Happy Good Friday!

I'm pretty excited for tonight.  Growing up during Lent we had a few staples on Friday's, Tuna Casserole was one of them and on Good Friday my mom always made Potato Pancakes.  Both of them are favorites of mine, a true comfort food girl at heart :)  Tonight my mom invited us over for Potato Pancakes.  It's been awhile since I've had hers, I don't think Chris ever has.  I've never tried making them before, I'll leave that to the experts (aka my mom).

Salad Dressing

So if you keep up with what I eat on a daily basis, you'll see a LOT of salads.  I usually have one for lunch everyday.  I get the pre-washed lettuce, throw it in a tupperware and add veggies and usually some sort of protein (tuna, ham, egg, etc.)  What I've been doing lately is buying a bad of mixed veggies (usually broccoli, cauliflower and carrots) and then cutting them up and using that in my salad.  The best part of a salad is the dressing right?  :)  I usually go with a "free" dressing from Kraft.  I try and find the lowest calories, fat free, low sugar, etc.  Part of the problem with those dressings though are the added chemicals and things they put in them.

As you know I love the Biggest Loser.  Well a few seasons back Hannah and Olivia (sisters) were the runner up and winner.  I LOVE them.  They have a website that I recently came across (http://myfitspiration.com/) that has a ton of great videos, inspiration, etc.  I just watched one that they talked about salad dressing.  Hannah recommends Bolthouse Farms dressings.  She said that the Salsa Ranch is her favorite and it's only 35 calories for 2 tablespoons.  That's a little more than my Kraft Free (I think it's around 25) but I really get sick of Italian dressing sometimes.

Olivia says that she likes to make her own dressing and the recipe sounds easy to make and yummy!  It's listed below.  Without adding oil is ZERO calories, now that's my kind of dressing!  If you do add the oil it's 42 calories, still not all that bad.  

Recipe1 tsp dried Italian seasoning
1 tbsp dijon mustard
1 tsp lemon juice
Dash of garlic powder
1/2 tbsp (or to taste) red wine vinegar (or vinegar of your choice)
1 tsp olive oil **optional**

Do you have any go to dressings that you love?  If so, let me know in the comments, I'm always looking for new ideas.  Thanks!

My "Burger"

I'm a little frustrated.  I talked to my doctor last night and he asked that I hold off a few more days before working out.  I know I promised that there would be gym time on the blog this week, unfortunately doctors orders (this time really not an excuse!)  That doesn't mean that I can't keep eating right though.

Last nights dinner was new for us.  I'd never made it before, so it was our test batch.  I made Portabello mushroom "burgers".  I grilled the mushroom caps on the Foreman grill and also grilled up some onions.  Then we added a slice of 40 calorie pepperjack cheese to the top of it.  We put that on a whole wheat sandwich thin.  Overall I thought it was pretty tasty and filling.  It could have used a little more seasoning, it was a bit bland.  I did put some onion and garlic powder on before grilling it, but that didn't seem to do enough.  What I really wanted was to put some balsamic vinegar on it, but we didn't have any.........next time.  As a side, we also made spaghetti squash in the microwave.  Chris pierced the squash all over with a fork then we put it in the microwave for about 15 minutes.  Then we let it cool for a bit and I cut it in half length wise, scooped out the seeds and then shredded it into strings (aka spaghetti).  I topped mine with a little Smart Balance butter and salt.  I really liked this dinner.  It was filling, good and something different.

Consistency!

I saw this picture/quote this morning and it first made me smile then made me think.  Consistency seems to be my issue.  I go all out for awhile and the first blip and I go back to my bad habits.  Same thing happens on the weekends.  I'll do great during the week and then on the weekend, it goes out the window.  I need to keep reminding myself to be consistent.  I don't think it's something I will ever be able to stop thinking about. Weight has been a big struggle for me for a very long time and I have to get in the mindset that this is a life change not a diet that ends at some point.

I Took the Weekend Off

I know my blogging and tracking has been a yo-yo lately.  I took the weekend off to recover and revive my motivation.  We had a very nice weekend.  I took Friday off of work and Chris and I spent the whole day together.  It was great.  We went to breakfast, did some shopping, ran some errands and saw TWO movies :)  It was just what the doctor ordered.  Saturday was one of our friends daughters 2nd bday party and then I went to part of a bachelorette party in the evening.  Yesterday we went to one of my friends houses for lunch and to hang out.  Overall it was a great, fun, much needed weekend.  My doctor told me I can start working out again this week so I'm happy about that.  I'll be starting back slow, but you WILL see workouts added back into my routine this week.  You'll also see my better eating habits reappearing.

Like I said before, the last few weeks/month have been a bit of an emotional roller coaster, but it's behind us now and I'm ready to move on.  Lets do this!!

I Went Over My Calories....

....but I have a reason.  I'm having a procedure done today and can't eat or drink until around 1 pm today.  So I thought if I ate a little extra last night I wouldn't be so hungry today, WRONG.  My stomach is growling and it's only 8:30 am.  Some hunger pains are probably good for me anyway :)

Last Night's Dinner

Yesterday we planned ahead!  By "we" I mean that I thought to take out fish from the freezer before I left for work and totally forgot so called Chris and asked him to do it, hahaha.  Dinner turned out pretty good if I do say so.  We had tilapia.  We get it from Costco, it's all pre-packaged so all we need to do is take out two filets in the morning and we're set for dinner.  I baked them in the oven.  I topped them with some Pam, onion and garlic powder, a dry rub we got in Hawaii on our honeymoon and some Italian breadcrumbs.  I popped that in a 375 degree oven for about 20 minutes and they were done.  I also made some corn and whole wheat pasta.  My favorite way to eat pasta is just with some butter (in this case Smart Balance), a little salt and some times a little garlic.  After dinner we both felt like we ate a bulb of garlic so perhaps I put on a little too much.  However, as Rachel Ray says, two garlics cancel each other out :)  Chris also took out some salmon (from Costco, shocker) so swap the salmon and the tilapia and we'll have the same dinner tonight.  Sticking with the Hawaii theme, I also opened up a bottle of wine we got while we were there.  Overall, pretty darn good meal!