Monday Menu-Planning #3

Previously...

"I give up logging my food as I go. So I'm going to go the route of many other housewives and plan my family's meals for the week."

--- R       

With the intention of keeping the overall monthly cost of my family's groceries at or extremely near $200, this past Sunday we spent just over $100 for what should be two weeks worth of meals. 

My Grocery List, in no particular order

• (2) gallons 1% milk
• (2) heavy whipping cream
• (1) box of unsalted sweet butter
• (1) dozen eggs
• (2) boxes miniwheats
• (10) cans of soup
• (1) box chicken breasts
• (3) packages stew meat
• (1) package of 2 boneless trout
• (6) boxes microwaveable veggies
• (1) gallon orange juice
• (1) 6-pack of kid-sized orange juice with straws
• (1) package cinnamon
• (2) big bags of chocolate chips
• (1) big bag of apples
• (3) pears
• (1) gallon vanilla ice cream
• (1) whipped cream!
• (8) kiwis (only $2 total!)

Husband tossed the receipt before I could type it up, after I had tossed the hand-written list. I'm pretty sure I've forgotten to list something... 

My forgetfulness aside, we had some leftover items from the previous week, such as rice, so stretching all of this to go two weeks shouldn't be too hard. Will probably need to buy more apples though. And might get strawberries so I can make another fruit tart. :)

I'm only going to list dinner meals - my breakfast is practically always either an apple or bowl of miniwheats with a high-calorie venti Starbucks drink. Lunch is usually some baked good I've made or leftovers. Snacks are limited to two Slim-Fast High-Protein Creamy Chocolate Shakes and one venti nonfat decaf latte from Starbucks (I am a confirmed addict).

Monday

Boeuf Bourguignon (beef stew)

Tuesday

Leftover Stew

Wednesday

Trout! with... something. What goes nicely with trout? Veggies? :/

Thursday

Chicken Soup with Chicken Chunks!

Friday

Chicken with Rice

Saturday

Slow-Cooked Beef over Rice

Sunday

Chicken with Veggies

P.S.

All of our dinners have less than 500 calories and are very filling.

They are also very yummy and very cheap! I love my commissary almost as much as I love horses. <3

Monday Menu-Planning #2

Eff including the overall cost for every meal;

I'll just start saving my grocery receipts. So far this month I have spent around $250 and have done tons of cooking and baking. I don't expect to spend much more - haven't tried sticking to a budget before, so I don't know what will last longest and whatnot.

Monday

Christmas Ham with Mashed Potatoes and Homemade Chocolate Chip Cookies :)

Tuesday

Soup and S'mores!

Wednesday

Breaded Chicken Nuggets with Rice & Ketchup

Thursday

Savory Beef with Rice

Friday

B's Baby's 1st Birthday!

Saturday

My Birthday Date Night! <3

Sunday

Shredded Teriyaki-Glazed Chicken over Rice

Breakfast

Practically always an apple or bowl of miniwheats with a high-calorie venti Starbucks drink.

Lunch

Usually some baked good I've made and/or leftovers.

Snacks

Limited to two Slim-Fast shakes and one venti nonfat decaf Starbucks latte.

Recipe Review: Cherry Vanilla Malt Cupcakes

OooOooOoo cherry vanilla malt shake tasting cupcakes?!?!?! GIMME!!!!!

Who doesn't love an old-fashioned cherry vanilla malt shake? I can't resist them. It's like strawberry flavor with a kapow. When I found a recipe for them, well, as with all recipes I try, I naturally had to try it.

DON'T.

This is a recipe I actually crossed all of my "T"s and dotted all of my "I"s with. I wanted it to be perfect. 

I mean, CHERRY VANILLA MALT SHAKE CUPCAKE. 

Come. On. 

The name alone gets my taste buds screaming for 'em!

Seriously though. Much like with the first Calendar Cupcakes post the only good part is the frosting. Except somehow the cake for this was worse. Dunno how, but Duncan Hines managed to make a cake that got me sick. 

Yeeeeeeup, I got sick. Almost missed my riding lesson. That fact alone should convey the gravity of the situation. 

