i HEART elephants

How can I post 4 days ago talking about how I want to live life active and then go MIA on the blog?  I'm here, but I don't really feel like I am living life.  I was at a conference in DC last week, and they had us booked solid.  I arrived home late Sunday night, worked Monday to come home to making dinner and sending out wedding invites...yay!, and then left for another work trip Tuesday morning.

I feel very unsettled.  Stuff is getting done, but I feel like everything is a mess.  Possibly because my house is a mess and not organized :(  And I don't know when it's going to get better.  As you read this (Wednesday AM), I am driving back from my trip and right back to the office.  Help!!  When am I going to get everything on my to do list done for the wedding and work AND make the rest of my liveable?  Any suggestions?  I am totally open to them!

The one good thing about my trip was some amazing meals and a great trip to the zoo!  Stay tuned for some restaurant reviews (eating well did not work out this week, -65 Points Plus...boo!).  Enjoy my favorite animals from the zoo.  Don't they have the life?!?

i HEART elephants....i even bought a bag that says it :) 

Can you find the gorilla?

So cute you want to pet him, until he bites your hand off!

Live Life Active!

We are in the middle of a six-week Weight Watchers challenge to Live Life Active.  Austin and I are doing our best...but it's tough!

I am away at a conference for work, so I am trying (emphasis on trying) to be active while sitting in a conference room all day.  I'm going to the gym (this is so hard when you're programmed from 9 am to 8 pm), but also enjoying the city.  I'm right in the middle of Washington, DC, and I am loving walking in the early evening/night.

However, I do miss enjoying the real outdoors back in Williamsburg!  One of our new favorite things to do is kayaking.  There is a great park near our house that has a huge lake and some hiking trails.  We've been hiking and spent two hours barely making it around a quarter of the lake and just wasn't as fun as paddling around the water.

What are your fun summer exercise plans and activities?

Wedding Panic!

Today I am in a bit of a panic.  I have been in a panic all month (plus longer), and I feel like it's coming to a head as I prepare for the weekend.  The wedding is almost 2 months away, and I am freaking out.  There is just way too much to do!  I never thought wedding planning would be this stressful.  I thought it would be fun...lol.

I just want to be married.  Yes, I want to be surrounded by family and friends, but I feel like I'm getting lost in the minutia and am losing sight of the bigger picture.  I'm getting married for a life with Austin, so why is this event making us argue? Ah!!  Learn more about our wedding here!

I am getting married 10 hours away in Buffalo, NY, so any trip to Buffalo is a production.  This weekend, I am heading there for my bachelorette party #1, bridal shower #2, and bridal shower #3 (yes, I know I am a spoiled bride).

My pretty hat made during bridal shower #1 :)

Getting to Buffalo is seeming like a fiasco.  Here are all the things that need to fit into my car (a little Honda Civic):
-groomsmen gifts (2 huge boxes)
-large box from Oriental Trading with miscellaneous wedding stuff
-3 medium to large boxes of kitchen goodies for my sister (as I get new stuff, she gets my well loved stuff)
-6 cases of wine for the hotel welcome baskets (there are no Trader Joe's in Buffalo, so I need to come prepared)
-6 dresses (I can never decide what to wear and I always have an extra dress on hand, lol)
-Miscellaneous bags with wedding planning binder, knitting supplies, toiletries, snacks, wedding shoes, etc)
-My suitcase (currently in the front seat)
-Canopy for my future sister-in-law's grad party (This will be swapped out halfway through my trip for my future mother-in-law and her weekend supplies- hope she doesn't have too many....lol)

I'm thinking my car is somewhat of a clown car- I never thought it would all fit, but it does, miraculously!

Another point of stress is my wedding dress- my beautiful, amazing, dream wedding dress.  My first fitting is Saturday.  Only problem, no dress.  The dress ships today and won't arrive until late next week.  I am trying to be calm, but I also really want to see my dress and get the alterations started.  I am down 25 pounds, so I know the dress needs to be altered, and I want it to be as amazing on me as when I tried on the sample.  The store says not to worry- they will make the dress perfect between my second (now first) fitting and the wedding- 1/5 weeks apart.  And I believe them, kind of, but I'm still freaking out.

I know, I need to take a chill pill, but my Type A personality is not suited for wedding planning....lol.  Well, I think it will be an awesome party, but it's all the little details that drive me crazy!

So over my lunch hour, I am going to get a pedicure to see if I can clear my mind of the never ending wedding list.  Wish me luck!!  Any suggestions to help me out?

Guest Blog!

