Chris, Spencer's mom makes this really great Taco Casserole. Unfortunately if we follow the recipe it's really not that great for you. We love this dish so much though that we weren't willing to give it up. So after some experimenting we came up with a much lower calorie way to enjoy this yummy dish.
1 lb. ground turkey
1 can rotel
1 pkg. taco seasoning
1 c. fat free sour cream
1 c. reduced fat cheddar cheese
3 c. of BAKED tortilla chips, broken up
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2. Brown the ground turkey. Pour the can of rotel and the taco seasoning into the meat and mix well.
3. Mix together the sour cream and the cheese.
4. Break 2 c. of BAKED tortilla chips in your hand and toss onto the bottom of a 9x13 inch baking dish.
5. Spread the meat mixture on top.
6. Spread the cheese/sour cream mixture on top of the meat.
7. Top with remaining 1 c. of baked tortilla chips, broken and bake for 20-30 minutes or until the chips start to brown.
Total calories per serving: 255 calories (6 servings per casserole)
Friday, March 19, 2010
Thursday, March 18, 2010
Remember when I asked you about the family room?
Well, here's the idea I found online and really like. Swap out the wallpaper for just a brown painted wall (not sure I'm brave enough for wallpaper) and the white couch for our light brown one. What do you think?
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
Recipe day!
Here I am, another week has past and I'm just now posting. This is what happens when you're busy and need to come home to rest instead of blog I suppose.
Spencer and I had the first weekend since starting this healthy eating kick that we allowed ourselves to eat a whole bunch of unhealthy things. I felt terribly guilty. Spencer reminded me that we still ate better this weekend than we ever used to. I don't think hearing that helped.
Yesterday's meals consisted of a total calorie count of: 1259.
Breakfast- Honey Nut Cheerios w/ skim milk + 2 cups black coffee.
Lunch- Healthy Choice Tuscan Chicken, baby carrots, mandarin oranges, and sugar-free jell-o
Afternoon snack- chocolate and marshmallow Easter eggs (yeah I know right?)
Super- Chili
I want you to know how I was able to keep my calorie count SO low and still eat 2 chocolate marshmallow eggs. I made a chili called Texas Soup. It is only 122 calories per 8oz (1 cup) serving and contains veggies. If you're interested in making this, the recipe will be listed below.
Today, we had an area minister's meeting... this means eating out. So, for
Breakfast I had 1/2 of a bagel w/ cream cheese, cantelope + 2 cups of black coffee (292 calories).
Lunch was a beef brisket sandwich with steamed veggies (approx 500, had to guess a bit here)
Snack was a tall non-fat caramel macchiato (140 calories) this is proof that you can still get your latte and not worry so much about calories!
and a chocolate marshmallow egg- 100 cal (I'm hoping to eat them all this week so I don't have to deal with this anymore!)
Supper was honey chili chicken with asparagus and an Izze (162 calories).
Small Group Eileen came... you know, from Eileen's Colossal Cookies? I ate a snickerdoodle... hard to pass up= 199 calories
Today's total- 1483
Texas Soup
2 (15 oz) cans of diced tomatoes (I buy low sodium)
1 can of corn
1 can of Bush's medium chili beans
1 lb. of lean ground turkey
1 pkg taco seasoning
1 pkg ranch dressing mix
Brown the turkey in a pot. Add the entire can (juice and all) of the corn, tomatoes, and chili beans. Add in the ranch and taco seasoning. I let this simmer for about an hour on a low-medium setting. Super great and only 122 calories per cup!
Honey-Chili Chicken
4 (4 oz) boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1/3 c. honey
1/8 c. (2 T) sherry vinegar- i don't have that so I do 1 T sherry and 1 T vinegar
3/4 c. chicken broth
1/8 t. cumin
1/2 t. chili powder
1/4 onion, diced
Olive Oil
1. In a skillet on medium heat, drizzle some olive oil and cook the onions until they are fairly transparent.
2. Add in the honey and sherry vinegar.
3. Add in the cumin, chili powder, and chicken broth. Stir together.
4. Bring to a boil for 5-10 minutes then reduce heat to low.
5. Reduce sauce to 1/2.
6. In a non-stick skillet cook the chicken breasts on a low-medium setting. Pour a little chicken broth in the pan to keep the chicken from getting stuck to the pan. This will "steam" or braise the chicken.
