Monday - a little quality time...

Someone's in the kitchen with Mom, again! It's cooking with Hugh.

I actually cooked tonight and got Hugh in on the act. He begged me for no-bake cheesecake a couple of weeks ago, so I finally pinned him down to make it. He did a good job. Here he presses the crust into the pan. He's gonna make a good chef and/or well-trained hubby some day

I have leftover turkey from last week, and I needed to use it. I got inventive - for around here, anyway - and made turkey enchiladas.

This is 1/2 a pepper, 1/2 an onion sauteed in olive oil. 1 can diced tomatoes, 24 ounces of diced cooked turkey breast meat. 2 tbsp taco seasoning. 1/2 cup taco sauce. Simmered this all together and served on flour tortillas sprinkled with a little Mexican blend cheese. Steamers corn went on the side. This tasted good. Hugh really liked it. Score another hit for mom!

We had to shut the kitties in the basement - banish is more like it. They are crazy glutton cats and wont' leave me alone when I'm cooking. Today, I introduce you to Scott and Stella. Scott is a stray dumped off down the block when he was a kitten. He is red-flame Himalayan and tabby cat. He weighs about 20 pounds. He's is a big, gentle boy. Quite a character. Stella joined us just after Hugh was born. I was taking care of her and her siblings in early winter and she got sick. I took her in, saying I would throw her back out when she was better. 10 years later - here we are. She is a hugger and very pretty, but a pest. Tune in later this week to meet more of the fur kids.

Weigh in is tomorrow. I am eager to see how I do. It's been a good week for a change. We can only do weigh in because Hugh's winter program is tomorrow night. Some kind of Bug's Life theme. Hugh will portray an army ant. He's too shy for a speaking role. Maybe if I can get back into local showbiz, he will catch on to how fun it really is.

I didn't sleep well last night. Farting Dog - Kailey of the k9 units, not a Native Amer. bed partner - woke me up needing to take care of business around midnight. EWWWWWWWWW and PUUUUUUUUUU! Lord, it was ugly. Then I woke up because someone knocked out the power cord and my cpap machine went of as did the TV. toss turn toss turn. Ugh. As much as I want to watch Paranormal State at 9:00, I'm afraid I need to hit the hay.

Hope you had a great day and have a great Tuesday.

Sunday Check in

Morning, everyone.

I didn't grade a single paper yesterday. Stupid me - now I'm in a pickle. I have have have to do all of them today. I am a super-procrastinator. Ugh. Grading essays is the part of my job I like least. And writing is the thing all my students need the most. I'll quit snivelling and get to it soon.

Yesterday was a good day. I put a turkey breast - yes, Sheila love, more meat - in the slow cooker. YUM! I had turkey and my experimental squash ravioli for supper last night. And some Bird's Eye (I think) Digestive Health vegetables. Later in the evening I had Fiber One carmel delight - try it! It's good stuff. It was a really good food day for me.

Points: 32 (yay, I was under!)
Activity: 30 minutes Denise Austin DVD, 20 minutes Wii Fit. I did the 10 minute hula hooping which cracks me up, makes me sweat, and leaves me pooped. I am determined to best my best number each time which forces me to work hard to accomplish that. My legs are killing me still from doing Leslie Sansone's Walk Strong 30 minutes the day before - whodathunkit? I need to do it again today so I can work those muscles again. I'm rather skeptical about Ms. Leslie, but I may still become a true convert. I did like that workout.

Why so much cooking lately? Well, I always feel pressed for time to do everything that needs doing. If I can cook things ahead and prepare from leftovers, that is a ton of time saved. We are talking 21 meals here, people. Imagine the variety I can achieve having a pork roast (2 lb) a beef roast (1.5 lb) and a turkey breast cooked and ready to go. All I have to do is find a veggie or other side, heat and go. This evening when I get home from retrieving that Hugh, I will prepare 5 lunches to take to school this week. No floundering and scrounging. I can weigh and measure, cover, and stack. Then each morning I can grab and go. I even bought some bagged pre-fab salad to put into containers. Grab and go!

Experiment ravioli: The wonton wrappers worked, but I wouldn't need to make this again. The squash is fabulous cooked with finely chopped onion and garlic. Then I added ricotta cheese to cream it up. Delicious on its own. I also had it over pasta. It was great. I should go get a couple more squash so I can have this on hand. It's yummy and healthy and feels like comfort food. My son loves eggrolls, so I will use the remaining wrappers for that. I played around with fillings and got him to eat cauliflower and sweet potato because he thought they were just cabbage and carrot. And instead of frying the eggrolls, I sprayed with olive oil spray and baked them. He liked that a lot.

Okay, I'm out. I have to refill the coffee and head for the couch with my papers. I will do at least 30 minutes walking today and some kind of Wii workout as well. Maybe just yoga today. I can't wait for spring. Over night we got freezing rain. Everything is glazed like a fresh donut this morning.

Make it a great Sunday.

linda

And on the third day, God created...

Blisters! WTF? I think they came from the shoes I wore walking yesterday. But I found them this morning when I put them on again for my walk with doggies. Shhhheeeeeit! ow ow ow, and I keep bumping them. At least I have proof of actual activity.

Another bit of "proof" that I'm doing something right is the amount of natural gas I am currently able to produce. Yes, readers, the almighty fiber and roughage gods are smiling on me tonight. Good thing it's just me and the doggies.

Speaking of creating - I actually cooked a nice meal for myself tonight. I got basil, oregano, and parsley from the garden as well as a green pepper. I made faux eggplant Parmesan - it was eggplant layered in homemade marinara sauce. Sprinkling of that dried romano grated stuff was the only cheese. Over fettuccine it was bliss! I also pan-seared / fried some boneless pork tenderloin chops - heaven!

Yesterday I used "the beast" at the gym a.k.a. the elliptical. Today my quads are ON FIRE! I'm assuming it's from that thing. I did do 200 pounds on the leg extension whatever machine, so it may have been a combo? IDK. I just know that I hurt. A lot. Ow. But it's another indication that I've tapped into a new level of fun with my fitness endeavors.

I did walk the dogs this morning. Ow ow ow on the blisters. Need to wear different shoes out there tomorrow. I did go to the gym. Did a short weights workout after warming up on the elliptical beast - 5 minutes of HELL! Then I did 30 minutes on the treadmill. That was tough this morning. I was very tired because I was up too late reading "The Last Summer (of You and Me) by Barbara Brashares. She wrote Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants. I LOVED the book I just finished, and I am going to the library tomorrow to see about scoring other books by her. I laffed, I cried. So good.

No walky doggies this evening. I'm too pooped. I even took a snore and drool nap today, and I still feel exhausted.

Well, tomorrow is another day. Hoping my blisters are better, the humidity is down, we've gotten some rain, I can get up earlier, and that I have a kick ass workout at the gym.

I stayed under calories today, by the way. I had a Subway veggie sub! It was yummy. I knew it would be.

Thanks for reading Fat Don't Wrinkle.