2 October Breakfast

1 October

Rosy-Cheeked October Photo-a-Day

1) Attitude
2) Breakfast
3) Challenge
4) Daily
5) Endurance
6) Flex
7) Goals
8) Heart Healthy
9) Inspiration
10) Jump
11) Weights
12) lunch
13) muscle
14) New
15) Clothes
16) Protein
17) Quote
18) Reward
19) Sweat
20) Track
21) Used
22) Veggies
23) water
24) eXcercise
25) You
26) sleep
27) Dinner
28) Shoes
29) Your "gym"
30) playlist
31) Halloween/ Hearts desire

Healthy Holidays Test Kitchen

I have been researching making my favorite holiday dishes lighter & healthier, but wanted to try the recipes before the holidays arrive to make sure they are delish. Yesterday evening was my test kitchen, and after posting the pic above I received a few recipe requests. The baked turkey breast is just that, 2 turkey breasts seasoned & baked.

My fav & a few of the kiddos was the dressing & next would be the sweet potato casserole. Below I will list recipes, try them for yourself. Many were vegan, but I made a few adjustments that made them not so vegan.

Dressing:

Ingredients: 6 cups Cubed bread (slightly stale), 1/2 chopped apple, 1/2 box of raisins   2 T onion, &  celery, 1 cup vegetable broth, teaspoon of moved over butter.

Melt butter, add onion and celery, apple & raisins to soften & plump. Add to chopped bread crumbs & stir in vegetable broth. Add extra if it seems dry. Press mixture into casserole dish. Bake covered about 30-40 minutes, finish uncovered to crisp top.

Sweet Potato Casserole:

Ingredients: 4-5 Sweet potatoes cubed, 1/4 c pecans, 2-3 T brown sugar, 3 T maple syrup

Boil potatoes till soft, drain and mash. Mix in sugar, syrup, & half of pecans. I used electric mixer and a lil bit of veggie broth to make smooth. Spread in casserole dish, top with pecans & bake about 30 minutes.

Mashed potatoes:

Ingredients: 3LBS red potatoes, mostly peeled and cut into 4s. Veggie broth, salt, pepper, and garlic powder to taste.

Boil and mash soft potatoes. Mix with electric mixed with veggies broth, salt, pepper, and garlic till smooth. Butter is so not needed.

Lower fat mac n cheese:

Ingedients: 12 ozs elbow noodles, shredded block of 2% cheddar cheese, 1/2 c fat free evaporated milk, 1/4 c low-fat sour cream, 1 egg beaten, salt & pepper to taste, sprinkle parm on top 

Boil noodles & drain. Mix all ingredients but parm. Place in baking dish, top with parm. Bake about 20-30 minutes.

The beautiful pumpkin pie

Ingredients:
Crust: 1/2 c walnuts, 1/4 c pecans, 1/4 c brown sugar, packet of milled flax seed

Blend in food processor, press in pie pan.

Filling: 1 small can pumpkin puree, 1/2 c brown sugar, 2t vanilla extract, 2t cinnamon, 1/2 t ginger, 1/2 t nutmeg, dash of cloves. 3 eggs, 1 c lowfat greek yogurt. i package neufchatel cheese.

Blend filling ingredients together, pour into crust, & bake about an hour or till firm.

Oven stayed on 350 for everything.

I will be making a version of green bean casserole soon & will post. Hope you try & enjoy, all were great! Yummies 

Sweet Buns

Today is day 5 of the 30 squat challenge! I purposed the challenge on Tuesday after starting on Monday on my Facebook fitness journey...Although a few have proclaimed they are in, I'm waiting for shares. 50-65 squats in one set was nothing, today's 70 was a bit tough. Maybe because of the rest day, maybe because of the amount or maybe just because I'm not used to doing so many. Hey it's not called a challenge for nothin'!

This challenge may be started at any time, and I recommend taking a before snap shot. Yes, I did!

Resources to Check out

Here are a few resources I use to help with my health, fitness, & weight loss;

My fav: myfitnesspal app, website available www.myfitnesspal.com/

I happen to do best at counting calories & keeping a food journal. It allows me to pay attention to what I am putting in my body & the freedom to have anything I want to eat. So when its someones birthday I can have a piece of cake... 

http://www.modelmydiet.com/  

This website allows you to enter in a starting weight & ending weight. Great way to help visualize your results.

http://pinterest.com/all/health_fitness/   

Great ideas from meals to motivation. 

Fit quote app; delivers a motivational fitness quote daily

Get Up!!

Lets talk about set backs. I have been off course for about a month now, luckily the weight has not crept back up as it sometimes can. 

"Fall 7 times, get up eight" Japanese Proverb

That's the key to set backs, getting back on track. My goal is not just about weight loss, it's about living healthy and extending my life (as much as I can control).

Here's my way of thinking, mind you it needs to change;
I have that all or nothing way of seeing losing weight & living healthy. Without 100% success I fall back into my old habits of not paying attention to what I put in my body and being inactive.

Here's what I should be thinking; healthy living in a process. I need to do things differently this time. I can't expect perfection, but I can do damage control & try to bounce back. Keep a positive attitude (easy for an optimist unlike myself). Believe in yourself!

Plan. Reconnect with someone that might give you a lift. (My gym buddy moved) What were your main motivations?