Recipe of the Day

Guacamole

2 ripe avocados
1/2 c snipped cilantro (how many ways can I use cilantro this week?)
1 t chopped garlic (Yes I use the jarred kind)
2 lemon wedges squeezed
4 generous shakes salt (a wee bit less than 1/4 t)


Score avocados and scoop into serving bowl. With fork mash avocado with salt, garlic, and cilantro. Squeeze in lemon juice and combine. That's it. Delish.

4 servings at 145 calories each

Recipe of the Day

Peanut Noodles

6 oz long pasta
1/2 cup thinly sliced (julienned) red bell pepper, then cut strips into thirds lengthwise
1/4 cup thinly sliced green onion
1/4 cup snipped cilantro
1 carrot shaved into long strips with a vegetable peeler, then cut strips in half lengthwise

sauce:
1/4 c natural peanut butter (go ahead and use what you have already)
2 T soy sauce
1.5 T rice wine vinegar
1 T sesame oil (toasted or dark)
1.5 t sugar
1.5 t honey
2 T chicken stock (hot water could be used in place)

Boil and drain pasta. Meanwhile whisk sauce ingredients together, add more chicken stock to thin to desired consistency (kind of like yogurt), some peanut butters may need to be thinned out more than others. Rinse pasta under cool water and drain thoroughly. Mix pasta, vegetables and sauce together in serving bowl and refrigerate until ready to serve.

Makes 6 side dish portions 200 calories each

Double this recipe for entree portions

FYI... I mixed my leftover salad fixings into the noodles and the avocado and tomato(seeded and thinly sliced) were fantastic additions to this.

Nuff Said

124 people 124!


I don't even know how this is happening.... Someone remind me of this when I plateau next week and am crying like a baby.

How Do I Love Thee...

Well my bionic scale arrived today. Kid Furious and I immediately opened that baby up and weighed in! Not only is it sleek and beautiful, in a modern sort of way, it measures every aspect of your physical being...and it practically shouts "You're a Bad Ass!" when you step on it. I am in love.
I'm also kind of in love with myself... I lost another pound and now weigh in at 125. Nothing says bad ass like losing a half a pound a day! It is hard to believe that it was not even 3 weeks ago that I was stuck at 131, feeling frustrated and forelorn. 20 days later I am 6 pounds lighter, have lost 2" from my waist and am down nearly 2% body fat. I couldn't be feeling more empowered! And I owe it all to GUM... well that and my longer, harder workouts ;) Seriously though, I do have a sweet tooth and eat when I am bored and not hungry. Having a piece of gum when I'm feeling like I might need another cookie dough ball in the afternoon, and then another piece right after dinner, has definitely helped satisfy my sweet tooth and obsessive need for a "finisher" without blowing my calorie limit. I'm also hitting the sheets a little earlier and that has cut out one of my nighttime snacks. At this point I usually eat a dessert as a preemptive measure (so I won't wake up hungry... its been known to happen) and not because I'm hungry for it. I also don't want to go to low on the calories as I am still a nursin' momma and don't want to lose any faster than I am. Can you believe I just wrote that?!? Who would have thought things would change so quickly?

So here are my current stats as taken from my new scale...

weight: 125 lb
body fat: 29.2% (healthy range)
body water: 49.0% (healthy range)
muscle mass: 84.0 lb
bone mass: 4.6 lb
metabolic rate: 2030 calories
metabolic age: 27.... so there Dr. Oz!
visceral fat rating: 3 (1-12 is good)
physique rating: 5 (standard body fat & muscle mass)

33.8

That's my REAL AGE which would be great if I weren't actually 31.2! What the hell!?! I got sucked into another online quiz, thinking this will prove what a bad ass I am and was SHOCKED that I am older than my true age. Now I don't know my cholesterol so it appears they hold that against you, and I did have the obvious stress factors... a new baby and managing Kid Furious's Epilepsy but that is it. Get this they actually marked my exercise level against me saying it was too high! Well that is a first for me I can assure you.
On a positive note, for those of you who don't scour this page daily, I have officially lost all of my pregnancy weight. Which is a considerable feat considering that I did pack on 52 pounds! Also since posting about the body fat analysis I have actually lost 2" from my waist! Sadly that didn't affect my body fat % very much.... when oh when will my beloved new scale arrive?

