Carrot Cake Protein Popsicles

So, after making the Peach Pie a la Mode Protein Popsicles with huge success, I decided it would be fun to see what other desserts I could make into popsicles. I've also been dying to use my new juicer. Voila! Wouldn't carrot cake make an awesome popsicle? Well yes, it does.

But Lisa, I'm not the kitchen gadget whore you are (no one is really, don't feel bad) and I don't have a handy dandy new juicer. Never fear, you can still make these. You could use a food processor (O.o what you don't have one of those either?), you can also just grate the carrots and throw the gratings into a blender and blend the crap out of them. I would run the pulp through a fine mesh strainer so you don't get too much juice into the popsicle concoction, and ta da! You have carrot juice and pulp. Yay! 

These are not only deliciously spendiferous but they taste fun too. I love that the flavor is that of cake but frozen into a lickable form. I'm also one of those people who absolutely adore butter-flavored Jelly Belly's also. Mmmmm Jelly Belly. I haven't had any in ages. 4ft's been nagging me to go to the factory. It might be time to make a trip. 

Turkish Pizza - Lahmacun

I've never been out of the country. Okay, I lie, kinda. I was conceived in Germany but my mom came back to the states when she was like 6ish months pregnant so I don't know as if you can really count being a fetus in Germany as being out of the country (she might've visited Italy around that time too, but I don't think that counts either). So to make up for the lack in my world travels, I like to try food from other countries, or as close to them as I can get with my picky eaters. 

Welcome to Turkey and Lahmacun (Turkish Pizza). Well sorta. I cheated and used extra thin corn tortillas as the base for this delicious ground beef dish instead of a crispy flat bread mostly because I knew my stomach could handle the corn tortilla and I wasn't sure about the traditional bread (I still struggle with bread). It's also supposed to be a spicy dish with cayenne pepper and crushed red peppers but as I'm a pansy mouth these days with pansy mouthed kids I morphed the recipe to fit our taste (and tummy) needs. So I'm not sure how much like true Lahmacun it is, as I've never been to Turkey nor eaten at a Turkish restaurant, but it was seriously delicious and those who eat in my family ate it with little piggy snorting noises. So that's enough like it for me.

I was surprised by how much 4ft liked it as it's filled with tomatoes, onions, and sweet peppers (all of which 4ft swears he hates -- so once again I performed magic, according to him). I figured my husband would like it because it's basically a salsa, sans jalapeno and nasty cilantro, mixed together with ground beef and spices. Top it with a squeeze of lemon, some light sour cream, and shredded lettuce and it's a complete meal. I ate the entire thing and had zero tummy problems over it.

Banana Oat Bread

I had bananas dying a slow death in my fruit basket (but really the second they don't have a tinge of green to the skin, they're too ripe for me to eat plain so I guess they weren't dying by most people's standards) and 4ft wanted to bake something with me so I thought I'd experiment with making a higher protein, healthier banana bread. (insert evil scientist laugh here)

The experiment was a success. 4ft declared this the best banana bread ever and I'd have to agree with him. The banana flavor is intense and the bread is moist, not too sweet, and with just the right density. (if you're looking for super-sweet cake-like banana bread, this is not the recipe for you) The secret to the deep banana flavor is baking the bananas, sweating them, so you can cook down the banana juice which naturally sweetens the bread without adding a lot of sugar and really bumps up the banana flavor. There are a few more steps to making this bread than other recipes, but trust me it's worth the extra effort.

This bread smells amazing while baking and you're going to want to cut into the loaf and start horking it down immediately. Don't do it. Trust me on this. Fresh from the oven, this bread is meh. It's not gross but it's not "oh my gosh this is the most incredible bread ever" either. I know this from experience. I tried it and my heart broke a little. How could something that smells so good taste so meh? I let it cool, remembering that banana bread always tastes better room temp, and tried it again. Holy Banana-moly (new word, yay) I did a little dance and devoured the rest of the piece. So, learn from my mistake -- let it get to room temp, and your taste buds will be blown away. Resist the smell's sirens call and let it cool before eating. You can do it. I have faith.

