Blog Feed: Follow me on my weight loss journey. This site is totally deluxe.
| Home | My Account | Directories |
Goin’ campin’
Published on 2012-05-18 08:07:44
I can’t believe the time is here, but my daughter Claire has waited all year in anticipation of a 2 night weekend Girl Scout trip – and lucky me, I’m one of the chaperons, so I won’t miss a thing – I’m planning on taking lots of pictures! The funny thing is we are going [...] > read more
I got a juicer!
Published on 2012-05-16 21:44:11
The best Mother’s Day gift ever! Thanks to my family, we are starting to juice around my house now. I – like many people have watched Joe Cross’s documentary – Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead about 6 times on HULU (it’s free too!) It’s a movie about an Australian man, Joe Cross who came to [...] > read more
Homemade hamburger buns
Published on 2012-05-10 08:03:47
Over the weekend I had planned to make grilled chicken breast sandwiches. About an hour before I was going to start putting things together I realized I didn’t have any buns! A normal person would jump in the car and buy a package at the store, but I thought – I bet I could make [...] > read more
Chicken in Poblano Cream Sauce
Published on 2012-05-08 07:34:52
I was thinking about what to make for dinner last night. I knew I was going to make chicken and I had a few Poblano peppers I needed to use up so I googled chicken + Poblano pepper and this is the first recipe that came up and I had most of the ingredients so [...] > read more
Chewy and soft chocolate chip cookies + Gelato
Published on 2012-05-06 16:44:04
I can’t remember where I read this, but I saw a recipe from a site where they actually baked the cookies in a 12 muffin tin pan. The thought is that they can’t spread as much and they are a little thicker, so I thought I would give it a try. I scored on chocolate [...] > read more
Weekend Re-cap
Published on 2012-04-29 22:18:43
I don’t know where to begin – this was by far the most eventful weekend I’ve had in a long time! For those of you who don’t know, I traveled to Champaign, IL for the Christie Clinic Illinois Marathon with my husband David. He turned 50 on Saturday and in October asked me if I > read more
Homemade pickles/countdown to my half marathon!
Published on 2012-04-25 07:36:24
4 days! In 4 days I will be running with thousands of other people in the Christie Clinic Illinois Half Marathon. The has been the shortest training period I’ve ever attempted. Before the training began in December, I hadn’t run ANY miles in several years!! So in 4 short months to go from zero to > read more
Rachel Ray’s roast chicken enchilada suizas stacked casserole
Published on 2012-04-22 20:11:37
First off, let me start by saying this is not a 30 minute meal to put together! It has a lot of different parts – so maybe save this for a weekend night where you can get started early. But it is definitely worth the effort. Think of this as a Mexican lasagna, you later > read more
Cooking Light’s Jerk Chicken
Published on 2012-04-18 07:59:15
I love getting Cooking Light in the mail – it makes my day. Most times I’ll read it page by page and bookmark things I would like to try. In the May 2012 issue was a recipe for jerk chicken. I’ve made jerk chicken before but I’ve always bought a pre-made marinade for it – > read more
Ahhh….the weekend!
Published on 2012-04-14 12:41:59
Sorry I have been M.I.A. all week! Life and kids have gotten in the way of my blogging! How was everyone’s week. I’m behind on reading everyone’s blogs too! My training for the half marathon is only 2 weeks away. Today was still a cut back after running 12 miles last Saturday – so running > read more
First time making or eating polenta!
Published on 2012-04-05 07:43:49
I’ve walked by polenta in the store so many times over the years and I’ve never picked up a box or package of it. One if the gifts my sister Biz gave me was a box of Polenta so I had no excuse not to try it. I decided to make it to go with > read more
Homemade pasta sauce
Published on 2012-03-31 20:11:23
It amazes me that when I first was on my own, I would spend money on buying jarred sauces. It’s so expensive and if you have a family of 5 like mine, with 2 teenage boys, you would have to buy 2 jars for sure! I’ve made dozens of pasta sauces before, but I usually > read more
Birthday week over
Published on 2012-03-26 22:06:34
Yesterday I had lunch with my twin Biz and our best friends for our birthday. It was almost a week after our birthday – but I had a birthday week. I had to work a half day on my birthday – but guess what I did? I didn’t go out for a fancy lunch, I > read more
Jambalaya pasta – kind of….
Published on 2012-03-21 08:10:04
Last week I came home from a busy day at work and literally had no idea what I was going to make for dinner. I opened the fridge and saw this: I looked in my vegetable drawer and saw I still had a bag of mini peppers So I thought about just cutting up the > read more
Busy Weekend!!!!
