Cutting out the Carbs May 16, 2013

A couple of months ago, I had a meltdown.  Ladies, you know what I mean.  One of those moments when you catch a glimpse of yourself in the mirror at home or at the store, or your reflection in a window, and you just cringe.  You don’t like what you see.  It happens to girls of all shapes, sizes, and ages.  Since I knew we were going to be in Cancun on vacation at the beginning of May, I decided it was time to really hunker down and do something about it!  We don’t eat unhealthy, but sometimes I let my cravings and portions get the best of me.  So here’s what I did to shape up:

• I exercised at least 4 times a week.  I alternated from going to the gym to do light & toning weight-work, doing cardio, taking Crossfit tips from Jonathan and doing some high-intensity at home workouts, and doing things I love like swimming and biking with friends, because those count as work outs too (working out doesn’t always have to suck).
• I stopped drinking on weekdays.  This makes me sound like an alcoholic, I know.  What I mean is, particularly at the end of the school year when stress levels were high, I was having a glass of wine or a beer with dinner almost every night.  I didn’t really need that, but I knew I’d still want to have a social cocktail on weekends, so I compromised with drinking something that still had flavor but no calories with dinner (like LaCroix sparkling water).
• I started drinking more water.  I would take 2 water bottles with me to work instead of my usual 1 to make sure I was drinking both by the end of the day (it’s too hard to monitor if I refill one or not, so now that I’m more used to having lots of water in my daily life, I could probably drop down to 1, but when I started this thing I wanted to make it as easy as possible so I couldn’t make any excuses!).  I also drank a cup or two of tea at night, and kept some of those flavor packets in my purse to make plain old water more enticing (I reallly like the Crystal light lemonade ones).
• Jonathan and I ate low-carbs.  At first this one sounded really daunting to me.  It’s not like I eat a lot of breads or pastas, but cutting down always sounds scary.  We bought low carb, high-fiber wraps for sandwiches instead of bread (again, trying not to stray too much from regular routine to keep it easy for myself to stay on track), and cut out white grain anything at dinners.  Through this journey, I discovered I adore spaghetti squash (who needs pasta when this is just like eating al dente angel hair and remains cost-efficient?).  I also discovered that it’s a lot easier to eat low carbs and lots of veggies when you make it as convenient as possible.  Once or twice a week I would spend half an hour cutting up all of the veggies we needed for our next few dinners we planned to cook.  That way, I only dirtied the cutting board once and had bags of veggies on hand for each meal.  This part made it a lot easier, especially after coming home from a long day at work and not wanting to have to try too hard to stay on track and eat right.
  Here are two of my favorite and super easy low-carb dishes to make…

Spaghetti Squash Bake

You will need:

• one large spaghetti squash
• goat cheese crumbles (as much or as little as you like)
• low-carb tomato sauce
• 1 tsp. onion powder
• 1 tbsp. oregano (fresh or dry, whatever you have)
• salt and pepper to taste

Boil your spaghetti squash in a pot big enough to cover the squash in water until you can easily poke it with a fork (30 minutes-ish depending on how big your squash is).  When it’s done, cut it, de-seed it, and fork out the insides into a bowl.  Mix in all of your other ingredients, put it in a casserole dish and bake it (I do mine at 375 for 20 minutes to melt the goat cheese into the squash).  Super easy, yummy, and seriously, just like a spaghetti bake!

Julienne Casserole

You will need:

• 3 large chicken breasts, cooked (I bake ours in parchment paper with a little EVOO and lemon juice to keep it light) and sliced thin
• 2 zucchinis, julienned thin
• 2 yellow squashes, julienned thin
• 1 onion, chopped
• salt, pepper, and Lowry’s to taste
• shredded parmesan, to taste

Sautee the onion and spread the pieces onto the bottom of a greased casserole dish.  Layer your chicken, zucchini, and squash slices in rows on top of the onion layer until your casserole dish is full.   Sprinkle salt, pepper, and Lowry’s as desired on top.  If you want, you can put some parmesan cheese on top of it all, too (since this dish is low-carb and low-fat, I don’t feel guilty sprinkling some on).  Bake it at 400 for 25-30 minutes, until your cheese is melty and getting a little golden brown.  I serve this over a small bed of brown rice.

I’m not claiming to be a low-carb or healthy cooking genius, but if you’re feeling like your body needs a change these are a few easy things to try.  Overall I’d say my plan worked, I shed about 5 pounds and felt super toned and confident on the beach in Cancun!  That’s all I really wanted, to be happy with my body in a swimsuit or shorts so I’d say mission accomplished!

