Wednesday, September 26, 2012

Phoning It In

This is what I've been doing all week, and basically what I'm doing now - I'm phoning it in tonight because I have a long day ahead of me tomorrow! A few fun things coming, though:

- an update on our house situation!
- a really easy challenge!
- ruminations on why I FAILED the last challenge
- a general update.

Get excited :)

<3 Lexi

Friday, September 21, 2012

Foodie Friday + Challenge Update

Challenge = FAIL.

Okay, I know that isn't much of an update, but I have still been snacking and not eating so great. A few things that I did notice changed about my eating habits - I made better choices for the most part (a banana instead of cookies, natural PB instead of JIF, etc), I didn't worry or stress over what I was eating, but I didn't just add ingredients with abandon when I cooked, either. I find that I'm an all-or-nothing kinda girl; I either measure each ingredient and go as low-fat/low-cal/low-taste as I can, or I just throw it all in thinking "MMMM THIS IS GONNA BE GOOOOOOD!" and add about a pound of cheese. This is only a slight exaggeration.

I think the challenge has proven what I wanted it to, though. That I CAN eat a little healthier and still eat, and not count calories and feel a whole lot better about me. That's what I'm glad to see - a little less self-loathing all around.

Anyway, on to Foodie Friday!

I posted a picture on Facebook of an amazing recipe that I had found at Around the Table and tweaked a bit to my liking, and had about a million (read: 4) requests for the recipe. So I've decided to share what I did with each of you. And no, there are NO pictures of the process, just the finished product. And boy, were these goooooood.

So without further ado, I give you:

Cheesy Quinoa & Broccoli Muffins: Recipe adapted from Around the Table


Ingredients:

  • 1 1/2 cups dry quinoa (don't forget to rinse it!)
  • Broccoli
  • pinch of salt
  • 2 cloves garlic, minced
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1 cup almond milk
  • 1/2 cup Greek yogurt
  • 1 1/2 cups grated Cheddar cheese (I used Sharp Cheddar...mmmm)
  • Optional- Cayenne (Red) Pepper, seasoning of your choice (I used Wildtree Smoked Mozz Dip)
  • Toppings - Crushed pretzels
Instructions:
  1. Cook your quinoa according to package directions (about 15 minutes) and allow to cool. For extra flavor, cook it in chicken or vegetable broth.
  2. Sautee broccoli, cool and then mince.
  3. Preheat oven to 350 F.
  4. Grease a large muffin tin with PAM, butter, or any oil of your choice. I used PAM.
  5. Whisk together eggs, milk, yogurt, salt, garlic, and your seasonings in a large bowl.
  6. Add cooled quinoa, cooled broccoli and cheese, stirring well to be sure to mix it all up!
  7. Fill your muffin tins. Because I was adapting this recipe from one that was originally made in a 9x13 pan, I ended up with some leftovers. I froze my leftovers for an individual "someday" serving.
  8. Crush pretzels and sprinkle over top, then bake for 30-35 minutes or until the pretzels brown or the egg sets. Just keep an eye on em!
  9. Allow to cool after baking for about 10 minutes, then enjoy!
The finished product - yummy!
These were really quite delicious, and in fact Kevin came home and ate 4 of them. I was shocked - quinoa is not his favorite thanks to its odd texture. However, due to the double-cook method used in this recipe, it was very soft and he said much more palatable than usual. Obviously! They also reheated REALLY well, and in fact I had some for lunch and was happy with their flavor and texture. I think I'll try making a few batches next time and freezing to see how they work out! 

These could be made so many different ways, with a different combination of cheeses, spices, toppings, vegetables, you name it! Quinoa is such a versatile grain, and with 6 grams of protein per serving, it sure beats carb-y, empty calorie rice. You could still make this recipe in a 9x13 pan, but the muffin tins make individual servings easy and leftovers even easier.

Enjoy :)


Wednesday, September 19, 2012

Epiphany

I have realized two things about myself:

I am an emotional eater, and an emotional shopper. I don't eat when I'm sad, I eat when I'm MAD or frustrated. Same with shopping (I also find that sometimes I clean when I'm mad, but that's rare). I wonder why this is?

How about you? Are you an emotional eater, or do you stop eating when you're sad/mad/frustrated?

Weigh in below (ha! Get it?).

<3 Lexi

Tuesday, September 18, 2012

Challenge Update

So yesterday, I posted a quick picture of my guy holding a fish and told you it was a sneak peek of today's blog post. I'll explain what I meant by that in a minute, but first I wanted to share something YUMMY with all of you - my lunch today!

