Healthier Lifestyle - Part 2

If you missed part 1 yesterday you can read it here! Thank y'all so much for all of your sweet comments yesterday. Y'all are so sweet!
I told you yesterday I would share some things that I am eating now that are healthier options. 1st I downloaded My Fitness Pal, I had it before but quit using it and deleted it for more space on my IPhone so I had to download it again. I'm watching four things mostly with this app. Calories, sugar, sodium, and protein. It has helped me to keep it all logged, sort of like a food journal. There are days where I don't log it because I simply forget, as in this whole past week. 
Breakfast For breakfast I have been mixing it up between hard boiled egg whites and yogurt with cinnamon pita chips. Usually 3 days a week I will eat 4 hard boiled egg whites for breakfast. Surprisingly this holds me over better than the yogurt and cinnamon pita chips! I work 7:00-3:30 with two 10 minute breaks and a 30 minute lunch. If I am having my egg whites for breakfast I will eat them around 7:30 and then not eat again until my lunch at 11:00, with lots of water in between. If I bring yogurt and cinnamon pita chips then I usually eat my pita chips around 8 and my yogurt around 10. I tried eating them both around 7:30  but was absolutely starving when my lunch rolled around at 11:00. I occasionally have a rice cake with peanut butter, too.
Both of these are VERY simple and require hardly any work. I boil my 4 eggs at night or in the afternoon when I get home from work for about 20-25 mins and then I put them in a zip lock back and keep in my refrigerator for the next day. The yogurt I buy and the cinnamon pita chips I bag the night before as well. I count out 7 chips as that is 1 serving size.
I got my pita chips from Kroger. 

The yogurt...this is the ONLY kind and I mean ONLY kind of yogurt I can eat without gagging and almost throwing it back up. Weird I know, but I have tried (and wasted money) trying other brands, and I have tried almost every other kind. Even the kids yogurt packs. Haley let me try this flavor and I LOVED it. I went to the store the next night and bought some. I even got brave and tried the blueberry and banana cream one. I seriously want to lick the little bowl it comes in because it's SO good! The banana one tastes just like banana flavored pudding. AND only 80 calories AND 12 grams of PROTEIN. This is also a good snack for after you workout, too!

The rice cakes are good! Very good and a great choice for a small snack if you need something to hold you over until lunch or dinner. There are a lot of different flavors. My favorite is the caramel corn. 1 rice cake is only 50 calories! Add that with a 1tbsp of (Kroger brand) peanut butter at 90 calories or you can eat them plain!

So if you are doing the hard boiled eggs for breakfast 1 hard boiled egg white is 17 calories.  I eat 4 eggs, so 8 halves total: Calories: 68 Protein: 14 grams  Sugar: 0.9

If you go the yogurt and cinnamon pita chips route: 1 pack of yogurt is 80 calories and 7 cinnamon pita chips is 140 calories. Calories: 220,  Protein: 15 grams Sugar: 17 grams
If you go the rice cake and peanut butter route: 1 rice cake is 50 calories and 1 tbsp of peanut butter is 90 calories. So total: Calories: 140 Protein: 4.5 grams Sugar: 5 grams
Lunches I am still working on this. Trying to find new things that are healthy to give myself a variety. I get really burned out on stuff if I am continually eating it over and over again.
-A lot of days I have about 4 ounces of grilled chicken with brown rice and mixed vegetables. Some days I will do about 2-3 ounces of chicken and add 1 hard boiled egg white.
-Some days I got to Subway and get a 6 inch flat bread with black forest ham and turkey, American cheese, onions, green bell peppers, lettuce, and sometimes light mayo. If I get chips I get the Sun chips because they are actually better for you than baked chips. I usually don't get chips unless I am really hungry. I will usually bring a pack of yogurt to eat with this.
-About 2 times a week I go to Salads-N-More and have a fresh salad. I always add in green bell peppers, egg whites, and onions. I top it with their fat free Ranch, because I just can't eat a salad plain. 
-Some days I will bring homemade spaghetti. Mine is a little different and it is definitely a small portion. I fix mine without meat if it's only me, only because I don't want to take the time to cook the meat and I am only having a very small portion for lunch. I use wheat noodles and I find the lowest calorie and lowest sodium spaghetti sauce I can find. I measure 1/4 cup of mozzarella cheese to sprinkle on top. And a huge thing for me...NO bread with this meal. This is really hard for me as I love love love garlic bread with spaghetti.
-Some days I will bring sandwich meat and some sea salt pita chips. (no bread) 
and that's about it for lunches so far. Still trying to find more options! If you have any send them my way!! :)
Dinner I am also still working on this. I eat A LOT of grilled chicken for dinner. As in 3-4 nights out of the week.
-I meet Matthew half way between here and home for dinner one night out of the week. We had Mexican this week so I got 1 grilled chicken and cheese quesadilla with lettuce on the side. I also didn't have as many chips and salsa as I used to (very hard to do!)

