Vegetarian-Quinoa Stuffed Bell Peppers

First off..... Here was lunch today. I split the apple so I will have some for school tomorrow, but total, 14.5 grams of fiber, 13.5 grams of protein and 370 calories and pretty darn tasty. 

For dinner I was trying a new recipe that was suggested by my friend and neighbor Kristen from Mama Swears blog. She has gone completely vegan for the last several weeks and I am super impressed. She recommended this recipe from Vegetarian Times for quinoa stuffed bell peppers. I have to admit that I didn't make mine as awesomely as she did, because she is also cutting out all pre-packaged food as well, but I used canned tomatoes and beans. 

• 1 medium onion, finely chopped (1 cup)
• 2 Tbs. olive oil
• 2 ribs celery, finely chopped (1/2 cup)
• 1 Tbs. ground cumin
• 2 cloves garlic, minced (2 tsp.)
• 1 10-oz. pkg. frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry
• 2 15-oz. cans diced tomatoes, drained, liquid reserved
• 1 15-oz. can black beans, rinsed and drained
• 3/4 cup quinoa
• 3 large carrots, grated (1 1/2 cups)
• 1 1/2 cups grated reduced-fat pepper Jack cheese, divided
• 4 large red bell peppers, halved lengthwise, ribs removed

1. Heat oil in saucepan over medium heat. Add onion and celery, and cook 5 minutes, or until soft.  

Add cumin and garlic, and sauté 1 minute. 

Stir in spinach and drained tomatoes. Cook 5 minutes, or until most of liquid has evaporated.

2. Stir in black beans, quinoa, carrots, and 2 cups water. Cover, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low, and simmer 20 minutes, or until quinoa is tender. 

Stir in 1 cup cheese. Season with salt and pepper, if desired.

3. Preheat oven to 350°F. Pour liquid from tomatoes in bottom of baking dish.

4. Fill each bell pepper half with heaping 3/4-cup quinoa mixture, and place in baking dish. Cover with foil, and bake 1 hour. Uncover, and sprinkle each pepper with 1 Tbs. remaining cheese. Bake 15 minutes more, or until tops of stuffed peppers are browned. Let stand 5 minutes. Transfer stuffed peppers to serving plates, and drizzle each with pan juices before serving. 

I should have halved the recipe because I ended up with twice the amount of stuffing as I did peppers. Two peppers stuffed was 266 calories, 8.2 grams of fiber and 12.9 grams of protein. 

I was amazed that my husband actually ate it, and said it was good. My six-year-old daughter ate it and asked for seconds, but the four-year-old opted to just go to bed. 

Anyone else have any good vegetarian meals? 

What is your little victory today?

 Guitarplayingmommy,

Heather

busy weekend and new goals

This weekend was full of fun!

Saturday I took my daughters to a birthday tea party for a friend in our play group. Little girls dressed up in their best dresses and gloves, it was fantastic. The birthday girl's mommy gave me 3 pair of pants (2 pair of old navy and one pair is gap, all size 4. ) that she has been saving for me for a while. I was excited to come home and try them on.

They all fit, but not as comfortably as I would have hoped, so now I have a new goal, victory! It's nice to know that I am a size four in (almost) every brand of pants that I have tried on. 

I love my mommy friends, they have been my cheering squad every step of the way. 

Saturday night, we went to hang out with family that had come in to town for a funeral. It was nice spending time with family even though the circumstances were not the best. Lots of playing guitar and singing and talking and catching up. In situations like this weekend I am thankful that I have come so far already so I don't have to panic about being out of control at meal time. After we stayed the night, we ate the breakfast that was served (eggs, sausage, biscuits and blackberry preserves) and came home to get ready for another birthday party. This one was a gymnastics party and the girls had a great time running, swinging and jumping. 

One of my newest challenges for myself is trying to eat more vegetarian. I am allergic to beef and shellfish, and pork gives me heartburn, so I have cut back significantly, but I am learning more from my friends about how to be a healthy vegetarian. Tonight I am going to try a new recipe, I will post more on that, including pictures, later this evening. 

What is your little victory today?

Guitarplayingmommy,

Heather

frequent questions

I love answering questions, send me an email, ask me anything, I will answer to the best of my abililty, or I will ask my friends for you. Tonight I will answer a question I get asked pretty frequently.

