The End of the Beginning

Tomorrow is our last weigh in for the competition that we've been in with my family.  It's the end of the beginning.  It's a good thing, because it has kept us motivated this far, but I'm a little wary that not having that motivation will cause us to relapse.

We've been trying to be good lately, but it's been really hard - especially because we are working at getting A/C in the house but it is WAY to hot to cook.  That was kind of the nice thing about trying to not eat meat this week...but that was hard to, because I really missed it.  I think Kurt did too.

The other day, my friend posted a link to the most delicious looking burger ever.  It was a pepper jack and green chili stuffed burger.  Mmmmmmmmm!!  However, we had to go about rethinking it so that it wasn't too horribly awful.  We used mozzarella instead of pepper jack because its less oily and of course no bun.

I was still very much impressed with how it turned out.  It really hit the spot.  We went a little overboard with it and had 2. :/  But you could definitely be filled up with one and a side (we had yams cut up into cubes and barbequed in a foil envelope for about 15 - 20 minutes.

Try it out!!

Green Chili and Mozzarella Stuffed Burgers

Yields 4 servings

Ingredients

• 1 lb of lean ground beef
• 1/4 onion, diced
• 3-4 garlic, minced
• 4 slices of mozzarella
• 1 - 3oz can of whole green chilies, seeded and diced
• Green Leaf Lettuce

Directions

1. Mix together ground beef, onions and garlic in a bowl
2. Separate into 8 - 1/8 oz patties
3. Place one slice of mozzarella on each of 4 patties
4. Coat cheese slice with green chili pieces
5. Cover each of the 4 patties with the additional 4 patties
6. Pinch the edges of each burger together to keep stuffing from falling out
7. Grill on barbeque or stove until desired temperature
8. Remove and wrap in 1-2 lettuce leaves
9. Add your favorite condiment and enjoy.

Cheesy Vegetable Pasta

I had a thought today about how I've been doing the blog.  Usually, when I have a recipe, I "predate" the blog post to before we started the blog in the first place so it doesn't get in the way of the meat of it all.

However, then that requires everyone to go to the recipes section and decide whether we've actually put a new recipe in...so I've just decided to integrate it...because the chances of you seeing it are far greater.

This was very yummy...and you could do really whatever vegetables you want.  I'm going to write it out the way we made it though.

Cheesy Vegetable Pasta

Yields 4 servings
Based on a recipe from www.realsimple.com

Ingredients

• 4 servings of whole wheat spaghetti (I have one of those spaghetti forks with the serving holes but from what I remember, 1 serving is 2 oz dry, 1 cup cooked)
• 1 - 16 oz bag of frozen broccoli
• 1 bell pepper (I used yellow)
• 1 zucchini
• 1 - 14-15 oz can of diced tomatoes, strained
• 1/4 yellow onion, diced
• 4 oz of mushrooms, sliced
• Italian Seasoning (as preferred)
• Garlic Cloves, minced (as preferred)
• Salt (as needed)

Directions

1. Boil water and light barbeque or preheat oven to 450*F
2. Slice bell pepper and zucchini and mix with frozen broccoli
3. Create a pouch out of aluminum foil and fill with vegetables
4. Place pouch in barbeque or oven for 15 minutes
5. Add spaghetti to boiling water
6. Drain tomatoes and empty into saucepot
7. Add garlic and other seasonings you prefer to tomatoes
8. Heat tomato mixture over medium heat while blending into sauce with a hand blender
9. When tomato mixture is fully mixed and heated, add onions and mushrooms and continue heating
10. Drain spaghetti when ready
11. When everything has fully cooked, add spaghetti to bowl and top with "steamed" vegetables and tomato sauce mixture
12. Top with freshly grated parmesean

Enjoy!!

A Repeat of Day 1...Again!!

So...we've fallen off the wagon pretty hard.  It's been about 3 or so weeks since we've really eaten well.  We've let our busy schedule and a lack of motivation overwhelm us to point in which ... well, we both feel like crap.

We have been consistently saying "We need to go grocery shopping."  "We need to go grocery shopping."  I have had no drive to meal plan and I can't walk into the store anymore and just wing it.  If I do that, I'll find myself wandering endlessly down the aisles wondering what to make - a waste of energy and time.

FINALLY, with the help of a Papa Murphy's Take 'n Bake Pizza last night, Kurt and I agreed that we felt awful and we HAD to go to the store.  We've been pretty run down lately.  We've been snapping at each other more than we had when we were regimented.  We've gotten tired earlier and not wanted to get out of bed in the morning (of course, a little in our defense, we've been pushing ourselves to try to stay up until 11pm or midnight and get up between 4am and 6am - too much to do...not enough hours in the day).

We decided that we were going to lay off meat for a little bit (for about a week or two, depending on how long we last) - partly because, while we both have relatively maintained our weight for the duration of our cheating, we both feel like we've put the weight back on (due to the sodium bloating and overall unhappy body feeling) and partly because I'm watching this movie called Forks Over Knives.

