South Beath Diet Phase I , Cooking New Recipes, and Getting Motivated

Hello Everyone!

I am so excited that it is almost the weekend that I can almost taste sleeping late and drinking my coffee in bed!

A post or two a go I was talking about New Years Resolutions.  One of mine was to try and lose weight to help my health and just to plain feel better.  To start this off my wonderful Mother-in-Law bought me two books with recipes for the South Beach Diet.  I read them after Christmas and Mer and I decided that the diet would start January 2, 2013.

The South Beach diet has three phases and right now I am in phase I which is all about getting your sugars under control.  During phase one, for 14 days, you have to cut out carbohydrates completely and also most fruits, plus processed foods.  You can however eat many veggies including cucumbers, cauliflower, broccoli, and more.  You can also eat most meats, low fat cheeses, eggs, and many other foods that you can make some great recipes with.

I have actually found in the last two days that I am not getting the sugar shakes and looking for a granola bar which has been what I have done for most of my life.

It has also given me the opportunity to try new recipes and become more confident in my cooking.

Tonight I made "fake" mashed potatoes with cauliflower.  I think it might take another few tries to perfect this one, but here are the ingredients and recipe.

Ingredients:
Head of Cauliflower
1/4 Cup Fat Free Half and Half
2 Tbsp I Can't Believe it's Not Butter
Salt
Pepper
Garlic Salt

Directions:
1.  First I boiled the Cauliflower head in a pot of water with a little bit of salt for about 15 minutes or until very tender.
2.  I then let the cauliflower cool and cut it up into small pieces putting it into the blender
3.  Then put the fat free half and half, the butter, salt, pepper, and pinch of garlic salt into blender with cauliflower
4.  Lastly blend it up, taste, and season as you go!

I did not take this picture (my camera battery died tonight!) but this is what it looked like.  I thought it was easy to make and tasted delicious.

So, I am definitely motivated on my diet and with my cooking and I have been working like crazy on new projects for LoveUPaperly for 2013, but I am having a hard time staying motivated finishing the projects!  I am hoping to take some pictures tomorrow to show you what I have been working on even if they are half finished.  Maybe posting them will make me make a push to finish at least one or two of them.

Happy Almost Friday.

Lots of Love,

Jess

Happy 2013!!!

Happy, Happy New Year Dear Readers!

I hope everyone had a safe and fun night last night!

Have you made any New Years Resolutions?  Do you think you will keep them?

One New Years resolution I have made for 2013 for myself, and therefore for Meridyth as well, is for us to try not to spend so much time in our house with just each other.

We love our house, we love spending time with each other and honestly we are both happy doing both.  I am never happier when I am lying in bed reading a book on my kindle with Meridyth next to me playing video games. 

However, I realized that while we are happy doing this I think it would be healthy for us to go out at least once or twice a month, as a couple.  Mer and I need to force ourselves (that sounds horrible but you know that sometimes by the time you shower and get dressed you just don't want to even go out anymore?!) to go and see people.  We need to mingle with our friends, have dinner, and socialize.

To start off this resolution, last night a nurse from work who has become a good friend invited us to her house for a night of food and drinking and fun.

We had so much fun and all I can say is I am happy to not have to go to work today!  I definitely don't recover as fast as I used too!

I did make a few more resolutions as well.
-  Lose some weight so I can help my Fibro Myalgia pain
-  Apply to PA school in May
-  Define my vision for both this blog and for my Etsy site LoveUPaperly 
-  Try not to procrastinate with school work
-  Attempt to be more optimistic everyday!

My wish is for everyone to have a healthy and happy New Year!

Lots of Love for 2013,

Jess

Lovely Sunday Photograph

Photograph by PhotoMuse

Homemade Ramen Soup Recipe and Christmas Cheer

Hello Everyone!

How was everyone's Holiday?  We still have Christmas celebrations going on in our household and this morning we had another Christmas celebration with Meridyth's Mom, Sister, and Sister's husband and of course the new baby Caleb!  We had a wonderful morning and had a lot of fun drinking coffee, eating breakfast and opening presents.

We still have one more Christmas celebration to do with Mer's Father and his girlfriend Vicki.  Christmas this year is definitely being made to last at least another week but honestly I don't mind a bit!

Besides Christmas and getting in the holiday cheer I have had a horrible cold which has not only had me banished to the spare bedroom to sleep and cough/sneeze by myself but I have also been craving warm and salty soups.

I decided since I have some free time before school starts I would cook a little and maybe even be a little adventurous!

