HELP!

Does anyone know how to un-jam a pair of digital scales?  Mine seem to be stuck!  I declare they have not moved in 1 week!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

RIP Coach Gregory

Rest in Peace Coach Gregory.....thank you for some wonderful football times in '81, '82 & '83.  You will be missed.

http://courier-tribune.com/articles/2009/04/25/obituaries/250obits042609.txt

Saw this advertised on Facebook.  It's a five day course (online) to learn to bling out your blog. Sounds kind of interesting and fun.  Just might give it a try.......

http://www.sistvboutique.com/product_p/sis_boyb2.htm

Another Good Recipe

I didn't have much to eat today and I was getting really hungry at work so I went to the lobby and found some magazines. I thumbed through them hoping something would catch my eye that I could fix for dinner. Well, something did and I fixed it and it was yum!

This was really light and mild in flavor. We had two servings and we have 2 servings left over for lunch tomorrow. After we finished dinner I cooked the rest of the bag of spinach in a little vegetable broth and added it to the pasta. Tomorrow it will be a little more spinachy.

Sorry no pictures.
It didn't stay on the plate long enough : > (

Found this in the Ladies Home Journal March 2009 edition.

Farfalle with Mushrooms & Spinach

Work: 10 minutes / Total: 20 minutes

6 oz dried farfalle (bow tie pasta)

2 tbsp olive oil

1 medium onion chopped

1 cup sliced portobello or other fresh mushroom

2 cloves garlic minced

4 cups spinach thinly sliced

1 tsp fresh thyme leaves chopped

1/8 tsp ground black pepper

2 tbsp shredded Parmesan

Cook pasta according to package directions. Drain

In a large skillet, heat oil over medium heat. Add onion/mushrooms and garlic and cook, stirring occasionally, until tender, 2 to 3 minutes. Stir in spinach, thyme and pepper and cook until spinach is slightly wilted, about 1 min.

Toss mushroom and spinach mixture with pasta and sprinkle with parmesan cheese.

Makes 4 servings

Per serving: 225 calories, 5.5 g total fat

Hannah Montana? Sonya Isaacs?

Sonya Isaacs in the new Hannah Montana movie.......here's the scene. She's the blonde to Miley's right, singing back up. Go to the Isaacs blog to read when Sonya had to say about the experience. There's pics there too.

Oh My Goodness!

Tried a new recipe.....had to share.

I bought some zucchini at the grocery this past week.  Almost forgot til I saw them in the fridge. Searched for a healthy zucchini recipe and found this.....from Cooking Light.

These turned out soooooo good and yummy.  I was craving something crunchy and "fried like" and this satisfied the craving.  

Zucchini Oven Chips

Yield

4 servings (serving size: about 3/4 cup)

Ingredients

• 1/4  cup  dry breadcrumbs
• 1/4  cup  (1 ounce) grated fresh Parmesan cheese ( I had shredded parm and I actually prefer the bigger pieces over the grated )
• 1/4  teaspoon  seasoned salt ( I was out of seasoning salt and I just used reg. table salt )
• 1/4  teaspoon  garlic powder
• 1/8  teaspoon  freshly ground black pepper
• 2  tablespoons  fat-free milk ( I used vegetable broth instead )
• 2 1/2  cups  (1/4-inch-thick) slices zucchini (about 2 small)
• Cooking spray

Preparation

Preheat oven to 425°.

Combine first 5 ingredients in a medium bowl, stirring with a whisk. Place milk in a shallow bowl. Dip zucchini slices in milk, and dredge in breadcrumb mixture. Place coated slices on an ovenproof wire rack coated with cooking spray; place rack on a baking sheet. Bake at 425° for 30 minutes or until browned and crisp. Serve immediately.

I used my cookie cooling rack on top of a cookie sheet to catch the crumbs.  Worked great!

