TOP 10 RECIPES 2013

I know! I know! I know! It's already March (oh wait March is almost over?!?!). Where does the time go? I want to get BACK in the heart of blogging, I continue to make recipe after recipe after recipe, but never find the time to post them! I hope 2014 is the year I change that. But, before anymore time goes by I want to share with you all the recipes that you made POPULAR in 2013!

And just to let you know these are some of my own favorites too! Those of you who follow my blog know that I HATE making the same thing twice, so if a recipe gets made twice at my house then you KNOW it's a good one!

Thank You once again to all my loyal followers, guests, family and friends! You make this BLOG possible and I truly enjoy cooking and sharing with all of you! Now, for the TOP 10 RECIPES to date on my blog...


#1 Olive Garden Alfredo Sauce {copycat recipe}

#2 White Chocolate Candy Candy Pudding Cookies

#3 Whole Chicken in Crock Pot 

#4 Honey Garlic Chicken {crock pot}

#5 Ranch Chicken Enchiladas

#6 Pioneer Woman's Chicken Pot Pie

#7 Pioneer Woman's Homemade Ranch with Iceberg Wedge

#8 Peanut Butter Banana Oatmeal Smoothie 

#9 Beef Pot Roast - GLUTEN FREE {crock-pot}

#10 Peppermint Crunch Frosting Fudge

NOW CASTING Rachael vs Guy Kids Cook-Off

For more information and how to apply, please visit our website at www.RachaelvsGuyKidsCasting.com.

My Food for the Week

Sunday's are relaxing days. I am still getting use to my NEW NORMAL with my twins away at college (far away 1837 miles) and my boy golfs with his dad every chance they get. That leaves this MAMA with way too much time on her hand. Yesterday was another quite Sunday and the boys were golfing and I decided to clean out the refrigerator, make up all my healthy meals for the week and get prepared for this healthy eating.

I am embarking on a new diet this week. Egg Whites, Oatmeal, Protein Shakes, Chicken and Sweet Potatoes, including eating all the green vegetables I want (as free food). I made my egg whites with peppers for my morning breakfast (I hope to wake up an extra half-hour early all this week in order to whip up these eggs). I finished my first day and I was actually FULL all day long, maybe even too full. I was stuffed.

I prepared all my food for the week. All lunches and dinners so they are easy to heat up and eat on the go. The first thing I prepared was Sweet Potatoes (three different recipes). I am only eating 4 oz of potatoes per day, so these three recipes will last for 6 days. I divided each recipe in half.

First Recipe: Sweet Potatoes with Pecans - sprinkle with olive oil and melted butter, sprinkle with brown sugar, pecans and cayenne pepper. Bake at 375 for about 45 minutes.

Second Recipe: Roasted Sweet Potatoes - sprinkle with olive oil and melted butter, sprinkle with brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg and a pinch of ginger. Bake at 375 for about 45 minutes.

Third Recipe: Roasted Vegetables - Sweet Potatoes, zucchini, grape tomatoes, minced garlic and chopped onions. Bake at 375 for about 45 minutes.

My goal is that each weekend (or each Sunday) I will continue to make my meals for the week at least while I am on this first "8 weeks" of this Eat Yourself Skinny challenge, and my challenge to myself is to come up with different sets of vegetables to cook each week.

I also made chicken breasts to eat for lunch and dinner this week. I am eating a 4 oz chicken breast twice a day. This is going to be easily done this week, because I created 7 large chicken breast today and cut each of them in half, which makes them about 4 oz each. I then marinated them in all kinds of different things that were already in my refrigerator. That last tbsp of BBQ sauce that's been hanging around, a tbsp of salad dressing and hot sauce; jelly and Catalina dressing and a multitude of other random things. I've already eaten two pieces of my chicken and it was wonderful.

I am also drinking my water. Goal is 3 smart waters or 6 bottles of water per day. And these lovely salads I prepared with all green veggies to have just a few days this week. My plan for the 3 salads is to cut up my chicken breast for that day and add it to my salad for a healthy lunch-time meal (beats fast food anyday)!

I am on my way to loosing weight and eating healthy!

It's a NEW year and I am "under construction" (STILL)!

2009 My HAPPY weight (right side) 150lbs

I have been on this weight-loss roller coaster for many years. The biggest accomplishment was in 2009/2010 (about 4 years ago), when I got down to my current goal weight. But, since then I have tried and tried; again and again and it's so exhausting to re-start this cycle over and over again. I've blogged about my Biggest Loser Challenge from the beginning of 2013 and my Shrinkvivor Diet from 2010, when I actually finally got down to a wonderful acceptable weight for my own self.



I was mortified when I stepped on the scale in 2013 and realized I was at 182 lbs.  After seeing several pictures of myself (over and over again), I knew this was reality and I needed to do something NOW! (The last picture was after my 13lb weight loss at the end of 2013.) I was happy, but I am still pushing forward.

But today, I begin again. And my hope as it is every time that this will be my last and final time that I have to struggle with this up and down roller coaster. I want to be at my happy weight and then be able to eat healthy and maintain that happy weight with diet and exercise.

