Weigh in - Constant Vigilance!!! and Roasted Cauliflower with couscous

So in the last 2 weeks I have lost another 2.5 lbs. I have officially reached my goal weight. YAY!!! But now I want to lose more. And I want to start being able to weight lift because I need to get toned. I have been really consistent with my exercise in the last few weeks but I worry about adding weights back in for fear of hurting my back. Oh well, we'll see how I feel in the next month or so...


Are you getting tired of hearing about my struggles to lose weight. I think listening to other people talk about this sometimes can be really tiresome. So please let me know if I am GETTING ON YOUR NERVES!!


One more thought about weight. I have finally accepted that I just have to be really strict with myself to be at the weight I want. Sometimes I see other people eating yummy junk food and I get jealous that they can eat that stuff and not get fat. But I can't. That's just the way my body is and there is really no point in boo hooing about it. In reality I don't want all that junk food because although it tastes good it is not good for me and I have to remind myself I really am not missing anything. So to channel Mad Eye Moody, CONSTANT VIGILANCE is basically what is required of me and so be it. ( Yes, now you know I am a Harry Potter geek)

Roasted Cauliflower with Cous Cous

Adapted from a Better Homes and Gardens recipe

Marinade:
juice from two limes or lemons
1/3 cup olive oil
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp pepper

Veggies:
1 head cauliflower, chopped into large florets
2 zucchini or yellow squash, cut in 1/2 inch slices
1 red onion, cut 1/2 inch slices

Brush marinade generously onto veggies. Roast in oven at about 400 degrees in a 9X13 pan for about 15 -20 minutes, or until cauliflower is the softness you like.

Serve over couscous. You can drizzle more marinade after you dish it up and top with parsley.

** I really love this one. I really like cooked cauliflower. My kids just tolerate this one.

Contest Day and another challenge: keeping track

So first up: the contest! If you exercised 3 times since last Friday make a comment telling us how you fit in your exercise. You need to comment by midnight tonight and then I will randomly choose a winner. I will announce the winner Monday. I barely got in my 3 days of exercise and I feel very sheepish about it. I definitely need to step it up a bit.

One way I have been fitting  in exercise is to walk up and down my stairs for 5 minute increments throughout the day. Sometimes I feel like this is a little silly but having a baby I can't break away for more than 5 minutes some times. But it gets my heart pumping and my leg muscles burning so I assume it is helping.

Next up: I weighed myself this morning and I am CRABBY. I GAINED 1 pound! I kind of stopped paying attention to what I am eating and I think that is one of the culprits. My friend and I were just talking about this yesterday. It is really easy to overeat the not so best of foods and a lot of time you don't even realize you are doing it. So that is why most weight loss programs encourage you to keep track of what you are eating. I was doing that for a while and then I stopped. I mean keeping track is not the funnest thing but I see it's benefits. So this next week I am recommitting myself to keeping a food journal. Next week on my blog I will document what I am eating. (I know you can't wait!!) So my next challenge to you is to keep a food journal. Try for one week, but even doing it for one day I think can be beneficial.

** Well, I better go. A is trying to run away from home and E is running after her crying. Just another fun-filled morning at our house!

CONTEST!! - Fitting in Exercise

The scary dungeon

So today I weighed myself. Oh yeah, remember I was supposed to do that every Friday? Well, I fell off the diet wagon a couple of weeks ago and I just couldn't bring myself to weigh myself because I didn't think I could handle any more bad news with the state I was in. I was already feeling pretty down by a discouraging appointment with my spine doctor, which is why I fell off the diet wagon in the first place. Why, oh why does my eating have to be so connected to my emotions? Grrr.


Anyhow, I braced myself and weighed myself today and I have lost .8 pounds since the last time I weighed myself, which I can't ever remember when that was. Anyhow, I am feeling a lot more peppy and positive now and I am back on track with my eating. I am also getting back on track with my exercise.


I have always loved exercising but with being a busy homeschooling mom it is hard to fit it in. Lately I have realized that there really is no ideal way to do it. You always have to make some sacrifice to exercise. Right now, mine is that I let my kids watch a video during Baby G's second nap while I exercise down in the "dungeon." This is not ideal in so many ways.


