My Week in Food- Week #1

As a self-professed 'Queen of Procrastination', it should come as no surprise to any of you that this post is actually about 1 1/2 weeks late. What can I say?! Dieting is time-consuming! Be that as it may, I try to live by one of my favorite mantras 'better late than never' and I truly feel like as long as this gets posted sometime within the 365 days that make up the year 2013- well, then I'm doing pretty good!

I have to say that this first week was a pretty great week all around for food stuffs here. I'll admit it was a bit more work than usual, as this time around I have decided to cook all 3 meals from scratch each day instead of just dinner. This stems from several factors: the fact that I homeschool the kids now (so my whole day consists of little voices cawing 'I'm hungry! I'm hungry!), the fact that I am trying to use LESS processed foods which limits easy go-to and 'snack-y' type items easily kept in the pantry, and the fact that... I guess I just wanted a challenge?!

Keep in mind when you are looking at these reviews and Points+ breakdowns, I tend to alter recipes considerably to suit my family's tastes or to accommodate what  ingredients we happen to have on hand. I will list each of these recipes (and my subsequent dissection of them) under my 'Eats' tab above. There will ALWAYS be a link to the actual recipe so you can be as faithful to the original as you so choose.

To streamline things around the house, to make things fun, and because I just happen to dig alliteration I decided to make each day of the week specific to a certain type or style of food. Therefore, we plan our menus around:

• Meatless Mondays (fairly self-explanatory)
• Tasty Travels Tuesdays (ethnic cuisine of some sort- attempting to broaden my children's horizons)
• Wet 'N Wild Wednesdays (seafood critters)
• Throwback Thursdays (old-fashioned favorites with a lighter twist: 'Sghetti and Meatballs, Steak and Potatoes, etc.)
• Pizza Fridays (Friday is ALWAYS pizza night- alliteration be damned!)
• Souper Saturdays (again, self-explanatory)
• Slow Cooker Sundays (can I just put 'duh' here?)

Now that you're 'in the know'.. to Week One we go!

Thai Shrimp Scampi (Weight Watchers Magazine)

 Tasty Travels Tuesday 

Meal: Thai Shrimp Scampi from Weight Watchers Magazine. With it is an Asian 3 Bean Salad from Ellie Krieger (love her!) and a delicious spinach salad! YUM!

Review: The family really enjoyed this dish although I found the sauce a bit thin for my taste. When I make it again (and yes, I will make it again, the kids said to definitely put this one in the rotation) I will allow the sauce to reduce down and thicken up some. I think I'll also punch up the flavor with a few more spices. I found it a bit bland for my palate.

Points+ Breakdown: This whole meal only costs 10 points (that's including cheese and bacon bits on the salad). It's a keeper!

Throwback Thursday 

Meal: Brown Ale Braised Chicken Thighs (a Better Homes and Gardens winner!) served with Goat Cheese Stuffed Twice Baked Potatoes and Honey Roasted Glazed Carrots (my mama's recipe). Don't forget the requisite salad- mixed greens this time! DELISH!

Brown Ale Braised Chicken (Better Homes and Gardens)

Review: I have to say this meal was one of the most amazing meals I have ever made in my entire life- and I've made some really good ones! I think if I was stuck on a deserted island and could only have a single meal for the rest of my life- this would be the meal! The meat was so flavorful and succulent (thanks Sam Adams!), the potatoes were divine (and I didn't even think I would like goat cheese!), and the carrots were as sweet and delicious as I always remember.

Points+ Breakdown: Okay, I have to admit... this one is definitely pricey in the Points+ department. But if you have some weekly points left and you want a delicious meal that is SOOOOO worth it- this is without a doubt the one to try. 1 chicken thigh, 1 potato, and 1 serving of carrots will cost you 13 points- but it's impossible to stop at just 1 so keep that in mind!

Pizza Friday

Meal: Pizza Pasta and spinach salad (not pictured- like the weird kid in high school) and Raspberry Fool with Angel Food Cake (again, Ellie Krieger!) for dessert!

