Yummy Energy-Boosting, Protein-Packed, Low-Carb Smoothie

I am in love with this smoothie I made.  I don't have a pic of it, because I am halfway through the glass already, and it doesn't look really pretty.  I'll have to take one next time I make it--but here's the recipe (this makes 2 smoothies):

1 bottle of Atkins Vanilla low-carb shake (2 grams carbs, 15 grams protein)
1/2 cup frozen Berry Medley Blend from Wal-Mart, No Sugar Added (6 grams carbs)
1/2 cup low-fat plain Greek Yogurt--NOT fat-free! 2% or 4% (4 grams carbs, 3 grams protein)
1 or 2 good handfuls of fresh baby spinach (1 carb, if that, 1 gram protein)

That's it, believe it or not.  I just use a little bullet smoothie maker for this.

You absolutely CANNOT taste the spinach.  I am serious!

This is a serious energy booster.  Drink this sucker and go for a good long walk.  We'll find out how filling it is.  It's definitely a low-calorie, low-carb protein boost for your day. :-)  Even Matt liked it--so you know that says something!

No yoga this morning. I am thinking about going for a walk, though. Mountain Cedar is killing everyone and though I am not really allergic like some folks, I do get affected.  Mostly a light but steady headache, a little bit of a sore throat (like I've been yelling all day).  Two days ago we had the highest Mountain Cedar pollen count in about 10 years--it was just over 26K ppm.  That's pretty insane.
In any case, I've made a commitment to be active in some way each day, so here I go...but first I must tell you about my Low-Carb Meyer Lemon Chicken that I made last night for dinner.  I took photos of the steps involved...but...it was so good, and we were so hungry, that I actually did not take a photo of my plate.  It looked so pretty, too.  I did however take a photo of one of the leftover pieces, and I put some sauce on it so you can see that at least I made an attempt at closure. LOL.  Because you can't go around posting pics of all the steps and then NOT have a final photo!  That's just not right. ;-)

This recipe is adapted from Cooking Light.  We have a Meyer lemon tree that gave us 11 lemons this year (it would have been 16, had it not been for our lawn service knocking several off with a weed whacker).  The two things to remember with Meyer lemon trees, aside from the obvious:

1. Once it fruits, your bounty usually more than doubles each year until tree maturity.  Last year, we had 3-4 viable lemons.

2. Many small, baby lemons from the flower buds will drop off.  This is normal.  It's sort of self-thinning in that regard.  This year, we had probably 20 tiny green baby lemons, no bigger than the size of my pinky fingernail, drop off.  This actually puts the remaining energy from the plant into the stronger lemons and allows them to grow to larger sizes.  So don't panic if you see all your little tiny lemons falling off!  As long as you see that some are maturing, you're all good.

The only real change to this recipe I make is that I do not dredge the chicken in flour.  I do, however, make a small cornstarch slurry at the end to help thicken the sauce. I also DOUBLE this recipe, so we can have leftovers!

Meyer Lemon Chicken Piccata 

4 thin-cut chicken breasts (I get them at WalMart, see photo for brand)
1/3 c. juice from Meyer lemons (about 3 large lemons)
1/3 c. chicken broth
2 T. butter, divided
1 T. coconut, safflower, or grapeseed oil (for high-heat cooking)
1/2 c. white wine (not dry--try a table white, Sauvignon Blanc, etc) 
kosher salt
fresh-ground pepper
flat-leaf parsley for garnish, rough chop
Slurry (1 T. cornstarch, 1 T. cold water, stirred)

look at that beautiful Meyer lemon juice! 

This is the brand of chicken that I buy at Walmart.

Place the chicken breasts between two sheets of waxed paper or saran wrap.  Use a tenderizer or rubber mallet to whack the chicken down to about 1/4" thickness.  This is why I buy the thin cut breasts--it makes this SO much easier to do!  Salt and pepper both sides of the chicken.  

In a large skillet, put 1 T. of butter and 1 T. oil.  Bring to a medium-high heat.  Place chicken (do not overcrowd, you will have to do this in stages) in pan.  Cook 2 minutes on one side, 1 minute on the other side.  

