Cooking Dinner With Trader Joe!

The other day, I was wandering through Trader Joe's and you know how they always have some yummy little sample brewing in the back of the store? Well, it happened to be this panini thing that was obviously too high in carbs but I took one anyway. I opened the bread and realized that inside, was this awesome sausage, cheese and spread stuff. I thought about it and realized, that I could make like a sausage casserole at least that's what it looked like in my mind. I bought all  of the ingredients, excluding the bread it was made on. I did really want to have some kind of bread so, I set out to find an acceptable option and found one! Cheesy bread sticks that are only a 0/1...wowo!

Ingredients:

What I did:

Split the sausage and grilled on stove top grill pan few minutes on each side. Then, put them side by side in a Pyrex baking dish. I then lathered them with the pepper/eggplant spread and topped them with the cheese (half piece per sausage half). Baked at 400 degrees for 10 minutes. SO GOOD!

Then, I found these delicious bread sticks...

 Put them in the oven just to heat, made a nice little side salad.

It was a fabulous dinner and very low s/c value. Only 1 carb serving and maybe 2 sugars from peppers.

 WA LA!!!! 

COMMITMENT!

Surround yourself with the positive!

Excitement!

Just a quick note...


Back in my size 12 Levi's today...WOOOOOOOOOOO!!!


Have a great day!

Oh, the chaos of it all!

We had an eventful weekend. First, the cupcake episode and then the visit with the family!


Woke up on Sunday morning knowing it was "step on the scale" day. Dreading it after my indulgence the day before in that amazing cream cheese frosting...drool...oh wait, where was I? LOL! Anyway, I stepped on just sure that I would be up in the numbers and guess what? I was down 1.2 lbs from last week! 31.1 total lbs shed, woo hoo! Relieved, I decided to head into my day with a new found confidence. I now know that I can have a little treat every now and again and not beat myself to a pulp over screwing up. Whew...


The visit with the family is never short on chaos! With 4 children running around, 4 adults talking over them and a dog tripping all of us up, it is always a fun time! Oh, and then on top of all of that, we had torrential rains here in So Cal yesterday! Makes driving on the freeways, even better...NOT! :) 

Then, this morning, just as we thought we could take a breath and recover from our busy weekend, my husband so sweetly took our fur baby out for a walk and ended up stepping into a pile o' dog poo! He, not knowing he had stepped in it, proceeded to traipse through our whole house, up the stairs and through our bedroom. All I can say, is thank goodness for modern day cleaning apparatuses! Hahahaha...

I am thankful for the chaos, life would be so boring without it!


Here's hoping that everyone has an eventful week with a little chaos thrown in, just to keep it interesting.

I kissed a cupcake(OK,I ate it!) and... I LIKED IT!

I have to confess...


Today, I fell under the spell of a "Sprinkles" cupcake, I gave in and it tasted amazing! I didn't eat the whole thing but oh, I sure could have! In fact, in my "old days", I would have eaten 2!


I have a slight headache, I am on a sugar buzz and I can see and feel now what a drug sugar really is! As good as it tasted, I am paying for my indulgence. I am not going to beat myself up as I have been living and eating so cleanly the last 3 months. I am going to move on and forgive myself.


Tomorrow is a new day filled with peace, love and sugar free eating!

HOLY SHRIMP FAJITAS!

Tonight was shrimp fajita night and boy was it AMAZING!

We grilled some shrimp that had marinated in olive oil, a little lemon juice, garlic salt and course ground pepper on our stove top grill pan. Sauteed red peppers, green peppers and onion in the same mixture as the shrimp. Blistered some small Smart&Delicious tortillas, put it all together with Hubby's homemade guacamole , sour cream and then...went to shrimp heaven! SC 2/2 (if you have 2 fajitas) 

Not the greatest picture but oh how yummy this was!

Sunday, Sunday, Sunday...weigh in day!

Well, after the frustration of last weeks weigh in, I was less than thrilled to get back on that scale today. After procrastinating as long as possible (til I was so hungry that I had to) I finally did it and guess what? It was not at all as horrible as I expected in fact, I am down 1.6 lbs...woo!!!

So, now at the end of my 11th week of life change, I am down a total of 29.9 lbs! I feel fabulous and am more excited every day for what lies ahead.

I am so thankful for all of your amazing support! WOO HOO...BFC!!!

THIS...

X 30 = STOKED!!!

Sunday Morning Breakfast

Happy Sunday All!

Wanted to share my delicious Sunday morning creation, Open Faced Egg Sandwich Extraordinaire...do you like the name? Hahahaha!

It all began last night when I realized that I had some zucchini that had to be cooked or thrown out. I decided cooked and refrigerated was a good option so, I sauteed it in some butter, salt&pepper, dill and thinly sliced onion...yummy! So, this morning I decided that I wanted to use some of that and came up with my creation.

Ingredients:

Approximately 1/4 cup of the sauteed veggies, 1 egg, 1 slice of Trader Joe's Wheat Sourdough Bread and a small amount of  shredded Mozzarella cheese.

Heat veggies in a hot skillet, add egg and scramble together. Toast bread, place on plate and pile on egg and veggies sprinkle cheese on top and...

 Scrumptious, Sunday Open Faced Egg Sandwich Extraordinaire! SC Value 1/1
ENJOY!!!

It's been a busy week!

This has nothing to do with my "diet" but I wanted to explain why I have neglected my blog this week. I have been very busy creating (putting up according to instructions) an amazing vinyl mural masterpiece. The completion of it has given me a feeling of accomplishment much as my new life has been giving me. Maybe, I have found my artistic bone after all...???

The Beginning  

Progression 

The Completed Product

I just absolutely love it and I hope the sweet little girl who now has it in her bedroom, enjoys it for years to come!

