I'm alive!

This past week has been a combination of spending all free hours at my new house trying to get things move-in ready and me battling a really bad cold/flu.

I have to say I haven't been eating very well or exercising. :( I feel really icky about that. Though, I have been following through with my one goal: wake up early. This is my last week of just focusing on that goal (see my post on Nov. 25

I was originally going to make my goal 5:30 a.m. , but I realized there is really no point to it. I am at 5:50 right now. That will give me time for at least a half hour of exercise and time to eat breakfast, have a short quiet time with God and then an hour to get ready. My reward for following through with this goal is a subscription to Real Simple Magazine. I am pretty proud of myself. At the end of this week, I'll have been following through with waking up early for four weeks!

My next goal is to spend quiet time with God in the mornings. I am trying to build up to 10 minutes. I'll start with five minutes and then move up to ten the next week. After that goal is completed I'll move on to either cleaning daily or exercising daily. I'm leaning towards exercise. It is going to be my most difficult goal.

The reason I am breaking down the goals like this and only focusing on one at a time is because I really want to live a healthy lifestyle. I want all of those things I listed (see Nov. 25) to be things that I do daily. I want them to be habits for the rest of my life. Nothing has worked so far, so I figured maybe taking it slow is the best approach.

Well, my posting will probably be off and on for the next few weeks due to the holidays and my house taking up a lot of work. I have a book review/giveaway coming up here really soon. I'll post it on Friday night.

The way snacks were meant to be

Quick post this morning. I don't really have anything exciting to share with you in terms of creative or exciting meals.

I thought I would take a picture of my lunch for today, which I packed last night.
My lunch looks really large, but its actually about 4 small meals or snacks. For my first snack I'll have the Oikos with blueberries and granola. For my actual lunch I have 3 of my enchiladas (in the smaller Tupperware container) and two wee oranges. Third lunch includes carrot sticks, cucumber slices and 1 tbsp of almond butter. Meal number four includes watermelon and a small slice of cheese.

The method behind my lunch madness? Well, I was reading an article in Real Simple magazine that talked about snacks and what they should include to keep you full and energized throughout the day. Basically your snacks should have bulk, protein, and a carb.

Thus, each of my snacks/meals have bulk with the fruits and veggies, which are also my carbs in most cases, and protein. I have protein in the yogurt, the beans/turkey in the enchiladas, a slice of cheese, and almond butter.

Of course we've all heard that we should eat smaller meals throughout the day. I fully agree. Smaller meals will keep you satisfied longer.

Anyway, my in-service day went well yesterday. There was a whole lot of talking going on, but being a Christian work environment, I kind of enjoyed some of it.

All three meals were included. For breakfast I had eggs, hash browns and a large serving of fruit. For lunch I ate a salad and splurged on the blue cheese dressing. :) I also had a half sandwich with turkey and pepper jack cheese. Oh and I also had a cookie which I should not have eaten, 'cause it kind of pushed my full-o-meter over the top. For dinner I had a salad, a small chicken breast, a small scoop of potato salad, and a dinner role.

I think throughout the rest of the day I ate a banana, a plumb, two starbursts, grapes and a slice of smoked Gouda.

I did not exercise yesterday. My excuse was that I had to leave for work at 7:30 a.m. and I didn't get home until 7:30 p.m. I was really tired, but I should have still forced myself to at least walk for a few minutes.

I'm now off to run and shower. Today is day 3 of my new job. Wish me luck. :)

Blessings to all,
--Shawnee

Fried Oatmeal!?

There are probably about 101 things to do with oatmeal. This one happened on accident! I give you Fried Oatmeal:

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup oatmeal
• 2 egg whites
• 1/2 cup blueberries
• 1/2 tbsp of Smart Balance butter
• 2 tsp sugar
• 1 tbsp Almond Butter to top

So I set out to make some "Oatmeal Pancakes" for dinner. Now, they're not really pancakes, 'cause they do not require wheat flour. How I usually make them is...Place the oats in a circle in a small non stick coated pan fry pan. Beat the egg whites and poor over the top. Heat through, and flip once. Top with fruit, butter, sugar and other toppings.

But here's what really happened...I started out cooking the oats with the eggs, but then DUN DUN DUN they stuck! So I just stirred them up in a sort of scramble, and added the blueberries to the fry pan.

I made my own "syrup." By melting the butter and sugar in the microwave and pouring it over the top. I also added almond butter.

This made a pretty good dinner last night.

After dinner I counted a 1/2 hour long water balloon fight with our youth group as my workout.

I must confess that I ate 3 Oreos and two pop tarts yesterday. :( That is not so helpful for the healthy eating. But I am not going to stress out about it. I'm just going to do better today! Oh and I lost a pound! Woo Hoo. I am back down to 170.4. YAY!