Take out of skillet and set on dish, cover with foil loosely.  Now cook the rest of the chicken the same way.

When chicken is finished, put in wine.  It will sizzle and steam intensely.  Deglaze pan by scraping all those luscious bits off the bottom of pan with a wooden spoon. When it has reduced to just about zero, add chicken broth.  Let come to a boil and lower heat to medium, reducing to about half.  Add lemon juice.  Add slurry.  

Bring back to a simmer, then serve chicken with sauce on top.  Garnish with chopped flat leaf parsley.

Yeah, it's kind of a sad pic.  Better late than never?

We served ours with a lovely salad of baby greens, parmesan, tomatoes, and balsamic vinaigrette.  We also had steamed broccoli.  It was so tasty.  There's really nothing in the world like eating something that you grew yourself.  It's very satisfying! 

Okay, off for my walk now. 

Back on the Wagon!

Hoooooooowee!  We are back on the low-carb Atkins wagon after a month and 13 days off.  That was rough.  I gained 15 lbs between Thanksgiving and now.  It's not been pretty.  I didn't eat any more than your average bear, but it was a TON in comparison to what I was eating prior to Thanksgiving. I also was not really exercising at all, so that didn't make things any better.

This morning, however, I awoke at 5.  Well, that's not true.  I actually woke up at 4:29.  I had to go to the bathroom.  Then I came back to bed, but I realized...I only have a half-hour before I have to get up so I was tossing and turning until my alarm went off. I was kind of excited--because this morning was my first day back to yoga in about 12 years.  I bought Rodney Yee's Beginning Yoga DVD and could not wait to get started.  It was lovely!  Yoga is such a great way to start the day.  I'm super proud of Matt, too, as he got up and did his kettlebell workout.  I know that was hard for him, so he gets extra points.

This morning, getting back to my usual, pre-holiday routine, I popped a small handful (about 5-7) almonds--roasted, salted--in my mouth immediately after my yoga, which was roughly 20 minutes after I awakened.  I like to do that within ten minutes upon wakeup but was a little late this morning with it as I was too excited about the yoga.  I will either make myself a fried egg with some ham (150 cals, 0 net carbs) or I will have an Atkins shake (160 cals, 2 net carbs) here in about an hour.  Eating a small bit of almonds or cheese right after you wake up is a great kick-start for your metabolism.  A lot of people I know can't stand to eat breakfast right away, or even at all.  I'm like that, too, much to my body's detriment.  Unfortunately, when you do that, you set off a chain reaction in your body that results in a desperate need, according to your brain (having released the hormone ghrelin), for carbs/sugar, and by 10AM or thereabouts, you will be starving for something you probably don't really want to eat.  If you wait until lunch, you really might be in trouble and order way too many calories and carbohydrates. You can read more about ghrelin here: http://www.webmd.com/diet/news/20100622/hormone-ghrelin-ups-desire-for-high-calorie-foods
So, tomorrow morning, go in and get your coffee poured up and grab a few almonds or a half a stick of string cheese and scarf it down right away.  Try it for a week and see if you notice any changes.

I am also trying a new experiment, based on the success of drugs like Alli: I'm eating a small bit of low-fat dairy with my meals.  Normally, I am not a proponent of low-fat anything--however, there are studies to back up the idea that eating low-fat dairy along with a meal helps whisk some of the fat from the other foods in that meal out of our bodies without absorption.  That means, when less fat is absorbed, so are less calories.  Dr. Michael Mosley, of whom I've not kept a secret I adore, is the person that brought this to my attention through his show 10 Things You Need to Know About Losing Weight.  It's an interesting documentary highlighting some of the more common mistakes that are made while dieting.  Another very interesting point made in the documentary is the idea that soup is much more filling, and for a longer time, than a meal of equal calories with a drink.  The thought is, eat food with no drink and you'll be fuller longer, or just have a nice bowl of soup.  I have a few low-carb favorites as far as soup goes; Creamy Wild Mushroom and Cream of Spinach are two delicious ones that I have plans to make this week.   Tonight, however, I am using the Meyer lemons from my yard and making a low-carb, light version of Chicken Piccata.  It is so good!  The only thing I eliminate is the flour.  We'll also have some baby greens, and some broccoli.