Nutritional Information

Calories:

61 (28% from fat)

Fat:

1.9g (sat 1g,mono 0.5g,poly 0.2g)

Protein:

3.8g

Carbohydrate:

7.6g

Fiber:

1g

Cholesterol:

5mg

Iron:

0.6mg

Sodium:

231mg

Calcium:

87mg

Fennel Anyone?

Have you ever used fennel? I saw this recipe on food network when I was at home sick this week and I got the ingredients to try it. It just looked so fresh and good. I've never tried fennel before that I'm aware of. Can't wait to make it tomorrow. I'll let you know how it turns out. Any suggestion on what to serve with this?

Grapefruit-Fennel Salad

Ingredients

• 1 avocado, peeled, pitted and diced
• 1 head fennel, fronds removed and sliced
• 1 grapefruit, segmented
• 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• A few sprigs fresh parsley

Directions

Add the avocado, fennel, and grapefruit segments to a large bowl. Toss with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Place onto platter and top with parsley.

What's to Eat?

Four Weeks!!

That's how long we've been on our lifestyle change diet.  I haven't had a soft drink in 4 weeks!!!!  I almost don't think about it anymore except when I'm real hot, then I want a Dr. Pepper.  I was addicted folks!

I have one more day to take Prednisone and then I hope to be outta this "I'm Hungry all the time" mood.  Today for lunch I roasted organic carrots and asparagus in the oven, made Uncle Ben's wild rice cooked in vegetable broth with some fresh parsley, portobello mushrooms and toasted pecans added in at the end and we had the BBQ meatballs from last night's post.  For dessert was fat free Strawberry sorbet. Yum!

Another Week has come and gone.......

Yay for Fridays!!!  Can I get an Amen?

I love my job but I sure am glad when Friday gets here.  Especially when Friday is as beautiful as today and even more when the weekend forecast sounds good like this weekend!  Love the 70's! What's your plans for the weekend?

The hubby bought a new toy today.  Well, I call it a toy but we really did need it.....a fancy new lawn mower.  I tried it out this afternoon and I like it pretty good too.  Sure does make mowing 2 acres a whole lot faster! We're really behind on getting our yard ready for spring and summer.  Gotta get busy and get some flowers in some soil.

We had a good week this week with our lifestyle change.  Time to weigh again tomorrow!  It's a little slower than I hoped but I'm gonna blame mine on Prednisone.  Only two more days to take it!!  I'm feeling so much better from the bronchitis.  I still have a cough and I think it's going to hang around a while, but I'm feeling much, much better.

Just made Vegetarian BBQ meatballs.  My first time using this recipe.  They turned out great.  LOL, I took pictures, but umm, there was no memory card in my camera.  Maybe I'll take one of the finished product before we dive in tomorrow.  Here's the recipe.  If you've ever been tempted to try tofu but were scared to, just try this recipe.  You'd never know it was in there!

Vegetarian Meatballs with BBQ sauce

Ingredients:

1½ c. bread crumbs (I used Progresso Italian crumbs)

2 t. parsley flakes (freshly chopped or dried flakes will do) 

½ t. sage 

½ t. Italian seasoning 

1/8 t. black pepper 

½ c. raw almonds 

½ c. raw walnuts 

1 pkg. Mori Nu tofu, firm (I happened to have extra firm on hand and used that) 

1½ c. onion 

½ t. garlic powder

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a mixing bowl, stir bread crumbs and parsley flakes.

In a blender or food processor, combine the sage, Italian seasoning, black pepper and nuts; chop finely.

Add the ground nuts to the bread crumbs and parsley flakes.

Into the same blender or food processor, add the Mori Nu tofu, onions and garlic powder to the blender or food processor; blend until smooth.

Pour the mixture into the dry mix and mix well.

Scoop or form the mixture into balls.

Place meatballs on a parchment-lined cookie sheet.

Bake for about 45 minutes or until slightly browned.

The meatballs will be a little dry on the outside, but will absorb a sauce nicely.

Makes about 36 balls.

