Skinny Jeans in the Kitchen

No! No! No!

2009-07-04T19:27:00.002-04:00

No, this blog has not been abandoned :) I am sort of off schedule, behind on everything, and out of touch with my normal world right now. I will be back with some delicious recipe reviews and lots of pictures and other good stuff...so hang out and I'll be back in a snap.

2009-06-28T18:49:00.002-04:00

"We do not change as we grow older; we just become more clearly ourselves." --Lynn Hall

This quote has been on my mind lately. I am 32 years old and I am less myself now than ever before. My life is hinged on others. I am "momma" at home and "Allie's or Tyler's mom" everywhere else. I have become a whole new person. I have become "momma" instead of "Theresa." I have become someone I do not even like.

When I look in the mirror I don't recognize myself. I don't see the person I used to be. This person I do see is a complete stranger. An oversized stranger with messy hair pulled back in a ponytail, unimpressive clothing, and a forced smile of fake enthusiasm that is so easy to see through.

I have aged away from myself, insead of into myself. I am not where I should be in any aspect of my life. Being a great mother is all I have to say for my time here on Earth so far, and that is not enough for me!

It's not enough for the real me that is buried inside. This real me that is now fighting to come out. I fight against myself every single day because there are all these things that I have to do, but none of them are what I really want to do. But it's time to make a change. It's time to do something a bit different.

No, it's time to do things very, very different! If I'm not happy with the life I'm living, then why live it at all? If I can't take more time to tend to my appearance, my body, and my own mind, then do I even have the right to exist?

It's time for a change. A big one. I'm not exactly sure where I am headed right now, but I know that I don't want to live another single day without a personal passion for something! I am setting goals, not just random goals or vanity goals to drop five pounds, but real goals designed to change who I see in the mirror. Change how I feel. Change the direction of my life.

I challenge you all to do the same.

Five years ago, where did you think you would be today?

Are you even close to being there?

Why not?

Where do you want to be in five years from today?

Don't let yourself get there in five years, look back and cringe that you never made it. For once, get where you want to go through hard work and determination.

"They always say time changes things, but you actually have to change them yourself." --Andy Warhol

What are you waiting for? Decide what you need to change and focus on it today!

Team Peach Ready to Kick Butt

2009-06-24T14:42:00.003-04:00

I have heard back from one of my new team members for the Sisterhood's challenge, so I guess I can officially say Team Peach is up and running! From what I see from my teammates blogs so far we have some things in common and should be able to really motivate one another.

Go Team Peach Go!

Tip on Making Pizza Without Sauce

2009-06-24T02:32:00.003-04:00

This is an extention of my previous post titled "what I learned making pizza." I was talking to my mom about that recipe and she informed me of a bit of information that will enhance my real review (eventually):

The recipe calls for roma tomatoes in particular, but I just used a smaller sized tomato of a different sort. The toppings kind of slid around some as we ate it...and that is the reason it calls for Roma tomoatoes specifically!

Roma tomatoes are almost all "meat" without all the gooey seed stuff, so it won't slide off the tortillas when you make pizza. Ahhhhh who know that? I always just thought the different varieties were just different sizes.

2009-06-23T18:38:00.008-04:00

This is my first entry over at the photo blog iheartfaces! The theme is Let's Hear it for the Boys and I had a hard time picking. There are so many I just love of my little man, but here is the one I picked...my very first entry for the kid's contest...

Review: One A Day Energy Advantage Multivitamin Drink Mix

2009-06-23T12:42:00.011-04:00

I have to admit right off that I only bought this powder multivitamin because it was on sale and I had a coupon, which made it much cheaper than actual vitamins. Now that I have been using it for a few weeks I am really glad I gave it a try.

One A Day Energy Advantage2O is a powder form multivitamin that claims to boost energy levels and keep you mentally focused. You simply open a bottle of water, take a sip, and then pour in the little packet of powder and shake. There are 12 packets in each box and the price is around $10 a box.