We're hoping to continue our momentum through spring, for the next 12 weeks before we re-evaluate, make changes, etc. to our "program".  Matt's goal is to be down 20 pounds by that point.  Mine is to just be...down! LOL!  I've learned not to have too many expectations.  I will also continue to post our progress as we move on down the road.

Happy Monday!

Walking: A Way to Reconnect

Exercise has never been fun for me; I've always seen it as a chore.  The thought of waking up and doing the same video or planned workout that was done yesterday (and the day before...and the day before that...) in the middle of my living room bores and frustrates me.  Yet, in contrast, I've been athletically-minded my entire life.  Not in the "team play/sports" sense, but in the "playing" sense.  I like to be outside, I like to kick a ball around or ride a bike.  I love to tool around with plants.  I used to love roller skating (and really need to get back into it).  I adore swimming.  But one of my favorite things to do is walk.  I just love to go on walks!  I especially like to walk and birdwatch (I'm secretly retired, in my head...).  I like to be able to take it all in and marvel at God's works.  Here in San Antonio, we are never far from some of the most beautiful terrain and foliage in Texas.  Even as close as a mile down the road, we have some lovely greenways that the city has put in, weaving through wooded areas behind suburbs and commercial buildings as if they were never even there.  You feel very remote, especially when you can't hear the cars from the road anymore.  Suddenly, you find yourself in a beautiful forest, or a canyon, or even a dry riverbed full of smooth white limestone rocks.

One of my favorite walks--Lost Maples State Park, a little over an hour from us. 

As I meander along the trails, I find myself deep in thought, working out the day's events, trying to figure out what I need to do in the days to come.  In my mind, I thank God for the day and for my life.  I tell Him of the mistakes and poor choices I've made (and I am so embarrassed when I put them all out there!).  I ask Him to help guide me in my week and my month, to overcome obstacles in my path; to help me remove my negativity, my anxiety, my stress.  I ask Him for protection of my marriage and my children. I ask Him for help to make me a better person, the person I know He wants me to be.  I think of what I need to work on with the girls, what I'd like to cook for Matt, and mostly, that I'd love them all there walking with me (even though I love my alone time!). Invariably, after all of that, I begin to feel calm and a sense of peace.  I take photos, I stop and pick up leaves, I stand stock-still and quietly watch deer cross my path just yards ahead as if I were not even there.  I feel very close to the Lord and can almost sense a tiny inkling of His vision for the world.  It amazes me every single time.  I never get bored; I never dread; I'm never frustrated.  And that is how it should be in our relationship with God.  It should not be a chore.  It should not be frustrating.  It should be a renewal, each day, a chance for us to marvel at His works in our lives and thank Him for it.  Every day!  So, on freezing cold days, or burning-hot, humid summer days...what does one do?  That is a real challenge for me.  This week has been especially hard, because it has been so cold (and wet) that I've barely left my chair, let alone my house!  I've realized that I've been further away from God as a result of this.  Yesterday I was given a very clear message: get back to it, slacker!  This morning has been a time of quiet reflection and I am grateful for having the ability to sit in my toasty house, sip coffee, and enjoy it all.  Tomorrow, it looks like things will dry up and the sun should come out.  Havana and I will head for the park.  Enjoy your day!

Facebook Misses Me

Wow--just 5 days into my self-imposed exile from Facebook, I began receiving emails in my inbox that is associated with my Facebook account.  I've gotten one for the last three days, and they're worded very carefully: "Here's notifications you've missed" and "a lot has happened since you last logged on". Little bit creepy. *eyeroll* Anyway...

