Thursday - Mushroom Ragout with Pasta

Today my husband had his wisdom teeth removed. You wouldn't think taking care of one person for one day would be that big of a deal. But geez! I'm beat! I mean don't get me wrong, he was a trouper...I just have no idea how mom's do it!!!

Tonight for My dinner, I had a mushroom ragout with pasta. The pasta I bought at TJMax, its swirled with many colors, very pretty. If you like mushrooms you will love this recipe. The mushrooms with the tomato sauce makes this a definite comfort food. Simple and pretty quick, great for a rainy day or maybe a nice way to treat yourself after taking care of someone all day long.

For my husbands dinner tonight, he had Alton Brown's Creamy Garlic Mash Potatoes. Man, this was a down fall for my diet. So good and sometimes you just need to treat yourself. Oh and my husband didn't taste much, he said his tongue is still numb.

Wednesday - Parmesan-Stuffed Chicken Breast with a side of Lemon Orzo

A little background about me. When I was little and would stay home from school I would watch Martha Stewart on TV and she would cook, garden or do some of her art projects, they all looked ridiculously easy (I now know that they are not and no one has just colored twine around the house). I come from a rather large family, so my clothing up until high school came from K-Mart and often from the Martha Stewart line. When I left for college, from my mom I received Martha Stewart pink towels for my dorm room.

Many years later, I now order her Everyday Food magazine and have bought the 2 Food Everyday books and love them. I use these magazine recipes or the cookbooks throughout the week, I love them because they are simply to use, most often are good for you and use fresh ingredients.

Tonight I made Parmesan-Stuffed Chicken Breast, you can find her recipe online or in her cookbook. I know it says 55 minutes to cook, but I promise two people hungry after work and the gym can make it in about 35 minutes. The Parmesan stuffing is tossed in a bowl and then placed under the chicken breast skin and baked...that's it! The largest draw back is the waiting.

On the side we made a simple lemon orzo. A little olive oil, parsley and lemon tossed with the cooked orzo and you are ready to eat.

Great dinner, it was a little over 500 calories, probably closer to 550. Great dinner, please enjoy. I highly recommend this one.

Sunday - Day 7

Sunday. The day before everything breaks into craziness. Sunday is my favorite day to cook, funny I usually look recipes that are all dayers. That way I can cook and lounge around the house, watching TV or reading a book. In my own way, its my day of rest.

Tonight for dinner I made Seared Fish with Crispy Potato, super yummy and you may notice a theme of super healthy (under 500 calories). Can't beat that!

It one of the those recipes I make time and time again. Although, really there is no real need to follow the recipe on this dish, I would just read it to get some ideas.

The tomatoes go into the oven until they start to curl on the side (she sprinkles them with a little sugar, honestly there have been times that I have forgotten to do this and I haven't noticed a difference). The potatoes are twice cooked: boiled and baked. You start with cooled boiled potatoes and you smash them with your palm of your hand to flatten them, coat with a little olive oil, salt and pepper and bake until crispy. I usually just throw the potatoes in a bowl with salt and pepper and mix rather than coating each individual potato (as the recipe suggests). The fish, is fried on the stove until cooked, my favorite part of the recipe is the crispy fish skin (sounds gross but it isn't I swear!). In the recipe, Martha (we are on a first name basis now) makes the green sauce by measuring and hand chopping the basil, mint and parsley. However when I make it, I just take out my mini food processor and throw the ingredients in. There has been times where I have not had one of those ingredients and I just throw whatever I have on hand in the mixer. It sure saves a lot of time;)

Love it~!

Thursday - Day 4

Soup. I figure once a week we should have soup, it low calorie and blah! It reminds you that you are on a diet and should be thankful for the good food you have! This was no different. It was a sad day. It was fine, you may like it, but its no cioppino or Beef Stew that has been simmering all day. It's was a little depressing.

Joey's Gaucamole!!!

I love or should I say loved Joey's Duo of Dips, unfortunately they have taken it off the menu. However, last time, I was in Joey's the waitress shared the gaucamole recipe with me. So I am gong to pass it along to you.

