Journal of Healthier Living – Week 6

Welcome my friends.  I’m tweaking my weekly journey with my healthier living.  It’s a step in the right direction for sure.  I hope you come along for the ride.  Instead of day-to-day comments, I’m going to post something from my personal journal to share.  Hope you enjoy.  Remember all of us go down this path and we are all in it together ❤

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Week of 02/11-02/17/2018 – Week 6

“Dear Journal – Sometimes I think we beat ourselves up too much.  There is a line between challenging yourself to do better and pushing yourself over the edge.  If I push myself too much, it becomes something I *have* to do, a chore if you will, and my OCD gets tested.  If I leave it at the pace I’m going, I can fit it into my life where it becomes a habit in the end and not so much as a chore.  Shaking my head.  Life is full of complications – LOL.  But so far, I think I have this right now.  I do want to pick up the pace a bit more.  Now I’m trying to turn a 24 hour day into 36 hours.  Do I really need sleep?  Just joking – I love my sleep.  It’s hard to believe how things these days in the form of moving around is so much easier.  I’m so grateful that I had breast surgery.  I think I need to send the doctor a thank you note.”

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This week walked: 9.12

TOTAL 2018 Miles:  53.30

TOTAL 2017 Miles:  541.06

 ❤ small goals turn into big accomplishments ❤

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Okay my friends – another week with using the air fryer at the Hotel Thompson.  One of my biggest weaknesses foodwise is fried chicken.  It might be a southern thing.  It’s a huge comfort food here in the south.  And it’s something I was never able to work around with trying to lose weight but yet keeping my favorite food in the mix.  Who needs all of that grease that it’s deep fried in, right?

Well, I think I found my heaven.  Let me present to you Exhibit A – fried chicken (skinless and boneless) that was prepared in air fryer.  I put it on on the white napkins straight from the air fryer so that you could see – absolutely NO GREASE.  Look at the crispy outside and the inside was so juicy.  Better yet, I’ve found with the air fryer that you actually taste your food and not the grease that it is cooked in.  I seasoned my chicken before hand with salt/pepper and some pepper flakes.  I then dipped it in a seasoned egg mixture and then dipped it in a seasoned flour mix.  I then put the chicken in my air fryer.  The basket held five chicken thighs at one time.  I set the timer for 20 minutes on chicken at 380 degrees.  At 10 minutes, I stopped the timer and turned the chicken.  It came out this beautiful.  It was a HUGE hit here at the Hotel Thompson.

 

Shopping Around the World

Thanks to everyone for another great edition of Shopping Around the World last month.  It’s so awesome to see the various prices around the world – and the pictures with recipes!

This month we have a suggestion from my brother Easy.  This month we are highlighting PASTA – what is your favorite PASTA dish?  How do you make it?  What kind of noodles do you use?  What is in your PASTA?  There is no limit count on ingredients – Share your recipe and picture!

I’m going to let mom take care of this recipe this month – she mumbled something to me about not being around while she cooked it.  So we all know what that means.  It must contain P.O.R.K.  Snorts with piggy laughter – take it away mom.

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One of our favorite pasta dishes to make here at the Hotel Thompson involves Cavatappi pasta – which translated from Italian means corkscrew.  As you can see by looking at the shape of the pasta – it does have the twisted look.

So we take a box of Cavatappi and put it on to boil in a pan (a box of Cavatappi is $1.00 for the entire box and that’s a lot of food!).  In doing this so we add salt to the water and a little oil so the pasta doesn’t stick.  Now some peeps will argue about the oil and the salt – you do what you think is best.  Here I prefer to do this.  While the pasta is boiling, you are going to fix the base of the pasta.

In a skillet you are going to add some thick cut chunked pancetta – which is an Italian bacon made from the pork belly that is salt cured and seasoned.  If you don’t have pancetta, regular chopped up bacon or chunks of leftover ham will do.  Cook it until brown.  (Pancetta can be a little pricey – we always keep some in the freezer.  We usually will get two pounds at a time at $10.99 per pound.  For this recipe, we will use an entire pound – $10.99)

When finished, add some chopped tomatoes, pepper, a few pepper flakes and oregano (or any other seasonings you want) to the party.  (Seasonings are something we usually keep on hand and tomatoes run us $0.99 a pound – a pound for this recipe).  Let this all marry together and by this time, your pasta should be al dente.  Drain your pasta and add it straight to your skillet.  Mix all of these ingredients together and let simmer for about 5 minutes.  Right before serving, top with freshly grated parmasean cheese (we also keep this on hand and it ranges $4.99 for a pound – use as much as you want)

Total cost for the meal is around $14.00 and this meal will last us several nights for the two of us.  In the long run, the price far outweighs the servings.

 

Shopping Around the World

My friends – thank YOU so very much for everyone’s wonderful responses to my and Fozzie’s Shopping Around the World blog posts.  We are having so much fun seeing the different prices from around the world AND looking at some intriguing recipes and dinner suggestions.  They are so totally awesome!  Let’s keep up the great work – remember to link back to my blog here so we can keep up with who is playing and keep up with all of the recipes.

