2016 coming to an end time to plan for 2017

Well as 2016 is coming to and end it is time to start planning forward to the year to come and all of the new things tha it will bring. This year has been yet another yo-yoing year with the weight loss so it is time to work on changing that.

So a little back story about me. See I have pcos which has several side effects and one of those is making it harder for me to lose weight. I started trying to lose weight in 2012 which was 2 years after our youngest was born and I knew that we were done having kids. Well after 4 kids,  the miscarriages and the etopic pregnancy I had gained just over 100 pounds. When I got married I weighed 145 and after the kids I was at 245. I decided to start losing weight in 2012  and for a while I was doing great. I was doing really great with it.  I did great until I decided to give up smoking when I was down to 175 well after I quit the weight started coming back. Let the yo-yoing begin.

It is hard to lose weight when you get on that scale each Monday and it shows a gain even after working your tail off all week. It is really hard to stay positive and want to keep going. I started to give up and I tried off and on until Feburary 2015 to lose the weight until I got sick. After a brief hospital stay and surgery I came home to recover and I lost it. I lost the desire to work out to keep trying when all it did was lead to failure time and time again. It was easier to just not try.

Well not trying will never get me anywhere. While I have the most supportive husband one can ask for who tells me all the time that he loves me and that he didn't marry me based on my size and that no matter what size I am, how red or acne filled (yes more side effects) my face gets that he will always love me.

While he may be ok and love me as I am I am not ok with it. I don't like how I look and while I am willing to accept that I may never lose a bunch of weight I want to be healthy. I know that pcos can lead to some nasty health issues as life goes on and honestly I don't want my family to have to deal with those. So all of that being said I want to start working on losing some weight or at least making the insides of me healthier if the outsides never change.

So starting in 2017 I want to start working on making me healthier and plan to start easy. I am thinking of starting and ending my day with 25 squats and using potty breaks to do 25 squats each time too. Then because of my weight nothing to crazy just doing simple walking. Time to break ok the walking dvds and just start. Also I am thinking of trying to start following a diet plan that cuts out sugar. Not sure what it is called but that is ok. It is only the 8th so I have over half a month to work on finding recipes and meal plans.

Time to work on getting healthier in 2017. Good luck to everyone who is trying to start the new year to change how they are living and working on making themselves better.

Cheesey ham and hashbrown casserole

This is a quick and easy recipe. I love to make this after having a big ham or just some leftover ham from a previous meal. It is quick and easy and oh so yummy.

Ok so here is everything you need except I forgot to take a picture of the ham, tomatos and seasonings. lol

So here is the easy part you just put the hash browns (still frozen) in the bottom of a casserole dish

Then just open and dump everything else into a bowl and mix it up. Doesn't look good here but it will look better and tastes so good. I do add eggs also. I put 6 eggs but u could do more or less if you choose. I also add a little salt, peper, and garlic powder but again with the seasonings you can do it to your tastes.

Now just dump it all ontop of the potatoes and bake in the oven at 350 degrees for around 30 minutes or until it  is set and warm.

 
Now just dish it up and eat as is or add some salsa and/or sour cream.

Crunchwraps

So we used to eat out more before we had 4 kids and we used to love going to Taco bell and getting crunchwraps. Well now it is to expensive so I just make a version at home. So here we go....

So we need cooked ground meat, taco seasoning (prepackaged or homemade), refried beans, shredded cheese, cheese sauce  (optional), large burrito size torillas, corn tostadas, beans and corn miture and then toppings of choice.

Step 1. smear some refried beans on the middle of the tortilla and a little cheese sauce..

Step 2.  Put on the bean/corn and meat mixture and sprinkle with shredded cheese. 

Step 3. Place on a tosta shell

Step 4. Fold the buritos shell

Step 5. Place on griddle brown the folded side then flip and brown other side.

Step 6. Serve and eat

Not the normal Banana muffins or Bread

So we have all looked and seen basically the same recipes for banana nut muffins or bread. There is usually very little change to the recipe and well I decided I didn't like that idea so I decided to change it up a bit. So I made one and have made regular sized muffins, mini muffins, jumbo muffins, shaped muffins and loafs of bread. The only thing that varied from one to the next was baking times the batter is always the same.

 

So this is how I made mine....I started with all of the wet stuff in the mixer. ( I goofed and added the sugar at this point too)

Mix all of that 

Then add all the dry ingredients at once.

