RECIPE WEDNESDAY - Sweet & Sour/ Teriyaki Chicken

This looks really good... and an idea of what my plate will look like tomorrow when I go to my favorite Chinese place. Though more vegetables and a lot less noodles. I've discovered I really like rice noodles.

I found a recipe for Sweet & Sour Chicken on Iheartnaptime  The recipe turned out great. Her recipe was spot on, which I often times not the case. No tweaking needed here. I made it first with her Sweet and Sour recipe but added some chunked pineapple. The next time I made it using Teriyaki Glaze instead and was also very good.

The only thing - and this is just based on individual oven, I think. I did not have to bake mine as long. As you can see from the 'baked' picture, they are quite dark. Over-baking them will dry them out so something to watch.

After frying. 

After baking/ glazing

WEEKLY PLAN - Week 7

Okay... something didn't go right last week. And I'm betting the challenge came with eating out twice. I did not over-eat mind you, just the hidden fats and salt in those restaurant prepared foods.

So this week is all about detoxing to get rid of the gunk. More fruit, more vegies, protein and none of the garbage.

Living the Journey
188/190/130 

Weekly ReCap - and a correction

Okay.. I've not done as well as I'd thought. I'm glad hubby wrote down our beginning weights. I did not weigh 189... but 188 - which means I've only lost a pound.

I also discovered that when I don't take my vitamins (like my Chromium) that I seem to want to eat more and thus not lose the weight. So I'm trying to be more diligent about taking my vitamins. Odd how something so simple can make such a big difference over all.

Sorry I missed the recipe for this week. I made a couple things and took pictures just so swamped with work that I did not get them written up and scheduled. Will take care of that this weekend so they'll run on schedule.

Have a great weekend and Enjoy the Journey!
188/187/130

Weekly Plan - Week 6

Yeah, I know I skipped Week 5. The week happened - including Bob's final week home and a 2-night stay in Springfield where we shopped and over-indulged in food. The scales showed the results last Monday at 189.

As Bob left for work last Tuesday, we began another round of 'who can lose the most in three weeks?' challenge. Winner gets an extra $50. This will be my last opportunity to pocket spending cash for my first trip to Texas.

But more important than that are basic health facts. 1) my knees are complaining when I go up and down the stairs 2) my back isn't wanting to completely recover from that pinched nerve 3) skin issues on my inner thigh aggravated from constant rubbing together. I HAVE to get the weight under control.

I find this easier to do when Bob is not home. I was raised that as a wife, I am suppose to cook for and take care of my husband. A bit of a challenge when we eat differently... aka I will eat a wide variety of vegetables whereas he limits himself to 3 - canned peas, canned green beans, and occasional corn.

When Bob is gone I do a lot of stir-fry combinations with more vegetables in the wok than anything. The Protein is more for flavor than anything. This style of eating helps insure that I am getting my vegies in. I also like to add chunk pineapple to the wok which gives me a fruit.




I have discovered when I am home alone, I will get busy on the computer and not think about food until about 1 or 2 in the afternoon. To combat this I make sure I have Jimmy Dean Meat Lovers breakfast bowls or IHop breakfast sandwiches in the freezer. They are quick and I can eat them at my desk. For the IHop sandwiches, the flatbread with applewood smoked bacon is my favorite.

I have a yogurt mid morning then by 1 p.m. I am ready for a more substantial meal while I watch the recorded news.
Since Bob’s been gone, I’ve lost 2 pounds.

189/187/130

Enjoy the Journey

RECIPE WEDNESDAY - Pot Roast /w Stout

POT ROAST WITH STOUT GRAVY

This week's recipe comes from Tide and Thyme. 

Pot Roast is one of Bob's favorite foods. Ranks right up there with  Pasta and KFC Original Recipe Chicken for him. After 30 years of marriage he has about burnt me out out pot roast. But when I saw variations on Pinterest I thought I'd give a couple of them a try. This recipe gave me an insight into what I do and do not like about Pot Roast, which I'll share in a minute.

Best thing... all done in one pan. So clean up (which Bob took care of) was a breeze. LOL

The recipe called for a STOUT beer. The closest I had was AmberBoch... which in my opinion is a good ale so I went with that. If it's good alone, it has to be good combined with something else, right? 

I did two things different. I added slices of Baby Portabella mushrooms when I added the potatoes and I did NOT remove the roast from the pan to place the potatoes on the bottom when their time came. I put them on top of the roast. As they cooked, they got this lovely caramel color:

We are also not fans of cornstarch as a thickening. I used a milk and flour mix. The milk always adds another level of flavor to a gravy. If you've not used milk and flour as a thickening, I use approx 3-4 heaping T of flour to approx. 1.5 cups of milk. If you can use whole milk, that's even better. Either use a drink shaker like for protein shakes or beat the two in a bowl to eliminate all the flour clumps then slowly pour into BOILING broth, stirring while you do so. I use a whisk. 

The gravy for this was packed with flavor and velvet smooth. Out of this #3 roast and 4 potatoes I had enough to put 1 meal in the freezer plus potatoes and gravy left over to go with steak on another night.

RECIPE WEDNESDAY - Creamy Mushroom Pasta /w Spinach

CREAMY MUSHROOM PASTA /W SPINACH

I am enjoying playing with the recipes I find on PINTEREST. This one came from a blog called Julia's Album.  Although multiple steps were involved, I pulled out my trusty wok and got to the task.

Caramelized Onions in Olive Oil

Added sliced Baby Portabella Mushrooms. These are my favorite and most accessible mushrooms (other than white button which I feel have no flavor)

Fresh spinach. I placed a lid on for a few minutes to let it wilt down

Although I thought the dish came out a bit oily I enjoyed the combination of flavors. I think the Portabella mushrooms might have contributed to the 'oiliness' because they are a buttery flavor. But needing the EVOO to cook the onions, there really isn't any way around this. The other thing is this recipe called for Parmesan cheese (which may take up some of the oil) but I don't care for Parmesan except in Alfredo sauce so left that off. 

I would make this recipe again.  

WEEKLY PLAN - Week 4

The month of January is behind. That's 1 month down and 11 more to go.

Actually, I'm looking at 1 month down and 2 to go since I'd like to be down a few pounds to be able to wear jeans comfortably when I attend the Texas Music Awards in Linden Texas the end of March.

Bad news for the past week I was up to 189. Good news, by the time I weighed in this morning, I was down to 187. Geez! The stupid part is I've not done anything different...

Except...

Drank water instead of ice tea. I love water and it really sucks that my body wants to keep it around whereas I can enjoy iced tea (no sugar) and I make more trips to the potty than I care to throughout the day. But if those trips mean the difference in what the scales have to say then I guess iced tea it is!

I've been making some really good recipes the past few weeks and will have one to share on Wednesday. I apologize for last week but I had pinched a nerve in my back so was on the computer only what had to be done for work. Unfortunately, this blog counts as 'extra' so got pushed to the side.

So at the end of Week 4 -
185/187/135

Enjoy the Journey!