Update Post, Grilled Cheese Dunkers with Tomato Soup, Cardio, Banana Bites.

*Quick Updates*

1. I'm falling behind in blogging I know. 
2. My Biology class and lab is stressful, but I know I'll get through it.  
3. My Aunt (Mom's Sister) just found out she has cancer, possible stage 4. We'll know all the details tomorrow after their appointment with the oncologist. I'm guessing we'll get a good idea of what is going to happen and possibly how long she has to live. Its really hurting my whole family, we could use a little prayer or two.
4.  I've been at my mom's house, upstate, for a week. I just got back yesterday. 
5.  Weight loss has been going good, except when I was at my mom's house. I probably gained a little bit. Travis and I had an agreement that when I get back home we are going to change the boy's bedtime to 8 at night instead of 9, so that we can work out together. (We have work out gear in our shed outside.) 
6. I've decided not to weigh myself religiously anymore. It isn't about weight to me anymore but about being healthy. And getting to a point to where I feel good (and look good). In other word as long as I feel as if I look good then I'll be okay. 

So I'll leave you with a few fun things. 

A little something, something to get your blood pumping!

These are so amazingly awesome, freeze banana slices then add peanut butter.

Liam helping mommy make grilled cheese dunkers.

 Grilled Cheese Dunkers and Tomato Soup 

Tomato Soup Recipe (click here). 
Grilled Cheese Dunkers:
Slices of bread
Slices of Cheese 
1 tbsp Butter 

All you need to do is flatten the bread with a rolling pin, add a slice of cheese, then roll it up. Repeat! Add to a pan with melted butter and cook on each side until brown, and cheese has melted.

Note:
The number of slices depends on how many you want to make. You could also take the crusts off and they would most likely look prettier. But I love the crust on a grilled cheese.
 

Day 6

 

Breakfast: Voskos Wild Strawberry Greek Yogurt with 5 medium sized strawberries sliced and mixed in. 

Lunch: Chicken Salad (Containing- Romaine, Parmesan cheese, tomatoes, cucumbers, zesty Italian dressing, and a baked chicken breast. )

Dinner: Summer Fajitas (recipe follows below) 

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Tonight I was making tacos, and as I'm browning the meat...I'm feeling really grossed out by it. Sometimes I'm very anti-red meat. Plus I wanted to have some leftover meat so that Travis could have Tacos for lunch tomorrow at work. So, I thought to myself no problem I'll just make myself some chicken fajitas with my leftover chicken...except I didn't have any peppers. Then, I was like...who needs chicken? Or peppers? With all the squash and zucchini I have from the Summer crop this makes an easy simple meal. I'm always trying to come up with new ways to use my squash and zucchini. I love it sauteed as a side, but sometimes that gets boring and old. If you're like me, and you have so many tomatoes, squash, and zucchini either from relatives or your garden..(mine are from my relatives). This is an awesome recipe to use some of your Summer veggies. 

I ended up not adding my chicken to this because I checked out  my tortillas, then my veggies and realized nothing else was going to fit in them! But this would be delicious with chicken, or shrimp!

Summer Fajitas 

Serves Two. 

Ingredients:
1 cup diced squash
1 cup diced zucchini
1 yellow onion sliced
1 small tomato sliced
1/2 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp chili poweder
1/2 tsp cumin 
Salt and pepper to taste
2 tbsp light sour cream
2 flour tortillas (100 cals each or less)

 

Directions: Heat olive oil over medium heat, prepare your veggies while your pan heats up. Swirl the oil around in the pan, then add your veggies to the hot oil. Mix your veggies around with a spatula to coat with oil, then stir in seasoning. Cook, stirring often, until veggies have softened.  Add 1 tbsp of sour cream to each tortilla and top each tortilla with an even amount of veggies. Enjoy.

I like to look through magazine for recipes, workouts, house plans, garden plans, things to do with the kids, or for the kids. Here is an awesome work out I got from Redbook Magazine for your booty. I have a paper copy in a folder BUT I looked on the internet and found it for any readers I may have. Also for my own keeping. :)

Redbook's 15 Minute Best Booty Workout!!!

For Instructions Click Here! 

Make Your Own Skillet Flat bread

Let it Rise.

Make 10 small balls of dough

Roll out!

Prick with fork and cook in skillet!

I have been searching and searching for awhile now trying to find the perfect homemade flat bread recipe. Eventually, I decided to just put a little bit of everything together and change up a recipe that I found to be pretty good, but not quite there yet. This recipe is perfect because I don’t need to use my oven and heat up my house during the summer time.  It also serves as a great mini pizza crust! If your family requests it, then trust me, it is blog worthy. 

Skillet Flat Bread (also known as Piadina)

1 package of yeast
3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons fine sea salt
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/4 cup warm water

In the bowl of a stand mixer with paddle attachment, stir together the flour, baking soda and salt.

