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!!!

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!

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.

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?

Meal Planning Monday

Time for Meal Planning Monday again!

I didn't get around to cooking the honey mustard crockpot chicken saturday evening since the fam was coming to Clinton yesterday for hibachi, so I put it in last night for this week! I really did some digging this week to find recipes to eat honey mustard chicken with all week. I think I was pretty successful! Just for your information... I am very obsessed with several things lately.... honey mustard, caesar salad dressing, and all things laughing cow cheese. I try not to eat them everyday, but sometimes, I do. This week, they are taking over my menu :)

Monday

Honey Mustard CrockPot Chicken....(smelllllllls WONDERFUL), sweet potato with a cinnamon laughing cow cream cheese, and a side caesar salad. 

Tuesday

Honey Mustard Chicken Pizza :) There isn't a link for this one, but I am going to use wheat flatbread that I have, a little honey mustard for the sauce, some shredded chicken from Monday, and i'll use some of my laughing cow swiss cheese and shredded mozzarella on top! I'll top it will some crumbled bacon and some fresh basil from my garden! My stomach is really growling now!!!!



Wednesday

Chopped Chicken Caesar Salad... I'll take some spinach, lettuce, boiled egg, bacon, parmesan cheese, and chicken, and chop it up and toss it in caesar dressing. It's my quick and easy go-to meal these days!


Thursday

Honey Mustard Chicken Pasta

I'll change the bowties to wheat pasta, remove the peas, and make some other minor adjustments for this yummmmmmo looking meal!!!



Friday

Club Wraps....to wrap up the end of the chicken! I'm going to put these on the George Forman to make mock paninis to go with my Low Carb Chips and Dip :)



Saturday- eggs, a sandwich, something easy. I have two party invitations, so I'll be out.

Sunday

I have pork in the freezer, so I'm thinking about these little babies.... I just need to go get some peaches.... of course they'd have to be on my george, so they would be as good, but this is just yelling summer sunday lunch!






Please notice that I finally figured out how to embed a pin correctly.... at least I think I did!!! :) 

Crockpot Jambalaya! Sooooo Easy!

This is seriously the easiest meal I have ever cooked! It is also soooooo delicious! 

Ingredients

2 bags of Louisiana Brand Jambalaya Mix

1 bell pepper

1 jalapeno

1/2 onion

Whatever meat you have.... I used left over pork roast, raw chicken breast, and deer sausage.

Stock instead of water (according to the amount needed on package of mix)

Chop up meat, peppers, and onions. Dump everything in the crockpot. Cook for 6-8 hours.

YUMMMMMMMY!

This is one of my Saturday during fall go to meals, but it is good anytime!!! 

Cheat Day Recipes, Pasta Edition... Alfredo, Carbonara

I cannot tell you how many times I get asked for my Alfredo recipe. I posted it on my other blog some time back, but I haven't posted it on this blog or added pictures, so I figured it's about time. I will start by saying that I do not measure anything when I cook this... I just add until it looks right; therefore you may have to adjust the measurements a tad.

Chicken Alfredo

Ingredients:

3 tbsp. of butter

3 cloves of garlic

1 cup heavy whipping cream

1 cup of shredded parmesan cheese

salt and pepper

pasta of choice

protein of choice

extra parmesan for topping

In a saucepan, melt butter. Add garlic, and cook until soft.

Add cream, and bring to a low boil.

Add cheese, cut heat down, and stir until cheese has melted.

Season with salt and pepper- you do not need a lot of salt, but I add A LOT of pepper!

Add past to saucepan and stir. Top with Grilled Protein and shredded cheese.

Serve with crusty garlic bread and salad :)

This one is relatively new to me. I have come to LOVE this one almost more than alfredo.

Chicken and Shrimp Carbonara

Ingredients:

3 slices of bacon, diced

3 tbsp. butter

3 cloves of garlic

1/2 cup of cream cheese

splash of cream

1/2 cup parmesan cheese

fresh basil

protein of choice

pasta of choice

In a saucepan, cook bacon and garlic in butter until bacon is cooked.

Add cream cheese and whisk until smooth. Add parmesan and cream. Whisk until you have a sauce consistency. I like mine thick.

Toss in pasta and grilled chicken and shrimp.

Top with fresh basil and parmesan.

Serve with crusty garlic bread and a salad!

Chips and Dip (low carb style)

Part of my Xyngular diet is eating low carb. I usually drink a protein shake for breakfast, a 500-600 calorie meal for lunch, and endless protein and green veggies for dinner. On shake days (when I drink 3 shakes instead of meals), I get two 6 oz. protein snacks. I always struggle with snacks because I get tired of eggs, cheese, nuts, and chicken. There are also days when I desperately want a snack like chips and dip, but that's obviously not a good protein snack. Therefore, it was time to find an alternative!

