Very curious...

So something very curious has been happening.  Very, very curious.  

And of course it involves food.  And Christmas.  So here ya go:

I've always been an 'out of sight/out of mind' person when it comes to food.  Honestly, if it's not in front of me, 97.6% of the time I won't go seek it out.  As long as I have the snack foods hidden for when I NEEEEED them, I rarely think about them.  HOWEVER, if there just happens to be a Reese's peanut butter cup laying on the counter...than OBVIOUSLY it's the only thing I'VEEVERNEEDEDTOEATINMYWHOLE LIFE and I HAVE to have it.  I'm wired like that. 

So going back to the curious happenings, Trader Joe's just so happens to make their Christmas treats RIDICULOUSLY adorable and I have made said treats a part of my Christmas decor around here and they've been hanging out on my counter all month long.

The curious part??  (may I repeat...ahem...) THEY'VE BEEN HANGING OUT ON MY COUNTER ALL MONTH LONG!

Like, as in NO OVER compulsion to polish them up all the live long day.  NO NEED for a 'little piece of this & that throughout the day.  They're just THERE.  And looking oh-so-pretty I might add.

Now let me back up a second here.  It's not like I'm not eating things from my Christmas stash AT ALL.  Quite the contrary...and here's where some 'mental weight loss magic' may be working.

So when December started, I knew I wanted to do a few things.... 

1. Get my 2-3 mile Walk Away the Pounds in every day (or at least most days)
2. Enjoy Christmas treats and all the fun things the month brings.
3. Not deprive myself all month long and then STUFFMYFACE like a lunatic the last 2 weeks of December.

That last one has yet to be decided, BUT I HAVE been enjoying a treat a day.  The key to this seems to be the fact that instead of waiting to have 'dessert' at the end of the day as I usually do (all while trying to distract myself ALL day from not diving face first into that stash), instead I usually CRAVE chocolate around 1-2 o'clock every day...so guess what?  I have it.  And I don't wait.

Revolutionary, I know.

But hear me out.  For whatever reason (and reading into Ayurvedic medicine, this seems to make more sense) my hardest time to make it through the day, snack wise, is 12-4p,.  Mornings I don't care.  Nights (FOR THE MOST PART) I don't care.  But those afternoons are a BEAR and where I have to distract my mind the most, but it definitely WANTS.  So instead of trying to distract myself, I just started giving into it and enjoying whatever the hell I wanted in the afternoons.  (and on that .04% chance I don't want to snack that day, I *GASP* don't).  And guess what?  My mind has been SO much clearer and I've been able to sort through my cravings easier.  Choosing what I REALLY want every single day, having it and just moving.  And here's the REALLY important part: with having no interest in having MORE.  I can't overstate that non-desire to keep eating & eating enough.  I can't even TELL you how many times I've ignored my cravings (be it for a day or days) and eventually ending up in that sweet/salty snack cycle, all the while nothing seems satisfying.  Here, I have what I want.  It satisfies me.  End of story.

It's really so crazy that this needs to be a THOUGHT PROCESS, while I'm sure for others this just comes so naturally.  It feels sorta crazy...but ya know what?  It is what it is and I'm better off acknowledging that it's a process for me (and I'm sure for some of you out there) then to pretend that it's not and only end up going off the rails (again, and again and again).

I know nothing of that.

*snort*

The daily exercise has definitely been another key in helping keep my mind clear on rational food choices (although I'm currently on hiatus with a cold...grrrr!) and really satisfying each craving WHEN THEY HAPPEN (more on that soon!).   That has been my huge "accomplishment" this month.  

Hahahahaha...and by accomplishment, rest assure this also means I was making a pan of salted pretzel bark last night (right alongside our healthy dinner of Farro, white bean and kale;) because I knew I DID NOT want to wait until closer to Christmas to enjoy it.  I wanted it NOW and that was that.