Wedding Update – 5 Months Countdown! May 15, 2013

This last week the get-er-done list for the wedding sped up. Here’s the update since my last wedding update post:

• Designed and started work on our invitations

  • All paper purchased minus the matting…I’m waiting for a JoAnn’s sale

  • Calligrapher booked and envelops dropped off for scripting!

  • Made a decision on the how to close the pocketfold…and I’m not telling until later!

  • We even have a mock-up completed!

• Centerpiece prototype dropped off to florist. See below for the sneak peak…it won’t be exactly the same as at the wedding so that why I’m ok showing it Thanks to Matt for building the prototype! We’re going up in three weeks to the Northwoods to cut down the tree!

  

  Our centerpiece prototype!

• Completed our registries – Amazon, Crate and Barrel and REI.

• Started work on our website. Domain name bought now we just have some design tweaking and filling it up with content. No sweat!

• Still need to finalize our wedding bands…good thing we’ve got the hook up in that department!

• Placed orders for the bridesmaid dresses, flower girl dresses, guys ties and picked out the guys tuxedos.

• Set an appointment to meet with a local musician for our ceremony music…and started selecting music for the reception.

• Booked a hair and makeup artist for the ladies.

• And we have so many appointments to look forward too!

  • Cake appointment

  • Tasting appointment at our reception location

We just tying up some loose ends like making our ring box for the ceremony, figuring out gifts for the bridal party and a few scheduling items. Not too bad. It’s funny, I felt like right after we got engaged we were go-go-go with the wedding. Then we had a bit of a down time in the fall/winter and now it’s picking back up. The most important thing is Matt and I are having fun with it. Talking through our different options and seeing how we can incorporate our tastes and styles. Oh, and getting just a little excited too. Stay tuned for the next update…maybe I’ll even do more sneak peaks of some of the items I mentioned above!

Portabella Mushroom Cap Pizza May 14, 2013

I don’t know what it is with me this month, but I’ve been trying lots of new recipes.  Perhaps it’s the fact that it’s finally warm around here and the Farmer’s Markets are opening.  There are always so many vegetables I would never buy at the grocery store that seem much more appealing at the market.   The latest recipe I tried was pizza on a portabella mushroom.  Gasp! No crust!  Believe me you won’t miss it.  Mushrooms are very hardy and more than make up for the missing bread.  Below are all the steps I took along with photos of most every step- I’m a visual learner myself so I always try to take pictures along the way.

Ingredients:

Portabella mushrooms
Pizza sauce
Toppings of your choice {I used Tomatoes, green onion, kielbasa sausage}
Cheese of your choice- sliced or shredded { I used provolone cheese slices}
Oven set to 375°F

First things first.  You need to remove the stem and gills from the mushrooms.  Gills are the thin papery like pieces on the underside of the mushroom.  You can leave them there, but they get mushy when you cook them.   I would recommend using a large spoon and scrap the gills off the mushroom while holding it above a garbage can.  It can get a bit messy.  Also be gentle because you can break the mushroom itself if you are too rough and then it will be harder to use for the pizza.

Now place the degilled {yes I made that word up} mushrooms on a baking sheet lined with foil and sprayed with cooking spray.  You can now add however much sauce you’d like to the top.

Once the sauce is in place, go to town adding all the toppings you’d like to your pizza.  I did tomatoes:

Green Onions:

And Kielbasa sausage {not a traditional topping, but it’s what was in my fridge.  It turned out pretty good!}:

Then I added a slice of provolone cheese.  I find slices give much more coverage and are less messy than shredded cheese.  Plus they work perfectly for a mushroom because they are both round.  You can use whatever you like best.

Sorry its so blurry, its the only cheese picture I took

Throw these in the oven for 20-25 minutes and your dinner is ready!

Detroit to Boston, 84 Boxes At Least May 8, 2013

This weekend was a blur. It started off immediately with me hitting 290 at Friday rush hour. Not a good start. Things cleared up after about an hour, but by that time I was only by U.S. Cellular Field and I was planning on getting to Royal Oak, Michigan by 9:30 my time. Not good. Then I hit a freak thunderstorm on 94 in Indiana. Combined with a heavy rain, thunder, and lightning, a rock hit my windshield. At first I didn’t really notice it. Then something started to crawl across the glass. My first thought was it was just a bug that splattered. To test my theory, I washed the windshield. Unfortunately it wasn’t bug guts; it was a crack in the glass.

Luckily I didn’t have any more mishaps on my way to Michigan. I made it safely and only thirty minutes late. Which was a very good thing since the next day we were up at 7:15…which is 6:15 Chicago time. Why so early? Well it was moving day for Jill. She had packed most of her 84 boxes ahead of time and now it was just a matter of assisting her movers with fitting everything into her pod. Fortunately, everything went very smoothly. We were all done just a little after noon. Not too shabby for a two bedroom apartment! But, it was mostly due to Jill’s incredible organizational skills.

