Monday, May 21, 2012

Menu Plan Monday~ May 21/12 + Recipe Review

Well, getting back into the swing of things after vacation with family has been a little tough at points, but good. We are feeling settled back into life and thankful for the wonderful community around us that gives us so much support and the strength to make it until we can(Lord wiling) be with family for the holidays.

Update on Weight Loss Goal- I made a goal last week to get back on track with weight loss by counting the calories of everything I put in my mouth (and stay within limits) for 14 days straight and work out 5x per week (Jillian MIchael's) to prove to myself again that it works if I am strict with myself.
*I have done well with exercising - 5x this past week and I have tracked my calories every day. But I have gone a bit over my limits several days. It's kind of frustrating, but a helpful reminder of calorie counts etc.
*I am remembering how careful I have to be in planning and choosing low calorie, filling, nutritious meals/snacks so I don't waste calories or feel hungry. So the first week was a really good step towards getting back on track, but not exactly what I had hoped. I am going to extend my goal another week and start my tracking again from today and try not to go over my allotted limit of calories! Phew - why is this so hard?! ANY tips that you have found helpful for you would be greatly appreciated :)

Here's my meal plan with a couple of repeats that we didn't get to because of left overs and social gatherings.

Monday~ Spicy Chicken Quesadillas (372 calories a serving) , homemade salsa

Tuesday~ Coconut Chicken Salad with Warm Honey Mustard Vinaigrette (397 calories)


Wednesday~ Grilled Bruschetta Chicken (200 calories), and salad
* I couldn't find "sun dried tomato dressing" here, so I am making my own from this recipe.

Thursday~ Stuffed Pepper Soup (261 calories for 1 1/3 cups soup and 1/2 cup rice if desired)  


Friday~ Chicken Asparagus and Red Roasted Peppers (190 calories per serving without rice)

You can find more great recipe ideas at  orgjunkie

Review of Last Week's New Recipes: 
* Light Chicken Salad - Yum! Tim-9/10, Julie- 9/10, Ease to make- 8/10. We ate it on croissants the first day and then over salad greens the next and added carrots, cucumbers and celery to it. So tasty and light!
* Turkey Meatball Sandwiches - Tim- 6/10, Julie 7/10, Ease to make- 8/10. I think this one is probably just a preference thing. Tim prefers beef meatballs and I just didn't love the sauce-maybe it was the cloves. But I did really like the taste of the meatballs themselves!
* Homemade Pizza -Tim- 10/10, Julie 9/10, Ease to make- 6/10 -this is mainly because the whole process took 3 hours. But oh wow! It was worth it. Tim actually took this one on and I was very impressed! He said it might become an every saturday thing - um, that would be awesome! The dough recipe itself was simple and SO tasty!  I would highly recommend it! I don't have a kitchen aid mixer with a dough hook here, but I do have a hand mixer with two attachable little dough hooks and it worked fine! As well, we couldn't find a pizza stone, so we just used a good rectangle cookie sheet and it worked great :) I also used this homemade sauce recipe which we really liked on the pizza.

Here are a few pics!
We are some lucky girls!




Oh yum! The problem for me of course was not eating too much! Next time I  am making a
BIG SALAD to go along with it :)

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