwave for 1 minute and then ta-da perfectly cooked rice.

All together with rice and two pieces of chicken and goodness you looking at around 450 calories. Not to shabby!

 

Jenny 

Shrimp Skillet and Pre-Fall Baking.....

On Monday I really really wanted to bake, I got all the ingredients but got invited to a friends house to hang out with people I didn't see all summer, so I went there.

Flash Forward to Tuesday, I knew not only did I want to bake but that I wanted to cook. My roomie was going to be out of the house watching the girls she nannys over night so it was just me, the kitchen and Milo man. Who insists on being right by me every step of the cooking way.

I found this recipe at All*you.com and it looked just so delicious that I had to give it a try.

Shrimp Skillet

Start by cooking 4 pieces of thick cut bacon (uhm yes please)

 

Then take 1 Green Bell Pepper, 1 Onion, and 2 Garlic cloves and chop it all up. Drain all but 1TBS of the Bacon Grease then place the veggies in and cook until tender.

 

 

Then add 2 cups of long grain rice (I would only do 1 1/2 cups because my rice came out undercooked) and cook for another 2 minutes or so.

 

 

Then add 3 cups of Chicken Broth reduced sodium and 1 can of diced tomatoes, 2 tsp of Old Bay, and some salt and cook it until it boils.

 

 

After it boils, place a lid on it and put it in a 375 degree oven, for 20 minutes.

 

 

When the 20 minutes are done take out the pan and place about 1lb of medium shrimp all over the top of the rice.

 

 

Cook in the oven with the lid on for another 10 minutes. When it's done take it out and enjoy!!!

 

 

 

 

Serving Size is 1/6 and it comes in with only 333 calories, so delicious and very filling and the flavors are amazing.

 

 

I also wanted to bake that evening and so I got a jump start on my Fall Baking List with these:

 

 

Snicker Doodle Apple Pie Bars!

 

Original Pin: Here

 

Ingredients:

1 Tube Sugar Cookies

1 Can Apple Pie Filling

1/4 Cup Sugar

3 Tsp Cinnamon

They recommend a 8x8 or 9x9 pan, but I didn't have one on hand (looks like I am getting one this weekend!) so I used my spring form pan instead!

 

Mix the Cinnamon and Sugar together in a bowl to begin with.

 

 

Take your tube of Sugar Cookie and cut in half.

 

 

Press one half of the cookie in to the bottom of the pan and sprinkle half of the cinnamon and sugar mix over top (I would just lightly sprinkle however much looks good, I think I ended up putting too much....whoops)

 

 

Then add the entire can of apple pie filling.

 

 

 Then take the leftover cookie dough and break it into a bunch of little pieces, and make them flat and then lay them all over the filling and sprinkle cinnamon sugar over the top. (Yet again I put wayyyy to much on the top, next time I would only sprinkle a little bit)

 

 

Then bake in the oven for like 30 minutes or so.

 

 

Then dish it out onto a plate and serve it with some ice cream.

 

 

Just one thing pre-knocked off my list for my Fall Baking List this season. Make sure to follow along here or see how it all started here!

 

     

 

Of course the house smelled absolutely fantastic and made me even more excited and ready for fall to arrive. The weather is giving a little tease today with it being right around 68 but I know summer is not done rearing its awful head yet, so I will be ready when it comes.

 

Jenny

 



Getting Back On Track....Again

Well it's been a while since I have joined up with the Weigh in Wednesday crew.

My summer was crazy, 3 kids, 50 hours a week, on top of attempting to get in as many vacations and fun trips with friends = Jenny doesn't focus. When I don't focus, I don't do good, eating or working out.

I could say every excuse in the book, but the reality is, I didn't work hard and it shows. I gained weight which is sad to me just because I love who I am, I just wish I was healthy. I am working on it yet again slowly but surely.

The kids went back to school on Monday, so I decided I too should get back on board, eating and exercising.

I am using My Fitness Pal (user name Jennylynn4390) and have decided to put in to lose 1lb a week. Which gives me 1800 calories each day to eat. I attempted the 1500 but I was on the struggle bus, but with 1800 I seem to be able to manage a lot better and not just give up and go out of control.

I started on Monday walking 2 miles in between all my projects and errands that I am doing throughout the day and then Monday night I went home and had so much energy that I went running at a park by my apartment.

 

Tuesday was just as good workout wise, I had the best intentions of running at night, but instead I ended up walking and was just as happy. It was a cool evening and the sunset view over the park was just to die for.

 

 

Sometimes I get frustrated because it is hard for me to run or I just don't feel like working out. During my Tuesday morning walk I was thinking and come to the realization that even if I just walk for 10 minutes at a time whenever I get the chance, that it's better then nothing. Because if I do that every day all week that's 70 extra minutes of walking in which I would normally just be sitting. I need to learn to not be so hard on myself and just know that if I do something (no matter what it is), it's better than nothing. So I made this little gem to keep me focused.

 

 

Yesterday I was really craving Shrimp and Rice for some reason so I found a neat recipe from Allyou magazine called Shrimp Skillet and made it. The rice was a little undercooked so I let it sit a little longer but overall it was a really good meal and each serving was only 333 calories and very filling. I will be posting a blog post on it and the Snicker Doodle Apple Pie Bars I made as well.

 

 

Here's to getting back on the wagon again.

 

Jenny 







First Day of School!

