Merry Christmas!

Just wanted to say a fast HELLO and wish everyone a safe and happy holiday! I wish you and your family a wonderful Christmas! :)

Don't forget to go check out or submit your talent to the MizFit's Virtual Blogger Talent Show! Go on and check it out! Lots of fun and LOL's! :)

Wanna see what I submitted? lol :) ENJOY!

Ho Ho Ho Share your Talent!

Our fabulously FIT blog friend MizFit came up with this great idea to do a virtual talent show. If you make up a little clip of yourself in your most talented state- and submit it to THIS BLOG it will be posted for all of us to enjoy! :) Sounds fun huh? Yep, I already submitted mine so if you wanna go see my silliness or TALENT as it is called- go see it! :) ENJOY!

Dinner last night was FABULOUS! Sean requested Tofu Kung Pao. He Got it- First step was to bake the tofu like I did for that meal we loved last week. Ya need the steps again??!! ok, just for you..

1 pack FIRM tofu-not silk brand-I hear it doesn't bake well.
Low sodium soy sauce- about 1/2 cup
1 inch piece of fresh ginger-grated fine- WATCH YOUR FINGERS! :-/

ok so cut tofu into 1/4 inch pieces-one block will get 3 slices. Then lay down tofu on paper towels and top with more towels- put a heavy object on top to PRESS out water. Then in a large dish mix soy sauce and grated ginger- place tofu in mixture to marinate it. 15 min each side. Next lay tofu on baking sheet with parchment paper and bake for 40 minutes (flip over at 20 min mark) at 350 degrees.

Still with me? Ok...we ate it just baked about a week ago but here is how I made it Kung Pao style- After tofu cooled off I sliced it into strips and set aside.

Then for the rest of the ingredients:

1 medium yellow onion -sliced
1 large green bell pepper- cut into chunks
2 small zucchini- cut into pieces
6 small mushrooms-cut into pieces
2 tablespoons roasted peanuts-crushed a bit

Sauce- 1/2 cup low sodium soy sauce
3 tablespoons rice wine vinegar
1 heaping tablespoon Sriracha HOT chili sauce

In Wok or large saute pan heat 1 teaspoon canola oil. Add onion and bell pepper- cook until onions are slightly translucent. I prefer my veggies a little crisp still- so you can cook them as much as you like. :) Add zucchini & mushrooms- stir until veggies are cooked to your liking. Add in sauce and tofu-mix to coat veggies. We enjoyed this over brown rice and a side of edamame.

YUM!

I think that is all from me today. You must go see all of the talent if you have not already. Such a great idea! Hope everyone is having a great day! BYE! :)

Weigh In Today!

I am down .4 this week. I was happy to see a loss :) Anytime you can lose weight around the holidays is an accomplishment! :) Whoo hoo! Last night I wanted to try out my new Wii game -Sports Resort that Sean bought me. I was not feeling 100% but I picked sword fighting. You swing your sword and try to beat up the other Mii and knock them off the ledge and into the water. I had to take a picture after I WON!


Yesterday when I made the baked oatmeal I forgot to mention that I bought a jar of almond butter to use as a topping for the oatmeal. I was in a rush when I bought it and realized that I bought the UNSALTED one! Bummer...but I must admit, I can hear it call me. I am struggling a little bit. Sad huh? I use PB2 for peanut putter and that can sit there. Sit there so long that it goes bad, and I dont crave it- or hear it calling my name. But I had a feeling that when I bought that jar yesterday that I was going to make things difficult for myself. uugghhh! I did top off my square of baked oatmeal with it this morning-and licked the knife like a maniac. lol If you are looking for an easy breakfast this is great! It is just 1 cup rolled oats to one cup milk or soy milk. (I doubled it this time) 1/2 teaspoon vanilla. You can add in Maple syrup as it calls for or skip it. Bake uncovered for 45 minutes at 400 degrees. The original recipe calls for adding slivered almonds, dried cranberries, and shredded apple. I just skipped all of that to make it less calories. I top it off with sugar free syrup, banana slices, or my new love-almond butter! lol

I have chores to go do...Sean's car need an oil change. :( I am not a fan of car maintenance! I am more worried that I will not be able to find a parking spot for his car if I drive away and leave the one we have! Sad! lol Dinner tonight is gonna be GOOD! I will take pics and share with you soon! :) Ok everyone- have a great day! BYE!