Boxes in the Living Room

2nd Bedroom With Boxes

2nd Bedroom All Empty!

 

 

After the move, we decided to reward ourselves and hit the outlet mall by her mom’s house. (But not before I called my insurance to set up a mobile replacement for my windshield when I got back to Chicago. And let me say, you are in good hands with All-State!) We both found some great deals at the Banana Republic Outlet, Nine West and of course our personal favorite, the Pepperidge Farm Outlet. Gotta stock up on goldfish when you have the chance! After shopping we went back to her parents’ house to have dinner and relax. Shockingly, we all fell asleep on the couch around 10:30. I wonder why!

The next day we took it easy. I was able to do some grading and work while Jill baked cupcakes. In the afternoon a few of Jill’s family members came over to her parents for a going away BBQ. It was the perfect afternoon catching up, eating good food and being outside. It doesn’t hurt that Jill’s mom and step-dad have a beautiful lake house.

But before I knew it, it was time to hit the road again. Fortunately for me, the crack in the windshield only grew about four inches. The ride home was a little less eventful than the ride up. The only exciting part was exiting the freeway for about 15 miles due to a major accident….once again adding another 30 minutes onto my drive home. Oh well. I made it safely and today, my windshield got replaced for free! Thanks insurance!

The only real downside to the weekend was saying good-byeish to Jill. Since college we have seen each other at least once a month. Now, she’s moving to Boston and neither of us can afford monthly visits. But I think we found a compromise with quarterly ones. Leave it to Jill to have a plan! Hopefully next week will be a little calmer. Cross your fingers for me!

Kel’s Favorite Apps May 7, 2013

When I first got an iPhone I was all into researching applications to download for my phone.  After  awhile my excitement waned and I just stuck to my tried but true apps.  Instagram being the main one.  I check that one a lot {and get upset when people don’t post frequently enough}.   I believe all the apps I am listing here are free and available on other types of phones and some are also available on a regular computer and don’t have to be used on a mobile device.  Hope you find some of them interesting and useful!

Appsfire
Not too long ago I heard about an application called Appsfire from my aunt.  She said there was a free app of the day and ratings on other popular applications for your phone.  It was a free app itself so I downloaded it right away.  Every couple of days I’ll look at it to see what the featured app is, but honestly I never download the featured one for that day.  What I like to look through is the lists.  They have a list of the apps with the highest scores, the website’s favorite apps, productivity apps, photo apps, the list goes on.  Each app is rated between 1-100.  The higher the number the higher the rating is.  Out of the four apps I’m recommending below, three of them I got from Appsfire.  Okay I’m getting sick of the word ‘app’ so I’m going to move on to the descriptions of my four current favorites:

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Airendipity
Here is what they have to say on their website: ‘Take a secret, confession, or thought and fold it into a paper airplane. Follow your airplane as it makes its way around the globe. See thoughts and secrets from around the world and safely share your own. No logins, no email address, no personal information.’

I like this app because it is anonymous and you can track where in the world it’s being read.  There is also feedback through people’s comments and hearts.  I have fun ‘catching’ airplanes and reading people’s random thoughts.  I also enjoy the way you flick the screen to send off airplanes.  Makes it more interactive which in turn makes me come back more often.

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Yard Sale Mapper
Here is what they have to say on their website: ‘Yard Sale Mapper is the original Yard Sale mapping companion for IOS, making it easier to find yard sales near you!  Yard Sale Mapper is an app for accessing craigslist on mobile devices. View sales in map or list format, read sale details, get directions, view street view of the sale site, create a route, add sales from other sources, and more!’

Whenever I am out and about and see a garage sale, it reminds me that I’d like to see a few more garage sales.  This app is perfect for those times and will even give you the best route to cover the most sales using the least mileage.

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Red Stamp- Here is what they have to say on their website: ‘Red Stamp is YOUR modern day social secretary. From sharing fun photos to fabulously social invites to birthday wishes to wishes of wellness, let us help you elevate each and every correspondence, every day.’

Some of you may have noticed I’ve posted pictures of projects or recipes using this app before.  I love it because they have super fun templates with different themes and they make it very simple to use the photos already on your phone.  I’ve never ordered a card or invite from them, but Sarah has sent cards using it.  In fact it was after receiving a card from her that I Googled ‘Red Stamp’ and I downloaded the app after seeing what it was all about.

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Coupon Sherpa- Here is what they have to say on their website: ‘Say goodbye to cutting and clipping coupons forever. The Coupon Sherpa app for the iPhone and Android devices puts the money-saving power of 100+ mobile coupons right in your pocket. Find offers for nearby stores, select the coupons you want to use and the cashier will scan them directly from your smartphone.’

