Back in the Saddle!

I haven't blogged about my weight loss journey in about two weeks... I am sure you can guess what that means.  Well, actually it means a couple of things.  First, is that a couple days before Christmas I sort of fell off the wagon.  Not as bad as in the past, but I allowed myself some treats, and to eat bread and cheese again.  I didn't work out that whole week after Christmas either.  Bad! 

But I did learn something about myself again... I can honestly say that sugar overload bothers my stomach, and too much cheese is not my friend.  My stomach felt blegh, and I had trouble sleeping those nights I over did it.  Now if I could just remember that the next time I feel the need for stuffed pizza!

Then I was trying to decide what "my plan" was... you know, that New Year's plan to go along with the resolution to loose all of your weight this year?  I couldn't decide what to do.  Should I go on weight watchers again? Try to just keep going with my purification diet and add back a couple of food groups? Try out South Beach again?  I still don't think I have a clear plan in mind, but I can tell you that THIS is what my plan does include:

Via Pinterest, via Tumblr

I am going to give it twelve weeks, then re-evaluate what I am doing, and make changes where I need to. So I am on week one... my goal for the next week is to eat as I was on my detox.  That is the 1 cup lentils or 1/2 cup  brown rice, all the veggies I want, all the fruit I want (as long as I eat 2 Xs the number of veggies), protein shakes, and a small amount of chicken or fish.  I plan to weigh in on Mondays in order to help keep me accountable over the weekends.

And beginning next week, and for 6 weeks after that, I am trying something totally new.  Because I bought a Groupon!  On Groupon, there was a deal for a medically monitored weight loss plan at a local Center for Health and Nutrition.  It includes a body analysis, an hour session with a dietitian, and three follow up appointments with the dietitian... and some meal replacement shakes.  I am excited about this, but I truly hope this is not a liquid diet I just signed up for...  because 6 weeks of just drinking liquids would make me very grumpy!  Anyway, my first appointment is on Wednesday next week, fingers crossed that this helps!

So... my New Year's resolution in the area of health is just that... to become a healthier person by loosing weight, exercising frequently, and watching my diet. 

I want to be healthy for my daughter, I want to have energy, I want to have more babies and not be so worried about my blood pressure, I want to be able to shop at Anthroplogie and to be able to wear my cute jeans.  I don't want to be tired anymore, or humiliated when out shopping with my mom and sister, and we have to go through the bowels of hell in order to locate the plus size clothes they hide in major department stores (cough, cough... Macy's).  I want to be proud of myself for making progress, and remember,

fromflabbytofit.tumblr.com

 

 

I want to do this for me!

More Resolutions... and Italian family recipes too.

At mass today, the priest gave a really beautiful homily about embracing love, living love, and talked about not being afraid to express love to those who matter to us.  For me, it rang true with one of my resolutions for this year.  You see, during our pre-wedding workshops, we had to talk about what makes us feel loved.  For Joe it was "service", meaning doing things for him like cleaning and cooking.  Ok... that sounds a bit like a '50s housewife, but still, it is something I truly work at (although don't often succeed with). 

I admit that I have had a really hard time with the whole timing thing... when I get home from work, I make Ava the priority because she will only be little for awhile and I truly treasure our time together.  And that means that the chores and the cooking wait... and that Joe comes home from work disappointed.  I enjoy cooking, but I have a hard time cooking while keeping everything spic and span.  I can get dinner made, but not cleaned up, or I can feed Ava and clean up, but not get dinner on.  And this goes for double now that I have Ava on my legs. 

I feel like I have been slacking in the cooking department for awhile now, and so this year want to make an effort to put a nice dinner on the table.  I want Ava to experience nice family dinners, rather than hodgepodge ones where we all eat at different times.

For tonight, I made Joe's grandmother's recipe for homemade meat sauce with meatballs, and a raw kale salad with walnuts and romano cheese that I saw on The Amateur Gourmet.  As a kid growing up, Joe's family always had a nice Sunday dinner at his grandmothers house, with homemade sauce, pasta, meatballs/sausage... the works.  I am happy that Joe's Aunt has the recipes to share with me now that his grandmother has passed away.

First the meatballs (and sausage which I omitted today):

For the meatballs, I used 80/20 beef (a pound) and you can use a pound of mild sausage too.

If using sausage, you can simmer them in water to rid them of excess fat before browning. Set them aside.

For the meatballs, add bread crumbs, a little milk, a little parsley, 1 egg, and salt/pepper to taste.  You can also add a little Parmesan cheese if you have it.  I didn't write out amounts because sometimes you have to play around with it a bit, because you don't want the mixture to be too tight (you might need to add another egg here).  But here is what consistency you are looking for, it is a little "tacky" and squishy:

You then form then into the size you want, and brown them in a little oil and set aside.

Now for the sauce:

You will need a medium onion, salt/pepper, a couple garlic cloves, 1 lb of ground beef, 2 6oz cans of tomato paste, 1 large can tomato puree, sugar, oregano.

