Shrinkvivor Weigh in (Nov 9)

It's time to weigh in once again for Shrinkvivor over at the Sisterhood. Total fitness minutes: Um, Daily Mile says 21, but I think I forgot to log some stuff in... And, what was our mini-challenge last week? Oh, yeah. Deep breathing. I didn't do any of that. Oh, well. The good news is I'm down another 1.1 pounds and am officially a pound UNDER my pre-pregnancy weight! Woo hoo! 4 more pounds til my goal weight!

Shrinkvivor Check in (Nov 2)

It's Shrinkvivor Check-in time again. This week I am down 1.7 and only 0.1 up from my pre-pregnancy weight and 5.1 up from my goal weight. Yay me! Which is surprising, because I weighed myself a couple days ago and was actually UP (and then cried and felt fat all day). Weird. Anyway, exercise minutes: 60. Candy bar eating: WAY more than 2. But I didn't even TRY on that one. But I always run out of candy by the end of Halloween night, since our house gets mobbed by Trick-or-Treaters. As in, I usually clean out the candy bowl and anything else I find stashed in the house. :) And then turn out the lights after we run out and hope we don't get egged! I actually had exactly the right number of pieces for the last group that came by (thankfully, because the last little alligator was adorable). Sorry, back on track. That means that we have no candy left in out house, so I should be good this week! The challenge this week? 10 deep breaths every morning. I will try my best. But I usually wake up to having an 11-month-old tossed on top of me, so I'm not sure how that's going to work! So, how did you do? Go over to the Sisterhood and check in!

Shrinkvivor Check In (Oct 26)

Okay, so it's time to check in again at the Sisterhood. And I'm gonna make this short and sweet. I got sent to Exile Island last week. Darn. But I'm still in this thing, so here's to making it count! Last week's mini-challenge was 64 ounces of water per day. No problem. This week? Only 2 mini candy bars and NO OTHER CANDY. Um, I can tell you right now that this is not going to happen. But I'll try. I logged in a measly 95 minutes of exercise last week, mostly walking the dogs. But I am trying, I promise. I am down 1/2 pound this week, so that's good. 1.8 pounds of baby weight left. Yay!

A Recipe for You: Lion's Head Meatballs

So, last week I posted my menu here. It included one of my very favorite recipes from the Rachel Ray cookbook 365: No Repeats. I've made this a million times. As I was cooking it again on Thursday, I decided that I should share my slightly-modified version with you. Because it is SO good. You're welcome.

Lion's Head Meatballs

(They are called this because you have large meatballs surrounded by a "mane" of cabbage.)

3/4 cup brown rice

1-4oz. can sliced shitake mushrooms

5-6 garlic cloves, finely chopped

1 pound ground beef

1/2 pound ground pork

1/4 cup soy sauce

1 egg, beaten

Black pepper

Corn starch

Canola oil

2 cups chicken broth

1 small head green cabbage, thickly shredded or chopped

Place rice in a pan along with 2 1/4 cups water. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat, cover and simmer for 40-ish minutes or until done.

Meanwhile, chop the canned mushrooms and place in large bowl. Add garlic, ground beef, ground pork, soy sauce, egg, black pepper to taste, and 2-3 Tbsp. of corn starch. Mix together. The mixture will be very sticky and wet.

Dump about 1/2 cup additional corn starch on a plate. Form meat mixture into large-ish meatballs for a total of 12-16 meatballs. Roll in the cornstarch to lightly coat.

Heat canola oil in a large stockpot. Add the meatballs and fry on all sides until deep golden brown. (Don't worry if the meatballs aren't cooked through - they will finish cooking later.) Remove meatballs and set aside.

Drain remaining oil from stock pot. Add broth to stock pot and scrape up any browned bits fromt he bottom of the pan. Bring broth to a boil. Add half the cabbage then place meatballs on top. Cover with the remaining cabbage. Place lid on pot, reduce heat to medium-low, and simmer 15-20 minutes or until cabbage is cooked down.

Serve meatballs, cabbage and broth on top of rice. Serves 4.

Menu Plan Your Butt Off (Oct 23)

So, it's time to menu plan over at the Sisterhood again. I know, how has another week gone by already? It's crazy. And my husband is going elk hunting this week, so my menu might not look as fabulous as normal, because cooking for 1 (okay 1 1/2- the baby doesn't eat as much as me!) isn't all that exciting.

• Sunday - Balsamic Glazed Pork with Lentils that I posted last week, but it didn't get made Saturday night as we went out to dinner with my in-laws instead
• Monday - Leftover Lion's Head Meatballs from last week (recipe to follow tomorrow)
• Tuesday - Pasta with Spinach, Bacon, and Lemony Ricotta from Rachel Ray's 365: No Repeats (You'll probably be seeing more recipes from this book. When I bought it, I tried a lot of the recipes. Then I got burnt out. Because I love Rachel Ray, but her stuff all starts sounding the same after awhile. And I love the recipes from Real Simple magazine which is the best magazine ever. And I make those a lot. But after awhile those all seem the same too. So, I'm switching back to the Rachel Ray cookbook a little, because there is no way I could have possibly tried all 365 recipes yet.)
• Wednesday - Leftover Balsamic Pork
• Thursday - Pasta (My husband made and froze extra fresh pasta when he was making homemade raviolis last week - I know you're jealous - so that I wouldn't starve this week. Yum!)
• Friday - Fall Minestrone from the above-mentioned cookbook. My mother-in-law is coming over to watch Sammy that day, so I can get my hair cut and then is staying the night, so we can take him to Boo at the Zoo the next day.
• Saturday - I have a Halloween party to go to, so I'll take an appetizer or salad with me.
  

Shrinkvivor Check-In (Oct 19)

Okay, so I missed blogging last week about Shrinkvivor over at the Sisterhood. I did check in, though. Last week I was up 0.2 pounds. This week I am exactly the same as last week. Boo. But I understand that if I don't up the exercise, I'm gonna continue to have problems. I had 80 minutes of exercise last week. I can't even remember how many minutes I had the week before that. As far as mini-challenges, the previous week's challenge was 7 hours of sleep per night. I think I did that. Of course, as far as sleep goes this week? Don't ask. Last week we were supposed to eat something green every day. Um, I think I failed miserable at that. Oh well. This next week we are supposed to get 64 oz. of water every day. I can do that. And we continue to log exercise minutes. And at least I am maintaining my weight. Now if I can just kick it in high gear, maybe I can lose the last of the baby weight before my baby turns 1 in a few weeks. Seriously, people, how has a year flown by already?

Menu Plan Your Butt Off (Oct 17)

It's time to menu plan over at the Sisterhood again. And just so you know, even if I don't post it here, I ALWAYS have a menu plan. I'm crazy like that. So, here goes for this week:

• Sunday - broiled salmon with peas and parmesan orzo
• Monday - date night/eating out
• Tuesday - chicken paprikash and veggies
• Wednesday - homemade ravioli and salad
• Thursday - leftovers
• Friday - lion's head meatballs from Rachel Ray's 365:No Repeats cookbook
• Saturday - balsamic glazed pork with lentils