Showing posts with label Baye. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Baye. Show all posts

Friday, February 22, 2013

I'm BACK!

My crazy weeks are done and I can focus again on y'all!  Honestly, nothing exciting has happened over the past few weeks.  This post might be a bit long due to the fact that I have a ton of recipes to share. 

Let's start with the Superbowl.  I never have enough friends to have a party but I love the idea of Superbowl party food.  So, I did a themed dinner that night.  It was delicious.  I did Spinach artichoke dip, homemade tortilla chips, cauliflower buffalo bites, and portabello pizzas.  The recipes for the dip and the buffalo bites are located below the picture. 




SkinnyTaste: Buffalo Cauliflower
SkinnyTaste: Spinach and Artichoke Dip

Oh and I did some angel food cake cupcakes with team colored sugar on top.

Next up, the Korean New Year, Seollal.  I made Bibimbap and chamchi-jeon (Korean tuna cakes)  except I did them with crab because I was in a crabby mood.  I didn't get a picture of any of it.  It was actually gone too quick. 

ZenKimchi Chamchi-Jeon

Oh and I just have to show you this!  My father and mother in law sent this to Sunny last week. 


 
Her own hanbok!  Isn't she simply adorable???  



Fast forward a few days to Valentine's Day.  To Ken and I this day has become just a day for the kids.  And it's honestly all about the candy.  We exchange cards and he will buy my flowers but, it's nothing major.  This year I gave him a bag of Snickers with a reason why I love him for every piece in it.  He gave me a bag of Valentine's Day 3 Musketeers.  I think I've talked about 3 Musketeers before.  Each piece has under 1 gram of fat so, I can still have chocolate without causing myself pain. This year he bought me a bag of Strawberry Dark Chocolate ones.  They are amazing.  I have dubbed them the "poor man's Russel Stover" because they taste so close to the high end strawberry cream chocolates.   I eat one a night.  I would highly recommend them.  7 pieces has 6 grams of fat and 180 calories.  That means 1 has 0.86 grams of fat and 25.8 calories.  Not too bad right?  Healthiest candy I've found so far.
Florida kills me sometimes.  The other morning I woke up and it was 34 degrees outside.  34!!  I decided it was the type of day that called for chili.  Well, by 2 pm it was around 65 degrees.  Definitely not typical chili weather.  But, despite that, I still made it.  I was amazed at how it turned out.  It was really good awesome!  I took a few big risks with some of the ingredients.  Kaylee and Mantha aren't normally fond of sweet potatoes (that's why there's only 1/2 of one in the recipe).  If I had been making it for me I would have added a whole one.  The soy crumbles aren't normally liked by non-vegetarians.  But, even Ken raved about it.  Note about the Crumbles.  If you are seriously on a no-fat diet then you need to buy the BOCA soy crumbles.  They are the only ones that have 0g of fat.  I picked up a different brand and didn't pay attention so that is why there is extra fat in the recipe 

Veggie Overload Chili
Serves 10 calories 136 fat 1.09 grams fiber 6 grams protein 12.2 grams

Ingredients
1 large onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp dried oregano
1/4 cup chili powder
1/8 tsp ground cinnamon
2 bay leaves
12 oz Ground Crumbles Meatless (1 bag)
2 Tbsp tomato paste
1 Tbsp cocoa powder
12 oz dark beer
.25 sweet potato, cubed
1 cup corn (fresh, frozen or canned)
16 oz mushrooms, quartered
42 oz Diced Tomatoes 

16 oz tomato sauce 

Directions
  1. Saute onions, sweet potato and garlic until golden.
  2. Add in the spices and cook for another 2 minutes
  3. Stir in tomato paste and meatless crumbles
  4. Next put in chocolate, beer,tomato sauce and tomatoes bring to a boil then reduced and simmer for 30 minutes
  5. After 30 minutes add the corn, and mushrooms.
  6.  Bring back to a boil and simmer for another 15 minutes

 I have a post in the works about regaining motivation.  I kist my motivation a few weeks ago while I wasn't blogging (hmmmm, I wonder if there's a connection?  I hadn't thought of it before now)  I bought myself a new pair of pants for the gym in order to get myself pumped.  

I bought them at Target for $20.  They are made by Champion and they are AH-MA-ZING.  When I worked out in my other capris I kept having to adjust them every 10 minutes.  The only time I had to adjust these was when I got out of the car and when I accidentally pushed them up.  I have one problem with them though.  They are made of 84% polyester and 16% spandex.  I'm very paranoid about them getting snagged.  

That's my February in a very big nutshell.  How has your month been?

Thursday, March 29, 2012

Get to know a little about me.


