One + One = 5

5 weeks down!! So far I have worked out 1590 minutes. That's 26.5 hours of working out... Which is awesome!!

Which means that I've now lost 18 pounds!!!! I can't believe I'm so close to 20 pounds! Next week I'll hit 20 pounds, which will mean that I'll post pictures! I can't believe I've been blogging this long. Usually I'm horrible about it. No staying power I guess.

I'm really proud of myself so far. It's hard, everyday these workouts get hard. No matter how much I get used to them, its hard every day. Something makes it hard for me, MMV has been here the past week (Mr. Monthly Visitor) and I think that it has affected my energy.

I have also learned that if I push it too much the day before, my workout the next day suffers. Saturday I skipped my 45 minute workout because I felt so bad. Saturday was fun, but if I can't get my workout in the morning it is so unlikely to happen. I tried to workout with the 45 minute from Saturday, plus Sunday's 20 minute core and the 40 minute stretch/yoga class. It was just too much for one day. Today, I did the 55 minute and crapped out about 35 minutes into it. I feel like a failure! For just not completing one workout! Which is so silly, considering I have another one tomorrow! But I did clean all day, so that was some more exercise for the day.

Tonight I made some great taquitos!! Tomorrow I'll post the recipe for Tasty Tuesday!

Oh, I also got a body fat scale. I put all my information in there and tested it out... it was 38.2% body fat, which isn't good at all! But, its just another way to keep up with the progress that I'm making. I know eventually I'll be not losing weight on the scale, so I have a way to make sure that I'm still making progress, if my body fat % isn't going anywhere, and I'm not losing inches or pounds... then its plateau time. And I'll know I need to change up what I'm doing. Not there yet of course.. but when it happens, I'll have been tracking my body fat for a while.

   

Experimental Baking Part Tres

Okay!! So this weekend was fun! My mom and I went to a get together called Body Mind and Soul (I think thats what it was called) and I got some awesome jewelry!! I'll take a picture of them real fast and post them before I get on to the baking part.

Aren't they awesome!! I'm super excited! I got the red and blue one, and mom got me the gold one! Apparently, the lady that was selling them, makes the jewelry herself and they are all one of a kind. She said that she goes to different festivals in Arkansas and sells her jewelry for a quarter of the price she sells them in boutiques in California! So I really got some awesome and beautiful jewelry!

Okay so the recipe that I did today was a bread, a sugar free bread!! It was sooo tasty!

The recipe is actually two in one, you make the bread, and then you put it in a pudding. But I don't like pudding and the pudding recipe calls for fruit juice concentrate, which I just don't want to use.

So! Here you go!

Date Bread

Ingredients:

1 cup chopped dates

1 tsp baking soda

1 cup boiling water

2 eggs

1 Tbsp butter

1 1/2 cups whole grain flour

1 pinch of salt

1/2 cup chopped walnuts (you could leave these out)

Directions:

Put soda over dates. Pour boiling water over. Let set until cooled, then add rest of ingredients. Pour into greased 8x12" pan. Bake 375 for 25-35 minutes. Cool.

It actually gets a little sweeter as it sets, and it is lightly sweet, and soooooo good!

Date Pudding:

Whip:

1/2 pint whipping cream

1/2 tsp vanilla

1 pinch of salt

1 Tbsp apple juice concentrate

In Blender Mix:

1 small box instant butterscotch sugerfree pudding according to package directions.

At lowest speed mixer, mix pudding into cream.

Place in layers in servings dish:

date cake, cut up into small squares

2-3 bananas

pudding and cream mixtures (ending with pudding and cream mixture on top)

Top with:

Chopped nuts sprinkled over.

No picture of that! Didn't make it, but I bet it is very good!!