First sautee the onion until translucent, add in some salt/pepper.  Add in your finely chopped garlic, and sautee for about a minute.  Set this aside.

Brown your beef and season it with salt/pepper.  Drain the fat and add to the onion/garlic in your pot.

Add in your tomato paste and tomato puree.  For each 6 oz can of paste add 4 cans of water.  For each can of puree add in a half can of water.  Mix well.  Add in a couple teaspoons of sugar,  a little salt and pepper, and a couple shakes of oregano.  You may need to adjust salt, but do so once the sauce has finished cooking.

Add in your meatballs (and sausage) and bring to a boil.  Then reduce to a simmer.  Put a cover on the pot, but leave it open a little so that the water can evaporate.  Let the sauce simmer for 1 1/2-2 hours... or until it is the consistency you want.  Mine took a little over 2 hours.  Remember too that your sauce will thicken as it cools.

The finished sauce:

 

Raw kale salad with lemon, walnuts, and pecorino romano cheese:

If you follow the link above, this is all written up much more eloquently, but when I made it to specifications, I felt it needed a little tweaking.  He does say that WE are the ones that have to make it taste awesome, and really I think it will mostly depend on your tastes.

All you need is: kale ( I found a precut bag at Trader Joe's- I love less work!), a couple lemons, salt/pepper, walnuts, olive oil, pecorino (romano) cheese.

Wash, dry, and thinly slice/shred the kale.  Warm and toast your walnut in a pan on the stove and set aside.  Wash your lemons and zest onto your shredded kale.  Also squeeze in the juice.  I would start with one lemon first, as when I used one and a half lemons it was a little heavy on the "acid" side, which I wasn't sure how to remedy.  Season with salt/pepper, add in your olive oil.  Don't be shy with it!  The key to this salad is to toss, toss, toss!  You really want the olive oil and lemon to get all in your kale.

Add in your walnuts and grate your cheese... toss, toss, toss!

Now, pretend you are on Chopped or Iron Chef, and taste your salad!  Add in more lemon juice, cheese, salt, zest if needed.  And toss it!

My finished salad:

Now, to be honest... as usual my timing was off... so the noodles were done before the sauce, Joe was hungry and dinner wasn't ready... and so was Ava.  But all in all, for an early attempt, I know it will get better!  After all, just look at how Ava is eating her noodles like we never feed her!

A jump start on my resolutions- Pantry Re-Do Phase One and DIY chalkboard project

It's that time of year... time to think of all the things I have been too lazy to do, and resolve to do them now that it is a new year.  The concept works well with my whole "I'll start tomorrow" thought process problem, AND bonus! New Years is on a Sunday, so it is a nice "beginning" of a new week as well.

So... on my resolution list is to get some of the closets in our house organized, and once I saw the awesome pantry re-do at House of Smiths, I decided it was time to get started.  It can be an early birthday present for the hubs.

Plus... just look at this disaster.  I am almost embarrassed to post this.

Yikes!

The first thing I did was make a trip to Home Goods for mason-like jars with hinged lids and baskets, and to Michael's for Chalkboard paint.  I was pleasantly surprised with the mason jar selection at Home Goods and the big jars were cheaper than Wal-Mart.

I was just going to do black chalkboard labels... but good 'ole Martha had a nice blue color that goes with the accents in my house that I am wanting to play up a little more.  I also bought reusable stencils to help me with making the boxes nice and straight... and will eventually use to stencil words onto the mason jars once I buy more paint.

All I did was section off the space with painters tape... and use a sponge brush to paint it on.  The directions call for 2 coats, and say to wait an hour between in order to dry.  And because I listened, I had to redo almost all of my jars.  Wait until the paint is COMPLETELY dry before adding the next coat, or it slips around on the glass and creates cracks.

I also recommend removing the tape right after your second coat... be careful when pulling it off, as the paint will peel off the glass if you aren't careful.  As you can see I had a little difficulty with the paint staying put... I used an exacto knife to scrape it off.

Here is what they look like when finished... not bad!

And a couple of close-ups...

Now onto my pantry... I took that disaster up top, and put it all on the counter.  I had my book out in case I got bored.

I used my jars for my bags of sugar, flour, salt, etc.  Much better than it spilling all over!  I organized my shelves for breakfasty stuff (coffee, oatmeal, cereal), baking, cooking, and canned/dry foods. 

Baking shelf

Cooking Shelf

Canned/Dry Goods shelf

 And here we are... SO much better!  Now I know where all my spices are, what canned goods I have, and can find things without making everything fall off the shelves.  I don't have the bottom 2 shelves done yet, because I have to clean out another closet for that stuff to go there :)  I think I will be adding an "Ava" shelf down there, so she can begin to be independent with snack time and snack choices.

I am excited to continue the project... just like House of Smith's, we are thinking to add a blue/teal door to give our kitchen a pop of color.  We will see how it all goes!

Happy New Years!  This is the year... I can make my resolutions come true!