This week will be rough!

I volunteered to serve on a SACS school accreditation team on Tuesday and Wednesday this week.  A few weeks after I agreed to this I received an email about a hotel stay on Monday and Tuesday nights!?!  Do what?  The school is only 30 minutes from my house so this seems a little excessive.  Monday is also the night I teach cycling so I had to let the group know I "teach a class".  If they want to think it involves college or something more substantial then so be it.  This little wrinkle in the week will not deter my menu planning or execution of well thought out meals. 
We will also be eating a boatload of lettuce and greens because they are larger than life in the garden!  Anytime I mention salad or anything involving a green then assume I'm washing many little leaves. The strawberries are still coming, the radishes were pulled and I am making some pesto with arugula later this week for the freezer. I also worked like a field hand today putting tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, eggplant, okra, and asparagus in the garden as well as assorted flowers in pots. No room for the squash yet because of all the blasted lettuce!

Eat on!
Sunday
Thai Fried Quinoa (didn't happen last week!)
Edamame
Chayote Squash

Monday
Creamed avocado and lime pasta
Salad
Garlic bread

Tuesday
Dry soup mix I made in December
Cornbread

Wednesday
Warm spiced carrots and chickpeas
Israeli couscous
Israeli cucumbers

Thursday
Crockpot lasagna
Salad
Rolls

Friday
Turnip potato soup
Grilled cheese sandwiches

Saturday
Ian turns 40 so we have a party to attend!!

Back on track

I teeny tiny typed an entire blog post on my iphone last Sunday.  It took far longer than the computer ever takes!!  I went to post it and *zap* it was gone.  Needless to say I was very frustrated and refused to type another one. So there...

Back on track with the menu posting of the week.  I received my twice monthly food co-op basket last Thursday so that is driving the dinner choices.  My menu last week only stretched until Wednesday because of a jewelry party, book club, wedding reception and work event.  We really needed more dinner options because the children were not invited to any of the festivities!

Here goes nothing:

Sunday
Skinny buffalo chicken with lettuce wraps
Sauteed broccoli

Monday
Taco stuffed shells
Arugula salad
Rolls

Tuesday
Summer corncakes
Brazilian carrots

Wednesday
Baked halibut with sour cream
Garlic potatoes

Thursday
Thai fried quinoa
Edamame

Friday
Curry chicken salad
Grilled peppers
Chayote squash

Saturday
Dinner out...please!

Holy cow it worked!

I haven't weighed in at WW in two weeks because of spring break and then Easter. Sunday is my day of choice so today was my time to see what the last three weeks would bring for weight loss. I've tracked my points (not so much at the beach), exercised six days a week (even at the beach) and greatly restricted my alcohol (kinda sort of at the beach).

All that being said...I lost over seven pounds! I now have a 27 pound total weight loss! How freaking cool is that?!?

I'm certain that tracking, exercising and planning my menu each week is the reason for such success!

Here's the weekly shakedown:

Sunday

Pasta with chicken and mushroom ragu

Roasted carrot and beet salad with feta

German cucumber salad (so named for my mother-in-law)

Leftover homemade bread

Monday

Tomato-white bean soup with pesto

Salad

Naan bread

Tuesday

Zucchini and corn tacos

Garlic rice

Wednesday

Jamaican jerk salmon with mango pineapple salsa

Roasted asparagus

Thursday

Crockpot "hotdogs" and baked beans

Sautéed spinach

Cornbread

Friday

Leftovers...

Saturday

Out with the Ragozzines for Carter's birthday dinner!

Boo hiss...

Is there anything worse than packing up and driving home from a week at the beach?!? Gag!

We were home by dinner time and the fridge was completely bare. Bare if you don't count the aging yogurts and tablespoon of orange juice. Not much for dinner or the Easter family picnic. A grocery trip was the only option.

Kroger was ravaged! Not a strawberry worth eating or a leaf of cilantro to be found! After a *kidfree* shopping trip I felt renewed and ready to face the week of cooking. Here goes...

Sunday

Shredded chicken pita pockets

Thai cucumber salad

Monday

Asparagus pie

Quinoa salad

Tuesday

Tortellini crockpot soup (Board meeting)

Salad

Wednesday

Maple salmon

Roasted brussel sprouts

Thursday

Potato leek soup

Salad

Bread

Friday

Leftovers

Saturday

Somebody better get a date night!

The longest week ever...

The week before Spring Break is the llllloooonnnnggggeeesssttttt week EVER! This time next week I will be hosing down the children from a day spent on the beach. Doesn't that sound heavenly....

Meal planning of this week shall be focused on cleaning out the veggie drawer and eating all the leftovers from the previous week. My lunches usually consist of leftovers but even with this I am finding many little containers that need consumption. Whatever I don't cook or finish eating will get a trip to Florida with me!

Here's is what I *think* the week will look like...

Sunday
Black bean and corn tacos (didn't happen yesterday!)
Cantaloupe
Salad

Monday
Leftovers...late meeting at school and then teaching at the gym

Tuesday
Pesto eggplant with orzo
Salad

Wednesday
Middle Eastern bean salad
Broccoli and cauliflower au gratin

Thursday
Leftovers from Wednesday

Friday
Quesadillas
Whatever is left!