Small Changes

My birthday is in a little more than a week!! I asked my mom for a heart rate monitor. It is a watch with a chest strap. I set it up yesterday and did my toning workout last night with mixed results. It kept losing my heart rate. I was sure that it wasn't going to work, but I thought I would give it a go with something that was a real cardio workout. So I put it on and used it. It felt weird doing my punching and twisting with it on. I thought it would feel similar to having a bra on around my chest but I think it messed me up a little. But I just kept it on and it didn't lose my heart rate except once when I was bending over!! Today I did a 55 minute workout and burned 1730 calories!!! Holy cow!! Thank you heart rate monitor!

So over the last week I have been noticing small changes in my body. I haven't really picked up anything heavy or anything like that. I was pulling my hair up on Wednesday and noticed that my shoulders look a little more cut. Especially at the top... It's just a little bit. I asked Corey yesterday if that had been there before and he didn't think so.

Also, I was washing my arms in the shower and I noticed that my arm had a smallish bulge in my bicep area... So maybe more muscle there!!

Lastly, I usually only wear jeans on Friday for work, the rest of the time it's dress pants and sweats or slouchy capris to workout in. Anyway, so putting my jeans on every Friday is usually a good indicator of how many inches I have lost. Today my jeans buttoned with no problem!! I even put a belt on!! My tee shirts are getting too big and so are my panties!! Shopping trip soon? Possibly! Maybe another couple weeks, or until I can't wear my undies anymore.

So I have a job interview today! Say a little prayer that I get it!!

Have a great day!

Tasty Tuesday: Veggie Chips

Today my grandparents told me about a house that was for rent that was 300 bucks. A house! Which would be awesome... if I had a job. I have not had a job for more than a month and I'm sooo discouraged. I have gone on a job interview at least every week that I've been unemployed, but so far nothing fits. I've been offered three jobs, but if I just wanted to take a job and then have to be looking for another job in three months, I would have taken a couple of those jobs. Another was in something that I have no experience and was commissioned based, and that just won't work for me.

It's just so frustrating. I have a college degree! I should be able to find a job that pays more than 10 bucks an hour! Needless to say it's impossible to find a job in my field. I have no practical experience out of school, and people just do like that. 

I love my mom, and we are so blessed to have a roof over our heads, but I am so ready to have my own house and use my own dishes. All my wedding stuff has been packed away for a year and a half. 

*sigh* okay, I'm over it. I just wish I had a job!

So today I did a ton of baking, which was probably stupid because it was the first day that was hot! Oh well, I did it anyway. The other day I was looking around Whole Foods and there were some veggie chips on display and they had a taster plate out, and so I tried one, liked it. Then I looked on the back of the bag and realized there were 9 grams of fat in them!! Plus they were 4 bucks for half a bag! 

I looked up a couple of recipes for baked veggie chips, and then I experimented. I made sweet potato chips, zucchini chips, and kale chips!

Here are pictures and recipes:

Ingredients: 

2 sweet potatoes

1-2 tablespoons of olive oil (you can leave this out)

Salt

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375

With a mandolin or if you can make even cuts with a knife slice the sweet potatoes, with or without the peel, I like them with. Toss them into a bowl with the olive oil. Lay them out on a pan and sprinkle with sea salt (if you want it, they are just as goo without the salt). Bake for 30-35 minutes or until they are toasted, make sure to keep an eye on them, because they will burn fast!

Toss in the bowl! 

Lay them out on a pan and then sprinkle with a little bit of sea salt.  Bake for 30-35 minutes or until they are toasty, make sure to keep an eye on them, because they will burn fast!

They will crisp up a little when you pull them out of the oven. 

Ingredients: 

2-3 leaves of kale

1 tbsp of olive oil (you can leave this out)

1/2 tsp garlic powder

1/2 tsp onion powder

1/4 cup graded parmesan cheese

Directions:

Preheat oven to 275

Wash and throughly dry kale. Pluck the leaves from the stems. Discard Stems and tear leaves into bite size pieces. Place in bowl and mix in everything together. Lay the kale in a single layer on either 2 cooling racks or 2 silicone line baking sheets. Bake 25-30 minutes. Remove and cool slightly. 