And the kicker?  I feel GOOD, both in body and SOUL.  Not deprived, enjoying all the Christmas treats all month IN PEACE (vs. in a crazy binge) and if I wanna go back to swapping the chocolate treats for apples come January?  Well, we'll just cross that bridge when 2017 ushers in;)

We'll see how this rolls on through the next couple weeks, with the MOUNTAINS of treats being thrown at us left & right for the rest of the month.  (Not to mention my love of cooking with all those little *special* ingredients this time of year aka-puff pastry, Brie cheese, etc.)  My goal is to ENJOY WITHOUT that overindulgence that not only leaves the guilt, but also the GROSS feelings.  Even if I've been working on not associating guilt with food these past few months, ya still can't deny the GROSS factor.  So AVOIDING THAT will be my new goal.

There.  I said it.

It's gonna happen.

How do you guys work out those cravings??  Especially around the holidays??  

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As always...thanks for reading!

Last Hurrah...

Hey, everyone...ummmm...Happy Monday?  Nah...that doesn't sound right at all.  Especially after nearly 2 weeks of vacation around these parts (thanks to an added snow day, Scott worked exactly 1 day in the last 16!)  So for the sake of TRUTH, let's just call this "&@#$* Monday", shall we??J

I don't have TOO much to report this fine "&@#$* Monday", as I spent both Saturday AND Sunday enjoying 2 nice wonderful "ladies lunches" with friends & family...

Which, after a VERY brief hiatus, meant the RETURN OF HOLIDAY TREATS & SWEETS!  I didn't mind, since it really seemed to extend the beautiful season out just a litttttttlllleeee longerJ.  But THIS, my friends, is called the LAST HURRAH:

Hahahahahahahaha!  I enjoyed it ALL and now I'm ready to REALLLLLLLLLLY get back in the normal swing!  Especially since most of my weekend involved not a whole lot of cooking OR working out.  I usually find that if I feel GUILTY for missing a workout, that just means I was being lazy.  This weekend, however, was ZERO GUILT = JUST WANTED TO RELAX.  I'm OK with that.

My only brief time in the kitchen was spent whipping up some chicken & dumplings on Friday to combat the snow...

Trying my hand at Gwyneth Paltrow's 'healthy brownies'.  Although I can't really judge em fairly since I had to swap out a few ingredients for what I had around the house (didn't have spelt flour or enough maple syrup, even for my 1/2 recipe), but these were not my favorites, we'll just leave it at that...J

And from healthy to HOLY HELL...Sunday morning brought our attempt at those little Pinterest lovelies known as "Pancake Dippers," where you pour pancake batter right over strips of cooked bacon.  All though in this case, Scott just took the liberty and covered 2 strips at one shot...J

They were a BEAR to flip over, but he managed to pull it offJ  Do I even need to tell you these were good??  (oh yeah, with the mini chocolate chips tossed in there for good measure??)

So yeah, today will involve a little less cookies and BACON MONSTER PANCAKES and more...well, I already known KALE for sureJ  Hope you had a great weekend too and I'll talk to you tomorrow!

Keepin it simple...

Morning, everyone!  Happy 2014!  Seesh...seriously??  WHERE DOES THE TIME GO???  I feel like not only December, but the entire of 2013 flew by in a blink.  One second we're having "Winter Cheese" in February and the next second we're ringing in a New Year.  Wild.  Such is life...that's what my Grandmom would sayJ

ANYWAY, thought I'd give you our festive but SOMEWHAT 'fit' recap of the last few days.  And by fit I mean I managed to NOT eat 20000 calories at every meal.  Which, sadly, is a HUGE accomplishment for me this time of yearJ  (it's also something known as COMMON SENSE to the rest of the planetJ I struggle with thatJ)

Between a doctor's appointment for Katie and wanting to run to the grocery store before the mad noon "New Years Eve" rush, by the time I got home it was nearly lunch time and I couldn't whip up this 'brunch smoothie' quick enough....

• 1 cup unsweetened almond milk
• 1 peppermint bark yogurt
• 1 scoop vanilla protein powder
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 2 drops of peppermint extract
• 2 handfuls spinach (cause I needed to use it or lose it)

And I tried to keep my snack equally light... 

...cause I knew the BIG GUNS were right on the horizon!