Recipe of the Day

I posted this a couple of weeks ago on my old site. It is fantastic and I urge you to make it. Despite needing three pie pans it really is so simple! And totally kid friendly!

Cornflake Crusted Tilapia

1 lb Tilapia filets (4-6)
2.5 c cornflakes, crunched up
1 egg, beaten
1/4 c flour
2T spice rub*
2T oil


preheat oven to 400 baking time 10 mins

Coat the bottom of a large rimmed baking sheet with the oil, spread to coat evenly and set aside. Line up three pie pans or shallow bowls or plates. Place the flour and spice rub in one and whisk together. Beat one egg in the 2nd pie pan. Pour the crunched up Cornflakes in the third (I just crunch them with my hands). Dip each filet, one at a time, in the flour turning to coat evenly, the egg mixture and then the cornflakes. Place them on the oiled baking sheet. Bake for 5 mins, turn over and finish baking for an additional 5 minutes.

each filet is 200 calories

*Israeli Spice Rub (care of Racheal Ray)
1 1/2 tablespoons (1 1/2 palmfuls) sweet paprika
1 1/2 tablespoons (1 1/2 palmfuls) ground cumin
1 teaspoon (1/3 palmful) dried oregano
1 teaspoon (1/3 palmful) ground coriander
1/2 to 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes (medium to hot in spice level)
1 1/2 teaspoons (1/2 palmful), coarse kosher salt

Note: I omitted the red pepper flakes for this recipe!

This Week... the plan

Okay I am on an organizational kick, that god willing, will actually stick this time ;)
Sometime last week I stumbled upon The Fly Lady who is kind of an organizational guru for crazy people. At first you are blown away by the cheesy graphics and subtle, but disturbing, references to a higher power. Then you are blown away by the fact that these women are talking about you . I thought I was the only, read: special, person out there whose perfectionism got in the way of maintaining an organized home. What? You have thousands of members who all fall into this same category? This is not because I am a genius? Everyone else thinks that they are crippled by their own genius too? Anyway, it was like they were speaking directly to me. They email you little challenges through out the day, and truth be told I haven't actually done any yet.. well I did do one I couldn't resist it was such a light bulb moment.... "when you are on your way to another room, look around you first and see if there is anything you can pick up and take with you" Say what?!? Ingenious! I immediately saw a Putty poop bag (unused!) Mr. Furious had left on the dining room table, I was heading to the bathroom, which took me right by the bag holder in the closet, I couldn't believe it.... it was so easy , effortless even! The whole Fly Lady mentality, slogan really, is "Progress not Perfection in 2007". Well I'm on board... kind of. So far I am still in the obsessive read everything and think about it phase. I haven't really started "daily" cleaning, but my god... BEHOLD my cupboards! It has worked for something at least. And it is free!
So instead of just going shopping I actually made a list and a menu plan. This means that this week will be short on new recipes, since I am trying out a new concept of actually making something more than once! Fly Lady assures me this will save me time and money!
Here's my menu:
Monday: Flank Steak, yukon gold potatoes & corn on the cob
Tuesday: Cornflake crusted Tilapia, cesar orzo salad
Wednesday: Chicken Fajitas
Thursday: Salad w/ flank steak
Friday: Ginger Salmon w/ stir fried peppers, pea pods & asparagus
Weekend: pulled pork

BEHOLD!

I wish I had taken "Before" photos so that you could all bask in the glory of this tremendous transformation. I actually cleaned out 6 bags of trash from my pantry last night. And that is after I scrubbed (on my knees people!) all the floors... well downstairs anyway...

