Adventures in cooking...

Today I went on a bit of a cooking expedition.  And OW my hands hurt.

Since I'm on this soft food diet, I decided to make some hearty, comforting, soups to get me through the next week and a half.  Here's what I made -

Kristen's Potato Leek Soup - This is OMG good.  Hearty, warm, creamy and very easy to follow instructions.  This made about 6 cups of soup.  I can't wait to eat it topped with just a touch of cheese.

Crockpot Sweet Potato Basil Soup - This is, honestly, a bit overwhelming.  This is not something I can really eat as a soup - the basil is extremely overwhelming and it's hard to eat more than maybe 1/2-2/3 a cup at a time.  Very filling though.

Winter Root Vegetable Soup - This is the soup that tried to kill me.  In peeling and chopping all of those root vegetables I developed a blister on my right index finger which then POPPED while finishing up the chopping.  This is a very hearty soup that tastes extremely earthy.  The celery root really comes out a lot in this.  This was a little hard for me to do the splitting of the soup and blending and recombining was time consuming but worked.

Also cooked this weekend was a giant pot of baked potatoes.  Tomorrow Marshall is going to finish baking the sweet potatoes for me.

I also bought apple sauce, pudding, ice cream, hot cereal, oatmeal and all the fixins' for my Shakeology shakes.  I am going to defeat this soft food diet if it kills me.  And it might.

Last night Matt and I went to see Skyfall and I really wanted something sweet.  I wound up eating M&Ms one by one by holding the M&M in my mouth, cracking the shell and then tonguing it and sucking on the chocolate.  I WANTED THOSE FREAKING M&MS!

I keep trying to look on the positive side of everything and I know this is going to help boost my weight loss but I don't like it.  I want a steak, or a hamburger, or a slice of pizza. SOOOOOOON!

Also, the countdown to vacation starts NOW! 5 work days between me and my vacation. WOOHOO!

Chicken and Veggie Pot Pie Stew

Tonight for dinner I made an old recipe but I gave it a new, veggie full, twist. I present the nutritional information for Chicken and Veggie Pot Pie Stew.

And as far as cooking?  Super simple.  Chop everything that can chopped and then put it in the crock pot and let cook on high for 6 hours or low for 8-10.  You can also add spices as your taste requires.  All I added was some black pepper and a pinch of herb and garlic seasoning salt.

As for the biscuits - when you chop them roll them in to little balls and they turn in to dumplings in the stew.

It's still a little higher in calories than I want but the higher fiber content and protein makes me happy.  Next time I will work on making the broth from scratch.  This time around I used frozen chicken breast and canned cream of chicken but you can adjust to what you have in your pantry.

Everyone seemed to like it. My tummy is super happy now! :)

Recipe Time - Pizza Soup

Want a delicious pizza for dinner?  Don't want to order or make one yourself?  Want to eat pizza without killing your diet?  Try Pizza Soup!

This started out as something we made one day because we were lazy and were just using what was in the pantry, but it turned in to something I love to make.  It's quick, easy, tasty and can be made with whatever random ingredients you have on hand.

Tonight's pizza soup - Pepperoni Pizza Soup:

Ignore the mess on the table, please. :)

 In the soup:

1 large onion - chopped.
1 large green pepper - chopped
1 large red pepper - chopped
1/2 bag of baby spinach - chopped
1/2 bag of pepperoni slices - chopped
1 can of Campbell's Tomato Soup - Family Size
1 can of water
Black pepper - to taste
Oregano - to taste
Garlic salt - to taste

In a large pot, I first cooked the onion and peppers for about 3 minutes on medium heat until the onions started to look a little translucent.  Then I added the soup and the water.  Then I added the rest of the ingredients and brought it to a boil and let it simmer for about 30 minutes. 

Makes about 6 servings (1.5-2 cup servings)

Serve with warm bread (tonight it was honey brown bread) and topped with your favorite Italian cheese. 

Stats per serving -

Calories - 215
Carbs - 27
Fat - 9
Protein - 8
Fiber - 3

6 weight watchers points!

Absolutely delicious and a hit with the guys too! 

Zumbatomic, Zumbathon and more!

So much to share from this weekend!!!!

Friday night I was hit with a spur of the moment Zumba teaching opportunity.  A Zumba demo for a group of Girl Scouts!  The instructor who was supposed to do it got really sick and has to cancel and I was asked to step in.  Now, I taught daycare back in college and learned, quickly, that it was not for me.  So color me shocked to say this - I LOVED IT! I had such a great time with the girls.  We did a cumbia, a salsa, a merengue, a fun country song and a routine to Big and Chunky from Madagascar 2. 

Lesson of the night?  I WANT MY ZUMBATOMIC LICENSE.  I want to do that more often.  Watching those girls dance and the excitement on their faces when they got the move down just made my heart swell.  The way they wanted to show off their other dance moves and their tumbling afterwards was just perfectly sweet.  It's added to the To-Do list.  I will be Zumbatomic licensed.

After the party!

Saturday was the Zumbathon for the Wilson Arts Council.  2 hours of hot and sweaty Zumba, OUTSIDE.  First time I've done anything major outside like that and it was SUCH a different vibe. 

The sun on my skin.  The wind in my hair.  It felt incredible.

I was on cloud nine the whole time. Maybe it was being outside in full view of anyone who walked by, maybe it was dancing in front of all those new folks, maybe it was the praised heaped upon me by folks every time I was off the stage and maybe it was all of the above but I felt truly high on life.

Nothing can match that feeling.  Nothing.

Post Zumbathon I tried to just chill and relax on the couch but I was exhausted and jittery at the same time.

Matt and I went to go see Cabin in the Woods in the evening and it helped to distract me from the crash that I knew was coming.