Monday Stuff

Hello!
I managed to be quite productive today despite wanting to lay in bed crying due to my back acting up. :( I want to scream, it is really getting OLD.

SHOPPING! I went in with a list and a plan and attacked! Here is loot from 2 of the 3 stores. lol


The 3rd store was the dreaded COSTCO! uughh but I went in basket free and grabbed grapes, and a cashmere scarf (thank you Sean) I have declared it acceptable to wear sweats, the new cashmere scarf, and Channel No. 5 perfume when lounging around the house. :) I do not see why not!

Oh here is a yummy meal we had yesterday- scallops with whole wheat lemon-caper couscous.

When will I learn not to bake? I should skip it all together. I heard you are either a chef or a baker. I guess I need to stick to just cooking. No recipe because I FAILED. lol Behold the cookie BALLS!


Lunch today was black bean tostadas with sour cream (see my handy baggie trick to squeeze it on! lol) diced tomatoes, and jalepenos.


I appreciated all of the nice things you all said about my pictures yesterday. :) Nothing like having a bunch of strangers look at your stomach and give you compliments to make you feel good. Haha! According to my WW goal I have about 20 more pounds to go. I aimed for the high end of the scale for myself, mostly because I can not see myself weighing less than 145lbs. So I am not finished and I am still a work in progress! But seriously, thank you for all of the support! :)

I think Sean is leaving work early today- once he gets home his night job will be my back rubber. lol Ya know when you just gotta laugh at things sometimes? Well yeah, that is what I need to do right now. :-/

:) Bye

Tj exposed-sorta. lol

I had a great comment yesterday from cmoursler "I notice you wear alot of overshirts and stuff. Do you do that cause it's your style or are you (like me) wearing them because it makes you feel more comfortable." It really made me think. I do own a lot of stuff to cover myself up. But honestly these days I am COLD! I need more layers. Here in California we don't need heavy winter coats so a layer with a sweater or sweatshirt will do us just fine so I guess I tend to layer up for temperature reasons these days more than to hide something. So Today when I got dress, BEFORE I put my sweatshirt on I took some pictures for you all...especially you Chris! :) My middle or tummy area is and always was smaller. Never really my trouble area. If only now my thighs would disappear! lol I just bought this top the other day- size MEDUIM! :) Oh! And if you have not already started to follow Chris along her weight loss journey I recommend that you do so! She is very inspiring and full of motivation! :)





By POPULAR DEMAND- My Mom's Crock pot Pork Verde recipe! :) THANKS MAMA!

TJ wanted me to share this recipe. The following are the amounts I use, you can scale this down anyway you wish.

Pork Verde.
1 1/2 lbs. pork cut in chunks.
27oz. can whole mild green chiles sliced.
1 jar mild salsa verde.
2 cans 14.5 oz. redi cut diced tomatoes.

Add all to crock pot, cook on low 6hrs.
I put the cayenne pepper on the table, for individual seasoning.
Serving suggestion's
Over rice.
Over tortilla chips.
In a tortilla.
Enjoy!


Hope all of you have a WONDERFUL Sunday! Enjoy! BYE! :)

Saturday In Pictures

HELLO! Fun day! I went to hang out with my Mom today and I left the house wearing pants that I bought but never actually wore before. lol Silly, but every time I put them on I took them off before I went out. I never felt comfortable in them. They are dark brown-almost like cords. Corduroy pants for a FAT girl was not fun. I had a pair when I was younger and I remember the sound they made when I walked- my thighs rubbing together and burning a hole in my pants! lol Being overweight and wearing cords did not mix! SO here I am- all new clothes that I actually wore all day! lol

Lunch was breakfast-2 bacon, 1 egg (egg beaters), tomato slices, and dry wheat toast-not pictured -OH you can kinda see the corner of the bread! lol YUM!!

