Sunday, July 1, 2012

Mediterranean Pita Pizzas

This meal is a simple meal that is completely customizable! Pre-hubby LOVES pizza, particularly Papa John's. I love pizza too, but this man could eat pizza all the time if he wanted to. To help cut costs and create a healthier option, I discovered this great recipe for Pita Pizzas. A lot less calories, a lot less cost, and way more fun!

Ingredients:
4 large whole-grain pita rounds
1 cup spaghetti sauce
8 ounces shredded mozzarella cheese
2 chicken breasts, diced in 1 inch cubes OR Pepperoni slices
4 cups sliced mixed vegetables (onions, peppers, mushrooms, olives, etc.)

First, heat the oven to 350°F. If you plan on having chicken on your pizza, heat a large skillet on high. After the pan is heated, spray with a big of olive oil cooking spray and cook the chicken for 3-4 minutes, until there is no pink left.

Arrange pita rounds on one or more baking sheets covered with tin foil. Spread about ¼ cup of spaghetti sauce on each pita (use the back of a spoon for easy spreading). Top each pizza with 2 ounces cheese (about 2/3 cup), then arrange your choice of vegetables and the cooked chicken or pepperoni slices on the top.

Bake for 15-20 minutes, or until the cheese is lightly browned.

There ya' have it! A quick, healthy, and cheap solution to having pizza! I often make 2 pizzas, one for dinner and one to take for lunch the next day! So yummy!

Let me know if you try the meal and what you think of it!

Peace and Good JuJu,
Holly

Friday, June 29, 2012

Can I really do this?

The day has come. The Biggest Loser contest at work starts on Monday! I have been slowly getting my habits in place over the last few weeks so that I'm not just jumping into everything and failing again. I read a friends blog today about constantly picking yourself back up again after falling off the weight-loss wagon. It really hit home. I feel like that constantly. I did so wonderful for around 3 months, and then its been this on-again, off-again relationship that I'm really getting tired of.

I've set some goals for myself lately. Small and attainable ones. The real fun will be seeing if I can stick with them. Its been a high stress time for me at work and home lately. Work is a mile and minute, while home life has me worrying about wedding planning and trying to move in July. Its just a lot to deal with lately. I get stressed way too easily and it really takes a toll on me!

So, here are my goals that's I've set up.

  • Exercise with my Your Shape: Fitness Evolved game at least 3 days a week for 30 minutes
  • No more soda - period!
  • try to go on one long walk or hike every other weekend
  • While in California (first 2 weeks of August) try to eat in at least 5 nights a week.
  • no buying lunch unless it is a team lunch activity. MUST MAKE OWN LUNCH
There ya' have it. My simple list of goals I want to accomplish for this year. Notice how there is no weight goal listed? I have one in my head, but I am tired of putting it down and being extremely disappointed when I don't reach it. We will see how this goes!

Weigh in and my personal measurements will be on Monday, so I will probably make a special post just for that!

Other than that, stay tuned and lets see what I can accomplish in the next 9 weeks!


Peace and Good JuJu,
Holly

Wednesday, June 27, 2012

Trying to win my Dream Dress - Won't you help?!

This is my pathetic plea! I don't normally do things like this, but this is probably my only chance to get my dream dress!

If you've read any of my posts, you understand that I don't come from a rich family, I don't have lots of money, and I live a rather average lifestyle. But its my life that I'm completely happy with! Since becoming engaged, I'm realizing just how expensive the whole wedding planning/process is.

I know we will have to have a budget wedding, and the vision I have is totally doable! I think I've finally settled on a venue too! The one thing that really concerns me, that is most important to me, is my wedding dress. A budget wedding doesn't really have the wiggle room to plan for my dream dress. Not to say my dress is outrageously expensive, but its over my budget. This means that I will probably have to settle for a  very pretty dress, knowing that its not truly the one that I want!

And what is my dream dress? THIS is my dream dress!
The Ariel Disney Princess dress from Alfred Angelo's Disney Bridal collection! Its absolutely gorgeous and everything I want in a dress. Its just the right shape and style to make me look great on my wedding day! I stare at the dress a lot and I can completely envision myself wearing this dress down the aisle! But alas, it is outside of my budget.

That's where the HELP part comes in! I recently found a contest through Pear Tree Greetings, the company we are looking at to do all our wedding invites and other stationary items, to win $1500 towards my dream dress. That is more than enough to cover the cost of the Ariel Dress! The contest rules stipulate that I must enter a picture of Pre-Hubby and I and tell our engagement story. After that, I am to get  friends to vote for us! For the first two days after I entered, we were in the lead, and now we are bordering on 5th place! I need to be in the top 5 to even be considered for the grand prize!

The contest is held on Facebook. You have to go to the contest page and vote for the couple you want to win. You can only vote ONCE during the whole contest. I need as many votes as possible to win this dress and would love if you all would vote for us and share with your friends to vote for us as well! Vote for us here! You may have to like their page in order to vote, but I know people who have unliked the page afterwards and the vote still remained! If you see this picture, you know you are in the right place!
Pre-Hubby and I all dressed up in Vegas!
EVERY VOTE IS FOREVER APPRECIATED!!! And any shares with your friends and votes from them are greatly appreciated as well! Please help us win. I want nothing more than to wear my dream dress on my wedding day!!