Review: Crappy riddle of the day: What tastes just like pizza- but isn't? PIZZA PASTA!! (I told you it was crappy) But seriously folks, this pasta does taste JUST like pizza. Only it's waaaaaaaaay more filling (thanks to the whole wheat pasta) and even richer and more flavorful due to the addition of sweet Italian sausage and mozzarella cheese (I know it looks like a lot- but it's really only 2 cups!)

Raspberry Fool (Ellie Krieger)

We indulged our sweet teeth (plural on purpose!) with Ellie Krieger's Raspberry Fool- amazingly satisfying considering it's just yogurt and a bit of cream with a few cubes of angel food cake and some raspberries thrown in. Really hit the spot and made for an awesome Friday night delight.

Points+ Breakdown: This meal, as sinful as it sounds, skates in at a mere 11 points. Well worth it if you're craving a pizza fix and a sumptuous dessert.

Souper Saturday

Meal: Although Souper Saturday is usually all about...well...soup- this review is actually about the Apple Coffee Cake I made to go with our Veggie Egg Scramble for breakfast. Again, by the wonderful Ellie Krieger!

Review: As you can imagine, anything with flour, brown sugar, cinnamon, apples, and pecans can't possibly be anything other than scrumptious! It was warm and hearty and made you feel good eating it- absolutely a coffee cake I'll make often in the future.

Apple Coffee Cake (Ellie Krieger)

Points+ Breakdown: Each slice of this cake came in at 7 points, but that's possibly because I cut it into 10 pieces due to baking it in a round cake dish. If you follow her instructions and bake it in a bigger dish, and cut it into more portions, your points intake would be reduced. But it was undeniably worth it. Would I do it again? You bet your butt I would!

Well folks, that does it for this week's worth of food (but remember, I'm about 2 weeks behind at this point so somewhere I've got some catching up to do). I hope you learned a little, salivated a lot (!), and maybe gathered an idea or two to take the place of next week's Tuna 'Surprise'. I'm pretty sure your family will thank me. And you. (But mostly me)

Remember, you can find any and all of these recipes on my 'Eats' link above- and if you're lucky... a tutorial or four!

Until next time..... may the fork be with you!

Today (and by today, I mean Jan. 7) is the First Day of the Rest of My Life!

I've been a fat girl all my life.

OK... that's not entirely true. I managed to maintain a pretty trim figure until I was about 10 years old. (I know, impressive huh?) Up until that point I hated chocolate- actually DESPISED the stuff. (I'm still convinced it was due to alien experiements being carried out in my body... but I have no proof to speak of...) In any event, at the age of 10 a switch was flipped, chocolate became a dear friend, and I got FAT. (Sorry chocolate- someone had to be the fall guy) Keep in mind, I didn't just gain a little weight... I got fat fat. Like gooey 'can't shop in the juniors department' anymore fat. It was gross and painful and embarrassing. Especially in gym class when the popular girls called you 'wide load' as you ran your laps. Or when you wanted to buy the cute skirts and dresses but couldn't due to the 2" they rode up in the back because you had ghetto-booty long before Sir Mix-a-Lot even realized he liked it.

You'd think that issues like that would lead me to want to lose the weight to never experience that again, but all it did was cause to me to eat more. I became an emotional eater. If I was happy, I ate. If I was sad, I ate. Lonely, scared, angry, excited, nervous? Ate, ate, ate, ate. By the time I reached seventh grade, I was already in plus size clothing. When I would go on class trips out of town and we'd stop at the inevitable mall, all my friends would head to Gap, The Limited, or 5-7-9. I got stuck in the fat lady department of Penney's and Sears. Can you even comprehend HOW embarrassing that was? I was always picked last for teams, always picked on for my style (it wasn't the greatest) or my thick glasses, and was even made fun of for my smarts (they were the one thing I had going for me). I never even had a date to any dances. In fact, my first dance with a 'date' was with my COUSIN!! UGH!!!

