Blueberry Flax Muffins

I made this blueberry muffins last night, and they were so good. This was my second time making them and I remembered to take pictures.

I got the recipe of the LCF site, and adapted it just a little.

Even the family like then and asked me to make them often. The kids ate most of them the first night, warm from the oven. I think next time I will use less sweetener, as I could taste it.

Blueberry Muffins

Adapted from recipe submitted by Jules (A New Day) on LCF

1 cup almond flour

1 cup golden flax meal

2 teaspoons baking powder

2 teaspoons cinnamon

1/3 teaspoon allspice

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 cup Splenda

1 stick butter (melted)

3 large eggs

1/2 cup water

fresh or frozen blueberries

Directions: Heat oven to 350 and grease or spray a muffin tin. Mix dry ingredients together. Melt butter. Mix eggs and water with butter. Add dry ingredients to the wet ingredients. Fold in the blueberries. Spoon mixture evenly into 12 muffin tina. Bake for about 22-24 minutes.

Almost a week, oh my!

It's been almost a week since I've blogged. Where does the time go? Obviously it goes too fast.
Not much has been happening with me. I've started back on my LC plan and am down 3 lbs as of today. Last weekend I finally got on the scale and was back up to 200 lbs. I almost hit the floor. I was so depressed all weekend, and never did anything but mope around the house.
On Monday I started back on LC, and as you can see it's working. It always did. I just have to try harder to stay with it, and increase my carbs slowly instead of trying to keep them really low. I think that's my problem - trying to keep them too low. Then I end up cheating once, and keep on going. Carbs are not my friend. My body does not like them and it sure lets me know. I get bloated and tired every time. You'd think I'd learn by now.
And the newest revelation in our lives is that we need to buy a vehicle. What a time for it! In this economy I am so afraid to get tied up in debt. The old 1994 car needs about $1500 in repairs; it's just not worth fixing. DH is looking for a truck, while I'd prefer a car. I don't see the need for a truck. He says to pull the trailer. Hello - the trailer gets pulled once a year to go on an ice fishing trip. And he may not even go this year, since WE are supposed to go somewhere warm. So do we need a truck? No way! Will we get a truck - probably. Since he'll be paying for it and driving it, we'll end up stuck with a truck. It's such a waste, cause it only seats 2 and there's 5 in the family.
Well gotta run. Be back soon.

Yummo!

OMG - I made those Boneless Buffalo wings last night for dinner and they were so good. I didn't have the cornmeal so I used breadcrumbs instead. They weren't the same texture as the picture, and the coating started to come off near the end of cooking. I take it the cornmeal would have probably puffed up a bit, and maybe help the coating stick. I will definately make these again - the whole family raved about them.

I've been trying real hard to stay on track with my food. My hardest times are at night, when I'm at home watching the tube. Lately I've been trying to find other things to do instead like walking the dog, cleaning, doing dishes...anything besides sit and eat. I'm really dreading the weekend too. I always see it as a reason to cheat. You know the drill...well it's the weekend so it's okay...I'll get back on track on Monday...just one treat won't hurt. Well I have to learn that it's not okay and every day is going to be a challenge. If I want to get healthy, I have to do it.

DH and I were talking the other day about Christmas. Since money is tight this year, we're not going to exchange gifts; just something small to open at Christmas. We are going to save all our extra money so that in the spring (March) we can take a vacation somewhere warm. We're not sure where yet...maybe Cuba, Bahamas, Dominican, Florida (not sure cause of spring break). We figured we can charge the trip itself, and all the money we save up will be spending money. Anything leftover will be put back on the bill. Sounds like a deal to me.

We've been married 21 years and never had a honeymoon, so this will be the first trip. I can't wait. Wouldn't it be nice to lose some weight before I go? This will be my inspiration. Once we decide where we're going, I'll download a couple pictures of our destination and put them on the fridge and cupboards. That should help keep me in line.

I did it!

I made it through the day without cheating. WooHoo!



I even went to the gym for an hour last night to get some cardio exercise on the elliptical. I am always amazed at how well I feel after exercise. I had so much energy for the rest of the night, I couldn't sit still. My problem is getting off my butt to do it.



I was surfing some recipes this morning and found this great looking chicken finger recipe at the Eating Well site. Doesn't it look yummy? I'll have to make it very soon.