When I started this blog, it was about trying new recipes and losing weight.  While that's still the goal, I've also loved getting to know other awesome bloggers.  One of those is Judee from Gluten Free A-Z Blog.  Her blog is all about gluten free, vegetarian, and vegan recipes.  

Despite my love of meat (fresh from the farm!), mixing it up with different types of recipes for different diets  is a great way to keep variety in the kitchen and in your meals.  Today I am a guest blogger on Judee's site, and I talk about my motivation for weight loss.  The best/worst part are the pictures of Austin and me through the years-- showing why we needed to start losing some weight :)  

While we look pretty snazzy in this picture, I had to order a size up in my dress at the last minute since the dress I ordered 3 months early didn't fit :(  I was devastated-- the dress disaster was fixed, but I knew that it was time to start losing weight.

Please check out my very first guest blog post.  

Thanks for the opportunity, Judee!

I Heart Panera

When I have to eat on the run and am eating out, I almost always pick Panera.  It is delicious.  The first couple times I visited, I was so confused when ordering, but years later, I think I've finally gotten the hang of it.

In college, the nearest Panera was 45 minutes away, and on more than one occasion, I loaded my car with books from all my classes and spent the entire day studying at Panera.  You have to get there early to get a table near an electrical outlet, but the change in location was worth the drive, and the food was great too!

My favorite Panera meal.  You Pick Two- Chicken Noodle Soup (2 points) and BBQ Chopped Chicken Salad (a whole salad is 13 points, so I estimate 8-10).  Light but satisfying lunch.

My sister, Sarah, enjoying her salmon salad at Panera.

Beer Soaked Beef

Two nights ago, I cooked the much anticipated beer soaked beef.  Austin's been eyeing this recipe because of the beer; I've been wanting it because I love beef.  The makings of this dinner actually started 3 nights with the marinade.

I took the flank steak I bought (about 1.5 pounds) and cut it in half.  Since there's only two of us, a whole steak wasn't necessary, and I already found another recipe to try with the flank steak. :)  So with the recipe below (from Weight Watchers) is halved-- and Austin didn't mind finishing the beer that I didn't use in the marinade.  We used an Irish Red Ale for the marinade-- I love red ales, and I think it complemented the other spices used.  The recipe calls for cloves, and I didn't have them.  You could use a combination of cinnamon and nutmeg-- I used apple pie spice.

We let the meat marinade for about 24 hours, turning the meat over occasionally, meaning before we went to bed and the next morning before we went to work.  The meat could either be cooked in the oven or on the grill.  The original recipe suggested 3.5 minutes on each side, and that made it severely rare-- even too red for me.  We put it back in and on each side for about 5 minutes left it medium-rare to rare.  Cook longer based on your preferences.

We had the steak with green beans, and poured the sauce over both the meat and beans.  The meat was sweet, a little bit unexpected for steak, but we both really enjoyed it.  I don't think it will be a staple, but I would make it again.

Beer Soaked Beef

Ingredients

	12 oz beer
	2 Tbsp olive oil
	1 clove garlic, peeled and smashed
	2 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
	1 Tbsp dark brown sugar
	1 tsp table salt
	1/8 tsp whole cloves
	1 1/2 pound uncooked lean flank steak, 1-inch thick, washed and patted dry

Instructions

• In a 9- X 13-inch glass baking dish, combine beer, oil, garlic, lemon juice, sugar, salt and cloves; add steak. Cover dish and marinate in refrigerator, turning once or twice, at least 2 hours and up to 24 hours.
• Place a grill pan in broiler; preheat broiler to high. Remove meat from marinade and broil about 5 minutes per side for medium rare, or longer until desired doneness.* Remove meat from broiler and place meat on a plate; loosely cover with aluminum foil and let stand for about 10 minutes.
• Meanwhile, place grill pan on stovetop over high heat; carefully pour marinade onto grill pan. Bring to a boil (beer will foam) and cook until all alcohol burns off, about 5 to 7 minutes.
• Thinly slice steak against the grain and serve with sauce. Yields about 4 ounces of steak per serving.  6 points per serving.

Hawaiian Curried Chicken with Pineapple Salsa

Last night was another first; I made curry for the first time!  I LOVE curry, so I was excited to make my own.  I adapted the recipe from Weight Watchers-- I added celery because it's fresh and awesome, and I didn't want it to go bad.  We also tried a cilantro base instead of fresh cilantro.  It was surprisingly good-- made by Goya and $2.08 for the jar.  It's a great substitute since I'm so bad about using fresh produce before it spoils.