Published on 2012-03-19 08:22:29
First off, I have to give a shout out to my twin sister – it’s OUR BIRTHDAY TODAY!!! That’s us on our first birthday – I’m not sure which one is which! We’ve had some great birthdays over the years. When we were in grade school, we usually invited our whole class over – so > read more
Chia seed, banana, oat, chocolate chip muffins
Published on 2012-03-15 08:08:49
It’s been a while since I’ve made muffins! I forgot how much I love them and how easy it is to grab that for breakfast out the door. I had a bag of chia seeds and I thought I wanted to add those to muffins. I quickly googled “chia seed muffins” and made mine based > read more
10 miles…done!
Published on 2012-03-11 12:50:09
I think I’ve turned a corner as far as my running goes. I am training for a half marathon at the end of April. I’ve run longer distances before, but I have never really considered myself a runner. I thought of myself as a charity runner – since this will be the 4th race I > read more
Happy Friday! Sandwich king inspired lunch by my son Paul
Published on 2012-03-09 07:36:39
Another week went flying by – I can’t believe it’s Friday again! We’ve had some gorgeous weather this week, a few days making it into the 60′s – so Happy Spring is around the corner. So as you can imagine over the years I have subjected my family to watching many hours of cooking shows > read more
another training run done…imaginary cheering squad
Published on 2012-03-03 15:06:47
Per usual, we had good weather during the week, one day reaching 60, but the forecast for Chicago this morning was overcast and cold and WINDY. One thing I was grateful for was that this week was a cut back week, so we had to run 90 minutes. I had on 2 pairs of leggings, > read more
1st time making cottage cheese pancakes
Published on 2012-03-02 08:23:12
I am actually not a huge fan of cottage cheese. I can’t just eat it in a bowl, with salt and pepper or with fruit – yuck! But over the weekend I made lasagna and I couldn’t find the ricotta cheese, so I ended up using cottage cheese instead. In that – I don’t mind > read more
Breakfast hash and deluxe salad club
Published on 2012-02-29 07:46:05
I normally make my breakfast at home and just bring it to work to eat. It takes me a long time to eat so I like not to be rushed. More than not, I prefer a savory breakfast over sweet and if I can add some veggies in the mix even better. As I was > read more
I asked for sun….
Published on 2012-02-27 07:59:55
Before I get started in today’s post I found out over the weekend that my e-mail was hacked – so if you got a mysterious e-mail from slim-shoppin@comcast.net DO NOT open the link – it’s probably a virus – so sorry about that! I had dozens of people e-mail me telling me so thanks for > read more
90 second microwave chocolate cake
Published on 2012-02-22 07:37:45
I’ve been doing so great lately staying away from desserts – especially at work. The other day I got there and there was a whole Portillo’s chocolate cake on the counter – really? And I haven’t touched any girl scout cookies at my house or at work either. But last night I REALLY wanted to [...] > read more
Happy Friday!
Published on 2012-02-17 08:14:26
Happy Friday everyone! This week has flown by and I can’t believe the weekend is upon us again. My husband and I will be on the Chicago Lakefront Path tomorrow morning running for our event in April. I’m doing the half marathon and my husband is doing the full marathon. We’re raising money for The [...] > read more
New look!
Published on 2012-02-09 13:29:18
If you keep checking back here and see a different layout, it’s because I keep playing around with different themes! It’s so fun to find new layouts and customize it differently. This one I like, so I may keep if for a while and see how it goes. If you find that it takes a [...] > read more
Future Food Network Star?
Published on 2012-02-06 11:14:53
Over the weekend, I had the pleasure of helping a 12 year old girl Sophie have her dream birthday party – a kind of a cooking throwdown with her friends. Her favorite shows are chopped and Cake Boss! She wanted to have an appetizer, a main entree and dessert. So her Mom and I e-mailed [...] > read more
Salsa Chicken Noodle Soup
Published on 2012-02-01 08:09:28
Usually when I grocery shop every weekend, I have a plan about what I am going to make every week. When that doesn’t happen, I just buy things that I know I can make things with. Chicken, veggies, ground beef, etc… and work around that. Yesterday I was trying to think about what to make [...] > read more
Chicken Breakfast sausage = yummy/filling breakfast
Published on 2012-01-30 08:03:38
Ever since I got my Penzey spices breakfast sausage seasoning, I not only use it to make things taste great like breakfast sausage, but I’ll sprinkle it on eggs, potatoes, veggies, it makes a lot of things taste great. Last week before work, I was thinking of what to bring for breakfast to work. I [...] > read more
Great grill out/5k/Day 29/Orzo spinach blue cheese cold salad
Published on 2011-07-04 13:45:46
I’ll start with our great dinner on Saturday night. I was thinking of something I haven’t made in a long time and thought about kabobs! You can make them super healthy with lots of veggies and that’s what I did. I pre-cooked some ba > read more
Day 27 & 28/Hardest workout yet.