7. When the sauce has reduced, pour it over the chicken and cook for an additional 5-10 minutes. One chicken breast in the sauce = 141 calories.
*This one takes about an hour to make. Make sure you set aside enough time.
Spencer and I had the first weekend since starting this healthy eating kick that we allowed ourselves to eat a whole bunch of unhealthy things. I felt terribly guilty. Spencer reminded me that we still ate better this weekend than we ever used to. I don't think hearing that helped.
Yesterday's meals consisted of a total calorie count of: 1259.
Breakfast- Honey Nut Cheerios w/ skim milk + 2 cups black coffee.
Lunch- Healthy Choice Tuscan Chicken, baby carrots, mandarin oranges, and sugar-free jell-o
Afternoon snack- chocolate and marshmallow Easter eggs (yeah I know right?)
Super- Chili
I want you to know how I was able to keep my calorie count SO low and still eat 2 chocolate marshmallow eggs. I made a chili called Texas Soup. It is only 122 calories per 8oz (1 cup) serving and contains veggies. If you're interested in making this, the recipe will be listed below.
Today, we had an area minister's meeting... this means eating out. So, for
Breakfast I had 1/2 of a bagel w/ cream cheese, cantelope + 2 cups of black coffee (292 calories).
Lunch was a beef brisket sandwich with steamed veggies (approx 500, had to guess a bit here)
Snack was a tall non-fat caramel macchiato (140 calories) this is proof that you can still get your latte and not worry so much about calories!
and a chocolate marshmallow egg- 100 cal (I'm hoping to eat them all this week so I don't have to deal with this anymore!)
Supper was honey chili chicken with asparagus and an Izze (162 calories).
Small Group Eileen came... you know, from Eileen's Colossal Cookies? I ate a snickerdoodle... hard to pass up= 199 calories
Today's total- 1483
Texas Soup
2 (15 oz) cans of diced tomatoes (I buy low sodium)
1 can of corn
1 can of Bush's medium chili beans
1 lb. of lean ground turkey
1 pkg taco seasoning
1 pkg ranch dressing mix
Brown the turkey in a pot. Add the entire can (juice and all) of the corn, tomatoes, and chili beans. Add in the ranch and taco seasoning. I let this simmer for about an hour on a low-medium setting. Super great and only 122 calories per cup!
Honey-Chili Chicken
4 (4 oz) boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1/3 c. honey
1/8 c. (2 T) sherry vinegar- i don't have that so I do 1 T sherry and 1 T vinegar
3/4 c. chicken broth
1/8 t. cumin
1/2 t. chili powder
1/4 onion, diced
Olive Oil
1. In a skillet on medium heat, drizzle some olive oil and cook the onions until they are fairly transparent.
2. Add in the honey and sherry vinegar.
3. Add in the cumin, chili powder, and chicken broth. Stir together.
4. Bring to a boil for 5-10 minutes then reduce heat to low.
5. Reduce sauce to 1/2.
6. In a non-stick skillet cook the chicken breasts on a low-medium setting. Pour a little chicken broth in the pan to keep the chicken from getting stuck to the pan. This will "steam" or braise the chicken.
7. When the sauce has reduced, pour it over the chicken and cook for an additional 5-10 minutes. One chicken breast in the sauce = 141 calories.
*This one takes about an hour to make. Make sure you set aside enough time.
Friday, March 5, 2010
Welcome Spring!
Yesterday Spencer took down my precious homemade little "Let it snow" front door decor and told me it was time to encourage spring to show up. We've had a beautiful week with sunshine and warmer temps. Snow has been melting and for the first time in 3 months I can see 80% of the grass in our front yard. This is seriously exciting.... trust me. So, I made a "Welcome Spring" door hanger now. Hopefully it listens and shows up.
With spring coming I'm thinking about our trip overseas and about the fact that it will be shorts and tank top weather soon. This is good. It just means that I really need to continue getting in shape so I don't look like a jiggly blob in a tank top. So far so good. One guy at work calls me the "Calorie Nazi". So be it! I will continue to count calories and I will look good! PS: My hott hubby hasn't lost much more weight but is inches smaller again. The new jeans he bought a few weeks ago barely stay around his waist! So exciting. I've been excited to hear from several of you who have lost weight and inches as well! Keep it up! We're doing it together.
