Things that Weigh Fifty Pounds...

 A bulk bag of dog food.....

                                             A small bale of hay...

  

The average 1st grader...                                                                                 










                             A bag of concrete mix....

 The amount of weight 50 cent lost for his 2010 movie...

                                              This dog...

 A big bag of taters...                                                                         

I've lost 50 LBS!

Wow!  I can believe it.  It has not been easy but I know that I have people praying for me and that makes all the difference.  Over the last few weeks I have gotten a lot of compliments (that have been very nice to hear) and a midst all of those have been a very common question:  

"How are you doing it?" 

This is many times followed by a look of anticipation for what I may say next.  As if I may have found the magic formula.  Most of the time my answer consists of a shoulder shrug and a statement somewhere along the lines of "Eating less, exercising more". Which are both true but, we all know that it take so much more than that. Losing weight, esp a large amount, takes a lot of hard work and sacrifice. Making bad choices is inevitable and, it's my opinion, necessary. We women are so hard on ourselves to be perfect. To do things the right way, the first time, every time. However, I have good news....it's not gonna to happen!  You can't do it!

 When I started to think about writing this blog, I went through a list of things that I could share. Things like food, exercise, schedules, and all other types of information that I have come across. Tips that have worked for me in this process. But tips, tricks, how much exercise you should do, how much tofu you should eat, or how many times you should analyze your caloric intake, are not what you need. You don't need someone else telling you what you are doing wrong or why it's not working. What you need is hope and peace and

LOVE!

This may not be what you want to hear.  I know that for longest time I didn't.  As humans we want something we can DO and I for one, do not like being dependent on anyone else.  See, the key to weight loss or any struggle you are going through is Jesus.  Just like in everything else in our lives He has to come first in our weight loss.  Really, why wouldn't you want Him first?  He created the body that you are working so hard against.  He knows what is happening with your body.  Every calorie you intake, every pound of fat you burn, He knows!

"O Lord, you have searched me and known me! You know when I sit down and when I rise up.  You discern my thoughts from afar. You search out my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways.  Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O Lord, you know it altogether.  You hem me in, behind and before, and lay your hand upon me.  Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, it is high, I cannot attain it." --Psalm 139:1-6

How exciting is that?  He knows everything about you!  and then, if that weren't enough read this....

"Since the children share in flesh and blood, he himself also partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery." --Hebrews 2:14-15 

Now that is LOVE! He not only knows everything about you, knows your weaknesses but, He took on those same weaknesses so that we would no longer be a slave to them!
We must make Jesus the center of every aspect of our lives.  We must get into our bibles for that is where God speaks. God's world is alive and changes those who read with help from the Holy Spirit.  That is when change comes.  Lasting change that glorifies our creator God.

"Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead..."  --Phillipians 3:13

Might I Suggest....Grilling

 My Mom was recently blessed with a new house.  We had been living in a small turn-of-the-century house, that needed MUCH love and care that we just could not give.  So after a little over decade and a lot of growing up, we were able to move out.   Mom now lives in a beautiful clean home that she can really relax in and I feel good about her living in.  

Along with the new house, came other "little luxuries" that we were not able to get in the old house.  Other then having floors, my favorite has been having...a grill.  I love grilled food.  It is the best way to cook food.  Don't you think?   Though I have never been able to grill anything myself.

Grilling is slightly intimidating to me.  I don't know if it's the fire or the grill itself but for whatever reason I was hesitant to make anything by myself on the grill.  So after thinking on it I decided to start simple...hot dogs.  They are cheap, delicious when grilled, and most importantly, already cooked.  I didn't have to worry about ruined or under-cooked food while I was learning my way around the grill.  After trying out the grill the first time, I realized it was not and hard as I had made it out in my mind. So I decided to step it up and try hamburgers.  I figured this was slightly harder yet still safe choice since hamburgers are pretty hard to mess up any way.  The hamburgers turned out slightly over-cooked but none the less I really feeling confident about grilling and decided to step it up again.  This time I went for real meat.  My meat of choice:  Pork Chops.  Mainly because that is what we had in the fridge.

For this new endeavor I wanted to try a new flavor but still keep it simple just in case it did not go well.  I went to the Food Network and searched for a marinade and stumbled upon Sunny Anderson's (love her) Easy Grilled Pork Chops.  

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup honey
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
• 8 (1/2-inch) bone-in pork chops (about 3 ounces each)
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Directions
Begin by making the marinade. In a small bowl, whisk together the honey, oil, vinegar, cumin and red pepper flakes.
Sprinkle both sides of the pork chops with salt and pepper and place in a re-sealable plastic bag with the marinade. Let rest on the counter for 1 hour.
Heat a grill or grill pan over medium heat. Remove the pork chops from the bag and lightly sprinkle with salt and pepper. Place on the grill and cook until the pork chop releases from the grill, about 4 minutes. Flip and cook on the other side for another 3 minutes.

The marinade it sweet, spicy, and smoky.   Can't go wrong with cumin.

Make and leave.  Real Easy.

I pretty much followed this recipe to the T.

-

The only thing I had to tweak was the cook time since Anderon did not give a grill temperature.

These smelled so good on the grill. 