I am not all the way through this movie yet, but the overall premise is two doctors who have studied the affects of a high animal protein diet on the body - and have found that cancerous cells have a higher growth rate the higher the animal protein in your diet.  Now, of course, I don't like to take things at face value and I would like to look into the research they are discussing, but it's enough to turn my stomach at the thought of eating meat for the next week.

So, tonight we picked ourselves up, picked the gravel out of our road rash and are dragging ourselves back on the wagon.  We made a mushroom, onion and red bell pepper pizza on a whole wheat crust - just to ease ourselves back in.

And the cravings have set back in...not as bad this time...but enough that I want sweets and salts. 

Right now we are getting most of our exercise from working on our front yard - Kurt has been removing all the dead sod while I have been trying to till up the first couple of inches of soil so that we have a base to work with.

We are making a variety of new meals this week - Mushroom and Poblano Tostadas, Grilled Portobello Quesadillas, and Roasted Vegitable and Quinoa Salad to name a few.  I will definitely let everyone know how it goes - and post recipes if we enjoy it.

I just remembered that we have dinner out tomorrow - so there may be a possibility of some meat, as I don't know what's on the menu...so a little meat tomorrow probably.  Since we didn't buy any meat...well, we bought bacon for our egg casserole bites, but not for a main course, our grocery budget for this next week was very low...about $112.  Which is good, because we have applied for...WAIT FOR IT...health insurance!!  Woo hoo!!  Wouldn't it be nice to see a doctor once in a while!!??  Anyway, we have to budget just a little better so we can afford it.

Anyway,  I'll try to be on here more as a means of motivating myself more.  Until next time!!

Uggg

Just a quick note before I head out for the day...

So we have been in the thick of things with work...long hours, not a lot of time, not a lot of drive when we do have time...and we've struggled in the past 2 weeks.

We've done better than we have in the past 2 weeks with our cheating than we use to in the past, but still we've been bad.  Today is our weigh in day for our competition...and it isn't going to be good.

We though it would be easier since we were lacking in drive to shop on a daily basis, and it seemed to be working pretty well...but it also allows for cheating more...so

Today on the way home, we're going to get back on track...go grocery shopping...and hopefully we can turn ourselves around.  We both have been enjoying the weight loss and the feeling better...and we would like to keep it going :)

That's all for today...

The Highs and the Lows

I slacked off a little on this weeks post.  Partly because I have information that I try not to give away regarding the weigh in competition that we are in - and I usually don't like to share our numbers until everyone in our competition knows what percentages that everyone was at for the weigh in...but mostly because I am on the computer SO consistently now that sometimes the extra 5-10 minutes it takes me to get out my thoughts on the week are too "painful" to consider continuing to sit at this desk.  I really get that "5-0'clock" I'm done twitch feeling when I don't need to be sitting here anymore.

So, regardless of everyone in the competition knowing their results (which I suspect has a little to do with my mom and stepdad's scale being at the house they are not living it - and they should just bring it to the house that they are living at) :

This last Monday Kurt was down 6.8 lbs from his weigh in 2 weeks earlier and I was down 11 lbs.  Yea!! :)

In all fairness...my drop was really only 8ish lbs because the day that we weighed in 2 weeks from this last Monday, I had gained 2 lbs from the previous 2 week weigh in...but the next day I was down 3 lbs from that...so my 2 (now almost 3) week ago weigh in was a little bit of a fluke.

But I'll take what I can get...and so will Kurt.  That was the high.

Now for the low...we've both fluctuated between 1 lb either direction this week.  We really haven't been the best this week - but at the same time, we haven't been awful.  He's still been getting over the remnants of his cold while for me, some days I really feel like I'm getting over my allergies...and others - like yesterday...they were very bad.  I didn't help that we were photographing a house that seemed to be coated in pollen.

All the bad things (before yesterday) really hadn't been awful.  I forgot to make tortillas this week, so we had to buy a bag of whole wheat ones at the store.  We wanted a little ice cream so we bought a pint of vanilla that we shared over 3 days and had a couple of Oreos with it (ok...that was bad - but we were really craving sugar this week).  There was one day that Kurt did not like what we made for dinner - "Breaded" Chicken - chicken thighs breaded in almond meal - so we didn't have the leftovers for lunch the next day...but to be honest with you...I can't even remember what we had...I think we split a small pepperoni pizza with white sauce and some cheesy bread.

Okay...now that I've really had a chance to think back at it...yeah...it was kind of a bad week...a bit more awful than I originally thought.

As for yesterday...I'm not even going into that...you don't want to know.  All I can say is I felt awful all night, had a hard time sleeping...and of course - we're going back to our regular routine today.

Today is grocery day...and of course I haven't even made my meal plan yet.  I finally got a greater repentance of my sense of taste and smell back so hopefully I can actually taste what I cook this week.  I think there were a couple of meals from last week that I would like to try again...Kurt said they were good...but I have only their texture to go on.  I'll post more recipes as I can taste stuff.  I'm sure I have a couple I can put up...but I really would like to get away from my desk for a little bit.

