Maple Bread

 

 

My house has been filled with the smells of fall lately.  We've been roasting pie pumpkins to make puree for pies and baked goods.  Making crock pots full of spicy apple butter.  Baking soft ginger molasses cookies and brewing big pots of Vermont maple coffee.  Maple is one of those flavors that seems perfectly suited for fall.

My husband's grandmother has a wonderful recipe for maple bread that I want to share with you today.  It's a quick bread employing the muffin method - you combine your wet ingredients in one bowl and your dry ingredients in another bowl and then marry them together.  This simple recipe comes together in a flash and is easily doubled, which I highly encourage because you'll find this loaf of bread is so tasty you'll want to share it with your friends and neighbors.  Share the love my friends.  There's enough to go around.

It's best eaten warm, straight from the oven with a little butter smeared on top.  Or, if you really want a delicious treat, slather a slice with butter and pop it under the broiler for a couple minutes until the top is nice and golden.

To die for!  I'm going to go cozy up with my knitting, a cup of Vermont maple coffee, and slice of toasted maple bread right now.

Maple Bread

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

1 cup milk

1 cup sugar

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla

1 tsp maple extract

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Spray a standard loaf pan with non-stick cooking spray and set aside.

In a large bowl, sift together the dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, and salt).  In a small bowl, combine the wet ingredients (milk, sugar, egg, and extracts).  Pour the wet ingredients in to the dry ingredient mixture.  Gently fold to combine (a few lumps are okay!).

Pour the batter in to the prepared loaf pan and bake for 45 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in to the center comes out clean.

Yield: 1 loaf

Printable Recipe

An Update and Some Costume Sewing

Oh friends, it's been a long, long time.  Let's see, where did we last leave off?  I was in a cycling frenzy and attempting to shed some pounds and get healthy.  That was when the sun was still shining warmly down on Michigan, and I could cycle down the road without getting wind burn.  So what's been happening since then?  Well, a lot.

As summer came to a close I was preparing myself to send my daughter back to public school.  She was going to be a 1st grader this year.  As we reached "18 days before school starts" on our countdown calendar, I panicked.  I couldn't do it.  My husband had wanted me to homeschool her from the beginning, and all of the sudden I felt God pushing me towards homeschooling.  I didn't think I could do it.  Last year, I was certain of it.  But this year, I just couldn't bear to send her back.  My babies belong at home.  And so believing fully that God will fill in the gaps and make me fully adequate to teach our child, I leaped towards homeschool, and I haven't looked back.

What an awesome adventure it has been!  Awesome.....and a lot of work.  I'm not gonna lie, my health and fitness journey has sort of taken the back burner now that I have this new role to fill.  I'm happy to say that I've been maintaining my weight loss - I've fluctuated a few pounds up or down.  Even though I've maintained, I have to say I am starting to feel the effects of a poor diet and no exercise.  I hope to break my bike out of hiding in the next week and start using my trainer.  I'm going to need to start moving again if I plan to indulge in any of my baking this winter!

And so that's what's consumed my life for the past few months.  Well, that and this new little sewing project I picked up...

That's right folks - my daughter convinced me to sew her Halloween costume this year, and she chose to be Elsa from Frozen!  Mind you, I am NO garment sewer and I've certainly never sewn a costume before.  Aprons are the most complex project I've sewn, but I felt semi-confident that if I followed the pattern and watched enough YouTube tutorials I should be able to conquer this task.

I started with over a month before Halloween, which was very smart on my part.  This way, I could sew to my frustration point and set the project aside without fear that I was running out of time.  And that's just what I did.  One night I cut out the pattern pieces.  Then another night I started sewing the skirt.  A week later I tackled the bodice, and so on.  Last night I sewed the sleeves on.  This was the final major step of the costume, and boy was it a nightmare!

I don't have a serger, so I'm trying to encase the raw edges in a French seam - something the pattern doesn't call for.  It was added work and planning, and when it came to the sleeves, this extra step proved challenging.  But I figured it out, and in the end I'm very glad that I took the extra time to do the seams this way - it will help the dress last longer, not like a cheap store-bought costume.

Little Brother Photo-Bomb

My little chicky tried on her costume this morning and loved it!  This is the second fitting, and I'm still surprised that it fits.  That I MADE that!  I'm pretty proud of this accomplishment.  And though I keep swearing that I won't ever stitch sequin fabric ever again, I probably would make my daughter's  costume again next year if she asked me to.  It's totally worth it to see that pretty smile and hear her say, "Mom, this is just exactly what I imagined it would be!"

Next step is to hem the skirt, cape, and sleeves, and then it's done!  And in plenty of time for Halloween festivities.  So there you have it, my first ever (and probably not last) costume sewing project!

Transformation Thursday - #9

Things are still trucking along in the land of health and fitness.  Nothing big to report this week.  I've been pouring a lot of focus in to potty training my little mister.  He's doing great and I think we're finally past the first stages of setting him on the potty every 30 minutes and cleaning up puddles.  He had his first completely accident free day yesterday - yahoo!  So proud of my little guy!

In spite of being focused on puddle patrol, I managed to eat well and exercise a bit this week.  I struggled with cravings a lot though.  We were also in the midst of trying to find a car for my husband and the whole process has me a little frazzled.  And when I get stressed I tend to seek comfort in food.  I've been trying to have fruit on hand for these occasions when I need to eat something right now!  That has been a huge help!  I know - who really wants a piece of fruit when you really want potato chips?!  But it's worked for me.  That, and talking to myself.  My husband laughed at me the other night because I opened the pantry cupboard and then shouted at myself, "No!  Don't eat that!" and slammed the door shut.  Yeah, I'm weird.  But I do whatever I have to do to keep myself on track.

