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!