Hawaiian Curried Chicken with Pineapple Salsa

Ingredients

	Cooking spray
	2 tsp peanut oil
	2 tsp ginger root, finely minced
	1 large uncooked onion, chopped
	1 Tbsp curry powder, mild-variety recommended (For loving curry, I don't do spice well,)
	1/2 tsp salt
	1/8 tsp sugar
	1 pound uncooked boneless skinless chicken breast(s), cut into 1- to 1 1/2-in chunks
	1 cup light coconut milk
	2 1/2 cup pineapple, diced (I bought a can of diced pineapple, but I wish they were smaller.  I think I will do chunks or cut up the rings next time).
	1/4 cup uncooked shallot(s), minced
	1/4 cup cilantro, fresh, minced
	2 ribs celery, chopped Cook 1/4 cup brown rice, according to package instructions, per people/serving.

Instructions

• Coat a large skillet with cooking spray; set over medium heat. Add oil; heat until oil starts to shimmer. Add ginger, celery, and onions; sauté until onions turn translucent and start to caramelize, about 5 to 7 minutes. Add curry powder, salt and sugar; cook, stirring, until curry becomes fragrant, about 1 minute.
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• Push vegetables to side of skillet and sauté chicken until lightly browned, about 1 to 2 minutes. Add coconut milk and reduce heat to low; simmer, partially covered, stirring occasionally, until chicken is done, about 20 to 30 minutes. 
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• Meanwhile, to make salsa, combine pineapple, shallots and cilantro; toss well to coat.
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• To serve, top chicken with salsa and sprinkle with coconut; sprinkle with salt if desired.  Serve over brown rice.
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• Yields about 3/4 cup chicken and 1/3 cup salsa per serving.  5 points per serving (I think that the serving sizes are too small, so I always round up the points).  

The only problem is that over 24 hours later, my kitchen and house still smells like curry.  I guess it's a small price to pay for a delicious meal :)

Manhattan Clam Chowder

I'm not sure how it happened, but I never had Manhattan Clam Chowder during the last 25 years on Earth....until last night.  I made my own-- I thought it was pretty tasty, even though I have nothing to compare it to.  It was great to make during a Sunday afternoon since it made the house smell awesome!

Austin is a great potato peeler (and he got a haircut on Sunday, so he looks extra handsome!).  I hate peeling potatoes, so I am so happy that he doesn't mind doing one of the things in the kitchen I dislike.  Growing up my mom and grandma both had gadgets that peeled potatoes, so I never had to peel a potato, apple, etc without the aid of the "stripper," but I can't find one now that I have my own kitchen :(

Again, we (I) was too hungry to remember to take a picture, so below you'll see the pot of chowder and a picture I borrowed from the Weight Watchers website.  I adapted the recipe from them too, using canned clams instead of fresh (cooking clams makes me nervous....).  If I were to do it again, I would cover the pot when simmering the soup; we lost too much liquid when it was simmering.

Fresh Manhattan Clam Chowder

Ingredients

	5 slice(s) uncooked turkey bacon
	2 tsp olive oil
	1 large uncooked onion(s), diced into 1/2-inch pieces
	2 large uncooked carrot(s), diced into 1/2-inch pieces
	4 rib(s) (medium) uncooked celery, diced into 1/2-inch pieces
	1/2 pound(s) uncooked potato(es), diced into 1/2-inch pieces
	4 cans clams
	32 oz canned crushed tomatoes in tomato puree, plum-variety
	1 1/2 Tbsp thyme
	1 bay leaf
	1/2 tsp table salt
	1/2 tsp black pepper
	1/4 cup(s) parsley (flakes or fresh)

Instructions

• In a large heavy pot, sauté bacon over medium-high heat until crispy, about 5 to 6 minutes; remove bacon, crumble it and set aside.
• In the same pot, heat olive oil over medium heat for about 1 minute. Add onions, carrots, celery and potatoes; stir vegetables, scraping bacon drippings from bottom of pot with a wooden spoon, to mix and coat. Cook, stirring occasionally, until onions wilt, about 10 to 15 minutes; add clam juice, tomatoes, thyme, bay leaf, salt and pepper. Bring to a boil for about 1 minute and then reduce heat to medium-low; simmer, uncovered, until potatoes are tender, about 50 minutes.
• Add clams to soup, cover and increase heat to high. Boil soup just until clams open, about 6 to 8 minutes. Remove clams from shells, discard shells and place clams back in soup. Toss in parsley, crumbled bacon and serve. Yields about 1 cup per serving.  3 points per cup!

Activity Points Galore!

The weekend in Colorado lived up to and exceeded expectations-- I did more physical activity than I did in a long, long time, and I'm still sore sitting here writing this post 2 days later...

