Whoops! Long Break!

Hello again! Obviously, I haven't posted in over a month.  I missed one week, and then that became two and three, and finally I thought I would just let it go.  However, once again I would be quitting something I had wanted to commit to, so I'm trying to motivate myself to come back.  A lot has happened since I last posted.  The weight loss challenge at work ended.  I finished the six weeks with a total loss of 8 pounds.  I would have like a little more, but I'm proud of my progress.  I ran another 5K race, and I'm signed up for another one in April.  I have still been trying new recipes as well.  I started a new diet plan with a book I would like to write an extended review for very soon.

I'll be honest, though.  The last couple weeks have sucked for me.  I have not paid attention to what I'm eating.  I haven't worked out.  I've totally fallen off the wagon.  I'm really hoping the motivation will come to get me back to where I was.  I luckily haven't gained any of my weight back, which honestly surprises me, but I obviously haven't lost any either.  Hopefully, soon I'll be back on track.  I really want to get back on track with the blog too.  I know few to no people read it, but I love writing, and I think it's part of my motivation.

Recipe of the Week - Skinny Chicken White Chili

Again, this post is late this week, but I don't want to deny you this wonderful recipe I tried last weekend.  I'm a big chili lover, but unfortunately, my husband is not.  So, it's not something I get to cook very often.  However, when I came across this recipe, I knew that he would like it, as long as I made a few modifications.  The greatest thing I found about this recipe is that it took me about fifteen minutes of simple preparation, and then I just had to let it cook in the slow cooker until it was ready.  It's definitely the easiest recipe I've done so far.

Ingredients

• About 3 boneless chicken breasts
• About 2 tbsp. of minced garlic
• 2 cans cannellini beans 
• 2 cans fat free chicken broth
• salt
• pepper
• dried oregano
• ground cumin
• 1 jalapeno pepper, chopped (I didn't actually use this in mine, but I would highly suggest it)
• fat free shredded cheese

As I said before, this recipe is EASY! First place the three chicken breasts at the bottom of the slow cooker.  Sprinkle them with the salt and pepper.  After that, add the garlic.  The recipe I used called for 4 tbsp. of garlic, but even I, who loves garlic, thought that was way too much for this chili.  Finally add your oregano and cumin to taste.  I probably used about a tsp of each, but it's totally up to you.  This is when I would have added my jalapeno, but unfortunately, my husband hates them, so I couldn't use one.  I think it would have made the chili even better though!  Also, you could add other things here like onions, but we all know how much I hate those, so I didn't use one.

After your chicken is properly seasoned, add your cannelini beans.  Finally, pour in the chicken broth.  Guess what, you're finished for eight hours.  Cook on low heat for eight hours.  Once that is finished, take a fork and shred the chicken like you would pulled pork (it will be easy to do).  Finally, make sure the beans and chicken are well mixed, and voila, chicken chili.

It was delicious served with shredded cheese on top.  I would also suggest using sour cream.  It keeps very well.  My husband and I ate the leftovers for lunch for several days afterwards.  So, next time you need a simple cold recipe, go for this simple and healthy white chili.  

Weight Loss Challenge Week 4

I'm late again this week! I'm learning that it is very hard to catch up when you miss an entire week of school.  Anyway, I did my third weigh-in yesterday (although it is the fourth week of the challenge), and finally saw some progress.  Unfortunately, that progress was a measly one pound lost.  I'm honestly considering changing the name of this blog to Amy's Mediocre Weight Loss Challenge.  However, from the beginning, my goal hasn't been to win the challenge at work; my goal has been to become healthier.

I do think I'm on my way.  Progress is just coming slowly.  I have been eating healthier than I have in years.  I'm still having trouble getting in a real routine with my exercise.  It's odd because last semester, I had a great workout routine, and my eating habits were awful.  Now it seems like I just can't do them at the same time.  I really want to make a change.  I've just got to figure out how to turn that determination into consistent action.  I've kind of been a quitter all of my life.  I get really into something for a few weeks, and then my enthusiasm wanes.  I din't want this to become like sewing, scrapbooking, crocheting, photography, and all of the other hobbies that have fallen by the wayside in my life, especially since I don't think being healthy is a hobby.  It's vital to a good life.

So, to any readers I have, I pose this question: What do I do???  How do I stay motivated in my crazy busy life.  How do I keep up a routine.  Please, share any knowledge or wisdom you may have.  I think it's clear I need help.

