A Few Simple Meals and Grilled Zucchini

Strict eating for us = not so interesting blog material for you! But I figured you might actually benefit from seeing how we eat when we are being really strict and trying to actually lose weight instead of just maintain. So today I thought I would share a few of the meals we ate last week and the grilled zucchini marinade that made my farmer's market zucchini oh so delicious.

One benefit to cooking this way is that it is fast. I don't need any recipes so I am not slowed down by looking back and forth at measurements and ingredients. It also takes the brain damage out of figuring out what is for dinner every night and means I don't usually need to go to the store for that one ingredient I am missing.

So without further rambling, here you go................

Salad with kale, romaine, red cabbage, and a little Parmesan. 

Zucchini sauteed in balsamic and olive oil with some Greek seasoning.

And yes I choked down some fish. It was tilapia and it came in a parchment cooking bag which was very convenient but it was just okay tasting. 

Fresh green beans steamed in some Earth Balance and pepper.

A Greek salad because that is my favorite.

And some Greek chicken that I cooked in water then drained. Then I added some tahini, a can of fire roasted tomatoes that I drained first, red onions, and Greek olives.

It was better than the fish for sure.

Grilled zucchini of course!

Turkey burgers with no bun because I really prefer it that way. I served them on a bed of lettuce and topped them with tomato, red onion, and some delicious guacamole.

And a few Trader Joe's veggie and flax seed chips. The chips were a bit of a splurge since we have been avoiding those kinds of things but since they are made from veggies we ate a few and I do mean just a few!

Look for this bag if you want to try these and are fortunate enough to live close to a Trader Joe's store. The colors are pretty too.

I scored this bad boy at the farmer's market last Saturday. They suggested I make bread with it but I had no intentions of doing that!

I chopped it up into fairly thick slices.

Then made an easy marinade. You will need about 1 cup of marinade.

I was just going to use this balsamic dressing but I didn't have enough so I added enough balsamic and olive oil to get  to my full cup.

Then I also added about a teaspoon of the garlic and herb seasoning but that wasn't enough flavor so I added a bit more basil and garlic powder too.

Put that all in a Ziploc bag and marinated them for about an hour.

This is my absolute favorite way to eat zucchini. Those grill marks are so pretty on there and the flavor was incredible! Give it try!

So the moral of the strict eating story is that we have lots of vegetables!!!!!!! Usually I serve salad and another vegetable. We eat a lean protein alongside all those veggies and we skip the carbs and actually the fruit as well. We will add fruit back in this week. Giving up the fruit for a couple weeks helps you get over your sugar addiction and helps you crave sweets less. I could care less about giving up bread, but I do miss the fruit so this week fruit will be our dessert. Except for Wednesday night when we will indulge in cake pops! Our dear friends from small group are moving to Colorado in a couple weeks and we will be having our last get together with them Wednesday evening. It is very sad and they will be missed terribly. So we must have a little celebration time with them. Cake pops are so good I might be able to convince them to stay if I promised to make them a batch every month for the next year!

Stay tuned faithful readers. I have been a little more creative. I made some egg cups in the oven this morning that were delicious and last night I made some cheesecake tartlets from the clean eating website for a dinner we were invited too.

Enjoy your Saturday!

What We Like to Drink

As promised I am now ready to write about what we like to drink around here. This is probably long overdue anyway. Let me start by saying that I hate to drink my calories! I am not an avid calorie counter per say, but I am vaguely aware of it during the day because losing and maintaining weight is really a numbers game after all, and if I am going to have the calories they aren't going to come from a drink. Those kinds of calories just aren't very satisfying.

So let's begin with the most obvious zero calorie thing we like to drink.......

And that would be water of course! You have already heard me talk about getting yourself one of these cups with a straw. Remember there have been studies done proving that people drink more when they are sipping it through a straw. I also love to put a few lemon slices in my cup some days.

