I’m Back

I know. I haven’t post in almost ten days. It has been a really busy time for me and blogging was very low on the scale of important things. That said, I’m back!

I have had a few people tell me that they miss my posts. I’m humbled that I’m helping others stay the course on their weight loss journey.

My big news is that I ran my first 5K race today. Running is a bit strong for what I did. I jogged/walked the race but still placed 48th among the men. My finish time was 34:10 which is not too bad. It is actually about three minutes faster than I expected to finish.

I’m also just hovering at 95 pounds lost. I had small losses the past two weeks. They didn’t make up for the big gains the weeks before, but losses are losses.

Since the Weight Watchers Centers are closed on Mondays, I plan on weighing-in first thing Tuesday morning. I’ll try to post some time during the day on how I did.

I hope everyone has a great Memorial Day weekend. Remember what Memorial Day is really about.

Keep cheering me on!

Have you hugged a veteran today?

Jambalaya Festival 5K

My first 5K. I’ll be walking a lot.

Recipe – Quinoa Casserole

Here is my promised Mother’s Day quinoa recipe.

Quinoa Casserole

Points+ per Serving – 5
Preparation Time – 5 to 10 minutes
Cooking time – 20 minutes
Level of Difficulty – Easy
Serves – 8
Serving Size – 1/2 to 2/3 cups per serving

Ingredients

• 1 cup Quinoa, uncooked
• 2 cups water
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp Canola oil
• 1 cup Frozen Peas
• 1 oz. Almonds, slivered
• 1/2 cup Shredded Parmesan, Roman and Asiago Cheese blend
• Salt and Pepper to taste

Method

• Rinse the quinoa seed in a large bowl by covering the quinoa by at least an inch, stir the seeds and drain well. Repeat this two or three times to remove the bitter-tasting coating on the seeds.
• Bring the water, salt and oil to a boil.
• Add the quinoa and return the water to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes.
• Stir in the frozen peas and almonds. Continue simmering until all water is absorbed, about another five minutes.
• Remove from heat, cover and allow to sit for five minutes.
• Stir in the cheese blend with a fork gently to not break peas and to fluff the quinoa.
• Season with salt and pepper to taste.
• Yields eight 1/2 to 2/3 cup servings.

Notes

• I left the salt out of the cooking as I and my father-in-law are both sodium sensitive. I used Mrs. Dash’s Original Blend Seasoning Blend and it was quite tasty.
• This recipe can be doubled or tripled easily.
• It can be prepared in the slow cooker, but watch carefully to keep from over cooking. The quinoa will get quite mushy.

Have you hugged a veteran today?

Mother’s Day Fallout and A Great Weigh-In

Mother’s Day was awesome! Melissa and I did a great job as hosts and both of our parents had a great time. The food was great and we served it all hot. That was a big win by itself.

The quinoa dish I made was really good. I added parmesan, romano and Asiago cheese to it right before serving and it had a great taste. The only complaint was that it needed salt, something of which I don’t cook with a lot because of my blood pressure and sodium sensitivity.

The fallout from the weekend was I gained a great deal of fluid weight because of the salt in some of the food brought by the guests. That italian sausage was loaded. I gained almost eight pounds on Sunday because of fluid retention.

I also learned that cooking quinoa in a slow cooker is an art. I set mine to high for four hours while I went to church Sunday morning and I ended up with six cups of quinoa mush. It was tasty and the peas and almonds gave it some texture, but it wasn’t what I wanted to serve.

Thankfully, that fluid retention could be dealt with. My blood pressure medication and two liters of water on Monday took care of it. When I weighed-in last night I weighed 213.6 pounds for a total loss of 93.8 pounds. I’m still paying for the wedding, the convention, the three weeks of no activity because I had a sinus infection and putting my shoes back on for weigh-ins in April. I will reach that century mark soon!

I’ll post the recipe for the quinoa side dish I made tomorrow. It was very good and worth the effort. Everyone there enjoyed it.

Keep cheering me on!

Have you hugged a veteran today?

Happy Mother’s Day!

I want to wish all Mothers a very happy Mother’s Day.

