Cornbread muffin sabotage

Jeremy's Birthday is on Wednesday, so his beloved Famous Dave's sent him an e-mail coupon for a free meal. We decided to take advantage of that offer yesterday afternoon on his day off. 

I was determined to be good on my diet and not use this as an excuse to splurge. I thought surely I could figure out how to do that. Unfortunately, we decided to go there after we were already out of the house running errands so I couldn't look up the nutritional information in advance. But when we got there, I decided I'd have a cup of chili (not a bowl! Just a cup!) and because I cannot resist them...one cornbread muffin. Just one! And I didn't add any butter, like I normally would. I estimated that one of those was maybe 300-350 calories. 

Hahahahahaha. When I got home, I looked up the calorie information on the net - what a shock! ONE STINKIN' MUFFIN = 600 calories!! 600!! That's like, two meals!!  Then you add in the chili I ate and I practically couldn't eat for the rest of the day. Obviously, I have a long way to go when it comes to estimating calories. Stupid muffin. ;)

One thing I'm definitely learning is that bad food + cardio = a nasty, awful feeling. I had a replay of my vacation-gym indigestion last night at my Cardio/Core class. Several times I thought I might actually vomit and I kept getting a stitch in my side. (Jeremy doesn't acknowledge "stitch" as a legitimate description...so for those of you in that camp, I kept getting a CRAMP in my side. OK? *hehe*) Plus I had zero energy. Normally I'm huffing and puffing but I can make it through the whole cardio routine. Last night I was pacing around on wobbly legs, completely nauseous, holding my aching side. Yuck, not fun. Note to self: LOG this feeling in your memory for next time you get tempted by things you shouldn't eat!

Luckily, there are so many things that I can have that are completely delicious! For instance, several years ago my manager at the time gave me a recipe for the yummiest Taco Soup. And it is easy-peasy-lemon-squeazy!! You literally just dump cans into a pot. Love it! 

1 can pinto beans

1 can corn

1 can diced petite tomatoes

1 can tomato sauce

1 lb browned hamburger

1 package taco seasoning

And that's it! 

Well imagine my delight when I found practically the exact same recipe in my Hungry Girl cookbook! The only difference is that she added black beans and a package of ranch seasoning. I was thrilled to see that it's a very low calorie meal. So I whipped up a batch the other day...minus the ranch seasoning (cause I forgot to buy it) and I used ground turkey instead of hamburger. I even used low-sodium taco seasoning and corn. Yay me. :) It is so super yummy!! 

(Couldn't resist using my new measuring cup. *hehe*)

With some crushed baked Tostito's and fat free cheddar on top, it's a completely easy and guilt-free lunch/dinner/or even (in a smaller portion) a snack! Yum!

"Weight" just a minute!

*singing* "It's just another weigh-in Monday! I wish it was Sunday! Cause that's my fun-day." :)

But what am I whining about? Today is a GREAT weigh-in day! Because today, my purdy new scale is telling me I've lost 2 pounds! Woohoo!!! That brings my overall total since I started in January to 9 pounds. (Plus I kept off 5 of the pounds I lost when I was sick all December, but I've decided not to count those since I didn't WORK for them, y'know? They were a "gift." *haha*)  

I have bad news about my body fat percentage, though. The other day Jeremy calculated his own percentage on the scale and we were comparing our numbers. Mine was lower than his, so of course I felt inclined to gloat a little. Just a little. "Women's body fat is supposed to be higher than a man's...we just carry more fat, y'know, in "those" places. Blah blah blah, mine is lower than yours, so I rock." Then he retorted with something like, "Well your number is only lower because you're taller than me." Indeed. This is a fact we shlink around, though, and try to ignore. He doesn't bring it up and I certainly don't rub it in his face, but I AM taller. ;) Everyone knows it. 

So then he pulls me into the bathroom and makes me stand back to back with him in front of the mirror. I insisted that because of the shape and SIZE of my immense head, the results of this test were bound to be skewed. :) So then he makes me stand up against the door jam, like a growing child, and makes a mark above my head. And then I do the same for him. When he pulled out the tape measurer, we were both in for a surprise. 

I've been telling people for YEARS that I'm 5'6". For YEARS! Come to find out, I'm barely 5'5"! *haha* And Jeremy was indignantly sure that he was 5'5" but in reality he's right at 5'4". And this meant that we had entered the wrong proportions into our smart li'l scale, so our body fat was measured wrong. So we were arguing about it for nothing. And we're both shorter and fatter than we thought. *hahaha* Oh well. Such is life.

On the diet front, this morning I made the most AMAZING pancakes! Pancakes, you say? Pancakes aren't for DIETS! Well, my friend, you are mistaken. Because these pancakes were made with Fiber One's pancake mix! (I'm beginning to think FiberOne is destined to take over the entire diet market...even more so than Special K! It's insane how many products they make.) 

