The Bear Necessities! April 2019 W.I.S.H Goals

I’ll be cooking Sunday-actually a ham (if that’s what you’re having) is not a bad choice. 150 calories for a 3 or 4oz serving. On WW it’s only 4 points. I’m making a sweet potato dish I only make on holidays and a fresh green vegetable. We’ll have a sparkling wine with appetizers-and something chocolate for dessert. I’ll eat everything in moderation, (hopefully!) count it, and move on. I don’t stress over holiday meals-it’s just one meal. But I cook so differently now that I don’t make a lot of high calorie, high fat dishes. We just don’t eat that way anymore. I modified my sweet potato dish so it still has the pecan and brown sugar topping but the potatoes only have some vanilla added. I eliminated the eggs, melted butter and additional sugar. No one misses it.

I have an appetizer to share on Foodie Friday:
Get some of those little phyllo shells, put a dab of Dijon mustard on the bottom, add a grape tomato and bake at 400 degrees for 5 minutes or until the tomato looks soft. Delicious!
 
This week we made Chicken Thighs and Potatoes in the crock pot. you just toss the chicken and potatoes in some olive oil and Italian dressing mix and put in the crock pot. Very simple and easy for our busy schedules right now. It tasted great to me and DD. We don't care for much flavor in our food so we loved it. DH and DS I think put hot sauce or something on it to have some more flavor.

I am not cooking on Sunday but will travel to 2 houses. But we usually have like ham and potatoes.
 
Question: Easter is this Sunday, what is on the menu? Are you cooking, going to someone else's place, restaurant?

Bonus question: How do you plan to keep things reasonable/sensible with all the delicious temptations everywhere?

For the first time in ages, we are not going to MIL's. She's away on a cruise, so I'll be making a slightly simplified Easter dinner here. I got one of those mini hams, and for sides I plan to do DS's favorite homemade mac 'n cheese and DH's favorite holiday peas. (They're done with cream of mushroom soup and French fried onions, just like green bean casserole, but it's waaaay better with peas!!) I also bought a can of awful-for-you-but-oh-so-delicious biscuits.

If we still want dessert after all that, we'll probably just make Easter candy sundaes.
ETA: Scratch that - DS just realized this Sunday is Easter, and requested marble cake for dessert. :cake:

And no, other than using the "healthy request" version of the cream of mushroom soup (and the fact that I normally sneak a little flax seed in to my mac 'n cheese topping) I'm not going to worry about keeping things healthy and sensible; it is a holiday, after all!

ETA: In light of the cake (which, unlike sundaes, we'll keep eating for the next couple of days) maybe I will skip the biscuits. :scratchin
 
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I'm thinking, but I don't think I really tried anything new/healthy this week, it's been busy around here with the kids on Spring break... luckily I was a bit too busy LAST week to write up last week's adventures in foodiness… so let me do that now...

The big one was more Indian Food (seems fitting with the Jungle Book theme!) I bought some packages of heat-and-eat Indian foods a couple of weeks ago. Last week I tried "Bengal Lentils," which were vegan, $2.50 for a 10oz (2 serving) pack on sale, and reasonably edible. It tasted a bit like canned beef stew, but with kind of Christmas/ginger/cinnamon/warm spin on it. If it was that or starving to death, I would eat it, and H felt the same, which is surprising, since he is a bigtime carnivore.

I also tried making Moo Goo Gai Pan from scratch using a recipe... in the end, the recipe was too bland and I ended up making it more like my usual chicken stir-fry... light-ish on calories, good for veggies, but awful for sodium. All said, this one is overall a fail, and I'll keep looking... I *LOVE* moo goo gai pan from Chinese restaurants, and I double-love the "Seafood delight" at my local dive that uses the same sauce... I want *SO* badly to know how to make that sauce!!!

As far as Easter goes, we are not huge fans of ham, and H refuses all seafood, so Salmon is out... Lamb is delicious in gyros, but just seems so... WRONG! on Easter, if you really think about it... Roast beef feels more like a winter food than a spring food, and I *HATE* making a turkey for anything other than Thanksgiving... so in the end, we decided to just have quiche for Easter... it's eggs, seems appropriate (and unhealthy...) I am not planning to get together with my family for Easter--too much potential for drama. Since I said I wanted to get a hike in with the girls, I am thinking of putting that on Sunday, making the quiche Saturday and packing it along cold for a picnic lunch, and then I have to come up with something else for dinner. DD11 is saying bean soup, since we can leave that in the crock pot all day, maybe rosemary bread in the bread machine to go with it. That seems like an ok idea, with the fiber from the beans balancing out the cholesterol from the cheese and eggs and pie crust, and hiking to help balance out all the calories in both... we'll see, though.