-I also have found A LOT of recipes from Julie over at her blog! 

-I usually have brown rice with mixed vegetables with my grilled chicken.

-Tuna is also something I like!


Dessert Brookside Chocolates. These are seriously the best! I usually eat 5 of these after lunch or dinner...or both :) I count out 5 and put in a zip lock back to take to work with me so I won't be tempted to snack on them all day, because they are THAT good! 

-Sometimes I have a yogurt for dessert after dinner 

-Smoothies. I haven't started making these but I plan on trying a few out over the next couple of weeks. Haley gave me her old blender so that I can make my own and I'm really excited! She has one that she likes to make in place of a strawberry milkshake. She uses vanilla almond milk, strawberries, and the strawberry cheesecake yogurt (the one I talked about at the beginning of this post) and blends them together. She usually adds some of her vanilla or strawberry protein powder in to it. She says it tastes just like a strawberry milkshake from sonic!

-Cinnamon Pita chips, those are so good and so addicting. I eat 1 serving size (7 chips) for dessert sometimes. I really like crunching these up and putting them in my yogurt.


Snacks -If I plan ahead I will bring an extra hard boiled egg white or two and snack on during my morning break of afternoon break. 

-Apple slices and peanut butter (A good snack to eat about an hour before I work out)

-Bananas and peanut butter (A good snack to eat about an hour before I work out)



I lied, I am going to have to break this up into three posts. Monday I will share with you some of our workouts so far and the workout plan she made for me for the next three months. Like I said, I am not an health expert by any means, and I still am learning. I still have the urge to drink a Mountain Dew when I walk by the drink machine in the break room or really want to stop when I drive by Chick-fil-A but I haven't (30 DAYS Y'ALL!!!!) 

Thank you again for all the encouragement! This weekend we are going FURNITURE shopping!! We picked a lot out online already but we are going to see it in person this weekend. And we bought our bedding set! We found a really good deal on a 12 piece set online at Bed Bath & Beyond and I am in love with it. Can't wait to show y'all next week! Happy Friday :)

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Healthier Lifestyle - Part 2

Poppy Seed Chicken

Matthew has talked about his momma's poppy seed chicken before and when we had our cooking day a couple of weeks ago she made some for us. I didn't realize how simple it was to make! We had some this past Sunday and it was SO good!   Here's the recipe from Matthew's mom!   Poppy Seed Chicken -3 cups chopped cooked chicken
-1 (10 3/4-oz.) can cream of chicken soup, undiluted
-1 (16-oz.) container sour cream
-3 teaspoons poppy seeds
-31 round buttery crackers, crushed (we used a sleeve of Ritz Crackers)
-1/4 cup butter, melted   Combine first 4 ingredients. Spoon mixture into lightly greased 11- x 7-inch baking dish.
Stir together cracker crumbs and melted butter; sprinkle evenly over casserole.
Bake at 350° for 35 to 40 minutes or until hot and bubbly.


After she made them we put them in these tin pans and just put them in the freezer for whenever we wanted them. You can either fix it right then or freeze it for later, either way it is SO simple to make!  

 

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Poppy Seed Chicken

Day 6 & 7 of Things I Love

Day 6 of Things I Love: Trying new recipes



 

Last night I went over to the boyfriends house and his mom had a new recipe for us to try!