After the meatballs baked I moved them to a 9 x 13 casserole dish, poured on about 1/2 bottle of my favorite smoky bottled BBQ sauce and returned to the oven, covered with foil.  I heated for about 15 minutes until hot and bubbly.  You could also use your favorite brown gravy instead of BBQ sauce or make a Swedish style meatball sauce.  YUM!

I know I've said this a lot lately, but remember Stellan and his whole family in your prayers tonight.  It looks like they will be going to Boston or may already be there.  Little Stellan will be having a very risky heart procedure.  I pray that God will wrap his loving arms around that sweet little guy and that HIS will will be done.  

Praising My Jesus

I know, I know, two posts in one day!  What's the world coming to?

I just have to share this with my bloggy buddies.  

Today I received a message on myspace from a long lost friend.  She invited me to be her friend and I accepted.  Her message to me was something along the lines of "can we still be friends?". Of course I said Yes.  I had not seen or spoken with her in years.  We were friends back before I really gave my life to Jesus and that's all I'll say about that.  We messaged back and forth a few times today on Myspace and exchanged email addresses.  Later today I got an email from her and she said:  Lisa, don't fall out of your chair but I wanted to tell you that both K and I are in church and we both know Jesus as our Saviour.  I have never felt so much joy and peace in my life, ever!

I shouted right in my living room, all alone, just me and Jesus!!  Praise the Lord!!  He is Good!! All the Time!!  

I have D & K in my prayers tonight!  Amen!

I am Fearfully and Wonderfully Made

If you haven't seen this please take a few moments to read this and watch the video. It blows my mind! I AM FEARFULLY AND WONDERFULLY MADE AND WE ARE HELD TOGETHER BY THE CROSS!

Colossians 1:15-17 (King James Version)

15Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature:

16For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him:

17And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.




Laminin is a protein found in the extracellular matrix, the sheets of protein that form the substrate of all internal organs also called the basement membrane. It is the major non-collagenous component of the basal lamina, such as those on which cells of an epithelium sit.[1] It has four arms that can bind to four other molecules. The three shorter arms are particularly good at binding to other laminin molecules, which is what makes it so great at forming sheets. The long arm is capable of binding to cells, which helps anchor the actual organs to the membrane.
The laminin protein is made up of three polypeptide chains - α, β and γ, giving it a total of six "ends", accounting for a lot of its flexibility in connecting various molecules. Because of this, scientists who create biomaterials are extremely interested in the whole family of laminins[citation needed]. They are a family of glycoproteins that are an integral part of the structural scaffolding in almost every animal tissue. Laminins are secreted and incorporated into cell-associated extracellular matrices.
Laminin is vital to making sure overall body structures hold together.

LAMININ

Check out this new blog I just made for my sister-n-law BJ.  BJ and her hubby are just in the beginning stages of building a house here in NC.  I used some recent photos from the land clearing and the burn to make her blog.  She'll be getting started soon.  Be sure to check her out and welcome her to bloggy land.  Tell her I sent you!

A Serious Craving

for something sweet!!! I mean sweet!!! Real sweet!!!

There was nothing in the house but fresh fruit sooooooooo.  I whipped up a banana smoothie and it seriously tastes like homemade banana ice cream.

3 frozen bananas

3/4 cup light soy milk

1 tsp. vanilla extract

2 tblsp. low fat vanilla yogurt

2 packets sweetener ( I used natural Stevia )

Whiz everything together in a blender and serve in a pretty dish with a spoon.  Yum!

Oh and I don't want anything sweet anymore : > )

Happy Easter

Happy Easter to all my blogging buddies.

Thanks to all of you that have sent Get Well wishes. I'm not feeling much better today, but I'm sure I'll get there soon. Hopefully by going to work time tomorrow!!! :> (

The hubby and I didn't get to go to the family lunch today at my sister's house. I will miss my niece Jamie's baby shower this afternoon too, but I sure wouldn't want to spread these germs around. We just enjoyed a nice lunch at home. The hubby is watching the Masters on tv and I'm settled in to a Hallmark channel movie. Watched 3 of them last night. Great movies this weekend!!

