Happiness Hit Her Like a Train on a Track..

What a week, and its only Tuesday!  Two big things to share today, a lovely and simple shrimp pasta dish I made last night and my new favorite songs.  Oh, and the end of Oprah!  Well, she's not dying, but it is the end of an era.  I will miss your makeover shows and the chance to win all your favorite things..

So, pasta first.

I had some frozen shrimpies and peas I wanted to use up, as well as some grape tomatoes in the fridge that looked like they were on their way out..thus Vegetable Shrimp Linguine was born!  I'll tell you what I did, but nothing is very exact, and I imagine mushrooms and asparagus tips going in the next batch I make.

whole grain pasta (throw pasta into boiling water when you add wine, and in 7 minutes, your meal is done!)
olive oil
grape tomatoes
garlic
white wine
fresh shrimp, peeled and clean
peas
fresh spinach
Parmesan cheese

I used a couple tablespoons olive oil in a pan with a lid and thew in the grape tomatoes and let them sizzle and roast for about 5-7 minutes on medium high heat, stirring occasionally.  I added a couple dashes of red pepper flakes here, and will consider adding more next time.  Once the tomatoes looked soft and a little brown, I added a minced glove of garlic and stirred until fragrant, about 30 seconds.
Next, I took off the lid and turned down the heat to medium and added two big splashes of white wine (about half cup?), any type should do fine.  This, by the way, smells amazing!  Let the wine bubble for another 3 minutes, then added half a pound of fresh shrimp. 
After 2-3 minutes or so, when shrimp look half done, add about a cup frozen peas and three large hand fulls of spinach, stirring so all the spinach is wilted.  Stir in a quarter cup of grated Parmesan cheese and grind or two of black pepper.  By now, the shrimp should be pink and curled.  Add your cooked pasta to your pot of goodness, stir and plate!  Top with some more cheese if ya want.  Sauce is somewhat thin, will get thicker as it stands, or if you add more cheese!!


Now on to the new tunes..

This is my new motivational-bang the steering wheel-roll down the windows-run a little harder-mantra

Dog Days Are Over-Florance + The Machines
Mr. E's Beautiful Blues-Eels
Heavy Metal Drummer-Wilco
Sing-My Chemical Romance

Hope you're rocking out! Pin It Now!

The Land of Enchantment

It has been a while since my last post, and lots has happened.  Two friends got married, clean eating took a break, but is now back, and the sun made its first appearance in Ohio since last summer.

I also took a work trip out to Socorro, New Mexico.  The details of the trip are rather dull, in sharp contrast to the green chile cheeseburger I enjoyed, as well as wood oven baked pizzas and fajitas.  If you are even passing through Socorro, let me know.  I am intimately familiar with the good places to eat--it only takes a four day stay to eat at all of them..

On my birthday no less, our group stopped at the Buckhorn Tavern in San Antonio, NM for one of the best burgers I've had.  I enjoyed mine with onion rings and a tall glass of water.  Thank you Gil for the pictures.

The weather in New Mexico was amazing, cool around dawn and dusk and pleasantly warm at high noon.  I'm hoping the sun stays around these parts a little longer :)



Pin It Now!

All the way home..

I was a little piggy this weekend.  I weee weee weeed for 13.1 miles, my half marathon debut.  My goal was to finish, and that I did, in 2 hours and 45 minutes.  I was worried about my knee, and after a couple miles it stopped bothering me so I was quite pleased.  Hubby finished in 1 hour and 53 minutes, he is a flying piglet.  I used my new GPS watch on the race, you can see the course, my pace and elevation here recorded from my watch.

Overall opinion: I'm glad I did it, it was nice training for the race, gave me something to work towards.  I am fairly confident I will never run a full marathon, no-sir-eee.  I'm excited to get better at my 5K pace now. Pin It Now!

April Showers..

We had a busy weekend!  We had a great Easter with some friends yesterday and had a rather successful garage sale on Saturday despite being in a flood advisory the whole time!  It managed not to rain on us until we were closing down, thank goodness.

Kasey looks happy as she raked in over $100!

I can't believe over a week ago I was with family and friends in Texas.  Man, time flies!

I do miss those margaritas..somehow they aren't on the clean eating program..

Given the hunk of ham in my fridge, I wanted to share some ideas I had for using up Easter ham leftovers! One is even a new clean eating discovery, inspired by Tiffany at the Gracious Pantry.

• Amazing Clean Eating Pizza-Ham and Spinach
• Lentil and Ham Soup
• Ham and Egg Cups

Hopefully the weather rains itself out and will be beautiful for the half marathon on Sunday!

Pin It Now!

Clean Eating Tips and Food Journal

Here are some great tips from Molly, my friend’s sister who has toned up and looks great!

1.       Plan your meals the night before and put them in containers that are easily accessible so you can just grab them easily the next day.

2.       Try new things every few days so that you stay excited about it until you have found something you like enough to eat consistently

3.       Make A LOT of chicken at a time. Season it well and put it in the fridge so you can make it into wraps and stuff when you need it.

4.       Frozen yogurt is a good treat at night. It has kept dad and I going. If you have a publix...their berry granola and raspberry roadrunner frozen yogurts are AMAZING..but only do a little cupful each night

5.       Weigh yourself everyday because it keeps you going (usually)

6.       Set yourself a final goal and how much you have to lose each day to meet that goal (make it reasonable so you can be excited when you are meeting your goal. I have lost .2-.4 pounds every day and dad has lost on average .8...so choose something in between that)

7.       This egg salad is delicious

8.       Try new spices...Tony's is the best thing ever

9.       Mustard ads flavor and is relatively ok for you

10.   Scrambled/well-seasoned egg whites make a delicious breakfast and addition to chicken wrap

11.   Broccoli and carrot slaw is a good way to ad crunch to wraps and sandwiches

12.   Always use whole-wheat or multi-grain wraps and sandwich breads

I've been keeping up with some of Molly's tips and decided to keep a food journal.  I like keeping a food journal, it really helps to see what you put in your body every day.  I like to eat snacks (S) and lighter meals, I’m a grazer.

