Greek Food, Confessions, and Celebrations!!!

Well, it's been a while since I've blogged.  Life is keeping me super busy and by the time I get home at night, I have slim to no brain power left...hence no blogging.  I sorry...  :-(


BUT...This one is full of different stuff, hence the title!!  :-)


First things first...new recipe!  Greek style!  I LOVE love love Greek food.  I found this McCormick brand recipe in a magazine a few weeks ago and have been meaning to try it, but just got around to making it today.  It's really easy and pretty quick too. 


Ingredients:
1lb extra lean ground beef (I use 93/7, but you can use which ever ratio floats your beef boat!)
1/2 cup chopped onion (I like onion, so I used one whole cup)
2 tsp. oregano leaves (I used only 1tsp--I'll explain why in a second)
1tsp ground cinnamon (1/2 tsp would've been plenty, I think)
1tsp garlic powder
1 can (14.5oz) reduced sodium beef broth
1 can (14.5oz) diced tomatoes, undrained (I bought Italian style with oregano & basil which is why I only used 1tsp of dried oregano leaves)
2 tbsp tomato paste
1 1/2 cups UNCOOKED whole grain penne pasta
1 1/2 cups of frozen chopped spinach, thawed (I used 4-5 cups of fresh baby spinach)
3/4 cup crumpled feta cheese

Directions:
Spray pan with cooking spray and preheat over medium heat.  Chop onion.  Cook onion alone for just a couple of minutes to get it just softened. 

Add ground beef.  Cook until meat is done.  Drain excess fat.

  Add oregano, cinnamon, and garlic powder.  Mix well and cook for a couple of minutes.

Stir in broth, tomatoes and tomato paste.

Bring to a boil.  Stir in the uncooked penne pasta.

Reduce heat, cover and cook for 7 minutes.  Stir in spinach and feta cheese.

Cook about 2 more minutes and then turn the heat off and cover the dish.  Allow to stand about five minutes so the carry over cooking will finish the pasta. 

Serve in whichever way works for you and your family~!!  Since I am single, I divide all of my big dishes into 1 cup containers and pop them in the freezer or refrigerator.

Verdict:  Its good and it has pretty great stats, but I would use just 1/2 tsp of cinnamon next time.  Just a personal preference of taste.


Okay, moving on.  I need to confess something.  I have been messing up lately.  Remember that slippery slope I talked about before?  I managed to find my way back to it last week.  It started when I went to breakfast at McDonalds with a friend.  I could have made a better choice, but I decided to get the chicken biscuit combo.  :-(  Shame on me.  Then, before I knew it I was stopping for fast food just about daily.  I was eating a bunch of junk too.  Chips, candy, and snack cakes.  Clearly, not the greatest choices.  HOWEVER.  Today is a new day and I am not going to beat myself up about it.  I am back to eating healthy and making good choices.  I am struggling to get in enough calories today (and I was having the same issue before I went on a junk food binge), but I know I have to listen to my own advice and take it one bite and one choice at a time.  Obesity is going to be a life long battle for me and I REFUSE to let it beat me anymore. 


Moving on again... to something totally awesome and exciting~~!!!

Guess what I did this past Friday?  I took the Zumba Basics Level 1 training class and I got my license to teach classes!!! 

Yippppppiiiiie!  I absolutely LOVE Zumba and can't wait to start teaching my own classes.  I still have lots of work to do before I get my own classes up and running, but I am working on it!  I am so grateful to have made so many new friends in the Indy Zumba community!  It still seems surreal to me that I am a LICENSED FITNESS INSTRUCTOR...!!!  What, who?  Me?  Really?  Who'da ever thunk it?  Definitely, not me!  But, I am so happy about it and looking forward to what Zumba is going to bring to my life!!

Live, Love, ZUMBA~!!!!!

Till next time....

Lots of Love,

Autumn

Me, a runner....?

No, I am not, but I am trying to be!!!

I have started the Couch to 5K running program...see this link...

http://www.coolrunning.com/engine/2/2_3/index.shtml

I learned about the program from Michelle over at http://www.sangriasisters.com/

She is one awesome chick! 

So far, I am loving the running plan.  The first week has been relatively easy for me, I think because my trainer used to have me do that same thing...running in intervals.  It consisted of three 20 minute walk/runs (walk for 90 seconds, run 60; alternating for a total of 20 minutes).  This week is the second week...Let's see how that goes.  Running does something for my stress that I just love.  It can be hard to get through sometimes, mentally....but I do alright.  I am no where near being ready for any type of long distance running, but someday...I will be!

Anyhoo...

Today is my official weigh in day.  I have to admit, I have had some bumps in the road over the past month. Chocolate is my drug of choice...and well I need rehab.  I did not over do it, but I did have a gigantic chocolate cupcake on my birthday...and little pieces here and there.  I have managed to stay under calorie goal every day except for one...and actually most days I am TOO far under.  I need to be getting about 2030 a day, but I usually am between 1500 and 1700.  Sigh.  Even at two years out, I have those days where I just want to eat all the time and I have those days where I couldn't care less about eating...Lately...its been the latter.  I have been having to force myself to get the calories up there and I am still coming short.  Egh, it happens...this is a process!

So...for the results...I am a bit disappointed in this, but I am accepting it!  I know that my weight loss is going to be extremely slow now and I am okay with that...So long as its still loss and not gain!  

For my official monthly weigh in this morning... I woke up and weighed myself first thing, after my morning pee, having consumed nothing since dinner the previous night, butt naked (except for socks!) and....drum roll please....

231lbs!  That means 2lbs lost since my weigh in in January and a grand total of 181bs lost since April of 2009!!!  Still want to lose another 50lbs and I think I will be satisfied!  We shall see...

Alright, ya'll...I hate to be so short, but I gotta get going. 

Till next time....
Lots of love,

Autumn