I just started a Facebook Private Group Page with friends, family, neighbors and new friends invited by other friends and in just the few days we've had this going it is a HUGE inspiration, a HUGE accountability partner and it's going wonderfully. We are weighing in on Wednesdays with each other posting our weight and goals. We have our first goal which is 8 weeks from now and we will continue throughout 2014, I am sure we will have more people join in, and we will fall off the wagon a time or two, but having each other inspire one another and help each other with motivation and checking in with each other will make our group successful.

I believe it is impossible to take this journey on by yourself, and I also believe sharing and speaking your goals and weight out loud helps you stay accountable to others. And that is why, I will share it here too.

Total Weight Loss

Down 13 lbs 

First Week’s Weight (blue shirt): (May 28, 2013 began exercise program)

184

Today’s Weight:

171.0

Yes, this is my Iphone SCREEN SAVER for the week.
I can't wait til next week when I get to update this photo with a NEW lower number.

this week loss:

first week recording on blog

Challenge goal weight (in the next 8 weeks, February 28, 2014):

161.0

Ultimate goal weight:

139.0


LIFE-TIME Goal would to be in the 130’s, and yes I don’t even care if it’s 139. I am posting my weight here because it's said "Coming to terms with the number on the scale can aid you in your weight-loss”.

1st Annual Pinterest Baking Party

Need to BLOG! Need to BLOG!

Yes, those are the words I keep repeating to myself. I MISS, MISS, MISS blogging! But everyday comes and everyday goes and life just gets in the way. Good thing this is NOT my full-time job, I would be failing miserably.

A number of things have come in my path... 1) LIFE 2) KIDS AWAY AT COLLEGE (means less cooking) 3) A HOME FLOOD 4) PURE LAZINESS!!! But baking, it's Christmas time and I can FOR SURE find lots of time to get my baking in. The kitchen is OPEN FOR BUSINESS and the baking has begun in my home. I hope to share with you a few ole' recipes and of course a few new ones too!

Yesterday was my first ever Pinterest Baking Party, which I hope there will be many more baking parties in my near future with this new tradition. The plan was for each person to bring a recipe (or two), we went with two because we only had 4 people commit to this 1st EVER Baking Day. We all spent approximately $100 dollars buying all the stuff for 8 batches of goodies (but we all left with 8 batches of goodies). So, for my $100 bucks and my ONE ALL DAY baking event, I left with the 8 batches of stuff I received and I was able to package up 7 teacher gifts, 1 extra large tray for the entire school office, 6 add'l medium size containers to give away (one to a neighbor and five to needy families in our community) and then 2 small individual gifts for the orthodontics office and one more container for my new house cleaner (a Christmas gift to myself this year). Plus there was at least a plate full left at home to munch on and a dozen or two cookies left I put in the freeze for my son to snack on (Spice Cookies, his favorite)!

We all shopped and brought enough stuff to make TWO items (and since there were 4 of us) we bought and brought enough stuff to make 4 batches of EACH of the two items. This way we would all go home with 8 batches of goodies, 1 batch of each item = 8 items = 8 batches of per yumminess!!!  It's a little complicated, but actually quite simple.

Tina (myself) picked 2 recipes = Cranberry Crunch Bark and White Chocolate Spice Cookies
Sandy picked 2 recipes = Snickerdoodle Cupcakes and Chocolate Chip Cookies
Cynthia picked 2 recipes = Cookie Butter Rice Krispy Treats and Cinnamon Pecans
Ashlyn picked 2 recipes = Hershey Kiss Cookies and Homemade Peanut Butter Cups

We made 4 batches of each of the above recipes.


We used Pinterest for some inspiration on some of these recipes and some were just ole' time favorites. We made a Pinterest Board for everyone to pin too and follow for ideas so that no one made the same items.

Then we all gathered at my house from 11am to 8pm (it went over about 2 hours more then originally planned), but it was our 1st time. Everyone began creating and make 4 batches of each of the 2 recipes they brought. I had huge 6' tables set up, one for each person. This helped with organizing and collecting all the goodies at the end of the day.

4 Batches each of all this Deliciousness: Cranberry Crunch Bark broken up and then packaged into little baggies. The White Chocolate Spice Cookies were easy but required alot of cooking, so watch the recipes that need the oven and space them out. Cynthia made two recipes one used NO oven and went into a 9x13 pan (which even brought their own pans needed) and then these cut into nice squares to package, and the pecans were easy to also add to goodies bags and just tie with a bow. The Snickerdoodle Cupcakes worked great for me to send a plate to my son's school office and also for my daughter to take to work on leave on the break table. And of course cookies and Homemade Peanut Butter Cups were another huge hit in the containers I packaged up.

This was such and easy way for everyone to only be able to worry about making 2 recipes and yet leaving with 8 different items! This takes on a whole new level of the Cookie Exchange.

Here are some great photos and we made some great memories too, like my daughter who now calls herself the one-sock baker. She was hot/cold, hot/cold and got comfortable with one sock on, one sock off. I guess it's kinda like one foot out of the covers! Overall it was a great baking day and I can't wait to plan next year's baking extravaganza.