Handy Housewife Hint

My life is all about making my house ready to show, but this hint would work for last minute company too.
When company comes I always like to have a clean bathroom for them, but doing a big scrub down is often not fesable.

Here is my quick and dirty, two-minute bathroom cleanup:

• Wipe down bathtub with your probably still-damp morning towel. Leave the towel in a heap in your tub. You will need it in a minute. Put a fresh towel out for your guests now.
  
• Wipe down sink and faucets with a baby wipe--you wouldn't believe the shine a baby wipe gives chrome!! Much cheaper than disinfectant wipes and you can use them for quick makeup removal too.
• Swish out your toilet with a brush if you have one handy, wipe seat and lid with another baby wipe.
• Here is the trick that separates me from Flylady: put a few drops of Tea Tree or lavender essential oil in your toilet bowl before closing the lid.--it really makes your bathroom smell fresh without it smelling like chemicals or fake air freshener.
• On your way out the door, grab that damp towel out of your tub and wipe the floor with it then toss in the laundry.

Now, relax! Your bathroom is ready for company. All that is left to do is stash all those dirty dishes you have on the counter in your oven until you can wash them.

Weigh in Wednesday

The rhythm of my life has suddenly changed. We put our house on the market on Monday. If I am not cleaning, I am quickly sweeping the kids and dog out for a showing. Mealtimes (and naptimes) have become unpredictable. Our Realtor promises I will get ample notice for showings, then turns around and says there is a potential buyer coming in 45 minutes. This is par for the course, but it makes it hard to chart food and exercise regularly.

I am watching portion sizes and listening to my body's hunger signals, but that is about as far as it goes right now. My workouts consist of cleaning and taking the kids to the park or playdates during showings.

It's working.

Here are my stats:

Last Week's Weight: 159.4
Current Weight: 157.9
Weekly Loss:1.5

Total Loss during Challenge: 4.5
Total Cumulative Loss: 8.5

I am down to the last hole on my belt now.

Pepperoni Pasta Salad

Wait. I know what you are thinking. Jen, you are trying to shrink. How will pepperoni and pasta help that?? Bear with me. This is my slimmed-down version of a Taste of Home recipe. It makes a great make-ahead supper for a hot day. Boil the pasta first thing in the morning before the sun gets too high. Then you can rest easy knowing that you will have a filling and family friendly meal ready to go when you are ready to wilt.

The original recipe had over 500 cals per serving. By my estimate a big bowl of my version has 286 calories.

Slimmed-Down Pepperoni Pasta Salad

Ingredients:
2 cups rotini pasta, uncooked
1 cup cucumber, chopped
1 cup part-skim mozzarella, cubed
1 medium tomato, chopped
2 tablespoons finely diced red onion
5 small turkey pepperoni sticks, chopped. (I use Freybe's I think it ends up to be around a cup of pepperoni.)
1/2 cup light zesty Italian dressing.

Directions:

1. Cook pasta until just a teensy bit underdone. Rinse well with cold water and set aside.
2. Combine remaining ingredients and cooled pasta in a large bowl. Refrigerate for at least two hours.
3. Stir and serve.

Makes four big bowlfuls.

Weigh In Wednesday

It's weigh in time! This week was great. I feel a real change in my body. For the first time I wasn't constantly hungry. I am noticing that it takes less food for me to feel full. I have a bit more energy. A friend noticed my clothes fit better.

Here are my stats:

Last Week's Weight: 161.4
Current Weight: 159.4
Weekly Loss: 2.0

Total Loss during Challenge: 3
Total Cumulative Loss: 7




Onward and downwards!

Thank you Hungry Girl!

I am a big fan of Hungry Girl. Her cookbooks and ideas are a big help in my weight loss journey. This one just showed up in my email in-box. I needed to post it so I wouldn't lose it.
Doesn't it look good??? I love crock potting!

Slow-Cookin' Pulled Chicken

PER SERVING (1/2 cup): 149 calories, 1g fat, 462mg sodium, 10g carbs, <0.5g>POINTS? value 3*

This shredded BBQ chicken is FANTASTIC over salads, piled onto light buns, stuffed inside high-fiber tortillas with (rinsed) cole slaw, or eaten all by itself. Yummmmmm!




Ingredients:
1 1/2 lb. raw boneless skinless lean chicken breasts, halved
1 cup canned tomato sauce
1/2 cup ketchup
2 tbsp. plus 2 tsp. brown sugar (not packed)
2 tbsp. plus 2 tsp. cider vinegar
2 tsp. garlic powder
Optional: red pepper flakes, to taste

Directions:
Place all ingredients except the chicken in the crock pot. Stir until mixed. Add chicken and coat well with the sauce.

