#9 Eat Responsibly

Challenge prompt - What is your food philosophy?

Hmm.. EAT!! Actually, I don't really have a philosophy. Eat healthy, balanced meals. Remove processed crap from your diet. And don't diet. Just eat responsibly. Maybe they should add that to all processed food wrappers and labels like they do with alcohol. I guess that's my philosophy. I don't always live by it. It's hard to eat healthy all the time, but I think if you're conscience about what you're putting into your body it will all work out in the end.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I want to save my blog from extinction. So I'm doing a 30 day challenge. I'll answer one of these prompts each day.
See prompt 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8.
Thanks for reading!

#7 - 7 Random Facts

Challenge prompt - Post 7 random facts about yourself. 

1. I can't eat in the dark. Even if it's only popcorn. 
2. I've been on the field at Fenway Park. Here's the story. 
3. I can touch my nose with my tongue. 
4. I can have converstations with Holli comprised of only movie and tv lines.
5. I've never been bowling.
6. Fight Club is my favorite movie.
7. I hate celery. It's just crunchy water. That's dumb.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I want to save my blog from extinction. So I'm doing a 30 day challenge. I'll answer one of these prompts each day. 

See prompt 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6

Thanks for reading!

Fridge

Fitness and Nutrition Update

So I wanted to give everyone that still reads this an update on the fitness and nutrition changes I've made. We got a new gym a few months ago (Planet Fitness) in Orem about a mile or so from my house. As soon as I saw the 'coming soon' signage I knew I wanted to join. Well I did it. And I've been going almost every day. And I'm freaking in LOVE.

When I was taking prednisone for my ears everyday I gained close to 50 fucking pounds. Anyone that has been on that for an extended period of time knows it's inevitable. There's nothing you can do to stop it, don't even try. Anyway, the extra weight on my 5'3" frame is obviously not a good thing. I had this idea in my head that once I stopped taking it the weight would come off on it's own naturally. It didn't. So I faced it and made a choice about a month ago and I knew the only way I would start to look and feel normal again was to work the weight off through the gym and change my diet. So I bought a gym pass and am doing just that.

Originally, my goal was to just get my ass to the gym 4 times a week. But now, I go in with a purpose and push myself a little harder each day. I have tried all of the cardio machines available. I've never been a big fan of the bikes and the treadmill is hard on my joints. I landed my heart on the Arc Trainer. I LOVE it. The first time I got on it I did 5 minutes and thought I was going to DIE. 2 days later I got back on and went 20. And now I am doing no less than 35 minutes each time. It is super low impact on my joints but it burns calories twice as fast as the treadmill or elliptical. If you've not tried one I seriously recommend it. I am dripping in sweat when I get off that thing. It's magic. In addition, I am doing the 30 min full body circuit training they have set up 3x per week. That's good too and I feel my body (especially my back) getting stronger.

As far as my diet goes, that has completely changed. I used to eat 2 maybe 3 meals containing tons of processed crap a day. I've cut out everything processed. My diet consists of mostly fruits, vegetables, and whole wheats and grains. And I eat 5 small meals/snacks a day. I didn't (and don't plan to) cut out Coke and Dr. Pepper. That's not a realistic goal for me. I just seriously cut down. I have one can with lunch. I keep track of all my food intake and exercise on MyFitnessPal.com. Since I've made these changes (roughly around the 4th of January) I've lost 8 pounds. Go me go! I am sleeping a bit better at night and I don't eat based on emotion or what 'sounds good' anymore. I think of food as fuel now and it's changed everything. I'll do another update in a week.

BBQ Chicken Pita Pizza

This is delicious!

BBQ Chicken Pita Pizza
Pita pockets - store bought
Chicken breast
BBQ sauce
Mozzarella cheese
Purple onions, thinly sliced
Grated Parmesan cheese
Pineapple
Cilantro, fresh
Crushed red pepper
Salt

Boil the chicken until cooked and then cut into chunks. Sprinkle pitas with Parmesan cheese and toast in oven until golden brown. Layer on your favorite BBQ sauce, shredded mozzarella, chicken, pineapple, purple onions, and chopped cilantro. Season with crushed red pepper and salt. Warm in the oven until the cheese is melted.

I like to make up a bunch of them then freeze them for later! They are awesome that way!

Fried Green Tuna-mato

So I've been trying to cook a bit more lately and this is my newest creation! I call it Fried Green Tuna-mato. Basically it's a fried green tomato with tuna on top.  I don't measure when I make cook, but here's my best recipe.

Fried Green Tuna-mato
3 cans of chunk white tuna, in water
3 green tomatoes
3 eggs
2 C bread crumbs
1 C grated parmesean cheese
Mayo
Garlic Powder
Salt
Pepper
Oil for frying

Open tuna and drain water. Mix with a few tablespoons of mayo. Add salt and pepper to taste, put in refrigerator. Mix bread crumbs with parmesan cheese, add garlic powder, salt, and pepper to taste. Beat three eggs in separate bowl, set aside. Clean and slice tomatoes into thick slices. Maybe 3/4 of an inch.