1. The dungeon is kind of scary.

2. I would really prefer my kids only watching one video a week.


But oh well. I know I could exercise at in the early morning or at night when the kids are still in bed. But let's be realistic, here: That is never gonna happen!! It is what it is. I mean I need to exercise. I mean I really need it. Not just how we all need it but if I don't exercise that is when my back starts acting up and my family can't survive with me out with back problems.


So I exercise and I want you to, too because exercising is one of the major keys to good health. So here is the contest. Everyone who exercises 3 times (at least 30 minutes each) by next Friday can leave a comment next Friday sharing how they fit in their exercise with all their other demands. Then I will randomly select one commenter to win a $15 gift card to Amazon.com.


So go start exercising, even if you have to exercise in a scary dungeon. It's worth it!!

Best Dessert Ever and how to slice an orange

Wait for it... Fruit!


Since I have been trying to lose weight, I have been really trying to cut back on sweets and of course then I crave them more. And interestingly enough, I have not been craving fruit at all. Lately, I just haven't wanted to eat it. I mean fruit just hasn't seemed appealing at all. But I just make myself eat it. I know this sounds weird. Anyhow, so these times when I have been craving sweets I make myself eat fruit, specifically an orange. And you know what, most of the times that satisfies my craving.


Fruit used to be almost the only dessert we ever ate. In the past year as I  have been experimenting with unrefined sugars we have been eating a lot of treats. I think, perhaps, too many. I have really felt this need lately to get back to basics, to simplify my life and to get all these sweets OUT OF MY HOUSE!!

Now I am not saying that everyone should only eat fruit as a treat but for a while we want to really cut back on sweets over here. So we have decided to just have fruit and the occasional chocolate smoothie.

Some of our favorite fruits for dessert are - oranges, grapes, pears, and apples with peanut butter.

The other night A. had the idea to make a fruit salad and she was really proud of herself so she had me take a picture. I made a simple "cream" sauce to put on it made from almonds, cashews, water, and dates.


A few years ago a friend of mine showed me a better way to cut oranges and it changed my life. This way it is so much easier to eat all of the orange without getting too messy. Here are some pictures to show you how.

Start with the orange sideways then slice it like this:

You will end up with circles...

Then cut the circles in half...

You end up with this..

and this...

You can basically rip the fruit out with your teeth...

And you are left with nothing but peel...

Meatless Monday - Vegan Lasagna and Weigh in Update

I got this amazing lasagna recipe from Liz. She is the one I got the "not" mac n cheese from so I was pretty sure this would be good. I made it last week when we had my friend over for dinner. She was a good sport about being my guinea pig. This is not a quick recipe and dinner was late but it was oh so worth it.

The original recipe calls for pine nuts in the "ricotta cheese"  recipe but I didn't have any so I used cashews. It was still so good.

Go here for the recipe.

** This was seriously so good. We all had several helpings and my husband and I keep talking about it.

* If you don't want to taste the coconut oil at all, use refined coconut oil. It is not as healthy but it is still better than most other oils.

WEIGHT LOSS

Now as far as my weight loss update. No news is good news. Right? So I weighed in exactly the same weight as last week. Oh well. At least I didn't gain. In trying to figure out why I didn't lose last week I came up with 3 possibilities. It is probably due to all three.

1. It was my birthday week and I indulged a bit. Especially on the car ride up to Minneapolis. I mean there is something about car trips that make me constantly stuff my face with junk food. Am I the only one?

2. I didn't exercise that much last week. I am finding it hard to fit in my exercise but that is a post for another day.

3. I didn't keep track of what I was eating. I think this is key. Keeping track of what I am eating is key to my weight loss I think. It helps me be more aware of changes I need to make earlier in my week.

Weigh In - Low fat, Vegan Fudge Cookies

I did my weigh in a day early because I didn't want the weigh in hanging over my head during my birthday dinner. So I lost 3 pounds this week. Yay! So far I have lost 10 poundsin 4 weeks. I am really happy about that. So I want to lose another 7 pounds or so. I know I can do it.

For my birthday dinner I made a vegan version of mac-n-cheese that I will post next week and a green salad with basil vinaigrette and these fudge cookies. The original recipe comes from Fat Free Vegan Kitchen.

One cookie is only 1 weight watcher point - if you care to know.

Balsamic Fudge Cookies
These fudgy cookies have three chocolate enhancers: cinnamon, prunes, and balsamic vinegar. You probably won’t be able to detect any of them in the finished product, but they lend the cookies a deeper, more chocolaty taste.

