Important Wordy Bits

I'm a little behind....

Hey all,

Sorry for no update for a bit. We've had bad colds in our house along with doing a whole bunch of organizing. It's been crazy! Plus, my Olympics have been on and just ended *tear*. I love the olympics and I always have. Probably my #1 on my bucket list is to go to the olympics just once. I'd love to go to London in 2012, but that's just a pipe dream. Anywho.....I have been behind here, posting CT layouts for my digital scrapbooking, etc. I've got a couple recipes to load here. Also, I think Friday's are going to "My Girl Friday's". I have a bunch of girlfriends that I get together with every second Tuesday of the month and I have a bunch of their recipes. My printer is on the fritz so I figure I'll post them here. Lots of good recipes from those gals. Keep an eye open.

Tomorrow I promise to have my Asian Shredded Crockpot Chicken on the blog. This stuff just rocked. You can serve with veggies, on rice...whatever a great recipe. Also, I will post my doctored Moo Shu Lettuce Wraps recipe. Seriously a tasty, tasty recipe. 

I'm getting quite sleepy. I have to check my Farmville game on Facebook (probably the only game I religiously keep up with because I am addicted to it) and then it's bed time for me. Toodles!!

Great Thai Pizza Recipe and yadda yadda yadda

Hi all!

Tonight we are eating regular pizza with my homemade pizza sauce, but I figured I'd post a favorite recipe from Rachel Ray. She made this Thai Chicken Pizza and it is absolutely delicious and different. I think even the kids would like this because it uses plum sauce instead of regular pizza sauce. Also, my grocery store has reduced fat provolone so I use that. Here's the recipe:

Thai Chicken Pizza

Ingredients

• 1 pizza dough, any brand
• 1/2 cup duck sauce or plum sauce
• 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
• 1 package (2 cups) shredded or package of sliced provolone
• 2 -3 TBSP peanut sauce (check Asian aisle)
• 4 chicken breast cutlets, 1/2 pound
• 2 tablespoons honey
• 2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar or cider vinegar
• 1/4 seedless cucumber, peeled and cut into matchsticks
• 4 scallions, chopped
• 1 cup bean spouts, a couple of handfuls
• Palm full cilantro leaves, chopped
• 1/4 cup chopped peanuts, 2 ounces

Directions

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.

Put pizza dough on pan and top with plum sauce and provolone cheese. Bake for about 12 -15 minutes. 

Add chicken and sauce to pan; coat evenly with mixture. Let stand 10 minutes then grill chicken cutlets 2 to 3 minutes on each side, until firm. I use medium to medium high heat. Slice chicken. Could easily use a grocery store roasted chicken. 

While chicken cooks, mix honey and vinegar and add the cucumber. Turn to coat evenly.

Top the hot, cooked pizza with chicken, scallions, sprouts and cilantro. Drain cucumbers and scatter over the pizza. Garnish pizza with peanuts, cut into 8 wedges and serve.

recipe courtesy of Rachel Ray/Food Network ****adapted

A good thing to remember with your pizza is that it CAN be different and be delicious. We also like using BBQ sauce, chicken, mozzarella/cheddar combo along with bacon and onion. Soooo good. Try using ricotta instead of any sauce at all. I love ricotta, fresh tomato and basil. Make it a taco pizza with olives, taco meat, chihuahua cheese, chilis or whatever you can think of. Point being that it does not have to be the same old, same old pizza. Oh! Before I forget, I use either Pillsbury pizza dough or Aldi's pizza dough and I ALWAYS pre-bake the crust for about 6 minutes. The crust seems to be better. 

