Mom's new habits...

Along with the resolution list I have been diligently trying to follow I made me a reminder card for my desk:

And I've been doing very well with it, if I do say so!  That large tumbler of water has become a habit now - I fill it up at the start of the day and sits out on my kitchen island, as a reminder.  Whenever I walk past it, I drink from it.  I have also remembered to take my vitamin and calcium tabs daily - something I haven't been able or willing, to do in years.  I haven't done these things since the holidays:

*Cook with butter
*Eat bacon
*Drink a soda
*Have creamer in my coffee
*Eaten fast food

I'm not chastising myself if I have something from the naughty list: candy, creamer, etc.  I find my cravings for those things are very weak now, anyway, so I can easily do without them.  I am still working on the walking effort.  It just is the last thing that appeals to me during the day.

This picture makes me cringe a little.  Wrinkled pants and muffin top is not my best look.  I have hung those jeans I want to fit into in a prominent spot and I could zip them last week.  Hooray!  I have lost 3.7 pounds and I feel so much better than I did a month ago, but I still feel I have so far to go... I know that my steps toward my goal are baby steps, and I'm OK with that.  

Slow and steady wins the race.

Tilapia Tikka Masala

Have you tried those pre-measured spice recipe packets from McCormick?  Our local grocery store was having a buy two get one free on them so I bought them, thinking it was nifty to have the recipe plus the pre-measured spices in one package.  I tried the Chicken Tikka Masala - a blend of garam masala, cumin, garlic, paprika, red pepper - on tilapia and Hubby rated it a 5.5 on a scale of 1-5.  Yes!

Four ingredients - 6 tilapia filets, one can petite diced tomatoes, 2 T. diced cilantro, and the McCormick Chicken Tikka Masala Recipe Inspirations.  I opened all the little packets of seasoning and mixed them all together.  Then, I salted the fish lightly and sprinkled on about 1 t. of the seasoning on the filets.  I melted a little butter (2T or so) and sauteed the fish til done; then removed to a warm dish.

In the pan drippings I added the tomatoes, about 2 t. more* of the seasoning, and the cilantro.  I let it come to a boil, then poured over the fish.  I served it with hot rice and a salad.

The sauce was  fresh tasting with just the right amount of spice.   Tilapia is one of our favorite fishes - so mild and goes with so many things.  Excellent in fish tacos!  I'm pretty sure we'll be having this again - try it and let me know what you think!

*There is still a bit of the seasoning left...what shall I add it to next?

Gina

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Orange Chicken with Green Beans and Brown Rice

The idea for this recipe is from an HEB store flyer.

Orange Chicken with Green Beans and Brown rice

2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken thighs

1 pound green beans, trimmed

1/2 medium sized onion, chopped

1 cup brown rice

1 Knorr chicken bouillon cube, crumbled into the rice

2 cup fresh squeezed OJ and water (half and half)

some grated orange rind

1/2 t. of crushed red pepper.

black pepper

olive oil

*Use a cast iron pan or similar, because it's part stove, part oven cooking.

Add the red pepper to the OJ and water mix and set aside.  

Pre-heat oven to 375.

Saute your chicken things in a little olive oil til browned; set aside.

In the pan drippings, saute the onion and the rice a few minutes.  I love using cast iron - it goes right to the oven from the stove!

Turn off the heat.  Add fresh green beans to the skillet on top of the rice and onion mixture.  Set the thighs on top of that, pepper it, pour on the OJ/water mix with some orange rind grated in for extra flavor, and cover.  Bake at 375 for about an hour.

I might have let mine sit in the oven a little longer while I watched Jacques Pepin on PBS. (: With the lid on, it was perfectly fine.

Oh, my.  What a delicious dinner!

I don't normally cook brown rice, but I am trying to make each meal a little more healthier.  Brown rice is perfect in this.  Try it and let me know what you think!

Gina

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Tailgate Cake for Firstborn

That's what I wanted for Firstborn.  The holidays and all it's baking did a toll on me and I was looking for something simple.  The Chronicle delivered.  Chronicle recipes are awesome - submitted by some of the greatest cooks in Texas!  Mine came out super moist and coconutty.

Tailgate Cake

It was so moist the powdered sugar flat out disappeared.  I served it with Chocolate Swirl Malt Crunch ice cream. 

It was party kind of meal.  We had ribs from Rudy's, pizza, salad, and an olive relish tray.

 

Still hard for me to wrap my head around him being 22.

And the rest of that cake, in all it's moist leftover glory, is still staring me in the face.

Gina

What did we know?

We were 29 when we started our family, and thought raising kids wasn't all that complicated.  We did a good job producing healthy ones who were very much wished for.  

We had people tell us that they couldn't picture us as parents.  Why not?  We figured we could do at least as good a job as our own parents, and maybe a little more so..

