New Post, Clever Title

Hi!  My last post was in May of 2013, so clearly its been a while.  I blame my lack of posting on being a busy Mommy, and my slow lap top.  I recently got a new lap top and its very fast.  Hopefully I can post more this next year (2014) it's going to take me a bit to get back into it,  just the writing part because I haven't been in school for couple semesters and my literacy isn't quite on point like it used to be.  I need to get back into because I don't want to lose my knowledge.  I don't get how some Mommy's have these amazing, personalized, awesome blogs, I have a pre made template, and have no clue how to create my own layout.  I guess you have to make time for what you love. 

Changes

You know that moment where you sit back and think "damn, something needs to change".  That's how I felt yesterday after measuring my body after a month of working out. My bicep went from 11.25, to 11.5, waist 33 to 32 and my hips stayed the same at 39. I would have thought that after a month I would at least see lower numbers, I also haven't lost any weight in the past month.  What sucks about my situation, is that I still breast feed, I can't "starve" myself because I need to produce milk for my baby.  I feel so discouraged, but I am not going to let numbers drag me down, I feel stronger, and better now that I am back at the gym. What I am going to do, is continue to watch what I eat with a fine tooth comb, I am going to be very specific as to what I eat, and limit consumption. I've done this before, I don't get why it's so hard for me right now, maybe because I have a baby. I recently purchased a Polar watch to accurately count the number of calories that I burn, that way I can monitor my physical activity.  Well, off to meal plan.  Wish me luck.

(First Mother's Day post to follow)

Chicken masala

I came across Rachael Ray's chicken masala recipe on Pinterest, and thought wow this looks good. After reading off the ingredients, I began to think that I can easily do this, and I did, but I did it "Allie style". Her recipe had butter, rice, and heavy cream. So I substituted non fat milk, quinoa, and Brummell and brown, and also took out the water and parsley.

Ingredients:
2 chicken breast
1 cup white wine
10 oz baby Bella mushrooms
3 basil leafs
Salt/pepper
1/2 cup milk
Lite mozzarella
Suggested serving of Quinoa
1.5 tbls flour

Directions:
Cook chicken in oven at 350 till done.

While chicken is baking cook quinoa according to package and let sit in pot till ready to spread in dish.

Slice mushrooms, melt "butter" then add mushrooms. Cook for about 8 min in "butter". Sprinkle flour. Slowly add milk (temper as you add), then add wine with same technique as milk. Stir occasionally till thick.

When chicken is done, take out of dish and spread the quinoa in the dish you cooked the chicken in, place chicken on top of quinoa, and add the entire mushroom contents over the chicken. Top with cheese and place in oven for about 5 mins.

I have to say that this was the best dish I've made in a while, and 1 serving rings in at under 500 calories! Total score. Enjoy.

http://www.rachaelraymag.com/recipes/rachael-ray-magazine-recipe-search/no-recipe-zone-recipes/marsala-chicken-and-mushroom-casserole

My Precious Baby

My girl Aubrey turned 9 months old yesterday, it's very bittersweet for me. As we do every month, I took her photo. Lately the weather has been nice enough to allow us to take the photos outside. Today I went through some of her clothes, and stored the items that no longer fit, and hung up some new clothes that she recently got. She's growing up so fast and is quite the little gem. We love her so much.

Kale Chips

I love kale, and any variation of it, especially when it comes in chip form.

Pre heat oven to 350.

Put kale into a bowl, drizzle a tiny bit of olive oil and sprinkle salt and pepper (or any other variety of seasoning) stir.



Put onto a cookie sheet and bake for about 20 mins.



And there you go, a tasty snack!

Switched up Breakfast

After eating steel cut oats everyday, I decided to throw a change up. I made a "quinoa pancake" topped with asparagus, green onion, and roasted red pepper, with a few spears of cheese. I cracked an egg, chopped up 2 slices of pepperoni and added cooked quinoa. The way it cooked looked just like a pancake so that's what I called it.  Topped it off with the veggies and it was dee-lish-us.Totaling  215 calories. Win win.

Steel Cut Oats

Are pretty much the best thing in the world. I eat them for breakfast practically everyday. I just can't get enough, and you can add almost any type of fruit into it. They keep me full for hours too, and I like that in a food. This is baby girl's and I breakfast the other morning. Of course the coffee is mine.

Quinoa Stuffed Mushrooms

I recently got a bag of quinoa from Costco, and we all know, like Texas, everything is bigger at Costco. My mushrooms were also from Costco so I had to do something with them.

I sautéed onion, garlic, and red peppers with salt, pepper and curry powder. While that was cooking, I hallowed out some 'shrooms with a melon baller and baked the water out of them. When that was done I added the quinoa to the mixture, and stuffed the mixture into the 'shrooms and had them as a side dish. I can't wait to make them again. (Please excuse the photo quality)

"Fried Chicken"

After eating chicken and veggies everyday for dinner, I had to switch it up. I wanted to keep it easy, simple and healthy so I thought of this "fried chicken" recipe on the fly.

2 chicken breasts
Salt, pepper, Cajun seasoning (any desired seasoning)
1 egg white
1.5 C Total cereal (corn flakes can be used as well)

Cut chicken into strips, dip strips into egg white, roll and toss into Total cereal. Place strips onto a wire rack on a cookie sheet, apply seasoning by sprinkling directly onto the chicken. Bake at 350 for about 30 min. Ta da!!! "Fried Chicken". So good.

Let The Power of Quinoa Compell You

      I should have known from the get go that this was going to be an epic fail.  I put the quinoa in the blender, well a magic bullet rather.  Me, not knowing that once the bullet is applied it starts blending.  I'm used to blenders and always put the lid on after I put the cup on the blander.  As I placed the bullet, the device turned on and quinoa went every where.  I called and thanked my Mom for letting me know you need the lid on before applying the bullet.  I used this recipe for my first time attempt at quinoa chips.  Since we returned from our vacation in Monterey I have been on a health kick and have already lost 2 lbs (go me), so I thought this was an awesome idea.  I thought that I would have these amazing quinoa chips and could avoid the whole corn, processed carby deal.  Well everyone I'd like to show you how my quinoa chips turned out.

Making flour, so far so good:

The final product:

What I learned from this experience is to leave it to the professionals, and that the serving size of tortilla chips is just fine.