I was so excited. His mom is the queen of the kitchen, give her any recipe and she can make it.

 

She found a recipe for Alfredo Sauce. She put the men to grilling and we stayed in the kitchen! I am not even going to try to take any credit for this because she created the masterpiece as I watched, ha!

 

 

 Here is the delicious turnout

 

and here is the delicious recipe...

 

INGREDIENTS:

Original recipe makes 4 servings

1/4 cup butter

1 cup heavy cream

1 clove garlic, crushed

1 1/2 cups freshly grated Parmesan cheese

1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley

DIRECTIONS:

Melt butter in a medium saucepan over medium low heat.

Add cream and simmer for 5 minutes, then add garlic and cheese and

whisk quickly, heating through.

 Stir in parsley and serve.

 

Then his momma had a small recipe for some bread to go along with the meal

 

you need

 

Use half of the cream cheese and a little of the dressing mix.

Mix together in a bowl

 

 

and then spread on the bread

 

then sprinkle Mozzarella cheese on top

 

 

throw in the over until cheese melts and that's all!

 

It turned out SO good and went perfectly with the meal.

 

Thank you to Matthew's parents for having us for dinner and thank you to his momma for teaching me how to cook this wonderful meal!! I am going to have to add it to my recipe book!!

 

 



 



 



Day 7 of Things I Love: THE WALKING DEAD

 

Need I say more?

 

 

We started season 1 last Friday night and by Sunday night we had already finished the first season...oops!

Matthew is already on season 3!!!! I haven't watched anymore this week so I will be catching up this weekend.

 

I must say it is VERY intense and graphic, very very graphic.

I do NOT recommend you watching this around small children, as it has even given me a few nightmare already, ha!

 

Walkers!

 

 

 

I hope you all enjoy your weekend!

 

 

 

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Day 6 & 7 of Things I Love

Day 16 & 15 of Things I Love

I have to start getting better at this!!

 

 

 

Day 16 of Things I Love: cooking/baking

 

 

About two years ago at this time the only thing I knew how to "cook" was spaghetti.

Poor Matthew, he would always eat my spaghetti and I'm sure choke it down but bless his heart he did it with a smile every time, ha!

 

Last New Year (2012)my resolution was to learn how to cook more than just spaghetti

and I think I have accomplished that! I LOVE to find new recipes and just start cooking away.

Again, Matthew is the person who usually is the first one to try my new dish and so far he has liked all of them (or so he said). I pretty much know when he likes something and when he is just being nice :) he's a sweetheart.

 

I made him his favorite type of muffins for Valentines day...CHOCOLATE CHIP.

He's going to be so excited. I added extra chocolate chips.

 

 

 

I was really tempted to try one.

 

I found on Pinterest (shocker, right?) a cute way to add color to plain cupcake liners 

and of course I had to try it!

 

 

All you need:

 

- white cupcake liners

 

- food coloring

 

- water

 

- bowls for mixing the dye in that are wide enough on the bottom to fit the top of a cupcake liner

 

 

 

It’s pretty simple actually, all you have to do is mix the food coloring in a bowl with some water (use more water for lighter shades) and then dip the top of the cupcake liner in it.

 

 

 

 

I had to hold each one down like this..

 

 

I loved how they turned out and can't wait to try other colors!

 

 

 

Day 15 of Things I Love: LOVE

 

Cheesy, I know but I just couldn't help it since today is VALENTINE'S DAY

 

Happy Lovaahs day!

 

I hope you all had a wonderful day, either with your love of with someone you care about!

 

Matthew, sadly has a test tomorrow so we are celebrating our THIRD Valentine's Day this Saturday!

Did I mention it's our THIRD Valentine's Day together? I seriously can't believe it's been that long yet I feel like I have known him my whole life.

I am continually amazed by his caring and loving ways. He has a passion for everything he does and funny enough his goals become mine for him because I know how eager he is for them and I am just SO over joyed when he reaches them.