Thanks to everyone chipping in, we had a veritable FEAST of celebration, including grilled corn guacamole...(grilled corn courtesy of Trader Joe'sJ) 

...my friend's Potato CRACK!...(bacon-y and savory to the MAX!) 

...awesome Captain Crunch Chicken Fingers!...(my gals & I used to inhale these like they were GOLD back in the day!) 

...beef & blue cheese sliders...that I need to make again, like, YESTERDAY!.... 

...and another friend's classic crab dip that we always love & devour!... 

My plate was VERY HAPPY...give or take an extra slider & scoop of crab dipJ  Everything was spot on delicious and so fun!

We kept the party going with some coquitos....which are everything that is bad, but OH SO GOOD in the world!  Coconut cream, sweetened condensed milk, spiced rum.  Yes, yes and yes, thank you very much!

...and my friend's sparkly cupcakes fit for ringing in the New Year. 

And guess who managed to make it to meet 2014 head on... 

No sickness or cold was holding THIS child down!J

And since Katie slept till a record 9:30am (thankfully bypassing the early wake of a SUPER CRANKY childJ), Scott & I had our LITTLE breakfast as a duo.  And I do mean LITTLE, check out this MINI Panettone!

I knew I had to get it as soon as I saw it or risk having the normal-sized Panettone laying around till mid-February!  (although I will miss me some Panettone paninisJ)  But one slice of this buttery confection was JUSTENOUGH for me this year... 

And after some nice power yoga to kick off the year on a peaceful (yet powerful!) foot, I showered up and hopped right back into my PJ's to spend the rest of the day lounging around with Scott & KatieJ  Oh...and one more person joined our party...

This was the absolute ONLY thing I wanted for Christmas this years and I've since read it cover to cover.  Who reads a cookbook cover to cover????  Well, Pioneer Woman CRACKS ME UP with all her little stories and since all of these stories in this book were attached to HOLIDAYS, well, that made me even happierJ

And since her book starts with (wait for the shocker) New Years Day, I thought I'd try out using a few of her recipes for the day, including a smoothie filled with mango, peaches, carrots, banana, pineapple and fat free yogurt...

And her absolute MUST for New Year's Day dinner... 

Including a big pot of Black eyed peas...

...cast iron corn bread with sauteed peppers... 

...and some collards.  I took a little step off the pages of PW's suggestion of sauteed collards when I saw the yummy recipe for Collards Au Gratin on the bag of mixed greens.  It just sounded too "New Years Day/Celebratory" perfectJ 

• 1 bag of collards or mixed greens 
• 1 diced onion
• 1 clove of minced garlic
• 1/2 cup chicken broth
• 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1/4 cup half & half  (want to try this with 2% milk next time)
• 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese
• 3 laughing cow cheese wedges  (called for Gruyere, but the laughing cow lightened it up AND I already had it on handJ)

1. Heat a teaspoon of olive oil in a pan before adding the onions and garlic on medium heat to saute about 4-5 minutes.
2. Add the collards and cover the pot to allow them to wilt.  (The recipe suggested 3-4 minutes, but I left mine probably closer to 5-6.  Depends on how you like your greens)
3. Add the chicken broth, nutmeg, salt & pepper and half & half and bring to boil for 2 minutes.
4. Add cheese and mix to melt.
5. Pour into a casserole dip, top with an extra sprinkle of grated cheese & bake at 375 for 25 minutes. 

I was so incredibly proud of this meal for no apparent reasonJ  I guess because it was the traditional dinner of a good ole southern woman which is pretty much everything I'm notJ hahahahahahaha....

And it probably helped that Katie's favorite food on earth is BEANS and I knew this would make her sick little self happyJ

The beans were tender, with a hit of smoke from the ham bone... 

...while the corn bread was tender and studded with peppers, and the collards-oh those collards-I will be making them nearly EXACTLY the same way VERY soon.  