In the end, turns out there were SIXteen tomato plants, not 14, and I only got 9 of them in so far (I'm plugging them in along the flower beds in the back yard this year, so I was clearing and pruning all of that as I went... ) I also got 3 pepper plants in. Yesterday we cleaned up/planted the herb garden, and my niece (15) spent the night. It was nice to have her, as not only was she in a good mood (never know with that age!) but also since they are living in an apartment right now, she was actually happy to help in the yard!!! We moved the trampoline a bit further back into the corner of the yard, and she helped with that. (It was easy/light to lift, but it's been in the same spot for years-and-years and she cut away all the ground ivy that was growing around the support so we could move it. Overall, I'm pretty happy with how things are moving along with the yard work. Still lots to do, but it is nice to see actual change happening, vs. just "it's slightly less ragged than it was before." It will never look like Better Homes and Gardens, and our easter egg hunt photos will look as wretched as usual, I'm sure, but it's progress and I'll take it!!!
 


U - Underwear... this is my go-to for U, I used it last time as well, pretty hard to imagine a no-underwear life.

I can totally imagine it! It's the non-Disney version of "going commando!" But like going commando around the parks, it's kind of a young person's game... gravity is starting to win these days...

So cute! I'd love to have chickens some day, but right now cats are more than enough to keep me busy.
Chickens are a lot like cats, actually, only stupider and more destructive! My grandparents worked jobs, but farmed their land for sustenance as well, so my mother grew up HATING chickens because they didn't do anything with them except feed them scraps and steal their eggs, which made them unfriendly, go figure. She calls them "mean vegetables with legs" because the ones she had seemed mean and stupid to her... (you should hear her talk about turkeys!!!) I always wanted them she wouldn't get any... but now I'm an adult and I can do what I want mwahahahaha!!!

Okay got some good news on the sister front this morning... NOT cancer ... she has Graves Disease (involves the thyroid) and gotten a rare effect of Graves Ophthalmopathy - she has to see an endocrinologist now to see what happens next, medication, possible surgery and possibly still some radiation treatment on the eye. She has to give up smoking it makes the Graves worse and she has to be closely monitored as it can increase risk of cancer in the future. Phew - we agreed we aren't even telling mum she was being tested for cancer.

Glad to hear it's not the worst-case scenario. Hopefully the "smoking makes it worse" threat will be the nudge your sister needs to break her lifelong habit. Tell her the princesses, godmothers, and even a villain or two are all pulling for her!

Wahoo DH got me a really cute Disney cookie jar. It is something I have absolutely no use for, but he's sweet. I think I will take it to work and put the not so secret stash of chocolates in it.

Wahoo work today wasn't quite as stressful as yesterday. DS2 called from NYC and chatted so we were off schedule. Wahoo for Jimmy John's unwich.

My cookie jar doesn't get much use, either, but it is a souvenir from our impromptu (stranded in Cali on the way home to Maryland during Snomageddon 10 years ago) Disneyland day, so I treasure it and leave it out of the counter. Even if I take the time to fill it, it's usually empty within hours.

I am thankful to be off today.
I am thankful my kids have neighborhood kids that they like to hang out with so they can allow me some space (I love my kids dearly, but these teenage years are starting off a little rough...especially between my daughter and me. So its nice that she can get out of the house with her friends and I can get some stuff done around the house without us being in each others way ;)

THIS!!! DD11 has a friend she's been hanging out with a lot lately. She's pretty responsible and has a phone, so I don't worry if they want to go out wandering together. (Now, when they're both HERE and DD15 is interacting too.... that's like every chipmunks movie EVER all being played at the same time in a single room...)

J is for jewelry. I admit I love a pretty ring or bracelet. And I have some things from my grandmother and my mother I treasure.


L is for love! Yesterday was our 39th anniversary!

