February is over!

Last night I felt pretty lazy after work so I decided that I didn't want to cook. So Andy and I went to Fresh and Easy and got a few easy to cook items and made ourselves a little appetizer plate.



We needed some veggies! So I sauteed these baby carrots with sea salt, Mrs. Dash, balsamic vinegar and a little olive oil.



Then a little snack pack of pepper jack cheese, crackers and peppered salami. Mostly because we had these things in the house and I wanted them out. We need room for healthier things!



Some hummus on the side.



Carrots, 2 shrimp eggrolls (which I promptly gave to Andy), 2 mini morningstar corn dogs, 2 veggie "purses", 2 samosas and 2 mini pizzas. A 450 calorie plate. It was perfect for a night of staying in and watching TV. We started watching season one of Weeds last night.



Dessert was some vanilla frozen yogurt with strawberries, blueberries and blackberries. mmm. It made my night. I love having fresh berries in the house.

See you all in march!

2 challenges!

I signed myself up for Chandra's March Booty Buster Challenge. It starts soon!

http://onebodylifechance.wordpress.com/2009/02/26/mbbc-time/

I'm really excited that I've involved myself in 2 challenges. I'm hoping I get some serious results from this!

The other challenge I'm doing is with 4 of our friends. It's been incredibly motivating this far. I love how a challenge helps me stay focused. Eyes on the prize, right?

What challenges you?

You give me fever

I am having some serious internet issues today. What a lovely way to burn...So Andy and I have resorted to doing our homework in a local coffee shop. Fun times. I'm thankful for free wifi! Well Andy was grading papers and reading. I'm participating in my online Contemporary English class. It's actually fun! We have chatrooms to help us discuss what stories we are reading. We've read The Vagina Monologues, The Da Vinci Code, Out and Bridget Jone's Diary so far.



Dinner tonight was sun-dried tomato basil grilled chicken and roasted veggie couscous. I added some fresh asparagus to the couscous to bulk it up a bit. I've been wanting to cut meat out of my diet completely but I am having a hard time finding other sources of protein. I aim for 60-70 grams a day. Do you guys have any suggestions for me? I feel like I struggle with eating enough protein! And it seems to really help me lose weight.

Salad with the last of my favorite cilantro dressing. Sadface.

Chicken and a huge serving of couscous. I am addicted now!

So for now I am cutting back on red meat and pork. I'll stick to chicken and turkey for now. I'm trying to like fish but I just don't. I know I'm weird! What kinds of fish taste the least fishy? I will try those out!

I'm planning on doing Jillian Michael's 30 day Shred in March. Stay tuned for my review! I hope it helps me cut out some of my trouble spots! I plan on doing the video daily.

Jamba!

Tonight's dinner idea came from this package of Trader Joe's Vegetable Jambalaya.



I heated up some chicken andouille sausage with a little pam.



And mixed up a big salad in my giant blue mixing bowl. I added feta, grape tomatoes, sweet peppers and some spring mix.



I had some of this white bean hummus while it cooked. AMAZING!!! Thanks for telling me about it Ashley!



Finished product on a Snoopy plate 'cause I'm cool like that!

I lost another pound this week. I bought Jillian Michael's Shred video to try amping things up a bit. 27 pounds to go! WOO!

Monday, monday

Dinner tonight was great. I used some of Trader's Joe's Pasta with some veggies and created something wonderful.


Asparagus, tomatoes, onions, bell peppers with a balsamic vinegar/lemon pepper reduction.


So colorful!



Added some chicken to the mix for protein



And mixed it up with this pasta. So quick and easy and delicious!

I'll check back tomorrow for my weekly weigh-in. Ugh!

Hungry Girl's Super Low Calorie Margarita!

105 calories for a margarita! I'm sold. I needed one today!





Yum. We drank these while watching my lover Joel McHale on The Soup, love him!

Happy weekend everyone!

http://www.hungry-girl.com/week/weeklydetails.php?isid=869

Here's a link to the recipe! woohoo!

Cardio Kickbox

I just did 30 minutes of Jillian Michael's Cardio Kickbox. DUDE! I never knew a 30 minute workout could make me so sweaty! Hardcore. (Well for my out of shape body it was!)

Then I did 10 minutes of ab work and 50 extra jumping jacks. I'm on my way to working out 6 hours a week. Slowly, but surely.

http://video.barnesandnoble.com/DVD/Jillian-Michaels-Cardio-Kickbox/Jillian-Michaels/e/796019766890

Here is the video. It was pretty fun. I wanna get more of her videos.

Weight loss!

I forgot to mention this but...Andy and I have teamed up with 4 of our friends for a weight loss/healthy living challenge. We're on our second week now. I lost 2 lbs last week! (I'm trying to lose 20-30)

I'm stoked! Having a challenge motivates me so much. That and the beautiful wedding dress I am planning on wearing soon! Everytime I feel like over-eating or not working out, I remind myself of summer. ha!