Nighttime can get difficult too.  My hubby and I settle in to watch our favorite shows on Netflix, and I immediately want a snack and something warm to drink.  Before my run the other night, I anticipated the urge to snack and so I grabbed a cup of Yoplait Greek 100 calorie yogurt from the fridge, shook it up, and stuck it in the freezer.  When I got home, I had a cup of 100 calorie frozen yogurt waiting for me in the freezer.  It was a great ice cream fake out, and I think I might start keeping some cups of yogurt up there from now on in case the ice cream urge strikes again.

 

The idea is, you don't have to starve or totally deprive yourself of fun foods to get fit and healthy.  Be ready when those cravings strike and have quick, low calorie foods on hand to satisfy those gotta have it now urges.  Fake outs are okay.  You're craving potato chips, but try a peach first.  Eat that whole peach and see if your potato chip craving has subsided a bit.  It's easier to say no when you have food in your belly and you don't feel starved.

Those are my thoughts for the week.  Now let's check out my numbers!

Calories Burned: 1,631 (goal of 1,830 per week)

Exercise Minutes: 223 minutes (goal of 300 minutes per week)

Pounds Lost This Week: 3.0

New Weight: 155.6

Total Pounds Lost: 36.4

Yay!  So, so, so excited with those numbers!  Last week I entered the 150's, and this week I'm smack in the middle of them!  My size 12 are getting loose, and I keep trying on those 10's to see if they fit comfortably yet.  Still a little too snug, but I'm getting there!   Only 20.6 pounds to go until I reach my final weight loss goal.  On top of all that, I feel fantastic!  I can't wait to see what the coming weeks hold!

Until next week friends - make healthy choices!

Transformation Thursday - #8

Well, I had a post all ready to publish this morning once I stepped on the scale.  It was all written out, just waiting for those final numbers.  I was going to tell you about my new bike trainer.  Exciting, I know.  Then last night the husband helped me get down my "Tote of Inspiration".

This tote has sat on the top shelf of my closet since we moved in to our house over 8 years ago.  It's full of my favorite jeans (and a few tops) from when I was thinner.  Once upon a time, I had a fabulous wardrobe filled with name brand jeans.  And as I started to get bigger I would put my "skinny jeans" away in this tub, hoping I would see them again some day.  But as the years passed, the idea that I would ever fit in to any of these pants started to fade.  You see, I didn't always refer to this plastic tub as my "Tote of Inspiration".  It didn't always inspire me, often it mocked me from up there on the top shelf.  A reminder of what I once was and probably would never be again.  That is, until last night.

Last night I asked my husband to get this tote down for me.  Recently, I've been able to fit in to size 12 jeans and still have a little wiggle room, so I know size 10's aren't too far off - YIPEE!!  I knew that I had some 10's in my tote so I wanted to get them out now and have them ready.  All of the pants you see on top of the tote are my size 9/10's.  There are some really cute jeans up there.  I got really excited as I started to reminisce about these pants.  I know is sounds silly, but these jeans bring back memories.  I was a size 10 when I married my husband over 8 years ago.  I was a size 10 when we moved in to this house.  It's been over 8 years since I've seen these jeans.  And something in me said, "Try them on."  I tried to resist the urge because I didn't want to be discouraged.  Too many times I've tried on pants only to have them not fit, it's an awful feeling.  But that little voice kept nagging me, and so....I tried them on.

Guess what?

Some of them fit!

Some were snug, but I could get them up over my hips - miracle!  Some I could button, others I could not.  And a couple fit like a dream!  A size 10!  It literally brought tears to my eyes.  I was so elated and my husband was sitting there sharing my joy with me as I tried on pair after pair to see how close I was to fitting in to them.  At first I had told him, "Don't look.  I don't want you to see what I look like if I can't fit in to them."  But as I tried them on I couldn't help but say aloud, "Look!!  Look at these pants!  Do you remember I wore these to that car show in South Haven that we took the Fairlane to?"  And, "Oh my gosh, LOOK!  Remember I use to wear these all the time!  There's a picture of me painting our bedroom in these jeans!"  His smile was just as big as mine and such an encouragement.

So these jeans are staying out and waiting for me.  Inspiring me to stay on my healthy path and keep making wise choices with my eating and exercise.  This week has been a great week!  In addition to this non-scale victory, I've also done great with my fitness goals.  I managed to exercise 5 days this week.  I'm shooting for 60 minutes, 5 days a week, which I didn't do this week, but I'm okay with that.  Every little bit counts!  Every little bit I try gets me one step closer to my goal.  My efforts really paid off this week in big ways, and I'm so excited!  Here are my numbers...

Calories Burned: 2,739 (goal of 1,830 per week)

Exercise Minutes: 276 minutes (goal of 300 minutes per week)

Pounds Lost This Week: 2.0

New Weight: 158.6

Total Pounds Lost: 33.4

Scale Victory!!  I broke the 150's!!  It's been so long since I've seen a number in the 150's.  I feel incredible!  My ultimate weight loss goal seems so much more attainable from here.  Only 23.6 pounds to go!  

See you next week friends.  Remember to make healthy choices!  Even the smallest choices can add up to have a big impact on your overall health.

Transformation Thursday - #7

Hiya folks!  Yes, I'm still alive.  Yes, I'm still trying like heck to shed these pounds.  I blogged a couple weeks ago that I had lost my motivation train somewhere along the way, but I'm happy to say that I think I found it this week!  Here's what's been happenin'...

I turned 28 this week.  Woohoo!  I'm older.......yay?  Sure, why not?  I'm determined to make 28 a super fantastic year, and I'm off to a great start!  Well, aside from that demonic migraine that hit me a couple days ago.  28 is gonna be my year, man!  I'm finally going to hit my ultimate weight loss goal, I just KNOW it!  Dream big! - it's been a huge motivator thinking about what I want the next year to look like.  Do I want to waste another year wishing I was healthier and more fit?  Or do I want to concur this mountain early so I can spend the rest of my 20's feeling totally fabulous?  Umm, yes, number two please!

