Yum!

What do you get when you add Garden noodles to a can of V8 juice?  Delicious macaroni and tomato soup!  It is one of my favorite and quick lunches.  I love the Ronzoni spaghetti noodles that have tons of fiber...they taste, seriously, just like normal noodles.  No cardboard-y taste!  This week Ronzoni noodles are on sale for 0.49 a box at Smith's so I decided to try the garden delight noodles, ad matched it at Walmart and loaded up.  

I just microwave my noodles in water with salt for about 8-10 minutes in a pyrex measuring cup bowl.  Dump out remaining water, then add can of v8 juice and some pepper.  Microwave for another minute.  Then YUM!

What are your go to fast yummy lunches???

Super simple eating tips

Since I have some yummy food to share today, tip #2 is going to be about eating.To lose weight, you need fewer calories. Period.  Create a deficit from your current calorie intake and you'll see pounds come off. You can either eat less, exercise more, or a combo of both.  If you don't know how many calories you eat right now, try tracking it by either writing it all down, or using a website to look up food and track it.  We really like myfitnesspal.   You can track your food and exercise and it tracks your weight and measurements for you.  Plus, then you can be friends with Shanna and I on there...who wouldn't want that???  A quick thing you can do to get started is cut a daily snack, or cut dinner by half the size as a start.  

 A huge thing I've found that works for me is that I HAVE TO EAT BREAKFAST. I feel so much better and lose better.  This is one of my biggest challenges and I still have to remind myself to do it sometimes.  I don't eat a huge meal, usually a handful of almonds or a protein shake. We work out at 9:30 every morning so if I eat too much I feel sick...but if I don't eat at all I seem to hold on to weight & I eat later at night....my other major challenge.  Pick a reasonable time that works for you to stop eating food at night.  Eating at night was probably the first thing I really cut down on doing, and noticed immediate results.  (If you eat breakfast & lunch you won't have the craving to eat at night nearly as strong.)  Night time munching is one of the fastest ways to pick up and hold onto weight.  

 Okay, on to this pizza.  So good!  I love pizza!  My kids love it too.  Some of you may just want to lose weight on your journey...my goal is to be healthier all around.  I want to feel good and look good.  Not by cutting out everything I enjoy eating, but tweaking things here and there and using moderation on foods that aren't great.  (I'm a health nut wanna be...basically!  I like being healthy but still eat junk sometimes too!)

This pizza has a greek pita crust.  I get them at Costco.  They are the Papa Pita brand.  Then I make my pizza sauce, but you could use marinara or store bought sauce.  The sauce is just a can of tomato paste and a can of tomato sauce mixed together with a little bit of water.  Add some dashes of italian seasoning, garlic powder & onion powder to taste.  A titch of sugar and salt and pepper.  Then add veggies you like.  I have green peppers and zucchini...so good on pizza and in eggs.  It gives a slight sweetness. Then top with a little bit of cheese. I have 1/6 of a cup of pizza blend cheese on there, but you could use just mozzarella.  Bake at @425 for 8-10 minutes.  The best part is my kids love making their own.  I don't have to make dough and they are really good. Plus the toppings are endless. (This version has 280 calories, 7 grams of fat, 14 grams of protein and 6 grams of fiber.)

This smoothie is my secret weapon.  I do not like spinach.  Neither do my kids, but you can't even tell it's in this smoothie.  First off, throw about a cup of spinach in your blender. Add water to cover your spinach.  Add half to a whole drink mix packet (to taste).  I like to use the Hawiian Punch orange one. It gives it a great citrusy flavor.  Blend it up well so it's liquified.

 Then throw in 1-2 cups of frozen berries.  (Depending on how many you are serving you may want to add more water.) Blend and you're done. (A whole blender full has 95 calories, 0 fat, 3 grams protein and 5 g fiber.)

 I love this lunch, but more importantly my kids love it too.  Usually I can't even sit down to eat before they've all drunk their smoothies.
 I hope you'll give these a try.  Let me know what you think!

***Disclaimer*** I know there are ways to make this healthier, but my goal is to eat healthy, not cut out everything I enjoy out of my diet.  If you get too extreme it will be really hard to continue...I want this to be a lifetime lifestyle change, not just a diet!

