Frustration...

No movement on the scale or in my measurements...feeling very frustrated and unmotivated.

Soup Recipes

I was telling Melenie about some recipes and I thought I would just post them here for you all.

Roasted Asparagus soup

1lb Asparagus, bottoms trimmed off
1 onion cut in large pieces
Olive oil
Salt
Pepper
Chicken Broth 6-8 cups
1/2 to 1 cup cashews
crushed red pepper to taste

Cut Asparagus into 1-2 inch pieces, place in a roasting pan or cookie sheet lined with foil with the onions, drizzle with olive oil and salt and pepper generously to taste. Roast (bake) in an oven at 420 for 20 minutes. Meanwhile boil your chicken broth.  Once veggies are finished add them all to a blender (preferably a blendtec or vitamix if you don't have one of these do smaller batches rather than all at once) pour the broth over the veggies add a handful of cashews and blend until smooth.  If you don't want to use cashews you can use whole milk or cream...for those of you with your own animals I would recommend it! We like ours to be a bit spicy so we add the crushed red pepper.


Roasted Cauliflower and Leek Soup

One large head Cauliflower
One bunch leeks (look like HUGE green onions, there are usually 3 in a bunch)
4-5 cloves garlic peeled
olive oil
salt and pepper
Chicken broth 6-8 cups or more if you want it thinner
1/2 to 1 cup cashews
crushed red pepper

cut cauliflower into bite sized pieces, slice the very bottom of leeks off and then start slicing them in thin slices using all the white and light green part toss the darker green.
Place all the cauliflower and leeks in a roasting pan drizzle with olive oil, add garlic and salt and pepper toss to mix and coat. Roast at 420 for 25-30 minutes, do not under cook or it won't blend smooth.  Then follow the same directions, boil the broth add it all together to a blender and blend until smooth. This one is particularly good spicy.  Also good to garnish with Bacon, or leave out for fewer calories and fat.

We love both of these soups, they are awesome served with the Costco Garlic bread or any other yummy bread for dipping in the soup.

Enjoy!! I discovered these recipes after not knowing what to do with Leeks and Cauliflower I had gotten in my Bountiful Basket, and now we love them and eat them often!

Numbers aren't changing but my habits are...

I'm only at two pounds lost still. I worked a lot the last couple of weeks and haven't been able to hit up the gym. I have done some work outs at home and the family and I have decided to purchase a "Just Dance" game for our Wii and do family dance night once a week. We danced our rears off at a friends house the other night and it was so much fun and I sweat like Mike. That's a good thing.

One of the hardest things for me has been my eating habits. Well, I guess not so much my habits as what it is that I eat. For as long as I have been married Derrick has been a straight carnivore and my kids including Shayli did not like vegetables. So I would make meaty, pasta-y, meals and hide the veggies in them.

Lately Derrick has been raving about Bob's salads. Rad's new favorite food is jikama. Cade is a fruit machine. Shayli asked Derrick to stop at the store last week so that she could buy her own vegetables. I have been craving fruits and vegetables like crazy lately too. So we're all in! I brought home some bountiful baskets this morning and we were all so excited about the good food. Our fridge is full of it and when the kids wanted a snack today, it was healthy food!

I'm really excited about our healthy futures. I may not be losing lots of weight yet, but when it does, it will be because I am losing it the right way and it should stay off.

I refuse to be a yo yo anymore!

♥

Grrrrr....

I had a super bad week and half...no working out and lots of junk food. Today I am back on track. I hit the gym. I did a pretty killer upper body weight lifting session and now I can barely move my arms.  It feels good. Can't wait to get stronger!

Mike is in...

the 200's. My goal is to get my knee fixed and then start rehabbing the heck out of it. I would like to be walking normally and be able to go on any of the rides. Maybe I should bring crutches so we can skip lines! I joined Planet Fitness and have been riding the stationary bike to keep my knee loose and it has been working. I have also been a guinea pig for the PT students to practice all the tests. That hurts. If there was a way to naturally make body hair go away that would be my goal. I'll just shave it off.

Actual numbers....

So I finally went to the gym yesterday...and the actual weight I am at is 163...lame. On the plus side...I have now worked out 2 days in a row.

Juicing

I am just throwing this out there because it has been something that has helped me feel better. Late in 2012 Tait and I watched the documentary "Fat Sick and Nearly Dead" it changed our lives. We decided to re-examine how we ate...it wasn't good. We saw our selves on a very fast track to very bad life long health problems because of how we ate. I planned meals around my carb of choice that day. We drank lots of soda...I ate insane amounts of sugar. We didn't feel good. After watching the documentary we decided to change. We bought a juicer and started juicing. We noticed a difference in our energy. I bought an app called 7 lbs in 7 days that has all these different juicing recipes. I lost about 10 lbs over 2 weeks of strict juicing. And my energy soared. No joke I started to feel so much better. No more naps during the day...no more gas and bloating. It was pretty awesome...now don't get me wrong it was HARD. But now I juice as part of my normal diet. I may have juice for breakfast or lunch or both. But I try to drink juice at least several times a week so that I am drinking and actually absorbing the vitamins I need. Vitamin supplements that we take are mostly just wasted money. We need to eat more nutrient dense foods. I discovered Kale...something I thought I would NEVER eat. I juice it regularly now.  I started ordering bountiful baskets so that I had more fruits and vegetables on hand. When it has something i don't know what to do with I google recipes and learn how to eat it or cook it.

We now eat very different. Our dinner may consist of just a piece of chicken and a *huge* portion of asparagus or fresh sauteed green beans or salad. No carbs. We try to eat something green every day. I only buy the organic multigrain bread from bountiful baskets. I simply don't buy white bread anymore.....every now and then we splurge on the fresh backed costco garlic bread...:) But overall we are trying to be more conscientious about what we eat...and more importantly what eating habits we pass on to our kids.

Now don't get me wrong...I just made an incredibly delicious and not at all healthy chocolate ice cream cake for Tien's birthday...but that is the exception NOT the rule. My problem is that over the last 9 months I started thinking "well I juice so its ok to eat 3 doughnuts today...or half a bucket of ice cream...or an entire bucket of Costco chocolate covered toffee in 48 hours...yes all of those things actually happened all to regularly. I have to stop eating the sugar and still eat the healthy.  I am SO ADDICTED TO SUGAR. I dream about it when I am not eating it. I think about it all day. This is very hard for me.

For this contest I am trying out the Body for Life program in which you eat super healthy for 6 days a week with one "cheat" day where you eat what you want...I am super looking forward to my cheat day this week!!! I feel my sugar cravings all day long. It isn't easy...but it is worth it.

If anyone is interested you can pick up the Body for Life book at any Library I am sure. Or check out bodyforlife.com. It has some pretty motivating before and after shots.

Anyway I just wanted to share. If you are needing some extra motivation check out "Fat Sick and Nearly Dead" pretty sure its on Netflix or you can probably find it for free on the internet. it is very very motivational. I think I need to watch it again.