It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

I know you're thinking "What? It's only September 1st!" And you're right, I guess, but I'm already getting a jump on the Christmas thing. Don't be jealous.

Every year I make homemade goodies to give to family and friends. This started out as more of a "what-to-give-the-grandparents" thing than anything else, to be honest. Everyone likes food, right? Then I learned to can, and it's just snowballed from there. Last year was my first attempt at infusing liquors, and that turned out pretty good, as well. Also last year I made 4 different kinds of jam to give everyone, a loaf of beer bread and two kinds of cookies. What can I say, I'm a giver.

It was a little out of hand last year, I'm not going to lie. Josh and I decided to scale back a little this time around and stick with one kind of booze to make and give (instead of three) and maybe one or two kinds of jam. His brother was quick to shoot the one-jam idea down, saying he liked the variety. I gotta give the people what they want!

So far this year I have already made fig & honey jam and a ginger-peach one as well. I am going to do at least one more, and it's a toss-up between strawberry jam (classic) and pumpkin butter. I guess we'll just see what happens.

I reorganized the vintage metal cabinet in the kitchen that houses my canning jars and other odds and ends last weekend and also labeled my jams... this will save me a step when assembling the gift baskets this year instead of waiting until the last minute. The little labels just make me so happy I had to share!





Here's my little shelf of what I've made so far:



So fun, I can't wait to make more and give it all away!

In the next couple of weeks I will be starting to make the Limoncello... it was a hit last year. It's just lemons, vodka and sugar... Don't worry, I will save some for myself!

Weight Watchers Week 6 - ANOTHER GAIN!

I am up another pound, and I'm not going to lie. I am frustrated. I know for a fact I am not overeating, and not only that, I have exercised every day this month, whether it's walking 1-3+ miles at home or going to the gym.

Without going all TMI on you, there are other factors probably contributing to this, but I had hoped that I would see some downward motion on the scale anyway, or at the very least, to stay the same as last week.

I'm still not giving up, though! Resisting any kind of junk temptation just gets easier and easier by the day, and cooking healthy meals is something I love to do. Exercising isn't my most favorite thing in the world, but i love the way I feel once I've done it. Just going to keep pushing harder... there is absolutely no reason I shouldn't see a loss next week. If I don't then I am going to need to re-evaluate this situation further.

Since my no-smoothies for meals resolution for the week didn't help me any, guess what I had for breakfast this morning after my weigh in? ;)

Here's a few other things I've been eating this week...

Mondays dinner: shrimp, zucchini, garlic, tomatoes. Yum. Josh made this, as I was still feeling really crappy.


Snack: spicy roasted chickepeas. Yum! He made these, too.


Last night's dinner: Cayenne-spiced "fried" (baked) chicken and lemon-basil smashed potatoes. Josh was not a fan of the lemony potatoes (though he loves lemon), but I thought they were amazing.

Snow Day = lots of cooking!

Snow has once again come to Nashville. Wednesday afternoon got pretty treacherous. My drive home took about 2 hours and 15 minutes - and it was only 20 miles! My driver's side windshield wiper caked up with ice and I couldn't see anything. I was that panicked person with my hazards on all. the. way. home.

Yesterday morning, I knew there was no way I was going into work. I looked outside and saw none of my neighbors were going anywhere, not one car had driven down the street (until about 11 a.m.!), and then I turned on the news and watched people's cars spinning on the interstates. No thank you. I knew that even if I was able to make it out of my neighborhood, there was no way in the world I was going to drive the icy interstates. I wisely opted (with about half of the rest of the staff) to keep my booty parked at home.



Winter, I'm over you.

However, staying home isn't too exciting. So I spent most of the day cooking. When being housebound made me too anxious I'd hop on the gazelle and do a mile (3 miles total yesterday, yeah!). Craft night was supposed to be last night, but I cancelled it due to the weather. I had turkey meatballs mixed up and ready to be baked for it, so we had those for lunch with a cilantro dipping sauce. Both of those recipes are from http://www.skinnytaste.com/.



