"Tastes Like Chicken" Salad

What you need:

1/4 block of firm tofu, 1/4" cubes, pat dry
Olive oil
Soy Sauce
Parmesan Cheese
Mrs. Dash Tomato Basil mix
2 C fresh baby spinach
A bit of onion of choice to top salad

Directions:

This is a quick and easy meal that would be great for lunch or dinner on a time crunch.

1. Pour olive oil and soy sauce in a non-stick pan, just about 1 tbs of each, and turn to medium heat. Place tofu in at beginning so it can soak up the flavor before it starts cooking.
2. After it starts sizzling, add Mrs. Dash Tomato Basil seasoning, about a pinch or 2-3 shakes according to how strong you want the flavor to be. I put 3 shakes.
3. Add parmesan cheese then cook until pan is almost dry and tofu is darker in color, tossing occassionally. Don't use a utensil too much on tofu if you want it to remain cubed. Tofu is done when it's firmer to touch and the edges are a bit darker than the middle, about 6 minutes or so.
4. Prepare fresh spinach on a plate, layer toppings according to preference, adding tofu on top. I used the juice from three orange slices left from my snack as the dressing.

Nutrition Facts:

Serving size: 1 recipe Calories: 248 Calories from fat: 171 Total fat: 19.5 g Saturated fat: 3 g Trans fat: 0 g Polyunsaturated fat: 2 g Monounsaturated fat: 10 g Cholesterol: 5 mg Sodium: 765 mg Carbohydrates: 6.25 g Dietary fiber: 6.25 g Sugars: 1 g Protein: 14 g

Something's fishy!

I started taking fish oil tablets this weekend, and the guy at Vitamin World warned me about "fish burps." I didn't believe him at first, I thought he was trying to be funny. Now I'm a believer.

Anyway, today was an overall strange and exciting day for me. Our garrison commander is moving posts and we welcomed the new commander today at a reception. I knew I was in for a treat when I walked in and smelled bbq sauce...yum. There was an appetizer buffet, and I had 8 mozzerella cheese sticks, 3 chicken wings, 5 meatballs, a deviled egg, and a stuffed celery thing. Oh, and a big chocolate chip cookie. I'm not even going to attempt analyzing the calorie content. It was good. Yum. But, I was good on the rest of my day. For breakfast I had Yoplait Mixed Berry yogurt, an orange for snack, and Tastes Like Chicken Salad for dinner...recipe to follow.

My tub of fresh baby spinach is almost gone, so those of you who are tired of seeing recipes with the same ingredients should start seeing other items on the menu soon! I am trying to find different ways of using the same ingredients, and I'm testing tofu and spinach right now, so that's why you're seeing a lot of it in these recipes.

Spaghetti de Squash

Tonight was my first time ever to try spaghetti squash. I must say that it tasted a LOT different than I expected. The squash had the consistence of au gratin potatoes. But this dish was pretty tasty! This was another recipe I got from recipezaar.com. Enjoy!

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 spaghetti squash, halved lengthwise
• 1 tbsp vegetable oil
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tsp dried basil
• 2 plum tomatoes, chopped
• 1 cup low fat cottage cheese
• 1/2 cup mozarella cheese
• 1/4 cup chopped parsely
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
• 3 tbsps seasoned bread crumbs

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat oven to 4ooF.
2. Coat a baking sheet with cooking spray.
3. Place the squash, cut side down, on the sheet.
4. Bake for 30 mins or until tender when pierced with a knife.
5. Allow to cool slightly.
6. With a fork, scrape the squash strands into a large bowl.
7. Meanwhile, warm the oil in a skillet set over medium heat.
8. Add the onion, garlic, and basil.
9. Cook for 4-5 mins or until the onion is soft.
10. Add the tomatoes.
11. Cook for 3-4 mins or until the mixture is dry.
12. To the bowl with the squash, add the cottage cheese, mozarella cheese, parsley, salt, and onion mixture.
13. Stir well to mix up all the ingredients.
14. Spray a 9x13 pan with cooking spray.
15. Pour mixture into the pan.
16. Sprinkly the parmesan cheese and bread crumbs.
17. Bake for 30 mins or until bubbly and heated through.

Serves 6

Calories: 140

Calories from fat: 61

Fat: 6.8g

Sodium: 448 mg

Carbs: 10.3g

Dietary fiber: .7g

Protein: 10g

So....who's side are you on??

