Memorial Weekend

I apologize for the delay in this post but I got a new computer with Windows 8 need I say anymore!

Memorial Day brings us a three day weekend and when we have those, we tend to do something special for the long weekend.  Not us, we crammed everything into one day, Monday, The first thing I did was mow the back yard and with all of the rain we have been getting I have to mow every week or we have a jungle.  Personally I'm ok with a jungle but Jan's not and even Abby doesn't like the tall grass in the back yard.  After mowing the backyard we went to a horse show, not that we were participating but we had friends showing and Horses of Hope was there with one of there horses and some riders.  Our friends primarily show there horses in halter (not riding them) and driving which is the horse pulling them in a cart or wagon, they usually take first place in most of the classes they enter.  With Horses of Hope being at the show they asked my friend Bob if he would ride their horse in an Adult Walk Trot class and he said he would, now keep in mind that Bob is eighty years old and hasn't ridden a horse in awhile.  WOW he took first place, what a great job both he and the horse Blaze did, by the way, Blaze is usually the horse I work with on my volunteer days at Horses of Hope, and Bob is my buddy that I do woodworking projects with, that's why we call our business Bobingalong.

My friend Bob riding Blaze

That's me just hanging around at the horse show

We closed out the busy day by going over to my brothers after the show for a barbecue and games, we had hamburgers, hot dogs, bratwurst, peppers & onions, chips and Jan's Chinese coleslaw, and for dessert we had ice cream sundaes.  Everything tasted great, I liked the ice cream sundae best, and then we played Dominoes  a game called chicken foot.  Everyone had a great time and it was nice to be with family and friends....my friend Bob won the game...

Our barbecue meal.  From left to right, my brother Paul & his wife Terry, nephew Jared & his friend Shayla and our friends Holly & Bob,

What a week, I've been sharing with you what countries the readers of my blog are from and this week has really been incredible, we have new readers this week from Mexico, Pakistan, Malaysia, Azerbaijan, Spain, Ukraine and Switzerland.  It is so nice to have you all aboard and thanks for the comments, it sounds like you're enjoying the recipes.

Weigh in this week was what I was looking for, up ,4 pounds, finally have leveled off and now know how much I need to eat to maintain my weight.  I even had a Snickers Blizzard from Dairy Queen this week, it was a mini but was plenty and I really enjoyed it.  Maintenance is not such an easy thing, although it is just another chapter in our weight loss journey, I believe the hardest part is to realize that you can eat that much more food as the brain keeps saying no, no, no, you really shouldn't have that.  Trust me you can, so go ahead and enjoy maintenance, I look forward to hearing from you as you work towards and achieve that goal.  Jan was up a little this week and is working hard at tracking for success.

 "I can't do it" has never accomplished anything;                             "I will try" has performed wonders.

Here is the last installment of 10 Mind Tricks to fool yourself into eating less.

9.  Use Your Illusion - Never underestimate the power of imagination.  A 2010 study reported that we actually eat less of a certain food  if we imagine eating it before we actually eat it.

10.  Piece of Mind - a 2012 study found that cutting food into smaller pieces can trick our brains into thinking we're eating more than we really are, so we eat less.  Cut sandwiches into four pieces, and break candy bars into bite-size chunks.

The food find this week is one of Jan's favorites, Skinny Cow Heavenly Crisp candy bar and is a great alternative to a high fat content candy bar.  We pick this up at Walmart.

The recipe this week is really different and tastes great, let me know what you think.

Creamy Carrot Ginger Soup

Servings: 4 • Serving Size: 1 1/4 cups • Calories: 110 • Fat: 3.5 g • Protein: 3 g • Carb: 17.5 g •Fiber: 4 g
 
Ingredients:

·         1 tbsp unsalted butter

·         1 large white onion, chopped

·         3 cups low sodium fat-free vegetable broth

·         1 lb baby carrots, peeled

·         1 tbsp grated fresh ginger

·         1/4 cup fat-free sour cream

·         salt and white pepper to taste

·         2 tbsp fresh chives, for garnish

Directions:

In a large pot or Dutch oven, melt butter over medium heat; add onions and cook, stirring often, until onions are soft, about 5-6 minutes. Add broth, carrots, and ginger. Cover and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer until carrots are soft, about 30 minutes.