This month we focused on FIVE items of your choice in a dessert.  MMM – licking my piggy lips – this sounds so delicious already!  My mommy promised to make me and daddy one of her all time wonderful desserts – Easy Peanut Butter Pie.

   Now I know you are looking at this picture and going there’s six ingredients not five.  Bacon, can your mom count?  Yep, she can.  One is up to you.  Let’s break the items down first with prices:

Chocolate Graham Cracker Crust – $1.50; Jif Peanut Butter, smooth – $2.50; Lite Whip Cream – $1.00; Cream Cheese – $1.00; and Confectioner’s Sugar – $3.29; Reese’s Mini Cups – $.69= $9.98

Now you really can’t say this easy Peanut Butter Pie cost $10.00 to make because it didn’t.  You’re not going to use the entire jar of peanut butter or the entire bag of confectioner’s sugar.  With that in mind, I would guess perhaps around $5.00.  And the Reese’s Mini cups are optional.  Mom just thinks they look pretty decorated on the finished pie.  And yes she got the mini cups because the paper is already taken off of them – that’s right.  Mom goes for easy – easy to eat while decorating the pie that is – snorts.

  Directions from mom for Easy Peanut Butter Pie:

Make sure that the cream cheese and cool whip are at room temperature.  Mix the cream cheese (1 package), 1/2 cup confectioner’s sugar and 1/2 cup peanut butter until smooth.  Fold in 1/2 of the whipped topping.  Spoon the mixture onto the chocolate graham cracker crust.  You can use regular flavor graham cracker – the chocolate just kicks it up a bit.

Please the remaining whip cream topping over the pie.  Now we garnish with chopped up Reese’s peanut butter cups.  This is optional.  You can also drizzle with chocolate.  Chill for at least two hours or overnight.  Now, I would like to say that this picture is what mine looked like.  We made the pie.  Popped it in the fridge overnight and then after dinner the next night we had some friends over and ate the pie…. without taking a picture of it!  Of course, that could have given us an excuse to make another 🙂 winks.

 

Shopping Around the World – REMINDER

My friends – thank YOU so very much for everyone’s wonderful responses to my and Fozzie’s Shopping Around the World blog posts.  We are having so much fun seeing the different prices from around the world AND looking at some intriguing recipes and dinner suggestions.  They are so totally awesome!  Let’s keep up the great work – remember to link back to my blog here so we can keep up with who is playing and keep up with all of the recipes.

This month we are focusing on FIVE items of your choice in a dessert.  MMM – licking my piggy lips – this sounds so delicious already!  Mark your calendars to meet back here on Wednesday, August 26th.  Can’t wait to see recipes and pictures 🙂

 

Shopping Around the World – Mark Your Calendar

My friends – thank YOU so very much for everyone’s wonderful responses to my and Fozzie’s Shopping Around the World blog posts.  We are having so much fun seeing the different prices from around the world AND looking at some intriguing recipes and dinner suggestions.  They are so totally awesome!  Let’s keep up the great work – remember to link back to my blog here so we can keep up with who is playing and keep up with all of the recipes.

This month we are focusing on FIVE items of your choice in a dessert.  MMM – licking my piggy lips – this sounds so delicious already!  Mark your calendars to meet back here on Wednesday, August 26th.  Can’t wait to see recipes and pictures 🙂

 

Shopping Around the World

My friends – thank YOU so very much for everyone’s wonderful responses to my and Fozzie’s Shopping Around the World blog posts.  We are having so much fun seeing the different prices from around the world AND looking at some intriguing recipes and dinner suggestions.  They are so totally awesome!  Let’s keep up the great work – remember to link back to my blog here so we can keep up with who is playing and keep up with all of the recipes.

This month we focused on FIVE items of your choice in a meal.  It was a “Go for what you know” kind of meal.

 Mom’s “Go to meal” is something easy that she puts in the crock pot all day long to simmer – Spicy Cabbage Soup.  And we all love it – yep we have tasted it.  It’s that good.  It’s an easy meal, has a little spice to it and is great for a cold wet day.  We hope that you enjoy it too when you fix it 🙂

2 cans of mixed vegetables, $2.38

1 package of sirloin, about a pound.  On this date it was cheaper to buy it as a small piece of sirloin instead of it already being cubed.  It was $7.43 for the pound.

1 head of cabbage, $1.28 for the head.

2 boxes of beef broth, $4.98

Seasoning in the form of pepper, salt and pepper flakes.

Directions:  Plug in your crock pot and put on low in the early morning before leaving for work.  Pour in the two boxes of beef broth.  We get the low sodium kind.  Chop up the entire head of cabbage and put in the crock pot. Stir the cabbage in to make sure the broth is covering it.  In the meantime, cut up your sirloin into small cubes.  You can buy the sirloin that is already cut up – whatever you prefer.  This date it was cheaper to buy it whole.  Salt and pepper the beef and throw it in the crock pot with a quick stir.  Then add in your canned vegetables, black pepper to taste and pepper flakes to taste.  Remember, pepper flakes are spicy.  Less is best if you are not sure what kind of spice you want.  You can always add more in when you serve the individual bowls.  Mom likes to serve it with cornbread or a crusty type bread for dipping.  Goes great on cold rainy days or cold winter nights.