Todays Bento

Heres todays Bento Lunch!

The Breakdown:

PB&J Sandwich:

Low Calorie Bread: 80 Calories (40 calories a slice)

Reduced Sugar Jelly: 20 Calories (1 tbs)

Reduced Fat Peanut Butter: 95 Calories (1 tbs)

Hummus (Sabra): 70 Calories (2 tbs)

Special K Bar: 90 Calories

Total: 377 Calories

First Tzatziki Sauce attempt? Came out awesome!

I've been looking for alternates to guacamole and hummus to dip my carrots in each day (I'll get off this carrot kick eventually and move on to another veggie, I swear..). I thought of a few ideas, and was given a few ideas from friends.  Tzatziki sauce was one that stood out that I HAD to try to make. Heres my first attempt:

It came out great! Heres how I did it:

(keep in mind it was a quick attempt so measurements arent exact, and I only made a small portion)

One small container of low fat Plain Greek Yogurt (100 calories)

About a teaspoon or so of dried Dill Weed

Half of a seedless cucumber

Chopped Garlic (either fresh or jarred, I used Organic Jarred, I used about a tablespoon)

Salt & Pepper to taste

Use a cheese grater and grate down the cucumber (skin and all) and either place on a paper towel to soak up some of the water, or push down in a strainer, get it pretty dry. 

Mix yogurt, cucumber, dill, chopped garlic in a bowl. Add Salt & Pepper to taste. 

I know some people say to add lemon juice to this, but seeing I'm a greek yogurt newbie, this was tart enough for me without the lemon.

Again, SO EASY!!

..and tastes so great with my carrots, that I didn't have any left over for todays lunch.. oops :)

Saturday Nights Dinner - Chicken & Onion Stirfry!

My electric wok may be my favorite kitchen item, that I own. I will take a picture of it and give details on it, however I've been told it is no longer available. I hope above hope this thing never breaks. Well I had some chicken that had to be cooked, and an onion so I figured I'd make a quick stirfry for me, the husbutt, & mini man for dinner.

Quick and Easy Chicken Stirfry:

Chicken breast, chopped into cubes

One whole onion, sliced into wedges

Chopped Garlic (to taste)

Garlic powder (to taste)

Salt & Pepper (to taste)

Soy Sauce (to taste)

This is a very "wing it" recipe, depending on the person. You can add other veggies, more or less soy sauce, sub the soy sauce with teriyaki sauce etc etc..

Throw the chicken into the wok with soy sauce on high to get it seared off a bit. Once that is seared, add the onions. Keep flipping around until the onions take the color of the soy sauce a bit. Throw in the garlic and season to taste. Cover and let simmer in the soy sauce a bit stirring every couple of minutes until chicken is cooked all the way through, and onions are desired crunchy/softness. Just make sure you add a bit of soy sauce all the way through for it to stay a little wet on the bottom of the wok. 

You can also add some olive oil to start to help move it around a bit. My wok is fully non stick so I usually dont need anything to coat it.

SO SIMPLE!! Throw this over some rice and you have yourself some dinner!

Monday Bento!

Boo it's another Monday.. back to work it is.. but yay for bento lunches to help me make it through the day :) 

Heres todays!

Breakdown:

Mini Whole Wheat Pita: 80 Calories

Cheese Cubes: 120 Calories

Turkey: 99 Calories (3oz)

Guacamole: 60 Calories (3tbs)

Baby Carrots: 22 Calories (16 pieces)

Total Calories: 381

Please note I did not count the banana in this, that was part of breakfast I forgot to move out of the picture :)

Bento of the Day..

Todays lunch & snack:

The Breakdown:

Small Turkey Wrap (came in kit, turkey & pepperjack cheese): 220 Calories

Guacamole: 60 calories (3 tbs)

Special K Sea Salt Crisps: 59 Calories (16 chips)

Pickles: 5 Calories (2 sandwich slicers)

Baby Carrots: 22 Calories (16 pieces)

Grapes: 21 Calories (1/3 cup)

Total: 387 Calories

Tuesdays Bento

Todays Lunch/Snack:

Breakdown:

Turkey: 66 Calories (2oz)

Hummus: 60 Calories  (2tbs)

Cheese Cubes: 120 Calories

Baby Carrots: 22 Calories (16 pieces)

Pickles: 5 Calories (2 sandwich slicers)

Mini Pita: 80 Calories

Banana: 53 Calories (half)

Total: 406 Calories

House update!

This weekend was crazy and non stop! We got all of the painting of the living room done, AND bought new couches. We went out saturday to five different furniture stores. Couch shopping so way harder than I thought it was going to be, lol. We finally found a set that we liked at Ashley Furniture. Turns out they were able to deliver it THAT same night, so we had our new couches by 7pm!

We had planned on all of the painting being done Saturday night, which would have happened, IF it took one coat like we had figured. This paint plus primer stuff from Home Depot was way way thicker than we thought, so around 3am we ran out of paint, ouch, and had to repaint two of the walls from it not fully covering. So it was back to the store come Sunday morning, and we spent a better part of yesterday finishing up painting the walls and the molding.

IT WAS SO WORTH IT! Now it's on to decorating!  I just need to go buy some canvases.. 

Here's a picture of the fireplace with the new couch!

(covered by the loveseat, because the little man and Roxy just LOVE to try to crawl into the fire place..)

And todays Bento is....

Todays lunch and snack:

Breakdown:

Turkey: 66 Calories (2oz)

Avocado (california): 114 Calories (half)

Hummus: 60 Calories (2tbs)

Cheese Cubes: 120 Calories

Baby Carrots: 22 Calories (16 pieces)

Grapes: 21 Calories

Total: 402 Calories

Updated picture

Decided to take a quick progress picture this weekend! I'm so excited! Summer, I'm ready for you.. Almost!!

The difference 5 pounds makes..

So when I initially started gaining weight back I realized how oddly weight is distributed on my body. First it goes to my love handles, then to my stomach, then it goes to my arms. I've lost just over 5 pounds at this point, since dieting again, and I really didn't think it would make such a difference. My favorite jeans fit again, without squeezing. My hoodie is loose in my arms, even though I just washed it. My wedding rings are even loose, they keep flipping over on my finger. 

It isn't a large weight loss, but it made some pretty huge differences. Now if I lose the other 12 pounds I want to lose, will that mean that I need an entire new wardrobe? AGAIN? For the 4th time since I first started dieting last year? I went from a size 15 to a size 7. I'm still steadly at a 7, and my favorite jeans that I'm talking about above are a 7 as well, but a different cut. I do not want to go smaller than a 5, I feel like I would look like I was sick if I was any smaller than that. I've heard 10 pounds = one jean size, and so far its kind of stuck true to me. I was just about to not fit into the 7's anymore when I gained the 8 pounds back.

Now its time to start really toning up. I got my 30 day shred DVD waiting for me, and I will be starting that soon. I was waiting until after my root canal, and it's over and I'm ALMOST pain free. So after all the house work and painting is done, I'll be starting that. Probably the first week of March. I'll make the month of March my hell month to work out, haha!