Mix everything together!

(I don't have a picture of them on the pan)

Bake 25-30 minutes. Remove and cool slightly. 

Ingredients: 

2 zucchinis 

1 tbsp of olive oil (you can leave this out)

1/2 tsp garlic powder

1/2 tsp onion powder

1/4 cup graded parmesan cheese

Directions:

Preheat oven to 450

With a mandolin or if you can make even cuts with a knife slice the zucchiniToss them into a bowl with the olive oil, garlic, onion and parm. Lay them out on a pan, it works best if they are on parchment paper or silicone baking sheet, but I didn't use one. Bake for 30-35 minutes or until they are toasted, make sure to keep an eye on them, because they will burn fast!

Cut and mix all ingredients together!

Lay them out on a pan and bake for 30-35 minutes. Keep an eye on them!

They are best hot! If there are any left to store, you may need to keep them in the fridge and pop them in the toaster or microwave when you want to eat them.

Enjoy!!

One month done!

Today marks the first month of Turbo Fire! One down 4 to go! It went by so quickly. Not only has it been one month but I have great news!! I have lost 16 pounds! 16 whole pounds! I really can't believe it! Tomorrow I'll post pictures.

I was going to post yesterday about Earth Day and what we did to celebrate! Overall I had a great weekend! On Saturday we went to the Heifer Village and also to their International headquarters that are located in Little Rock! Who knew! It was so much fun, Phillip, my brother needed to go their for a class assignment. It was really interesting what we learned. We got to look around the village, which was not an actual village, I kinda expected some grass huts. The building was amazing and absolutely beautiful, and one of the most green buildings in America!

Me and Mom before we left to pick up Phillip

The top of the building is actually a way to gather rain water so that they can use it in the bathrooms and also in the heating a cooling systems

 The view from the 4th floor of Heifer's office building, you can see everyone getting ready for the Earth Day Festival!

This is a picture of Phillip with a replica of a Terra Cotta Warrior! Isn't he cute!?

After we got done touring the buildings and looking around the village, we were starving!! So we headed to the Festival for some food. They had a bunch of food trucks out there which was really cool because you usually just see those on Food Network! Who knew Little Rock had so many food trucks. So even though I said I wasn't eating out, I had a sandwich. It was wonderful, it was a roasted lamb sandwich which roasted bell peppers and onions and greens! 

Me and Phillip at lunch

Then we wondered around the Festival. I really didn't take many pictures, but I did record a video of some percussionists from OBU (Ouchita Baptist University) playing on instruments made from various recycled materials. 

It was pretty awesome! And they actually sounded okay! After a lot of walking around we went home. I hadn't worked out that morning, because I didn't want to get up, talk about not having a lot of motivation to get up and work out lately... So I was going to do it later, after we had gotten back. Mom said that she had wanted to get the yard mowed, but that she wasn't feeling good. So I offered to do it. I have mowed twice in my life, and Saturday was the second. I put on a sweat band and a hat because I didn't want to get sun burned and set out to mow the front yard. Well I got done with that, and decided that I still felt okay so I just ended up doing the whole thing. 

Our yard is huge. The whole lot is roughly the shape of a baseball diamond. And probably about as big. So I mowed a huge area, and it bothered me that I couldn't get to everything, so I pulled out the weed eater and finished the who thing!

I was exhausted, but I still wanted to do my workout. So I did my 20 minute core class, and then did my 40 minute stretch/yoga. By the end, my arms were shaking and I felt like shit. Usually I feel awesome after workouts. So I took a shower and grabbed my sweater and a blanket because it was really cold to me and went out and hung out in the hammock. I didn't take a nap or anything, but that hammock feels amazing on my back, because it is supported everywhere. I got the hammock in Mexico, everyone there sleeps in them. I don't think they have any back problems over there. 