I cannot add up how much money this app has saved me!  I am the type of shopper that has trouble buying something if I know there is a coupon and I just don’t have it with me.  I always try and keep unexpired coupons in my purse, but I just don’t do well with this.  I always have the coupons on Coupon Sherpa with me because I always have my phone with me!  A lot of stores I shop at except these electronic coupons and so it is very convenient as well.  I have successfully used coupons at Hobby Lobby, Michaels, JoAnn’s, and Kohl’s just to name a few.

 

 

*Note*- I was not compensated in any way for this post.  Even though I’m singing the praises of these apps, it’s honestly just because I find these very useful and wanted to share them with others!

May Flowers! May 6, 2013

(10) Plant my garden (and flowerboxes)

I crossed another thing off my list of 28 goals for 2013! Hurray!

When Eric and I first bought our house, it looked like a jungle outside. There were random bushes and trees everywhere that were unkept, half dead or overgrown. We spent an entire weekend last year tearing almost everything out, cutting off dead limbs and creating a blank canvas so we could do our own thing with the yard. Unfortunately, it got too late in the year to do much else, so we waited.

 

Clean Slate

 

Nothing but the perennials

Now THIS year, I got to plant my garden. Before buying my plants though, I had to do some research. We have a lot of wildlife in Barrington: DEER, rabbits, squirrels, raccoons, fox, etc. and each of these animals have their favorite plants they like to eat, so I had to spend a lot of time researching what I wanted to plant and what needed to get stinky anti-animal spray. Here’s what I came up with:

Hydrangea (low risk of being eaten)

Marigolds (keep rabbits away)

Daffodils (these are already in because they are perennials, but I kept them and nobody eats them)

New Guinea Impatiens (low risk of being eaten… and they spread so they’ll fill in a whole section) – side note on these – we heard the regular impatiens are actually not going to do well this year because of some plant disease… that’s why we went with the New Guineas

Daisies (good in the sun)

Rononuculas (sp?) (I know nothing about these, except that I liked the way they look!)

Celosias (Eric loves these)

Hedge of Boxwoods

So after 2 full days of gardening, everything is planted and ready. Now I just have to remember to water them! What are your favorite flowers? Any tips on how to keep my garden looking sharp?

Amazing difference!

Flowerboxes!

 

Crafting with Burlap May 3, 2013

I’ve been working on some projects involving burlap for another wedding shower I’m helping to organize (keep an eye out for some cute ones in June, I’ll be sure to post about them!).  Last Sunday, when I finished my burlap crafting but still had scraps left over (and noticed that my floor was already ridden with those little stringy scraps burlap leaves behind), I decided to craft with it instead of storing the extras away.

I’ve been seeing a lot of cute burlap wreaths floating around on Pinterest lately and have really been wanting to try one.  I have crafted a few seasonal wreaths for our apartment door, but as of Sunday the door remained wreathless after a party I threw when a sign occupied that space on our door.  Our friends often comment that they like the wreaths since they can easily pick out which unit is ours (a compliment to me, since it means they must think I’m cute and crafty…haha), and even Jonathan mentioned that the door was looking sad without a wreath.  So I thought crafting a burlap wreath would be a perfect fit.

The burlap wreaths I’ve found online range from rustic and outdoorsy to prim-and-proper poufy.  I thought a good fit for our door would be somewhere in between, so here I am to share my process….

The supplies are really basic.  If you’ve got extra burlap lying around like I did but don’t feel like making an extra run to Hobby Lobby for additional supplies, then this is the wreath for you!  All you need is a coat hanger!  I went with one of those bronze-toned metal ones from the dry cleaners, since I deduced that it would make most sense with the color of my burlap and not show through too much.  Untwist the end of your hanger where it meets the curved part and form it into a circle (it doesn’t need to be perfect, because you can bend and manipulate it more once your burlap is on).  Cut your burlap into 3/4 inch thick strips.  It doesn’t really matter how long they are, which is the beauty of being able to make this project out of scraps.  You just need to have around 2-3 yards in total length.

Start weaving your burlap strips on.  This part is so much easier than I thought it would be…seriously, you just poke the end of the hanger gently through each layer of your burlap ribbons.  Keep threading pieces on until you feel like your hanger looks pretty full.

When you’re done, use either tacky glue or hot glue to randomly (I did about every 4-5 folds) glue your folds together so all of your burlap pieces don’t weigh down your wire frame and make your wreath look lopsided.  I had some fun printed burlap ribbon that I made into a bow to add to our wreath, but I think color or some flowers would be really fun, too!