Meal Planning Monday

Linking up with Emily again for Meal Pinning Monday...

Week 3 of this 30 day transformation!!! So Far, after 2 weeks, I have lost 16.6 lbs.... guess I'll stick with it :)

Monday

B- Cereal with Almond Milk :)

L- Chef Salad

D- I'll make this in the crockpot today, and I'll probably add leftover black beans from last week. 

Tuesday

B- Omelet...I think this sounds good...

L- Chicken Tacos with leftover chicken from Monday night!

D- Chef Salad

Wednesday- Shake Day!!

Thursday

B- Boiled Egg, Wheat Toast with Almond Butter

L- Burger with Pepper Jack Cheese

D- Paleo Fish from a few weeks ago

Friday

B- Oatmeal

L- Taco Salad... I'll use the rest of the chicken from Monday with a good salad

D- I get steak and sweet potatoes, and this looks great!

Saturday

B- Fruit Smoothie!

L- Quinoa Pizza Bites

D- Burger with Roasted Asparagus

Sunday

B- My Low Carb Pancakes

L- Pork Loin with Quinoa

D- Leftovers

Teacher Tuesday

Quick update on the library... I started decorating today... Pictures will be posted next Tuesday! I LOVE how my hallway display turned out! Even better than what was in my head! Now I just need to work on the hall of fame area... I left it a mess... I wasn't a fan.

Pirates galore!

Meal Pinning Monday

Linking up with Emily after taking a week off from the blog!

Last Monday, I started a 30 day transformation (no cheats + exercise), so I have a full blown meal plan for the entire month. With that said, I do not have much planned for eating from pinterest this month. I am, however, going to try to find something similar on pinterest that would serve the purpose!

Monday

Shake Day :)

Tuesday

B- steel cut oatmeal with a scoop of protein powder

S- Greek Yogurt with Xypstick

L- Chicken Salad (Chopped grilled chicken, a little greek yogurt, a little jalapeno, a little dijion mustard) 

all served in a romaine lettuce cup

S- Lean Shake

D- Grilled Pork Chop and Grilled Zucchini Salad (I will probably make the following with a drizzle of this yummy Ranch Vinaigrette).

Wednesday

B- Shake with banana

S-almonds

L- a version of the below... this is my least favorite meal. it will be hard to eat, but I can also have salsa and a little bit of cheese, so I may use grilled chicken and mix it all up and make it like a taco bowl or something.

D- Grilled Steak and a Salad

Thursday
B-2 boiled eggs and a piece of wheat toast
L- Grilled Chicken Salad
D- Grilled Steak with Parmesan Asparagus :)

Friday
B- Wheat Toast with Almond Butter
L-Chef Salad
D- Pork Chop with Kale Salad

Saturday
B- Oatmeal with Lean
L- hamburger patty
D- Quinoa, Paleo Tilapia I pinned a few weeks back and never cooked

Sunday
B-Omelet
L- Turkey Sandwich
D- Grilled Chicken Salad

Bring On Week 1! Ready to Kick Butt!!

Weight Loss Wednesday.... Substitutions

One thing miss is good chips! I love Cheetos, sun chips, and I really miss "hot chips and cheese," but none of those are low carb friendly on my xyngular diet, so I had to come up with some substitutions. 

The first one is my Low Carb Chips and Dip. Just baking pepperoni gives you a nice crispy snack with a lot of flavor!

The second is new to me. I've mentioned before that I am super picky!! I am trying to test something new once a week. A few weeks ago, that was zucchini! It really has no flavor and works perfectly as a chip for salsa (and hummus if you like it). 

The third chip substitution comes from the Louisiana Bride Blog. It's her BBQ Kale Chips. I don't know how to put into words how great these little things are!!!

I am always open to other substitutions, so if you have any, please share!!!

Teacher Tuesday

Posting from the blogger app today since I am busy working on stuff for next year!! 

Here are a few pictures of my progress! All of these print outs are from Pinterest! You can check them out my Pinterest board called My Pirate Classroom! I am sooo obsessed with all of the pirate stuff! 

