moving forward

Simple stir fry

In efforts to save money and lose weight, we’ve been really good about cooking most of our meals at home.

Stir fry without the rice made for a yummy dinner tonight!! Marinated the chicken in soy, ginger, sesame seeds/oil, peppercorns, red pepper flakes, garlic and lime zest/juice.
Served with Bok choy, onions, garlic and peppers. Yum!!

Do have any new easy recipes? I’d love to hear from you!!

moving forward, Recipes

Homemade red sauce

Happy Thursday!!! I took it to the kitchen after work today. I’ve discovered the joy of making my own red sauce and will never buy jarred again. I don’t have an exact recipe, but I can tell you I roasted a bunch of Roma tomatoes with garlic and onions/drizzled with avocado oil and seasoned with salt and pepper, oregano and basil-roasted about 25 minutes at 350, then cooled and removed the skins.
In a large sauce pan, sauté half of a diced white onion, one diced carrot (breaks up the acidity of the tomatoes with natural sweetness), and a ton of minced garlic🤣. Add one large can of peeled whole Roma tomatoes that’s been drained. Squish the tomatoes with your hands (or a spoon lol), add a few chunks of Parmesan cheese Season with salt, pepper, red pepper flakes, oregano and basil. Cook down for about 25 minutes. Add in the tomatoes you roasted and removed the skin, and purée with an immersion blender or whatever you use to blend things.
Add back to the sauce pan, and let warm through. Add a pat or two of butter to finish it off.
This time I added sautéed Italian Turkey sausage and served over brown rice noodles. Yum!!

Do you enjoy making homemade sauces? What’s your favorite?

Keto adventures, Recipes

Keto cups

Tonight I made quick and easy turkey, arugula, egg and Gouda cheese cups for dinner. Spray a muffin tin with non stick spray and put the turkey in the tins pushing down the middle. Add arugula and an egg, and sprinkle with Gouda cheese. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Bake at 350 for about 10-12 minutes. Yum!

Sorry I’ve been absent lately. Life just gets in the way sometimes and blogging from my phone is a pain. Hope y’all are doing well. Share with me your favorite low carb recipe!

Cheers!

Michelle

Keto adventures, Recipes

Keto Crispy chicken!

Tonight’s Keto meal was baked crispy chicken coated with egg wash, spicy pork rinds and almond flour. Bake at 425 degrees for about 35-40 minutes. Let rest 10 minutes and serve with your favorite Keto friendly veggie. We had a few spears of asparagus with bacon.

Yum! What’s on your plate?? Comment below!!! Cheers!!!

Michelle

Keto adventures, Recipes

Keto beef stroganoff recipe

This one is super easy, y’all.

Sautéed garlic (1 clove) and about two tablespoons of red onion in coconut oil. Add some chopped mushrooms and red pepper flakes if you like a little heat. Cook until soft-3-4 minutes. Add a cup of heavy cream and cook down for a few minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper. While this magic is happening, “zoodle” three zucchini’s and brown 1 lb of ground beef in a teaspoon of coconut oil and season with salt and pepper and a little season salt.

Add the zoodles to the sauce, mix well and then add the beef-draining any excess grease before adding. I added a little mozzarella for some creaminess and served!!

Have you ever had zoodles? What’s your favorite low carb meal?

Cheers!

Michelle

Keto adventures, moving forward, Recipes

Labor Day laboring.

We got rained out today and I was initially pretty bummed to spend a day inside. But when my youngest daughter came home from the mall with a gift for me, I was instantly cheered up.

Once our groceries were delivered via Shipt, I dove in for meal prep and dinner prep. I chopped a bunch of veggies, made some baked chicken and made turkey burgers for dinner. I also made egg, spinach and mushroom “muffins” for quick easy meals this week.

Here’s to week three of our Keto diet! I am shooting for another good eating week and 3 runs this week, weather permitting. I was so pleased I had two good runs last week and a 6 1/2 mile walk at Epcot over the weekend.

What are your week goals? Do anything fun for Labor Day?

Cheers!

Michelle

moving forward, Recipes, Sunday Supper

Sunday supper and a Keto recipe

We just finished week one of the Keto diet. My husband is completely on board and it’s helping so much to have his support. Our goal this week was to stay under 25 grams of carbs per day and we stayed on track all week. I’m happy to report he’s down almost 10 lbs, and I’m down 3 lbs!! Woot!!