Congrats on the anniversary and still calling it love after 39 years!!!! I like jewelry, too, though oddly I don't really wear much, I just like looking at it, not even necessarily owning it, oddly enough! (I could spend all day in the jewelry room at the Smithsonian Natural History Museum!!! Empress Alexandra's emeralds are my favorites. I think the Hope Diamond looks *SO* much better since they've re-set it, but still, I'd never wear it, and there's always a crowd in that room...

Oh, and a total second on the crab legs, but not just for summer! Snow crab legs are available all year 'round, but blue crabs... I am *SO* looking forward to those coming back into season soon! We don't have any real seafood markets left in the area anymore, but a local grocery store does crabs in the summer, steamed/bagged/semi-affordable... they even sell rolls of the brown paper and extra hammers in case you need them!!! Can't wait!!!

For the first time in ages, we are not going to MIL's. She's away on a cruise, so I'll be making a slightly simplified Easter dinner here. I got one of those mini hams, and for sides I plan to do DS's favorite homemade mac 'n cheese and DH's favorite holiday peas. (They're done with cream of mushroom soup and French fried onions, just like green bean casserole, but it's waaaay better with peas!!) I also bought a can of awful-for-you-but-oh-so-delicious biscuits.

If we still want dessert after all that, we'll probably just make Easter candy sundaes.
ETA: Scratch that - DS just realized this Sunday is Easter, and requested marble cake for dessert. :cake:

And no, other than using the "healthy request" version of the cream of mushroom soup (and the fact that I normally sneak a little flax seed in to my mac 'n cheese topping) I'm not going to worry about keeping things healthy and sensible; it is a holiday, after all!

ETA: In light of the cake (which, unlike sundaes, we'll keep eating for the next couple of days) maybe I will skip the biscuits. :scratchin

I LO.. marble cake... (I LOVE the half that is chocolate, the rest of it goes to the chickens!!!) But yes, holidays, like Disney park days, are special exceptions!!!
 
Question: Easter is this Sunday, what is on the menu? Are you cooking, going to someone else's place, restaurant?

Bonus question: How do you plan to keep things reasonable/sensible with all the delicious temptations everywhere?

My parents will pick up DS18 when he finishes his shift at 1.30pm then head here for a late lunch ... I actually do not have a menu planned yet! lol. I also am not too stressed about what will be eaten this weekend - I am not going all out - but will indulge in my easter eggs free from guilt!

This week I made this new dish and we all liked it (the kids had normal rice) https://www.dietdoctor.com/recipes/low-carb-curry-chicken

I have walked for the past 2 days - we are feeding a friends doggies for a few days and we have taken the younger one for a walk each morning - so 2 more doggy walks to come ...
 
X is for eXercise (ok, I reached there!) because it’s so good for my physical and mental health. So thankful I can put my sneakers on and go for a long walk.

Y is for my yard-sitting outside in nice weather (in the morning or middle of the day when I used to be working!).

Z is for Zhoen for leading us this month! It’s been great “chatting” all month! Thank you!

Have a wonderful weekend everyone and a lovely holiday-Happy Easter to all!
 


Somehow these days off seem to be busier than my busy work days. So I managed to miss Foodie Friday. My new recipe to try this week was Chicken Marsala using this Campbell's Sauce packet: https://www.campbells.com/sauces/skillet-sauces/chicken-marsala-sauce/ My neighbor recently told me about these sauces. It was pretty simple and worked great for a fairly quick work night meal. Besides me, no one in my family really likes mushrooms. So we probably won't behaving this often. But I love chicken marsala, so this had to be the first one for me to try. Maybe we'll try the shrimp scampi one next. They probably aren't the healthiest choice. But in a pinch, they will do for a quick meal. Better than fast food!

My daughter has spent the last two nights at my parents. She likes to help my mom cook and bake, but I think she also views it like a little vacation. The rest of us stopped over at my parents yesterday and helped to create a sport for a vegetable garden at their new place. My dad and brother used the tiller, while my son & I helped rake out the rocks from the ground. It is very rocky and the dirt is like clay. So it was pretty hard on my dad. I'm glad they are closer now so that my siblings and I can help out a little more. My son and I also biked a local trail yesterday morning before heading over to my parents. So we definitely took advantage of the nicer weather...before the storm blew in later yesterday and into this morning. Tomorrow, we will spend the day at my parents for Easter. My mom is trying to be a little healthier, but her food still contains a lot more fat, sodium and calories than I normally eat. I'll stick with the ham and broccoli rice casserole (my favorite), and salad. But then there are always all the desserts...
 
