Most Delish Tortilla Taco Thing

I made this yesterday. You should try it. It’s gluten free.

 

Ingredents:

1 corn tortilla
Hummus of your choice
1 small to medium avocado
Chopped tomato (as much as you want)
Chicken (or meat of your choice, optional), cooked to your preference, cut into pieces
Seasoning or cheese of your choice (I used the slightest bit of Parmesan)

Spread the hummus on the tortilla, using as much as you want. I actually used hummus with chunks of peppers in it. Cut avocado into slices and place on top of hummus. I used the whole avocado, but this made it really bulky. You can always use less.

Slice up the tomato, and place the desired amount on top. It might work better if you chop it, but I lack patience. Put the sliced chicken on top (I used it cold, but it would be really tasty just off the grill or broiler).

Sprinkle on the parm or seasonings, and enjoy!

Unfortunately the only picture I got was this really bad blurry cell phone picture. But it still looks yummy!

 

Advertisement

I’m going BIG this time.

Currently I’m taking Human Nutrition in preparation for nursing school. As part of the course, of course (see what I did there?), we are required to do a nutritional analysis. This means logging every bit of food and every minute of exercise to an online site where our teacher can access it and then analyzing our results.

We have to do it for 4-6 weeks. I’ve been doing it honestly for two weeks, and let me tell you I am not happy with what I see. I’ve also been toying with the idea of going gluten and dairy free and forgetting the red meat for a long time now. I’ve decided to implement these changes into my diet between now and Thanksgiving. The goal is to see how I feel, see if some of my issues clear up, and see if I lose any weight (with my slight insulin resistance, I’m not sure this will happen).

On top of that I’m attempting to work out one day on, two days off at the gym including weight lifting for the duration of the month (Thanksgiving is exactly 30 days from tomorrow. That’s crazy). I am pretty excited about this. After a shopping spree at the new Hy-Vee in Springfield (if you’re from the northern part of the Midwest you know about the wonders of Hy-Vee), I am set with gluten free essentials and a healthy amount of fruits and veges that I am hoping will get me though the next couple of weeks. It really is going to be a “detoxification” process, because I am pretty sure my body is addicted to processed sugar and artificial sweeter and caffeine. Not to mention salt, but the sodium question will not be addressed this time around. I’m resolving to only eat out once a week, so that means with my family birthdays upcoming I may have to skip out on some after church meals on Sunday.

Here are some things I jotted down during nutrition class this evening, things that are always on my mind but may be implemented in steps rather than all at once:

Food Plan:

Goal: 10 servings of fruits and veges a day (note: these are goals, not requirements). This is to implement more fiber in my diet.
Goal: no red meat, gluten, or dairy products except for greek yogurt for the protein content.
Goal: balance carbohydrates and protein
Goal: drink at least 64 oz of water a day.

Exercise Plan:

Goal: Start doing yoga again (for stress relief, because tonight my nutrition teacher said belly fat can develop as a result of stress! I didn’t know that!).
Goal: One day on, two days off regular exercise plan for a month.

Other Thoughts:

Limit diet coke intake (yeesh!)
Green Tea (yum and good for you)
Fish or tuna twice a week (tuna is fish, but it’s whatev)
try to eat a few carrots daily for eye health
Try to replace sweet tooth to crave fruits instead (this sentence doesn’t make sense, but you get the gist)
Monitor Blood sugar levels (duh)
eat at least 4 times a day, try to equal amounts (ie no big meals, just several small ones).

And finally, the logging that needs to go on for both my sake and my nutritional analysis:

• Food Intake
• Exercise
• Blood Sugar
• insulin intake
• water intake
• hours of sleep
• waste output (gross! But necessary)
• pedometer

I make plans like this c-o-n-s-t-a-n-t-l-y.

And I always sincerly hope that I will keep it up, but hopefully this time the added motivation of my required nutritional analysis (and being able to explain how much better I felt at the end of it, maybe I’ll get bonus points!) will keep me motivated. I mean, how much of it, besides food elimination, isn’t just healthy habits to have?

 

The Biggest Thing

The biggest thing that I am looking forward to maybe actually be able to stick with is the exercise. I have a gym membership, and even though two days off, one on may not be the recommended amount of exercise, it’s still a hell of a lot  more than I put in now, and the ultimate goal is to switch to five days of cardio and three days of weightlifting once I’m used to this less frequent plan.

Can you help me out?

I’m going to attempt to post on facebook and twitter regarding my progress, and of course, use my blog as November will be a big blogging month for me anyway. What I need is support and encouragement. If you have a success story, please tell me! I’m not trying so much to lose weight as to feel better and improve my overall health. What do you think? Too much at one time, or do you think I’m doing well? Do you have any suggestions?