 

It has been very clear for a long time and each day I am reminded of just how much we love each other.

 

 This was our first Valentine's Day together (2011)

 

 

This was last year, our second Valentine's Day together (2012)

 

Obviously I got a haircut, ha!

 

Happy Valentine's Day to my perfect Valentine. I love you forever.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Day 16 & 15 of Things I Love

Day 20 of Things I Love

Day 20 of Things I Love: Mani/Pedi

 

I'm really not sure I know of any girl that doesn't like getting pampered. Seriously, what is there not to love about getting your nails done?

 

Sadly I don't get them done as often as I probably should but in time that will hopefully change.

 

Back around Christmas I found a Amazon Local deal to get a mani/pedi for $28.00.

Score.

I was so excited about it that I shared the deal with my life long best friends, Sarah and Kathleen.

So we decided right then and there to buy it before it sold out.

And today was the day we used it!

 

We started the day out at IHOP. All I have to say about that is...

 CIN-A-STACK pancakes are to die for.

We then left there and headed to Green Hills Mall in Nashville (where the salon was located)

We walked right in and they began working on our toes right away. I got the a light shade of pink for my toes since after all it is February!

On my nails I just got the french tips.

We then left there and decided to walk around and window shop.

Then since we were at Green Hills we just couldn't leave without stopping by and getting the famous Cheesecake Factory Cheesecake!!

I even brought Matthew home a Piece of chocolate cheesecake!

 

The girls day and being pampered was very much needed.

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Day 20 of Things I Love

Day 22 & 21 of Things I Love

Oops! I forgot to post yesterday. So here it goes!

 

Day 22 of Things I Love: Rotel Cheese Dip

 

Is it bad that most of my posts are about food? Oh well.

One of my favorite (unhealthy) meals is Rotel cheese dip! Probably because it is SO incredibly easy to make.

 

All you need is:

Velveeta Cheese (1 block)

1 Can of Ro*tel diced tomatoes

 

 

 and since me and Matthew don't really like tomatoes we pour the whole can into the blender and puree it first THEN pour it over the cut up cheese blocks (in a microwave safe bowl)

 

 

Seriously it is so EASY.

 After that you just heat it up in the microwave one minute at a time and stir it after each minute.

 

Here is our cheese dip and chips from this past Sunday for the Super Bowl

 

 

 

Day 21 of Things I Love: (Colored) Skinny Jeans

 

Here lately I have been obsessed with colored skinny jeans. They have been popular since probably last spring and when they first came out I wasn't too impressed with them, I'm not sure why, I just wasn't.

I have been on the hunt for a good deal on red skinny jeans (I am a bargain shopper and I hardly ever buy any clothes unless they are on sale or I have a coupon)

Well yesterday I was doing some online shopping and I found them! I found the PERFECT pair of red skinny jeans. I found them at Kohl's. They are put out by LC Lauren Conrad.

 

 

They are regular $54.99 and they were on sale for $29.00 AND

I found a promo code for 15% off.

Score.

 

They will be here no later than the 14th...Just in time for Valentine's Day.

 

 

So excited to mix and match different tops with them!

 

Here are some other colored pants I'm in love with.

My next search is going to be for green.

Just in time for st. Patricks day!

 

 

 

 

I found some other really cute colors at Kohl's but after I read their description I found out they were jeggings.

Not a fan of jeggings. At all.

 

 

What are your favorite color pants?

 

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Day 22 & 21 of Things I Love

27 & 26 Days of Things I Love

Well I already failed this test...I forgot to post yesterday on day 27 (I actually planned on writing it last night after Matthew went home but I fell asleep on our couch..oops!)

So this one will have two days in one!

 

 

Day 2 of Things I Love: Hot Rollers

 

I absolutely love hot rollers!! I have super thick and super straight hair and to actually be able to find something that will work to curl my hair is so fun. One of the things I love most about the hot rollers is that it doesn't take long at all. I just layer my hair into sections and start adding them into my hair. I usually let them sit for about 5 to 6 mins and while they are sitting I begin on my make up.

 

 

Here they are!

 

 

 

 Remington is a great brand in my opinion.

