Staying on Track During the Holidays

So, I know that I'm posting all of these sweets and telling you how I have a million cookies in my freezer. You probably think that I'm just letting it all go and eating whatever the hell I want - kicking the treadmill to the curb and getting my belly full of jelly on.

Not true my friends! I have managed to continue losing weight -I'm down 10 pounds from my pre pregnancy weight- and don't really want to wreck that. Especially with a Key West trip just a few months away (which I'm so excited about)!

I'm still getting my fruit in - I just bought some fresh honey crisps, pineapple and cantaloupe.

And my veggies! This is one of my favorite salads from the Ale House in Florida and it's really easy to make at home. Romaine, shredded carrots, thinly sliced red onion, just a couple of croutons, light blue cheese dressing and grilled chicken breasts with some Franks Red Hot on it. Yum - totally filling and low carb.

This weekends meal plan included stuffed turkey burgers with roasted zucchini, baked sweet potatoes with pulled pork & asparagus and some chicken & veggies. I'm still aiming to stay low or no carb at night as much as possible. I'm not gonna lie - my workouts have gone down in frequency but I'm still shooting to get in 3 days at the gym a week. I'll definitely be picking it up in intensity after the New Year has come, as usual. I have obviously lost some muscle weight and want to gain some back - I know that I wont be able to get back to 'normal' until I can join a real gym again with classes and all though.

I can never say no to a good breakfast sandwich, especially when Adam cooks them up. To keep the calories dow na tiny bit I opt for egg whites and reduced fat sausage or turkey bacon. I'm not trying to convince myself that this is at all healthy, but a once a week breakfast indulgence isn't the end of the world.

Hope everyone is indulging but still keeping themselves in check! Happy Monday :)

Days Off By the Fridge

Having yesterday off helped me to get a lot done around the house, and really let me focus on my lunch for work today! Instead of packing some lettuce and chicken I was able to put something exciting together that I'm actually looking forward to eating! I have a refreshing salad of lettuce, corn off the cob, tomato, swiss, green pepper and avocado and I made a FF ranch/avocado/bbq dressing to go on top.

It's funny how starved I get at the office, but on a day at home I can go until lunch without eating. I finished my workout around 8 yesterday morning and force fed myself some multigrain cheerios (yum!) and apple/strawberries. I could barely get it down and wasn't hungry until around 12:30. It's nice to be able to control your nutrition more when you have your fridge right next to you all day. Does anyone else get the munchies at work? I'm sure its sitting all day and boredom that does it.

I am anxiously awaiting Adam's return from his work trip in Jacksonville....being at home alone gets boring after a few nights! What do you do to stay busy when it's just you? Casey Anthony can only keep me busy for 90% of my waking moments :)

Seafood Caesar Salad

Now that lent is here, seafood is the star of the show on Fridays. I decided to make a seafood caesar salad for dinner last Friday, and it was a fast, simple meal to whip up. It would be ideal for any busy night, but especailly on a Friday where all you want to do is relax and unwind after a long 5 days at work. Opt for the light caesar dressing and leave the real flavors to the seafood.

I used scallops, shrimp and 2 sticks of imitation krab (they now carry snow krab by the stick at the deli counter in publix, which I thought was interesting and is why I bought it).

Just add butter and olive oil to a skillet on medium heat. Toss in 1 tsp minced garlic. Add scallops and shrimp - cook until the scallops begin to brown and the shrimp become pink. Flip and season with salt and pepper. Once you only have about a minute left until they are cooked through, toss in the krab to heat. Add to the top of your premixed caesar salad and top with shredded parmesan.

Quick Weekday Meals

With salad and cherry tomatoes buy one get one, a coupon for mozzarella and chicken and shrimp on sale, my weekly menu was very simple to put together this week. While trying to keep up eating well and maybe cutting out some carbs/sugar, I still want to keep flavor to my meals and make them enjoyable. These are fast and easy to put together for lunch at work or dinner.

Shrimp Mozzarella Salad
De-shell your shrimp and place in a bag. Sprinkle in the seasoning of your choice and shake until shrimp are coated. Add to a small skillet on medium heat and cook until pink on both sides.

Half your cherry tomatoes, cube your mozzarella cheese and add your shrimp to your romaine. Add balsamic vinaigrette and eat up! I just love the mix of cheese, tomatoes, and hot shrimp. The textures work perfectly together.