Oh yea, the only other time food has gotten me sick was the ill-advised but totally worth it fisherman's stew I had in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico once. And the precooked store-bought chicken mum bought once... So only other time(s). 

Because of that, and that the cake tastes damn awful, I'm not going to list it here.

If you're feeling brave, you can find it on the Duncan Hines website. 

Here's a deceptively pretty picture of the little buggers:

Recipe Review: Éclairs

Mmmmm eclairs... there's nothing like them. Crisp, fluffy pastry... delicately sweet custard filling... and chocolate glaze. They're one of my favorite pastries.

After finding a recipe for them flipping through one of my cookbooks, I couldn't resist trying it.

I didn't follow the instructions to the tee, but in my opinion, for a first try, they came out quite scrumptious. I could have mixed the batter a bit longer, I could have not burned the chocolate in the microwave, I could have allowed the custard to boil, I could have used a pastry bag to fill the shells... I could have had more patience overall.

FYI - If you try this, make the custard first, as it will take a while to cool and requires your full attention.

Custard Filling

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups whole milk
• 1/4 cup sugar***
• half of 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoons vanilla extract
• half of 1/4 cup cornstarch
• 1/2 tablespoon unbleached all-purpose flour
• 2 large egg yolks
• 2 tablespoons (1/4 stick) butter
• 1/2 cup heavy cream, whipped to soft peaks

***This amount of sugar makes a pastry cream that is just barely sweet. Use 1/2 to 3/4 cup for a sweeter pastry.

Directions

1. In a medium-sized saucepan, stir together 1 cup of the milk, sugar and salt. 
2. Bring the mixture to a boil over medium heat.
3. Meanwhile, whisk the cornstarch, flour and egg yolks with the remaining 1/2 cup milk.
4. Whisk some of the boiling milk mixture with the egg yolks, then pour back into the hot milk mixture and return to the heat. 
5. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly, and boil for no less than 30 seconds. 
6. Remove from the heat and strain through a fine sieve into an appropriately sized bowl.
7. Stir in the butter and vanilla extract.
8. Top the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate until cool.
9. To complete, fold the cooled cream into the whipped cream.

Cream Puff Pastry

aka Pâté à Choux (paht ah SHOO)
3 cups, enough for 12 eclairs or 16 cream puffs

Ingredients

• 1 cup water
• 8 tablespoons (1 stick) butter
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
• 4 large eggs

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 425 F. 
2. Put water, butter and salt in a saucepan and bring the mixture to a rolling boil
3. Remove it from the heat and add the flour all at once.
4. Stir vigorously.
5. Return the pan to the burner and cook over medium heat, stirring all the while, until the mixture forms a ball; this should take only about a minute.
6. Remove the pan from the heat and let the mixture cool for 5 to 10 minutes, to 140 F. You should be able to hold a finger in it for a few seconds.
7. Transfer the dough to a mixer and beat in the eggs one at a time; the mixture will become fluffy. Beat for at least 2 minutes after adding the last egg.
8. OR labor with a whisk. And yes it's OK to use your hands. 
9. Form the choux paste into whatever shape you desire, using a spoon or by putting the dough into a pastry bag and piping it.
10. Bake for 15 minutes, then reduce the oven temperature to 375 F and bake for an additional 15 minutes. 
11. Turn off the oven, open the door a crack and leave the pastry inside to cool for 30 minutes.
12. Remove from the oven to cool completely. 
13. CAREFULLY split the pastry, fill and frost as desired.

Chocolate Glaze

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1 ounce unsweetened baking chocolate
• 1 tablespoon hot water
• 1/2 cup confectioners' sugar

Directions

1. Melt the butter with the chocolate in a microwave or in the top of a double boiler set over simmering water.***
2. Remove from the heat.
3. Stir in the water and sugar.
4. Beat with a spoon or fork until the glaze is smooth and soft enough to pour.
5. Drizzle onto the eclairs.

***You can also use a regular 'ole bowl and pot.

Adapted from The King Arthur Flour Baker's Companion

Monday Menu-Planning #1

I give up logging my food as I go. So I'm going to go the route of many other housewives and plan my family's  meals for the week.

