Easy Mexican Crockpot Chicken

I love my crockpot and as a working (outside of the home) mom, I need to use it more.  Here is a recipe I found on Pinterest from RecipeMothers.  I changed it up a little, so here is my version.  It's so easy you won't believe it.

Ingredients:
Boneless, skinless chicken breasts (I made 6, but whatever fits in the bottom of your crockpot)
can of black beans
can of corn (leave the liquid in)
can of Rotel
8 oz block of cream cheese
taco seasoning
ranch dressing mix
rice or tortillas (or both)

I always use a liner in my crockpot because I HATE cleaning it afterwards. Place the chicken breasts on the bottom of the crockpot. Dump the beans, Rotel and the whole can of corn (including the liquid) over the top of the chicken. Because I don't trust my husband to do too much, I put these ingredients in a bowl the night before.

The original recipe called for Fiesta Ranch dressing mix, but I couldn't find it so I improvised.  I used a taco seasoning and ranch dressing and mixed them together.  I used most of both packets because I had 6 chicken breasts, but use your best judgment as to the amount of seasoning you want. Dump it on the top of the vegetables.  Finally, place the block of cream cheese on the top.  No need to chop it up (unless you really want to).

Turn the crockpot on low for 6 hours.  Some versions of this recipe use chicken that is still frozen, so in that case I would plan on 8 hours. It would probably work well if everyone is out of the house all day. If you have a husband who forgets to turn the crockpot on at the right time, it will still work in 4 hours on high.

When it is done, stir so the cream cheese gets spread throughout.  Pull out each chicken breast, cut it up and return it to the pot.  You will probably be able to shred it with a fork - it is so tender!  Serve over rice or use in tortillas.  We did both.  The rice thickens it really nicely so it isn't runny in the tortilla.  My kids loved this and they are not generally an easy sell. 

Enjoy!

cindy

Butter Tomato Sauce

It's summer and so many people are buried in homegrown tomatoes.  I miss those big beefy tomatoes from the Midwest, but love the Roma tomatoes we get from Yuma and California.  A couple of months ago I acquired pounds (I don't even know how many) of Roma tomatoes and thought I would try some homemade tomato sauce.  I found this recipe for tomato sauce made with butter and after reading the reviews, I gave it a try.

Before making the sauce I had to peel the Roma tomatoes.  (Some people don't peel Roma tomatoes to make sauce, but I wanted to give this technique a try.)  First, score the ends of the tomatoes like this:

 

Place the tomatoes in a pot of water and heat to boiling.  Watch for the skins to slightly peel back and immediately remove the tomatoes to a bowl of ice cold water.  Leave them in the cold water for a minute or two and remove them to dry.  You've just blanched your tomatoes.

 

 

 

 

See how the ends look a little bulgy?  You are ready to peel.  Carefully pull back the peel at the places where you scored the tomatoes.  If you get stuck, score them again anywhere on the peel and pull back the skin.



 

After your tomatoes are peeled, cut them up a bit or blend them if you really like smooth sauce.  Following the recipe I linked above, combine 2 pounds of fresh tomatoes with a peeled sweet onion cut in half. (Yes, you just float that onion in the pot with the tomatoes.)  Add 5 tablespoons of butter.

 

 

Cook it over medium heat until the tomatoes are reduced and not so watery and the butter is melted.  You won't be able to resist tasting it after the first couple of minutes and you won't believe how rich it tastes!  I added some chopped green and red peppers and minced garlic that was sautéed in a little olive oil.

 





At the end, remove the onion and you are ready to go!  It is so good and also freezes very well in Ziploc freezer bags.  Your family will love it, although you might not want to tell your older children there is butter in it because they tend to freak out over "weird" food combinations.

 

Enjoy those summer tomatoes!

 

cindy

Vegetable Overload!

One of the things my family bought for Christmas was a Ninja food processor. Thee weeks into the new year and it has claimed a permanent spot on our kitchen counter. We love breakfast green smoothies and I love it as the stand mixer I never had.

