A Balancing Act

I can't believe I only have two weeks of summer vacation left.  This whole summer has been a whirlwind - from taking two graduate level classes as well as two gifted endorsement classes, watching my niece Ava, dealing with a bad case of fleas with my kitty as well as our apartment (Who ever knew they were this awful), and a quick, but busy trip to Buffalo with my husband.  I am eager to start school because of my new position, but I need to make sure I make the most of what's left of my vacation!  

This summer has been a challenge for me because I've really let myself go with the whole "healthy eating" thing.  I admit, I am VERY strict with my eating habits because I don't ever want to go back to what I was.  But, the stress of this summer has caused me to gain a bit too much weight.  Sure, to you, you can't tell.  But oh-my-goodness.  I tried to put on my jeans a few days ago and they were uncomfortably snug.  Yikes.  My husband has been very supportive of me along my journey of healthy eating and when I was too skinny, he pleaded with me to gain weight.  Well my friends, I've gained too much.  I feel icky and I think it's because I'm home all day, not moving nearly as much (although, I am vacuuming twice a day again due to our pest issue, so I am getting one heck of an arm workout), and I just feel gross.  I've even been skipping my gym workouts and that is so not like me!  One would say I'm a hot mess!

While in Buffalo, my husband and I found ourselves stuffing our face with food at any chance we got. Towards the end of our trip, we both felt like we needed a veggie and fruit cleanse! Since our return from Buffalo, we've been eating healthier, but I still find that I am consistently "falling off the bandwagon".  Perhaps I don't need to be stuffing Wegmans chocolate covered blueberries in my face every chance I get, nor do I need to be eating ice cream sandwiches at night.  I don't know what's come over me, but I need to figure out how to balance eating healthy and letting myself enjoy tasty treats from here to there.

All I know is, I'm hoping that this week will be one of plentiful fruits and vegetables! :)

Be back later this week with some new recipes and ideas!

Lots of love,
Lauren

Almost an epic fail!

Dinner last night was a close call - I'm talking mega epic fail!  The Husband and I invited Matty and Ava over for BBQ Chicken Pizza and rather than buy the typical Pillsbury pizza dough, we decided to buy the "ball"of dough from our local grocery store.  We followed the directions to the t - we took the dough out of the refrigerator for an hour before we were ready to bake it, I floured my hands, and we thought we had given it a good amount of effort in "working the dough" with the rolling pin.  The dough kept snapping back into a ball and I was freaking out, so I had to quickly run back out to the store to get our usual dough!  When I returned, The Husband had managed to flatten the dough to a pretty odd, but usable shape, so he decided to make some garlic bread! 

So, back to the pizza.  Earlier in the day, I whipped up a sauce for our BBQ chicken.  I used a combination of these items:

                                       Ever use tomato paste in a tube? I saw Giada using it last
                                        week on her cooking show, so I decided to give it a go!


After I made the sauce, I coated the chicken cutlets and baked them for 25 minutes, at 350 degrees.  They looked pretty delish when I took them out of the oven!

I then chopped up some red onions and sauteed them (you don't have to saute them,but my husband prefers when they are cooked).  Then it was time to make up the BBQ sauce for the pizza and throw everything together!  It was easy and soooo tasty!

 Looks pretty yummy!

 Plain pizza for Ava! 

I paired the pizza with a salad and it was the perfect Sunday night family meal! 

The husband's garlic bread turned out fantastic!

BBQ Sauce (for baking chicken):

1 tablespoon tomato paste

1 tablespoon BBQ sauce

1 tsp crushed red pepper flakes

dash of onion powder

dash of garlic powder

2 tablespoons of extra light olive oil

Brush over chicken (both sides) and place in a sprayed 9x13 baking dish for 25 minutes at 350 degrees.  Cut up chicken after it has cooled down! :)

BBQ Sauce (for pizza):

1/4 cup tomato paste

1/4 cup BBQ sauce

1/2 cup tomato sauce

dash of onion powder

dash of garlic powder

lots of black pepper 

Stir together and brush over pizza dough.  Sooo yummy! 

After I made the sauce and baked the chicken, I put the pizza together (reduced fat mozzarella, red onion, garlic powder, and the diced chicken).  I also sprinkled the pizza with some cilantro to give it a nice color!  Enjoy!

Lots of Love,

Lauren