Published on 2011-07-02 15:16:53
I mentioned that I got 5 new workout DVD’s from the library. One of the one’s I got was the hardest workout yet. Which one was it? Yep! Bob Harper – Yoga. I’ve done Billy Blanks – Taebo – P90X and this was one was > read more
Quick post/survived office goodies/Day 26
Published on 2011-06-30 13:29:00
So, I mentioned I got exercise DVD’s from the library. I saved the hardest one for the last night before I had to return them for good reason….It was Jillian Michaels! I really didn’t pay attention to which one it was at the time, b > read more
Homemade no bake granola/Day 25
Published on 2011-06-29 07:54:27
My intention was to make granola bars – but they wouldn’t stick together so it became granola instead! I followed a few other recipes for inspiration and used what I had on hand. I will have to be careful though because this stuff tastes > read more
Neely’s BBQ chicken salad/Iron Yoga/Day 24
Published on 2011-06-27 23:00:13
My lunch inspiration came from The Neely’s on the Food Network. I watched one of their programs over the weekend and even though most of the things they make are not so healthy – I made their signature rub. It’s super easy – j > read more
Exercise round up/weekend recap
Published on 2011-06-26 22:57:34
The highlight of the weekend was the end of the year softball picnic at the park. It was a picture perfect day and we had great fun recapping the season and having an informal kids against parents softball game. There were snacks a plenty – and > read more
Exercises at your desk/Day 20/Flat tire
Published on 2011-06-24 08:37:58
1/5th of the way there towards my goal of working out 100 days straight!! Wahoo! Only 80 more days to go! I know a bunch of you work at a desk all day staring at a computer, that’s what I do 8 hours a day. I was thinking of incorporating some k > read more
16 lb backpack/Great lunch/Day 19
Published on 2011-06-23 08:15:29
I’m going to start off with my lunch yesterday. 99% of the time I bring my lunch to work, but I was kind of in a hurry yesterday morning so I didn’t get a chance to make something for it. I debated where to go, there are TONS of places &# > read more
Close game/I ate spaghetti in my basement/Day 18
Published on 2011-06-22 07:50:07
It was a nail biter of a game for my 9 year daughter’s softball game last night. It was the 2nd playoff game, if we lost then the season was over… We started out kind of slow, the other team scored 6 runs to our zero runs. The 4th inning, > read more
The Hundred Workout/Day 17
Published on 2011-06-21 07:43:40
So in a quest to mix things up workout wise, I did a workout called The Hundred Workout – and this is what it entails: My sister e-mailed me this workout last week and so I thought I would give it a try. It seemed like it would be easy enough & > read more
Tennis/Day 16/Black Dog Gelato on the Cooking Channel
Published on 2011-06-20 12:35:27
I have to give a shout out to my niece Jessie – her very successful gelato shop was featured in “Unique Sweets” episode on the Cooking Channel last night! This is my niece Jessie They showed her shop, she talked about how she makes > read more
Happy Weekend/Day 14 & 15
Published on 2011-06-18 21:29:05
Well today was a great and busy day. My daughter Claire had her first playoff game for softball, sadly they didn’t win, but we have one more chance to move ahead – it was a super hot and muggy day which didn’t help running around a > read more
Success/Baked Taquitos/Day 13
Published on 2011-06-17 08:10:44
My giant success yesterday was staying away from the deluxe luncheon that was at my office yesterday. The rep brought food from Wildfire – burgers, fries, paninis, deluxe sandwiches,cole slaw, cookies, pop. I brought my own lunch but was seriou > read more
Crazy Day at work/Day 12
Published on 2011-06-16 08:32:43
First off, I had an awesome exercise day again. Day 12 out of 100 days of working out straight. It had rained overnight but at the time I was leaving work it was not raining so I took a chance and made it to work without it raining on me! I talked to > read more
Salsa Chicken/Day 11
Published on 2011-06-15 08:42:06
It was a great day outside again, so I was lucky that I could ride my bike to work. Usually on Tuesdays is salad club at my office, but the other ladies in my group had other commitments, so it didn’t work out. So instead of salad club during l > read more
Day 10
Published on 2011-06-14 07:46:59
It was a busy day yesterday, I worked all day then had my daughter’s softball game right after work, so I didn’t get home until 8:30 last night. BUT, I managed to make a super quick and healthy dinner in about 15 minutes! All I did was pu > read more
