Celebrating Some Sweet Victories, With Cupcakes!

Tomorrow, I'm going to have lunch with some friends, and I'm in charge of the dessert!

I've been trying to come up with the perfect Deliciously Healthy dessert to bring, that will be delicious for them, and low cal for me!

In the process, I ended up making my husbands "new favorite dessert". As we both tried it for the first time tonight, he was seriously raving about it! So much so that I had to tell him to stop, because it was getting kinda annoying! ;)

So what is my husbands new favorite dessert?

Strawberry Cream Cupcakes:
Here's What You Need:

For the Cupcakes:

~ I box of white cake mix

~1/2 a cup of low-fat sour cream
~1 egg
~1 tablespoon of water
~1/2 teaspoon vanilla

For the strawberry cream mixture:
~2 tsp of sugar
~1 cup of sliced strawberries
~1 1/2 cups of low-fat whipped topping

For the strawberry topping:
~1 cup of sliced strawberries

Final topping:
~1/2 cup low-fat whipped topping

This is What You Do:

For cupcakes:
~Pre-heat oven to 350
~Whisk together all the ingredients until blended
~Dived into 12 paper cups.
~Bake for 18 to 20 minutes.

For strawberry whipped cream mixture:
~In a sauce pan, combine 1 cup of sliced strawberries, and 2 tsp of sugar. Cook over medium/low heat, until soft.
~Place cooked strawberries in a blender and blend until it's a thick puree. Pour mixture into a bowl, and put into the fridge or freezer until it's cooled COMPLETELY.
~When the strawberry mixture is cooled completely, gently mix it into 1 1/2 cups of low-fat whipped cream.
**Note: You could place the sliced strawberries with the 2 tsp of sugar in a bowl, and let sit for 30min. Then blend it in the blender.

Assembly:
~Take cupcakes out of their paper cups, and cut the tops off of the cupcakes
~Layer the toppings evenly among all 12 cupcakes. Starting with the strawberry cream mixture, sliced strawberries, lid (cupcake top), and a small dollop of low-fat whipped cream.
**Note: If you put the strawberry cream mixture, and the whipped cream in piping bags (or a ziplock bag with corner snipped off), it makes it a little quicker and easier to assemble. Plus, it makes everything a little prettier in the end :)

Here's what I'm Thinking:

Servings: 12
Serving size: 1 cupcake with toppings
Calories per serving: 220MMM!

***

These past couple days, I've celebrated some fun victories! :

#1. Today's weigh in had me at 169! I've lost 3 pounds this week, and I'm FINALLY in the 160's!! Yay! I'm only 3 pounds away from losing 40 pounds! :D

#2. Feeling all excited over my good weigh in, I decided to go into my closet, to see if I could fit into anything that I haven't been able to. Guess what?! I totally did!
I fit back into one of my favorite button down shirts! I haven't been able to wear it in years!
TaDa!Of course when I'm finally able to wear it, it's too dang hot outside... but maybe I'll be able to on a cold/rainy summer day...

#3. On Saturday, the hubs took me out to lunch, to the Cheesecake Factory.
I had decided that would be my off meal for the week. (I don't have scheduled in off meals, but when something like this pops up, I use it as my one off meal for the week). I got the chicken and biscuits (my fav), and of course I could only eat half. Then I broke one of my rules: I brought the leftovers home with me! For the rest of the day, my yummy leftovers were calling me from the fridge. I could barley think of anything else! To eat them, or not to eat them? That was the question! Finally, I made my decision! I opened the fridge, grabbed my leftovers, opened the pantry, and tossed them into the trash! Yes, I know, there are starving people in China, but my yummy leftovers were either going to my hips, or in the trash. I decided they'd be better in the trash!
#4. Today I had a doctors appointment with my rheumatologist/lupus specialist. I hadn't seen her since before I started losing weight (which was bad on my part, since I'm supposed to see her every 2-4 months. Whoops). I'll never get over her reaction to my weight loss! She practically jumped for joy, for me! I heart her. I seriously do. She's the most compassionate, wonderful doctor I've ever met! Her husband is my orthopedic surgeon, and he's the exact same way (match made in heaven right there;)! They're both simply amazing! Any who, back to what I was saying. She pointed out that when I started seeing her almost 5 years ago, I was 185, and that
I was the lowest she had ever seen me!
That felt pretty darn good!

I'm pretty much on cloud nine right about now ;D

Weekend Recap, and a Weigh In! Fun! ;)

Hi everyone!

I hope you all had a great weekend!

I meant to do this post yesterday, but my husband had the day off, so it ended up being a long weekend! It was awesome! ;D

Over the weekend, I made 2 new Deliciously Healthy recipes, that I'm so excited to share with you!:

I woke up Saturday morning with the weirdest craving for french toast! So, I went into the kitchen to see if we had everything, without having to make a run to the store (the grocery store should be avoided at all costs on Sat.). Guess what? We did! Shocker! So, I made
Crunchy Cereal French Toast!! :It was crunchy, and yummy, and the perfect weekend breakfast!!
I wanted to use Cinnamon Life cereal, but we didn't have any, so I went with Strawberry Special K cereal. You can use any cereal you like! The strawberries on mine got a little burnt. I thought I would have to pick them off, but they didn't taste burnt at all, so I left them on. They added a sweet tartness to the french toast!