That said, I definitely plan on indulging my tastebuds in Italy.

What motivates you to workout?

SOS please someone help me!

I made an amazing pita today!



I used a whole wheat pita with grilled chicken, grape tomatoes, spring mix and red pepper hummus.





Dinner was couscous and salad.





I added fat free feta and grape tomatoes, yum!



This was my first try at couscous! I just used a box of it. It was pretty easy. I will try it more often!

Do you like couscous?

Blueberry Oats

Today's breakfast was eaten in bed. The rain makes me lazy and tired.



1/2 dry oats with 1/2 nonfat milk, a dash of cinnamon, 12 blueberries and 6 almonds.



I originally intended to top the oatmeal with a nectarine but decided not to.



All together now.


I have a long day ahead of me! Wish me luck!

Recap!

I'm recapping since I've been MIA the past few days.



Leftover pizza, pita chips and dip and a kiwi. Yum! This was my lunch on Friday.



Friday's Dinner. Mashed Potatoes, lemon broccoli and a grilled cheese. Total comfort food.



Also Trader Joe's Plain non-fat frozen yogurt! Tastes a lot like Pinkberry only better. I loved it! We got it last night. Part of our Valentine's Day dessert.



I topped mine with slivered almonds and blueberries. It was amazing. I may never need to go out for frozen yogurt again.

I didn't take any pictures of our Valentine's Day dinner. Sometimes it's just more romantic to leave the camera in my purse. We made tomato basil grilled chicken, antipasto salad and nine grain bread with balsamic vinegar & olive oil. It was relatively low cal and low fat too! But we ruined that with a bottle of champagne and a small box of chocolate. It was fantastic and so relaxing. I'm glad we stayed in.

Oatmeal

I cannot eat plain oatmeal. I wish I could! I always have to add something to it to jazz it up.

Unfortunately this made my bowl of Oats 420 calories! Which isn't terrible but seems incredibly high to me.



I topped my oatmeal with slived almonds, chocolate granola and a little peanut butter. I am still eating it. This made a huge amount of oatmeal. Next time I'll scale down to 1/4 cup dry oats and 1/2 nf milk. Today I used 1/2 oats and 1 cup nf milk.



That chocolate granola from Trader Joe's is fabulous. I used a tbsp of it on top of the oatmeal and it still came to 90 calories. Crazy! Why did I even buy it? I need to stop grocery shopping when I'm hungry.

What are your favorite oatmeal toppings and mix-ins?

BBQ Chicken Pizza

We made an awesome pizza for dinner tonight!



I took some premade whole wheat pizza dough and rolled it out on a cookie sheet.



I mixed some premade sliced chicken breast and mixed it with Trader Joe's BBQ Sauce.





Layered sauce, cilantro, onion and bbq chicken



Topped with a little cheese



And baked for 15 minutes! Voila!

While the pizza was baking we snacked on pita chips and roasted red pepper dip.



I had to write 2 papers today. Ugh. I am off to take my online english class. Talk to you later!

grilled turkey wraps

Tonight we decided to use up what we had in the house. (Which really wasn't much.) I got creative and decided to make turkey wraps and salad. Any excuse to use the panini press really.

First I took some yellow onions and zucchini and put them on the panini grill.



Isn't it beautiful? Andy's mom got it for us one christmas



Then I mixed a little pesto and miracle whip in a bowl.



Spread the pesto aioli on a whole wheat tortilla




And topped the tortilla with 2 slices of turkey and a slice of pepper jack cheese. I added the grilled veggies and some sun-dried tomatoes.





Finished product. Don't you love those grill marks? YUM!



I made a salad with the rest of our salad mix, feta cheese, zucchini, cilantro, grape tomatoes, whole wheat croutons, slivered almonds and the rest of creamy cilantro dressing. YUM!

Feta and Cilantro Burgers

I was looking through food blogs on my break in class today and saw that someone made feta and blue cheese burgers. The wheels in my head started turning and I emailed Andy that we had to get some ingredients.



I mixed together

1 pound extra lean ground beef (you could use turkey too.)
1/2 cup feta cheese
1/4 cup diced cilantro
1/4 cup diced yellow onion
1 tbsp italian bread crumbs
1 tbsp olive oil
dash sea salt
dash of greek seasoning.

then I formed the meat into 4 burgers.



They are slightly uneven but approx. 210 calories 8 grams of fat each. I input the recipe using one of my favorite sites. It makes it so easy for me to track how many calories I eat. I just text message myself after every meal and input at the end of the day.



I own a ton of little kid plates. lol





Then I made a side salad with grape tomatoes, feta, cilantro, onions and lowfat creamy cilantro. The dressing is only 70 cals per tbsp! Amazing!

I have about 100 calories left for dessert. We are going to enjoy some of this fruit.



Goodnight! Today was a success.

Calories 1360
Fat- 52 grams
Protein- 83 grams
Fiber- 19 grams
Carbs- 143