Water can get really boring though and sometimes we need a little flavor. I LOVE all these SOBE lifewaters and I love that they are sweetened with Pure Via rather than aspartame, which we really try to avoid. The fuji apple pear is the first one I ever tried and it is still my very favorite but I really haven't met a flavor I haven't liked and there are tons of them. Not all SOBE is created equal however so be careful not to accidentally grab the ones with calories. They also now have some coconut waters that are delicious. They are less calories but not zero.

Sometimes when water is boring, and you just aren't in the mood for SOBE these come in handy because they have carbonation!!!!! They are sweetened with sucralose which is basically Splenda so still calorie free but not all natural. I love all the flavors these come in as well, which is about 7 currently, but the new coconut pineapple is the clear winner for me. I am totally planning to shave some ice with my ancient Pampered Chef Ice Shaver that has been stuck in a box forever and pour that coconut yum over it. I will let you know how that turns out.

But then you know sometimes you just NEED some regular old pop. Like when eating pizza. Pizza and pop must go together always. Blue Sky is our favorite zero calorie pop and everyone in this house loves them. We have also tried Hansen's Diet Pops but we much prefer the taste of Blue Sky. The calorie free ones come in Cola, Root Beer, Jamaican Ginger ale, and the best Cherry Vanilla Cream that I would also like to turn into some kind of dessert. For the record we do still enjoy other pops occasionally that have aspartame. Call me crazy but I guess I would still rather drink the aspartame then the calories when I am at a restaurant or splurging and in that case I prefer Pepsi Max. I don't know what is wrong with me. Also, it is POP!

It is not soda and it is not coke and that is the law.

Sometimes I have a little more time on my hands and I like to make something refreshing like homemade lemonade. I am not an iced tea drinker so this is what I like to make instead. I have several versions that I have played around with. This one is lemon-lime with a hint of mint. The lemonade is not completely calorie free however.

It is pretty simple to make. I used 5 lemons and 5 limes but my lemons were rather large this time so if yours are small you might need a few more.

Stevia was my sweetener of choice. I used 1/2 cup.

Just a hint--Dissolve that 1/2 cup Stevia in very hot water in your pitcher first.

Then I also used about 1/2 cup agave nectar thus making it a drink with calories. Bummer. But still less than store bought lemonades with lots of nasty extra ingredients. The juice of the lemons and limes does add a few calories as well but not much.

Then add the juice you squeezed to your pitcher and enough cold water to make 2 quarts. Give it a taste and add more water if it is too tart for you or you can add a bit more Stevia or agave if you need it a bit sweeter.

I also like to add a few mint leaves to mine. It gives just a little something extra! I put several in the big pot and let them sit there for a while and then I also like to add a few fresh ones to my cup when I am ready to enjoy a glass.

But.......Blueberry lemonade is the bomb! Skip the limes and use all lemons and then puree 1 cup frozen blueberries in a blender with some water for a few minutes. You won't get all the pieces to break up completely but that is okay. Pour that into your pitcher of dissolved Stevia and fresh squeezed juice along with enough water to make 2 quarts. I promise you will totally fall in love!

The kids. You know we have a couple around here. I let them drink all the same things we drink, but I also keep these small water bottles in the door of my fridge. They grab these things all day long. It gets a bit annoying because I find them all over and some are have drunk, but at least they are drinking them. We wash the bottles and refill them and keep them handy. I SWEAR there is something to the little bottle. It is less daunting to finish these little bottles then to drink the big 8 ounce ones. Besides how many times have you picked up half drunk water bottles that adults have left?

I also like to keep these Capri Sun flavored waters for my kids. I have never been a juice parent. My kids never walked around with a sippy cup of juice. I guess I just heard about the risk of rotting teeth with apple juice and it freaked me out so I never did it. I also never buy the regular Capri Suns because there is too much sugar in them. But these are perfect and my kids have never complained that they have tasted the real thing and it is better. We have a small dorm room kind of fridge in the garage that we keep these in so they are cold and handy for the kids.

So there you have it! That is basically what we drink on a regular basis except of course for the coffee we both enjoy every morning. Me, usually one cup. Miles usually the rest of the pot. He has problems. I've gave up a long time ago trying to get him to drink less. And just in case you were wondering about tea I am working on enjoying it more because it has health benefits, but I am not in love with tea. I am from Washington state.

