Fall is in the air!......'Til we move back to Phoenix:/

 

 

     Well, it's confirmed! We are headed back to the Valley of the Sun.....a suburb of Phoenix, AZ! I'm still not sure how I feel about all of it but ready or not, here we come!

 

     It's still quite summer-like in AZ, which I am none to thrilled about but hey, whatcha gonna do? It's going to be a quick transition. The hubby starts his new job on the 17th and we probably wont get out of here until the 14th!:/ Its alot of stress and worry over financial things and it will be difficult to keep up our good eating patterns.

 

I love Fall...the sights, smells and good recipes! I recently made a super-simple recipe for low-cal pumpkin muffins. All you do is take 1 box mix of spice cake and add a 15 oz can of pumpkin to it. I added one egg for texture but its still good without. I sprinkled glazed pecan pieces on top and baked at 350 degrees for about 18 min. They were AMAZING and only about 100 calories per muffin. Great snack or to go with a light breakfast! The recipe makes 12 good-sized muffins!

 

 

 

     Pumpkin is one the so-called super foods!Superfoods are a special category of foods found in nature. By definition they are calorie sparse and nutrient dense meaning they pack a lot of punch for their weight as far as goodness goes. They are superior sources of anti-oxidants and essential nutrients - nutrients we need but cannot make ourselves. We all may be adding more salads and vegetables to our diets, but concern over the quality of foods grown on mineral depleted soils makes Superfoods an intelligent choice.

 

     Eat your foods by color! As a rule, those foods with bright colors are better for you too eat! Any kind of berries, green leafy vegetable, pumpkin, squash, sweet potatoes and the like and filled with nutrients and anti-oxidents. Small servings of nuts, whole grains and seed are also good choices.

 

     Don't think I'm preaching at you or giving you lessons because that is the farthest thing from what I'm trying to do here! I'm adding all of this information so I can learn at the same time. By putting all of this info down, I'm also trying to reinforce the choices that I am making!

    

     I had a new driver's license picture taken the other day and omg! Its amazing to see what you perceive yourself to look like as compared to what you really do! LOL Granted driver's license pics aren't high quality photos by any means but I think I looked like a shiny-faced, straw-haired cartoon character! I wanted to openly weep in public! Am I being delusional about my looks? My weight? What else am I delusional about? Don't answer that!>:( Sometimes things just come up and smack you right straight in the face and make you take a closer look at yourself.

 

     For the most part, I don't care what people think about me. I do, however, care about how my actions, decisions and looks, affect those closest to me. I need to check myself before I wreck myself! )Ive always hated that saying and don't really know why I used it). When I spout off to someone in public, don't make myself presentable before going out and harbor a consistent, pessimistic, bad attitude, I hurt those around me as well. I don't want my son to grow up with the same negative self image and attitude that I did. I also find that when I am calm and collected and positive, it rubs off on my family as well. Its a big job to be a wife and mother! Moving in the next couple of weeks will test my ability to put these attitudes into action! My Mom sent me a scripture this morning that fit my situation to a T!

 

 

 

 

 

Philippians 4:6-7

New Living Translation (NLT)

⁶ Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. ⁷ Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.

 

     What a comforting and powerful verse! I will take it to heart:)

 

     I probably wont be around too much the next couple of weeks as we get our new house picked out, set up and get settled in. Hopefully I will have nothing but good reports when I return, of how our eating habits stayed strong, the move was smooth and things are once again looking up! Enjoy the cooler weather my friends and try one of these recipes!:) Hugs to all!

 

**********************************************************

I love cheesecake, but without any modification it's a very high fat dessert. This reduced fat pumpkin cheesecake uses light cream cheese, fat free cream cheese and egg substitute, making a more modest yet flavorful pumpkin cheesecake that's perfect for your holiday table.