Another big deal in my little world has been this (perhaps silly) little county fair contest coming up called the Young Homemaker Contest.  I just sent in my entry this afternoon and boy am I nervous!  I had to type out answers to some questions like "What does the word "Homemaker" mean to you?" and "If you had 30 minutes of extra time a day, how would you spend it?" and "What types of unique things do you do with your family?".  Ahh!  So anyway, I gathered my thoughts, typed out my answer, and it's in the postman's hands now.  If....IF I get through the initial round of entries, and IF I get through the interview portion, and IF I make it to the top 4, then I'll have to stand on a stage in front of the fairgrounds with the other 3 contestants when they crown this year's Young Homemaker.  I know, maybe it's a little cheesy, but darn it, it's something a gal like me can aspire to!  And, be still my heart, IF I win....I'll have to ride in a float at the fair parade.  So you better believe I don't want to stand up on that stage looking all flabby!  The last thing I want to worry about while I'm up there is if my muffin top is noticeable in my dress.  Another big motivator for me, the slight chance that I'll have to stand in front of 50 people or ride in a float.  Yikes!

This week, those two ideas have propelled me to stick to my weekly exercise goal.  I did indulge in a few treats this week - it's my birthday for Pete's sake!  But I tried to keep it under control and balance out my meals so I wasn't eating junk all week long.  I weighed myself last week and I was bummed to see the scale had crept up to 165.  I had been down in the 162 range the last time I blogged about my transformation.  Boo.  But I'm back in the game and feelin' feisty now so watch out!  These upcoming Transformation Thursday posts are gonna rock!

Without further ado, here are my digits for this week:

Calories Burned: 3,035 (goal of 1,520 per week)

Exercise Minutes: 325 minutes (goal of 250 minutes per week)

Pounds Lost This Week: 4.4

New Weight: 160.6

Total Pounds Lost: 31.4

Woo flippin' hoo!  Check out those numbers!  Yeah, I blew myself away when I added up those calories burned and exercise minutes.  Based on how I was moving and eating this week, I figured my numbers would be high and I'm totally pleased with that.  Hard work pays off!!  There's the proof!  Realistically, next week won't be this great.  Not every week can be.  But I'm going to keep moving and that means with each day I'm going to be closer to my goal. Only 25.6 pounds to go until I reach my ultimate weight loss goal.  I got this!

See ya next week!

Etsy Shop: Christmas in July Sale!

We are experiencing some chilly temps in Michigan this week, very unseasonal for July.  I, for one, don't mind because I don't really care for summer all that much.  I know, I know.  But I love to bake, and I'd rather bake with my windows open and chilly air blowing through the house than have to close the windows and crank up the a/c.

Well, these chilly temps have me dreaming of fall and the holidays so I've decided to have a Christmas in July sale in my Etsy shop!  Hurry over to my Etsy shop and use the coupon code JULY2014 to save 25% off anything in my shop!  The code is valid through July 31st, but don't wait to snag up a one of kind creation.  It's never too early to start your Christmas shopping!

There are lots of fab, sassy aprons for mamas...

And even little mamas!

There's a few knitting project bags, and also a really fun and gorgeous half apron still left in the shop.  So scoot on over to etsy.com/shop/mamamadewaffles and be sure to use the coupon code JULY2014 to save 25% on everything in the shop!

I'm Still Here!

The past couple of weeks have been rough.  I'm not sure what happened, but somewhere along the way I lost focus.  And it's been really, really hard to find it again.

I thought I had my eating under control.  Maybe I got cocky.  And I was exercising regularly, so when I did go off track a little bit it didn't seem like the end of the world.  We had a weekend when I knew it was going to be difficult to find healthy food because we were going to be away from home a lot.  I knew it was going to be challenging, but I thought, "I just feel like taking some time off from this whole diet and exercise routine."  Big mistake.

I've said to myself all along that I've come too far to go back to where I was.  I've worked too hard to lose almost 30 pounds to throw it all away.  I know these things, and that still did not stop me from making some really, really bad food choices.  And once I started, it became so hard to stop.  I was feeding my body junk - high calorie, high fat food, with hardly any nutritional value.  I was going right back to my old eating patterns of just eating for taste gratification, and I was seeing that old habits die hard.  I was also falling for that lie that if I've already ruined my diet for today I might as well continue to eat junk for the rest of the day and start again tomorrow.  My inner fat chick is still there, I'm sad to say.

None of this really took me by surprise.  I like food.  I love to cook and bake.  I have a hard time saying no to a burger and fries.  Oh, did I mention it's my birthday month and Red Robin gave me a birthday burger AND a free desert?!  Yeah, right there's probably when I took a flying leap off the wagon.  What shocked me was when I tried to go for a bike ride about 10 days in to my binge-fest and yawned through the whole thing.  I kid you not, at mile 5 I contemplated calling my husband to come pick me up because my energy had totally bottomed out.  I was so exhausted - I wasn't sleeping well at all.  I was tired and wide awake at all the wrong times.  I was pumping my body full of junk instead of fueling it with good, healthy, wholesome food.  And my body was beginning to protest!  It surprised me because I've spent the last few months feeling alive and full of energy.  I spend the day with a 2 year old and a 5 year old, and I've still had the energy to fit in a workout after they're in bed.  But all the sudden, I felt like a slug.

I'd like to think that was my wake-up call, but it really wasn't.  I knew things had gotten bad, but for some reason I couldn't find the motivation to make a change and recommit to healthy living.  The scale was scaring me - I gained almost 5 pounds in two weeks.  I work my butt off in the hopes of losing 2 pounds a week (on a good week), and somehow my eating and non-exercising landed me a 5 pound gain that fast.  I was incredibly disappointed in myself, embarrassed, and sad.  The jean shorts that I had just purchased a couple weeks before were feeling snug, so I reached for my size 16 capris and THAT was my moment.  I slipped them on, and they almost fell right back off.  I walked in to the livingroom and showed my husband the big gaps around the waist.  He said they looked really sloppy, even if I was just running to the grocery store.  HA!  But that was what I needed.  The realization that this was how far I had come.  These capris were once snug on me and I refused to buy a bigger size, so I squeezed myself in to them.  And if I didn't wake up and get back on track, I was destined to be wearing them again!  Umm, excuse me for a sec, but hell no!  I refuse to go back there!