Somehow these days off seem to be busier than my busy work days. So I managed to miss Foodie Friday. My new recipe to try this week was Chicken Marsala using this Campbell's Sauce packet: https://www.campbells.com/sauces/skillet-sauces/chicken-marsala-sauce/ My neighbor recently told me about these sauces. It was pretty simple and worked great for a fairly quick work night meal. Besides me, no one in my family really likes mushrooms. So we probably won't behaving this often. But I love chicken marsala, so this had to be the first one for me to try. Maybe we'll try the shrimp scampi one next. They probably aren't the healthiest choice. But in a pinch, they will do for a quick meal. Better than fast food!

Doesn’t look bad to me-only 2g sugar per serving, no high fructose corn syrup-the one slice of pizza I’m having tonight has more grams of sugar-I think 5. I have used the same type of thing by Campbell’s except for the slow cooker. The one for pot roast. I’m not a bad cook, but it comes out much better than what I have done from scratch!
 
I
In the end, turns out there were SIXteen tomato plants, not 14, and I only got 9 of them in so far (I'm plugging them in along the flower beds in the back yard this year, so I was clearing and pruning all of that as I went... ) I also got 3 pepper plants in. Yesterday we cleaned up/planted the herb garden, and my niece (15) spent the night. It was nice to have her, as not only was she in a good mood (never know with that age!) but also since they are living in an apartment right now, she was actually happy to help in the yard!!! We moved the trampoline a bit further back into the corner of the yard, and she helped with that. (It was easy/light to lift, but it's been in the same spot for years-and-years and she cut away all the ground ivy that was growing around the support so we could move it. Overall, I'm pretty happy with how things are moving along with the yard work. Still lots to do, but it is nice to see actual change happening, vs. just "it's slightly less ragged than it was before." It will never look like Better Homes and Gardens, and our easter egg hunt photos will look as wretched as usual, I'm sure, but it's progress and I'll take it!!!

I really jealous reading about your gardening! We live in dublin and our garden is small, and north facing. With current climate it means we get no sun at all from October to March in the garden. In the summer the garden is narrow and we get sun until about 5 pm - but its not in the same place, so every part of it get few hours of sun at best. Even growing grass have been a challange. I am really looking forward for our next home and hope to have south facing garden with better chance to grow stuff! I can even try to have a little greenhouse with tomatoes in it :). I love good tomato!
 
Grateful Thursday
I have a lot to be grateful for but few to mention - we have mini heat wave just on time for 4 day weekend! Fab! We went to the beach yesterday afternoon and it was lovely.

Alright, Dearies, just a quick start to Foodie Friday, then I'll be back later... (It's predicted to rain, and I have 14 tomato plants to get in the ground before then... downpayment on future healthy munching!!!)

Question: Easter is this Sunday, what is on the menu? Are you cooking, going to someone else's place, restaurant?

Bonus question: How do you plan to keep things reasonable/sensible with all the delicious temptations everywhere?

Back in a bit!!!

Food this weekend is a challenge.
Thursday night we had meal out. I tried to make balanced choices and estimate & add my calories. I skipped the dips and poppadoms. And when my calories are over, I skipped the ice cream that came with the meal. It looked good - it was strawberry & hazelnuts and I love ice cream
Friday we were heading for a day out but copped on we took the wrong decision as there were so many cars heading out of Dublin for the long day. We would have been hours in the car. We ate out, but again - I tracked my calories and did not go over. We end up in 5 guys, not the healthiest really but I had regular burger, no cheese no bacon no soda with it. I had it with veggies and hot sauce and end up with calories on target that day
Yesterday with the sunny weather we were out and about. House viewings in the morning but I decided to cut them short and head for the beach. We had breakfast & lunch home. After the beach we drove by my favorite ice cream shop - the guys bought ice cream but I chose to get sorbet. I had good healthy dinner home, however I felt really tried and hungry and end up 2 apples over my calorie target.
Today we are in my in laws and I will be having lamb. I will see how I will manage my intake, I could try to do some fasting period after the meal. I have lovely mint crisp chocolate egg and I will have little bit of that.
Tomorrow my husband have birthday! He wants to go to some chicken wings place so..

