WEIGH IN 7-9-18

175/167/135

Are you seeing a pattern?

My goal is to finally get on the gazelle this week. The pain factor last week from Monday and Tuesday made doing much of anything until late week hard to do. I'm going for 2 days this week and see how I do.

As to food, I'm working on clearing out the freezer. I've been pulling a couple of things out every two days. Things that would normally be one meal, I've been making into two most of the time. Drinking plenty of water and decaf/ unsweet tea. I drink one cup of fluffy in the morning, tree until about 1 then switch to water the rest of the day. I usually have a coke in there somewhere between the tea and the water. I pour it into a freezer mug to make my own frozen coke then top it with a mini coke and work on it for a couple of days, freezing/ thawing a bit/ refreezing, etc. 

I'm also dealing with a bit of a sore throat from sinus stuff. Just enough that I know the glands are irritated on the left side. I picked up a package of Chloraseptic lozenges last week and use one of those if the irritation really starts to bug me.

For this week, 2 days on the gazelle, keep food in check and try not to overdo the steps again so I'm not dealing with pain afterwards. The cool thing about the gazelle is I'll get steps in without impact so that might help on multiple fronts.

Whatever you have planned for the week...

Enjoy the Journey!

WEIGH IN 6-18-18

175/167/135

No change from last week, which surprises me considering Bob and I ate out Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday during our get away then again on Friday for Date Night.  

One thing that did help, and I might be getting through to Bob is the portion control thing. He'll be the first to admit that is his biggest stumbling block. At dinner on Friday night, he followed my example by bringing half of the 18 oz Prime Rib home. We'll be having steak and eggs for breakfast this morning. Of course, last night we had surf and turf here at home. We're still working on the 4 oz lobster tails I bought a couple of years ago during a Valentine's sale at the grocery store. The neat thing is that with the Foodsaver bags they keep really well, allowing me to buy them in bulk when they're on the annual sale and enjoying them for several months out.

So this week may be Bob's last week home before he heads back out on the boat. We've planned out the menu. 

Monday - Goulash Casserole

      I made this from leftover goulash I made for his lodge meeting on Saturday night. I put half the goulash in a 8x10 pyrex casserole dish, spread 8 oz of homemade pasta sauce, then a layer of Mozzarella slices. I topped that with the remaining goulash, the other 1/2 of the jar of pasta sauce then Velveeta slices. I might make a couple slices of garlic bread to go with using sourdough bread

Tuesday - Tacos!

Wednesday - Cheeseburgers on grilled sourdough bread (think Hardees), tator tots and Vanilla Milk Shakes (National Milk shake day!)

Thursday - Homemade Chinese Buffet with Beef/ Broccoli, Beef/ Mushrooms, Teriyaki chicken, fried rice, egg roll and possibly baked crab rangoon.

Friday - Baked Cajun Tilapia, noodle side dish and peas

Saturday - Chicken Breasts - I'm thinkin' Cord en blu, scalloped potatoes

Sunday - Pork Steaks in mushroom gravy, Rice and cheesy green beans

Bob's going to call the office on Thursday so we'll see how the schedule actually holds from there. If he leaves, I have plenty of leftovers in the freezer to work on before I have to worry about cooking full meals. 

That's my week - what's on your plate?

Enjoy the Journey!

RECIPE WEDNESDAY - Meal Planning

I guess I've shown the planner in the past month. but I like this cover shot better. I finally got the opportunity to sit and menu plan last week. I showed the planner to Bob so he knows what's for dinner on which day. I'm also keeping the shopping list handy so as I think of something, I can just flip open to the next shopping week and add it to the list. This next shot isn't very clear but does show the a shopping list in progress.

This week:

Monday - Leftover Pot Roast (from freezer)

Tuesday - Chicken Enchiladas

Wednesday - Meatloaf/ Scalloped taters/ cheesy green beans

Thursday - Tilapia/ Wild Rice/ peas

Friday - Chicken Fried Steak/ mashed taters

Saturday - Raid the Fridge/ Freezer

Sunday - Pot Roast and homemade rolls.

The Chicken Enchiladas were super easy. Sunday night when we got home from shopping I put 4 large boneless/ skinless chicken breasts in the crock pot with a 1/2 C water and about 4T Taco Seasoning Mix. Put the lid on and set to LOW. Monday morning, they were perfectly cooked. I turned the crock pot off and let them cool while we ate breakfast. Then Bob forked the meat apart and put it in the refrigerator until Tuesday.

Last night I added about another 3 T. Taco Seasoning and 1/2 can petite diced tomatoes for moistness to about half of the shredded chicken and heated it up.

I heated 8" flour tortilla shells in the microwave on a paper towel for 15 seconds. One at a time, then sprinkled a bit of shredded taco blend cheese down the center, topped with a generous 1/4 C of the chicken, rolled them up and placed them seam side down in a  9x12 glass casserole dish that I'd pretreated with a butter cooking spray and a cup of homemade cheese sauce. I got 6 enchiladas in the dish then poured another cup of the cheese sauce over top, making sure to cover all of the tortilla shell so they'd stay soft during cooking. I put uncovered in a 350* oven for about 20 minutes... the length of time it took me to mix up a batch of breakfast muffins. (I'll share that recipe next week)

We each started with two (though Bob went back for a 3rd). I topped mine with diced tomato, shredded lettuce, sour cream, guacamole and Taco Bell taco sauce. Bob just had tomato and sour cream.

I had heated up a can of refried beans but we forgot they were in the microwave. Today I'll buy a small beef roast and make a batch of burritos for the freezer. One can of refried beans, a tiny can of diced green chiles and a small beef or pork roast will make over two dozen burritos!

We're moving in to week 2. We'll see how this goes. With Bob being off work until things on the river pick up again, I need to make use of the contents in our freezer and pantry. As cold temps move in really early, I'm thinking a pot of chili. Leftovers will go great on top of the burritos. 

This week we're combining the Master Bedroom and the bathroom. 

For most of the time we've lived here, we've kept collapsible laundry hampers in the bathtub to sort laundry in to. Of course, that means moving them to another location when we want to use the bubble tub. And frankly, they really take away from the beauty of one of my favorite rooms in the house. So after seeing THIS on pinterest, I decided while Bob is off we need to fix the blight.

Putting this laundry sorting unit into an empty corner of the bedroom will bring the beauty back to the bathroom and get rid of those horrid collapsible hampers. Bob will be able to put his clothes in the basket rather than piling them on the floor by his side of the bed and I can grab a basket on my way out in the morning and start a load without wondering if I have everything. 

I hope to have pictures of the build next week.