So how many times have I recommitted myself to eating healthy and exercising?  Well, every day.  That has to be the answer.  I have goals to achieve.  I have a life to live, and I want to enjoy it, not spend it worrying about how my body looks and feels.  I realized the other day that I've been overweight for almost 10 years now.  I have not been my ideal weight since I was 18 years old.  I've spent the last 10 years of my life uncomfortable with my body.  10 years feeling exhausted and out of shape.  That's too long.  I don't want to waste any more of my life feeling this way.  I don't have time to be exhausted.  And I need to invest in my body NOW so I still have one to live with in the future.

Each morning when I wake up, I have to start by making a conscious commitment to myself to live healthy.  And I'm taking it one choice at a time.  I've got a few days under my belt now, and I'm starting to see the scale go back down slowly.  It sure goes on a lot easier than it comes off!

Anyway, thanks for hanging in there with me.  Thanks to the friends and family that continue to provide encouragement.  I hope to be back next week with Transformation Thursday.  Until then, make healthy choices friends!

Best Oatmeal Peanut Butter Cookies

We're having a rare 68 degree summer day here in Michigan.  I make it no secret that summer is not my favorite season.  I'd much rather enjoy the crisp autumn air and be able to feel the cool breeze blowing through my house as I bake up a storm.  So on these days when Michigan does what it does best, weird weather, I put on some comfy clothes, open the windows wide, and bake all day!

I received a request to bake some cookies for next week - as if I need an excuse!  I decided to get out my very best peanut butter cookie recipe.  My cookie tin is bare too, so some of these cookies will be staying home and some will hop in to the freezer until they are needed next week.  Have you ever frozen cookies?  I haven't, but I'm told they'll taste just fine when they're thawed out next week.  I can tell you that fresh from the oven, these cookies are the bomb!

This cookie is an adaptation on a recipe I found on Allrecipes.com (original can be found here).  With a little tweaking, I do declare this recipe is perfect!

The cookies are lightly browned on the bottoms, and soft through the center.  And absolutely loaded with peanut butter flavor!  These cookies stayed soft in my cookie tin for days..........well, I can tell you they stayed soft for at least two days, but beyond that I can't say because my family devoured them in that time. :)

My kiddos enjoyed them with a mug of milk, and my daughter announced they were the best peanut butter cookies ever!  And there's oats in them too - that means they're healthy right?  Of course!  Have two!  If you're experiencing unseasonably chilly weather, or you just want to scarf down some of the best cookies ever, give these a try!

Best Oatmeal Peanut Butter Cookies

Makes about 4 dozen cookies

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened

1 cup packed brown sugar

3/4 cup granulated sugar

1 cup extra crunchy peanut butter (I used Jif)

2 large eggs

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

2 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. salt

1 1/2 cups quick-cooking oats

1 (10 oz.) package peanut butter chips (I used Reece's)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. In a large mixing bowl, cream together butter, sugars, vanilla, and peanut butter.  Add eggs one at a time, and mix until thoroughly combined.

3. In a small bowl, sift together flour, baking soda, and salt.  Stir in oats.  Stir flour and oats mixture in to the butter and sugar mixture; stir until combined and batter is evenly mixed.

4. Add peanut butter chips and stir until combined.

5. Use a medium cookie scoop or drop by the rounded teaspoonful onto ungreased cookie sheets.  Bake for 12 minutes, or until bottoms of the cookies are just browned but tops are still soft.  Cool on pans for 2 minutes before moving to a wire rack to cool thoroughly.

Transformation Thursday - #6

I can't believe it's been five weeks since I started blogging about my health and fitness journey.  Throughout the week I think about this little space and the commitment I've made to blog about my experiences.  It's helped keep me accountable when I just want to hide with a cheeseburger or scarf down some ice cream.  Tracking and blogging have been essential for me these past five weeks, and have been so instrumental in my success.

 

And yes, I said success because that's what this week was, a great success!  There was still a lot of stress present this week, but I didn't let that effect my diet.  The biggest challenge I encountered was eating out.  We went to Red Robin, one of my favorite places to eat.  I'm a cheeseburger girl, remember?  Well, my hubby had a birthday burger on his loyalty card, and so we decided to stop for dinner.  That was hard.  The waitress brought a platter of French fries before the meals were delivered.  Those fries stared at me the whole time, but I didn't eat one.  Victory!  Choosing a meal turned out to be even more difficult!  They didn't have a nutrition menu readily available and I couldn't pull it up on my phone without downloading some app.  Thankfully I had my trusty MyFitnessPal app on my phone and I could look up some menu options.  I'm still baffled by how many calories and fat grams are in some salads and soups and sandwiches.  And the old me would have ordered a big cheeseburger, which probably would have been worth my daily calorie limit.  Eating away from home is tough.  I met the challenge with a little frustration, but ultimately success.

I wanted to provide a tip this week for something that's been helping me.  I realized the other day, as I was making an egg and toast, that butter has a whole lot of calories.  I know, shocker, right?  One tablespoon of butter contains 100 calories.  Wow!  I can eat a whole banana for just a few more calories than a little tablespoon of butter.  Being calorie conscious, I decided to forgo the butter.  And guess what?  I couldn't tell the difference because I dipped my toast in my egg yolk.  My tip is, when you have an ingredient that carries a lot of calories or fat, think about whether that ingredient is essential to the flavor of the dish you're making.  I've been skipping mayo (high calorie) on my sandwiches and adding spicy mustard (low/no calorie) instead, and I really don't miss the mayo.  Cheese is another one.  I love cheese.  Love it!  But is it really necessary on my sub when I load it up with tons of flavorful veggies?  Nope.  I'm finding that it's not.  Don't get me wrong, cheese is essential sometimes and so is butter.  I'm no butter-cheese hater.  But I've just been taking a brief pause before I add those ingredients to my meals, and considering if I can leave them out or replace then with a healthier option and not alter the flavor of the dish too much.

