Creamy Turkey Mushroom Soup

(easy, filling, and delish, if I do say so myself)

1 1/2 cup cooked skinless light meat turkey
1 cup cooked skinless dark meat turkey
64 oz Fat Free Vegetable Broth
20 oz fat-free evaporated milk
3 cup cooked brown rice
1 large onion(s)
1 cup carrot(s)
1 cup celery
4 cup mushroom(s) (mix of baby bella and shitake)
Cooking spray
Salt and pepper to taste
2T fresh thyme
2T fresh sage

Sautee onions, celery and carrots (chopped medium to fine) in cooking spray until soft. Chop mushrooms and add to vooked vegetables. Add salt and pepper. When mushrooms are soft, ad herbs, vegetable broth, and chopped turkey. Heat to just below boiling. Add evaporated skim milk and cooked brown rice. Heat through.

Makes 10 1.5 C servings, 4WW points per serving.

Serve with cornbread and a tossed green salad for a wonderful meal!

Week Two of Project Blue Jeans Completed With Another Loss!!

I survived Thanksgiving, and I managed to lose another pound. Mom, who has been staying with me for much of the last week, lost two (I force-fed her veggies and water and made her walk a little).

Don't you love it when a plan works! Mine was this - save up all my flex points for Thanksgiving, enjoy the day and eat what I wanted, but stop when I was full. I also didn't make or buy any pies or cakes for dessert, but got a couple of bite-sized pecan pumpkin cheesecakes, and one individual-sized chocolate raspberry tart. We all had one mini cheesecake, and shared the tart - which was just enough. And no leftover pie for breakfast (or lunch or dinner) the next three days, which I think was KEY. We also ate a healthy but low point breakfast, and had some appetizers for lunch. Instead of putting out a tray of everything, I put out some measured portions, and we stopped when they were gone, instead of mindlessly grazing all afternoon.

On to week three, and lots of turkey leftovers!

Happy Thanksgiving One and All!

Week One of Project Blue Jeans

And despite it being the week from heck at work, I'm down 3.0 pounds! It's amazing what can happen when you exercise a little self-restrain (and I was far from perfect), track and count what you eat, and roll in some physical work.

On to week two, and Thanksgiving. I'm cooking this year, and still trying to figure out a menu that allows for a delicious holiday dinner as well as a healthy one. My biggest challenge -- what to do about dessert. It's only Mom and I this year, and do we really need an entire cake or pie for the two of us. We'll just end up eating it all. I'm trying to find some individual serving sized desserts, and leave it at that. One less thing to worry about making, too!

Cider Martinis

2 oz good vodka
1 oz cognac
2 oz fresh cider
1t brown sugar

Shake with ice, strain, and pour into a martini glass. Enjoy on a lovely fall evening with a friend!

I need to become friends with my scale.

We don't have to love each other, but we do need to talk on a regular basis. It's been since the summer that we've had any communication, so when I tried to open up the lines of conversation this morning, the result was horrifying. HORRIFYING (again in that "i've been only fooling myself a certain amount" kind of way).

We all know actions and decisions have consequences and repercussions. And so it is time to deal with the decisions I've made, and start making better ones.

I did have a very nice, surprisingly quick walk this morning. It is quite cool, about 35 degrees, grey and overcast, but no wind. The beach was busy -- it must be the holiday -- with lots of friendly walkers saying hello at every pass. I finished almost the full "beach loop" for a total of 2.58 this morning in a sub-17 pace. For walking, on my second day back, I'll take it.

So, I'm off to work for the rest of the day, but I've:
a. weighed myself
b. exercised
c. made a healthy breakfast and logged the results
d. planned for and made a healthy lunch and snacks

I still need a plan for dinner (out) this evening. I'll probably default to a piece of grilled fish and vegetables.

Project Blue Jeans

Last night getting ready for dinner with friends, I realized precisely how far off track I've gotten. Ok, I do know, but I've purposefully ignored it, pushed it behind the sleep issues, the stacks of work, the personal life crap. Last night, trying to put on my beloved Long 'n Leans, it all came into focus. My jeans no longer fit. Its not that they are just a bit tighter than before. Or that when I zip them up, a little muffin top appears. This time, I couldn't get the snap closed without physically hurting myself. And that, my friends, it a situation that cannot continue.

No, I'm still not sleeping well, despite the CPAP (the dang machine is like torture). In fact, the last few nights have been one of the worst sleeping weekends I've had in months. But that's just how its going to be, I think. And I cannot let that stop me any longer. Nor can the piles of work be an excuse.

I've been slowly improving my eating (although its not yet where it should be). But I haven't really done much on moving my body. That ends today. It ended today in fact. Despite the work looming, the house chores undone, an attack of fall allergies, I did manage a 35 minute walk/run on my favorite trail this afternoon. According to my HRM, its been, well, a long time since I did any purposeful movement. I can't believe how long its been, but no use beating myself up over that.

So, today begins Project Blue Jeans -- I will get comfortably back into my favorite jeans, the ones I used to adore to wear, the ones that made me feel sexy, and fit, and curvy, and fabulous -- by Valentine's Day. That's a hair over three months. It's also, coincidentally, 10 days before the Hyannis 10K, a race I love, and which I plan on racing for the third straight year, in 2008. Given how difficult my August 10K ended up being, I have a lot of work ahead of me.

And oh yeah, tomorrow I have to step on the scale. Something I haven't done since September.