Magic Cookie Dough

I have lost another half a pound! This is some sort of magic weight loss cookie dough!! On the days without cookie dough in the freezer I ate 1815, 1865, and 1843 calories respectively. The days with cookie dough are all in the 1600-1700s! I don't know if it is the butter that makes these more filling, or the fact that they just kind of make you sick (you know in the good way) so you don't need to eat anything else for awhile or what. Either way I'm keeping these babies stocked up.


Here's the recipe again:

The Essential Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookie (or dough as the case may be)

Baking temp: 375 Baking time: 10 min

3/4 c unsalted butter
2/3 c dark brown sugar
2/3 c granulated sugar (white)
2 T light corn syrup
1 T vinegar (cider or white)
2 large eggs
1 T vanilla extract
1/2 t salt
1/2 t baking powder
1/4 t baking soda
2 & 1/4 c unbleached all-purpose flour
3 c semisweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 375. Lightly grease (or line with parchment) two baking sheets.

In a medium mixing bowl cream together the butter and the sugars, corn syrup, and vinegar, then beat in the eggs. Beat in the vanilla, salt, baking powder, and baking soda. Stir in (by hand) the flour and the chocolate chips.

Drop the dough by tablespoonfuls onto the prepared baking sheets. Bake the cookies for ten minutes, until they're set; the centers may still look a bit underdone. Remove them from the oven, and transfer to a rack to cool.*

about 4 dozen cookies, 120 calories each

Recipe taken from "The King Arthur Flour Cookie Companion"

* I let them rest on the sheets for 5 min before transferring them to the racks, they are pretty fragile while still hot!
Also I measured (most of the dough!) onto ungreased baking sheet, no need to leave room between scoops, and froze them solid (about 30 min) and then just popped them off the sheet into a freezer bag. Normal people could then bake them up fresh whenever they want one or two, I of course just eat them right out of the bag!

51!

As of today I have lost 51 lbs! I am only 1 pound over my pre-pregnancy weight. Sure the 1st 20 came off on their own but I have worked hard for the remaining 31. I am totally proud of myself and completely motivated to keep this going until I reach my ideal weight and body fat %.
And I did order that crazy scale ... that thing can even track your bone density! It'll be like Christmas morning every morning! "What gift do you have for me today Mr. Scale.... more bone? less fat? more water?"

Recipe of the Day

Chicken Fajitas

1 pound chicken breast, cut in strips
3 onions sliced in wedges
3 bell peppers sliced into 1/2" wide strips
1.5 T oil

Fajita seasoning*:
2 t chili powder
1.5 t cumin
1 t dried oregano
1/2 t powdered garlic
1/2 t salt
1/4 t powdered onion
1/4 t ground black pepper
(you'll have some spice mix leftover I just put these amounts for easier measuring)

*I triple these amounts and keep it in an old spice jar with a shake top ready to go. It is great seasoning for black beans too!

Season chicken with fajita seasoning (about 2 teaspoons * approx since I shake it on!)
Heat oil in skillet (cast iron is best). Over Medium-high flame add chicken and sear on all sides. Remove chicken to a plate to rest. Add onions and peppers with additional seasoning (about 2 more teaspoons) and saute until onions are soft and peppers are tender. Return chicken to pan and heat through.
Serve with tortillas and fixings.

4 big portions of chicken w. peppers & onions 230 each

Sorry

Sorry for my lack of recipes and updates.
Charlotte has had Thrush and it has been miserable around here.

On the upside I have been losing even more weight! I am now down to 127.5 which is only 1.5 above my pre-pregs weight! I'm feeling great. I don't know if I really was plateauing or what but I'm over the hump and it is so gratifying to have tangible evidence that you are doing the right thing. I think picking up my exercise has made a huge difference and I have been at it long enough with the same level of consistency that I really do crave it. It is amazing how things change! They say it takes 21 days to form a habit and that does seem to be true. I actually look forward to the end of my day and my workout. No longer bemoan that it is my only time to myself... it is literally what I want to do with my time. I really hope nothing derails my routine because god knows it took me long enough to get to this place. Also I think bumping up my workout time from 45-60 mins to over an hour must have really upped my metabolism. Here's to hoping it is just as easy to lose the next 9.5 lbs as it was to lose the last 3.5 lbs!

