New Recipes for the Week: Week 2

(On an aside note: These weeks may not be consecutive! It may take me more then one weeks time to try them!)


Here are my newbies for Week 2:
1. Healthy Momma Barbecue Chicken
I prepared this one last week, but cooked it this week to have for my lunches for this week at work.  It smelled super yummy and I look forward to eating it this week.

2. Slow Cooker Spaghetti Sauce
This is cooking in my slow cooker as I type! I've sampled it a couple of times and its sooo good! I added a few things - pureed summer squash and zucchini and a portobello mushroom chopped really small.

3. Almost No Sugar Ice Cream Grahamwiches
I made these today as well and they are in the freezer setting right now.  I let the pudding mixture set for about 5 minutes in the fridge before putting them together because it was really runny otherwise.   I used an entire box of graham crackers and still have a ton of the pudding mixture leftover so I put it in a container and froze it!

4. Deceptively Delicious Peanut Butter and Jelly Muffins
I finally got around to making these today and they are super moist and yummy! I do NOT taste the carrot at all! Hoping my kiddo likes them too!

Sunday Surf

I'm joining Authentic Parenting and Hobo Mama for Sunday Surf. Share your best reading of the week, and link up your post at either blog!
For more great reading, visit Hobo Mama or Authentic Parenting for the latest Sunday Surf and linky.
Happy Surfing!


Since I started doing the single mom thing, often times my daughter has a difficult time going to bed.  There have been MANY nights that I hear from her through tears, "Mommy don't go!  Stay with me!"  Of course I reassure her that I am never going to leave her and am right across the hall.   Then I had a light bulb moment and figured what would it hurt to have her co-sleep with me on the weekends!?  Since I have done that we have had a lot less of those moments of her begging and pleading me not to leave her room.  I did some searching for information about co-sleeping with preschool aged children to see if it would warp her in some odd way or something and to my relief that is not so!

Here is one of the good articles I read about it: Five Benefits to Cosleeping Past Infancy

NRW: Week 1 UPDATE

In this post, I mentioned some new recipes that I wanted to try.  Here is an update:

1. Sweet and Tangy Chicken

This was super easy to make and REALLY yummy! I made the full recipe and used the left overs for lunches this week for work.  This one is a keeper that I need to add to my recipe book!

2. Deceptively Delicious Peanut Butter and Jelly Muffins

Have not made these yet.  Maybe today! Its a snowy day here and the kiddo and I will need something fun to do!

3. Deceptively Delicious Couscous
This is REALLY good! BUT it did NOT cook at all like the recipe says.  Its says to take it off the heat and let it all stand until the liquid is absorbed and the couscous is tender, which I did using the time frame suggested and the couscous was still VERY crunchy!!! I had to add more chicken broth and put it on the stove again.  Once it cooked it was very good; it was spicy though so next time I think I may omit the pepper.  And the best part was that Sunshine ate it willingly!

4.  Deceptively Delicious Chocolate Pudding
This was good, but not as smooth as I would have liked it.

Day 1, AGAIN!

So here is Day 1 (x50 or so - LOL!). So far so good. I had a very sensible breakfast and lunch so far and am looking forward to the rest of the day being GREAT! It feels good to start being back in control of my eating.  In a bit I am going to take some time to prep my lunches for the rest of the week and plan out my dinners as well.  I need to take it meal by meal because looking at the day as a whole overwhelms me right now.  Hoping I can keep up the momentum and see a good loss at the scale next Monday.

Current Weight: 01/16/12

153.2

Yep, that sux.  I I have put weight back on, but it stops NOW.  I need to figure out how to get back on track.  I have been struggling lately as I get closer and closer to being officially divorced.  I know the divorce is the best thing for me and best for my daughter in the long run, but its stressful none the less.  Unfortunately I am feeding the stress with food rather then exercising or doing other things to work it out.  This week I am really going to focus on not snacking after my daughter goes to bed.  I feel like once she is in bed there is no one to see what I am eating so if no one knows it doesn't count.  Wish me luck!

Resolution, Part 2

A second part of my resolution is that I am going to continue working on organizing my home.  To start this off and to go along with Resolution, Part 1, I began organizing my kitchen cabinets; top ones today and still have the bottom ones to do next.  I am not only organizing, but dealing with taking out the old and bringing in the "new".  I am in the process of getting divorced and so I am packing away all of the stuff that was "ours" and bringing in new stuff that is MINE!


This is the before picture of some of my food cabinets... what a mess, HUH?  So embarrassing.

Here is an after picture of the cabinets I keep my plates, cups, and mugs in.  (I did not get a before of this one.)

Here is the after pictures of my food cabinets!  Notice how I was able to put most all of my small appliances up on the tops shelves! YAY!! They have been living on top of my fridge forever collecting dust; what a pain it was to have to wash them before using them!

This small cabinet is where I keep all my spices and baking stuff; its great to be able to reach in this cabinet and grab what I need for cooking!

I still need to add labels to the buckets so I can remember what is in each one.  Later this week, I plan on tackling the cabinets under my counter.  Those are the ones I am dreading the most!

Resolution, Part 1

I know I'm a little late writing a post about resolutions, but better late then never right?  Instead of a list I am going to write a few different posts about mine and how I plan on accomplishing and sticking with them!

My first one is to cook more meals at home and try new recipes.  I started this off with a bang yesterday when I cleaned out my fridge and both freezers (one is a chest freezer in my basement).  I was startled and embarrassed by the amount of food that was expired that I tossed out!  After accomplishing that I went to the grocery store and spent only $65 to restock our fridge and freezer!  Once I put it all away I started working on those new recipes and can't wait to complete them today!

New Recipes for the Week: Week 1

Its been ages since I've blogged, but I am trying to get back at it now!  Lots going on in my little world, but more about that later! I have decided I need to try and cook more at home and eat out less so I am going to start posting about some new recipes I am going to try on for size!  Here are this weeks newbies:

1. Sweet and Tangy Chicken
2. Deceptively Delicious Peanut Butter and Jelly Muffins
3. Deceptively Delicious Couscous
4.  Deceptively Delicious Chocolate Pudding

(My daughter HATES all vegetables so I am going to try and add a few into her diet through DD recipes!!)