One of our family New Year's resolutions was to cook more and eat out less. We agreed we will only eat out on Saturday nights and we are going to cut out all of those fast food runs.

Combine all of these positive ideas and add a chance drive-by to a monthly farmers market and you get this:

But wait, there's more:

And, because we have a productive lemon tree in the backyard:

At the same time all of this was happening, I was reading about 40 meals in one day (or something like that).  Wow - I'm thrilled if I can get most of the week planned.  So, I decided to give all of this a try.  I hate waste - which is what happens to so much of the produce we buy at the grocery store - so I'm going to try to use or freeze it all.

Now do you wonder why I've been absent from this part of the blogosphere?

Stay tuned for my (mis)adventures with fruits and vegetables (and meal preparation in general).

cindy

Try It Tuesday - Rainbow Popcorn

Try it Tuesday is my opportunity to try a recipe or project, especially one I found on Pinterest.  This is one Mackenzie found on YouTube.  She was looking for "Bibble" which I still don't think we have ever found.  We did find Rainbow Popcorn.  If you like carmel corn, this is similar.

You need 2-4 cups of plain popcorn (no butter or seasonings) for each color (depending on how much color you want).  We used about 4 cups per color.  You can also add nuts (or other add-ins after the baking is complete).  You also need Jello, Caro syrup, granulated or brown sugar and butter.

Grease or spray non-stick spray into the bottom of a shallow dish, preferably a glass dish.  You can also line a pan with parchment paper, which will definitely be my preference next time.  Spread the popcorn in the pan and set aside.

Place 2 tablespoons of butter in a small saucepan and add 1 1/2 tablespoons of corn syrup.  Heat over medium heat, stirring constantly.  Add 1/4 cup granulated or brown sugar and half of a 3 oz package of Jello, your choice of flavor (color).  Stir until caramelized, being careful not to burn.  Remove from heat and immediately drizzle over popcorn.  (Don't be slow, this stuff clumps very fast.)  You can toss it a little to coat as much as you can.

Bake in the oven at 250 degrees for 12-15 minutes, stirring a couple of times during baking.  Pour onto wax paper, spread out and let it cool.

The Jello flavors make it really fruity.  I liked combining the flavors - it was like Skittles.  You can store it in Ziploc bags and it will last about a week.

I think the first time you try a recipe it's a good idea to keep some notes about what you would do differently:
1.  I would use less popcorn for each color so you get more coated.
2.  Substitute brown sugar for granulated sugar
3.  Use parchment paper to line the pan for baking.  You can then move the parchment paper around to stir the popcorn during baking.
4.  Important clean up tip - pour boiling water to rinse/clean pans and spoons.  You will never be able to scrub this stuff from the bottom of your pans, but pouring boiling water into the pans will work very nicely.

Enjoy!

cindy

Surviving Super Bowl Sunday

It's Super Bowl Sunday.  You're not going to a party and you're not hosting one.  You know your husband will be checked out today and you're wondering what you will do with yourself (and maybe the kids).  Here's a few last minute (desperate) thoughts:

1.  Watch the Puppy Bowl on Animal Planet (my personal favorite).  If you don't know what this is, you are really missing something fun on Super Bowl Sunday.  Here's what the Washington Post and L.A. Times say about it.  Your kids will LOVE this.

2.  Use your family as guinea pigs.  This is actually a reference to cooking, but not just any cooking.  Super Bowl is a great time to try out the recipes you've been afraid to try.  Your family (and maybe your football friends) will eat anything during the game so it's a win-win.

3.  Watch the Super Bowl commercials and halftime show.  Even if you don't like football, everyone loves the commercials.  They're usually the best/funniest commercials out this year.  I'm not sure I can say the same thing for the halftime show, but it's a spectacle, good or bad.

4.  Watch a chick flick.  I guarantee you will be able to get into the movie theater today.  Or, rent one and watch it on your other TV.

5.  Have a pajama party with the kids.  Play board games (yes, they make some even for little kids), watch videos together, eat junk food in sleeping bags on their bedroom floor.  You don't usually get a chance to do something like this, so have fun.