I slept like the dead and got up today to start everything fresh and clean.  Since Easter my nutrition has been all over the place and it was time to start getting everything back in line.  Starting with a purge of the fridge and a major grocery run.  Then going to town on a remix of last weeks Crock Pot Cube Steak recipe.

Today I made what amounted to cube steak crock pot stew. 

• 2 pounds cube Steak
• 4 cans cream of potato soup
• 2 packets onion dip mix
• 1 half a bag of mini carrots
• 1 can no salt added corn
• 1 can no salt added peas
• 1 medium onion
• 1 lb red potatoes diced
• 2 cups sliced squash
• 1 can white northern beans

It turned out super tasty! Higher in WW points (12!!) but so filling that one serving was perfect for a meal.  I served it with Italian bread and it was the perfect pairing.

I bought fruits, veggies, meats and cheeses for the week and have planned out my meals for breakfast and lunch and most of the dinners this week.  This week I need to focus on cutting the carbs back out of my diet and on getting back on track with eating on a schedule. 

I'm going to get things straight this week! Eating on clean, all my Zumba workouts and 2 hours of weight lifting this week.  It's time to focus on building muscle again.  I need the muscle to boost my metabolism!

We'll see if I feel back on track by the end of the week.

My Achilles Tendon is my Achilles Heel.

My Achilles tendon really is an Achilles tendon. It's going to be the death of me.

On November 12, 2005 I fell in my drive way while getting in to my car.  I broke my ankle.  Specifically I snapped off my Lateral malleolus.  I broke it off. SNAP.  (Yes, it made that noise.)

Something like this happened. It hurt.

In the process I did some ugly things to my Achilles tendon and the other tendons and ligaments in my ankle and foot.  It was not a pleasant injury and the recovery was fabulously awful.

Since then I have periods of time where my ankle decides it just wants to be a pain... literally and figuratively. About this time last year I came down on my ankle roughly and got my tendon all inflamed.  It took probably 3 months to get back to working out without pain.  This time?  I tweaked it stretching! STRETCHING! Last week when I said it hurt to teach HHH it was because of this silly tendon and it's currently inflamed status. 

Here's the thing - I am doing everything I know to do to in order to get this silly tendon to heal up.  I rest it (outside of teaching, obviously), ice, compression, elevation, anti-inflammatory meds and massaging the tendon before bed time.  It's not getting worse but it's not really getting better either.

It feels better for a day or two and then I'm walking down the hallway at work and it goes "OW! NO WALKING LADY!" or it feels fine all day and then I get up to pee at 3a.m. and it says "Saaaam! Get back in to bed!!!!" Ungh! I just want this to stop being so schizophrenic. 

Aside from dealing with the bum ankle I've been enjoying getting my hands in to the Team Beach Body coaching arena.  I'm really excited about the release of Tropical Shakeology next week.  I need to call tomorrow and get my autoship changed to Strawberry. MmMm. 

I'm really falling in love with GreenBerry too! The sample I got has wound up being addictive.  It's all about getting the right fruit juice behind it and the right fresh or frozen fruit to get the right consistency.  Favorite GreenBerry recipe so far?

• 1 scoop GreenBerry Shakeology
• 1 cup V8 Splash - Mango Peach
• 1 cup frozen Mango chunks.

OMG! It's green and awful looking but it tastes so awesome. I've made this three times so far.  The third time I also added some fresh raspberries I needed to use up and it was too good for words.

Tomorrow is my 30 day weigh in and measurement meeting for my BB challenge and I am excited to see what the scales and tape have to say.

I feel like I'm on a real roll. Nutritionally I'm making good decisions, my exercise schedule is solid and I'm starting to work on some LifeKraze challenges to do 2012 crunches and 2012 push-ups in 2012.  I'm behind but I'm working on them day by day!  I can do this! I can do it all!

Simply delicious - Orange Berry Sorbet

I got a little creative in the kitchen this afternoon and decided to make something cold and sweet and, most of all, healthy.  What I wound up making, I suppose, is an orange berry sorbet. 

I had a bag of frozen mixed berries in the freezer and I wanted to make something dessert like with it.  I looked at the food processor and said to myself "Let's get processin!" At first I thought about doing just berry puree served with light Cool Whip but once I got everything pureed it was just too thick and... missing something.

Off went the light bulb! Orange juice. 

Not too long ago I had a drink at some restaurant that was lemonade with wild berries.  Why not see what orange juice adds to the party!

In to the food processor went about 12-16 oz of minute maid orange juice. 

I let it blend for quite some time.  It looked thick and creamy and probably could have been eaten right then and there.  I said no! I want it FROZEN.  So in to the containers and in to the freezer they went.  This is what I wound up with.

I actually have 3 of these little yummy containers!

 It's not as soft as a sorbet normally is and it actually eats more like an Italian ice at this point but it is exceptionally tasty.  You still get the natural sweetness and tartness of the strawberries, blueberries, raspberries and blackberries from the fruit mix and the delicious citrus flavor from the orange juice.  

Cold. Sweet. Tart. Delicious!

To make my Orange Berry Sorbet you will need:

1. 1-16oz bag of mixed berries 
2. 1.5-2 cups of orange juice

Take the berries and put them in to your food processor or blender and blend until it becomes a grainy mushy pile of fruit bits.
Start adding in the orange juice slowly and let it mix in completely.
You'll want the final mix to be thick but easily stirred and mostly smooth.
Pour into containers of your choosing.  (My mixture fit in to 3-1.75 cup Ziplock bowls.) Freeze for several hours until completely solid. 

I plan on using this as part of my post workout routine.  The sweetness of a bit of sorbet, after nomming my post workout protein?  You betcha! Also, natural sugars rock my socks.