Videos

I've been on Amazon looking at exercise videos and decided to see what videos our library carries. Unfortunately they do not have many of the ones that I do like, but I discovered some I am anxious to try. Two of them are meant to strengthen/rehabilitate the knees and two are ballet videos. One of the videos I really like doing before had a lot of ballet moves in it and I loved that! So, I am anxious for them to come in so I can try them out!

Here they are on Amazon:

Strong Knees
Quickfix Rx: Kneehab for Knee Health with Jill Miller
The Ballet Workout Shaping & Toning
New York City Ballet Workout 1 & 2

Easy Hamburger Soup & Herb Quick Bread update

It has been so cold here the last few days I wanted soup for dinner. For some reason a barley soup was calling me. I remembered I had a recipe on the blog so that is what I went with: Easy Hamburger Soup. Man it is so good! Last time I had made it with turkey because that was what I had but wished I'd had beef. This time I had the beef. Even Aaron said he liked the meat (which is saying quite a lot). He probably would have finished the entire thing if we weren't pressed for time. I didn't have celery but it didn't need it. I added a kale leaf too. I probably should have added more though. So delicious!!

This is a great soup for a bread. I went with my Herb Quick Bread but wanted something cheesy too so I just added a cup of cheese to the dry mix. Since I have been more calorie conscious I used 1 3/4 c whole wheat flour and 1 1/4 c all purpose flour instead of 3 c. all purpose flour. And like last time, I subbed Italian seasoning and basil for the caraway seeds.

Today I had them for lunch - even better the next day. I decided I actually prefer crackers to the bread in my soup, but the bread is really good with cream cheese on it! (Thanks to Aaron for discovering that tidbit!)

Homemade Poptarts

Raspberry Pie Tart Pops aka Homemade Poptarts

The recipe calls for a pie sheet, but I decided to try it with a can of crescent rolls. Next time I will use the pie crust sheet. Notice that each 'square' is cut in half. One side will have the jelly and the other will be the top.

Each tart got 1/2 tsp of jelly. We decided to try two different flavors: strawberry and black raspberry. The top left one has already been folded over.

Seal each tart with a fork.

Time to put it in the oven! 

Baked at 400 degrees for 8-10 minutes.

The recipe tells you how to add frosting, but we decided to just do sprinkles. We added butter first so the sprinkles would have something to stick to.

Time for taste testing!

Not quite a thumbs up or thumbs down. The crescent rolls were not the right flavor for a pop tart. It is almost like it is too savory or thick. But the concept works and is a great one. Calorie wise I think the pie sheet would be better too.

Green Onions

I have known for awhile that you can re-grow green onions from their bulb. I finally decided to do it though after going through a lot of bunches in a row. It makes me so happy to see such greenery :)

A tip for doing this yourself:

You can cut all the way to the white and have a short piece to start with, but make sure that it does not get submersed in the water or it will get water logged and rot. This is a huge deal! You can see my little nub there on the bottom right of the jar. It was regrowing but it ended up in the water at one point and then it rotted.

10 days growth - ready for some trimming!

Butternut Squash and Kale Rice dish

Butternut Squash and Kale Rice Dish

based off of The Pioneer Woman's Butternut Squash and Kale Quesadillas

1 cup diced butternut squash

1 cup kale leaves

1 cup cooked rice (brown or white)

chili powder

cinnamon

nutmeg

salt/pepper

olive oil

I sauted the butternut squash until warm and a little tender and added cinn & chili power and set aside. 

Heat olive oil and do the kale. Set aside

Heat rice and add more cinn & nutmeg. Add the squash and kale back in and mix together until warmed through.

For more details about preparing the squash and kale, see the link above for the quesadillas. She does a great job showing how to do it (including a tutorial about cutting up the butternut squash).

Mom's Egg Nog

 

This year was my first Christmas away from home which meant I had to carry on the food traditions without Mom's help. Thankfully, Matthew and I have hosted Christmas breakfast on occasion so I have had Mom's guidance while making the egg nog before. I wasn't sure how it would turn out with just a basic recipe and my memory. I think it turned out really well - and the thickest egg nog ever!! It was so thick! Sometimes I would add milk to my cup to thin it out and it tasted very similar to the store bought which surprised me.

Here is the basic recipe:

Egg nog recipe:
 
18 eggs
1 qt cream
1 cup sugar
nutmeg
 
 
 Separate eggs, beat yolks very well. Add sugar. Add nutmeg and cream (whip  the cream first). Add beaten egg whites. (egg whites must be beaten very well, like you were making meringue)
 
 Make the sure the beaters are cleaned after beating the yolks.

