Goooood morning, folks!

I'm dragging a bit but hoping this iced coffee will give a much needed kick.

When I made garlic scape pesto, I doubled the amount of broccoli and halved the amount of pasta. We also used more garlic scapes and less cheese in the actual pesto. We really should try to find a different type of pasta, but so far we've had bad luck with whole wheat types. Any suggestions?

If I'm making stirfry from frozen vegetables, I don't add extra oil -- there's already a bit in the black bean chili paste that we use, and the frozen veggies cook fine in the nonstick pan without it. We also use brown rice, and less of it than we used to.

I haven't changed too much because generally, my home cooking hasn't been the problem. It's everything else I should get better about making more food at home, but after work + walking home + gym, there just isn't much time. Maybe I'll make it a goal this week to cook a bunch on Sunday so I have leftovers for the week.

Had an awful food weekend!! I got a little extra domestic this weekend and made chocolate chip cookies *homemade with whole wheat floor* but ate WAYYY too many. Plus a little vanilla pudding that I keep licking because I made finger paint from it for my kiddos. It was fun

Also, very heavy carb laden foods all weekend. uggh

Checking in....today I'm mostly miserable. I am on maintenance birth control to the point were I shouldn't have a period at all anymore. I have a medical problem that makes a tubal ligation or hysterectomy not a reasonable option , but I am 100% done having kids. Anyway, apparently my hormone levels are still out of whack (big surprise after about 15 years of it), but doc seems to think they have swung the opposite way and WAY overcompensated. Regardless, I'm having lovely Aunt Flo visiting, after torturing my with the precursor of her visit and a few skype type calls (light but no real substance), to full on brutality. Oh, well, at least that explains the carb cravings! Ugh. My scale gave me 4 different weights this am, none of them any more consistently than the others. So no idea where I am. One was slightly lower than last week, one was about the same, the other two, over.

Anyway, healthy swaps...I'll have to think on that. Mainly just spraying breaded or other foods with non-stick spray and then baking them in the oven instead of pan cooking/frying them. Spraying with the "pam" type spray right before putting in the oven helps makes them crispy but keep cals/fat etc. down.

Oh, and I'm in LOVE with broccoli slaw...cut like noodles sorta...makes a great add to stir fry or any veggie stuffs...

As for noodles, Rocco D makes some with asparagus (run the veggie peeler down in strokes), makes long, wide, thin noodles. Same could be done with broccoli stems, squash, zucchini, carrots, etc. The asparagus seems to be the most easily camouflaged and not tasting super strong. Takes about 30 seconds in boiling water to cook. Usually he cooks about half whole grain/wheat pasta (I prefer Barilla or Ronzoni...the Walmart version just tastes like paste like normal noodles), tosses the veggie in at the end, then tosses them both with whatever sauce.

I'll try to write more later.

Thanks,
Carly, Sleepy in OK

Melissa,

I can't do the soy due to my body and it really *REALLY* not getting along, but my trick for ground turkey is to use a little garlic powder when browning it, as it really kills the gamey-ness in it. Most recipes use garlic anyway, so it really isn't noticeable except when browning...



C

Cleanse day backfired. Got out of car to get kid at school and knees gave out. Thank God hubby there to finish pick up. Ugh. Got to find a good balance. Still feel like crap even after getting some calories in and I h ave to make a store run.

Ate a bit more than I have been. Though that's because I actually woke up early enough for breakfast. I know... I know I should be eating breakfast... but when sometimes you sleep till 12 or 1... you just kind of skip it.
I've been going to the gym, about 4 times a week. Though that's mostly because I've been meaning to go 5... but stuff has just came up the past two Tuesdays so I didn't. *crosses fingers I'll be going tomorrow*
I've really kind of started noticing a difference in myself, like I guess I have been measuring myself wrong, because it's not showing that I've lost any inches... but I'm fitting into smaller clothes and my other clothes are getting loose. So I think I did something wrong when I first measured myself. XD Oh well. I know there is a difference and that's all that matters.
And I'm really excited because I am under 3 lbs away from being out of the 300s... and so any time now I'll wake up and that scale will be at 299... and I really cannot wait. That is my first big goal for me... and so I'm just like really excited.

Tonight at the gym I was going to try the elliptical machine (that thing KICKS my BUTT like seriously, I cannot even go 5 mins on it on LEVEL 1 without feeling like my legs are jello and I'm doing to die) Buuuuuuuuuuuuuuuut... very VERY hot dude was there on an elliptical... and I was just kind of like... nope... so treadmill it was. I didn't do any of the weight machines either. I'm still getting use to everything, I'm just now comfortable pushing myself in cardio while another person is there. And had a slight setback last Monday because two guys in there were making fun of me behind my back. I saw them in the reflection of the window. Buuuuut... I'm not going to let two immature boys get my spirit down. And hopefully I'll slowly build of the confidence to just not care about anyone in the gym and just do my business without a worry. But... baby steps.

NSV's = non scale victories

And congrats on them!!