 

Those are my thoughts for how things went this week, and what I'm doing to keep up with the challenge.  Now let's talk numbers!

 

Calories Burned won't be entirely accurate this week because I couldn't get my phone to track my last workout.  Boo.

 

Calories Burned: 1,995 (goal of 1,520 per week)

Exercise Minutes: 246 minutes (goal of 250 minutes per week)

Pounds Lost This Week: 3.8

New Weight: 162.6

Total Pounds Lost: 29.4

 

 

Yay!!!  Totally blown away and pleased with my numbers this week.  In the beginning of my journey I had 57 pounds to lose to reach my final weight loss goal.  Now I've surpassed the halfway mark!  AND, I'm only 0.6 pounds away from having lost 30 pounds!!  I had wanted to lose 30 pounds by the end of June, and I think I'm going to make it!  Happy Dance!

 

Thanks for stopping Transformation Thursday this week!  I hope you're inspired to make healthy choices this week, even something small like skipping the mayo or taking a walk around the block.  Small, healthy choices can make a big impact on your life over time.  I'm rooting for you too!!

 

 

Fruit Leather



When I was a kid the cool thing to have in your lunch was a Kool-Aid Jammer and Fruit By The Foot.  Alas, I wasn't a cool kid, and I usually had a CapriSun and no sticky, corn syrup, red dye filled Fruit By The Foot.  Total bummer.  Now I'm a little older and a little wiser, and I know my mama was doing me (and maybe my teachers) a favor by not totally pumping me full of sugar and food coloring.  Thanks ma!  Well, we can still enjoy a sticky, fruity treat without all the funky junk.  Enter, fruit leather!

 

My dear friend and neighbor had an abundance of juicy, red strawberries and asked if I wanted half a flat.  Umm, heck yes!  We traded that half flat of berries for jam and chocolate chip cookies, and I got to work on my fruit leather.

First, I washed and hulled two pounds of berries.  Then I popped them in the food processor and pureed them until the liquid was smooth.

At this point, I tasted the puree and it seemed a little tart to me.  So I added a smidge (official US standard measurement - look it up) of honey and a splash of good vanilla until I was satisfied with the taste.  This is totally up to you how much sweetener you add, and you certainly do not have to add vanilla.  I just happen to think everything tastes better with a little vanilla.  If your berries are sweet enough, don't add any honey or sweetener and pat yourself on the back for making no sugar added treats.  Hooray!

 

For a little variety, I chose to make a batch of strawberry banana too.  I blended one pound of strawberries and one pound of bananas in my food processor until smooth.  What a pretty, pretty color!

After tasting this puree, I decided the bananas added enough sweetness so I just added a little splash of vanilla and called it a day.  You can strain the puree through a fine mesh sieve if you want to remove the strawberry seeds, but I don't mind them so I skipped that step.  Next, I lined my dehydrator trays with parchment paper and spread the purees out on the lined trays.

 

You want the puree to be about an 1/8th inch thick.  If your puree is spread too thin, your leather will be brittle.  Too thick, and it will take forever to dry and might be too chewy.

 

Once my trays were all filled it was on to the dehydrator.  Another blogger suggested starting out at a lower than normal temp for fruit leather, so I popped my trays in the dehydrator and set the heat at 105 degrees for 10 hours.  After about 8 hours, I checked my trays and realized they needed to be turned and to dry for a little while longer, and a couple seemed a little runny still.  My dehydrator model has a display with suggestions on temperature settings for different types of foods.  The suggested temp for fruit leather was 135 degrees, so I bumped up the temp and set my timer for another 6 hours.  I know, it's a long, long time to wait for a treat, but your patience will be rewarded!

Check it out!  I made fruit leather!  The texture should be a little sticky, but peel-able.  I'm thinking I need to invest in some Silpats or Teflex sheets for my dehydrator because the parchment paper seemed to bunch a bit.  Plus Silpats and Teflex are reusable - bonus!  But, if you only have parchment paper on hand, that works too and the winkles in the leather don't affect the roll-ability or the tastiness.

 

Peel, roll and enjoy!  These are so tasty and so incredibly easy to make!  These, however, do not look like Fruit By The Foot.

Bam!  Oh that's better.  You can use scissors to cut your fruit leather in to strips.  Then roll up in wax paper or parchment paper and you have your faux Fruit By The Foot.

 

Just look at that gorgeous red color and flecks of strawberry goodness!  Way cooler than store bought, boxed junk in my opinion.  Pack these in your family's lunches for that cool kid factor.  Get the kids involved so they can say, "Yeah, I made these."  Total cool kid status.  I hope you give fruit leather a try!  Don't stop at strawberry or strawberry banana.  Branch out.  Get crazy!  There's a whole rainbow of fruit out there just waiting to be made in to fruit leathery yumminess!

Transformation Thursday - #5

This has been a week of stress and challenges.  We're going through some home repairs and renovations right now, and it seems like our little house is turned upside down and inside out.  My dear husband is doing a lot of the work and in the meantime I'm trying to keep the kiddos busy and out of his hair.  A lot of times that means we're not in the house, we're on the go.  Going to the park or the library or walking around the grocery store, anywhere but home where the temptation to pickup daddy's tape measure might overcome them.  When life turns upside down, dieting and exercise gets hard, and this week was majorly difficult.