Don't get me wrong. I'm not saying that my weight kept me from living a full life. I'm not curled up in a corner with my arms wrapped around myself, rocking back and forth and drooling. I've managed to live a pretty 'normal' life. I've had my share of relationships (most bad, a handful of them worthwhile). I've loved my share of men (again most bad, only 2 or 3 of them worth the effort). I  managed to produce 4 beautiful children who are the light of my life. I've been lucky enough to meet my very best friend and share a wonderful marriage with him that continues to this day.  I've graduated from college several times and have numerous diplomas under my belt. I've held various jobs in all different sectors of the business industry and, while I have not loved them all, I have taken something valuable from each of them that has helped me grow as a person and an employee.

All of that being said, my weight was still a major stumbling block in all of these successes. I was often not hired for jobs I was qualified for, or was underpaid for jobs I did get, because my weight held a stigma that I was lazy or unkempt or somehow didn't have control of myself. I didn't always choose the best people to be in relationships with because, for a long time, I didn't think I was worthy of a good man. So, I allowed my weight to affect my self-esteem, which in turn affected my safety as I inevitably ended up dating abusers. I had complications with each successive pregnancy as my weight would increase and then never reduce after the birth of the baby. By my fourth child I had no choice but to get my tubes tied because a fifth child could have been a detriment to my life. My weight even played issue in my wedding as I walked down the aisle in a size 28W wedding dress... I never wanted to be a fat bride.

All I know is being fat is NO FUN. See, Santa gives fat people a bad rap, because skinny people think we're supposed to be jolly all the time. Well, I'm here to tell you that someone must be leaving out some special 'Christmas brownies', because my weight problem doesn't help me feel that at all! On the contrary- I'm constantly tired, my joints ache, I carry around so much extra weight that my body can't handle it. I get easily depressed and/or irritated, I suffer from migraine headaches related to the amount of weight my poor body has to endure, and I don't sleep- or at least I don't sleep well.

So... I've had it. That's it. It's time to do something about this. I'm so sick and tired of being sick and tired... and fat. And it's time to make a change. Not to talk about it and then go get a cheeseburger and start it on 'Monday' (which never comes). Not to start it and give up four days into it because it's just too hard. Not to even start it but only slightly tweak my routines and 'necessities' (like Coca-Cola every morning) in an attempt to make my current habits fit my new lifestyle. Nope... it's time to start over- start fresh- time to wipe the slate clean. And the first step is admitting I have a problem. There, I said it:

I HAVE A PROBLEM!!!!!

And now it's time to fix it. For the first time in... well... forever... I finally feel committed to doing this. It's not just to get thin so I can look cute in new clothes (although that is an AWESOME goal)!. No, it's to get healthy, so I can play with my kids, be around to meet my future grandkids, and maybe finally get a decent night's rest.

In the essence of full disclosure (and I can't really believe I'm doing this), I'm going to post my starting stats on here for you.:

• Initial weigh in-373.4 lbs
• Arm- 20"
• Chest- 57.5"
• Hips- 66"
• Waist- 53.5"
• Thigh- 36"

I can't tell you how very embarrassing it is to share those numbers (my mom says I am far braver than she is because I dared to share), but I feel like by doing that it will help keep me honest and keep me on track. My first goal is 10%, which equates to 37 lbs-ish; putting me at 336 to reach my first goal. Since I'm writing this post a bit 'late', I've already had my first weigh in and lost 4.8 lbs! Whoop, whoop!

Tim and I have decided to attack this together. We're doing the WeightWatchers PointsPlus system and we are very excited about where this is *hopefully* going to take us. We've cleaned out the pantry of anything that can weaken our willpower. We've cut out sodas, and sweet tea, and a lot of processed foods (that whole LESS is MORE thing!) already. We eat a salad every night with dinner, have at least 3 servings of dairy per day, and have upped our fruit/non-starchy veg quota considerably.

