2012: Awaken

There has been something going around on the interwebs about finding one word that you want to describe 2012.  I really had to think about this.  Finding one word to sum up a goal, or a feeling that you have for an entire year.  So I started by looking back at last year, and what I was most disappointed in myself for not doing.

I'm disappointed that I spent so much time cooped up in my apartment.  I still spend too much time sitting alone watching TV.  Lacking the basis motivation to leave the house.  I am disappointed that I allowed myself to gain so much weight and that I can't seem to make myself strong enough to say no to the comfort that food has given me.  There are days when I feel the fat pushing up against my lungs and trapping the active person I know is inside me in a huge cushion of self-loathing.  I am disappointed that I let opportunities pass by my window while I was too emotionally tired to deal with the outside world in even the basest fashion.

So this year I want to awaken.  I want to take in the world.  I want to move. Dance. Laugh.  Cry.  I want to FEEL what is going on within me and outside of me.  I don't want to hide myself away from the world.  I no longer want to give myself excuse after excuse not to live every single day.  I want to work on this from the inside out.  Learn about myself.  Accept and love who I am and not allow anyone to make me feel differently. Stop using my weight as an excuse not to get out in the world and let people in.

So this year I will pull myself off the couch.  I will make myself feel the sun on my skin and stop hiding away.  Someday I will die, and I don't want to lay on my deathbed and cry over all the things I could have done.  I will awaken and see the world through new eyes and experiences, well rested from 2011 the year of hibernation.

Roasted Vegetable 'Wellingtons'

Okay, first I need to give you a little background.  These are not wellingtons in any real way.  This recipe started with me wanting to make a vegetable wellington, but with the substitutions I made it didn't really work out.  What I made was DELICIOUS, but it was definitely not a wellington.  So that is the disclaimer for the evening.  What you have here is a deliciously sweet phyllo cup filled with caramalized vegetables, cheese and basil.  For the amazing shrimp you can look up the recipe here.

Ingredients:

• 1 head cauliflower
• 2 heads broccoli
• 4 large carrots
• Pureed Basil
• 2oz Reduced Fat Feta
• 6 sheets of Phyllo Dough

Directions:

• Cut the cauliflower, broccoli and carrots into small peices.  Spread out on a baking sheet and sprinkle with salt and pepper.  Cook in an oven at 350 degrees for 30mins or until slightly caramelized.
• Cut the phyllo dough into two inch squares, wet down and put three sheets in each cup of a mini cupcake tray.
• Add a small amount of basil to each cup, the amount will depend on how strong you want the basil taste to be.
• Cut 2oz of the feta into 24 pieces.  Place one piece into each cup on top of the basil.
• When the roast vegetables come out of the oven, fill the remaining portion of each cup.  Slide the cups back into the oven.
• The cups are done when the phyllo dough is brown and it has warmed the cheese, about 10-15 minutes.
• Allow to cool and then serve.

Each of these cups has only 23 calories in it!  So you can enjoy quite a few of them.  If you find the phyllo dough to be too dry you may want to brush it with olive oil.  However this will significantly increase the calorie count.  Another idea is to skip the cup idea and just eat the roasted vegetables.  They are fabulous on their own.  For other holiday skinnytizer ideas go visit Melissa of They Call Me Hypo.  She made some Smoked Cream Cheese and Holiday Turkey Meatballs with Cranberry Sauce. 

Happy Holidays!

Spicy Garlic Shrimp

The thing that I like best about the time between Thanksgiving and New Years is how much time you get to spend with the people you care about.  The thing I like the least is the extra roll in my middle.  Not okay.  So this month Three Stones/They Call Me Hypo set out to create amazing Skinnytizers that are full of flavor and you could eat all night long and not feel guilty!  I think the key to this, like any food, is to make them full of flavor so you don't feel like you're missing out.