6.  Craft, sew, crochet, knit, scrapbook, BLOG - let your creative juices flow while the kids are in bed and your husband is otherwise occupied.  Most of us would give a kidney to have this kind of creative time.

If your husband insists that you watch the game with him or you otherwise must watch the game, pick a team and get excited.  Set up a series of gambling propositions (score at halftime, number of sacks for each quarterback, number of penalties) and see if that keeps you engaged.  Important to know - the San Francisco 49ers (gold and maroon) are playing the Baltimore Ravens (black and blue).

If you don't understand football, now is not the time to ask your husband to teach you - unless he really doesn't care about the outcome of the game and will look upon your request to learn as a bonding moment.  When I was a kid, I realized if I was going to get any attention from my dad or brothers on Sundays, I needed to understand football.  That doesn't mean I had to understand ALL of the nuances of football, but basically the idea of downs, punts, field goals and a few more.  Men love a woman who understands football, so it can be a valuable life skill.  (O.K., please don't send me nasty-grams about how sexist that sounded or co-dependent.  Just sayin'.)

Make sure you do something you enjoy today.  It's one of those few days when people stay put (wherever they are) for 3 hours.

cindy

Feed the Love - Valentine Desserts

Food is the ultimate aphrodisiac.  I can't decide whether looking at beautiful desserts or eating beautiful desserts is better.  I do like sugar.  I went looking for the most beautiful, yummy desserts for your Valentine's Day.  Some look easy to make, some not so much.  Of course, I have neither made nor tasted any of these desserts.  (But I might sometime!)  Here are the 10 I chose, in no particular order:

1.  Pomegranate Pana Cotta.  Pomegranates are supposed to be great aphrodisiacs, but I just like the way this one looks.

Source: epicurious.com via Cindy on Pinterest

2. Valentine Cookies.  Fancy looking without too much effort.

Source: marthastewart.com via Cindy on Pinterest

3.  Bittersweet Chocolate Pudding with Raspberries - There is something beautiful about rich browns and deep raspberry colors.  You could always make this with instant chocolate pudding mix, raspberries and some shaved white chocolate, but I bet it wouldn't taste anything like this :)

Source: myrecipes.com via Cindy on Pinterest

4. Coeurs a la Creme - If you're a foodie, give it your best shot. Otherwise, just look at the pretty picture.

Source: marthastewart.com via Cindy on Pinterest

5. Strawberry "oreo" cookies - These aren't Oreos. The only Oreo about them is that they are a sandwich cookie. Not too hard to make, but I'm just not convinced they are worth the effort when they don't present well.

Source: thirtyhandmadedays.com via Cindy on Pinterest

6. Carmel-Dark Chocolate Truffles with Fleur de Sel - Gorgeous, aren't they? You can click through to the recipe, but I would suggest leaving this one to the professionals.

Source: epicurious.com via Cindy on Pinterest

7.  Chocolate Glazed Chocolate Tart - Now we're talking!

Source: epicurious.com via Cindy on Pinterest

8. Watermelon Hearts - This is pretty, easy and light, but is that really the message you want to convey on Valentine's Day?

Source: otchipotchi.com via Cindy on Pinterest

9. Mini St(raw)berry Cheesecakes - If you like gluten free, dairy free, peanut free, egg free and more, give it a go to make other ingredients taste like all the above.  Me - I just love the picture, and it makes me want to go to the gluten/dairy/peanut/egg laden Cheesecake Factory.

Source: lexieskitchen.com via Cindy on Pinterest

10. Valentine Cake - Yes ma'am. This is stunning and really says Happy Valentine's Day. It looks pretty easy to make, but don't look at the recipe which will convince you otherwise.

Source: marthastewart.com via Cindy on Pinterest

I don't know about you, but I'm hungry (and I feel the need to turn on some romantic music). If I've learned anything from this, it's that the presentation is the thing. So I'll just be content to look, and either I'll save the calories or my husband will have to bring some beautiful dessert home.

 Cindy

Recipe - Cranberry-Orange Snack Mix

This is a repeat from last year - not only in posting this recipe, but also because it might be last minute gifts again this year.

