Southwestern Slow-Cooker Chicken

I really like this recipe because you can adjust it to fit your tastes.  You can add and remove ingredients to your hearts’ desire.

There were only two of us eating the dish so we did four chicken breasts instead of six (leftovers!).  And we both love corn, so we kept the two cans.  We nixed the black beans because neither of us are a fan of them.

We also were adventurous with our salsa choice.  We chose a peach mango salsa instead of a “traditional” salsa.  It turned up an interesting concoction.  And with the fewer pieces of chicken, there was plenty of the goodness left.  It made me really want some tortilla chips to scoop it all up.

I did follow the writer’s advice and seasoned the chicken before hand.  I have a southwestern spice mix that I purchased a while ago that I used to coat both sides of the chicken before adding it to the crock pot.  It gave the dish just that much more flavor.  So yummy.

Skinny & Delicious Southwestern Slow Cooker Chicken.

Candy Corn Parfait

If you’re not a fan of candy corn, have no fear.  There are no pieces of candy corn in this dessert.  It just looks like candy corn.

I’ve actually made this a few different ways already.  The first time, I made it with vanilla pudding and put some pineapple chunks with it.  The second time, I used just lemon pudding.  Each pudding was sugar free/fat free and the fruit was canned each time.  I can promise you that fresh fruit would taste better, but the canned fruit was still delicious.

The author of this recipe talks about the original recipe from the food network and how she tweaked it so her children could eat it.  I’m sure the original one is amazing as it calls to soak the oranges in orange liqueur.  But this is a blog about healthier choices.  So I’m advocating the adjusted recipe.

This dessert is such a fun dish to make and consume.  It’s so light and fresh.  I plan on making these a few more times this year.  Enjoy!

Butterfly Jungle: Its Candy Corn Season! Yippee!.

One Year Later: Slightly Frustrated

Before: September 2011. After: October 2012

October 2011, I started my weight loss adventure. I had the original goal of losing 70-80 lbs (or ate least four dress sizes) in one year, so I could be back to my high school weight/size. The idea was to be “as skinny as I was when I thought I was fat.”

One year later, I’m not to my goal. Six months into my journey, I moved 200+ miles away and took more time than I should have to get settled and back in the gym. I didn’t start up again until August and that really set me back on my goal. I’m still close to where I was in April and I’m kicking myself for it.

Today I had an evaluation with my current trainer. I was weighed and he took my measurements. I was frustrated to see that my weight wasn’t much different from my weight in August. However, my measurements showed that progress was indeed being made.

Fall 2005; Senior Year of High School. From the RSHS Production of “Mr. Fixit”

My trainer has asked me to type up a “report” so to speak about my weight loss journey and how it has changed since I started last year. He’s looking for the differences between his techniques and my old trainer’s techniques, what I like/don’t like, how the location of the gym effects my motivation, etc. I’m also suppose to come up with short term goals. In the words of my trainer “You can’t win the war without strategizing each smaller battle.”

So today I took my new “after” photo. And looking at a picture of me from high school (very few left on Facebook for me to grab), I feel like I’m close. What’s frustrating is that looking at the numbers, I’m two dress sizes and about 30 more pounds away from my high school size. It’s becoming a mental game and I feel like I’m suffering from an acute case of body dysmorphia. From those who knew me before, I get compliments. To those who know me now, I’m unimpressive. I’m smaller than what I was, but not small enough.

I need to keep reminding myself that I’m 42 pounds down. Forty-freaking-two! I’m so proud of my number, but I’m not done yet. I have so much more work to do and I’m struggling to find the time and motivation to do it. So my message to you all, is to keep working and keep your eyes on the prize. To reference a quote I saw online:

No matter how slow you go, you are still lapping everybody on the couch.

Baked Oatmeal

This is one that I love because you can tweak it based on your preferences.  I skipped the orange zest, Chinese five spice, and the walnuts.  However, I added in some Apple Pie spice I had along with some cinnamon.  I love strawberries, so I made sure there was a lot of them along with some blue berries I had.  And I may or may not have added in a lot more chocolate chips than I should have…

No matter what fruit or spices you add or subtract, I’m certain you will highly enjoy this recipe.  I would advice caution when using the oven as it gets hot.  I was re-taught this when I burned myself on the side of my oven while taking the pan out when my glasses fogged up.  I’m just awesome like that.

If you’re looking for something to take this up a notch, I topped it with some powdered sugar.  Granted, that makes the recipe not so healthy.  But it also made it more delicios.  Use your best judgement.

Baked Oatmeal with Strawberries, Banana and Chocolate with Recipe Video

Mexican Meatloaf

Once again, I found another draft of a recipe post that I have tried, but not put here for you to enjoy. This one was amazingly simple.  Make sure to stick to extra lean beef (or try ground turkey!) and low fat cheese.  Otherwise it’s just not as healthy.

This was delicious and super moist.  There were three of us eating it and it was devoured with no leftovers.  I’m sure there’s a way to cook this in a regular meatloaf pan as well if you don’t have a crockpot (or don’t want to cook it for 3.5+ hours).  But we did it in the crockpot.

And if you’re feeling creative, ditch the taco seasoning and create your own spice mix.  Maybe you have some new spices from the market you’re dying to try (see Spicing it Up for more spice stories).

¡Buen provecho!

Mexican Meatloaf | Pepper Scraps.