 We've taken their safety and health seriously.  It has been as important to us as their education and making them feel loved.  Did we want them to have all that each of us did not have growing up?  Of course. But those things aren't always material.

We initially counted on the support of friends and family, who gradually drew back to watch us from a distance.  It was lonely at times - we wanted to be part of the old gang and felt like we never could afford to socialize - even if we did have time to do so, which we didn't.  We didn't have babysitters or grandparents nearby.  We formed our own family island.

We vowed that all of our kids, starting with our first sweet boy, would know what it means to have two parents united behind you, making you their top priority.

Firstborn, 1990

We thought we could be good at it - even if everyone else didn't.  

We felt that in our hearts, it was meant to be.

And now it seems it's been that way forever.

Gina

Clothing clean out - and a goal

 See these jeans?  Size 14 - but they may as well be size 12, they fit me so tightly. 

Oh, they are worn.  Very much so.  

They used to be the ones I used for yard work...apparently a while back...

 And I am ashamed I had to extend the loop to make them fasten last time I wore them.  But it inspired me to go through my clothes and throw out the "crutches" keeping me from enjoying all the great things I could be wearing!

I must have thrown out half a dozen tees that were stained or otherwise just big and sloppy.  Why was I holding on to things I can no barely stand to wear?  Now I have space in the tee shirt drawer to add some cute tees!  An incentive to keep eating healthy and drop a few more pounds!

I did the same thing with the drawer that holds shorts and workout wear.  I was on a roll!

The closet was next - a lot of things I was wearing were simply because they fit - leaving a whole rack of stuff I really want to wear but don't feel good in any more.  That's sad!

I have some really cute skirts I used to live in.  And this rack had some size XL fleece tops.  XL.  OMG.  I had to get rid of them mostly because I don't want to fit in XL any more.  And now I can see clearly what I want to wear and can't wait to feel confident in again!

 

The goal is not to look like I did at 26 - half my lifetime away.  The goal is to feel more like I did at 26 - healthy and attractive.  I would have to lose 30 pounds to do so.  That might be unattainable.   But it doesn't mean I won't try...and I think I will take stock of my goals - and my closet - on a regular basis.

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Crockpot Lentil Soup

I've been battling sinusitis for what feels like forever and soup has been a very soothing thing for me...pricing it in the store, I was inspired to make my own.  Cheaper, healthier, and more rewarding...not to mention, you can make more soup than you need right then and freeze the rest.  Bonus!  There's no recipe to this, just a method.  I rinsed and drained my lentils and placed them in a large crock pot with some leftover smoked turkey from the holidays; specifically a drum and a wing. 

Then I rooted around in the veggie drawer for those things we needed to use up at the end of a week:  half a red onion, a couple stalks of celery, half a tomato, a few baby carrots, and some garlic. Reminds me of my mother's "Friday Soup".  I added in a chicken boullion cube and enough water to cover, and let it cook on low for about 5 hours.  I tasted the seasoning at that point and added a little more salt and pepper.  Then I let it cool and stored a couple of lunch sized containers for the weekend.  

The rest went into a big container for the freezer:

This will be so easy and so comforting one night soon!

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Easy Chicken Curry

I found this recipe from Kraft and made only slight adjustments to it.  And I have to say, it was the best chicken curry recipe I've ever made!  The kids and Hubby scarfed it down and asked for seconds.  Next time I will add more chicken thighs - they cook up so tender and wonderful in the crock pot!  

Crockpot Curry Chicken

2 to 2 1/2 pounds boneless skinless chicken thighs, trimmed of excess fat

1 16 oz jar salsa

2 T curry powder

1 container of fat free or low fat sour cream

Spray the crockpot with Pam and place the chicken thighs inside.  Mix up all else and pour over the chicken.  Depending on how your crock cooks it could take 6-10 hours; mine happens to cook fast so I cooked this for about 5 hours.  I served it over couscous with a side veggie of peas and carrots.  

 

Gina

Little project: closet chair for Hubby

I took advantage of a sunny and beautiful 66 degree day to finally get that chair painted for the closet.  For $11 and some spare time I got a solid wood chair with a seat cushion that matches the chairs in the master bedroom.  

I started off by digging out the leftover fabric.  Hey - it was an expensive project and I was going to use up as much of that fabric as I could!

Which meant that it had to pieced together, since it was just mainly scraps.

And then I top stitched the seams with a zig zag stitch so the sections would be sturdy.  I tried to match the pattern as much as possible, but it has something like a 13 inch repeat.

 There is a tiny nub of this fabric left. 

 

I stapled it all around the chair pad.  

I primed and spray painted  the chair a matte black.

A stylish addition to the closet!

Gina