My Granola is easy and you can slot in your own favorites200g rolled oats
100-150g mixed nuts (I use almonds and cashews but any nuts you like are good)
50g mixed seeds (sunflower, poppy, pumkin,sesame)
50g dessicated coconut
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
150g dried fruit (I use cranberries and blueberries)
5 tablespoons maple syrup
5 tablespoons olive oil
Pre-heat oven to 180 c
Mix all the dry ingredients excluding the dried fruit and spread on a baking tray. drizzle with the syrup and oil and stir again. Place the tray in the oven for 25-30 minutes. Take out every 5 minutes or so and stir the granola and smooth it back out again. When the granola is nice and golden remove it from the oven and mix in the fruit and then let it cool down. Store in an airtight container when cool. Its lovely with milk or yoghurt and will keep for about 2 weeks. So yummy it probably wont last that long lol
[
It sounds delicious but very calorie dense. The portion size must be very tiny. I'm afraid it would be a big trigger food for me, so I will definitely NOT be making this any time soon!
Thanks!! And yes, I have made the protein pancakes with rolled oats and they work just as well. I have yet to use steel cut but I have a feeling they may be too gritty since you are really not cooking them for that long?
You're probably right. I made the crockpot steel cut oats last night and will probably save the protein pancake for tomorrow or Sunday morning.
Happy Hump Day!
I fell off the exercise wagon yesterday...but I get back on it today! I'm so worried about this job interview and really needed new brown shoes or boots for my suit....shoe shopping was a nightmare! Everything is too casual or has too high of a heel to be appropriate...or just too darn expensive! I finally found a pair of boots...a good choice since it is supposed to really rain here tomorrow! I tried on the suit with jewelry last night and it looks good! Still not sold on the bag I'm bringing but I need something to fit my notebook into...oh well.
Eating went well yesterday and I had some very yummy Pho (Vietnamese soup) for dinner last night. Since I am beginning WW this weekend, Brian suggested I just eat and eat....no way...if I want to hit goal by my 40th birthday I need to make everyday count! Now if I could only stop eating ice cream and drink more water....lol
Back to work...preparing for tomorrows interview and an evening program that I have to present tomorrow night at my current school! Busy, busy, busy!
Make great choices today Donalds!!
Hoping today goes great for you. I"m sure you look spiffy!!
G
I had physical therapy today. I am sooooooo tired of physical therapy, but I did this to myself by not taking rest days and not dealing with the issues when they first came up. I have been going since October 26th. I was hoping to be done this week, but she is encouraging me to come a few more times. The worst part....our deductible started over and my hsa is low right now, so it is going to be out of pocket for a little while. But a healthy foot is worth it. It's just painful to pay for it! So she asked me how the running is going and told me some of the soreness I am having is probably from increased activity. So that made me feel better cause my foot has been a little tight which was starting to stress me out and make me a little cranky! I don't want to be injured anymore!
My physical therapist was with a new patient so someone else was watching me do my exercises and she said my pt had me doing some heavy duty strength exercise on my ankle so that made me feel good--cause they are hard!!!! Then she asked me what I did to my foot.....I hate this question. I really didn't do that much to my foot, I just ran all summer on it injured. Bad, bad choice on my part.
So hopefully only a few more visits to the p-t.
Have a great Wednesday. I'm off today, so I will check back in.
I hear you on the deductible. We need to start paying oop now for all of our visits now until we hit the family/individual limits for the year. What a PITA! Glad that PT is nearly done!
So excited! I just made myself a pizza similar to the one they showed on BL last night and it was only 205 calories!
I was worried about the whole wheat tortilla, because I'm not a whole wheat fan. I've been trying to replace little things from "regular" to whole wheat and so far its been good. Here's the calorie break down:
1 low carb whole wheat tortilla- 50 cal
1/4 c part skim Mozzarella- 80 cal
5 slices of pepperoni- 50 cal
1/4 pouch of Boboli pizza sauce- 25 cal
= 205
I'm going to try having one of these with a salad instead of the normal pizza on Friday family pizza night. I'm hoping that with eating one of these I'll be able to hold off the craving to eat and eat and eat. I'll be happy if I can eat 1 of these and 1 small slice of regular pizza..