Last grocery day - we spent $144 - but it does not include the things we cheated with.  The amount we spend on groceries is usually the way we deter ourselves from cheating, because we don't want to through money  away ... this week, other than the leftovers Kurt didn't like...I don't think anything has gone bad.  So grocery-wise, not a bad week.

Until ... probably sometime next week,

I've Been Falling Behind on my Job

I guess now that throughout the summer I will be only getting to update about once a week...so I'll just have to remember everything that has happened since the last time I blogged.

I was mostly good this weekend with my parents and siblings being here.  And I believe that they enjoyed all the food I made for them: baked banana oatmeal, chicken nuggets, honey mustard chicken on cauliflower "rice", frittata, and dry rub burgers (which really aren't so dry rub anymore, because I like the seasoning better mixed in with the meat).

I had a couple of cheater moments this weekend...there was a chocolate bar at the food co-op that looked really good - chocolate with almonds and toffee, and I had a burger when I went to the airport to pick up Kurt...but all in all, I was pretty good.  Kurt and I were talking about what he ate while he was away...and well, he was less good, but he still tried really hard to not give up entirely.

Our biggest challenge to date has happened now though.  We both are "sick".  Kurt got off the plane with a low grade fever and sore throat.  I am not sick (as told to me by PA I saw yesterday) but I'm having the worst allergies EVER - which is causing me to be completely congested with a sore throat as well.

As a result, neither of us has the energy to want to make food.  Last night we cheated with a pizza, but tonight we are going to try to not do that again.  It's so easy when you are not feeling well to say "whatever" and just get something quick and easy and not good for you in the least bit.  It's definitely going to be a struggle until we are feeling better. 

We need to go grocery shopping.  The funny thing is we haven't gone in a week and a half, but we had enough left over stuff that we haven't needed to.  When I was putting the dry rub burgers together to freeze before my parents got here, I realized that I already had 8 in the freezer...so I cooked all the new ones, plus those 8 and we had extra for our lunch and dinner on Monday and our lunch again yesterday.  I also found an extra lb of ground beef in the freezer which we are making meatballs with for tonight's dinner and tomorrow's lunch and an extra thing of pork chops for tomorrow.  So I started thinking that even though we spent a little over $200 on our last shopping trip, it actually lasted almost two weeks.

On the way home today we have to run by the grocery store...but I don't think it's going to be a full trip...just enough to get us through Saturday so we can go back on our weekly schedule - essentially fresh fruit and vegis, something for dinner Friday and side dishes.

So, now for some good news!!  Monday was 8 weeks since we've started our "life change".  In 8 weeks, Kurt is down 18 lbs and I am down 20 lbs.  YEA!!  We've had a lot of challenges and we've struggled quite a bit, but we're headed down the right path...so we need to keep on keeping on. 

That's all for now...time to get ready for the day...after I put up some of the recipes that I've been promising for a while!!

I am Blaming the Solar Eclipse...

for everything. Mostly that for our bi-monthly weigh in, Kurt was up 0.6 lbs and I was up a whopping 2 lbs!!

Meeeehhhhh!

And where does the fault lie? With the solar eclipse...yea!

Ok...I know it was us! We've been struggling quite a bit over the last 2 weeks. The whole "more life...less work...work is not worth you're health" thing is really proving to be much more challenging than anticipated.

Not only is it the time constraints, but it also ends up being getting over the funk of a bad day.

Saturday, for example, we needed to go grocery shopping but first we had some favors we had to do first. Before that was over, we had a business phone call that was, I'll say, less that peachy. Basically, we suck at our job...but I won't bore you with the details. The problem with me (and I think it affected Kurt in a similar way) is that I tend to shut down when I'm in a funk. So what was a need to go grocery shopping turned into let's just go out and get food for lunch and dinner.

The three things that are wrong with the situation: 1. it's not worth letting the outside forces affect us in such a negative way; 2. going out to get a fast meal should never be the option; and 3. if you ate 2 meals a day like the ones we ate Saturday, not only are you loading your body with crap it doesn't need, but you could spend upwards of $1000/month on just lunch and dinner!! Nothing else!!

So, we are struggling to get back on the wagon today (yesterday we each had a sushi roll for lunch - in comparison to Saturday, not bad, but not great).

It's going to be a hard week for us both. Kurt is out of town for his MorMor's memorial Thursday to Sunday, so he really isn't in control of the meal planning while he is away (even though I know he will be given good options) while I am home and will be trying to convince myself that, Yes...I need to cook something for dinner and not just airpop some popcorn and call it a meal...at least Thursday and Friday. I have people to cook for Saturday and Sunday :) YEA!!

On a final note, groceries were a little on the high side this week...about $210. We needed a couple of pricy things this week (maple syrup is just WAY too expensive) and I'm cooking for an extra 4 people this weekend so the price goes up a bit...but really there were a couple of sales I couldn't pass up for things I know I can use in the following week.

I'll let you know how we fare this week...and I'll try to at the very least get some more recipes up...we've just been pretty busy.