My Deliciously Healthy Easter Menu

It's almost Easter!
Can you believe it?!

Sadly, my father-in-law isn't going to be here for Easter. My husband and I learned the hard way that you should really look at the calendar, before booking a flight! For some reason, flights going out April 4th, were $100 cheaper...so we decided to be cheap. It wasn't until a couple weeks later that we realized we were making my poor Father-in-law spend his Easter in an airport! I still feel really bad... So, we're going to try and make up for it, by doing some Easter festivities on Saturday. We're going to go to the Butterfly Pavilion, eat a Deliciously Healthy Easter dinner, and paint Easter eggs!

This is our Easter Menu:

Chicken with Sugar Snap Peas & Spring Herbs
Glazed Mini Carrots
Smashed Potatoes with Sour Cream and Chives
And
Carrot Cupcakes for dessert!

There's only going to be 3 of us, so I think this should be enough. There are so many mouthwatering healthy recipes out there, I wish I could make more!

Recipes like these! :

Savory Peach Chicken
Minted Peas and Rice with Feta
Roasted Spring Vegetables with Arugula Pesto

Meringue-Topped Strawberries & Rhubarb
Raspberry Fool
YUM!!
These are definitely on my list of things to make this Spring!!

If you don't hear from me before Easter (hopefully you will. I mean you should, but just in case...;) I hope you all have a great Easter!!

Goals, and a Recipe

Hi Everyone! I hope you all had a great Superbowl weekend!

I really, really appreciated all of your comments on my last post.
This is why I love you all so much! I love the support, and motivation I get from this community, and the knowledge I'm soaking in!

I'm an amateur dieter. This is the first time I'm trying to lose weight the RIGHT way. I don't know the right or wrong way to do things. I don't know how to do certain things, I don't know what's reasonable, and what's not. I don't know what's healthy, and what isn't.

But that's slowly changing, as I'm learning so much from all of you!

So, I sat down, and re-valuated my goals.
As far as the "numbers" go, I think I'm going to leave them as they are. My motto for that is: Reach for the stars, because you may just reach them. ;) I don't think it hurts to have high goals, as long as I know I may not reach the exact number, and remember to not beat myself up if I don't reach those numbers. It's like Tammy said, "It's better to shoot for the 5, and land around 3...than to shoot for 3 and only lose 1." That's pretty much what I'm going to do ;) If I find that it's having a negative affect on me, and my weight loss journey, I will adjust my goals.

Jenn also got me thinking, as she said, "Make goals to eat a certain amount of calories per day, a certain amount of water and a certain amount of exercise - these are goals that you can control, and will give you weight loss - no matter how long it takes."
Makes sense doesn't it? :D

This weekend, I thought of some more goals to set for myself... ones I CAN control!

Here's what I came up with:
*Eat 1,200-1,500 calories a day.
I don't know if that's too little for a 5' 1", 194lbs, 22 year old female. I think it's lower then what most people consume when trying to lose weight, but I'm also not able to do intense workouts like most people, because of my RA. That makes me think I need to cut my calories more then normal. ?? But like I said, I'm an amateur dieter :D
It's not a problem for me to not go past my calories, it's hard for me to reach them. I haven't been doing very well at this, this past week. Today I've only had 850 calories (I'm starting this post late Sunday night). Yesterday I think I had 700. I'm honestly not meaning to have my calorie intake be so low.
My stomach is usually queasy when I wake up, so in the morning I usually just sip on a Slim Fast. A little later I have a snack, usually about 100 calories. Before I know it, it's time to start making dinner. Dinner is usually 300-400 calories. After dinner I sometimes have a 100-140 calorie dessert, and then that's it for the day. I haven't been feeling hungry, or deprived, but I know this isn't healthy, and will definitely hinder my weight loss.

*Work on eating a healthier breakfast, and make sure I eat lunch.
I'm realizing that I normally skip lunch, because I get preoccupied, and 4pm sneaks up on me. Doing these two things, will help me reach my goal of 1,200-1,500 calories for the day.