Me in my amazing hat getting ready to mow

My beautiful back yard!! 

Me in my hammock. It was cold and windy!

Well it turns out that I did get a sun burn anyway. I don't tan easily, I burn. So I had gotten a little burn on my face from the festival, and when I mowed I didn't think about my arms being exposed, and I got burned there.

After such a huge workout on Saturday, I felt like crap Sunday. I slept late and didn't want to workout at all. I finally made myself do it, and it was so hard. I kept telling myself that I could and that I could make it through, but 45 minutes of it was too much after the day before, again I felt awful. But I got it out of the way.

Now I have a confession, if you have suck it out through this really long post, I have to tell you that I ate out (gasp!) on Sunday night and had Indian food! I was so hungry, and I've been more hungry. So I'm going to see about what I need to do to either eat more, or adjust what I'm eating so I don't feel like I'm starving. 

Experimental Baking Part Deux

This morning I did NOT want to get up!! Corey is out of town until Saturday afternoon, so that means two nights alone! I was the wife who when we first got married, had trouble sharing a bed, because he snores and because I just wasn't a good bed buddy! But now, I can't sleep without him! We go through periods of him being gone because of work, but he has been home since October/November. I'm not ready for him to leave.

So I couldn't sleep, and I waited and waited to fall asleep, and it just didn't happen. When I finally got to sleep the alarm went off! Or at least it felt that way. So I hit the alarm to turn it off and just laid there. And I thought, I have to sweat because Holly (my beachbody coach) had a homework assignment for our workout today. She wanted a picture of us in all our sweaty glory! I knew that there was no other time for me to workout today, so I just got up and did it any way. It gave me so much more energy through the day! 55 minutes of Turbo Fire kicked my ass! So here are my sweaty pictures!

This is a picture of my headband because it is covered in sweat! You can see the top where the only part is light, and it didn't get sweated on!

This is my sweat covered face! Isn't it lovely?

Tonight my mom and I planned to having a baking extravaganza. After the success with the cookies, I was prepared for some more awesomeness!

Well I picked brownies, and my mom picked pineapple upside down cake. Her pineapple upside down cake turned out really good! She did two versions, one with honey for a meeting she is going to tomorrow. And one with stevia for me.

Yum!!

I my frist batch of brownies was with a sweet potato base, and it would have been better with the honey it called for.

First Batch

There was something wrong with it though. It was the texture I guess. I was so disappointed that they didn't turn out right, so I decided to look up another recipe because mom was still cooking. So I tried another recipe that looked good, no sweet potato... 

Second Batch

And the second batch? Bleh! It was too dry. The first was too moist and not brownie like at all, the second was more brownie like, but dry dry dry. And it smelled so wonderful, but it was a shame that it didn't taste the way it smelled.

What I take from this whole brownie fiasco? Is that I don't like brownies nearly as much as I thought, and also, I don't like stevia. I replaced the sugar with stevia, and it makes it gross. I like splenda, but I don't like stevia. I guess I am going to try Truvia next, but I'm not holding out much hope that it's going to be good.

I'm not sharing these brownie recipes because they turned out icky. But I will share the pineapple upside down cake! 

Almost Sugar Free Pineapple Banana Upside Down Cake

Ingredients (serves 4 big pieces or 6 avg size):
For Caramelizing Pineapple:
- 2 slices of pineapple (about 1 inch thick)
- 1 tsp coconut oil
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
For Cake:
- I used a rectangular small baking dish (see pic at bottom), which fit the 2 slices of pineapple perfectly.
- 2 Tbsp coconut oil
- 4 Tbsp coconut milk
- 1/2 Cup coconut flour
- 2 Tbsp raw honey
- 1 Tbsp pure vanilla extract
- 3 eggs
- 1 tsp aluminum free baking powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 2 whole mashed bananas (very ripe)

Directions:

1. Pre-heat oven to 350
2. Start with caramelizing pineapple slices – In a non-stick skillet, heat 1 tsp of coconut oil.  Add the pineapple and let it fry for about 2 minutes – until it’s golden brown.  Pour the vanilla extract on top while frying.  Flip pineapple and fry the other side.  Remove and put pineapple at the bottom of your baking pan.
3. In a bowl, mix together coconut flour, salt, baking powder, coconut milk, vanilla extract, bananas and eggs
4. Melt the coconut oil and honey and then slowly add it to the mix.
5. Mix together thoroughly and pour into baking pan overtop of pineapples
6. Bake for about 45 minutes – check after 30 minutes because you might have a better oven.  You want to be able to stick a fork into the middle and have it come out dry.
7. Remove from oven and let it cool for a few minutes
8. Put a plate overtop of the baking pan and turn it upside down so that the baking pan is now upside down over the plate.
9. Remove baking pan so that pineapple slices are the centerpiece of the cake.
10. Try not to eat the whole thing.

Sugar or no Sugar?

I wasn't going to post tonight. I was going to do something tomorrow or Saturday. But after the semi success of my sugar free cookies I wanted to try to find something that is sugar free in a cake-like form. And of course that just leads me to other people's blogs. This isn't a problem, some of the tastiest recipes I have found are from peoples blogs.

So, while I haven't found my perfect cake yet, I just wanted to post because I keep seeing everything in moderation, even sugar. But not everyone knows what sugar does to your body. I wanted to find a good explanation of what sugar does when it goes into your body so brace yourself for a complicated way of saying that too much refined sugar makes you gain weight! (You can skip this purple type if you want...)

"Much of the sugar that enters the bloodstream is originally stored in the liver in the form of glycogen until needed, when it is again changed into glucose.

When the amount of glycogen exceeds the liver's storage capacity of about 50 grams, it is released into the bloodstream in the form of fatty acid.

This fatty acid is stored first in the more inactive places of the body, such as the buttocks, thighs, and midsection.

Then, if cane sugar, fruit sugar, dairy sugar, and other simple sugars continue to be eaten, fatty acid becomes attracted to more yang organs such as the heart, liver, and kidneys, which gradually become encased in a layer of fat and mucus.

This accumulation can also penetrate the inner tissues, weakening the normal functioning of the organs and causing their eventual blockage as in the case of atherosclerosis.


The buildup of fat can also lead to various forms of cancer, including tumors of the breast, colon, and reproductive organs.

Still another form of degeneration may occur when the body's --internal supply of minerals -- is mobilized to offset the debilitating effects of simple sugar consumption.

For example, calcium from the teeth may be depleted to balance the excessive intake of candy, soft drinks, and sugary desserts.

In order to prevent these degenerative effects, it is important to
avoid or minimize the consumption of refined carbohydrates, as well as naturally occurring lactose and fructose in dairy foods and fruits, and to eat carbohydrates primarily in the form of polysaccharides found in grains, beans and bean products, vegetables, and seaweed."


Yeah I went there... all this to again say that sugar is bad for you. This came from a post on a forum. I only put it here because it closely says the same thing the book This is Why You're Fat (I know... I know.. I talk about this all the time :D) says about what sugar does when it enters your body. One of my favorite things from the book is when she talks about the difference between refined sugar and sugar from fruit. She says that in that piece of fruit, it has everything that your body needs to break it down. In refined sugar, we've stripped that away, and it just turns straight into glucose.

All this to say that I found a blog that was talking about diabetic cake recipes. They said that...

"Some experts suggest that instead of ingesting a larger quantity of “sugar-free” treats, perhaps a choice to have a small portion of “normal/real” treats would be a better option. This might be more satisfying to the diabetic, and then moderation might occur naturally.

And many support the concept that eating the real thing in moderation is healthier than eating substitutes."

To this I have to say several things...