 

 

I'm proud to say that I didn't succumb to stress eating.  My past self would have binged on snacks or calorie filled coffee drinks.  Not this time!  This time was sort of the opposite problem.  I was away from home, I didn't want to eat fast food, so I didn't eat.  I came in under calorie many days this week.  Eating too few calories is almost just as bad as eating too many.  You body doesn't understand why you're not providing it fuel, so it can go in to starvation mode and cling to the fat you're so desperately trying to lose - so I've been told.  Ugh.  Not what I want.  Yay for not stress eating, boo for not eating enough.  Never would have imagined I'd encounter THAT problem!

 

Exercising, also a challenge this week.  I try to fit in my exercise after the kiddos are in bed, but we were busy so many nights this week that I just didn't get the time.  And when I could find the time, the weather wasn't cooperating.  As a result, I didn't hit my exercise minutes goal this week.  When I did get to fit in some movement, I tried to make it count.  I added some miles and hills to my bike route one night and rode over 17 miles.  And I started the Couch to 5k program.  I'm not a runner, but I'm loving this program.  I put an app on my phone that tells me when to change pace and keeps track of what day I'm on in the plan.  This week, I really missed not being on my bike so much or going for long walks.  As I've said in a few prior posts, I'm really enjoying adding fitness to my lifestyle and I miss it when I don't get to spend that little bit of time on myself throughout the week.

 

 

So this week wasn't so great.  Full of good intentions, but lack of time and stress got the better of me a lot of the time.  And I'm a realist, I understand that LIFE is going to happen and sometimes our diet or exercise regime takes a backseat.  What's important is that I'm taking time each week to recognize what went wrong and what went right over the past week, and how can I do better next week.  Since we're still in the midst of home stuff, this next week I'm going to try and plan more.  I need to plan my meals so I don't get caught without something healthy to eat, especially if we're going to be away from home.  I also need to plan time for exercise, even if that means working through a Jillian Michaels exercise video - I'd much, much, much rather be outside, but if it's my only option for the day then I'll hang with Jillian.

 

Okay Jillian, I get it.

Okay, without further ado, here are my numbers from this week:

 

Calories Burned: 2,335 (goal of 1,520 per week)

Exercise Minutes: 135 minutes (goal of 250 minutes per week)

Pounds Lost This Week: 0.2

New Weight: 166.4

Total Pounds Lost: 25.6

 

I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a little disappointed with those numbers this week.  It's hard having a big loss one week, and a puny one the next week.  But I'm not going to let it keep me down!  My mind is still set on the finish line and I'm 0.2 pounds closer to my goal!  Let's look at the big picture: I started blogging about my weight loss journey on May 22nd - just 4 weeks ago.  On that day I weighed 174 pounds and pledged to lose and blog about it.  Since then I've lost 7.6 pounds - that's an average loss of 1.9 pounds a week.  That is definitely a victory!  I attribute a lot of that to staying accountable and knowing that each week I'm going to have to tell the world about my choices for the week.  This little blog has helped a ton. And on a non-scale victory note, my clothes are too big!  I may need to hit up a few garage sales this weekend and look for some summer shorts because the ones I have are gapping in the waist all around and I keep having to hike them up.  I'm okay with that!  So, just because this week didn't go as planned doesn't mean next week can't be awesome.  Hope your next week is filled with healthy choices and awesomeness too!

 

Stawberry Jamming - 2014

 

My littles are creatures of habit, especially my boy. Every morning he wakes up before the sun, shuffles in to our bedroom, and asks the same question, “Can I have some yogurt?” I usually buy a big container of Stonyfield organic banilla yogurt (banana-vanilla flavor) and put some in little snack size Rubbermaid containers because it's much more economical than buying individual cups of yogurt. But there have been a few nights where I've gone to the fridge to get Beebo's yogurt cup ready for the morning and we're out and I have to make a dash to the grocery store to pickup more because ya know if he wakes up and there's no yogurt in the house the entire neighborhood is going to be waking up too! His desire for routine comes naturally to him, since I'm the same way. I enjoy the same thing for breakfast pretty much every morning – there's just something comforting about knowing what comes next.

Yogurt isn't my little man's only vice. He really loves a good PB & J, made with, what he refers to as “Mama's Famous Strawberry Jam”. So you can imagine what happened when this mama ran out of her “famous strawberry jam” this past year. I tried not to tell him at first. I went to get a jar of jam from my reserves, and the cupboard was bare. So I reached for a jar of apricot jam instead. But when he took a bite of his sandwich he saw right through my feeble attempt at a swap, scrunched up his nose and said with indignation, “Hey! Dis is not Mama's Famous Strawberry Jam!” No sir, it was not. I had to fess up and tell him we were out of strawberry, and I couldn't make any more because strawberries were not in season yet. On my next trip to the grocery store I tried to put a jar of strawberry jam in my cart, but I just couldn't do it. All those funky ingredients that I couldn't name gave me the creeps! I promised that as soon as I could get my hands on some fresh Michigan strawberries I would refill our stock of strawberry jam.

 

 

Well, I'm happy to say that time has come! This weekend we took a little break from home renovations (OYE! - a tale for another time), and ventured to a local strawberry patch. My children LOVE to pick fruit and veggies. Have you taken your kids to pick anything? Try it, I bet they will love it just as much as mine do! So many berries end up in bellies, and that's okay because it's all part of the fun. My babes put on aprons and sun hats and bring their little buckets along and help pick the berries that are destined to become the jam they'll enjoy for at least the next year. I just love when I hear them ask, “Mama, is this from the strawberries we got to pick?!” And I get to say YES! YOU helped make this awesome stuff!

 

 

Every year I run in to the same problem: How many jars of jam do I make? And then I curse myself for not keeping better track. And I search the internet for how many pounds are in a quart of strawberries, and how many quarts are needed for a batch of jam, and how many pints of jam does a batch make, and why do all these recipes make half-pint sized jars?! It's frustrating to say the least. So I decided to write all that down this year so my future self won't have to look for it again. You're welcome, future self. I figured we'd go through about 1.5 pint sized jars of jam per month, so we'd need at least 18 pints of jam to put away for the year. The recipe I found makes 8, 8 ounce jars of jam per batch. Since I'm using 16 ounce jars, that means a batch will get me 4 jars. I would need to make 5 batches of jam to fulfill my family's yearly jam needs. Now that I had an idea of how much jam I needed to make, here's what other information I gathered...