SItting here trying to figure out why I missed the BL pizza thing. Then I remembered the stupid NH Primary!! They kept interrupting the show. I was TOTALLY bent out of shape!! I'll have to check HULU or something if I want to see about the pizza recipe I guess.
I love whole wheat tortillas and pitas and pizza crusts.... they are still really tasty but much healthier! Just be careful if you try to fold/roll a whole wheat pita or tortilla.... they crack and such much easier than the white or blended.
Went to the doctor yesterday. One step closer to my surgery.
The doctor said I was 5-1/2 pounds lighter than I was the week before Christmas.
I'm still trying. I'm not hungry at all most of the time which is weird for me.
Can't wait to weigh in on Friday!!!
Great job on being down from Christmas week! Maybe I missed it, but what is your surgery for (if you don't mind me asking)??
Not at all. The shots help, but not sure I can actually run, and if I kept it up it would probably not be good at all. Too much high impact. But they let me walk and do other things without pain for awhile.
My legs will be strong! When the time comes, the ortho says I will need knee replacement surgery, maybe by the time I am 60. So strong legs will hasten the recovery time, and once both knees are replaced - look out world!
WOOHOO! Great attitude! And your orthopedic surgeon will LOVE you! They love patients who are ready to have a great outcome!
You also mentioned about paying for the braces. I guess I was lucky, I paid the ortho up front and they gave me the same discount, but I only had to pay my portion. They are billing and getting paid by the insurance company. I see it going to them in monthly payments as well...and watching it creep closer to our lifetime limit!
We opted to pay the total up front on our airmiles card. We THOUGHT that the insurance would pay us back in a lump sum, just like we paid the ortho.... but they didn't. It was a PITA and something I wish we had known in the beginning, but it worked out okay. It was just a good thing we weren't counting on getting that $2k back immediately!
******************************************
Finally got to work way late, hit the ground running. Decided to take lunch to DIS despite the fact that I will need to take sick time...I need the break...to relax
!
Carol
Hope the rest of the day went better.
I'm home! All your guys good thoughts must have worked for me, cause compared to last time this was a breeze!
I did not sleep at all last night, cause I was afraid to take my sleeping pill in case i still had to go, but when I don't take my sleeping pill, the fibro acts up so I was in pain, hungry, and miserable last night. I did the best I could and we got to the hospital at 9:30 this morning. The nurses were all really nice and could see I was nervous and assured me it would be fine. I had two nurses doing the iv, one doing the iv and the other talking to me and it was over in a minute and of course not that bad, but it doesn't really matter, i know i will be just as nervous next time. And even though they say it doesnt hurt after the first pinch, it always feel very uncomfortable to me.
My nurse for the procedure was actually an old family friend who i didnt know but she knew me kind of thing, which was just nice as she was very understanding. My doctor is awesome and understood that i was nervous and held my hand while they put me under. I woke up feeling very refreshed! It was better than ambien that's for sure! No naseua or anything it was actually quite pleasant.
So for all my worrying and anxiety it was actually a breeze, which i'm glad cause i know this wont be my last one and it was better than last time. I know i will still have anxiety but it made me feel a lot better
The results looked really good. My doctor didn't even see any evidence of the Chron's which was very surprising to me, but he said was really common. Maybe it's the healthy eating thats been helping with that?? The only problem with everything looking great is that we still don't know what's wrong with me! They did some biopsies and those results will be in on monday so we will discuss that then. my doctor promised that we would get to the bottom of it no matter what. he still wants me to stay away from dairy though, so i could still be latose intolerant. they also are doing the celiac test so it will be interesting to see the resilts of that.
so all in all, good news and bad news. good news it went well, bad news we still dont know whats wrong. again, THANK YOU EVERYONE for your thoughts, words, and advice, it was so nice of all if you and i appreciated it more than i can say
some more good news, i got the all clear from the PT to start running again, no more than a mile every other day. I think this is actually a good restriction to have, but mostly i feel like im starting from scratch so starting slow will be good. we will see how i feel! i'm hoping to start running again on friday
for now, its time for a nap, and waiting for my boyfriend to show up, cause he promised to hang out and watch tv with me today
I'm so glad to hear that it was uneventful. SOrry they couldn't give you a diagnosis immediately, but hopefully that means it is something more benign and not a big thing.
