Fresh tomato salsa

Serves 6

2 fresh tomatoes, chopped
1 small red onion, minced
2 scallions, minced
1 clove of garlic, minced
1/2 jalapeño pepper, seeded and minced
3 tablespoons of chopped cilantro
3 tablespoons fresh lime or lemon juice

Directions

In a mixing bowl, stir together all ingredients.

Serve immediately or refrigerate in a tightly covered container for up to 3 days.

Makes 2 cups

Per serving: 15 calories

Saturday lunchtime

It has been a busy few days and a fun few days. jack leaves soon, and we are doing all those last minutes things. One of which was Transformers 4 last night at the Alamo Draught house, where I has a burger!!! Naughty but very nice. Freshly made with mushrooms and caramelized onions.

Today I am in San Antonio again , yesterday I was a model for a friends daughter who is studying at Paul Mitchell school, so I had a facial, today I have bought a friend to have one. I am using this time to update my blog :-)

I will post a recipe as well. I am hoping to get the exercise page going today.

I am having a day enjoy my new Isagenix business and being proactive.

another day, another dollar, as they say

For reason I can not explain I can not sleep, so i thought I would post.

The apple and celery salad, tomato and avocado salad

organic chicken, dry freind, with garlic and green bell peppers, Himalayan salt and freshly ground black pepper

This is it all together on my plate with some left over mushroom risotto from the day before, delicious

I thought i would share one of my meals from this week, it is all fresh, quick to make and is with in the 400-600 calorie range.  Eating healthily should not be cumbersome and if it looks this colourful and tastes this delicious, you are getting lots of nutrients and doing great.

I really enjoy cooking and creating different  meals, so i hope you all enjoy me posting them.

Sunday, and my dad's birthday

It has been a lovely day in this house, all my plants and vegetables have been watered, I have been out and  done 5 miles, 2 of which I ran. I have played in the pool with my youngest and husband and seen my daughter. laid by the pool and chatted on FB with friends from all over and been chatting to people about Isagenix. A great day. Tonight we are going to go out and eat at Outback streak house, so I do not need to cook, but can have a meal that fits in with my healthy lifestyle, enjoyable and kids happy. win/win I call that. That phrase now always reminds me of the film 'letters to Juliette".

Anyway, I can not talk to my dad today he is away on a cruise, so I hope he is enjoying his birthday and being spoiled by Margaret. Happy Birthday dad, I have left you a Skype message :-)

I sneaked on the scales again yesterday, and I am down a little bit more- very encouraging . I tried to start a page for recipes, but it is not working, as on this blog, I can not label/tag the recipes, so you would be scrolling through too many. So I am going to put them on my main blog posts, where I can label them, and you can search with labels for a recipe.

I am going to start a new page for exercise locally to Austin TX. I will try and find out any free events, I personally will be out there each week, so will coordinate those on this page, and I will put links to other places, like South Austin Pilates that I go to each week, and camp gladiator, which my husband enjoys and goes to all the time. So you will see that page start tomorrow, and then it will be a work in progress, as I collate all the information, links and if you have any suggestions- just yell. I look forward to having a page with local exercise events, venue for you to refer to.

I am off out with my gorgeous sons and husband. Have a great evening

Vegetable Balti

Vegetable Balti

Serves 4 with 190 calories per serving ( so you can have a dessert!)

I love this recipe and have been making it for years now, it is a staple in our house. Easy to make and delicious, so full of flavour, it is tasty the day after as well. Not good to freeze in my experience, but it lasts wells in the fridge. I do not like the texture once frozenand defrosted, but they do say it can be frozen, so try it and see for yourself. The recipe does say you can stir in yogurt at the end of cooking, but I do not. The 190 calories includes the yogurt.