Start with all of this:



  • Romaine lettuce
  • Leftover quinoa from last night's dinner
  • Strawberries
  • Grapes
  • Wildtree Berry Dressing
Cut the lettuce, strawberries, and grapes, add quinoa and dressing, and end up with this:


Add walnuts, and you get:



Lunch! This was so good, and easy and quick to make. Not to mention thrifty, since I'm reusing some of last night's leftovers.

And that brings me to my progress report on the challenge. A few days ago, I decided to start filling my body with healthier things than I normally do, eating when I want to, stopping when I'm full, and replacing my sweet cravings with fruits and eating more veggies than normal. Well...I have been doing okay (and that's being nice) with the whole challenge so far, but I figure I'm only two days in and today has been MUCH better!

Yesterday started just fine (has anyone else noticed that I'm much more health conscious in the mornings?). I had an apple and almonds for breakfast because I HAD to run out the door; we're buying a house and had an appointment to meet with the Realtor. After signing some papers, we decided to check out the house again and head out. We stopped for lunch at a local pub, and I ordered a burger. Great. Normally, this is where my day starts to go downhill. I figure "Hell, if I'm going to be unhealthy, I might as well follow through!" and I order the burger with cheese, mayo, fries, and all of the not-so-great parts that go with them. This time, I opted to skip the fries and get a side salad instead, which I ate with croutons and chipotle ranch and raisins and don't regret a bit of it. It was delicious. My burger was amazing, and I skipped the cheese and mayo and only added lettuce, tomato, onion and ketchup. I didn't need all of that other stuff, this burger was AMAZING (if you're looking for a great place to eat locally, I really recommend Neighbors' Pub & Grub in the Soulsbyville area, food and owners are great).

So lunch wasn't a total bust, until Fred (the owner) casually mentioned that they had blueberry cobbler. I'm a sucker for a good cobbler (which it was) and I ordered one and split it with my little missy, Emma. We loved it! And I still didn't feel guilty! Then came dinner.

Kevin had been fishing on Sunday morning and caught a great big bass (hence the picture yesterday), so we had fried bass and quinoa with salad and green bean fries for dinner. YUM! All very good, and at this point I was feeling only slightly guilty. Then nighttime came, Kevin went to bed, and I ate a bowl of Frosted Mini Wheats and a PB&J sandwich. At 10:00 PM. WHY DO I DO THESE THINGS?

I know these are wordy posts, but my point here is that I have been eating not-so-great things lately, but somewhat in moderation and most of them have either been made by me or by a local restaurant who knows the actual ingredients. Even my Wildtree dressing from lunch today has less than 10 ingredients in them, and guess what? I can read every single one.

So far, the challenge has been going so-so at best, but I'm not giving up! Today's breakfast was a healthy granola bar (made with beetsweet instead of sugar, so healthier) and water, with that yummy lunch and an apple with natural PB. Sounds pretty healthy so far, right? Currently looking for a healthy ground-turkey recipe that ISN'T spaghetti or meatloaf. Sigh.

In un-related events:


This might be our house at the end of October! More tomorrow :)





Monday, September 17, 2012

Sneak Peek

So tired, need to drop into bed face first. But before I do that, here's a sneak peek of day one on the healthy eating wagon.

More tomorrow! Night everybody :)

Sunday, September 16, 2012

This Weekend - and a Weekly Experiment

Most of you know that I work from home, which is to say that I am a happily self-employed Scentsy Family Consultant. Have been for 3.5 years, and love my job! The one thing I DO NOT love about my job? Its effect on my waistline! From parties with not-so-healthy appetizers and wine (yes, I drink on the job) to fairs and shows with food vendors galore, it can be hard for a gal to stay on track. That's why I used this weekend to pay attention to what I ate at The 49er Festival & Chili Cook-Off in Groveland, where I set up my Grace Adele booth.

I woke up Saturday morning at the waytooearly hour of 4 o'freakin clock to get ready and head out the door. Breakfast was a healthy smoothie with a banana, almond milk, protein powder and some flax seed with berries. Talk about starting your day right! Upon arrival at the event, I decided to add a little snack to my menu - a bottle of Sunny D and a banana. Now, I know what you're thinking. Sunny D is not the healthiest choice, but the lady sorta fooled me into buying it by telling me that she had "orange juice". So I pay for the drink, she delivers it to me, and it's Sunny D. I drank it...sue me.

The day progresses slowly, and suddenly the delectable scent of kettle korn hits my nose. Oh dear. I am a sucker for some kettle korn! Naturally, I gave in to the temptation and grabbed a bag. But fear not! I settled for the smallest bag they had - and then ate thewholedamnthing in about 20 minutes. Right on, Lexi.