In a small bowl, whisk together the water and yeast, then add the olive oil. With the mixer on low, add the liquid to the flour mixture and stir to combine to make a firm moist dough.

(*Note:  If you do not have the attachements you will have to do your best mixing it by hand and then work with the dough with your hands. It may require more time to rise.)

Switch to the dough hook on your mixer, or on a lightly floured surface knead the dough until smooth, shiny and elastic (about 10 minutes by hand, or 5 minutes by dough hook on medium-low speed).

Put the dough in a clean bowl and cover with a dish towel or clear plastic wrap to let rise until doubled in size, about 1 hour. Punch down or flatten the dough in the bowl and let it rest for 10 minutes.  While the dough is resting, start a skillet or griddle heating over medium-low heat for about 10 minutes until very hot, let it heat up slowly to avoid hot spots that will burn your flat bread. Add a table spoon of olive oil and let that heat up. (Olive oil will need to be replaced when cooking each round of flat breads. )

Place the dough on a lightly floured work surface and divide it into 10 equal pieces. Just take a pinch off the round dough. Roll each piece until about 5-6 inches across and roughly 1/2 inch thick. If the dough is still too stiff to roll, or pulls back, let it rest a couple of minutes before rolling.

Place the dough rounds in the hot pan and prick the dough in several places with a fork to prevent air bubbles. I can usually fit about 3-4 during each batch. Cook the dough until golden brown on both sides, flipping several times while cooking. It will take about 4-5 minutes per round. Repeat with the remaining pieces until they are all cooked. Stack rounds on top off each other to keep warm. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Makes 10 round flat breads.

Rise and Shine with Apple-Strawberry Mini Muffins

I've been up since 7am. I'm not sure why Blake isn't sleeping lately. I just hope he isn't a grumpy butt. Thank goodness I made some muffins yesterday because I was NOT up for cooking this morning. Even if I knew I had to wake up early regardless. Today I have to head to a town near-by-ish where my Dad lives, take the boys to him, and then take pictures of a 6 month old for some old friends of mine. I have to leave my house by 11, it is about 8 now.  Luckily I made a set list for my family and a to-do list of things I need to do, mostly before I leave me house.

To Do List 

• Recipe Blog Post 
• Feed Chickens
• Feed Rabbit 
• Feed Dog 
• Feed Kids (lol) 
• Start Chicken Gumbo in the Crock Pot 
• Find Crochet Tomato Hat and Box 
• Find Picture Frame Clean basket and Owl 
• Charge Camera Battery 
• Get Dressed 
• Get Makeup on 
• Load up the Truck with the Above 
• Load up the Truck with Donations to Goodwill
• Pack a Bag for the Boys
• Pack Camera Bag

 Yeah, I need some motivation to get started. I have some really cute ideas and I believe the mommy and daddy of the 6 month old does too. Should be super CUUUUUTE! And I'll try to share a sneak peek on here later. For now though, I will leave you with a muffin recipe.

Ingredients

• 2 cups all purpose flour (or 1 cup all purpose flour and 1 cup whole wheat flour)
• 3 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 large egg
• 3/4 cup milk (low fat or whole cow’s milk, almond, rice or soy milk will work)
• 1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce or canola oil
• 1/2 cup honey or agave nectar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon lemon zest
• 1 cup strawberries, diced
• ½ of a gala apple, peeled and deseeded then shredded with a cheese grater

Directions

 Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In a bowl, combine the dry ingredients: flour, baking powder, and salt. In a separate bowl, whisk egg and add milk, applesauce, honey, vanilla, and lemon zest and stir.  I used my standing mixer but you can use your hand and spoon as well to slowly combine the dry ingredients with the wet until incorporated. Stir until just mixed, try not to over mix. Add the strawberries and shredded apples to the batter.  Line or grease muffins tins and fill 2/3 of the way with batter. Bake for 16 minutes or until toothpick tester comes out clean.

 I swear, muffins never last between my boys and my hubs. These are practically all gone now. I just made them last night!

Breaded Pork Chops. Dinner to Lunch

Breaded pork chops with stuffing, corn, and green beans.

First, let me explain... a little thing about Travis, that I've probably explained before. Travis is super picky, I'm pretty sure that might be where Liam gets it from. The WHOLE time we lived in Montana we NEVER ate pork chops because he said he didn't like them, because he didn't like the way his mom use to make them. WHAT??? Yeah. So, fast forward a few years Travis and I are both back in SC in the middle of remodeling our house so staying between parents. I'm at my dad's house making dinner for everyone and I make BBQ pork chops. Then, I remember Travis doesn't like pork chops. Then, I think to myself..oh well if he doesn't eat them he will starve. Travis eyeballs them and I can tell he's like ewww but he won't say anything in front of my parents. We sit down and eat, and what do you know? Travis loves them. We've moved up since then to breaded pork chops. I try not to fry much these does so when I bread them, I bake them.