Day 9
Published on 2011-06-13 12:16:15
Great weekend weather this weekend. Although the softball fields were still too wet from Friday’s rain so my daughter had no games this weekend. Which is great to have a little more free time! Since it was so nice out yesterday we walked to the > read more
Chicken fajitas with home made fajita seasoning/Day 8
Published on 2011-06-12 11:38:58
I’m going to start with the exercise first. In my quest to exercise 100 days in a row I wasn’t sure what I was going to do. I was looking for a workout DVD when I saw 3 DVD’s my sister lent me. 2 Billy Blanks Taebo and one Jillian. > read more
Pesto chicken and bow tie pasta – Day 7
Published on 2011-06-11 12:49:50
It was a short work day for me on Friday, I get off early every other Friday, so I was home @ 12:30! Time to make a great lunch. I had 3 oz. of leftover chicken, the kids wanted bow tie pasta, and I had some home made pesto in my freezer so that̵ > read more
Yummy dinner – Day 6
Published on 2011-06-10 08:11:29
Normally I make a home made dinner just about every night. But sometimes I even don’t feel like spending a lot of time in the kitchen and I’d rather just have something prepared. I did most of my shopping for the week at Trader Joe’ > read more
Lettuce cups and Day 5
Published on 2011-06-09 08:07:07
Over the weekend, I was trying to figure out what to make for lunch when I hadn’t gone to the store yet. I was cleaning out my freezer when I saw a package of ground turkey, and I had some frozen veggies, then I had a few fresh carrots and gree > read more
Last day of school!
Published on 2011-06-07 22:16:25
Remember the last day of school, the bell ringing and flying out of the doors to a summer of freedom? Ahhh…those were the days! 2 of my kids were done today and my high schooler is done tomorrow and it’s officially summer. Well, it feels > read more
Homemade English Muffins
Published on 2011-06-04 10:44:53
I have to thank Tiffany fromThe Gracious Pantry for reminding me to make these again. If you haven’t visited Tiffany’s site – she has lost close to 60 pounds eating clean and is an excellent source of inspiration and recipe ideas th > read more
Extreme Couponing
Published on 2011-05-30 14:42:08
I don’t know if you’ve seen this new series called Extreme Couponing on TLC. It profiles people who spend up to 40 hours a week clipping coupons, researching online for their stores deals, shopping at different stores to get different dea > read more
Taco Soup
Published on 2011-05-27 13:17:07
It’s been probably a year since I’ve made this soup and I don’t know why – it’s always so good and I love having it for my lunches at work. Make one batch of this soup and you don’t have to worry about making a lun > read more
Biggest Loser re-cap – season finale
Published on 2011-05-24 21:51:25
Last week I wanted Olivia to win the whole thing, and I got my wish! She’s the newest season winner (and 250k richer!) with her sister Hannah coming in a very close second place. Last week we saw Olivia and Hannah claim the top 2 spots, America > read more
Macaroni and cheese for one
Published on 2011-05-21 22:31:34
I love macaroni and cheese – and I make it at least a few times a month. It’s quick and easy and my whole family loves it – especially my daughter Claire . One morning last week when I was thinking about what to make for breakfast t > read more
Microwave Muffin – Biggest Loser recap
Published on 2011-05-17 21:57:41
I saw this recipe on another girl’s blog and I wrote her site down wrong – so I can’t give proper credit. . All I know is that she comments on my twin sister’s blog – so if you posted this recipe recently – please > read more
I’m goin’ campin’!
Published on 2011-05-13 13:01:38
That’s girl scout camp Claire and I leave tomorrow morning and come back Sunday afternoon – we’ll be in Michigan (thankfully staying in cabins – no tents!) I went last year and we had such a great time. The place where we stay > read more
Deluxe dinner in @ 15 minutes? Yes please!
Published on 2011-05-10 13:29:22
We have been SUPER busy around out house with end of the school year stuff, softball practices and games, it’s been crazy. I am SO looking forward to when the kids are done with school this year – how about you? I actually started the dis > read more
Banana Chocolate Muffins
Published on 2011-05-09 12:18:44
This recipe is my version of a recipe I saw on my friend Celine’s site Have Cake will Travel Banana Chocolate Muffins. I changed a few things. I didn’t have chocolate chips, so I subbed Ovaltine. I actually made these for the first time a > read more
Crisis Averted!