 

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Cook Time: 40 minutes

Total Time: 1 hour

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup Ginger wafer cookie crumbs (about 10-12 wafers)
• 1 8-ounce block of fat-free cream cheese, softened
• 1 8-ounce block of reduced fat creamcheese, softened
• 1/2 cup canned pumpkin
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp ginger
• 1/4 tsp cloves
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup egg substitute

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray bottom of a 7-inch removable-bottomed tart pan with butter-flavored cooking spray. Sprinkle cookie crumbs on bottom of pan. Spray briefly with cooking spray and press crumbs down. Cook base for 10 minutes, then remove from oven.

Place cream cheeses, pumpkin, spices, vanilla and sugar in a large mixing bowl. With an electric mixer beat on medium until thoroughly blended. Add egg substitute and beat on low until blended.

Pour pumpkin cream cheese mixture on to ginger cookie crumb base. If you have a little left over, pour it into a ramekin to cook alongside the cheesecake.

Bake cheesecake for 40 minutes until just set.

Serves 6-8.

Per Serving: Calories 212, Calories from Fat 81, Total Fat 9g (sat fat 4.6g), Cholesterol 24mg, Sodium 317mg, Carbohydrate 23.1g, Fiber 1.3g, Protein 1.3g

 

*********************************************************

Hot Spiced Cranberry Cider

Rated: Submitted By: Michele O'Sullivan Photo By: What a Dish! Prep Time: 15 Minutes Cook Time: 25 Minutes Ready In: 40 Minutes Servings: 25

"Make some memories with the aromas of cinnamon, clove and lemon, mingled with hot apple cranberry cider."

Ingredients:

2 quarts apple cider 6 cups cranberry juice 1/4 cup packed brown sugar

4 cinnamon sticks 1 1/2 teaspoons whole cloves 1 lemon, thinly sliced

Directions:

1.	In a large pot, combine apple cider, cranberry juice, brown sugar, cinnamon sticks, cloves and lemon slices. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer for 15 to 20 minutes. With a slotted spoon, remove cinnamon, cloves, and lemon slices. Serve hot.

Nutrition Information Servings Per Recipe: 25 Calories: 79

Amount Per Serving Total Fat: 0.2g Cholesterol: 0mg Sodium: 5mg

Amount Per Serving Total Carbs: 20g Dietary Fiber: 0.6g Protein: 0.1g

Use light juices and Splenda brown sugar for even less calories and carbs!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Truth or Consequences, NM and Setting Attainable Goals



And now it's time for Truth or Consequences.......

Truth or Consequences, NM is actually a real town! Truth or Consequences is a spa city and the county seat of Sierra County, New Mexico, United States. As of the 2010 census, the population was 6,475. It is commonly known within New Mexico as T or C.

Originally named Hot Springs, the city changed it's name to Truth or Consequences, the title of a popular NBC radio program. In 1950, Ralph Edwards, the host of the radio quiz show Truth or Consequences, announced that he would air the program from the first town that renamed itself after the show. Hot Springs won the honor. Edwards visited the town during the first weekend of May for the next fifty years. This event was called "Fiesta" and included a beauty contest, a parade, and a stage show. The city still celebrates Fiesta each year on the first weekend of May. The parade generally features area celebrities such as the Hatch Chile Queen.
---------------------------------------------------------------------

To stick with my policy of being accountable, I will sadly share my eating and vice FAILS of the last few days :(

The night of our Mastiff's passing, I tried to stick to my normal healthy eating patterns. My brain said "you know what you need to do" but my heart and stomach said "eat that Frozen Turtle Cream Pie, woman!" Damn, those hearts and stomachs are convincing!:/ I only ate one piece of pie, but the next day indulged in some chocolate Gelato and bought a pack of cigarettes. Did it make me feel any better? Honestly, it tasted good on my lips but it hit my guilt button BADLY. The thoughts going through my mind were...."See? You cant even go a few days without screwing up!" and "You have no will power!" and my favorite, "You will never reach your goal at this rate" UGH!

