Diabetic Journal Week 7

Wednesday February 25, 2015
I made this awesome mix last night and had it for breakfast this morning.  I am not sure exactly what to call it.  It's like a cold salad but if you heat it up, it's like a casserole.  Seems like all the best foods don't photograph very nicely.  I know it looks like a pile of stuff but I promise, it is so yummy.

Chicken, Quinoa and Avocado Salad
1 cup dry Quinoa
2 Avocados, cubed
Juice of 1 Lime
2 cups Cherry or Grape Tomatoes, halved
1 1/2 cups low-fat Ricotta Cheese
1-1/2 cups boiled Chicken Breast, diced
Salt and Pepper to taste
Cook the Quinoa according to the package instructions and then spread on a plate and put in the refrigerator to cool.  After it is cooled completely, just mix all your ingredients together.  I let is sit over night and then heated up a serving for breakfast.  It was delicious and full of power foods.  It makes 4 heaping servings.  You could add it to some greens for even more nutritional value.
Each serving has 420 calories, 16 grams of fat, 42 carbs and 33 grams of protein.

While this journey is a very personal one and I am doing this strictly for myself and my health, all the support I have received from friends and family near and far has really kept me accountable.  Not only do I not want to disappoint myself, but I would hate to disappoint anyone else.  At times I may overshare but that is part of my charming personality.

Thursday February 26th, 2015:
I am a tad bit discouraged today.  I have hit a small plateau.  My weight hasn't changed at all in almost 2 weeks.  What this tells me is that it's time to put in some work.  The first 30 pounds came off fairly easily by just cutting out processed sugar and lowering my carb intake.  Now is the time to work on portion control and incorporating more exercise.  I had set a goal for myself to lose 50 lbs in 2015.  While that is a great goal, I think I need to set myself some smaller short-term goals that I can easily achieve.

So, for March, I am going to set one goal for myself each week.  Since the 1st is on Sunday, that will start my first week and my first goal.  I got the idea from the YouTube channel Mind Over Munch.  She has some great healthy recipes, workouts and home hacks.  She does an amazing trick with a Quest bar, making it into cereal.  I was sure it wouldn't work but it turned out so crunchy.  I bet you didn't realize that YouTube was more than cat videos.  There is actually a bevy of information on the site.  From recipes to workouts to tips and information on almost anything.

Friday February 27th, 2015:
My name is Kristy and I am an addict.  I am absolutely obsessed with food.  It is constantly on my mind.  I am always thinking about what my next meal will be or a new recipe to try or a way I can cut calories somewhere.  My biggest struggles are dinner.  Sometimes I get home and have no idea what I am going to make.  This leads to wanting to order in.  Pizza is one of my absolute favorite foods.  I haven't had it since January 1st.  Three days this week I came home without a plan for dinner.  All three days, I threw something together instead of ordering pizza.

This leads me to my first goal for the first week of March.  My goal for the week is to plan and make at least 5 of each meal.  Meaning 5 breakfasts, 5 lunches and 5 dinners.  Weekends are the hardest part but we have no plans for that weekend so it should be fairly easy.  Last night I made our first batch of Overnight Oats.  These will be great for breakfasts.  While the chocolate one was really nasty, the blueberry flavor was awesome.  I will share the recipe in my next blog so I can post a picture with it.

Sunday March 1st, 2015
After the small disappointment earlier in the week, the weekend was spent with friends at parties.  Friday night my sister and I went to a Passion party at a friend's house.  I brought a veggie tray because I wasn't sure what food would be there.  Our hostess, Hollie, had chocolate dipped fruit, fruit kabobs, large and small wienies and cheese dip. I ate mostly fruit and vegetables but had some of the wienies too.  I also didn't drink, which was weird for me but not really that difficult.

Saturday night I went to a birthday party for another friend where I also didn't drink.  I packed an apple and a tangerine with me and got a 10 piece McNugget on the drive up, around 3:30 pm. I wasn't hungry the rest of the night so I felt good about the decision.  They all had pizza in the lounge area and I didn't go with them because as I talked about earlier, it is my trigger food.  So much so that I am going to be trying cauliflower pizza crust this week.  I am crossing my fingers.

I look forward to sharing my week with you.

Halloween Wrap Up

Each year we have an adult Halloween party.  When we started, none of us had kids, so it made sense.  I just wanted to share with you some of the projects my sister and I did for the party.  Thanks to my Aunt Stormy for taking the pictures as my camera is out of commission for good.

My sister, Kari, carved these the very first year.  They are fake, obviously but they look really cute all lit up.

Remember the stuff I posted here and here?  This is how I put them together.  Cute bowls, foam and moss form the Dollar Tree.  They looked nice on black table covering.

 

We made these from cardboard (thanks to Uncle Sean).  Kari cut the shapes, I painted the basic color and she added the pizazz, as she always does.

 

This giant spider is one of my favorite decorations.  The pennant, I just printed from here onto yellow card stock and hung with orange yarn. I got the bloody background at Walgreens for 99 cents.

 

Kari really wanted to make her own pinata but after 2 attempts, she had to go buy one.  We were trying to do things on the cheap so she bought a yellow happy face pinata at the discount grocer, spray painted it orange and added a jack-o-lantern face.  It was a hit, literally!

 

Here are the trophies.  I got the idea here and then we ran with it.  We used chunks of wood, Dollar Tree skeletons, gold spray paint and vinyl letters.  It was actually quite hard to get them to stay how we wanted but I think they turned out great.  Here is a closer look at all the trophies.

 

This is Molly and her amazing Peacock costume that won Best Overall.

I also flexed my sewing skills a bit and made my husband, Roger's and my costumes.  Here they are:

This is Roger with my cousin Chelsey.  He was Fat Bastard from Austin Powers.  I sewed the kilt and hat.  I also made the dangle balls on his hat and socks.

And finally, here I am as Honey Boo Boo.  I took a t-shirt and bedazzled it, made the sash and the tutu.  It was a really fun costume to wear.