The rest of the day was a little downhill. A slice of pizza bread (aka, a french roll sliced in half with some pizza sauce and cheese) and one GIANT carne asada quesadilla later, and I've sorta effed myself for the day. I try to justify this with the fact that I was on my feet and moving around literally all day, but somehow this justification falls flat. Go figure!

Normally I would berate myself for daaaaays after this kind of behavior, but you know what? This time I'm just going to let it go and move on. But my slip-ups have inspired me...

Since tomorrow is Monday, and Mondays seem to be the "start" day for every diet ever attempted, I've decided to run a little experiment beginning tomorrow morning! I hope you'll join in. Here's how it'll go:

  • I'm going to challenge myself to completely revamp my eating habits. This means that when I'm craving a cookie, I'll go and eat an apple. If I'm still hungry, it's carrots for me until my next meal!
  • Meals will be simple, easy to pronounce ingredients only! If I can't say it without practicing, it ain't going in my mouth.
  • I'm going to start paying attention to my body while I eat - stop eating when I'm full, not stuffed. Eat when I'm hungry, not bored. And if I really must eat something, I've gotta make it good for me! Fruits, veggies, nuts, etc.
This sounds like an easy experiment, and in theory it totally is! But in practice...well, if your local chocolate shop gets held up and robbed of its goods, IT WASN'T ME.



Friday, September 14, 2012

Foodie Friday

It's Foodie Friday - time for a recipe from The Weigh I Am test kitchens! Or more accurately, here's a recipe that I absolutely love and wanted to share with each of you :)

Tuna Salad

I am a huge fish lover, but if you're not, you can always substitute canned or fresh chicken for the canned tuna in this recipe!


  • Start with a large bowl and your favorite leafy greens - my favorite is a combo of spinach and romaine lettuce, but I usually use whatever is in the fridge and needs to get used up - and combine them in the bowl.
  • Grab your favorite salad toppings - for me, it's diced red onion, cherry tomatoes, cucumber and a teensy bit of shredded sharp cheddar - and add them to the salad.
  • In a separate bowl (or measuring cup) mix together any dijon mustard, vinegar and oil combo you like. In our house, we prefer a spicier dijon mustard mixed with olive oil and a pomegranate-infused balsamic vinegar. Make sure that you don't add too much of your oil, you want to keep the calories down but still have enough to create a yummy dressing.
  • Open your tuna and add it to your bowl, then dump your dressing in and stir.
  • Eat! This is a quick 5-minute meal that I make almost every day, and it's one of my favorite lunches because it feels naughty, but it isn't.


Yesterday I talked about self-love, finding the good things about myself and writing them down. I didn't actually get the chance to sit and write them down yesterday (because really, when do I have time for that?) but I am just going to share a few things with you all that I absolutely love about myself:


I absolutely love my smile! I know that my teeth are crooked and not completely perfect, but when I smile it's always with my eyes. I think people can see that it's a genuine smile, not a fake one, and it's one of my favorite parts about me.


I love my hair - it's naturally red and usually willing to style itself the way I want it to. This is more than can be said for a lot of women who hate their hair, so I think I'm pretty lucky! As a teenager (and even into my adult life), I used to dye my hair to cover up the red. Now I dye it to enhance the red, and am always receiving compliments on my hair color! So, kudos to mother nature and my hairdresser, ya'll work perfectly together.


And last, but certainly not least, my sense of humor is one of my favorite things about ME. I like to think I'm pretty funny. In all seriousness though, I am able to laugh at myself in most situations, and rarely ever feel uncomfortable or embarrassed to the point where I am upset. Most often, those who witness me screwing up (and there's a lot of ya) will then witness me making some sort of self-deprecating joke about what a doofus I am, and then I move on. I'm not sure if it comes across as self-loathing or an ability to laugh at myself, but I certainly hope it's the latter.

So, there's my list of the top 3 things I love about me. What's yours? Share in the comments below, I'd love to hear!

Thursday, September 13, 2012

Loving You

Today is the first day of my semi-challenge, and I have already gone over my first post with a fine toothed comb. I've been picking apart every goal that I set, looking at the restrictions I set for myself, and wondering what I have gotten myself into. I seem to have this horrible habit of overdoing just about everything I do, and isn't the whole point of this experiment - this entire blog - to go easy on and be gentle with myself? It seems to me like my rules were restrictive, and restricting myself is what gets me in "trouble" in the first place. So today, I'm going to take it slow, ignore the "key points" I talked about yesterday, and focus on one of the most important elements of my experiment: loving myself.

Let me start by saying that I am NO GOOD at self-love. I find myself receiving compliments and deflecting them back, for example:

Friend: Omigosh, cute shirt!

Me: Oh, this old thing?