Heat up your oil. I like to do this in a skillet type pan, so there is about a 1/2-3/4 inch of oil. Dredge your tomato slices in the eggs then in the bread crumbs and cheese, then fry them in the hot oil until they are golden brown. Remove from the oil and put on a paper towel to drain excess oil. Top with cold tuna and serve. Yum!!

Me circa October iPhone Pictures

Hii! I'm still here, just super busy! So here's what I've been up to circa iPhone pictures.

My Dad and I went to Aussie Pink Floyd. OMG it was AWESOME! I loved it! 

And he sucks at picture taking. Haha. 

I cut my hair! And I love it! My friend Nikki did such a good job! 

 Nutella. It has a gold seal so you know it's good.

 I broke in these boots. They are bad ass. 

These are the boots I will wear when I am an old lady, like in Sons of Anarchy. 

Don't laugh. I'm totally serious.

 Work: Been there a month and I love it! I'm busy all the time and my coworkers are the best! 

I listen to Adele and Mumford & Sons exclusively now. Seriously, exclusively. 

I love them so much I can't even handle it. 

If you don't have these two albums you are cuhrazy. 

Go buy them ASAP.

 I do artwork now. That's hanging above my bed and I wish it were bigger. That's what she said. BOOM.

 I still love this little shit.

I'm reading these books. I'm also cooking and redecorating my room/bathroom, 

but I'll do separate posts for those. Stay tuned!

Garden Veggies!

My Dad has a serious green thumb this year! I'm not sure what he did but the garden has never grown like this. The plants are overflowing their boxes! I gathered all of this just today. That's 50 jalapenos! Yellow cucumbers, regular cucumber, tomatoes, and zucchinis. I don't know where that really large zuch came from.. I go out there about every other day and my Dad is out there everyday. Somehow we both missed it for this long.

Today's picks

Zucchini Plant - it looks prehistoric to me. Dinosaur food maybe?

 Lemon Cucumber

Tomatoes

 Garden boxes - these boxes are 3x8-ish. Those plants are taking over the yard!

 Today's pick

 HUGE Zucchini

The Best Chili Ever - Crock Pot Pinto Bean Chili

I've been craving homemade chili for a few days now. I've never tried to make any before so I looked up a few recipes online but I didn't find any that really jumped out at me so I decided to just wing it and hope for the best. I don't usually like to toot my own horn...but.. TOOT! TOOT! My chili came together just like I knew what I was doing! It's so yummy! So I thought I'd share my recipe with everyone. Enjoy!

4 C        cooked pinto beans (I used dry beans and followed the directions on the bag)
1 lb        ground beef, cooked (seasoned to taste with salt and pepper)
1 med    onion, chopped
1 med    green bell pepper, chopped
4 cloves fresh garlic, minced
4 8oz      cans tomato paste
1 15oz    can diced tomatoes
1 tbsp     crushed red pepper
2 tsp       sugar
1 tsp       cumin
1 tsp       oregano
1 tsp       kosher salt
1/2 tsp    black pepper
1/2 tsp    paprika

In a large non stick pot saute onion in a few tablespoons of water until they start to brown. You may need to add a little more water during the process to keep them from burning. Add bell pepper and garlic.   Cook until bell peppers soften. Add two cans of tomato paste, diced tomatoes, crushed red pepper, sugar, cumin, oregano, kosher salt, black pepper, and paprika. Fold in beef and pinto beans. Add remaining cans of tomato paste until desired liquidity is achieved. Once everything is mixed together, put chili into a crock pot and simmer on low heat for 1-2 hours. Serve with shredded cheese and sour cream. Enjoy!

8 Meals for $75

So it's kind of hard to cook at casa de Ridley because we don't eat a lot and someone is always sick, and there's only three of us and blah blah blah. Anyway Holli and I were tired of eating sandwiches and pop tarts so we decided to make a bunch of meals that we could freeze and then heat up when we wanted a bigger meal. So we made a list and went to Winco. We spent $75 and now we've got 8 meals and a batch of fruit salad and potato salad. I made one broccoli chicken casserole, two tater tot casseroles, 1 batch of chicken enchiladas and 1 batch of beef enchiladas. I also made 2 batches of chicken pineapple pitas. I also set aside enough meat to make some spaghetti! The best part is that we put everything into sizes that won't go to waste. I hate cooking a lasagna and 1/2 of it sits in the fridge for a week then eventually gets thrown out. So we got a few disposable foil containers that are the perfect size for 3 people and voila! Good meals in good sizes for a while. Go me go.