Staying on track is challenge but I am trying to do my best.

Happy easter all
 


Lots of chocolate arrived at our house today :-) The rain gave us a short reprieve to enjoy a BBQ in the backyard with my parents. Then tonight DS18 and I went to the movies to see Shazam - gotta say better than I expected.

Hope you all have a wonderful day with your loved ones :love:
 
I don't even remember what we ate this week, that's how bad it was! I know I pulled some "spicy" chicken out of the freezer. Don't remember cooking that several months ago! It sure came in handy though! Today I pulled out some frozen butternut ginger soup that I made about a month ago. Yummy. DS1 came for church today, but said I didn't have to feed him because he wanted to get back home (now only 45 minutes away!). So I said great. No big meal because it's just DH and I. Guess who stayed a couple hours after church?!! Yup. We had tuna fish sandwiches.

Hope everyone as a great on track week!
 
Good morning (at least it still is in *MY* timezone) dearies!!!

We're back to MOTIVATION MONDAY!!!

What's keeping (or getting, or re-starting) your going this week? Got some chocolate to burn off? Making great progress and want to keep it going? Beautiful weather? A cute swimsuit on the horizon?

For me, this week my motivation is mountains. Both the literal big piles of dirt and rock and the metaphorical ones. Literal because I took the kids out to the hiking trail yesterday, and it started at the top of a mini-mountain/large hill, and when you start going downhill, guess how you have to return??? yep... like 20 minutes on the stairmaster set way too high! The upside is that the kids no longer will whine about wanting to join me ever again, I think... the downside is that H tagged along and whined a lot, but today feels ok and says he wants to do it again. No. My time! My space!!!

The metaphorical mountain is this statistics class I'm sitting in right now, not doing my work, because you guys are more fun... heck, alphabetizing dust bunnies would be more fun... but I *NEED* to finish this class, because...

.... drum roll please...

I got my acceptance letter to nursing school!!! After a couple of years of being wait-listed at my local community college near my house (it's a 2-year program with very low standards, so they get wayyyyy to many applicants and it's a lottery system now, it was "who gets in line first" before that... ) I finally got fed up and applied to the 4 year school which actually uses crazy things like test scores and grades and letters of recommendation... and my letter came Friday!!!

*BUT*... this class is my last requirement... so I guess I should sign off and work on it for a bit now, huh. SO. BORING. Back later!

What's got you motivated this week?
 
Good morning (at least it still is in *MY* timezone) dearies!!!

We're back to MOTIVATION MONDAY!!!

What's keeping (or getting, or re-starting) your going this week? Got some chocolate to burn off? Making great progress and want to keep it going? Beautiful weather? A cute swimsuit on the horizon?

For me, this week my motivation is mountains. Both the literal big piles of dirt and rock and the metaphorical ones. Literal because I took the kids out to the hiking trail yesterday, and it started at the top of a mini-mountain/large hill, and when you start going downhill, guess how you have to return??? yep... like 20 minutes on the stairmaster set way too high! The upside is that the kids no longer will whine about wanting to join me ever again, I think... the downside is that H tagged along and whined a lot, but today feels ok and says he wants to do it again. No. My time! My space!!!

The metaphorical mountain is this statistics class I'm sitting in right now, not doing my work, because you guys are more fun... heck, alphabetizing dust bunnies would be more fun... but I *NEED* to finish this class, because...

.... drum roll please...

I got my acceptance letter to nursing school!!! After a couple of years of being wait-listed at my local community college near my house (it's a 2-year program with very low standards, so they get wayyyyy to many applicants and it's a lottery system now, it was "who gets in line first" before that... ) I finally got fed up and applied to the 4 year school which actually uses crazy things like test scores and grades and letters of recommendation... and my letter came Friday!!!

*BUT*... this class is my last requirement... so I guess I should sign off and work on it for a bit now, huh. SO. BORING. Back later!

What's got you motivated this week?
How exciting! Congratulations on your acceptance to nursing school! Graduating from a 4 year program will make you a very attractive job candidate as well.

It’s Monday and after the busy weekend I’m off to a slow start. Will put my sneakers on soon and head out for a walk. Wish it was a little warmer and sunny but at least it isn’t raining!

Have a good day, everyone!
 

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