1. Yes moderation is good

2. The problem with sugar free treats that are packaged in the store is that they put all kinds of icky stuff in it to make it taste sweet. And sometimes when it says Fat Free, or Low Fat, they put more sugar in there to replace the fat! 

3. For many people moderation just isn't possible... thats sad to say but true. I can attest to that. Before I made changes in what I ate, I couldn't just stop at one. And for some people, thats a real reality. So yes moderation is good, but if you can take out the thing that is causing the problem to begin with, why not do it in a healthy way? 

When I used to make regular cakes, I would replace part, if not all the oil the box called for with apple sauce. In cookies or cakes you can replace refined white flour with whole wheat or rice or even almond, how is that not healthier than the "real thing"? 

I think that saying that is a cop out. If you can eat in moderation and only have one piece of cake, then more power to you. But if you're like lots of other people and can't stop at one piece, why not make something just as tasty and just as great, but without all the things that make it something that you dread putting in your mouth? I'm not saying go out and buy everything you see that says "sugar free" I'm saying make your own sugar free treats... then you know exactly what you put into it. 

Okay off my soap box... my new found soap box. At the end of the article they say that sliced strawberries are good replacement for cake, and they are! But sometimes its nice to be able to have a treat. And because I refuse to eat sugar, I need a sugar free cake. 

My original plan was to go a whole month without refined sugar... and on Sunday I'll have been doing it for 4 weeks... and I think I'll keep doing it. I don't miss sugar! I don't crave it. I get plenty in the fruits that I eat. So bring on the sugar free recipes! Look at this awesome bakery that is making Sugar Free Cake and Candy!! How I wish I lived in Oregon! Just Delicious Diabetic Bakery's stuff looks amazing! Maybe I can get mom to have a small cake shipped for my birthday! If a bakery can do this, why can't I?

Never ever ever...

Shop for food hungry. I should start a life style change 101 list of things that you should never do, just from my experience. That would be interesting, just to see what other people have to say about this.

When you changed your life by changing what you ate and exercising what was something that you knew you should never ever do? Walk by the baked goods area at the grocery store? Go down the ice-cream isle? Go to your favorite restaurant because you knew would would get your favorite thing, which of course is about 3k calories for one meal? Hmm... I think my list is growing! For real!! I see people are actually reading this thing now...  so leave me a message and tell me what you know to never ever do or it will sabotage all your good intentions. Go on... go on... leave a comment... you know you want to! :D

Why did I bring this up?? Well I went to whole foods today to get some almonds, and also to get some almond milk. I did this while I was waiting on my mom to get done with something. We carpooled to work today (I'm working part time for one of the lawyers in her office!) and she had something she needed to do. So I had about an hour and a half to kill. I also got some turmeric, which my mom swears is good for your skin... more on that in a minute. I was sooooooooo hungry. I had eaten an apple around 4 because I knew we wouldn't get home until 7, but I had to have something to eat.

I was so proud of myself. I got some kale, this whole wheat curried pasta with red cabbage, red onions, bell peppers and little snap peas. I also got some hummus and pita chips. All for dinner...

I also got some rice flour to try with the sugar free cookies... I may have to make an edit to it once I try it with the rice flour.

So I didn't break into it until I was waiting in the car for mom. And I ate a couple of pita chips and hummus and also some of the kale. The rest I saved for dinner when we got home... It was all good and I especially loved the kale, it had a little olive oil, red pepper flakes and lemon juice on it. Very tasty and awesome with the hummus because it cooled the mouth.

I do have to say though, just because it's from Whole Foods... doesn't mean its all healthy or even all good for you. Just a warning to people out there!

Now on to why the Tumeric should be good for my skin. Before I got married, I worked out a ton, and I worked out at the gym at my college in the mornings. I would get to school waaay to early, and workout, shower and get dressed, the go to class. Well I got this rash on my feet. I didn't think much about it, because I have very dry feet that crack and peel. I was scratching it one day and my uncle saw it and told me that it was athletes foot and that he used an over the counter cream and it would clear it up.

