Not so great a day

I had Chicken Cacciatore in the freezer and pulled it out last night. The intent was to bake it in the morning for breakfast, along with some sweet potatoe fries. I had made this for the crockpot, but we found that we didn't like the results of chicken when it's cooked in the crockpot. I got up at 5am and stuck the chicken in the oven, but because it was still partially frozen it wasn't ready at 6am when the kids were ready to eat... so cereal and toaster struedals for one and oatmeal and orange juice for me. Bailey was sick with a fever and horrible cough so she stayed home. I piled mandarines, apples, banana's and apple sauce on a stool in front of the catch and gave her some Advil. I had to head off to work for a few hours and then I jetted back home to finish working at home so I could watch her.

I ended up warming up the chicken and baking some fries, which they didn't like and went off to make their own dinner. Sigh.... it's really hard sometimes to please them both.

Tomorrow morning is turkey meatball sandwiches and I know they both love these.

Monday January 21

Ok, I got on the scale this morning and I lost 1 pound in the first week of eating in reverse. I was hoping for a miracle :) not... I wll take the 1 pound loss and be happy. I didn't expect anything more than 1-2lbs. Hopefully, this will keep up through the weeks though.

I had a lot of running around today and it was hard to stay on track, but managed fairly well.
Back to work tomorrow and hopefully back on track.... which reminds me I have to go set up the crockpot so we have food in the morning.

End of the weekend

The weekend went well, but definetely a little harder to stay on track.
I also realized I'm getting the number of days I've been doing this mixed up. Need to get back on track. I had been "scheduling" my posts to see if I could post more often that way, but have learned that it's very confusing and have decided to just post when I can and post all information then. I'm sorry if it caused any confusion.

The weekend was filled with skiing and girls day in the big city. One of my daughters finally got brave enough to get her ears pierced and she is so happy about it. We did manage to stay on track with eating more in the morning and noon meals and tapering off into the evening.
Tomorrow is grocery shopping day and I need to stock up on fruit for the girls evening snacking.

Tomorrow is the day I plan on weighing myself in the morning and I will post if there is any weight loss... I feel like the tummy area is a bit slimmer, but maybe it's wishful thinking.

Day 4 and it's Friday

I love weekends, rest, relax and have fun.

I baked a french toast casserole and none of us really like it because it was mushy and slimy... I didn't realize what it was going to do.
Next time I will not layer the bread and just cook less, single layer so it can get nice and baked all over. I poured brown sugar, butter, cinnamon, and nutmeg into a pot, melted it and poured it over the french toast before baking... the topping was great. Oh well, we live and learn. I did manage to eat all the yummy parts and the sausage I cooked... downed a large glass of OJ. The girls ended up eating pancakes.

All in all I do see some changes. I have more energy during the day and I stay pretty full throughout the whold day and don't require much for dinner.

Gonna head up the mountain this weekend for some skiing.

End of a long day (day 3)

I'm home... and tired... and am so glad I don't have to cook a rushed meal.
I got to chat with kids for a bit, get laundry going and oversee the dishes getting done.

We decided on fruit smoothie for the evening meal. We all love fruit and green smoothies and I usually make them dairy free. Some greens I use are lettuce, spinach, kale, cucumbers, zucchinni...

Everyone drank down a large glass and we are set for the night. Knowing the kids they will be asking for an orange or something before bed.

Smoothie Recipe: (for 3 glasses)

1 1/2 cups frozen mixed berries
1/2 cup water
2 bananas
2 tsp honey
1/2 cup spring lettuce mix
2 small oranges, peeled.

Combine all and blend in a blender.

I will sometimes throw Chia seeds in my fruit smooties too.

French Dip Sandwiches

2-3 lb chuck roast
2 cans beef broth or consomme
2 cloves garlic, grated
1/2 small onion, diced (optional)
Hoagie rolls

Combine all in a gallon size freezer bag, if not using in crockpot right away, and freeze.

Cook on low in crockpot for 8-9 hours.

Take out roast, slice thin. If you used the consomme add 1-2 cups boiling water to juice before serving.
Slice some mozzarella or swiss cheese and make your sandwich.

Day 3 and feeling good

Good Morning,

Well the kids didn't stretch this morning with me.... lazy bones. Last night I threw a roast in the crock pot for french dip sandwiches. Worked out great... I sliced the beef really thin this morning, ladled out some au juice and we dug into our morning meal. I thought it was great, but it didn't seem to please the kids too well. They ate half of it and some fruit... at least it's something.
I will have to put on my thinking cap for tomorrow mornings meal.

I packed up some salame, pepporoni, kale chips, yogurt, apple and orange for the kids lunch and threw some canned chili, crackers and kale chips for me.

Well off to earn another dollar.

End of day 2

I came home from work and the kids had eaten some strawberries and bananas for a snack. We did the normal homework, which regularly consists of pre-algebra and then occasionally of science, language arts and history.
I don't feel so pressured to get through the homework help scene since I don't have to worry about dinner, except that they eat it.
The girls split a can of ravioli's and I had a beef hot dog with no bun and an orange. I have felt full most of the day and my energy level has been better. I want to get on the scale, but I'm forcing myself to wait until this weekend... time is important.

Time for some relaxation... and maybe a beer.

Too many oranges?