Just a little reminder...

Chips and Guacamole...WHAT?!?

Today has been a rough one so, I needed some yummy comfort food for lunch. I am a chips and salsa/Guacamole kinda girl so, I came up with the following...

Yep, chips and Guacamole! "How?" you ask. Well this is how, I used 2 Extreme Wellness Tortilla Wraps (17g carb 0g sugar each) I cut them into chip shapes, put them on a baking sheet, brushed on some EVOO sprinkled with seasoning and baked in a 400 degree oven for about 10 minutes or until crisp. Guacamole is one half medium Avocado smashed with a splash or two of lime juice, jalapeno, seasoning and cilantro. YUMMY!!! The best part, 0/2...oh yeah!

OLE'!!!!

Dinner Tonight

Let me preface this by saying...YUMMO! 


My awesome husband came up with Bagel Thin Pizzas!


The ingredient list is:
Thomas Bagel Thins (Plain White) 24g carbs and 3g sugar for a whole thin (2 pizzas)! 3/2
Mozzarella cheese 0/0 
Three cheese Pomodoro sauce from Trader Joe's (1/2 cup 6g carb 1g sugar) only used about 4 tbsp on all 4 pizzas so, 0/0 here. 
Boars Head pepperoni, or whatever kind you like. 0/0
Whatever veggies you like (I used green pepper and mushrooms, hubby had jalapenos) maybe, 1/0 (I'm guessing here) :-)
Bake in oven on 425 for approx 12 minutes.


Our final tally, 4/2


Of course a nice glass of red wine accompanied it very nicely.

Enjoy, we did! 

Weigh-In Day...

frus·tra·tion

   [fruh-strey-shuhn]  

noun

1.

act of frustrating;  state of being frustrated: the frustrationof the president's efforts.

2.

an instance of being frustrated: to experience a series offrustrations before completing a project.

3.

something that frustrates,  as an unresolved problem.

4.

a feeling of dissatisfaction, often accompanied by anxiety or depression, resulting from unfulfilled needs or unresolved problems.

I am so confused and utterly frustrated! 

I have been so careful with staying within the 15/6 guidelines. I have been exercising at least 3 times per week and drinking lots of water. I just don't understand what I am doing wrong...???

Up almost a pound! I felt so confident going in and now, so deflated! I know that I have done so well up to this point and I guess, that every Sunday as I step on the scale, I expect to feel elated and so proud of myself. Today, is not one of those Sunday's!

I will continue on my path and remember to look at the big picture, but today doesn't feel good.  I will not indulge in sugary foods or jeopardize the success that I have already had, but today doesn't feel good. I will remind myself that tomorrow is a new day, but today doesn't feel good. 

 "You have failed only when you quit trying. Until then, you're still in the act of progression. So, never quit trying and you'll never be a failure."---Tommy Kelley

I will not quit trying!

Pinterest

I would love to connect with you on Pinterest as well. Here is my link:


http://pinterest.com/shawnacarter/

My Favorite Quotes...

“I believe in PINK. I believe that laughing is the best calorie burner. I believe in kissing, kissing a lot. I believe in being strong when everything seems to be going wrong. I believe that happy girls are the prettiest girls. I believe that tomorrow is another day and I believe in miracles.”
― Audrey Hepburn

"Learn from yesterday...live for today...hope for tomorrow."

"The only people that you need in your life are the ones that prove that they need you in theirs."

"The only way of finding the limits of the possible is by going beyond them into the impossible."

 Arthur C. Clarke

"Sometimes things fall apart so that better things can fall together" 
— Marilyn Monroe

Recipe: Cabernet Filet Mignon

This is completely amazing and I had to share!

http://whatscookingamerica.net/Beef/cabernetfilet.htm

How it all began...

Hello!


My name is Shawna and I am mother to 2 beautiful girls and wife to my amazing, brilliant and supportive husband who has also joined me along this journey. 


Speaking of my journey, it started 9 weeks and 6 days ago when I went to the doctor after about 3 years. The last time that I was weighed, was 6 weeks after my last baby was born. I have always waived the "privilege" to get on the scale. This time, they wouldn't hear of it and insisted that I get on it. At first, I hid my eyes and said that I preferred not to know what the numbers said but my curiosity got the best of me and I was shocked, to say the least! I was 32 lbs heavier then when I conceived my beautiful, almost 3 year old baby! I just couldn't believe that I had allowed myself and my life to get so out of control! I decided right then and there the life that I had known for so long was coming to an end!


After my horrendous experience with that scale, I came home and just to torture myself further, got on my scale at home! I just had to make sure that scale had been accurate...it was! Horrified, I decided to look at The Belly Fat Cure diet. My mother and sister had both had success with it and I felt confident that I could also have the same, or better results. I had no idea what I was getting myself into and at that point, I was so desperate that I just didn't care, I had to do something and now! I have to say, I was amazed at how easily I was able to conform my life to fit with this "diet". The first week that I was on it, I didn't even have the book. I went on advice and guidelines that my mom and sister had given me and guess what? It worked! I lost 12.3 lbs in the first week! My husband decided to join me in my quest for a healthy life and we decided at that point, that we needed to invest in the books and get serious about this plan. It has been the best thing that we could have done as a couple. It has brought us closer and we feel much more supported by each other in life.


I no longer call this a "diet". It has become our way of life. Now, 9 weeks and 4 days into the change, I am down 28.7 lbs and my husband has almost reached his goal weight with a total of 35+ lbs lost! We are continually searching for new and better ways to make our life richer and healthier and we have BFC to thank for getting us on to the right path. 


We are looking ahead to a long and healthy life for us and for our children 


Thank you for reading.