Add sour cream, using an immersion blender, carefully blend until smooth. Bring soup back to a boil, adjust salt and pepper to your taste.

Ladle into 4 bowls and garnish with a little more sour cream if desired and fresh chives.

Makes 5 cups

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Midwest Weather!

Let me just send our heartfelt prayers to the people of Moore, Oklahoma.  While their city was being devastated we were having a fun day, at least for awhile anyway.  What's up with this weather, it snowed in April and everyone said that doesn't happen very often, then it snowed in May and they said that it was so unusual for that to happen that they can't even remember the last time it snowed in May.  Then two days after the May snow it was 80 degrees and now we have been having severe weather here in the Midwest with lightning, thunder, rain, hail and yes tornadoes.

Monday morning at 1:00 am, we were awaken by the sound of the warning sirens, we gathered the animals, closed the interior doors and sat down on the floor of the hallway.  Ten minutes later the sirens were done although the hail was still pounding the roof, I have to say that my initial thought was, what an inconvenience, the sirens, Abby barking, the pounding hail and no sleep, but it wasn't long that I was sound asleep in my nice warm cozy bed.

We woke up around eight in the morning and the sun was shining, what a beautiful day, the weather forecast was for severe thunderstorms late in the day though.  Monday was set to be a fun day at Horses of Hope as the following week was the last day of the school program and since we were not going to have any programs for a few weeks we had a potluck with the volunteers and staff.  We rode horses, learned how to drive a cart and played horsey games, everyone had a great time and the directors presented the volunteers with a Most Valuable Volunteer trophy.

Learning how to drive a cart with a miniature horse

Riding Romeo, a champion show horse

Yeah!  My trophy

It started raining around 2pm and by 3pm the thunder was really rumbling.  We put the horses away and headed home, by the time we got home it wasn't raining very hard so we planned to go to the store a little later.  It was around 7:30 that we started out the door and it just started pouring and as we watched it for a few minutes the warning sirens went off again and for a moment we actually thought about going but quickly came to our senses and got back in the house.  By the way everyone's fine, even the animals.

Weigh in today was a surprise as I lost 1.6 pounds, I'm not suppose to be losing on maintenance so I better increase my daily points again, this week I will be at 34 points hopefully that will let me start leveling off.  Jan had a great week with a loss of 2.8 pounds and is looking forword to another great week.  The next installment of Mind Tricks to fool yourself into eating less is:

7.  Cue the Ambiance - Dim the lights and turn on some music, a 2012 Cornell University study found that doing do caused diners to eat 18% less.  They also rated the food more enjoyable.

8.  Keep Your Mouth Busy - You might be factoring in the calories of your dinner, but did you include all the sneaky bites you took while cooking?  Try chewing gum or sucking on a cough drop during meal prep to keep you from eating the ingredients.

Remember    "The time is always right to do what is right"

Water is so important for good health and we should make sure and drink at least 48 ounces a day, so make sure you drink water that tastes good and that you like.  On that note me food find is my favorite bottled water, Glaceau Smart Water.

What!  Were you expecting nutritional information

You know I'm a sweet freak so here's this weeks recipe.

No-Bake Peanut Butter Pie

Servings: 10 • Serving Size: 1/10 • Calories: 217 • Fat: 6 g • Protein: 3 g • Carb: 33 g • Fiber: 1.5 g

Ingredients:

• 5 oz reduced fat cream cheese, softened
• 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar
• 1/3 cup Better n Peanut Butter
• 8 oz fat free frozen whipped topping,
• reduced fat graham cracker pie crust
• 3 tbsp Hershey's chocolate syrup

Directions:

Beat cream cheese and confectioners' sugar together in a medium bowl

Mix in Better 'n Peanut Butter and beat until smooth. Fold in whipped topping.