Cover and cook on high for 3 - 4 hours OR on low for 7 - 8 hours, until chicken is fully cooked.

Remove all the chicken and place it in a bowl. Shred each piece using two forks -- one to hold the chicken in place and the other to scrape across the meat and shred it. Return the shredded chicken to the crock pot, and mix well with the sauce.

If you're serving a group, keep the crock pot on its lowest setting, so the chicken stays warm. If you like, season to taste with red pepper flakes. Eat up!

MAKES 7 SERVINGS

Weigh In Wednesday

This is week two of The Sisterhood's Shrinking Days of Summer challenge.

Here are my stats:

Starting Weight 162.4
Current Weight 161.4
Loss 1.0
Original Starting Weight: 167.2
Cumulative Weight Lost: 5.8

This is only one pound lost this week (which is all my body ever willingly gives up at this stage) BUT since joining my lovely sisters, this is pound number five to leave my body!! Whee! I can see things starting to change now. The barest hint of a jawbone, my belt feeling a bit looser.
Yay! Progress!

It's Fair time.

Summer Fair is here. The kids have seen the midway go up and have been doing the Bart and Lisa thing to us:


So, today, after Hubby gets home from work, we will go.

I am packing a picnic so I don't have to be forced to choose from the bad options there.

Here is what I'm packing:
Fruity Chicken Salad
Tuna Salad
carrot and celery sticks
home made whole wheat buns (hmmmm....I should get on that!)
skim milk pudding cups
fruit salad
sugar free iced tea and low sugar lemonade

I will pretend I cannot see the mini doughnuts.

I know it isn't Monday.....

....But

I ate brown sugar bacon waffles for supper.

There. I said it.

I charted them. I have calories to spare at day's end.

They were so totally worth it.

Weigh In Wednesday

It's that time again! A new challenge has been given at The Sisterhood of the Shrinking Jeans. I am on a team with five other lovely shrinkers and the goal is to lose the most weight as a whole. I have been on hiatus from my food journal for the past couple of weeks, so it is time to get kicked back into gear.

Here are my stats:
Starting weight: 162.4 pounds

This is the ending weight from the last challenge, so I am glad to say I have maintained despite some chocolate that I had to review for my other blog and a perfect storm of PMS/Home Buying Stress/MIL fighting that started a three-day binge.

Right off the bat my first goal for this challenge is to not eat in my pantry. If I can't take the time to put my food on a plate, I should not eat it. I will also avoid the mini doughnuts at the fair this weekend, Girl Guide's Honour.

Hello team mates!
Kristen Q.
Jess B.
Cristina S.
Lindsey S.
Megan T.

Do any of you have blogs I can link to?

What's for breakfast?

You have heard it a bajillion times. Breakfast is so important. I know it to be true. On days when I don't eat a proper breakfast I just set myself up for poor snacking or binging later.

What I choose to eat for breakfast seems to make a big difference too. A strange side effect that I seemed to have kept from my pregnancies is the need to eat carbs and not much else for breakfast. Anything but carbs and I get very queasy. Toast or cereal is just not filling and is usually loaded with too much sugar. Where does that leave me?

Oatmeal.

Oatmeal is filling, high in fiber, low in calories and you have complete control over additives and sugar. Cinnamon adds flavour with no calories and also helps keep your blood sugar stable.

Of course, oatmeal on it's own can get pretty boring pretty quickly. The trick is to keep switching things up. Here is a rundown of some of my favourite things to do with oatmeal.

• Grated apple, cinnamon, sugar-free maple syrup, spoonful of peanut butter
  
• add a teaspoon of plain cocoa powder to your cooking water, then top with 1/2 banana, cinnamon and Splenda (it's like dessert!)
• frozen berries , cinnamon, fat free vanilla yogurt
• Fruit cocktail and vanilla soymilk
  
• More ideas from Hungry Girl

What do you eat for breakfast??

Weigh In Wednesday #3

Well, it is the end of the Shrink into Summer Challenge at The Sisterhood of the Shrinking Jeans. I joined during the last three weeks and have faithfully lost a pound each week.

As I mentioned in my previous post I learned the hard way last week that weigh in after respite night is not pretty nor an honest picture of how I am doing. I hold salt like crazy and restaurant meals seem to be packed with them so I am always bigger the next day, even if I stay on track with my calorie allowance. I now weigh in the day before respite night so my weigh in Wednesday is really a Tuesday. (Funny--that used to be my Weight Watchers meeting day.) I then drink my weight in water the next day to flush the salt out and de-puff myself.