Published on 2011-05-05 17:00:32
I had one of those days yesterday where I was thinking about eating something that I knew wasn’t going to be good for me, but for whatever reason I couldn’t get it out of my head. What was it? A chocolate milkshake! There is an icecream s > read more
My new favorite breakfast and Biggest Loser recap
Published on 2011-05-04 12:52:58
I have a new favorite breakfast that I’ve made the last few mornings that I could eat pretty much every day and not get tired of it. What is it? It’s 3 small potatoes, with the skin on, 1 leftover Chicken sausage from Trader Joe’s, > read more
Happy Monday! Crock pot Meatball sandwiches
Published on 2011-05-02 13:04:14
Busy weekend as usual! I actually hardly spent any time in the kitchen . We had 2 softball games for my daughter Claire, picture day for softball, dropping kids off places, grocery store and I squeezed in a little time at the Gluten Free Expo that wa > read more
Breakfast sausage seasoning
Published on 2011-04-27 12:37:46
I receive the monthly catalog from Penzey’s spices. I am lucky enough to have one in my town . With the catalog are tons of recipes, learning about new spices plus they give you a coupon to try a free spice. One of the spices I saw was for brea > read more
Rice Krispy bars
Published on 2011-04-23 17:51:19
I actually re-vamped this recipe from a Vegetarian Times magazine. Their recipe had dried fruit in it, which I didn’t have so I substituted mini chocolate chips instead. I followed the rest of their recipe, however, even after freezing for 30 m > read more
Chimichurri Chicken
Published on 2011-04-18 19:49:46
Over the weekend, I had recorded a new show from The Cooking Channel called the Urban Grocer. I had no idea what the show was about, but it sounded interesting. The host of the show is Caitlin Zaino. After reading her bio, she is a foodie, turned foo > read more
Jazz apples?
Published on 2011-04-14 21:15:38
So, I’m at the store last night picking up some milk and such when I headed into the produce dept. I was thinking about picking up a baby seedless watermelon. My son Mark and I saw them and when I saw the price ($4.99!) I said to my son, that&# > read more
Italian sausage meatballs
Published on 2011-04-12 07:29:17
I make pasta every week. I think I make it a lot because for one, it makes a bunch for a family of five and it is inexpensive to make. Because there are so many different shapes of pasta and I can vary the sauces I make, it doesn’t have to be r > read more
Homemade peanut sauce
Published on 2011-04-10 12:00:04
I love peanut sauce, and usually I just buy it. My favorite brand is House of Tsang thai peanut sauce. I’ve seen recipes before for making it myself, I’ve just never gotten around to make it. I’m sorry I waited so long because this > read more
Burger Boss – Now open for business!
Published on 2011-04-08 13:20:38
You’d think my life is so glamourous lately. I got to go to a VIP opening party to a new restaurant in my town, saw a famous blues band last weekend and one night this week famous author and NPR host Sarah Vowell was in my town for a lecture/bo > read more
Simple Nutrition/Biggest Loser Re-cap
Published on 2011-04-05 22:47:53
A few weeks ago I was contacted about a new Simple Nutrition program in place at my local grocery store Dominick’s Foods. I don’t shop there that often so I was intrigued by what this store has done in the fight to help fight obesity and > read more
Great date night – busy weekend
Published on 2011-04-03 15:07:26
In continuing my birthday celebration, my husband got us tickets to see Ronnie Baker Brooks at Fitzgerald’s bar which is about a 2 block walk from our house. Can I just tell you how fun it was? Ronnie Brooks is the son of legendary blues man Lo > read more
Happy Friday!
Published on 2011-04-01 13:18:09
I can’t believe another week has flown by! It’s still cold and rainy in Chicago-land today – so can’t wait for spring to actually show up. This weekend I plan to plant my herbs I received last week. I can start them inside and > read more
Loaded potato soup, salad club & Biggest Loser recap
Published on 2011-03-29 22:35:17
I made this last night and it is by far the best potato soup I’ve had. I’ve made it dozens of times over the years and I never get tired of it. It’s from Cooking Light Magazine. Click Here for the recipe This time I forgot to add th > read more
Home made pitas!