My stomach is feeling a little better today. It at least didn't wake me up last night. Thank you, both for caring :) LOL.

Well folks, tonight I leave for my best friend's house in Roseburg. She's planning a little mini escape for us. I'm excited.

Where have all the cowboys gone?

I mean where have all the photos gone? Or something. Just trying to be witty. Sheesh.

Last night for dinner I made homemade bbq chicken pizza on my homemade whole wheat crust, but I was so hungry I forgot to take a picture. It wasn't that pretty anyway.

Health wise yesterday I was not feeling so hot. See I have these stomach issues, which the doctors thought was a gall bladder problem, but after very expensive and exhausting testing, we found out its not. Grrr... doctors. There are a couple other things it could be, but I am staying away from the doctor for a little while, as I racked up some doctors bills. :(

Anyway, my issue or flareup as I like to call, it has been waking me up the past couple nights. I've never had that happen before. It's been getting pretty bad so I have to eat bland and boring foods for the next couple of days.

For breakfast I had oatmeal, plain almond milk, a banana, and a tbsp of honey. For lunch I'll have plain rice and apple sauce. I haven't even thought of dinner yet. I sure wish i had a sweet potato.

I didn't exercise last night. Though I should have. Exercise is actually pretty beneficial to my problem. I am going to try to run tonight.

Anyway, sorry there are no pictures. Hope you all have a good day.

--Shawnee

Winner of the "Deceptively Delicious" Cookbook Giveaway Announced!

Happy Saturday morning everyone! I'm sorry I've been so scarce lately. I had a big changes take place in my life this past week, and now I'm back and ready for action! I'll talk about my changes later, but first...

The drawing for the "Deceptively Delicious" Cookbook Giveaway. Drum roll please...

And the winner is...

...STEPHANIE! Who wrote that her favorite childhood comfort foods are "Peanut Butter and Banana sandwiches, or my Dad's Minnie Mouse Pancakes :) Yumm!" Well Stephanie there are a couple of pancake recipes in the book that I'm sure you'll add to your favorites. ;)

Congratulations Stephanie! Please send your shipping info. to shawneerandolph@gmail.com. I'll send the package out on Monday!

Thank you all for entering. This has been a blast!

Shawnee's Creation: Salmon Alfredo with Dill and Lemon

Sometime in the midst of all this craziness, I came up with this dish...

I was just playing around with the plating.

Ingredients:

• 1 can of canned pink salmon
• 1 cup of Almond Milk
• 4 tblsp light cream cheese
• 1 cup pureed cauliflower
• 1/2 of a large chicken bouillon cube
• Juice from 1/2 a lemon
• 1 tsp of dill
• Desired amount of whole wheat pasta

First, start the water for the pasta. Meanwhile, heat the milk on medium heat, stirring frequently. Add the cauliflower puree, and cream cheese. Allow the cream cheese to melt. Next add the bouillon, lemon juice, dill and salmon. If necessary, add a little bit of corn starch (follow directions on box) to thicken. Serve over pasta.

I topped it with a wee bit of paprika for some color. This was delicious. My husband didn't even notice the cauliflower. See, you can adapt and change ideas in the "Deceptively Delicious" cookbook!

Out with the Old and In with the New

Here is a brief life update:

While, I am a freelance journalist, I also work at my church as my church's office administrator. I have no desire to attempt to live on a novice freelancer's salary. I think we might starve.

Anyway, there are aspects of my job that I love, and other aspects I do not. For example, it is extremely slow, and boring, and there is never any chance of my ever moving up.

I started picturing myself as the secretary who was there before me...for 30 years! I just decided, I can't do that.

I graduated from college with my B.S in English-Journalism in 2008. I have been doing freelance, but I wanted to put my degree to better use. So I started to apply for different jobs.

Well two weeks ago, I got a response. Then a week ago I had a phone interview. Then on Monday I had an in person interview. On Tuesday I was offered the job. And finally on Wednesday I was officially hired. Oh and on Thursday and Friday I went to a Leadership conference in Eugene with my new coworkers.

I'll be an Admissions Councilor for the Adult Degree and Graduate college I graduated from. I am just blown away. I start on the 17th of this month.

That's next Monday folks. This will mean a couple of things: one my church has to scramble to find someone else; two I'll now be working on Fridays and later days; and three my husband and I can go back to school for free (part of my amazing package).

Anyway, I am excited and nervous at the same time. I don't really want to go to church on Sunday, because I am not sure who knows. I may just lay low for awhile.

