Breaking The Addiction - Step 4 Dinner

Dinner this week I kept simple but yummy.  I had two different meals on the menu:

Grilled Pork Chops with Sweet Potato Medallions & Roasted Veggies

Grilled Steak with Brown Rice, & Sauteed Onions & Mushrooms

I started the rice cooking first since it takes a long time to cook.  I used the same roasted veggies that I had made to go with my lunches for this week, roasted Cauliflower, Broccoli, Red/Green Peppers, Zucchini, & Yellow Squash.

While I was grilling the steaks and the pork chops on the grill, I had onions and mushrooms sauteing on the stove.  It was a very busy kitchen on Sunday but it's been so worth it this week to not even have to think about food!

Grilled pork chops seasoned with some Mrs. Dash before grilling

At dinner this week I made something for my husband and kids, and then heated up my premade, portion controlled meals.  Next week I'm going to kick it up a notch by seeing if I can cook my entire families meals for thw week on Sunday!

I've been getting a ton of use out of my Cuisinart 5 in 1 Griddler.  It's way easier to clean than the foreman grill I had years ago!!
 

Breaking The Addiction - Step 3 Lunch

Lunch is a place I usually struggle. My kids are still young, so I usually can get them something together pretty easily. Some greek yogurt, shaved chicken breast, and black beans and they're good to go.

 Since I was skipping breakfast a lot when starting this journey by lunchtime I was usually tired, cranky, and starving. I'd eat a sandwhich. And chips. And some black beans because the kids were having some and they looked good. Then the kids would go down for a nap..and I'd wander back in the kitchen. See, with small children most of the time as Mom's we end up inhaling our food. So I'd wander back in and find something else to snack on because I couldn't even remember tasting lunch.

 I'm making a conscious effort to slow down and ENJOY my meals. Even if it means asking the kids to sit at the table and *gasp* be patient until everyone is done eating. Plus I feel good about modeling to them that eating slowly and savoring their meals is a good thing!

 This week for lunch I decided to prepare 5 of the same dish. I want to enjoy my meals, but I'm also trying to break my food obsession and I think some monotony could be a good thing, at least at first!

 I grilled 5 chicken breasts (sliced and pounded thin) on my Cuisinart grill/panini press. Then I added either half a cup of black beans or half a cup of pinto beans. Lastly I added in some roasted veggies. Cauliflower, Broccoli, Red/Green Peppers, Zucchini, & Yellow Squash.

At lunch time I just grab a container out of the fridge, microwave for 2 minutes, and I have a hot lunch with no thought ready to go!

I've been using these Ziploc Square Medium Containers for my lunches and they're working out great so far!

Cottage Cheese Salad

One of my snacks this week is cottage cheese salad with grape tomatoes.  I tend to just eat the salad with a spoon and eat the tomatoes separate, but you could definitely dip them in it!  This is super easy to make and takes just a few minutes to put together.  Which is important when you have a 2 and 3 year old underfoot begging for tomatoes :) 

Cucumber Salad

1 tub of cottage cheese

1/2 white onion chopped (I used a shallot here since I was out of white onions, still yummy!)

2 or 3 mini cucumbers chopped

Pepper to taste

Mix everything together in a bowl, season with pepper.  Cottage cheese is already salty imo, so I didn't use any extra salt.  Divide between your snack containers for the week and rest easy knowing you have a snack for when the munchies attack!!

Yum!

I do all of my chopping with these knives from Rada Cutlery.  My mother-in-law introduced me to them and I love how they stay sharp.  I do strongly recommend getting the ones with a black handle instead of the stainless steel if you will ever run them through the dishwasher or they can get discolored handles.

Distraction Maybe?

It's 3pm...and I'm hungry!! I'm about to get out my afternoon snack of cottage cheese (mixed with onions and cucumber) along with some grape tomatoes and drink 16 ounces of water. Then I think we'll head to the park. It's a beautiful day and being distracted from hunger while my tummy learns that it does NOT need a giant fast food meal to be full would be great!

Breaking the Addiction - Step 2 Breakfast

 

Serving Size:
2 muffins

6 Eggs
Half a bag of frozen pepper and onion strips
1/2 lb sliced baby portabella mushrooms
6 tablespoons of shredded sharp cheddar cheese
Pepper

Saute mushrooms and peppers until cooked through, about 10 minutes.
Pour into a bowl, add eggs and pepper.
Mix together until combined.
Divide evenly into a 12 count muffin tin.
Bake for 20 minutes at 350.

They stuck to the muffin tin a bit even using some spray oil so I'm ordering these:

and I'll post an update next week when  I make breakfast if they help!!

Breaking The Addiction - Step 1 Snacks

Snacks Prepped For The Week

Sugar is definitely my weakness.  I'm hoping that if I eat regularly I'll be less tempted to snack on things I shouldn't.  I'm kickstarting my weight loss by making all of my meals and snacks for the week on Sundays.  Then I'll have no excuse to snack or eat any meals that are full of sugar.  For me, if I get hungry and nothing is within reach, I tend to eat fast food.  Hopefully once a week meal prepping will help.

I'm planning on having 3 snacks a day.  Morning, Afternoon, and Evening.  This weeks snacks are:

Morning - Mini cucumber sticks dipped in one wedge of laughing cow cheese
                Carrot sticks dipped in one wedge of laughing cow cheese

Afternoon - Cottage cheese (with raw onion, pepper, and cucumber mixed in) and grape tomatos
                   Hummus with radish sticks

Evening - 1/4 cup almonds
                plain popcorn

Cucumber Cheese Snack

Slice a mini cucumber into sticks.  

Dip into a wedge of laughing cow cheese wedge.  Here I used Laughing Cow Creamy Queso Fresco Spreadable Cheese.  Gave a bit of a kick to the cucumbers!

Today We Begin!

Today marks the beginning of my healthier living journey!  I have a 2 year old and a 3 year old that were born just 14 months apart.  In addition to that, we lost our first pregnancy at 21 weeks before successfully having the two we have now.  I was pregnant 3 times in 3 years and my poor body shows it.  All 3 of my pregnancies had health complications that required bed rest and the weight just piled on...and on.

I thought once I was done being pregnant it would be easy to get all of this extra weight off, but I wasn't quite prepared for the reality of 2 small children so close in age.  Time became a thing I just never had enough of.

Dinner was cook something healthy for the kids, eat with them, and then after the kids were in bed sneak off to get some fast food for a late night snack. Large milkshakes became a daily thing instead of an occasional treat, and pints of ice cream tended to disappear all at once.   Not proud of the past few years!!

Now that my babies are about to turn 3 and 4, I'm slowly starting to feel like I have some time here and there to make time for myself and my health.   I want to be there for them, not be too tired, and generally just feel better.  This blog will help me document my journey along the way, and hopefully help keep me accountable!