I must remain loyal to Starbucks.

Homemade Lemonade

10 lemons, juiced

1/2 cup Stevia, dissolved in hot water

1/2 cup agave or honey

water

mint leaves optional

Juice all lemons. Dissolve Stevia in about 1/2 cup very hot water. Add the fresh lemon juice to the Stevia in a pitcher. Add agave nectar. Add enough cold water to make 2 quarts of lemonade. Stir and enjoy over ice.

Optional:

Add a few mint leaves for a different and fun flavor

To make lemon/limeade use 5 lemons and 5 limes.

To make blueberry (or other berry flavored lemonade) puree 1 cup frozen berries with about 1/2 cup water in a blender and add to the lemonade.



Vacation and Granola Bars

Well hello everyone. Long time no blogging! I had good intentions of doing some cooking with my sister while I was home to Spokane but that didn't happen. I also had good intentions of blogging about that cooking while I was there in her beautiful and gigantic kitchen that should belong to me and not her (just checking to see if she is reading) but of course that didn't happen either. I did however make some granola bars right before we left which I was very thankful to have in the car to snack on for a 20 hour drive! I was just going to take along the homemade granola from the previous post but a couple of you asked how you could turn that into a granola bar so I gave it a whirl for you. But first some vacation photos..........

For those of you who don't know I am from Spokane Washington and I will ALWAYS claim it as home! We usually go home every summer and do all the things you never do while you live there. Like go and enjoy downtown. I love the clock tower at Riverfront park almost as much as I love the view as you come down the hill driving east and the whole downtown comes into view!

You know this one! I miss those mountains so much! I wish you could see it in person because it is very picturesque.

We also went to visit the small local zoo called Cat Tales. It is really about tigers, and cheetahs, and a baby lion cub, and other cats but they also have a bear and Evan got to feed it some watermelon. Evan redeemed himself from our trip to the Seattle Zoo when his two year old sister hand fed a giraffe and he was too scared to do it. Don't tell my pre-teen boy I told you that though! I'll be in big trouble.

It was so cool when he fed him from the top hole and the bear stood up with his paws on the wall. Incredible to be this close!

Faith really enjoyed all the statues much more than the real animals which is strange since she stalked my sisters cats all week long trying to hold them like babies. I am sure the cats were super happy when we left.

My niece Shelby got to feed the GIANT tiger! Very unlike the bear he was super lazy and didn't even want to come over and eat for a while but they some how coaxed him.

The animals are amazing and majestic. Plus it just isn't something you see up close and personal everyday. God the creator never ceases to amaze me.

My favorite was this little lion cub however. He was playful and fun and his toys were cardboard boxes. The zoo keepers said he is a lot of work though. He needs a baby sitter in his cage with him all the time. He is probably the equivalent of a two year old.

We also made a trip up north almost to the Canadian border to visit Gardner Cave. Here we are about to descend into the earth. I must admit that it freaks me out a bit.

It was only 39 degrees in the cave and there was water dripping all over because of the amount of rain the state has received. I did want to go, but I kept thinking the whole time I was down there about miners and how they feel and how horrible it has to be for them if they ever become trapped underground.

It was very educational and very interesting. You are not allowed to touch anything in the cave. The oils on your hands make the stalagmites and stalactites turn black. The guide showed us where someone had touched this piece a couple years ago and said it would take years for those marks to go away.

The other cool thing about going up to the cave was that we got to walk the trail to Canada. It is just a short 1/2 mile hike and you are on the border.

But you can't be too adventurous or you might end up in big trouble!

I wish you could see it better in this picture but the line behind Evan's head is the border. The trees are cleared all the way along the United States and Canadian border from East to West like that. My kids are standing in two places at once! Very cool claim to fame!

We spent the fourth of July in downtown Spokane enjoying the rides, the park, the food, the IMAX theater, some mini golf, the big red wagon, some pony rides, some glow sticks, and of course some fireworks!