This will mean I'll have to make some adjustments to when I blog and exercise. So bare with me for the next few weeks as I make some changes.

I hope you all have a fabulous rest of the weekend.



--Shawnee

I've fallen off the wagon

If you're looking for the "Deceptively Delicious" Cookbook giveaway, click here.

*hangs head in shame and can't bare to meet your eyes*

I haven't exercised for 3 days and I've lost track of all I've eaten. Bad Shawnee! Here are my excuses. Keep in mind they are just excuses and I know I am entirely at fault for not exercising and not eating clean...
I had a semi stressful event take place on Monday, and knowing that it was coming, I had massive anxiety about it all weekend. On top of that aunt Flo is coming to visit and we all know how much of a pain in the you-know-what she can be.

Like I said, I know that all of these things are just excuses. I should have nipped my naughty behavor in the butt and got off the couch and exercised. I also should not have given into my salt cravings. :(

But instead of dwell on my misfortunes, I can rejoice in some of the good choices I made:

• While I did eat one of my husbands corn dogs for a meal, I only ate one!
• Even though I had a massive craving for Subway, at least I wasn't craving Burger King. I had a 6 inch sub.
• I spent a couple hours cleaning my house.
• Even though my husband came home from his trip yesterday, and I ate fast food twice, *screams* I made good choices for those as well (or better choices at least). I had a McDonalds' Southwest Grilled Chicken Salad (only about 450 calories, with lots of veggies). I also had an Arby's French Dip, with no fries.

Anyway, instead of just sitting and moping about this weekend, I'm going to get right back on that wagon and ride baby ride! I'm going to write down my food intake today, and enter it on SparkPeople. I'm also going to exercise when I get off work.

I can do this, and I will do this! I am not going to let little Mrs. Perfectionist get in my way and tell me that I've screwed up this weekend, so there's no way I can achieve my goal.

One interesting eat in the midst of all this chaos:

My very own Mexican Pizza!

Like I said above, I was having these massive salt cravings, so I really wanted something salty the other day.

I try to always have some homemade pizza crusts on hand (see my July 19 post for a link to the recipe), and I had a bunch of Mexican type toppings left over from when I made my Quesadillas and Mexicana Hummus. Here is what I came up with:

• For the sauce, 2 tbspn hummus, 2 tbspn cream cheese, 1 tbsp salsa.
• Black beans
• Chopped Belle Pepper
• More salsa!

It was the best pizza I've had in a long time, period! ;)

Well, my goal for tomorrow is to wake up early and post. Tonight is Scrappy Tuesday. :) Hope you all have a great one.

-- Shawnee

P.S. I had every intention of making those Spinach brownies, until I realized they also call for carrot puree! I am out of carrots, so maybe I'll get some tonight (or tomorrow??)

P.P.S Not that anyone would notice, but I accidentally deleted my links at the top of my page, under my header. I hope to get those back up in the next couple of days.

Wisdom of a Foodie

Psst. If you're looking for the "Deceptively Delicious" Cookbook giveaway, click here to enter. Don't forget to enter by Aug. 7!

Over the last couple of days I've been sharing my thoughts with a fellow foodie on FoodBuzz. Rachel of Laptops and Stovetops told me she is also on a similar self improvement journey. She is living by the motto, "trying to be the best me I can be." And of course I am attempting to "love myself as I am."

I told her my biggest frustration with being a perfectionist is that I want to be all, achieve all, and have all -- perfectly. In other words, I want everything done now, and mastered to perfection! When it doesn't happen the way I think it should, I get frustrated, overwhelmed and give up.

She replied: "When I am getting frustrated with progress, I try to liken myself to a master work of a marbled sculpture. Even if it's just a few minor chips I make each day, I am still working towards my masterpiece."

Thinking back to when started this blog (three months ago or so), I could barely force myself to exercise for 30 minutes a day on a regular basis. Before Rachel made that comment, I thought my silly little "21 Day New Habit Challenge" was a failure. I may not have completed all my goals, but look at me now. I've been exercising regularly since the start of it!

Rachel inspired and reminded me to take one day at a time. To view every step of progress, no matter how small, as a leap on my path towards my final destination. Thanks for the inspiration!

And now my progress of yesterday...

So after going to the bank, and leaving my debit card there, I went grocery shopping. I was on the hunt to find a VitaTop muffin, but Fred Meyer doesn't carry them. They did, however, have Oikos Greek Yogurt!

I've been craving yogurt the last few days, but I won't buy the sugary stuff and I despise plain yogurt. I remember having some Greek Yogurt with fruit and honey at a B&B, and I liked it.

