Trick Your Man Tuesday's: Second Edition

Welcome to my new weekly installment of "Trick Your Man Tuesday's" If you missed last week's episode, you can click HERE to check it out.

Trick Your Man Tuesday's was invented in order to try to get my husband eating healthier food choices without his knowledge. Is it only me or do we all get a little sense of satisfaction when the people around us have no idea that what they are eating is just a little bit better for them, and we don't have to hear their hesitations?

This week on the menu was spaghetti and ceaser salad. The healthy switches? Ground turkey for regular ground beef and low fat ceaser in place of regular.

This was a very daring event as my cooking this week had to be done quickly without the notice of the subject, who was playing video games on the couch! (Notice said subject in background, please forgive me for the crappy photo as I was trying not to draw attention to the frying pan)And here is my frying pan creation: Ground turkey with spaghetti sauce. I was a little worried about the color of the meat as this might be a big indicator....we will see....

While the pasta was a' cookin, I threw together some lettuce and low fat ceaser dressing. Did I mention the low fat part??! SHHHHHHHHH mum's the word!And here is the final spaghetti product. My portion/his portion. Man that man can eat!
THE VERDICT:

It went a little something like this:

Meal was inhaled (on both parts, i was hungry!)

End of meal...

Him: Um...is this like chicken or something?
Me: OH....uhhh...yeah...uh....ground turkey...*slight smile* But it was good wasn't it?!?
Him: Yeah....*smiling* But why ya gotta cheat me like that??!

(no comment on the ceaser)

We both laughed. It was a good moment. And I think he may just be open to the ground turkey a little more....

MISSION SUCCESSFUL!!


After dinner the leftover cookies were consumed by the subject. Yay for no more temptation for me!

Weigh In Week 14: Superbowl Munchies Got the Best of Me

Guten Morgen everyone! (Had to throw some German out to ya!)

This morning my weigh in was as follows:
-.5

That is basically the littlest amount I've lost thus far (other than gaining after Christmas). But, I'm not really surprised. For one, I've been doing this long enough now to notice that the weigh loss right before I start my period is always pretty small. Also, I kind of cheated this week...A LOT. including superbowl....it was sort of my demise.

I started the day off good with my favorite breakfast of lowfat waffles, banana, and PB. YUM.

Then for lunch I made mini pizzas:I sort of left these bad boys under the broiler a little to long...they were a little crispy...and just ok. (Made on an arnold's sandwhich thin)

The rest of the...yes, well, we will not speak of it. Let's just say there were chocolate chip cookies, tortilla chips, and hot wings involved. YIKES!

HOWEVER, good news is that I got my hair cut this weekend, FOR FREE! My friend Olivia did it! And she even dyed it (brown) and gave me bangs. I look smokin'! (humble, aye?)
Next week I'm looking for a better loss- at least one pound will make me happy. I am starting off the morning with c25K 9.1. We will see how 30 straight minutes running goes....

PT: We're all here because we're not all there.

Yesterday was really fun. It started out with a super yummy breakfast that Kellen and I like to make once in a while:This dish consisted of red potatoes, eggs, onions, and bacon. Calories? A lot. But don't worry people! I lightened my version up--egg whites and turkey sausage in stead of regular eggs and bacon. Here's a pic of my plate:Yum!

After Breakfast we headed to Port Townsend. It's a town on the Puget Sound. Our first stop there was Fort Warden state park. This park used to be a military base and has a ton of cool old military bunkers to explore. It also has some hiking trails up to higher bunkers and such. It was SO fun!Here we are exploring the bunkers:All in all it was great exercise!
We sat down on a seat we found at the park and ate our lunch:

Tuna fish sandwich on 45 calorie bread. A perfect packed lunch. I tried feeding Chloe some carrots but she wouldn't go for it!After lunch we went into town. Downtown Port Townsend is a super cute strip of shops and cafe's. If you'd like to see some more pictures I took around the town there, you can click here to be linked to my photography blog. To wrap up our day, we headed over the Courtyard Cafe. I ordered the "Way to Aunt Katie's Heart- Peanut Butter Pie"Don't worry guys! I didn't eat it all. It was pretty delicious, but I resisted!
This place even makes there own Marshmallows! I didn't try them, but Kellen and I definitely plan on it next trip we take!

Such a wonderful day!

Do I have something in my teeth??

I've been asking that question a lot lately. For some reason I am just one of those people who gets spinach stuck in their teeth every time I eat it. And lately, it's been A LOT.

The benefits of spinach are amazing. It's a documented super food and one of the best and most healthiest things to eat on this planet. So you can imagine my excitement when I went grocery shopping last week and found it on sale for 99 cents a bag. I bought five. There is A LOT of spinach in each of those bags, so I've been inventing all kinds of new ways to incorporate it into my diet.

*I've added it to my egg whites in the morning
*I use spinach instead of lettuce on my sandwhiches
*I'm experimenting with all kinds of "green monsters"
*I'm eating spinach salads
*I even ate it with just a little butter and salt after heating it up in the microwave

There are SO many ways to incorporate spinach into any kind of diet!

What creative ways have you incorporated this super food?

P.S.-Has anyone read the book "Superfood RX"? I'm considering buying it.

Because I like to name names...

This morning I wanted to inform all of my followers that I am going to start linking to your blogs as I am reminded of you...I hope that's ok! I've already done it with some, but I started thinking about how so many of you inspire what I write but I rarely give recognition to you all! (Plus Tiff @ Project 365 is also doing a similar "shout out" section and it also inspired me!)

