Cinnamon Oatmeal Green Smoothie

I have to admit, this recipe was completely experimental. It was a throw in some of this, a little bit of that, and a pinch more if this type of morning. It was a success though! Today I introduce you to the cinnamon oatmeal green smoothie. The only thing I will do differently next time is soaking the oats in the almond milk overnight to soften them. You will need:

1 cup of Silk original almond milk

1/2 cup of fat free greek yogurt

1/2 a frozen banana

1/2 cup of old fashion oats

2 tbs. of brown sugar

2 tsp. of cinnamon

1 tsp. of vanilla extract

1 tbs. of Splenda

1 cup of baby spinach 

 

 

 (Please excuse the garage picture, I was in a hurry this morning!)

 

If you like smooth, thin smoothies, this may not be for you. This was thick, and a little bit gritty, but I personally did not mind it. Like I said earlier, next time I will soak the oats in the almond milk overnight to soften them!

 

All in all, this came out to 18 grams of protein and 294 calories!

Veggie Stuffed Shells

Who doesn't love stuffed shells? No one I've ever met, that's for sure! The calories though, whew! That's always a deal breaker for me. Tonight though, not only did I manage to keep these under 650 calories per serving, but I got my husband to eat mushrooms and spinach. I repeat, HE ATE MUSHROOMS AND SPINACH. He also said it was "good", which is husband speak for "I'd eat this if you make it again". Can I get a hallelujah?! For this recipe you will need:

12 pieces of shell pasta

1/2 lbs. of lean ground hamburger meat (or ground turkey, which is even healthier)

1/2 cup of finely chopped onions

1/2 cup of finely chopped portobello mushrooms

1 cup of finely chopped baby spinach

2 tbs. of minced garlic

1 cup of spaghetti sauce

1/2 cup of fat free cottage cheese

1/2 cup of parmesan cheese

Don't you just love how pretty vegetables are? So colorful :)

Boil the shell pasta as directed. Set aside. 

Brown the hamburger meat. Add in the chopped onions, mushrooms, spinach, and garlic and continue to cook until spinach is wilted. Remove from heat. Mix in the cottage cheese, 2/3 of a cup of spaghetti sauce, and 1/4 of a cup of parmesan cheese. 

In a baking dish, add 2 tbs. of spaghetti sauce and coat bottom so the pasta doesn't stick. Lay shells in the pan, then spoon in the vegetable/meat/cheese mixture. Drizzle the remaining 1/4 cup of sauce on top of the stuffed shells and top with the remaining 1/4 cup of parmesan cheese. Bake at 375 for 15 minutes.  

Now, before I let you see the finished product, I must warn you, my husband got his hands on this before I could take a picture. As you can see, the right side is his portion. Lucky him, he can eat all the cheese in the world and not gain an ounce. I hate love him. 

6 shells, which is half of the dish, came out to 646 calories.

Bon appetit!

                                  

Weight update and a few smoothie recipes from Skinny Mom

No new smoothie recipe this morning, just a repeat of my strawberry spinach Christmas in a cup from a few days ago. I did, however, stumble upon this while browsing Pinterest today. Lots of great smoothie ideas (and healthy food in general) over at Skinny Mom!

In other news, I weighed myself today. I'm down almost 2 lbs in a week! I am aiming for 1.5 lbs a week, which will have me down 31.5 lbs by my 2nd wedding anniversary on June 11. Maybe I'll do a Trash the Dress photoshoot as a little reward for myself if I lose the weight?

Protein Packed Peanut Butter Banana Green Smoothie

I have only been making green smoothies for a few days now, but this one is by far my favorite. Now, if I had added a tablespoon or two of cocoa powder, it could quiet possibly top the charts as my all time favorite, but I'll save that for a day when I need a good pick-me-up. Today's smoothie is packed with protein, 30 grams to be exact! The majority of it comes from the peanut butter, greek yogurt, and flax seed. To make this powerful concoction, you will need:

1 medium frozen banana

2 tbs of peanut butter

1/2 cup of non fat greek yogurt

1 cup of almond milk

4 cups of spinach

2 tbs of ground flax seed

1-2 tbs of splenda (to taste)

 Blend it all together now!

Tada! Like I said earlier, 30 grams of protein, 550 calories, and all of my vitamin A & C for the day.

***I MUST NOTE: I could NOT finish this thing! Holy moly. Half way through it I was full to the brim. So I guess you could say its 15 grams of protein and 225 calories per serving.

