Sporadically Sandra

Quite a few people I know have this misconception that to eat healthy you must cut out everything delicious. And, I wouldn't actually care, except if you ask them what they are eating, they sigh, look kind of down and out and with a sigh reply "Oh, just this *bland diet food*. I'm trying to watch my weight."

Well, guess what. Eating healthy can be delicious, versatile, comforting and an adventure for the taste buds. I love eating unhealthy food (clearly) but I also make sure that every "healthy" thing I eat is just as delicious. I eat lots of lean meats, low fat dairies, fresh fruits and vegetables. I get, at a minimum, 6 fruit & vegetable servings a day, 2 dairies, 2-3 servings of lean protein. I drink at least 6 glasses of water a day because I truly love it. And most days, some sort of chocolate enters my body.

All it takes is some creativity and some patience. I've slowly built up a stash of "healthy" and delicious recipes so that I always have recipes I like on the back burner. In addition, I have a healthy stash of blogs that post ridiculously delicious (and sinfully decadent) tasting recipes.

This is a *mostly* accurate picture of what I eat each day. Of course, my breakfast did not taste good (new recipe, boo) so today I had a few extra points for an evening snack.  I also forgot to take a picture of my afternoon snack: romaine lettuce with red onion and Hot Bacon Honey Mustard Dressing (delicious).

Meals pictured: Morning Snack 1 - Cheese Stick, Morning Snack 2 - Banana, Lunch - Santa Fe Chicken Burrito Bowl, Dinner - Bubble Up Enchilada Casserole & Sugar Snap Peas, Evening Snack/Dessert - Dark Hot Chocolate, Nuts & Bolts (Family recipe chex mix), a piece of fudge and peppermint marshmallows.

So, don't let "healthy" food get you down, because if you aren't enjoying it, you aren't doing it right!

Joseph had to work on Saturday, so I decided to be a productive wife and spend my Saturday cooking up some meals to freeze for the future. It cost about $75.00 and took about 4 hours of my life, but I came away with quite a few meals.

 (I have no clue why the picture is upside down..??)

Anyways, Pictured is the following:

21 Pumpkin Muffins
A LOT of Pumpkin Pancakes (Forgot to count)
8 Servings Vegetable Chowder
4 Servings Tomato Soup
3 meals Spaghetti Sauce
10 Servings Chicken Taco Chili
6 Servings Chicken Tortilla Stew
8 Servings Mac and Cheese
4 Servings Chicken Stuffing Bake
12 Servings Pumpkin Beef Pasta
and 1 Sausage Hashbrown Casserole

All in all, a Saturday morning WIN! Especially when we got home tonight after HORRIBLE traffic and rainy weather and all I had to do was reheat some chicken taco chili and some rice for a delicious and quick dinner!

The past few weeks of eating have been nothing short of scandalous and atrocious. Although my weight has continued on a downward spiral, it has been more to do with activity then it does my food choices. Freaking Easter candy got to me. (But I have a plan for that, which will be enacted tomorrow)

But, today I told Joseph "I'm ready to get back to counting points." I think this happens to most people who do Weight Watchers. For a few weeks/months/whatever, you have total and complete focus and then for a week or two (sometimes months, but hopefully not!) you just need to stop caring. That has been me to a "T"

I've written out my menu plan, including snacks and have the corresponding grocery list to go with it. Additionally, I cleaned out my fridge tonight. I mean, this has been a chore I have been avoiding for weeks. You know how it is, it slowly starts geting worse and worse until you realize you have reached one of two poitns: 1. Clean it out or 2. Quickly open door, grab or put away what you need and close the door without actually looking in it.

So, tonight, everything came out of the fridge. A good deal of it was thrown away, expired or gone bad, the shelves were sprayed and wiped down and I refilled the fridge with what was left. It is sad how bare our fridge is, but at the same time, it is going to be really nice to fill it up with delicious and healthy food tomorrow after we go grocery shopping.

We threw out the old, to make way for the healthy. There is something therapuetic and nice about having a clean fridge full of foods that you *know* will make your body better. I'm also ridiculously excited about the meal plan. Mom and I invested in e-mealz (Jasmine, I'm sending you a sample menu plan and more info because I think you might be interested) and it really does lower my grocery bill and make it very easy to menu plan. Additionally, although I enjoy their Publix for 2 people and they don't necessarily make it low fat, they do include a fruit or vegetable (most of the time both) with each meal and it isn't too hard to make it a healthier meal.

This week we are enjoying:
Tacos with caramalized/fried bananas
Chicken Enchilada Casserole w/ a side salad
Mozzarella Stuffed Flank Steak w/ Mashed potatoes and a side salad
Loaded Baked Potatoes w/ Roasted Asparagus & salad
*Side notes: they did not list side salad for all their meals, but I changed it to something easier for us They also include another meal but we normally only need 4 meals during the week since we eat at my mom's once a week. Also this is the Publix for 2, but it actually makes 4 servings which means we have leftovers for lunch the next day*