A New Favorite
One of my new favorite foods is roasted asparagus. All of these years I've turned up my nose and said I didn't like asparagus and I don't think I ever really tasted it. I've discovered that I love it. Especially when it's on sale because it can be quite pricey. L.o.w.e.s Foods had it on sale this week for 1.29 a pound. I bought two big bundles. All I do is trim the big ends off, rinse it good, place it on a cookie sheet covered in foil, drizzle with olive oil and roast in the oven at 400 until it's tender and starting to get a little crispy on the outside. I turned it every once in a while with the tongs to make sure it cooks evenly. Yummy with some wild rice and toasted almonds.

The Doctor, the Diagnosis

As the day wore on today I kept getting worse so I decided to go to the Dr.  By the time I got there I could barely get any air into my lungs.  My chest hurt, my back hurt and my head hurt from lack of oxygen.  Each breath sounded worse!  I told the girl at the desk I couldn't breathe and she proceeded to get together a bunch of forms for me to fill out.  I couldn't even tell you what I wrote or if it's ledgible.  I just wanted some help!  After about 30 minutes of rasping for breath in the waiting room I finally got to go back.  3 1/2 hours later I am back home.  My oxygen levels were low.  Duh!  I had two nebulizer breathing treatments, a steroid shot and came home with 4 prescriptions.  Diagnosis - Bronchitis, sinus infection, respiratory distress.  If my oxygen levels had not come up after the treatments I would have been going to the hospital. But thankfully they really helped and I'm feeling better except that I still have a croupy cough, my nose is dripping, my head hurts, my heart is racing from the treatments and I'm shaking like a leaf.  But at least I can breathe.  Going to rest now.

Who You Are - add it to your blog posts

Found this great site to create a personal signature for your posts. AND this great site with easy- peasy instructions for posting it on your blog.

3 weeks and counting

Today is the end of 3 weeks on our lifestyle change.  I'm down between 8-9 pounds.  I still haven't been exercising much.  This past week was so busy and I got home late about every night.  This week I'm determined to get in some walking and exercise.

Some positive notes:

*no heartburn - no acid control medication needed at night

*less headaches

*more color in my face (this could be due to the bright orange carrot juice I've been consuming)

*no soft drinks in 21 days (nothing but water, orange juice - not from concentrate, fresh carrot juice, warm ginger herbal tea - for the sinus problem but mostly just water, water, water)

Some not so positive notes:

*suffering from sinusitis - this could still be a body cleansing thing

*the breakout of psoriasis is still present, but not quite as bad as 3 weeks ago

*I STILL CRAVE A BIG COLD DR. PEPPER!!!!! GET BEHIND ME SATAN!!

What's new on the menu today???

Fruit smoothies

*I tossed some fresh peeled bananas in a zip lock bag into the freezer last night

*frozen pineapple

*frozen peaches

*frozen strawberries

*soy milk

*vanilla yogurt

*dash of vanilla extract

*drizzle of honey

All whizzed up in the blender - yummy!

Makeover!

Yes I love to change my blog look!  I'm learning to do my own backgrounds.  I like the layered look. Today I learned how to put a border around my posts.  So what do you think?  I'm working on a new header too!

Spring! Allergies!! Sinus Infection!!!

I love Spring.  I love cool mornings, warm days, cool evenings, spring rain showers, fresh budding trees and flowers.  It's all so beautiful.  But with all that comes my spring allergies. They are in full force today.  Wednesday night I began to sneeze and sneeze and sneeze.  I woke up on Thursday morning with crusty, yucky stuff all around my eyes and nose.  I felt horrible at work on Thursday....more sneezing, blowing, eyes watering, etc. etc. etc.  You get the picture!  By the time I left work and got home I was worse and feeling really terrible.  I slept for about 18 hours and I soooo hoped I would feel better today, but no such luck.  I think I have a full blown sinus infection. I haven't felt like doing anything today but holding the sofa down.  One of the ladies that I work with mentioned to me yesterday after hearning me sneeze about 25 times and seeing me walk around with a kleenex permanently fixed under my nostrils that I needed to try a Neti Pot.  A what???? She proceeded to tell me that one of the nurses there told her about it.  I ventured out to Walmart this afternoon and picked up one.  If you haven't heard of them and you suffer from allergies then go right now and google it or click on my link and read all about it. Just using it one time has already made a difference.  At least I can get some air through my nostrils right now.  