Zucchini Fries

4ft hates zucchini (what's wrong with that kid, I mean really? zucchini is delicious) and he refuses to eat it because, "It's the grossest stuff on earth, Mom." Sometimes I wonder how that kid came out of me. Anyways...

Every once in awhile I like to screw with my kid (because I'm an awesome mom) and take something he swears he hates and disguise it. Then I masterfully trick him to eat it. Me: Try this. Him: Okay. Me: Well? Him: It's delicious. See how masterfully done that was?

So, I did that with zucchini. I cut them the size of McDonalds-sized fries (because is there really a more perfect french fry anywhere?) and baked them up til they were golden brown. The kid loves ketchup, so I gave him ketchup for dipping (ranch is also seriously nom-a-licious to dip in as well) and gave him a stack of "fries". He ate one, made yummy face -- shocked big eyes and big smile (why he always does the surprise face, I don't know. I rarely ever feed him something he doesn't like) and then with piggy snorts inhaled the rest of his, Grumpers' (who couldn't be tricked -- the only fries to eat are McDonalds and how dare I suggest otherwise), and Bear's because she couldn't be bothered to come to the table. Then he tried to steal MINE!

I cackled evilly and told him he just horked down zucchini. Again with the surprised look and then he asked me if I was magic because only someone with powerful magic could make zucchini taste good. I told him I was and he better watch out. "For what? You going to turn me into delicious food?" I don't know where he got his smart mouth *cough*his dad*cough* (and for those of you who immediately thought me, watch out! I've got powerful magic!)

Rosemary Pork Chops

My husband has been pretty easy going about me trying out all these new fangle healthy type recipes on him. So I promised him I'd make him a manly meal of fried pork chops. What I neglected to mention was that I healthied (is that a word? it is now.) it up some. He had no idea that I experimented on him yet again (insert evil scientist laugh here) and he loved these pork chops. They had a crunchy outside and juicy delicious meat on the inside. They didn't need gravy, or ketchup, or barbecue sauce. As a matter of fact, 4ft tried a bite with ketchup (my children put ketchup on EVERYTHING) and declared it better without it.

They were really that fantastic. Yeah they're fried, but really everyone needs a little fat in their life and if the oil is hot when you put the chops in the pan, and you drain them on paper towels after, you'd be amazed how much oil is left in the pan and on the towel and NOT pooled on your plate. I wouldn't eat fried food every night but healthy living is not about going without but instead having it in moderation.

Mongolian Pork

I desperately wanted Chinese food yesterday. I love the stuff soooo much but as many of my readers already know the rest of the family hates it. What really drives me crazy is that whenever I make Asian inspired dishes they inhale it and rave about how wonderful it is. How does that work? I mean, really? I try not to think about it too hard because I don't want my brain to explode. I'm pretty sure it will. 

So back to the food. I really wanted Chinese but I'd gotten a pork roast out for dinner. The closer it got to dinner the more I didn't want to eat a roast. Mongolian beef sounded soooo much better. However I didn't thaw out beef. You see the conundrum, right? If shrimp dishes can be made with chicken then why can't beef dishes be made with pork? Can I get an amen? Thus Mongolian pork was born.

The husband had no idea he was eating pork. He thought he was eating Mongolian beef. How awesome is that? 4ft devoured it and the rice, making snorting little piggy sounds and saying how delicious it was (I may or may not be making up the little piggy sounds). Bear tried a bite and didn't spit it out, so that's a win but Grumpers couldn't even bother to come to the table cuz I'd mistakenly given him a snack earlier and he was "too busy" to eat dinner. His loss. More for me. (and this is where we all laugh hysterically because I seriously can eat only about 2 oz of meat at any given time still.)

Spice Rubbed Steak

When I do a spice rub, I do a spice rub. My philosophy is the more flavor the better which might hurt some meat purists out there but if I wanted to taste steak without flavor I'd just chew on a cow in the pasture, you know? Put on the spice I say. Doesn't taste like meat? Who cares, it's delicious. (I might be over exaggerating a bit... or a lot. It still tastes like steak to me.)