It's getting down to the wire when I've got to think about all the "little" gifts I need - for teachers, babysitters, mailmen, other last minute recipients.  These are my favorite gifts because although I like to make them interesting, I don't necessarily have to give a lot of personal thought to them.  I also like to combine my love for the deal.  Specifically, I like to buy Christmas things right after Christmas for a song and wait and use them the following year.  When I unwrap my Christmas decorations, I enjoy finding something new - like Christmas comes early.  Last year I found these glass Santa containers on sale for $1.00 each (originally $4.99) at Target.  I thought I would make cookie mix, but because of the small size, I needed to think of something else.

 Cranberry/Orange Snack Mix

The ingredients are pretty simple:

2 c. Corn Chex

2 c. Oat squares

2 c. Mini Pretzels

1 c. whole almonds

1/4 c. butter

1/3 c. frozen orange juice concentrate, thawed

3 Tbl packed brown sugar

1 tsp ground cinnamon

3/4 tsp ground ginger

1/4 tsp allspice

2/3 c. dried cranberries (Craisins)

Preheat oven to 250 degrees and coat a 13X9 inch baking pan with non-stick cooking spray.  Mix the first four ingredients in a large bowl and set aside.  In a smaller bowl melt butter and add orange juice concentrate, brown sugar and spices.  Mix well and pour over the dry ingredients, stirring them to coat. 

 Spread the resulting mix on the baking pan and bake for 50 minutes.  You will need to stir the mix every 10 minutes.  

Once it's done, you add the Craisins and lay the mix out on a flat surface until it's dry.  You can store it in any airtight container.  As an extra bonus, your kitchen will have a wonderful smell of spiced orange and cranberry.  

This is better than any old cookie mix :)

cindy

Who Stole My Twinkie?

By now you have heard the news - the Twinkie, Ding Dong, HoHo, Suzy Q, Chocolate Cupcake - GONE!  Yeah, we've been hearing rumors for a while now that Hostess was closing forever and taking the Twinkies with it.  But I never thought I'd see the day when these important parts of my childhood weren't there for my children. {sigh}

Tonight, I went on a noble quest to find the last Twinkie.  It was an odyssey that took me through six grocery stores, a big box store, a drug store and a convenience store.  Epic.

First stop - Target.  They're big, gotta have it, right?  Nope.

That's it.  Strawberry Cupcakes?  Chocolate Cream Twinkies?  WTH?  Little did I know I was looking at the best selection I would see tonight.  I scooped up the box of Suzy Qs and moved on.

Next stop - Frys (Kroger for those of you in different parts of the U.S.).  Gotta be more, right?

More chocolate cream Twinkies!?!  They don't even look good on the box!  These were the last Twinkies I would see.  Meanwhile, Little Debbie was right there to mock me.  Check out these Cupcake, HoHo and Ding Dong wannabes:

Fresh & Easy - ummm, no.  I don't think Twinkies ever showed up there.

Safeway (Vons for the California crowd).  I had high expectations.  Too bad for me - crickets.

AND more mocking:

At this point I was running out of big supermarkets.  I gave Albertson's a chance.

I knew it was over.  No Twinkie stockpile.  No Ding Dong stash.  Only fake Cupcakes and HoHos in the future.  There had to be a place where there would be something!  Time to go to the K

I picked up a cherry pie and trudged to the door.  At least I got to taste that salty cherry filling in the sugar glazed crust.

I heard that Hostess is going to sell the Twinkie name and recipe, so I'm sure we will see our old friends again.  Let's just hope they don't look like bad cosmetic surgery.

cindy

Watermelon Blues

As the summer ends, there are things that go away. One of those things is watermelon. There are also people who are going away - high school graduates off to college and a dear friend who is off to the seminary. A week ago we had a party to celebrate our new seminarian and I made this recipe.

Fit Friday - You Gotta Have A Plan!

I'm learning that it's not enough to say "I'll lose weight" or "I'll exercise more."  Those are great resolutions, but with no execution of the resolution you've got no solution.  Enter - a plan!