Weight Loss Challenge Week 3

Well, obviously my posts are coming a bit late this week.  Overall, this week has been pretty crazy for me.  As I've said before, I'm a teacher, and I often do my posts after school while waiting for my after school activities to start.  However, my area was hit by a large snow storm this week, and I only went ot school on Monday.  Now, even though I was going stir crazy being cooped up in my house all week, I still kept finding excuses to not do my posts.  "I'll do it tomorrow," I kept saying. However, it's now Sunday, so I've run out of tomorrows for this week.  I also totally fell off my workout routine this week, so it's probably a good thing that I couldn't weigh in.  My eating habits have still been better, but I'm having horrible motivation issues when it comes to working out.

Hopefully this week will be better for me.  I've realized that if I want to become a better runner, running only three times a week is fine, but honestly, if I want to lose some real weight, I need to work out more often, and in different ways.  I busted out my Zumba Wii game the other day for the first time in several months, and it was nice to remember how fun it is.  This week, my goal is to work out four times, but it would be great if I could work out five times.

Recipe of the Week - Taco Casserole

Anyone who knows me can tell you that I'm a bit of a Taco Bell junkie.  I really can't get enough of it.  So, obviously, I was very excited when I found a recipe for a healthy taco casserole.  It let me get my Mexican fix without going, spending that much money, or eating too many calories.  Like last week, my husband seemed to love it, and it made enough that we had leftovers for at least two more meals.  If you're only cooking for a couple people, and you do not want a lot of leftover, you might want to shorten up my recipe a bit.  It's really not that tricky of a recipe, and I got to try some new things with it.  Here's what you need:

1 lb of lean ground beef
1 tbsp of olive oil
1 can of black beans
1 cup of salsa
minced garlic
taco seasoning
shredded cheese
tortilla chips

I know a lot of those ingredients didn't have measurements with them, and that's because I just used as much as I wanted to get the taste I desired.  My mom always taught me that for the most part, you don't really need to measure much while cooking.  

Here's what I did.  Before you get started on the stove top, preheat the oven to 350.  Then, I heated the olive oil in a skillet, and then I added the garlic to sautee it for a couple minutes.  Then add your beef and cook until it's brown.  I had honestly never considered adding garlic to my Mexican food, and I'm sad that I've been missing out all of these years.  It gave it such an amazing flavor, so I would really advise against leaving out the garlic.  After the meat is browned, add as much taco seasoning as you would like, as well as the black beans and salsa.  Mix them all well.  

While that is heating and thickening for a few minutes, prepare a casserole dish by placing tortilla chips on the bottom and pressing down to break them up.

Once you have an even layer, pour the mixture from the skillet over it.  Then, add a few crusched chips to the top (or skip this step), and finally sprinkle your shredded cheese in an even layer on the top.  Place the dish in the over and bake for about 10-15 minutes.  You want the cheese to be melted and bubbly.

After it's finished, feel free to serve it with some lettuce, tomatoes, or sour cream.  All of that sounds really wonderful to me, but I would have been the only one eating it, so I just opted not to buy it.  I ate this dish on its own.  

Not the best finished picture I could have taken, but I forgot to take a picture while it was still in the pan!  Despite my forgetfulness, this meal was delicious and really easy.  Please go try it for yourself.  

Weight Loss Challenge Week 2

Our second Wednesday is here.  I got to school this morning, dragged myself down to the office to face my weigh in and....... Nothing!  I haven't lost a single pound.  Our wonderful secretary tried to make me feel a little bit better by pointing out that I hadn't gained any weight, and I honestly am glad for that.  In the last several months, I've fluctuated around a ten pound range quite a bit, so I at least didn't do that.

This past week has been a struggle for me in my personal life and in my weight loss goals.  After having two and a half weeks off from school (snow days bought us a few extra days), I have been having a very hard time getting back into the swing of things.  I was surprised because I didn't have that problem during Fall Break, which was also two weeks.  I can't seem to get back on a normal sleep schedule, I feel so out of sync in my classroom, and I feel like I can't find time to get anything done.  I'm also having issues in my home.  My basement keeps flooding no matter what we do to try to fix the problem.  The ground has been so wet lately that our cars have been getting stuck.

Today, in particular, was a terrible day for me.  Somehow, there was some confusion with my roommate on the time I get up to get ready in the morning, and when I went to take my shower, he was already in there.  This obviously led to a late start in my day.  Then, as I was driving to work, I hit a deer! I know it happens, but it could have happened on a different day.  That left me in a pretty pouty mood right before I had to do my weigh in.  After all of this, I wanted to grab some food after school, but I had also forgotten my purse at home.  It has just not been my day.

I've also had a lot of problems sticking to an exercise schedule.  I know everyone says you just have to make time for it, but I really find that so difficult.  I only got in two runs last week, when I would really like to be doing three days of running, with at least one other day of another training.  This week, I ran on Monday with the plan to run on Wednesday and Friday as well.  I'm a big believer in taking a day off between workouts.  However, I had forgotten that I had also already committed to taking tickets at basketball games Wednesday and Friday, so there go my runs.  Obviously I can do it on Thursday and Saturday, but it's so frustrating that my schedule is already so messed up.