This steak is so juicy and flavorful that I, who love me some A-1 sauce in abundance, ate it without it. Yes, you read that right. No wet condiment to help wash it down because I can't drink while eating. It didn't need it. It was so good even Grumpers and Bear ate it, and they don't usually eat meat ever unless it's from McDonalds (don't even get me started.) Okay, so they only had a couple bites of it, but that's a couple bites more than I can usually get in them. 

Protein Kodiak Waffles

This stuff is A-MAZ-ING! It's made with 100% whole wheat and oats and it uses honey instead of sugar. And there isn't a never ending list of ingredients I've never heard of before.

The mix already had some protein in it, 7 grams per serving, but I knew I could squeeze in more protein. So I did:

These waffles were amazing. They were light and fluffy with a delicious crunchy "skin". Their flavor was delicious without the syrup and dipped in a little sugar-free caramel syrup, they tasted like dessert. The extremely picky husband had no idea they were good for him and glared at me when I told him he was eating something healthy. He has a reputation of eating unhealthy to maintain, don't you know? 4ft devoured his as well. I think they're my new favorite waffle as well, especially on the mornings when we're busy and I don't have time for "from scratch" protein waffles.

Dirty Chicken

Welcome to Day 3 of Use-Up-the-Beer-A-Palooza. 

There is a restaurant in the Bay Area that has a "Dirty Shrimp" dish. As near as I can tell its a bunch of seasoning cooked onto the shrimp and then doused in beer. It's really good. However, as anyone who follows this blog regularly knows, my family is picky and they won't eat fish. I tried to convince them shrimp wasn't fish but they didn't buy it. So as with the scampi, I figured if it is good on shrimp it'd have to be good on chicken, right? Right. The chicken turned out delicious. It has a bit of a kick but not too spicy as 4ft and I ate it no problem.

Too Tired, Completely Forgot.

Darn it. I was so tired last night I completely forgot to blog.

Had a pretty good day yesterday. I jogged for a half an hour while I watched cooking shows. Is it wrong that I watch Tyler's Ultimate just to watch Tyler Florence? His food looks yummy too, though, so it's not JUST for him. I was able to jog the whole time and it really flew by. I love being in better shape.

I also did 180 crunches yesterday that incorporated the lower abs by doing leg lifts at the same time and 50 push ups. I was going to do another couple reps of both after having put the kids to bed last night but I was too tired. It was a long day and I'm still recouping from being sick. I can't quite seem to shake this cold completely. It's annoying.

I also did the standard chase the baby and baby lifts. Now that's he's about 20lbs and 10 months old it's actually quite a workout. And let's not forget the torturing of 3ft although yesterday I think it was him torturing me.

Healthy Lifestyle - Day 159

Total Pounds Lost - 56.3

Meals:
Breakfast - FiberOne Honey Clusters w/ homemade almond milk
Morning Snack - FiberOne Granola Bar
Lunch - Roast beef sandwich, carrots w/ranch, and cucumbers w/ Italian dressing
Mid-Afternoon Snack - chocolate banana bread and crackers w/ tuna salad
Dinner - (not hungry)

Ten Months -- TEN!

I've had Wii Fit since Christmas. I begged my husband for it and he got it for me. He didn't really want to. He thought it was like telling me I'm fat (well, duh, I am) and he didn't want me thinking he thought that of me. I kept telling him to get over it. I ASKED for it because I desperately wanted it. Anyway, I digress.

So, I've had it for 10 months.

I just recently checked out what "Free Step" was and am totally in love with it. I can watch tv (cooking shows I've got DVR'd) while I step onto and off of the wii balance board. It's great. I can mindlessly follow the rhythm coming out of the wii mote speaker while I watch my favorite shows. Where has this been all my life? Oh yeah, right in front of my face for the LAST TEN MONTHS! I feel like such a dork (which is a feeling I experience a lot -- just saying).

To be fair, I didn't really start busting a move on my Wii Fit until May when I'd finally had enough of everything and decided it was time to get fit once and for all (not to mention having to recover from the have a baby lose a gall bladder plan). So I guess five months instead. But still. That's an awful long time to have something so cool and not know it.

