Couscous Salad

My friend, Julie, made this for an ATN staff retreat a couple of years ago and I loved it right away.


It's healthy, covers all food groups, can be changed up depending on what you have in the pantry, and it comes together in a few minutes.  What else do you need?


Here's the "official" recipe:

1 cup couscous 12 cup cherries (dried) 1 cup boiling water 5 tbsps olive oil (divided) 1 bell pepper (orange bell pepper cut in bite sized sticks) 1 onion (cut around its equator and cut into thin slices) 112 tsps ground cumin 12 tsp ground ginger

14 tsp ground cinnamon salt black pepper (ground) 16 ozs chickpeas (drained) 14 cup fresh cilantro (chopped) 3 tbsps rice vinegar 3 tbsps orange juice concentrate (frozen orange juice concentrate thawed)

1	place couscous and dried cherries in a med. bowl. add boiling water; immediately cover bowl with plastic wrap and let sit until water is completely absorbed, about 5 minutes.
2	meanwhile, heat 2 tablespoons olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. add peppers and onions, sauteing until tender, about 5 minutes, and seasoning with cumin, ginger, cinnamon, salt and pepper as they cook. add to couscous, along with chickpeas and cilantro.
3	whisk remaining 3 tablespoons of oil with vinegar and orange juice concentrate. pour over salad. toss to coat. cover and refrigerate until ready to serve. From Yummly. I'm not big on chickpeas, so I ditch those and add diced, cooked chicken breast.  If you have leftovers from dinner, this is a quick and easy way to use them up. Otherwise, I cook some in the slow cooker (bone in are juicier when cooked in the slow cooker).  When they are cooled, I chop them and throw them in the salad. I've switched up the dried cherries for cranberries or apricots, again, depending on what I have in the pantry.  To make prep even easier, if you buy a package of pepper stir-fry vegetables and heat them up, you can save the time on the chopping and cooking. It makes a nice size salad and is even better after a day or two of the juice soaking in. Make it at night and you have a couple of days of lunches.  It even makes a great side dish if you don't want to put the chicken into the salad.  Made as is, it's a great vegetarian meal. Enjoy.

Frugal Living - Weight Loss

OK, my New Year, New Me hasn't exactly come to fruition.  I've been very sidelined by a sinus infection and double ear infection that just wiped me out.

Yes, I could do Weight Watchers or Jenny Craig or Nutri System or something like that, but well, I'm too cheap.  They are a lot of money.

Four years ago I decided to get healthy as I approached my 40th birthday.  I lost about 85 pounds.  I've put a little bit of it back on, so my goal is to get the pounds back off, and get into my size 8 jeans again.

I know I need accountability.  I know what works for me, I just have to get back to it.  I use a fabulous FREE website.  It's called Spark People.  It's pretty much everything you need for weight loss in one easy and free website.

I use the food log to keep track of my calories throughout the day.  The part I like most about the food tracker is that it doesn't just record calories. It breaks it down into fat, protein, carbs, sodium, calcium and much more.  You can customize it to show many nutrients.  It helps you to see where your calories come from and where you are lacking nutritionwise.  I learned that I don't eat near enough protein during the day, so it's something I have to watch closely.

Additionally, you can input your exercise information and it will tell you how many calories you burned.  You can track how much water you have had each day.  There are support groups for every one.  You can join depending on where you live, your age, how much weight you want to lose, what exercise you like, dieting and health issues and much more.  They are called teams, and there are, literally, thousands of teams.  You can even start your own if you want to join with friends or a group from work.

You can also start your own page, sort of like Facebook, where you can post photos, blogs, share messages with friends, and earn points for "goodies" to send to people to motivate them or congratulate them on reaching or goal, or just be fun.  You earn points by logging in, logging food, water and exercise, writing blogs, posting in your teams and much more.  These points are what you use to send goodies to friends.

Your progress and blogs can be viewed by your friends on Spark, and you can choose to post them to Facebook if you like.  For me it's a great way to keep myself accountable.  I know my friends are viewing my progress and cheering for me.

If you decide to join Spark, come on over and find me.  I am Zebramom1.  We can cheer each other on.

And no, that's not my belly in the photo.  Trust me.... You don't want to see mine!!!

Edit:  I almost forgot... There's an app for that.  You don't need to be at your computer to use Spark.  You can download an app to your smart phone to let you record your food.  I haven't used the app yet, but I believe it will even allow you to scan the bar code of pre-packaged food (such as Weight Watchers or Lean Cuisine) and it will input the nutrition information for you.

Frugal Living - Store Loyalty Cards

First you're looking at the gas price and wondering where the heck I got that picture.  I took it today. Then you're wondering what the gas price has to do with store loyalty cards.

