Healthy for the Holidays Challenge - 9/06 - 11/22

bump

I'm weighing in at 179.8 this week. Down .6 and in the 170's (even though just barely) for the first time in a long time! :bigsmile: Doing a happy dance!
Grat challenges this week. Looking forward to seeing what this week brings. Good luck to all! :drinker:

Oh I'm on the spreadsheet!! Thank you! I'm so excited to do this! Do heart rate monitors show you calories burned? Just curious. I LOVE playing games on my kinect so I was thinking I could maybe stick a hrm on and count calories that way? That would fit in with the challenge I think.

Also, what is TOM? Sorry...

TOM = time of the month. something no one is all that fond of (unless like me the last thing you could possibly take right now is preggers)

HRM does count calories burned. It's worth reading reviews, asking around for opinions. I know lots of ppl on this message board use them, and there are often other message boards running with discussion about HRMs. I have a garmin HRM, which is amazing b/c it not only tracks cals burned, but also distance and mapping. It runs on satellite and in amazing, but it's waaaay more than most people want/need, but I bought it years ago when I was part of a running group. I think I've heard chatter from some of the ladies here about the Polar one. Feel free to chime in gals!

I use a Polar FT4, it was about $60 on Amazon so not too expensive and it has a chest strap which makes it more accurate since it constantly takes your heart rate. Like Olivia said, the more expensive they are the more bells and whistles you get so you probably need to determine what you would like it to do for you if you're going to buy one. Me, I just wanted a more accurate calorie count so I went with a quality, but basic model.

I don't know how healthy this is but I make it for football games now and eat it instead of potato chips - I know it's healthier than those! It's a little bit time consuming to prepare but I enjoy the prep.

Lavash (Armenian Crackerbread)

1 1/3 cups tepid water (barely warm, about 105 degrees)
1/4 cup olive oil
3 tablespoons sugar
1 package quick-rising yeast
2 teaspoons salt
4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup milk for topping
sesame seeds for topping

1. Place the tepid water in your electric mixing bowl. Add the oil, sugar, and yeast.
Blend using the electric mixer for five minutes on low speed. Stir in the salt.

2. Gradually add two cups of flour and continue beating on low speed until a thick,
smooth batter forms. Change the blade to a bread dough hook and knead in the
additional two cups of flour. (If you do not have a heavy mixer, such as a KitchenAid,
incorporate the flour with a wooden spoon, and complete the kneading by hand.)
Kneading should take about ten minutes in the machine, 20 minutes by hand.

3. Place the dough on plastic wrap on countertop. Cover with a large stainless-steel
bowl. Allow the dough to rise until double in size, about 1 1/2 hours. Punch the dough
down, and divide into 12 pieces. Let stand, covered, for 15 minutes.

4. Roll out each piece of dough into am 8- to 10-inch diameter circle. Arrange circles on
ungreased baking sheets. Brush with milk and sprinkle with sesame seeds. Pierce
with a fork many times.

5. Bake on the lowest rack in the oven at 375 degrees, for 8 to 10 minutes, or until light
brown. Rotate the pans in the oven from top to bottom to insure even browning.

Serve dry or wet. (To wet, hold the cracker under running water until lightly moistened all
over, and then wrap in a moist towel for 10-15 minutes. If the cracker is too dry to roll, it
will crack. Sprinkle with more water and let stand a few minutes.)

I made this chicken pot pie a few weeks ago and it was soooo good. http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/chicken-pot-pie-ix/detail.aspx
It has been added to the food database already so that made it easy. It has 412 calories which I didn't think was bad. I'd like to get some new soup recipes if anyone has them. Love cooler weather and soup is great and usually low in calories:) Happy Hump day!

Hi
I walk three times a day and go to the gym twice a week and do water aerobics and this week I lost only .6! This sucks! Now the Holidays are comming and I know that I am in trouble, I NEED HELP! SO I am here...SISTERS help!
Fleety

I thought I would share my beef barley soup recipe. It's very low in calories & sodium plus it's delicious. It makes a huge pot. I usually make it and freeze individual portions too. It can be edited to however you like it. For example, if you omit the beef, you can cut out quite a few calories but with the meat, it's only 261 calories with 247 mg of sodium with the way I made it.

Beef Barley Soup
1 lb lean stew beef
1 onion
2-3 stalks celery
1 lg can of diced tomatoes (low sodium)
1 cup of diced cabbage
3-4 potatoes (cut up in bite sized pieces)
1 1/2 cups campbells low sodium tomato juice
Quaker medium barley (approx 1/2 cup dry)
1 bag of Pictsweet vegetable soup mix with tomatoes
2-3 bay leaves
Brown stew meat in skillet with a bit of oil or butter. Cook until meat is browned and add celery and onions. Cook just a few mins. Using a large pot, add canned tomatoes, tomato juice and stew beef. Bring to boil, add barley and cabbage. Lower heat to simmer and cook for about 30 mins. Add potatoes and the bag of soup veggies. Cook for approx. 30-45 mins on simmer or until done. May have to add a little water to thin soup for desired consistency. Bay leaves can be removed after soup is done. I usually only add black pepper but of course you can add a little salt. Mmm good and a lot healthier than Campbell's canned soups!! Enjoy:)

bump

Jessica, I would love for you to share your taco soup. I know you have given me the recipe but I've misplaced it and I know everyone else would enjoy it too:) With the cooler temps, I'm in a soup mood:)

Thanks Jess. Printed it out and fixing it very soon:)