--Previous Day Tracking --

Exercise - 30 minute walk, 30 minutes of Wii Step, 250 crunches, and 60 push ups.

Healthy Lifestyle - Day 130

Only Water - Day 125

Total Pounds Lost - 48

Meals:
Breakfast - bowl of FiberOne Honey Clusters w/ homemade Almond Milk
Morning Snack - FiberOne Granola Bar
Lunch - Ham Sandwich, carrots & hummus, a sweet pickle, and a sugar free chocolate pudding
Mid-Afternoon Snack - cranberry scone and tea w/ vanilla creamer
Dinner - broiled chicken, broiled zucchini, and garlic rice

Willpower for the Win!

I have to brag for a second about my willpower yesterday. One of our neighbors gave the boys push up ice cream pops. 3ft inhaled his and Mr. Grumpybutt pretty much just played with his and got it all over us. But the whole time he was sort of eating it and getting it everywhere, although I was tempted to "help" him eat it, I didn't take a single lick.

You see, I'd already had my sweets for the day and didn't feel like I needed more. Plus, I really wasn't hungry. It's empowering to eat only when I'm hungry and not just because it's there. Moments like that one make me realize I have changed my lifestyle and believe that I can keep doing this forever. It's a fabulous feeling. I'm still reveling in it.

I also realize how much more energy I have. Sure, by the time I get the kids in bed and relax for the night, I'm exhausted. But during the day, I'm up and down and all around. Doing laundry, cleaning the house multiple times because my children insist on messing it up, I'm doing dishes, sweeping, and finding the time to rough house with my kids. It's funny because when the Husband gets home from work we catch up on our days and he always says how much more busy mine is.

I'd gotten chicken out for dinner, but because we ended up playing outside for so long (yes, I couldn't get enough of the adult interaction with the neighborhood moms), I ended up making breakfast for dinner instead of something fabulous with poultry. It worked out. 3ft really likes breakfast foods and my mom had made homemade fig jam so I totally had a bit on my english muffin. I was in jam heaven.

--Previous Day Tracking --

Exercise - 30 minute walk, 250 crunches, and 60 push ups.

Healthy Lifestyle - Day 129

Only Water - Day 124

Total Pounds Lost - 48

Meals:
Breakfast - bowl of FiberOne Honey Clusters w/ homemade Almond Milk
Morning Snack - FiberOne Granola Bar
Lunch - Tuna Risotto, collard greens, and mushrooms
Mid-Afternoon Snack - cinnamon sugar cookie, cranberry scone, tea w/ vanilla creamer, 5 chocolate covered almonds
Dinner - scrambled eggs and a whole grain english muffin with homemade fig jam.

I've Got Moves.

Or something.

Sunday evening, a song came on the radio that is on my PS2 Dance Dance Revolution game. 3ft heard it and it reminded him of the dancing game so he asked if we could do "dancing" after school on Monday. I told him that'd be awesome but we had to wait until Mr. Grumpybutt took his nap.

I like playing DDR (Dance Dance Revolution) so it'd be fun. I also figured he'd forget.

He didn't.

When I walked into the living room from having put down the baby, the dance pads were already pulled out and unfolded and 3ft was standing there holding the game. So we put on some sweats and took off our shirts (I was wearing a sports bra already and he likes to dance topless) and set up the game.

I have zero coordination and 3ft has even less. So it doesn't help my cause to try and focus on getting all the steps when I'm laughing at the awesome dance moves 3ft is busting out next to me. But, it was fun and I like it when 3ft exercises with me. It takes my mind off of what I'm doing and it's good for his asthma. Plus I think he likes the mommy time without his brother competing for attention. And 3ft's already asked if we can do it again today. So we'll see.

Have I mentioned how much I hate push ups? I hate them. But I added the 5 to make 30 twice a day. I'm going to be buff. Anyone wanna arm wrestle? I also added the 25 crunches so now its 125 twice a day. Both are necessary evils (the push ups especially) to losing the inches.

