Random Thoughts....

I haven't been postings as regularly as I would like. I have been a bit jumbled this week. Here is some of my randomness.

A completely vegan lifestyle change is not in my near future but I will be continuing to make small changes to my diet to reach my goal to be healthier.

I love Coffee mate's Coconut Creme coffee creamer. It happens to be one of the reasons the above ^ isn't going to happen soon. It is pure heaven. My husband who dislikes coffee will have a cup just to be able to drink this stuff. No joke. Awesomness....

I have a love/hate relationship with my microwave. I love it to warm up leftovers quickly. I hate it because it makes my food so hot it burns my mouth. Boo.... Plus it takes up a lot of space on my counter top.

I have two boxers named Lily and Reeses. I named Lily after Lily Potter. Yep, I'm one of those nerds. My husband named Reeses after his favorite candy. I'll give you three guesses. :) Plus, Reeses is brindle, his fur color looks like chocolate and peanut butter. I love my fur-babies!!!

When Reese's was a puppy he would play so hard he would pass out everywhere and in any position. He was only 10 weeks in these photos and now he is almost two years old!!!

Today is my little brother's birthday. Three weeks out of the year I'm the same age as my little brother. I feel sorry for my mom. Happy Birthday Lenny!!!

Ok, I feel better now. Happy Wednesday!!!

Always Said...

"My momma always said life is like a box..."

Just kidding she said.

"You always get what you pay for."

Sometimes this is true and other times I don't think it is. But this post is about some of the times she was right. Here are a list of a things that I think you get what you paid for..

Cheap Green Tea

Gag... It has a seaweed taste to it and it is SO bitter!! I have some Green Tea that I have spent a little more money on and it is so much better.

Great Value Vegetable Oil

I can't put my finger on it but there is something not right about it and the smoke point is extremely low so my house is filled with smoke that smells like burning tar! BLAH!

Off Brand Shortening

I mean really, What was I thinking? I don't use shortening anymore but gag it is horrible and the mouth feel is way off and makes your tongue feel like glue.

I'm sitting here drinking horrible Green Tea and it got me thinking that sometimes in life you really do get what you paid for.

Cashew Crema...

I’m not one to spend money on something I’ll never use. Pre-child I would have never spent money to get a weekly meal planner but upon having a child and barely time to think I decided it was time to look into it.

IT IS A TIME SAVER and a money saver because before I would never plan my meals I would just go to the store and buy what looked good. This shopping method is the bane of all budgets.

I looked at about 5 different meal planning site before I came upon Emeals. Almost instantly I knew it was the right one for me. The prices are fair and the options are great. There are 10 different meal plans to choose from and you have the option for the meal plan to feed 2 or 4-6. I went with the plan for vegetarian for two since Emma isn't eating solids yet. My husband still eats meat products but it is easy enough to include.  

I've been doing this for about a month and a half and I plan to continue because it really is helpful for my lifestyle. Maybe someday I'll get my stuff together and create my own meal plans but not anytime soon.

The recipes given so far have been good. Since tastes vary there have been a few phenomenal recipes that I will be keeping in my recipe box. A few I'd rather forget but on average both my husband and I have liked everything. I usually pick out two meals from the plan an discard them because I don't need them. Every Friday is our shopping day and we usually go out to eat because after work and after shopping we both just want to sit down and relax for a few minutes. The other missing recipe is a random reason like having dinner with in-laws or parents or just a request from my husband for a favorite dish.

One of the meals for this week was:

Rajas con Crema

(Poblanos with Onion and Cream)

Mexican Brown Rice

This looked great to me but you can see from the name that it didn't gel with my efforts to try and eat vegan but I really wanted to try this recipes. I tried for the first time ever to make Cashew Cream. It worked like a dream.

Ingredients:

Cashews
Water

That's it. I promise.

All I did was take 1/3 cup cashews and let them soak in fresh water for about 4 hours. Once they soaked long egoug I drained off the water and added the cashews and enough fresh water to cover the cashew in my blender (which is not a hig speed blender just 450 watts) and blended for about 2 minutes. Scraped down the edges gave it a quick pulse and then added enough water to reach the consistency I was looking for. SO EASY. Just store is the fridge.

I'm so glad I tried to make this because the dish was simple yet amazing and I couldn't tell that real cream hadn't been used. If you have a recipe that calls for cream try this Cashew Cream in it's place. If you are like me you won't even notice the switch.



One week... Staring Now!

So I weighed myself this morning... Not only did I not lose any weight last week but I gained .2 lbs. I know it isn't a lot but it is the wrong way. Sigh....

Anyway, I have an addiction. Well actually two... Cheese and Coffee Creamer.