I'm pretty miserable but I still love Spring!!!

Thankful

Today is Good Friday......

I am so thankful for a loving God who sent his son to die for ME and that son is not dead but is Alive and is preparing a home for me.

Thank you Jesus!

Busy Week, no time for blogging

Wow!  It's Friday already?  Where'd the week go?

I was busy as a bee this week.  Didn't have much time for blogging.  It takes a lot of time to fix healthy food!  We've had a great week though.  Still eating lots of fresh fruits and veggies.

Last night we had a craving for pizza.  We made one at home and it turned out great.  The hubby was wishing this morning that he had some leftover, but there was none.  

Mediterranean Veggie Pizza

1 thin Boboli crust.

1 turn around the crust from the EVOO bottle (rub it around with a paper towel).

2 tblsp. of pizza sauce and spread it all over.

We added sliced portobella mushrooms, fresh sweet onion, a few roasted red peppers chopped up, some sun dried tomatoes chopped, sliced black olives, sliced fresh roma tomato, torn fresh basil and some broken goat cheese sprinkled around, sprinkle with italian seasoning, salt and pepper.  

Baked it for 12 minutes at 400 and it was yummmmmeeeeee!!!  You can't get one with this much topping on it in a restaurant!  Who wants to have to hunt for the toppings?? Not me!

Here it is ready to go into the oven

 Here it is all baked up nice and crispy

Note:  I'm really liking goat cheese.  It's creamy, rich and so much easier to digest than cow's milk cheese.  We've only had a smidgen of it.  It does have a lot of calories and fat so it's a delicasy to be enjoyed just once in a while.  

Today I've baked a pan of sweet potatoes and made a pot of Split pea soup.  I forgot how much I love Split pea soup.

Split Pea Soup

Started with a bag of Goya dried split peas - looked and rinsed several times.

Put in a big pot and cover with water.  I added a can of Swanson Vegetable Broth and some salt and pepper and a couple turns around the pot of EVOO.

added a big handful of julienned carrots

a couple ribs of celery sliced thin

a medium onion diced

Cook on medium heat until peas start to break down and soup is thickened.  Stir often.  Taste test for amount of salt and add more if needed.  We like a dash of cayenne pepper added, but that's totally up to you.  

It was yummy for lunch with some Ciabatta bread baked crisp and broken up and added to the bowl like huge croutons.  The hubby had seconds!!

Some Yummy, Healthy Cookies.......

Man have I felt good today! Got lots of stuff around the house done! Grocery shopping is done for the week. Made more Mediterranean Tuna Salad and now I'm making healthy Fruit bars. They are supposed to be cookies but I prefer cooking them bar style. I've made these many times and I change them up almost every time with different fruits and nuts. They take quite a few ingredients but you can find almost all of them at Walmart. Notice there is no flour, no butter, no sugar! Healthy!! AND they are delicious. In fact the mix is so good before it's baked I think I could eat it for breakfast out of a bowl with some soy milk on top.

Putting the ingredients together....

Banana Date Bars

3 ripe bananas mashed
1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
1/2 tsp. salt
1 cup unsweetened flaked coconut
1 cup chopped packed dates
1 cup chopped dried fruit ( I used dried pineapple and dried cranberries this time )
1 cup raisins or dried currants
1/2 cup chopped nuts ( I used a mixture of raw pecans, raw walnuts and raw brazil nuts)
1 cup rolled oats ( don't use the quick kind )

Stir vanilla and salt into mashed banana. Add remaining ingredients, except oats and mix together. Stir in oats. Press into a 9 x 9 non stick pan. Bake at 350 for 25 to 30 minutes.