Day 1 included a hike at 6,850 feet.  Not only am I a little out of shape, but the lack of oxygen and the elevation didn't help.  But it was worth the view!

We hit the ski slopes on Day 2.  I was incredibly excited but also nervous.....on the way to Breckridge, we stopped at the Continental Divide (water flows to the Atlantic on the one side and the Pacific on the other).  Here's a picture of the group at almost 12,000 feet.

While I strapped on skis for the first time in what seems like forever, Austin tried snowboarding for the first time.  He struggled a bit on the hill, but skiing was almost like riding a bike for me.  I stuck to the green circles for most of the day, but eventually ventured to a blue square.  Going incredibly slow down the hill and making big S's in the snow was the way to go for me...that was until I hit one ice spot too many and did an epic spill.  Luckily, my bindings were set loose, so it didn't hurt when I fell, but then I had to crawl up the hill to get my ski gear.  Of course, a tiny little girl checked in to make sure I was okay...appreciated the niceness but was still super embarrassed.

We skied until it was close to dark, and I was proud that I made it until the end of the day.  Being on the slopes again made me realize how much I like skiing and made me wonder why I stopped...can't wait to go again!

AND, I accrued almost 50 activity points between the two activities, a great way to offset the AMAZING but not Weight Watchers friendly food that we ate this weekend  :)  Stay tuned for pictures and descriptions of the food in Boulder.

Colorado Bound!

Heading to Colorado this afternoon, and I am psyched!  Going to see one of my best friends, experience Colorado in the winter, and ski (I haven't skied in almost 10 years, so it could be interesting).

One of the biggest challenges will be to stay on the Weight Watchers plan.-- between traveling in airports, going out to eat, drinking, and the like.  I don't imagine I'll be under my daily points, but as long as I don't blow my additional points, I'll be good to go.

Expect a lengthy post when I get home, and here's what I'm expecting to see in Colorado:

With a lack of a White Christmas for me this year, I am so excited to see snow!

Weigh-in Week One and a Favorite/Easy Dinner

Today was my first official Weight Watchers weigh-in (at least time around), and I was down 2.6 pounds...yay!  It's probably only water weight, but I'm happy nonetheless.

When I got home, all I wanted to do was a make a trusty old favorite for dinner, and it's also very health conscious :)  I originally found a version of the recipe on a calendar for my oil hear company and adapted it to things I had in the pantry.  It's one of my favorites.  Hope you enjoy it too!

Polenta with Shrimp and Tomatoes 


Ingredients
1 Bag Frozen Shrimp- uncooked, detailed, and deveined
1 Large Can Diced Tomatoes with Basil and Oregano
1 Tube Polenta (I got mine at Trader Joe's)
2 Cloves Garlic, Chopped
1/2 tbs Basil
2 tsp Sugar
Garlic Salt
Olive Oil
Grated Parmesan Cheese

In frypan, cook shrimp in pan until shrimp is bright pink.  While cooking, sprinkle with healthy dose of garlic salt.

In saucepan, coat pan with oil over medium-high heat.  Add garlic and cooked until browned.  Add can of diced tomatoes, sugar, and garlic.  Boil and then simmer on low.

Cut tube of polenta into 1/2 inch circle.  Pan fry with olive oil.

Serve layered (from bottom to top) with polenta, tomato sauce, and shrimp.  Sprinkle with parmesan cheese.

I forgot to take a picture of this awesome meal because I was so hungry!  It's easy to make, and I will serve left-over tomato sauce over whole wheat for an additional meal.

Positive with Attitude

I've been thinking about doing a blog for a while now, and I'm ready to take the plunge!  Thanks for all those who provided suggestions for blog titles names...expect those to be Blog Post titles in the near future.

Last weekend, I did the cliche New Years Resolution thing- I joined Weight Watchers.  Time to start anew, or at least start again.  I did WW about a year ago and was super successful, that is until I stopped watching what I ate...whoops.  I am trying very hard not to call this my renewed weight loss vigor a diet, but it certainly felt that way this past week as I was starving every minute of every day.

So what makes it a diet?  Is it the bland food, routine of what I eat?  Yup, I think all of those, so I need to mix it up.  I am determined to make yummy meals that will challenge my limited culinary skills and not make me think of the scary "d" word.

The goal is to look better, feel better, fit into all the clothes in my closet, and I would be remiss if my upcoming wedding didn't play a role in this :)

Of course, to stay focused, I need to balance my work, my last masters class, wedding planning and mountains of stress that weddings bring, volunteering, and life in general.  No biggie, right?  I'm used to juggling way too many balls in the air, and I am determined not to let any drop!