Bottoms up :)

                                         

Chicken Pot Pie

I had a real hankering for chicken pot pie while grocery shopping tonight, and decided to make it for the first time. I'll admit, I had no clue what I was doing, but it turned out great, and healthy! This made enough for 2 people plus a leftover portion, or in my case, enough for just me plus lunch tomorrow and the next day because my husband hates pretty much every ingredient in here. You will need:

1 Birds Eye Mixed Vegetable Steam Bag (carrots, peas, green beans, corn)

1 mini can of Grands Biscuits

2 tbs of cornbread mix (or any kind of biscuit mix)

3-4 tbs of chicken broth

1 cup of shredded chicken

Steam the vegetables as directed and pour into a small casserole dish. Mix together the chicken broth and the cornbread mix with the vegetables. Meanwhile, boil and shred the chicken. 

(Did you know you can shred chicken perfectly in your Kitchen Aid Stand Mixer?)

Mix the shredded chicken with the veggie/cornbread/broth mixture in the casserole dish. Press and smooth with a fork. Peel 3 biscuits in half and place on top in the dish. 

Bake at 375 degrees for 12-15 minutes or until biscuits are slightly golden. I like mine softer so I didn't cook them as long.

1 serving, which was about 1/4 of the dish, came out to 508 calories.

Enjoy...I know I did!

                                     

Green Smoothie Challenge

Good morning y'all! Today's post is inspired by a challenge my friend Sara came up with. She challenged herself and others to drink a green smoothie as one meal a day, for the first month of the new year. So far I have done pretty good. I started on Jan. 2nd because I was out of town on the 1st. I'm going to try my hardest to document each new smoothie recipe, as well as share others that I come across.

So today, I introduce to you what I call Christmas in a cup. Not for the taste, but for the ingredients. Let me start by saying I woke up this morning pumped for a banana peanut butter smoothie. I mean PUMPED. My mouth was already watering just thinking about it as I laid in bed. I came to the oh so sad conclusion that my husband had eaten the last banana when I walked into the kitchen, so it was time for plan B. I need to go to the grocery store something fierce, so alas, all I had was strawberries.

Today's concoction has the following ingredients:

12 small-medium strawberries

4 cups of spinach (yes, 4!)

1.5 cups of almond milk

2 tbs of yogurt

2 tbs of ground flax seed

1 tbs of splenda

I know, I know, it looks gross. Most green smoothies do. If I learned anything in elementary school, it's that red and green make brown. So unless you make a banana yogurt spinach smoothie or something with no color, the chances of it having a brown hue are very likely. Let's just pretend there's chocolate in there :)

This made a 12 oz. smoothie. It has 341 calories, 16 grams of protein, my entire daily value in vitamins A and C, 92% of my daily calcium, and it tastes YUMMY! This is going to keep me feeling full well into the middle of the day. 

Do you make green smoothies? Care to join in on our challenge? I hope you will, its so easy and healthy! To see Sara's blog, along with her green smoothies, check out You and Me Are We. Happy blending :)

Say hello to my little friends

I'm on a bit of a posting kick tonight. Hey, it's my first blog, bite me. :)

I thought before I go to bed, I'd make a post about my BKF's, aka my Best Kitchen Friends. These are appliances, foods, and phone apps that I use pretty much every day.

This is Marilyn. (Everybody says, "Hiiii Marilyn" in a monotone voice like an AA meeting)

The basic model Kitchen Aid Stand Mixer. This thing can shred chicken like Wolverine. Make dough like the dough boy himself. Whip up taters like a hurricane. I just love it! If it ever breaks, I will cry...then go buy a new one.

Next is my Ninja Pulse Blender (I think that's the right name for it)

Why do I love this so much? Well, the big cup is a food processor, but it also came with 4 travel size cups with lids, which is why I REALLY love it! This bad boy can whip up a mean, green, protein packed spinach smoothie in seconds. I use the every morning for make my spinach breakfast smoothie, and sometimes at night to make dessert milkshakes.

Then, we have the food scale.

This thing really helps put things into perspective. Do you REALLY know what 4 oz. of pasta looks like? or 6 oz. of chicken? I thought I did. LOL. I apparently suck at guesstimating, which is why I rely on this gem. Trust me, 4 oz. of spaghetti calories and wayyyyyy different than 6.37 oz. Imagine over estimating day after day. Month after month. And people wonder where this extra weight comes from??