I'm only going to list dinner meals - my breakfast is practically always either an apple or bowl of miniwheats with a high-calorie venti Starbucks drink. Lunch is usually some baked good I've made or leftovers. Snacks are limited to two Slim-Fast High-Protein Creamy Chocolate Shakes and one venti nonfat decaf latte from Starbucks (I am a confirmed addict).

(Note: This was supposed to be published last night... but it would appear I hit "save" instead of "publish"... oops...)

Monday

Lemony Honey-Glazed Salmon Filet with Buttery Rice & Veggies

Tuesday

Slow-Cooked Beef marinated in Olive Oil and Teriyaki Sauce with Jasmine Rice

Wednesday

Soup and S'mores!

Thursday

Marriage Retreat Food!

Friday

Peppery Chicken with Garlicky Broccoli & Carrots

Saturday

Homemade Breaded Chicken Nuggets with a Simple Salad

Sunday

Shredded Spicy Beef with Jasmine Rice

P.S.

All of our dinners have less than 500 calories and are very filling.

They are also very yummy and very cheap! I love my commissary almost as much as I love horses. <3

And in future Monday Menu-Planning posts I will include the overall cost for each meal, as well as try a dinner recipe from one of my cookbooks. It's high time I used them for something other than baking. :P

Happy Home Tip #1: Handling Insomnia...

...Productively!

But First, a Question:

Are you sure you have it?

Insomnia is defined as "an inability to sleep; chronic sleeplessness" and is easily mistakenly diagnosed, especially when the sufferer is self-diagnosing. From what I noticed during my high school days, many of my insomniac (quote/unquote) classmates were simply plain worn-out or didn't give themselves enough time for sleep or both. And from what I noticed during my working days, the trend has continued.

So before running off and declaring yourself an insomniac, research Delayed Sleep Phase Syndrome and Sleep State Misperception and ask yourself if you're merely not planning for the absolute bare minimum of 8 hours of sleep and if you just have too much on your plate. Click here for more information regarding healthy sleep.

In the meantime, reading the rest of this tip can't hurt. Whether or not you're actually an insomniac doesn't matter. Heck, I'm not (technically).

(Disclosure: I am not a medical professional. These are my personal observances and opinions - follow at your own risk.) 

Using Myself as an Example:

Every two weeks my schedule switches from days to nights and vice versa. Obviously, this can make getting enough sleep difficult. Luckily, it's consistent(ish) and I average about 9 to 10 hours a day. Some days I may only get around 5 though - this can be due to a smorgasbord of factors, the likely culprit being caffeine. 

On the day schedule, after dropping off hubby, I get all of the cleaning done and out of the way, FIRST. Depending on my diligence on previous days and speed, this can take anywhere from an hour to 3 to 4 hours (I tend to go overboard with the disinfectant). At the end of cleaning sessions and subsequent TV/videogame/reading/goofing off online "reward time", I'll have been awake for approximately 9 hours. 

Commence nap time! 

2 hours or so later I'm awake to either prepare a scrumptious feast or to run off to the stable. Afterwards, it's pick up hubby, feed him, make sure he bathes, make sure phones are being charged and alarms are set, have more downtime/goofing of online time... then sleep. Rinse and repeat. 

Night schedule is the same, just flipped. I find I actually get more done at night than I do during the day - makes sense, considering I was born around 2am - and is how I know I'm not a true insomniac. I just function best between 11pm and 11am. I wouldn't be surprised if my ancestors were the ones selected for the night watch. 

The trick to surviving? If you absolutely CANNOT sleep, then clean, cook, organize and have some "spa" time. 

Treat it as you would your normal awake time, 

minus the interruptions from family, friends and pets. 

This is how I keep my home sparkly and organized when I actually follow my own advice. Believe me when I say there have been mornings I've stared at the walls, puzzling over what to do. Plus, you would be surprised how relaxing it can be.

How This Can Apply to You:

If you don't work, take a nap in the middle of the day. And if your children are at home during the day, make it clear to them if they disturb your nap and it isn't an emergency that there will be consequences. 