--Previous Day Tracking --

Exercise - 30 minute walk, 35 minutes of Dance Dance Revolution, 250 crunches, and 60 push ups.

Healthy Lifestyle - Day 126

Only Water - Day 121

Total Pounds Lost - 48

Meals:
Breakfast - bowl of FiberOne Honey Clusters w/ homemade Almond Milk
Morning Snack - Cranberry Almond Scone and hot tea w/ sugar free vanilla creamer
Lunch - Ham sandwich, pickle, carrots and hummus
Mid-Afternoon Snack - 1/2 peanut butter and banana sandwich, handful of popcorn, and a couple chocolate covered almonds
Dinner - Roasted Chicken with homemade barbecue glaze and baked veggies: celery, potatoes, carrots, and onions

Cooking Day.

I baked a chicken yesterday. It's like the third Sunday in a row I've done this. This time it was because 3ft asked for it. He super loves eating chicken off the bone. I think it's a kid thing. I remember liking to. Now, I'd rather have a boneless skinless breast. I guess I must be old. Anyways, back to the chicken. When it was done I realized it was Sunday and Costco closes at 6. It was 5:30. I don't have a car during the week and needed some things, so we ditched the yummy roasted chicken and hurried to Costco.

We made it just in time but then 3ft was starving. So we got Costco hot dogs and pizza instead of eating the chicken I slaved over. It wasn't too big a deal, the chicken would save no problem and since it was getting late so we opted to eat the Costco food. 3ft ate half my hot dog and almost all the huge slice of pizza -- minus the few bites me and the hubs took and the dough Mr. Grumpybutt munched on. The best part about all of it: I didn't feel guilty. I chose to share my hot dog with 3ft because he was staring longingly at it and besides I didn't need a whole one anyways. I got full off my half and a couple bites of cheese pizza.

I also made some marinara sauce from scratch with real tomatoes (as opposed to fake? no...) with raw tomatoes I guess would be the better way to say it. I don't think I used enough tomatoes with all the other veggies I put in there because the sauce turned out really thick and orange instead of red. But the flavor was pretty delicious and as I kept the seasonings simple I can use it for a myriad of dishes. I'm planning on making a sloppy joe ratatouille later on this week with it.

So I spent most of my day yesterday cooking (and laundry). So, of course, I was in heaven (not because of the laundry -- I hate laundry). I also did my crunches, push ups, and the dreaded plank. I'm adding 5 more push ups and 25 more crunches today which will up my push ups to 60 a day and my crunches to 250. So we'll see how that goes. The crunches aren't too bad but I still hate the push ups!

--Previous Day Tracking --

Exercise - 30 minute walk, 200 crunches, and 50 push ups.

Healthy Lifestyle - Day 125

Only Water - Day 120

Total Pounds Lost - 48

Meals:
Breakfast - bowl of FiberOne Honey Clusters w/ homemade Almond Milk
Morning Snack - FiberOne Granola Bar
Lunch - Ham sandwich, pickle, carrots and hummus
Mid-Afternoon Snack - 1/2 peanut butter and banana sandwich and a couple cinnamon sugar cookies
Dinner - 1/2 of a Costco hot dog and a couple bites of cheese pizza

Rockin' It!

So, to the whole flying solo deal...

I'm totally rocking it! I lost 4.1 lbs this last week which makes the grand total of lost pounds 48. Isn't that awesome? I think I might hit 50 next week. Which means I think we should do another giveaway. What do you think?

Other highlights:

1. I fit into a couple of pairs of pants that I wore before I got pregnant with Mr. Grumpybutt including a pair of my "skinny" jeans. Naturally, I'm stoked about this!
2. I have to retire a pair of pants that pretty much fall off of me. It's sort of a shame because they're super comfy but they really hang on me and bunch around my waist because I have their drawstring cinched all the way. They're a size 26 and I am down to a size 18. So you can imagine how big they are.
3. I'm up to 100 crunches and 25 push ups twice a day. I really think the crunches played a huge part into getting into my "skinny" jeans. I'm adding more of both on tomorrow.
4. I went to my favorite Mexican food restaurant yesterday and didn't overdo it. Sure, I wasn't hungry for a snack at my normal time, but I wouldn't say I ate massive amounts of food at lunch. I also survived a barbecue at my brother-in-laws. His better half is an awesome griller -- the food was delicious -- and I stuck to portions and enjoyed what I had.
5. I baked all week -- from cake, to scones, to cinnamon sugar cookies. And while I partook in all that I made I was able to control my portions and not have a free for all horking session and eat it all.