Oh and I'm looking into getting this scale to replace my old one. This thing is totally bad ass!

Recipe of the Day

Orzo with Fresh Tomato Sauce

5 ounces orzo pasta (or any shape you like)
2 medium tomatoes diced (should yield 2 cups)
3 cloves of garlic minced
1.5 T olive oil
10 basil leaves
s&p

Cook orzo in salted water, like the sea.. your water should be salty, not just a shake or two of salt that does nothing!

Meanwhile dice tomatoes and put in bottom of serving bowl. Roll basil leaves into cigar shape and slice into thin ribbons, then cut these in half lengthwise. Add basil to tomatoes and season with salt and pepper. Heat oil in small saute pan and add garlic, keep on medium heat, stirring garlic for 30 seconds. Garlic should not brown. Remove from heat. Pour garlic and oil over tomatoes. Drain pasta and mix into tomato mixture. This can be served at any temperature, although I think it is best warmish to room temp.

4 servings, 185 calories each

Satan's Lair Update

Alright, there has been a fair amount of hubbub regarding the whole validity of the body fat calculator at Satan's Liar . To this I have to say... obviously the only "fair" way to calibrate this is with the whole water submersion thing... but as Tony (partner to Angie) can attest this is the way the military assesses body fat. Further more, and believe me I wish it weren't true, I cross referenced this with a different calculation listed in The Zone book and with our body fat scale. They all said the same thing. Obviously not an exact science and from the people I have interviewed I would say it is unfairly rigged against "apples" taking only torso measurements and not factoring in the limbs. Which can have drastically different amounts of fat on them depending on "type". I mean my cousin who is about as fit, I mean it, as you can be came out as 24%. She's not an apple or pear more a string bean.
The fact may be we have more fat on us than we would like to believe. Having said all that I did just finally get my first postpartum cycle back and I feel pretty good that I managed to lose 2 lbs this past week despite all the potential bloating (this explains my ravenous need for cookie dough!). So in light of that, I do plan to redo my measurements and my scale next week. I do remember from when I first got the scale and was reasonably fit and had had myself calibrated that the body fat% was accurate, but only at one point in your cycle (the manual even points that out... so ladies don't bother buying the scale!)
Anyhoo, here's my thoughts: female gymnasts have 14% body fat (compared to male gymnasts who have 4%) they have the lowest of all athletes (humans in general ... except anorexics, who are still 10%!) So a gymnast of my weight would still have 18 lbs of fat on their body. I haven't seen a lot of pudge on a gymnast so lets just consider this the fine coat that is evenly distributed over your body for warmth and life function. To think that I have 22 lbs more fat than that seems COMPLETELY reasonable.
So Follow Me...
The fact is I still have 11 pounds to go to my goal and so that is a guaranteed 11 lb fat loss, since 6 months in I am way beyond water weight people!, not to mention that I will be building some muscle from my workouts (I'm not joking around with my exercise) and that I will really need to lose a little more than 11 lbs of fat to actually register an 11 lb weight loss. So lets say I gain 3 lbs of muscle over the next 3 months (I think that is completely reasonable) and lose 14 lbs of fat then at 118 I would be at 26 lbs of fat. Sounds like a lot but guess what that is 22% body fat and the female ideal. So once you factor all that into it, and the fact that my boobs are huge ;), I buy into the whole 31% fat reading.
Either way once I decide which fat reading is easiest and most accurate (read lowest) I am going to stick with that to track my progress. It doesn't matter if it is spot on, just like the calories burned on a treadmill, these are all estimates but still they provide a consistent measure from which to go on.

Recipe of the Day

This is my first attempt at both using a slow cooker and making pulled pork. Pulled pork sandwiches are one of my all time faves so I was a little nervous that this might not live up to my expectations.... I was wrong, this is deliciousness straight from the crockpot to your mouth!