Have you hugged a veteran today?

Mother’s Day Dinner Menu

This year my wife and I are hosting the Mother’s Day dinner for both set of parents. Last year we all went camping and the year before that was at my parent’s house. Now that we have a nice grill, it’s our turn.

I put a lot of thought into the menu this year. My parents basically follow the Weight Watchers plan because my mother is pre-diabetic and is trying hard to avoid diabetes. My in-laws follow a diabetic diet as my father-in-law is diabetic. Because of that, low-carb, low-fat, high-fiber is the choice. That sounds an awful lot like what I have been eating for eleven months.

The menu will be:

• Grilled smoked and italian sausage as a starter - I know that isn’t exactly low fat, but grilling them will be better than other choices.
• Potato salad and a green salad – I love my mother-in-law’s potato salad, but it is rather high-carb. I’ll have a green salad as an option too.
• Grill, boneless, skinless chicken breasts and thighs – I’m going to trim a lot of the fat off of them and brine them Saturday night. They should be a healthy and tasty alternative to steak.
• Quinoa – I’m probably going to cook it with chicken broth to add some extra flavor and add some frozen peas and slivered almonds to add some more flavor.
• Grilled onion, zuccini, yellow squash and mushrooms – I won’t use a lot of oil on them and will pace them so the chicken is resting while the vegetables finish grilling.
• Birthday cake and ice cream or sherbert cups – My brother-in-law may come up and we’ll have a cake for him. If he doesn’t come up, we’ll send the cake down to him.

I’ll have sodas and iced tea to drink. My mother will bring a wine punch she makes. I might pick up a bottle of alcohol removed wine for me.

I think this is a good menu for a family meal. Our parents haven’t eaten quinoa before, so I hope they enjoy it.

Keep cheering me on!

have you hugged a veteran today?

Love Your Body

Reblogged from getthinspired:

• 

I’m a Walking Fool

At the beggining of the year I started to keep track of how many steps I walk during the day in a log. I use a spreadsheet for this so I can graph my progress each month. This month surprised me. In nine days I have already walked nearly fifty miles (49.6 miles) thanks to more than 88,000 steps.

I’m hoping I can keep that level of walking through the month. If I can, I’ll have walked more than 165 miles based only on my pedometer. That will not include any additional walking or jogging I do in the mornings. I just hope the coming hot weather doesn’t kill my momentum.

Keept cheering me on! Those Scouts better be ready for some hiking!

Have you hugged a veteran today?

 

Eat Like Your Grandma

Reblogged from My Food Looks Funny - Funny Food Photos:

Back in MY day…

Wake Up Uhmerikah!

<redneckrantmode>
Ya’ know what ticks me off? Ya’ know what makes me want to take a bat to a bag of Doritos?

We’re killing our kids!
</redneckrantmode>

I need to channel Earl Pitts a bit this morning! I went to the Wal-Mart Neighborhood Market this morning to get some fresh fruit for my office. The bananas were too green, but that wasn’t my problem.

I saw a young mother with an eight or nine-year old child who was obviously overweight. His mother was buying him a picnic lunch for today at school. There was no fruit, no bread, no peanut butter, no jelly, no ham and no cheese to be seen in the basket. The picnic lunch was a four pack of cupcakes, a large bag of Doritos, a bag of Oreos and a two liter bottle of Wal-Mart brand soda. And the child whined that he didn’t think that was enough, he wanted a bag of candy so he had something to share.

My mother would never let me bring that to a picnic. I would have a PB&J sandwich, probably on whole wheat bread, a small bag of chips, a piece of fruit and a bottle of water or lemonade. She would never have let me pick out junk food the morning of the picnic at a grocery store. Plus, if I whined and carried on like that child, I wouldn’t be able sit for a week.

Unfortunately, that mother is now the norm. I have seen many children going through Wal-mart and other grocery stores picking out foods for their lunches. Usually what is chose is so loaded with carbs, fat and sodium I feel my arteries hardening just looking at them.

Wake Up Uhmerikah! We’re killing our kids!

Have you hugged a veteran today?