Josh didn't like the dipping sauce and also thought the meatballs were 'too oniony', so I brought the leftovers to work (along with the white bean dip I made for craft night) and they seem to be going over just fine here!

I find baking to be good for soothing the ol' nerves as well, so next I decided to make a Weight Watcher's chocolate souffle I've been drooling over, since I already had all the ingredients on hand. It only takes about 12 minutes to bake, since you do it in a skillet. If you can melt chocolate chips, whip egg whites, and fold it all together, then you can make this! Don't be intimidated by the word 'souffle'!



Obviously the portion with ice cream belongs to my husband, who has never met a chocolate dessert he didn't like! He ate eight out of the ten servings it makes, and managed to do so in just two tries! ;)

Lastly, I decided to make some pear muffins.



I have happy coworkers today. I think they forgive me for not being here yesterday!

Weight Watchers, Week 5 - I gained. :(

Yep, that's right, folks... I gained half a pound this week. The good thing is that I think I know where I went wrong.

#1. Mother Nature takes some of the blame *ahem*. Nothing I can do about that.

#2. I am not consuming all of my points most days, and I think that's working against me. I'm not doing it on purpose, it's just that I'm not that hungry anymore. I don't snack, and most of the time I don't even want to EAT. As I mentioned in a previous post, I am fine with drinking smoothies 2 meals out of the day (I'd do it for three if I had a blender at work). However, it was explained to me that digesting liquids uses less energy than digesting and breaking down actual food, so I am burning even less calories. I'm really doing myself a disservice.

I really though that with eating less and really stepping up the exercise that I'd see a nice change on the scale this week, but I didn't. There is always next week! While this wasn't my happiest weigh in, I don't feel discouraged or want to give up. I love Weight Watchers, being active, and my current lifestyle. I'm not going to stop!

Here is last night's dinner (though I didn't eat it, I opted to have a smoothie instead). Can you guess which one is mine? (Hint: it's not the one covered in so much cheese that you can't even see the tortilla!)


I'll be eating it for lunch today...in just a few minutes, actually! Yum.

My goal for this week is NO SMOOTHIES AS MEAL REPLACEMENTS. I will allow myself an occasional 2 pt WW smoothie WITH a meal, but not AS a meal. And my mocha PB smoothies will only be a treat after an extra hard workout at the gym on weekends. Looks like my chewing muscles are going to get a long-overdue workout!

Weekend (and the cardio lecture that backfired)!

The boys came home Friday night from their dad's (yes, my ex and I share custody of the dogs), and while my little momma's-boy Julio was happy to see me, he was more happy to see his poppa.


Julio says "This is MY poppa."


"MINE"


"ALL MINE :)" (look at that little doggie smile)

The weekend wasn't all about the dogs, however... I was a cooking and exercising fiend. It started last Saturday, on my walk with Meredith. It felt good to get my body moving again, so good that on Monday I drug the Gazelle out of the spare bedroom and did a mile. Tuesday morning (Feb 1) I read on a friend's FB page that she and some others were running a mile every day for the month of February. Now, I am not a runner and I don't know that I ever will be...But I decided to join in in my own way, by committing to walking a mile every day on the Gazelle (still too cold to walk much outside, and I can't watch TV outside either - haha). After just a week, the changes in the way I look and feel are very apparent (to my eyes), so much so that  a mile is not enough! I just keep going and I love it.

Saturday was the return to the gym for the Bip and me (he hadn't been since he got sick shortly after our wedding. I went a few times but then got too involved with canning and other Holiday things for a few months). On our way there, I received the "cardio lecture" yet again from my loving husband. In his mind the only "good" cardio is the elliptical (which I hate and it aggravates my knee), or running. He informed me that the treadmill I was planning to use was simply not good enough and I wouldn't see any changes. I ignored him - after all, one of my goals for the new year is to find an exercise plan that works best for me.

