Brookie!!

I am in an experimental mood lately! Tonight I made a brownie/cookie combo and it was lovely! I stopped ordering the brownies a long time ago because they have coffee in them and in my faith we refrain from drinking coffee. So I was craving chocolate tonight and this really hit the spot! Tip: I have discovered that most everything cooks better in a ramekin dish rather than the provided trays.

Brookies

1 pack Medifast chocolate chip cookie bake
1/2 t vanilla
1 t cocoa
1/2 packet truvia
2 T cold water

Blend well and place on a ramekin or a mug. Microwave for 70-90 seconds.

Enjoy!

Stroke of Medifast GENIUS!

I did a lot of research yesterday about different ways to get creative with my meals.  I saw a video on YouTube that inspired me and here is what I came up with!!  I hope you love it as much as I do!

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cake

(Medifast)

1 pack each of Chocolate Chip Cookie Bake and Spice Pancakes 

1/4 t baking soda

1/2 packet Truvia

1/2 t pumpkin pie spice 

1/4 t Cinnamon

1 T sugar free Caramel Flavor Syrup(optional)

1/4 c + 2 T COLD water(or +1T if you use syrup)

Blend together in a bowl with a wire whisk

Divide into equal parts 

pour into provided trays

microwave the one you intend to use right away for about 1 min 5 seconds

put the other one in the fridge. 

the refridgerated one will need to cook for longer.  Mine took about 90 seconds.  Keep an eye on it and once it is done rising in the dish, it should be close to done.  Microwave ovens vary, so just watch it.  You don't want to over cook it!

Enjoy!!

Things I loved to eat today!

One of my biggest faults during my 5&1 stage is that I kind of just eat to survive.  I stop getting creative with the lean and green meals and just eat the right portions of meat and veggies without actually making anything anyone else in my house would want to eat.  This causes a few problems.  1) I get bored and stop looking forward to that one "real" meal per day. 2) I end up cooking two separate meals for me and for my family. 3) My husband sometimes is on his own when I don't want to cook twice in one night!  So, today I spent some time online getting inspired and I found some amazing sites with some really creative recipes.  But for tonight I had to come up with something out of the ingredients I had on hand.  I came up with this recipe and I thought it turned out great!  I have been experimenting with kale after reading THIS article. So I added some to the mix!!  Obviously if you are not on the medifast program, you would want to change a few things like using a ground turkey with a higher fat content and maybe using pre made marinara if you are short on time.  For my family I added some whole wheat noodles and they loved it!

   I hope you enjoy!!

Green Meatballs

1lb extra lean ground turkey

3 leaves of kale with the spines cut out

1 t garlic salt

2 t onion powder

(I din't have any real onion, but you could also do that)

1 T Mrs. Dash Tomato Basil Garlic seasoning

1 t salt

3 t olive oil

(since you get 2 fat servings for using extra lean turkey, I used one of those to add some healthy fat to the meatballs)

Run the kale through your blender or food processor until it is finely chopped

Add kale, turkey, oil and spices in a bowl and mix with your hands

shape into about 18 balls and place on a lightly greased cookie sheet

bake for about 15-20 mins at 350 degrees

(I cooked mine the full 20 and they were a touch overdone.  Since these are green, it was hard to tell.  I would check them at 15 mins)

Serving for Medifast users is 7 oz cooked meatballs=about 7

Marinara sauce

1 can whole tomato

(I used canned because I didn't have fresh)

1 can tomato sauce

1 T Mrs. Dash Tomato Basil Garlic seasoning

1 t garlic powder

2 t onion powder

1 t salt

Stir all ingredients together and bring to a boil.  Cover and let simmer for about 30 mins.  

1/4 cup per serving for Medifast users= 1 green

I served mine with a few black olives chopped up and sprinkled over the balls and sauce and about 1 cup of broiled asparagus.  It was delicious!  

ENJOY

{A}

So NOT worth it!

Say whaaaaa?  What could she mean??  What is so NOT worth it?  I'll tell you...CHEATING!!!  I went home to Idaho for Thanksgiving and for the first couple of days I did really well.  I stayed on plan for every meal except dinner and even then I ate a lot less than I normally would.  I was feeling really good until the actual Thanksgiving feast. I don't know what came over me, but I kind of lost it.  It wasn't that I went overboard so much at that one meal, but the little bit I cheated at that meal opened the flood gates and the rest of my trip was downhill from there.  I always think it will be so wonderful to eat whatever I want and that I will totally enjoy it.  WRONG!  I always feel so guilty while I am cheating that it takes all the fun out of the experience.  So, after 4 days of eating whatever sounded good, I came home and promptly got back on plan.  I didn't weigh when I got home because I didn't want to feel even worse.  I do know this.  I am only 1 more pound down from my first week making a grand total of 7 pounds in 18 days.  The first time I did medifast I lost 9 pounds the first week.  So, obviously that little "bender" was SO NOT worth it.  In some ways I guess it was good for me to see just how much my actions effect this process and that I need to follow the rules or I won't see success.  So, tonight I am experimenting with something I am hoping is delicious!  If it is, I will share it asap!  Hope you all have a wonderful night, and know this...you get out what you put in...you reap what you sew...you are what you eat!!!