low fat cooking spray ( I personally use ordinary grape seed oil)
2 large onions, sliced finely
4 garlic cloves, crushed
2.5cm (1inch) piece of fresh root ginger, chopped finely
1 small red chilli, de-seeded and chopped (optional) - I tend to use chilli powder if I am serving it to my kids and only fresh chilli's if it adults only
1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds, crushed
1 teaspoon coriander seeds, crushed
1 tablespoon garam masala
200g (7oz) sweet potatoes, peeled and diced
4 medium carrots, peeled(optional) and chopped
1 small cauliflower, chopped into florets
400g can of tomatoes
300ml ( 10fl.oz ) vegetable stock
200g (7oz) green beans, chopped
150g (5 1/2oz) low fat plain yogurt) I do not put this in!
salt and pepper( freshly ground)
a small bunch of fresh coriander, chopped, to garnish

Method
1. heat a large non stick frying pan and spray with low fat cooking spray( or oil of choice). Stir fry the onions for 5 minutes and season them, adding a little water to stop them sticking and help them soften. Mix in garlic, ginger, chilli, and spices and cook for a further 2 minutes.

2. Add the sweet potatoes, carrots, cauliflower, tomatoes and stock, stir together and bring to teh boil. Turn down the heat and then simmer for 20 minutes. Add the beans and simmer a further 5 minutes or until the sauce is thick.

3. Remove the pan from the heat and allow to cool a little before stirring in the yogurt and fresh coriander. Serve


Tonight for dinner we had mushroom risotto, with salmon burgers and a side of chopped tomatoes and avocado, I thought I would share the recipes.

Mushroom Risotto

Mushroom Risotto

1 large onion chopped( I like a red onion- but this will bleed into the rice, shallots are delicious as well)
1 lb of mushrooms, sliced
a small amount of oil ( I use grape seed)
1 red bell pepper, diced
2 cups of risotto rice ( I use arborio)
2 cloves of garlic, crushed
7 cups of broth, either chicken or vegetable ( rice:liquid ratio should be 1:3 1/2 )
seasoning

Method

Gently fry the onions and garlic over a medium heat until soft , add the pepper and mushrooms for another 2 minutes, then add the rice. Do not rinse the rice, as that releases the starch, and we want the starch for risotto.

Once the rice has had a few minutes to cook in the oil, start adding the liquid a cup at a time, each time it is absorbed, add more until all the liquid is added.

My latest results

I am not sure how I managed not to post here, but I did brave the scales on Wednesday, and I am 4lbs down and another 9 inches, so that is a total of 20.2 lbs and 34.5" which i am thrilled with, considering I had the cold at the start of this 30 day's and have been having a bit of alcohol and eaten out a bit. So I am now back on track, and enjoying my shakes and focused on the end of the month.

I am exercising more this month, and have managed to run as well, which is GREAT. That is with a great big thanks to South Austin Pilates, who have been working with me on my knees and building up the muscles that I had damaged. I love to run, and have missed it. I am hoping to be running the Disney half marathon in CA on August 31st, with a couple of friends, so watch this space and lets see if the knee holds up. I know my spirit will and I am confident my weight will reduce.

I have started putting recipes on this blog, and will keep adding to them. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do. I will break them down into categories, but if you would like them in extra sub-sections just ask, and I am happy to consider that.

I am trying the sleep and brain boost system as well this month, just started it two nights ago, so will let you know how that goes, and I have the body and hand hydrating cream. I am loving that at the moment, and will try the rest of the range as I  need to replace my own face cream range. It is all organic and smells delightful. I can not say yet how well it works, as I have not used it, but I am happy to try it. Those who have used it are very pleased, so I am looking forward to my current creams being finished.

have a good weekend everybody. i will be thinking of you.

Day 11

I know I am meant to be weighing myself today, but am being a coward,a s I know i did not follow rules for 5 days,a s i gave in to the cold...so give me some time and I will get on the scales. Knowing i ate fajita nacho's and drank champagne on Fathers day is not helping me right now...feeling like a coward!!