The best part of all. I don't feel deprived. I don't feel like I'm "dieting" (which is good because I'm NOT!). I honestly feel I could eat like this for the rest of my life -- I'm eating more delicious food now than I did when I just crammed whatever in my mouth. I've found that quality beats out quantity anytime and if I'm going to put calories in my mouth they're going to be delicious ones not just what's on hand. And in keeping this mindset not only will I hit all my goals, I'll never have to worry about gaining the weight back!

--Previous Day Tracking --

Exercise - 30 minute walk, 200 crunches, and 50 push ups.

Healthy Lifestyle - Day 124

Only Water - Day 119

Total Pounds Lost - 48

Meals:
Breakfast - bowl of FiberOne Honey Clusters w/ homemade Almond Milk
Morning Snack - FiberOne Granola Bar
Lunch - chicken taco, beans, rice, salad, and salsa
Mid-Afternoon Snack -(still full from lunch)
Dinner - barbecue teriyaki chicken, grilled vegetables, and salad (super delicious)

Double Win! Woo-freaking-Hoo!

I made an awesome sauce last night to glaze chicken in. It turned out so good and I wasn't the only one who thought so. My husband got his plate and put a large dollop of barbecue sauce on next to his chicken for dipping. Then he didn't eat the barbecue sauce. Well, okay, he did but not on the chicken. When I gave him crap about being wasteful he ate it by the forkful all by itself AFTER the rest of his food was gone. Gross but it was a huge compliment.

The sauce was a hodge podge of (approximate values -- I just started throwing things together) 1/2 cup ketchup, 1/4 cup honey, 2 TBS apple cider vinegar, 1/4 cup brown sugar, TSP Dijon mustard, garlic salt, and pepper. I then broiled the chicken and glazed it with the sauce until it just charred a bit on the edges. It was absolutely delicious and worth the broiler pan being a pain in the butt to clean -- took me forever to scrub it all off.



I'm also super excited to report: I FIT INTO A PAIR OF MY "SKINNY JEANS"! For grins and giggles I tried them on. The last time I tried to put them on I could barely get them over my hips and there was no way on bob's green earth that they were going to zip up. I'm wearing them today. I didn't have to shimmy. I didn't have to lay on the bed to get the zipper up. I didn't even have to suck in my tummy. THEY FIT!!! I think the hundreds of crunches I've been doing have totally rocked it to get me into these pants. I couldn't be happier.

Tomorrow is weigh and measure day. I'm expecting good news.

--Previous Day Tracking --

Exercise - 30 minute walk, 200 crunches, and 50 push ups.

Healthy Lifestyle - Day 123

Only Water - Day 118

Total Pounds Lost - 43.9

Meals:
Breakfast - bowl of FiberOne Honey Clusters w/ homemade Almond Milk
Morning Snack - FiberOne Granola Bar
Lunch - Fish Sandwich, carrot sticks, and a sweet pickle
Mid-Afternoon Snack -1/2 peanut butter and banana sandwich and a cinnamon sugar cookie
Dinner - Glazed chicken, mashed potatoes (w/ almond milk), and corn

Mmm Apples.

I've been on an apple kick lately.

Mmmm apples. *droolz*

Oh! Sorry..

So I thought I would try something a little different with the apple I had left from making the Apple Upside Down Cake. Apple salsa. Weird, right? But it's so delicious. It was perfect to spice up some leftover steak I had.

I cut the steak into strips and covered them in a little lemon, paprika, chili powder, garlic powder, and cumin. I sauteed it really fast in a little olive oil to heat it up. Then slapped it on some corn tortillas, topped it with apple salsa, and devoured it.