Meal Planning Monday.... a little late in the day!

I'm linking up a little late in the day with Emily... I couldn't get the link to work for me today! 

I'm a little late today. I spent the day wedding dress shopping with my friend Katie! After 6 hours, she finally said yes to a dress!!!

Tuesday

I didn't cook the pizza and breadsticks Sunday, so I will cook those tomorrow! 

Wednesday

I will be eating leftovers on Wednesday because I am going home for a few days, and I need to clean out the fridge.

The rest of the week I will be at home and/or my aunt's house... I am thinking about cooking some fun 4th of July things.... I will picture a few of my choices below.

Bacon Cheddar Chicken Burger with Honey Mustard

I fell in love with these :) If ground beef wasn't so much cheaper, I would use ground chicken for everything!!

Ingredients for Burger:

1 lb. Ground chicken

1 tbsp. minced garlic

1 tbsp. chives, chopped

1/2 cup grated cheddar

2 tbsp. stone ground mustard

S/P 

In a mixing bowl, combine all ingredients and mix well.

Form into patties. 

Place on george forman and grill until well done!

Sauce:

1/2 C Stone Ground Mustard

1/4 C honey

Stir ingredients until combined

Serve hamburger  on a bed of spinach (and jalapenos if you like heat like I do!). 

Top with cheese, bacon, and honey mustard sauce.

Serve with sweet potato fries.

Weight Loss Wednesday... Desserts

I have had lots of questions about how to enjoy a dessert every now and then on a low carb diet. White taking Xyngular, I really don't have the cravings for lots of carbs and sweets, but let's face it.... NOTHING is going to completely take away the craving for something sweet forever. So I've compiled a few of my go to sweet things when the urge hits! Please understand these things aren't carb free, but they are much better for you than most desserts. The greek yogurt has a fair amount of carbs, but it also has a lot of protein!

1. Chocolate Mouse

All you need for this quick bowl of yummy is one container of plain greek yogurt, a little bit of cocoa powder and a few packets of stevia (enough until it's sweet enough for you). It's super yummy!

2. MIxed Berry Greek Yogurt 

Now, you could buy the flavored kind, but it has extreme amounts of sugars and carbs. I make my own and it has lots less! I sprinkle a little xypstix in my greek yogurt and top with a few berries. It's soooooo goood, and it hits my sweet tooth every time! 

3. Lemon- Berry Slushy

My biggest summer time craving is snow cones, but I cannot allow myself to consume that much sugar! For this, I just pop a peeled lemon, a xypstix mixed with the proper amount of water, and some ice into a blender until slushy consistency! So yummy!!! 

I have pictures some store bought options.

4. Cocoa rosted almonds... if you would like to make your own, my friend Emily at Louisiana Bride Blog has posted a recipe. You can find that here. 

5. Sugar Free Jello! 

6. Sugar Free Popsicles!

7. Nature Valley Protein Bars!

Now I will share a few ideas I have found on pinterest. I have made the chia pudding, and I LOVE it!!! It's a favorite for sure!!! I've also made the PB cookies, and they were nice... not my favorite, but they are good if you want a cookie!

Meal Planning Monday

Linking up with Emily again for Meal Planning Monday!

I am doing another 8 day challenge this week, so my week will be a little strange. Instead of an actual 8 day challenge, I plan to a 4 day one. 

Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday

Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday will be shake days. I'll probably have a lot of coffee shakes this week for meals. Maybe do a lemon shake for dinner! They are pretty good!

For protein snacks, I plan on doing a few things I found on pinterest in the afternoon and protein bars or omelets for breakfast. 

Here are a few of my snacks I plan on making this week.... 

Wednesday

I have been wanting pizza like everyday, so I am giving into the cravings this week!!!
I am making the quinoa pizza bites today even though the link isn't showing here.


Friday

I have a bacon wrapped chicken breast in the fridge that I need to use! I am going to stuff it with this yummy goodness :)


Saturday

I'll be at a wedding, so I'll try to keep my day full of low carb options!