Most of the people asking me questions are moms, wanting to lose "the baby weight". I wish I'd had the excuse of calling my extra baggage baby weight, but it was all my own doing.  I started my first pregnancy at 165 pounds, gained 20 over the nine months and lost 25 before I left the hospital, after having extreme swelling and preeclampsia. In the 19 months before I got pregnant again I gained 10 pounds, starting my second pregnancy at 170. I gained 10 pounds with her and lost 20 within a few weeks of delivery, again with the edema. I also had my gall bladder out when my second daughter was just 6 weeks old after suffering with gall stones my whole pregnancy. My youngest daughter was 3 1/2 when I started using LoseIt! in late December 2009 at 178 pounds. At my highest weight I was 180-185 I think, but I had avoided scales for a long while there. As you can see, I had stretch marks really bad with both pregnancies, my husband said he would wake up in the night with me scratching my belly. I consider this a road map, showing how far I have come, I wear them like a badge, but honestly I wouldn't be sad if they disappeared. My high school weight was about 112 when I graduated in 1998, by the time I met my husband in early 2001, I had already put on my "freshman 15" but quickly put on another 30 pounds over the next year. I ended up with stretch marks down the backs of my legs and with my pregnancies I developed stretch marks down my thighs, butt and hips. It was awful! I hated the way I looked in the mirror, and I avoided shopping and anything that would remind of the changes that had happened in my body.

So, here is the question I get a lot...... Is there anything special you can do for the tummy area? How did you get your tummy to shrink? ......

Here is my answer....

I still have pudge. I think I always will but that is okay. I wanted the bulk of the weight off so that I would be healthy again. I wanted to feel sexy again and my husband certainly helps with that! I wanted to look nice in my clothes again and I certainly feel more comfortable.

If you have any questions for me, please ask!

What is your little victory today?


 Guitarplayingmommy,

Heather

Pie Shoppe

For breakfast this morning, since I had left over veggies set aside from yesterday morning, I made another omelet on english muffin again with my coffee before I left for school. I also had the lunch I packed yesterday with my high fiber minestrone soup and some fruit and cheese, but some days planning goes out the window and I just have to adapt. I went to lunch with 4 of my classmates today at a little place called "honeycomb pie shoppe".

So, good!

I walked in with my friends and said (about 3 times out loud and 10 times in my head) I just want pie for lunch, I really did. I'd had never had millionaire pie before until thanksgiving at my mother-in-law's house this past November and now I can't resist..... but I did. Instead I ordered a small bowl of vegetable soup, a side salad with no dressing and a grilled cheese with cheetos. I cut the grilled cheese in half and put the rest in a napkin to eat tomorrow with the lunch I didn't eat today and the cheetos came home with me, unopened, for the kids to have as a treat tomorrow. I was proud of myself for that but it wasn't my only victory today.

I came home from school, and everything else we had to do today,
exhausted. This has been a hard few weeks, sick children, death in the family, and now sick husband, I just wanted to come home and sleep, but I didn't. Instead I went and ran a quick two miles. Not much, just a quick calorie burn to get my blood moving so I can finish everything I need to do today.

I feel kind of bad that I didn't do EA active yesterday like I had planned, but I think I will try to do it once a week for a little while until I am less sore from it. I could hardly lift my arms the last few days.

Time to give myself some slack and rest, then pick myself back up tomorrow..... or maybe Monday.

What is your little victory today?

 Guitarplayingmommy,

Heather

Dinner

To finish out the day here is dinner tonight: Fish, mixed veggies, hush puppies and macaroni and cheese.

Here's everything I eat, 1 fish fillet, 2-3 hush puppies (tonight it was 3) whole wheat pasta with shredded cheese and 1/2 cup of mixed veggies. 

I like the grilled fish fillets, but the kids and husband do not, so he gets the breaded fillets and the girls eat fish sticks. My husband and I both like the jalapeno hush puppies and the kids get the original flavor. 

I pre-heat the oven to 425º and spread everything out on a greased (with canola oil) cookie sheet and get it started cooking while I.....

boil some regular pasta for the picky eaters...

and toss the veggies in the microwave to steam for 5 minutes. 

I drain the regular pasta and toss in some velveeta to melt and start my whole wheat pasta boiling. 

Drain the whole wheat pasta and make sure my guesstimate was correct (1/2 cup), dump it on my plate and cover with 1/8 cup (2 tbsp) shredded 2% cheese and .......