More than half Most Almost all of what I write here is encouragement for me.  I'm certainly not in a position to be speaking from a place of knowledge.  Having said that, a plan is in order - for me or whoever wants to be successful in getting healthier.

It takes 3 weeks or more to develop a habit.  Until then, you probably need a strong routine.  For exercising, it means scheduling a specific time each day during the upcoming week when you will exercise.  In fact, you should also plan exactly what exercise you will do.  Hopefully, after the 3 weeks of the routine, you will be in a place where you will know when and how to exercise regularly.  I'm still waiting for that to happen.

With weight loss for me, it's all about accountability.  I need to weigh myself every day at the same time.  I know many people strongly discourage that, but for me, if I don't do it every day I won't understand and recognize that the extra helping of mashed potatoes I ate yesterday resulted in the extra pound today.  It can also go the other way - that hour on the treadmill resulted in a bonus pound loss.

Most importantly, you need goals.  The long term goal of 30 pounds by next November is great, but how do you get from Point A to Point B?  How do you know if you're on track?  I recently sat down with a calendar and determined how much weight I wanted to lose.  I don't have a particular timeline - a class reunion, a wedding, whatever, so I don't have a specific date that I need the weight gone.  I do know that I wanted to take a slow, sensible approach (especially after a stint on HcG).  I figured that for the first half of my weight loss I could do a rate of 2 pounds per week (which is pretty ambitious over time), but the second half I would do at 1 pound per week.  I figured out how long it would take me and marked the ultimate deadline on my calendar.  Then, I wrote the goal weight for each week on the calendar.  Now instead of thinking that 6 months is a long way off, I know I need to lose 2 pounds before next Tuesday.  Every "Tuesday" I plan to mark down my actual weight under the goal weight for that week.  If I'm ahead (I lost 3 pounds instead of 2 this week), I just got a cushion!

The same is true with exercise.  (I'm really paying attention to my own advice here.)  Identify the days this week you will go to the gym and the time.  Initially don't worry about what you do there or how long - just GET THERE.  Later you can set the goal for time and exercises you will do each time.  Finally, you can just identify the number of hours per week you need to exercise - how much cardio and how much strength training.

Wow, I have a lot of work to do.  Get out that calendar and get a plan!

Don't forget to check out the Fit Club every Monday for more inspiration.

cindy

Fit Friday - One Day at a Time

I'm in an intentional holding pattern right now, just trying to maintain what I've lost for a while before I continue on down the road.  I should be talking more about exercising, but I'm still stuck on food.  I've had a couple days now where I haven't been eating as I should and I have gained a couple of pounds.  (This is why I weigh myself every day so it doesn't get out of hand.)

A friend of mine who has lost about 100 pounds recently put about 40 back on.  It's hard to watch that, especially when I remember how she worked out like a fiend to get that weight off.  She's getting back on the wagon, though, so I think she's a great example.  I have this success/failure mindset - if I haven't completely succeeded, I've totally failed.  This is a dangerous game in weight loss.  I'm trying to address this head on and stay positive.  As I told my friend, this weight gain is not a failure, just a temporary setback.  That sounds so much better.

With Valentine's Day and my husband's birthday, it's been tough not to eat lots of sugar (my cryptonite).  If it's there, I eat it and I feel compelled to eat it so it won't be there anymore.  Hmmm, two problems with this:  (1) I have an issue with "wasting" food; and (2) I have made myself the human garbage disposal.  So many of us grew up with the "clean your plate" mentality, it's just painful to throw things away until they turn green in the refrigerator (although I've never seen sweets do that at my house).  Those poor children in Bangladesh may be starving, but they definitely won't be eating that leftover cake in my refrigerator!  The first problem leads to the next - eat it so it will go away.  This causes binge eating for me - not good.  I think I need to practice throwing away sweet things and then escort them out of the house into the curbside garbage can.

This is all part of the process for me - understanding why I do what I do and addressing it - one day at a time.  After all, there are no failures, only setbacks.