It's just now getting to the above-freezing mark here in San Antonio at 10:30AM.  Seriously.  I am not cut out for colder climes, that is for sure!  The normal high for January 7 is 62*F.  The high today is supposed to be 40*F.  FORTY!!  What is that?  That is not a daytime temp!  That is a dalliance...an anomaly...a possibility...of a NIGHTTIME temp!  As in, oooh, it's going to be 40?  I best bust out my fuzzy jammies and turn on the heater! Let's have cocoa for dinner! ...But during the day...?  This is madness.  Oh hey, I know there are places much colder.  My Aunt Cindy and all my cousins are in Chicago, wondering where they left their fingertips in their -15 (let's face it, you start getting in the negatives, the concept of how cold that is really goes out the window) temps.

meanwhile, in Canada...

Anyhooooo...I've been parked in my recliner for the better part of....oh ALL MORNING, because I can't seem to budge from under this blanket.  I really should have bought a Snuggie.  I am now beginning to see the value in one.  However, this fab afghan that my grandma knitted in 1983 is so doggone warm and toasty, I just don't want to go anywhere.  Unfortunately, my fireplace is not roaring, as there hasn't been a shred of decent firewood in this town for about two weeks.  People have gobbled it up.  Yet another thing I guess I need to learn about living in SA.  Houston is so different in that regard--you can find firewood anywhere.  There is literally never a shortage. Here, people run out and it's like, they don't understand the whole supply-demand economic law thingie. 

All this to say: I'm currently mapping out my big plans for spring.  Shyeah, I am!  Hello, it's just like, a month away!  Okay, two, but really, it's gonna go by pretty quickly, and February is when we'll get the big tease, a few 70*F days...and that's when I'll really go nuts.  But I have a little Kindergartener who has a 6th (gasp...sniffle) birthday coming up in March and we have a couple of options.  We can have a small party here with a Lego Friends theme.  Paige is in LOVE with Lego Friends.  Lego Friends is geared toward girls.  For those of you that don't know, the Women's Lib Brigade is all up in arms about them--they're quite the controversial toy.  They don't like that they're pink & purple, girly, and involve Lego cupcakes and puppies and horses.  Because, you know, girls hate that crap, right? *sigh*  Let little girls like what they like!  Don't force it.  If they like baseball (which my girls do, as well) then great!  But for heaven's sake, if they like cupcakes and pink, let them do so lest you be the same criticizing mom you were hoping to avoid becoming. No harm in it, and you can still teach them how to be anything in the world they want to be, no matter what they choose to play with. :-)  I digress...I have a Pinterest board FULL of fun ideas for a Lego Friends party.  She may even want one next year, who knows?  There's other options, as well.  One of them is heading to Dallas to LegoLand, another is just hanging out here and doing something special in San Antonio.  I'm not sure just yet.

Welp, I gotta get moving.  The coffee is hitting me and I've got to get this house un-decorated for Christmas. :-(  I'm having a hard time letting go of it!  The girls loved it so much, really grasped the concept and magic of it all this year.  Even with a stomach bug, it was wonderful. 

Have a great day today! 

Polly 

Happy New Year! Sabbaticals, Resolutions, and All That Jazz...

Happy New Year! What a gorgeous day here in San Antonio.  Cold at 48*F, but sunny, sunny, sunny!  I've missed the sun terribly.  We haven't seen it for over a week. I woke up and the sun was pouring in the windows...I felt like this:

So it's January 2, here I sit with a piece of leftover gingerbread, toasted, with butter...and a nice cuppa joe.  I am ready for SPRING!  Bring on the bluebonnets!  Ah, well, we have to get through January and February first...always so difficult for me.  One of the big differences between Houston and San Antonio is the azaleas that would always sort of usher in the hope of spring.  Every year, in February, Houstonians perk up at the sight of fuschias, pinks, whites, and purples in yards all over.  People call Houston "The Magnolia City", and while it's true there are tons of magnolias, the real showstopper, and more appropriate flora for the city, would be the azalea. They don't last long--maybe 3 weeks--but they are absolutely gorgeous, and I do miss them. Here in SA, mid-February, we get some impressive weed growth--I mean, impressive...but when you start seeing little blue flowers popping up in March, it's as if your life has started anew.  Bluebonnets!  Everywhere.  Sides of highways and roadsides turn blue. The state won't allow workers to mow along medians or on easements where bluebonnets typically grow.  There is even a myth that has circulated for years that you cannot pick bluebonnets as they are the state flower (the picking part is untrue).