Oikos' flavor is by far less offensive than that of plain yogurt. For a snack, I had 1/2 a cup of Oikos, 1/2 cup blueberries, a little natural applesauce and some honey. Hit the spot.

Doggy Days...

Below is a picture of Maddie with her baby after going for a run. See the way she's lying? She actually sleeps like that. Weirdo.
Maddie loves her baby.

"Deceptively Delicious" Mac & Cheese: Deceptively OK

I wanted to give the Mac & Cheese recipe from "Deceptively Delicious" a try, since many of you said it was your childhood comfort food. Hey don't forget to enter the "Deceptively Delicious" cookbook giveaway. Jessica Seinfeld's recipe called for cauliflower puree (or butternut squash puree), skim milk, lowfat cheddar, lowfat cream cheese, paprika, salt, and pepper. Since I use organic dairy, I did use full fat. I really have to be careful with her recipes, because she uses a lot of "lowfat" variaties. Variaties that are usually not organic. Anyway...

It was ok. I happened to like it anyway. I'm sure had my husband eaten it, and I told him it was mac & cheese, he would have objected. :) But, if I were to use the basis of that recipe and add some turkey burger or something and give it a different name, he would have eaten it and told me it was ok.

The recipe definitely didn't taste like the boxed stuff. It was closer to homemade mac & cheese. Though, I can tell you nobody would know cauliflower hides among the elbow macaroni and the cheese.

For a healthy all natural version of mac & cheese, it hit the spot.

I served mine with leftover steamed cauliflower and chicken breast. To make the mac & cheese more grown up, I crumbled some blue cheese over the top. hehehe

I had to share that the mac & cheese definitely filled me up (due to using whole wheat pasta), and I left 1/2 of the chicken breast. :) I usually clean my plate.Today I'm going to try the Brownies with Spinach. I'll let you know how those go!

Here is everything else I ate...

With some changes though. I did have the banana soft serve, but I ate it with a spoonful of blueberry jam, rather than chocolate syrup and nuts.

I also exercised for 55 minutes. I did 20 minutes on the treadmill -- 5 minute warm up and 15 minute run. I also did 35 minutes of tae bo.

The rest of my day today:

So much to do so little time. I'm off to clean the house now. YAY *sarcasm*

Remember, ever little bit of progress you make is still progress.

--Shawnee

And the Ex-Perfectionist emerges from her hole

First off, thank you all so much for entering into the "Deceptively Delicious" Cookbook Giveaway! Giving away this cookbook is just as exciting for me as it is for you. :) I've already made one recipe from my copy and tomorrow I plan to make the mac & cheese, a childhood comfort food of many of you. If you have not yet entered, click here.

As for my absence the last couple of days, I have no excuse other than I haven't made myself get out of bed in the morning. :( It's the best time for me to blog.

Here is a glimpse of what I've done the last few days...

Cucumber Egg Salad Sandwich

Yes, this is another one of Shawnee's creations.


In my sandwich:

• 1/2 cup diced cucumber
• 1/4-1/2 cup grated carrots
• 1/4 cup red onions
• handful chopped parsley
• 2 hard boiled eggs with the yolk, 2 without
• 1/4 cup light mayo (it's all I had, would have preferred plain organic yogurt)
• 1/4 cup mustard
• salt, pepper, paprika to taste

Directions, mix everything together and serve on whole wheat toast. This made three servings. I served mine with kale chips (my new favorite). Not bad. I am not so sure I liked the parsley.

The benefits of living in a farming community...

I am always getting fresh veggies and fruit from people. I got all this in just one week. That's blue berry jam! :D It is delicious.

Zucchini Cakes

I put that yellow squash, or as some people call them, yellow zucchini to good use and made some Zucchini Cakes. I got the recipe from Food del Mundo.

I really liked them. Of course I made some changes (as usual). First, I gratted the carrots, rather than thinly slice them. I added about 1/2 a cup of thinly sliced green peppers. I needed to use them. I also used3/4 cup flour, rather than part Parmesan cheese, 'cause I didn't have any. Oh and I needed another egg. I also added some chili powder to go with the theme of these...

Quesadillas from "Deceptively Delicious"
I was really surprised by the quesadillas. Jessica Seinfeld incorporated squash puree into the cheese. You couldn't even tell it was there! Of course I only had white cheese, but with yellow cheese your kids (or husband as in my case) would definately be fooled.
I made a Mexicana Hummus to go with my Mexican meal. I used this...
Brittany got it for me a while back and I had yet to try it. It's supposed to be mixed with sour cream rather than chickpeas, but I though "why not?" It's not too bad.
Overall a very satisfying meal!