Chicken Sandwiches
Take chicken cutlets, or chicken breasts (pounded thin) and sprinkle a little red pepper on each. Add each to a separate bag and splash in about 1 tsp of rice vinegar and 1 tbsp soy sauce. Toss them all in your freezer.

To make sandwiches: Defrost your chicken (take it out in the morning and set it in the fridge to thaw). Set your oven at 375 degrees, and place chicken breast on a baking sheet/pan. Cook for 10-15 minutes, or until heated through and no longer pink. Add to either bread(for lower calories) or a bun and add topping of your choice. I think pineapple would be really great, but I forgot to buy some so I added tomato, lettuce and some cheese to mine and ate with some more cherry tomatoes as a side.

Buffalo Chicken Salad

Chicken is amazing because you can do so many things with it. I wanted to put together sandwiches for a party, but I didn't want to use just a regular chicken salad so I decided to try a buffalo chicken salad. I love buffalo sauce, and having it on something other than calorie heavy wings is a nice change. I put this on bread and then we also put it on pizza crust, topped with mozzarella cheese. Everyone enjoyed this salad and I will be making it again. You could make this and have it for dinner or lunch in different ways, making it a time saver also.

Buffalo Chicken Salad
2 Chicken Breasts, shredded
1/3 cup Light Mayo
1.5 tbs Franks
1/2 tbsp Light Ranch
S&P
1 Stick Celery, chopped

Combine all and let chill in the fridge. Easy!

Basic Egg Salad

Hard boiled eggs are something that people seem to love or hate. The texture doesn't suit everyones taste, but for me I have always really enjoyed them. Deviled eggs and egg salad, crumbled on salads or just plain out of the shell, I can eat them anyway. Besides the boiling of the eggs and the cooling time, this is probably the easiest thing to pull together when you need something quick. Throw it on bagels, bread or crackers and go!

Basic Egg Salad
1 dozen Eggs, hard boiled and fork mashed
1/2 cup Light Mayo
S&P to taste

Mix all in a large bowl until mayo is evenly combined. Let chill in the fridge and serve.

Macaroni Salad

We pretty much used the grill the entire weekend, grilling burgers, hot dogs, steaks and ribs, so all of our sides were consistent with the bbq theme. I can't express our love for macaroni salad enough, we usually buy it from publix and devour the whole container in one sitting, just the two of us. It really is sick, especially when you look at all of the calories in it. Adam decided to make his own (although I played sous chef) and tried out this recipe from allrecipes.com. We were conisistent with the instructions, only making a few minor changes, and it turned out great, the 4.5 star rating is not a lie! I would suggest letting it sit overnight, as it had to best flavor the next day. Now I am left wondering if Adam has devoured the entire bowl of it by now.....thank goodness I didnt bring any home with me!

Macaroni Salad (from AllRecipes.com)
4 cups uncooked elbow macaroni
1 cup mayonnaise (we used light mayo....and I admit we used 2 cups, it was jsut too mustardy without it)
1/4 cup distilled white vinegar
2/3 cup white sugar
2 1/2 tablespoons prepared yellow mustard
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 large onion, chopped
2 stalks celery, chopped
1 green bell pepper, seeded and chopped
1/4 cup grated carrot (optional) -omitted
2 tablespoons chopped pimento peppers (optional) -omitted


Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add the macaroni, and cook until tender, about 8 minutes. Rinse under cold water and drain.

In a large bowl, mix together the mayonnaise, vinegar, sugar, mustard, salt and pepper. Stir in the onion, celery, green pepper, carrot, pimentos and macaroni. Refrigerate for at least 4 hours before serving, but preferably overnight.

I would wait until this point to add extra mayo, if you choose to.

Taco Pasta Salad

I mentioned how I have been wanting to try this Wagon Wheel Taco Pasta Salad for almost a year now; it has been blogged by so many people, but originated here, on Cara's Cravings. I think it was so hyped that I expected too much. Everyone loved it, especially all of the cilantro. I thought it was good, but this left something to be desired for me, personally. Maybe it was because I couldn't find wagon wheel pasta and had to settle for another, or because I left out the avacado since Adam hates it. It really is something different to whip up and bring to a party or to serve, because it is not your ordinary pasta salad. I will say, there was half the bowl gone so everyone enjoyed! I am inputting the original recipe here, since I followed it exactly, except for the 2 changes mentioned above.