Tri
TOM arrived today.
So I am feeling tired and hormonal. I know this too shall pass but this month I am not letting it detour me off of my plan. I had some crazy cravings this afternoon for a greasy burger but I was able to talk myself off of the ledge. Instead I got a rotisserrie chicken and heres what I made.
1 piece of toast topped with an once or so of chicken. 4 thin slices of tomatoe and 1 slice of american cheese. I broiled it to melt the cheese. It was very good. = 150 calories. I wasnt sure what to eat with it. I am not in the mood for salad or veggies. I decided upon a serving of tater tots baked in the oven.
Ok well I hope to hop on later and catch up better.
Great choice with the chicken instead of burger. Hope the tater tots were worth the calories.
I love BL, but I must say I was really aggravated last night with the nutritionist saying that sushi was a bad choice! What? She said sushi has a lot of carbs. 350 carbs! That is wrong! A California Roll only has maybe 150 calories and 20 grams of carbs. She recommended they eat a turkey sandwich (Jenni-O perhaps?) on whole wheat for 280 calories. I love a good turkey sandwich, but really? She needs to go let the Japanese know they have the sushi thing all wrong. What do they know about health? They're not the country with the largest population of centenarians or anything / rant. Sorry, that just hit me the wrong way. I will get over it.
Don't forget... the nutritionist is being compensated by Jenni-O turkey.... not the "Japanese Sushi Board" (or whatever). Standard sushi should be fairly low carb. And things like California rolls have a bit more carbs but they can be made with brown rice and be a healthy carb . My gosh.... an entire serving of oatmeal has less than 30 carbs! How can a serving of sushi have 350???? She is off her nut..... or hopelessly mis-informed.
And honestly.... I think it would be healthier to have a serving of fresh sushi made with brown rice and wild caught cold water fish (lots of good Omega-3's) then a sandwich made with "Factory Farm" turkey (probably full of antibiotics and maybe growth hormone.... maybe even genetically manipulated??). Sorry Jenni-O, but I disagree with you.
Well, I have gotten a late start so I might have to do this tomorrow.
1. Drink all 64 oz of water.
2. Love on my DD - she is still young enough to like it
3. Take care of my poor sick DH.
4. I might try the cinnamon in the coffee thing.
Be careful if you put ground cinnamon in the filter with your ground coffee.... too much can make the filter overflow and you will end up with grounds in your pot. I have had pretty good luck adding some coarsely broken chunks of cinnamon stick to the filter basket.
QOTD- I try to remember to take a minute every now and then to do those kegels. I already have issues now with holding my urine and I would prefer not to wear a diaper when I am in my 50's therefore I am doing my best to prevent that.
Glad I'm not the only one! 
I just got back from the gym. Totally did not feel like going tonight but I forced myself and got it done. It wasnt a pretty 30 minutes of running but I did it.
I am really in need of new sneakers and I can feel my left arch is getting sore. I will try to get a pair this weekend I think.
Excellent job getting to the gym when you really didn't want to! That is TOUGH!
Good Thursday morning everyone. It is rainy here in jersey. I guess that is why I didn't sleep well. But onthe other hand I dreamed I was getting on a plane to DW so that wasn't so bad.
Oh my gosh.... I LOVE Disney dreams! Just tough to wake up here in "reality"!
Ds2 comes home tomorrow. We heard from him yesterday askingif his brother could pick him up from the airport. He was supposed to go from Newark to Phil by train and then we would have had to pick him up from his college in nj. That would have meant at least 3 hours of us driving to pick him up. Newark is only 40 minutes away. We are disappointed because we liked the idea of sitting and talking to him on the way home. But at least he will be home.
QOTD I always need music in the morning
Pretty quiet day today. I have yoga tonight but that is it.
Have a happy and healthy day.
Hope he makes it home safely!
Bad NewsI have to admit to being less than good about my exercise this week
Haven't been great about some of this weeks other HH either!!
Good News Normally at this point I would throw in the towel and give up.....but NOT THIS TIME
Good girl!!! Here on the BL challenges we often repeat the mantra of "I WILL NEVER GIVE UP!" Feel free to say it any time you need to!