I made two appetizers, these amazing Latin inspired Spicy Lime Shrimp and Veggie "Wellingtons" that I will share soon.  I can't tell you how AMAZING these shrimp were.  I have had a variation of this (consisting of all ingredients in a giant cabbage leaf) for lunch two days this week!  Also, make sure that you hop over to Melissa's blog They Call Me Hypo and check out her recipes for Smoked Cream Cheese and Turkey Holiday Meatballs with Cranberry Sauce.  Both are really good.  The meatballs are like Thanksgiving dinner in a single bite.

Spicy Lime Shrimp

Shrimp:
1/2 lb Shrimp (I had 12, but the number will vary on how big the shrimp are, so buy however many you want to make)
1 Tbl Garlic
1 tsp Chili Powder
1 Jalapeno diced (take out the seeds if you want it less spicy)

• Mix all these ingredients together and let them sit while you prepare everything else.  
• When everything is ready to go, pop these on a grill pan or saute.

Sour Cream:

1 C Sour Cream

1 Lime zested

Tabasco to taste

• Mix all these ingredients together

For the Cabbage leafs:

• Slice the head of cabbage at the base so you can peel the leaves off easily
• Cut off the part of the leaf that is limp so you're left with a nice firm leaf
• Section the leaf to your desired shape

Assembling each leaf

• Smear on a dollop of the sour cream
• Add some finely sliced red onion
• Add a small slice of avocado
• Add shrimp to the top when done

That's it.  That is all there is to it.  It is so incredibly easy that you have no excuse for not doing it.  Oh, and each piece is only 43 calories.  So go, prepare and enjoy!  And look out for the Veggie "Wellingtons", coming soon!

Tip of the Day:  Don't Zest Yourself

This is what I'm doing

Needless to say I haven't really been successful dieting this time around.  I have spent the last couple days trying to figure out why that is.  It really comes down to the fact that I'm not eating like I should and I'm not getting the exercise I used to.  The last time I was really successful at weight loss was when I was living in Boston.  I didn't have a car, I was out of the house 15 hours a day between grad school, internship, job, social life, etc.  Nowadays I drive to work, sit at a desk all day, and then go home and just hang out around the house.  So December is get this fat ass moving month.  Here are my goals:

1. Successfully eat within 1200 calories a day.
2. Get 30 minutes of exercise a day (at least) and try new exercises.
3. Weigh in everyday and record my ups and downs
4. Keep a journal, track foods and exercise as well as how I feel everyday with what I've eaten or not during the day.
5. Stop eating out. Make all my own food. This will help with calorie control as well as my wallet (which Black Friday wasn't kind to).
6. Drink 64oz of water everyday.  Gotta pee that weight off.

I know that I'm most successful when I'm busy and active.  I am starting with little things.  Walking to the Safeway that's a few blocks away.  Working myself up to biking the 5 (relatively) flat miles to work.  Moving, moving, moving everyday is my new mantra.  I want to loose 16lbs by my birthday, which is 8 weeks away.  I want to fit into my just slightly too small jeans when I go out and celebrate the beginning of the end of my 20's.  These are the best years of my life and I have wasted enough time not being the person I know I am on the inside.

Wish me luck.  This first week will be a tough one, but I'm no longer going to fill myself with food to trick myself into thinking my life is full.

What am I doing?

I don't know what I'm doing this week.  I have eaten crap all week, and I feel horrible.  There isn't much more to say than that.  I am not doing what I need to do and I'm not seeing results because of it.  I have to find that thing inside me that can let me be successful.  Where did it go?  Have you seen it?

Skinnygiving!

I am very excited to share this post.  Melissa, from They Call My Hypo, and I took on the challenge to make a Thanksgiving feast without all the fat and calories.  It was a total success, if I do say so myself.  We reduced the calories, but kept everything chock full of flavor.  I was completely satisfied by what was on the table and didn't feel like anything was missing.  Another thing to keep in mind is that everything on this table is low in fat and gluten free.