If you do work, focus on sleep the minute you get home. Preferably you won't stop anywhere on the way home. Don't turn on the TV. Don't pick up a book. Don't get on the computer. Put down all technology, close the blinds, soak in the tub, etc. This is your downtime. You can clean and organize and finish other unfinished work when you wake up. 

Calendar Cupcakes: 2012

Pink Frosting Cupcakes

Cupcake Ingredients

• 1 cup (2 sticks) softened butter
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 cups self-rising flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 4 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla

Cupcake Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 F.
2. Place backing cups in muffin/cupcake pan.
3. Combine all ingredients in a large bowl.
4. Beat with an electric mixer (2 to 3 minutes).
5. OR with hand tools until smooth.
6. Spoon batter into cups. 
7. Bake for 20 minutes.
8. Allow to cool for 5 minutes before removing cupcakes from pan, and allow to fully cool on a rack.

My Opinion

Firstly, when I made these I didn't have the patience to also make the frosting, for which you will find the recipe for at the bottom of this post. 

(I substituted Duncan Hines' Frosting Creations in Cherry Vanilla, bought with a coupon at my commissary.)

Secondly, don't bother making these. The cake was semi-crumbly and dry, cheap-tasting. 

The best part of it was the frosting. If you've never tried Frosting Creations before, I highly recommend going with the Cherry Vanilla flavor mix first. It's darn delicious. Reminiscent of maraschino cherries. My DH complained it was too sweet though, so beware. 

Speaking of which, I'm going to try the Cherry Vanilla Malt-Cakes recipe listed on the Duncan Hines' website later this month (with homemade cake mix, of course), sometime before Christmas. Supposedly they taste like old fashioned malt-shakes!

The Frosting Recipe

Ingredients

• 3 cups confectioners' sugar, sifted
• 1 cup (2 sticks) softened butter
• pinch of salt
• pink food dye
• silver balls

Directions

1. Cream the confectioners' sugar, butter and salt with an electric mixer.
2. OR with hand tools until smooth.
3. Add a few drops of food dye and mix well.
4. Spread the frosting liberally onto the cooled cupcakes and sprinkle with silver balls. 

Weigh-In # 2

My Progress

Starting Weight:   197.0  lbs
Starting BMI:        35.0 %

Current Weight:   181.0 lbs
Current BMI:        31.0 %

Weight Lost:         16.0 lbs
Fat Lost:                 4.0 %

Goal Weight:       healthy
Goal BMI:            under 24.9%

Talk about surprising... I've had at least a gallon of ice cream this week, not to mention tons of sugar cookies and shortbread cookies... Maybe I should check if the scales broken??

But enough about my not believing my metabolism is functioning like a normal adult's.

Special Announcement!

After months of living in sweat pants and leggings and skirts and dresses and frumpy, bag-lady outfits in general, and 15 minutes siting on my bed, staring at a neglected corner of my closet, I snapped.

And it was a good kind of snap.

I tried on a pair of my jeans. 

AND THEY FIT.

No bouncing, tugging, struggling or sucking in occurred. They just slid right on, like butter. The fabric was a bit tight, but that was due to washing/drying and it quickly stretched out. I even wore them riding, which is arguably the biggest "do they fit right" test any pair of jeans will ever go through. 

Best part? NO MUFFIN TOP.

Three months after changing my diet, I can fit in my jeans again. Three months!

Color me shocked. Overjoyed. Ecstatic. Mind-blown. And all other adjectives of the kind. 

P.S.

Big shock! (not) I didn't track my exercise or food. I pledge to start tomorrow though. Gonna start actually planning my meals instead of winging it. 

Also, some friends have asked how I've been going about losing weight. Since I've already typed it up for them, I figured why not take the extra seconds to copy and paste it here?

Or as another post. I think another post would be more appropriate. I've already done a P.S. on this one. 

When I get home. Because once again, I find myself with pages of written posts and not at home. And while B is happy to let me use her laptop, everyone else is watching Moulin Rouge. And I like Moulin Rouge. Plus I think it's weirding them out hearing me suddenly burst into song.  