Well I used it, and it got somewhat better but came back. This is all over a few months. Well it would go and come and never really clear up. I'm horrible at remembering to put cream on my feet. So last year before I went to Mexico (for a study abroad program) I went to the doctor and showed her my feet, and she said that it was indeed athletes foot and gave me a cream and two refills. After that they got a little better, but still itched like crazy. I went back to my doctor and she put me on pills for it.

Well the pills cured the athletes foot (which I didn't know at the time), but there was still a rash, so I kept on using the over the counter creams and it just got worse and worse. Eventually it moved up to my ankles. Well last week I FINALLY, at the threat of being killed if I didn't go, went to the dermatologist about it. He said that the athletes foot was gone, but that it was eczema and a very bad case of it, and he thought there might be a staff infection. So they did a culture, and I just a shot in my hip and a prescription for some cream to put on (More cream!! Yay!) it. If there was a staff infection, that I would need antibiotics. My feet are looking much better and my stab wound where they stuck me with a needle is gone, but there is a staff infection. So now I'm on to antibiotics.

Long story short, apparently turmeric is supposed to help your skin. You should try it, it makes me burp though! I'm ready to have my beautiful feet back! So I guess I'll try the turmeric. Bleh.

Yay food and athletes foot all in one post... icky! I don't have a good picture today, so I'm going to pull something from my Mexico trip, because every time I talk about it, I like to put up pictures from it.

I made it my goal in Mexico to climb ever pyramid that I possibly could. We were in the Yucatan studying ancient Mayan art and civilization. I didn't take a picture at the top of this of myself, mainly because it was so high it made me sick, and also because  there were a ton of people up there and hardly any space. I felt like I was going to fall off backwards if I did a picture.

This was in Uxmal, and I climbed it too! When I got to the top I looked down and told my friends "My Mayan people bow before your king!" Apparently, everything you say up there everyone in the whole site can hear, because my professor said something to me about it later! 

Me at the top of the previous picture!

Tasty Tuesday: Baked Couscous

Hey! So like I said, this is my post for Tasty Tuesday!!

I would like to claim this Baked Couscous for myself... but I can't! I found the recipe on Pinterest. It is by The Naked Kitchen! And it is sooo wonderful! I'm going to post the recipe here. But feel free to go to The Naked Kitchen and check out all the other amazing recipes! I did add and redo some things just for simplicity!

Baked Couscous

Ingredients:

1 1/4 cups dry couscous

2 cups water

1/2 cup bread crumbs

5 cups raw spinach

1 can (15 ounces) no salt added diced tomatoes, drain and reserve the juice

1 medium onion, finely diced

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 tbsp olive oil

1/2 cup Mozzarella cheese 

1 tsp salt, divided

1.5 tsp dried parsley

1.5 tsp dried oregano

2.5 tsp dried basil 

Bring the water to a boil  in a medium pan over high heat and add 1/2 tsp of salt, 1/2 tsp parsley, 1/2 tsp oregano, and 1/2 tsp basil.  Add the couscous and stir well , cover and remove from the heat.  Let sit for 5 minutes and then fluff with a fork.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

In a large skillet heat the olive oil over medium high heat.

Add the garlic and onions and sauté for 10 minutes or until the onions are translucent.

Add the drained, diced tomatoes, remaining salt and herbs and sauté for 10 more minutes.

Preparation:

In a big bowl, mix the couscous, raw spinach, tomato/onion mixture and the reserved tomato juice together and add to a 2 1/2 quart baking dish (or whatever you have that it will fit in).

Sprinkle with cheese and top evenly with the breadcrumbs.

Bake uncovered for 25 minutes or until the cheese it melted and brown.

Remove from oven and serve immediately.

I was in a hurry and didn't read the recipe right and I put the bread crumbs below the cheese, but it still turned out great! So either way is good!