Have a great week and be healthy!  I'm linked up at Fit Club.  Visit there on Mondays to read all of our stories.

cindy

Fit Friday - Be Prepared

Remember that old scouting motto?  I'm starting to think it might be one of the keys to stabilizing my weight.  I have had a lot of success on any number of diets, and I'm convinced that the reason is that if someone is telling me exactly what to eat, I can do it.  (I'm also convinced that is why Weight Watchers works for so many people - you learn to make your own educated decisions about what to eat.)

I'm a busy person.  My days are not well planned and planning what I eat is very low on the priority list.  Ideally, I would carefully plan each day's meals in advance, carefully counting the calories and the fat content, but that's just not realistic.  The other thing about me is when I get hungry or tired, I will eat anything I can find, especially easy comfort food.

I am trying to work around all that.  I have come up with a short list of "meals" I enjoy for breakfast, lunch and dinner.  Some of them are fast on-the-go meals (even some "fast food") and others are things that are served in places I frequent (like the work cafeteria or favorite restaurant).  By having that short list, I can go into autopilot when I'm in a hurry, tired or hungry and eat something that's not going to sabotage my day.  The short list can even be tailored to suit any restaurant, with the exception of Mexican food which is very hard to eat reasonably.  

Strangely enough, my most difficult place to eat is not "out" but at home.  When I get home from work, I'm immediately foraging for food, even when I know what I am going to eat for dinner.  That's something I have to work on.  I'm thinking about coming up with a specific "snacks" I can turn to when I get home.

A little planning now might pay off in a big way.

Come see more tips at Fit Club - just click on the link to the right --->

cindy

Fundraising Follies

This weekend, we are going on a trip to California for my husband’s business.  He is a church music director and his children’s choir is singing at a festival and Disneyland!  Being the music director’s wife is like being a pastor’s wife – you’re expected to lead in supporting the ministry.  Sooo, I became the unofficial chair of the fundraising committee – a committee of two with my dear Katie to help.  We both work full time outside of the home so we were a bit handicapped out of the gate.  In fact, we didn’t start fundraising until after the first of the year.

Our big fundraiser was a multi-basket raffle.  We assembled baskets with themes and sold raffle tickets that the purchaser used to pick the basket(s) he or she wanted.  I enlisted the choir moms to either create entire baskets or donate items to include in a basket.  Some of the “complete” baskets were 25 boxes of Girl Scout cookies, a tool set, a spa basket, and a cooking basket complete with fancy kitchen supplies.  The other baskets were assembled by Katie and I and included individual items we put together.  We made a “Mom Relief “ basket that included perfume, jewelry, picture frames and thank you notes and a homemade teddy bear.  We also assembled a “Scrapbook” basket where we broke into our stashes and came up with albums, stickers, paper, tools, embellishments and a certificate for a day crop at a local scrapbook cottage. 

I learned several things about basket raffles: 
1.  If you ask people to put together a whole basket, let them choose the theme. 
2.  Ask people to donate items, group them together and create your own theme.  We had a “Religious Items” basket (complete with reserved parking and a front pew for Christmas and Easter). 
3.  Don’t be limited by the obvious themes – restaurant, manicure, movie gift certificates (although those are great), but use your imagination!  Our baskets included, among other things, a Scentsy warmer, homemade booties and a bag of Dove chocolate. 
4.  “Regifting” is encouraged!  It's best use of a gift you don’t want/need. 
5.  Don’t be afraid to ask local businesses!  We had donations from salons, a scrapbook cottage, a well-known Nascar driver, a photographer and a casino. 
6.  Think outside the box – what about a gift certificate for dry cleaning, grocery store, house cleaning services, the local hardware store, even babysitting from some teens at the church? 
7.  You don’t have to have a “big ticket” item in the baskets.  We did have a couple of baskets that included tickets to sporting events and a trip to Cancun, but those weren’t even the most popular baskets.  The most popular was the “Foodie” basket with bottles of wine, wine glasses, snacks and local restaurant gift certificates. 