Published on 2011-03-27 13:10:15
I’ve made home made English Muffins, home made crackers, artisan bread, home made tortillas, home made pretzel rolls, but never have I made pita bread! Last week, my bother in law Jim sent me a recipe that he made for home made pitas. I thought > read more
Crock pot chicken enchiladas
Published on 2011-03-25 06:23:55
This is the first time I’ve made enchiladas this way, and I think I’ll make them this way again they were so good! I started with 4 frozen chicken breasts (boneless and skinless), an enchilada sauce packet, mixed with a can of tomato sauc > read more
Great lunch – Biggest Loser recap!
Published on 2011-03-23 07:48:42
My niece Hannah – and my sister Biz. Even though it was drizzly and cold out today, lunch with my sister, Mom and niece Hannah was super fun! We had a great lunch at a Chinese restaurant in my town followed by some thrift store shopping. We lov > read more
Skillet Soda bread
Published on 2011-03-20 21:09:07
This was my first try making soda bread for St. Patrick’s day – and it is SUPER easy to make, even if you’ve never made any kind of bread before. There is no kneading involved and no yeast! My mother-in-law always made this for St. > read more
It’s my birthday!!
Published on 2011-03-19 12:24:06
So far this month, I’ve had my wedding anniversary on March 11th (16 years!), 2 nieces birthday’s – Happy Birthday to Hannah (19!) and Sarah (18) and my son Paul’s birthday yesterday, and Biz and I’s birthday today! It&# > read more
Happy 15th birthday to my son Paul!!!
Published on 2011-03-17 22:05:28
Today is son Paul’s 15th birthday!!! Actually the night I went into the hospital to have him, my husband and I were having a St. Patrick’s day party at our house. His due date was April 16th, so when my water broke, it was quite unexpecte > read more
Black rice
Published on 2011-03-14 21:57:41
Have you ever had black rice? Me either until tonight. In fact, I don’t ever recall seeing it at the store before. I was in the rice section looking for quinoa, and the bag of quinoa they had at my local store was almost $7! I knew I could buy > read more
Chicken chili with hominy
Published on 2011-03-12 16:51:13
I had a pound of Purdue Ground Chicken in my freezer that I hadn’t used in the last few weeks and I couldn’t decide what to make with it. I sometimes add it to pasta sauce, make chicken meatballs, add it to a stir fry. I was looking in my > read more
Jenn’s breakfast skillet
Published on 2011-03-10 22:30:40
I’ve made this breakfast at least 4 times in the last week and I’ll tell you why: It is mighty tasty – under 500 calories and it keeps me full for hours and hours! I don’t know if its the protein from the egg/egg white or what > read more
Inspiration
Published on 2011-03-09 21:18:39
For those of you who have won the battle of the bulge – or either are IN the process of winning the battle – where do you get your inspiration from to keep going? I’m having trouble sticking to a “clean” diet all the tim > read more
Awesome smoothie/chicken feta barley dinner
Published on 2011-03-08 08:23:08
Today’s smoothie was AWESOME! Here is what I put in it today: 1/2 cup carrot juice 1/2 cup blood orange juice handful of fresh baby spinach handful of frozen blueberries 5 strawberries 1 tablespoon chia seeds Mixed together in a blender and tha > read more
Jumbo Double Carrot Cake Muffins
Published on 2011-03-06 12:38:53
I have to give credit to Spabettie’s site because last week she made these beautiful looking pancakes using carrot juice in the batter. It got me to thinking, what if I made muffins using carrot juice in the batter as well as shredded carrots? > read more
Nutella Ring
Published on 2011-03-03 21:23:21
I was so excited when Zoe from Zoe Bakes left a comment about my artisan bread! She’s the author of the book Artisan Bread in 5 minutes, which is available on AMAZON HERE. Not only did I make her Artisan bread recipe, I made the other recipe th > read more
Ham & Cheese scones – Biggest Loser re-cap + Sargento Cheese Coupons
Published on 2011-03-01 22:30:56
Many times I read recipes online, in magazines, in cookbooks and I say I am going to make them, yet I never do. I can’t tell you how many binders I have filled with clippings and copies of recipes. I’m trying to get out of that habit and > read more
First time making artisan bread!
