Chicken Mozzarella Pasta

Now that I have your attention, I want you to know I'm so excited you came over to my blog to check  out this recipe!!  I started this blog back in 2011 when I was working on getting FIT....

(when I had no idea how to even WORKOUT) and I wanted to write down my progress!! 

 It's sad to say but I have not posted ANYTHING since 2012!

So here we go...I have been inspired!!  Please check back or even go look at some old post on things I did to start my transformation into the world of FIT/ATHLETIC people!!

I saw this recipe from Pioneer Woman last week and I couldn't wait to try it!!

Let me know if you found it as yummy as I did!!

Cook Pasta...I use what ever I have on hand....Penne, Rigatoni

4 very thin Chicken breast cut into bite size pieces

1/2 onion chopped

2 garlic cloves , minced

olive oil

salt and pepper

1 Jar of your favorite pasta sauce

1/2 Cup water

4 oz. Fresh Mozzarella, cut into bite size

1/4 Cup parmesan cheese

fresh basil

Heat the oil and sauté the chicken bites until golden brown, remove to a plate.  

In the same skillet(you might have to add some more olive oil at this point) 

over med. heat add the onions and garlic till nice and soft.

Reduce the heat and add the jar of sauce, the water and mix in the onion mixture.  Then add the chicken back into the skillet and simmer for about 7-8 minutes.

Make sure the sauce is nice and hot before you add the mozzarella.  Let it sit for a about 2-3 minutes to get the cheese nice and soft!!

Plate the pasta and pour on the sauce and top with fresh basil and parmesan!

COASTing.....its a beach thing

I heard once that "if you are COASTING you were going down hill".....so I guess you have to keep peddling so you can be moving forward and not COAST?

My family and I are at the beach right now,  we have discovered a beach that we have fallen in love with.  Its on the famous highway 30A in Florida....Rosemary Beach!  This is how we found this amazing place!

 I was talking with a friend who seems to be well traveled...(its seems that way to me because I'M NOT) and I asked her "where can I take my family that is in the US and has beautiful blue water?"  She proceeded to tell my all about this town in Florida that her family had been going to for years!  I went right home and told the family this was the place we had to check out!  We are only in our second year but know that it now is a tradition for our family!

So you are thinking... "what does this have to do with food?"

Well I realized when we went out for a family bike ride...which by the way we only ride bikes in this town...that I had been COASTing on my food intake for a while now....I mean COASTing! 

 Chips, Dt Coke, Chips, cheese, Chips, dips...I mean there is nothing wrong with a little JUNK food .....I'm the first to agree we all need a little artificial "stuff" in our systems...but there is a thing called BALANCE....MODERATION!!!  I sent the teenagers to the store to pick up a few essentials...chips, bread, cereal, cookies, drinks and when I looked at the list I thought back to our bike ride and realized that my eating had been on a COASTing ride and not moving forward and that if your not moving forward you are headed backward or at least SLOWING down and COASTING!

So I have put it out there to hold myself accountable to change some things up and get back PEDDLING ......when I get home from ROSEMARY.....

I'm having to much fun COASTING right now !! :)

Important Tool

"They" say having the right tools make things easier!

This is one of my favorite TOOLS I use to plan our menus:

 I have this pad of paper that is a perpetual calendar. 

(  laugh at the title.....but its true...)

ANYWAY....

 For those of you that don't know what this is....

(which was me by the way.........)

the official definition is:  

a calendar devised to be used for many years,

as in determining the day of the week on which a given date falls.

It's a great tool for making a menu for a week...5 days or 7 days..

but I don't really make plans for the weekend. :)

You can tear one off for every week and file them and rotate menus

 out so you don't get bored with the same menus!

  I ran across this really cool version of a perpetual calendar in
 a new shop in Austin that carries these calendars!
They had amazing paper goods and I LOVE paper goods

//www.paper-source.com/cgi-bin/paper/item/Curry-Leather-Perpetual-Calendar/3205.001/479221.html

this is what our week's menu looks like:

My hope is that you will let me know what your menu looks like!!