Snack time brought me to my parents fridge looking for a piece of fruit. I was THRILLED to see they had a couple of HONEY CRISP apples in the bin!! WHOO HOOO!

Dinner was DELICIOUS! My Mom made Pork Verde in the crock pot! SO yummy and tender! I made home made baked chips with the 2 for 1 ww point THIN tortillas and added fat free refried beans, lettuce, and a scoop of pork verde. Topped it off with a dollop of light sour cream and made nachos! YUM YUM YUM!

Sorry all I had was my iPhone with me today so all of my pics are a lil fuzzy. lol :) It is only 8:15 pm here and I am ready to hit the hay. I had to take a muscle relaxer tonight. :( Chronic pain is no fun. Wish I could ask Santa for a new spine. :(
Good night everyone! :)

HAPPY FRIDAY!

Hi Guys! Not much going on over here...I had some paperwork to do, and the normal household chores today. I just sat down with a cup of chai tea to check in with the blogs and say HI! :) My week is going well so far (Tues-to-Monday for all of you WW followers) I have been dipping into my weekly points each day by one or two points for an end of the night snack of fruit and or popcorn. I never feel bad about dipping in and this week I have no real plans on going out to eat anywhere to splurge so then I tend to spread them out across the week to enjoy. I did mention to Sean the other night that we have not been to get frozen yogurt in quite some time! I think I see a trip soon! :) The place close to us has a great sugar free-fat free fudgesicle that I love!

Today for breakfast was my usual breakfast sandwich: Double fiber english muffin, 2% cheese, Morning Star soy sausage patty (which are the BEST BTW-skip the links they are not so tasty!) (4) Then for lunch I had a BIG salad-Lettuce, shredded carrots, garbanzo beans, cottage cheese, blue cheese yogurt dressing, plus a tablespoon of dry roasted sliced almonds! YUM! (4)
Tonight for dinner I am making a whatever I have in the house pasta dish. lol I feel super tired and my back is bad so I plan on an easy evening! :) Hope all of you have a wonderful Friday! :) Any fun weekend plans? My Mom told me that she is making pork verde in the crock pot tomorrow for us- so I am super excited, and hungry! lol Gotta get a mid-day snack in and try to figure out exactly what I am adding to that pasta tonight. :) BYE!

**UPDATE WITH DINNER PICTURE** Fiber gourmet pasta with White beans, onions, garlic, Italian chicken sausage, and 2 small sweet potatoes diced up. Came out tasty for just using whatever I had in the house! :)

Breakfast for Dinner!

Me again! So earlier today I mentioned that I was making breakfast for dinner-hash browns and eggs. I had every intention on eating ONE of these- I use to eat 3 at a time, but that was the old TJ! lol So The day went on and I knew I had a couple of these-
Had an onion. A red, and a green bell pepper, so I decided to whip up this instead of that crappy frozen patty. I kinda feel like a food snob. lol I know that those hash brown patties are not that good for me anyway. They left a nasty greasy mark on the paper plate. eeewww! Here is to fresh cooked meals that do not come in a package! YUM!

Wanna know the recipe for the potatoes? :)
Serves 2

2-3 yukon gold potatoes-I used 2 because mine were larger-chopped into bite size pieces
1 sweet onion- diced
1 red bell pepper-diced
1 green bell pepper-diced

Place hash mix in a bowl spray with PAM, sprinkle with salt and pepper. Bake on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper for 25 minutes at 400 degrees or until potatoes are cooked. Served mine with 2 eggs over medium. :) YUM!

Off to pick up Sean from the train. Hope everyone has/had a great evening!! BYE!

Tofu. Let us discuss!

