Migraines and Minestrone

I feel yesterday's Meatless Monday was much more successful. Veggies veggies everywhere! Plus, it was super easy to make. I was originally intending to make something entirely different this week. I ended up in town running errands ALL DAY! So in came plan b. I was wracking my brain trying to figure out how in the world I could have Meatless Monday when I had no time for prep. I mean I could have set out a salad and veggie tray and said, "sorry people it's all I got." I wanted a meal. A real meal. Then a recipe that I usually save for winter popped into my head. Minestrone!

My husband loves Olive Garden's "Soup, Salad and Breadsticks". So we had minestrone, salad with some beautiful lettuces I picked up at Sam's and rolls. Since the day was shot running errands, and I had a migraine, the last thing I wanted to do when I got home was cook. But, because this soup is so easy to make that's exactly what I did.

After unloading the groceries I immediately put my apron on and got to work. Yes, I wear an apron...what?! My recipe usually calls for one third of the broth I use to be chicken, but since this is MEATLESS Monday I used all vegetable broth. FYI, it is much easier on the budget to use bouillon cubes, granules, or base to make soups stews and gumbos. Buying all those cans and boxes of broth gets expensive! My family never noticed that the chicken broth was missing. I have strange children that love vegetables and salads. They were thrilled to see salad and a soup that had corn, carrots, celery, zucchini, summer squash and green beans! I am a carb lover so I was kind of excited by the bread.

So I threw the whole soup together in about 30 minutes. It took me ten to heat the brown and serve rolls and put the salad together. I had a filling, healthy meal for my family despite a busy day and a splitting headache. I ate a bowl of yummy minestrone and a roll then crashed and left my poor hubby with dish duty. From what I heard the family loved it. My five year old asked for soup for breakfast so I would say this Meatless Monday was a success. Thank you Lord for giving me children who eat their vegetables!

Mission Accomplished? Maybe Not.

So, Meatless Monday was both a success and a failure this week. Yes, we had a meal without meat and it was delicious. Success! Was it nutritionally balanced? Not really. Long ago I came to the realization that cutting out a particular food group does not magically make you healthier. Yesterday's meal reiterated that fact for me.

I made No Guilt Cheese Enchiladas: SparkRecipes Un-Chained Recipe Contest Finalist. The recipe sounded a little bland so I added some taco seasoning to the cheese filling mixture. It was awesome. But what's in it? Cheese and tortilla. A few (very few) chiles. So no veggies. Delicious, but how far can you ride nutritionally on cheese? Yes, cheese has calcium and some protein. What it doesn't have is all those vitamins and minerals we get from the vast array of fruits and veggies available.

The verdict: it's good, it's meatless AND it's only 241 calories per serving. Now to figure out how to cram some nutrition in there. Maybe I could hide some spinach in the enchiladas. Do you think the kids would notice?

I did make brown rice; replacing some of the water with tomato sauce. I added onions and corn. Does that at least count for veggies? What else could I add to rice? Poor rice. I'm putting the weight of our balanced nutrition on its shoulders. It must be feeling the pressure as I type.  I had Meatless Monday, but I do not feel that I have eaten my veggies. Have I failed? Not technically. :)

I still have visitors in my home, and it looks as if they may be here a while. I am fine with that. What I AM having a hard time with is their love of junk food. It's making old monsters rise up in me urging me to scratch itches that haven't itched in a while. There it is. Staring at me. The yummedness (I should totally trademark that word.) I know it's not good for me, but is that enough to keep me away? So far so good, but only time will tell. Now excuse me while I go to the kitchen and get a mid afternoon snack that does NOT include chocolate....

Friends for Dinner

Veggie Lasagna has made another appearance in our home. I was a little apprehensive about carrying on with Meatless Monday this week when I discovered my brother (the junk food junkie) and his wife were coming to visit. I finally told myself (yes, I talk to myself often) that I'd go ahead with Meatless Monday and, if they weren't game, I'd offer them something else I had laying around. I was still uneasy with the decision. Does this make me a bad hostess? So instead of saying, 'we're having veggie lasagna tonight', I kind of left the 'veggie' word out. My husband got home and spilled the beans though. I think my sister-in-law may have been a little concerned about it, but my brother dug in with gusto (as he does with all things involving food). He liked it! And I think she did too. So a win for Meatless Monday! Hooray!

As for the rest of the week, my oldest has just started 1st grade. Being a home schooler, that means I have also started 1st grade. I'm learning to read and write, and to have good manners. I'm singing ridiculous songs, and making silly voices as I read animal stories. I'm having fun! I am not, however, exercising. In any way, shape or form. I'm teaching, keeping my house clean and cooking. My choices are better, I watch to make sure I don't eat too many calories. I haven't weighed myself in a while though. I think, for now, I'm content to try to make sure I keep my eating under control. It's my biggest stumbling block. My second biggest is finding a form of exercise I love and that keeps me entertained. I'll just trip over one at a time, thanks.

Zucchini, My Nemesis.

Zucchini. The gassiest vegetable - eVER! I've had lots of zucchini this past week. I like it. It does not, however, like me. Leftover vegetable lasagna from last week's Meatless Monday has been on the lunch menu all week. My kid's love that lasagna. My husband asked for it again this week! I wanted something new and interesting for my blog though so veggie lasagna will be made later in the week.

