Friday, May 28, 2010

30.

Thirty! Thirty fat, gross pounds gone forever!! Well, maybe. I hope it's gone forever, anyway.

I have come to terms with the fact that there are some foods that I pretty well need to avoid for all eternity...like fast-food burgers and yummy potato chips. That's ok, there are plenty of yummy substitutions for those things. So in my quest for healthy substitutions for the foods I love, I found this:

HUNGRY GIRL MIRACLE MASHED POTATOES from Hungry Girl

Ingredients:
1 large (about 13-oz.) potato
3 cups cauliflower florets
3 tbsp. fat-free half & half
1 tbsp. light whipped butter or light buttery spread
1/4 tsp. salt pepper and additional salt, to taste
Optional: 1/2 tsp. crushed garlic

Directions: Bring a large pot of water to a boil. While waiting for the water to boil, peel and cube the potato. Once water is boiling, add peeled potato cubes and cauliflower. Wait for the water to return to a boil, and then reduce heat to medium. Cook for 15 - 20 minutes (until potatoes and cauliflower are very tender). Remove the pot from heat and strain out all of the water. Transfer contents to a large bowl, and add half & half, butter/buttery spread, salt, and (if you like) crushed garlic. Mash it all together with a potato masher, until completely blended. Season to taste with pepper and additional salt. Enjoy! Makes 5 servings.

***I used skim milk in place of the half and half, and fat-free sour cream in place of the butter.

My super-picky pre-teen didn't know she was eating cauliflower...I wouldn't have known there was cauliflower in there if I hadn't have cooked it myself. The only thing that sort of gave it away was the smell of the cauliflower as it cooked...sort of cabbage-y. Scott, being the mashed potato lover that he is, said he could eat it at every meal and be a very happy man :) .

Anyway, next recipe on my list to try is this:
Dr. Oz's Fettuccine Alfredo . It has something like 450 calories per serving...perfect for a special-occasion dinner.

Thursday, May 20, 2010

That's it.

The girl I work with is Filipino and has 4 of the cutest boys I've ever seen in the entire world (other than my Jacob, of course). They're all under 5 years old, the latest baby being all of 6 weeks old. He has the chubbiest, wubbiest cheeks you've ever seen and I could kiss them all the live long day.

I've decided that my next baby will be Filipino. I don't plan on adopting, and Naomi says that it's only sometimes that she feels like giving me one of her older boys (can you imagine...4, 3, and 2 year old boys all in the same house??). They're so cute, I can't imagine them getting into trouble (lol) .

Scott has decided that now is the time to put his foot down.

Someone fix this situation for me.

Friday, May 14, 2010

Yes, I'm still here.

Going a little crazy right now...
This month's projects include:
  • turning over the garden
  • planting seeds and pumpkin plants
  • finally finishing the rock garden before the weeds take it over
  • finish painting the kitchen
  • shop for next month's Maui trip
  • where in the f* are the drywallers???
  • finish the school yearbook
  • do a bunch of overdue PAC reports

...so you won't see me much this month. Bah!! Lucky you!!

Sunday, May 2, 2010

Baking with Sammy Sunshine.

We've had a few days of cruddy weather, which is keeping us inside...which makes for a bored toddler...which makes for a mischievous toddler. Yes, she wore her pyjamas all day long. It was one of those days. We organized the pantry and found a cake mix, yay! That'll kill 10 minutes...

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Oh my God, this was her favourite part. Putting big sloppy globs of batter in the paper liners...what a mess lol. But no way would she lick the spoon! She told me "dat's gwoss, ma!"

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I have no sprinkles in the house...I didn't think that was possible. I guess Jacob used them up making donuts. Anyway, I gave Sam a pouch of gummies for decorating her cupcake...and she couldn't shovel them in her mouth fast enough lol.

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And now I'm going to lick the icing off and then squish the cupcake in my hands...because it feels so squishy between my fingers. And my mom will clean it up. Awesome, hey??
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ps...today was an awesome day. We got to watch part of a horror movie being filmed, and Jacob can't stop talking about it. I got some wicked dirt stains out of a pair of white nylon leggings using dish soap and lemon juice. Could it have been a better Sunday??