4 Avacodoes

1/4 Serrano

1/4 Cilantrol

Olive Oil to Texture

So simple, yet so good!

Wednesday - Day 3

Tonight we watched the biggest loser and while watching the show I thought to myself, who has the energy to do what they do on the show. I mean come on! I weight a good 150+ pounds lighter than the woman on the show and I'm exhausted by the end of the day.

Tonight's workout was back to the gym doing cardio, another 5 miles of running to angry chick music (okay its not all angry chick music). If you never have ran 5 miles on a treadmill you are in for a real experience, you don't pass any trees, dip down any hills or fight up hills, it's just you and the gym and two sweaty guys on each side of you (one being my husband) and there I am bopin my head to "Here I go again on my own" by Whitesnake. Its a real treat!

Life can sometimes punish you, even when you are being good. Have you ever heard of the Counter in Ballard? It's a burger joint and when you leave the gym in the evening and go out into the parking lot, all you smell is burgers. It hurts. At that moment you think, I can just pick up a burger and be done for the day. Instead we went home and made a healthly version!

Dinner tonight was Chicken Burgers. I would make these any day of the week. So good! The burgers were pretty simple; roast the poblano pepper and fry the onions, fry the burger and toast the buns and you are done. Instead of using regular buns I tried the new whole wheat 100 calorie buns, they were like crackers for burgers. I liked them! We added the rest of the arugula that we bought for the week and some leftover tomato. Yummy!

Tuesday - Day 2

Back into the full swing of things. Woke up, had my Via coffee (Carmel Flavor) with my cereal (Dark Chocolate Almond Granola, by Organic Cascadian Farm)... yummy. Decided to skip the morning Butterfingers. Lunch I had the leftover Turkey Linguine and a late snack of hummus on flat bread. I worked a little bit later, which can usually prove a challenge for me when I get home between being hungry and just wanting to tune out, I can think of a thousand reasons why not to go to the gym.

However, today was bound to be a good day, I got home threw on my workout clothes and went to the gym. Since Monday was a cardio day, today needed to be a weightlifting day. It was great, I doubled my weights on my Arnold Press and the side arm lifts. Totally proud of myself and tired, I went home to make dinner.

Dinner today again was simple and not very time consuming. I made Ellie Kreiger's Balsamic Chicken with Baby Spinach and it was done in a flash! Super easy, Ellie has you cook 4 minutes on each side. I think 4 minutes was a little much, I would recommend between 3-3 1/2. Remove the chicken from the pan and add spinach (we buy the organic, prewashed spinach which cuts down on prep time if you don't have to clean the spinach yourself), cook for 2 minutes. Once the spinach is cooked remove from the the pan and add the can of tomatoes, chicken broth and balsamic vinegar and warm to a simmer. Tada and you are done.

Both my husband and I agreed that next time we would like it with more spinach and the chicken could be cooked a little less. It was a good meal. I would make it again, it was simple and quick to make (about 15 minutes). It is low calorie meal, having only 353 calories, which also will make this meal very scale friendly!

Great alternative if you are thinking about running out and picking something up. This meal will be done cooking by the time you get home with the food (and your waist will thank you!).

Monday - Day 1

Waking up Monday morning's tend to be a little rough on me. It's the first day of the week and the alarm is going off at 5:45am. We all know the routine, wake up, go to work, come home, go the gym, come home, make dinner, shower, go to bed, rinse and repeat!

It sounds so easy, but like I said Mondays are a little rough for me. I try to handle it with all the finesse that I can muster; today was no different. After work, went to the gym and ran 5 miles (roughly about 500 calories, that easily makes up for the mini butterfingers I had for breakfast). Felt awesome once completed, felt like death while running it. ;) It really wasn't that bad, it was tough and a nice reminder how out of shape I am.

Tonight for dinner, I made Roasted Shittakes and Pacific Cod. It was yummy and for those that care, the recipe is fully guilten-free and low-carb. The dressing was what made the fish delicious and how can you go wrong with shittakes? You just can't! I would highly recommend this dinner to anyone that wants a quick dinner. The shittakes roast for about 15 minutes, you then add the cod to the roasting pan and cook for 8 minutes (during that time you make a dressing) and its done. It was super easy and yummy.