I noticed that Miranda has rallied up her troops and is practically begging all of her friends to join her side in this whole race thing. I guess it will be good for her to have so many people around to support her........when she eats my dust! Enough trash talking. Let's get down to bidniz. Below is what I ate today:

• Breakfast: Cottage cheese and Yoplait Light Bostom Cream Pie (220 cal)
• Snack: Spinach and Asiago Cheese Chicken Sausage (110 cal)
• Lunch: Healthy Choice Cafe Steamers Grilled Chicken Marinara (270 cal)
• Snack: Sugar Free Fudge and Banana pudding (60 cal)
• Dinner: Leftover chicken breast stuffed with spinach and spaghetti squash casserole (335 cal)
• Water intake: 64 ozs.
• TOTAL CALORIES: 995

My excercise for the day was spent at Curves. I basically did 30 minutes of weight training. By the way, I am still trying to get the hang of this whole blog thing. It is really weird when I post a blog because it never looks like it did when I typed it out in the text box. Since I am a perfectionist it drives me insane to see something turn out all wrong! For example, when I type out the whole blog I have all these nice spaces and indents. BUT...when I post it on the page it looks like a bunch of gobbledy goop! Very frustrating for a Type A personality like myself! Well, I hope you had a great day. I know I did even though my day did not involve meeting with a hot, young surgeon.....

Peace!

Shalena

I love my surgeon...

Dr. Michael Woll at Evans Army Community Hospital is the bomb diggity. I just thought I'd throw that out there :)

I weighed myself at the surgeon's office today, and it appears that I've lost 7.5 lbs since the surgery! Yay! I'm going to update my starting weight since we just started this weekend, and it wouldn't be too fair for it to look like I lost 7.5 lbs in just a week.

My incisions appear in tact and it's not likely that I will spill my guts all over the place if I ride my bike, but it might be a stretch to go white water rafting this weekend SO...I'm limiting my adventure to camping and hiking in the mountains :)

Hope you're having as good a day as I am!!

Oven fried tilapia with wheat pasta and broccoli

What you need:

One tilapia fillet

Italian style breadcrumbs

1/4 C dry Wheat pasta (I used rotini)

1/4 C Broccoli, frozen or fresh according to preference

1 egg

Lower sodium soy sauce

Red wine vinegar

Lemon juice

Parmesan cheese (finely grated shaker style)

EVOO cooking spray

Blackened seasoning

1.5 oz or one serving size Italian salad dressing

Mrs. Dash Lemon Pepper

Ground black pepper

Directions:

1. Marinade tilapia in one part each red wine vinegar, soy sauce, and lemon juice and a bit of Mrs. Dash for 15-30 mins.
2. Preheat oven to 375.
3. Mix breading as follows: 2 parts Italian breadcrumbs to 1 part parmesan cheese and a pinch or so of blackened seasoning, just enough to coat both sides of the tilapia fillet.
4. Whip egg and dip fillet in egg, shaking off excess egg before coating with breading mixture.
5. Place breaded fillets in a pan prepared with EVOO spray, then spray EVOO over the fillets and place in oven. Cook for about 20 minutes or until fish is flaky.
6. Meanwhile, boil water for pasta and cook according to preference, adding broccoli in the last few minutes to desired firmness.
7. Drain pasta and broccoli, coat with Italian salad dressing and pepper.
8. Enjoy!

Nutrition Facts:

Serving size: One recipe Calories: 316 Calories from fat: 117.5 Total fat: 13.3 g Saturated fat: 1.9 g Trans fat: 0 g Polyunsaturated fat: 1 g Monounsaturated fat: 0 g Cholesterol: 109 mg Sodium: 1587.5 mg Total Carbohydrates: 21 g Dietary Fiber: 2.25 g Sugars: 5 g Protein: 27 g

Tough day...

Today I'm having trouble staying within the guidelines that my surgeon gave me after having my gallbladder removed. I'm not supposed to lift anything over 15 lbs for FOUR WEEKS! Normally this wouldn't be such a big deal, but my slave- I mean husband- is in Afghanistan, and I while I don't have issues with him doing things for me, it makes me feel like a whimp to have to ask people to come over to help me take out the trash or move furniture to my basement. Thank goodness it's not Thanksgiving or else I'd have to hire a turkey mover. I know it's not that big of a deal in the long run, and I'm thankful that my surgery went well and that I'm healing well, and it's only FOUR WEEKS, but it makes me acutely aware that I'm alone at a time when all I want to do is stay busy enough to forget about it. And I can't.