*Drink more water!
Totally bad at this one! I normally only drink 2-3 glasses a day! My goal is 8!

*Don't eat past 7:30pm

*Go swimming 3 times a week, and take 3, 5min walks a day with the doggies.
I found a gym not too far away from my house, that has a lap pool. Sometime this week, I'm going to go down, check everything out, and hopefully sign up! As far as the walking, I need to work on being consistent with it.

*Try at least 1 new workout a week, to do at home, on the days I don't go swimming.

*Keep a food journal.

*Work on keeping and making new goals.
I'm going to make a goal chart, or something along those lines, so can keep track of my goals, and the progress I'm making. That way I don't just make em, and forget em, like I normally do! I also want to work on revisiting goals that maybe need to be tweaked, and continually making new goals for myself.

These are the goals I'm going to put the majority of my focus on. These are the goals I can control. Because we all know, you and the scale aren't always on the same page! :D

***

Here's the recipe, I was supposed to post on Thursday!
It's oh so tasty, and super-de-duper easy to make. If you haven't noticed, I like things that are easy! ;)

Mexican Chicken Skillet:You will Need:

~4 skinless boneless chicken breast.
~Chili powder
~Salt
~Pepper
~1 tablespoon vegetable oil
~1 (15 ounce) can black beans, rinsed and drained
~1 1/2 cup frozen corn
~1 1/2 cup salsa
**UPDATED: I've recently added chopped red and green bell peppers to this, and it's delish!
just throw it in the skillet, when you add the corn, beans, and salsa!

Directions:

Sprinkle salt, pepper, and chili powder, on both sides of thawed chicken breast. Heat oil in a nonstick skillet, over medium heat. Cook chicken in skillet for 8-10 minutes, or until the juice from the center of the breast runs clear. Stir in beans, salsa, and corn. Heat to a boiling, then reduce heat. Cover and simmer for 3-5 minutes. ~Makes 4 servings
**I usually sprinkle a little low-fat cheddar cheese, and add a dollop of low-fat sour cream to mine. LOVE!

Here's what I'm thinking:
Calories: 320 for 1 chicken breast and about 1 cup of salsa mixture.

Enjoy!

****
Now I'm off to go catch up on all of you!
I decided that on the weekends, I'm going to take a break from the computer, as I can easily lose 2-3 hours on it. It was pretty darn hard to not read all of your blogs for 2 days, and now I have a lot of catching up to do! We'll see if I can keep it up every weekend! ;D

XOXO

Another Deliciously Healthy Weekend!

We started out the weekend by going to the movies. This was my 1st time going to the movies, since I've been on my diet, so I was a little nervous. Movie theaters are a major temptation for me, for 2 reasons:
#1.Kettle corn makes me weak in the knees.
#2. Before catching a movie, we ALWAYS go out to eat at one of my favorite restaurants, Jim-N-Nicks, because it's right next to the theater. It's a hard habit to break. AND, you can smell their BBQ outside, and down the block. Seriously. That's how we 1st found the restaurant. Our noses led us there ;)

So, in an effort to resist the kettle corn, and conquer the aroma of Jim-N-Nicks BBQ that surrounds the area, I made BBQ chicken wraps at home, for dinner. I was good and full when we left for our movie, and I got a little BBQ fix :)
My mouth was watering by the time I got done making it, and all I could think about was sitting down and digging in! So, this is the only picture I remembered to take ;)I got 4 boneless skinless chicken breast, and cut them into about 1/2 inch strips, and cooked them in a skillet. Once they were done cooking, I added 1 cup of sweet and tangy BBQ sauce, some chopped onions, and let it simmer for about 5min.Then I just put some of the chicken strips in a low calories tortilla, added some low-fat cheese, low-fat sour cream, and some cubes of avocado.
It was delish, and very filling!