I know Coffee Creamer isn't your run of the mill addiction but I like coffee but once you add the sugar laden flavored creamer I am in heaven! Bah... It makes me sad to see you go.

Cheese... Le sigh...

I truly and deeply love cheese. And the worst of the worst of cheeses... Cheddar! Everything about it makes me happy. The smooth texture, the pleasant saltiness, the buttery yellow hue. 

Unfortunately, They must go in the best interest of what my heart truly desires... Size Healthy.

So this morning I'm drinking French Vanilla Black Tea but dreaming of the smooth and delicious Coconut Creamer in my fridge at home. (I'm not sure what I'm going to do with the remainder.)

I have decided I'm going to give up dairy and eggs for one week and eat vegan to see if the change helps my efforts or causes me to binge on a block of Mild Cheddar Cheese. I'm hoping for the former.

So to kick off my week of good eating I've started with this...



This was taken by my phone. Not such a good pic but you get the point.



Overnight Steel Cut Oats  with Naturally More Crunchy PB and an apple.

Yumminess in my to-go container at my desk. :)

Inspiration...

I get a lot of inspirational emails at work. I'm sure you know the type, they border on spammy material. Today I received one that actually spoke to me. It was a long list of things you should implicate in your life to live it to the fullest. That is my goal this year. Should everything goes as planned I'm here for the long haul and I think it is time to start preparing for that. I mean I have in some ways figured this out because the retirement fund is out there. But, this was more than that. It was preparing and living your life that is centered around peace, family and happiness. I don't plan on sharing the whole list but I'd like to point out the ones that mean the most to me.

Get rid of anything that isn't useful. Clutter weighs you down in many ways.

This is one of my biggest goals this year. I struggle with being a borderline hoarder. Haha. Not the type on TV but I have a hard time getting rid of anything nostalgic and that can add up to a lot of stuff. I want to pare down to the basic and keep the truly memorable things and get rid of the rest. In the whole house I want everything to have a place and not just pile. I will freely admit to being one of the worst housekeepers!

Make peace with your past so it won't screw up the present.

I wish I could let the past go. There are things in my life that the memory makes me cringe even though I'm 100% positive I'm the only one to remember it. I have been out of high school five years but I have held on to past grudges. I have the tendency to let the little things get to me. I need to let it all go because it takes to much energy to worry about my past, present, and future. The past is that, in the past.

No one is in charge of your happiness but you.

This is true. You should not depend on anyone for your happiness. I love my husband and I want him to be happy which I thought would make me happy. Haha. There are plenty of times that he is happy and I am not. Be happy for you, not anyone else.

When it comes to going after what you love in life, don't take no for an answer.

If it's to be, it's up to me. If it is what you truly want then commit until you get it.

When it comes to chocolate, resistance is futile.

True.

The best is yet to come...

I have many times believed that I could never be as happy as I was in that moment. My Wedding but then I found out I was pregnant and then I gave birth and now every little thing she does makes me happier than I could ever imagine. Always choose life because it IS worth living.

These words of wisdom were written by Regina Brett, 90 years old, of the Plain Dealer, Cleveland, Ohio

How SAD

Does anyone else find it humorous that the diet most Americans follow, aka Standard American Diet, is SAD?

I find it funny. BTW, I'm a vegetarian and have been eating that way for over 1 1/2 years. I feel as though it was the right choice for me but I still eat lacto-ovo and I think that is one of the main reasons I'm still not feeling as good as I wished I did.

Fitness

I'm not going to lie, I was horrible at it this weekend. I just let too many things take priority of my health. I tried to redeem myself with 30 jumping jacks, 10 crunches, 25 high knees, and 5 push ups(the girly ones) before I hopped in the shower to get ready for work. I started with the 5 push ups because I have no muscle tone in my arms and I want to change that first.

1st fitness goal!

On April 22, 2013 and exactly 4 weeks from now I would like to be able to do at least 5 real push ups. We shall see how this goes.

How was your weekend? Did you manage to fit in any fitness goals this weekend?

First Official Weigh In

I just wanted to get it out there.  I weighed myself this morning so I could know where I started this journey to a better self.  Here it goes....

241.8 lbs

I was able to fit in a short workout last night. I know I don't usually have a lot of time at night to workout so I have tried to maximize the time as best as I can. So far I have been using the interval training approach on my elliptical machine. (I use that loosely!). The thought process I use is 1 minute going hard and 30 seconds of a slow down/rest. Now, I don't stop moving during those 30 seconds because my legs are normally burning after hitting it hard for one minute going forward I will switch to 30 seconds of a slow pace of back pedaling so I can catch my breath and it rests some of the muscles in my legs. It's not a perfect program but at this point moving and sweating are my goals and this helps me get to that.