Week 1 - Meal Planning

I like to plan my meals Monday through Thursday. I go to the grocery store on Sunday mornings after my morning walk around Green Lake with my coffee. This routine helps me focus on the upcoming week.

Before I even go to the store, I already know what I am going to eat. I pick out my dinners before I go, create my meal plan with my grocery list. Below is what my meal plans look like, actually the one below is the one I am using for this weeks meal plan. I always make a grocery list, it helps me to stick to the plan (otherwise I end up with things that I might not want to bringing home...like desserts). I don't usually write out what my snacks are, I try to give myself a little wiggle room, this week our snacks include: pomegranate seeds, bananas, raspberries, humus and flat bread (just for a few ideas).

Sunday

Dinner: Linguine with Turkey Sausage and Peppers

Monday

Lunch: Leftover Linguine with Turkey Sausage and Peppers

Dinner: Roasted Shiitakes and Pacific Cod

Tuesday

Lunch: Leftover Linguine with Turkey Sausage and Peppers

Dinner: Balsamic Chicken with Baby Spinach

Wednesday

Lunch: Leftover Balsamic Chicken with Baby Spinach

Dinner: Chicken Burger with Roasted Poblano and Onion

Thursday

Lunch: Leftover Chicken Burger with Roasted Poblano and Onion

Dinner: Creamy Broccoli-White Bean Soup

Friday

Lunch: Leftover Creamy Broccoli-White Bean Soup

Most recipes make a serving for 4, few like the linguine with turkey sausage and peppers base their serving size at 6. If you are trying to loose weight it is important that you watch for the serving size. Because there is 2 of us in our household, its perfect. We are able to make a dinner for 4, we plate our two dinners and the other 2 servings are put directly in Tupperware for lunch the next day. Doing this really seems to help us, once we have cleaned our plates it prevents us from going back to the stove and grazing, which we are both guilty of.

Its a New Year, but the same old story....

I recently read in an article that, on average, people put on at least five pounds from Thanksgiving to New Years. My husband and I would be included in that average. Unfortunately for my him, when I fall off the wagon, so does he (since I do the majority of the cooking). And like me, he loves to eat.

It's a new year, so it is time for us the restart our engines and get rid of our bad habits. Here are my New Year Resolutions:

1. Back to the Gym

Cardio and lifting weights, you can't have one without the other. I have learned this the hard way. I always try to go for 3 days with cardio and 3 days of weight lifting, there are definitely weeks that I don't do that. No biggie, I just start again. The goal isn't to be perfect, but to keep moving.

2. Back to Eating Healthy

We love food, I mean LOVE. We eat pretty healthy when we eat at home, but the amount we eat is pretty impressive! The trick I have found is to meal plan and portion control.

Starting this week, we will be back at the gym and eating better. This is the year that we stay on top of it.

Spaghetti Squash with Tomato Sauce

Tonight for dinner, we had spaghetti squash with tomato sauce. In this dish the spaghetti squash is a substitute for pasta, giving you more vitamins than what you would get from pasta (especially since I don't eat wheat pasta). For the pasta sauce, I used Mario Batali's recipe for a basic tomato sauce, its full of favor considering the little ingredients that you use. However any homemade pasta sauce can be replaced for Mario's. On top of my spaghetti sauces, I like to put a little splash of balsamic vinegar and parmesan cheese.

Bacon-Wrapped Cod with Frisee

Day 2/Tuesday: I don't think there is a man out there that wouldn't think that bacon wrapped in cod is a good idea. Actually I think that most men, would say the more the better. In our house we love our pepper bacon, thick sliced and delicious! It's safe to say that the bacon is the star in this meal, cod has little taste and the bacon is overwhelming. So if you like bacon, this meal is the right one for you. Before you attempt the cod wrapped in bacon, my only tip is that you use a thinner slice bacon to wrap the cod, it seems like it would hold it better.

The side salad of the grapefruit and frisee was my personal favorite (meg). Little and yummy, perfect side dish to a heavier meal.