Yesterday I stepped into work and it was so different. If you have been following along, you'll know that all 3 of my kiddos went back to school. W the youngest started Kindergarten, which means I am now without children until they get off the bus in the afternoon. It's crazy, it's weird, but it's ok. I am running tons of errands and my bosses are coming up with lots of projects for me to work on. As long as the projects keep on a coming I think I will make it.

The nice thing about the kiddos getting back to school is now I can start walking again. I let my weight get a little out of control over the summer and gained a good bit, but now I am able to get outside and start working on bringing it back down. I am using My Fitness Pal again and am just attempting to lose 1 pound a week. Hopefully this time it sticks.

 

So I wanted to do something special for the kids to celebrate their first day back to school. As I was thinking and looking on Pinterest I saw something that I knew and got super excited. I lived in Germany for about a total of 7 years as a child since my dad was stationed there in the Army. Which means we got to experience some super cool traditions, like the Schultute. If you are German, you know exactly what this is. Translation is basically "School Cone" mainly given to Kindergarten students on their very first day, it is full of school supplies, candies, chocolates and little toys.

 

Anyways I decided to make some for my kiddos to just take the edge off of the first day of school, and this is how I did it.

 

First you start with a thick piece of paper, I just went to Michaels and got some scrapbook paper but make sure that you get the cardstock time, you need some thickness. Then you cut the paper into a fourth of a circle.

Next you need some form of adhesive, doesn't really matter what you use, but I am a little obsessed with glue guns so that was my weapon of choice. Glue, tape, whatever along one edge of the circle and roll it so that it forms into a cone.

Then I placed stickers on the front for their names and gathered all of the goodies that were going into the cones. Pencils, crayons, a notebook, a little toy, and of course candy!

 

Then layer everything into the cone, it's ok if some of the stuff sticks out the top, you will be covering it anyways and it doesn't have to be flat.

 

 

Place a piece of tissue paper so that the edge is lined up with the edge of the cone and the paper is going down, using a stapler, staple all around the edge until it is all connected. 

 

Then carefully pull the tissue paper so that it goes up and over the cone. Bunch it together and tie it up and garnish with some more Super Awesome stickers



AND Wa-La! Three super cute Schultutes for three very deserving children.

The kids came home and were so surprise to see them, I explained to them what they were and they just thought they were the neatest and ripped into them right away. Then I shot these few photos of their "I completed my first day face!"

      

They just keep growing and won't stop. But I love them even more as they grow!

Last night after I got home I decided to go running again because I really wanted to make Snicker Doodle Apple Pie Bars and if I was going to eat one, I was going to pay the piper before hand. Well I didn't end up making the bars (that's tonight's project!) but I did end up doing 3 miles and burning around 400 calories. I'll take that as a win!

Jenny



This is the Moment - Weigh In Wednesday

Linking up again for Weigh In Wednesday, in my opinion the best link up all week :)

Alrighty here we go again. I just read Ashley's blog post for today about having those periods where we are just lazy and don't do anything and that was me for about 3 weeks but on Monday I decided that the time was right again to start taking back control over my life. I got up really early on Monday morning and did the next run on my Ease into 5K. So by the time I got to the house I nanny at I had already walk/run 2 miles and had a solid 33 oz of water to drink. It set the tone for the day and I did really good snacking wise, with green beans and watermelon taking the place of the rice krispy treat and cheese puffs. I ate some tuna and crackers at around 11 and then had an actual lunch around 3, dinner was only ok as I had Mexican but I didn't eat as much as I usually do.

Tuesday rolled around and my food choices were so-so still no rice krispy treats and no unnecessary snacking. I am attempting to keep the kids and I as busy as possible so then I don't have time to think about snacking. We went and saw Epic at a Dine-In movie theater and so my food choice was no bueno on top of the fact that the kids ordered desserts that they ended up not liking them and so I ended up having a bit, but I made up for it in dinner with a bowl of soup that's only 5 points. Then I took the Milo Man to the park and did a good 2 mile walk to keep us both in shape, he just loves walks and car rides so when we merge the two he is in heaven.

Last night I got to bed at around 10 because I knew that I was going to get up early to run again. I love the energy I end up having and the mood I am in after a good run and shower. It makes getting up at 6am not that bad at all.  My Ease into 5K today was Warm Up, run 7 minutes, walk 2, Run 5, walk 2, Run 7 and Cool Down. So that means that I ran for a total of 19 minutes....woah. Crazy talk. Didn't really think or know I could but I did even though I wanted to stop because I wasn't feeling well but I was determined. My pace seems to be slowing down but I am ok with that because as long as I keep running and not stop I am proud of myself.

I decided not to hop on the scale today and will hop on next week and post my weight.

On the water drinking front I am becoming a water drinking fiend! On Monday I logged 115 oz and yesterday I logged 140oz!!!! It is 9:30 right now and as I type this I have already had 33oz today with so much time left today! I am hoping to keep this up, if I can along with eating better and walking/running every day then I know I can get these pounds off. My goal right now is to make it to 200lbs by Labor day which is about 1lb a week that I know I can do if I stay focused.


Today is A's (the oldest) birthday. She is 9 which is crazy because she was 7 when I started watching her. She is growing up so much and loves softball right now which makes this nanny super happy. You can find us throwing the ball and practicing her swing often in the back yard. I am sure that this year will be just as exciting as the last. We have a fun filled day planned and I will post about it later. For now her and W ran to my car this morning to show me what she got and how excited they were for our fun day planned. I love these kids and love my job!!

Happy Wednesday Everyone!

Jenny