For the yadda, yadda, yadda.....what can I say it's Olympic time. I am ADDICTED to the Olympics. I watch summer and winter olympics and it does not matter what the sport is. I can watch it all. Curling? Sure! Why not? Biathalon? I'll give it a go. It's two weeks where I am glued to my tv all them time. Can't help it. I've been an Olympic fiend since the 1980 Lake Placid Olympics. I clearly remember Eric Heiden and the US Olympic hockey team. I was supposed to go to the grocery store with my parents, but there was no way I could miss the US vs. Russia hockey game. Remember the Russians just standing there hanging on their sticks while watching the Americans celebrate? Remember "Do you believe in miracles? YES!!!"? Heck, I even remember some of the guys: Mike Eruzione, Ken Morrow, Mark Johnson, Jim Craig....such a great story....still. So, yes, I had the US women's curling match on in the background while I dusted today :). 

A little lax

Yeah, last week I didn't have much to write about unless it was about the copious amounts of mucous my nose was producing last week. Sigh. I hate colds. Since I couldn't really taste much I really didn't venture into the land of new recipes. I did my shopping and got some great stuff for new recipes this week. So far this is my menu for the week:

Tuesday: Maple Pork Tenderloin and Roasted Veggies (potatoes, onions, sweet potatoes, beets and carrots)

Wednesday: Pizza night ....may venture into roasted red peppers on my pizza again. That was soooo good.

Thursday: Either Thai Crockpot Chicken (WW recipe) or WW Pad Thai. I'm undecided right now.

Friday: Bow Tie Pasta and sauce

Saturday: Big salad w/ homemade chicken soup

wild cards or lunch menu items: Kale w/ bacon and white beans also Lemon Pepper fish w/ brussels sprouts

I'm really trying to get more vegetables in my diet. I'm usually pretty good about it, but I think I can put even more in. I always try and have a bag of lettuce ready at any time. If I cannot find anything to eat for a meal my salad in a bag is my go to. Good line up of meals for the week. If something is really good I'll post it here. 

One last tidbit. I added Leslie Sansone's Walk Your Way Thin into my exercise regime. I forgot how good her DVD's are. You really get a sweat going. Today I spent time organizing the garage. Good times, noodle salad (you had to be there). No aerobics, but a lot of lifting. I'll take it.

Since I cannot type anymore without making typing mistakes every other word I should end this thing and get my butt to bed!

Night all!

Weigh In, Golden Globes and GREAT chicken recipe

Good evening everyone,

     Sunday is my D-day. My weigh in is on Sunday which is great because it's how I start my week, but ugh I cannot have one bad thing on a Saturday. I weighed myself earlier in the week and I know that I was down a total of 19 lbs. I REALLY wanted to hit my 20 lb. mark, but alas...no. I am at 19.5 lbs. down and 4 lbs. down for last week. Pretty awesome result for one week, but that elusive half pound did not come off. Next week WILL be my 20 lb. mark. My stagnant Christmas season is done. Finito. I am back on plan. Yay! I ate my filling foods i.e. veggies, protein, beans, etc. Let me tell you how full you get just eating veggies or beans. It really is amazing to realize what foods do what and what keeps you full. I owe Weight Watchers big time just in what it has taught me.

     This week we talked about getting active in our meeting. It is soooo crucial to get up and just get moving. I started slow and worked my way into vigorous aerobic exercise and it makes all the difference in my weight loss. There are plenty of days where I do NOT want to exercise at all. The after effects are what make all the difference. You just feel better, you lose weight, it's a mood booster and it makes me feel more fluid rather than a big lump. Currently I am just using my Wii system, but plan on joining the gym within the next month or so. I want to keep building on my exercise regime. Get up. Do it. Don't make an excuse to NOT exercise because those excuses won't help you when your 60 and on medication for your heart or cholesterol or who knows what. Don't get me wrong. I could completely implode LOL and my words may bite me in the behind. I know how hard it is, but something is better than nothing. 

     A quick shout out to Ricky Gervais being his usual cheeky self on the Golden Globes. Just love that guy. Now I will have to watch his new show on HBO come Feb. 19th. My last shout out is to one of my favorite shows on TV....Glee won for Comedy show. Yay! I absolutely LOVE this show. It's fresh, creative and oh so good. Cannot wait for the Madonna episode that they are filming this week. Go Glee!