Saturday
Who cares...I'm at the beach!!!

Everything was going so well...

...and then the pipe burst!

I was so ahead of the cooking game. Prepping dinner and getting ready to move on to weekly breakfast cooking when a yell came up from the crawl space. Seeing as how it is crazy hot here in Atlanta already, the hubs was under the house changing the air filter. Three cheers for testosterone! Hubs was yelling because the water I was sending down the drain was spewing all over the undercarriage of the house due to a burst pipe.

The Little House on the Prairie method of collecting water in a bowl so it doesn't go down the drain did not leave much opportunity for breakfast cooking or the complex task of washing kale from the garden. No breakfast and no clean kale...

Fingers crossed for plumber magic so dinner can happen!

Here's what the week looks like...assuming there is a full functioning sink...

Monday

Spinach and feta pie

Roasted new potatoes

Tuesday

Hawaiian crockpot chicken

Brown rice

Salad

Wednesday

Grilled veggies

Quinoa Salad

Thursday

Dinner out when the in-laws come in town

Friday

Arugula salad with feta

Slow cooker Spanish chicken

Saturday

Tacos with refried beans and corn

Fixins!

I'll take some cheese please!

Decided to try a Paleo recipe tonight consisting of Shrimp and "Grits". The shrimp part was pretty standard but I added some flour (no no in paleo diets) to thicken the sauce and then a can of stewed tomatoes for more bulk.

The "grits" however were a completely different story! The paleo version uses cauliflower with almond meal and no dairy. Do what? I don't think so! I added real milk, flour and about a cup of Parmesan cheese. Now that's what I'm talking about!

By the way don't call these things grits! Make up a new title because this is NOT what my grandmother cooked us for breakfast.

The end result were happy kids and happy adults so that has to count for something!

Menu for March 12 - 17

Last week was a huge success in the weight loss department! It really goes to show that real food in proper moderation can produce results...as long as it isn't hummus (see March 9 post!). I give total credit to the amount of time I spend prepping, measuring and logging all my food. It is paying off!

For this week I have some fun planned given that Saturday is the blessed green holiday of Irish cheer.

Sunday

Black bean burgers

Parmesan ranch fries

Cilantro lime chickpea salad

Monday

Tomato soup

Quesadilla - kids

Salad - me

Tuesday

Eating out because of school meeting

Wednesday

Shrimp and grits - paleo style!

Thursday

Tuna casserole

Salad

Friday

Colcannon - nod to the Irish!

Salmon and zucchini with red pepper sauce

Saturday

Must use restaurant gift certificates before they expire!

Erin go braugh!

Hummus is bad!

Who knew that hummus would cost a bazillion Weight Watcher points?!? Now I know!

That "expensive" lunch resulted in the need for a better dinner option. Hello vegetable soup!

I recorded all my food, drank gallons of water and stuck to my menu plan for the week. We'll see what happens on Sunday...

One must be flexible

We must remember to be flexible with our food plans! When the mushrooms are looking pitiful and the spaghetti squash really needs cooking then the weekly food plan undergoes alterations.

I decided to use the spaghetti squash for dinner last night instead of later in the week as planned. I also learned to never overcook a spaghetti squash in the crockpot! Thank goodness for the tomatoes and feta cheese that camouflaged the squash mush. I was worried there for a minute! Even the kids loved the dinner last night...mush and all!

The mushrooms I bought *on sale* were starting to look a little withered so I moved the Grouper Sicily to this evening instead of Tuesday. I'll be having this little treat after gym time. Restaurant quality food!

Imagine this with brussels sprouts instead of asparagus!

Source: fl-seafood.com via Alison on Pinterest

I did manage to purchase the fontina cheese this morning while waiting for Madonna tickets to go on sale at the Publix Ticketmaster...which I did not get because they were over $300 three minutes after the general sale opened. Nope not bitter at all...

Fontina cheese = not cheap!

Off to sweat...

Best plans...

Will most certainly go astray! Yep that's what happens when one plans to bake like fiend this morning but finds there is only a half cup of flour in the house...

The grocery store beckons but the motivation to dress appropriately, get rained on AND drag two kids along makes the baking more of a dream than a reality. Good thing Monday is a day off!

I'll refocus my energies on cooking the food I have on hand. Here are the side dish lineups for today:

Brazilian carrots

Kale chips

Roasted chickpeas

Baking another day...

Weekly Menu

I'm finding the real key to weight loss success lies in the ability to preplan meals and cook on the weekends. I already have the exercise thing down pat but continue to struggle with the food! Ugh! This really isn't brain surgery...


Best way to tackle the problem is to commit and write it down. Here goes for the week of March 4 - 10:

• Sunday - White chili with chicken; salad




• Monday - Leftover white chili and salad




• Tuesday - Grouper Sicily with roated kale




• Wednesday - Spaghetti squash with tomatoes, feta, olives




• Thursday - Fusilli with three cheese and red bell pepper; crusty bread; salad




• Friday - Leftover fusilli




• Saturday - Whole-wheat orzo salad with broccoli pine nut pesto