So good.

For the apple salsa I just threw in one apple, 1/4 cup red onion, 2 TBS jalapeno, 1 TBS chopped garlic, 1 TSP lemon juice, 1 TSP lime juice, some garlic salt and pepper to taste, and 1 TSP basil.

It was a really fun salsa and it worked really well with the steak.



--Previous Day Tracking --

Exercise - 30 minute walk, 200 crunches, and 50 push ups.

Healthy Lifestyle - Day 122

Only Water - Day 117

Total Pounds Lost - 43.9

Meals:
Breakfast - bowl of FiberOne Honey Clusters w/ homemade Almond Milk
Morning Snack - FiberOne Granola Bar
Lunch - Fish Sandwich, carrot sticks, and a sweet pickle
Mid-Afternoon Snack -banana and cranberry almond scone
Dinner - Carne Asada tacos w/ apple salsa and a slice of apple upside down cake

Parent Win!

I'm so proud of myself.

Last night I made my version of fish 'n chips. I did Panko (Japanese breading) on some Alaskan Cod with a little garlic, salt, and pepper then seared it in a little olive oil. Then I sliced up a sweet potato into "fries" and coated them with a little salt, pepper, and olive oil and then broiled them on a baking sheet in the oven. Add to that some steamed broccoli and you've got yourself a DELICIOUS meal!

I told 3ft we were having crunchy fish and fries. He took one look at the fries and then looked at me like I was crazy.

"French Fries are yellow!"

A bolt of inspiration hit me (I swear my hair sizzled). "Those aren't french fries they're Halloween fries. They're orange because it's October."

"Oh. my. gosh. That's so cool." And he gobbled them all up and had a second helping.

Now you know, if I would've called them sweet potato fries, he'd have turned up his nose and not wanted them. The same kid who eats Nutella with marshmallows and pepperoni wouldn't have even tried them. Instead, by calling them something special he was all over them. He ate all his fish, fries, and broccoli. I was so proud.

However, Mr. Grumpybutt did NOT care that I called them Halloween fries. He doesn't like sweet potato at all. I thought they were delicious.

I thought the whole dinner was awesome and I have a couple cod fillets left over to have fish sandwiches which I also super love. I made some homemade cocktail sauce to have with the fish -- I don't like tartar sauce at all. I was glad I'd left the food on the counter and made my plate there and then took it to the table because I'd have eaten more, it was so good, if it had been right there in front of me.

Another recipe for the cookbook!

--Previous Day Tracking --

Exercise - 45 minute power walk, 200 crunches, and 50 push ups.

Healthy Lifestyle - Day 120

Only Water - Day 115

Total Pounds Lost - 43.9

Meals:
Breakfast - bowl of FiberOne Honey Clusters w/ homemade Almond Milk
Morning Snack - FiberOne Granola Bar
Lunch - Ham Sandwich, sweet pickle, and carrots with hummus
Mid-Afternoon Snack -1/2 peanut butter and banana sandwich, 1/3 Peanut Butter and Banana Muffin w/ Peanut Butter Glaze and some apple chips
Dinner - Breaded Cod, Sweet Potato Fries, and Broccoli

Flying Solo

Yesterday was pretty uneventful, unless you call having NO WATER all day long exciting. They shut off the water to my building around 9 am yesterday and I didn't get it back until about 5. Luckily, since I drink a lot of water I had a couple of jugs in the fridge to tide us over until we got our water back on. But, boy was it annoying!

I've upped my crunches and push ups. I'm not doing 100 crunches twice and 25 push ups twice a day. So I'm pretty proud of that. I'm hoping it's making a big impact on my waist (measuring for the month is coming up pretty soon) and doing something for my arms.

I made Peanut Butter and Banana muffins w/ peanut butter glaze. They turned out really good. 3ft loves them and my husband took a bunch to work today. So we'll see if others like them too. I wish I lived closer to any friends and family so I could pawn off some of these baked goods too.

