Meal Planning Mama: June 2012

Okay, so many of you have probably seen me mention on a number of occasions that I was going to try spaghetti squash. I also bought it on a few occasions and sadly let it spoil. I had bought some last week and was determined to give it a shot.

I googled many a recipe it and realized it has so many options with it! I thought for my first try I would do a basic casserole, "spaghetti", meat, sauce and a little cheese on top! Much to my surprise it was DELICIOUS! I would highly recommend it and I will definately be giving it another shot in my kitchen (maybe multiple shots really).

For my first time doing it, as I was keeping it simple, I wanted to just learn how to cook it and make it into "spaghetti". I found a great site that was most helpful. Although the microwave instructions said 6-8 minutes I would likely recommend 8-10 minutes on mine, but this is completely dependant on your machine. Next time I will try roasting them in the oven as I think that would give a ton of flavour. As for size, I had no idea how much "spaghetti" would come out, so I bought 3 small ones and it filled a 9X13 pan perfectly. The website is as follows. http://lowcarbdiets.about.com/od/cooking/a/spagsquash.htm

For mine, I simply fried up 1 pound of lean ground beef, added onions, garlic and other dried green seasonings (basil, oregano and Newfoundland savoury). I then added 1 large can of pasta sauce, some salt and pepper, and a can of corn (which I drained). I stirred the sauce into the "spaghetti" in a 9X13 pan and added about 1.5 cups of shredded light cheese to the top. Baked for about 30 minutes, then broiled for about 5. My 9X13 pan split into 8 servings (which were HUGE) came in at 6 points. You could easily make smaller servings though!

It was devine, delicious, scrumptious, so yummy and loved by all :) Even my picky eaters (except one, who you may know, has yet to try as she is afraid, so if you see her please tell her to try it, its really good).

See ya!

In the year 100, the wheelbarrow made its first appearance in China
it is the sum of the first 10 odd numbers
it is the minimum number of yards for a par 3 hole in golf
an estimated 75% of Canadians live within 100 miles of the US border (I am one of them)
a sneeze travels out of your mouth at 100 mph
a jiffy is an actual unit of time for 1/100th of a second
an ant can lift 100 times its weight
100 is the amount of pounds i have shed!!!!!

I have recently reached a very special milestone and wanted to share it with you! I have recently reached my 100 pound goal. Still not at my final goal but definately closer!!! I would ask you all to join with me on this last leg of my journey as I try to reach my goal by my 30th birthday; only 5 months away but only 36 pounds to lose!

So, what does losing 100 pounds look like you ask? well, it looks like meal planning (although not as much as I would like to as I am one super busy mama); it looks like cutting out my love for cake, cookies, chocolate (well not cutting out but really limiting myself, like one small slice of cake rather than 6); it looks like eating more veggies (a whole lot more veggies); it looks like trying new things (like green beans which I now love, leeks, which are ok, and next up on the list is spaghetti squash); it looks like eating more chicken and turkey rather than ground beef and ribs (although I do still have those things too); it looks like grabbing a banana rather than a chocolate bar (which i can now successfully do); it looks like early mornings at the gym (which I have managed to go from a very rough 5 minutes on the stairmaster, to doing a good steady pace on the stairmaster for a full hour); it looks like a gym membership picture that gets questioned (also passport but that will have to be updated soon); it looks like spinning classes, agua fitness classes, no sweat classes, strength classes; it looks like a whole lot of support from my amazing husband (who lets me go to all these classes, gotta say I am the luckiest girl in the world to have him); it looks like a whole lot of support from him with words or encouragement as well (like I said he is pretty amazing!); it looks like a mom who can take better care of her kids as I can run and chase them; it looks like fitting into clothes that have been too small for years and THEN those clothes getting too big (my new motto is "I'll shrink into it"); it looks like having a wedding dress that is WAY too big; it looks like more energy, more confidence, more strength, more flexibility; it looks like support of friends and family (in not encouraging me to eat the wrong things as well as going to the gym with me); and on and on and on!!!

As you can see I could keep going forever and the amazing benefits of losing 100 pounds, but I would rather show you. Below you will see some photos, some are old, some are new. This will really give you a picture of what 100 pounds looks like.