Plus the whole typed out thing is on the hard drive of my computer at home. 

Strawberry Chocolate Tart

Growing up, in the place of fast food my mother would take me to French cafes..... 

Weigh-In # 1

About

In September of this year, I had my first appointment with my new doctor. I almost fainted after getting on the scale.

DH and I had just gotten married in June... and I had gained over 40 lbs!!!

I called him crying (the scale at the BX wasn't broken!) and as soon as he got off of work we bought a scale and attacked the diet aisle. We went with the semi-expensive Bowflex because instead of using the commonly used (and commonly wrong) height-to-weight equation to calculate the amount of body fat, it runs a harmless electrical current through your body to determine your physiological makeup. This is called Bioelectrical Impedance Analysis. Simply put, it's a more accurate way of determining your Body Mass Index (BMI).

And according to my BMI, I was obese.

Yes, OBESE! I, who had for so long been fit and healthy had ballooned without knowing it... because I didn't look it. For, you see, the fat had crept up internally, effectively making me a "skinny-fat" person.

What's "skinny-fat"?

It's when someone's a healthy weight but is fat. As in, they're thin and weigh an appropriate weight, but the fat in their body is the majority of their weight. I'm doing a horrid job of explaining this, so click here and here  and here and here for more information.

If you prefer video, click here.

In extreme cases, a person can resemble a skeleton yet have more fat inside of their body than someone who weighs over 300 lbs.

I tried finding the original article that educated me about this a year or so ago (hence why this post is late), but alas, I could not.

Why am I sharing such personal information online with strangers?

One word: MOTIVATION. What better way to stick to a plan than to make it publicly available and myself publicly accountable?

My Progress

Starting Weight:   197.0  lbs
Starting BMI:        35.0 %

Current Weight:   181.4 lbs
Current BMI:        31.9 %

Weight Lost:         15.6 lbs
Fat Lost:                 3.1 %

Goal Weight:       healthy
Goal BMI:            under 24.9%

Considering how "half-assedly" I've been following my diet, I'm pretty damn happy.

The Diet & Exercise Program

Supposedly I'm following the Slim Fast Diet, but with the outrageous amount of pancakes, cupcakes, cookies and Starbucks I've consumed this week I'm surprised I didn't gain those 15.6 lbs right back. 

I mean, sure, I do ride at the stable 3x / week, for more than an hour each session, and sure my trainer is very inventive when it comes to new ways to make me feel like an out-of-shape fattymcfatfat... but the past week she went relatively easy on me. Yes, I did have to balance on one stirrup on Monday like some sort of Cirque du Soleil performer, but it wasn't too bad, especially when the difficulty level is being based on how often I reached for my water bottle (barely at all).

The only explanation I can think of is that maybe my metabolism is finally starting to behave age-appropriately.

P.S.

I have an app on my BlackBerry that allows me to track my calories and exercise, which while it has been unused for about a month, starting tomorrow I will keep track of my laziness so that I may share it with whomever has been reading this blog. <3

Content Update

Sometime tonight I'm going to be adding these recipes to my favorites:


Butterball Cookies aka Italian Wedding Cookies

&

Simple Pancakes


I will also be making my monthly Calendar Cupcakes post (delayed since Saturday) and doing a Recipe Review on the Strawberry Chocolate Tart I recently made.


P.S.

As today is a stable day, the Calendar Cupcakes and Recipe Review posts will be made between 8pm to 11pm MST. I have an injured horse to care for and a house to clean, afterall!

Oh My Goodness it's Sunday Night / Monday Morning!

Taking this long to make my second post was most definitely NOT my intention - I've been much more of a busy (and sleepy) bee this week than I anticipated!

Wednesday was my scheduled "cleaning" and "me" day, so I wouldn't have posted then anyways... but what happened to Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday?