I live in a rural area and our choice of grocery stores is fairly limited.  We don't have any grocery stores that offer unlimited double coupons, so we have to plan grocery trips.  The store I frequent has one day a week that they offer double coupons and they are limited to five.  Every so often there are extra days where coupons are doubled and the amount is increased to ten.  Well, I thought today was one of those days so I carefully planned my list combining coupons with the sale flyer.  I was wrong.  It was a double day, but it was still limited to five. :(

However, I did have some great savings; even a couple of free items.  Using the loyalty card at the store may seem like a hassle, or if you're like most people, you already have a ton of those cards to keep track of.  It is worth having though.

I used my store card to get sales that were only available with the card, combined store coupons with manufacturer coupons (five were doubled) and saved $57 on a $162 bill.  It's not as good as the people that save 90% on their bill, but I was pretty happy saving 33%.

Additionally, this store had a promotion going where if you bought certain products you got a scratch off card.  Some of the cards were worth cash.  I didn't purchase items specially to get the cards, only if they were the best deal.  Today I redeemed my cards for $6 cash.

Now the gas comes in.  This grocery store offers an additional reward in gas points.  For every $50 you spend, you get 5 cents a gallon off on gas at participating station.  I've been saving up my rewards and today I hit 35 cents per gallon.  I purposely put off getting gas until after I had gone grocery shopping since I knew I would have more rewards.

So when I got to the gas station, my gas was $2.99 a gallon.  My loyalty card saved me $5.63 on my tank of gas.

The total savings for my day...  Almost $69.  Now you can see how a loyalty card can pay off.  The best part of all this was my 10 year old daughter observing this.  She loves to look at our receipt and see the savings.

Blogs I like

I was very honored to have this blog nominated by a friend of mine.  We became friends in 1993 when I moved to Houston for a job.  We became friends instantly  and have been ever since, even though we haven't seen each other since 1996.

The rules are simple:

1) Thank the person who gave you the award
2) Link back to their blog
3) Add an image of the award on your blog in the sidebar if you can

3) Choose blogs/bloggers you enjoy and nominate them by listing their blog
and letting them know in one of their comments

4) List 7 random things about yourself

Sounds like fun, so here we go!

I love my friend's blog so he gets the first shout out and a big thanks!!.  

Two Men and a Little Farm - This is a fun blog about 2 men who live in the city, but have bought country property and are fixing up an old farmhouse.  The blog talks about everything from cooking, decorating, and landscaping to highlighting vintage posters and other items from the era of the house.  I love being able to watch the progress of my friend's dream home from more than 1000 miles away!

Since I love baking some of these are not going to come as a surprise.

Cake Wrecks - This blog makes me laugh out loud most days.  It is professional cakes that have gone horribly wrong.  On Sundays they feature the most beautiful cakes you have ever seen.  Jen and John who write the blog have a very twisted sense of humor.  The commentary on the cakes is often more funny than the cakes themselves!

The Sweet Adventures of Sugarbelle - Her cookies are amazing, but she offers amazing tutorials as well to teach aspiring cookie makers how to create the beautiful confections.  The cookies she creates are pure works of art!

Cupcakes Take the Cake - Adorable cupcakes and tutorials!!

Rollin in Dough - Another awesome cookie artist.  

I could go on and on and on about baking websites and I could spend all day just going through them for inspiration.

On to the other part of my life.... kids and trauma.  

Attachment & Trauma Network - This is the group I volunteer for.  We parents supporting and educating other parents who parent children with attachment issues and a trauma history.  Most often severe abuse and neglect.  The majority of the families that we work with have foster or adopted children.  The blogs are sporadic right now, but are a focus of areas we can improve on and reach out to the public.  

And for the last part... 7 random things about myself.

I hate snakes.

I have always loved to bake and learned from my great-grandmother.

There are 2 children that no longer live in my home, but will live in my heart forever.

I'm an old fashioned romantic at heart.  

My favorite color is pink.

I love high heeled shoes!!!

I have 3 friends that have been my friends since high school.  One of those goes back to elementary school.  Mel, Shel and Deb, you rock!

Check out the blogs I listed. If you have others that you like, let us know about them!

Loss after loss

The last few days I have had a very heavy heart.  Dear friends of mine lost their 31 year old daughter in a tragic car accident.


We are very close, almost like family, so I grieve for and with them.


This wonderful couple has opened their home to 10 children, all adopted as older children or from disrupted/dissolved adoptions.  This means that the child was already adopted by another family and that adoption didn't work, for whatever reason.


That means that these children have already suffered great losses in their lives.  There are abuse and neglect histories, loss of birth family, loss of adoptive family or families, and now the loss of a sibling.


I know this family well, so I know the personalities of the children.  I see one that is withdrawing slightly and another who is going between lashing out and pulling in.  This loss has hit them hard.


Their sister was a beautiful young woman and her loss with be felt by many, but mostly by this family.  


I will do my absolute best to help them through this time of loss, and to be open to ALL of the children.  I have a pretty good relationship with the teens (I think) and we have talked through other issues before.  They know how to find me if they need someone to talk to.  


This is the best I can do. I cannot take away their pain, and for that my heart remains heavy.  I will be there for the parents who try to figure out how to deal with life without their beautiful daughter.  


Sometimes the best we can do is just BE.  That means just sit with someone.  Maybe offer a shoulder to cry on or lean on.  