• Strawberry Measurements
• 10 cups of whole strawberries = 6 cups smashed = 2 quarts = Approx. 3 pounds = 4 pints of jam
• How many pounds of berries will I need?
• 5 batches x 3 pounds per batch = 15 pounds of berries
• How many quarts does this equal?
• 5 batches x 2 quarts per batch = 10 quarts of berries
• How much will the berries cost (based on 2014 u-pick prices)?
• $1.65 per pound x 15 pounds = $24.75

This information helped tremendously when we went out to pick. It was nice knowing how many pounds of berries I needed to leave with, since the strawberry patch was 45 minutes from our house. I certainly didn't want to make a return trip if I didn't get enough berries the first time. Which didn't end up being a problem because my little family picked almost 24 pounds of berries! The next challenge was getting all of these berries made in to jam while they were still good. Commence Jam Marathon 2014!

I basically processed berries and made jam for the next 12 hours. And what I ended up with was 22 ½ jars of ruby deliciousness.

 

 

I don't think my original pound figures were quite right because I used up all of the berries and only ended up with 22 ½ pints of jam. I'll have to remember that for next year. I'm so happy to have so many jars to put away for the year, and hopefully we won't run out again this year. In case you were wondering, here's the price breakdown for my strawberry jam-a-thon this year:

Strawberries (local, u-pick): $39.35

Sugar: $2.50 per bag x 2 bags = $5.00

Pectin (Mrs. Wages Low Sugar Powdered Pectin): $1.99 per box x 5 = $9.95

Total Cost: $54.30 or $2.41 per jar

I think the cost and time is totally worth it! I love having jars of yummy red goodness in my cupboards made with fruit that my family picked, that was locally grown, and that I canned! So cool! Do you want to make your own jam too? Why not?! I found my recipe on the PickYourOwn website, and it can be found HERE. Take a look around this website while you're there. It has become an invaluable resource to me. Whenever I'm looking for information on what's in season in my area, or where I can go to pick, I go to PickYourOwn.org. And they have many great recipes to help you figure out what to do with all that fresh, locally grown produce. Plus each recipe that I've encountered on this site usually comes with a breakdown on cost as well, so you can know a rough figure on how much a batch of each particular recipe will cost you to make.

I hope you'll take advantage of the beautiful red strawberries that are in season right now, and make your family a batch of delicious strawberry jam! Happy jamming!

 

 

 

Transformation Thursday - #4

Welcome to the 4^th installment of Transformation Thursday!

 

This week has been a whirlwind! My 5-year old daughter had her last soccer game of the season, a kindergarten end-of-year program, and her last day of school this week. We've been busy! But I haven't let that keep me from adhering to my goals. I can honestly say this is the first time in a while that I tracked all of my food choices with 100% honesty for the entire week, and I stayed within my calorie goals. Yippee! Tracking has been tremendously helpful for me. Knowing what I'm putting in my body, as well as how many calories I'm burning, has really helped me stay on track. I've mentioned it before, but I use My Fitness Pal to keep track of my health goals. It's a free, online tracking program and there's a mobile app too. I use both, and the mobile app has been a lifesaver when we're out to a restaurant and I don't have immediate access to their nutrition information. The nutrition database is loaded with just about every food choice imaginable so you'll always be able to track your nutrition. Find me on My Fitness Pal (username: CLivingston722), and we can encourage each other to stay on track!

 

I realized last week that I was getting on the scale too much. I was weighing myself every morning, and sometimes getting discouraged when I would see the scale move up from the day before. Especially if I had burned major calories and stayed within my nutritional calorie goals. So I decided last week that I would put the scale away and only weigh myself once a week. I had to hide the scale, folks. I had to put that baby someplace totally inconvenient to me so I wouldn't be tempted to step on it. And I'm happy to say, it worked!! I haven't stepped on the scale at all this week until this morning. That's been huge for me! It's been so nice not to worry about what the numbers are going to say. I know I'm eating well and exercising, and this week that's all that has mattered to me.

 

As for exercising, that's been going great too! I've been trying to fit in some form of physical activity at least 5 days a week. Even if it's just going for a walk or doing an exercise video. Anything is better than sitting on my butt! I managed to get in a few killer bike rides. Last Thursday I covered 21.5 miles with my Jake and biked a total of 1 hour and 44 minutes. Yes! Some nights I was just short on time, so I shortened my rides and focused on speed instead of distance. I was able to get my average speed up to 15.8 mph – that's the fastest I've EVER averaged! That's some major non-scale victory for me! With this week being so busy, there were a few days that posed a challenge for me to fit in some exercise. On those days, I tried to break out the hand weights and work on my arms or get out my mat for a few minutes and do some ab work. I may not have gotten any cardio in, but strength training is just as important. Need muscle to burn that fat! And for the first time I'm starting to desire to see some muscle definition on my body. I long to be strong!

 

All in all, it was a pretty fantastic week! My non-scale challenges were all met: I stayed on track with my nutrition goals, I exceeded the number of minutes I set for myself as an exercise goal, I tracked my nutrition and exercise for the whole week on MFP, AND I managed to stay off the scale! So now that I've stayed away from the scale all week, I want to know what all this hard work has earned me in the digits department, don't you?! Here goes, my numbers for the week...

 

Calories Burned: 3,897 (goal of 1,520 per week)

Exercise Minutes: 356 minutes (goal of 250 minutes per week)

Pounds Lost This Week: 3.6

New Weight: 166.6

Total Pounds Lost: 25.4

You may notice that my goals keep changing. I'm trying to find the goals that are right for me – a challenge for my body, but not so challenging that it's unattainable. Please bear with me while I fine tune my goals.