And then they were done....I hoped at least.  I resisted the urge to cut them open to make sure they were done.  That is a big "no-no" with meat because all that work you took in keeping the juices in is spoiled when you cut that meat before it is ready.  Don't cut the meat!  Be confident that you know what you are doing.

In the end, I had a beautiful plate that at least smelled good.

I would like to point out those awesome grill marks.

Served with a sweet potato

Now I know the suspense is killing you.   So I will just say these pork chops were delicious.

So grilling, like many things, was not as hard as I thought it would be.  For those of you who don't grill or are afraid to try...TRY IT!  It is so easy to get started, just start small with safe foods.  My next grilling adventure will be chicken.  I'll let you know how it goes.  (Though my next post may be about protecting yourself against salmonella.  haha)

Thank you God for the house the food and ALL Your MANY blessings!

Happy Grilling!

Might I suggest...

Common Sense Media

This is a site that I found a couple month ago and I have come to really rely on it.  It is a site that reviews everything media including movies, games, website, etc.  The site reviews media specifically for parents that want to make sure they know what their kids are seeing.

The reason I have some to trust this site over many others, is the detail with which the site writes its reviews.  Common Sense includes in their reviews what the movie is about and the age appropriateness like many others.  Though it also rates the degree of educational value, positive messages, positive role models, violence & scariness, sexy stuff, language, consumerism, and drugs & drinking.  Then with each individual rating it gives detailed explanations for those ratings.  Such as with language, they tell each of the words that were used in the movie.

I know that I don't have kids yet but I have found this site to be a great resource to steering clear of some questionable movies.  Ones that I would rather not see.

Common Sense Media, check it out!

Stuffed Peppers Recipe

Stuffed pepper served with mashed sweet potatoes

Created this Stuffed Peppers recipe tonight.  These  can be made vegetarian, with all kinds of veggies and the pepper stuffing can be frozen used later.  This does require a good bit of prep time with all the chopping and pre-cooking but all of it can be done as far in advance as you want.  Like I said it "freezes beautifully." It has lots of color and a variety of veggies that make for a healthy meal!

Stuffed Peppers

serves: 6-8   Cook Time: 1hr 15min

Ingredients

• 1 medium onion, finely chopped
• 2 Tbs. olive oil
• 2 ribs celery, finely chopped (about a 1/2 cup)
• 1 Tbs. ground cumin (mmmm)
• 2 cloves garlic, minced (2 tsp.)
• 1 10-oz. pkg. frozen chopped spinach, drained
• 2 15-oz. cans diced tomatoes, drained, but KEEP the liquid
• 1 15-oz. can black beans, rinsed and drained
• 1 cup Brown Rice (cooked) 
• 1 lb ground beef (browned) (can be any meet you want to use but it should be pre-cooked))
• 3 large carrots, grated (1 1/2 cups)
• 1/2 cups pepper Jack cheese
• 1 red bell pepper (I used red to add color.  Yellow would be great too. Presentation!)
• 6-8 large bell peppers (cored and de-ribbed)

Directions

1. Heat oil in saucepan over medium heat. Add onion, celery, and red pepper, and cook 5 minutes, or veggies begin to get soft. Add cumin and garlic, and saute for 1 minute. Stir in spinach and drained tomatoes. Cook 5 minutes, or until most of liquid has evaporated.
2. Stir in black beans, rice, carrots, and beef.  You can also add cheese to the stuffing, optional (this is not the 1/2 cup). Season with salt and pepper.
3. Preheat oven to 350°F. Pour liquid from tomatoes in bottom of baking dish.
4. Fill each bell pepper with heaping veggie mix, and place in baking dish. Cover tightly with foil, and bake 1 hour. Uncover, and sprinkle each pepper cheese. Bake 10-15 minutes more, or until tops of stuffed peppers are browned (Broiling is good too). Let stand 5 minutes. Enjoy!

Stuffed Peppers

 Any of the veggies can be taken out or substituted as desired.

PB&J Roll-ups

This is a really awesome snack or light lunch!

PB&J Roll-ups

1. Start with a flatbread of some sort.  I used whole wheat tortillas.

2. Spread Peanut Butter.  (I used a spatula)

3. Spread your preferred flavor of preserve.

4. Peel Banana and place it in the center or the wrap.  I split mine to make the straiter

5. ROLL!

One note is that it does not take as much preserves and I thought.

Just a little TWIST to a classic!

I love to read comics.  Especially the ones that have been around for a while like Peanuts and Garfeild.  One of my favorites in Calvin and Hobbes.  It is such a simple humor that never gets old.  Though I think that one thing that makes Calvin and Hobbes so funny is that it is so easy to forget that Calvin is the only one that can see Hobbes!  The strips are funny just with the jokes but when you remember Hobbes is imaginary....it is even more funny.

This edition from the sunday paper is a classic example:



Love

Review: Tithing By Douglas Leblanc

I recently the book Tithing by Douglas Leblanc.  It is a book that has multiple stories in it about how tithing has effecting different people.  I started this book to see what the author had to say about a subject that is so fundamental to my christian faith.
Unfortunately I found the book to be a bit dull.  I did not see how many of the stories connected to each other.  Even grater disappointment though was the lack of ties to biblical and theological truths about tithing.  In my opinion these are imperative when writing about any such subject.
I did like the narrative approach that Leblanc took with the book but I think that the follow through was a bit lacking.

I give this book 2 out of 5 stars.

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