WW update

Ok, so I promised I would post my recipes and my WW progress and I have not done so recently. I've been pretty 'flexible' in my WW, but still seem to lose at least a pound a week. I still have a list of recipes I plan to try, but things have been so busy with work that we really just throw dinner together these days. Below is a sample menu that we are following.

Breakfast:
Oatmeal (with Splenda)
or Yogurt (Low-Fat)
Coffee

Lunch:
small, low-sodium V8
lean cuisene
100 calorie pack of goldfish or cheese nips

Afternoon snack:
small, low-sodium V8

Dinner (last night):
Grilled, boneless, skinless chicken breast (marinated in fresh pineapple juice, garlic, woo-woo, and low-sodium soy sauce)
Grilled fresh pineapple and onions on skewers
Wild Rice (no oil or butter)
Cabbage Slaw w/ toasted almonds (I make a dressing out of spicy mustard, cider vinegar, E.V.O.O, black pepper, salt, splenda (or sugar))

Since we will be on the Coast this weekend, I have a feeling we will be eating lots of things that we shouldn't be, but since we've been good this week I'm not too worried about it.

Speaking of Coast, we are leaving Thursday afternoon and will return Sunday afternoon (our anniversary). We also took off Monday just in case the wedding cake and champagne put a hurtin' on us Sunday night. While on the Coast, we plan to visit the Walter Anderson Musuem of Art, the Peter Anderson Museum?, go to Ship Island to lay on the beach for a day, visit our friend's bar The Government Street Grocery, and I'm sure some of the Casinos. I'm hoping my younger sister, Anna, will be joining us down there. The weather is predicted as sunny and 80 degrees which will be perfect for our planned activities. I will take photos of our trip, but don't expect any with me in a swimsuit...at least none from the waist down.

Progress!

After work yesterday Daniel and I 'finished' the paving project. We still have to break some pavers to fill in the gaps around the edges, but amazingly enough, we didn't run out of pavers! We plan to grow grass between the paved circle and the flower beds and to get some solar lights to go around it. We had originally planned to leave the center of the circle unpaved to put a metal fire pit in, but then decided to pave it and maybe get a copper fire pit that will sit on top. That way, if we get tired of fire pit, we can put a bird bath or chairs or whatever out there. We pulled chairs out last night and sat and drank a beer in our 'Circle of Love' or 'Ring of Fire' or whatever name my friends decide to give it.

On another note, Daniel and I have our one year anniversary this Sunday (Earth Day). We were planning to go to New Orleans and the Coast since Daniel had a work thing down there, but that got cancelled. We are now trying to decide when and where to go. I am feeling majorly burned out and need to get away from the office for a while. At the same time, we both have so much going on at work, it's hard to get away. Who knows what we will end up doing. Anyways, I think we are going to cook out tonight and enjoy our new fire pit, so come on by if you need a drink as bad as me!

Thankfully, Daniel meticulously measures everything to make it look pretty.


And it shows!


Adding paving sand to fill in between the pavers.


The 'finished' product.

Phase 2 update...

Since the weather did not cooperate on Saturday to work in the yard, Daniel and I went to volunteer at one of the local Habitat for Humanity houses. Spent all day hanging drywall. This house is for a very deserving friend of ours, and we were happy to put in some sweat equity for him. Saturday night we enjoyed Lisa's fish tacos recipe. Yummy! Today the weather was much more agreeable, so we were able to get a little of the paving done. Unfortunately, I had to come in to work and Daniel had a soccer game, so our yard work was cut short. Below are pics of what we did accomplish. Enjoy!

It starts with black 'grass stopper' stuff.


This project is right up Daniel's alley. He loves to 'Tetris' anything. I have learned I might as well not put luggage in the car because he will remove it and position it in just the right manner. Knowing such, I have designated myself as the brick hauler while he lays the pavers. This job is not nearly as glamorous as the paver layer job...requires (once again) going up and down the hill to carry the bricks down to where we actually need them. What a wonderful wife am I to slave for my husband's art?


This is as far as we got before responsibilities came a callin'...


Our kitty Sophie loves her 'fort' and wants to smell all the bricks and then make a funny face. I guess brick dust doesn't smell good to kitties?

Phase 2...

Phase 2 of our backyard project begins this weekend. We had several palletts of pavers and bricks delivered on Thursday, and plan to begin work tomorrow morning (if the weather cooperates). I will post pics as progress is made.

Weekend Update

I hope everyone had a Happy Easter weekend. Daniel and I traveled to the 'Land of Cleve' to visit with the Fam. We enjoyed a great dinner at the Blue Levee restaurant in Rosedale (their crab cakes and fried green tomatoes ROCK!)on Friday. Saturday was filled with playing outside, dying Easter eggs, and answering this question about 1000 times....Why? (My 3 year old niece came up with my younger sister.) She also asked me if the Easter Bunny was a girl or a boy...I told her that I really didn't know since the Easter Bunny always comes while I'm asleep. I was caught a little off guard by this question...can you tell I don't have kids? Anyways...work's killing me and I'm ready to go home and see my husband, so that's it. Enjoy the pics below. Oh, I forgot to cover my plants this weekend and so the frost got them pretty good. I'll keep you posted if they survive.

Food Pics

WW is going well (although I cheated at lunch today) and I have lost several pounds this week. I've stuck with either oatmeal or yogurt for breakfast, lean cuisene or leftover ziti for lunch (except today), and then a healthy WW recipe for dinner. Below are pics from the two WW recipes I tried this week.

Asian Grilled Pork Chops: This WW recipe says to only marinate for 10 minutes, but I did it overnight and it made a huge difference. The marinade consists of lite soy sauce, toasted sesame oil, minced garlic and fresh lime juice. Throw it on the grill and voila! Very delicious!


Baked Ziti: Below is a picture of the WW Baked Ziti. It was pretty good and made alot. Each serving has 5 points (I think). I will try and work on arranging my blog so you can click on the left to view actual recipes rather than me including them in the blog. This recipe called for lean ground beef, but I used lean ground turkey instead. I would not recommend that you make this if you don't like herbs. Since it contains almost no fat, the recipe calls for oregano, rosemary, and thyme to give it flavor. I will definitely chop the dried herbs next time...sticks of rosemary erk me. Daniel was very happy with this dish and we've been eating on it all week. Served with salad and 1 slice whole wheat toast.

New Project

Hooookay...I have started a new project. It is called 'get in shape before you have to wear a swimsuit in July'.

Project Manager:
Me (based on past record I am obviously not qualified for position, but unable to obtain personal chef and personal trainer for the right price ... ie...free)

Due Date:
July 2007 (potential trip to Key West)

Materials Needed:
- 2 willing participants (or 1 willing and 1 who doesn't have a choice cause I buy and make all the food :))
- a freezer full of lean cuisenes to eat for lunch
- new, healthy, WW recipes and the time, money, and motivation to cook them
- some form of exercise
- willpower, willpower, willpower

I will be trying out several new recipes from WW and from Cooking light and posting pics and updates here for your enjoyment. I will NOT be posting how much I weigh, but I will include how much I have lost each week and if any of the long lost muscules I used to have return. Hopefully having to report to all 3 of you who read my blog will encourage me to stick with it! It will also allow me to be your low cal/low fat recipe guinea pig. I eat plain oatmeal with splenda or low fat yogurt for breakfast and lean cuisenes for lunch, but plan to try fun recipes at night. On the menu tonight: Baked Ziti (actually baked whole wheat penne cause Kroger didn't have any Ziti) and a big salad.