The best part was that over a three week period of selling tickets after our masses, we raised over $6,000!  That was before the “tried and true” bake sale we had on Super Bowl Sunday.  Tomorrow I will give you some of the best tips I learned for bake sales.

cindy

Fit Fridays - Tracking

This is my first Fit Friday, which is my way of offering an update of where I'm at in my efforts to have a healthier life, as well as some little advice I can offer from my previous experiences.  Today I'm offering the best advice I can give as a start.  You have to keep track.  You have to track what you eat, how much you drink, how much you exercise and how much you weigh.  It sounds easy, but I've found it to be one of the hardest things I have learned to do.  Kim from The Fit Club has already written a post on a phone application she uses to help her.  You can read about it here.  I use a website and mobile app called Sparkpeople.  Back in November, I wrote a post about Sparkpeople.  Please check it out here - there are 10 good reasons why you should try Sparkpeople.

Good luck - be well!

cindy

Muddy Buddy Snack

I took these pictures with Christmas decorations, but this snack is great anytime and may be the sweet compliment to all the salty snacks for the Super Bowl.  The dry ingredients are somewhat approximate, just make a big bowl of crunchy stuff and then mix it with the other ingredients.  You need:

1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

1/4 cup butter

1/2 cup peanut butter

1 tsp. Vanilla extract

4-5 c. Chex (any flavor(s) you like)

2 c. Mini pretzels

1 c. Powdered sugar

Place first three ingedients and heat in microwave for 1 minute. Mix well and heat more if needed to melt everything. Add vanilla extract and mix well.  Mix dry ingredients (you can also add nuts, M&Ms or anything else).  Pour chocolate mixture over dry ingredients and mix well.  Transfer the mixture into plastic ziplock bags with 1/4 to 1/2 cup of powdered sugar in each, close and shake to coat.  Coat all of mix (adding more powdered sugar as needed). Serve or chill to store.

 (I just noticed my pictures look like it's a container full of powdered sugar, but it's my flash adding to much light.  It is coated, but not drowning in powdered sugar!)

Dive in!!

cindy

New Adventures - Part 5 Stabilization

The last time I posted about my weight loss journey, it was right after Thanksgiving as I began the "stabilization" phase.  During the 6 week stabilization phase, you are asked to stay within 2 pounds of your current weight.  The first week went really well, but then the holidays kicked in and kicked my butt.

It's the sweets that kill me.  Wow, we had sweets.  It seemed as if Kentster received A LOT of chocolate tributes this year.  Let's just say that my "stabilization" wasn't very stable.  I've gained a total of 6 pounds, 4 pounds over my allowed weight :(  Not much more to say about it.  I did finally dispose of all the remaining chocolate, banishing it from our house.

I'm going to take the last couple weeks of stabilization to get rid of some of the weight and then get started in earnest again.  I'm trying to stay positive because that's been one of my biggest problems in the past - the "all or nothing" attitude that makes me a complete success or a total failure.  No failures this time, just setbacks and hopefully small ones.

Here's to staying positive in the New Year!

cindy

Adventures in Weight Stabilization

O.K., I had to change the name or I would end up with Part 125 of "New Adventures".  My HcG course (Phase 2) is over and I'm happy to say I lost 34 pounds!  I'm not done losing weight, but now I have to go through 6 weeks of "stabilization."  That involves staying within 2 pounds of my current weight (over or under) for the next 6 weeks.  This is where the real challenge begins.

The important part of stabilization is learning the basic formula for losing or maintaining weight (especially for those of us who struggle with the up and down parts).  That formula is simple - balance the number of calories consumed with the number of calories burned through exercise.  Simple enough, right?  Yeah, sure.  If that were the case, I would be a very rich woman because I could solve the biggest loser of a problem with a simple formula.  But it is just that simple.  Now I need to learn it.

The rules of this stage are no starches or sugar, keeping the fat intake relatively low (about 22 grams per day) and watching the glycemic values of certain fruits so I can stay away from things like bananas, grapes, raisins and a few others.  I need to keep the water intake up too.  I have to figure out how many calories I want to eat each day, in large part based on how much exercise I'm committed to doing.  I'm not a big exercise gal.