I have to say making a homemade Ramen soup especially when you are not feeling good is a perfect way to put you in a better mood and help that sore throat.  It is also so much healthier and less fattening than the packaged ramen.  I picked this recipe specifically because it called for angel hair pasta which I already had in my kitchen!

Here are my ingredients gathered on the counter ready to be transformed:

I found the recipe on Epicurious but changed it a bit to fit my ingredients.
Ingredients:
3 eggs hardboiled
1/2 box of angel hair pasta
3 large handfuls of kale
1 portobello mushroom (chopped) (I used a package and chopped them up finer)
1 clove garlic (chopped finely)
1 inch long piece of fresh ginger (peeled and chopped finely)
1/4 cup vegetable broth
2 splashes soy sauce (to taste)
chicken bouillon (not cubes, use either granules or paste)
salt and pepper to taste
sesame seeds

Instead of using fresh ginger I used ginger paste and I think it worked great.  I also didn't use sesame seeds but it probably would have added a little bit more flavor to the final soup.

I boiled my eggs while I was chopping the mushroom, garlic, and kale.

Directions:
In large pot, boil water for pasta. Break pasta in half and add to water. Cook according to box.
Pour out enough water to leave about 2 cups in pot with pasta. Do not drain. Return to medium heat.
(Note:  I dumped out too much water and then didn't have enough for soupy goodness, so I would keep more in that you think you need!)
Add chopped garlic and ginger. Add enough bouillon to season two cups of water and stir thoroughly. Add vegetable broth and soy sauce, continue stirring. (At this point I tasted the broth and almost died!  It tasted JUST LIKE RAMEN!)
Add chopped mushroom and kale. Allow to cook until both are tender.
Slice egg and add to ramen.
Season with salt and pepper, add sesame seeds and serve. ENJOY!

 

So the ramen was delicious but when I make it next time I will definitely leave more broth because my leftovers didn't have enough of the its goodness!

It was easy to make and I was extremely excited about the way it tasted.

Lots of Love,

Jess

Happy Holidays!!

Happy Holidays Everyone!  I hope your day is filled with Family, Lots of Love, and maybe some presents!

Lots of Love,

Jess

Office Pot Luck, A horrible cold, and Blog Reassessing

Hello All!

These past few weeks I have been doing some major thinking about this blog, my Etsy shop LoveUPaperly and so many other things!  I am hoping that all of these things I have been thinking about will start showing up as changes in the New Year!

I think that is one of the reasons that I love the Holidays, Christmas, and New Years so much.  I always feel like it is a time to reassess and figure out if I think I am going in the right direction.

Besides that, I finally finished school this semester and I have a break until the end of January which is badly needed.

As for this weekend, I have had a horrible cold all week and it has only been getting worse so I am going to bunker down the next two days and try to get rid of these germs.  Last year I had just had surgery so Christmas was rather miserable for both Meridyth and myself so this year, cold or no cold, I am determined to try and feel well!

Friday we had an office potluck which was full of all different types of food.  I decided to go for a rustic Italian dish and made roasted cauliflower and broccoli with garlic and olive oil with tomatoes and of course pasta.  I topped the whole thing off with some mozzarella cheese!

I think it tasted pretty good!

Second, I took some pictures of the final product for my Parent's Chanukah present.  They were absolutely thrilled!  My Mom keeps calling to say that she keeps trying the pictures in different places all over her house.

I'm off to take some Theraflu.

Lots of Love,

Jess

Hospital Visits and Some New Projects

Hello Everyone!

These last two weeks have been so crazy.  I am in the middle of finals, was admitted to the hospital for a short stay and had a few outpatient tests which required too many IV's.  I am happy to report that though tired I feel like I am finally on the mend and I only have one more final to take tomorrow!

In the midst of all of my medical mysteries, I have been feeling very inspired and creative.  I wanted to share a few things I am working on.  None of the projects are done yet, but I wanted to show you the beginnings.  After this post, I am back to studying for my A&P final and then looking forward to a month off.

My Mom was cleaning out their basement and found an old journal that I had only used a few pages in.  The journal is velvety and the pages are thick and can take all different types of medium.  This was certainly a find!

Lying in bed in the hospital I started to play with the idea of words and images using pen.  I love the Reindeer hiding in the J and O.  I think my next step might be watercolor.

Mer and I don't have a lot of money for holiday presents this year and since I am currently watching my parents dogs I thought I would draw them portraits, scan them, print them on nice paper, and frame them.

I will take pictures when the final product is done!

So that's it for now.  I am immersed in studying, drawing, and watching movies!

How is your holiday shopping going?

Lots of Love,

Jess