Shrimp Alfredo with Zoodles

I'm playing around more and more for ideas for cooking for one or two. I need meals that I can throw together  for a healthy lunch for me and sometimes when I'm cooking at work I only have one or two people to cook for. Also, my kids are all teenagers and will start leaving the nest in the next few years. I don't want to be one of those people who forget how to cook once they have less people to cook for. 

This is a dish I threw together one day a couple weeks ago. I went to the store to pick something up and decided to pick up something for my lunch as well. I wanted fish or seafood so I grabbed shrimp. I wanted creamy, so an alfredo or white sauce sounded great. I wanted healthy and the Hubby had gotten me a Vegetti (a handheld vegetable spiralizing tool) for Christmas and so I thought zucchini noodles. Finally I grabbed  a cheese stick, because I wanted to keep this dish cheap and still healthy. It came in at less than three dollars a serving. I think this could easily feed two people, especially if you added a small side salad. 

Ingredients: 

1 small zucchini

 4 oz shrimp

 1 teaspoon cornstarch

 1/2 cup 2% milk

 2 tsp olive oil

 1/4 tsp chicken base (like Better Than Bullion) 

 1/4 cup water

 1/4 tsp garlic salt

 1/2 tsp Italian Seasoning

1 cheese stick or about 1 ounce of mozzarella cheese.

Directions:

1. Using a spiralizer or julienne plate on mandolin, slice zucchini into noodles. 

2. Heat olive oil in small non stick pan and cook shrimp till done. Remove from pan.

3. Make Alfredo sauce. Mix a bit (just a couple tablespoons) with cornstarch and let set aside. Heat the rest of the milk, chicken base, and water in same pan until it begins to simmer, add cornstarch mix and stir well. Add cheese (pull apart the cheese stick if using) and stir until it's all melted and thickens. 

4. Add zoodles, seasons, and shrimp and toss till warm. Sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste and enjoy.

Nutrition Facts
Calories 307, Total Fat 14.0g, Saturated Fat 3.5g, Cholesterol 249mg, Sodium 708mg, Potassium 580mg, Total Carbohydrates 14.6g, Dietary Fiber 1.4g, Sugars 7.7g, Protein 31.4g, Vitamin A 12% • Vitamin C 34% Calcium 27% • Iron 4%

Spicy Kale, Red Cabbage and Andouille Stir Fry

Hello Dear Readers, I hope everyone had a great holiday season and are sticking with their 2015 goals so far. Sorry I've been MIA for a while, just been busy with life I guess.

So today I'm sharing with ya'll this yummy stir fry I made at work last night. It was kind of a thrown together deal that turned out lovely. It has a bit of a Cajun feel to it and a nice bit of heat that warmed your mouth without making your eyes and nose run. I only work Monday through Thursday, and since I do not like letting veggies sit in the fridge over the weekend I try to use up everything I purchased by Thursday. So I had some unused kale and red cabbage. I figured I could cook the two together and then thought hey a stir fry sounds good. Well I had watched a cooking show on t.v. last week where the cook prepared run up turnips and used a smoked sausage. So I decided a stir fry with andouille would be great. So this recipe was born.

Like I am known to do, I didn't measure my spices and so the measurements are near guesses. You can always add more or less of each spice to satisfy your taste buds.

Spicy Kale, Red Cabbage and Andouille Stir Fry
serves 4-6
Ingredients:
1 bunch of Kale, stems removed and leaves sliced thin
1/2 head of red cabbage, sliced thin
12oz of andouille sausage ( I used Aidell's), sliced
3 ribs of celery, peeled and julienned
1 large carrot, peeled and julienned
1 jalepeno, diced with seeds and ribs removed
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 tsp ginger, grated
2 tsp paprika
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1/4 teaspoon turmeric
1/4 tsp dry mustard
Salt and Pepper
1/4 cup rice vinegar
3/4 cup beef broth or 3/4 cup water with a generous teaspoon of beef base
1 tablespoon coconut oil

Directons:

1.  After you've gathered, chopped, grated, all of your ingredients...heat oil in large skillet. Add carrot, celery and jalapeno. Cook over medium-high heat until veggies are tender, 2-3 minutes.
2. Add sausage and cook until it just begins to brown.
3. Add kale, cabbage, ginger, spices and salt & pepper. Stir until well mixed and kale just begins to wilt.
4. Add vinegar and beef broth. Stir well (in this step it's more of a steamed dish instead of stir fry, but I wanted to make sure the veggies were tender) cover and reduce to medium heat. Cook 5-10 minutes until cabbage is soft but kale still has some structure. We want soft not mush.
5. Serve as is or over rice, noodles or whatever you like. You could also add 2 tablespoons of corn starch to a bit of cold water, stir till smooth, and add to the liquid from the stir fry. Bring to a boil and cook for 1 minute until thick. This would give you a yummy sauce to go with your stir fry.

Nutrition Data (from caloriecount.about.com)

Calories 338 Calories from Fat 197, Total Fat 21.9g, Saturated Fat 8.9g, Trans Fat 0.0g, Cholesterol 39mg, Sodium 1013mg, Potassium 827mg, Total Carbohydrates 18.0g, Dietary Fiber 4.1g, Sugars 4.4g, Protein 17.4g, Vitamin A 224% • Vitamin C 161%, Calcium 14% •Iron 16%

New Month, New Challenges

Hello Dear Readers, sorry I've slipped on posting. I started of okay and kinda got away on stuff.

It's December 1st, a new month. Time to begin new goals, new challenges, start over or continue. One of my sisters has recently began taking back her health and has inspired me to up the ante on my own workouts and eating habits. So I'm going to share the December challenges I'm attempting on this post. I may  will truncate them into one calendar, I think, to make it easier to see what's happening all at once.

I hope all my readers had a great Thanksgiving holiday (and my non-USA readers had a great weekend). I hope ya'll made great food choices and made sure to get some activity in (even if it was walking the mall/stores on Black Friday). I was happy to step on the scale this  morning and see no change. I'm down 4lbs from the beginning of last month and was kind of worried that I overdid the junk food over the weekend.

We have just over 3 weeks to prepare for the next big food holiday, and it will be 3 weeks of temptations. Work Christmas parties, Church parties, friend and family gatherings, and your own baking will be all around. These will be hard to avoid without turning into a Scrooge. So make smart choices, eat intuitively (I promise an article/post coming up on that soon, just need to find time to do it right), get active and most of all...don't let it stress you out. Food is great, being with people you care about is better. Do not let the fear of a few extra calories scare you away from being social. Just work it into your plan.

Without further ado, here are the challenges I'm attempting this month:

Well-Girl posted this lunge challenge that I think I'll try:

Sweat Like a Girl has an ongoing challenge event on Facebook. Here is Decembers. 

Blogilates, Cacey Ho has her December calendar up. Just subscribe to her newsletter for the password.

And finally, I came across this one from My Fit Station that I will attempt:

That looks like a lot, I know. So here is all the workouts on one handy dandy calendar to hopefully simplify everything a bit.

I didn't add every day to run, but the goal is to run on the nice days.

Bible Study in Psalm 103

As I mentioned in a previous post, I'm following along with a bible study being provided by Doorposts in Psalm 103. Well, I'm trying anyway.

This morning I played catch up with the study posts and today's assignment was one of my favorites so far.

Today we were to look at forgiveness of sin. Here is the definition according to Easton's Bible Dictionary: 
Forgiveness of Sin:

one of the constituent parts of justification. In pardoning sin, God absolves the sinner from the condemnation of the law, and that on account of the work of Christ, i.e., he removes the guilt of sin, or the sinner's actual liability to eternal wrath on account of it. All sins are forgiven freely (Act 5:31; 13:38;1Jo 1:6-9). The sinner is by this act of grace for ever freed from the guilt and penalty of his sins. This is the peculiar prerogative of God (Psa 130:4; Mar 2:5). It is offered to all in the gospel. (SeeJUSTIFICATION.)