One A Day Energy Advantage2O definitely gets my vote of approval. Just remember that it has a full day's supply of vitamins so you can't drink more than one a day. That makes it so much more than an energy drink!

What You Need to Know:

Taking the sip before pouring in the powder is very, very important! You could find yourself standing at the sink as your vitamins bubble up underneath the cap, which you have closed down in despearate attempt to stop the overflow of good stuff into your sink. Not that I would know or anything ;)
If you don't shake it up very, very well it has a very sharp medicine-like taste. Instead of an aftertaste, it has more of a pre-taste with the lemon-lime flavor kicking in after. If you shake it very well and use very cold water it doesn't taste half bad, but it is definitely a taste you may have to get used to.
Drink it with or after a meal! When I drink it on an empty stomach my head feels kind of floaty and I am all jittery, like you get when on caffeine spiked diet pills but not quite as bad. With food in the tummy I just have a nice surge of manageable energy that lasts for a few hours.
The energy does not suddenly drop off like some other energy products I have tried. It gives a slow coming down period which is quite nice.

I learned all those things the hard way, but now you won't have to :)

Great uses for this product:

Right before a workout so you can go longer with more energy and burn more calories
In the morning if you are struggling to wake up
In the mid-afternoon or other time of day when you typicaly hit a slump
It does seem to help me focus more while working, so it could be taken for that benefit as well.

What I Learned Making Pizza

2009-06-22T18:44:00.003-04:00

The kids decided the charger for the batteries to my camera was a football and broke it into little pieces while I started to make my recipe to review today...so I'm going to wait until I can post pictures to do the official review. But, here are some things I learned while making Grilled Tomato, Spinach, and Feta Cheese Pizza from the South Beach Diet Taste of Summer Cookbook...

Feta cheese is expensive and smells odd, but tastes really good.

My Wal-Mart does not sell reduced fat feta.

Plain sliced tomatoes actually fill in well for pizza sauce...I was skeptical!

A skillet works just as well as a grill surface.

Yes, one little 190 calorie vegetarian pizza can fill me up. I do not feel deprived at all.

I will definitely be making this again, but not too often as it cost me $3.50 for one tiny container of feta cheese that barely made 2 tortilla sized pizzas. If the whole family were home it would be too expensive...but my extremely picky 5 year old approved of this pizza...which absolutely amazed me.

My thoughts on first bite: hmmm never going to subsitute for the real thing if I have a craving.

Thoughts on last bite: that was soooo good! It might work after all.

This is one recipe that kind of grows on you, maybe because I'm not used to the cheese or absence of real sauce.

About My Recipe Reviews

2009-06-22T13:36:00.003-04:00

A large part of this weight loss blog is going to be my adventures trying to learn how to cook healthy, delicious meals for my family. I have done my time trying to lose weight by starving myself and have realized that cycling through diets puts me in a lose-gain pattern that ultimately sends me back to my eating disorder. I cannot and will not go back to that disorder because it would cripple my abilities as a mother. My children deserve all of me so it's time to move forward, not backward.

SO, I will be posting a lot with the subject Recipe Review: name of recipe. These posts will state what the recipe is, where it came from, the complete recipe for you to try yourself, and then all of my comments and reviews. Of courese, pictures will always be offered even of those disasters that I am sure are destined to happen! They will also include bits of what I am learning about cooking in general as I know very little beyond grilled cheese!

For starters, just by looking at recipes I am wondering things like what the heck are ramekins?

I am going to attempt a couple recipes later this evening so the first reviews will be on their way! I hope others who really want to lose weight the healthy way but aren't exactly sure how to cook nutritiously will find this space and benefit as well. If you try any of these recipes let me know in the comments! If you have some recipes for me to try, comment and I will do my best to give them a try and a review.

Are You Ready to Shred?

2009-06-22T03:06:00.003-04:00

My first link on the blog roll is to The Sisterhood of the Shrinking Pants. If you are on a weight loss journey and have not discovered them yet...go do it now! I have spent the last few weeks reading with interest and getting a ton of motivation from all of their posts.