Last but not least, the app that has it's own folder on my phone screen, because it's just that special, My Fitness Pal.

Sometimes I close my eyes and pretend I'm so rich and celebrity like, that I have my own personal butler who tracks what I eat all day. Then I wake up and realize I only have an iPhone and this awesome app. Its the same thing, right? Anyway, this thing is easy peezy to use. Eat the food. Track the calories. Jump in the air victoriously when you stay under your calorie limit (or cry and contemplate eating a whole box of oreos when you don't) and see your weight loss progress. If you don't have this app, get it. If you don't have a smart phone, they have a website, too!

I will be updating this post as I meet more BKF's, so stayed tuned!

Hey girl, hey!

Why hello there! If you are reading this, then I guess my first post didn't scare you off yet. Awesome! This is where I beg you to keep reading, because I am about to introduce myself, and spill all of the deep, dark, juice secrets. Just kidding. Well, there was that one time, at band camp.....


Most of you reading this already know me, but for those who don't, my name is Lynley. I'm 23, married, no kids, oh yeah, and I'm fat. Yep, I said it. I have a 10 mile long list of things I have medically wrong with me. Screws in my back, 2 knee surgeries, C5, C6, C7, T1, and T2 nerve damage from a birth injury, flat feet, swayback, a weird sense of humor....the list goes on and on. Which has led me to my second point, I'm fat. I'm not obese, but it sure as heck wouldn't hurt to lose some weight. Isn't that true for most people these day? Now most people would fix that by cutting back on sugary drinks, run a few miles, lift some weights, etc. Sounds easy, right? Not for me. After years of trying it all, I've learned that my body is not designed to handle things like that. This is not a cop out. I'm not trying to sound lazy. Let's face it, my left arm has half of the functionality as my right, my knee bones grind together, and I have arthritis out the wazoo. So, it's time for plan B. I'm not talking slim fast shakes and rice cakes that taste like cardboard. I mean real food.

You don't have to munch on celery sticks all day to lose weight. In fact, I hate celery. That's one veggie you will not see in this blog! You know what I do like though? Pan seared chicken breasts in a spinach and fig sauce with garlic mashed potatoes. Breaded tilapia with peach mango salsa. Stuffed mushrooms. Apple pie. That is the kind of food I like, and that is the kind of food I cook that is around 500 calories or less. What?! That's crazy. Am I losing my mind? Maybe :)

Now, let's get to the point. My goal is to lose weight by consuming healthy, nutritional meals, prepared by yours truly, along with some light (and I really mean light!) exercise, like walking my dog each night.

I'm hoping to be down 40 lbs. by the end of 2013. Can I do it? We'll see!

1 meal a day will consist of a smoothie, most likely my breakfast, so I can drink it in the car on my way to work. Once my back heals, I will incorporate my daily activity and the end of each blog post.

I like to lose it, lose it!

It's that time of year again. The time when everyone decides THIS is the year. THIS is THEIR year. They WILL lose weight THIS year! Sound familiar? I've said that every year for the past 3 years. It's driving me crazy. I'm losing it.

Now, I know I'm a few days late. It's Jan. 5th and I haven't started losing anything yet (except my mind). These past 5 days have been rough. I had a severe back and diaphragm spasm Thursday which landed me in the hospital, along with a doctors note not to engage in any strenuous activity (aka nothing that could possibly burn calories...grr). I did just spend about $80 on new workout clothes though, does that count?

Lucky for me, I've got a kitchen, lots of healthy food, and a damn good, creative imagination, which has led me here. Here, in this blog, I will be keeping track of the delicious, and maybe not so delicious creations that come from my kitchen, along with documenting my sloowwwww workout progress due to my injuries.

My goal is to prove that you can lose weight in the kitchen, and that not all healthy food has to be disgusting. I am going to try my hardest to stick to a few simple principles:
-Each meal will have 6 ingredients or less.
-No "weird" foods, as I call them. Everything I buy is from Walmart, Publix, or Costco. No hippe health food, grocery bill more than my mortgage, put hair on your chest type of food.
- No refined sugar up in this kitchen.
-The only food coming from a box will be things like pasta, rice, etc. NO prepackaged dinners!

Simple enough, right? Are you picking up what I'm putting down?

Well, if you are, feel free to subscribe, leave me comments, and give some of my recipes and tips a try!

Happy New Year, now let's start Losing It!