When we arrived at the gym, I hopped on that treadmill and swiftly walked my little (shrinking) tail off, my ponytail whipping from side to side as I read the closed-captioning for "That's So Raven" on the TV above me. In the mirror, I could see my loving husband behind me on the elliptical.. and it was kicking his ass. After 3 minutes (yep, I timed him), he had to get off and take a break to "stretch". It was hard to keep from smiling. He did get back on the horse, so to speak, though he spent much of his time on it bent over as though he were about to pass out at any given moment.

After my treadmill time, I moved onto the exercise bike, two ab machines and some sit-ups. I'm proud to say I whipped my sweet husband's butt on those. I think I will be spared the cardio lecture for at least two more weeks, because he cannot deny that even though I am not doing it 'his way', it's working for me. I'm not going to tell him "told you so", as being silently right is sometimes the best revenge. ;)

Cooking also played a big role in the weekend. I love meal planning and shopping, though I could still live on these, and sometimes do for two meals a day:
http://recipes.rodale.com/Recipe/mocha-peanut-butter-cooler.aspx (this or oatmeal are the two sure-fire breakfast things that truly keep me feeling full until lunch)

Friday night I made this beef and broccoli stir-fry. So darn good, and the leftovers were just as great.


Yesterday I made a chili roasted chicken & potatoes, and roasted some cauliflower and grape tomatoes with garlic. It was a great (though not very colorful) Sunday meal.





And then the Bipster begged me to bake WW mini-choc chip cookies, so I obliged him (very quick to mix up and only 6-8 minutes to bake).


After I made our menu for the week, I noticed we were leaning heavily on spicy and/or mexican food. I mean, chili-spiced chicken, spicy beef tacos, enchiladas, chorizo burritos... wow. We like spicy. Tonight, however, is a repeat of last week's shrimp sandwiches since we loved them so much. Thursday is potluck/craft night with some girlfriends, and we're doing all appetizers. I found some great WW ones that I can't wait to try. Southwestern Turkey Meatballs with a Creamy Cilantro Dipping Sauce? Yes, please.

And here's two gratuitious dog shots:




I'm out... happy Monday!

Weight Watchers - week 4!

I did my 4th weigh-in this morning and I am down another pound! I was worried I wasn't going to see a loss this week (I do weigh myself more than once a week, to get a feel for how things are going, but my *official* weigh-in day is Wednesday)... I haven't been all that hungry, and not using all my daily points. In fact, I rarely want food. I crave smoothies made from fat free chocolate milk, peanut butter and banana all. the. time. I could live on that. I was also feeling quite bloated most of the time (not sure why). But, these last few days I stepped up the exercise and I think that pushed me over into the 'loss' category. Very happy! In fact, I am less than half a pound away from a 10-lb total loss!

Last night's dinner was great! Chrorizo and bean burritos. It's not from a WW cookbook but from this book that Miriam gave me:

Here is the final product:

Wow, were they ever good! I only bought one can of beans (oops), so we could only make half the recipe (3 servings instead of 6). The good news is I just have to buy a can of beans the next time we go to the store and I can make them again next week (or maybe even this weekend) because I have all of the other ingredients.



Despite the Bipster having two very generous servings, there was a (very) little bit left... so guess what I am having for lunch? (I refused to let him claim the leftovers this time!)

Mmmm, food!

Last night was one of the best WW dinners so far - definitely one we'll repeat often.

First up, chili-lime glazed broiled shrimp (except I was out of limes so I used lemons). It's basically shrimp tossed in garlic, chiles en adobo, salt, lime juice & zest.



On the side we had "Warm Chile Spiced Edamame". Oh my heavens. First, we boiled the edamame according to the package directions, then popped it in a skillet for a minute with some canola oil, chipotle chile powder,cayenne pepper, black pepper and salt.




Absolutely full of flavor and delicious!! However, I am so used now to not having salt, that the 1 tsp that was in it felt like too much to me. Next time I'll halve that amount.

I chose to keep it separated:



But the Bipster mixed it all together.


Either way, it was delicious. And speaking of delicious, I have finally finished browsing my newest WW cookbook (and marked something on just about every page that I want to cook!)... how wonderful does this look? The Bip wouldn't be caught dead eating it, but that's alright... just means more for me!