I'm not normally a huge fan of collards since I usually find them tough & bitter (forgive me collards fans!), but I probably said the same thing about kale at some point and now kale & I are LIKETHIS.  Just gotta get used to em, much like the rest of my 'grown on me' listJ

And per tradition, I left 3 beans on my plate!  Beans on New Year's Day are suppose to bring good luck (Italians traditionally make lentils...opps), but leaving exactly 3 on your plate is supposed to bring EXTRA luckJ  I ain't takin any chances!J hahahahahahah 

And for dessert, we ended the night with a few random delights of Christmas before they're gone all too soon!   

And with all that said, I'm happy to say the scale & I are actually on speaking terms, unlike MANY MANY January 2nd's in the past!  Normally by today I'm ready to toss/freeze every sweet & treat in the house.  But since I was actually able to enjoy ALL of the treats in moderation this year (OK, OK...make that about 80% of the time...Christmas Eve, Day & Day after were WILD & CRAZY...as they should beJ), I felt like I enjoyed it all, minus that feeling of grossness and swearing to NEVEREATAGAIN in the New Year!  Now I'm just ready to go back to eating normally and maybe pulling back on the sweets just alittttttlllleee bit extra.  I decided my 'resolution/goal' for the new years is to keep everything SIMPLE.  And eating DEFINITELY falls into this category.  I feel like 2013 was a year I figured out what REALLLLLLY makes me happy from the inside out and eating 'healthy/normal/NOT COMPLETELY STRINGENT THEN OVERINDULGING is definitely high on that list (right next to yoga, yoga & more yoga...a calm, quiet mind makes EVERYTHING simpler!).  Overeating (especially when I'm not hungry and eating just to eat) makes me stressed to the MAX.  I can't even TELL you how many times of been on the hamster wheel of "I ate bad, might as well go crazy the rest of the day/now I feel bad and need to eat water & air/I CAN'T LIVE ON WATER AND AIR!  GIVE ME FOOD AND LOTS OF IT" and then that WHOLE cycle starts again.  Who needs that???  It's not only unhealthy psychically, but a bazillion percent mentally as well.  I feel like 2013 was the year I really starting peeling back the layers and realizing how bad I felt MENTALLY from eating that way.  And realizing that throughout the year has been the thing that has helped me put the brakes on a binge before they even began.  Or at least helped me calmly realize I can pick myself up and start over rather than getting back on the hamster wheel.  I'm FAR from perfect at it, but definitely trying.  It's TOUGH 101, but sometimes a reminder for myself is all I need, so hopefully this little reminder will help you too if you feel the same way.  I'm right on that road with you!

OK!  That was FAR more than I intended to chatter on aboutJ  I'll leave you alone nowJ

Have a great THURSDAY!  (totally feels like Monday, so at least that's a good post-holiday thing, right??)

And a partridge in a pear tree...

Hey ya'll...well, here I am:  ready to recap our Christmas week right as another holiday is upon usJ  This week flew by in a flurry of tinsel, lots of 'family lounging in PJ's days', 2 ravioli dinners, one sick little Katie (boo!) and a partridge in a pear tree.  I wish December lasted at least 6 monthsJ   (minus the sick Katie parts...obv!)

Here's how our week went down:

So one of my strongest Christmas Eve memories as a kid was going to the children's mass before running home to boil water for our pasta dinner...which we tried to do FASTER than any other day of the entire year.  Church always just left us famished and ready to kick off our Christmas celebrations in a HURRYJ  Well, this year we continued the tradition, as I literally walked in the door, filled the pot & put the gas on.  I can't even vouch if I took my coat off before all of that happenedJ In a blink (or an eternity...depending on how you looked at itJ) 'macaroni & peanuts' were served...

We have absolutely no idea how my great Grandmother's Christmas Eve tradition of linguine tossed with garlic & oil sauteed mixed nuts came to be, since Italians traditionally serve the grand '7 fish meal' meal on Christmas Eve.  We always had ONE fish (fried shrimp), but macaroni & peanuts was always our main staple.  

And this year, it was officially "Katie approved"J 

We also served up a traditional dinner from Scott's side, of a chicken dinner with all the fixins.  We put our own little twists on it with sides including my sister-in-law's awesome pineapple casserole and my roasted broccoli casserole...