Taco Pasta Salad (from Cara's Cravings)
1lb wagon wheel pasta
1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 10oz package frozen corn (I don't even bother thawing it, because I always make this at least a few hours before serving, so it plenty of time to defrost)
2 medium tomatoes, seeded and diced
8oz shredded Mexican-blend cheese
1 1/2 cups salsa
1/2 cup olive oil
3-4 tbsp lime juice
1 tbsp cumin
1-2 tsp chili powder
2 garlic cloves, minced
freshly ground salt & pepper
1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro
1 avocado, diced

Cook the pasta al dente according to package directions. Drain and rinse with cold water.

In a large bowl, combine the black beans, corn, tomatoes, salsa, and cheese. Add the cooled pasta and mix well.

In another bowl, whisk together the olive oil, lime juice, garlic, cumin and chili powder. Pour over the pasta salad, add the cilantro, and mix well. Season to taste with salt & pepper.

Just before serving, stir in the diced avocado.

BBQ Turkey Salad - Using Leftovers

The other week, I found a really good recipe for BBQ Turkey Burgers that I made, and I had some leftover meat from it that I froze. Tonight I was driving home in a bad mood thinking of how I was having a veggie burger patty and a salad for dinner and how I wanted SO many other things! All of the sudden I remembered that I had this bbq turkey meat in the freezer and my night turned around! I put it on the stove for 15 minutes to cook, and added it to a bed of romaine, green bell pepper and tomato, topped with ff ranch and some bbq sauce. It is delicious and Im so happy I remembered it. This meat mixture is definitely one of my favorites, and Im thinking that it would be good in a BBQ quesadilla also..... mmmmmmm

Shrimp Pasta Salad

a Usually when you think of pasta salads you think of summer and cookouts, both of which are the opposite of January. Right now its cold and you want warm food, but when you have tailgating leftovers, that usually means burgers and hotdogs. On Saturday we were stuck having to eat these things, following a tailgate for the bowl game here in Orlando, and I needed to add a little something else to the mix. We both love this shrimp pasta salad, which is originally from my parent's friend, then my sister always made it and now Ive been making it also. It is the best pasta salad! Also, I got a chance to use my new crab bowl that my mom got me for Christmas; very fancy! You basically add all of the ingredients to taste, as some people like the flavors in different amounts.

Shrimp Pasta Salad

1 box Shell Pasta, cooked according to package

1 lb Shrimp, steamed and chopped

2 Tomatoes, chopped

1/2 block Fresh Mozzerella, cubed

1 can of Corn

5 Green Onions, choopped

Duke's Mayonnaise (you can also use another kind, but this always tastes the best)

Durkees (use less than the amount of mayo, this is found by the condiments)

Old Bay Seasoning (I tend to use a lot because it gives it such a good flavor)

S&P to taste

Cook pasta according to package and put in the fridge until completely cooled off. Meanwhile, steam the shrimp and then put in fridge to cool also.

Once everything is cold, add in the remaining ingredients. I usually use about 2 big spoonfuls of mayo and one of the durkee's, and a couple tbsp of the old bay.

Fall Salad with Red Wine Vinegarette

I feel like I make the same salad over and over, and while it's good, it also gets old. I wanted to kick off fall and the cooler weather with a fall themed salad. It was also my first time making a vinegarette and it came out really good, I cant wait to make it again! I can't remember where I got the inspiration for this specific dessing recipe, but I tailored it a bit and it still worked out.

Fall Salad
Romaine, chopped
1/2 Red Onion
3 Green Onions, chopped
1/4 cup Sliced Almonds
1.5 Asian Pears, sliced
Homemade Red Wine Vinegarette

Combine all dry ingredients and add dressing. Toss to combine.

Red Wine Vinegarette
2 tbs Olive Oil
2 tbs Red Wine Vinegar
1/2 tsp Splenda
1/2 tsp Garlic, minced
1/4 tsp Dry Mustard
1/8 tsp Salt
1/8 tsp Basil
Pinch Red Pepper

Combine in a sealed container and shake until mixed well.

Healthy Dinners

Tonight was night 1 of our healthy meal plan. I made taco salad with :

ground turkey seasoned with garlic powder salt pepper and chili powder

homemade salsa

fat free sour cream

Romaine

avacado

corn - canned

red onion

It was a really filling meal without too many calories. I was so full afterwards! It is definitely going into my dinner rotation.