How many of you like tofu? Keep your hand up high, I am counting. :) My hand was not raised real high..but after last night I am holding it up WAY high! I kept reading about baked tofu. How it gets firm and the edges get crispy. You can marinate it in all sorts of different sauces and I knew I had to give this a try. So I bought some EXTRA- FIRM tofu (but not the Silken brand-as per some recipes no no's-not really sure why??) Here is my recipe-

1 pack (double pack) Extra Firm tofu
1 inch piece of ginger-grated (might include some finger pieces-oopps!)
1/2 cup low sodium soy sauce
toasted sesame seeds-optional

Cut tofu into 1/4 inch pieces-lay down on layered paper towels-top with more towels and find something heavy to place on top to squeeze out excess water. Let sit 20-30 min. Then mix grated ginger and soy sauce in a large pan. Add tofu and marinate 12 min on each side. Lightly oil a baking sheet and place tofu in oven at 350 for 30 minutes-turning over 1/2 way. Top with a sprinkle of toasted sesame seeds-or you can add them to the marinade.

I served ours with brown rice, steamed broccoli, and edamame. I also made a sauce to pour over the rice and or tofu- I never measure this because I've been making it for years but it is soy sauce, rice vinegar, and a couple of drops of hot chili oil. Same sauce that I use as pot sticker sauce- but it was a nice spicy sauce for the tofu/rice. We really enjoyed this meal. I think it's a keeper! :)

Beats the open the can dinner huh? lol

It is cold and rainy here today. :( I need to wrap gifts!! My finger tip is numb today-better than the throbbing from last night- at least I can type better today! lol :) Tonight for dinner I am making eggs and hash browns. Just an easy, cozy meal. Breakfast for dinner is yummy and a nice treat! :)

Have a great day everyone! BYE! :)

Kitchen Accident :(

I finally decided on the ginger soy sesame baked tofu, brown rice, steamed broccoli, plus edamame for dinner -YUM and as I was grating the ginger I sliced my finger open really good. :( For those of you who do not already know...my nick name is booboo. :( I know when Sean comes home he is going to be mad at me and he will also try to take away my micro-plane grater (not gonna happen!) I will have to promise to be more careful in the future. *sigh* so what is the first thing I ran to get when the accident occurred...my camera of course! haha! WARNING BLOOD INVOLVED!! lol


pointing to what caused the incident-


humm more blood...should I finish cooking?


glove time!


Ok so I decided to not discuss more about dinner at this post, because I dont wanna gross you all out entirely! lol I have no recipe for dinner...just saw some creative meals about baking tofu and came up with my own version. So come back tomorrow to see ok? :)

*all of this post was typed without the right index finger-talented huh? lol*

Weigh in.

Lots of cramps and bloating for todays weigh in. Oh joy! lol I was up a little but .6 but I'm not worried at all! :) No tears! :) I came home and ate lunch-home made chili- and I also had a salad in the fridge that Sean skipped last night. I have been craving creamy salad dressing lately My all time favorite is blue cheese and I know I raved about this one: It is delicious but I have a HUGE container of cottage cheese in the fridge so I used 2 tablespoons cottage cheese to one tablespoon blue cheese dressing. YUM! It was so creamy and delicious! Just some lettuce, shredded carrots, a spoonful of garbanzo beans, and a sprinkle of roasted almonds made this one of my favorite flavor combos ever! YUM YUM YUM! :)

I am about to leave to run some errands, but I wanted to check in with you all and say HI! :) Hope everyone is having a great day! I have a few meals planned for this week but I am not 100% on what I am cooking tonight...I was kinda hoping that Take Home Chef-Curtis Stone would bump into me while I was out shopping and offer to come back to my house to cook for me. That is most likely not gonna happen. I guess a girl can dream huh? Oh well! :) BYE!

I'm BACK!

Hi everyone! I had a great trip down to San Diego this past weekend and now it is back to reality for me! I feel I did well with the food that I faced and still managed to have a great time. Wanna see some pics? :) We went out on Friday night, and had a going away/congratulations party for Skott on Saturday. Lots of yummy food involved, some of which I ate and some I skipped. Ok so I skipped mostly the sweets, but that is me!
















