Monday, January 28, 2013

Yum Yum Dumplin's!



I am not a professional photographer, although I do not think my picture is awful it is obviously just a photo! Any way these are my dumplings, I make these every once and a while they are pretty low fat and low calorie but the salt is up there from the soy sauce, but you are more than welcome to use a low salt version. I pack these babies full of veggies and this was my meal! 
Dumpling recipe:
1 Package Goysa won ton wrappers (any wrappers will do)
1/2 a pound of ground chicken/pork
2 cups napa cabbage
1/4 cup shredded carrots
1-2 tablespoons chives (depends how much you love them)
1 teaspoon soy sauce
1 teaspoon sesame oil
1/4 teaspoon fresh ginger
1 tablespoon cornstarch
dash salt and pepper (for taste)
1 Tablespoon oil (I have used olive and vegetable both work fine)
1 cup water
Directions: place napa cabbage in colander sprinkle with salt let sit for about 20 minutes, wring out cabbage and chop, place in a large bowl. Add meat, carrots, chives, soy sauce ginger, sesame oil, cornstarch, salt, and pepper. Mix until combined set aside while you prep. Get a small bowl of water, you will use this around the edges of the wrappers to seal, now time to fill MANY little wrappers! I sort of wing it here just a little scoop full in the middle seal it up and put to the side, repeat! Then heat a large skillet with oil and place your dumplings in for 1 minute and then pour 1 cup water over the top and cover. You want to steam these for about 8-9 minutes but watch them they will be ready when water is evaporated. I usually take the lid off and sort of get them a little crunchy. Now its time for the dipping sauce!

Dipping Sauce:
2 Tablespoon water
4 Tablespoon Soy sauce
1 Tablespoon rice wine vinegar
1/8th tsp ginger
a teeny pinch of sugar
Chili paste to taste (I love siracha)
Optional chinese mustard also to taste

My sauce is sort of by taste, you can try it and see if it needs more of something, you can double the recipe, I usually make a huge batch as my kids eat this up!


Tuesday, January 22, 2013

My Facebook Motivational Page

I have started a Facebook motivational page, it is to help me stay on track and hope to inspire others as well as get information out there from other pages!

The Haunting Past

  I feel like I have a really good week and then a bad week or not even a full week but a bad few days! My self control seems to come and go without me sometimes realizing it. My brain is still functioning the old way but I am usually okay to push through it. Its been very cold and I have been fighting a cold, these are not valid excuses they are what I use to tell myself to justify eating what I have eaten the past few days! I am sure I have gone over my calorie intake and I have not done any extra exercise other than my already active lifestyle of chasing my kids and having a million things that we have to attend. Alas I have hit my normal routine today and I am feeling a bit better about life. I am feeling like I can set some new goals and move forward. I have bought a huge Camelbak water bottle they are on sale at Target! I can't stand those metal ones they make the water taste awful and after that whole news clip about kids mouths getting stuck in them I am going to steer clear! So with that huge water bottle I am going to make sure it always has water in it and that it is always right next to me. Next thing is my processed sugar intake, it has certainly gotten out of hand and although I will not completely remove it from my diet I will be more conscious about what I put in my body. I am really anti anything fake, and although stevia and splenda are supposed to be okay I assure you I have read things that say there is not enough research. So I just stay away because it all has to be processed to get it to the fine powdery substance. Honey and pure maple syrup are really great alternatives and I use these for my yogurt and oatmeal but at night I am really struggling with my huger so I am going to try to find an alternative for night snacks, I still can have them but I probably need to eat things like popcorn, fresh fruits and veggies.. Its a lifestyle change that has not changed yet but the fact that I know they are wrong and I know I have the power to change them. Not going to dwell on the past but look forward to the things I can change, like the rest of today and tomorrow. One day at a time.

Tuesday, January 15, 2013

Happy New Year!

Well the holidays were chaotic and I managed to sneak a trip in to GA with my kids! So fabulous! I even took a week off of exercise and I kept my meals good but also had a little cheesecake while visiting the cheesecake factory! Michigan does not have one of these! In the whole state there is none! Well glad to say no weight gain and I even lost one pound while I was there. Since then I have lost another 4lbs sooo a grand total of 65lbs lost so far! The weight is coming off much more slow. I am having a really hard time with my thyroid and I can feel it. One week I have lots of energy one week I have no energy and my hunger levels change! I feel super hungry sometimes and other times I flat out forget to eat because I am not hungry. So the last 2 weeks I have added circuit training in I do that 2x per week and 3 days a week I do my treadmill and weights. I have also just started getting up and moving more I am trying to stay away from the computer, and I am baking a lot which moves me around my kitchen and I am standing which burns more calories than sitting. I am in the kitchen baking several times during the day. I have started making my own bread and yummy homemade granola bars! So although I am still not seeing HUGE results in pounds lost I feel good and I will not stop exercising and eating right just because the weight is just slowly coming off now. I did hope to get to my first goal with no hiccups but it just seems like with my thyroid and probably my age I am gonna battle with the "Plateau's". This word is something that I have read many controversial aspects on. The one that sort of made me angry was, that there was no such thing as a plateau.. Well unfortunately there is! Especially for someone with a thyroid disorder. I was consistently losing 2-3lbs a week and now I am losing 1 pound a week and that seems like a struggle to get that off, yes I am still losing but its sort of a plateau its my body leveling out and getting used to the way things are. I always like to change things up to try to keep my metabolism guessing whats going on.