My Saturday in Photos.....

Breakfast of Nature's Path Organic Mesa Sunrise Cereal with sliced strawberries, sliced banana and milk.

We went to see the new Indiana Jones movie this morning, we were stopped by a train on the way home from the movies. The movie was good. Shhh, we took are own snacks into the movie. I had a small bag filled with Golden Graham cereal with vegan chocolate chips. Yummm......

Don't you just love it when they make faces when you are trying to make their picture?

Squirrel blowing bubbles. My sweetie is still sick and has been running a fever on and off all day. So we hung out and watched TV all afternoon.

Lunch...Whole Wheat bread with melted dill Havarti cheese, and sliced tomatoes.

Cool Refreshing afternoon drink.

Our little Pluto

Squirrel and I playing Sponge Bob Life. Trust me, I would rather be venturing off somewhere, but sometimes, it's nice to just hang out at home.

Friday Night Delight....Day One of No Eating Out Challenge

Tonight after a rather hectic day at work, I stopped by the grocery store to do the weeks shopping. I really didn't know what I felt like eating for dinner. I walked in the door and my sweetie is lying on the couch telling me he is sick. "Groan" He wants juice, so I make him a glass of juice, put away the groceries and ponder what I am going to make. I decided to make him and Squirrel soup (you know that whole soup makes me feel better thing) and I make me brown rice, okra and red beans loosely based on the recipe in Moosewood Resturant's Low Fat Favorites. It was very good, I finished the dish off with a few splashes of Trappey's Pepper Sauce.
So it is day one of the no eating out challenge. Not only did I not eat out today, but I managed to
make me a low fat dinner which was totally delicious.

No Eating Out Challenge....

Tonight's dinner was Mexican inspired. Steamed broccoli, creamed corn, homemade guacamole with sliced red onion, diced jalapeno, tomato and lime juice. This was all served with sliced raw cucumbers, baby carrots and cherry tomatoes. It was very good and very filling. I even have leftover guacamole for lunch tomorrow.

I went to lunch today with one of my vendors, and came back with a really bad stomach ache. I spent about three months eating mostly fat-free and wheat-free. I have added more fat back into my diet along with wheat products. I feel like my weight loss is suffering for it, plus I am not feeling very well. I was so tired when I got home, all I wanted to do was lay on the couch.

So, I am giving myself a very important challenge. To eat mostly fat-free and wheat-free again, along with not buying or eating any candy. (Chocolate is so evil....) I also want to see how long I can go with out eating out. I don't know how long the no eating out challenge will go on for, it my not even last one week, but I will try and see how long I can go. (My sweetie loves to eat out.) I just feel better when we eat at home, and I want to continue to lose weight. Plus I have a ton of cookbooks I haven't even cooked out of yet.

......I weighed myself this morning, 143lbs...........

A Little Bit of Everything.....

Picture of flowers taken at Alamo Lake, Arizona a few weeks back.

Back to work today, you know, it's funny, I was just telling someone that I felt like I needed to make a "change" with my job because it's not challenging anymore....When I walk into work this morning, it's chaos and then the day goes by like a flash.

Nothing exciting cooking wise, ate some leftover Thai fried rice that we drove all over Northern Arizona looking for Sunday afternoon. Word to the wise, don't go to Flagstaff looking for Thai food on a Sunday, nobody is, and I mean nobody is open. So we drove back down through Sedona, waited in a really long line of traffic (two hour wait). Then drove back through Cottonwood, Jerome, then on to Prescott Valley to the old reliable Tara Thai. Now we could have saved gas and ate Thai food here at home, but we wanted to take a small drive, and trust me, it was so worth it. It was so beautiful up north this weekend, and here in town for that matter.

On Monday we got some pineapple with chili and lime, a container of guacamole and some chips from the Ranch Market and my sweetie took me to a park with a beautiful pond to have a small picnic. (I don't know what my thing is with having picnics, but I just love to.)

Hopefully, I will have a tale of more cooking adventures tomorrow........

Summer Time Greek Food

I spent the day off from work, after an adventurous three day weekend. I slept in until eight thirty (very rare for me) and was awaken by a phone call from my sweetie. Feeling a little guilty, I left my warm cocoon and started my day...... I exercised, watched really bad television and made Greek Food for dinner.
I roasted some baby potatoes, zucchini and onion. I seasoned it with salt pepper and a pinch of dried oregano. I topped it with a lemon yogurt sauce.


I also made a Greek salad with spinach, yellow bell peppers, cucumber, red onion, tomato, peperoncinis and feta cheese. Dinner was yummy and filling, even though we didn't eat until eight thirty at night.

Also, stay tuned for some adventures in low-fat vegetarian cooking........Cookbooks are a wonderful thing......

First BBQ of the Spring...

We had our first BBQ this afternoon, and all I can say is that it was wonderful! I don't think we have barbecued in about a year. I cut up some veggies including onions, red bell pepper, zucchini and yellow squash. I seasoned them with salt, pepper and some herbs. I brushed them with a little olive oil, then we put them in my non-stick grill basket. They came out so good!

Here is my sweetie grilling us lunch.

I also had an Amy's Texas Veggie Burger which was really good. It had a sweet BBQ flavor that was just perfect. We topped our burgers with lettuce, tomato, red onion and mustard.

We had a pretty lazy day, we ended it with a bike ride around the neighborhood. The weather is still beautiful, for now. I know the heat is just around the corner........

Snow in April.......

Today we took a Saturday morning drive to Prescott. I packed snacks and we parked and had a really nice picnic. I had roasted garlic hummus with crackers and carrots, it was delicious. We stopped at the New Frontiers Natural Food Market so I could pick some up for lunch on our way up the mountain. After we ate, we took about a mile hike down the Hassayampa River. We couldn't believe that there was still snow on the mountain.



There still is quite a bit of water running in the creeks and springs, but not nearly as much as four weeks ago. We took our girl Pluto with us and she enjoyed walking and drinking of the fresh clean water. We stopped at one point down the creek and while they tried to dam the water, I laid down next to the creek to take in some sun and listen to nature. The weather was cool enough to wear sweatshirts, but I got warm while we were hiking.

There wasn't any flowers blooming, and Mother Nature seemed to be stuck between Autumn and Spring.

Once we were done with our hike, we drove over to the apple trees and ate the apples we brought with us. We took a few pictures, then we decided to leave because someone else came and parked by us. I was disappointed that I didn't get to hike more, so I got out of the truck and they followed me while I walked and jogged 2.7 miles to main road. It took me less than an hour, and I was so tired and sore, but I did it. (Some of this was up hill walking and jogging.) Not bad for a girl who did anything she could to get out of PE.