VOILA! dinner is served. 

total for supper is 400 calories, 27 grams of protein, and 6 grams of fiber 

If you're keeping tally, grand total for the day is 1024 calories, 29.2 grams fiber and 63.7 grams of protein. 

What is your little victory today?

 Guitarplayingmommy,

Heather

Lunch

So I will continue where I left off with breakfast on that last post and tell you about my lunch today:

Chili with cheese and fruit.

Since I started making such a strong effort to find quick high-fiber lunch foods I have really found some wonderful grocery store treasures, Tasty Bite brand is one of those treasures. Today for lunch I had their Madras Lentils, tastes exactly like Wolf Brand chili, but without the heartburn. What? Heartburn isn't a normal reaction for everyone I suppose, but I am allergic to beef so it is for me. I have started leaning more in the direction of vegetarian because I don't eat beef very often anymore so I have been on the look out for more vegetarian foods. Today it is Madras Lentils. Just take the pouch out of the box and drop it in some boiling water for 5 minutes, open, pour and serve. I really like that the madras lentils has 10 grams of fiber, 12 grams of protein and only 240 calories for the whole package.

Of course, I like to have some fruit with it so I cut up a pink lady apple (my favorite, I'll say why later) I give half of it to the kids and eat the other half myself. Another 2.5 grams of fiber and only 40 calories for half an apple.

And throw in some individually wrapped prunes (50 calories for 2 and 1.5 grams of fiber) and sharp cheddar cheese (just 53 calories). 

 Since I like to plan ahead and I'm already getting a knife dirty, I go ahead and cut up another apple and divide it the same for (mine and the kids') lunches tomorrow and pack my lunch box with some minestrone soup (220 calories and 14 grams of fiber).

So here is the total for lunch: 376 calories, 13.8 grams of fiber, 18.9 grams of protein....

which brings the total for today to 624 calories, 23.2 grams fiber, 36.7 grams protein.

Also you can see that I had coffee with breakfast after I made the last post.... and a strawberry. 

Pink lady apples are tart but with a little bit of sweetness, but one of the reasons they are my favorite apple is because it can be cut and stored and not turn brown like other apples. If you have picky eater children like I do you will understand how important that can be. Anytime I have mentioned this, I usually get the suggestion to put lemon juice on other kinds of cut apples and it wont turn brown, but I am allergic to lemon too. Anyways, it goes to show that we all have something to work against as far as our weight loss issues, but you learn to deal with it in a healthy manner and just move on. 

What is your little victory today?

Guitarplayingmommy,

Heather

Breakfast

I get asked a lot about my favorite foods and meals. Here is one of my favorite high fiber, low calorie breakfasts: A toasted english muffin with cream cheese and scrambled eggs. 

I start by toasting my english muffin in the toaster oven., then I spread cream cheese on the english muffin. 

I chop a few mushrooms and some onion (saving half for a quick breakfast before school tomorrow) and cook it in a skillet for a few minutes with some of bell pepper that I had already chopped and saved in the freezer (more on that later). After the veggies are well done I pour in 1/4 cup of egg whites and just cook it through and serve it on the english muffin. 

It doesn't look very pretty, but this is my favorite breakfast and it only took about 5 minutes to make and I saved half the veggies to make it again tomorrow morning before I run out the door for school. 

The best part is that this fantastic breakfast is filling and has 9 grams of fiber and 14.4 grams of protein and only 186 calories. I think the full plate diet people would approve. 

I use bell peppers in a lot of my meals but I hate chopping veggies so I just buy a whole bunch (or, like this picture, get a bucket from my parents garden) and spend an hour once a few weeks/months chopping it all and keep it in a bag in the freezer. 

These pictures are from November 2009 at about 180 pounds. 

What is your little victory today?


Guitarplayingmommy,
Heather

EA Active 2

Back in January I purchased EA Active 2 for the wii with plans of doing it on my running rest days since I usually run on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. I wanted some resistance workouts that I could do at home, but I just did it once and never got back to it.... sound familiar? Yeah, I'm a slacker.

But I am back to it tonight, my arms feel like jelly and my calves are cramping, but I think this will be a good companion to running. So here is my challenge to YOU, I started a group on the EA active 2 program website and I can invite 11 people to join my group. If you would like to join my group reply here or email me (heatherdevoremusic at gmail.com) and send your email address and I will send you an invitation.