Ya see what I was up against? lol On Friday we ordered sushi but it came wrong. It was the hand rolls not the regular rolls that I am use to so it was not really enough food to fill me up so I ended up splitting a capri sandwich at the pub. It was the item on the menu that was the least crappy. lol It was really delicious- loaded with yummy tomatoes, fresh basil and thin slices of mozzarella. Also at the pub was some pear ale that I enjoyed quite a bit! hehe Well my plate on Saturday was a challenge. I stuck to mostly the veggies for before dinner picking and then took a BIG portion of salad, 1/2 a piece of chicken parmesan (with the cheese picked off) and one scoop of baked rigatoni (also no cheese) I skipped the dessert, but was temped by a tasty little treat that I see I did not take a picture of!!! Ok- so it's a great idea! You take those square pretzels- top them with Hershey's kisses HUGS (the stripes look cool!) and melt them on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. Only at a low temp in the oven for a few minutes to get the HUGS to stick. Then top it off with a single M&M. So I ate 3 of those...I felt kinda bad after too...oh well For petes sake I skipped those cupcakes! lol Lunch on Sunday was more leftovers- no pasta for me. Both Saturday and Sunday I cooked breakfast sandwiches for everyone so that was easy staying OP. All in all I feel really good about my decisions. Oh that sandwich was great- a cool sandwich shop called Which Wich. It is my favorite!! They have fat free mayo!! Luv it! Also has the entire menu online with the NI! So I was able to calculate my points. :)

Today is filled with laundry and getting back to my routine. I went shopping to get some dinner stuff/veggies/and fruit for the week already this morning. I also need to sit down to write out some last minute Christmas shopping ideas that I need to finish up with. How is everyone else doing with the holiday shopping?? It is NOT my favorite time of year to be out in the stores for sure! I am more of a all by myself, alone in the store shopper. lol I wish! :)

Ok...easy dinner tonight since I am laundry girl today! lol I froze two pieces of leftover lasagna last time I made it so I took those out for us, and I will make a nice salad. Cooked at batch of chili for lunches for myself for the week- so I am all set to have a great week! :) Hope you are too!! :) Have a fun evening everyone! BYE!

Thursday

Hi! Today was filled with decisions. I am leaving tomorrow to visit my brother in San Diego. It is raining here, and there too-BOO! What happened to sunny California? lol Anyway I do not have much of a wardrobe, so today was filled with trying on clothes trying to make outfits. UUgghh! So, I packed what I felt was OK... then I had to go to the grocery store for a jalepeno. Sean liked them sliced in his soup. Came home and realized that I have no mushrooms for the soup. Ggrrrrr I had a hard time parking my car when I drove over to the store a little bit ago. The parking lot was a mad house! It's not like they are giving away the groceries for free or anything people! geezzz! SO I am NOT going back. I probably could have walked over but my pain level is at SEVERE today-for no reason. :( We will eat the soup mushroom free. Oh...we are having my Won Ton soup- again, didn't we just have this last week? Oh well!

TJ's Won Ton Soup

ANY pre-packaged frozen pot stickers-I used Trader Joe's chicken (they have veggie or pork too!)
2 whole carrots-peeled and sliced at an angle
handful of sugar peas
handful of fresh mushrooms
2-3 green onions-diced
couple of handfuls of bok choy-chopped up
1 inch piece of fresh ginger-peeled and cut in half
chicken bouillon


See how EXACT I am with measurements! lol Ok so I used 5 cups of water-adding 5 teaspoons of chicken bouillon to that. Tossed in the fresh ginger to also flavor the broth. Boil broth for 15 minutes to flavor. This comes out tasty! Then I added the carrots-boiled till cooked slightly-then fished those out. I cooked the mushrooms the same way-separately. Then in a microwave safe dish I cooked the pot stickers per directions on package- put those aside. Bring broth back to a boil- remove ginger pieces (throw away) add in bok choy, sugar peas, and green onions. Let boil a few minutes, then shut heat. I like all of the veggies still a little crisp- but you can cook them to your liking. Once bok choy is slightly cooked add in (cooked) mushrooms and carrots. Stir in cooked pot stickers. I serve mine with hot chinese mustard. YUM!

I had a question about the breakfast burrito I made yesterday- I use these tortillas, because they are 1WW point! :)
I don't have cheese on hand often- so I shredded a 1 point string cheese. Then I cooked 1/2 cup egg beaters. The sausage is one of those Morning Star soy patties. I just cut it up. Topped the filling with some hot sauce and folded it up. It was really good and a great filling breakfast, even for on the go! :)

Ok guys, I am going to look over my clothing choices AGAIN! lol I'm going to drive myself nuts! lol I plan on snapping lots of pictures to share! Have a great weekend everyone! Blog ya soon! :) BYE!