Some tips - Mom adds sugar at every step so that 1 cup sugar isn't really accurate. I beat the yolks until they were almost white. The egg whites should peak like meringue, and the cream was beat really well too. 

More Birds

I made these birds for my brother's family for Christmas. Each one is certainly unique in the way it comes out. I like them though. My aunt made us a stuffed animal every year for Christmas. I could see me getting into that - though she had a lot fewer nieces and nephews than I do to worry about.

Lost it

I decided to just walk on the treadmill with a real good incline. The power went out suddenly and I have no idea how long I'd been walking at that point or what the calories were looking like. I walked an additional 20 minutes and burned 128. I was keeping close eye on it and at the 15 min mark I had burned 100. From that point on I was in a cool down and walked from 2.5 to 2.0 and burned an additional 28. I guessed at about 260.  I know I had walked at least 30 minutes before. Actually, my calories may have been over 300.... but I have no way of knowing for sure :( wah!! I thought about walking up to the 30 minutes mark to see what it would look like but I am tired now!! This was a good workout!!

Zucchini Oven Fries

Zucchini Oven Fries

Turned out really well (man it is nice to have an oven that works). Love the flavor!

Pumpkin Lasagna

Pumpkin Lasagna

Though I found this a little dry, it did have a great flavor and everyone liked it.

Check in

Last week - 176.8
This week - 176.4

Not a big drop, but I have been a lot more liberal with my food intake - eating all the calories I'm given, whereas before I would leave a good amount. Plus I think there is always a bigger drop in the beginning as your body gets shocked into functioning on a higher level and then tapers off as it gets used to the new routine. And then there's the whole issue of womanhood. So, we'll see what happens next week. This is a drop in the bucket compared to the overall picture.

Yesterday I wanted to do a quick workout but up the anti a bit so I did the 4 mph treadmill program (which means 6 minutes of solid 4 mph) on an incline. I was curious whether the treadmill would take the incline into account and apparently it did because the last time I did the program I burned 144 calories and this time I burned 168. It was harder too. The 6 minutes seemed to take forever because there was no 'set' for me to look forward to or break until the end. I learned a long time ago when I was using the treadmill regularly that every once in awhile it is good to do the slow program to work on endurance as opposed to speed.

Today I am supposed to meet a lady in the ward for breakfast at 9:30- one of the plans that got scrapped while we were sick - so I didn't have a lot of time to workout but I knew I needed something to help counter all the calories that will be consumed this morning. My knees have been bothering me too and I know that it really isn't good to run every day. My body needs a break in between. I didn't have time for CardioX so I opted for Chicken Fat (a kid's exercise video) that is basically calisthenics and runs for about 15 minutes total. I finished, jumped in the shower, checked  my messages and have been delayed 30 minutes. So, I hopped on an inclined treadmill and checking in. Love that I can walk and do computer at the same time :)

Healthy Pumpkin Oatmeal Shake

Healthy Pumpkin Oatmeal Shake from skinnytaste.com

Made this for breakfast today. She says to add ice, but I actually preferred it without - especially considering it is cold in the house. I loved the thick texture before it got runny from the ice too. Maybe if I hadn't added as much ice or blended it too much it would have been better.

This is a good source of iron and protein too. Win!

Per serving:

Calories 105
Carbs 22
Fat 1
Protein 4
Iron 4
Fiber 3

Weekend Recap

Despite the school holiday, I got up with Matthew at 6:30 and decided to keep up my routine. It is just barely 8 am and I'm on the treamill. LOVE this!

Friday I decided to take the plunge and do CardioX. Man that is such a good workout!! I felt so energized afterward and productive. I didn't want to sit down. I was certainly feeling it by the end of the day and Saturday my back was really sore - probably from the yoga and a few of the other exercises. I would have done it again today but I didn't feel like emptying the bedroom for the floor space. Instead, I opted for a 'quick' run on the treadmill but a stretch of my abilities: I did the 6 mph 20 min program.

This program is nice in that it bumps you up from 4.0 to 6 mph in .5 mph one minute increments and then after the 6.0 you drop to 3.0. whew. I talked myself through the last 30 seconds but I did it. I am amazed that I was able to manage the 6.0 easily when I was doing my 5K on the treadmill. I really was stronger when running outside even if I ran slower. Oh well. I am ok with doing the treadmill at this point. Balance....

I weighed myself on the Wii this morning and am only down .4 pounds = 176.4. I don't think I will see much of a weight drop on Wed but as long as it is still going down, that is progress. Considering  how many days I have eaten over my calories it is not a surprise but man I have been craving the carbs!!