Here's What You Need:

~6 slices of whole wheat bread
~1 egg, and 2 egg whites
~1/2 a cup of low-fat milk
~1 1/2 cups of crushed cereal of your choice
~salt
~cinnamon

This is What You Do:

Crush in a plastic bag, a cereal of your choice. Pour cereal onto a plate. Beat together in a bowl 1 egg, 2 egg whites, milk, salt and cinnamon. Pour mixture into a deep plate. one by one, dip your bread into the egg mixture, coating both sides, then dip into the cereal mixture, coating both sides, and then into a hot pan. Cook on med/high until the egg has cooked. About 3 minutes, depending on how thick your bread is. You could also place the bread slices on a cookie sheet, and cook at 450 for 15 minutes. Add a topping of your choice, and dig in!

Here's What I'm Thinking:
~6 servings
~Serving size: 1 slice of french toast
~About 200 calories per serving (it can range, depending on the kind of bread you use)
**I had 2 slices which put me at about 400 calories. A tiny bit of a splurge for breakfast, but I like to splurge on the weekends! ;D

On Sunday, my Husband and I were excited to watch the new series, LIFE, on the discovery channel! Did anyone else watch? It was so awesome! While we were watching it, my husband and I kept saying things like: "What?!" "Really!" "Dude!" "Cool!" "Whoa!" "Did you see that?" "Gasp!" "WOW!"
It was pretty funny!
It's amazing how beautiful our world is, but it's a shame how much we (I) take it for granted. The sunset is one of the most beautiful things, but do I ever take the time to look at it? Not really. And it's right in my backyard! Watching the show definitely helped me to remember how grateful I am to be living in this beautiful world! It was an 11 part event, so we recorded it, and every Sunday, we're going to watch a couple episodes together! I'm excited to watch the rest of the series!

We wanted something quick and simple for dinner Sunday night, so we could watch the show!

I remember as a kid, I loved making little pizzas out of English muffins! I thought I could easily make a Deliciously Healthy version, and it would be a fun, and simple Sunday dinner! Boy was it ever!! My husband and I both bought things we wanted on our individual pizzas, and it was a fun little activity to do together in the kitchen! This recipe is perfect for a fun, relaxing night at home!
Healthy English Muffin Mini Pizzas:
Here's What You Need:

**You can add any topping you like. Italian seasoned ground turkey, chicken, or any kind of veggie combo, would all be great on these mini pizzas. This is what I put on mine:

~1 package of whole wheat English muffins
~1 Jar of low sodium marinara, or pizza sauce
~1/2 an onion, chopped
~1 bell pepper, chopped
~1 cup chopped mushroom
~1 can of black olives, sliced
~1 cup low-fat mozzarella cheese

This is What You Do:

Preheat oven to 375. For each English muffin half, spread 1 tablespoon of the sauce over the top. Then, evenly spread out 1/4 cup of cheese, over 3 halves. Repeat for each trio. Then add the rest of your toppings. Place pizzas on a cookie sheet, and place in the oven for about 13 minutes, or until the cheese is melted, and the muffins are crispy. Enjoy!

Here's What I'm Thinking:
~Servings: 4
~Serving size: 3 English muffin halves
~Calories: About 355 (If you use the toppings I did;)

****

Now for my weigh in:
My weigh-ins were on Tuesdays, but I thought I'd switch it to Monday. That way I could start out my week knowing where I stand, and so I could blog about it every Monday. I'm trying to have a little bit more a of a schedule on this little blog of mine ;). So, I switched it, and then I didn't blog about it yesterday! ;) Oh, silly me!
Okay, enough of the stalling. My weigh in had me at 181. (My clock is broken!;) Awesome. Again, I'm happy with it. I lost a pound and that's something to be proud of! I also have a few possible explanations rolling around in my head, that make me feel okay with the 1 pound loss:
1. I usually find that I'm down 2 pounds every Tuesday. Maybe I lose that last pound ON Tuesday? If that's the case it will show up in either my sneak peak weigh in, or next Monday's weigh in.
2. I think TOM might be thinking about showing up this month. I've been crossing my fingers all month, that my healthy eating will show, by having 2 periods in a row. Come on ovaries! You can do it! Last month I think I started around the 8th ( I ought to write that down;), so if it does show up, it's obviously late. But the phrase, "Better late then never", has never been so true, in this case! So, if it is going to make an appearance, I don't care if I don't lose weight...heck, I won't even care if I gain weight, if it means that Aunt flow payed me a visit 2 months in a row!

So, that's where I'm at this week. 181, happy, healthy, and anxious! ;D

Happy Heart Day!!

(Flickr)

Valentine's day is one of my favorite holidays!
Last year, on valentine's day, Joe took me out to dinner. I had been on a diet for a couple weeks, but with my all or nothing attitude, that dinner made me go off my diet, for a long time. I've had this bitter memory in my mind, as valentine's day is rolling around again this year. I've been thinking of ways we can have a Deliciously Healthy valentine's day, filled with lots of love...that won't end with me gaining some love pounds!

I came up with the perfect idea, that I'm really excited about!
Since Joe and I LOVE to cook together, we are going to make a romantic, Deliciously Healthy, valentine's day dinner at home! It's going to be so much more fun, then going out to eat...like we ALWAYS do! We're going to spend time together doing something we love, and take care of ourselves, and each other, by eating Deliciously Healthy together! What could be better?!

We are still deciding on what we're going to make for our main course, but for dessert, I'm thinking we're going to make THIS. Heart shaped of course ;)

And maybe some of THESE!Say it with me now- MMMM!

I'm going to allow myself to go a little over my calories for our dinner, because hey, it's valentine's day! I am going to be making healthier choices, and it's better then eating a 2,000 calorie dinner at a restaurant!

I'm pretty darn excited for valentine's day!

I hope you all have a great, Deliciously Healthy valentine's day weekend, filled with lots and lots of love!

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!