Sunday

Last pizza day!!! I have been trying one new thing a week since I started really running out of foods i like! This week is cauliflower in a cooked way. Last week, I tried Zucchini, and I really liked it!

Watson Turns 1

I

I'm posting this from my phone, so the format may be a little different. We had a great day celebrating my bff's son's birthday at Brighton Park in Clinton! It was a zoo animal theme, and Brooke picked out lots of cutesy zoo animals! Here are a few pictures from the day! 

His smash cake kept us up until the wee hours of the morning, but it turned out absolutely adorable!!! 

Food table!

Cupcakes! 

Center piece! 

More snacks

Drink station

Cookies decorating station. 

Decorating cookies!

Sir watson's seat :)

Yummy yummy!! 

Happy Birthday, Watson :)

Cheat Day Recipes.... Crescent Roll Edition

I never though I was a big carb person- other than pasta- until I started a low carb diet. It sort of just slapped me in the face. One of my favorite things is crescent rolls. Last year (probably where the extra 20 lbs came from), I really became obsessed with these little things. It was definitely a staple for the last year. I have a million recipes that I could share with these little delicious things, but I could only find 2 different pictures, so I will share two instead of a million.

Stuffed Pizza Rolls

These are super, super easy!!! Perfect party food or a quick dinner! They are also kid friendly!

Ingredients:

1 Roll of Crescent Rolls

4 Mozzerella (or cheese of your choice) String Cheese Sticks

Pepperoni (I used the really big ones)

Marinara Sauce (or ranch)

Roll out the crescent rolls. Place pepperoni on each roll. Cut cheese stick in half. Place a piece on top of pepperoni. Roll crescent roll up. 

Bake for 8 minutes on 350. Dip in sauce!

Yum, Yum!

Buffalo Chicken Roll Up

Ingredients:

4 Grilled Chicken tenderloins, cut into pieces

1/4 cup of buffalo sauce, plus 2 tbsp. 

1/2 cup sour cream

ranch seasoning packet (1/2 of it)

1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

1 roll of the crescent roll sheets

Put chicken and buffalo sauce in a bowl, and let the chicken absorb the sauce.

In a bowl, mix 2 tbsp of of buffalo sauce with ranch mix and sour cream. 

Spread over the unrolled crescent roll sheet. 

Place chicken over sour cream mix. 

Top with shredded cheese.

Carefully roll the log. 

Bake on 350 for 18-20 minutes.

How I'm Spending Summer Break

1. Pinterest.... Not that this is different from any other day, but I am working on something here.... I decided that my boards are over loaded! I have an enormous amount of pins that I will either never actually use or I have no clue that are there. With that said, I have decided to reorganize my pinterest boards. Instead of yummy recipes, I now have yummy breakfast ideas, yummy lunch ideas, and yummy dinner. My teacher board has been broken into about 30 categories. This is not fun at all, but I feel like I will get more use out of pinterest this way. 

2. I decided to plant a pot garden... Not working out so well. My herbs are doing well. My jalapenos are doing well... the strawberries, blueberries, tomatoes, and cukes are not. Kind of sad.

3. Cooking! Also nothing new, but I am actually meal planning to help me save money and boost my weight loss! So far, so good! July will be better with the money saving because I will be a little more organized!

4. Reading! I read Diary of A Mad Fat Girl in about 6 hours. It's fantastic! I am dying to read the sequel, but I don't have the money to buy it this month. They have one copy in the entire Hinds Co. Public Library system, but it's checked out right now. I hope it gets turned in soon! 

Other than these 4 things, I am pretty boring. Staying up late, sleeping in, hanging out with friends, playing some games, watching a lot of tv, and doing a good bit of walking. 

Did I mention that I am also facebook stalking all of these people and their pool/beach pictures.... living a glamorous life through the lives of others via facebook!