Here they are just out of the oven, crunchy 

around the edges just the way I love them!! 

Now if I can just wait until they are

cool to cut them.  

And Oh how good the house smells!!

Woot Woot

Down another 1 1/2 pounds this morning! Yay! If that's what walking will do then I'll be out there everyday. Especially if the weather is as beautiful as it is this morning!! I had too much bread yesterday too! Oh well, maybe that's what my body needed.

Weight Loss = 7 1/2 pounds
Goal = 22 1/2 pounds more by the end of June.

Bread Bread Bread

ALL I CAN THINK ABOUT TODAY IS I WANT BREAD!!!!!

Beginning Week 3

Today is the beginning of Week 3. I've lost a total of 6 pounds in two weeks. I'm pretty pleased with that. The hubby has lost about 8 pounds. I could tell this morning that he was a little disappointed but I think 8 pounds is great for 2 weeks for a man. Our bodies are still getting use to the change and there was that birthday dinner out that didn't help matters any.

I've just finished reading about 3 chapters in the Hallelujah diet book. It's still wowing me with the information and the testimonies of people. The book makes it all so clear!

The hubby just finished juicing two big containers of fresh carrot juice. It's a beautiful day here and we're getting ready to take a long walk. When we get back I'm planning to try a couple more raw recipes.

Enjoy your day! Eat Healthy! Be happy!

Ahh two weeks......and tomorrow is weigh in

Today is the end of our 2nd week on our lifestyle change.  It's still going well.  Today is also my 44th birthday.  We did go out last night to celebrate and I did go a little bit overboard!!! BUT I'm back on track today.  My middle sis is having us over for dinner tonight and it will be healthy.  I took the day off work today and I've been a busy girl.  I got my house all cleaned up this morning and for the last couple of hours I've been in the kitchen.  Thought I'd share with you a few things I made.  

We've rediscovered WASA crisp bread.  I had eaten this years ago and I don't remember really liking it, but we bought some last week and both the hubby and I love it.  Hubby went back to Earth Fare today and he bought lots of it.  They have a website and there are lots of great sounding healthy recipes.  I tried one of them today.  We had this for lunch.

Mediterranean Tuna Salad

1 can (6 ounces) tuna in water

1 tablespoon kalamata olives, chopped

2 tsp. sundried tomatoes, chopped

1 tsp. parsley, chopped fine

1 tablespoon roasted red peppers, chopped fine

1 tsp lemon juice

1 tsp fresh basil, chopped fine (I was out of fresh so I used dried and it worked fine)

1 tablespoon olive oil

salt to taste

freshly ground black pepper

Mix all together and serve on WASA crisp bread

I also made Taboule Salad

Something else that's really simple to make and is really good on the WASA bread is chopped fresh tomato, diced sweet onion and a handful of chopped fresh cilantro, salt and a drizzle of olive oil. Mix together and serve on WASA bread. The tomato mixture is better after an hour or two. The salt will bring out the juice of the tomato. I drain that off before serving. Yum!

Day 12 and I'm a Fool in April

Today is Day 12 in Vegland and I'm a veggin April Fool!!!

We're still doing great.  I haven't had the Lettuce wraps in almost 48 hours!  I think I might be ready for them again about tomorrow though.  Yum they're good.   

Monday night I went out with my sisters for my middle sis's birthday.  We went to a local pizza joint where they have a great salad bar and we had salad and a couple slices of pizza.  Yep!  I had pizza.  I don't feel so bad tho.  I did really good the rest of the day with just a couple hundred calories of raw veggies so it wasn't so bad.  

I don't get very creative during the week with recipes.  I just don't have time.  We're mostly eating fresh fruit, yogurt, salads, a little whole grain pasta, brown rice, baked potatoes (white and sweet) and just a lot of healthy stuff.  Hopefully this weekend I'll get a little more creative.  

If you have any healthy food ideas and recipes I'd love to hear them!!!  Please share.

Happy April Fools Day!!