Grilled Lemon Chicken with Tabbouleh

Day 1/Monday: First day back on the diet, I swear our stomachs are never ending pits ;). Tonight for dinner we made grilled lemon chicken with tabbouleh. If you never had tabbouleh, the closest food that is similar is couscous (just not as light and fluffy and delicious). The tabbouleh salad is made pretty simple with tomatoes, parsley (lots of it), lemon and cucumber. There is about 1 1/2 cups of parsley, if you don't know parsley is extremely healthy, click here to read more about the health benefits.

The chicken is simply grilled with a lemon garlic sauce that you baste over in the end. Overall this meal is simple and filling for the moment.

Getting Back to Routine!

So we got back from Vegas, we loved eating so much it continued well after. Now we are a month away from our wedding, it seems like this week is the time to go back to the meal plan and back to the gym.

One of the toughest things in dieting is being hungry. I find when I'm hungry, I look for anything to grab, particularly anything chocolate. Not only do I look for junk food, I also don't want to workout after work because I am hungry. So my plan of attack is to plan healthy meals and have some healthy snacks to go along with it. This week's snacks are fruits and Healthy Morning Muffins.

I baked the muffins this afternoon in prep for next week, the muffins are 186 calories each, they are sweet and yummy and will be good with a banana...for once I am looking forward to 3pm (Snack Time).

Chicken with Mango and Ginger with a Side of Corn Tomato Hash

Day 3/Wednesday: Chicken with Mango and Ginger. Tonight it was dinner for 1 and I was left to fend for myself. Luckily, all our meals are planned out and tonight's dinner was super easy. The chicken with mango and ginger was wrapped in parchment paper and baked for 20 minutes. The dinner turned out okay, if you don't like spice you won't like this dish. However, the mangoes with chicken and jalapenos made a perfect bite, topped with a little cilantro and lime helped mellow the spice a little. Even though it mellows the spice, I have to warn you this dish is SUPER spicy. The only flaw was the ginger should be cut into smaller sticks; they weren't as tender was I would have liked.

We recently had some friends over and my sister brought over some corn (we have about 12 ears), I was trying to figure out what to do with them. I decided keep it simple! I pan fried corn that I stripped from the cob, with red onions until they got some brown spots. I removed from the heat and added fresh tomato and basil ... I almost liked this better than the chicken!

The whole meal was a little less than 400 calories and delicious!

Soy-Glazed Salmon with Watercress Salad

Day 2/Tuesday: For dinner tonight we made salmon. The fish guy at Freddy's recommends the steelhead salmon; it doesn't sound that great considering that the fish is farmed, but for the love of Pete, it is good. The steelhead salmon is a fattier fish and when baked it is perfect. The way salmon was meant to be. The salmon is broiled and than basted with a soy/honey sauce. The key is to not be shy with the salt and pepper (I like my pepper super course). The salad is pretty simple has watercress, red onions, oranges and the dressing which is a little of the glaze with olive oil and rice wine vinegar. Slicing the red onion thin is key but don't be shy, it goes well with the spiciness of the watercress.

Great dinner and in the end you feel good eating it. It sits at about 380 calories. That's leaves enough calories for dessert (AKA Skinny Cow Cone :).

Tomato Panzanella with Ricotta

It's our first day back from Las Vegas. It's hard to get back in the swing of things and it much easier to go pick up dinner and bring it home. Especially when you don't have any groceries. But we did the right thing, went to good old Freddy G's and picked up food.

Day 1/Monday: We made Tomato Panzanella with Ricotta, the recipe is from Martha Stewart's Everyday Food Magazine, calories roughly about 550. Personally I love tomatoes and basil, so you really can't go wrong with this recipe. Both Nick and I aren't fans of ricotta, but after eating this meal we have changed our minds. Great dinner, for the summer, when it is hot and you want to sit outside. You can make the toasted bread in advance, so you can just throw everything together when you are ready. We made a slight change from the recipe, we upgraded our red wine vinegar to a Cabernet wine vinegar, it was super yummy. It's worth the extra money to get a good red wine vinegar.