1 cup white wheat flour
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
pinch cinnamon (optional)
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup plus 1 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
2/3 cup coconut sugar
1/2 cup prune puree (see note)
1/3 cup plain yogurt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar

Preheat oven to 350 F. Cover two baking sheets with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat.

Mix the flour, soda, cinnamon, and salt together and set aside.
In a medium-sized mixing bowl, mix the prune puree with the sugar and cocoa and stir to combine. Add the yogurt, vanilla extract, and balsamic and stir until mixed. Finally, add the flour mixture and stir just until it’s combined—don’t over-mix.

Using a cookie scoop or tablespoon, drop tablespoons of the dough onto the baking sheets about 1 1/2-inches apart. Using the back of a spoon, flatten each cookie slightly and sprinkle with vanilla sugar. Place them in the oven. Bake for about 9 to 11 minutes—be careful not to burn the bottoms!

Remove from the oven and lift the parchment paper or silicone mats onto cooling racks. Allow to cool completely. These taste best cold and somehow even better the next day. Makes about 2 dozen cookies.

* I used baby food pureed prunes.

** The original recipe said these were fat free but they also used soy yogurt, which I guess is fat free. I uses low fat plain yogurt instead because I am not a fan of soy.

We ate these with peanut butter ice cream and with a chocolate sauce on top. It was really rich and I ate too much.

Peanut Butter Ice Cream

2 cups almond milk
6 frozen bananas
2 huge scoops of natural peanut butter

Blend up.

Chocolate Sauce

1 Tbsp coconut oil
1 Tbsp pure maple syrup
1 Tbsp cocoa powder

Mix oil and syrup in small pot over low heat. Once combined and thin, remove from heat and mix in cocoa till smooth.

Excuses, Emotional Eating and 2 Really Good Dressings

So did you notice I never posted Friday? Just Keepin' it REAL!

But I did weigh in. I was expecting to maybe stay the same or even gain because last week was BLAH. Do you ever have those weeks? Mine was because my husband was working really long hours at work and I missed him. I am not one of those independent, got it all together wives. I kind of fall apart emotionally ( a bit of an over eaggeration) when my husband is not around. We ate out a bunch. I let the kids watch movies every night and I just found comfort in my old friends - tortilla chips, desserts, you name it. Plus the exercising just wasn't happening.

So all these excuses are to explain my lame weigh in. So I lost .4 pounds. That is POINT 4. You gotta love those digital scales. Somehow I didn't gain. Amazing. I guess I could attribute that to mostly healthy eating, even if I did indulge a bit. But I am really wanting to see some big weight loss in the next month since we will be taking lots of pictures at my daughter's baptism in April. Gotta look good for the camera. I really am not that vain. Although I sure am sounding like it right now.


Now to the recipes... The key to me and my family downing a ton of raw veggies is finding dressings that we love. I have been digging on this vegan ranch recipe almost too much.


Vegan Ranch

1& 1/2 cups cashews (soaked at least 2 hours)
1 & 1/2 cup water
1/4 cup lemon juice
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
2 cloves garlic
2 tsp onion powder
1 - 2 tsp sea salt ( star with less, add to taste)
1 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp basil


Blend in the blender. Put in fridge for a couple of hours before serving


* If you like dill (we don't) you could add 1 tsp. dill


** I love this!!


Tahini Dressing

This dressing is yummy on falafel, with raw veggies, and on salads.

2 tbsp + 2 tsp olive oil
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup tahini
2 tsp balsamic vinegar
1/2 tsp sea salt
black pepper (couple of dashes)
juice of 1 lemon
1/2 tsp paprika
1/4 cup lightly packed fresh parsley
1/2 cup cold water

Heat garlic in 2 tsp oil in small saute pan over low heat for 2 minutes, just until fragrant.

Add garlic and all other ingredients except parsley in blender and blend until smooth. Add parsley and pulse until parsley is finely chopped but not blended in.

Refrigerate at least one hour in airtight container.

* Okay I must confess I am the only one in the family who really loves this, but I really love it.

Weigh in and Ceasar Salad

So Fridays are my days to weigh myself and I am happy to report that I have lost another 3.8 pounds!! Yay!! So far that it is 6.8 pounds weight loss. And the best part is I am feeling great. Last night I taught a green smoothie class at my friends church and I bought myself a new pair of jeans so I wouldn't have to wear my yoga pants. Sometimes I am so resistant to buying bigger sizes but it feels good to have something else to wear and hopefully in the next month or so they will be too big for me. But it won't be wasted money.