I never realized that this was a form of "denial" until a good friend pointed it out to me. I responded to a compliment of hers in like fashion, and she said "Stop doing that. You don't need to tell people it's an old shirt/bag/etc or where you got it, just take the compliment and move on." And you know what? She was right! For some reason, I simply cannot accept a compliment and let it be what it is. I have to deflect it away from myself by downplaying the subject of the compliment. I'm working on not doing that, which is difficult for me because it's so ingrained in the fabric of who I am and how I operate. Change is not easy, this is true, but I find that my lack of ability to love who I am slips out every day in little ways like this one. Does this make me come across as insecure? I'm sure it does, and to be honest that's a little embarrassing!

But when it comes to self-love, I find that I simply have the hardest time looking in the mirror and loving what I see. Sometimes even just liking what I see is a real challenge, one I'm going to have to face head on. Avoiding mirrors and pants with buttons is almost impossible, so I'm going to have to learn to accept who I am, what my body is doing, and love it for what it is and what it can do, not what it ISN'T and what it CAN'T do. But there's a problem there. If I'm striving for self-love and acceptance, and need to love myself the way I am, then how am I supposed to change my eating habits? Why should I? And exercise - who needs it if I'm loving me the way I am, right? I think the answer to that is simple: I've got to love myself for who and what I am and understand that there are things I simply cannot change, regardless of how many crunches or jumping jacks I do. But I need to accept that there are things I am not good at, and strive to become better at them.

That's a lot of blah blah blah-ing and deep thought for a blog that's only two days old, I know. I do have a point, and I'm coming to it now. It's time for a mental and emotional exercise.

Write down a list of things you absolutely love about you! I'll be sharing my list with each of you tomorrow - keep an eye out! Until then...


Wednesday, September 12, 2012

Not a Newbie

Welcome!

I'm going to be perfectly honest with you here - this is not my first time blogging. I created a blog a few years ago to document my not-so-exciting life, and it (predictably) petered out after about a year of random postings. This will not be that blog.

For those of your who followed me over here from Facebook, you already know who I am. I am Lexi, 24 year old mother of 2 and wife to Kevin. I'm a Scentsy Family Independent Director, I love my job, talk a lot, and am a redhead.

For those of you who don't know me very well (and even some of you who do) I want to let you in on a little secret - I love to eat. Put me in a setting with food, and guess what will happen? I'll eat it. We're not talking take a few bites and put it away, we're talking eatthewholedamnpanofbrowniesomg kind of eating here. And I'm ready to admit it.

Another secret? I hate myself for my eating habits. I have quite a history of working out, eating healthy, achieving my goals and then binge-eating for months until I have gained 10 pounds back. I'll catch myself walking past a mirror and saying to myself "God, your arms are fat. Your stomach is disgusting. What the hell is wrong with you?" and rather than trying to fix it, I go into the kitchen and fix myself the worst possible thing I can eat. It's an emotional eating habit that is destroying my body, my metabolism, and most importantly - my self esteem.

So I'm here, writing to all of you on the internet, about what I'm going to do to stop it. I am pledging to myself, and all of you, that I will be a better, happier and healthier me - and here's how I'm going to do it:


  • To start, I am throwing away every food item in my kitchen that will lead to a binge session or help me indulge in an unhealthy craving. This includes but is not limited to: white flour, sugar (even the fake stuff), chips, dips, mayonnaise, butter, fatty meats, and anything else I deem unhealthy. 
  • I'll be keeping a few things you WOULDN'T expect a diet-hound to keep around: healthy oils such as olive, grapeseed, or coconut, peanut butter, and whole wheat flour. A girl still has to eat, after all.
  • I'll be eating more of the following: fresh fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and unprocessed foods.
  • I'll be cooking ALL OF MY MEALS. Every one. Nothing packaged, processed or powdered for me. For a YEAR.
  • A quick "however" to the previous point: I'm going to love myself and understand that I am only human - I am going to make mistakes, and that's okay.
  • I won't be counting calories. This, my friends, is a big step for me.
  • I will exercise for at least 30 minutes 5 days a week. I feel like this is a realistic and healthy goal, and is also the amount of exercise experts recommend for the average adult. Shouldn't be too hard, right?
  • To further my emotional health, I will be sharing each and every success and failure with all of you.
  • I will not allow myself to indulge in negative self-talk.
  • I will not allow OTHERS to make me feel badly about my body.
Along with all of my trials, tribulations, thoughts and troubles that I'll be sharing, you can all expect to find healthy recipes, exercise tips, and support from me.

Want to join me in this journey? Comment below and make a commitment with me: eat right, exercise, and be healthy and happy with me for one year. 365 days of commitment.

Wish me luck! And I'll wish you the same :)

 
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