Potato Salad and Peanut Butter Chocolate Chunk Cookies

I've been living at my parents house for the last week doing the Home Health Care IV treatments. I am really starting to feel better. It's amazing how crappy you can feel when you get dehydrated. Anyway, I am getting really bored here. I have been in bed for going on 5 weeks now. I have watched all the TV and movies I care to. I have caught up on all my regular TV shows (Grey's Anatomy, Private Practice and Saving Grace). And I found a couple new ones along the way (Nurse Jackie, Bones, Extreme Makeover Home Edition, Intervention, Inked, and LA Ink). But now I am just bored. So I decided to make Potato Salad, twice. For my fabulous Potato Salad recipe visit my food blog here.

Finished!

I typed the potato salad portion of this post two nights ago and never got around to publishing it. So tonight I was bored again and make Peanut Butter Chocolate Chunk cookies. They are delish!

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chunk Cookies

1/2 c sugar

1/2 c packed brown sugar

1/2 c butter, room temperature

1/2 c peanut butter

1 egg

1 1/4 c flour

3/4 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

4 oz sweet chocolate, chunked

Directions: Cream the butter for 2 minutes. Add the sugars, cream for 2 more minutes. Mix in the peanut butter and egg. Mix together the dry ingredients - flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Stir into the butter mixture. Add chocolate chunks.

Preheat oven to 375ºF. Shape dough into 1 1/4 inch balls. Place about 3 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheet. Flatten in crisscross pattern with a fork. Bake until light brown, 9 to 10 minutes. Cool on baking sheets for a minute; transfer to rack to cool completely. Makes about 2 dozen cookies. For chewier cookies, bake at 300º for 15 minutes.

Psych is Crap

If my one session of therapy taught me anything, it's that all my problems can be solved more effectively with 32 oz. of Dr. Pepper and a pint of Ben & Jerry's. It's a lot more cost efficient too.

PS - Only Hoe will get the title. And MAYBE Moe. Maybe.

Icecube Boner

I don't know how this happened, but it made me laugh, hard. Ha!

Rollout

Jeeps and Coke. Nothing more American than that.

Pho

I went to lunch at Pho Cali today with a few people from work. It was my first time trying Pho and it was really really good! I'm sure I'll be frequenting there more and more since there aren't a lot of food places in WVC. Maybe I'll even learn how to use chop sticks? Probably not though.

Fajita Tradition

Holli, Madi, and I started a tradition years ago. Whenever the Rents go out of town we (and by we I mean I) make chicken fajitas for dinner and we also buy Butterfingers. The first time we did this we ate fajitas and Butterfingers for dinner every night for an entire week. What can I say? My fajitas are just that good.

So my parents went to California to visit Madi, Brady, and KK for Thanksgiving and of course Holli and I continued the tradition and added margaritas to the mix. Yum! I love to cook.

Going Raw

Soo Holli and I are going on the Raw Food Diet. Sorta. She is going to do it pretty hard core, because she has to for her health. I live with her and it's just easier if we eat similar things, so I'll be doing portions of it too.

She went and bought a bunch of fruit and I bought the veggies. I just spent the last hour washing and dividing and cutting it all up. Look how easy breakfast, lunch, and snacks are!

Veggies: Carrots, broccoli, olives, green beans, cherry tomatoes, cucumber. Dip: Hidden Valley Green Onion dip

Fruits: Red and green apples, mandarin oranges, peaches, cantalope, bananas. I put a little lemon juice in each one as well to keep everything fresh. I didn't add the bananas, because they would go rotten too fast, but we've got those too.

A's to your Q's 1.2

Received a few more questions from Mark.

He asked...

1)What's your favorite holiday?

2)What's the coolest place you've ever been?

3)Starbucks or Dunkin' Donuts?

Great questions!

So my favorite holiday is Independence Day! I love it! My 'gratuity bucket' overflows a little more on this day each year as I celebrate how lucky I am to live with my family in such a wonderful country. The baseball games, BBQ's, fireworks, and suntans are just icing on the cake. Is there anything better? I mean really?

The coolest place I've ever been was on the warning track at Fenway Park. It was the first time I'd ever been to a major league game and it was AMAZING! I was in Boston for a conference and a co-worker at the time, Mikal, bought myself and another co-worker, Jake, tickets to see the Red Sox play. The three of us had a blast! It was Flag Day and they draped a HUGE American Flag over the Green Monster. Somehow, (I'm a little fuzzy on the exact details) Jake and I got the hookups through a partner company and so we got to be part of the crew that caught the flag and walked it back under the stadium after the National Anthem was performed. I'll never forget that experience, and I took a picture (above) of the warning track dirt on my shoe just to prove I was there!

Finally, we don't have any Dunkin' Donuts in Utah, so I'm going to have to say I prefer Starbucks. Although, my sister has been to the DD and she say's they are way better.

If there are any other questions that If you have any other questions you'd like me to answer just click here and leave them in the comments section!

New Favorite Drink

Two things..

I've learned while being unemployed. Me and my Cocomotion make a damn good chai latte.

And I love waking up to kisses from this little guy in the mornings.