Prep for Success

As of last week my life has become insane again.  Mark and I are working long hours and that means we don't want to make dinner when we get home (aka McDonald's tempts us as we drive past on the way home).  So tonight I decided to actually prepare everything on our weekly menu board ahead of time.  See, last summer when things got busy I purchased a menu board so that I could have the meals planned and Mark could help make them.  We've been pretty good about using it still, but not as proactively as we could.

So today I put a turkey fillet in the crock pot with some organic chicken broth.  This was basically like a roast.  It resulted in BBQ turkey sandwiches tonight for dinner, and we have shredded turkey for couscous later this week and sliced turkey for more sandwiches too.  A delicious and healthy way to kill three meals (birds) with one crockpot (stone).

Next I got the meat prepared for my favorite asian turkey lettuce wraps.  Man, this stuff smells so good I had a hard time saving it for tomorrow night.  All we'll have to do tomorrow is heat up the meat, slice the lettuce, and enjoy.

Anyways, it's such a good feeling knowing that we have our meals basically set for the week and totally prepped.  If you're as busy as us, this might be helpful for you too!

Shopping Trip

Today when we went grocery shopping I was so proud to look in our basket.  Here's what we bought:

turkey tenderloins marinated in applewood sauce (currently in my crock pot)
green bell pepper
organic carrots
organic hearts of romain
broccoli stuffed chicken breasts

and one not so proud item.....donuts.  yep, I still have balance in my diet! 

Our goal this week is to add as many veggies as possible to each meal.  I've got green beans, peppers, broccoli, tomatos, etc in the fridge right now.  Let's see how this works out!  If you have any tips or recipes please share!

Shirtdress Success!

Well, this time around has been interesting.  In some ways it's much easier because I was able to keep up with a lot of the habits.  In other ways though it's been tough.  My downfall happens when I get busy.  Work has been insane lately, and it means that I'm grabbing food in between meetings and eating dinner late.  By the time I get to dinner I'm absolutely starved, since it's been about 8 hours since I ate lunch.  So at that point all I want is junk food.  There is definitely a difference between the way I feel when I eat healthy and don't stuff myself than when I pig out.  That is enough to make me watch myself. 

This weekend I decided to do my quarterly closet excavation and see what antiques I could pull out to the front.  I discovered an adorable navy shirt dress that I stuck way in the back a couple years ago.  My hips had gotten, ahem, "a bit more generous" and this caused the dress to be a tad inappropriate for work.  I tried it on (along with other things in my "possible donation" pile) and was shocked to see that it looked great!  The front closed the way it should and it didn't look inappropriate at all!  The work fashion police won't call me out on this one anymore!  It's little things like this that make the sacrifices all worth it. 

The Challenge

I recently had the opportunity to spend 10 days in Europe. While I was over there, feeling gross after eating too much delicious Danish bread, I started talking to my buyer about eating habits. We decided to use the live strong app on our iPads to start tracking what we eat and keep each other accountable. Every Wednesday during status we review how many days we stay within our calorie goals. This is exactly what I needed to get back on track. While there are many habits I've made permanent over the past year, I still have an unhealthy addiction to junk food. The past week (yes, we are just hitting the week mark) has been tough but knowing that I'd have to show someone my meal tracker made me think twice (or 5 times) every time I went to put something in my mouth. I managed to stay within my goal every day except saturday and am down about 1.5lbs. It feels good to start eating right again! So in that vein, I desperately need new healthy recipes! If you have any good ones please consider sharing with two very grateful (not to mention hungry) ladies!

Chicken Dumpling Soup

This past weekend I stumbled across this recipe while I was digging through my recipe box for the chicken pot pie dish.  Again, it's not super healthy (probably) but it turned out pretty well!

Ingredients:
2 cans cream of chicken soup (I use the reduced sodium version to make it more healthy)
2 cans water
2 chicken breasts (can substitute turkey)
celery (I used about 5 stalks)
1/2 onion
1/2 roll of raw biscuits (approx. 4)

*The recipe also called for 2T butter, but you can make it without

Put all ingredients in a crock pot and mix well.  You'll want to ensure the soup is well dissolved in the water.  Cook on low heat for 8 hours or so.  30 minutes before serving, tear up the four biscuits into small chunks and roll them, putting the bits in the soup and turning temperature up to high.  Serve hot!

Blog Update

well, I got the blog template fixed but I've noticed that if I start a post then go back and post at a later date, it doesn't move it to the move recent spot as it used to do.  So just an FYI, if you're looking for a recipe take a few minutes to look beyond the first post.  There might be some great gems hidden in amongst recipes you've seen before!  I tend to write up several recipes at once then go back and finalize/post them at later.  Hope you find something you like!

Chicken Pot Pie

*Warning: this isn't exactly healthy, but it's a lot better for you than the frozen variety, if you're craving a hot meal this winter!

I got this recipe for home made chicken pot pie from one of my former co-workers.  It takes a while to make, but is totally worth the effort.  This recipe feeds 4 people easily.

Ingredients:
2 chicken breasts
2C chicken stock (I use Swenson's organic)
1 bullion cube
5T unsalted butter
1 onion
a little less than 1/2C flour
1/4C heavy cream
16oz bag frozen peas and carrots
1 egg (whites only)
salt and pepper

Dice chicken breasts and cook in 1T of EVOO.  [note: I substituted my shredded crock-pot turkey rather than having to cook up the chicken tonight to save time]  Set chicken aside for later.

In a small saucepan, heat the chicken stock and dissolve the bouillon cube in the stock.

In a large pot or saute pan, melt the butter and saute the onions over medium low heat for 10-15 minutes, until translucent.  [see dough step below]

Add the flour and cook over low heat, stirring constantly, for about 2 minutes.

Add the hot chicken stock to the sauce.  Simmer over low heat for 1 more minute, stirring until thick.

Add salt, pepper, and heavy cream.  Add the cubed chicken, peas, and carrots.  Mix well.


[Dough]
While the onions are cooking, take your thawed dough (Paddy's frozen pie crust is the best) and roll it out.  It should be 1/2" larger than the top of your bowl(s).  Set aside for later.

Preheat the oven to 375F. 

Divide the filling into multiple ramekins, or put in one large oven-safe dish.  I use a big pyrex dish for ours.  Brush the egg white wash on the edge of the dish, then lay the crust on top.

Brush the remainder of the egg wash on the top of the crust and dust with sea salt and pepper.  Place on baking sheet and bake for 1 hour.  The top will be golden brown and the filling is bubbling hot.