As you can see, this mix has fiber, whole grain, calcium, blah blah blah. Plus you get three pancakes for 180 calories.  And they're so delicious! Light and fluffy, simply scrumptious. If I were a better pancake-flipper, they would have been pretty too, I'm sure. But I can never seem to get them turned over without them skidding across the pan, leaving little batter entrails splattered all over. Which doesn't make for a pretty pancake. 

I was so excited about eating them that I forgot to take a picture before my first bite, sorry. :) 

Ok, here's one from the other side which was still in-tact. *haha*

Now, you may be thinking, "Sarah, this looks like a complete rerun of the waffle breakfast." But I assure you it was a completely different taste experience. :)  

The boys got to enjoy one of the cast-offs that got a little too done. They enjoyed it and wanted more, see?

Sadly, there was a casualty in my kitchen this morning. I don't know if any of you do this, but I often get the burners on my stove mixed up, turning on the wrong one. Normally it's not a problem because my stovetop is cleared. But today an unsuspecting oven mitt met it's untimely doom. And my kitchen still smells like burnt cotton.

Super Duper Snack

I made up a couple Hungry Girl recipes for our Super Bowl celebration yesterday. The first, which I was most excited about trying, was a cheese dip that ended up very disappointing. In fact, it is the first time I've disliked anything that HG has created or recommended. It was just really....bleh. Not nearly cheesy enough for my tastes. Oh well!

Good thing I also whipped up some Krispymallow Treats from the cookbook. THEY were good! Think Rice Krispy Treat except with good stuff, like fiber and whole grains. And they're only 47 calories per SQUARE! (Well, since I can't cut straight, I think mine range from 40-60 calories per lop-sided trapezoid.) Can't beat that! They're sweet enough to be considered a treat, plus they're crunchy and chewy at the same time. Bonus! I had one this morning with my fruit & yogurt breakfast (I've run out of waffles!! Waaah!) and found they were even better today. They seem to hold together more now that they sat for the night. Don't know how long it will be before they go stale, though. (They likely won't last that long!)

They're really easy to make, too. In fact, I got brave and did some substituting since I ran out of one kind of cereal. (I know that's not really "brave" to most of you...but I'm a kitchen coward, remember?) It CALLS for Fiber One, puffed wheat, light butter (or butter spread) and marshmallows, but mine had Fiber One, Kashi GoLean and a little bit of Fiber One Caramel Delight. Delish! 

Top of the waffle to ya!

I broke out of my breakfast rut this morning. Not that the rut was bad (some kind of Kashi cereal + banana + sometimes yogurt), but I've recently been inspired by those Eggo commercials. Y'know, the ones with the precocious children that have supposedly created their own special (and surprisingly healthy) "signature" waffle? "I'm Elle, and this is MY eggo!" Sure, sure it is. Why don't any of these waffle creations include M&M's or marshmallows? Now that's something a kid would come up with. *haha*

Anyway, apparently Eggo sponsors a lot of things I watch, because I kept seeing those commercials and finally, yesterday when I was at Target, the thought, "WAFFLES! MUST HAVE WAFFLES!" crept into my head.  Just that subtly! But alas, Eggo's commercials backfired on them because I bought Kashi brand waffles instead. Sorry, Eggo. They're a lot healthier (more fiber, fewer calories) and let's face it, just buying something by Kashi makes me feel all cool and backpacker-ish. I got the Honey Oat flavored ones.

To top my own special waffle creation I picked up some strawberries and blackberries. Originally bananas were going to go in the mix, but I've had bad luck with Target bananas. They're always very green on the shelf...but they seem to go straight from too green to BLACK. Yuck! So I stuck with the berry blend. Then, to kick it up a notch (BAM! Anyone watch Emeril? Nevermind...) I got some sugar free honey! How exciting! 

This morning as I was chopping up and mixing the berries, I was really struck by how beautiful they are. Such rich color! It made me feel very Springy. :) I dusted them with a little Splenda to tone the tartness down a bit and Voila!

So, let's do this right.

"I'm SARAH! And this is MY Kashi Honey Oat waffle!" *hehe*

Pretty, isn't it? Drizzled in honey with those lovely berries on it. And DELICIOUS! Scrumptious, even! Guess someone who gets this excited about a waffle should break out of their rut more often. ;) (Gotta tell ya, I'd highly recommend these waffles! They're a little sweet and have a nice texture. Yum!)

Turkey Taco Meatloaf...Soup?

*sigh* This is why I don't cook.