I'm trying something new to see if I'm ready for it. I don't want to log calories and fat for the rest of my life. So I'm going to go it on my own without Sparkpeople.com tracking my intake and see if I'm ready to go it on my own. I've been living the healthy lifestyle now for almost 5 months so time to see if I can fly solo. If not, no big deal, I just start tracking again.

The only thing I use Sparkpeople for is keeping track of the calories I eat like a "food diary". They have a really great site with a lot of inspiration, forums, exercises, custom diets, and a huge food database to record your food intakes. When you're just starting out I definitely recommend them to start tracking what you're doing to help you get in the healthy lifestyle habits you want to achieve.

I think I've made my healthy living habitual so now let's see how I do without the "food diary". So I'm not counting calories anymore other than on labels or to figure out whats in my recipes so I can still stick to portion control. Because I feel that's the cornerstone of healthy living.

--Previous Day Tracking --

Exercise - 45 minute power walk, 200 crunches, and 50 push ups.

Healthy Lifestyle - Day 119

Only Water - Day 114

Total Pounds Lost - 43.9

Meals:
Breakfast - bowl of FiberOne Honey Clusters w/ homemade Almond Milk
Morning Snack - FiberOne Granola Bar
Lunch - Ham Sandwich, sweet pickle, and carrots with hummus
Mid-Afternoon Snack -Peanut Butter and Banana Muffin w/ Peanut Butter Glaze and some apple chips
Dinner - last of the Lasagna and a salad

Turkeys and Jelly Bellys

I had an AWESOME day yesterday. I got to hang out with my writer buddy, Turkey Girl, and her gaggle of Turkeys. We met at the Jelly Belly Factory, had lunch, toured the factory, and got our children to eat gross flavored jelly beans!

Now, the old Lisa, surrounded by delicious candy and food would have eaten my (then) weight in sugar and goodies. But the new healthier Lisa, while having some candy and ice cream, didn't go overboard! I had a salad for lunch because I knew I was going to have some jelly beans. We had lunch at the Jelly Belly Cafe. I got an Oriental Chicken Salad that was to die for. It was super delicious. I only ate half the dressing and all the salad. It was great!!

On the tour of the Jelly Belly factory we got to sample some new flavors. I had them. They also had a tasting bar with pretty much every flavor bean the have. The old Lisa would have had several of each. The new Lisa picked a couple flavors to try and that was it. We got a packet of Jelly Belly's for touring. The husband and I split some and didn't even finish the bag.

Then 3ft wanted some ice cream. He chose Cotton Candy. Then Mr. Grumpybutt, the husband, and I split a kid's cone of Cookie Dough. I didn't even eat a third of it, I don't think. The old Lisa wouldn't have shared a cone. She would've wanted one all to herself. And when 3ft didn't finish his kid's cone, the old Lisa would've eaten that too. The new Lisa just threw the unfinished ice cream and cone away.

I'm amazed at how far I've come since mid May. How much weight I've lost. How I approach nutrition and portion control. How I can be turned loose in a Jelly Bean Factory and not eat everything in sight. I'm really proud of myself and how well I've been doing.

The most important thing: I felt NORMAL! I felt like a normal person hanging out with her friends, having a great time, and sure sampling the goodies. I didn't feel guilty. I didn't feel like I was cheating on anything. I balanced out the little splurges with my other meals.

I might've had a few more calories yesterday than usual as I had a little bit of candy and a few licks of ice cream. But the difference is: I didn't go crazy. I didn't say, "Screw it" the day is a failure and I might as well "enjoy" it and eat everything in sight. I really am enjoying a healthy LIFEstyle not a diet and that feels REALLY good!

--Previous Day Tracking --

Exercise - a bunch of walking and carrying Mr. Grumpybutt around (we forgot his stroller)

Healthy Lifestyle - Day 118

Only Water - Day 113

Total Pounds Lost - 43.9

Meals:
Breakfast - bowl of FiberOne Honey Clusters w/ homemade Almond Milk
Morning Snack - FiberOne Granola Bar
Lunch - Oriental Chicken Salad w/ half dressing
Mid-Afternoon Snack -a few jelly belly beans, and a little ice cream
Dinner - Ham sandwich, carrots and hummus, and apple chips