Stuffed Peppers

I love stuffing things.

Stuffing things gives you the illusion that you are eating copious amounts of food.

That's why I really enjoyed making stuffed peppers last night.

1 Orange Bell Pepper with top cut off( scoop out the seeds and white stuff)
1 spicy black bean burger (morningstar farms makes great ones) crumbled.
1/4 Cup black beans ( rinsed)
1 Can of diced tomatoes with green chilies
Handful of chopped mushrooms
Red onion
Minced Garlic
1tsp of olive oil
Cooking Spray
1 oz of 2% cheddar cheese

Preheat oven to 350.
Saute burger, beans, tomatoes, mushrooms and onion with garlic and olive oil until tender and onions are transparent. Spray aluminum foiled pan. Stuff burger mixture into pepper and top with cheese. Bake 30 mins or until pepper is very soft. Top with FF sour cream or salsa verde.

FANTASTIC

Monte-Cristo Grilled Sandwich

I love grilled sandwiches. But I don't love that they go directly to my THIGHS.

So to quell my craving last night I created this.

1 Whole Wheat Sandwich Thin
1 WW cheese wedge (jalapeno flavored)
2 low sodium slices of turkey bacon
1 oz of ff deli turkey
.5 oz of ff cheddar cheese
Horsradish mustard to taste
Spray butter
Bake in the oven for 10 minutes to all melty and yummy

I had a side serving of Zucchini Fries.

Love -Hate

I have a love-hate relationship with diet soda.

I LOVE IT.

But I know it's not good for me, it makes me hungrier, it takes up space that water could be filling, and it's expensive. But sometimes, I just REALLY REALLY need a fountain diet coke.

I went to subway today for lunch. Ordered the buffalo chicken salad....with spinach instead of iceberg. All the veggies including hot peppers.  No cheese and fat free ranch on the side. I then took half the chicken off and will use this tomorrow on my own salad. Sounds good doesn't it?

But the part of my meal I was most excited for was......

My fountain diet coke. It just makes everything taste better and today i felt VERY SICK OF WATER.

Top 3

Top 3 things I love about today.

1. Even after a week traveling across the country I am down 3.5 pounds.
2. My official weigh in today brings me to a weight that I haven't seen for TWO and 1/2 YEARS.
3. I weigh less today than I did BEFORE I got pregnant.


What I learned as that it's okay to indulge ( b/c I did in San Francisco) but as soon as I could I jumped right back into my healthy eating patterns. No lingering around in the land of ..."I'll start tomorrow". Because weight loss is not ruined by ONE unhealthy meal, or even TWO! But little by little, meal by meal.

Now onto my Veggie Inspiration!

I was CRAVING CRAVING CRAVING pizza.

So I made this!

Portobello Mushroom Pizzas

Scoop out brown stuff of a two mushroom caps.
Diced tomatoes &  Red Onions sauteed with garlic, pepper and basil as your sauce.
Turkey Pepperoni chopped up( 17 slices is one serving!)
1 oz of low fat cheese split between BOTH pizzas.

Totally  hit the spot and feels like so much food because you get TWO pizzas. You can even make one traditional and one buffalo chicken ( my fave)

Down She Goes.

Weigh in day was yesterday and she didn't disappoint!

I'm down another 2.5lbs for a total of 16.5 pounds.

Feels good. This week, my vegetable star is Eggplant. I've been trying to cook it in interesting ways.

So far one of my favorites is "Eggplant Chips".

1. Preheat oven to 425
2. Slice eggplant into "coins".
3. Salt in a strainer and put aside for 15-20 mins or so. ( this helps draw the water out) I usually cook the rest of the meal while this is happening. Last night was beef, beans and brown rice.
4. Rinse eggplant and pat dry.
5. Dip in egg whites ( i buy a container from Walmart so that I don't waste eggs)
6. And then dip in whole wheat bread crumbs mixed with your fav. spices. I do garlic, oregano and pepper.
7. Heat pan with 1 tsp of olive oil and pan fry coins for 2 mins on each side then place on cookie sheet. Bake for 20 mins turning once.

Dip in warm marinara sauce! YUM. YOu can eat an entire eggplant for 100 calories!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Cauliflower Bread Sticks

Okay, okay. I know "Eat your Veggie's" is not a new thing.

My mom has been after me since before I was potty trained but I really think that choosing this food group to "focus-on" is benefiting my weight loss and it's giving me a lot of joy!

I recently discovered the joys of Cauliflower. Up until a few days ago, I literally had NEVER tried it. Something about it's weird "albino broccoli" appearance just gave me the yucks!

Last night I made Cauliflower Bread Sticks and Roasted Butternut Squash as my "sides".

You mix riced cauliflower ( pulsed in a food processor) with
1/2 cup egg-whites and 
1/2 cup of 2% cheese ( i did cheddar). 
Press it into a pan coated with cooking spray and bake at 400 for 20-30 mins. Remove when solid to the touch and cut with a pizza cutter into bread stick shapes (8-10 sticks). Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese and olive oil cooking spray. Turn oven up to 450 and cook 5-10 more minutes. Sticks are done when brown and toasted looking. Serve with red sauce to dip! 

DELISH. My husband LOVED them. I plan on making more to serve to my tot.

I bet you're thinking...

Man, she's been gone a long time. I bet she's been on a two-month long nacho & french-fry binge.

But, surprise! I wasn't. Although, i considered it.

I'm actually back and 14 lbs lighter.

Besides having a few set-backs...( i hurt my foot). I've still managed to eat very well and remain active. I've found something that works for me and I've been sticking with it.

One of the things that I've challenged myself with is to try and eat more vegetables.

Not just carrots and celery but LOTS of vegetables, different vegetables, new vegetables. You can't beat the nutritional benefit but they are  full of fiber and so low in calories that they help keep me satisfied for a long time.

I've made eggplant lasagna ( slicing the eggplant to use instead of noodles).

Zucchini Fries ( dip in egg whites and coat with breadcrumbs and bake)

Portabello mushroom pizza ( scrape out the guts and make a turkey pepperoni and light cheese pizza).

Cucumber & Tomato salad ( mix balsamic and splenda)

And, tonight I'm making roasted Butternut Squash to mix with chicken and dumplings!

Anywhoo..i'm back and hope to refocus myself to keep this blog updated on my journey.