All this to say that Matt's face has already taken on the perpetually amused look, as it does each year when Christmas and New Year's are all over, and I'm itching to bust out my flip-flops again and begin digging and planting and pretending I'm a gardener or something.  The thing is, every year a plant in my yard doesn't die, it's a year of success and spurs me to try something new and different.  Which leads me to my second topic...

Improvements/Resolutions/Personal Growth...and So Forth.

One of the sore spots in my life for the past year has been a tiny little thing on the Internet called Facebook.  Know it? ;-)  I bet you do.  Further, I bet you know at least one person that refuses to get on it.  A spouse, a parent, a friend...someone who sees how it can affect people, or perhaps it has affected them personally.  You might think it affects you personally, and maybe not in a good way.  Facebook is  a double-edged sword; first and foremost, you get out what you put in.  That's where I fall short.  I've put in too much, in the way of information.  Facebook knows too much about me; and because I "put in" that information, they craftily formed ads and posts from groups and pages that I've "liked" and "joined" so innocently over the past three years.  They also know me because of what I haven't liked or joined, and that's kind of a scary thought, when you really run it through your cranium.  Over the course of two years, the folks at FB know a lot about ol' Polly here.  They target ads and pages just for me...just for you...and everyone else.  It's gotten progressively more invasive, the more information I've put out there.  If you put your tinfoil hat on with me, you'll find that it was meant to be that way all along, and if we let it, that can be infinitely more dangerous to our privacy and family than any stranger on the street.  Having said all that (tinfoil hats off, please)--the second side--the other edge of this sword--is that along with all of this new information and barrage of ads and images and stories (my favorite is "Your Friend so-and-so Likes" <insert facebook page of random company or political candidate here>) I am developing quite a bad attitude.  That bad attitude is carrying over into my real life, festering into actual hatred for people and things.  It is also turning me into quite the hermit, and that is affecting my relationships with people.  I've always been a rather optimistic, positive, social soul, so this has really been getting to me.  I had to sit down and ask myself what would happen if suddenly facebook went away.  If it just disappeared.  I thought about what I would miss--seeing friends, family, sharing our day-to-day lives and photos with others, and enjoying the ones shared with us.  If I miss friends and family so much, why am I not making more of an effort to get in touch with them on a more personal level?  Even via e-mail?  What I realized is, facebook is passive.  It is not active.  It reflects what we've done, not what we're doing.  I knew I'd rather spend the time with some of the people I know on FB, rather than just letting them know what I've been doing without them. 

Facebook can be a very good thing.  It can!  It can be fun, and a great way to communicate with those far away.  I love being in touch with friends, cousins, uncles and siblings that do not live near me.  I love being able to share photos of my kids.  I love that people enjoy these things, too.  So, in order to prioritize and regroup, I've taken the month off of Facebook, and will begin anew February 1.  I'm drastically shortening my friends list, knowing full well I may be possibly "offending" people...I'm keeping people on my friends list who I value and love and in return are a positive, uplifting value to me. --Not necessarily people that post all the time; not even people that necessarily post to me.  I'm also going in my "likes" and removing most of them.  Sweepstakes?  Contests?  Games?  Not if you want to post on my "behalf".  No way.  I am taking back control over my Facebook account.  But for the entire month of January, I am staying away...to focus more on God, to enjoy my life again, to get outside, gain some perspective, and love my life!   Terry Broadwater is a pastor at Grace Community Church in Centennial, CO. He has a blog and discusses overcoming obsessions there, and about how God gives us the weapons to overcome strongholds (2 Corinthians 10:3-5) and then goes on to define a stronghold as a "prisoner locked up by deception", a "place of strength where evil is entrenched", and "well-protected and difficult to attack".  Facebook, on its own, is not these things, but if we allow it to rule our lives and dictate our emotions each day, it becomes such.  I have chosen instead to use my weapons at my disposal and get rid of the strongholds.  I am grateful to God for putting people in my life to show me how to do just that.