I've been cookin'!

I promise someday I'll stop gabbing about Weight Watchers... About 13 pounds from now.

Ok, ok...maybe 11 pounds from now. Believe me, I'd rather be blogging about house projects and vacations and parties and those kinds of things (come on, spring!)... Hopefully soon. All I want for Valentine's Day is a damn trip to IKEA. Seriously.

In the meantime, WW is obviously a huge part of my life. I just got a new WW cookbook on Friday, so it was fun to do most of my meal planning this week from that. One thing that I really have a hard time with is not being able to gulp down chocolate milk with abandon. Don't get me wrong, I love water. I gave up soda at age 10 (water just tasted better to me), and I am so glad I did or I might have a lot more than 10-15 lbs to lose at this point in my life. However, I do enjoy a root beer from time to time or chocolate milk, or even a little juice with my weekend breakfasts. But with WW, it's all water, all the time (I don't "do" Crystal Light or any of that other crap). So I was thrilled to find this recipe on the VERY LAST PAGE of my new WW cookbook. It's kind of a smoothie and here's the recipe (it's 2 WW points):
1/4 banana
1/4 c. ice
1/4 c. nonfat choc milk
1/4 c. fat free vanilla yogurt

Blend it altogether and bam:


Absolutely my new favorite thing.

Yesterday was a bit of a cooking frenzy. I love those kind of days. I made pulled pork BBQ sandwiches in the crock pot for dinner:

(sorry I didn't take a pre-eaten photo)

Then I made individual pineapple/candied ginger upside down cakes.

In progress:


Out of the oven:


Ta-daa!:


I only had a bite, but they were good. The Bipster likes the cake part, but not the fruit. Go figure. He hates raw vegetables, but likes them cooked. He likes fruit raw, but not cooked. The boy makes my head spin.

I also got a head start on what will be tonight's dinner. It's chicken marinated in pineapple, jalapeno, ginger, shallots, soy sauce, honey, and lime juice:


And last but not least I made a 1 point veggie soup. My goal is to eat it in the afternoons, about 2:30-3:00 when I start getting hungry and cranky.


Tomorrow is my week two weigh-in. I don't think I will see any loss due to -*ahem*- Mother Nature. As long as I don't have a gain I will be happy.

At this point I'm still enjoying it (except for the afternoon hungry/grumpy thing), and really loving the meal planning part especially. I love to cook and I get very excited deciding what I am going to make each week - not only does it taste good, but it's good for me. This plan is a very good fit for my life (since I like cooking and planning), and I hope as this continues that the recipes I am making now will become a permanent fixure in my life. You know how you always have 5-10 recipes that are your 'regulars' that you fall back on? I am hoping these become my 'regulars'.

A little photo dump

I'm kind of at a loss for something to post, so here is a visual aid for what is happening at the Parker Hizzle.

Julio is still recovering, and enjoying being an only child (Jorge is with my ex until Julio's stitches are out). I mean for the first 5 days he had canned food (they seem to think that is just the tastiest stuff) and pain meds every morning... Talk about bliss. He was stoned out of his mind, full and napping all day. After paying someone to chop his giblets off, it was the least we could do.



It snowed. I think it's going to snow some more.







Tomorrow marks one week of Weight Watchers for me. I have lost 2.8 lbs so far, I am hoping it will be 3 by the 7 day mark. I am cooking all the time, and the Bipster couldn't be happier about it. Deep down I think that's what every man wants - a partner who can rock it in the kitchen. Everything I have made so far has been super tasty, and none of it tastes like "diet food", so he's not feeling at all deprived. I'm not going to lie, I miss mindless eating and junk food, but there is a time and a place for that. It's just not right now. While the pounds lost have been minimal, that plus the diet change (not much salt or sugar) has been enough to significantly decrease the belly bloat I am usually carrying around, and yesterday I was able to comfortably wear some jeans that I have only been able to wear with Spanx for the last several months.

