If You Do What You've Always Done. . .

. . . you will get what you've always got. 

I've been thinking about this phrase a lot lately.  It's true.  If you don't change your habits, you won't change your life.  But I exercise, and I try to eat right.  So why is my weight still a little more than I want it to be?  Why do I lose and return to the same weight?  I started thinking about what it was that I needed to do differently.  To do that I had to look at what I have always done.  Guess what?  What I have always done is obsess about what size I am 'supposed' to be.  That hit me so hard.

I suddenly realized that I have held myself back, because I have talked negatively to myself.  I have allowed my size to decide what I would wear and how I would feel.  I kept myself at a size because I felt I didn't deserve to be anything else.  OH MY!  I did that!

I am a pageant coach.  I teach others to talk nice to themselves, but I didn't do it for myself.  Seriously? So I spent the weekend telling myself what I tell others.  "I am enough."  "I am important." Nobody else really cares what I weigh.  They care about how I make them feel.  They care that I love them.  They care that I am kind.  In heaven, no one is going to ask my BMI.  There is not a scale to enter Heaven.  But there might be a scale that measures my heart and how much and how well I loved my brothers and sisters. 

This weekend I ate what I wanted and refused to feel guilty.  Guess what?  I ate less.  I didn't care about the food as much and it didn't taste as good. 

There was a time when I was really little, as in 108 lbs little. During that time, I don't remember ever once feeling guilty about eating a cookie.  In fact, I don't remember even thinking about my weight.

So I am going to do things differently and I am hoping that I will get different results.  I am going to eat healthy for the sake of being healthy, but I am going to live.  Because in my life, a piece of cake is a must.  And I am not going to feel guilty about that.  I am simply going to be enough, because I am. 

I would really love to hear from you.  What will you do differently? Let's start a conversation.

I Love the Holidays

 

 
I love Autumn.  I love Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas.  I love eating yummy food and baking for my friends. But the holiday season has to be about more than the food.  Food takes up too much of our consciousness.  I am concentrating on other ways to celebrate the season.  I've started decorating for Autumn.  It is not as intuitive as I would like it to be.  I look at Pinterest and blogs a lot.  I take the ideas I like and try to make it work with my budget, what I already have and my tastes.  There are so many different ways to do the same thing.  Monochromatic, black and white, whimsical, rustic, elegant.  The hardest part is choosing a direction.  I was at Marshall's. I saw this beautiful, orange, sparkly pumpkin.  My immediate reaction was, "I love that!"  So I bought it.  No more trying to decide on a style.  I am decorating around the pumpkin.  Here is a peek at my dining room table.

Very Veggie Lasagna Casserole- And your kids will love it!

This is good stuff.  This is three helpings good.  This is healthy! But don't tell my kids.

This is my Very Veggie Lasagna Casserole.  Seriously, this stuff is loaded with yummy vegetables that my kids normally won't eat.  In fact, it has a veggie in it that I won't eat! As in, it makes me gag to think about eating it.  It took faith to add spinach to this. I hate cooked spinach. H-a-t-e! Would rather do laundry kind of hate. I had two helpings of this, my boys had three each.  And my little princess, who won't eat anything?  Oh, she happily scarfed it down.  Even the baby liked her ground up portion.  The husband had two helpings.  I'm telling you, it's good!

Guess what's in it?  Never mind.  I'll tell you.  :)  I'm generous like that.

Spinach, carrots, zucchini! Can you believe that?  My family ate zucchini and loved it!  I'm seriously doing the happy dance.

So you may remember an earlier post where I told you how to sneak carrots into your ground beef.  If not, you can find that here. That is how I got the carrots in.  The rest- easy peasy.  But no peas.  They wouldn't work in this one.  :)

Very Veggie Lasagna Casserole
1/2 of the meat mixture (found here)
OR
1 lb meat (shred 2 carrots into the meat while it cooks and add 1/2 large onion) cooked and drained.
2 cups of your favorite marinara, spaghetti sauce or even pizza sauce.
        (I used left over home made pizza sauce)
2 cups water with 2 beef bouillon cubes, or 2 cups beef stock
1/2 of a 13.25 oz box of whole wheat penne pasta (I used Barilla)
6 oz Cream Cheese
3/4 C. Cottage Cheese
1 10oz pkg of frozen spinach
1 1/2 cups shredded zucchini
1 slice swiss cheese (this is how I keep the amount of cheese down. - strong flavor but very little)
1 C. low fat mozzarella cheese divided