I went to California at Christmas to visit my boyfriends family for the first time. It went great, but his sister had an orange tree full of oranges and I ended up with one of those recyclable store bags full of oranges. When we got back home my boyfriend told me he didn't like oranges, which I didn't know, so he wouldn't be taking any.
I gave some away, but I still had so many.
In desperate need to not waste them I searched the Internet for ways to use up oranges.
Here is a way that the whole family enjoyed.
I still have quite a few to use up though.

http://www.food.com/recipe/Honey-Cinnamon-Oranges-186849

Day 2 of eating in reverse

Well I decided to make breakfast food this morning and actually cut up some veggies last night in preparation. I had some zucchinni, bell peppers, sugar snap peas and Kale that needed to be used. I'm looking at these veggies thinking crud how do I do this? My twins, Brooke and Bailey, are so different in personality and tastes that it can drive a person crazy. Brooke won't touch the zucchinni and Bailey won't touch the bell peppers. So I diced up the peppers and zucchinni into larger chunks so they can pick them out.
I fried up some tater tots, smashing them when they were heated through, scrambled up the eggs and veggies and served everyone breakfast. I ate it all and the girls ate most of it, but eggs are not a favorite.
I packed up lunches which consisted of left over taco soup w/ tortilla chips (middle schoolers have acces to microwave... makes lunches a little more diverse) and a few other snack items.

We did do some stretches this morning with the girls showing me the stretches they do in P.E. They said that they can stretch farther during P.E., which makes sense as they are all warmed up by then. I had one girl that finally crawled out of bed and joined us about 1/2 way through the 10 minute routine. Hey, I admit it I am not an exercise person... boring..... I did do my bicycle sit ups though.
I have a pedometer that I carry, when I remember, and I walk during the course of a day on an average of about 3500 steps. Could be better and it goes up during the summer time because I go out and walk at lunch time 2-3 days a week. It's too cold and wet right now.

Have a great day!

Honey I'm home

OK.. I don't have a honey at home, but it was really nice to come home and not worry about having to create this meal in record time so we can eat at a decent hour. Plus help with homework, do the dishes, and conquer all catastrophes.

The girls had eaten an after school snack... I didn't ask, but I think it was a few cookies. They both needed a little homework help and when that was completed I told them that dinners were fend for yourself style now. I gave them some options and reminded them we wanted to keep this meal very small. They both chose 2 toaster struedals and some water. I chopped up some veggies for the morning meal and then I was able to relax for a bit... nice.

At about 8pm they had a couple strawberries and a banana.

Nine pm bedtime and not one complaint about being hungry.

I had a small handful of cajun trail mix about 3:30pm and that was the last thing I ate.
I am enjoying one bottle of beer as I write my posts.

All in all, it feels like a good start.

I'm going to give it a few days before weighing myself again.

Our first morning

Good Morning... both the kids and I managed to get up about,30 min for them and 45 min for me, earlier than usual. We all went out to the front room and sat on the floor to do some light stretches. We put our legs out in front of us and just leaned forward a little and sat there for a few minutes letting the legs stretch a bit. It was kind of relaxing and allows for the body, brain and eyes to wake up. We did about 5 minutes worth of stretches and then I did 3 reps of 15 bicycle sit ups.. not bad. I couldn't talk the kids into those, but they did run in place for a full minute :) They informed me that they ran in P.E. for 15 minutes the day before and run just about everyday in P.E., so they didn't need to do more.
The house smelled wonderful and I was starting to get hungry. I dished up the dishes, put out the sour cream and whole grain tortilla chips and we dug in. After a couple minutes I sliced up an orange for everyone to share.. trying to get some fruit in their bodies.
Everyone ate it all! I was so suprised and extremely pleased. Especially when one the girls, Bailey, stood up and said she was full and that she never gets full at breakfast.
Hooray!

I fixed the girls lunches to take to school and my lunch to take to work. My girls don't particularly care for sandwiches so lunches are challenging.
Today Bailey had a bagel and cream cheese (her all time favorite) and Brooke had leftovers fromt the night before, which was chibatta bread with mozzarella cheese slice, tomato and basil. I heated the bread in a fry pan with a little olive oil, salt and pepper. She liked it so much that she wanted it or school lunch. I also throw about 2-3 other random items in there like, gogurts, apple sauce, apples, bananas, cookies, breakfast bars, trail mix, clementines... etc... oh and a water bottle.

Taco Soup Recipe

Taco Soup

1 lb of ground Turkey, cooked
1 onion finely chopped
1 taco seasoning packet or try your own homemade version
1-28oz can of diced or stewed tomatoes
1-8oz can of tomato sauce
1-16oz can red beans, drained and rinsed
1-16oz can black beans, drained and rinsed
10 oz pkg frozen corn

Combine all of the ingredients and store in 1 or 2 gallon freezer bags. Label with description and cooking instructions. Seal and freeze flat. You can later stand up right to help save room.

When ready to cook, cook in slow cooker on low for 6-8 hours or high for 3-4 hours. Serve with cheese, sour cream and tortilla chips.

Play with the recipe: add more meat, use cubed steak, use a variety of beans.

Start of the adventure

Well the adventure has begun. I have taco soup in the crockpot to cook all night and then come morning the girls and I will be enjoying the aroma, but also the soup itself. The taco soup has tomatoes, corn, beans, and turkey meat as basics. Also, this soup is not really runny, it has a thicker consistancy, which my girls and I really like. Throw a little bit of Sour Cream in the bowl and grab a small handful of whole grain tortilla chips. Yummy.
I'm really hoping that when we get up in the morning that everyone will still be willing to try "dinner" food for the breakfast meal.
This taco soup is so good with the homemade taco seasoning I make. I found the recipe here http://www.theyummylife.com/recipes/76/Fiesta+Taco+Seasoning+Mix and the only thing I omit is the smoked paprika.
I plan on waking the kids up just a tad earlier than usual to have them stretch with me and ease them into some kind of exercise.