Here's some of the stuff I've been making.

Chili (this was exceptionally flavorful, especially considering there is no salt in it):


This was breakfast one morning. Wheat toast with a wedge of laughing cow cheese and scrambled egg whites on top:


Mini chocolate chip cookies - just one point each!:


Pot roast:

Obviously this had been somewhat eaten by the time I snapped a picture.

Tonight we're having shrimp with a lime/cocktail sauce and I'm looking forward to it!

And... that's all I've got.

Busy Saturday!

I was literally on my feet all day Saturday, from the time I woke up until about 8:30 that night. I was a grocery shopping, errand-running, liquor-making, canning fool.

I started a batch of Limoncello:



It takes 8 weeks from start to finish, but we'll still give some bottles out for Xmas. We'll just put a note on them stating when they'll be ready to drink (January 15th - not that I'm counting down the days or anything). The first step was mixing the vodka with the lemon peel. You give it a good shake every day for two weeks, and then strain the peel out and add lemon juice and simple syrup. Vodka, lemons & sugar. I mean, how good is that going to be? Really good.

This little guy was at my feet the whole time I was working in the kitchen.



I found love while cutting figs:





Here's a portion of my day's work:


And here's just about everything (peach butter, fig jam, strawberry jam, tomato-chili jam, a few vodkas):



You can't really see the 12 or so jars of peach butter behind the big jars on the top shelf, but they're there.

I have enough of everything for Xmas gifting now, all that's left to work on is the infused vodkas. Gonna hopefully finish those this weekend.

Spicy Sunday!

We love to eat at Casa Parker. And a lot of the time, we like our food to have a little bit of heat to it.

Yesterday was kind of a spicy day.

Saturday, I was thumbing through this (seriously, go buy a copy!):

and found a recipe in it for "Mexican Hot Chocolate Cookies". Well, like I said, we like spicy. And we really like spicy chocolate, so this seemed like a no-brainer to try. I decided to make them on Sunday. Sundays are the days I feel most motivated and domestic and project-oriented. I wish there was more than one Sunday in a week, don't you?

Also (on Saturday), my friend Daeon posted a link on her facebook to Giada DeLaurentiis' spicy mochas. I make those quite often (though I've modified the recipe some), and Josh loves them. So I thought it was high time I make them again. I confess, just thinking about them got me craving them!
Sunday morning, I made them (though a bit too spicy this time - oops) to go with the rest of our awesome breakfast.



(Spicy Mocha, nutella toast, cheesy scrambled eggs that I cooked in a little bacon grease {!}*, and some of those little bacon appetizers we made previously for our Halloween party. We made this batch Saturday night, and used brown sugar on them this time instead of parmesan cheese)

Before dinner, I whipped up the Mexican Hot Chocolate Cookies. They are delicious! It's basically a chocolate cookie dough base. You roll it into balls, and then roll the balls into a mixture of sugar, cinnamon and cayenne pepper. They have just the right amount of heat, and are so good for milk-dunking.



For dinner, we had even MORE spice.

I decided to try this recipe I ripped out of the latest issue of Cooking Light:



We had to modify it slightly. I had no canola oil, so I used olive oil to cook them in. But you basically coat chicken tenders in a mixture of flour, black pepper and paprika, then dip into an egg mixture (2 eggs, lightly beaten with a little water), then roll them in some crushed whole grain flake cereal (I used Total Whole Grain Flakes).



Here's where the spicy comes in: the dipping sauce. It's made with mayo (the recipe called for canola oil mayo, but we didn't have that so I used olive oil mayo), Sriracha hot sauce (which is a staple in our house!), lime juice, and soy sauce. It was wonderful - almost a sweet/hot kind of thing. And the sauce was so cool and creamy, and the chicken was so crunchy on the outside. It was a perfect combination of textures and flavors and the perfect dinner. I think we moaned a little with every bite.





I love Sundays, but I REALLY love spicy Sundays!





*Josh said they were hands down the best eggs he had ever eaten in his life.