 Put the first 4 ingredients in a 4 quart stock pot.  Bring to a boil and turn down the heat to medium low.  While doing that warm up your cream cheese in the microwave so it's very soft.  Stir it until it is very creamy.  I added some basil and oregano to the cream cheese along with some chili powder because my homemade sauce was too bland for my tastes.  But if you are using a commercial spaghetti or marinara sauce, you don't need to do that. Add the cream cheese to the pot along with the cottage cheese and zucchini.  Cover for 5 min.  Now I recommend that you thaw the spinach first, but I didn't remember, so I ran a little hot water over it to remove any ice crystals and tossed it in the pot.  Cook for another 10 min stirring occasionally.  Just before serving add your slice of Swiss and 3/4 C. of mozzarella cheese. Stir in, allowing to melt.  When everything looks creamy pour into your serving dish and top with the remaining 1/4 cup cheese.  Serve.  YUM!

Sneaking in the Veggies

I am making tacos for dinner tonight.  I bet you are wondering why I'm showing a photo of carrots.  Well, I have a secret. When I brown ground beef, I add carrots.  I sneak them in so that my kiddos eat them without knowing it, and I don't have to hear them whine.  I sneak them in so that I can reduce the amount of meat that we eat without anyone missing it.  I sneak them in, because they really enhance the flavor of the meat.  I sneak them in because they are healthy!  Let me show you how.
(I'll post a recipe for lasagna casserole that uses this trick later this week.)

I have this little unit for small chop jobs.

It chops my carrots pretty fine.

I add the carrots and onions to my meat and cook all together.

Yummy ground beef and barely noticeable carrots.

I use:

2 lb. Beef
1 onion
3 extra large carrots
salt and pepper to taste (I actually don't add any. Whatever I am using the meat in will have enough salt)

Finely chop your carrots and chop your onions medium fine.  Combine and cook as you would normally cook your meat.  This is enough meat for 3 meals for my family of 6!

Use for tacos, spaghetti, casserole, hamburger stroganoff, . . . the  possibilities are endless.  Use this same trick for meat loaf and hamburger patties. 

Pinterest Closet V. My Real Closet Episode IX

When I started this part of the blog, I gave myself a challenge. I would try to copy my pinterest closet using only what I had in my real closet.  You may remember that post, if not you can find it here. I am having a lot of fun with this series and I hope you are also.  I think that instead of dreaming and sighing over the cute clothes I don't have, or that I can't wear, I am instead inspired. Inspired to look at what I do have in new and creative ways. It has made me excited to go to my closet.  I feel good about what I have to wear.  However, there are two items that I kept pinning and that I really wanted.  A brown leather jacket and brown riding boots.  Never mind that I have black knee length boots and pink cowboy boots.  Don't even mention that I have black and brown 3/4 length boots.  I didn't have riding boots without a high heel.  How am I supposed to carry kids around in the super cute h-e-e-l-e-d boots?  Seriously!

Okay, it's not a national crisis, but I really wanted the boots.  And the jacket.  The thing is, I found the boots.  I found the boots for less than $50. (Actually, my friend Bri found them for me, but the end result is the same.) You know I had to get them.  So I CHEATED! I'm so ashamed . . . well, actually I'm not.  I love these boots.  They are so cute.  They are comfortable.  They are perfectly, casually stylish.  The Pinterest closet is a jumping off point for inspiration.  But if you have pinned the same pair of boots 10-20 times, you probably really want them.

And yes, I am now searching for the jacket. Not this jacket, but a brown leather jacket.  I'll post the picture of that one when I find it.  lol

My Pinterest Closet V. My Real Closet Episode VIII

I love the Bohemian look.  I always have.  It's not my best look.  I favor structure, but once in a while this very cool, very relaxed style really appeals to me.  I love this skirt, but alas, I don't own it, and you know the rules.  I have to use what I already have in my closet.  I went for feeling rather than look.



I hate bathroom mirror shots, but it's the best I could do before running out the door.  Sigh.

My Pinterest Closet V. My Real Closet Episode VII

Classic Layered Sweater.  A good fall back for Autumn and Winter.  Colors don't match but style is similar.  Rules are, I have to use what is already in my closet. By the way, the inspiration style is from a cute blog that you can find here.

My recreation

Inspiration