 

Scale Victory!!! Oh my goodness! I am SO HAPPY with those numbers! I have not see a weight lower than 167 in a very, very long time. Yay! And now I'm 3.1 pounds away from being half-way to my goal weight. It's not about the numbers, but it sure feels good when the scale agrees with all the hard work I've put in throughout the week. Thanks for all the reads and support and encouragement from the friends who keep the kind words and thoughts flowing! Until next week folks!

Transformation Thursday - #3

3 weeks in a row! I'm on a roll!  And boy do I have a whole lotta bunch of non-scale victories to share with you!

This week went pretty well. I manage to keep my eating under control and not overindulge too much. We did have a graduation party to attend, and of course there was cake, and of course I ate some. But I knew I had eaten really well leading up to that point in the day so I didn't feel too guilty about it. And we did eat out once this weekend....and I may have had a delicious cheeseburger and some fries. *sigh* I'm not gonna lie, I'm a cheeseburger gal. And I married a cheeseburger guy. That meal, I felt horribly guilty about. I knew that in just one sitting I probably consumed well over my daily allowed calories. That's a bit depressing. But I didn't let it keep me down for too long. I'm starting to recognize that weekends are my weakest points. We're on the go a lot, and I'm not always prepared to eat healthy while we're out. And my brain and tummy seem to think we're on some wild vacation so we can party it up! I just need to remember that while it's okay to have a treat once in a while, it needs to be done in moderation and with my end goal in mind. The weeks are flying by, and I don't want one day to ruin my scale moment at the end of the week. It's just not worth it.

In addition to making healthier eating choices most of the time this week, I also got in some pretty spectacular workouts! On Saturday, my mama and I completed an 18-mile charity bike ride. That's the farthest we've ridden so far in our biking journeys together, and It. Was. AWESOME! There was an option to ride the loop once or twice more, and we both thought that once more (on another day) would be totally doable. We're ready for a challenge, and Michigan has some amazing bike routes to help us accomplish that. So the bike ride went great. We finished in good time, 1 hour and 33 minutes for 18 miles of riding – not too bad! And then we picked up our ride packets and prepared to head home. Did I mention this was a “Cupcake Cruise”? Yeah. The lady that put this ride together had mini cupcakes donated from the local cupcake shop, and we receive a box with six pretty little cupcakes inside. I truly had no intention of eating them, I was going to let my kiddos and hubby have at them when I got home. So mama and I put our cupcake boxes in plastic bags and got ready to leave. Then it happened. The thing I've been dreading since I first started riding. The thing that freaked me out more than anything else about cycling. I fell off my bike.

My Jake (bike) and I are just starting our relationship together, and I'm still a little wobbly on those skinnier tires. But I also have these funky shoes that some cyclist wear called clips. They sort of look like a cleat on the bottom. And my pedals are designed to clip inside the bottom of my shoe. I set my foot on the pedal, and my shoe snaps on so I'm attached to my bike. Cool right?

 

 

Now when I got these shoes and pedals with my bike a few weeks ago I practiced clipping in and clipping out over and over again on a trainer in the bike shop so I'd get comfortable with the process. But I forgot to ask what happens if I lose my balance and start to fall. Will my shoes just disengage? Is there an emergency eject button somewhere? I should have asked. Well, let me tell you what happened in this scenario. I had a bag of cupcakes on my handle bars, and one foot clipped in to my pedal. I raised myself up on the seat and pushed off to get going. My handle bars twisted, I could feel the fall coming, I tried to move my foot to catch myself but I wasn't even thinking about clipping out, and before I could even think, I fell. And I landed on my cupcakes. And then laid on the ground laughing and making sure I didn't break anything while my mom rushed over to make sure I was okay. Thankfully, no broken bones. Just some smashed cupcakes and a few bruises. Not my most graceful moment, but I'm thankful we were sort of away from the starting line at that point and it wasn't witnessed by a bunch of biker folks or my pride would been bruised along with my legs. I told my mom at the time that I could feel the fall coming and knew there was nothing I could do to stop it, so in those milliseconds leading up to the fall, you just have to embrace it. Embrace the fall, say Oh Crap!, and hope and pray you don't break anything!

I fit in a few more fall-less rides throughout the week as well as some ab workouts with Jillian Michaels. Jillian is kicking my butt guys. I'm huffing and puffing through those workouts, but my muscles don't seem to feel it until the next day. I've woke up sore every morning for the past three days. And I love it! I know I'm getting stronger and healthier and my muscles are waking up. I'm really starting to enjoy fitness, which is something I never thought I'd say.

Alright, so that's how my diet and exercise went this week. Better than last week. Always improving! Now for the digits. Here's my numbers from this week:

 

Calories Burned: 6,472 (goal of 1,520 per week)

Exercise Minutes: 597 minutes (goal of 240 minutes per week)

Pounds Lost This Week: 2

New Weight: 170.2
Total Pounds Lost: 21.8

Victory!!!  I'm learning that I just need to trust in the process and quit weighing myself every day.  The scale is going in to hiding for a week!  And I am killin' it with the exercise!  I LOVE it!  Smashing my calorie burn and exercise minute goals.  Even if the scale doesn't like me some weeks, I am not gonna stop because this exercise high is enough to carry me through 'til Christmas!  With that said, I have to encourage you, if you are reading this and you want to start exercising but you don't know where to start, just get out there and get moving.  Take a walk.  My fav, go for a bike ride!  Get some sunshine on your shoulders, and try to move your body.  It's hard at first, but once you get a few days behind you you're going to start to feel your energy perk.  And then pretty soon you're going to start to crave those endorphins, and you might just surprise yourself like me and enjoy exercising!  There you have it.  Challenge issued.  Get moving!

See ya next week peeps!