Pulled Pork

2.25 lbs Country Style Pork Ribs
2 onions sliced
4 cloves of minced garlic
1 T butter
cinnamon
creole seasoning
s&p
3 c water

For Sauce:
1/2 c bbq sauce (I like KC Masterpiece)
1/4 c honey
1 c reserved cooking liquid

Trim "ribs" of all visible fat. Apply dry rub of cinnamon, creole seasoning, salt and pepper. Heat 1 T butter in a skillet and sear the ribs on all sides. Place ribs in the crockpot. Add sliced onions and garlic to the pan and saute until softened. Add the water to the pan and stir up all the brown bits left from the pork. Pour this mixture over the pork ribs. Cook on low for 7 hours. Remove pork from pot and shred pork with two forks. Pull out some of the onions and add to the pork. Pour out cooking liquid reserving 1 c to add back to the pot. Add reserved liquid (or fresh water if you happen to forget!) the pulled pork, the BBQ sauce and honey to the pot and heat on low until for 30 mins.

Our pot made 7 servings of pork at 240 calories per serving

Recipe of the Day

I am a bit demoralized at having lost all my recipes. I make them up while I am cooking and writing them down for this was really a potentially valuable source for myself, and now they are gone, and I just don't have it in me to try and think that hard right now.

So here's an oldie but a goodie

Brown Sugar and Ginger Salmon

salmon filets
minced ginger (prefer the jars pureed ginger you can buy... 1/2 t - 2 t per 6 oz filet)
ground coriander
s&p
brown sugar (1 T per 6oz of filet)

Heat oven to 400

line cookie sheet with tin foil (do it!) and lightly grease the foil
Place filets (I get a 12-16 oz for the three of us) on the prepared cookie sheets. Salt and pepper the filets and then dust with the coriander (like you are putting cinnamon sugar on toast). Schmear (yes you NYers will know what I mean) the minced ginger over the filets. This is totally a taste issue on how "hot" you want the salmon to be. Apply sparingly (1/2 t per 6 oz) if you don't like spice and more (2 t per 6 oz filet) if you do. Then take a tablespoon of brown sugar for each 6 oz or so of salmon and evenly crumble and press this on top of the ginger. Pat the sugar to cover the whole filet and kind of moisten it from the ginger. Place in oven for 10-15 mins until desired doneness. The brown sugar should have melted into a glaze. THIS IS FANTASTIC!

175 calories for 4 oz portion

UPDATE
my grocery store isn't selling the jars of pureed ginger (might have been Christopher Ranch or some such brand like the garlic) anymore... they now have it in a tube "Gourmet Garden Ginger Spice Blend"

Also I use Wild Sockeye I find it has a stronger flavor and a firmer texture. Lately I've been buying the vacuum packed frozen filets so I can make this whenever I want.. I just put the filets in the fridge the night before. Whole Foods and TJ's both have these at about $9.99/lb. If you buy it at the fish counter it is often over this and since they've thawed it for you (well for those of us who do not live in Alaska).. you don't have a lot of flexibility in terms of when you're going to make it.

The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

Well I've had some serious ups and downs in the last few days. First I triumphantly reached 129. I bought a new dress that is actually flattering and recalls a 40s era Tuscan woman, so it was right up my alley... plus I got it at Target, what more could you want in a dress? Then feeling pretty good about all that I decided to calculate my body fat percentage at Satan's Lair and this MFing site said I am 31% body fat! WTF?!? That is 40 lbs of fat! I mean obviously I am carrying some "fatty deposits" around the mid-section and if I were feeling really brave I would post my "before" pictures I shot the other day... but I won't... I mean I am more than a third fat! I have got to turn this into some kind of motivational inspiration. Maybe I'll even create some new goals related to fat loss not just weight loss. I would like to be under 20 % fat for crying out loud!

Now I really am Furious

Well through a technical error I lost my blogs... so I had to snag this new locale and start fresh.

Check out the links on the side to hit the kid's new sites which I will hopefully have up and running soon.


If my old site names come back on the market I may try and move us back... but we'll see. You can catch up with us here for now.

Kid's 4th Birthday Cake