Calorie Breakdown: 9 servings

Total Calories: 165, Total Fat: 4, Cholesterol: 5 mg, Sodium: 380mg; Potassium: 332mg, Total Carbs: 26 g, Fiber: 2.4g, Sugars 3.7g, Protein 8.2g

This is my serving of the Baked Couscous

For dinner I also did beef skewers, with zucchini, squash, bell pepper and onion. And I cooked up some asparagus!


And for "dessert" I did grilled pineapple. If you have never had grilled pineapple... then you need to make and eat some asap!! It is so juicy. The thought of warm fruit used to gross me out until I had this and it is so juicy and delicious!

Our Sweet Rosie

All this morning I spent customizing the blog... and I really like the way it turned out!

Today I'll have two posts one for Rosie and one for Tasty Tuesday. The two just don't go together, so I thought I would split them up. I do just want to say that I was right yesterday, it was water weight from waaaay too much sodium. After peeing all day yesterday and eating yummy fruits and veggies I'm back on track. And I lost two pounds!! So I'm down 14!!! Yay!

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My post today is in memorial to our sweet dog Rosie. After a long battle with cancer, she died yesterday. We have never had to put down an animal. Usually, they just run away or get stolen.

We got Rosie 8 years ago, my first year of college. She was the most adorable beagle puppy ever. She was soooo tiny that when we would take her out, we would carry her. I don't have any puppy pictures of her though. Our other dog Honey, who was a year or so old, would go up to her and push her over with her paw. I was always so scare that Honey would hurt her! 

She was so little that she became an instant lap dog! Sadly she just didn't stay little! She got big and fat! We used to call her a log. Rosie loved to play and you could chase her around and get her to play all the time. We would throw the ball for Honey, and Rose would always chase after Honey, she never cared about the ball. 

The pictures I have here are from 2008, I took a bunch of family photos with everyone and did some of the dogs too.

I guess it was November or October of last year my brother Phillip noticed that there was a lump in Rosie's bottom. So he took her to the vet, and the vet said that she had cancer, but it was only on the surface, and so he took it out.

Well I guess it was the end of March when we started noticing that her poo was flat, and that her ears, which were usually very silky and smooth were really rough. Mom had just changed her food, so we thought it was the food, and changed back to the old food, and started to give her an egg in her food in the morning, because its supposed to help a dogs coat. And she was looking very very skinny. We fed her tons, but she still looked skinny.

After a while she could hardly poop, so we took her back to the vet and he felt in her and said that the cancer was back and that is was obstructing her poop ways. We could do surgery, chemo, or try to give her a little time with medicine. We went with the medicine. He said to give her pregnazone (don't ask me how to spell that...) and a medicine for incontinence (because she couldn't help it and peed on the floor a lot).

The vet said that it would give her about a month. She would feel really good for a while, and then we would know when it was time.

The night before last, I came into the room where she sleeps and she had peed all over the room and had poo in little tiny pellets. I told mom about it the next morning and mom said that it was the same when she came in (I had cleaned it up.). You could always tell Rosie felt so bad about the mess she would make. But it wasn't her fault. Mom said that she didn't feed her yesterday because there was no point in putting more food into a stomach that was already a max capacity. So she called the vet and we went over after mom got off work. Before we took her over to the vet, mom was cleaning up the pee and Rosie wouldn't even get up to wag her tail. And she was always the first one to get up and wiggle around.

It was the absolute saddest thing ever. Needless to say, there were many tears. And it just breaks my heart that she is gone. But she isn't suffering any more. If any dog deserved to go to heaven it was Rosie. She was the sweetest, most loving and loyal dog we have ever had. She never barked, unless we were playing. She never got over being too big to not fit in our laps. There wasn't ever a person or piece of food that Rosie didn't love. She LOVED food! Any time, any type! We will always love her and miss her, especially her silky ears. 

Honey, Phillip, Rosie and Stephen's Arm- In action!