Spoon into graham cracker pie shell; cover, and refrigerate until firm, at least 2-3 hours. Drizzle with chocolate syrup before serving

 

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Our Great Dane Abby

Our Great Dane Abby is now 7 1/2 years old and ever since our vet gave us a DVD on senior dogs we have been noticing changes in her health and personality.  She has become extremely clingy, right next to use where ever we are, and I must say that's a little difficult in the bathroom.  For the last few months she has been having trouble keeping her food down, we started feeding her smaller meals several times a day and that helped for awhile but then it started again.  Last Saturday Jan said look at Abby's ribs, she must be loosing weight, so we took her to the vet just to weigh her and she had lost 11 pounds in the last two months.  We went ahead and had the vet look at her and take some blood tests and found that she has elevated white count and liver panel.  All of this really just adds up to the fact the she is getting older and not really much that we can do but try to keep some food down.  We are now giving her a mixture of noodles, ground turkey and vegetables, giving her small meals and it seems to be working at this time.  We have had Abby since she was 7 weeks old and the thought of her not being around  some day pains Jan and I very much.  She still sleeps in our bed with us or I should say she lets us sleep with her, she doesn't share very well.

Abby and her favorite cat Little Joe

Jan and Abby playing in the backyard last year

Abby's newest favorite position

Two and a half months ago I shared what countries our readers are from and since then we have had new blog readers from Russia (quite a few), Indonesia, France and Belarus (I had to look at a map to see were that was).  Welcome to all of our new followers, feel free to make any comments you like as I like hearing from all of you. 

I was surprised at weigh-in today as I have added 6 points to may daily points target since I have reached my new goal and I lost 1.8 pounds this week for a total of 43 pounds.I'm going to increase that a little more this week to try to stop losing and to maintain, maintenance is not easy but once you find the right amount of points it becomes a little easier.  Jan stayed the same this week and was pleased with her results and I'm thrilled to hear that as it is so easy to think you must lose weight every week.  Everyone's weight loss journey is different and it's important to work and accept your journey and not compare it to others.  Remember we need to support each other and not to compete with each other.

The next two mind tricks to fool yourself into eating less are:

5.  Turn Off The TV - The more distracted we are, the more we eat, according to 2007 research. Participants who ate while playing solitaire felt less full after eating than participants who ate without any distractions.

6.  Out of Sight, Out of Mind - The farther away from you and the less visible a food is, the less likely you are to eat it.  Keep the sweets in hard to reach kitchen cabinets and office snacks in drawers.

This was the last week working with this group of kids at Horses of Hope and as usual they made it very special for them.  It started  with the Dancing Donkeys, miniature donkeys who run, jump, go through hula hoops and do what ever they are asked.  Then they got to ride horses and then participated in a costume parade with the miniature horses and finally had chocolate chip cookies and punch (Jan made the cookies), and everyone had a great time.

One of the Dancing Donkeys

Jan helping one of the kids in the parade

The food find this week is one of my favorites, Pringles Extreme Dill Pickle flavor potato chips, remember they all don't need to be healthy or great nutrition values, you just need to enjoy them and make them work in your program.

This weeks recipe is one of Jan's favorites.

Pistachio Mousse

(Actual picture of our dessert)

Servings: 6 • Calories: 88 • Fat: 2 g • Carb: 14 g • Fiber: 0 g • Protein: 2.5 g 

Ingredients:

One box Jell-o FF & SF Instant Pistachio Pudding
One package Dream Whip
Two cups Skim Milk
6 Tbs Whipped Cream
12 shelled Pistachios

Directions:

Mix Jell-o with 1 1/2 cups skim milk, then mix Dream Whip with 1/2 cup of skim milk, mix the two together and place equal amounts into 6 dishes.  Top with 1 Tbs of whipped cream and 2 crushed pistachios, Enjoy.