I decided last night that I would pull out my Hungry Girl cookbook and find something yummy to make. I wrote down the list of ingredients I would need and picked them up on my grocery store run today.

My recipe of choice? "Crazy Good Turkey Taco Meatloaf." I like tacos and I like meatloaf...and I LOVE things that are "crazy good" so it seemed like the one to try. *hehe* The recipe was simple enough, but I, the queen of kitchen blunders, found a way to screw it up. 

The recipe called for (or at least I thought it did) 1/2 can of corn. When I went back and read it again, it said "1/2 cup canned corn KERNELS." *sigh* Hungry Girl, you let me down. You've got to S-P-E-L-L it out for me! "DRAIN the corn, Sarah! DRAIN IT!" But no, I dumped half a can, liquid and all, into the mixture. It didn't look runny...but after I pulled it out of the oven 30 minutes later...oooh dear. My meatloaf was floating in a pool. I freaked a little, angry that I'd spent the time and wasted the money. But after draining off the excess moisture, it tasted ok. I'm excited to try it again because the flavor was really good so I know if I do it right it will be amazing. 

Alas, I had spongey meatloaf for lunch. You think I was gonna go through the effort the make something ELSE after that? *haha*

Yum Yum Brownie Muffins and Easy-Peasy Lemon Cake!

Last night our Young Married's group from church had our annual Thanksgiving Potluck. They're always a lot of fun because it's an extra chance to eat all the favorites of the Holiday AND chat with a bunch of great friends. We had a great turnout and lot's of yummy food.

I signed up to bring dessert because I wanted to try a couple of recipes from my Hungry Girl cookbook. The baking began early enough in the afternoon that if they didn't turn out, I still had time to run to Dillon's and pick up a backup. *haha* But as luck would have it, everything turned out completely delicious! And they were so EEEEEASY!! You'll never believe it.

The Yum Yum Brownie Muffins baked up big and fluffy and incredibly moist. Here's the "recipe"

1 box Devil's Food cake mix

1 can pure pumpkin

Mix these ingredients together, spoon into muffin cups or muffin tin sprayed with no-stick spray and bake at 350 for 20 minutes. 

AND THAT'S IT!

The dough is a little sticky and hard to work with, but other than that everything was easy-peasy.  They have 170 calories per muffin (and they're good-sized) plus they have the fiber from the pumpkin which is a dieting bonus.

I dusted mine with some powdered sugar to make them a little prettier.  They're more of a muffin than a cupcake so they don't really need frosting. 

They were  a big hit! When I revealed the ingredients, everyone was shocked. PUMPKIN? You really can't taste it. Well, Jeremy said HE could, of course, Mr. Picky Pants. *haha* 

I also made a lemon cake using a tip I found on Hungry Girl's website. It's equally as simple.

1 box cake mix (I used lemon) 

1 can of diet pop (I used Diet 7-up)

Mix ingredients together and follow the baking instructions on the box!

It's amazing to me that a can of pop (or pumpkin, for that matter) can do the same job as eggs and oil. Weird, right? But it turned out great too!!  So you have no added calories or fat. The flavor was really nice and the texture was moist...although a teensy bit crumbly. I sprinkled powdered sugar on that too and they tasted like yummy lemon bars.

And you know what I'm gonna say...if I can do it - YOU CAN DO IT! *haha*

Blindness, Broadway and Low-cal Cuppycakes

I picked up my new glasses from Wal-Mart yesterday afternoon and while I think they're absolutely PERFECT (seriously cute, classy and a teensy bit retro - they're FAB!), I can't see worth a darn. I walked around Wal-Mart for a few minutes before I went back to the lady in the Vision Center. I asked her to double check the prescription to make sure they'd copied it down right and that the glasses matched too. Everything was correct, except my vision! Things aren't blurry, but I feel a little like I'm wearing 3-D goggles...as if I'm seeing in layers. It's hard to explain, but I feel like my eyes are straining really bad too. The woman said that my eyes are probably just adjusting, but if I'm not seeing better by Monday I'm calling my optometrist. Meanwhile I've got a constant headache.

My vision has unfortunately affected my plans for the weekend. Last night I went to a crop with Jenny at her church and managed to get a layout done but it wasn't easy. Then today I was supposed to crop with Mary and I just couldn't. I went and gabbed for a couple of hours, which was fun, but didn't bother with my scrap crap. My head is just hurting too much.

Yesterday I did make some AMAZING cupcakes for the crop night with Jenny. "Cupcakes?" you ask. "But Sarah, I thought you were on a diet!" Well I am! The cupcake recipe came from my Hungry Girl cookbook. They were chocolatey and fluffy and DELICIOUS! I was amazed at how wonderful they turned out because:

a. I baked them.

and b. They only have 108 calories each! 

