35 Down

I made it to 35 lost on Tuesday. 30 to 35 was a tough stretch. It was really hard to keep the faith and believe that I would lose weight if I just kept doing what I've been doing or doing more. I knew this mini-plateau was coming.. it's that time when your body goes... WHOA. What the hell is going on? 

I've done a lot of reading about this. There is something that I call the magical number. This number is calculated using a few different facts about me... body fat %, height, basal metabolic rate, TDEE (energy I would I burn if I just sat on the couch all day). The number returned is the number of calories I would have to eat +1 in order to truly gain any weight. Your body goes up and down all the time with water fluctuations. But to truly GAIN weight I would have to eat the magical number +1. Give or take a few calories, of course.  So when I'm going through the plateau and the number on the scale is higher some days or flat other days, I know that if I didn't eat above the magical number then I'm totally fine. My body is just trying to put the brakes on the weight loss. As long as I'm doing what I've been doing, I'll get over the mini-plateau and continue. At the very least.. this is what I keep telling myself in order to keep the faith. :P I think I see some difference below.

Or even better...

Kitchen Adventures: Beef Chimichurri

Note to self... Red Chilies can be HOT.

Ingredients: Baby New Potatoes, Lemon, Dill, Garlic, Green Onions, Dried Oregano, Red Chili, Cilantro, Red Wine Vinegar, Sirloin Steaks, Olive Oil, Romaine, Cherry Tomatoes, Mint, Peas, Balsamic Vinegar, Parmesan Cheese

For this recipe we found some new red chilies. These ones were definitely hotter than the first batch we purchased. Not knowing this... I threw in another chili in attempt to make the chimichurri sauces more spicy. A little big mistake. :P The dish was still good but oh so hot. It wasn't that adventurous though... steak and potatoes really... but at 613 calories it made a really good dinner.

Coop Scoop: He's Glad You Came

I swear this kid needs to get in some dance classes. You can teach rhythm... but you can't teach TRUE rhythm. At his age, he can hear the music and replicate its beat easily. Plus he's super cute so it's great package. :P

Two Weeks!

Today marks two weeks until our vacation.. or 8 working days! :) We have a holiday on Monday and then we leave on the following Wednesday. :D

Kitchen Adventures: Chili Con Carne Meatballs

I was intrigued by the name of this dish and it didn't disappoint.

Ingredients: Bulgar Wheat, Preserved Lemon, Cinnamon Stick, Hamburger, Garam Masala, Olive Oil, Jarred Red Peppers, Green Onions, Smoked Paprika, Passata, Cilantro, Red Kidney Beans, Cumin Seeds, Fat Free Yogurt, Red Chilies

For Ian, this was a stretch of his taste buds because of the red kidney beans. It was a stretch for me because I had never tried bulgar wheat before. It was spicy, filling and yummy. The fat free yogurt was definitely needed to tone down the heat of the charred red chilies. The bulgar wheat was different... kind of like couscous. It was flavored with the preserved lemon and cinnamon stick. A serving of 4 meatballs, sauce and bulgar wheat is 437 calories. :)

And Now I Want A Porcupine

Snow Day In May

:|

Front Yard:

Back Yard:

Kitchen Adventures: Crispy Polenta Chicken Caesar Salad

Polenta is just cornmeal. It comes dry, usually found on the underside of pizza, or cooked, and packaged as a big yellow tube. That sentence probably has too many commas in it. :P

Ingredients: Chicken Breasts, Sweet Paprika, Polenta (dry), Olive Oil, Ciabatta, Garlic, Endive, Pancetta, Romaine Lettuce, Cherry Tomatoes, Jarred Red Peppers, Balsamic Vinegar, Lemons, Parmesan Cheese, Anchovies, Fat Free Yogurt, Worcestershire Sauce, Red Wine Vinegar, English Mustard, Basil

The picture below will not do the salad justice.. this is a seriously delicious meal. The dressing is lemon juice, anchovies, yogurt, Worcestershire sauce, red wine vinegar, mustard, parmesan cheese and basil. Heavenly. The endive is charred and it makes a huge difference. The ciabatta is charred and rubbed with a piece of garlic and it makes a huge difference. All the little touches that are in the recipe make a HUGE difference. The surprising ingredient was the cherry tomatoes. They worked so well with the dressing. One serving is 476 calories... I probably had 2 servings. :)

Pretty Landscaping Takes Hard Work

Last weekend, we went to Dirt Cheap, a local landscape material depot to pick up some mulch and lawn top dressing. This was the first time laying down mulch since we had the landscaping done. The 14 bags we purchased was just a guess. We ended up making another trip for 8 more bags. Sunday was spent getting extremely dirty, sun burnt and exhausted. But the landscaping looks fantastic. It took 8 hours to spread out 22.5 bags of mulch across all of the garden beds, all of the lawn top dressing and a bag of seed. 

Since the weather has turned, we were able to put out the patio furniture cushions. 

The backyard lawn is looking so good.

I really wish the Shademaster Locust Tree would realize it's spring already...

The maple trees on the side yard have started to come back.

Looking back at the patio... I love how the garden beds look with the fresh black mulch. Thankfully we only have to do this once a year. :)

Pardon Our Dust

I went a little retro with the new theme. I am sure most of you will hate it because you don't like change. :P