A Changed Me Living a Better Life: April 2013

I've been busy this week trying out new recipes and exploring foods that I would have never made in the past. I am really happy about the changes that are happening with me. This really is the new me. I am not on a diet or a "program" that will come to end. I thoroughly like who I have become and believe I can live the rest of my life this way. I am 2 to 3 lbs away from my goal. Almost there!

My weekly exercise routine usually consists of 2 days of bike riding, 2 days of running, and 2 days of elliptical. Sometimes I give myself an extra day off, depending on how I feel. Keith has told me how proud he is of me adding running to my exercise routine. He started running about 7 years ago when Christopher was in high school. Many times over the years, he tried to encourage me to share in this activity. I never could do it in my eyes and really wasn't interested. Now I'm out there running on the same track with him as he runs by me (LOL...I could never keep up with him). This makes him so happy and proud to see me out there sharing in another activity,especially one he never thought I would attempt.

Well that's it on the blah blah blah stuff. Now here is what I have been up to with cooking and yard work.

This is a Black Bean Sweet Potato chili with a chipotle seasoning base. Super good! I really enjoyed the sweet potatoes in the chili.

Yummy O'Hara Guac recipe.

I ate it like this instead of with chips. Yum!

A copy cat recipe for the Counter Veggie Burger.

Lots of veggies and oats.

Christopher being himself.

Finished patty.

This is Keith's burger.

Lunch at Castex. Cottage cheese on toast, oranges,and arugula salad.. I really liked this one.

Breakfast at Corner Bakery. Egg and Spinach Power Panini with a side order of oatmeal. Full after this for hours. One of my favorites.

Indie has to eat too. This is Wellness dog food in a bowl. HA HA

Another veggie burger. This one is a sweet potato veggie burger with white bean.. A hit in this family!

Toppings...mmm

I ate mine on some spinach.

Carissa liked hers like this.

Working hard for 2 weekends in our yard.

Replanting.

The hardest working guy anyone would ever meet!

Super excited to see all this produce! We will have to wait and see.

Can you believe it's already April? I honestly don't know where the time has gone. Before you know it summer will be here and then fall. I will enjoy each and every day as best as I can.
We have been busy in our household. Keeping up with the house, the kids, the animals, while we are so busy at work can be challenging but we make it happen.
My mom came to visit on Easter Sunday.

It was nice to see her but I am sorry I didn't get to spend more time with her. Maybe soon, she will come again to visit....Right mom? Our weekend was a blur. We spent a lot of time in the yard, replanting the front planters, and planting a vegetable and herb garden.

In the past we've had the worst luck with the snails and dogs getting to our plants. Hopefully this will fix that problem.

In addition we bought a HOME DEPOT dwarf avocado tree to plant near our fig and tangerine tree.

It's supposed to only grow between 6-12 feet.

Hass? Who knows. :)

Christopher gave us a hard time on our purchase of the Avocado tree but oh well, sorry Charlie! We will see.
Carissa will be graduating high school in 7 weeks! She will be attending Cal Poly Pomona in the fall. We are excited for her. She is preparing for Prom and Grad night. I am thoroughly enjoying watching her compete in the track events at her track meets.

I can't believe that this will be it. No more anything within the Burbank School District. It's a bit sad but I will look forward to what the future holds for these kids/young adults.
I have been keeping up on my activity. I am riding my bike, and have continued with running. I really enjoy the running because it keeps my heart rate up, with higher intensity for a shorter period of time. I love my biking because I go for a minimum of 2 hrs. while keeping my heart rate up. I have increased my time on the bike and am challenging myself with going up grades that I would have never done before. I am burning a lot of calories, either way! I think it's working because I am losing inches. I lost a lot of weight in a short period of time then kind of maintained my weight with dropping a few more pounds in the last couple of months. I am 5 lbs from my goal weight. I am still planning to get there but I am pretty happy with how I feel about myself now.
I have continued to change and grow with the learning and trying of new foods. Foods that are better choices then I have made in the past. I am not perfect by any means and have the "bad" choices on occasion but it has become less and less frequent when I do. While I am still learning this, I can honestly say I feel better about making good choices physically and mentally. The good food choices taste GOOD! I have been trying new things like making recipes with Kale and Quinoa. I have baked a few times making lighter versions while using less fat, and sugar while using whole wheat flour,FAGE non fat greek yogurt, and applesauce for replacement of the traditional ingredients. I would have never done this...EVER before. I still struggle with the fact that no matter how you look at it, it is a sweet or a dessert. Do I really need this? Like I said before, only a few times I have baked for this reason.
I gave up Chocolate of any kind for Lent. I started a week late but I committed and stuck with it. It helped me in many ways with taking the "hard" choices away. I love Chocolate anything. So when you take out chocolate, it cuts out a lot of foods for me. This has helped me tremendously! So as Easter was approaching I had decided that I was going to make this most delicious Chocolate Cake that one of my favorite food bloggers had posted and raved about how it was the BEST cake EVER. This was going to be it, I was going to make that and have only that. I was going to cut out potatoes, the bread at the meal to make room for the cake. In the end, I decided against my plan...with the little help of a birdie named Chris Jackson reminding me that I was setting myself up for failure, disappointment in myself. I have to say, he is right. Who was I fooling? Who can have just one little portion and move on without eating more and more until I feel sick. That was it. I know not to put myself in that position. So I told myself "One more day...one day at a time with no more chocolate." Here it is Wednesday and I still haven't had it and honestly feel like I am not missing out on anything. I don't know for how long but for now, this is how it will be. I am helping myself with knowing myself by taking out so many "hard" choices.
Today I made Granola for the first time ever. I tried a Coconut Granola and a Traditional Granola and I have to say they both are delicious!