Whatever is needed, I will do my best to be a good friend.  This is not something a parent/family should ever have to go through.  


One of the nieces of the young woman summed it up so beautifully today.  


"Do you know Roni can see the rainbow? Cuz Roni's in heaven and in heaven you can see everything." 


Enjoy the rainbows Roni.

Snacking

One of the hardest things for me with weight loss is not giving in to cravings.  I have a horrible sweet tooth, and it's so much easier to grab junk food when you are hungry.  Fortunately I love fruit and most vegetables.

However, I find it helpful to make up a list of snacks that are healthy, buy the groceries for those snacks, and keep the list where I can see it, like on the refrigerator! Here's a list I compiled.  Maybe it will help you too.  Feel free to suggest other ones!

Rice cake w/ PB (peanut butter), nutella, berries

Yogurt and fruit

Laughing cow cheese & crackers

Cottage cheese

Celery sticks or apple w/pb

Sugar free pudding or jello w/fruit

Fruit salad

Baked tortilla chips and salsa

Trifle made w/angel food cake, pudding, berries

Whole wheat hot dog bun spread w/pb, almond butter or nutella and topped with a banana

Trail mix – fiber cereal combined with nuts and raisins

Top a vanilla wafer with light cream cheese or readymade cheesecake filling and strawberry slices

Make mini cookies or ice cream sandwiches by putting cream cheese or ice cream between cookies from a 100 calorie snack pack

Hardboiled egg

Fruit & light cheese kabobs

Mini ice cream sandwich or skinny cow ice cream sandwich

Microwave popcorn

Cereal w/fruit

Protein bar

Cocoa Wheat cereal

New Year - New Me

The new year is a common time to make resolutions.  4 years ago I did just that and lost a bunch of weight, and I needed to.  2 years ago I was wearing size 8 jeans and was feeling pretty good about myself.  Then I had emergency gall bladder surgery and things went downhill.

Obviously, I couldn’t exercise post surgery and I got out of the habit.  It was easier to not exercise than to get back on the wagon.  I don’t like exercise at all, so it’s easy for me to make excuses not to do it.  Weight gain after surgery is not uncommon.  The weight came on, my motivation went down and now I’m back into the size 14 jeans.  Still down from where I started, but not where I want to be.

So, it’s time for a massive lifestyle change again.  No, it’s not a diet, it’s a whole change.  Many things need to change and for anyone who battles with their weight it is overwhelming.  So, I start with one change at a time, or try to.  I’m kind of an “all or nothing” person, so it’s hard not to jump in full force, but I find it easier to make small changes and develop good habits.  Making a change a week seems to work best.

So, what are the major changes I need to make?  Well, they’re pretty simple, but hard at the same time.

-       Drink more water.  I drink too much Diet Coke and not enough water.  In the past I have started my morning with my soda (I don’t drink coffee) and then don’t allow myself another one until I have consumed my 8 glasses.

-       

    Exercise.  I hate exercise, so I have to force myself to do it.  Starting with a goal of exercising every day is too overwhelming, especially when starting from nothing.  Week 1 goal is exercise 1 day a week, week 2 – 2 days a week and so on. 

-       

    Healthier eating.  The last few months have been busy so it’s easier to eat take out or drive through.  These foods are not friendly on the waist line.  Now is a good time to stock up on healthy good.  Grocery stores aren’t stupid.  They know that people make resolutions to lose weight, so they put healthy food on sale at the new year.  Stock up on what you can now!

-       

    Portion control.  Most of us do not know what a portion really is.  A serving of pasta is about the size of a tennis ball.  A serving of cereal is about the size of a tea cup – yes.  Really! Read packages and find out exactly what a portion size is.  A pint of ice cream is NOT a single serving.

-       

     Keep a food journal.  Most of us don’t realize how many calories a day we consume.  There is a website that I love that is free (remember, I’m frugal) that allows you to input what you eat and calculates your calories for you and keeps track of them through the day.  It also calculates fat, protein, carbs, sodium, etc.  Check out Sparkpeople.com.  You can also join support groups online.  It’s a fantastic website.

“They” (I’ve read this in several places, but can’t give the sources off the top of my head) say it takes 21 days to develop a new habit. 

Another thing I’ve done is to set goals and rewards.  It keeps me motivated when I want to grab a soda or skip exercise.  I start with small goals like drinking the 8 glasses of water, or 7 days of exercise, but I don’t make them consistent days.  It would become discouraging having to start over again each time I “fell” so I just make it 7 days or 30 days or whatever.  I make short term and long term goals for each habit I need to change.

The rewards start small and get larger.  A new nail polish, a new water bottle, building up to things like a massage, a new pair of shoes.  Do what motivates YOU.  The more days I miss my marks, the longer it takes me to get to my rewards. 

In a few months there will be a new me.  A healthier and happier me, and a thinner me.  If you need support to reach your goals, post or message me.  Knowing that you have support or an accountability person can make a huge difference in achieving your goal.