 

 

photo off of Twitter by Frankenteen aka Cory Monteith aka Finn Hudson on Glee

  

     Lastly, a super great recipe. I don't have the specific points, but it's not high at all I want to say it's 6 or 7 points or around 300 calories. This recipe is for the chicken only. If you serve over rice or pasta you need to add that to your total. This recipe is off of http://crockpot365.blogspot.com . I linked the specific recipe too. 

Brown Sugar Chicken

-12 boneless, skinless chicken thighs, or 6 boneless, skinless breast halves
--1 cup brown sugar (it's okay. you can brush your teeth after.)
--1/4 cup lemon-lime soda (stay with me...)
--2/3 cup vinegar (I used white wine, but think regular white would be fine)
--3 cloves smashed and chopped garlic
--2 T soy sauce (La Choy and Tamari wheat free are GF)
--1 tsp ground black pepper

The Directions.

Use a 4 quart crockpot for this recipe. 

Plop the chicken into your crockpot. Cover with the brown sugar, pepper, chopped garlic, and soy sauce. Add the vinegar, and pour in the soda. It will bubble!

Cover and cook on low for 6-9 hours, or on high for 4-5. The chicken is done when it is cooked through and has reached desired consistency. The longer you cook it, the more tender it will be.

Serve over a bowl of white rice with a ladle full of the broth.

 

Organizing, Corn Salsa, a new layout and dinner in crockpot. Oh My!

Good afternoon friends,

I have been on quite a roll today. I have to back up just a bit. Yesterday my six year old son and I started going through his toys. I was pleasantly surprised at how he has been giving up toys that he does not play with anymore. THOUGH there is so much that mommy is now going through the stuff today. My son is a sh*t collector: boxes, bubbles wrap, boxes, stuffed animals, boxes....did I mention boxes :). The kid also picks out snacks that only have some kind of contest on it. We now have yogurt where he may win $5 or fruit snacks where he may win a laptop for him and for a child in Africa "if they deserve it" (my sons comment....sheesh). I had to give him the whole schpeel about kids not having toys for the umpteenth time. Then we need to save said items boxes. Back to the story........so I've been organizing the toys he went through and have cleaned the bathroom from top to bottom. His room feels more like a room rather than a toy store that vomited in his room. Next, dinner has been started in the crockpot. I'm making pork tenderloin with potatoes and craisins. I added some onion soup mix and orange marmalade. In my other crockpot I am going to make homemade applesauce. I'll put recipes up if they are edible LOL. I <3 my crockpots!!! All this before noon. Woo hoo!

On to my layout...I have a new layout that I did with Hollie aka Holliewood Studios new "Sweet Shoppe" kit. It is seriously sooooo easy to work with AND considering I lost my mojo for about three months it was nice to be creative. You can find Hollie's fab kit here and take a looksy at my layout.

 

I just love Hollie's stuff.

Yesterday I made a corn salsa that was so fresh and tasty. I promised that I would put my recipe here so here it is:

Corn Salsa

16 oz. of thawed frozen corn (if you fresh even better)

3 medium to large tomatoes, diced

1 small to medium onion, diced

1 pepper, diced (red, yellow, green...whatever you like)

1 jalapeno, diced (put in according to your heat tolerance. I put only half in.)

zest and juice of three small limes (my limes had hardly any juice so I substituted a large lemon...my limes were small)

1 TBSP olive oil

a splash of apple cider vinegar or white vinegar

salt and pepper to taste

Put all ingredients and mix. Refrigerate for two hours, but not necessary. This tasted better when it was refrigerated for a couple hours. You can serve with tortilla chips, serve on top of taco, enchiladas, etc. or as just a side dish. This is heavy on the corn because we are corn lovers so adjust if you want. 

I think that's if for now. OH! Glee has been picked up for another season so yay!