Today's Snack is...... Pepperoni Chips with Greek Yogurt Ranch Dip

Ingredients

Pepperoni Slices (I use Turkey)

Greek Yogurt

Ranch Season Mix

Chips

line a baking sheet with aluminum foil

lay out pepperonis on the sheet 

Bake on 425 for 10 minutes

pat pepperonis to remove excess fat

Dip 

Mix greek yogurt with a ranch season packet

*i normally just make enough for one serving, so i sprinkle the season mix until it has the taste I want

Nutrition Facts (for 20 chips and 1 oz of dip)

Calories.....82

Fat.... 4G

Sodium... 726MG

Carbs... 4G

Fiber... 1G

Sugar... 2G

Protein... 9G

Meal Planning Monday

Monday- Last day of the 8 day challenge, so today is a shake day!

Shake Recipe for the day (PB&J shake)

8 oz. almond milk

1 scoop of lean

1 oz. global superblend fruit juice

1 tbsp. PB2

Tuesday- Breakfast for dinner

Low carb/ Protein waffles (recipe will be on weight loss wednesday)

Scrambled Eggs

Breakfast Sausage

Wednesday- Leftover chili with Quinoa from Sunday

Thursday- BBQ Bacon Cheeseburger and Brussel Sprout Skillet from Words & Whisks Blog... I found this recipe under the Low Carb section on The Tasty Kitchen Blog!! I'm pretty excited about this recipe. I recently tried brussel sprouts and the aren't that bad... this should make them AMAZING!!

Friday- Either Leftover chili or Brussel Sprout Skillet

Saturday- Paleo Tilapia from last week because I never cooked it, or hibachi with the family for my dad's birthday/father's day!

Sunday- Crock Pot Honey Mustard Whole Chicken

I am seriously sooooooooo excited about this! I am sooooo obsessed with honey mustard. I bought a whole chicken a few weeks ago, and it's been in my freezer. I plan on eating this for Sunday lunch with  a strawberry spinach salad and some corn!! Then, I plan on using the leftover chicken during the week for salads, chicken pizza, a maybe a past dish! 

Sweet Saturday.... Lemony Goodness

I have made a lot of "sweets" prior to the weight loss journey....which probably explains the need for a weight loss journey.... Anyways, for the next few weeks, at least, I am going to share one of these sweets each Saturday, along with a link to some "sweets" I want to try from pinterest on cheat days!!

Lemon Blueberry Cake

My friend Brooke celebrated her birthday last week, so I knew I was going to be making her a cake! As far as cakes and food in general go, we pretty much have the same tastes. I knew I really wanted a good lemon dessert, and I was tight on money, so I wanted to use things I had at the house. I knew she would approve of lemon as well, so when I found a lemon cake mix in the pantry, I was excited! I wanted to do more than just make a lemon box cake, so I jazzed it up a little.

So here it is... Lemon Cake with Blueberry filling and a lemon buttercream!!!!

Ingredients

Lemon Cake Mix (and whatever it calls for)

Lemon Zest... about 3 lemons 

juice of the lemons from above

1 cup of blueberries, plus some for garnish

6 cups of powder sugar

1 stick of butter

a few tbsp. of heavy cream

Cake

For the cake, I baked it according to the box. I added some lemon zest to the batter, and that is it.

Filling

In a saucepan, I combined blueberries, 1 cup of powder sugar, juice of one lemon.

Let it cook until you have a light boil.

Remove from burner and cool.

You can either mash the blueberries if you want it chunky or puree it in a blender like I did. I added more powder sugar to thicken it a little more. 

Icing

In a mixer, beat butter and slowly add remaining powder sugar and lemon juice from remaining lemons. 

After you've added all of the sugar, gradually add heavy cream until you get the consistency you want. Stir in remaining lemon zest.

Assembly

Place one cake on plate. 

Top with blueberry filling.

Place second cake on top.

Ice the cake with the buttercream.

Decorate... I used a little fresh mint and blueberries.

Enjoy! 

Pinterest Lemon Goodness on my "to make list."

Starkbucks Lemon Loaf Copycat

Hellloooooo! I love this cake! Heck Yes for a copycat!!!!

and then there was a muddy buddy recipe.... oh me, oh my....

Lemon Muddy Buddies

Peace, Love, and Geaux Tigers

Magic Cookies :-)

I posted magic muffins a few weeks ago, and they were a hit, so I am now posting magic cookies!

These are easy peasy!

1 cake mix (I prefer lemon)
1 container of cool- whip
1 cup of powdered sugar

Mix cake and cool- whip. Dough will be very sticky. To shape cookies, I wore a latex glove. Scoop 1 spoonful of cookie dough into a bowl o powdered sugar. Coat dough and place on cookie sheet. Allow room around each cookie because the dough will spread.

Bake at 350 for 7-9 min. Allow to sit on warm pan to cool.

Enjoy these magical, chewy treats :-)

Pinterest= Crack

Lately, I've become addicted to a site called pinterest. It's like crack to a cooking, do-it-yourself, teaching gal. If you're not a member, let me know, and I will invite you!!

I've spent the last two weeks making a few projects. Here are some of the finished deals. Now that I can blog from my phone, I will start blogging while I am making these projects, so I can give more pictures.

I've been working on some recipes, but no pictures :( homemade butterfingers! So easy, and so yummy. Olive garden salad dressing- very, very close! Candied jalapeños :-)