I'm excited and intimidated at the same time, but I'm also loving the fact that I'm in different clothes now and looking better.  Keep up the positive thoughts and prayers - it's going good so far!

cindy

New Adventures Part 4

I'm now about a month and a half into this weight loss journey and am happy to report that as of today I have lost 30 pounds!  I'm very excited about this milestone, especially as it comes the day after Thanksgiving.  It wasn't nearly has hard as everyone thought it would be for Thanksgiving - after all, 500 calories in a day won't even get you past the sweet potatoes and stuffing.  But I went into it knowing I couldn't eat any of those starchy foods, so I was happy to join the family eating a little turkey breast, broccoli and jello (sugar free).

I have a little over a week to go with the HcG shots, then it's time for "stabilization".  That's the 6 week period where you can't gain or lose any more than 2 pounds from your base weight.  I have to admit I'm really not looking forward to this phase.  First of all, I want to keep losing weight, with or without the shots.  My "base weight" isn't going to be my ultimate goal weight and I want to keep moving.  Second, in this phase I will have more choices for food and I need to incorporate exercise.  You know, it's so much easier to stay focused when you don't have to make food choices or schedule exercise into the day.  So maybe I should be happy about 6 weeks where I can learn to balance food with exercise, while still negotiating the holiday season.

Anyway, I'm very happy I cleared the first big hurdle of the holidays - Thanksgiving.  Bring on Christmas!

cindy

Links in a Chain of Thanks

Although it's always special to spend time with friends and family feasting on turkey and joining together, sometimes it's hard to remember why we gather on Thanksgiving.  This year we're going to start a new tradition that will help us remember.

Start with some autumn color construction paper cut into 1 1/2" wide strips:

Provide a strip to everyone gathered at your Thanksgiving table and write why you are thankful:

Collect the strips and create a chain of thanks:

You can use the chain to adorn your Thanksgiving table or save it for next year.  It can also be a good addition to your Christmas tree to tie the holidays together.  This is a great activity for kids.  It's so easy to prepare (think about giving the paper to the kids during the morning when you're trying to cook), and it teaches children to think about the spirit of this American holiday.  You can also use the chain to ring your table and thank God for your blessings just before dinner.

Have a thankful Thanksgiving.

cindy

Pinterest Challenge - Part 2

The other day I took the Pinterest Challenge to create several of the items I saw on Pinterest.  Over the weekend, I tried a muffin/cupcake recipe:

You start with a box cake mix and a 15 ounce can of pumpkin (or you can buy the 29.5 oz can and two cake mixes).  You add - NOTHING!  That's right, two ingredients.  No eggs, oil, water or vanilla extract - NADA!

I could not believe what I was reading when I saw this recipe.  There must be more ingredients.  The result is probably dry.  The whole thing will taste like pumpkin.  NOPE.  You can use any kind of cake mix you want.  I wanted to make a bunch of cupcake/muffins, so I tried spice, yellow and devil's food cake mixes.  (If you read my other posts about weight loss, these were a bit of a downfall.  However, I understand these are considered fairly healthy and even have a Weight Watcher point value somewhere.)

Just mix the pumpkin and the cake mix with an electric beater

Spoon into muffin/cupcake tins lined with cupcake papers, and after 23 minutes at 350 degrees, you get this for the spice muffins:

And this for the chocolate/devil's food cake (these are actually pre-baking):

As for taste - excellent!  You can taste the pumpkin in the spice ones, but not at all with the yellow and devil's food cake mixes.  If you want an even more flavorful spice version, try adding a little cinnamon or a dash of nutmeg to the mix.  We also added chocolate chips to the chocolate cupcakes/muffins, which was just awesome.  You can also add cream cheese frosting to the spice or yellow muffins.  A note - I keep referring to these as muffins/cupcakes because the consistency is a cross between both.  It's not a cake, but a very moist muffin.  The best part for me was that they were so quick and easy to make, and the yield is about 18 cupcake/muffins.

Success!  One Pinterest Challenge down, three to go!

cindy