What is your favorite way to burn calories?



What is your little victory today?


 Guitarplayingmommy,
Heather

hang ups

When I started losing weight there were certain things I was prepared for and expected to happen:

• I expected a need for smaller clothes (size 16 pants down to size 4, right now),
• I expected to see a smaller number on the scale (185 at my biggest down to 129, so far),
• I expected to have more energy (WOOT!),

but there are a few things I was not prepared for.

I was not ready for my skin to be baggy

luckily it's not significantly baggy, but I still have days that I feel like the saggy baggy elephant.











I didn't know it would be so difficult to find a bra. 42 DD is pretty common, but 34 DD is not, luckily I found a good running bra and that's when I need the support the most.

One of the biggest blessings I have received throughout this journey has been hand-me-down clothes. I have not had a need to purchase any clothes, so all of the hangers I have to hang up my pants came with my size 16 pants. Soon I will need new hangers, right now the hangers I have are almost too wide to fit my size 4 pants.

I think that's a pretty good victory.... here's my run from today.

What is your little victory today?

 Guitarplayingmommy,

 Heather

Supergirl

I love my Dad. I think every little girl loves her Daddy, I see it in my children with my husband I even see it in our daughters with MY Dad. Last week when I ran the 14K race I looked around and felt a little sad, my dad has been with me at my first 3 races, but not this one. Tonight when I walked in to his house, even though I saw him twice yesterday,  he just looked at me and said, "You look so different now, I just can't believe it." Then he gave me a gift.... It's a keychain, nothing big, but he said I was supergirl, and he is proud of me. Thank you, Dad! You made my day after a really hard week.

What is your little victory today? 

 Guitarplayingmommy,

Heather

feedback, again

I usually get several questions per day, on Facebook, LoseIt!, or in person, from someone wanting advice on weight loss, which is fantastic, but I really love the feedback I get from the same person a month later, most the time, they aren't the same person anymore.

About three weeks ago I talked with a mom (of a student) in my daughter's class about my weight loss. The conversation started off with her mentioning that she has signed up for the Race For the Cure this coming October and she wanted to be in good enough shape to easily walk the 1 mile. I told her about my experience with it last year and how I'd started the year almost 180 lbs, she was skeptical but I continued and told her about LoseIt! I wrote down my email address for her to send me a friend request on the website and she told me she was really excited about it and she would rush home and get signed up. I haven't talked to her about it anymore until this morning. She has lost 14 lbs (10 lbs the first week) and her husband jumped on board and is helping her with it. They sit down together on Sunday afternoons and make a meal plan for the week, they even planned ahead for a birthday they had coming up so they wouldn't have to "cheat". I am always so thrilled to hear people making their relationships stronger through take control of their health together. I think more of us should do that! She said she went to her doctor the first day and got approval (and official numbers) from her doctor. She started doing water aerobics and walking and keeping her food log on a spreadsheet on her computer, her husband is helping with that too. Last week she went back to her doctor and found out she had broken a rib and has been placed on restrictions (lifting no more than 10 lbs, all that jazz) but she is not feeling discouraged because her doctor was so thrilled with her 14lbs loss. I am proud of her and all of the changes she is making, I love hearing people talk about making changes that will help to keep the weight off for life, I really feel like that is KEY!

What is your little victory today?

Guitarplayingmommy,

Heather 

• P.S. Speaking of feedback: why do YOU read my blog and what questions do YOU want me to answer? 
• P.P.S. I received a phone call from Full Plate Diet people today!!! more on that later!

gap jeans

Actually they really ARE Gap brand jeans, long and lean size 27/4a to be specific, but they are baggy now. I love taking this (gapped pants) kind of picture, but this is the first time I have been able to take one with new pants! These pants were a victory back in November (pre-blog), my husband took me out to the mall shopping and bought me these pants and a fancy shirt. I don't ever buy clothes so it was an extra special treat. I have been very blessed to have friends passed on their clothes to me and I haven't needed to buy clothes yet. Here is a picture of them brand new the day we bought them on November 13th.

The first weight loss type photo I ever posted on my facebook was the first frame on the photo below, wow, I have come a long way. All three of these photos are taken with the same pair of size 16 pants, the same ones I was wearing in my "before" photo.

I am proud to say that I am officially wearing baggy size 4 pants now. YAY!

What is your little victory today?

Guitarplayingmommy,

Heather