So I haven't really changed my eating that much. When you do weight watchers you have 2 options - you can keep track of everything you eat and their points or you can follow their "simply filling" plan and eat mostly "power foods" and then only count the points of things you eat that are not on the power foods list. I chose the simply feeling option because I hate having to keep track of all those points and because I mostly only eat power foods anyway. Power foods would be whole grains, fruits, vegetables, beans, and for those that eat these things: lean cut meats and fat free dairy.


So my eating hasn't changed dramatically but I have cut back on the nuts and treats. I have also been cutting back on the coconut oil and sweeteners that are called for in my healthy treat recipes. I have found that most raw desserts only need half or less of the sweetener it calls for in the recipe, the same can be said for the coconut oil.


But I have started exercising again and that has been awesome. So far I can only really speed walk on the treadmill but it is a far cry better than the exercise I was getting walking to the bathroom!!


Now on to a recipe. We eat a lot of salads and let's face it. That can get boring. So it is nice to change them up a bit. Here is a great recipe I got from Whole foods for the Whole Family. I love the croutons! It have never occurred to me to make my own. My kids love them and it helps them gobble up even more salad.

Caesar Salad

Dressing
2 T almond butter or blanched almonds
3 garlic cloves, minced
3 T Dijon mustard
3 T fresh lemon juice
1T tahini
2 T olive oil
Salt to taste

** I added about 1/2 cup of water to this because I thought the Dijon mustard taste was just too strong. So if you aren't a big Dijon mustard fan you could maybe start with half the mustard and then add more if it needs it or add water like I did to dilute it some.

Romaine lettuce, spinach, shredded carrots, shredded cabbage, shredded zucchini - whatever you have!


Croutons
4 slices whole wheat bread, cut into cubes
1/2 t dried rosemary
1/2 t garlic powder
1/2 t Celtic salt

I coat the bread with extra virgin olive oil with my silicone pastry brush - a wonderful kitchen gadget to have!!

Then I sprinkle the herb mixture and cut them up with a pizza cutter.

 Bake in 325 degree oven until crisp, 15-20 minutes.

A bad idea deserves a good one

About a month before Christmas I had the bright idea that I was going to just let loose and not worry about sugar and dairy and just eat whatever treats came my way. So I indulged and I indulged bad. I knew I would probably gain a little weight but I decided I would just worry about it after the holidays. And then the week before Christmas I had that horrible issue with my back and I was resigned to eating lots of frozen pizzas (my husband's specialty) and obviously getting no exercise.

My back has been slowly recovering and I have been eating better but the exercise wasn't happening. I have spent the last 3 months wearing my yoga pants. At first it was because it was more comfortable since I was stuck home anyway dealing with my back and then it became a necessity. Nothing else would fit. So if you know me in person, you now know why my black yoga pants have been my uniform for the past 3 months.

I knew I was gaining weight and getting out of shape but the other night when I was headed to a cub scout dinner (yes, the mom of 3 girls is a cub scout leader!!) I wanted to wear jeans and I could not fit into any in my closet. I was quite depressed. I finally made myself step on the scale and found out I have gained 10 pounds since Christmas. Add that to the extra 5 lbs of baby weight I was still carrying and it equals embarrassing my children when I wear my "jammies" out everywhere.

I decided it was time to do something drastic - weight watchers. I have a sister who lost an amazing amount of weight doing weight watchers and I did it briefly several years ago when I wanted to lose 10 lbs real quickly before my Grandma came to town. If you have a super thin and opinionated grandma like me, you will understand. Anyhow I think weight watchers is one of the best programs out there. It is not a fad diet and I think most of their advice is nutritionally sound. Plus it works.

So I signed up for weight watchers online. It is kind of spendy but I think it is worth it for me. It is helping me get a little more focused on paying attention to what and how much I am eating. One thing I am realising is that there is such a thing as too much of a good thing. I have been making lots of "healthy sweets" lately and indulging a bit too much. Just because it is "healthier" doesn't mean I can eat how much I want. I need to remember this. So the journey begins. This first week I have lost 3lbs. I weigh myself every Friday so I will let you know how it goes.