After dinner, we were headed to the movies, with full bellies!
I brought a 100 calorie pack to eat during the movie. ( Shhhh! Don't tell! ;)I'm glad I didn't spoil my diet while going out to see a movie, because we ended up leaving early, due to a very talkative, and annoying lady sitting behind us. We got a refund, and she got kicked out :) Normally I don't do things like that, but she was obviously doing it to be disruptive. I would have been really disappointed if I had spoiled my diet, for a movie we didn't end up seeing. It was a test to see if I could resist the sweet aroma of BBQ, and kettle corn, and stick to my diet...and I passed! To me, that was better then any movie!

I also made some tacos this weekend. I got the idea from THIS blog, to use lettuce instead of taco shells...genius! Then I just cooked up some lean ground turkey with taco seasoning. I topped my tacos off with low-fat sour cream, low-fat cheese, tomato, onion, salsa, and avocado. It was totally tasty! Two tacos filled my husband and I up pretty darn good! ;)

The rest of the weekend was spent lounging around. My husband was sick/getting over being sick this weekend, so we didn't really do much, other then attempt to see a movie, play cards, watch the new season of 24, and EAT...Deliciously Healthy of course!

On a little side note: I stepped on the scale this morning!
I told myself Monday was the day I needed to start looking at the numbers, and stop being blissfully unaware. So, I finally did it. The numbers said, "194.5" That means I've lost 2lbs. Boo! ;) Actually, I'm not that disappointed that I've lost 2lbs in 3 weeks. At least it's something. If I were to gain 2lbs, I would be really upset, and would look at those 2 little pounds as a major deal. So why shouldn't I treat losing 2lbs as a major deal? Also, for the first week and a half, I was focusing on weening myself off of things slowly, instead of stopping everything at the same time. Then, into the 2nd, and a little bit into the 3rd week, I had already stopped all the bad foods, and I was eating healthy, but I wasn't keeping an eye on my portions, or counting my calories. That was the last stage of the process for me. Add on top of all that, the fact that I've barely (and by barely, I mean I haven't) worked out, and I'd say I'm pretty happy with a 2 pound loss.

Now that I've got everything down pretty good, it's time to switch this from being a nice and slow stroll in the park, to a brisk walk. It's time to work up a sweat, and burn some calories baby!

Hope you all had a great weekend!

A Successful Weekend, and a Yummy Recipe!

I hope everyone had a great weekend!

I'm happy to report that I had a great, successful, and :Deliciously Healthy weekend!
I made healthy choices, and didn't pig out ALL weekend like I normally do!

My husband and I came up with things to do, so that we weren't thinking about vegging out the entire weekend with pizza and a movie...and brownies, and candy, and ice creme...I'm getting side tracked. Point is, we did good! ;)

We actually got a lot done! Which is kinda funny to me. It's amazing the things you can get done, when your not thinking about eating all the time!

I also went shopping. Shopping's good when you're on a diet. At least for me anyway. I get to get my mind off of food, buy things I love just as much as I love food (or at least almost as much), I drool over things I would buy if I had lots and lots of money to spend, and I get to day dream about the day I will love clothes shopping as much as I used to. I look at items and say to myself, "Stick to your diet Brittany, and you may actually be able to pull that off someday!" I also went baby shopping, even though I'm not pregnant ;) Joe and I decided since we know we are going to start trying for a family in a few months, it would be smart to slowly start buying things now. The benefit to that is, I get to wait for things to go on sale, and clearance! Did you know that most Targets re-do, and clean out their baby section every January? I got LOTS of stuff for 50% off! Shopping for baby things was also a HUGE motivation for me to keep making healthy choices! My goal is to lose at least 40lbs before we start trying. Buying baby things was a nice reminder that I don't have time to fool around.