My biggest success in the last week is that I've been making much better meal choices.  There have been a few times when I've slipped and eaten stuff I probably shouldn't, but it's definitely been in moderation, which I've heard is the key to weight loss success.

Hopefully by next week, I'll be able to get a stronger routine that will lead to some actual weight loss!

Recipe of the Week - Crispy Coconut Chicken

Each week, I will be attempting a new healthy recipe.  On Fridays, I will post the recipe and my experience making it.  This week, I made baked crispy coconut chicken.  For my first recipe, I was very pleased.  I tend to take the easy way when it comes to cooking, but I used quite a few ingredients on this one (some of you will probably still think it wasn't that many, but I'm learning!).  Here is a picture of the finished product.

As you can see, I decided to pair my chicken with some baked sweet potato fries.  On to the recipe!

Ingredients

• about 12 chicken tenders (I bought breasts and cut them up myself)
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup flour
• 1 cup sweetened coconut flakes
• 1 cup panko bread crumbs
• 1 1/2 tsp. garlic powder
• 3/4 tsp. salt
• 3/4 tsp. curry powder

      * The recipe I used also called for cayenne pepper and onion powder, but I'm not a fan, so I left                them out.  Feel free to put them back in.  

Directions

Preheat the oven to 450 F.  If you don't want larger chunks of coconut, chop it until it is the almost the size of the bread crumbs.  I skipped that step and thought it was fine, but I think having smaller pieces would be nice too.  Combine and mix the coconut flakes, bread crumbs, and spices thoroughly in a shallow dish.  Place the flour in another shallow dish, and finally the eggs in a third dish.  Beat the eggs.  You're finally ready to start breading the chicken.  Drag each tender through the flour, then through the eggs.  Finally, coat it thoroughly in the breading mixture.  Place the tenders on a pan (preferably covered in foil because, hey, easy clean up!).  Bake the tenders for about 20 minutes.  Some of the coconut flakes might look a litte too black, but I promise, they're okay.  Just keep an eye on them.  Smaller tenders will cook more quickly, while larger tenders may need 25 minutes.  The breading should be golden, but still light in color like my picture above shows.  

I had a lot of fun making this recipe, but I was very nervous while it was cooking.  I really hate overcooked chicken, but I found it difficult to know if the chicken was thoroughly cooked as well.  Finally, when I thought they were finished, I simply cut into a few of them to check.  Overall, I would call this one a success. My husband and roommate sure liked it!  Tune in next week for my attempt at taco casserole!

Weight Loss Challenge Week 1

The weight loss challenge has officially begun as of today.  Unfortunately, I didn't actually get to weigh in.  We are supposed to check in with the nurse in which ever school we teach (elementary, middle, or high school), and ask them to weigh us.  When I checked in the morning, my nurse was very busy, so I finally got to talk to her at the end of the day, but she said it would be best to weigh in early in the morning, so I will do my first weigh in tomorrow.  Also, I will normally be putting pictures up, but those didn't get done today.  Just take my word for it, I'm not any smaller :).  I have started my running program up again (I took a little break over the holidays).  I have also been trying to eat more healthy.  I have made my first recipe of the week, which I will post about on Friday.  I have also been weighing my options more carefully.  Last night, while my husband were out to eat, I had a choice of loaded potato or chicken tortilla soup, and although I would have liked the potato soup more, I definitely realized that the chicken tortilla soup was much healthier and chose it.  I have also entirely cut soda from my diet.  Honestly, I didn't drink too much anyway, but it's never my choice now.  Oddly enough, now is the only time I've been craving, so I'm sure I'll cheat every once in a while, but I really don't think that is really that bad.

That's my number one rule in this endeavor.  I'm going to try to be healthier, but I'm not going to deny myself anything.  I want to make smarter choices, but that doesn't mean I can never eat a cookie.  It just means that I can't eat several cookies every day.  I love Taco Bell, and no program is going to make me stop eating it forever.  I firmly believe that I can eat whatever I want as long as I only eat the unhealthy foods in moderation.  I also think that exercise is incredibly important, so I will continue to run at least three times every week.

My Look in the New Year

This post was supposed to be done yesterday, but of course, other things got in the way.  It works out well that January 1st was on a Wednesday because all of the weigh-ins for the weight loss challenge at work are also on Wednesdays, so that will be my day for pictures of my progress.  These pictures were at least taken yesterday.  So here is how I look on January 1st.  I absolutely hate it, but I can't hide it, so I  might as well work hard to get rid of it.

I know the pictures aren't the greatest, not that it's easy to make this look good.  I'm going to work on my husband taking a step back and using at least a slight more flattering angle. :)