So spring cleaning.... I want to know. How many of you do it? The reason I ask is because I have been wanting to really deep clean our house, you know wipe down baseboards, clean light fixtures etc. I read an article last night in the April edition of my Everyday with Rachael Ray mag that gave a great layout for spring cleaning. I'm thinking it's about time that I picked a day to do these things. Not sure Spencer will be thrilled but we'll see.
One more poll. Spencer would really like to paint the family room a different color. When we moved in he told me he wanted cool tones down there. So we painted a blue/teal color and accented with burnt orange and brown. He hasn't liked it since we did it. He decided that what he really likes is a warm toned room with lots of cool toned accents. So I've been looking at rooms on HGTV.com for inspiration and found kind of a copper/brown colored paint that seems nice. I've also really been liking warmer grey tones. We have a medium brown colored sectional and espresso brown wooden furniture. What do you all think would be good?
With spring coming I'm thinking about our trip overseas and about the fact that it will be shorts and tank top weather soon. This is good. It just means that I really need to continue getting in shape so I don't look like a jiggly blob in a tank top. So far so good. One guy at work calls me the "Calorie Nazi". So be it! I will continue to count calories and I will look good! PS: My hott hubby hasn't lost much more weight but is inches smaller again. The new jeans he bought a few weeks ago barely stay around his waist! So exciting. I've been excited to hear from several of you who have lost weight and inches as well! Keep it up! We're doing it together.
So spring cleaning.... I want to know. How many of you do it? The reason I ask is because I have been wanting to really deep clean our house, you know wipe down baseboards, clean light fixtures etc. I read an article last night in the April edition of my Everyday with Rachael Ray mag that gave a great layout for spring cleaning. I'm thinking it's about time that I picked a day to do these things. Not sure Spencer will be thrilled but we'll see.
One more poll. Spencer would really like to paint the family room a different color. When we moved in he told me he wanted cool tones down there. So we painted a blue/teal color and accented with burnt orange and brown. He hasn't liked it since we did it. He decided that what he really likes is a warm toned room with lots of cool toned accents. So I've been looking at rooms on HGTV.com for inspiration and found kind of a copper/brown colored paint that seems nice. I've also really been liking warmer grey tones. We have a medium brown colored sectional and espresso brown wooden furniture. What do you all think would be good?
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Eating without being miserable
Hey everyone,
Not blogging much today since it's Wednesday and I have tons to do. I just wanted to let you in on a website that I found last week. Since my attempt to eat healthier it has become harder to eat out unless I'm going to Subway. I ran across this website last week that is operated by licensed dietitians. www.healthydiningfinder.com.
Enter your zip code. The website will then pull up all the restaurants in/near your zip and show you the items they have deemed the healthiest for you to eat. It shows you calories and tells you how to order that item. I think this is really helpful. It won't list locally owned restaurants (that I know of) just chain restaurants. Thought it might be helpful to those of you who are eating out and trying to do it in a healthy way.
Hope you all enjoyed Tuesday.
Not blogging much today since it's Wednesday and I have tons to do. I just wanted to let you in on a website that I found last week. Since my attempt to eat healthier it has become harder to eat out unless I'm going to Subway. I ran across this website last week that is operated by licensed dietitians. www.healthydiningfinder.com.
Enter your zip code. The website will then pull up all the restaurants in/near your zip and show you the items they have deemed the healthiest for you to eat. It shows you calories and tells you how to order that item. I think this is really helpful. It won't list locally owned restaurants (that I know of) just chain restaurants. Thought it might be helpful to those of you who are eating out and trying to do it in a healthy way.
Hope you all enjoyed Tuesday.
Monday, February 22, 2010
Winter Jammed Out
I spent this weekend attending Winter Jam with our 4th and 5th grade students. We had a GREAT time sledding on the best sledding hill I've ever gone down, ice skating, playing games, watching the Olympics, sleeping in a cabin etc. I had the opportunity to speak one night of main session and really enjoyed that. I hope our kids got something out of the weekend. I had a great and exhausting time.
I jumped right back into life at noon when we arrived back the church yesterday (just in time for me to help clean up classrooms etc). My great hubby went to JJ and got us sandwiches for lunch. I ate as soon as I got home and then fell asleep for a 3 1/2 hour nap. I was SO tired. I woke up and went to our service @ 6 and then came home to get ready for bed again.