 

 

 

Day 3 of Things I Love: Get Togethers

 

I am probably the chessiest person and I don't really care.

I LOVE when we have get togethers with our friends and I usually try to turn every get together into something fun and festive with some type of decorations.

 

We decided to invite our best friend Kathleen over and her boyfriend Braden over to watch the Super Bowl. On the menu was hot dogs, chili (Matthews mom made it. It was DELICIOUS and just hit the spot!) chili and cookies!

 

I looked on Pinterest to find some ideas and with little time I had this was the best I could do.

 

 

I used a empty soup can and spray painted it brown and just painted the white stripes on it.

 

 

 

 I bought oreo cookies and used cookie icing on the top to create a football.

 

 

 

 I was so excited to finally use my pottery dish I had made a couple of weeks ago.

 

 

My football oreos!

 

All the tasty food!

 

 

It is so so wonderful to have close friends and to be able to get togher and have a good time.

We had a great night and I am already planning another themed get together. I am thinking Breakfast Club.

 

 

We ended up watching Pitch Perfect...such a great decision.

We did catch the last 6 seconds of the game.

 

 

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27 & 26 Days of Things I Love

28 Days of Things I Love

In an attempt to better myself as a blogger, I have decided to create a month long list of things I love. After all, February is the month of love, and although Valentine's Day is thought by some to be a Hallmark holiday, I love it. Any excuse for pink and red and flowers and candy and chocolate is good by me. I hope you enjoy this list and please comment if you would like; I am going to need the encouragement!

 

 

Day 1 of Things I Love: Mexican food!

 

I love love love mexican food...well I should say chicken and cheesy rice because that is all I ever order when we go to a mexican restaurant.  Mine and Matthew's favorite mexican restaurant is Camino here in Murfreesboro. We have actually gone there our past two Valentine's Day together but I think we are going to mix it up a bit this year and try another restaurant!

 

Matthew told me at the beginning of this week that he wanted me to come over Friday night and he would make me dinner and guess what he made? CHICKEN & CHEESY RICE! This man just gets me! He is famous for his chicken and cheesy rice and I must say he did it again tonight. It was so good and I'm afraid my eyes were bigger than my stomach. I am still stuffed!

 

It was so good I snapped a picture because I knew right away that this would be for my day one. Didn't he do a great job?

 

 

Now that I have had my mexican food I'll be good for at least a week or two until I start craving it again

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28 Days of Things I Love

Happy (late) 4th of July!

The past month has been absolutely crazy for me, in most ways good.

I have accepted a new job, quit my old job, came down with the stomach virus, went on vacation, holidays, etc.

So this post is a few days overdue...sorry!

Matthew's parents had a cookout the night before July 4th so I woke up on the 3rd and raced to the store to make something festive....and this is what I came up with! I got it off of pinterest, of course but like always I added a few things to make it my way.

.It is very simple and very quick to make last minute like I did before I had to go to work.

Here is all you will need!

These aren't really the sprinkles I wanted to use but I was on a time crunch and this was all good ol wal mart had..so it had to do.

After you mis up the cake mix like it says on the box just divide it into thirds..so that you end up with three different bowls of cake mix.

Leave on plain and then take the red and blur food coloring and in the second bowl add blue or red coloring ( I didn't measure..Just go by your judgment) and in the third bowl add the last color. Make sure you mix the food coloring in very well.

RED, WHITE, & BLUE is what I had to keep telling myself so I wouldn't get the layers mixed up. Use a tablespoon to add in each layer and carefully spread it out...but not too much or it will mix together.

Next is white...then red on top.

Then just pop them in the oven for 12-14 minutes!

And this is the outcome!! I was so excited to see they turned out well.

Wait about 25-30 mins to let them cool before you put the icing on.

I cheated and used the icing out of a can...just so it would look better.

After you icing them just add sprinkles, if you want.

I had to cut one in half just so I could see it and I was SO pleased with the outcome!

So there ya have it..a few ingredients and about an hour!

They were a hit and I was pleased!



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Happy (late) 4th of July!