Happy Wednesday

HAPPY WEDNESDAY!

My journey- A New Years story

 

 

 

Disclaimer: this is my story.

When you start the fitness adventure, your friends and family often ask Why are you doing this. But once you've been at it and your making some serious progress, it often becomes how did you do it. For me, I got to the point that enough was enough. I had been carrying baby weight around for three years. That's ridiculous, or at least that's what I told myself. I was tired of being fat and frumpy. I had been relatively thin and athletic my whole life, and by 2009 I was neither of those things.

 

I was also unhappy with my marriage. My kids are awesome, but my marriage was not so much. Early in 2009, I decided I didn't want to be "that person" any more. (the picture above was in June 2009). I got a new pair of running shoes and a pair of 8 pound weights, and started moving. In 2005 I did the Houston Half Marathon, so I remembered how to run and all the technical things that go with running. But let's be real... Starting over sucks!

 

 

The key to it all was I made up my mind. I didn't want to be like this, and I didn't have to be like this. I owned my success and my happiness. It was up to me.

Once I started moving, I remembered how much I loved it. The exercise started to show results and I was psyched. It gave me the momentum to start changing my diet. I worked to cut out fried, processed, and excess crap. I did it slowly. My fear was failure. I had failed on the diet side so many times. I could workout like a beast, but I was a slave to Mexican food. 

This time I did it slow and gradual, and it stuck. Don't get me wrong, I still love my Mexican food, but I eat it less often, I cook it myself, and I pick the healthier less fried options.

My point to all this is, I'm sure you (or someone you know) picked weight loss for a New Years resolution. It's not a quick fix, or a "give me 2 weeks" kind of resolution. It takes work and commitment, but it's so worth it. You own your success and you can be successful!

Recipe Share; It's been a while.

It's been a while since I have done recipe share; it's been a while since I have done a lot with the blog. (more on that later). So I decided to kick things off with recipe share. I am a sucker for Chinese take out, but I rarely order it because it's not the best for you. Between the frying and the MSG, its usually pretty bad. Pinch of Yum has a way of finding some good alternatives. So I'm sharing this one.

Author: America’s Test Kitchen Comfort Food Makeovers

Serves: 4

Ingredients

• Vegetable oil spray
• 1⁄4 cup all-purpose flour
• 3 large egg whites
• 5 cups (5 ounces) Kellogg’s Corn Flakes cereal, finely crushed
• 1 1⁄2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts, trimmed of all visible fat, cut into 1-inch pieces
• 1 2⁄3 cups water
• 1⁄3 cup low-sodium soy sauce
• 1⁄4 cup apricot jam
• 3 tablespoons hoisin sauce
• 2 tablespoons cornstarch
• 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
• 2 teaspoons canola oil
• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger
• 1⁄4 teaspoon red pepper flakes

Instructions

1. Adjust oven rack to upper-middle position and heat oven to 475 degrees. Line rimmed baking sheet with aluminum foil, top with wire rack, and spray rack with oil spray. Spread flour into shallow dish. Whisk egg whites until foamy in second shallow dish. Spread Corn Flakes crumbs into third shallow dish. Pat chicken dry with paper towels. Working in batches, dredge chicken in flour, dip in egg whites, then coat with Corn Flakes, pressing gently to adhere; lay on prepared wire rack.
2. Spray chicken with oil spray. Bake until chicken registers 160 degrees and coating is brown and crisp, 12 to 15 minutes.
3. Meanwhile, whisk water, soy sauce, apricot jam, hoisin, corn- starch, and vinegar together in bowl. Heat oil in 12-inch skillet over medium heat until shimmering. Add garlic, ginger, and pepper flakes and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute. Whisk in soy sauce mixture, bring to simmer, and cook until thickened, about 2 minutes. Remove from heat, cover, and keep warm.
4. When chicken is cooked, return sauce to simmer over medium-low heat. Add cooked chicken and toss to coat. Serve.

Notes

I baked my chicken directly on the baking sheet because I didn’t have a wire rack. It worked fine. I’d also recommend using a blender or food processor to crush the corn flakes into very fine crumbs.

Try it out and let me know what you think.

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Happy Wednesday!

This was such a hit on the facebook page, I had to share here.

 

HAPPY WEDNESDAY!