Inspiration

Lately I have been feeling out of sorts. Struggling might be the better term. I'm struggling with everything. Especially with eating and cooking healthy. My husband and I are trying to get our mobile home ready to put up for sale. It has been a slow process due to working full time and trying to still have a life. I was in a car accident over 5 weeks ago and I still don't know what's going on with that. I have been yoyoing terribly on my diet. And I miss my mom. So yeah, I'm struggling.

At Walmart the other day I saw a Woman's World magazine that said She Lost 235 pounds eating "junk food" and it caught my eye. I bought it. The woman on the cover lost the weight by following recipes by Hungry Girl. I have seen Hungry Girl cookbooks at the library but I think I have passed them by because they don't have a lot of pictures. I'm a cookbook snob. I like lots of pictures in my cookbooks. I requested all four of her books and got one in today. I want to make like every single recipe in the cookbook. The pictures that are in it look delicious. I feel inspired to try and take better care of myself.

Will and I started walking today. It was nice. We took our dog Sophie for a walk and she enjoyed it as well. We could have done without the guy who came out of his trailer to ask us if we were bleeping told the bleeping rules when we bleeping moved into the park about dogs. Sophie was sniffing his grass but she didn't pee on it or poo so I'm not sure what his problem was. And I had a bag to pick up any poo. He was just a total jerk. And I wish I would have had Sophie's diaper on her so I could I have told him that my dog doesn't go potty in yards. He just made me angry. We will just avoid his trailer from now on. Problem solved.

Congrats to the Class of 2011!

My Godmother's grandson graduated from Hobart High School on Thursday. Two hours sitting on bleachers is not fun. But the ceremony was beautiful and at the end the seniors put on a surprise dance to Black Eyed Peas, I Gotta Feeling. The dance was a gift to their parents and it was really cool. Going to graduation brought back memories of mine eleven years ago. I can't believe I have been out of school for that long.

To honor Anthony and some other graduates I know I created a cake ball graduate. The cap is made out of chocolate with a sour straw tassel and a snow cap to keep it on. The head is a cake ball dipped in chocolate with candy eyes. And the base is a sugar cone stuffed with cake and dipped in purple chocolate melts since Hobart's colors are Purple and Gold. I thought they turned out really cute. My Godmother thought so too. She wants me to make some for his party. If I remember I'll take step by step photos so I can post on here later.

Congratulations to Anthony, Colleen, Ellen, Erica, Jacqueline, Josh, and Zac. I knew a few graduates this year since some of them have worked at the library. I recognized a lot of the kids that have been coming into the library for years. That was nice.

Chicken Shish Kabob

Shish Kabob is so good especially on the grill. My cousin Kim makes amazing shish kabob. While mine was great I think hers might be better. I'm so happy grilling season is under way. I think everything tastes better on the grill.

Chicken Shish Kabob
a Lacey creation

Each chicken breast with marinade and veggies was 7 WW points. Points can vary depending on the size of the breast.

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2 chicken breasts
1/4 cup olive oil
1 lime, juiced
1 tablespoon Roasted Garlic Seasoning, or any seasoning you want
Green Pepper, cut into chunks
Purple Onion, cut into chunks
Mushrooms would have been great if I would have remembered them or any other veggie that will hold up to the grill
Wooden Skewers, soaked in water for 15 to 30 minutes

The night before place the chicken breasts into a zip lock bag with the olive oil, lime juice, and seasoning. Mush around to get the seasoning all over the chicken.

Remove chicken from the marinade and discard remaining marinade. Cut up each chicken breast into medium size chunks. For Will's kabob I just did meat. I was able to fit his whole cut up chicken breast onto one skewer. He's not into veggies. For my kabobs I alternated chicken, green pepper, and onion. I was able to make two skewers with my chicken breast and veggies. I made a separate kabob with just veggies. Cook on the grill until the chicken is cooked through.


I made an easy side. I took a can of new potatoes and drained off the water. I took a can of corn and drained off the water. I took two pieces of foil and divided the potatoes and corn between the two foil pieces. I liberally sprayed them with I Can't Believe It's Not Butter spray or you can use real butter and sprinkled with garlic salt. I wrapped the foil packets up and threw them on the grill to cook while the kabobs did. Very good!

Bacon and Scrambled Egg Pancakes

Who doesn't love pancakes, eggs, and bacon? McDonald's even has a McGriddle sandwich. Which is quite tasty. I decided to put bacon and scrambled eggs in the pancake batter. I think it turned out really good. They are very hearty. I scrambled up the eggs and cooked the bacon in the oven before putting them in the batter. You can see the bacon peaking out of the pancake. Serve with syrup and more bacon if you are a bacon lover like my husband.




This is what the pancakes looked like while cooking.

Bacon and Scrambled Egg Pancakes
a Lacey original

6 servings, 6 WW points per serving

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2 cups Heart Healthy Bisquick
1 egg whites
1 cup water
4 eggs, scrambled
4 slices turkey bacon, cooked and cut up

In a bowl combine the Bisquick, egg whites, and water. Then add in the scrambled eggs and cut up turkey bacon. Heat a skillet and spray liberally with cooking spray. Pour batter in the skillet by the 1/2 cup fulls or 1/4 cup fulls if you want smaller pancakes. Cook until edges are dry and flip and cook on the other side until golden brown.

Greek Style Turkey Burgers

Yes, that is a big bite taken out of that burger. I was hungry and I couldn't wait to take a picture before trying it. I thought they turned out really good. Will did not enjoy them as much as I did. Will probably would have liked them better if they had some grease and were made with beef. I use the really lean turkey so it's not fatty at all. I admit that these would have been even better with a bit of fat but I didn't want to spend the extra points. These turkey burgers have feta, oregano, and Greek yogurt in them. Yummy.



Greek Style Turkey Burgers
taken from Diabetic Livings Quick and Easy Meals Cookbook

4 servings, 4 WW points per burger w/o bun

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1/3 cup plain breadcrumbs
1 egg white
1 tablespoon plain low fat yogurt
1 teaspoon oregano
1/3 cup crumbled reduced fat feta cheese
1 lb ground turkey
pepper
4 light hamburger buns

In a bowl mix together the bread crumbs, egg white, yogurt, oregano, 1 tablespoon feta cheese, turkey, and pepper. Shape into four patties. Cook on grill or in a skillet until cooked through. Serve on hamburger buns with onion, tomato, and more feta cheese.