Weight Loss Wednesday.... Grocery List

I have a lot of people asking me what I eat and what I buy at the grocery store while I am losing weight. so this week, I will be sharing some of my favorites that end up in my cart every time I am at the store! I probably have about 20 staples, but today, I'm just going to share my top 9!

1. Greek Goddess Plain Greek Yogurt! 

This stuff is WONDERFUL with a little xypstick and strawberries. I eat this at least 4 times a week! Good source of protein! I have tried and looked at every label of almost every plain greek yogurt, and this wins hands down!

2. Eggs!

I eat these boiled, poached, scrambled, in an omelet, in my salad.... Quick and Easy Protein!

3. Pre- Cooked Bacon

I eat this alone, with eggs, on my salad, on my sandwich.... It's super thin and crispy, so it has fewer calories and sodium content! Not as fatty as other brands, so it's more protein!

4. Laughing Cow Cheese!

This is seriously my favorite! Easiest way to add flavor with out a bunch of added calories and sodium! 30 calories per wedge! Perfect with almost anything! I even like their sweet flavors!

5. Weight Watchers Cheese Sticks

These are actually cheeper than the other versions, and they have fewer calories, sodium, and other things. Other brands probably taste a little better, but I can't justify the price over how cheep these are!

6. Jif Natural Peanut Butter To- Go

I LOVE peanut butter, and I have a hard time stopping at the suggested serving size, so these are good for watching the servings (because pb is high in calories!). I also like that I can keep these with me if I get hungry!

7. 100 Calorie Pack Cocoa Roasted Almonds

These are just perfect. They cure my sweet tooth every time! No, they are not as healthy as regular almonds, but they are a lot healthier than chocolate covered almonds!!!

8. Bacon wrapped Pork Loin

These are like $1.50 at Walmart, and they are sooooooooo good! They come in individual portions, so you can decide how many you want to cook. Yes, pork and bacon is high in sodium, so I try to eat this for lunch or earlier in the evening. They are just soooo goood- especially for the price!!! 

9. Frozen Chicken Breast

Thanks to pinterest, there are a million recipes I like to try with chicken. These bags of chicken are easy for me as a single girl to cook up each night. Just remove the amount I like from the bag and cook! And, the price isn't too bad either!

So, now you have my top 9 staples! What are some of your staples?

Teacher Tuesday... a look back on the 12-13 school year!

Today, I am looking back at some of my creations from the 2012- 2013 school year! I really got into decorating this school year! This post will look at some of my decor and the famed Read Across America Day!!!

Each 9 weeks had a theme this year for AR, so each 9 weeks, the library got a makeover!!

1st 9 weeks theme was "Go for the Goal," and I got to put my Michael Phelps obsession on display :)

front entrance

Side Entrance

Wall Display- their names went on a star when they reached their goal.

2nd 9 weeks we had a popcorn theme, "Pop Open a Good Book and Meet Your Goal."

Their name went on a piece of popcorn when they met their goal.

Christmas

I got busy during Christmas! Got rid of all of the AR decor and went Christmas CRAZY!

The right is my version of the book tree I found on pinterest (on the left).

This is when I decided to get Dr. Seuss CRAZY!

A wreath I made for the front office!

The side entrance was turned into a gingerbread house!

Read Across America Day 2013 :) 

We had a great day! Our theme was "Reading is Our Thing."

We had guest speakers, activities, special visitors, a themed snack section, and a basketball game!

The library door, LORAX, greets the students!

Background

Horton

Cat In the Hat

Office Door

Dr. Seuss Books

Happy Birthday Banner

Thing 1 and Thing 2

A look at the Dr. Seuss area.

Beezelnut Splash  (fruit punch)

The snack table!

Truffula Trees and seeds (cookie sticks and nerds jelly beans)

Butter Battle Crackers and cream cheese

One Fish, Two Fish (gold fish)

Hop on Pop (popcorn)

Go Dog Go (cocktail weenies)

Guest Speakers... Mr. and Miss. Junior at JSU

Kids enjoying the speakers.

Cat in the Hat :)

It was a GREATTTTTTT day!!!