I'm sure you'll notice the little weight loss widget posted in the upper corner of the blog- she will dutifully keep track of all my successes (and even those times I fail) and you can feel free to track my progress and cheer us on (we need all the support we can get!) I'll post weekly about the different meals we make in an effort to keep it interesting, because as I tell my kids, when you're watching what you eat you have to replace fat with flavor!

I know every week won't be forward momentum- it's a given. And I know it's going to be a slow success- but slow and steady wins the race every time. This program is a successful one and we have personally been successful on it before- we've just never been this committed. So, hopefully 2013 can truly be 'our year'. Wish us luck!

Until next time...

Welcome to the World... Little Bloggie!

In true Jenn style, this blog has been a creative endeavor that has been over a year and a half in the making. Not that it's actually taken that long to learn how to use Blogger (it's not that hard!) or even that it was so difficult picking a background and a font (I'm sorta picky but not to that extent...ok... I will admit I spent an inordinate amount of time on font choices... but still!) Nope, it was just another case of me doing what I do best- dawdling... tarrying... dilly-dallying... oh to heck with it! PROCRASTINATING!!. Or, better put, letting the things I have to do getting in the way of the things I want to do. 

See, I dreamt up the idea of this little baby over a year ago during the holiday season of 2011. I had taken up several new pursuits during that year and I wanted to share them with with family and friends spread far and wide. I had neat new ideas for saving money, saving time, saving energy, saving sanity (!) etc and I thought I'd have it up and running in a matter of days... yeah.

I know the title of the blog can be a bit confusing, so let me take a minute to explain where it came from and how I got there. I decided to start this out of my desire to share my experiences with making most of my food from scratch and my attempts at couponing to save mucho dinero in the 'can't make it, so have to buy it department'. The idea blossomed from there- my family and I are trying to take a new approach to life- a more wholesome approach where we live a more fully realized life but do so by utilizing less 'stuff'. 

• LESS processed food helps us eat healthier. So, I can post about my successes (and oh so many screw-ups!) learning how to make homemade bread. Or my attempts at growing (and then canning) my own vegetables. Or my master recipe for sneaking veggies my kids hate into their spaghetti sauce so they think they're winning and really I am!! 
• LESS food also helps us live a MORE fabulous life as we'll be thinner! This ties in with the weight loss journey that my husband and I are currently undertaking and we hope we can use this blog as an inspiration to other people undergoing the same struggles we are with weight and self-image issues. The thinner we are, the healthier we will be and the MORE time we will have with our children to do MORE with them.
• My couponing secrets can come in handy as LESS money is spent in the grocery store to help you have MORE food in the house and MORE money in your bank account- everyone likes that!
• Now that we've taken on homeschooling, we're thriving with LESS influence from the government in an effort to give our children a MORE hands-on education in an environment with one-on-one contact and safety never being an issue. My training and experience as a teacher helps me have awesome curriculum ideas that I am so excited to share!
• And there's so much more but I'm running out of time to type!

As you can see, the premise is a sound one. You truly can live a fabuLESS life! You can squeeze every drop out of every single day and do it with less- you just have to know how!

So, determined to make 2013

The Year of the Jenn

one of my major New Year's resolutions is to actively utilize my blog- which means today is little bloggie's birthday!!. This blog will be a chance for me to stay in touch with all those I love who are spread all over this great world, give me an opportunity to meet new (awesome!) people who share the same interests my family and I do, and allow me the space to share all the stuff I think is cool, unique, and noteworthy- even if my own family might think it's silly! (I know someone out there will think it's cool too!)

I can't promise I'll always get it right. I can't promise you'll walk away from every post feeling like you learned something new or discovered something extraordinary. But I can promise that every post will be an experience- and even in my failures (which I won't hesitate to blog about in a most humorous way) you will find a success of some sort. As Bruce Lee says, “Don’t fear failure.  Not failure, but low aim, is the crime. In great attempts, it is glorious even to fail.” 

I hope somewhere along the way something I show you will inspire you to dream bigger, reach higher, and wish farther than you ever have before. Because it's only when we push ourselves beyond our limits that we are able to discover our true measure.

Until next time...