WHY are we so hard on ourselves?? Is it reasonable to have some slip-ups when hard times bestow us? The answer is yes. We are human, not robots and thank goodness, each new day starts blank and ready to be conquered. So I ate some things I shouldn't have....let's look at some of the positive things I have done the last few days. With better eating habits and a tweaking of my insulin, my fasting blood sugar has gone from 388 to 235 in just a little over a week. I still have a ways to go but I am tickled pink with the progress. I have also sheered many, many daily calories from my diet. I'm still using the www.loseit.com website and LOVING it!



I had a doctor's appointment on August 1st. I needed a refill on my meds. It seems like lately this is the only way I make it to the doctor:/ This time, when I stood on that scale, it made me realize that things have gotten WAY out of control. How many more times am I going to get on that scale showing a greater number each time and then ignore it? Along with my diabetes and ever growing girth, I might as well dig a hole and strap some banana peels to my shoes!

A couple of days afterwards, I made the decision to make the necessary changes to start living a new and healthier lifestyle.

My starting weight was _______. Yeah, I'm not ready to release such sensitive information. If I told you, I may have to kill you...hehe ;-)

I made an appointment to go back to the doctor in 3 weeks to go over the labs that I had taken at the first visit. I made a goal of losing at least 10 lbs by that next visit. Is this an attainable goal? For me, I say, YES! Larger people usually lose weight more quickly at first and a lot of that first weight that is lost, tends to be water. P.S. Don't forget to drink at least 64 oz. of water each day. I need to work on that myself!

Summertime......and the livin' is eeeaaasssyy. Right!? Try this BBQ Chicken Salad!

Silver City, NM

I find that it seems to be a little easier to eat better during the summer. There is an abundance of fresh fruits and vegetables and nice weather to get out and go do the things you like to do! However, I live in the desert southwest and there are days when I feel like I am living on the face of the sun:/ It's on those days that the only thing that even sounds good is fresh fruit and cool drinks. You can still do bbq's and picnics and eat sensibly. I tried a new recipe today for lunch that would work perfectly at a BBQ as a salad, a side-dish or even as a sandwich, which is how I enjoyed it. I was really impressed at how good this was and how "summer-y" it tasted. My husband, however, looked at me with a critical eye....oh well, he ate it:)

BBQ Chicken Salad

•  4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves
• 4 stalks of celery, chopped
• 1 large red pepper, diced
• 1/2 red onion, chopped
• 1 can sweet corn, drained well
• 1/4 C. of your fav. bbq sauce ( I used Sweet Baby Rays)
• 2 Tbsp fat-free mayo

~Grill or boil chicken until done. Let cool and then cut into cubes. 



In a large bowl, toss together chicken, celery, pepper, onion and corn.  (Look at that adorable bear cutting board my Mother-in-law brought me back from Montana....Bless her heart! I ♥ Bears!)



In a smaller bowl mix together bbq sauce and mayo and pour over chicken mixture.



Stir, chill for at least 2 hours and serve. ~allrecipes.com~

Nutritional Information

Servings Per Recipe: 4

Amount Per Serving
Calories: 168

• Total Fat: 2.2g
• Cholesterol: 34mg
• Sodium: 473mg
• Total Carbs: 23.6g
• Dietary Fiber: 2.9g
• Protein: 14.7g

Ladies, you don't always have to make recipes exactly as written.  Half of the fun of cooking is trying different things and changing up the ingredients and hopefully coming up with something even better than the original! I ate this salad on a honey wheat pita, but would be just as good, and have less carbs if served in a lettuce wrap or just by itself.

**I had a friend tell me about a site that is an excellent companion when trying to lose weight. It's called http://loseit.com/.  You create an account, state a goal weight, and it sets up an individualized plan for you. There are comprehensive food lists, exercise counters, downloadable spread sheets and even a mobile app. I love this site! Check it out!:)