Yes you read right! Too good to be true, but why would I lie about something like that? *haha* They're so yummy that even the "non-dieters" at the crop gobbled them up. Some even had two! In place of frosting, which is a high-calorie item, I put a blop of marshmallow cream on top of each cupcake. (That was a struggle. Marshmallow cream is NOT easy to work with, especially on the top of a moist cupcake.) Anywho, I'm looking forward to trying some other recipes after discovering how great these were. 

Jeremy and I went to Old Navy last night to look at coats since they're all 50% off right now. I tried on every coat in the store and couldn't find one I liked. A lot of the ones they've got right now have really high necks and I felt like I was choking. Jeremy had more luck than I did, he found this coat and it fit him to a T. 

I'm totally psyched about it. He looks really cute in it...and it's not something he would typically go for. I think he'll look purdy hot with this over a sweater walking around New York City.  (Jeremy? In a sweater AND a coat? He would be literally HOT! *hahaha*)

Speaking of New York....only 23 days left! (Which you already knew, thanks to that handy dandy counter I added to my page recently.)  The other day our Phantom of the Opera tickets came in the mail and I just about wet my pants! I was waving them in the air, dancing around the kitchen, acting like a total goofball. Jeremy looked a little panicked...like, "If this is what she does when she sees the tickets, what will she do when we get to the theater?" Scary. *haha* If I could have my way, we would be doing Broadway every single night we were there. Wicked, Mary Poppins, White Christmas, Chicago, The Lion King, The Little Mermaid, Mama Mia....oh and don't forget the Radio City Christmas Spectacular. Oh wait, that's more nights than we're even going to be there, isn't it? Well dang. ;) 

This week Jeremy and I are going to sit down and make up a day-by-day itinerary. This goes against much of our usual travel philosophy. We're big on "winging it," usually making a loose plan but leaving lot's of room for spontaneity. As I've been gathering info for NYC, however, I've realized that there is just far too much to do for us to wing it. We need to make a plan of attack, separating things by "boroughs" so we can be as efficient as possible. It's so overwhelming! The only things that are set in stone so far are:

Wednesday night: Lighting of the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree

Thursday night: PHANTOM OF THE OPERA! *squeal*

Friday night: Museum of Modern Art (which has free admission on Friday nights)

 

Then I have a monstrous list of restaurants, shops and landmarks I want to hit. I don't think there's any possible way for us to do everything...guess I should just be grateful we'll be there at all! :)

To Dream the Impossible Dream...again

I feel like I am too young to consider the struggle with my weight a "never ending battle." Yet in reality, there have been so many times I've tried, succeeded, then failed at the diet game that I'm beginning to lose count.

But even with all of that failure in my past, here I go again. I've been eating right for about a month now and I've lost 7 pounds. Not exactly an exciting number, but at least it's something. 

I haven't been back to the gym since I sprained my ankle (well, that makes it sound like I was going the whole time up until I fell...a bit misleading isn't it? *haha*). I can walk normally and have been trying to take the dogs on an outing every day. But there have been several times that I've stepped off a curb or some uneven pavement and had shooting pains through that ankle and foot. Scary. And it's still extremely stiff and painful when I first stand up in the morning or after sitting for a long period of time. And I still can't squat or kneel very easily. Can't, can't, can't. I've got lot's of excuses, don't I? I know I'm leaning on them pretty heavily and if I really WANTED to exercise I wouldn't be letting my ankle stand in my way. But alas, I don't wanna, so I'm still milkin' the ankle. :^P

My Mom turned me on to the Hungry Girl website a while back and I've been getting a lot of tips there recently. If you're not familiar with it, you should really check it out. Lot's of PRACTICAL information for eating healthier and forming better habits. She has recommendations for the best low-cal snacks on the market and exposes the horrifying calorie counts in a lot of the things we eat without even thinking!! Frightening stuff. (400 calories in a SMALL popcorn at the movies - not including extra butter! Yikes!) Then I also picked up the recipe book this morning at Wal-Mart and I'm super excited about it. As you all know, I am NO chef. Cooking is not my skill and actually scares me a little. But I like the way this book is written. Very Sarah-friendly. :) It's written conversationally, which makes me feel more comfortable. Like, for example, this one cupcake recipe tells you:

"Evenly spoon batter (which will be thin, 

but don't worry-your cupcakes will puff up!) into the pan."

I love that! Cause I can tell you that I would be thinking that EXACT thought! "Why is my batter so thin? Did I do something wrong? Should I add something else? Oh my gosh! What do I do?" and then I would call my Mom. *haha* I just don't have the confidence (and therefore lack the experience) to wing it. So yeah, I'll let you know how my experiments in the kitchen go in the near future. :)