Sometimes I do things

I've been feeling a little blue today. I'm not sure why. Actually I do know why but It's all gonna be a'ry! But sometimes when I feel blue, I do things...
Like dye my hair. LOL
I'm satisfied with the color. I still need to put highlights in, but I'll do that tomorrow. If Brittany can get a tattoo, I can color my hair.
That's right, I said it!

Tuesday was pretty Scrappy

I did an hour of scrapbooking again on Tuesday, but I ran out of glue. So tonight, I'll be finishing the pages. This layout is for my 2007 trip to Nashville for a Journalism conference.
When I went to buy the glue I couldn't help but buy this fabric!
Ahhh Michelle what have you done to me? Thanks again, Michelle, for "The New Handmade." It's such an inspiring book. I am so excited to make homemade cloth napkins! Won't these just be adorable as napkins? But before I make the napkins, I have to make my cloth grocery bags. I'm starting those tomorrow.

What I've eaten in the last 3 days.

So I didn't calculate calories, but here is my food journaling. You can click them to make them bigger (edited to note that for some reason you can only click the last one to make it bigger...who knows why). I've also been exercising. Though I don't think I'm going to get to it tonight. :( I've been bad. I'll just do a double tomorrow. Well everyone, thanks for reading, and don't forget to enter for my Deceptively Delicious" Giveaway!

Until tomorrow,

--Shawnee

50 Foot Plumber Man meets Eating Disorders

I’m one of those people who can’t sleep because thoughts, emotions, and ideas are constantly racing through my brain like it’s the German Autobahn. I’m blessed and cursed as a thinker and a visionary -- always dreaming up new ideas or projects for myself. But I can get so completely overwhelmed and ahead of myself that I can’t seem to control the steps or processes it takes to get to my desired outcome.

Thus, perfectionism.

Bah! Well, today I am going to discuss a couple of those things that have been plaguing my thoughts. Just to get them down and out is so relieving.

Attack of the 50 Foot Plumber Man!

First off, I nearly just had a panic attack. I got a phone call today from a plumber’s office and it went something like this:

“Hi this is Trudy from Mr. Smith’s Plumbing. Mr. Smith is ready to come and look at your home." (The plumber is seriously a block away!)

“Oh, uh, wow. I didn’t get any sort of a warning.”

“Well, dear he’s been in business for 20 years and nothing bothers him. Don’t feel embarrassed.”

I agree to let the man come over, hang up the phone, and talk myself out of throwing a fit. (Names have been changed to protect the innocent)

See, I broke my 21 Day habit yesterday and let my dinner dishes go. I had planned to wake up and do them this morning, but I slept in (thus breaking another habit). I had already been feeling guilty about breaking my habits, and now someone has to see the living proof of it!
I had to slow down and think about the rest of my house. It isn’t that bad. Just the dinner dishes.

Anyway, I realized right off that this is the voice of perfectionism creeping in. I’m not perfect. The man has no right to judge me. And even if he does, he doesn’t know how busy I was last night.

So in yo face MR. Plumber man!

Eating disorders: A deadly perfection

There was a common theme floating through the air yesterday. Or perhaps God was just trying to tell me something.

My best friend, Brittany, admitted on her blog yesterday that she has an eating disorder. Then, I was reading the Daily Sparkblog and found a link that defines different eating disorders, including one that is not usually associated or defined as such. Click here for the definitions.

I’ve admitted briefly and vaguely to Brittany and my other beautiful best friend, Michelle, that I have an eating disorder. But I wasn’t really convinced. After reading that definition, I am pretty sure it defined me.

In fact I was just talking to my Mom on our trip to Ashland about this. I actually told her that I am not a binge eater. I told her I’ve never eaten a whole box of cereal or a whole bag of chips. But, occasionally I do have one or two serving extra of something small. Then I feel really disgusted with myself, and out of control, and like I want to crawl in a hole and die.
Part of that definition, defines me. It turns out it doesn’t matter how much you binge on, it’s more about the emotions and feelings that are associated with eating.

I am pretty convinced one of the reasons the world -- girls, teens, people in their 20s and older – struggle with eating disorders and negative body issues is because we’re all trying to obtain perfection. It saddens me to think that some women work for this perfection, but they’re never going to obtain it.

We feel this need for perfection because we were created to feel that need. God created us to keep our eyes on Jesus, who is the embodiment of perfection. Sadly, the world is striving for the wrong perfection.

I’m no better.

But knowing I struggle, and admitting it, is going to make my path to healing so much easier.

Recap of yesterday:

Calories in/Calories out

I'm sorry I didn't get to adding up my calories yet today. Perhaps I will have time and edit to add my calories in and out.

I did do 35 minutes of Billy Blanks' Tae Bo Bootcamp. That was a blast from the past. An exhausting one at that!

