Healthy You Check In, Weigh In and a bunch of blathering

I'm getting to be a bad blogger... sorry. There is just SO much going on in life lately that I'm finding it hard to have the chance to just sit down and reflect enough to come up with a semi-decent post.

First things first: I'm only down 0.6 lbs today. Not surprised. There was a bit too much apple crisp and lasagna in my diet as of lately.

So much is going on.. school is getting busy as I have two finals this week and a major project due. I'm very excited at the prospect of only having 5 weeks of classes left! Woohoo! I'm doing my best to maintain my 4.0 average so that does add a little extra pressure too.

My fiancee was just here visiting for the last four days. He just left about half an hour ago *sniff*. We had a great time, as always but I find it a bit harder to stay OP when he's around. We finally told my mom that we are moving in together when I'm done my practicum. She's less than thrilled (for religious reasons, not because she doesn't love him) but handled it much better than she did when I tried to talk to her about it on my own. The thing is, I'm 29 years old!!!!! But yes, I'm still scared of my mom at times. Sad eh? Regarding the wedding, we are 95% certain that the plan will be a wedding on the beach in either Mexico or the Dominican Republic in December 2009. Now it's just a matter of finding the right resort for the right price range, then preparing "save the date" packages and info to send out to our friends and families.

I also saw my lawyer this morning regarding my divorce and custody/child support issues. It was very encouraging as my lawyer is very optimistic that I will be awarded sole custody!!!!! I can't celebrate until it's a done deal of course, and it's a very long process but I can't help but feel a bit of relief already.

And my job... *sigh*. I'm been the admin assistant for my small church for the last year or so. Lets just say that I don't love it. I've decided to give my notice.. and lots of it because I know it will take them quite a while to find someone else. But the end of January I am done! I'm also going to be taking on some transcription work. This is through my mom's office and apparently there is tons of it if I find that I like it and can do it easily enough. Not that I really have the time for this right now but it would sure be great for down the road!

Anyways.. wow.. didn't plan on writing that much here but it helped me sort my thoughts at the same time. I am feeling a little overwhelmed with everything lately. Just so much going on. That's probably why I haven't done as much cooking as I should have to be a little more successful with Core. Being OP takes so much energy! Am I the only one that feels this? I am always constantly thinking of what I will eat next and planning meals and recipes... I need to try and simplify it somehow so that I can fit it in. Any suggestions? Making a weekly meal plan would help I'm sure but that seems so impossible. Well, I'll work on it this week..

Healthy You Check In & Weigh In

This is just going to be a quickie as I'm not much in the mood for writing today.

After my first week on Core, I'm down 1.8lbs. I'm ok with that but know I could have done much better.. I only half heartedly stuck to plan. Not sure what is wrong with me... but today marks a new week and a new effort once again. Gee, haven't we heard this song before?

Core and lovin' it! And recipes..

Today was day 3 of core and so far, I'm really liking it a lot. I'm finding that it's really not restrictive at all and there are tons of core recipes, close to core recipes and recipes that can easily be made core out there if you look a little. I have cooked good stuff every day so far (which is amazing for me LOL) so I know I'm getting a much healthier range of foods by not reaching for the easy, prepacked crap that can sometimes be appealing at the end of a long day. Bottom line is that I'll be much healthier in the end, not just skinnier.

On to some recipes.. I am awful about actually following recipes. I never do! I always tweak and change things around somewhat so sometimes it is truly a miracle that things end up tasting good! I thought I'd post the ones that work out so I can keep better track of them.

Corn and Potato Chowder

2 tbsp oil
1 onion chopped
3 stalks celery chopped
1/2 red pepper chopped
about 5 med. potatoes
3 bay leaves
dill (I added lots cuz I love it!)
pepper (same!)
5 cups water
5 packages Chicken bovril (the original recipe called for chicken broth but I had none but if that's what you used, 1L would do + 1 cup water instead of the 5 cups water)
3 cups skim milk
1 1/2 cup corn (I used frozen)

Heat oil in dutch oven. Add onions and saute 5-10 min. Add celery, bay leaves, potatoes, red pepper and stock. Cover and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium and let simmer until potatoes are tender. Add milk and corn. Continue to simmer 5 minutes until corn is tender. Discard bay leaves and puree in blender.

** I only pureed some of the soup and left some with little chunks.
** This recipe makes a lot as I have a lot of people in my house. You could easily half it.

Core Cornbread

2 cups cornmeal
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1/2 cup splenda (add more or less depending on how sweet you like your cornbread - this amount only gave a mild hint of sweetness in my opinion)
2/3 cup applesauce
1 egg
1 1/2 cups skim milk
2 tbsp canola oil

Combine dry ingredients and wet ingredients separately. Add wet ingredients into dry mixture. Pour into greased muffin tin or dish. Bake 12-15 min at 350.

** In all honesty, this recipe needs a little more tweaking.. it was a little dry so I think next time I make it, I'll add some plain FF yogurt.

That's all for now.. more recipes to come soon!

Healthy You Check In & Weigh In

Bah. I'm pretty sure my 5lb loss last week was a fluke as I didn't see that number again after that. In fact, today I was back up those 5lbs. Although I do admit that I did get discouraged after seeing the number up last week after the weigh in and I gave myself full permission to eat stuff I shouldn't. That said, it also made me think... I absolutely suck at tracking my intake and counting points. I used to do awesome with the whole points system, hence my consistent losses last winter/spring. But I'm just not feeling it anymore... Don't worry, that doesn't mean I'm saying adios to WW though. I've gone core! As of today. I honestly never thought I'd do core, thinking it was way too restrictive of what you can eat but don't really feel that way anymore. So that's a plus, right? That means that my eating habits have become healthier, right? I'm really looking forward to seeing how core works for me. I have no classes today and my car is in the shop so I got groceries yesterday and will spend part of day today cooking cauliflower soup, Core Cornbread and Carrot Cake Cookies. I'll come back with recipes and reviews later..

So menu for today:
B: skim milk, pineapple, FF yogurt
L: two hard boiled eggs, tiny bit of light miracle whip (for points as I can't stomach the ff stuff), half WW pita (1pt), orange
S: Cauliflower soup and cornbread