I also found that being brutally honest on my food journal, for better or worse, is really helping me keep on track. I can't say enough good things about The Daily Plate. I am Prairieknitwit there. If you are a member, friend me and we can snoop on each other's journals.

So, without futher ado. here are my stats so far:

Beginning Weight: 166.4 lbs
Finishing Weight: 163.4 lbs
Percentage lost: 1%

Doesn't look like much, but I am only beginning. Just wait until the next challenge!

True Confession Monday

Yes. It's Tuesday. Yesterday was a holiday though so today is really Monday.

1. I weighed in today instead of tomorrow. My respite night is tonight so even if I stay under my calorie goal, the sheer amount of salt in whatever I eat will negate any loss. (Down one pound! Yay!)

2. I can barely keep my eyes open today so it is a real struggle for me to stay away from sugary carbs right now. There is only so much caffeine one can have before you are just tired and jittery instead of just tired.

3. Since I can barely keep my eyes open today the only exercise I could muster was a couple of laps around the mall while running errands. Every little bit helps, right?

4. I am eating dinner at 8:00 PM tonight at a new pizza joint. I need to try very, very hard to not eat all the kid's leftovers when they have dinner. I WILL make a big salad and chow down on that to take the edge off. Girl Guide's Honour. I can't make any promises about the pizza.

Weigh In Wednesday #2

No good news here. I am up a pound. I had a triple-whammy of birthday party, mom visit and Mother's day this week and I lost control. I am really mad at myself. I did journal every transgression so I can see the damage I have done in black and white.

Onward and upwards, right??

Edit: I weighed myself the day after posting this after Mother Nature showed me I was also in the throes of PMS last week. I am down two pounds after all!





I am not going to rest on my laurels. Clearly my current plan is working.

Weigh In Wednesday #1

I have been lurking at the Sisterhood of the Shrinking Jeans for quite a while now. They are very down to earth and inspiring people.

I have had to lose weight three times in my life. Once, when I was newly dating Mister Hummingbird Metabolism and in Nursing School--keeping up with him and enjoying a studious and sedentary lifestyle packed a lot of extra pounds on my body. My rock bottom was seeing 180 on the scale and having to shop in the plus-size department for the first time in my life. I started in Weight Watchers, and ended in a teeny town that had no pizza delivery, but a 24 hour gym. I dropped the weight just in time to marry Mister HM, and get pregnant before the ink was dry on our paperwork.

I then gave birth to my sweet Emmett, who is now 5 and 7/8ths. I packed on 40 lbs growing him and only lost around 20 before getting pregnant with my darling Charlotte, now 4. I joined WW again and dropped over 30 lbs. I was back in size 8 and feeling great. Five minutes after I bought the cute jeans I got pregnant with my adorable Matthew, now 1-1/2. I am back where I started. I won't disclose my weight here right now, but I am wearing size 13 pants and they are tight. People ask me when my baby is due and I haven't been pregnant in two years.

I have been stopping and starting. Doing well for a week or two, then resorting to binge eating in my pantry. I exercise sproadicaly. It is time to make some changes. I hardly recognize the face I see in the mirror. I am tired of trying to figure out what to wear that doesn't make me look pregnant. I am back on the wagon.

I chart my food, exercise and weight at The Daily Plate. I know I can't do this alone.

I am so excited to finally dip my toe in and participate with other shrinkers!

More Handy Housewife Hints

This is turning into the Handy Housewife Hint blog!!!

Here is today's hint:

If you have stainless steel appliances or countertops, don't waste money on fancy polishes.

Plain old cooking oil works like a charm. Simply clean your surface with vinegar and water, then buff a little bit of oil (canola or olive) onto the surface with a soft cloth. Old flannel pjs or t-shirts work well for this. You won't believe the streak free shine you get.

Cheap and safe too!

Another Handy Housewife Hint

We just suffered through a week of stomach flu here. I found it very helpful to keep a pair of baby running shoes on top of my dryer. They are perfect for tossing in with pillows and blankets to fluff them up after washing.

Handy Housewife Hint for Pizza

You know how when you are spreading out dough to make cinnamon rolls or pizza the instructions usually tell you to use flour if the dough is sticky? I find if I add too much flour I can toughen my dough and make it hard to spread out. (I am sure it has something to do with adding more gluten, but I don't know the science behind it. I am not Alton Brown!)

I discovered that if the dough is generally compliant, but just a little bit sticky I can spray the surface of my dough with non-stick spray (and my hands or rolling pin too). Adding the oil keeps the dough nice and soft and it spreads or rolls out very easily without toughening up.