Another husband funny, he doesn't eat veggies. The past week and a half I've been cooking for just us..so I make our food and then I make a veggie on the side for myself. The other night I made some mini meatball subs for us with french fries for Travis and carrot fries for myself. He eyeballed my carrots and asked if he could try one and guess what...he LIKES them. The same thing happened the other night when I sauteed some summer squash, he asked if he could try them, liked them, and wouldn't get off my plate. Haha. SOO, yes! Wife win!

Breaded Pork Chops
6 pork chops
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon seasoning salt
2 eggs, beaten
¼ cup all-purpose flour
2 cups Italian-style seasoned bread crumbs
4 Tablespoons olive oil

Directions: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Rinse pork chops, pat dry, and season with garlic powder and seasoning salt to taste. Place the beaten eggs in a small bowl. Dredge the pork chops lightly in flour, dip in the egg, and coat liberally with bread crumbs. Heat the oil in a medium skillet over medium-high heat. Fry the pork chops 5 minutes per side, or until the breading appears well browned. Transfer the chops to a 9x13 inch baking dish, and cover with foil. Bake in the preheated oven for 1 hour.

And in good two-fer fashion this is how I turned leftovers in to a delicious salad for lunch. :) 

I tried to change the title on this after I realized that it is *sorta* fried...I'm going to let it go since its with olive oil. LOL

For the salad I did:
1 Cup Spinach
1 Cup Romaine
1/4 Cup Corn
1 Red Onion Slice
2 Slices Chopped Tomatoes 
1/4 Cup Reduced Fat or 2% Shredded Cheese

Any Dressing of your choice works, a light ranch is nice here though.

Salmon with Cucumber and Strawberry Relish

Salmon:

4 salmon fillets

1/3 cup packed brown sugar

1 tsp ground mustard

½ tsp salt

1 tbsp olive oil

Relish:

¼ tsp dried basil leaves

1/2 tbsp extra light olive oil

1/2 tbsp lemon juice

1/8 tsp sugar

1 cup finely chopped strawberries

1 small cucumber, deseeded and finely chopped 

Directions: In a small bowl, mix the first 5 ingredients with the salmon, rubbing mixture on salmon. . Refrigerate, covered, for 1 hour. For relish in another bowl mix together the chopped strawberries, cucumbers, basil, oil, lemon juice, and sugar.

When cooking the salmon you may grill it accordingly. However I personally cooked it in a pan on medium heat, just spray the pan with a little cooking spray and cook until brown on both sides.

These pictures really do not give this recipe justice...but it was a really great mixture of sweet. Typically I don't like anything sweet but the combination of strawberries and cucumbers really works. I have more relish than necessary on my salmon because...I really liked it. :) I used some leftovers on top of yogurt..SO GOOD.



Now I am off to register my baby for pre-k. WAHHHH! I might cry. I just might.

Smoked Sausage

I know, I know...how many calories are in smoked sausage? A lot. Could I stop serving my family it? No. I'm in a house full of boys. You take their sausage and bacon away...they will riot! Luckily there are smarter choices like chicken sausage which offer lighter versions of smoked sausage. Today I want to share with you a tidbit I learned awhile ago. Growing up we use to have sausage just sliced like coins. As a family we would go to a country restaurant some of you may know as Lizard's Thicket. I use to LOVE their smoked sausage and I don't know why, I didn't think about it until I was an adult that I probably loved it based on the way they cut it. I tested it out, and YEP...so much better. A favorite I like to so with smoked sausage is to saute some banana peppers and onions with it, then top it with sauerkraut...Guy meal? Yes!

Slice the sausage in to quarter links, then make a slit on the top with your knife.

Then peel it back.

In to the frying pan it goes with it's peppers and onions.

Cheesy Baked Green Tomatoes with Sweet Onion Dip

Pre-baked

Cheesy Baked Green Tomatoes 

Ingredients:
4 green tomatoes, sliced
2 eggs, beaten
2 cups bread crumbs or panko
Salt
Pepper
Garlic Powder
Shredded Cheese
Cooking spray

Directions: Sprinkle your tomato slices with salt and pepper. Dredge them in the beaten egg then coat evenly with bread crumbs.  Place on a cooking sheet sprayed with cooking spray. Bake on bottom rack at 400 degrees for 15 minutes, turn over, top with a pinch of shredded cheese then bake on the top rack for 10 minutes.

Sweet Onion Dip

 Ingredients:
1 medium-large sweet onion
1 tablespoon butter
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2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
2 tablespoons honey
1 tablespoon dijon mustard
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1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/2 tablespoon chili powder
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1 cup nonfat plain Greek yogurt or light olive oil based mayo

in the blender

Directions: Begin by melting 1 tablespoon of butter in a medium pan on medium heat. Add the sliced onion and begin caramelizing them.  Once softened add them in to a blender or food processor with the honey, cider vinegar, and mustard. Puree then pour in to a smaller bowl, mix in the remaining ingredients. Chill in the refrigerator then serve! :) This dip is awesome on everything!