New adventures and the calendar is here

As I went down to Kinko's to pick up my countdown calendar I was so excited!  I decided on not spending the money ($25+) for the big desk-calendar size I wanted and instead printed my own sheets of paper and just took my papers to Kinko's to get "padded".  Padded meaning they glued all the sheets together at the top and threw a heavy duty cardboard on the back... like a note pad. 

Came out to a big price of $0.52!!  Cheapest motivation yet!  I had the boyfriend stick on some heavy-duty magnets and that sucker is on my refrigerator door reminding me to keep my eye on the prize!

So if I'm so motivated to get the weight back down before my class reunion this summer, what the hell is that recipe book doing in the picture?! 

Cooking, especially baking, has been one of my favorite things to do since I was little.  Ask anyone I grew up with and they'll say something along the lines of, "What?! Annie... bake?! NEVER!!!"  And it's true... I almost never bake unless it comes in a box and calls for oil, water and eggs.  Sad, I know!

So I figured it's time to jump in! I recently spent a small fortune on getting new cookware/bakeware supplies and when I saw this book on sale for $7, I picked it up.  I've tabbed all the recipes in the book and like Julie from the movie Julie and Julia, I'm gonna work my way through the entire book.

There's nothing weight-loss friendly about the recipes but this will be somewhat of a test for me... lose weight and learn to bake yummy foods.  Hoping that countdown calendar will help keep me on track!

I'm not a fan of weight-loss tv shows...

... but I caught an episode of MTV's show I Used To Be Fat.  I still don't care for it but I did find something super motivating about it:

the countdown calendar!!

Basically it's a desk-sized calendar that has HUGE BOLD numbers top with the words "days left" under the number and each day the top sheet of paper would be town off... just a simple countdown to whatever event the people on the show are working towards.  Well I want one!

I have my first class reunion coming up this summer - 142 days to be exact - so I need a simple, cheap, daily reminder that I need to get 'er done!  Nutrition and exercise need to be pounded out everyday if I even wanna think of going to the reunion.  Keep in mind that today I'm 35+ lbs. heavier than I was in high school so there's a lot of work to be done but it's doable.

I'm heading out to Kinko's today to see what they can do for me! YAY!

The numbers don't lie

Taking a look back at my calorie charts from 2008 - 2009, when I consistently lost 30 lbs., it's no wonder I've been struggling.. I'm eating a lot more calories and exercising WAY less.  The charts/numbers may look low but I felt 100% fine and got in intense workouts almost everyday... compare that my once-maybe-twice-a-week exercise sessions now and it's pretty sad.

So back when I first started my weight-loss journey...

... I ate between 1400 - 1600 calories and ended up with anywhere from 1000 - 1400 net calories (daily calories minus exercise calories).  I didn't have a heart-rate monitor or anything to track my exercise calories burned, so the numbers/estimates of burned calories were just pulled from the database I used to track calories.  Back then, my workouts consisted of a religious 6x a week schedule, made up of cardio 5x a week and weights 3x a week.  May have been too much to try and sustain for a lifetime but to know that I was capable of that kind of disciple is comforting.  Now look at my current numbers...


Over the last several months...

... I ate about 1600 - 1800 calories and usually ended up with a net calorie range of 1200 - 1600.  That's about a 200 calorie difference and probably even more because nowadays, I think I overestimate my calorie burn and underestimate my calories consumed.  Workouts over the last several months ranged anywhere from non-existent some weeks to 3 - 4x a week but on average you're looking at 1 - 2x a week.  And the workouts are WAY less in intensity level (I count walks as exercise now... I never did before) and WAY less often.

So this is me being accountable for my actions today.  

Workouts have to be no less than 3x a week and walks do count!  

Walking 3x a week is better than 0x a week!

Calories and nutrition have to be kept in check... time to bust out my measuring cups, spoons, and kitchen scale... and of course incorporate more home-made meals with my herbs!  

Working on them baby steps is the key!

'Q' is for Quinoa

(source)

... as in quinoa egg bake!

Ingredients:
(this recipe makes 8 servings)

• 0.5 cup uncooked quinoa
• 8 eggs
• 1.25 cups milk
• 1 tbs. minced garlic
• 1 tsp. chopped thyme (0.5 tsp if using fresh thyme)
• 0.5 tsp. salt
• 0.5 tsp. pepper
• 2 cups packed baby spinach, roughly chopped
• 1 cup shredded Romano or Parmesan cheese
• cooking spray

1.) Preheat oven to 350 degrees and lightly spray an 8x8 baking dish with cooking spray.  Wash quinoa and drain well and in a large bowl, whisk together quinoa, eggs, milk, garlic, thyme, salt and pepper.

2.) Stir in spinach then pour into baking dish.  Cover tightly with foil and shake dish so quinoa settles on bottom of dish.

3.) Bake until just set, about 45 minutes.  Remove cover and sprinkle with cheese.  Return to oven and bake uncovered until cheese is golden brown, about 10 - 15 minutes.

4.) Cool about 15 minutes then slice and serve.

Mini-Review
This was really good and even the boyfriend liked it!  Couple of things I would change next time:

• I would soak the quinoa in water for about an hour or two before making this dish.  The quinoa was actually cooked perfectly, but I like my quinoa on the softer side so this is only a preference.
• Before baking, I would use a spoon or fork to gently stir quinoa mixture around in the baking dish.  This should allow the quinoa to settle in a more even thickness on the bottom of the pan and disburse the seasonings more evenly.  Because I used dried thyme, it floated to the top and kind of massed together in the center of the dish so when you ate a slice of the quinoa bake, the pointed end of the slice had lots of herb flavoring, but not so much as you worked your way to the outside of the slice.

I'll definitely be making this again and probably add different kinds of veggies.

Very overdue recipes

 Does anyone even remember this?

I completely forgot about this project I had started back in 2009 and never finished so my plan is to finish it! My plan was to do 26 recipes in the span of a year (at most!): one recipe with an ingredient starting with each letter of the alphabet.  Jump forward a year and I'm barely half way through!

Recipes Q - Z coming soon!