Staying On Plan

Yesterday I was HUNGRY! I found myself faced with this guy a few times.
He lives on my refrigerator. The note next to him: ARE YOU REALLY? (Hungry) is to make me think. Sounds a bit silly, but when I go up to the fridge-in my wandering HUNGRY state- I see him, pause and ask myself, "Are you really?" Most of the time I already know the answer, but if I still open that fridge what can I choose? If you have not seen my LOOT pictures or pics of my shopping items I don't have much that is BAD for me in this house. But YES it is possible to OD on healthy foods. lol So I reached for the fridge a few times yesterday. Odd times too. 1-4:30ish was munchie time. I am generally a 3:30-4:00 snack girl, but I was hungry that whole block of time yesterday. Wanna know what I ate? 4 cuties or mandarin oranges, and an apple. Not bad right? But those snacks tipped me over my points yesterday. Plus gave me hives-thats what I get with too much vitamin C! lol I was not going to do without my popcorn or viatmuffin dessert later so my daily total was over by 4 points. Not bad you say, no, but I am going away this weekend and want to use my weekly points for FUN, not cuties! :)

So here is my food journal today- it is only 1:30pm here but I have a plan today and I hope to stick to it. :)

Breakfast burrito-(5) Plus 2 cups of coffee with fat free 1/2 & 1/2 (1)

Lunch-(5)New Item! This was delicious! 1/2 of the package is 2 points (whole is 5) I decided to do 1/2 and mix in 3 points worth of brown rice. YUM!



Also with lunch, I ate a cup of fresh green beans(0) forgot to snap a picture! Fruit w/ lunch- 2 cuties, plus the last Honey Crisp apple! I will miss these! (2)


Afternoon snack will be 1/2 cup cottage cheese w/ cucumber and tomatoes, a little salt and pepper-a new favorite! You gotta try it! (2) Hope to not eat the snack until 4pm, we shall see! :) Dinner will be leftover soup from last night. (5) If you missed the last post I did- go back and check out the recipe! It's really tasty! :) I might have a toasted whole wheat pita with my soup(2) and popcorn (1)will more than likely be in my evening plans.

I feel like I just made a good plan....I counted 22 and that is my daily target! Thanks for letting me share! :) haha! I hope that I am not staring that fuzzy little orange guy in the face a lot today. He and I can get into some NASTY fights...but he usually wins! :)

BYE!

Great Soup!

Hi! I just finished eating dinner and wanted to share the recipe I told you about on the Vlog Weigh In earlier.

Guys Don't Turn To Mush-Room Soup
From the Eat Clean Diet-For Men Cookbook-Tosca Reno

Ingredients:
1Tbsp Olive oil
1/2 cup chopped onion
3 strips cooked turkey bacon, chopped (I skipped this)
1/2 cup spelt flour
6 cups chicken broth
1 small packet low-sodium chicken bouillon (I just used a scoop of bouillon from my jar-no packets!)
1 pound mushrooms, thinly sliced
1 1/4 pound all purpose potatoes, peeled and chopped
1 Tbsp red wine vinegar
1/2 cup almond milk (I used soy)
1 Tbsp fresh chopped parsley

Add olive oil to large stock pot, add bacon and onion, cook until onion is golden. Add mushrooms and cook-stirring for approximately 8 minutes. Add flour, cook for 1 minute stir entire time. Stir in broth and bouillon, add potatoes and vinegar. Bring to boil then simmer for 15 minutes or until potatoes are tender. Using a hand held blender-puree soup in pot. Stir in almond milk.

1 cup NI- CAL191/FAT3/FIBER4=3WW points
I enjoyed 1 1/2 cups for 5 WW points :)

Additional toppings- I sauteed some of the sliced mushrooms with some green onion to top off my soup with . I thought it needed to look more like the picture in the cookbook, however they left out that step in the directions. lol


:) Have a great evening everyone! :) BYE!