Day 1:

B: Skipped-bad Stephanie

S: 1 container fat free plain greek yogurt, 1 cup tropical fruit

L: Whole wheat tortilla with tuna salad (greek yogurt instead of mayo), spinach, sprouts Cup Kashi Go Lean cereal, cheese stick

S: Lara bar

D: grilled shrimp, spinach, brown rice

S: 2 whole grain banana honey muffins (also with greek yogurt)

Thoughts: I think dinner wasn’t filling enough, maybe a salad would have been good too, then I wouldn’t have been so hungry for muffins.  Also, Lara bar didn’t keep me full but more than 2 hours, might find better way to spend 250 calories.

Day 2:

B: Cottage cheese, fruit, vanilla protein powder smoothie

S: none

L: Sandwich thin ham and cheese Panini, carrots, 1 whole grain banana honey muffin

S: none

D: turkey burger, sandwich thin, slice cheese, grapes

S: banana muffin

Thoughts: Need to remember morning snack, almonds and dried fruit would be good.  Got busy after lunch, was very hungry before dinner.

Day 3:

B: cup Kashi Go Lean cereal, original light soy milk, berries

S: hand full of almonds

L: Turkey and ham, spinach, laughing cow cheese whole grain wrap, v-8 juice, carrots

S: Food Should Taste Good Chips (1.5 oz)

D: Greek chicken, whole grain pita, feta, tomatoes, spinach

S: banana muffin

Thoughts: it was a good day, never felt too hungry.

Pin It Now!

Clean Eating: Whole Grain Banana Oat Muffins

This recipe was adapted from a Cooking Light Morning Glory Muffin recipe

1.5 cups whole wheat flour or whole wheat pastry flour

0.5 cups oats

2 tsp baking soda

Dash salt

Dash cinnamon

1.0   cup fat free plain greek yogurt

1.0 egg, beaten

1.0 cup mashed ripe bananas (3 medium)

0.5 cup honey

1 tsp vanilla

0.25-0.5 cup raisins, plumped in warm water, drain

Combine dry ingredients, flour, oats, baking soda, salt and cinnamon in large bowl, sift or stir with a wisk.

Combine wet ingredients, egg, yogurt, honey, vanilla and bananas in small bowl.  Mix wet into dry ingredients, until all the flour is incorporated, fold in raisins.  Batter will be thick, might need some more yogurt if too dry, depending on egg size.

Bake at 350 for 19-20 minutes in standard muffin tins.  Spray muffin liners with Pam and fill almost to the top.  They will bake up golden with attractive muffin tops! Makes 12 good sized muffins.

Calories: 120

Fat: 0.8 grams

Fiber: 2.4 grams

Carbs: 27.0 grams

Protein: 4.4 grams

Sugar: 12.6 grams

Pin It Now!

Clean Up Time: Eating

It’s been a busy week already and its only Tuesday!  I’m in spring cleaning mode; we’re getting ready for a garage sale this weekend with some friends, and starting a month challenge of clean eating.

Today marks Day 2 of clean eating.  I’m trying this “diet” where you eat foods as close to nature intended them.   To me it’s not a diet, but a new lifestyle with more energy and a healthy soul.  I think I’ve always liked to eat healthy, clean eating just forces me not to take shortcuts or ignore the rules when a box of Oreos is brought into the house!

My friend and her family have convinced me to give it a try.  Her father, who already exercised moderately with no real weight loss, was able to shed 30 pounds in about a month by cleaning up his eating habits.  Way to go Mr. Merritt and Molly!

There are lots of resources about clean eating, Tosca Reno has a series of books, and there are many blogs that dedicate themselves to clean eating recipes.  I suggest reading some, The Gracious Pantry is my favorite, if you want to try eating clean.  There is a wealth of clean eating recipes out there as well.

 To me, clean eating is not about depriving yourself of anything, but choosing better options.  Clean eating to me can be summed up in 3 main ideas:

1.       Reduce/eliminate white sugar and white flour. 

Both of these ingredients are heavily processed and don’t offer much nutrition.  Whole wheat pastry flour, buckwheat flour, quinoa, lentils, agave syrup, and honey are some good substitutes. Alcohol is broken down into sugar by the body, so for now I am foregoing it, although I don’t plan to give it up forever J

2.       Eat food as close to whole or natural as possible.

 For example, fresh squeezed orange juice is better than reconstituted “fruit drink” or fat free greek yogurt over processed light varieties with aspartame. If it has the words “reduced fat” or “light” on the box, or a laundry list of ingredients, skip it!

3.       Drink plenty of water, as many ounces a day as half your body weight.

This isn’t a problem for me, I like being hydrate, and get cranky when I’m not.  I also like naturally sweetened ice tea or “spa water” instead of sodas or juice. Having a bottle with ounces measured on it helps too, I know I need to drink at least two Nalgines full of water a day.

I'm hoping to shed 5-10 pounds in a month or two..but more importantly I'm hoping to make this a life long goal.  There is a whole bag of easter candy that I haven't touched..already a victory in my book! Pin It Now!