"Planning Ahead"

What is it about BALANCE that can be sooo hard some times!!??

In this transformation part of my getting fit I had to learn how to balance my time, my food, my relationships, you name it... for me it was all a balance and learning to "plan ahead"!

I was at a horse show recently with my daughter and there
 is limited food options at this outdoor event
so I had to "plan ahead" and bring our food with us.
 When I was talking to another Mom she said
 "How is it that I am eating a bag of orange Cheetos's and you are eating a Orange??
  I told her I was learning to "plan ahead"! 
What a simple concept, but you have to follow thru! 

What I mean by that is this:
 CHANGE
I had to be willing  to change the way I planed our meals for the week so that we could
eat right and have the fuel food we needed for the next day. 

So I encourage you 
to start this weekend and make a meal plan. 
Think about your week... where you will be and how the schedule is in your house.
Then write it down day by day and fill in the nights you will be home and make a menu.  Ask your family what they like to eat and you will be sure to have meals EVERYBODY likes!
My next post will be a sample of my meal menu and how I get my recipes!



Sick and Tired of being Sick and Tired!!

                June 6, 2010

 I knew when I ordered it.....it would be the last one I would drink for a LONG TIME....

TRIPLE GRANDE HAZELNUT Starbucks.com

              (190 calories 7 grams fat 17 grams sugar)

It was Sunday and the "transformation" plan was starting tomorrow!  That's the way it always was---TOMORROW, I'll start TOMORROW---but this was different,

I was sick and tired of being sick and tired!

It really all started when I had watched by best friend loose half her body fat...she had 30 % body fat and had gone down to 12% body fat.  This by the way was something I had never understood.....now weight loss I got that but,  body fat?  What's that and how the heck does someone get that measured?

She not only looked amazing, she was strong, healthy, happy, beautiful, empowered...you name it she had IT and I wanted what she had!!  I became more and more interested in how she did it and what it took to get this beauty INSIDE and OUT!!

You realize I've never worked out!!

June 7, 2010
So it is Monday morning at 5am!!...Monday.....every good diet starts on Monday right??  My friend tells me that she will meet me at 6am at the "hike and bike" trail ( townlaketrail.org)
 and we will go for a run!  I "think" I have the "proper" shoes, the "proper" clothes....you know.. what ever makes me look the skinniest or the most fit....whatever that looks like???  

 Now 5am comes easy for me, the hard part for me is my COFFEE...I HAVE to have it...or should I call it "coffee milk"....(that is what my Mom called it because, it was mainly milk and sugar with a splash of coffee)...some of you I know understand this. (50 calories  12 grams sugar )

Now that I have coffee I am good to go RIGHT?  I did not know for me that coffee was not fuel "food",  but as of this morning it was my fuel...I did not know what was coming! 

I get there and we run, and run and run...1hour
(578 calories burned)
..that was all...that is what she said "no shorter no longer"...I can handle that! 

Wrong...it had to be the hardest thing I had ever done..RUN..it sounds so simple so easy...

NOT..I had to tell her several times that I had know idea what I was doing!.....She said that was OK she would help me along the way.
I don't know what I have gotten myself into???!

"The Protein Shake"

June 7, 2010...still

Sooooo after the run...which by the way.....I was the "sweaty-est",  "red-est"

(are these real words?) and most tired I had been in YEARS,

 and we head to my friends house to have a

 "protein shake"!

OK so I have an idea of what a protein shake is, my husband has been drinking them for years
and I am thinking YUCK....that is not what I want after a hard workout!

I watch her make this chocolate looking milk shake...

1 cup of water,  1 cup of ice,  1 banana and
1 HUGE scoop of this protein powder 

Blended in blender till smooth

 OMG  it has to be the best thing I have tasted...seriously...I had tasted my husbands over the years and his NEVER tasted like this!  I thought it must have been because I was starving, but it wasn't and I have been drinking these now everyday after a hard work out!
 I bought this container at gnc.com the flavor is Double Rich Chocolate.
The whole shake, banana included has
 225 Calories 1.4 grams Fat 15 grams Sugar and 25 grams Protein