Building on this, my word for 2014 is "unplug". Unplug from computers.  Get out in the sun, in the sand, in the dirt, in the rock.  Unplug from TV.  Unplug from talk radio and music.  Play with my kids. Cook new recipes.  Exercise.  Do things that don't involve self-absorption and instead find things that involve others.  Feel free to use it for your own and expound on it.  Take a stand in your life and get rid of all the things that tie you down to yourself.

Enjoy your day!

Polly

Polar Express Cookies and Holiday Movie Night

Well hello, friends.  What a lovely day it is outside here in San Antonio--60*F and sunny.  It didn't freeze last night, but came close.  It was a perfect Saturday night to watch my favorite Christmas movie with Matt and the girls: The Polar Express.

If you didn't know already, my oldest daughter is 8 and has autism.  She has only, in the past two years, been able to sit through even a 30 minute show...and every year, we make popcorn or some other snack, have cocoa/drinks, turn off all the lights with just the glow of the Christmas tree in the background, snuggle in sleeping bags, and watch this wonderful movie...

 Sorry about the terrible photo quality here. 

...And every year, she gets up after about 15-20 minutes and goes and does something else for a while, kind of coming and going throughout.

Not this year.  This was apparently the magic year for Feebs and attention span records.  She watched the entire movie, save for the last 7-10 minutes when she fell asleep.  It brought tears to Matt's and my own eyes, as we realized the significance of just watching a movie all the way through. Such a big step.  Little Sister adored the movie as well--she is 5, almost 6, and was really diggin' the part with Santa.

I've made these wonderful little cookies every year--"The Polar Express" Cookies.

 Matt found them on the back of a Sun-Maid raisin box, and they're quite delicious.  The cornstarch in the powdered sugar does something to the outside--it creates a sort of crisp shell that gives way to a chewy chocolatey center.  We did change just one thing--we add 1/2 cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips.  Next year, we're going to change one more thing, and that is to replace the raisins with dried cherries and see how that is.  Matt is very excited about that (cherry lover!).

Two tips for these cookies: do not overbake or they will be too crispy and that doesn't work well.  The second tip is roll them LIBERALLY in the powdered sugar. They will get that snowy look.

Here's Little Sister, ready to help.  Yes, she has drawn tiger stripes on her face.  Frankly, I'm just glad she limited them to her face...

Creaming the butter/sugar...like watching paint dry. The end product is so delicious, though!  

 the dough is ready to scoop!

rolling in powdered sugar...

...and the finished product!

Yummy POLAR EXPRESS COOKIES!  Chocolatey, sweet goodness. 

I highly recommend for those awesome special occasions with your family.  Here's the recipe so you can make them, too!

POLAR EXPRESS COOKIES

1/2 cup of butter, softened

1 2/3 c. sugar

1 T. vanilla

2 oz unsweetened chocolate, melted

2 c. flour

2 t. baking powder

1/4 t. salt

1/3 c. milk

1 c. raisins

optional: 1/2 c. semi-sweet chocolate chips

powdered sugar, about 1/2 cup in a bowl for rolling/dipping

Combine butter, sugar, and vanilla; beat until light and fluffy (about 5 min).  Blend in the melted chocolate.  Combine flour, baking soda, and salt; add to chocolate mixture alternately with milk,  Stir in raisins and chocolate chips. Refrigerate dough for an hour.  Preheat oven to 350*F.  Grease cookie sheets (I use parchment paper).  Shape dough into balls and dip/roll liberally in powdered sugar.  Place on cookie sheets.  Bake in upper 1/3 of oven for 12 to 15 minutes.  Do not overbake.  Makes 3 1/2 2-inch cookies. 

Enjoy!

Thanksgiving Transgressions and A Swerve Sweetener Review

Happy Monday, Happy December!  Back to the grindstone until the 20th (for me, anyway!).  Enjoy the latest update and as always, feel free to share the link.  If you don't know about Swerve, you can find them online.

They're a sweetener that uses erythritol.  Fantastic for use in chocolates since it doesn't cause the usual tummy trouble that other chocolates do using mannitol, maltitol, sorbitol, etc...!