I have been missing

I am sorry, been ill, an awful cold. I am now at the point of a box of tissue and exhaustion, which is a vast improvement than I was. I hate colds. They sneak up on you and knock you for six. I am well on my way back to full health, but this house has not enjoyed the experience. It started with Ben, and has moved to Alex and we are waiting to see if Allan gets it. I think I have given it to Jack, which is not great really, poor guy has his first holiday in 18 months , flies home from Japan and his mum gives him a cold!! I am lucky he loves me.

As I have muddled my way through this, I have also not followed the Isagenix program, it all became too much, to even feed my own family. So i just ate what what given to me, when I felt like eating and drank what ever I could drink and slept a lot and got through a lot of tissues. I am grateful for my family for putting up with me through this time. I tried to keep exercising in the early days, which was a mistake, now I am feeling up to starting again.

I have now picked the program back up, which is day 10 today, which is a cleanse day, so I am cleansing.  I expect my body will appreciate it after all the cold remedy drugs I have thrown down my throat in desperation!!

I will try and get back into the swing of everything for you all. and of course for me. I was doing so well, and i intend to keep on track.

Day 5 of second round

Good evening all. I have a terrible cold. feeling awful and am now dosing myself up on cold meds. The good thing is that the cleanse day is going well. I am still on track and hope the cold meds are not screwing with the process of 'detoxin' me( not sure if that is really a word)...since I am clearly putting chemicals in me to help now with the cold.

yesterday I went to Pilates and did my first barre class, it was a lot of fun. An evening class which I am not so good at , and this cold was already showing its ugly self to me. Hindsight might mean I should not have exercised. But I did, and I am sure I am fitter for it, even f I feel less so.

My garden is looking great, and I went and took some pictures for you.

my tomatoes are all growing so nicely, I have 16 plants this year, so am expecting a good crop, of three varieties.

a banana pepper, they are mild and i am looking forward to trying them. I wish it was not so big it touched the ground.

my Ancho peppers. getting bigger every day

my jalapeno peppers, also doing well.

My flowers and herbs are also doing well, but I wanted to show you my toms and peppers.
I am enjoying my garden, and next year I will grown more vegetables as well.
This year it was all about moving my herbs to raised beds and not in pots, and starting to move my vegs to raised beds. the tomatoes will also be in raised beds next year.
After two days of cleansing tomorrow I am cooking risotto with a nice salad. I will make a dessert, but i will be content with my risotto and salad. day 11 is approaching and that is weighing in day, so I want to have a good result then as well.
Although I started my cleanse 1 day late, due to jack coming home, I will still do my next cleanse on schedule, so day 10 and 11. This will keep me in line with last month and help me to feel I can compare better.

Day 3 of round 2

Yesterday was a very busy day for me. i did not stop until I collapsed at the end of the night. But i achieved so much, including an hours class on the reformers at Pilates. So today my abs are swearing at me, but that is good, I keep telling myself that.

I should be on a cleanse day, but am pushing it back a day, as we are having a  celebratory meal tonight, as my eldest son, has come home after 18 months been based in Okinawa, Japan. So all my children will be together around the table. We are going to have a roast beef dinner, with all the trimmings, one of Jacks favourite, but also allows me to fill up on vegetables and not feel too guilty. Now the lemon meringue pie I am making for dessert might be harder!!

I am tired today, i know I was up with the dogs in the night, but boy oh boy, I feel tired, I even had a 'want more energy' as my snack this morning to try and boost my energy levels. Mind you it is 3.15 pm and I still have not had my shake for lunch, so today is also busy!! so  had better get on and enjoy that. Just wanted to post to so you all knew I was still hanging in there.

I will take my ipad outside later and take some photos of my garden, as i have peppers and tomatoes all doing really well.

hope to speak to you all later ;-)

Happy Sunday

Day 1 of round 2

This month( well 30 days) I intend to exercise each day, not just be amazingly busy. I think my new found energy last month allowed me to decorate, sort, rearrange and organize all over the house and garden.

This month I want to make sure I am exercising each day. I am going to sign up for the Disneyland half marathon in August. That will give me a focus.