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GOAL!

You might remember I said that my height changed (getting older) and due to the fact that I am two inches shorter now than when I originally reached my lifetime goal, I needed to change my goal by nine pounds less.  I am thrilled to tell you that I not only lost those pounds I put on the first nine months here in Missouri, but also those last additional nine pounds.  I am officially at my new lifetime goal with a loss of .8 today for a total of  41.2 pounds.  It just goes to show that if you stop tracking and stop going to the meetings your only kidding yourself, LESSON LEARNED!  Jan was up a little today but is feeling strong and positive about this coming week.

Here are the next two mind tricks to fool yourself into eating less.

3.  Mono Place Settings - Participants in a Consumer Research study dished themselves less food when the tablecloth and dishware color matched.  White dishes/  Use a white tablecloth.

4.  100 is the Perfect Number - Those bite-size snacks really work!  a 2011 study found that participants ate 25.2% fewer calories when eating from 100-calorie packs than from larger bags of snacks.

I went to Chicago for three days last week to attend the Weight Watchers Basic Leader Skills training.  They paid for everything and there were 22 participants from all over the country, it was first class all the way.  I went with the mindset that I was going to enjoy and learn something, I have to say that both happened.  The national trainers had no idea of my past relationship with Weight Watchers and I kept it that way, the final feedback from them was that I would make a very good leader.  That was good to hear!

Chicago Skyline, didn't see it, never left the Hyatt Regency

I didn't get a chance to be active much in Chicago so my activity points last week were way down from previous weeks, although I did earn enough to accomplish my goal for the week.  This is a perfect example of setting an achievable goal, sometimes we just set goals that we aren't able to reach and then we think of ourselves as failures and that even makes it harder to continue what we are trying to accomplish.  So set reasonable goals that make you reach just a little and you will find your success within that reach.

Something to think about.......

                    In all our effort to be active,

                we park our car as close to the fitness   club as close as possible.

 



The last winter storm that came through the Ozarks surprised everyone, snow in May!  last Wednesday it was 86 degrees and I burned the top of my head mowing the lawn.  Friday morning leaving for the airport to start my Chicago trip there was snow, we probably ended up with at least 2 inches of snow.  Today it was 75 degrees, I wish it would make up its mind.

Going out to warm up the car

The back deck Friday morning

This weeks food find was a real surprise, I found it at Walmart mixed in with some other oddball stuff.  It's almost gone and I will have to get some more.

Serving size - 25 crackers

The recipe this week was delicious, enjoy!

Cajun Shrimp Stew

 

 

Calories: 230, Fat 2.5g, Fiber 2g, Carb 39g, Sugars 3g,

Protein 13g

Ingredients:

4 cups water
1/2 cup no-calorie granulated sweetener
2 cups long grain rice
1 tbsp olive oil
1 (16 oz) bag frozen corn
4 chopped Roma tomatoes
1/2 red bell pepper, chopped
1 cup chicken stock
2 tsp Creole or Cajun seasoning
1/2 tsp chili powder
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1 (16 oz) pkg. 31-40 count frozen, uncooked shrimp
1 cup sliced scallions or green onions
2/3 cup nonfat Greek yogurt

Directions:

1. Boil the water in a large saucepan. Stir in sweetener and rice. Cover, reduce heat to low and simmer for 20 minutes. Set aside.

2. Heat the olive oil in a stock pot. Add corn, tomatoes and bell pepper. Sauté until soft. Add chicken stock, seasonings and shrimp. Allow liquid to reduce and shrimp to cook until pink, about 10 minutes.

3. Stir in scallions and yogurt. Serve over the rice.

Yield: 12 Servings - Serving Size: 1/2 Cup Rice and About 3 Shrimp per serving

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