Just mix it all up and then your ready to go.

Put into your prepared pans. I did these jumbo pans....

and these shaped  but they are the size of a standard muffin...

and we did some mini muffins too...

Then just let them bake...

And then out to cool

oh and I made a few loaves also. 

One set of the batter will not produce all of these. This was the recipe multiplied. lol The regular recipe should give you roughly 12 muffins of standard size, 6 large or jumbo muffins or 1 loaf.

So on to the recipe. This has several optional items also....

3 large bananas
1/4 cup pumpkin or 2 eggs
1/3 cup butter (I have done melted and non melted and both worked)
3/4 cup sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp pumpkin pie spice or check the *** below

So here r the optional things

If you want to add salt 1/2 tsp (I do not add it and they are fine.)
1/2 cup chopped nuts
2 Tbsp flax seeds
3/4 cup quick oats plus a little for the top
chocolate. I put batter in half way ad some chocolate then more batter to give a chocolate layer in the middle.

***
If you don't have pumpkin pie spice you can mix cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg, cloves for the same taste. I add the pie spice and then some extra cinnamon and all spice

Also you can replace some of the flour with wheat flour with no issue.

Bake at 350 degrees until golden brown. I won't give you times since depending which your making and how your oven bakes times can be different.

Repaint of our patio table

So we normally just repaint this black each year but this time we decided to go a little brighter with some things in our life. So here it is.....

This is the table in pieces ready to be painted

time to prime it and turn it white

Then multiple coats of color  later

Yes I painted the porch too but we plan to work on redoing it in the spring and the paint wears off or it has where I did the small tables. 

Porch end tables new look

So I have decided that I wanted to change the looks of a pair of tables that are kinda old and blah that sit on our front porch. We no longer have the hand rails on the porch blocking the view so now things will be more visible so I thought I would add some color.

Here is what they looked like before. 

Then I took computer paper and covered the glass by slipping it under the edge of the metal.

Then I needed to prime them with just 1 coat of a while spray primer. 

Then it was on to the neon colors. This is 2 coats of neon color. I know it might look odd having 1 of each now but I think in the end when it all come together it will be nice.

Boston butt leftovers with biscuits modified

Ok so time to finish up the left over boston butt we cooked. How you might ask well tonight the meat isn't the star of the show. Its the bread and potatoes.

So these are the biscuits that I made the other night to go with the boston butt leftover casserole but I changed things up a bit.

Modified biscuit recipe since I doubled and tried other ways

4 2/3 c all purpose flour

2 tbsp baking powder

1/4-1/2 tsp salt (i used less)

6 Tbsp sugar 

2 sticks (1 cup) frozen butter (I used 1 cup plopped in by a knife since I didn't have frozen)

2 2/3 c buttermilk (or 2 2/3 cup milk with a little vinegar)   (I didn't have buttermilk or enough regular milk so I used  1 1/3 cup canned evaporated milk and 1 1/3 cup water)

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Mix all dry in a bowl with a spoon. Grate your frozen butter into dry mixture and mix around until butter is all coated. Then add buttermilk and mix.  I had to add roughly another 1/4 cup of flour to get it to not be as wet. I decided not to make biscuits but to just pour it all into the casserole dish and bake. Bake for 25 minutes. Near the end of that melt about a tablespoon of butter in the microwave for 30 seconds to melt. pull biscuits out and baste with butter then bake another 5 minutes.  When they come out I cut transferred to a different platter and then cut them. They did kinda want to fall apart some but that was ok for us. 

***I also added about 2 tablespoons of garlic powder, a handful of fresh chives, and a handful of cheddar cheese***

On to the other star the potatoes. I started with a bag of white potatoes because that is what I had.

I wrapped each in foil and made baked potatoes.

After you get the baked potatoes the fun starts. You want to cut them in half and hollow them out.

Now in the bowl that has the insides I added cheese, bacon, chives, butter, garlic powder, salt and pepper.

Smashed it all like making masked potatoes without any milk.

Now lets put those potatoes into a casserole dish and fill them with that mixture.

I baked them on 350 degrees until warmed and then broiled them for a few minutes.

Now for the meat. It was super easy. I just  shredded the meat, then drizzled some honey mustard bbq sauce and some tangy bacon catalina onto it. I covered the casserole dish with foil and heated it in the oven beside the potatoes. 

Once it comes out mix it up and ready to eat.  Just add sour cream to potato.