I finally decided to start a blog because I’m tired of all my ideas running free in my head.  I decided that they needed a place to stay and that’s why we now have the Fat Free Queen.  I’m a self proclaimed health nut..  Here’s a little bit about my weight loss journey.  
 I started my journey about 3 years ago.  I weighed 197 pounds.  Today I weigh 114.  This is all thanks to eating a whole foods diet 



Why I decided to start this blog

1)  To hold myself accountable
 I have no one to really motivate me to be as fit as I want to be.  My husband and kids “love me no matter how I look.”  This causes me to slack occasionally.  Hopefully this blog will keep me motivated and keep me going.

2)  To help people find good recipes for dealing with gallstones

In September 2011 I ended up in the hospital and was diagnosed with gallstones.  Eating any fat at all caused me pain.  Since then I have been on a quest for the yummiest fat free foods and recipes.  At first I would hke 2 different dinners, one for me and the other for the family.  IO got sick and tired of that after a few weeks.  Since then I have making one meal for the whole family.  Since I’m cooking for for 2 kids, a toddler and a husband who likes to eat I have to make sure that the meals are normal and don’t contain any “weird” ingredients.  
 I got my gallbaldder removed at the end of February and I feel a lot better.  Eating fat still makes me sick so I still eat a fat free vegetarian whole foods diet.  Occasionally I will add a little seafood because of the health benefits.  


The people in my life

1) My amazing husband
 I am married to the most wonderful man in the world.  No matter what I say I want to do he supports me.

I want to become a nutritionist?  SURE!
I want to be a personal trainer?  OKAY!
I want to sign up for a mud run?  I’LL DO IT WITH YOU!

He’s loved me at every weight.  Right after I had Baye and I was 197 lbs, he thought I was gorgeous.  A week after my gallbladder surgery and I was at 107?  Yep, he thought I was beautiful then too!  He has reaped some of the benefits from my healthy eating habits too.  In the past 2 years he’s lost about 60 pounds.  I’m happy for him but, I’m also jealous.  He’s the type of person that weight just falls off of even though they don’t try.  But I love him.  He’s amazing and awesome!  I can’t imagine life without him.  And from here on out he will be known as Mr. Amazing.

2)  Kay
 Kay is my (almost) 9 year old.  She’s amazing too.  She would play every sport under the sun if I would allow her to.  She’s the quiet but competitive type.  She loves a challenge.  

3)  Mo
 Mo is my 7 year old.  She’s great.  She hates tv.  She spends a lot of time outside because of this.    She loves her bike and her scooter but most of all she loves taking care of Baye.

4)  Baye 
 Baye is my (almost) 3 year old.  She doesn’t understand that our yard is not an extension of our house.  On a warm day she will try and drag all her toys outside to play with them.  She would live out there if I would let her.  She has also started forcing me to take a 1 mile walk every evening after dinner.  We do the same loop (her choice) every day.  It takes us about 30 minutes and we stop to look at Bayes and rocks and sticks and of course, to say hi to our neighbors.  But she’s the cutest thing ever.  



5 things about me

1)  I’m a fish.
 I have decided that in my last life I was a fish.  I love to be in and around the water.  Pool, beach, lake, it doesn’t matter to me.  I live in a beach-front community so in the summer me and the girls are constantly at the beach or the pool.  

2)  I hate the gym!
 Every few years I go and do a free trial at a gym.  Every few years I remind myself that I still don’t like going to the gym.  You will never find a post on my blog about me doing a gym workout.  I prefer to be outside in the fresh air and sunshine.  I also don’t mind working out in the comforts of my own home (even with 3 kids and 2 dogs underfoot.)

3)  I love to bake.
 Half of the time you’ll find me in the kicthen baking some new sweet treat for the girls.  Mo and Baye aren’t much for sweets but, Kay makes up for both of them.  I try to figure out the ways to make desserts with lower calories, lower sugar and most of all lower fat.  

4)  I’m currently training for 2 different races right now
 Mr. Amazing and I signed up for the Survivor Mud Run in October.  It seems like it’s going to be a completely awesome time.  And it’s a great calorie burner.  It’s a 3.17 run/walk.  There are 20 obstacles along the way.  The obstacles vary from a cargo climb to a tunnel you have to crawl through.  This race also includes 3 mud pits that you have to trudge through,  Mr. Amazing and I don’t run so we plan on walking it.  I’ve been working on my arm strength and my leg strength
Click here to find your closest one
 I’m also training for the American Lung Association’s Fight for Air stair climb.  I’m actually training harder for this one than the Mud Run.  This race 30 flights of stairs.  About 600 stairs.  I want to be in the top 20 for my age group.  In order to that I need to finish in under 8:30.  My best time so far is 7:45.  My normal time is around 9:30 though.  Luckily I have until November to cut my time down.  
Click here to find out when it's coming to your area


5)  I am in constant pain.  
 Even though I live an active lifestyle I am in pain 24/7.  I was in a car accident about 2 years ago that screwed up both knees, my back, and my neck.  I can’t let the pain stop me from living my life.  Where would I be if I did that?  I’d be sitting at home, moping, feeling sorry for myself and making Mr. Amazing’s life miserable.