Today I walked 5 miles, I set a good pace and off I went. Much later than I wanted, but then another crazy day in this house, so I am just glad I did manage to get out there and walk :-)

I have a new snack that has arrived, Whet thins, there are two flavour a, BBQ and sour cream & chive. I am looking forward to eating those. I tried the sour cream ones today, and they were tasty .

First day of the school holidays today, my youngest two did nothing!! Just enjoyed lounging around. Tomorrow I will be giving them some jobs :-) the joys of being a mum.

I am off to sleep, speak to you tomorrow.

Happy happy dance

I am still having a happy dance day.

Such great results

Day 30 results day

So a quick post- because I had too. I am thrilled. In 30 days i have lost 25.5" from all over my body and 16.2 lbs .
This month will be about exercising as well more religiously, so it should help those inches as well as the weight.
I will set up the walk and cycle program so any of you wo can join me, are very welcome to :-)

One happy lady here.

I will post later

Thank you for all the support, that has helped me focus and not waiver.

Day 29

I have not been good today, and that is the first time, during my whole month that I have broken any eating rules. So i am feeling sorry for myself now!!
Tomorrow I will be back on track. I am not sure if it was my son home from Japan after 18 months, or school nearly out, or the baking of 96 muffins for the 5th grade party today, but I have succumbed to two walnut and maple muffins, home made and very delicious- but clearly not what i should have eaten. I have not had any other snacks or lunch, and then I was back on track this evening with a health meal with the family, and plenty of water. So I will keep all my fingers and toes crossed that it does not cause me too many issues for tomorrows measurements and weigh in!!!

My Isagenix delivery has arrived and believe it or not, I have not had time to open it! been a crazy day, with Jack home and end of year party baking, nipping to AT&T to get Jacks phone reconnected, quick stop at HEB for groceries and back to school for Ben..i feel like i have not really stopped, but i did this evening, we all sat down and watched 'battleship' the movie, as Jack will be heading to RIMTAC 2014 after his leave so it was a fun movie to watch. Of course I am hoping he does not have to deal with an alien invasion while in Hawaii . One never knows though.

29 days with no alcohol or coffee. I feel proud of that achievement. I will enjoy having them back, when I am down a lot more weight. Tomorrow is almost here. I am ready to start my next 30 days, this time with a more organised exercise regime.

sleep tight everyone.

Day 28

Well tomorrow my next delivery is due for the 30 day cleanse, I will be starting that on Friday. Since I am on a roll and in the swing, I might as well do a back to back. I will be increasing my exercise for the next 30 days as I know what to expect and what I am doing, so wish to increase my exercise, get back to my weekly Pilates, and start training for a half marathon . 

I am actually getting nervous about Thursdays results. I know I am thrilled with the weight loss, but what if?? I might have put some on, my measurements might not be as impressive, one reason I want to exercise, so I know I am back to being toned, under this layer of blubber!!

I am willing Thursday here so I can get it over with, silly to be nervous, but I am excited, nervous and very determined to carry on.

Well I am off to bed now, another exhausting day in this house, I am so glad school is nearly out.

Day 27 and I missed a few days

I am so sorry i missed so many days. Life has been hectic in this house. I swear it is my new found energy. i am on a mission to organize all the rooms, and this weekend I was tackling the younger boys bedrooms and the craft room. Of course life has to go on, so cooking and cleaning, watering pants and wash loads still need to happen. So long days and a much more organised house Yay to that :-)

I am getting so close to my final weigh in, day 30, which is Thursday. I am excited to measure as well. I have been naughty and been on an doff eh scales, but I have not measured at all, so am hoping for a nice surprise there.

I have fallen in love with 'slimcakes'. they are a snack, like a oatmeal and raisin cookie, they taste delicious to me, so I will need to purchase more of them. Isagenix have excelled there in my opinion :-)
The two people who have tried the soups are not giving me great reports back, so I will try them myself and have to give you feed back there.

I am off to bed, sleep tight everyone.