Published on 2011-02-27 15:46:51
I’ve made several types of breads before, but never the artisan bread from Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day. It was on the cover of this Month’s Cooking Club of America. Once I saw it, I knew it was time to see if I could do it. The on > read more
My pancake experiment
Published on 2011-02-26 14:29:31
I normally don’t make pancakes during the week, but I didn’t have a ton of stuff by the end of the week to make something deluxe. I had a package of pancake mix, and according to the box 1/4 cup of the pancake mix was only 180 calories. I > read more
Asiago Pesto Cheese bread
Published on 2011-02-24 21:16:17
This bread is so easy to make! It’s less than 5 minutes hands on, waiting for it to rise while you go about your weekend chores and the next thing you know, its time to bake! This recipe comes from the 2000 Cooking Light Cookbook. I’ve me > read more
Chocolate Covered Chocolate Chip cookie dough balls
Published on 2011-02-22 20:51:33
This isn’t a usual healthy eating recipe that I normally post, but after seeing it on several blogs I couldn’t stop thinking about them and had to try it! This recipe seems to be sweeping the blogosphere right now, so when I saw it, I kne > read more
Roasted red pepper + veggies soup
Published on 2011-02-20 14:37:43
It’s been a dreary, rainy weekend here in Chicago-land, so what better thing to do than make a big pot of soup. This is also a great way to use up veggies you didn’t use during the week. Also, my daughter Claire has been sick the last few > read more
My new favorite breakfast + winner of prize pack!
Published on 2011-02-16 21:28:09
Thanks to those of you who left comments the last two days for a chance to win a prize from Mom’s Best Natural Cereals. The winner is…..Dave from Year on the Grill!!! I’ll e-mail you Dave to get your address! ******** Ok, I made thi > read more
Pearl Barley + Product Review
Published on 2011-02-14 21:52:40
This is another first for me. I’ve never tried pearl barley before, but ended up picking some up from the store over the weekend. You don’t have to buy this brand, any grocery store sells this near the rice, dried beans, lentils. And the > read more
Clean Eating
Published on 2011-02-12 11:07:58
That’s my bowl of cereal on top of the magazine! I set it on top to take a picture and it looked like it was the cover . I never have just one kind of cereal when I make it. Today’s was Fiber One, Raisin bran, Kashi go lean crunch and a b > read more
First time trying Kefir/Kefir Smoothie
Published on 2011-02-11 08:22:31
I was shopping at Aldi grocery store the other day, when I happened to notice they are starting to sell Kefir. And the price was half of what it costs at a regular grocery store. I’m not sure what made me buy it. I’ve always wanted to try > read more
Salad club, stir fry, new favorite salad dressing
Published on 2011-02-09 21:49:28
Salad club was spectacular this week! I had spinach, carrots, edamame, black beans, sunflower seeds, grapes, peppers, onion, some croutons, red and green cabbage. It took me almost my whole lunch to eat this! For those of you who don’t know, I > read more
Roasted Chick Peas
Published on 2011-02-08 08:47:07
I decided to make a batch of these again since I’ve had a few cans of chick peas (garbanzo beans) in my pantry for a while. They are so easy to make! Ingredients: 2 cans chick peas, drained and rinsed and patted dry 2 tsp. olive oil 1 tsp. chil > read more
Making my own fast food
Published on 2011-02-06 12:25:17
Usually on Friday’s a lot of people in my office get take out. I would LOVE to join in getting a nice burger and fries, but thinking of eating 1000+ calories to do so while I am trying to lose weight won’t get me to where I want to be. So > read more
Pretzel rolls
Published on 2011-02-04 07:41:47
This is the second time making these and they turned out so great. The only thing I did differently was make the rolls smaller. Last time I made them it made 8 rather large rolls, and when I figured out the calories, it was 260! A little high. So thi > read more
Oregano/cheese bread + 2nd snow day!
Published on 2011-02-03 11:55:53
With wind chills well below zero and still cleaning up the snow from the Blizzard, the kids are off school for the 2nd day in a row! That’s never happened before. At least yesterday they got to enjoy it. My daughter Claire and my son Mark spent > read more
Blizzard of 2011 – SNOW DAY!!
Published on 2011-02-02 11:12:32
After blizzard winds and tons of snow, for the first time since 1979, my sons high school as well as the middle school and elementary schools are closed! My son was saying that the high school has only closed 4 times in the last 100 years. I was able > read more
Oat/banana/dried cranberry pancakes 85 calories each!
Published on 2011-01-31 22:10:50
I had some really ripe bananas that needed to be used up and believe it or not I didn’t make muffins with them! I decided to make pancakes. I used an ingredient I just tried for the first time: Almond Milk! There are lots of different brands an > read more
Claire soup!
Published on 2011-01-30 22:17:41
Before going to the grocery store this weekend, I thought I would make a batch of soup for my lunches this week. I just put in whatever veggies I had leftover from the week so I wouldn’t have to throw them out. My daughter Claire, who is 9, was > read more
Tortellini Soup
Published on 2011-01-28 08:13:48
The first time I made this soup was May of 2009! I sometimes forget to go back to recipes I’ve made that are worth making again. This is one of those recipes. I printed out a recipe from Spark People for what I thought was tortellini soup, but > read more
Week 2 weigh in/great lunch!