 *I linked the entire quote so you may go to the site and read as well.

We then were to write down some answers to a few questions that she had provided.

Here are my thoughts/answers (her questions are in bold): 

What, according to this definition, is God doing when He forgives our sin?

He is removing our guilt of the sin and pardoning us of the penalties of our sin.

What is He removing?

Our guilt

What is He granting?

His grace and freedom

How much does it cost us?

Nothing

What did it cost Him?

Christ

How long does this last?

Forever

Can anyone besides God do this for us?

No

There are no right or wrong answers. The questions are to get you thinking and the Psalm is all about blessing (thanking) the Lord in all that he has done. Forgiving us of our sins even when we feel we are not worthy is a big thing.

Psalm 103:2 Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits: 

Monday Accountability Check

I had big plans to start off strong, and I did great the first two days. After that, I got in the "I'll get to that later" mentality and nothing got done.

This was my workout list for days 1-8.  Days 1-3 got done, but 4-8 was a wash.

It wasn't just working out, or eating well, or doing my bible study. I procrastinated across the board. I'm an equal opportunity procrastinator, not just one thing will not get done.

However, it's Monday. A new week, a new day and I can always start again. As long as I never give up I'll have never failed. 

 

So how to begin this week well...

First off, do you see that cluttered messiness that was my workout calendar/plan? I think that messed with my head, it looks like too much. So I made a to do list for today. 

Already got one thing checked off :)

It still looks like a lot to get done, but it seems more easily accomplished in my head. Plus some things can be done concurrently.  I also need to add a couple things, nothing major though just a couple phone calls that need to be made.

Anyway, I hope everyone is off to a great start and getting ready to be bundled up later this week when this Arctic stuff hits. 

So I read this article today from The Active Times. It's titled Give Up These 5 Things to Get Rid of Your Gut for Good.  My only grief is that the writer is a personal trainer not a dietitian or nutritionist. However, the advice in the article is solid and a registered dietitian was interviewed for the piece.

So, if you don't want to click over and read the article for yourself; I'll give you the points and my thoughts.

• First was to give up soda and juice. 
• We all know soda is bad for you (even diet sodas). It's nothing but sugar and empty calories. Drinking soda is also a hard habit for most to break (me included...but I'm happy to say I'm one week soda free, woot woot.) If you have a soda drinking problem, by problem I'm meaning you drink it daily and probably multiple times a day; to the point that your intake of other fluids is greatly diminished (i.e, you don't drink water), the first step to a healthy life will be forcing yourself to stop drinking.
• Okay juice. Juice isn't bad, right? We give it to our children as an healthy alternative, because it's not soda or sweet tea. Since it's not soda it's healthy, or so we assume. Sorry, juice isn't healthy. It really is not any better than opening a can of Coke and chugging that. One cup of 100%  apple juice has 117 calories, 27g of sugar, 2% Calcium, 172% vitamin C. Compare that to a cup of Coke: 1 cup has 88 calories, 25g of sugar, no value of vitamins/minerals. So yes you do get a nice jolt of vitamin C from the juice, along with a large amount of sugar (more than a cup of Coca-Cola) and has more calories than Coke. For what it's worth, a serving of juice is 4 ounces or just half a cup. So if you are watching your serving sizes like you should be and are eating healthy the rest of the time, one serving of juice isn't too bad. The thing is, who drinks just 1/2 a cup of juice?  I like to occasionally put about a tablespoon of 100% fruit juice in a glass of carbonated water for a bubbly treat. Sort of like a homemade soda. I think if you want to consume juice this is the way to do it. Your calories would be around 13, 3g of sugar and you still get 20% daily value of vitamin C. 
• Second was to give up late nights. This was simple, we need sleep to be healthy. There have been many studies done that show the ill effects of getting too few zzz's. 
• Third is alcohol. This should be a given, like soda. Alcohol is made from carbohydrates, carbohydrates are turned into glucose for our body to use for energy. If we don't need the energy, then it gets stored as adipose...fat.  Also, our body doesn't metabolize alcohol like it would other kinds of carbohydrates. It's metabolizing method is closer that of fat. I'm not going to dig out my textbook right now to explain it, but you can do a google search and find articles.
• I drink alcohol only a few times a year and  I'm a one beer and I'm done kind of person. I also try to make sure that I'm eating a healthy meal to offset the unwanted calories of the alcohol. My thought is that being drunk isn't fun or cool, but the occasional alcoholic beverage is okay.
• Fourth is stress. Well, I really would like to know how to truly give up stress. Again, like sleep, there have been studies done on the ill effects. However, I believe it's nearly impossible to give up stress. I suppose that you could try to stay away from situations that are stressful for you.
• Fifth thing to give up is artificial sweeteners. Another thing that has been studied and ill effects are found, though artificial sweeteners are labeled as reasonably safe. My thought is to try to get used to consuming products that are unsweetened, or at least light sweetened. If you must sweeten then use a product that is as little processed as possible. Some examples are molasses, maple syrup, honey, stevia, sucanat.  I will choose regular white sugar over artificial sweeteners, and just use a lot less.