I did check my notebook (which for some reason in my head I keep calling my "super, dooper notebook"
) and at least I can honestly see I have drunk all my water each day, tracked all I've eaten (stayed OP there
) and relaxed each day!! Funny how I thought I'd been sooo busy but I'd no problem relaxing
Anyway just wanted to own up and to put it down in print that this time I'm NOT giving up!
Hopefully get to check in later with you all
WOOOHOO!
Good Morning Team Donald!
Tomorrow is our 2nd weigh in. I know as I look at the scale today that I need to prepare myself for either a very small loss, maintaining or possibly even a gain. As I think about this, I also know that I need to figure out what I am going to celebrate besides the weight loss (especially if there is no weight loss). The scale can sometimes cause me to feel bad about this journey and it should not the only measure of our success. So today, before we have to look at the numbers for the week, lets celebrate our success that do not include the scale.
QOTD: What can you celebrate this week besides a number on the scale?
This is a GREAT QOTD and right on time for me. TOM showed up without warning yesterday (getting old really sucks) and I'm SURE it will definitely have a negative impact on whatever TINY loss I was hoping for this week.
I am going to celebrate all of the NEW BL challenge friends I am making. I couldn't imagine a few years ago that my bestest buddies in the world (well, other than my family) would end up being a group of like-minded Disney lovin' folks that I would "meet" online! I've made some great friends here and now there is the potential for many more new friends!
These challenges have DEFINITELY had a positive impact in keeping me on track over the past 4 years. In fact, just last week I celebrated FOUR YEARS of healthier eating and exercise!!
Hello to everyone else I've missed. Hope you all are having a positive, successful week!! Hugs to anyone in need.
Hope your week is going well. It appears you are busy, cause I haven't seen much of you on here. Hope you are well and healthy. Saw a boy in ToyRUs last night that reminded me of Michael.... same glasses and all. Made me do a quick double-take looking for you!
I
Well....I would say I can celebrate that I will sign up for my first 5k this week. I'm going to do it today because I finally got a replacement check card in the mail, haha! My goal is to complete one in February and one in March. At that point I want to sign up for a longer race for April, working my way up to ten miles by September so I can participate in the Tower of Terror 10-mi race!
Great thing to celebrate!!
**********
Well friends..... the day is FLYING away from me. THe kids had a two hour delay this morning, so of course I got on here later, and rather than finishing up here at my usual 9:30 is, it is now 11:21!! I have to leave here at 1:45pm to pick up DS for ski lessons (unless this turns to heavy rain, in which case they may cancel lessons). I'll drop him at the mountain to get his gear and all and then pop back to DD's school, pick her up and take her home (she is SO spoiled.... why can't she just take the stupid bus??) and then back to the mountain to get DS. Fortunately DH is home today and will take DD to swim for 5:30.... otherwise it would be a bit crazier schedule than it already is!
I SO need to get moving around here! I have THREE loads of laundry sitting in my room that MUST be folded today! And sadly, I still haven't replaced all of the stuff in the linen closet!
Work yesterday really threw a wrench in the works!
BTW, I made the steelcut oats in the crockpot last night (minus the sugar). I made a half batch because I KNEW we didn't need all of that oatmeal. Just 1 C of the oats made a LOT of oatmeal. DD and I enjoyed it..... DS ate it but protested, and DH claimed it was too many carbs...
(healthy carbs you DOPE!). I have an old small crockpot ("Crock-ette") and the half batch fit it perfectly. I had it started at about 9:30pm and when I came down at 7:15 am (later than usual because of the snow delay) it was perfect!! I would do it again in a heart beat.... but I'll make a smaller batch next time.... just enough for DD and I. It will be a PERFECT thing to make on swim mornings when she needs something healthy at 5am!!
JEN: Just wanted to say that I am glad that Hagrid had some improvement. Hopefully he will have some healing and be with you all a bit longer. My kitty, Lucky, sends her love from the top of my monitor, where she is currently relaxing!
Off to fold laundry and make lunch! ................P
YAY! That is so exciting that you are going to sign up for your first 5K! WAY TO GO! 
I will wish for a bigger loss for you this week but think you are doing AWESOME regardless! 
