Laboring Towards Labor Day (CLOSED GRP)

Yay everybody!! And especially my Orange Teammates who carried us to second place inspite of my vacation gain :embarassed:

Am loving the team aspect!! Thanks Denise!

Congrats Red team great job this week and congrats Jill for a great weight loss!!!

Woot woot 2nd place orange team that's awesome!!!! Let's keep rocking and rolling everyone and make sure we are staying hydrated as I know some states are reaching all time high's I know we are for sure here in VA the humidity is well above 100 degrees I got my first 78oz down working on my 2nd I might max out a 3 for the day total!!!

Looking foward to another great week and I love the chart breakdown thanks again Denise!!!

Wow…thanks everybody for the support! So proud of our TEAM RED!!! We've got some awesome TEAMS!
A big thank you to Denise for encouraging me to join this challenge. I joined her July 4th group and actually ended up with a gain of 4 lbs at the end of it…so I really wanted to quit on myself. Denise said to come back and keep trying…thanks, Denise. The water challenge really helped, too.

My challenge is for us all to try one NEW Healthy Recipe this week. If you already have a favorite one, please post it for all to try. If you don’t cook, the challenge is to try one NEW Healthy Item from a menu this week…or you could try cutting up veggies so they'll be ready in the fridge for a healthy snack (that counts as cooking, right?)

The recipe below is a dip I take to get togethers so that I can make sure there’s going to be something there I can eat. It’s great with cut veggies and also a good substitute for mayo! It’s got 1.9 grams of protein and only 20 calories per TWO tablespoons. Hope you like it!

Red Pepper-Cheese Dip
YIELD: 16 servings (serving size: 2 tablespoons = 20 calories and 1.9 grams protein)
Ingredients
1 large red bell pepper
1 small onion, peeled and halved
Cooking spray
1 whole garlic head
1 cup plain fat-free yogurt
1/2 cup (4 ounces) block-style fat-free cream cheese
1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
1/8 teaspoon ground red pepper
1/4 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

Preparation
Preheat broiler.
Cut bell pepper in half lengthwise, and discard seeds and membranes. Place pepper halves, skin sides up, on a foil-lined baking sheet; flatten with hand. Broil 15 minutes or until blackened. Place in a zip-top plastic bag; seal. Let stand 10 minutes. Remove peel and discard. Set roasted pepper aside.
Reduce oven temperature to 400°.
Place onion halves, cut sides down, on a baking sheet coated with cooking spray. Remove white papery skin from garlic head (do not peel or separate the cloves). Wrap in foil. Place garlic on baking sheet with onion. Bake at 400° for 15 minutes; turn over onion halves. Bake an additional 15 minutes or until onions are soft and begin to brown. Place onion halves on a plate. Return garlic to oven, and bake an additional 15 minutes. Cool 10 minutes. Separate the cloves; squeeze to extract garlic pulp. Discard skins.
Place roasted pepper, onion, and garlic pulp in a food processor; process until fairly smooth. Add yogurt, cheese, cumin seed, and ground red pepper; process until smooth. Spoon dip into a bowl, and stir in parsley. Cover and chill.
Enjoy with cut veggies! Also great as a spread in place of mayo!
From: http://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/red-pepper-cheese-dip-10000000701059/

I am LOVING this challenge with the groups and overall participation and encouragement! It's amazing how much more encouraged you feel when you stay connected.

Congratulations, Jill, on being our biggest loser! Way to start dropping that 4lb gain! I'm up myself from the July 4th challenge, about 4lbs right now, but was up 6.

Am having a hard time keeping it together and resisting temptations recently. I'm an emotional eater and last weekend was EXTREMELY stressful. My sweet dog, Harper, starting urinating blood on Friday night. Paid over $150 at the vet the next day (now she is much better!). Then Sunday our car broke down on the interstate and it appears it will need thousands of dollars worth of repairs to get it running again. My husband and I live off of one salary so needless to say, money's tight. These stresses weighed on us so we started bickering at each other and had a couple fights (why can't we keep the peace and buddy up in trying times? Anyone else have this problem?) which also didn't help.

On a good note I saw a new, better podiatrist who gave me good news about the foot surgery (bunions). The last doctor I saw said I couldn't put weight on it for 6 weeks, then get a walking boot, then physical therapy, and he treated me as if it was urgent it get taken care of (hardly spent any time w/ me and didn't even touch my feet...isn't that his job?) The new doctor said 1 week with no weight, then the walking boot, possibly back to work within 3-4 weeks post-op, physical therapy isn't always necessary, and he spent as much time as I needed answering questions and walking me through the procedure. Won't be doing it until January, but I'm very comforted by this doctor who takes his time and informs his patients.

Whew, sorry to write a book here, but just wanted to update everyone at once.

I will have to post my recipe later this week, but what a great idea!!! I am in need of some new recipes so keep 'em coming ladies! Excited to try out the dip with some veggies.

Hope everyone's having a great week so far! Thinking small #s for Saturday!

Bravo Red team and Jill for being the biggest loser!!!

I love ya Team Teal!!! Awesome and this challenge is boosting my spirit.

Pasta salad
Boil pasta- firm
grape tomatoes halved
1/2 seedless cucumber quartered
1 yellow pepper
1 can of cannellini beans drained and rinse
1 small red onion
2 oz feta cheese or goat cheese
1/4 kalamata olives
1/4 cup chopped mint
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoon red wine vinegar
1 teas frech minced garlic
1/2 teas dijon mustard
1/4 teas oregano
salt to taste if you need to
1/8 fresh pepper
334 caloires 13g protein 49 carbohydrates 11g fat 7g fiber
after pasta cooks and cools mix everything together
Bon Appetite!!

I don't know what my problem is this week but I'm refusing to go grocery shopping :laugh: So yesterday I HAD to find a new recipe with the few things I had in my pantry. Here's what I found, its from Fix it and Forget it Lightly. SOOO easy! Pretty tasty too, my 1 yr old ate it and so did my husband.

Ingredients:
2- 5oz cans water packed tuna
16 oz pkg frozen veggies
1 can 98% fat free cream of chicken soup

Preparation:
Combine all ingredients in slow cooker. Cover. Cook on high 1 1/2 hours, stirring occasionally.
*Makes 3 servings*

THATS IT! So easy! I put it over a cup of brown rice. My total calories for dinner last night- 345!!!! 175 for the tuna, and 170 for the rice!

...and my B-day on Fri.

Is your birthday THIS Friday?? Mine is! I'm turning 40 !! :drinker: Whoooo-whooo !

Ok, one more. This one came right off the MFP boards about a year ago. It's so good, even my husband likes it! Basically she married a southern man who wanted his fried chicken but she didn't want all that grease, so she came up with this....

Oven "Fried" Chicken

Ingredients
1 cup PANKO breadcrumbs
1/2 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese
1 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tsp salt
2 eggs, beaten
4 skinless, boneless chicken breasts
Cooking oil spray

Directions
Pre-heat oven to 375. Lightly coat a baking dish or sheet with cooking spray. Combine first 5 ingredients in a shallow bowl. Dust them in flour first, then dip each chicken breast in the beaten eggs and then coat both sides with the bread crumb mixture. Arrange the chicken breasts on a baking sheet.

Bake for 35-40 minutes or until cooked throughout.