Yummy lunch idea

Yum!  This has become my new favorite lunch.  The best part is that it only takes 13 minutes to make.  I love large baking potatoes, they are so yummy and super filling.  Cook the potato in the microwave for 5 minutes, then flip it over and cook for another 5 minutes.  While that's cooking get the broccoli ready.  I have a steamer that goes in the microwave, so I fill it with a half a cup of broccoli and then throw it in for 3 minutes after the potato is done.  Peel the skin off the cooked potato, then add 4 Tbsp dollops of fat free sour cream, then throw on the broccoli.  I like to use salt, pepper, and garlic powder on top.  Then you can cut up a Tbsp of butter and put it on the very top.  It will melt and make the whole potato nice and creamy.  The whole lunch is only 349 calories and 12 grams of fat!  If you want to eliminate the butter that cuts it down to 247 calories, no fat and still super creamy.  So yummy!  Seriously give it a try.

Erin's Super yummy Quinoa salad!

As I've said before, I'm not following some strict diet, I'm making lifestyle changes.  I've looked at my eating habits and am trying to make better, healthier choices.  One of the major things I found is that I wasn't getting enough protein in at each meal.  That is probably one of the biggest changes I've made.  The only problem with upping your protein is that it can make you be a little...shall we say....backed up.  So to counteract that I've obviously had to make sure I'm getting enough fiber.  Hehehe!!!  {I really am a 12 year old stuck in a 29 year old body...I'm soooo mature!}  Anywho, this salad is great for having tons of protein and being packed full of fiber too!  Plus, I've totally been craving it lately, BONUS!  It's fresh, filling and really yummy.  Here are the ingredients:

Quinoa - 2 cups dry

Chicken Broth, 99% fat free - 14 oz can

Black beans - 14 oz can

Mango - 1 cup-ish, 2 mangos

Cilantro - 1/2 cup

Green Onion - 6 medium

Dressing: 

Extra Virgin Olive Oil - 3 Tbsp

Fresh Lime Juice - 2 Tbsp

Red wine vinegar - 4 Tbsp

Directions:  First cook the quinoa.  Follow the directions on the package.  I cook mine in the chicken broth and make up the difference with water.  While that is cooking, cut up all the other ingredients.  I like small chunks of the veggies, and bigger chunks of mango.  Mix the ingredients for the dressing together, and once the quinoa has cooled, mix it all together. Then just salt and pepper to taste.  So yummy!  It takes about 30 minutes to make this salad and I break it down into 4 large servings.

Broken down into 4 large servings it has 562 calories, 17 grams of fat, 19 grams of protein, & 15 grams of fiber.

 To drink I made lemon water {out of bottled lemon juice} with some mint sprigs.  It's pretty refreshing, but not on my list of favorite drinks.  Today I added fresh lemon juice {much better flavor than the bottled stuff} to a single packet of fruit punch crystal light & 32 oz of water and it made it taste a lot better.  I am trying lemon juice to see if it will help me flush out some water weight I am holding on to, we will see!

Isn't that a pretty lunch?  Shanna and I thought so!

Protein baby!

Holy moley...I just got back from a four day camping trip, and my system is feeling a little draggy.  I don't know about you, but when I'm not in my usual routine it's a lot harder to stay on track.  I wanted to go on vacation and not have to be worried about what to eat though, so I packed lots of healthy snacks (watermelon, celery with cottage cheese, ranch, and buffalo sauce dip, cucumbers, beef jerky...etc.), but those yummy treats, (homemade chex mix, candy, s'mores, etc...) still called to me.   So, in kick starting my week I am loading up on the protein.  This is a super easy way that gets me eating better fast.  It fills me up and makes me way less snacky during the day and most of all at night (that's my worst time of day for being munchy.)  Dr. Oz says to have 25 g of protein 3 times a day.  The easiest way for me to do that is to have a protein drink.  I just buy it in bulk at costco, it's called Cyto Sport 100% Whey protein.  Just mixing it with water tastes pretty good and is super easy.  I also made a zucchini and mozzarella cheese omelet.  So yummy, healthy and filling.  What are some of your go to meals to help you get back on track? 

Also, don't forget to enter our drawing.  It ends tomorrow!!!

Fruit Kabobs

I am not the best fruit eater. Lots of veggies, not much fruit. I made these babies for a BBQ tonight. Delish and a hit! Of course I will eat them when they look so good! I used strawberries, mango, kiwi, pineapple and grapes. I see lots more fruit kabobs in my future! p.s. You can tell I am no professional photographer. Maybe I will work on that. :)