I am joining their current weight loss challenge and look forward to starting the process of losing weight again. I've been pretty much stuck at 240 pounds for awhile now and I know it is because I am just not trying very hard. When I started working from home about 9 months ago all of the healthy lifestyle changes I had made went out the window. I threw myself full force into making money and digging us out of the financial hole we were suddely dropped into. As my focus drifted elsewhere my weight loss was derailed. Slowly the exercise dwindled down to nothing, the salads were replaced by comfort foods, and the scale crept up and up.

I remember when I was dropping weight and my pants were falling off. I felt toned and healthy, as if I could move and breathe like never before. I thought nothing of jumping out of bed and going for a three or four mile walk or running around the yard with the kids intstead of watching from the porch. It seems like just yesterday that I felt so good, but now here I sit miserable and feeling as if I can barely suck in my next breath.

I don't like sitting on the porch watching my kids play in the yard. I don't like getting off the trampoline because I know if I fall on one of them I am going to really hurt them. I just don't like where I am right now. This is beyond appearances and vanity. This is life and death. This is my self esteem on the line.

I am really glad I found The Sisterhood because I am so inspired by their journeys and all of the information they provide. It's time to get off the porch and run through the grass! My weight loss journey may have taken a detour, but it's now time to balance work and health.

Review: The South Beach Diet Taste of Summer Cookbook

2009-06-22T02:20:00.005-04:00

I think I will start this off with a review of a cookbook that I am currently browsing for recipes. It is The South Beach Diet Taste of Summer Cookbook and I have to say it has quite a few experiments I cannot wait to take on personally! If you are looking for a cookbook that includes lots of lighter menu options for every meal of the day, this is definitely one to check out.

I do not personally follow the South Beach Diet at this time, but when I first started losing weight this plan taught me a lot about my body and revealed the fact that I have a severe sugar addiction. The first phase of the plan eliminates all carbohydrates except vegetables, which you eat quite a bit of. The second phase allows you to add carbs back in while testing to see how your body responds to them. The final phase offers guidelines for maintaining your weight loss once you have reached your goal weight.

You do not need to be on the South Beach Diet to enjoy the recipes in this book! Not all are low carb. In fact, most of them have quite a few carbs, but they are all healthy carb sources.

What I Liked: I loved seeing a break down of the nutrition information for every recipe. For recipes that include bread, this book gives seperate nutrition counts with and without the bread. This is good because all types of bread have different amounts of calories and fiber and I think the stats will be more accurate if I take the recipe information alone and add in the exact bread info from my packaging.

The desserts and snacks look and sound like some of the best I have seen through most other cookbooks. I could not believe the low calorie and fat content on some of them and cannot wait to get baking. I believe I will find my healthy substitutes for a lot of my favorite sweets using these recipes.

The layout of the book is very easy to follow. The chapters include:

Breezy Breakfasts

Cool Soups and Sandwiches

Sunsational Salads and Sides

Easy Summer Poultry

Burgers, Dogs, and Other Meat Dishes

Vegetarian's Paradise

Summertime Sweets

Refreshing Drinks

There are also helpful sections that explain how to follow the different phases of the South Beach Diet for those who actually want to follow the plan.

The pictures are also very nice. I wanted to keep staring at some of them, they were so pretty and gave a sense of hope and peace. Overall, a very well designed book that will make you want to hit the kitchen, even if you don't necessarily know how to cook any of it!

What I didn't Like: There wasn't a lot in terms of actual meals for dinner that will be filling and satisfying. This is likely because the recipes are focused on selections specifically for summertime, when the meals tend to be lighter for most people. I look forward to browsing the recipes in the regular South Beach Diet Cookbook for more substantial (but very healthy) dinner options.

Look out in the coming days as I start to try some of the recipes from The South Beach Diet Taste of Summer Cookbook. I will be posting pictures of my food as well as all the gritty details on how difficult they are to prepare and how they actually taste. Of course, I will post when I totally mess it up as well, so be prepared to laugh at my lack of cooking skills!