You know you did a great job when your daughter can’t tell the difference between your cauliflower mash between mashed potatoes. Recipe: one head of cauliflower boiled in salt water until soft. Save a couple of tablespoons of the cooking liquid. Transfer to a food processor and add two tablespoons of cream cheese, two pats of unsalted butter, sea salt, pepper, parsley and 1/4 cup of Parmesan cheese. Add the saved liquid and purée on high until smooth!!

We served with a yummy steak that my hubby cooked in the cast iron skillet. Yum!

Have you tried low carb or Keto with success? How was your weekend?

Cheers!

Michelle

Celebrate the good, goals

November 1st! Winter goals!

Winter months have always been tough on me, and with the days getting even shorter this weekend I am soaking up every ray of sunshine I can get. Today it’s 75 degrees out and It’s November 1st, so I will be outside planting some lilies a coworker gave me, and hope to get a couple miles in with my mini before dark.

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Pic from Pinterest

Because winter months have been hard for me, I thought I’d make a list of some “winter goals,” so here they are in no particular order:

  1. Take one day at a time. The holidays are going to be hard without my husband, but we WILL get through it.
  2. Drink all things peppermint. Because isn’t that one of the best things about winter?
  3. Wear all the boots. I love boots, leggings/tights with cute tops or dresses.
  4. Continue to run at least 2 days per week on the treadmill and TRY to get outside weather permitting for 1 day.
  5. Yoga, at least once per week…I suck at sticking to this goal so I’ll keep putting it out there to keep me accountable.
  6. Continue to strength train, and ramp up the weight workouts. I love muscles LOL.
  7. Watch my diet and caloric intake. We are having a “Biggest loser” challenge at work for the next six weeks and I’d LOVE to lose a few more lbs before my hubby gets home next year.
  8. Track my food on MyFitnesspal. EVERY day…not just when it’s convenient. Follow my progress if you use MFP, I am chelled73.
  9. Cook more food…I’ve been taking the easy way out for a while, so last week I made this yummy beef stew in my crock pot. 2 cups of red wine, 4 cups of water, 2 lbs. of cubed sirloin steak, 2 sweet potatoes cubed, one onion sliced, 2 carrots cut into ¼ inch disks, 3 cloves of garlic minced, dash of Worcestershire sauce, 1 packet of onion soup mix, salt, pepper and a bay leave—throw it in your crock pot on high for 4 hours. I DID season the steak with salt and pepper generously and set aside while I was chopping the vegetables.beefstew
  10. Call/text my parents more. At least twice a week…I miss them very much and we only see each other 2-3 times per year so I need to be better about communicating with them.
  11. Celebrate the good things, every, darn day…be it a good conversation with my teen, or a load of laundry I actually PUT AWAY right away after folding…#celebratethegood
  12. Continue to work towards my goals of moving back south (we moved to the Chicagoland area after I retired from the Air Force in 2011, we previously lived in Texas), and with that, LOOKIE LOOKIE what came in the mail last night?license
  13. And ultimately, keep movin’ forward…because isn’t that what life is all about?!

 

How do you keep busy during winter months? What’s your favorite thing about winter minus the holidays themselves? Tell me something good!

 

Cheers!

Michelle

Recipes, Uncategorized

Boneless pork ribs over asparagus with cucumber salad…YUM!

Tonight’s Sunday supper was cooked as more of a therapy session for me than anything.  The two things I love to do most when I am feeling stressed are run, and cook.  Since I had just gone grocery shopping after work today, I decided cooking a nice Sunday supper would be a good idea since my goal was to cook something new each week!

There’s no real “recipe” for this dish, but here goes.  Season your ribs with your favorite BBQ seasoning, salt, pepper and a touch of lime juice.  Heat your cast iron skillet with a couple tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil to a high heat and sear the ribs on each side.  Reduce heat and cook through until done.

For the cucumber salad, use your peeler and make long strips of cucumber (discard the outer green part) that will look almost like a wide fettuccini noodle.  Place in a bowl.  Season with salt, pepper, 1 tablespoon of yogurt and lime zest.  Let chill for 30 minutes.

