1 month left!!

I was just wondering how everyone is doing?

Only one month left... I guess I wont be eating much this month. I am having the hardest time with sweets!! I love a sweet treat after dinner. Kirk can just put in a piece of gum, but that just doesn't work for me!! Sometimes dieting is no fun. My favorite candy is easter candy(robin eggs) and girl scout cookies. How will I ever survive this month!!!

I'll Be Honest

I am a really bad dieter! I did so good eating healthy and exercising for the first 2 weeks and lost 5 pounds. Since then, I have gone back to my old habits and have gained back the 5 pounds. I am going to recommit myself today and try a little harder. I'll keep you all updated.

Im Hungry!!

I hate this time of night, all I want is ice cream!!!

Weight Watchers Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins

Some people wanted this recipe from Erma, so I got it from her and for those who know how Weight Watchers work they are 1 point each. Don't know how many calories, but I am guessing not alot.

1 Spice cake mix
1 reg. size can pumpkin
1/2 bag chocolate chips

put in your cupcake holder

Cook for 15-17 mins at 350

Allie and Daren: The Tap and Track

So we wanted to Thank those who have put this challenge together. Our eyes have been open to a whole new world of eating and what we have been eating. We found this app on our I phones its called Tap and Track it counts all the calories you eat and if you don't know how many calories it has you can search it. It even has all the resturants and the calories of each Entree. It made us sick to see how many calories we were consuming in a day. If you don't have an Iphone you can do it on the internet too! We love the recipes- if anyone has more please share. We have had to change a lot of our meals. And to Erma we would love the recipe of your Pumpkin Muffins from the Halloween party- as I recall they only had 50 calories? Thanks and good luck to you all.

JAN 17th

So stats Show that Jan. 17 is the day that most people give up on their resoulation. I hope that we have all made it past this day! Or if you have not started you still have plently of time to get going. Have a great week.

Label Category

I added a label category for recipes to the side bar. If you post a recipe choose a label for it and write it in the area just right of "post options."

Asian Beef Stir-Fry

This is one of our favorite recipes whether we are trying to eat healthy or not.

Eating For Life pg 83

Servings: 4

Preparation Time: 30 min.

Ingredients:

4 portions spaghetti (about 8 oz uncooked)

4 portions lean steak (about 1 lb)

1/8 tsp crushed red pepper flakes

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 onion, sliced

4 celery stalks, sliced

1 head napa cabbage, shredded

1/2 cup lite soy sauce

Directions:

1. Prepare spaghetti according to its package directions; drain and set aside

2. While the spaghetti is cooking, slice steak lengthwise into 2-inch strips. Cut crosswise into 1/8-in-thick slices.

3. Lightly coat a large skillet or wok with cooking spray. Over medium-high heat, stir-fry red pepper flakes and garlic for 1 minute.

4. Add the steak strips to the skillet, stir-fry just until no longer pink, approximately 2 minutes. Removes the steak from skillet and set aside.

5. Lightly recoat the skillet with cooking spray. Stir-fry onion and celery until tender,approximately 5 minutes. Add cabbage and cook until crisp-tender, approximately 2 more minutes.

6. Return steak to the skillet. Add cooked spaghetti and lite soy sauce; mix gently and heat thoroughly.

7. Divide into 4 portions, serve and enjoy!

Golden Pancakes

Nate and I had these for breakfast this morning. They were really good. They tasted a lot like french toast.

Eating For Life pg 220

Servings: 2

Prep. Time: 15 min.

1 cup uncooked whole-grain oats (non-instant)

6 egg whites

1 cup fat-free cottage cheese

1/4 tsp vanilla extract

1/4 tsp ground cinnamon

2 packets sugar substitute

1/2 cup sugar-free maple syrup

1/4 cup mixed berries

1. Lightly coat a nonstick skillet or griddle with cooking spray; place over medium heat.

2. In a blender, combine oats, egg whites, cottage cheese, vanilla, cinnamon and sugar substitute. Blend on medium speed until smooth, about 1 minute.