I told my hubby last night that when I was in high school, Tae Bo was a sinch to me. It made me feel really out of shape.

Dishes: Not check. Exercise: Check. Wake up early: Check.

So far today, I did not wake up early.

I will be gone this weekend!

On the agenda:

• Garage sale at Josh's parents house on Friday
• Mom's wedding on Saturday
• Lunch with Britt and Michelle on Sunday! Busy Busy.

I'll take my laptop. Hopefully I might have some time to do a quick post.

Have a good weekend everyone.

--Shawnee

Oh Scrappy Day

I had a fabulous day yesterday. Pretty much everything seemed to just flow together, with no major hiccups to my schedule. That makes me a happy camper. Oh wait! Does that mentality make me a perfectionist?

Ahhh! Blind-sided by my own philosophy. Of course, there were a few moments when not all went as planned, but I am not focusing on those insignificant details. I just want all my efforts to be geared in the direction of living and loving my life -- even the imperfect times. If that makes any since at all.

New recipe at add to my recipe binder

My day started off yesterday with an early rise to blog. And, I even had time to try a new recipe: Baked Oatmeal! Thanks to Kath from Katheats.com. Click here for the recipe.



Now, Kath used all banana, but I had some leftover pumpkin puree in the fridge that needed to be used up. I'm calling my version Baked Pumpkin Banana Oatmeal.

Here are my substitutions/additions:

• 3/4 cup pumpkin puree (in place of the one mashed banana)
• 1 .5 tsp Cinnamon
• .5 tsp nutmeg
• 2 tbsp brown sugar (added to the batter)
• 1/2 cup mixed chopped nuts and seeds (added to the batter)
• Vanilla almond breeze in place of the milk

I enjoyed ever single bite. This morning, I topped it with half a cup of fresh blueberries. YUMO. Thanks for the idea Kath.

Girls lunch out: Gardner House B&B

My coworker and I went out for lunch yesterday to the Gardner House in Stayton, OR. I had their Hummus and Grilled Veggie Panini (half) and a cup of the chicken dumpling soup. So wonderful and light. Though, I could have eaten a whole sandwich and a bowl of soup. :P

Then for dessert I took one of these babies to go. Chocolate Raspberry Tart.



I ate half after lunch and half after dinner. It made for a sweet treat.

Dinner creation: Chicken Breast with White Wine Lemon Gravy

This recipe is no where near perfect. I'll give you a quick version of the recipe...


Ingredients:

• Chicken breast
• Chopped parsley
• 1/2 green pepper sliced
• Handful of baby Bella mushrooms
• 1/2 of a fresh diced tomatoes
• Juice from a quarter of a lemon
• 1/4 cup (or less) White Wine (not cooking wine)
• 1/4 cup (or less) chicken stock
• tsp Corn starch

First cook the chicken on med-low in a frying pan. Lightly salt and pepper each side. When the chicken is cooked through, lower heat and add the wet ingredients. Next throw in the veggies on top. Once the veggies are cooked to desired crunchiness (or lack there of), remove the veggies and the chicken. Arrange with chicken on top of veggies. Next mix your corn starch with a little COLD water. Add the corn starch water to the left over juices. Stir until the gravy is thickened. Spoon over chicken.

I served mine with grilled zucchini and a baked yam with Smart Balance Light Butter. Not a bad meal for 4oo calories!

Calories in/Calories out (July 21)

As light as dinner may have been the rest of the day goes as follows...

Calories in: 1873

Calories out: 297

Please note that my calories in does not include the wonderful little tart. I'm guessing we could add another 200 to that total. *screams* Keep in mind my goal is 1700.

I am however very pleased with my calories out. I ran for 10 minutes strait, walked for 15 at a decent speed, then walked at the same speed at a 10% incline for 10 minutes, and cooled down for 5 minutes. For a total of 40 minutes.

Don't forget to click the photo of my food journal for a better view into what I eat! I was beginning to feel a little self conscious about taking a picture of my food journal. That is until Dancia posted a very encouraging comment about my journaling on my last post. I began to worry that the photo looks too cluttered. And not to mention I have terrible hand writing. So thanks for the encouragement!

A little me time: Scrap-Happy

Remember the list of things I want to do every week but don't have time for, which I mentioned in my last post? Well, scrapbooking is one of those things. I made time to do it last night for 1.5 hours. It felt nice.

After two years, I was finally able to scrap my best friend's wedding and bachelorette party. Scrapbooking used to be one of those things I was a perfectionist about. I could literally take 4-5 hours on one page. I wanted my pages to by stylish and something that other scrapbookers would admire. You know, a layout worthy of a scrapbooking magazine.