The asparagus I simply sautéed in extra virgin olive oil in a pan with salt, pepper, and minced garlic.  YUM!

The rest of my week was pretty blah.  My workouts were minimal besides my daily plank due to work stress, school starting, and my little one catching strep on her second day of school.  I’m hoping next week is better!  I’m linking up with Holly and Tricia for their weekly wrap.  Please run over and give their amazing pages some support!

WeeklyWrap

How was your week?  Try any new recipes lately?

Have a great week everyone!

Cheers ❤

Michelle

 

 

 

Deployment thoughts, Recipes, Uncategorized

I can do hard things.

This morning started out a little rocky.  I woke up from a terrible nightmare as my husband reached to kiss me goodbye this morning WAY before the birds (or anyone else for that matter) were awake.  I laid in bed, practicing my deep calm breaths as my heart raced a million miles per hour.  Would he be ok over this next year? Will the Nanny’s first day go well? How can I help my 16 year old cope with, well, being 16?  Ugh…

Several deep breaths later, I was up and getting ready for work.  The Nanny arrived promptly on time, and everything went quite well for our discombobulated first morning.  She texted me as soon as my little got on the bus, and I sighed a HUGE sigh of relief.  I had a busy day at work, but was in awe of how many times I smiled, and was reminded of how far I’ve come in life.  It really is true.  You control your mood, no one else.  #learninglessonseveryday

I drove home from work in a crazy snow storm, picked up my little from after school care, and we headed to Home Depot. See, our front light went out, we were out of sidewalk salt, and my daughter’s bathroom toilet lid broke right off.  Guess since it was the original one from 1989, it was time to replace it.  These are ALL things my husband normally takes care of.  Although he isn’t handy, he does do all the hard things that I haven’t had to do in over a decade usually.  Yet it’s time I figure out how to be on my own again, and do all the hard things.

As I lifted the huge bag of salt from my Jeep, I reminded myself that I CAN and WILL do this and be stronger for it.

My mini and I cooked our version of Jambalaya for dinner in preparation for an evening of shoveling out above said snow, and here’s a quick recipe.

Jambalaya Ingredients

4 links of pre-cooked chicken sausage, sliced into coin shapes

1 cup of precooked shrimp, chopped into small pieces

1 large can of crushed red tomatoes (use the spicy ones for added kick) with the juice

1 can of black beans, strained

2 stalks of celery, chopped

2 small white onions (or one large), diced

2 cloves of garlic, minced

Creole seasoning to taste, salt, pepper, and chives

Fresh chopped Parsley to garnish

In a deep sauté pan heat 2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil, and sauté the garlic, onions and celery until slightly tender. Add in the tomatoes and beans, and simmer for 20 minutes.  Add in the chicken sausage and shrimp until heated through, and serve over your favorite rice or quinoa.  I used a brown rice quinoa blend that I cooked according to the package instructions.  I even had a little help from my mini.

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Not sure which sparkles more, her eyes, or this dress? ❤

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Dinner is served! Healthy AND Delish!

As we cleaned up the table, I got a text from one of my newest neighbors.  She told me her husband has a landscaping business, and plows in the winter.  Would I like him to plow my driveway?  I broke down crying, and thanked God for all he’s blessed me with through this deployment preparation.  He came over to plow, and I thanked him profusely as the temps are dropping, and I now only had to shovel my sidewalk and salt.

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BRRRRRRR

Next it was time to fix that darn toilet seat.  And who took the lead?  Yup…my 16 year old.  With a little help from Sammy…LOL!

My oldest asked if she could talk to me.  I froze.  What’s wrong?  She confided in me that she’s been struggling with feeling happy, and I was catapulted back to 10th grade.  I told her WE would get through this, and I would help her in any way I can to learn to find happiness even in the toughest of times.  And I was just so darn touched and honored that SHE CAME TO ME.  #allthetears

My hubby just got home from a very long day of training, so I think it’s time to wrap this post up.  But here’s your reminder, that we can ALL do the hard things, if WE believe we can.

Do you have a handy spouse?  What’s the hardest thing you’ve done lately?

Cheers! Keep Movin’ forward, y’all!

❤ Michelle