That is my dad and Evan on the Ferris wheel. Faith and I were in the cart below. Ferris wheels do not go fast. It takes way to long to load and unload those things when they are trying to balance the weight all out!

So we stuck to the faster rides after that. This is my sister and Faith on the Sizzler. Faith is a dare devil. The scarier the ride the better for her. The girl gets miserably car sick but when it comes to the rides she is a-okay. I don't know if she loves it so much she ignores the sickness or if it is just different. Fun to watch though!

Miles and the kids. We staked out our spot for the fireworks early! I must also mention that the weather was absolutely perfect that day. Sunny and 80 degrees with no humidity. Sorry to the Minnesota friends who had 100 degrees and about as much humidity. We even had to put on our sweatshirts and curl up under the blankets when the sun went down. We also went and hunted down some coffee because we needed to warm up a bit. Spokane let me count the reasons I love thee!!!!!

The fireworks did not disappoint!

My sister also forced me to be her photo shoot subject. She is an amazing photographer. She makes me look better than I am in real life. I think she gets tired of photographing kids and horses so she recruited me.

We decided there might be a little cowgirl in me after all. My sister is a horse person. She is a breeder actually. She owns lots of horses and most of the mamas had cute babies following them around. I am the complete opposite of my sister. I think the horses are beautiful but they tend to be a bit on the dirty and smelly side for me.

Plus she showed me picmonkey.com which lets you add all these fun borders and change up the effects of your pictures. It is super easy to navigate and upload a photo if you want to play around with it some time. Thanks to my niece Shelby for the loan of all her cool clothes. It is good to have a teenage niece. Too bad we don't live closer so I could borrow them more often!

We had a great time, but it is always good to be home too and to get back to a routine. Unfortunately that routine also included a very strict diet for the week and probably into next week as well. We basically pigged out on vacation so now we have to pay the price. That means I have cooked very simple meals and haven't had much to blog about but I will get back into a better routine with that soon too.

So even though  my last post was about granola all you get is granola bars now! But hey, they are pretty healthy and Miles devoured them and you could even get your kids to eat them too. They are pretty quick to make but do take a bit of time to cool.

Measure out your wet ingredients first so they are ready to dump in. I used honey, brown rice syrup, peanut butter, and vanilla.

You can play around with these ingredients to find your favorite combination but I used oats of course, pepitas, cranberries, raisins, unsweetened coconut flakes, sunflower seeds, chopped almonds, and chopped walnuts.

Give it a good stir.

Then mix in your wet ingredients and stir until it comes nicely together. If it is not sticking together well you may need to add a bit more syrup or peanut butter.

Press the mixture into a 9 x 9 pan or I used this one which is maybe 7 X 11.

Bake until golden brown on top which took me about 20 minutes. YOU MUST LET THEM COOL COMPLETELY!!!! If you do not they will just become a crumbly mess and it will be granola not granola bars.

They were soooooo delicious!

This recipe doesn't make a ton though so I think next time I might make a double batch so they last a little longer.

It was very handy to have on the second leg of our trip when the breakfast at the hotel didn't satisfy me enough.

There you have it. Easy peasy!

I promise to do more blogging.

There. I said it. So now I must do it.

It might be pretty simple but I will do it.

For example next up I am going to share some of our favorite drinks with you.

Thanks for sticking with my very long post full of pictures.

 Granola Bars

1/4 cup brown rice syrup (or maple)

1/4 cup honey or agave

1/2 cup all natural peanut butter

1/2 tsp. vanilla

1 1/4 cups old fashioned oats

1/4 cup cranberries

1/4 cup raisins

1/4 cup unsweetened coconut flakes

1/4 cup sunflower seeds

1/4 cup pepitas

1/4 cup chopped almonds

1/4 cup chopped walnuts

Directions: Mix wet ingredients together in a small bowl. Add all dry ingredients to a large bowl and mix well. Add wet to dry ingredients and mix thoroughly until it holds nicely together. It may be necessary to add more syrup or peanut butter at this point. Press mixture into a  9 X 9 pan or a 7 X 11. Bake at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes or until starting to brown on top. Let cool completely before slicing into desired size.