Mystery dinner

So if you read my blog a few post back you know We were going to have a date night with my sister and her husband. We chose 5 food items for the other team. they had to make a main dish a side dish and a dessert in an hour, we had about 20 min to plan before cooking. well it was a success we liked all the food and came really close in the points. We lost, but that's okay.

We chose for them: tortilla chips, broccoli, yogurt(vanilla and pear), pears, bacon.

They made: cheesy broccoli soup, with diced pears in it, yogurt, bacon and then chips crumbled on top. a salad on the side with all the ingredients in it. I've had a similar salad before with raisins in replace of the pears. then they found a recipe on line for bacon cookies, they added the yogurt and pears to it. It was a very yummy dinner.

They chose for us: Lemons, cream cheese, cheerios, sausage, cucumber.

We made: some German dish we found online (favorite Tuna Dish- on cooks.com). It was like a meatloaf with tuna and sausage, It asked for all but the cream cheese. well we did replace the bread crumbs with cheerio crumbs. It had a cucumber sauce to put on top. I made my non-bake cheese cake. It uses lemon juice and cream cheese, I made the graham cracker crust out of cheerios, then I made a cucumber salad with a lemon dressing.

our points were set up as fallows
did you use all five items at least once: 5 point
how many items did you use in the main dish: up to five points
how many items did you use in your side dish: up to five points
how many items did you use in your dessert: up to five points
did you finish on time: 5 points
presentation: 5 points
taste: 5 points
total:35

We had a lot of fun and it was great to try new things and be creative. I would suggest this as an activity to anyone. If you need partners to join you we would love to do it again.

Weight loss tip #3

Keep Yourself Accountable
Track your calories, write down what you are eating everyday. Research has shown that just by writing down what you are eating you will eat less because your aware of what you are putting in your mouth. A lot of people are mindless eaters I guess.
Biggest loser books suggest to multiply your weight x 7 = the amount of calories you should eat to lose weight. You must eat to fuel your body. Eating to little calories not only could do some damage to your body, but it will have a reverse effect, because your body will think it is starving (which it is) and hold onto everything you eat.

What's on the menu?

Monday- chicken enchilada casserole
Tuesday- Waffles
Wednesday- Mystery dinner
Thursday- Hamburgers & tater tots
Friday- Balsamic Chicken, Chicken flavored rice, & asparagus
Saturday- Shepard's pie
Sunday- Dijon chicken fingers, carrot salad and french fries

for recipes check out cooleycoop.blogspot.com

Mystery Dinner
On Wednesday we are having a date night with my sister and her husband. We are having a challenge. we each pick 5 food items for the other team. one meat one fruit, one veggie and two random items. we then have a time limit to prepare a main dish, side dish, and dessert using those items. We are to try to use them in each dish if possible. We get a point for each time we use a mystery item in each dish. plus points for presentation and taste. I will let you know what items we have chosen and what they have chosen and what we come up with afterward. I think it will be fun.

Crazy Week

The past two weeks have been busy so I haven't been keeping up on much blogging so this might be a long one. I went to St. George on Friday and Saturday as a get-a-way for my sixth anniversary and because I needed and got to take my Brother's Engagements. It was nice to get away from the kids and I'm glad that they were pretty good for my sister.





I'm going to be taking there wedding Photos as well. Talk about some major pressure, but I am excited at the same time.

this weeks getting healthy tip is tip #2

Educate Yourself
Start reading health books and learn what is in food, how it effects you body. How many calories, fat, etc. is in the food you eat. How have others lost weight? New healthy recipes are good and learning healthy substitutions to make recipes healthier.

Some of my suggestions:

Biggest Loser calorie counter- there are a lot of free online options to track your calories, but I find it easier to track mine in the kitchen as I prepare my food. I don't have a computer in my kitchen.

Lickety Split Meals, by Zonya Focco- I have found this recipe book to be the most family friendly healthy recipe book I have found.

Biggest Loser Success Secrets- This gives a lot of great tips and suggestions to help you stick to any plan you choose to do.

Water With Lemon- This book is a different approach to teaching people about eating healthy. It is in a novel form. The story not that interesting to me, but the things you learn about creating habits is great.

You On A Diet- This book gets into the deep medical parts of how food works with your body and the effects it has. “Knowledge is Power” is what they are hoping to do with this book. I found it interesting. It has made me really think about what I'm putting into my mouth.

THIS WEEK ON THE MENU

Wednesday- cheesy poatoes, ham and green beans.
Thursday- eat out
Friday- Pansit
Saturday-Lasagna and salad
Sunday- Creamy chicken and potato soup and rolls.

check out cooleycoop.blogspot.com for recipes.

What's on the menu?

We loved to new chicken and rice recipe we tried last week. I have a few new recipes we are trying this week.

Monday- Sloppy Joe's and tater tots and spinach salad.
Tuesday- Penne pasta with veggies and green salad
Wednesday- Navajo tacos
Thursday- cabbage rolls and cooked zucchini squash.
Friday- Vacation
Saturday- Vacation
Sunday- Sweet and sour chicken on rice.

Penne Pasta with veggies
(this one I'm sort of making up so bare with me)

cook 1 1/2 cups of penne pasta (about 3 Cups cooked)
sliced red bell pepper
1 can drained diced tomatoes
asparagus cut into 1" pieces
Italian seasoning

saute veggies in some olive oil until tender. add drained pasta and Italian seasoning and toss until well mixed. serve.

Cabbage Rolls
(I'm excited to try these, I got the recipe from my friend Krystal's blog)

1 head cabbage
1 egg, beaten
1/4 cup milk
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1 lb ground sausage, cooked and drained
1 cup cooked rice
8 oz can tomato sauce
1 Tbsp brown sugar
1 Tbsp lemon juice
1 tsp worcetershire sauce

immerse cabbage in boiling water for 10 mins until limp, drain and separate leaves. combine egg, milk, salt, pepper, meat, and rice. place about 1/4 cup meat mixture in center of each leaf. fold in sides and roll ends over meat place in 9x13 pan. combine tomato sauce, brown sugar, lemon juice and worcestershire sauce pour over cabbage cook at 350 F for 20-25 mins
* you may also put this in the crock pot and cook on low for 7-9 hrs

Sloppy Joes are pretty self explanatory if you want to know how read the back of the sloppy joe sauce can. For all other recipes check out my Family's recipe blog. the link is on the side bar or click here.

Getting Healthy

Okay so Tuesdays are my getting healthy day. It is the day I weigh in every week, it is also the day my inspiration show is on, Biggest Loser. I started watching the show probably about two and a half years ago. I realized, at that time, I was as heavy as some of those people on there. (The most resent seasons they have gone with heavier people then they use too.) I new I was over weight, but didn't realize I was obese or that other people that were as big as i was were leaving there families for months just to learn how to lose this weight. This was more serious then I had realized.
I knew I would never be able to leave my family for as long as they did, so I figured i had to learn how do do this on my own. It took a while, but I have learned a lot and I am still learning. I have been asked by people for tips or how I've done it or am doing it so I have narrowed it down to six tips of what has helped me and I'm going to share one tip every Tuesday. I hope that it will help some of you and I am open to your ideas and tips also.

Tip #1

Forgive Yourself

This is a life long battle, you can't expect all or nothing. If you over eat one meal forgive yourself and do better the next meal. If you have a bad day start again the next day. Don't wait until next Monday or next month. Never use the excuse “well I already blew it” because with a mentality like that you have. You will have bad moments and bad days, especially at the beginning, but remember it's the long term and over all that matters.

I'm down 3.5 lbs this week yuppie! that is a large loss!