3. Pour batter, about 1/4 cup at a time, onto hot skillet. Cook pancake until bubbly on top and dry around edges, about 3 minutes. Turn and cook other side until golden brown, about 2 more minutes.

4. While pancakes are cooking, microwave maple syrup until warm, about 20 seconds.

5. Place a portion of pancakes on 2 separate plates. Top with warm maple syrup and mixed berries.

Hi, It's Jenny

I am finally, in I don't know how long, motivated to get in shape and actually exercise. Thank you Blackners for setting this up! Most of you know that I was going to have a little work done on my stomach after 2 doctors, one being a plastic surgeon, told me that exercise and dieting will never fix my stomach because of bulging muscles. I've decided to put that off until I've done everything in my power to prove them wrong. I've exercised everyday for 30 minutes on our elliptical and it feels so.dang.good to put forth the effort and be active! The only issue I have is we don't have a working tv down there so I've been watching movies. I'm almost done with the Bourne movies- anyone have any other good suggestions for action movies? This has become a personal challenge for me and I really hope we all stick with it and help ourselves feel better about ourselves!

Hey Everybody!

I'm glad we are doing this competition. It has really motivated me to eat better and exercise. I read that most people give up on their New Year's fitness goals during the 2nd and 3rd week of January. I've done awesome with eating healthy and exercising until last night. I didn't exercise yesterday and I had way to much to eat for dinner. I have also had way too much to eat already today. I need to get back on track. I don't want to be one of the satistics. Don't let that be you either!

Our First Healthy Meal

I made this for my family on Monday and was not sure how it would go over. Especially because we do not eat so healthy around here. Pizza, Chicken nuggets, pop-tarts, cold cereal and any take -out food is usually what we are eating. So this was a change. The whole meal took less than 10 minutes to make, and they all LOVED it!!! The only thing I didn't use was radishes and onions. I also cooked the chicken on the George Foreman grill for about 4 minute and it tasted delicious. I have one son who didn't want a salad so I just gave him the chicken and fruit on the side and he ate it all My other kids loved it. In fact Brinley took it for lunch the next day.
Then Bridger asked if we could have it again another day!! I was excited that my kids want to eat better too!!

I got this out of my favorite cook book "Eating for Life" by Bill Phillips I highly recommend it!!
That will be my only secret I am sharing because I love the cook book so much. Unfortunately I am a Blackner which means I am kinda competitive, so watch out!!!!:)
Good Luck y'all

Caribbean Chicken Salad
Grilled chicken on a bed of vegetable and fruit, topped with honey-Dijon dressing.

4 portions chicken breast (about 1 lb)

2 tsp McCormick Montreal Chicken Seasoning

1 bag of baby romaine salad blend

1 bag romaine salad blend

1 cucumber, sliced

1 red onion, sliced

1 cup radishes, sliced

1 red bell pepper, diced

2 tomatoes, diced

1 can (11 oz) mandarin oranges, drained

1 can (8 oz) pineapple tidbits, drained

½ cup reduced-fat cheddar cheese, shredded

½ cup lite honey-Dijon salad dressing

Preheat grill to high. Season the chicken breasts on both sides with the Montreal seasoning. Then place chicken on hot grill and cook for approximately 6 minutes; turn and grill for approximately 6 more minutes, until no longer pink in the center.

While the chicken is cooking, combine the baby romaine salad, romaine salad blend, cucumber, red onion radishes, red bell pepper and tomatoes in a large mixing bowl and toss.

Divide the salad between four plates. Top each with one-fourth of the mandarin orange slices, pineapple tidbits and shredded cheese.

Place the cooked chicken on a cutting board, let it cool slightly, then slice into ½-inch stripes.

Top each salad with a portion of chicken. Pour honey-Dijon dressing over salads. Serve and enjoy!!

In this book they don't give calories they go by portions and less fatty food. However if you are calorie counting I figured it was about 330 calories a serving with the dressing.

just testing

Trying one more test to see if this works.

Lets get this party started!!

Ok everyone I thought that it would be fun to have an open blog that we could all post on. I was thinking we can share how we are doing, what is working what is not. Any healthy recipes, just whatever, and if you want to throw in a little smack talk so be it:)