First Day of November

Good morning dear readers. I hope everyone has had a great week and are looking forward to a relaxing weekend. My week was okay and today middle son is on his way to a band competition in Chattanooga. I'm hoping they do well, have fun and be safe (there's a chance of snow there and suppose to be cold). He's suppose to be home around 4am, yuck.

I've not had a soda since Monday, though my sweet intake has been more then I would like. I've also been slacking real bad on working out. Though I have been real busy the last couple days deep cleaning the house. That counts right? I also need to work more on reading my bible and doing bible studies. However, it is a new month and so time for a new start.

So here's what I have beginning today in order to meet my goals for this month.

• I'm going to still record what I'm consuming. If it crosses my lips, I try to write it down. I want to get a good idea on when I'm eating, why I'm eating and what I'm eating. I'm a big fan of clean eating, intuitive eating and follow the idea of 80/20 (eat healthy and be active 80% of the time, don't fret over the rest). 
• Accountability for this: I'm going to research and report on here ideas, thoughts and tips on intuitive eating and clean eating. Including recipes I've came up with or found.
• I'm following a couple monthly challenges for this month. One is from Cassey Ho at Blogilates. She posts a new calendar challenge each month, just sign up for her newsletter to receive the password. It's free and she has a great, motivating, personality and is lots of fun. Another is from He and She Eats Clean. I follow them on Facebook where they share tips and their monthly calender. You can also go to their website by the same name and see workouts and find recipes. I'm also making a 1 mile a day goal. I want to run a mile a day, no more no less. No more because I've been having problems with shin splints lately and it's getting cold which make me have breathing problems. No less, because a mile really isn't that much and only takes about 16 minutes at most for me (with walking). I actually plan on doing this throughout the winter to keep me warm for Spring races.
• Accountability for this: I've wrote workouts from both challenges on a calendar I have at home. My plan is to cross out each workout as I do them and maybe every weekend make  post on how it went and a picture of what I've done and what I didn't do. I'll include a screenshot of my miles done from my Nike app.
• I'm doing a couple online bible studies to encourage myself to spend more time in the word. One is through Doorposts. It's 30 days in Psalm 103 and seems okay so far (so it's just day 1). You can follow along via their website and/or for more you can join their Facebook group. I'm also a member of another Facebook group that this month is continuing a study in the prayers of Moses. It starts in Numbers, which isn't my favorite book in the Bible so hopefully I'll stay on track with it and not get bored.
• Accountability for this: I will do posts on verses/questions we are reviewing and my thoughts on them.

This seems like a lot for this month, but really it's much less then I usually try to accomplish. I'm trying to limit my challenges to just a handful at a time. I have a tendency to get overly ambitious and then get a bit depressed when I don't achieve my goals. I'm also working on some handmade Christmas gifts for the family. I'll post more on those later. 

Have a blessed weekend dear readers.