Thank you to everyone!

Peace and Good JuJu,
Holly

Sunday, June 24, 2012

Summer lunch for the kids!

A couple months ago, I made the "long" drive to go visit my best friend. I live almost 2 hours north of her, so to us, it is a long drive! Her husband was out for the day, so it was just us and her 2 kids, my adorable niece and nephew! I was so happy to spend the day with them all, so I found a couple Disney Junior recipes to make a fun filled lunch for the kids. Well of course, it was a total hit! And why wouldn't it be, Auntie Holly is one pretty cool lady who makes awesome food! We made Meatloaf Cupcakes and Veggie Skateboards! Not only did my niece and nephew love them, but even the neighbor kids who came over enjoyed them. So, first up, Meatloaf Cupcakes.


Ingredients:
2 medium russet potatoes, peeled and cut into 2-inch pieces
1 1/4 pound lean ground turkey
3 large egg whites
2 medium carrots, peeled and grated
1/4 cup shredded asiago cheese
1/4 cup low-sodium tomato sauce
1 1/2 cups panko bread crumbs
3 tablespoons fat-free milk
Salt and pepper to taste
First up, preheat oven to 350 degrees. With the oven going, place the potatoes in a medium saucepan and fill with cool water. Bring potatoes to a boil over high heat. Reduce heat to medium-high and cook until potatoes are soft. Drain the potatoes and set them aside.

In a medium bowl mix together turkey, egg whites, carrots, asiago cheese, tomato sauce and bread crumbs. Use your hands to completely combine the ingredients. Line a muffin tin with 8 cupcake liners. Scoop the mixture into the cupcake liners, mounding mixture so that it rises higher than the surface of the muffin tin. Bake until cooked through, about 22 minutes. Let cool somewhat before removing from muffin tin.

Next up is the potatoes. Place potatoes, milk, salt and pepper in a medium bowl and beat with an electric mixer until fluffy. Last step is to spread the potatoes over the tops of cupcakes and serve. You can do this by either scooping on top with a spoon, or using a cupcake tip and a pastry bag!


And now for the veggie snack!
Ingredients:
1 extra large carrot, peeled
2 small cucumbers
3 slices mozzarella or Swiss cheese
These are extremely simple to make and super fun! First, trim up the carrot by cutting off the ends. Then, cut carrot in half. To make the board part of the skateboard, slice carrot lengthwise into four 4-inch-long slices.

Trim the top and bottom ends from the cucumber. To make the skateboard wheels, cut cucumber into eight 2-inch-thick slices.

Cut cheese slices into strips, circles, stars, or any other shaped desired. For fancy shapes, use small fondant cutters.

Last thing to do is to assemble skateboards, place a carrot strip on top of two cucumber wheels. Decorate carrot with cheese. Now, in my photo it will look different because we did it backwards with carrot wheels and cucumber tops, but either way works great!


So, there you have it. A fun weekend meal for the kids! Let me know if you try it and what you think of it!

Peace and Good JuJu,
Holly

Friday, June 22, 2012

Warning: Yoga is DANGEROUS!

I would like to tell a story about my exercise session from Monday!

First off, I'm doing a lot better with my eating habits! I know that if I can just conquer my eating habits, I'll be on a better path towards a healthier me. If only I could just keep going with the exercise part, I would be much better off!

Now, onto my Monday story. I own the Your Shape: Fitness Evolved 2012 game for the Xbox Kinect. I have used it a number of times, but never consistently. I know, I'm bad, but I'm getting better! So, I decided to start small and do a mix of routines for 20 minutes, 3 times a week. I know its something that I can commit to and start with. Eventually I hope to build up to more time, and maybe 5 times a week.

The main thing I love about the game is the wide variety of different programs and exercises you can do. There are activities set up for specific body parts, for toning, cardio, dance type classes. and even yoga. With all stress I've been under lately, I decided to try the yoga part.

I've done yoga before. My experience isn't broad by any means, but I've done a few yoga DVDs in the comfort of my home and also tried Hot Yoga (which I loved by the way!). So, I figured doing Yoga with the Your Shape game would be a nice mix up and could possibly help alleviate some stress. I love how the game plays calming music as you are doing the yoga poses. I started with some breathing exercises. Then moved into some light poses. Everything was going great. Until I started moving into a Warrior III pose.

Warrior III is a pose I've done a handful of times, but never inside of my cramped spare room. So there I am. Doing a light squat, stretching out my arms, reaching forward and beginning to pull my left leg up. Once I have my leg up, I begin to stretch my leg behind me and balance on my right leg.... only instead of balancing, I stretched my leg back a LITTLE too forcefully and slammed my foot right into the closet door. And I don't mean lightly. Let me tell you, I fell face first on the ground! Immediately followed by hysterical laughter! I realized then that I was standing way too close to the closet doors. 4 days later and my leg STILL hurts.

After telling my friends and coworkers about why I was limping, everyone just laughed. The most common response I got was "You know, yoga is supposed to be a peaceful exercise!" This I know, but now I know just how dangerous it can be too! HEHE!

Okay, cheesy story, I know, but its all I could think of right now! Its been a crazy busy and stressful week. I'm just trying to keep up my light workouts and keep sticking with my eating habits. Before long they will just be second nature and that's when the real fun begins!

Peace and Good JuJu,
Holly