I have an appointment with the surgeon tomorrow, and I'm going to ask if it's ok for me to ride my bike so I can get some sort of cardio in without worrying if my belly is going to bust open and start gushing liver and bile duct all over the place. Hopefully he says yes because I'm not burning too many calories just sitting around pouting.

And that brings me to my calorie count for today. While my lovely sister is under the supervision of a licensed nutritionist, I am not, and I will soon start training to hike Pikes Peak so I've set my goal intake calories to 1,500/day. I've found it's tough for me to do, not because I have to cut back on food, but because my stomach doesn't want to let in that many calories from the right types of food. Lower calorie, high impact foods leave me trying to stuff down twice the amount of food that I was eating before to get enough calories, protein and such. I guess my biggest challenge is going to be setting a schedule for eating and sticking to it.

Anyway, here' s my intake for the day:

Breakfast and lunch merged together because I got up late- Healthy Choice Chicken Alfredo Florentine - 230 calories
Snack- 1 medium orange - 80 calories
Dinner- Oven fried tilapia with wheat pasta, broccoli and garlic toast (280 of the calories came from the garlic toast) - 595 calories
Snack- Spinach salad with italian dressing and onions - 45 calories
Total: 950

- Miranda

Spinach Stuffed Chicken Breast

Ingredients:

4 boneless skinless chicken breasts (trimmed)
1 can chopped spinach (drained)
1 ounce cream cheese
2 tbsps. chopped garlic
Mrs. Dash Original Blend seasoning
I Can't Believe Its Not Butter spray (optional)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Split chicken to make a pocket.
3. In a saucepan combine spinach, garlic, and cream cheese.
4. Heat until cream cheese is softened and it makes a paste.
5. Stuff the spinach mixture into the pockets of the chicken breasts and sprinkle Mrs. Dash on top of the chicken. Spray ICBINB on top of each piece of chicken if desired. Bake for 35-40 minutes or until chicken is cooked thoroughly.

Yields 4 servings

Calories: 195

Fat: 4g

Cholesterol: 76mg

Sodium: 478mg

Carbs: 6g

Fiber: 2g

Protein: 28g

Monday night check in....

First I will start off with reporting my daily food and excercise log:

Breakfast: Cottage cheese and Yoplait Light Boston Cream Pie Yogurt (220 cal)

Snack: Breakstones Cottage Doubles with Pineapple (130 cal)

Lunch: Chef Papillote Honey Lemon Shrimp (350 cal)

Snack: Sugar Free Banana Fudge Pudding (60 cal)

Dinner: Spinach stuffed chicken breast and butter garlic green beans (250 cal)

Water Intake: 64 ozs

TOTAL CALORIES=1010

I didn't get any excercise in today. I was planning on going for a bike ride around the neighborhood with the kids but it started raining. However, I must say that I am very proud of myself today because I stayed under 2400mg of sodium! That has been very hard for me and I was very excited to see that I only consumed 2149mg!! Yippeee!!! I also realize that some of you may think that I am not getting enough calories in to keep me going, but I am also taking vitamins/supplements and following a diet supervised by a licensed nutritionist. I have actually been following this plan for the last 2 months and still feel great!

I wonder what Miranda did today....I know she did some trash talking, but that is to be expected from less than mature individuals. I'm glad I don't have to stoop to her level just to prove myself the future winner!! ;)

One thing I really need to work on is to stop weighing myself 50 times a day. It can drive a person insane! Miranda and I have agreed to a Friday night weigh in session. On Friday nights we will post our weights separately. I know we are keeping everyone on their toes, but that is supposed to be entertaining, right???

Well, that's it for my check in. I will post the recipe for the spinach stuffed chicken breast a little later tonight. I found the recipe on Recipezaar.com and it was EXCELLENT!

Have a great night!

Shalena

Chicken, Tofu and Spinach Stir Fry with Brown Rice

What you need:

1/2 chicken breast, cubed (I used leftovers from last recipe)

2 C fresh baby spinach

1/4 block firm tofu, drain and pat dry

Oyster sauce

Low sodium soy sauce

EVOO

Black pepper and sea salt to taste

Brown rice

Instructions:

1. Start rice cooking so it will be done by the time you're done with the stir fry.
2. Add EVOO and soy sauce to non-stick pan, 1 tbs each. When it's hot add the chicken and tofu (if chicken is not already cooked, wait to add tofu until the chicken is cooked through).
3. Add more soy sauce and EVOO as needed to keep the pan wet, and then tear spinach up into pan. Cook until wilted, adding seasonings as it cooks.
4. Add oyster sauce at the last couple of minutes.
5. Serve over brown rice and enjoy!