This Meatless Monday was a cheat. We had seafood. Something we so rarely do anymore! Being a bayou girl I CRAVE seafood. Living where I do, it's readily available if one is willing to pay the price. I'm not used to this. I come from a magical land where a neighbor will leave you an ice chest of shrimp just because they have too much. It hurts me to actually pay the ridiculous prices that most others must pay. So, shrimp were on sale at my local grocery, boy were they beautiful! I gave in and bought a couple of pounds. They participated in my Meatless Monday this week.

Again, I recognize this is not really meatless. I have decided that this week we play using "South Louisiana" rules. Around here you can "give up" meat for Lent and gorge yourself on crawfish every Friday. So I made rotini Alfredo with garden rotini. It was yum. The kid's loved it. I paired it with sauteed squash and zucchini. Mom and Dad thought it was yum. The kids wouldn't go near it. And then there were the spiced pan seared shrimp. I loved them! My kids do not eat shrimp. For this I am thinking of selling them to a nice northern family...

So, what do you think? Shrimp...meat or no?

Meatless Mondays and Bandwagons

Well, Last week I fell off the bandwagon. Ok, that's only partially true. I dangled my legs from the back of the bandwagon and dragged my feet in the dirt. I ate things I shouldn't have, but logged every bite. Except for maybe that one piece of cake... But I quickly pulled my legs back into the wagon after I stepped on the scale. Two pounds down. Most probably water that I'll gain back at "that time of the month" but I care not. Two pounds is two pounds.

I struggle with rebellion. Fighting constraints at every turn. Some people are free spirited; apparently I'm a free eater. I despise logging every bite that goes into my mouth. It's not just mildly annoying to me, it's loathsome! As is jumping all over my living room huffing and puffing while some way too perky person does the same with the greatest of ease in TV land. This is why I have yet to find a form of exercise that suits me. I must feel I'm accomplishing something. Not obscure results miles down the road. Something tangible, which today happened to be polishing my living room furniture to within an inch of its life. I really need to take up gardening.
I buck against restrictions, but I'm trying to remember why I'm doing this: for my family; for myself. I'm eating a little better than I used to. The flatbread pizza I made myself for lunch today was phenomenal. Food I can get into. If only I could get into exercise! One of these days I'll find something that inspires me.

Meatless Monday got derailed this week and was picked back up tonight. (Totally Veggie Tuesday? Not nearly as catchy.) I followed a recipe I found at Foodnetwork.com. Paula Deen's "Garden Full Of Goodness Lasagna" was a hit! My 5 year old helped me make it. He thought it was "delicious!". My 2 year old said "sketties!" and ate like someone might take it from her if it stayed there too long. My hubby, who is not a squash fan, was very impressed. I used whole grain lasagna noodles instead of the no boil ones the recipe calls for, and I soaked them in hot water for 20 minutes before I used them. It just came out perfectly! I'm adding that one to the recipe box!

So, all in all, not a bad week. I could have made better choices sometimes, but there's no use beating myself up over it now. Time to move on and try my very best TODAY. And that's how I'll make it. One step; one good choice at a time.

Meatless Monday

So, today I'm feeling pretty good. Yesterday, we tried our first "Meatless Monday". We started simple, taking textured vegetable protein and seasoning it like taco meat. I also made Spanish rice with brown rice instead of white.

My husband thought that you can't really tell the difference between the TVP and meat (other than a slight texture difference). If he was impressed that's pretty darn good because he's a foodie like I am. My kids (who are 5 years and 2 years) ate it like it was going out of style. They had no idea Mom had done anything differently! So that's one for the keeper pile.

Now I'm trying to brainstorm for next week. I like eggplant. I wonder if the children could be tricked into eating an eggplant lasagna. I love lasagna.

So I'm sitting here, eating a nectarine, drenched in sweat and rain. And I'm feeling quite accomplished. I was trying to be nice to my husband and get the lawn mowed before the (inevitable) afternoon rain showers. It's 10 am and the rain came a little early. I DID get the back yard mowed all by myself! And I burned a few calories in the process. So now I'm going to take a shower and see what the rest of this week will bring. Hopefully lots more good choices...and a veggie lasagna.

Oh my, I'm Blogging

I'm in my late twenties (help me Lord), I've been married for 9 years, and we have two children. I was active and fit as a teenager raised in the bayous of South Louisiana. I met my love. We got married and grew fat together.

I went from tons of activity in my parents' household (yard work, swimming, boat rowing) to working retail 60 to 70 hours a week. I worked, I ate, I slept. I gained weight. We both gained weight.

About a year and a half ago, my husband went to the MD for a well visit. He was 100 pounds overweight, his cholesterol was out of whack, and his blood pressure was borderline hypertensive. This was his wake up call. We determined we'd eat better, and exercise. And one of us did.

I just couldn't seem to stay motivated. I'd do well for a week, then fall off. I'd have a 'stomach bout' with my IBS. Then, the kids and I come down with swine flu. I certainly couldn't get up at 5 a.m and exercise then! The routine was forever ruined. The laziness crept back in. Then I had my gallbladder removed. Another wonderful excuse why I just couldn't diet and exercise.

So, slowly but surely, I was left behind. My husband lost his hundred pounds, finished a 5K and a 10K, and here I am still with 80 extra pounds. I find myself at turns happy for him and resentful of his success.

And here I go, once again. I refuse to give up on myself because I know how important it is for me to take care of myself. If something happens to me, my kids will have to go to school when I want so much for them to have the home school advantage. My husband would have to go it alone, all because I was too selfish to put down that cookie.

So I'm dieting, homeschooling, and keeping our home. Trying to find the balance between them all.

I've got 80 pounds to lose, and if he could lose 100, 80 should be a walk in the park....or something like that...