Agave

Agave is my secret to the best smoothies. I had heard about it awhile ago and bought some but didn't know what to do with it. So the other day I was trying to figure out how to get my 3 yr old to drink my smoothies. She likes it when I put a lot of honey in but I don't like the taste of honey plus I don't like adding sugar to my smoothie. I put about 1-2 tea agave nectar in my smoothie and I could not believe the difference. It made my smoothie taste like a jamba juice. It just brings a sweetness to the fruit and you couldn't taste the cottage cheese at all. It's the best find.

Agave nectar comes from the agave plant. It comes in a liquid form. I think I found it in the syrup section in winco...don't quote me... it is low on the glycemic index and doesn't spike you blood sugar level and provides sustained energy ( can you tell I am copying the bottle?) You'll never crave a sugary jamba juice again here is my favorite smootie of the day

1 banana
1/2 c cottage cheese (costco)
1 strawberry non fat lite yogurt (costco)
1 orange (costco has these good blood oranges in a bag this week. I loved it)
2 cups frozen berries (costco)
1-2 tea agave nectar

blend until cottage cheese is totally smooth and un-noticeable. After you try it leave me a comment I want to know what you think.

p.s. I'm down another pound!

Weigh in

Weigh in day and I'm 202! It's too bad my efforts were wasted losing the 2-3 lbs I gained. But at least I am down a pound... Last night I made tacos. I used ground 2lbs ground turkey (we were feeding missionaries) 2 packets of taco seasoning and a chopped onion. I then had tomatos, cilantro, avocado and pepper jack cheese to put on top of you taco. Instead of tortilla for me I put everything on 2 cups of lettuce. So yummy!

Pavlova

I have the best dessert recipe. I went to my friend Kasey's for dinner and she made this thing called Pavlova (which we renamed fart-lova) It is so yummy and it starts off with only 110 calories. I say starts off because you can make it as fattening as you want by adding whipped cream and fresh fruit. Kasey had strawberries and kiwis and it was so good. You can use fat free cool whip to lighten it up.

4 egg whites at room temperature
1/8 tea cream of tartar
1 cup sugar
1 1/2 tea cornstarch
1/2 tea vanilla
1 tbs rasberry vinegar or redwine vinegar

beat egg whites, cream of tartar until frothy and add sugar, cornstarch, vinegar and vanilla. Beat until stiff and smooth about 8 min. You can either make one big crust using a 9' dish or I made 8 individual bowl shapes by dropping egg whites onto a greased cookie sheet. Bake for 10 min in a 350 degree oven and drop temp to 300 degrees and let bake for 30 min. Turn off oven and open the door to let the meringues cool. Serve with fresh fruit and whip cream!

Beef Stew

Soooo I have to confess something....I gained 2 lbs! I have been eating sooo bad. I had pizza twice this week and my sister made fried angel wings...BUT I am back going strong. I walked to hollywood video from my house which is about 4.5 miles. I have tried to run 2 days in a row but I think i am too fat to run because my shin splints are KILLING me. So I have walked 4-5 miles for 3 days in a row. I am secretly in a competition to lose weight but the other person doesn't know we are competing. She'll find out when I look really hot! So it's really cold outside and feels like a beef stew day

1 Onion
1lb top round steak cut into cubes
2 1/2 c reduced sodium beef broth
4 potatos
1 lb baby carrots
1 can tomato soup + 1 can water
2tbs tapioca
2 tbs lemon pepper

throw in a crock pot and cook for 7 hrs

The Whole Enchilada Soup

A friend of mine sent this recipe to me. I'm excited to try it tomorrow

The Whole Enchilada Chicken SoupPER SERVING (1 cup): 105 calories, 1.75g fat, 641mg sodium, 12.5g carbs, 2g fiber, 4g sugars, 11g protein -- POINTS® value 2

!Ingredients:
3 cups fat-free chicken broth
1 1/4 cups finely chopped celery
1/2 cup diced sweet yellow onion
3 cups green enchilada sauce
One 15-oz. can pure pumpkin
10 oz. cooked boneless skinless lean chicken breast, chopped or shredded
1 cup frozen white (or yellow) corn
Optional: dash hot sauce, or more to taste

Optional toppings: shredded fat-free cheddar cheese, crushed baked tortilla chips

Directions:In a large pot, bring broth to a low boil on the stove. Add celery and onion, and simmer for about 5 minutes, until slightly tender.Stir in enchilada sauce and pumpkin. Once soup returns to a low boil, add chicken and corn, and mix well. Cook for an additional 3 - 5 minutes, until soup is heated throughout.Add a dash or more hot sauce. (Or not. It's your soup.) Serve and, if you like, top with shredded cheese and/or crushed chips.Enjoy!!!
MAKES 9 SERVINGS

Weigh-in day was yesterday and I forgot...I weigh 203. I'm surprised that I didn't gain 10lbs from my birthday weekend. Friday I went to Cajun food and ate donuts basically and fried food for lunch. Then I went to the cheesecake factory and had a salad and cheesecake. I ate pineapple upside down cake and waffles on saturday and sunday turkey dinner with cannied yams and still more cake and ice cream! Imagine I could be under 200 if I hadn't eaten so terrible. But here's the good news. Before I would've let that horrible couple days destroy me. I would tell myself that I'm a failure and why try anymore. I've learned that 1 or 2...or 3 bad days don't get to determine the outcome of my life. So what I enjoyed myself for my birthday I picked myself up on monday and began again and I am still down 1lb. I was 204 last wednesday. I didn't have a computer to blog my weigh-in

ps I have always wondered why I weigh more after I exercise really hard the day before. I would get so frustrated feeling like the scale should go down not up. I just learned from Dr. Oz that it's because your muscles swell and hold fluid in them. Good to know!

Chicken Fajitas

So I ran 1.3 miles yesterday!! I just might be able to run that 5k after all. I still have 2 1/2 months to train. I'm so proud of myself because litteraly the most I could run was 1/4 of a mile and I would stop. I've been eating terrible all day today. I'm craving sugar so bad. yesterday I made chicken fajitas and they were yummy. I like to skip the tortilla and eat mine in a bowl with some chopped lettuce. In a skillet I put:

1 chopped onion
1 chopped bell pepper
4 cut up chicken breasts
mushrooms
6 stalks of asparagus
1 packet taco season

Toppings:

low-fat cheddar cheese
chopped tomatos
avocado w/ fresh lemon juice

Ok my computer is being fixed by my awesome brother in law and it won't be ready until Friday. So I'm not being flaky about blogging. Can I just say thanks to everyone that added themselves as a follower of my blog. It gives me encouragement to keep going.

I ran a mile today!!!!! I can't believe it. I was dying but I ran and I even pushed 2 kids in a stroller while I did it. I am so proud of myself because I could barely run 1/2 mile without stopping. I then walked the remaining 3.2 miles and it had a HUGE hill! Let me tell you it was hard to push a stroller up it but I did it!