But I realized, I scrapbook for me. Nobody else but me. I want to preserve my memories in a way that makes me smile. I don't care if they're cluttered, or if I use too many photos on one page.

My goal is to do this at least1.5 hours every week. I think Tuesday will be my scrap day. :) I've been putting it off for way to long.


Day 12 (July 21): Dishes: check. Exercise: check. Wake up early: check

My goal for today is to have a good day! I plan to work hard and eat less. :)

What is your goal for the day?

Blessings,

Shawnee

Almost forgot to name this post!

Good morning! I'm awake. :D It's 6:34 a.m. and I've been out of bed for 34 minutes. Yay. I feel like I accomplished something huge.

So what prompted this early rise? Well, yesterday I made a list of all the things I would like to do in a week. Maybe one of these days I'll share it. On that list there were about 10 "extra-circular" activities, or things that don't necessarily need to happen, but that are hobbies. And there are about five things that are necessities (cooking, cleaning, exercise, etc.)

After making this list, I jotted down a basic schedule of my every day. I realized, I am either going to have to give some things up or add a couple hours to my day. So here I am, blogging (not a necessity) at the wee hours of the morning. If I want to do it. I'll make time to do it. Right?

Recap of yesterday...

Interesting meal idea: Grilled Blue Cheese and Baby Sandwich:



On this sammy:

• Homemade whole wheat bread
• 2 tbsp left over pizza sauce
• 1 oz blue cheese
• handful of baby Bella mushrooms
• handful of spinach
• 3 slices tomatoes

In a small to medium frying pan, using non-cook spray, saute the mushrooms until desired tenderness. Rinse the spinach and throw it in with mushrooms. Cook spinach until warm, but not mushy. Add other toppings to the bread, then add spinach and mushrooms. Grill the sandwich on medium-low heat until golden brown and cheese is melted. YUM!

I had this for lunch yesterday.

Calories in/Calories out
(for July 20)


Click the pic for a larger view.

Calories in: 1918

At least its less than yesterday! I'm pretty sure my problem is the stupid chips. I am not sure why I am so addicted. I didn't even buy them, but they're in my house so I eat them. Grrr how they vex me so.

I subtracted the chips from my total calories, and yes I would have been under my goal of 1700 calories had I not eaten them. :(

Calories out: 185

I should have burned about 100 more calories. I did do a 30 minute walk yesterday.

Dishes, check. Exercise, check. Get out of bed early, not check. But as you can see, I did get out of bed early this morning. :)

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Well, I'm off to make a new recipe for breakfast. I'll share it with you tomorrow morning.

--Shawnee

Putting old habits to rest: Day 3 of New Habit Challenge

Yesterday's Habits. Wake up at 5:45: check. Dishes: check. Exercise: check. I completed all of my new habits yesterday, but just barely. I had to keep chanting to myself: be your best today!

Calories In/Calories Out:

Calories Consumed: I have no idea!

I was too scared to calculate my calories. I didn't eat a lot, but what I ate wasn't good. I went ahead and had one a huge July 4th Burger, with baked chips and beans. I did skip dessert. After that though, I felt this incredible nagging voice inside my head. I tried to shut it up as much as possible.

Calories Burned: I forgot to write it down in my journal, but I burned 135 calories after 30 minutes doing free step on Wii Fit.

Definitely too many calories in, and not enough out. :(

Subduing the obnoxious voice of perfection:

Upon stepping on to the Wii Fit board, just out of sheer habit, I weighed myself. I should have known better. Of course, being late in the evening, and having just drank a very large glass of water, the stupid board told me I was 4.9 pounds heavier than the last time I weighed in. The last time I got on the evil board just happened to be right after I finished my 5 day detox.

The board just ruined me. I felt so insignificant, and I wondered how I could possibly write on my blog that I have given up one of my habits after just three days: exercising daily.

Luckily as I free stepped, I watched Joe vs. the Volcano. It's funny how a cheesy 80s movie can sometimes speak to you. After Joe figured out that he was going to die, he decided to live. *shakes head* I realized I need to live every day -- one day at a time. I don't think I have ever understood what that truly means.

Another boost of confidence just so happened because, even after my husband saw my weight on the Wii (even though I told him not to look, which made me mad), I realized that he still loves me -- still desires me.

My goal in life, and the reason I started this blog, is not just to lose weight and look hot. Even though I lose focus quite often. My goal is to be healthy -- body, mind and soul -- and to quiet to world's voice of perfection that so often penetrates my thoughts and emotions. I am who I am.

Today, I am going to take care of myself, because I need to. And not because our eating disordered culture tells me I need to do so.