Cheesy Olive Panini

This recipe evolved from a couple of places:

• The kids got a Sesame Street Sandwich toaster for Christmas and I wanted to try something grown up in it.
• I love Pioneer Woman's Olive Cheese Bread. Seriously. So cheesy and salty and carby. Perfect PMS food.

So here is a very quick snack that is perfect beside a big bowl of home made vegetable soup or for munching while watching a movie.

If you don't have a sandwich toaster or panini press, fear not. I will tell you how you can make it without. It will be fabulous.

Ingredients:

4 slices whole wheat bread (thinner slices are better here--the cheap bread from the grocery store is perfect in this recipe)
1 tablespoon mayonnaise
1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
10 stuffed green olives, diced
2 tablespoon diced green onion

Special Equipment:

Sandwich toaster, panini press, or a nonstick skillet plus a cast iron pan or a pot with a heavy can placed inside of it

Directions:

1. Preheat Sandwich toaster or Panini press according to their directions. Alternatively, place your nonstick skillet over medium heat to warm up.
2. Spread a thin layer of mayo over each slice of bread, leaving a 1.5 cm border around the edges.
   
3. Sprinkle cheese, then olives, then onion evenly over mayo on two of the slices of bread. Place the other slices, mayo side down over top.
4. Place sandwiches in the toaster, press, or on the dry skillet.
5. Grill according to manufacturers directions. If using the skillet method, place the heavy pot or skillet on top of the sandwiches to weight them down and grill for 2-3 minutes. When one side is brown, carefully turn the sandwiches and weight them and brown the other side.
6. Let cool for a few seconds, and then slice sandwiches. Eat. Don't burn the roof of your mouth with molten cheese.

Serves 2

Carrot Pudding, Just Like Grandma's

A traditional family recipe that finishes almost every Christmas Dinner that I can remember. I only started liking it a couple of years ago. I made it for the first time last night. It feels really cool to be part of the making of a tradition!

As per Grandma's instructions, I added 1/2 cup softened butter to the pudding mixture and stirred the baking soda into some of the grated potatoes before mixing them in--she says it activates the soda and makes the pudding lighter in texture. I also cut the amount of cloves in half. It just seemed like a lot considering how strong they are. I then packed the mixture into clean pint jars (two for this recipe) topped with seals and rings, and then steamed as per the instructions. Don't forget to put a rack in the bottom of your pot.

I filled one jar a little too full so it didn't seal properly. Richard and I tested it last night. The pudding is rich, moist and sweet with just the right amount of spice.

Edited to add:
Leave LOTS of room in the jars for expansion.  Don't fill them more than 1/3 full or you will blow the tops off.

Substitute rum extract for vanilla or just add big splash of actual dark or spiced rum in the sauce for an extra delicious kick.

Carrot Pudding

Submitted by: Joyce Rehagen Rated: 5 out of 5 by 7 members

Yields: 7 servings

"Moist, dense and spicy, this steamed pudding features grated carrots and potatoes, a handful of raisins and a fragrant mixture of ground cinnamon, cloves and allspice. Top with a rich and creamy butter sauce for a truly magical dessert."

INGREDIENTS:

1 cup grated carrots 1 cup peeled and shredded potatoes 1 cup white sugar 1 cup raisins 1 cup all-purpose flour 1 teaspoon baking soda 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon ground allspice 1 teaspoon ground cloves 1/2 cup butter 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream 1 cup white sugar 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

DIRECTIONS:

1.	In a large mixing bowl, combine carrots, potatoes, sugar, raisins, flour, baking soda, ground cinnamon, all spice, and ground cloves. Transfer mixture to a clean 1 pound coffee can. Secure wax paper over the top and place the filled can in a large pot with 2 to 3 inches of water. Cover the pot and bring the water to a simmer.
2.	Steam the cake for 2 hours. Serve warm.
3.	Buttery sauce: In a medium-size pot, combine butter or margarine, cream, sugar, and vanilla. Heat until the mixture is liquid. Spoon mixture over the warm carrot pudding to serve.

Eggnog latte

Here is a quick treat that goes perfectly with knitting on a chilly afternoon.

Ingredients:
Commercially prepared eggnog. (I just found peppermint eggnog at my grocery store today and oh my is it yummy in a latte!)
Strong hot brewed coffee or espresso
A large microwavable mug

Directions:
Fill your mug 2/3 full with eggnog (Use more if you plan to use espresso). Microwave on HIGH 30 seconds, or until it is hot but not boiling. Top off mug with coffee. Stir. Shake in some nutmeg or garnish of choice. (I really like this)

Curl up. Cup your mug in both hands and enjoy.