Published on 2011-01-18 08:06:35
99% of the time I bring my own lunch to work, but yesterday I wasn’t really digging what I brought and I remembered I had a gift card to Panera Bread in my wallet, so I decided on getting that for lunch. It’s about a 15 minute walk from m > read more
Meet Kelly – 65 pounds lost/Weight Loss Superstar!
Published on 2011-01-16 20:51:40
I thought it would be nice to start out the New Year with some inspiring stories of people who have done an awesome job losing weight. I’d like you to meet Kelly. She is a Mom of 4, her husband is in the military, and she home schools her child > read more
A day at a time
Published on 2011-01-15 11:49:48
One thing that’s hard when you are trying to lose weight, is wishing time would go by faster. On January 3rd, I started Day One and I’m already on 12! This time around I’m just taking it day to day. Since January 3rd, I’ve ent > read more
Crock pot pasta sauce
Published on 2011-01-14 07:35:46
I attempted to make this sauce in the fall. I thought how nice would it be to make pasta sauce in the crock pot, simmering all day, how wonderful it would taste. All I would have to do is just make the pasta when I got home from work and that would b > read more
Egg Souffle for one
Published on 2011-01-13 08:15:44
I’ve actually never made any kind of souffle before, but over the weekend when I went to a luncheon with my Mom, the buffet had one and even though I didn’t put some on my plate, I tasted some off my Moms plate. I loved how light and fluf > read more
Biggest Loser recap/creative dessert
Published on 2011-01-12 07:40:23
I thought it was a really good show tonight, at some point I thought I would need a tissue! I think the highlight of the show was Arthur (the biggest contestant ever on BL) dancing on the scale after losing 13 pounds and his team winning the challeng > read more
1/11/11
Published on 2011-01-11 08:14:55
I love the date today! Another successful day on my healthy weight loss journey. It’s day 8 already and I did really great eating wise. One thing that I am totally avoiding is food at work. On any given day there are donuts, muffins, candy, etc > read more
1st week weigh in….
Published on 2011-01-10 08:14:45
So, my first week of getting back on track and I did way better than I thought I would. I used www.myfitnesspal.com to track all my foods and exercise in. So are you ready? -5.6 pounds! What did I do? Planned my foods in advance typed in everything I > read more
Jenn’s healthier breakfast slam
Published on 2011-01-08 12:29:45
I wake up later on the weekends, so most times I just have brunch, instead of breakfast and lunch. I was trying to think of what to make, when I thought of making kind of like a Denny’s breakfast slam. Omelet, home fries, ham, and a bagel. BUT, > read more
Happy Friday!/Creamy Mac & Cheese/Exercise TV
Published on 2011-01-07 08:04:22
I can’t believe the weekend is almost here! The week went by so fast. I am happy to say that I have completed my first 4 full days staying on track AND exercising! Wahoo! I just hope I don’t blow it this weekend! My first weigh in is Mond > read more
Chicken tortilla soup/cardioke!
Published on 2011-01-06 09:05:21
Sometimes when I go to the store, I don’t actually have a plan of what to make, I just get stuff and will figure it out later. I bought 3 packages of boneless chicken breasts, and I was thinking about what to make, when I realized I had everyth > read more
Good eats/biggest loser recap
Published on 2011-01-05 07:25:42
Did anyone watch the new Biggest Loser last night? I thought it was a good one. I didn’t start watching it until late, so I fast forwarded through the workouts, but I like these contestants. There are a few of them who are my favorite so far. I > read more
Day One Success!
Published on 2011-01-04 08:11:03
I had a great day yesterday food wise! I planned what I was eating for breakfast and lunch and snacks. I wasn’t hungry at all and….are you ready? I actually broke out a work out CD! I had to start with Billy! I did 30 minutes. I figured s > read more
Back to basics….
Published on 2011-01-02 21:17:02
I, like millions of Americans will be getting back to basics when it comes to weight loss! The Holidays are over, and even though I wanted to do better, I didn’t always make the best choices. Kudos go to my sister Biz who lost weight over the H > read more
Happy last day of the year!
Published on 2010-12-31 13:13:29
It’s almost 1 p.m. and I’m still in my jammies, so the day is starting off slow to say the least! What are your plans for tonight? We just hang out at home. Our oldest is going to a friends house, so it will just be the younger two, some > read more