I have to admit, lately I’ve not been as focused on my good eating habits and workout regimen as I had hoped to be.
A bag of pretzel or coconut M&M’s here….
A Monday evening glass (or two) of wine during “The Bachelorette” there…
A trip to Red Robin for Elliott’s graduation…
Too many Tootsie Rolls…
But, as of today, Monday, June 14th, 2010, I am going to “turn over a new leaf”, start with a clean slate, whatever….
I’m returning to the Weight Watchers point system and I am going to have you all be my witnesses and hold me accountable.
Each day, at the bottom of my regular post, I’ll include a brief summary of the foods I consumed and the point value assigned to them along with what I did exercise-wise. I know this may sound boring, but it will help me stay on track so I won’t be tempted as much because I am a TERRIBLE liar and so I will not sit here and say that I ate a rice cake when I really ate a double Whopper.
What I post that I ate, I ate.
I will also mention that in the interest of “all things in moderation” I will tend to splurge on the weekends. So when you see some good stuff on Saturday & Sunday, don’t think that I am slippin’….it’s just that I refuse to go through life saying that I will never eat another cheeseburger or ice cream cone or drink another margarita. That’s just not me, BUT I can eat clean and put in extra time at the gym or run during the week, but “enjoy life” a little during the weekends. I’ve done it before and I can do it again.
According to WW, I should consume 26 points per day. I am going to stick to 25 for now and then revisit in a month or so.
With that said, I am looking forward to my oatmeal and 1/2 banana this morning along with my coffee with MEASURED Coffee-mate!
Thanks for helping me get in shape for the Las Vegas Rock N Roll Half Marathon in early December.
I promise there will still be fun posts and still some yummy recipes, though!
So, please…..if you visit flipflopfollies.com for the food, please be assured that I will still be baking and cooking and grilling! I may just have to learn how to make all sorts of awesome goodies to share with you all and NOT touch them myself!
I first had Pineapple Fried Rice at Thai Basil in downtown Sunnyvale.
Um, WOW! I’m normally a spicy yellow curry and pad thai girl, but this rice would change that. It’s different than your standard Chinese fried rice dish which I don’t even order.
We had some leftover rice and Korean BBQ beef (bulgogi) and decided to try our hand at making some of our own pineapple fried rice. First of all, if you haven’t tried bulgogi, don’t let the name scare you…it’s delish. I know Costco has had it in the past and Trader Joe’s now carries it right next to the marinated carne asada in the refrigerated section.
We loosely followed this recipe. We added the chopped beef, but this would also be excellent with some shrimp, chicken or some leftover pork chops, too. We used soy sauce in place of the fish sauce and bumped up the curry powder a skosh.
Garnished with green onion and cilantro confetti…
Oh man was it good….I felt like I was back at Thai Basil or Siam Thai in Morgan Hill.
I love when we’re able to create restaurant quality food at home!
So please, take your plain, leftover, don’t-know-what-to-do-with steamed white rice and make this. It’s sweet from the pineapple and raisins, spicy from the chili and crunchy & salty from the cashews!
It’s toasty today…we were wimps and stayed inside this afternoon.
Jay had to go into the office for a bit so while the kiddos stamped and crayoned some birthday cards for “Baby Ryan”, I tested a marshmallow on a stick idea and bling’d my first pair of Havaianas.
*****
I unfortunately discovered Kraft “Toasted Coconut” marshmallows at Super Wal-mart.
They do not carry them at the regular Wal-mart, Target, or any grocery stores (that I’ve seen) ~ just Super Wal-mart. Weird.
Anyhoo, you know me and coconut. There they were, in the cart with the rest of the stuff.
I wanted to sort of recreate the Samoas (Caramel Delights) Girl Scouts cookies.
I just cut some lollipop sticks in half, stuck them about halfway into the marshmallows, twirled the ‘mallows around in some caramel topping (just the kind from a jar that you would use on ice cream. no need to heat), put them in the freezer for about an hour (preferably on some wax paper), microwave some Wilton chocolates or chocolate chips (50% power for a minute) and stir until smooth. Remove marshmallows from freezer and twirl them around in the chocolate. Place back in freezer for 10 minutes or so to set up.
Share them with friends so you won’t eat them all.
We’re taking them down to Ryan’s 1st Birthday celebration…”Happy Day, Sweet Ryan!”
In just 9 days Elliott will “graduate” from preschool.
Onto bigger and better things…
Kindergarten.
What a special day that will be.
Carrying her new fancy polka dot lunch bag probably containing a little first-day-of-school surprise from Mama.
Dressed in some new school duds.
And new shoes on her little size 11 tootsies.
{Tear.}
They had cap and gown pics taken at school:
The first of many graduations to come in her life…
*****
I’ve been blogging for exactly 7 months today.
What I love about blogging is that I have “met” some other Blogger Mamas who are super duper creative, fabulous in the kitchen and party planning fanatics ~ one of them being Erin over at Bringing Up Burns!
I am excited and honored to have contributed a recipe for Espresso Cupcakes on her foodie blog, Haute Plates today!
Please click over and check out her oodles of tried and true eats! There is everything from A-V (appetizers to vegan!). I have tried a few of her recipes and can’t wait to sample a few more. They’re absolutely delish. I love that, in Blog Land, you never have to worry about eating the same thing twice if you don’t want to. There are tons of easy, family oriented ideas for cooking, baking, crafts, gift ideas, home decor, etc. out there so when you have a minute check out some of my favorites on the right side bar. They will suck you in and you will be forever inspired!
Thanks again, Erin! Hoping to meet you IRL real soon!
Today we ventured to the pool. For me, Memorial Day should include some pool or beach time.
It felt great to be out under the cloudless blue, getting some real color for the first time in months. A rainbow of flip flops lining the edge of the pool and at the sides of lounge chairs. The sound of little ones squealing and splashing. Mommies and Daddies getting caught up with their friends while keeping one eye on their little swimmers. Plastic tumblers holding “prohibited” beverages. Orange stained Dorito fingers and towels showing the same. Grilled hot dogs & cheeseburgers, macaroni & potato salads, chips & dips and brownies & cupcakes!
Dive sticks. Boogie boards. Floaties. Goggles. Wet towels piled up on the warm cement. Funny tan lines already emerging and peeling crying kids away from the water promising them another trip to the pool SOON.
Kids that fall asleep on the 3-minute car ride home and still look like this after 2 hours:
And little newly turned 5-year olds that say, “I had SO much fun!”
Now, that’s a good day.
*****
This 3-day weekend was also full of all sorts of summer fare.
I don’t normally get excited about coleslaw, but this stuff is GOOD. Thanks to Hollie for planting the seed by mentioning this to me a few weeks ago!
Note: I only used 1/2 cup mayo as the bag of angel hair cabbage mix was only 10 oz. (and well, because frankly NOTHING should contain 1 cup of mayo). I also used Craisins in place of the grapes and they worked well with the blue. If you need a slaw recipe for your summer, you’ve got to check this one out.
We used some of the BBQ pork and baked beans for some Southern Skillet Nachos on the grill. I layered chips, chopped pork, baked beans and cheese in a cast iron skilled and Jay put it on the grill for about 10 minutes (until the cheese melted).
Time was running out so I just went to Trader Joe’s and picked up some of theirs. It was very lean and super flavorful. We grilled some onions and peppers and made some mini burritos:
We finally added a Cuisinart ice cream maker to the family.