...and one of Scott's favorites:  twice baked potatoes.

All of these dishes were delish, but I think the one we all came away talking about was my sis-in-law's DIVINE jalapeno popper dip!  I didn't even get a pic since we were too busy inhaling it into our facesJ.  It was so good that we're considering having a whole dinner soon of JUST dips.  It got SERIOUS up in hereJ 

After our carb-induced comas, we all rose to meet Christmas morning head on, filled with all its sweet charms...

And of course, sweet eats starting with our traditional breakfast of cinnamon roll monkey bread... 

No plates, just forks requiredJ  

 ..and our traditional dinner of homemade ravioli, meatballs & sausage...

...capped off with some eggnog rum cake & eggnog gelato.  (and probably about 40 cookies & chocolate covered pretzels snacked on throughout the dayJ) 

And after our COMPLETELY over the top & decadent 'Day after Christmas via Donna & Scott while Katie was at Nona's' celebration...

We were SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO over 'eating bad!!!!!'  Usually Christmas week is JAMMED wall-to-wall with lunch trips, cookies abound and every other decadence I consider 'forbidden' throughout the year and by New Years Eve, my pants, the scale & I are no longer on speaking terms.  But this year, since I've allowed myself a lot of LITTLE indulgences throughout the year, I didn't feel the need to eat just because it was the end of the year.  Sure, I had an ENTIRE day of dip & pepperoni (let's not kid ourselves too much!), but I was able to realize I didn't really WANT any more days of overindulgence, so I just...didn't.  I know this doesn't sound like much, but it was a CRAZY big accomplishment for me!  I figured there WILL be another Saturday night/Sunday morning where I'll WANT to indulge, so why not wait until then, when it's something I REALLLLLLLLY want???

I know.  Not rocket science...but it's all part of my journeyJ 

So the rest of the week, we focused on more balanced meals including my attempt at Italian chili served with charred bread...

It wasn't as good as Molto Bene's, but I'll keep trying to work it out!

• 3/4 pound ground turkey 
• 4 minced cloves of garlic
• 1 diced onion
• 2 diced carrots
• 1 can crushed tomatoes
• 1 can diced tomatoes
• 1 can tomato paste
• 1 can drained white beans
• 1 teaspoon fennel (tried to give it the taste of sausage since I used leaner turkey)
• 3 tablespoons Italian seasoning
• 2 teaspoons chili powder (or more to your taste)
• salt & pepper

Heat the garlic & onion for a few minutes in a drizzle of olive oil.  Brown the turkey before adding the rest of ingredients.  Bring to a boil and then allow to simmer for an hour.

And the charred bread was soooo easy!  I just drizzled the (Christmas!) bread with olive oil & sea salt and placed it over medium heat until it began to brown and smoke (which took about 10-15 SECONDS!  HAVE THOSE TONGS READY!).  Flip and repeat. 

Super warm & cozy, and I LOVED the char on the bread.  It was WAY more delicious than using just the spoonJ

 We also had a 'family dinner' of prosciutto wrapped chicken, roasted broccoli & baked potatoes...

And this doesn't even include the night after 'pepproni & chips day' where I was SOSICKOFEATING  (and starting to feel like GARBAGE because of it!) that my dinner was 1/2 a tuna fish sandwich and a side of shredded carrots.  No jokeJ 

I also kept my workouts going, despite all of the calls from the PJ-clad couchJ (although every other  minute in between was spent right there with Scott & KatieJ)  I headed for double classes on Friday & Saturday morning, and after my Tuesday-Thursday Christmas hiatus, I was BEYOND ready to get back to business.  Friday morning I felt like it took me those 2 classes JUST to get GOING.  Thankfully, Saturday & Monday night went a bit smootherJ 

Well, I wrote a pretty 'balanced' post, all with the knowledge that the scales are about to tip back in the other direction, with some pretty decadent delights on the menu for tonightJ   And I plan on enjoying EVERY ONE!  Hope you guys had a WONDERFUL holiday and a safe, happy & healthy NEW YEARS!  I'll talk to ya in 2014!J 

ENJOY!