We each made two dishes.  I made a brown rice stuffing and a pumpkin pie.  Melissa made an amazing stuffed chicken dish and green bean 'casserole'.  You can see those recipes over at her blog.  And I mean look at this:

You know you want to

So here's the best part:  The recipes!

Brown Rice Stuffing

1 tube italian chicken sausage (no skin added)
1 cup uncooked brown rice
1/2 cup fat free chicken broth
1 1/2 cups chopped celery
1 large onion chopped
2 medium granny smith apples, cored and chopped
1 cup dried cranberries

1. Preheat oven to 375
2. Cook the brown rice in a separate pot
3. Brown the sausage until fully cooked, add to casserole dish
4. Use the leftover drippings from the sausage instead of adding extra oil and cook the celery and onion
5. Mix celery and onion in the baking dish with the sausage.  Add the brown rice, apples and dried cranberries to the dish.
6. Add the chicken broth to the dish to keep it moist, and put it in the oven for 15mins or until the apples are cooked.

Makes 12 servings.  Calories: 135, Carbs: 25.4, Fat: 1.5g, Protein: 5.8.


















Low Fat Pumpkin Pie

1 16oz can Libby's Pumpkin
1 can fat-free evaporated milk
3/4 cup sugar
1 Tbl cornstarch
1/2 Tbl cinnamon
1 tsp ground cloves
1 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp allspice
1 egg white

1. Preheat oven to 375
2. Mix pumpkin, milk, sugar, cornstarch and spices in a bowl.
3. Whip egg white until stiff and fold into the pumpkin mixture.
4. Pour into an oven safe dish and cook for 1 hour and 15 minutes or until you can put a toothpick into the center and pull it out clean.
5. Allow to cool.  Serve with a dollop of fat free whipped cream and reduced fat graham crackers.  Enjoy!

Makes 8 servings. Calories: 125, Carb: 29, Fat: .375, Protein: 3g.
Graham: 5 calories per 1/4 of a cookie.
Whipped Topping: 5 calories per 2tbl

I hope that you are all able to enjoy this meal as much as we did.  This gives you all the flavors of the holiday without all the calories.  You can eat a really full plate without all the guilt.  Happy Holidays from Three Stones/They Call My Hypo!

Cheers!

Fall is Upon Us

I love Fall.  Or really, I love the promise that winter is coming.  That first morning when you wake up and you see frost and you can taste the cold in the air.  There's something about it that's so refreshing after a long 'meh' summer.  Fall is when the rain comes again, and for a born and bred Washingtonian like myself, the smell of the first rain is something you look forward to every year.

The downside is that working out by walking isn't as fun as it was when it was warm and dry.  Now we have to hike up our big girl panties and march out into the miserable cold.  Rain smells great, and its nice to watch from inside, but not so much fun to be out in for extended periods of time.  Regardless, if I let rain get in my way I wouldn't exercise between October and May so I can't use that as an excuse.  I went walking last Wednesday with Melissa from They Call Me Hypo, like we do every week.  This was our first rain adventure.  She's not from Washington and has a few things to learn about proper layering.  I give you exhibit A:

Me

As you can see, I layered.  I am wearing a hat a sweatshirt and a waterproof jacket.  This is key for rainy weather.  I was actually too warm during parts, although I'll admit I should have worn gloves.  Here's exhibit B:

Not Me

As you can see her sweatshirt is not giving her the warmth and dryness that you need to rally when faced with inclement weather.  #1 rule for rainy weather, waterproof attire.  The sweatshirt will bog you down and give you a chill.

All in all, it was a good walk.  Energizing and proactive.  Don't let a little rain get in your way.  Just be prepared and wear proper clothes.  You'll be glad you did it when you get home, just make sure there is a hot toddy or something else equally warm waiting for you.  Next I'm going to share with you a great fall recipe for apple butter!  Nothing tastes more like fall than apples and cinnamon.  Also, this week is the Three Stones/They Call Me Hypo Skinnygiving!!!  We'll be making a holiday meal that's both filling and healthy.  Something that you can try with your family.  Coming Soon!