Today was a busy day at work. I need to finish writing the preschool curriculum for Mission: Possible by Wednesday. I'm not sure if it'll happen or not. We've got a staff meeting/lunch tomorrow. There's a pretty good chance that I'm going to stay and work instead of going to lunch so that I can get things done.
I desperately need to work out tonight but already feel no desire to do so. Maybe after the Bachelor!
Here's my calorie count for today.
Breakfast= 2 muffins- 220 cal.
Lunch= 1/2 an orange (35 cal), a turkey sloppy joe (287 cal), mashed potatoes (100 cal), sugar free raspberry jell-o cup (10 cal)- 432 cal.
Snack= mini kit kat, 2 Starbursts- 80 cal.
Dinner= taco casserole and mandarin oranges and 2 choc. chip cookies- 355 cal.
TOTAL for the day: 1007 calories
NOT BAD!
It's been awesome to hear from many of you of your weight loss success, getting fit success, and of you achieving your goals. Keep it up!
Thursday, February 18, 2010
Never quite catching my tail
Have you ever watched a dog run in circles in an attempt to get their tail? My dog does this every once in awhile. And I feel like I've been doing that the last two weeks as well. Ok I don't really have a tail (obviously) however I've been constantly running in circles in an attempt to get all sorts of things done only to see that my to-do lists are just as long as always! I have 4 lists at work right now. I've accomplished nothing. Maybe next week right?
Besides the fact that things have been busy we've been doing really well. Today I slept in (LOVE IT) and then awhile later headed out to meet with the girl I mentor from the college. We had a great time chatting and catching up. It was very fun. Then I got to see my friend Alyssa and pick up a few things from them. She and her husband Drew are moving to Lamar to take the youth ministry position there. I think Lamar Christian Church is super lucky to have them and that they are super lucky to be there! I went and got a smoothie at Scooter's, went to the library, and drove around town enjoying the sunny day after that!
I also spent some time thinking of some goals to accomplish:
1. Repaint family room (color suggestions would be helpful, readers). Spencer wants a warmer, darker color. We have a dark tan sectional down there.
2. Have dinner with a whole bunch of friends.
3. Re-design kitchen and price that plan out.
4. Finalize payments and plans for our trip overseas.
5. Buy a dark-wood trimmed round mirror for our bedroom.
6. Get a pair of sweats like Alyssa was wearing today.
7. Get new clogs.
8. Go bowling.
9. Keep working out (my legs are still killing me from plyometrics on Tuesday).
10. Do something really special for my husband (suggestions are welcome here too).
One last thing, I've written some about all the snow we've gotten and how much I've loathed it sometimes. And then today I remembered this verse from Job 37:6-7 "He says to the snow, 'Fall on the earth,' and to the rain shower, 'Be a mighty downpour.' So that all men he has made may know his work, he stops every man from his labor."
Besides the fact that things have been busy we've been doing really well. Today I slept in (LOVE IT) and then awhile later headed out to meet with the girl I mentor from the college. We had a great time chatting and catching up. It was very fun. Then I got to see my friend Alyssa and pick up a few things from them. She and her husband Drew are moving to Lamar to take the youth ministry position there. I think Lamar Christian Church is super lucky to have them and that they are super lucky to be there! I went and got a smoothie at Scooter's, went to the library, and drove around town enjoying the sunny day after that!
I also spent some time thinking of some goals to accomplish:
1. Repaint family room (color suggestions would be helpful, readers). Spencer wants a warmer, darker color. We have a dark tan sectional down there.
2. Have dinner with a whole bunch of friends.
3. Re-design kitchen and price that plan out.
4. Finalize payments and plans for our trip overseas.
5. Buy a dark-wood trimmed round mirror for our bedroom.
6. Get a pair of sweats like Alyssa was wearing today.
7. Get new clogs.
8. Go bowling.
9. Keep working out (my legs are still killing me from plyometrics on Tuesday).
10. Do something really special for my husband (suggestions are welcome here too).
One last thing, I've written some about all the snow we've gotten and how much I've loathed it sometimes. And then today I remembered this verse from Job 37:6-7 "He says to the snow, 'Fall on the earth,' and to the rain shower, 'Be a mighty downpour.' So that all men he has made may know his work, he stops every man from his labor."
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