Thursday

Worked myself to blissful exhaustion at the stable. Spent around 6 hours there. Rode without stirrups, goofed off with the horse I lease (Chloe aka Chlo-Bear/Pretty Girl/Silly Girl/Pretty Mare/Silly Mare/Mare), and helped with blankets and cleaning. Also Chloe stepped on my toesys as revenge for not hopping off when she gave the biggest hint a horse is capable of giving: circling the mounting block at least 20 times.

I basically crashed as soon as I got home and would have slept on the easy chair if not for DH putting his fireman training to good use and getting my fat butt into bed. 

Friday

Spent the day at B's house, just chillin', organizing coupons and laughing at our husbands. Also went to the Commissary and BX on base (I love how close she lives!). Luckily we took her car because I forgot my I.D. at home. For those of you who don't know, that's a big no-no. Super big no-no. If we hadn't taken her car, we might have been turned away at the gate. 

Also luckily for us, the sweet guy manning the self-checkout area at the commissary didn't care that it was B who showed her I.D. but that I was the one paying. The chick in the BX did, so while my total coupon savings were over $20 for the entire trip... I currently owe B $35. 

So while the post I had planned for Thursday was pushed back to Saturday, it was productive. Got a lot of presents on my Christmas list crossed off!! <3

Saturday

Oh my. Saturday. I didn't believe DH when he first told me that Saturdays will inevitably be drama days, no matter what, I am slowly but surely becoming a believer.

B and her baby boy came over in the morning for homemade pancakes, cartoons, help bake cupcakes and help bake and deliver the butterball cookies everyone at the stable kept asking me about. 

All-in-all, it was a perfect morning. DH and White Kitty (Puck) slept and stayed out of the way, Grey Kitty (Chess) entertained the baby (he even played "lifeguard" when the baby had an almost diaper blowout and needed a bath! it was seriously too cute) and aside from me reading two teaspoons of vanilla for the pancakes as two tablespoons, all of the baking/cooking came out perfectly.

At the stable, the cookies were a hit, and B and I got a much much much too adorable picture of the baby with Chloe! He was absolutely fearless, even though he had never been around horses before and she easily dwarfs a 6 ft tall man.

Seriously, the mare was a gem. With the lead rope draped on her back and both of my hands on the camera, she tolerated having her ears tugged and nose spastically patted. It was a huge accomplishment for her; she's been going through a high-strung brat phase lately. 

It was after they left that the proverbial 5#!t hit the fan. 

When we first got there I had assumed Chloe was limping because her leg wrap was too loose and had slipped under her hoof. Once I had her walking with it off though... I think I turned as white as a sheet. The owner of the stable's daughter, S, confirmed my fears after I had the mare trot for her. Chloe had injured her right foreleg. Thankfully we didn't feel any bumps or whatnot, so "structurally" she was OK. But the lower leg (cannon) and especially her ankle (pastern/heel) were swollen and warmer than the rest of her.

Once her owner, J, got there we put an ice wrap on, pampered her and let her roll in the extremely soft footing of the round pen. Because she didn't want to put weight on it, logic dictated the super cushiony sand would be appreciated - and logic was correct, the limp wasn't as noticeable. However she didn't roll on that side, so that was disheartening.  

J, who had been planning to ride that day, soon left Chloe in my hands. Considering that she's the only person on this planet who loves that horse more than I do, I can't blame her. I myself had to leave the stable on an emergency run to Starbucks to compose myself. 

By the time I left a couple hours later, she had been massaged and iced again and happily pulled me back to her stall to get to her just delivered dinner. 

There was some other drama at the stable, but as this blog is about my experiences, and due to the nature of it, it would not be appropriate to share nor appreciated. Everything turned out alright about it though, so no worries.

Wrapped up the day with movies, dinner and the cupcakes at B's with DH. Because both of our husbands are switching to the night schedule, it was a long night, and by the time I went to bed I had been up for 24 hours straight. 

Sunday

I learned from J that Chloe is more swollen than yesterday, slept and clipped coupons. That's all. Oh, and drafted this post.

And some others which are going to be posted (tonight? this morning?) as soon as I clean them up a bit and make another batch of pancakes. Ever since I made them Saturday both DH and I agreed it would be great to have a bunch "on hand" to nibble at all times. I need to get the white bread started as well.