This weekend, I made one of my favorite recipes! It's called "Chili Verde", but I just call it chicken chili :) It's really more like a chicken chili soup. It's great for cold, winter days, because it warms you from the inside out! It's also very simple, and quick to make, which is a lifesaver for me, with my RA. It's a GREAT recipe if you have leftover cooked chicken breast, as it makes this recipe even easier to make!! I usually add a dollop of low-fat sour cream, and a tablespoon of salsa on the top, but I forgot to pick those items up at the store, so I just went without it. My husband also likes to enjoy it with a small handful of low sodium tortilla chips (He's also trying to lose weight).You Will Need:

~2 cups chopped and cooked chicken breast (2 boneless skinless chicken breast)
~1 can (15 to 16 ounces) of cannellini or great northern beans. Rinsed and drained.
~1 can (14 1/2 ounces) of low sodium chicken broth
~1 cup green salsa (salsa verde)
~1 (9 ounce) package of frozen white corn, thawed

Directions:

Mix all ingredients in a 3-quart saucepan. Heat to a boil, then reduce heat to low. Cover and simmer for 20 minutes. And that's it! You're done! Told you it was easy! ;)

Makes 4 servings.

Here's What I'm Thinking:

Calories: 290 for 1 serving.

Enjoy!

***

I'm excited for this upcoming week. This past week was my first week on my diet. I decided this time around, I would start by taking baby steps, instead of stopping EVERYTHING cold turkey! That's what I've been doing over the past week, and I have to say, it's made a big difference! I wasn't having to go through my caffeine withdrawals, and my chocolate withdrawals at the same time!

Every day, I would focus on eating healthier, along with focusing on 1 thing I could change/cut out. I would focus on cutting out my soda for a couple days, along with eating healthy recipes. Then, over the next couple days, I would focus on cutting out my sweets, along with the soda, and continuing to eat healthier. And so on, and so forth. So, this past week was kind of the beginning stages of my diet, focusing on 1 thing at a time. The begging stage is done, and I've successfully weaned myself off of my old habits! This next week, it's all on baby!
I'm excited!

My Favorite Chicken Salad

Once, when I was 16, I went on an all salad diet. Yeah. Pretty crazy.
I left that experience, heavier then when I started (Although I was still only 125lbs! What the heck was my deal?), and with a new found hatred for salads!
It wasn't until I was about 19yrs old, that I could even consider eating a salad!

That was the time when I discovered this salad. It's in the "Rosdale Diet" book, although I've made the recipe my own. His actually has more calories then my version!

This is a seriously yummy salad! I usually reach for this salad when I need a little help to keep me from running to the nearest Krispy Creme! It's yummy, mouthwatering, and a very satisfying salad! It solves my craving for the "No No" food, when I'm having my weak moments. It's also very filling. I sometimes (key word sometimes) can't even finish it! When I eat this salad I think to myself, "I can totally do this!"

You Will Need:

~About 2 handfuls of mixed greens (really, you can add whatever you like. They're greens!)
~1 tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil (I usually add a little shy of a tablespoon)
~1-2 squeezes of a lemon
~About a 1/4 teaspoon dijon mustard
~Half a garlic clove chopped. (I sometimes skip the garlic when I don't feel like messing with it)
~A pinch of sugar or splenda
~3-4 black olives sliced
~1 tablespoon sliced almonds
~1 boneless skinless chicken breast (I usually only use half, and save the other half to use in a salad the next day. Or give it to my husband for his salad;)

Directions:

Dressing:
Mix the EVOO, dijon mustard, lemon juice, garlic, and sugar together. (I usually mix it in a 1/4 cup measuring cup, because it's a small amount and tends to get lost in a big bowl :)

1. Bring 2 inches of water to a boil in a deep skillet. Reduce to simmer, and add the thawed chicken breast.
2. Simmer for 10-15 min. Check to see if chicken is completely cooked by cutting into the middle of the breast. Meat should be white, and juices should run clear.
3. In a bowl, combine: mixed greens, olives, and almonds.
4. Pour half the dressing into the bowl, and toss well.
5. Slice chicken diagonally into 1/2 inch slices, and arrange on top of salad.
6. Drizzle remaining dressing on top
7. DIG IN!!

Here's What I'm Thinking:

Calories:
Around 350 to 400, depending on if you use half a chicken breast or not.
Yes, it's a bit of a splurge, but it's satisfying, tasty, healthy, and has the good kind of fat in it.