Nutrition Facts:

Serving Size: One whole recipe
Calories: 448 g
Calories from fat: 172.5Total Fat: 19.5 g
Saturated Fat: 2.2 g
Trans Fat: 0 g
Polyunsaturated fat: 2.15 g
Monounsaturated fat: 10.2 g
Cholesterol (mg): 34
Sodium (mg): 717.5
Total Carbohydrates: 41.25 g
Dietary Fiber: 4 g
Sugars: 3.05 g
Protein: 29.5 g

And in this corner we have.....

....the future winner of THE RACE TO 200!!!

Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Shalena and I am Miranda's beautiful and talented older sister. I think it goes without saying that Miranda and I are officially competitors in this so called Race to 200. And I must say that I am very competitive!

Since Miranda was brave enough to throw her stats out there I guess I must comply. Below are my starting stats. (Caution: Please be careful before you continue because it may cause you to spit out your drink.)

Age: 27

Weight: 260

Height: 5'6"

BMI: 42

I don't have my other measurements at the moment, but I will update you guys later when I get them. (I know you can't wait!)

My reasons for wanting to lose weight are pretty standard. Mainly I want to be healthy and be a great role model for my kids. I certainly don't want them to be as unhealthy as I am. I consider myself very lucky because I don't have any major issues due to my heaviness. For example, I don't have high cholesterol, high blood pressure, or heart problems. But I do realize that those issues are waiting for me down this path that I have followed my whole life. That is why I am switching paths and making a change. But for now....I have joined this race and I am determined to WIN!

Stir fry chicken and baby spinach salad with mandarin oranges and tofu

What you need:

1 (approximately 4 oz) Boneless skinless chicken breast, cubed

Fresh baby spinach

A small can of mandarin oranges in its own juice, separated. Reserve juice for dressing.

1/8 Onion (color of your choice) diced or sliced

1/8 block of Firm tofu

Toppings of your choice (I used crushed Saltines)

Reduced sodium soy sauce

Extra virgin olive oil

Mrs. Dash Lemon Pepper blend

Directions

1. Heat approximately 2 tbs olive oil and soy sauce in non-stick skillet, add chicken. Stir fry until cooked through, adding Mrs. Dash at last 2 minutes. If the oil cooks down and chicken starts to char before it's done cooking, add a bit more oil and soy sauce. When chicken is done cooking, use half for your salad, and refrigerate the rest for another salad. You're only using half a serving because you'll replace the remaining serving size with tofu to balance the protein while cutting back on saturated fat.
2. Over a bed of rinsed baby spinach, layer remaining ingredients according to your preference.
3. Crumble tofu on top just before you add the chicken. Tofu can be added to stir fry with chicken, but I added mine fresh.
4. Pour reserved juice from the mandarin oranges over salad as dressing. Save remaining juice and oranges for another salad or a snack later in the day.

Nutrition Facts:

Calories: 304

Calories from fat: 144.5

Total fat: 16.5

Saturated Fat: 2.2 g

Trans Fat: 0 g

Polyunsaturated Fat: 2.15 g

Monounsaturated: 10.2 g

Cholesterol: 34 mg

Sodium: 720.5 mg

Total Carbs: 17 g

Dietary Fiber: 3

Sugars: 11.05 g

Protein: 22 g

My story

My stats...eek!

Age: 26

Height: 5' 10"

Weight: 234.5 lbs.

BMI: 33.6

Waist: 47"

Hips: 51"

Chest: 50"

Arms: 14"

Thigh: 28"

There are several reasons that I joined the race, but the three foremost are

1. My kids. I don't have any...yet. But I want my body to be a healthy place for them to grow.
2. My husband is deployed, and I want to take advantage of this time to get my habits and diet in check so when he gets home I will have a healthier routine that he will (hopefully) be able to fit into.
3. My mom and sister are losing weight and I want to beat them to 200!

Wish me luck!

Miranda

The Starting Line

The race to 200 lbs has begun!

This is it, our quest to a healthier life is underway and now it's time to see what we're made of! I'll see you at the finish line...