Month: September 2013

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again. When I get focused on something, THAT’S the only thing I seem to be able to focus on! I put all of my energy and time into it, and everything else moves to the bottom of the list, in no order. All equally at the bottom. If I’m focused on a new workout schedule, laundry and other household chores seem to move to the bottom of the list. If my focus is strictly meal planning for the week, then I’m awesome at that, and sucky at everything else for that week. Once I am able to move “workouts” and “meal planning” into some sort of schedule, then I am able to get back on track, but in the beginning, when I make the change, adjusting seems to make me forever. These are silly examples, I know, but my inability to focus […]

Slacking on blogging the last two days, busy as heck with everything else!! I am proud to say that my newly decorated guest room is coming along nicely and might be done before I go to bed Sunday night!!! Pictures to come….. The Downtown Overland Park Parade that my dad and I have been preparing for is today, and the forecast does NOT look good!! But I’m heading out the door anyhow to see what Pop’s wants to do. I owe my readers a chicken recipe for Thursday and Friday. I did make something “chicken” on Thursday, but Friday night we went out to dinner. I’ll be cooking a Chicken “Pinterest” recipe for tonights dinner and staying in, so hopefully I can write a nice long blog tomorrow and catch you all up on my current weight, where I am at mentally about my current weight, and my plans for […]

During my “Four Week Chicken Challenge”, I have been trying to avoid as many processed foods as possible, but lets be honest, sometimes convenience wins. I’m a firm believer of “All Things in Moderation”. I’ve spent the last few days getting lots done around the house, including painting a room along with painting a chest, a headboard and footboard, and a chair. Things are coming along nicely! Before These 18″ squares took forever when I painted them, but I loved the look! After Now I’m going with a soft, light blue for a relaxing Guest Room. I knew I wanted a blue, but I was having a hard time finding a color based on paint chip samples. I found a soap dispenser at Bed Bath and Beyond that was exactly what I was wanting, so I took it into Home Depot and they matched the color perfectly for me! I […]

Tuesday was full of the unexpected and I loved it! I have been working on redecorating a spare bedroom for several weeks now. By redecorating, I mean….planning what I am going to eventually do. Pinning ideas on Pinterest, jotting down notes of things I want for the room, and eventually, picking a paint color for the walls and buying it. Since I finally did buy the paint, I had planned to spend all day Tuesday painting the room, painting the bed (that was mine in high school), and painting a small chest (that was also mine in high school). Late Monday, a friend suggested a movie at 11:00 am on Tuesday. I’m a sucker for going to the movies. I LOVE going to the movies. I like to wear comfy clothes, sneak in a coffee under my sweatshirt, and grab that front row seat with the bar in front of […]

I started making turkey burgers and baked sweet potato fries about three years ago. I started making that meal based on a favorite meal I would order at The Blue Moose. They have the best Turkey Burgers and Sweet Potato Fries!! The turkey burger is topped with goat cheese and caramelized onions, and it….is……delicious!! When I started making the turkey burgers at home, I wanted them to taste as close to The Blue Moose as possible, so I would always make the caramelized red onions and goat (usually feta) cheese to serve on top. We rarely eat them with buns, simply because they taste fantastic without the bun! The last couple of times that I made my turkey burgers, I decided to make 8 patties out of one pound of meat instead of 4 patties. I made them the same diameter, I just made them really flat. I have tried […]

It really was a great Family filled weekend! Mike and I enjoyed dinner with our son and daughter-in-law on Friday night. We spent Saturday morning watching our grandson play Flag Football. I enjoyed Saturday afternoon at my dad’s house getting ready for the upcoming parade. Late on Sunday afternoon, Mike and I took a drive and ended up at Mike’s parents where we had a great visit on the deck enjoying the most gorgeous day outside, then they took us to dinner!! Spontaneous days can really be awesome! I just had a great visit on the phone with Tess, and my weekend now feels complete! i hope you had a wonderful weekend as well! I’ve got some painting to do today, so here are yesterday’s eats!! Breakfast Snack – To Go!! Lunch Dinner at Longhorn I ordered a Dry Baked Sweet Potato, and it came with a ball of butter […]

Fall begins today, and I couldn’t be happier! Jeans, Sweatshirts, Football, Bonfires, Crisp morning air, and yes, Pumpkins Spice Lattes. I was one of those people that went absolutely crazy last year with Pumpkin everything, and I have no plans to do anything different this Fall!! My Saturday was everything I was hoping it would be and then some! Mike and I witnessed an AWESOME Football game Saturday morning! The pictures I took were not so great, so I am stealing this one that is from last weeks game, but do you see the really cool kid carrying the football? He just happens to be our grandson! He also just happened to score TWO, that’s right, TWO touchdowns in yesterdays game, leading his team to a victory of 13-0!!       It was great to watch the parents and all of their enthusiasm! I always loved the parent tunnel! […]

Today is the end of week Two of “Four Weeks of Chicken”! I am enjoying the challenge, and loved two of the new recipes that I tried this week! I hope that I am able to provide some new dinner ideas for some of you! I did have a WW member tell me at the meeting that she was looking forward to making “Not Your Mama’s Taco Salad”, and I received an email from a reader that told me that she made the “Italian Chicken” and that her whole family loved it! Yay! We had the pleasure of enjoying dinner out last night with our son, Jake, and his wife, Jordan. Jake spent a lot of time helping me get my blog up and running, and I wanted to take him to dinner as a “Thank You”, but really it was just an excuse to spend the evening with two […]

(This post was modified on March 30, 2014.)   How many of you grew up eating your mom’s Taco Salad made with…. 1. Ground Beef Taco Meat 2. Shredded Cheddar 3. Crushed Nacho Cheese Doritos 4. Catalina Dressing 5. Kidney Beans 6. Ice Berg Lettuce Lots of you, right? It was always one of my favorite dinners! And….it was healthy, because it was a salad!! I honestly still love a taco salad topped with Nacho Cheese Doritos and Catalina Dressing. I’m not gonna lie. I did learn to eventually start making it with lean ground turkey, the “100 Calorie” pack Nacho Cheese Doritos and Fat Free Catalina Dressing. Still absolutely delicious! However, in my quest for trying to eat “cleaner”, here is the list of ingredients for…. Not Your Mama’s Taco Salad Ingredients 1 lb of cooked Chicken Breast OR….1 lb of Ground Turkey or Ground Chicken Homemade Taco Seasoning […]

In my quest for Healthy Chicken recipes, I keep finding more recipes on Pinterest that look yummy, and fit my criteria fairly well. I also have been receiving recipes from several of you, so Thank You!!! The dish I made last night was even BETTER than the new recipe that I tried the night before, and I realllly liked that one!! I have been looking for recipes that included spaghetti squash. I have become a fan of it, and for some reason, I think it’s just a really cool vegetable. I started to wonder…..How long do you think Spaghetti Squash has been called Spaghetti Squash? I mean, do you think initially, all squashes were just called “squash”? Was spaghetti, the pasta, invented first? Maybe several varieties of pasta had been around forever, and then, someone ate spaghetti squash and decided there should be a pasta noodle this size, and THAT’S […]