So for today I will start by saying that Tonye @ The Unlikely Success Story confirmed my idea of doing a "random sputtering of thoughts post" today.

So here goes:

A few weeks ago Kristen @ Change of Pace asked me where I get my coconut tea. Well, my mother in law actually found it and it is from a tea house here in the Seattle area called Queen Mary Tea. If you like tea and coconut, I would HIGHLY recommend checking out there website and possibly ordering some. So Yummy!Has anyone ever tried Nutella? If not, you are missing out on a HUGE joy in life! What is it? Basically nutella is a chocolate hazelnut spread, very similar in texture to peanut butter. It comes in a jar. It is about 200 calories for 2 tbsp, so very similar to peanut butter, and obviously you have to be very strict on your portions, but if you can control yourself, its an awesome treat. Yesterday I made a green monster with 1 tbsp nutella, 1 banana, soy milk, and spinach. It was freakin delicous. It tasted like a chocolate milkshake! I will be putting up pics when I can get my hands on a jar (I was bumming my employer's)


Yesterday I picked up some extra Vitamin D supplements from my local vitamin shop. I have been fighting serious fatigue lately and have been really surprised that NOTHING seems to help. I get at least 8 hours of sleep a night (more like 10, I know, I sleep a lot), I eat healthy, I'm active. Yet I STILL feel like I could literally fall asleep at any point during my day. This has been a problem my whole life. When I was younger, my mom would find me asleep at various random places in our house. Needless to say, I've been doing some research and am going to try adding a significant amount of Vitamin D to my diet! We will see if it helps...

Well that is about it for my random thoughts today. Hope you all have a good one! :)

Trick Your Man Tuesday's

In honor of all these catchy weekly post names, I am starting my own. It's called "Trick Your Man Tuesday's" This is one in which I decide to fool my husband into thinking he is NOT eating something healthy, but instead just another normal fatty food meal that he is used to.

Let me first start by explaining that my husband is a skinny mini-- and although I love the man to death, he has never had a concept of nutritious eating. His honest advice to me on how to lose weight was "just eat lettuce for every meal" WOW, hunny! You should write a book! Who woulda thought you would know the secret to weight loss?!?! (please forgive my sarcasm)

Now I also must inform you that I am not the only culprit in the house that is hiding eating habits from the other person! Have you ever seen the episode of King of Queens where Doug gets in trouble with Carrie because she discovers that he eats a "pre-dinner" cheeseburger every evening?!

Yeah. Well.

After my WONDERFUL post yesterday about my amazing tuna casserole that my husband helped himself to TWO servings of (I take that as a compliment of course!), he ran to our local store to pick up some batteries. As I am checking our bank account this morning, LOW AND BEHOLD there is a charge from our local pizza joint...for that day!

Don't worry people, I confronted. He confessed. It's all good. (We actually both had a good laugh)

So on to the "meat" of this post....

I decided to trick my hubby dear this evening with mashed potato-cauliflower creation.
SHHH! DON'T TELL HIM I'M USING CAULIFLOWER IN MASHED POTATOES!Basically I used three red potatoes and a whole head of cauliflower, mashed it, added some butter and milk and VOILA!
I also made a weight watchers side that had been sitting in the cupboard for a while. Hurry! Throw the weight watchers evidence away!Here's our final product:Mashed potatoes, noodles, and chicken.

The verdict:
He walked in when I was chopping the cauliflower. DARN IT! And he asked what the noodle stuff was....I can not lie....

He still liked it though :)

So there you go. I'll keep your secrets if you'll keep mine. As long as you don't tell him that last weeks taco soup was made with ground turkey!!

This may become a weekly tricky occurrence. May not. We will see!

Weigh In Week 13: Oh Monday's, How I Have Come to Love Thee!

February 1st. Today is my third month anniversary on this health journey and I am SO excited. Slow and steady wins the race, right? I lost another 2 pounds this week....bringing my grand total to 22 pounds lost.

January 2010 is behind us. I learned a lot this month and experienced new and exciting moments on this journey.
-I started to FEEL like my body was different
-People began noticing and commenting on my weight loss
-I ran a total of 28 minutes- the longest amount I've ever run consecutively before
-I started my food journal
-I weighed in LESS than my husband AND I finally admitted my weight to him (I was nervous to do this previously)

In February my goals will be:
- Make it back to my high school weight by Feb. 28th
-Finish my c25k program
-Run 3.1 miles 5 times
-Journal ALL month

Before I go let me share with you all the DELICOUS dinner we had last night. My goal lately has been to find dinners that are few ingredients, cheap, healthy and delicious. This one definitely fits in that category:

Thin Tuna Casserole:

This pretty little dish has the following:
-1 can of tuna (packed in water, drained)
-1 can "fat free" cream of chicken soup
-1/2 cup frozen peas
-1/2 cup frozen broccoli
-3 cups cooked whole wheat pasta
-1/2 cup reduced fat cheddar cheese (shredded)

Mix all ingredients except cheese, place in baking dish. Bake at 375 for 15 minutes. Sprinkle cheese on top, bake for 5 more minutes.
350 Calories per serving (give or take a few calories)
Makes four servings...but be prepared! Hubby just may eat TWO!
(Caught red handed eating his second serving)

Let's rock this month bloggers!