Staying on track...

has been very difficult!  I have plenty of scapegoats, Thanksgiving, Christmas, holiday baking, pregnancy cravings, BUT what it comes down to is my own will power, or lack there of.  It's honesty time, I have gained 9 lbs already.  I should only gain 20 total over my pregnancy, and most of that should come in the second half.... so 9 in 16 weeks, is not good.

At my appointment today my Doctor told me to be a little stricter on my diet, that I should only be up about 5 pounds at the most right now, so 9 is a little high.  That was all I needed to hear.  I went straight to the grocery store, and set my self up to succeed.  I bought fruits and veggies, brown rice, beans, whole wheat noodles, chicken, eggs, Kashi peanut butter bars, triscuts, raisins, cottage cheese, string cheese.... I think that's about it.  All stuff that is healthy and easy.  No more excuses!!  For Breakfast I had an Apple and 2 slices of cheese, and an Americano with cream.  I had some whole grain crackers for a snack, and a Kashi bar, and for lunch I'll have a salad - spring mix, tomato, mushrooms, turkey, and dressing.  I have Ham and bean soup cooking in the crock pot for dinner.... here is the recipe (this fills my 6 quart crock pot, adjust accordingly):

Ham and Bean Soup

4 Cups Ham, cooked and diced
7 cups white beans
16 oz baby carrots, diced
4 potatoes (medium), diced
2 tbl diced garlic
2 tbl minced onion
4 cups Broth (see below)

Add everything to the crock pot and cook on low 6-8 hours (or until potatoes and carrots are done to your liking)

To make the broth simmer a ham bone (with some meat still on it) in a large pot with 4 cups natural organic chicken stock and 3-4 cups water (enough to cover the bone).  I also added a little garlic and onion, and fresh ground pepper.  This made more broth than I needed for this recipe, freeze the extra!

According to my "Lose It" app, this comes out ot about 195 calories per cup.

We are down one kid for the next couple of days, so I will probably freeze half of this since it's an awful lot for only three people!

I had some left over potatoes after cutting up what I needed for the soup, so I have them baking in the oven.  I am going to use them to make "loaded" potato skins for New Years Eve.  I scoop out some of the potato, and fill them with shredded chicken, salsa and cheese, then bake them.  They are sooo much healthier than your normal Loaded Potato skin, but still very yummy, the kids love them!

Tomorrow night I am making Turkey Chilaquiles.  I saw the recipe in Red Book, and I have tons of left over turkey from Christmas dinner (also where all the ham came from for the soup!).  So I will be sure to post the recipe for that once I make it!

Crunchy Black Bean Tacos

The past two weeks I have been tired, mentally, and physically!  So dinners have been less than fabulous.  But I finally have a little energy back, and school is done, so I am trying to get back into the swing of things around here.  Last night I made Crunchy Black Bean Tacos for dinner, tonight I am making Cream Cheese and Black Bean Chicken.  Both are were recipes I originally found on Pinterest, and just tweeked a little bit.

Crunchy Black Bean Tacos
adapted from Endlesssimmer.com

Ingredients:
2 C. black beans, cooked

1 C. pinto beans, cooked

½ C. onion, minced
1 tsp. cumin
4 Tbsp. cilantro, chopped
2 cups cheese, grated
2 Tbsp. olive oil
Pinch of salt and pepper
All natural corn tortillas

Directions:
1) In a skillet, add beans along with onion, cilantro, and spices. Add a pinch of salt, and simmer for a few minutes, then lightly mash all of the ingredients together. Grate your cheese and have it ready as well.

2) In a large, non-stick skillet or cast iron skillet, add a few tablespoons of oil and heat over medium-high heat.

3) Add one corn tortilla at a time and let each get hot in the oil for a few seconds. Then add about 1/4 cup of the bean filling to one half of the tortilla. Top with a sprinkle of grated cheese.

4) Using a spatula, carefully fold the tortilla over so it forms a shell. Press down lightly on the tortilla so it holds its shape.

5) As the first tortilla cooks, move it to the side and do a second one. Depending on the size of your pan, you should be able to get 2 or 3 tacos at once. If you have a griddle you can do even more at once.

6) Cook each taco for about 3 minutes per side until they are nicely browned and crispy.

7) When flipping the taco to cook on the other side, use a spatula and flip the taco toward the fold so the filling doesn't fall out.

8) Serve tacos with toppings like hot sauce, salsa, avocados, and sour cream.

Viola, there you have it!  Easy and delicious!  Not to mention, healthy and REAL. Everyone gobbled them up around here, I served them with Salsa and fresh corn.  I personally only had the tacos, and they were very filling.

I will do my best to get another blog up tomorrow with tonight's dinner recipe and review.

Haven't talked exercise in awhile.... but I swear I am still doing it!  The first 8 weeks or so were HARD, I was just so tired, and out of breath all the time!  But I did what I could, as often as I could.  These past two weeks have been better energy wise, but now some things hurt, the lower area of my abdomen hurts when there is any "bouncing" (running jumping, etc) so I have to be careful about that, and I still tend to get out of breath quickly.  So I just try to monitor my heart rate and do as much as I can.  I have started to do more "Instructing" instead of modeling in my classes, and I finally told them all why so that has been a relief.  There are certain exercises I avoid all together because of research and things I have read.  It's advised to avoid walking lunges, so I don't do those, and any thing that has you lay flat on your back, such as crunches, weight bench exercises, etc.  Other than that there's not a lot I CAN'T do, I just have to modify it to my new level.... which has been hard to swallow.  LoL

Happy Hump day!  It's not too late to make this a good week and make some changes!  Try a new recipe, or a new work out, and feel good about yourself!