Disclaimer: I am not a medical professional! My blog is not intended to be medical advice. I have a health care team that is supervising me in my undertakings. If you plan on drastically c hanging your diet, beginning an exercise routine, trying to lose weight, or undertaking any other kind of health-related lifestyle change, it’s important to consult a doctor before beginning. 

D-Feast Friday: Berry Poppyseed Salad

My dad made this fantastic salad the other day and I thought I would share it with you. It was pretty incredible.

Ingredients:

1 chicken breast, grilled/baked to your liking
Leafy greens of your choice
1 c blueberries
1 c chopped strawberries
1 package chopped pecans
Poppyseed dressing

Mix dressing with lettuce to the appropriate amount. Add blueberries and strawberries. Sprinkle pecans on top of serving. Place chicken breast, sliced into strips, on top of salad. Enjoy!

At this point, the test subject was....

You was trying to jank me!

I’m a convert.

I’ve always been a picky eater.

Growing up, my parents learned creative ways to deal with my pickiness. They didn’t implement the “eat what we put in front of you or don’t eat anything at all” rule, but rather the “eat what we put in front of you or eat a peanut butter and jelly sandwich” rule. And of course, I loved (and love) peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Today I tend to chose cold meat and cheese over pb and j, but then I could eat a pb and j every night of the week if that was what it came to.

My pickiness has usually been a matter of texture, like when I threw up mashed potatoes all over my mother when I was a toddler. But one thing that is definitely a taste issue is my loathing of yogurt. The yogurt “kick” that most people love has seriously turned me off from the healthy stuff, and I have only recently attempted to force myself to eat it. Last fall, when I was commuting 70 miles to go to school and packing my lunch most every day, I would put plain yogurt, splenda, and frozen fruit in a plastic container and eat it for lunch. Somehow the frozen fruit managed to cover up the yogurt taste I loathed. But when my boyfriend tried to introduce me to Greek yogurt, even though I knew the health benefits I couldn’t get over how disgusting it looked.

This week, I discovered that Greek yogurt is just regular yogurt in a more concentrated form. And I somehow decided to taste honey and vanilla yogurt that David was eating one day. And I actually kind of liked it. But still scared, I didn’t break open a cup of my own until this afternoon. I opened that cup and I tossed in some of my favorite granola (gluten free vanilla flavor by Udi’s) and I ate that sucker.

And it was good. I couldn’t even taste the yogurt kick I hate so much.

Yum.

I hear your taste buds change every seven years. Maybe I’ve liked yogurt since I was 21, and I just didn’t know it yet.

This post was brought to you by D-Feast Friday.

Low Carb Recipie of the Week: Green Bean Marinara

I’ve been having fun experimenting with low carb recipes since  I lost my job and have more time to cook at night. This is something I threw together last night, and because it was so tasty and low carb, I wanted to share it with you.

First of all, I have to acknowledge Karen, my fellow d-tweeter (@kahoffman) and blogger for her suggestion here to use green beans instead of pasta when making, well, pasta. She says in the aforementioned blog post that her favorite part of pasta is the sauce, so she uses green beans instead. marinara

Now I can’t say that pasta is not my favorite part of pasta. However, I can say that my least favorite part of pasta is the drawn out blood glucose spike that follows eating it.

So here is what I made tonight, in that spirit. If you like goulash or things like that, and you like green beans, you should love this recipe. I sure did!

1 can green beans, drained
1/2 cup pasta sauce (choose your favorite)

1/4 lb hamburger, cooked. (You can add more if you like, or use tofu or vegetarian sausage if you don’t eat meat).

1/2 medium sized white onion, chipped
1 clove garlic, chopped
1/2 cup (or more to your liking) grated mozzarella cheese
1/4 cup grated colby jack cheese
You can also add seasoning, salt, and pepper to your taste.

Here is the way that I do it:

Heat oven to 325.

Cook hamburger in a medium sized skillet pan. Drain. Add onions and garlic and cook to taste. Add sauce and green beans. Stir. Spread out evenly in the skillet (or transfer to another pan if you don’t have an oven-safe skillet). Spread cheese evenly on top of the mixture. Bake for 10-15 minutes. Sprinkle with Parmesan  if desired.

This particular recipe serves two, but you can easily double or triple it to serve more.

If you’re worried about calories or fat, remember to use lean meat. You can also eliminate the cheeses and just use Parmesan. As far as total carbs go, it really depends on the green beans and sauce you use. The sauce I used had 11 g of carbs in 1/2 cup.

This recipe was so tasty that I ate it all up before I could take a picture. But it looks as god as it sounds!