Boneless Buffalo Wings

Makes 8 servings (2 wings, 1/2 cup vegetables & 2 tablespoons dip each)

Ingredients
3 tablespoons nonfat buttermilk
3 tablespoons hot pepper sauce, such as Frank's Red Hot, divided
3 tablespoons distilled white vinegar, divided
2 pounds chicken tenders
6 tablespoons whole-wheat flour
6 tablespoons cornmeal
½ teaspoon cayenne pepper
2 tablespoons canola oil, divided
2 cups peeled carrot sticks
2 cups celery sticks
Spicy Blue Cheese Dip (recipe follows)

1. Whisk buttermilk, 2 tablespoons hot pepper sauce and 2 tablespoons vinegar in a large bowl until combined. Add chicken; toss to coat. Transfer to the refrigerator and let marinate for at least 10 minutes or up to 1 hour, stirring occasionally.
2. Meanwhile, whisk flour and cornmeal in a shallow dish. Whisk the remaining 1 tablespoon hot sauce and 1 tablespoon vinegar in a small bowl.
3. Remove the chicken from the marinade and roll in the flour mixture until evenly coated. (Discard remaining marinade and flour mixture.) Sprinkle both sides of the chicken with cayenne.
4. Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add half the chicken, placing each in a little oil. Cook until golden brown and cooked through, 3 to 4 minutes per side. Transfer to a serving platter. Repeat with the remaining 1 tablespoon oil and chicken, reducing the heat if necessary. Transfer to the platter. Drizzle the chicken with the reserved hot sauce mixture. Serve with carrots, celery and Spicy Blue Cheese Dip.

The chicken can marinate (Step 1) for up to 1 hour.

Per serving: 257 calories; 10 g fat (4 g sat, 4 g mono); 83 mg cholesterol; 13 g carbohydrate; 31 g protein; 2 g fiber; 382 mg sodium; 257 mg potassium.

Spicy Blue Cheese Dip

Makes 1 cup - for 8 servings

2/3 cup reduced-fat sour cream
2/3 cup crumbled blue cheese
1 tablespoon distilled white vinegar
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

Whisk sour cream, blue cheese, vinegar and cayenne in a small bowl.

NUTRITION INFORMATION: Per 2-tablespoon serving: 67 calories; 6 g fat (4 g sat, 2 g mono); 16 mg cholesterol; 1 g carbohydrate; 3 g protein; 0 g fiber; 165 mg sodium; 56 mg potassium.


Anyhoo - that's it for now. I'll be back later when I have more to say.

Cheater cheater chocolate eater...

I am so disappointed in myself today. I cheated last night by eating Halloween candy, of all things. I don't know why I did it either. I just went and grabbed the bag and started eating chocolate bars. Emotional eating? Boredom? Maybe a little bit of both.

We have a stockpile of money issues lately with no solution in sight. I'm sure everyone else is in the same boat nowadays. I have car repairs on both cars that need to be fixed, and now I am having tooth pain and can't afford to go to the dentist. My mouth has been killing me since Friday. We need to win the lottery - yeah I know, fat chance of that! LOL...Well something good just has got to come out of all this. Just wait and see.

As for work, today is another crazy phone day. It just won't stop...and I hate talking on the phone. I'd rather let the machine get it. I guess that's what I have to do to get the jobs that keep me busy. It's slow in the construction business this year; nobody's spending money. I'm afraid I may get my hours cut any time now, which will really kill us financially. I need this full time job to keep us going until DH finishes school. If I lose this, it'll be hard to find something else. There are just no "paying" jobs out there.

On the upside, DH is doing well in his Electrical course at the college. He did really well in his last two tests, which he thought he bombed. He found out he did better than most students in the class. He's really wanting to get back to work...only 3 more years to go dear.

Oh yeah...I finally got batteries for my scale. I'm up to 197.4 this morning - not good at all!

Anyhoo it's lunch time and I have a salad and some tuna to eat - gotta keep it legal...LOL

I'm Baaack!

It's been a long time since I've posted over here. A lot has happened since then so I won't get into the nitty gritty of it all.

I did manage to lose 35 lbs on a low-carb diet, and now have gained 15 lbs back. It's time to get serious about my health. I have been feeling crappy over the past couple of months so I went to the doctor and she ordered some blood work to be done. It seems my thyroid is out of whack again; my numbers were up to 15.8 (under 5 is considered normal). The doctor says also that my blood sugar is in the high range and I'm borderline diabetic. Time to pull up the bootstraps and change that line of thinking. There's no way I want to go there!

In the time I have been away from here I have tried various other diets, when I could stick to them...LOL. The most recent was Weight Watchers over a three week period. I enjoyed the variety of foods and didn't really have a problem with the portions or counting points, but I actually gained weight and felt bloated and awful. This leads me to believe that I may have some kind of food intolerance or allergy. When I was low carbing, this never happened to me. I always felt great.

I am starting back on a low-carb plan as of today. Hopefully I can stick with it this time and get myself healthier and skinnier. The time is now!