--Shawnee

P.S. I got on the scale this morning and I am back down to normal. ;)

Early Summer Mornings: New Habit Challenge Day 1

Good morning everyone. First, I'd just like to say that I was able to complete day one of habit one. I woke up this morning at 5:30 a.m. My puppy had to go potty, so I let her out. Then Maddie and I crawled back into bed until 5:45, when I officially had to be up for my New Habit Challenge.

I found an a copy of Shape magazine from 2004 (back when I was super skinny) and so I've been reading it this morning to keep myself from falling asleep. Then I decided I should blog about my amazing feat to get out of bed. YAY me!

To get a star on my calendar I still need to...

• Exercise for at least 30 min.
• Keep my kitchen sink shiny and free of dishes.

Recap of Yesterday:

This photo is a page from my food journal. I hope to keep it everyday. I apologize for the photo quality.

I am still kind of trying to find my niche as a blogger. For a while there I was doing a photo online food diary. Now it's kind of evolved into my thoughts.

I would still like to food journal, though for health reasons, I need to be able to keep a written one. I still want to take photos of my food, but I don't get paid to blog and it takes up a lot of time. However, I think I will still take photos of food finds or interesting meal or recipe ideas. I also want to blog about other areas in my life in which I fail at perfection: marriage, fashion, house cleaning, etc. Basically anything that I struggle with. So this blog is now officially "a health and wellness blog for body, mind and soul." I think I'll add that to my description!

Anyway, as you can see (if you have good eyesight or awesome glasses) yesterday I consumed 1665 calories. I also burned 518 doing 40 minutes of Billy Blanks' Tae bo Boot Camp. These numbers are according to Sparkpeople.com. I am feeling pretty hopeful that I can continue my New Habit Challenge. I am just going to take it one day at a time.

Creamy Tomatoey Confetti Chicken

I'm really bad at naming the recipes I come up with. This is last night's dinner.

Ingredients:

• Whole Wheat Spaghetti
• Red and Yellow Bell Peppers
• Walla Walla Sweet Onions (the best!)
• Chicken breasts
• Organic Marinara Sauce
• Sour Cream
• Mozzarella Cheese

I didn't really measure out everything precisely. Though I do know used a cup and a half of marinara and about 1/4 of a cup of sour cream. I used two full chicken breasts and two servings of pasta. The bulk of this recipe serves two, though I am the only one who ate the veggies. I only used about a quarter of each of the peppers and a half of a cup of onions. I had only a half of a chicken breast and I ended up eating about a cup and a half of pasta ...oops.

To make this: Cook chicken on low-medium heat until cooked through, drain any excess water. While the chicken is cooking, start to boil the water for the pasta, and chop the veggies. Next saute the veggies over low-medium heat, until tender. Add pasta to water, cook through. Stir the sour cream and marinara together, pour over chicken, and let the sauce heat through. Add the tiniest amount of mozzarella to the top. Toss pasta and veggies together, and serve with chicken and extra sauce on top.

Pretty good. I really liked the creaminess of the marinara sauce.

Next on the agenda:

Breakfast, exercise, cleaning house, and maybe relaxing. ;) Until tonight my faithful seven. Or perhaps it would only be 6 as I am one of those seven.

21 Day New Habit Challenge starts tomorrow

Tomorrow I will be starting my own 21 Day New Habit Challenge. What? Why? How? You may ask. Well let me explain. I've heard it takes 21 days to form a new habit. There are certain things in life that I...well...suck at.

I want so many things to be different in my life. But, as I wrote in my last blog, I no longer have the faith in WILL that I used to. There is a saying that goes something like, "Want in one hand and crap in the other and see which one gets fuller." I may want something, but that doesn't mean I am going to get it! I've got to have discipline and self control. I just need to wake up and do those things I know I need to do, even if I don't want to do them.

That's why I decided to do the 21 day challenge. I am going to attempt to form new habits, and stick to them for 21 days. It is going to be HARD. It is going to take WORK. I won't be able to rely on my will, most likely I'll have to rely on God, who gives us strength to have self discipline.

If you'd like to join with me (all 7 of my faithful subscribers) then here is what I am going to do...

First, I am going to choose no more than three habits to work on. I am going to write them down. I am going to post them in a place where I will see them every day, several times a day. Then I am going to do them, and as I complete each day, I am going to put a star or whatever on a calendar, showing that I completed my habit.

Here are my three habits...

• Wake up early by 5:45 a.m. each morning.
• Exercise daily for at least 30 minutes.
• Keep my sink clean, free of dishes and shining!

Whose with me? The Bible says that if the Lord is with me, than no one can be against me...not even myself. It makes since to me. Sheesh.